A new CD of the Black Box sessions with previously unreleased material (including a brand new demo) was released in February 2004 as Black Box Recovered, and a new studio set, One Drop In A Dry World, followed in May 2004. A short UK tour was planned to promote the CD, but in the event only one concert, at London's Mean Fiddler, went ahead, on May 12th. The live set, including rarely heard BJH classics as well as Mæstoso material, was captured for posterity and released on a limited, warts and all live CD, Fiddling Meanly, released in February 2005. On 27th November 2004 Mæstoso played again in London, this time as support to Caravan at the Bloomsbury Theatre. At this show John Lees also made a surprise guest appearance for two songs.
Chart-topping but challenging alt-metal band that incorporates programmed beats and subtle Eastern European influences.
Like many late-'90s metal bands, System of a Down struck a balance between '80s underground thrash metal and metallic early-'90s alternative rockers like Jane's Addiction. Their dark, neo-gothic alternative metal earned a cult following in the wake of the popularity of such like-minded bands as Korn and the Deftones. Vocalist Serj Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan formed System of a Down in Southern California in the mid-'90s. They quickly earned a strong following in Los Angeles, largely based on strong word of mouth…
Imprint is the second collaboration between Mike Griffin, founder and owner of Hypnos Recordings, and Dave Fulton of Dweller at the Threshold. It is difficult to imagine two more divergent styles of e-music and even more difficult to imagine them working in tandem, but they do. Griffin is solidly and firmly entrenched in the dark ambient and minimalist arena, while Fulton is one of the U.S.A.'s leading Berlin-schoolers. It is most easily depicted by describing the images of their October 2002 concert in Philadelphia. Griffin sat calmly and stoically at his MacIntosh Powerbook and re-created his atmospheres. Fulton was lost among his huge banks of analog synths; his rig resembled the bridge of the Starship Enterprise…
Another lovingly curated rock & roll gem from Cherry Red's archival Grapefruit Records imprint, A Slight Disturbance in My Mind is an expansive three-disc set entirely devoted to the opening phases of Britain's budding psychedelic movement. By late 1965, the American underground, particularly San Francisco's LSD-inspired drug culture, had begun to infiltrate popular music. The Byrds and other West Coast groups began to adopt a more experimental attitude while in the U.K. bands like the Yardbirds and, more prominently, the Beatles forged their own new directions away from rock's more easily digestible conventions.
Yow, everybody's getting signed! If Nirvana did anything, they may have opened the gates for a hundred crap grunge-metal bands, but they also opened it for a group such as Canada's Doughboys, whose slew of credible indie LPs have been largely ignored, to ink deals. Now, bing! They're on A&M, Daniel Rey produces their LP, and though chances are most Americans will go right on ignoring them, it sure won't be the band's fault…