Bass Drum of Death, Glasslands Gallery, June 25, 2011

One of my big new loves of the year is Bass Drum of Death, from Oxford, Mississippi, USA. These southern boys can serve up the bad-ass garage rock & roll like no other band. Their album GB City was made for one simple reason: to play it loud and rock out like crazy. Bass Drum of Death started out as just John Barrett playing and recording everything himself, but has grown to first include Colin on drums for live gigs, and now, Print on bass. If you love rowdy rock & roll, you owe it to yourself to check out GB City and support the band. New York indeed loves Bass Drum of Death, as the packed Glasslands proved again on Saturday night. As you can see from my photos, the guys are all a blur onstage, and I think I need a faster, better camera for the next time I see them play, later this summer! They play almost all the songs off GB City and they are all amped up & absolutely crazy, so much fun to let loose to. Definitely catch these guys when they hit up your city on their tour this summer and fall. Check their BLOG for dates and news.

Heavenly Blows, Glasslands Gallery, June 25, 2011

Heavenly Blows is from New York City, Brooklyn to be exact, one of my favorite places in the world, and one of the best places to find excellent bands. DSK blog presents to you bands and musicians from all over the world, but Brooklyn bands hold a special place in my heart. Anyway, I went to see Bass Drum of Death and Hanni El Khatib play at Glasslands Gallery on Saturday night, June 25, 2011, and the band opening for them was Heavenly Blows, and their music is stunning. The guitar is lush, hollow-body, open, and big. The vocals are male-female duet sung gorgeously by Stephen and Alix. The tone of the music of Heavenly Blows is dark, yet melodic, and full of intrigue and imagery.
I bought the 3-song EP the band was selling at the gig, and it's just not enough. I would love to hear more recordings from Heavenly Blows. The 3 songs, White Horses, I Will Always Be Here Tomorrow, and Sanctuary, can by heard HERE on the band's Sound Cloud page. If you are in New York and get the chance to see Heavenly Blows live (see their Facebook page for gig updates), you will not be disappointed: the sound is even bigger and more expansive live, with the addition of a Korg keyboard. Stephen's guitar work is top-notch, really great work with plenty of reverb to sweeten the songs dark edges. There is a perfect balance of rough and smooth within each song. Cheers to the band and I hope to hear much more from Heavenly Blows in the near future, the gig was quite a treat and the perfect compliment to the harder garage rock of the following bands of the night. My best to them!

Summer Solstice 2011

ALL of you who read this blog best be VERY familiar with Trip Inside This House blog and radio show. Please do not even say TRIP WHAT?! Just head on over to the annual Summer Solstice gift from Valis and contributors (music and artwork) and get your download now. HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!!! Take a TRIP, have some fun, I wish everyone a great summer season, and again, THANK YOU VALIS!!!!

Honeycomb Bones

Honeycomb Bones is a duo out of Hull, England. Craig plays bass, Michael sings and plays guitar, and they use a drum machine for beats. I have been listening to two EPs by Honeycomb Bones for a few weeks now, and honestly, I never feel quite satisfied. That is not a slight to the band, rather, it's a huge compliment, as I can't listen just once to these songs. This music is........everything you could want when you feel lustful, down, and dirty, crazy dirty and sexy. Their Evil Age EP is indeed quite evil, but the good type of evil, the evil that oozes an incredibly sexy vibe of lust and longing. These songs, especially Artificial Sweetener, with its slinky stomp and rough growl, are the soundtrack to, well, you figure it out.
We All Agree With You is an older EP released by the band before Evil Age, and the songs are rough and a bit messy in all the right places. The music has a dark edge, husky vocals over dirty guitars and more bang and stomp and attitude than I have ever heard packed into four songs only 2-3 minutes long each. Basically, Honeycomb Bones makes music that is everything this blog loves: dirty, sexy, raunchy rock & roll. Check it out, friends, and put this music on when you're in the mood.
Honeycomb Bones is currently working on some new songs for a future EP release, and also possibly releasing the phenomenal Evil Age EP on vinyl. All I can think of is......yum, thanks, boys. Keep it coming, please.