Normal Carpet Ride

I often come to Samiam’s Bandcamp page just to listen to these demos from ‘94-’95. The band themselves don’t even know exactly how they appeared online, and it’s a shame for superfans like me that they can’t be made available for download. This track is my favorite, a demo of a song intended for You Are Freaking Me Out that didn’t make the cut (unlike the completely unnecessary Beatles cover.... oh well).

Almost forgot about this great song until Magic Bullet Records just made it available digitally.

I must’ve bought this cd at the Cave In merch table around summer of 2000, when the set was still 50/50 “...Heart Stops” and “Jupiter.”

Burst (from Gothenburg, Sweden) originally formed in 1993, releasing several ep’s and a couple of full length albums before eventually signing to Relapse Records, with whom they released three excellent albums between 2003-2008. They toured the U.S. only once in 2009 (supporting Gojira), just after announcing that it would actually be their last tour at all, anywhere. I was lucky enough to see them on that tour. It was an “off day,” which on that tour meant that once or twice a week Gojira would head off to another city to support Metallica, leaving Burst and their other tourmates Zoroaster to fill in the holes with their own dates, usually in smaller towns, shitty clubs and low turnouts. I’m pretty sure there were less than 20 people at the show I saw, but the band seemed to be in good spirits regardless, knowing that it was more important to simply enjoy this one last ride before hanging it up for good. I recall Linus, the vocalist, even commenting that it was nice to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to play for about the same number of people as they would back home. It was funny and sad at the same time. The band played a lengthy set for the small but really enthusiastic crowd, who had definitely not just shown up by coincidence. Afterward the band simply stepped off the small stage and headed straight for the bar, where we all drank and hung out for a while. By the time I had moved to Oslo they were long gone. I would’ve happily traveled the three hours to see them play in their hometown if I could've, like I've done for so many other bands. After Burst Jonas (guitarist) spent some time playing bass in Bombus, who were a fun live band but in my opinion never came close to anything Burst ever did, musically. 

The vinyl pressings for the first two albums released on Relapse (2003′s Prey On Life and 2005′s Origo) are a little harder to find, and Relapse opted out of releasing the final album (2008′s Lazarus Bird) on vinyl at all. Garden Of Exile Records out of The Netherlands, however, eventually released all three, with POL and Origo conveniently packaged together as a double lp.  Get them here if you're interested:

 https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?artist_id=321879&ev=ab&format=Vinyl

Right on! Yeah, I read an interview with the Hundredth singer where he was basically saying that the band just felt like they were playing music that they wouldn't even listen to. I dig their attitude, just wiping the slate clean and not worrying about it. I DO, however, like the fact that they kept the production very aggressive and more compressed. Not so washy and drowning in reverb like a lot of other bands doing similar stuff as of late.....

Very cool new video from Cloakroom. This and the previously released single, Big World, have got me looking forward to August 18th. 

Hundredth - Neurotic

Now, this is interesting. I saw this band live in Sweden a couple of years ago on some 6-band hardcore bill, and they sounded a lot like Shai Hulud. It doesn’t really matter now because that shit is over, apparently. The above video is the first single released for their upcoming album, RARE, out this Friday on Hopeless Records. It has a lot more in common with Chapterhouse than any floor-punchers from Florida.

I know that the nü-shoegaze bubble is going to burst any moment now, but these guys have actually managed to completely change their sound and actually succeed in making some good songs. If you're my age you might call it “pulling a Cave In,” or something like that. The band have gradually made more and more songs available leading up until the release on June 16th. The clip below is probably my favorite so far. It sorta reminds me of a really cool band from Finland called Mumrunner. Check out “Youth” below.

Good luck to these guys. They’re probably going to catch a lot of shit from hardcore kids, but hopefully they’ll gain more fans like the one they just made in me. You know, old guys who still buy records.

Gold Class - Kids On Fire

Very into this single from last year by Melbourne, Australia’s Gold Class. I found out about the band via their newest single, Twist In The Dark, which is also excellent. Check it out below: