Torche isn’t a metal band. There, I said it. That’s a thought I’ve entertained in the back of my head for a while now — but I couldn’t bring myself to broach the topic for fear of ridicule. “Torche…not a metal band? How dare you, dirty brigand. Have you ever listened to music?” Or at least that’s the reaction I imagine.
But seriously, after the Guided By Voices songs they covered, the general trajectory of Songs for Singles, and now with Kicking — the first track from Harmonicraft — it’s become apparent that Torche is no longer a “metal band.”
Sure, the riffs are present and there’s just enough peripheral sludge these days to fool you. That’s a given. Plus Meanderthal was flush with metal signposts. Then, when you take into account the band’s collective musical heritage (Floor, Shitstorm) and former label home (Hydra Head), I can see why you’d use the M word.
Really though, if you strip away the exoteric correlations and listen to Kicking, U.F.O or even Fat Waves — you can’t say, “This is obviously a metal band.” I’m not saying you’ll find no trace of metal in Torche these days. Far from it. Far, far from it. But calling them “metal” is no different than calling Fucked Up “hardcore” or Ted Leo “pop punk.”
Those assessments would be technically correct if you’re using a particular rubric. However, I think we all know that contrary to Central Bureaucrat No. 1′s opinion, being technically correct isn’t always the best kind of correct. At the very most, you could say that Torche is an aggressive, metal-informed rock band with pop tendencies. That’s definitely not the same as “metal band.”
Now that I’ve wasted your time with my inane conjectures, listen to Kicking. It’s a badass jam.
Here are my obtuse meanderings vis-a-vis the best records of the year. Please forgive my inanity.
11. Let’s Wrestle – Nursing Home
Nouveau ’90s rock was to 2011 what dance punk revivalism was to 2001. And of all the bands channeling classic slackercore this year, Let’s Wrestle did it the best.
10. Russian Circles – Empros
I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of instrumental rock — particularly metal. After all, it usually involves more noodling than a Pauls Valley fishing tournament. Be that as it may, Russian Circles created a moody, punishing, intricate and altogether entrancing slab of wax.
9. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo
If Kurt Vile is good enough for J Mascis and Bank of America, he’s good enough for me.
8. My Brightest Diamond – All Things Will Unwind
To say My Brightest Diamond mastermind Shara Worden has a flair for the theatrical is like saying Richard Simmons has a slight proclivity for daisy dukes. Her latest album ties together the pomp of Zaju opera and the fragile beauty of Faberge eggs with the panache of Sergio Bustamante.
7. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Wolfroy Goes to Town
In Wolfroy Goes to Town, you’ll find the same haunting mix of dread and oddly disquieted hope that is present in Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s unique account of Jesus: He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side … [He] lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that last revolution which is to bring all ordinary history to a close. It refuses to turn, and He throws Himself upon it. Then it does turn; and crushes Him. Instead of bringing in the eschatological conditions, He has destroyed them. The wheel rolls onward …
6. Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital
This is the audio equivalent of a mid-’80s high school rager of John Hughesian proportions. You know, the kind of party that involves slow-motion chase montages and low-key celebrity cameos. Except the party is in Estonia, and it’s not 1987. It’s 2011. You know, that old chestnut.
5. All the albums Robert Pollard released in 2011
If prolific musicians were actually Constructicons, then Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, Prince, Jack White and Johnny Cash would join together to form the rock and roll Devastator known as Bob Pollard. No one writes and records more than Pollard, who released six albums this year while touring heavily with a reunited Guided by Voices. Oh yeah, and he found time to record two GBV albums that aren’t even out yet. Here’s a list of the Fading Captain’s 2011 output:
Robert Pollard – Lord of the Birdcage
Robert Pollard – Space City Kicks Mars Classroom – The New Theory of Everything Boston Spaceships – Let It Beard Circus Devils – Capsized! Lifeguards – Waving at the Astronauts
4. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Sometimes M83 constructs such rich, vivid soundscapes that I wonder if the band is from France or from Remulak. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is no exception, although it could be a little shorter. That said, when a solid but bloated record contains a contender for song of the year, you can overlook the need for brevity.
