World's Largest Rubber Band Ball - Trixine

Ida “The Braille Night”
Ida are definitely more folk than anything else, however, what
makes them cool is that there is lots of everything else. You’ll
definitely hear some Mojave 3 or Low style in the mix. What’s
interesting is that there are 8 people in the group, and they
all seem to have some major influence on the band’s wellcomposed
sound of vocal harmonies, piano, guitar and other
various strings, and percussion. (Tigerstyle)
K (Karla of Ida) “New Problems”
You could possibly consider this a stripped down Ida (see
above review), sans all the male vocals. Lots of other guests
including Tara Jane O’Neil, as well as some from Ida. Most of
the songs have only two or three people doing piano, guitar,
drums, and female vocal. There’s also some scratchy tape
loops and things to make the recording more interesting. All
12 songs are like a darker folk- a little empty and mournful,
ethereal and hollow. (Tigerstyle)
The American Analog Set “Know By Heart”
This is good driving music. This is what is playing when
you’re driving your car on a long, straight road through the
Nebraska wheat fields with the windows down. I like the
drums on this album, they remind me of good CCR (not the
music at all), and they’ve upped the tempo some. The music
is reminiscent of their past albums, all sort of dry and distant,
almost unemotional, and they use less farfisia (the Stereolab
sound). It seems to go through a sort of filter. They’re in song
mode on this one, but there’s still some jams. (Tigerstyle)
Minus “Jesus Christ Bobby”
This album blows my mind. I fucking love it! It’s got elements
of Ozzfest without the cheese, and hints of death metal without
being overbearing. While listening to them, Iceland’s
Minus wants you to vision that cracked, barren wasteland
they call home, using screeching demonic vocals and ripping
guitars, as well as some interesting samples and effects.
While maintaining metal riffs that are essentially catchy, they
still remain abstract and unique. To top it all off, Einar Orn of
the Sugarcubes helped out. * A personal pick! (Victory)
Grade “Head First, Straight To Hell”
This Canadian quintet has become a staple for what most
refer to as emotional-hardcore-metal. The guitars use that
80’s metal/rock crunchy distortion riff sound, while singer
Kyle Bishop trades off melodies with controlled screaming
and yelling. The album has been banned from Best Buy
because of the cover art. It’s got this winged puppetmaster/
joker demon chic with star pasties over her nip-nips. (Victory)
Thumb “3”
For all you old-school skaters who can remember Santa Cruz
and Madrid’s heyday, you should remember the name Claus
Grabke, that funny German guy with the crazy hairdo. Nuskoolers
might remember the 1998 Warped Tour, when
Americans first started taking notice to Thumb’s hip-hop influenced
hardcore. Since 1993, over in Germany, these guys
have been doing that of Linkin Park or some of their other
MTV2 counterparts, but backed by a DJ and fronted by a pro
skater. This is their second US release from Victory. (Victory)