earthtone9

These splendid chaps surfaced around 1998ish, determined to provide a genuine alternative to the generic and derivative nu-metal shite that somehow kept floating over the Atlantic. The antagonistic, almost combative nature of their approach naturally led to a certain amount of tension in the band; and so in 2002 they dissolved in a mire of frustration and defeat, leaving behind three critically acclaimed LPs and a small but devoted following.

Which was all rather sad, really. But guess what? It's now 2011, no-one remembers who Coal Chamber were, and earthtone9 are back from the dead.

Which is all rather spiffing, really. I got to see them play last week, and they were fucking superb. They've recorded a few new songs and put them out as an EP - hopefully there'll be a new full-length to follow soon. And they've even made their best-of record Inside Embers Glow... available as a free download from their website. Click here for an earful of thinking-man's metal.

Website: http://www.earthtone9.co.uk/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/earthtonenine

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthtone9

Chronicles of Adam West

Actually, this was the greatest band in the world last week. For a variety of reasons, life outside of the interwebs has been somewhat shambolic, frantic and prone to exploding a bit of late.

Hence Chronicles of Adam West, who were shambolic, frantic and prone to exploding a bit - right up until the point that they exploded a bit. As far as I can tell they only recorded one short EP before calling it quits for reasons that I can't be bothered to research. The bio on their myspace page reads simply "WE'RE DEAD".

Just for your information, the following live performance is almost exactly how they sound on record. Which probably goes some way to explaining way the cast of Glee haven't quite around to raping it yet.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/coaw

Wikipedia: nope

And So I Watch You From Afar

It was inevitable that I would repeat myself on here at some point; and perhaps just as inevitable that this would be the band that caused that repetition. This week, the greatest band in the world ever is And So I Watch You From Afar.

Again.

I went to see them at Bristol's Cooler last week. The band were epic, the crowd rapturous and the entire experience utterly life-affirming; despite my getting kicked in face so hard by a crowd surfer that I couldn't eat properly for two days.

A somewhat pretentious band name and an absence of vocals naturally leads to accusations of post-rockness; and certainly in the early days there was more than a whiff of Pelicanesque riff-heavy soundscapes mixed in with more intricate Red Sparowesey guitar twinkling. But the tedious predictability of the quiet-loud post-rock-by-numbers template (I'm looking at you, Explosions In The Sky) just isn't consistent with ASIWYFA's output. They don't feel the need to dick about slowly building up to an epic sweeping crescendo; instead they go straight to epic, and then build that up into supreme Godzilla-sized epicness. And as they continue to grow and develop their sound, they become ever harder to define.

So I'm going to give up trying.

Go watch them live instead. It's the only way you'll understand.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_So_I_Watch_You_From_Afar

erwtenpeller

For years I had the faintly uneasy sense that something was wrong, missing, that my life was somehow devoid of something. Naturally I assumed it was my soul.

But then my friend Rich turned me onto this version of Jeff Wayne's musical based on H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, reinterpreted through the medium of dubstep.

Earth. Belonged. To the Martians.

No video for this, but you can listen to it here; and by following the instructions you can download the whole damn thing for free here.

Nice.

Website: http://www.erwtenpeller.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thebassbin

Wikipedia: nope