3. Young Widows – In and Out of Youth and Lightness
You may know Young Widows as a groove-heavy noise band that worships at the altar of David Yow (not that there’s nothing wrong with that), but the Louisville trio’s latest offering shines a hazy spotlight on frontman Evan Patterson’s guitar work and vocals. I imagine this record is what it feels like to be hit with a tranquilizer dart during a barroom brawl at 3:47 a.m. on a Tuesday night.
2. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
Wild Flag’s debut record has all the feminine power and sexual undertones of the early-’90s riot grrl scene while resisting the urge to wax nostalgic. That’s doubly impressive, because Carrie Brownstein and the gang repurpose so many musical elements of the past that you’d half expect things to sound like the work of a deranged Mark Tansey devotee. But it doesn’t.
1. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life David Comes to Life is where the musical ferocity of Dag Nasty meets the conceptual grandeur of Devo meets the textual interplay and reflexivity of Derrida. Oh yeah, and the songs sound real good, too.
In the immortal words of Shang Tsung, it has begun. The first single from the upcoming Guided By Voices record Let’s Go Eat the Factory will be released Nov. 22. The Unsinkable Fats Domino will be backed with We Won’t Apologize for a seven-inch that can be pre-ordered from Matador as we speak. Bob Pollard was also kind enough to make …Fats Domino available online.
While I’ve only heard this track, I’m feeling good about the album, which is out Jan. 1. Given his late-career resurgence, Pollard couldn’t have picked a better time to record a GBV record with the band’s “classic lineup.”
Based on interview snippets and a few quick conversations with band members, I had a sneaking suspicion this would be coming. The recently un-reunited Bee Thousand-era Guided By Voices will be releasing a new record. Let’s Go Eat the Factory will be out Jan. 1. Bam!
UPDATE: Bob Pollard’s right hand man, Rich Turiel, has been supplying more details on Twitter since the announcement. While Turiel has proffered plenty of interesting tidbits, here’s the most interesting of all: The band already has plans to do another record together!
The latest — and last — album from Glen Campbell tops the list of new releases this week. And I’m not just saying that because he covered a Guided By Voices song…but that doesn’t hurt, either.
Other stuff worthy of your time includes the Brian Jonestown Massacre singles collection, as well as Male Bonding, Beirut and Hella. I’m also intrigued by the Cymbals Eat Guitars, Icarus Line and Tommy Keene records, but I haven’t spent much time with them.
Oh yeah, and I was right. That Tom Wopat jam from a couple weeks back is indeed all kinds of bangin’. Just a good ole boy.
I know it’s already 2011, so this is a little less timely, but I figured we’d start off the new year lightly before getting back into the full swing of things. It’s looking like 2011 will include some potentially awesome (read: potentially awful) projects from us, and we’ll try to celebrate our 10th birthday in style.
All that said, here’s what 2010 looked like on my end. I hope it was as good a year for you, too. I was asked to do this year in review alongside some other music folks in Louisville for Peter Berkowitz of the Velocity, a local alt-weekly. I’m lazily re-printing it here for you:
I think 2010 for me — and for many others — was marked by the concerts I saw. And not just any concerts, mind you. I’m talking about bands I never thought I’d get to see: Guided By Voices, Descendents, Cap’n Jazz (both their first and last reunion shows), Devo, Snapcase and maybe a couple others I’m forgetting because of the sheer number of shows I’ve seen. It was certainly a whirlwind 2010 in that regard.
But it wasn’t all teary-eyed reunions and boxing matches with Ted Leo. In 2010, Buzzgrinder hosted its first SXSW party with over 20 bands, celebrated nine years of ruining music for everyone, broke some news stories, had a hand in bringing some killer bands to town (Titus Andronicus, High on Fire, Torche, mewithoutYou, Murder By Death to name a few), made some people mad and helped Glenn Danzig prolong his memeness on the nets.
All that said, I think the best part of 2010 for me was turning online relationships I’d forged through Buzzgrinder into real-world friendships. Sometimes when you do something day in and day out for years — regardless of your resolve — you wonder, “Why? What purpose does this even serve?”
