Death Pedals- Welcome To The Restaurant EP

Oh hey, I'm back.  Blog times haven't been a priority due to Christmas/bands/producing/college, but all's pretty much back to normal now.  Hopefully.

ANYWAYS

When the new Death Pedals EP landed in my inbox, I was expecting math rocky shenanigans, for whatever reason (they are supporting Birmingham ball-busters Shapes tonight so...).  But instead, I had the pleasantly surprising experience of my expectations being violently humped.  A self-proclaimed "Death and Roll" (fuuuck yeah) band from London, Death Pedals produce very different noise to what I was expecting.  It's basically good old rock n' roll, the kind that had almost been scraped from my memory by too much Meshuggah- noisy power chords and shouting and stuff.  It's got that Jim Jones Revue kind of straight-up, good time energy, but without a) the whole "retro" thing; b) the whole complacent music-critics-love-us thing; c) any fucking trace of piano.  So yeah, I'm down with this.  So down with it I'm going to do a stream-of-consciousness review whilst I listen to it, oh my.

The Black Keys- El Camino

My involvement with the Black Keys has been pretty much limited to...well, it's been limited.  When I first heard their debut album (2002's The Big Come Up) some time ago, I absolutely loved its songs, sound and general aesthetic (check out the first track, which is awesome).  This was before I was really aware of the fact that the likes of Jack White had made gritty, pseudo-lo-fi blues a T In The Park-friendly package.  


As such, this was when the Black Keys had, naturally begun to expand their tunes into arguably poppier, more eclectic territories.  Music for bigger stages.  Like a hipster prick I was kind of put off, and, one kickass Letterman performance aside, this is the first time I've found the will to give a damn about the Black Keys since.

Tongue punching with A Fight You Can't Win

AFYCW: (L-R) Paul, Matthew, Lesley, Sander.  Photo by
Edi Pyczek

A Fight You Can't Win  have been one of my favourite Edinburgh bands for quite some time now.  They basically play clever pop songs very hard and very fast, and are bollock-crushingly fun to watch live.  On December 9th, they launched new single "Shout First/Last Words" with an awesome intimate gig at The Banshee Labyrinth, with support from fellow psychopaths Ultimate Slaymaster and Wildtype.  I headed along early to have a wee chat with them about their upcoming EP, offensive stage banter, and awesome tits.

3 70's Classics (That Are Actually Good)

At the risk of sounding like, well, a douchebag blogger, I think old music gets far too much credit for simply being old.  HOWEVER, deep down I'm not a complete modernist tool- here are some highly respected releases from the 1970s that you don't need to make excuses for.

How could "Lulu" have been saved?

The release of Metallica's ill-fated collaboration with Lou Reed has sparked a really weird fascination (for me anyway) with the meteoric fall from grace of a band who were once, well, a lot better than this.  But as the haters (a lot of whom no doubt thought of Death Magnetic as a "return to form" hahahahaaa) line up for miles to take an easy shot at this pretty abysmal failure, I can't help but think it could've been much, much less painful.  And here's 4 things that, as far as I'm concerned, could have saved Metallica, Lou Reed, and their remaining credibility.  (those less dorky than me should probably turn away about now)

Lady North, Black International, As In Bear (Sneaky Pete's, 16/11/11)

I first caught Lady North live some time ago at a gig I was reviewing for edRock.net.  They were opening support to The Fire & I, but ended up being a highlight, and I had a gushingly positive outlook for their future.  And sure enough, they've gained some convincing traction since, with a lot of press attention and a slot at the T Break stage at TITP this year.  So when I heard they were headlining a formidable line-up at one of my favourite Edinburgh venues, I was THERE.  It was part of a £3 night called "Survivalism", put together by local newbies Survivalist Records.  Pretty good way for them to kick things off I'd say, but yeah...

This Murder Of Angels- "Wake"

This Murder of Angels hail from here in Edinburgh and have been around in some form or other for a while now, but it's taken them a while to work out exactly who they were going to be- a post-hardcore influence and a penchant for big guitary shit has been the main constant, but after some line up shuffling their first 4-tune EP "Wake" (mixed by Jonny Renshaw of Devil Sold His Soul if that's your kinda thing) has finally dropped.  Better late than never.