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Stellacutta – “Stellacutta”
Reviewed by TJ Friga
A lot can happen in three years. As a band, three years can represent personnel change, cycling through completely new batches of songs, getting burnt out on being a band, etc. To commit to an idea or vision for one project for this amount of time is a serious testament of musical attention willpower. Stellacutta’s debut self-titled album (released in January of this year) is the product of one of these three-year periods, and the time put in is evident in the density of this recording.
Perhaps a double LP in another era, the shortest song on Stellacutta clocks in three seconds shy of three minutes. The album opener “Inching The Foot” opens with a deceivingly simple traditional rock band stride between the exchanged verses of vocal duo Meredith Minne and Greg Diarra only to have the album gradually get more progressive, complex, and strange on each song afterwards. On tracks two and three, the seemingly traditional rock format continues, but the melodies become more dramatic, the musicians play more ambitiously, and the arrangements become busier.
By the time the fourth track, “Schandenfreude,” starts, you start to kind of get the feeling you might be about a year further in this three-year process. After a sense of exploratory boundary checking on the first three tracks, Stellacutta is suddenly unified and gargantuan. The track’s piano-driven head melody delivered in a thick sheet of arena reverb is instantly anthemic and driven home by emotional high notes of syrupy string interludes and an enormous band unison outro.
With tracks five and six, we’re presumably at the half-way point in these three years. “Bouqet,” an instrumental interlude that weaves a classically informed grand piano with a woodwind ensemble bleeds into “Ne’er-do-wells” which serves as the most grand platform for Minne’s voice yet. A true slow burner, the ballad shifts through ascending instrumental climbs and choral intermissions to paint an ethereal, wide-vision painting that resolves unsettled and drifts away.
As the album marches on through its eleven tracks, the exploratory side of Stellacutta meets the unified, anthemic Stellacutta and it really starts to feel past the two year mark on “Builds,” which utilizes Minne, Diarra, and guitarist Max Knouse to each take individual verses singing. Each of the verses bleeds seamlessly into the next until the three are singing in harmony, as if to represent the group’s fully realized level of collaboration at this late point chronologically as a band, and as the record itself is coming to a close.
“Something’s Loose,” the LP’s closing number, sounds like a band relieved to be hitting year three and recording the last track of their album. Easily the most “feel good” track, the playful “la da da” melody is complemented by what sounds like a room full of their friends singing backup and laughing together like they were going to smash a bottle of champagne for a ship’s maiden voyage.
The density and growth consistent throughout Stellacutta really takes the listener through all three of the years it supposedly took to make it. Any one of these songs easily has enough content to feel months flying by. Playing out like the band’s thesis, a slaved-over piece of creativity, the release is easily the most ambitious by a Phoenix band this year. Hopefully, now that the group has found its form, it won’t take an additional three years for the rest of us to hear the next one.
Gay Kiss – “Fault”
Reviewed by Chris Czaja
I downloaded the debut LP by AZ’s Gay Kiss after a couple beers and a long day. What hit me off the bat was how emotionally driving this album can be at times.
Rightly placed, the first track on the album, “Dues Ex Machina,” pretty much sums up the entire album sonically. From dissonant guitar work to driving punk verses to slowed-down hardcore breaks, this song lets you know what Gay Kiss is all about: loud, noisy, emotionally aggressive hardcore music.
What I find extremely interesting about these tracks is how well Gay Kiss can go seamlessly from an intensely fast-paced rhythm to a ferocious stomp. This is particularly noticeable in the track “Storms.”
Every track on Faults seems to add to the depth of the band’s influences. You can see the straight-forward hardcore influence in the tracks “Compassionless,” “Defenestrate,” and “Cruelty.” These tracks were particularly my favorite. The guitar work was so interesting in these songs. You can also see the old punk influence in songs like “New March.” As a guitar player, I found the guitar-work in this album very impressive. Songs like “Spit Oath” really showcase a creative approach to the hardcore template.
What I find truly amazing is how Gay Kiss manages to marry punk sensibilities with the hardcore without bringing about a sense of macho bullshit to the music. Gay Kiss show their skills without showing off. They know how to make music that will make you feel uncomfortable at times, and at other times you will be filled with excitement.
Album closer, “Enclave,” is a particularly standout track. If “Dues Ex Machina” is the perfect album opener, then “Enclave” is the perfect album closer. This track manages to reiterate the last 8 tracks from the album, but blends in some pretty haunting sounds and slows down the tempo to really drive the idea into your skull that Gay Kiss means business.
All in all, Faults is a solid release from a band who has a solid idea of what they are about.
