David Ignatius Walsh was the hometown hero, a lion of the pre World War II Boston Irish community. He had served as Governor of Massachusetts followed by five terms in the U.S. Senate, the first Irish Catholic to hold the post. He was a confirmed bachelor, somewhat of a dandy with a penchant for flashy [...]
US Christmas hails from the Appalachian mountains in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, and plays a brand of psychedelic, high-volume blues rock that evades easy classification. Founded in Marion, NC, in the summer of 2002, the band now approaches a decade of playing, recording and evolving. Their fifth album, Run Thick in the Night, was released in Fall 2010, and the band follows it
Lotsa stuff happened over the long weekend while we were away, so yesterday we did our best to catch ya'llup. But Vic Vaughn would never leave you hanging, and as such here's his take on all the new metal hitting the waves this week. Autopsy – Macabre Eternal (Peaceville) Death metal forefathers Autopsy formally announced [...]
The Valley Path is your local bar's alt-country band, in the aftermath of some tragedy, jamming, having just discovered both pot and Black Sabbath. US Christmas (USX) are Allison Krause gone stoner/dark psychedelic rock. Discerning minds might have already postulated this, seeing their logo, aka the "deer ouroboros." It's one song, 39 minutes long. Like Sleep's Dopesmoker . Or Roareth's Acts I-VI. Not a true 39-minute epic, like Roareth , not a great 5-minute song the band was too stoned [...]
A couple of weeks ago, we said that NY juggernauts Batillus were headed down to the southern reaches of the country with fellow New Yawkers Hull. Sadly, even though we've been bowing down to Furnace, we had no concrete dates to report then. But today is your lucky day, because now we do! They'll be doing shows throughout the Northeast and mostly the Southern U.S. with U.S. Christmas, Pack of
We have a few giveaways for this first week of February: You can see Monotonix at King's in Raleigh on Feb. 3. This Israeli garage rock band on Drag City Records has toured in the past with Dinosaur Jr . and Silver Jews . Deerhoof is playing at King's in downtown Raleigh on Feb. 6. They have been noted as influencing bands like Sleigh Bells , Dirty Projectors , Of Montreal , St. Vincent , and Sufjan [...]
The Hell's Angels long had global ambitions. From their humble beginnings in 1948 as a pack of thrillseeking and hellraising ex-airmen out of Fontana, California to near mythic ,and certainly iconic, status under the leadership of Sonny Barger out of Oakland less than 20 years later with chapters all over the United States. Today The [...]
I hope you have arisen from your food comas and have come to this website in search of good humor. Because that's what I plan to ejaculate into your eyes today as I prepare my annual "What's Evan Thankful For?" list. If you're wondering how my Thanksgiving holiday went, don't bother. It started with a late-night drinking session with Pat and Nate on Wednesday at some East Side dive bars, and continued early Thursday morning with more booze and football. The booze propelled me through the day and - in the company of some friends - guided me safely into [...]
Feeling down? Trouble at home? Financial stress? Relationship problems? Then you should probably stay away from the new one from US Christmas (aka USX ). Or maybe you need to revel in your pain. If that's the case, then get this one pronto and feel the darkness. Run Thick In The Night is 13 lucky tracks in 77 minutes from these North Carolina depressionists. USX has been inflecting their brand of psychedelic gloom on the underground for 8 years and show no signs of letting up. USX is [...]
This week I have been taking a stroll down memory lane, recapping some of my most successful Sunday Mix Tapes. The next new one will be number 200, you know. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that this is a very exciting time for us all. Although I must say, if I'm still doing this after 200 more mix tapes I might have to consider making some big changes in my life. After mix tape number 100 I decided to make a change. It was January 14th, 2008 when I unilaterally (is that what you'd call [...]
At this point the critical reader will certainly offer an objection. "You have been inviting me," he will say, "to do nothing more or less than trust my senses: and this too on the authority of those impracticable dreamers the poets. Now it is notorious that our senses deceive us. Every one knows that; [...]
