Blog: The Ripple Effect

A hidden gem lies within Grouplove, the latest LA band worth discovering. Like Black Kids and Local Natives before them, Grouplove emerged as the next big band from Los Angeles. Living in Southern California I'm frequently exposed to numerous new, exciting bands like indie rock band Grouplove. Ever since I first heard their single "Colours" off their self-titled EP Grouplove last year I instantly fell in love with them. Released by Canvasback Music and Atlantic Records last January, I knew it would be a matter of time before they debut their first album. Grouplove stands as my favorite [...]

Nephelium is a phenomenal band. They seamlessly blend new techniques with tried-and-true methods of classic death metal. Being labled as "Metal juggarnauts" suits Nephelium , the way they combine classic death metal growls with punishing guitars, and unmerciful drumming. Their newest album, Coils of Entropy harks back to classic death metal bands such as their influencers Death, and Suffocation . They're not just brutal, but slam your head against the wall fantastic. With vocals that often break down to animalistic roars and screeches, punching guitar riffs backed by some of the best double [...]

Unlike most classic/ famous tenor sax players, I have over a dozen "setups," or mouthpiece and reed combinations; my mood changes so much, and so often (family history of mood disorders, you see) that I have a ton of different sounds I want to emulate at any given time; no one sound, is enough in and of itself. I play tenor sax the most often (of the saxes, I mean) because to me it's the most expressive of the woodwinds; you can sound like an alto, a bari, or even a soprano if the mood strikes you; I [...]

As the early days of 2012 rolled on by, Tony Reed, guitarist for both the heavy hitting, stoner-fied trio, Mos Generator, and the classic rock preservationists, Stone Axe, signed an endorsement deal with Lace Music Products. The good Mr. Reed now joins the likes of Scott "Wino" Weinrich (St. Vitus/Shrinebuilder), Matt Pike (Sleep/High On Fire), David Sullivan (Red Fang), Scott Kelly (Neurosis/Shrinebuilder), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple/Rainbow), Eric Clapton, and a host of others who use the California-based companies pick-ups. When asked what is was that he liked about the Lace pickups, Tony Reed had this to say, "With [...]

Glenn Hughes HATES cocaine, but he LOOOOOVES the smell of it. Poor guy is playing bass and singing his ass off in a band called Trapeze during the early 1970's when he gets recruited to join Deep fuckin Purple in 1973 and help revitalize the band with vocalist David Coverdale . They create a monster album called Burn and go on to have major success space truckin around the globe. They play an insane show at the California Jam festival that literally set the stage on fire. But behind the scenes, young Glenn develops a taste [...]

I would think the purpose of sending out a blanket blast of promos is to get someone's attention, get your album reviewed, and use that press to build up more excitement for your band. So Terrordome , mission accomplished! I received a 5 song blast from Polish thrashers Terrordome , and it hearkens back to the glory days of thrash. This is full-on, mash the accelerator and hold on for dear life music. It goes by in a blur, the average song length is only about 2 minutes, but they manage to pack [...]

My producer gives me a countdown inside my earpiece. "Three, two, one. We're live." "Greetings fellow waveriders. My name is Penfold. Thank you for joining me this evening. If you look back on my writings for The Ripple Effect you'll discover that I enjoy telling a humorous, entertaining yarn. It's true. I count humor as one of my greatest allies in the fight against musical disinterest. Tonight however, I'm here to discuss a very serious topic that affects us all. That's right. Not only does this issue affect [...]

Only one month into the year and I already have my #1 album of 2012. What's a heavy music fan to do? Enjoy it for the rest of my life, that's what. The first time I heard a riff-laden Iron Balls Of Steel, the full-length debut by LOINCLOTH, I was streaming it on the computer, and not too long after that the vinyl was spinning in my record player and the album cover was in my hands. That might have been the quickest music purchase I ever made. In fact, I know it was. I ordered the record [...]

Baby Woodrose - Love Comes Down Any one who knows me, knows that one way to get me happy in the midst of a monster of a traffic jam is to drop some thing raw and garagey into the player, crank up the volume and watch me become one with the fuzz. That's exactly what Baby Woodrose does Love Comes down , the latest retro-psychedelic masterpiece, leaked-from-underneath-the-oil -can, blast of pure garage pop bliss. For many die-hard Baby Woodrose fans (and you can count me amongst the ranks - along with just [...]

Here's an interview conducted by fearless Ripple Scribe, Boogeyman, that originally ran on his own blog, Long Live Rock N Roll . Pop over there for more insights from the Boogs. Being called Rock's "Come Back Bands of the Year" by Metal Odyssey , and having a string of great reviews from the likes of The Metal Minute, Rocktopia , and The Soda Shop just to name a few, I've been given the great pleasure to interview Iron Claw 's guitarist and one of the band's original [...]

