Brant Bjork

Ahhh... Brant Bjork. Some serious skill if I ever heard it. I wouldn't say so much in his ability to rock the fuck out, but more in his ability to pull out the tastiest tracks there ever were. This man, hailing from Palm Desert California, has played with and within the likes of stoner/desert bands Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Che', Unida and Kyuss, and has had defining influence on stoner rock as we now know it. Lately he's been dabbling in some solo work, and holding together his newer band, Brant Bjork & the Bros. One of the more gifted drummer/guitarist/producers of our time, Bjork went to high school with John Garcia, and subsequently created and drummed for one of the first and most prolific stoner bands, Kyuss, but left soon after the release of their best album, Welcome to Sky Valley on which he co-wrote two of their best tracks, Whitewater and Gardenia. (If you wanna know more about that, check out the post on Kyuss.) After that he was pretty much set, and in 1999 he put together his first solo album Jalamanta. His sound is easy but structured; a little Hendrix, a little Jerry Cantrell, he knows how to work the tiniest of details, and we all know its the little things that count. Some of his more amazing stuff comes off of his first album (Jalamanta) and his band Brant Bork & the Bros with Bjork on guitars. Two songs in particular called Beautiful Powers and Defender of the Oleander, are sweet and mellow but engaging. Love is Revolution is power through and through, as well as Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Indians.

Go..

Get.

Now.

Hood

Hood is a great band. With the same creative flexibility as Labradford and the same awareness of silence and noise and Toby Driver, this band is so easy on the ears that their spot in the music world is unquestionable. With a bit of shoegaze, a bit of electronica, a bit of ambience and a bit of glitch, Hood is one of my newer favourite bands that I was lucky enough to discover through Last.fm (people should start paying me for all this free marketing.) They formed in Leeds, sometime around December 1990, and unfortunately have decided not to bring out any other releases, which isn't surprising since they've been around for a really long time, but have gone pretty much unnoticed. The band is comprised of brothers Richard and Chris Adams, with a large number of other participants dropping in and out over the years. Two of my favourite albums include Home is Where It Hurts, one of their best songs having the same name, and Outside Closer, particularly with a song called Closure. There's a certain soothing nature about their sound that puts you out first listen, sort of like when you've been standing over an open bucket of paint for too long. I was very pleasantly surprised by this band. What these guys do with their instrumentals, which include beautiful melodies on acoustic guitars with a very Elbow-like feel, and the odd female vocal which could pass as a Sonic Youth track, always leaves me wondering what will be next. Very cool, very chilled.

Kyuss

Kyuss...

This band is sex for ears...

And thus, my new favourite.

Kyuss (say KAI-us) is a band out of California, active mostly in the 90's right alongside Yellow No. 5 and Clutch. They started out in the late 80's as Sons of Kyuss but shortened it sometime after their EP release. The band's members aren't just your average stoners either -- their guitarist is none other than Josh Homme, with Alfredo Hernandez replacing Brant Bjork on the drums both a la Queens of the Stone Age. Homme seems to have an unending, insatiable lust for intense and often unpredictably catchy instrumentals, which is evident in ever outfit he's been a pat of, including Desert Sessions where he grouped off with some of the best talents in rock, took over a house in the desert, got incredibly high and created some of the best tracks I've heard. Johnny Garcia did some incredible vocals for Kyuss, showing raspy efforts alongside mellower, sweeter melodies, and finally Scott Reeder doing an amazing job on the bass. Not quite grunge, but seemingly carrying Alice in Chains-like intensity in their instrumentals, this band speaks to my love of the undertones of quiet, stoned men with interesting facial hair and pent-up emotions whose only mode of real communication is through their music, and they do it well. Kyuss has "levels." Their sound is erratic in that some tracks have the basic, yet classic "jar jar jar" technique, while other are sweeter, melodic and gentler on the aesthetics. Gardenia and Whitewater, both off the amazing album Welcome to Sky Valley, are the tightest and best sounding sludge tracks I've heard of late. Space Cadet, Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop are also two of their best, along with Phototropic and Catamaran (warning, addictive). Check them out on Myspace.

I like it.

You might.

Catatonia

I remember listening to this band when I got my first tape deck and radio. Back then I was still wading through the intensity of the 90's trying to find some music that spoke to my feelings of not being able to deal with how some music was just shit. Then I found this radio station, which, as most radio stations do, played chart shows with the same stuff over and over... God, it annoys me now, but when you're growing up in an era when Grunge was king, who cares?!! Catatonia's Mulder and Scully and Road Rage, alongside Marcy Playground's Sex and Candy became my new favourite songs, and I never understood how their hot vocalist, Cerys Matthews, kept her voice so miserable sounding and yet, so cool. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in front of my radio with my fingers on both the record and play buttons.

Ah, youth.

A bunch of guys and a girl from Wales, Catatonia got together in 1992 in Cardiff. Their guitaring is great, thanks to Mark Roberts and Owen Powell; it's lazy but solidly structured, harsh in some places but bearably so, and the female angst is never a bad thing to witness. Unlike alternative punk bands with screaming banshees they try to pass off as vocalists, Catatonia's music is loose and dignified in itself. Lo-fi music has always been appealing to me, and this band has a definite, Sonic Youth-y, Pixies, Hole-ish, in-dad's-garage vibe which is definitely good, ladies and gents, with a British twist. Paul Jones gives a nice tone on the bass while Aled Richards works the percussives. On September 21st, 2001 they split, due to Matthews inability to cope with the pressure of fame, they say.