Q&A with Matthew Melton of Warm Soda
By Maggie Spear
Most of the people I know who have adopted the “slacker” lifestyle are some of the most productive people on the planet. Sounds weird, right? Like it shouldn’t make any sense? Well, it kinda doesn’t, which is what makes it the most perfect paradox. Case in point: Matthew Melton. A bona fide slacker who is constantly hitting the road and doing what seems to be much of nothing, Melton has actually done… way more than you have. Between the numerous bands (RIP to Bare Wires, but it’s time to avert your attention to Warm Soda), worldwide tours, gigs played with the veritable garage elite, and the creation and subsequent success of his record label Fuzz City, it’s hard for me to imagine that Melton is the idle slouch most people want to see him as.
Lazy bones aside, Warm Soda will be coming through Tempe on March 8 for the first day of Rampage Fest, which is pretty much guaranteed to be awesome. So sit back, turn up the jams, and take a moment to become acquainted with our new power-glam overlords.
Q: So, you’re essentially perpetually on tour. This spring, for example, you’re fully booked until the end of April, and then you embark on a summer Euro tour. Why is the prospect of being in a frequent tour cycle so appealing? What do you look forward to the most?
Q: So, you’re essentially perpetually on tour. This spring, for example, you’re fully booked until the end of April, and then you embark on a summer Euro tour. Why is the prospect of being in a frequent tour cycle so appealing? What do you look forward to the most?
A: I am terrified by society. Being a touring musician is really just a survival tactic to avoid having the life sucked out of me by the common way of life. It’s the only way I could come up with to enjoy freedom – I get to be completely off the grid this way: no “real” job, no bank account etc, plenty of free time… and there’s something pure and meditative about driving long distances, it keeps your mind clear or something.
Q: What’s the most memorable adventure you’ve ever had on the road?
A: Having to bail my band out of jail in Tijuana Mexico in 2010.
Q: Oakland, along with most of northern California in general, seems like a mini Mecca for garage rock. Have you found that the area has been hospitable to your endeavors?
A: I love recording bands so it works out well to be in an area rich with bands. There’s always a new band popping up around here, and it’s fun to see what type of songs everyone is coming up with.
Q: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read somewhere that you’re an advocate for young people trying a bunch of different drugs. Why do you think that’s important?
A: I don’t advocate the use of drugs. I think people should just be themselves – but whatever you do, let it be sincere. Most people are insincere when they use drugs, and because of that they miss any benefit that could come of it.
Q: After the whole Bare Wires “meltdown” dealio went down at SXSW, what was the most important thing you took away from it? Are you doing anything fundamentally different with Warm Soda than you did with Bare Wires?
A: Everyone is their own worst enemy. Lots of aspects of Warm Soda and Bare Wires are essentially similar, the only real change is the name. It’s the same thing I’ve all ways done but with different songs.
Q: How did Fuzz City become a tangible thing?
A: When we got back from the SXSW 2012, Rob Good and I found the perfect space for the studio & label headquarters. It’s completely hidden in a crevice of ungentrified east Oakland and it instantly became our secret clubhouse. Once we had a base of operation it was easy to get things moving.
Q: What was the transition like, going from the one being recorded to the one doing the recording? Do you prefer one over the other?
A: In my head, everything is under the same “making pop music” umbrella. There is no transition because I have always recorded everything I’ve ever put out on the same “Tascam 388″ recording machine. It’s cool because I’m constantly reinventing my recording methods, and it doesn’t really matter what we are recording because its essentially the same mental process.
Q: Picture the most badass show you could ever play. Ever. In your mind, right now. The audience, the supporting acts, the venue, everything. What do you see?
A: Playing a solo acoustic set to an audience of all my ex-girlfriends on my old highschool’s cafeteria stage. (everyone is naked)
Q: Anything awesome we can look forward to from Warm Soda?
A: We have a couple european singles in the works that are going to be pretty tight.
Food Review: Fanboy Food Truck at ASU
By Chris Czaja
I have eaten lunch on campus every day this year, and at a school like ASU, I have a ton of options for good grub. I have tried plenty of the strange “hole in the wall” type establishments all over ASU’s campus, and by far my favorite has to be the wandering food truck known as Fàn Boy. Fàn Boy serves up a delicious assortment of Asian food for a fairly reasonable price. The experience of ordering from a truck is also nice because it breaks away from the monotony of the usual restaurant approach.
The staff at Fàn Boy is courteous, engaging, and extremely fast. I am constantly surprised at how quickly I get my food each time I go there. Although Fàn Boy does move between ASU’s multiple campuses, they are on the Tempe campus more times than not, which makes it a very convenient place to grab a bite to eat. One of my favorite aspects of this style of dining is the fact that since its a truck, there are no established tables and chairs, leaving you to find a nice place to enjoy your food. I find this very refreshing because I get to eat in a new spot every time I get food from Fàn Boy.
