"You Need To Read This Because Your Taste In Music Is Probably Shit" returns with another entry. This time we turn the spotlight on the immortal At the Drive In, who for six months were the greatest living rock band in the world.
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Wow - I just forgot to breathe for the last fifteen minutes! Captivating is certainly an appropriate way to describe Bear’s five track release Abstractions 2.0. Well, that’s if you find having your skull torn asunder by a relentless sledgehammer of fury, or even by a very large bear, captivating. I keep being drawn to a Sikth/Dillinger Escape Plan lovechild as a good comparison, however this doesn’t quite sit right. Bear are far more powerful. Remarkably, words and phrases are insufficient to depict just how brutal the work of the Belgian quartet is. Abstractions 2.0 would win a tug-of-war with a Jumbo Jet. Following 2010’s self-released five track debut Abstractions, Bear’s consistent gigging and a UK tour with While She Sleeps lead to a record deal with Let It Burn Records and release of Abstractions 2.0. Fascinating song writing is the core of this CD. All elements expected from tech-metal are...
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Few directors know how to throw a farewell party the way Michael Bay does. With this, the supposed final installment of the globe conquering Transformers series, he proves once again that there are few that truly understand the movie-going public as well as he does. Dark of the Moon is leaps and bounds above Revenge of the Fallen, narrowing the scope of the film while taking advantage of 3D and amplifying its excess and sonic poundage. Rarely will a film ever be this loud and unforgiving on the human senses, an audio/visual hammer with the subtlety of a brick to the skull. But that is what makes this film so ridiculously brilliant; it is what we, as a global movie-going audience, wants. If you don’t believe a word of the previous sentence, feel free to check the box office in a few days time. Dark of the Moon reaches far deeper...
Read MoreThe Marshalltown knows that your taste in music is probably shit. Luckily we're here to help. In this column The Marshalltown will regularly post songs from various genres and eras that you probably haven't heard but desperately need to listen to. Your path to musical re-enlightenment starts here. Today The Marshalltown salutes the free spirit of Sonic Youth.
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Everybody's favourite mariachi band, Mariachi El Bronx, have announced that their second self titled album will be released August 2nd through ATO Records. What began as a side project and alter ego of Los Angeles' punk rock heavyweights, the Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx has grown into something that has exceeded all expectations. Their self-titled debut LP, released in 2009, attracted critical acclaim for its infectious songs and dirty swagger. Mariachi El Bronx have since gone on to land coveted support slots with the Killers and the Foo Fighters. Fans can expect more of the same epic tunes come August. The band also announced a string of dates that will take them across North America before heading to Europe to play the Reading Festival in the UK. No announcement of an Australian tour yet but you can safely bet they'll be Down Under sooner rather than later such is their love for this...
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Some 8 years since her last album, Gillian Welch makes her long awaited return with The Harrow & The Harvest. Partnering up once again with collaborator David Rawlings, the new album is the culmination of all the songwriting frustration that has built up since 2003’s Soul Journey. This extended period has been labelled by Welch as a difficult time where “we made a few tentative steps at trying to record, but inevitably the heart would go out of it when we realised that we simply didn't like the material enough to go on with it.” It’s with absolute rejoice then, that The Harrow & The Harvest is easily one of the best pieces of music released this year, and an unconditional artistic success for both Welch and Rawlings. It’s amazing to hear and feel the emotional connection one can have to music primarily composed of an incredible voice, two or so...
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There is great cynicism towards Taking Back Sunday- easy targets, drama kings- all are part of the conjecture volleyed towards them in the many years since their breakthrough 2002 album Tell All Your Friends. A band burdened by such weight would normally crumble- and it looked like they did when members Shaun Cooper and John Nolan left just a year later. Yet through the albums that followed, most notably the follow up Where You Want To Be and good portions of their major label debut Louder Now, the band proved every bit capable of turning any/all of the drama into the kind of emotionally histrionic songwriting they’re known for. That is the crux of Taking Back Sunday- jagged edge rock guitars, post-hardcore sensibilities and that flair for the lyrical dramatics found in etched in your high school notebook over and over again. After seemingly hitting the skids with New Again in...
Read MoreThe second trailer for Marvel's upcoming Captain America recently hit the web. Sometimes a movie trailer gets it all right. Stars Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones and is set to open July 22nd.
Filmed about 15 minutes from where I live, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert DeNiro and local heroine Yvonne Strahovski team up for Killer Elite; a remake of the Sam Peckinpah-directed 1975 thriller that starred Robert Duvall and James Caan. Bonus points for having an Australian-shot film that doesn't have an AC/DC song involved in the previews. Klaus Meine is stoked.
It's hard to believe that in their 12-year existence, Explosions In the Sky have never released an official music video, until now. Their first, designed and directed by Ptarmak, recently made it's debut. The visual aspect of it all is just as beautiful as the song itself. "Last Known Surroundings" is taken from their most recent album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. I hope you already have a copy of this album (or any of their back catalogue), otherwise...
