Kevin Hufnagel - ukulele #14 from Kevin Hufnagel on Vimeo.
Brooklyn's underground metal scene is having a three way "guitar god" type of event. Mick Barr (Krallice), Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Gorguts) and Andrew Hock (Castevet) and each playing a solo set at Zebulon (258 Wythe Ave) this coming Monday, August 29th in Brooklyn.
Mick will probably be bringing out some of the weirdness from his brand new solo album Coiled Malescence (which Decibel is streaming in full here). Kevin is playing a solo ukulele set (really). Andrew is most likely going to be bringing out some of the droning guitar work found on his Soundcloud page (and not to be missed, he has some wonderful free jazz-like pieces up on his MySpace page).
Despite the G3 jokes surrounding the Facebook event page, this show looks to be more like something found at The Stone than anything "Satch" related.
After the jump we've assembled a menagerie of examples. Take a look and come out Monday night to support another side of NYC's metal scene.
SoloGuitar by andrew hock
August 25, 2011
MICK BARR, KEVIN HUFNAGEL AND ANDREW HOCK TO PLAY SOLO SETS
August 16, 2011
LIVE REVIEW: MASAKARI AND ALPINIST
Masakari and Alpinist
When: Monday, August 8, 2011
Where: Blast-O-Mat, Denver, Colo.
With: Beneath, Edge Breaker
By Andrew Wilhelm (Denver)
I've driven between Denver and Chicago before. Fun, joyous, enriching - that stretch is none of those things. If you're without podcasts, music, or one hell of a storytelling passenger on I-80 and most of I-76, boredom will cause the abyss to stare back at you. At least I could recharge in Omaha for a night. Cleveland 'cake favorites Masakari and German hardcore unit Alpinist did not have that blessing. They had to overnight it from Chicago to Denver - Hot Doug's, Kuma's, and getting a brother elected into some form of office were not in either bands' itineraries. On top of that, friend of the 'cake Carmelo Espanola informed us that the band's Chicago show at the Albion House was wild, mainly due to firecrackers* on the floor Weekend Nachos' Byron throwing logs into the mosh pit.
Could Denver provide an equally raucous time? No logs or firecrackers were chunked, but we made Masakari and Alpinist's drive worth their while.
While the show's Facebook page indicated the show would start at 8:30 and the venue has been "actually starting on timeish these days," punk time was still the policy. Once the show actually did start, things moved pretty briskfully. Ungoogle-ables Beneath, billed as a local "e-beat" band played first. I got a strong Ecocide (soon to be R.I.P.) vibe from them - the best parts of crust and metal mixed together. With a tri-vocal Cerberus, system smashin' riffs and on-point drumming, these are some dudes (and a dudette) to watch in the future. Seriously, if anyone knows of a web presence for this band, send it our way! Especially if you're actually in the band.
There is really not much to say about the next band, locals Edge Breaker, because I am not sure they even played for 10 minutes. Funny that a band with that name played a no-booze, no drugs venue. Decent powerviolence, that's all there really is to it.
Overnighting a 16-hour drive will make you want to kill everything - poseurs and diehards indistinguishable - within your sight. Masakari did, metaphorically. Possessed by the ghost of His Hero is Gone and a powder-keg of sociopolitical angst, they laid waste to monotheism and breed restriction laws in their melodic crust. They hadn't lost a beat since their devastating set at SXSW, and have only gotten more vicious since. A large part of this was due to that the Blast-O-Mat is a more natural venue for these dudes. There's a portrait of "DOES MARCELLUS WALLACE LOOK LIKE A BITCH?!" Samuel L. Jackson in the garage-cum-rockhaus, and it's a nearly perfect artistic representation and complement to the aural beating Masakari gave us. The intimacy of the space concentrated their power into more carnage per square inch. We were definitely sweating, no second guessing that.
It must be intimidating to be traveling in a van in a country you've never been to, but Alpinist came off as appreciative, not nervous. Like Masakari, they are a politically pissed unit, and no compromise was made in their performance. Not even driving through Nebraska gave them sloth. The touring partners were not mirror images, however. While Masakari take a page from the HHIG/Tragedy book, Alpinist incorporate more atonality and skronk in their plan of attack. While there are some ambient bits and pieces on their records, those didn't show up in their live set. Would have been cool, but overall not a huge loss. They do not lack on the crust, though, and it's easy to see why Masakari and Alpinist teamed up. In the middle of their set, they thanked the crowd for coming out and expressed how the tour started as a mere series of emails between the two bands, never realizing it would culminate into traveling cross-country. No egos, no bullshit, just some solid tunes being jammed out. Guess there has to be SOMETHING good about the internet, right?