Pity.

Go check out Beautiful Loser and That's all Folks aswell, or do yourself favour and get hold of their Greatest Hits album. It's not called that for nothing...

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Chris Cornell

Lately I've been listening to a whole lot of new music, but this week I've decided to get back into grunge after going to a once-in-fucking-never grunge hour at a dingy bar near my neighbourhood. It was pretty interesting and actually pretty cool to see people still appreciating a dead genre. Pity grunge was so short lived; it's one of the thngs i'm thankful for and have been for some time now. Anyway, Chris Cornell has been around over 20 years, and he's still going strong, bringing the grunge that supposedly died to long-time fans like myself.

Soundgarden happens to be my number 1 band of all time, no question, boasting some talented old mothers out of the Seattle scene such as Kim Thayil on guitars, Ben Shepherd on bass and Matt Cameron (of Pear Jam) on drums. Cornell started out in 1984 on drums and vocals before Hiro Yamamoto took that over, and then Cameron replaced him years later. Jason Everman, (ex-Nirvana) also played with Cornell and Thayil for a while on the Louder Than Love album. I think most grunge artists and fans will agree that Soundgarden was one of the strongest and most popular bands on the grunge scene, and I haven't heard a truer statement. With Soundgarden, Cornell pulled out some awesome tracks, namely Boot Camp, Overfloater, Fell on Black Days, Hands All Over, Like Suicide and Tighter and Tighter, among others. Down on the Upside, I reckon is some of their best work, released in '96. Somewhat different to their more recognisable harder-core stuff, Down is mellower, with more notable Black Sabbath influence. Superunknown isn't too bad either. (Actually, it's great.) This album brought back their harder core sound, though darker in some areas, and brought Soundgarden to fame with the well known Black Hole Sun.

I try not to be too partial to bands on my beloved blog but I have to say that this band knew what music was about, and never seemed to lose their touch. Cornell also worked with the boys from Pearl Jam, mostly sans Eddie Vedder, and created a band called Temple of the Dog, equally cream-worthy, dedicated to long-time friend Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone who died of a heroine overdose. Tracks to check out on the self-titled album include Reach Down, 11 minutes long but worth every second. Eddie Vedder joins Cornell on vocals for Hunger Strike which is pure mellow grunge, and Say Hello 2 Heaven appeals to fans with an interest in classic rock influence.

After Soundgarden split in the late nineties, Cornell went solo with an amazing album called Euphoria Morning, which brought a tear to my eye with tracks titled Seasons and Steel Rain, which carry engaging reminiscing potential. The music is easy to listen to and follow, but with interesting transitions and time signatures which often weren't planned until after the songs were written, apparently. His vocal is power and softness in one, scathing and soothing, if possible. Uncanny. You go boys.

Thereafter, Zach de la Rocha left Rage Against the Machine, and Cornell took his place to front their new band Audioslave. Still writing and performing into the 2000's after Audioslave disbanded, Cornell released a newer solo album called Carry On, which unfortunately disappointed many. We wait in anticipation to see what he'll do next, and it'll be a sad day in rock history when he decides to retire.

At the Drive-In

Some people listen to At The Drive-In because of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Some people listen to At The Drive-In because of Cedric Bixler-Zavala. Some people listen to them because of their influential place in the music world for everyone who ever wanted to make an impression. Whatever your reason, any reason is good enough, as long as you check these guys out. They can definitely teach you something worth knowing about music.

Not that these two bands could ever be sucessfully compared in terms of skill (most of the members are the same anyway), but I find myself loving both At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta, while appreciating At the Drive-In for different reasons. That's not to say that The Mars Volta lacks the ability to create a well-rounded noise... It's more At the Drive-In's simplicity in some instances in comparison that gives me goosebumps every time I put on the Vaya or Relationship of Command. They formed way back 1993, and broke up in 2001, moving on to some great and not so great things, the the former being TMV and the latter, Sparta.

At the Drive-In should never be mistaken for one of The Mars Volta's "practice rounds." Out of El Paso, Texas, with two of the most talented sons of bitches to show themselves in the industry, (namely Cedric Bixler-Zavala on vocals and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on guitars, and let's not forget Jim Ward) I can hardly say this band was lacking. I'd say that what makes At The Drive-In sound that much better, is what Paul Hinojos does with the bass. He has such a way with his instrument; the effortless control he seems to exude makes me want to be a better player. I don't know who writes the music but their bass is the very reason why I keep coming back to give it another listen... It's just so friggin' sexy. I'd say their music is very much bass-driven, moody, with lots of random metaphorical devices that somehow work. Beside the slightly annoying emo-influence you can sometimes pick up, I've come to love ATD-I for their raw and powerful music. I just love this band. I think you will too.

To get a taste, listen to the Vaya EP and Relationship of Command. My favourite tracks (for the time being) are Quarantined, Enfilade, Mannequin Republic, Heliotrope and Rascuache.

Enjoy!