Fàn Boy’s food is diverse enough that anyone can find something they enjoy and also cheap enough that you can be satisfied without spending all your milk money. When ordering at Fàn Boy, you are given a list of options and you are in charge of creating your own bowl. My go-to bowl is the marinated stir-fried chicken with white rice, TKO sauce, sesame seeds, and green onions. But they have other really awesome menu items as well. The one downside to this food truck is that they only accept M&G or Debit/Credit cards, so keep that in mind before trying this place out! Follow the Fàn Boy truck at their facebook page here to see when and where they will be each day:
https://www.facebook.com/FanBoyTruckASU?fref=ts
Chelsea Wolfe at Crescent Ballroom
2/5/13
By TJ Friga
The sound of the door shutting behind me was the loudest thing in the Crescent Ballroom on Tuesday night when I walked into Sarah Jaffe’s opening set. With candlelit tables elegantly set in front of the stage, this was the first time I’d ever seen a full house at The Crescent Ballroom really shut up and listen to someone. The music of both Jaffe and Wolfe really demanded it too. Sparse, somber arrangements with wide open spaces in between breathy syllables would be the format followed by each of the singers, and every single cough or phone ring felt like it could pierce right through the delicate voices echoing through the building.
The feel of the room reflected the vast and diverse fan base that Chelsea Wolfe has cultivated over the course of her last two major records: Apokalypsis and Unknown Rooms. Apokalypsis (her primarily electric record) uses a full band to chug through songs like “Demons” and “Mer” with drums and electric guitar swirling together a texture that feels like a murky, ethereal witch hunt. In contrast, Wolf’s latest effort Unknown Rooms finds her eschewing her electric group for an acoustic guitar and string section while taking her voice away from the harsh, transistor radio feel of Apokalypsis to a shining, harmonized clarity previously unheard in her catalog.
The drastic stylistic leap between her records was reflected by an equally drastic difference in the aesthetic of Wolfe’s audience. In apparent support of the electric Apokalypsis sound, there were dozens of bearded and tattooed metal dudes standing in circles seemingly indifferent to the lounge atmosphere of the candlelit tables. The other half of the crowd was represented by mostly well dressed and young hipster types perhaps more designated to the new found reverb soaked, holy cathedral feel of Unknown Rooms.
Touring behind the simplified and naked sounding Unknown Rooms, Wolfe took to the stage joined only by a violinist and keyboard player who each stood encircled by flickering candles as if to initiate a seance. Playing through a set that only featured the new material, Wolfe’s ensemble shuffled carefully and subtly through the syrupy string whines of “Appalachia” and the warbled Rhodes piano lamentation of “Sunstorm.” Songs like “Flatlands” seem to explain the transition to simplicity by forsaking material needs with lines like “I don’t want precious stones, I never cared about anything you owned.” To end with this aesthetic in mind, Wolfe concluded her set alone onstage, layering her voice over itself with a loop pedal into a haunting a capella version of “The Way We Used To.”
With the live music over, the Crescent Ballroom’s lounge erupted with volume for the first time all night as the DJs busily went to work finding dance music to compliment the dark, gothic set before them. The coolest guy in the house danced to Twin Shadow in a white leather jacket, the candles were blown out and the loud voices returned to wash out arbitrary sounds like the heavy wooden door opening. Chelsea had left the building, but appropriately, only after one her more burly male fans let out a throaty “YEAH” that seemingly restored the chaos and natural order to the typically loud downtown stalwart after a welcome, yet uncharastically quiet night.
Why Bad Movies Are Not Only Great Movies, But Legitimate Art As Well.
By Rodger Zubiate
A full day before I began writing this, I was around friends and the conversation turned to something that is completely unavoidable in my circles nowadays: god-awful movies. I was being told that I should go see Birdemic, followed by a few of us spouting lines from Thankskilling. A completely profound thing happened. We told each other to watch bad movies because we knew we’d love it. But why watch something so unsavory and cheaply put together? Why suffer through bad filmmaking, terrible actors, and boring plots? Why put ourselves through the torture instead of picking something off the Criterion collection?
Because each of those movies are their own genre of movie entirely. They’re movies you can watch with any sort of friend instead of kids you feel you must pontificate with after an art movie. You can throw on Batman & Robin in front of most people and you’ll get a good laugh out of anything “kick-ice” that comes out of Mr. Freeze’s mouth. Campy movies have their own sense of messed-up quality. I sometimes think those movies like The Room and Troll 2 are the best entertainment I’d be able to find at any given moment. They strive to be legitimate through story-telling and acting and each fall completely flat, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s not like movies that take an emotional or mental toll on on the viewer. Nor are they movies that are SORT OF bad that you never want to watch again. By directing a movie in the most counter-intuitive way as possible, this otherwise horrible trash is a car crash that is worthy of a little rubber-necking.