Two of the most beloved albums in the Styx catalog are 1977's The Grand Illusion and 1978's Pieces Of Eight . Now, Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Styx: The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight Live on DVD, Blu-Ray, and DVD/2CD on January 31. This show was recorded November 9, 2010 at the historic Orpheum Theater in Memphis, Tennessee, on the tour that saw them perform both these albums in their entirety for the first time. This 20-song two-hour and 11-minute presentation features [...]

Coming off the heels of one of if not the best grindcore album of 2011, End Time; the men in Brutal Truth are at it again. This time giving us a small taste of what's to come in 2012 with their digital EP, Walking Corpse 2112 . This two song EP is brutal as fuck! It makes you yearn for more. Some may remember the song "Walking Corpse" from Brutal Truth's debut album, Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses. "Walking Corpses 2112" is a re-recording of that very song….go figure. After listening to the [...]

Child prodigies. Most don't measure up to Mozart. Then, again, how many kids do you know were composing and performing before royalty at five years old? Amadeus may have been the exceptional exception. The ultimate musical genius of all musical geniuses. There have been others, especially guitar-based bluesmen and rockers. Jonny Lang released Smokin' when he was fourteen years old and had his first hit album, Lie To Me, at sixteen. Kenny Wayne Shepherd was wailing on stage with blues greats when he was thirteen. By the time he was eighteen [...]

Now normally I'm not a fan of writing reviews about singles, but lately several cool songs have come across my desk. Although the majority of them can be classified as alternative and indie music, there is a cool New York hard rock band worth mentioning. I hope you enjoy my random selection Fun - We Are Young From the moment I first heard "We Are Young" I knew I listened to one of the best songs of 2012. Yes, only a few weeks into the new [...]

Waveriders! First of all, thank you all so much for popping in with us and checking out reviews on the "best music you're not listening to." Our goal is for our writers to find music that truly excites them, then unleash themselves upon their keyboards to write missives and spread the word. We've been growing like crazy recently, as we've crossed over 3,000,000 hits and our staff keeps on expanding so here's a preview of what each week has in store for you. Of course, sometimes things change because of schedules, but basically, here's the [...]

I don't normally like female fronted metal bands. I don't know why, but besides Joan Jett, and Lzzy Hale, it's just not my cup of tea. Shear has changed my opinion. Their vocalist, Alexa Leroux has a voice that made my jaw drop. She doesn't have a plain operetic voice that so many women in metal fall back on. She has a soaring, guttural, melodic voice that stands out in a scene full of Amy Lee wannabes. Shear is from Finland, one of the best countries in the world for metal. Maybe [...]

What with their (as of this writing) upcoming album Blood For the Master, I revisited Goatwhore's previous LP, Carving Out the Eyes of God, playing it on tank-like, if outdated, speakers at jet-engine volume. At its best, in other words. "Apocalyptic Havoc" the lead single (see below) opens with all out Venom/Celtic Frost 32nd notes updated for this year (which actually is a pretty good synopsis of the entire album), and contains the immortal line "Who needs a God, when you've got Satan?!" "The All-Destroying," next, is blastbeats then D-beats then flat-out downbeats, and [...]

Easy Action Records in the UK have released some pretty incredible live recordings of The Stooges, Iggy Pop, MC5 and Sonic's Rendezvous Band the past few years and now they bring us this monumental live Hawkwind document. Leave No Star Unturned captures them in January 1972 headlining a show that also featured performances by the Pink Fairies and Syd Barrett at a venue called the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Pretty cool line up. I can only imagine how fried everyone was but their lids must have really flipped once Hawkwind blasted into their intro song "Technicians Of [...]

Man, I love power metal. It's a sub-genre that really doesn't seem to go over too well here in America, and I don't know why. I've heard people say its cheesy, but really, like we don't have any other cheesy things here? Or sometimes I'll hear that it's too "over the top", but have you ever watched WWE or any of that shit? Power metal seems like it would be made for Americans, but most American metal fans just don't seem to get it. Europeans, though, absolutely lose their minds over this stuff. [...]

Regardless of where you live, if you walk the streets of your city/town/village with the sun up or the sun down you will inevitably find something interesting. It might be an interesting sight. It might be an interesting place. In my case it was an interesting person that I discovered while walking downtown one evening on a relatively normal street corner. Standing in front of a nondescript storefront was a man, short of stature, playing an electric guitar. There was a good sized amp set up behind him, with the power cord running through the [...]