Then you actually spend time with awesome people who share a similar outlook on life and have found a genuine camaraderie with you and other folks because of a dumb website that probably sucks. That’s why you do it. That’s what it’s all about.
And here are my top albums of the year. Not in any particular order, and no specific number. They’re pretty much just the handful of records I listened to this year that I still remember:
– Titus Andronicus — The Monitor
– Coliseum — House With a Curse
– J. Roddy Walston and the Business — J. Roddy Walston and the Business
– Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore — Dear Companion
– Ted Leo and the Pharmacists — The Brutalist Bricks
– The Seedy Seeds — Roll Deep
I happened to spot Dogfish Head Brewery found Sam Calagione wearing a Melvins shirt in the documentary Beer Wars while perusing Netflix late one night. Sensing an appreciation for music that doesn’t suck, I got in touch with Sam and asked if we could talk about his love for music. Little did I know at the time that Dogfish Head was getting ready to premiere a show on the Discovery Channel called Brew Masters, which starts Nov. 21.
When I was watching a beer documentary and all of a sudden I see a Melvins shirt, it was surprising.
Yeah, you probably don’t see too many of those shirts on documentaries about beer, right?
Exactly, so when I see the head of one of my favorite breweries wearing a shirt like that, it was a nice surprise. Was there there any specific reason you decided to wear the shirt, or was it just what you grabbed out of the closet that day?
You know, it’s like we don’t do any advertising outside of beer publications, and unless you’re a raging beer geek — and that’s a term of endearment — you would never see what we put ads in. So it’s like if we do get opportunities to get some kind of media coverage type thing, we try to pay that forward with other bands or companies that I believe in — and that I also know aren’t going the traditional route, where it’s all about advertising — and just quietly try to put the word out about stuff we believe in through a genuine approach.
So you’re supporting kindred spirits, then.
Yeah, we’re interested in communities and we don’t think about it like we’re in competition or anything, because we love all the other craft breweries. And we really look at the other giant breweries as, well, as not even in the same industry as we are. They’ve basically commodified this generic light lager beer, and they just kind of sell widgets as far as we’re concerned. And we’re trying to make something really flavorful, and it’s kind of like indie music.
:: If you live in NYC and your New Year’s Eve plans don’t involve attending the recently-announced Guided By Voices show at Irving Plaza, then you are lame. Unless you’re planning to do that thing where you climb the exterior of a huge building because the cops are all busy at Times Square. Then you’re alright.
:: Rolling Stone has a big spread on Conan O’Brien in their upcoming issue, and they’ve posted an excerpt online. It’s one of those things that fools you into think Rolling Stone doesn’t suck. But then you remember the truth.
:: Billy Ray Cyrus is filing for divorce. That means one of the most exemplary models of the classic American nuclear family has been destroyed. Society will almost certainly crumble in the wake of this announcement.
:: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, Mogwai’s incisively-titled new album, will be out Feb. 15 on Sub Pop.
:: Mosh Rebellion is looking for kindred spirits who think “hardcore dancing” has ruined mosh pits. I’m honestly not sure what has ruined mosh pits, but I know what will save them: Jesco White!
I thought about writing a virtual novella to describe what I experienced when Guided By Voices brought its reunion tour to the Cincinnati area for what was essentially a hometown show at the Southgate House.
Then I realized it was one of those ordeals where mere written words would never capture the way geographic, emotional, ideological, social, musical, historical and alcoholical factors coalesced into what a friend rightly termed “a religious experience.” The 61 pictures below don’t even do it justice, and they’re supposed to be worth 1,000 words each!
But do look on, dear readers, because these photos provide a glimpse of how hard Guided By Voices rocked, rolled and high kicked on Oct. 15.
Photos: Obits at the Black Cat
Photos: The Promise Ring at The Metro
Photos: Monotonix at Fun Fun Fun Fest
Photos: Valient Thorr at Fun Fun Fun Fest
Photos: Danielson, Welcome Wagon at The 930 Listening Room