RATM becomes Melt-Banana

The cassette player in my car stopped working a few weeks back. It plays songs at about 4 times their original speed. I've listened to Renegades of Funk (RATM), almost always while driving. So the tape player getting screwed didn't stop me from listening to it. I still play it everyday, side a and side b. The extra revolutions make RATM sound like a groovy Melt-Banana. You should try this at home. On a side note, I listened to The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta just now, twice back to back. Wow! Great prog music. Downloading Amputechture ...

Lightning Bolt

Noise. Noise at its loudest. That is how one can describe the music of the drum/bass duo of Lightning Bolt. All efforts to describe their sound in rational terms will eventually prove useless. I write this at a point where I’ve been listening to only LB for more than two weeks. Further listening means you are risking permanent damage to your ear drums. The crazy, incredibly precise drumming of Brian Chippendale leaves one gasping for air. The evil distorted bass of Brian Gibson is definitely going to get you and rip that head of yours. How does one get the idea of replacing one of the bass strings with a banjo string? Wreaking havoc with the sounds thereby produced. The vocals are sung into a telephone receiver. This is one evil evil band, meant for the hardest of the hard-core noise freaks.

I’ve also been incessantly listening to Black Pus, a solo side project of Brian Chippendale, who also writes comic books when he’s not jamming. The first two Black Pus albums are available for free download at http://www.fauxfetus.net/faux/bands/blackpus/ . I find it absolutely impossible to try and describe the sound in Black Pus. Go ahead and find it for yourself!

Don Caballero

is one of my new favourites. Their second album "Don Caballero 2" is essential for anyone who calls themselves a math rock/metal fan. They are an extremely unique instrumental band with a brilliant drummer in the form of Damon Che. I wouldn't suggest their first album "For Respect" to a newbie, simply because the songs are much less ass kicking compared to "2".