One of my three favorite active bands, US Christmas, has a new album coming out at the end of this month. It's called Run Thick In The Night , and I think it's their best album yet. Actually, I might like Eat The Low Dogs more, but if I do it's not by much. After I reviewed RTITN (read it here) , I inquired with the-powers-that-be about a possible interview. I was contacted by the band's chief guitarist and vocalist, Nate Hall, who told me to send him whatever questions I had. I didn't [...]
Appalachian psych metal collective U.S. Christmas is gearing up for the release of Run Thick in the Night, their fifth LP and the direct follow to 2008's intergalactic overdriven Eat the Low Dogs. On this run, the North Carolina/Tennessee six-piece enlisted the help of producer par excellence Sanford Parker for the 13-track Night, their second full-length on Neurosis' imprint, http://
A few months ago one of my friends was hanging out at South By Southwest (you all know how I feel about that shit, my friend is lucky I still speak to him), and I made him promise me that he would check out U.S. Christmas. I think they were playing a Neurot showcase. I don't remember. He sent me a text mid-way through their set saying that the band's percussionist was frying on mushrooms, and that the band sounded incredible. For the first time in my life, I was actually jealous of somebody at SXSW. I guess there is [...]
On October 4, 1994 a fire destroyed a condominium in Morin Heights a popular ski resort near Montreal . Upon arrival fire investigators found two charred bodies in the wreckage. A quick check indicated that the building was owned by Jo Di Mambro, 69, officials anticipated that he would be one of the victims and [...]
Most tribute albums are kind of a waste of time and money. Maybe there are a handful of worthy homages but for they're usually disappointing and you wind up rarely playing the entire record. The Hawkwind Triad is a different story all together. Here you get 3 bands, that all have a pretty strong Hawkwind influence in the first place, paying tribute and taking liberties with material that they clearly love. The participants are US Christmas, Minsk and Harvestman . Of the 3 bands, US Christmas probably play the [...]
With all of the amazing underground psychedelic/space rock bands to emerge in the last five years, a proper Hawkwind tribute album is about as overdue as a mainstream "indie" ban on Ivy League educated fag-pop albums. Hey, look at that, I think I just coined a new genre! Call me Simon Reynolds because I'm going to overuse the shit out of that phrase until its Wikipedia page (*snap* get on it, nerds!) credits me with its creation. A few years ago we got that awesome 73 series with White Hills, Mugstar, Acid Mother's Temple, Mudhoney, Kinski and Bardo [...]
Sorry this is going up so late on a Saturday night. It was "date night," so Nicci and I did the old 1950s dinner and a movie thing. Is that when dinner and a movie was a popular weekend thing for young people? Whatever, it was okay. We saw the movie about the time machine that's a hot tub. I forget what it's called. It was pretty funny in a cheeky, let's-make-an-endless-series-o f-blowjob jokes kind of way. Pardon me if I rush through the news update. Sorry in advance for the hypocrisy I will show by turning each news item I [...]
So, I am not going to SXSW this year, but if I was here is a selection of mp3s from bands I would want to see. I was able to whittle down the list to 40 songs. No easy task. Listen. Downloadables: Mossy (mp3) by Aa Raindrops in the River (mp3) by Autumn Owls And It Goes (mp3) by Bad Sports Big Weapons Anthem (mp3) by [...]
I don't post enough of my old diary excerpts on this website. How can you possibly get an idea of what drives a person like myself when you have only five years worth of blog entries to read? In order to understand me and my pathology, you really should reserve judgement until you've read everything I have ever written. I think my old LiveJournal should have its own wing in the Museum of Evan, which is currently under construction on some quiet corner of the Internet. Until the cyber-edifice has been completed, you'll have to settle for simple [...]
The Cargo Culte
Wine, Women And Song
MetalSucks
The Ripple Effect
crustcake
WKNC 88.1 FM
Swan Fungus
GIMME TINNITUS
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All Things Go Valentine’s Day Mixtape VII
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[Ones To Watch] – Introducing – Silver Tongues
