Clams Casino

My past two or so weeks, musically speaking, have been Clams Casino on repeat, punctuated occasionally by Leatherface and, days prior, the new Abominable Putridity. Clams Casino is a hip hop producer, as well as a disgusting food.


Yes. So, basically, the quick breakdown of elements at work here, that I've dreamed up, are as follows: imagine Supahotbeats bone-shaking percussiveness (real word?), buried underneath the glitchy fog of Tim Hecker. That's more or less what it's like. Hypnotic, subterranean soundscapes, enhanced with haunting, tweaked samples, with big, burly beats fighting it out. If ghosts smoked pot, they would probably listen to this. Comparing Clams to a lot of producers out there, currently, I'd say Clams is what Incantation would be to At the Gates, a little murkier and reverbed out. Also, much like in the metal world, there are more Incantation-esque producers these days, as well, if you catch my drift. Clams is one that I like.



He's also done tracks for Soulja Boy and Lil B. Surprise!

Mixtape

SoundClaowwwd

-W.F.

Naw, Dude

First, here's three brief reviews of movies I hate

I Love You, Man (Dreamworks, 2009)
Two of my favorite comedic actors, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, star two annoying idiots who spend their time together doing incredibly unfunny things. The highlight of the film is when John Favreau is vomited on -- had I known that during my first watch, I wouldn't have sat through the next hour or so left.

Away We Go (Focus Features, 2009)
Jim from "The Office," and Maya Rudolph very boringly search for a new home, traveling to different locales to meet characters with even less depth than theirs. No laughter. No emotional reactions elicited, period.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
With a painfully conceited and self-conscious flourish, Miranda July (writer, director, lead actress) attempts to savagely beat her viewers with a Quirky Stick, just in case Garden State flew a little too low under the radar for you ("Check out my profound performance art!"). Also starring, an ensemble of emotionally dead caricatures, which are supposed to represent human beings.



So, speaking of being tortured through art, I present Gnaw from New York. I don't know much about the band, other than that they feature the vocal talents of the guy from Khanate, and that their sound could be described as harsh, heavy, caterwauling noise. If you like Khanate, Neurosis' more industrial moments, Laudanum, or any other equally hideous sounding band, you'll be all over this, because this is completely unsettling and disgusting filth.




Everybody is fucking but you

Conspiracy Records

-W.F.

The New Abominable Putridity is Out, BRO

Don't act like you're not at least a little excited. In case you haven't heard, the long-awaited followup to whatever the Hell their first album was called, featuring Matti Way (ex-Disgorge, ex-Everything) has leaked or has been released. Whichever came first. There are a bazillion instances of it popping up everywhere and you should snag it because you desire it and you know that you do. I'd say more but I'm on the way out the door to go play in the sleet for money.


Gurgle/chug
Breeeeaarrrrarawararrrrggghhhh(?)
Buydat (Brutal Bands)
-W.F.

EDIT -- Post Script

1/29
This shit rules and I wish I was listening to it today while processing hundreds of glass returnables. Pick this up. Do. It.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Fingering US President Barack Obama

heheheheheheheheh

-W.F.

Hired

So, as I may have mentioned, I'm back to work at a grocery store I part-timed at for three years, and it is just uncanny how nothing has changed since I left (like how I'm the only person willing to clerk the bottle room and accept returnables) and quickly I'm picking everything back up. The pay isn't great and I'm not getting a lot of hours right now but the feeling of knowing that a paycheck is in my future is a relief, frankly.

Since I'm still drafting that 2011 Retrospective (yeah yeah, I know) and since I actually ended up working later than I was scheduled, I'm less interested in publishing that right yet. Here's something else.


Fallujah are an interesting band. A few years back, I liked Leper Colony (2009) enough to feature one or two tracks semi regularly on my radio show for a few months. Fuck if I remember what deathcore clearinghouse blog I found it on at the time. This was self-released. Basically, in addition to bringing a brutish, yet highly technical skill set to the table, Fallujah also managed to weave in a cold and strange sense of moroseness (hence where the "blackened" description of their music comes in). It's still a neat little EP that I listen to every now and then, even if some songs are a little bloated with dull single-note chug-fests. I'd still ultimately recommend it, that's for sure.

Anywho, in November they released a full length on Unique Leader (!!) called The Harvest Wombs. I've only listened to it maybe twice since then and I'm still on the fence about it (leaning positively). If you're into this current crop of technical, progressive West Coast death metal/deathcore, (Burning the Masses, The Faceless, et al), or Decrepit Birth (to whom many of these young bands would seem indebted to some degree) you'll definitely like it. If you're not crazy about that, the qualities that I found most interesting about them initial still ring true, for the most part. There is a certain knack for atmosphere this band has that a lot of their peers lack. The new album definitely cranks up the progressive riffometer up a few notches, which can be a little bit of a distraction for some. This is a noodle fest, like everyone showed up to the potluck with noodles.



Either way, it's cool to see this band getting more recognition and success. Give them your money.




Buy [Unique Leader]
Leper Colony
Here is an animated gif

Go fucking Patriots
-W.F.

Meanwhile on the Internet...

An unholy junta of Lars Ulrich and the Man have shut down Megaupload, a day after the SOPA/PIPA blackout. I've heard rumors that Mediafire is next, which is frankly disturbing.


If this is the way it's going to be, I'd first like to bid a fond farewell to Megaupload -- I can't even imagine how many great albums I've gotten off of there throughout the years.

Second, to the groups trying to shut the free exchange of art down: You fuckers can't win. Even if you kill Megaupload, Mediafire, Rapidshare, The Pirate Bay, etc etc etc, something else will spring up in its place. Hell, Soulseek is still active. In the spirit of this post, I'm going to go download some bad, major label album made by some jaded millionaire and I would like to see someone stop me.

Suck it.

Time's article

-W.F.

EDIT, POST-SCRIPT

...and wouldn't you know it, hours later Anonymous brought down the Universal Music and Department of Justice websites, respectively, with one of those directed denial of service attacks, or whatever those are. Ha! HA!

Stalling For Time While I work on the 2011 Favorites, I mean "Zombie Grinder"

Briefly...

There's terrific playoff football on the tube these days

It's been single-digit weather here and there for about the past week. No major complaints, but uhhh, it is what it is.

I've got job orientation bright and early on Wednesday and I'm damn relieved to actually be starting to make money again

Bammo!


Inhume are a Dutch grinding death metal band (or whichever is your preferred combination of those modifiers) who have been around since the nineties. I didn't hear them until maybe late 2010(?) by way of their awesome full length from that year, Moulding the Deformed. Like when I first heard Funebrarum, the first description that came to mind was "old school yet still brutal as hell."

(Quick story: About a week ago, I was actually listening to this on the bus on the way to getting tattooed a little bit. Later that day, I couldn't help noticing the Inhume sticker on the artist's mini-fridge. Naturally, I had to ask and it turned out the dude had one time played a show in the Netherlands that featured an Inhume side-project. Funny coincidence. He actually even had a spare patch lying around that he gave to me. Woo! Time in.)

In short, this a necksnapping soundtrack to elbow-dropping a bunch of little brats in Starbucks who wont shut up while you're trying to read the news. The riffs aren't really that complex or anything, it's all just straight forward, chainsaw tremolo picking and power chords over classic grind beats. Special mention for the vocals, which combine burly grunts with hideous Corpsegrinder-esque shrieks.




Turns out there's also a flash game of the same name as the title of the above song, which Inhume contributed a song to. Dunno which came first.

Check this shit out and cough up some money.

Inhume official

"Moulding...[Import]"

"Moulding... [EU]"

Trial version