No rest was in store for the traveling bands despite a successful Denver campaign - they were on route to California not long after the show ended. No time for The Cherry Cricket, The Uber Sausage, the mountains or the many dispensaries around here. Make sure to catch them on tour, and make sure to give them a warm welcome if you do.
Masakari/Alpinist Summer Tour 20118/16 San Fransisco, CA @ The Mezzanine- Power of the Riff w/ Pentagram, Pelican, Early Graves, Baptists, and Aeges
*Side note: When Carm told me about the firecrackers, I had to ask him to clarify. I hang around too many potheads.
8/17 Portland, OR @ Rotture w/ Lebanon, Elitist and Raw Nerves
8/18 Seattle, WA @ Neumos- Power of the Riff w/ Noothgrush, Pelican, Winter, All Pigs Must Die, Aeges
8/19 Olympia, WA @ Eagles Ballroom - New Direction Fest w/ Articles of Faith, Resist and Exist, Migraine, and more!
8/21 Minneapolis, MN @ Rat Hole w/ Enabler and Mares of Thrace
8/22 Appleton, WI @ BFG
8/23 Milwaukee, WI @ The Wheel House w/ Protestant
August 8, 2011
LIVE REVIEW: TORCHE AND BIG BUSINESS CATCH THAT ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH
Torche
When: July 31, 2011
Where: Bluebird Theater, Denver, Colo.
With: Big Business, Helms Alee
By Andrew Wilhelm (Denver)
Torche and Big Business: both are bands I passionately adored, fell out of favor with, and fell back in hard. Why did I abandon them in the first place?
Love's a fucking battlefield. And war is beautiful, as Torche once said on "Charge of the Brown Recluse."
Due to some list issues, or as I would refer to it on Twitter #whitepeopleproblems, I missed the first part of Helms Alee's set. Outside the venue, the Seattle trio sounded like a wash, but once I sorted out my credentials, I was most digging them. Like their tourmates, they realize that heavy and catchy are not mutually exclusive, but their angle involves taking a great deal from their hometown's heritage (if one can call it that). They did a better Mudhoney than when I actually saw Mudhoney! I wish I could have seen more of them, but I will make it a point not to miss them next time they roll through.
Up until this fateful evening, I never accepted the fact that Big Business added a guitar player. For whatever stupid justification my college self prescribed, guitar had no place in the bass and drum (NOT drum-n-bass, that would be a sonic shift I wouldn't expect even Blake Judd to make) rockin' potion. Thankfully, I have been cured of that ignorance with no sign of remission. Scott Martin, Big Business' six-stringer, adds that extra touch of noise and uncertainty with his playing, but the bass and drums still drive the sound. Watching them, it's easy to see why they're the younger half of the Melvins. Even if Jarred Warren's fro is more "play that funky music white boy" than Sideshow Bob, he's got a lotta King Buzzo in his voice in case the King of Kings runs out of street cred to buy property with. Coady Willis, with his Ted Nugent/Michael Jackson/Esoteric headset mic, made the most of abusing his small kit. With a band so dependent on the almighty rhythm, he made everyone sweat - players and audience - and really added swing and propulsion to the set. That was the course du jour for the majority of the set, including such club bangers as "Grounds for Divorce" and "Focus Pocus," but "Guns" changed the game by concluding with layers upon layers of noise. My faith in Big Biz has been restored.
There was once a period where I never missed a Torche show and never raged less than 200%. NEVER. Then Juan Montoya left the band and I thought "they can't make it as a three-piece!" A back-to-back set of gigs in Chicago last year with a new second axeman, as well as this gig, not only convinced that Torche still have it, but they're a stronger unit now. Torche used to be all about volume, and while they are still quite loud, Steve Brooks must have gotten fed up with not hearing his own voice. They are much clearer than they used to be without losing an ounce balls. As I noted in my Floor live review a year back, Brooks' discovering of his inner cock rock has had him more fun to watch, and he kept it up for this show. In the weirdest display of brodom I've seen, someone threw a pair of cargo shorts on stage, and Brooks wrapped them around his mic stand ala Aerosmith. Real talk, though, I would rather be Brooks' groupie than Steven Tyler's.
Song-wise, their set is still quite Meanderthal heavy. That album has some of their strongest cuts - "Healer," "Across the Shields" and "Grenades" among them - so Decibel's 2008 AOTY is still spot on live. While I mentioned earlier that Torche have traded tinnitus-fostering practices for a more balanced sound, the bomb string didn't go unused. For the encore, Torche tickled their super-heavy side with "Recluse" and Z-tuning classic "Tarpit Carnivore." Lamentably, no "King Beef," as Brooks and co. must have not been feeling too Godflesh-y that day. It would have also been interesting to see the melancholic "Face the Wall," from Songs for Singles, temporarily mope up the party vibe.
My love is true, Torche and Big Business, and it will never flee again.
