Dr. Zilog
Strip away the cookie monster vocals and downtuned, distorted guitars, it’s hard to imagine death metal still reading as death metal, but 8-bit duo Dr. Zilog manage to do just that. The Floridian sound-card tweakers make some pretty amazing original, NES tunes that are strangely compelling, catchy, and actually quite metal.
Tagged: death metal, Florida bands
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Crust bands have always taken from and given to other subgenres of extreme music — after all, Discharge was largely responsible for inspiring the grindcore bands that begat death metal. Until now though, most bands with a crusty feel to them never really appealed to me because they often were still too rooted in hardcore for my tastes. Thou from Baton Rouge, however, are the first crust band to offer epic, evocative riffs, carefully considered arrangements, and ear-shredding vocals that sound more demonic than merely angry. Drawing from black metal, doom, and heavy psych, the five-piece make a unique and crushing sound very much inspired by the swampy, sweaty, tragedy-stricken part of the world they come from while being very light-handed with their politics.
San Diego death metal band Cattle Decapitation are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Their schtick is pretty silly — they are anti-human vegetarians who pound out grinding, churning, vomitous songs about mankind getting its comeuppance (I can’t help but chuckle at song titles like Bukkake Tsunami). While fans of ultra-technical metal may look down their noses at these guys, the couple times I’ve seen them, they’ve been loads of fun, with frontman Travis Ryan convulsing and spitting like an epileptic in Times Square. Their latest album, The Harvest Floor, is their heaviest and most technically proficient yet, and while they may still be too silly for the metal elite, anyone who wants a good, entertaining slab of brutality should check them out.
Meshuggah are a much better band recorded than live, at least based on the only time I saw them a couple years ago when they were touring in support of Catch 33. But it’s hard to deny that their albums kick a lot of ass. Their latest video for the song Bleed off last year’s obZen is pretty intense, too.
Also by GERRY MAK
Ravensblight, an old-school-looking website featuring tons of free internet knick-knacks, has a bunch of cool spapercraft models, including the skull above. Hopefully no one tries to put candles in them.
October posters from Alamo Drafthouse
I wish people gave presents on Halloween rather than Christmas — then I’d have asked someone to get me these awesome posters by Alamo Drafthouse available through Mandotees. Read more
California-based drums-bass-piano trio Topaz Rags may or may not have tumbled out of a desert roadhouse, but their sound evokes the kind of gleefully sinister goings-on you might imagine beneath thrumming bug zappers and a flickering neon glow after the bartender has locked the front door and Bubba has donned his purple cloak.
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Photographer Daniel Augschöll is a founding member and editor of Ahorn Magazine, an online publication about contemporary photography. These works are from his latest series, Celestial Planisphere.
I’ve been waiting for a group like this. These New Puritans are balls in your face, 100 miles an hour, pure attack! A young British group that has most of the UK press in the palm of their skinny pale hands, they hint at a sonic mash of Bloc Party mixed with what White Rose Movement were supposed to be. What more could you want?
Listen to the These New Puritans track, Elvis.
Multimedia art group Raqs Media Collective create striking installations dealing with their complex relationship to the changes happening in their home country of India. Their categorization based on national identity, however, would make them chafe, as they reject traditional notions of nation state. The main concept scrutinized by the group is modernity itself, and the so-called progress it embodies. Read more
Of all the weird places the world has to offer, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia has to be one of the coolest. Literally. At 3,700m above sea level, it’s the biggest and highest salt flat in the world, where after dark, temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees celsius. The best way to explore the salt flat is to hire a 4WD and driver from the Uyuni township. En route, you can even stay at a Salt Hotel, where everything is, quite literally, made from salt: the chairs, beds, tables and even the walls. There’s no heating and the beds aren’t exactly ‘plush’, but it’s worth every salty second. Read more
Comedy troupe Summer of Tears edited itself into the classic ’80s movie Teen Wolf, starring Michael J. Fox, providing a new and gut-bustingly hilarious side-plot.
New York-based designer Ryan Sullivan’s shirts are printed in his studio in low runs. His latest batch works with geometric space on silky cotton poly blend shirts.
Law-abiding citizens by day, voracious visual junkies by night, the3some is a trio of superheroes who go all out to slug it out with the monotony manifesting their lives. The3some seeks collaborations with like-minded people and together, they strive to bust boredom. As you are reading this, the relentless battle continues.
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1970s and 80s Soviet Union buildings
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Almanac Market in Philadelphia is slightly pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. Offering fantastic bread, cheeses, produce, and cured meats such as sopressata and pepperoni, it was a great pit stop when my band played in town, and definitely more economical and tasty than hitting a greasy spoon for road snacks.
With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
The knuckle sandwich charm necklace by This Charming Man features two pieces of bread on either side of a tiny set of brass knuckle dusters. Rad huh? Get yours now for $140. Read more
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