Young Widows

Q&A: Young Widows

Young Widows: In and Out of Youth and LightnessYoung Widows: In and Out of Youth and Lightness (Temporary Residence, 4/12/11)

Young Widows: “Future Heart”

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Though not a strict departure from previous material, the new album by post-hardcore outfit Young Widows displays a different phase of the band’s career. Calling it a “progression” might apply regressive traits to its first two albums, but In and Out of Youth and Lightness turns down the Cro-Magnon wallop and continues the band’s history of accomplished noise rock.

Its last album, Old Wounds, was a mostly live recording by Kurt Ballou (Converge, Coliseum, Pygmy Lush). In contrast, the new album was produced by the band and Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket) at The Funeral Home in its hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Guitarist and vocalist Evan Patterson joined us to answer a few questions about the band’s songwriting process and what bands people should check out.

How do you describe your music?

I don’t, but if you were a clerk at a gas station, I would tell you that we are a rock band. That’s as far as I can go.

On the new album, there’s a bit of a weird blues influence — less Jesus Lizard pummel and more of a Liars atmospheric vibe. What did you want to do new or different? What did you want to keep the same?

Music has to progress. There are no specific influences. The goal with this album was to find my voice, and that was wholeheartedly achieved. Lyrically, [they’re] the heaviest and most affective songs that I’ve created. Old blues has that same effect on me. It speaks to me. The bridge between modern rock music and blues is a short one, and it’s inevitable that those characteristics will be riding in the same vehicle to achieve certain goals.

Trap Them

Record Review: Trap Them’s Darker Handcraft

Trap Them: Darker HandcraftTrap Them: Darker Handcraft (Prosthetic, 3/18/11)

Trap Them: “The Facts”

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To appreciate Trap Them‘s new album, Darker Handcraft, it helps to start with the Filth Rations EP from 2010.  Trap Them has consistently charged its hardcore side into a collision with metal that refuses to get dragged down in grime.

The four songs on Filth Rations give as sure a sign as ever that the band’s craft and tightness can always match its sheer impatience. The third track, “Dead Fathers Wading In The Bodygrounds,” keeps up a gimpy, stumbling trudge as the drums gradually thud harder, and vocalist Ryan McKenney bellows himself up to a pitch that invokes scalding tears and unforgivable injuries. There’s a sense that Trap Them is in a desperate frenzy to repeatedly overload their songs, lest a single McKenney roar or screech of feedback from the guitar go unused. Even the cramped handwriting of the lyrics in the EP’s liner notes looks more like a dozen rows of snaggled teeth than a sequence of words.

In retrospect, it’s as if the band that made Filth Rations was gearing up to achieve a height of directness and focus. Darker Handcraft is a plenty accurate introduction to Trap Them; it once again captures a sonic force that’s both furiously commanding and remains bitterly hurt no matter how feverishly it tries to expiate its demons. This time, though, that force resolutely says, “Look, one fucking thing at a time.”

Kylesa to release Spiral Shadow on Season of Mist

Just a year and a half after Static Tensions, psych-sludge quintet Kylesa will release Spiral Shadow, its fifth full-length album, on October 26 via Season of Mist. With the album, Kylesa’s cross-genre sound jumps from Prosthetic Records, which put out its last three discs.

The new album was produced again by Kylesa’s guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope, who has manned the boards for Baroness and Withered.

Converge releases limited-edition seven-inch

On My Shield, Converge’s self-released 7” single, is now available in Europe on limited supply.  With only 3,000 copies available for distribution, each copy of the release features a laser etching, and is available in three different color variations (each limited to 1,000 copies).

William Elliott Whitmore

William Elliott Whitmore: Poetic Discontent

After three albums that touch on personal topics, the scratchy, soulful material of folk singer and banjo player William Elliott Whitmore gets a thematic overhaul, angling toward subdued political themes.

Converge: Rules Were Made to be Broken

Jacob Bannon, lead singer and founding member of Converge, is a man who likes a challenge. In fact, “challenge” seems to be his favorite word; it crops up again and again—how Converge seeks them out, how the band provides them, and how we need them as human beings. Ease is a dirty word in Converge’s universe.

The band’s music is, of course, challenging. Not content to be just fast, brutal, and dark, Converge has consistently, and successfully, pushed every boundary in any category you wish to place it: hardcore, metal, thrash, punk. None of these will fit neatly on Converge.

Weekly Music News Roundup

Holy collaboration — Mike Patton and Justin Broadrick are contributing to a score by Fog‘s Andrew Broder and Adam “Doseone” Drucker for a semi-autobiographical “photographic novel” by Alan Moore.  Whoa.

In other news, The Dillinger Escape Plan has signed to Season of Mist, Eyedea & Abilities has a new album, two Rodriguez-Lopez brothers (not Omar) are releasing a debut full-length, and Múm will release a new disc in August.  This and more is in the roundup.

What We’re Seeing This Weekend: Mastodon, Converge, Peanut Butter Wolf

It’s a great few days for metal in Chicago as Mastodon, Converge, Kylesa, and Russian Circles each performs new material.

Fans of softer fare have great options as well as hip-hop producer Peanut Butter Wolf, chicha enthusiasts Chicha Libre, and post-jazz/jam guitarist Charlie Hunter hit town.

Weekly Music News Roundup

Hella returns as a duo; Converge posts a studio preview of a new song; Busdriver, Shining (Norway), Om, Russian Circles and Aphex Twin all have new albums on the way.

Weekly Music News Roundup

It’s a rough week for independent music as Touch and Go cuts manufacturing and distribution services for 20 labels, Daptone‘s studio is robbed, and An Albatross still needs a touring guitarist.

In better news, Sunn O))) and Dave Douglas announce new albums, Farmers Market will perform with a symphony, and Ed Gein is playing together again.