Balaclavas - Snake People

[the band in this review is, I proudly add, from Houston Texas]

The pitch-black noise rock of Balacalavas only continues to mature on their sophomore LP “Snake People”. Much like“Roman Holiday” the band relies on the core rhythmic drive of drummer Charlie Patranella and a complete disregard for the trappings of contemporary rock music.

The highly stylized music on “Roman Holiday” is continued on without missing a beat. In addition to heroic gothic drumming, the music still echoes with the sounds of grinding guitar feedback, doomy bass lines and synth tones buzzing with the ominous oscillations of a chorus of sizzling tesla coils.

Tracks on “Snake People” vary in length from two minutes and sixteen seconds to over nine minutes. “Snake People”, the latter of these two, completely disregards structure. Rim drumming like “Bela Lugosi's Dead” combined with Tyler's dramatic cries makes for a feverish nightmare-scape that would make Peter Murphy shit his pants. This staple track also includes a number of delightfully Cabaret Voltaire tape samples in the beginning, only adding to mood.

This is not to say that the shorter tracks are not just as good. “Down and Loose”, the album's second shortest song, is highly organized and far more structured with cryptic but vivid vocals like, “tight black leather boots, smoking cigarettes, with no regrets”. Even on the less lengthy tracks, Balaclavas sets the mood.

Grade: A

LOCAL: Balaclavas plan October release of second album

This Houston band is one of the darkest acts I've ever listened to or seen live. Using feedback, doomy synths, and tribal drum beats Balaclavas create a sound with no peers. It's like noisy psychedelia for people who appreciate goth.

Balaclavas plan to release their second LP, "Snake People", on October 18 and there are only 500 copies available. Each pre-ordered disc also comes with a poster. Go here if you're interested. I've already placed my order.

Here's a medley of their SXSW performance for anyone not familiar with the band.

Bundle up for the Iceage

This band has somehow succeeded in remaining under my radar for the past few months and now I'm playing catchup. The young Copenhagen punk band Iceage released its first LP this March and since then it's made some serious waves in places like the New York Times and Pitchfork. I'm listening to it for the first time all the way through as I write.

The music successfully straddles the line between raucous no-wave, noisiness and headbanging punk beats. The short "New Brigade" track "Intro" starts off with minimalistic metallic clanging and transitions sharply into track two "White Rune" which is driven by booming floor toms, doomy vocals, and sinister click clacking guitars. There is an undeniable Joy Division energy to the music.

"Broken Bone" alternates back and forth between melodic bellowing punk vocals and crunchy dissonant guitar work. Tracks like "Remember" are almost fully harmonic and once again remind me of Joy Division. There's a great amount of experimentation of the album but the material still feels unified.

Hopefully I'll be able to get an interview with some of the band members for FPH. They're coming to The Mink here in Houston on their short US summer tour. They'll be joined by fantastic Houston acts like The Energy and Balaclavas.

You can get their latest record on iTunes.

Warpaint's Triumphant Return to Houston

Friday night was my first time at Mango's Cafe in Houston and I must say that it's a phenomenal venue: the levels were good, the bands were great, and their vegetarian pizza was tasty. I went last night specifically to cover "Warpaint" but was impressed with all the other bands. No one sucked.

"Buxton" opened last time I saw Warpaint but I was kind of late so I missed ninety-five percent of their set; this time I came earlier. Buxton had a satisfying country-folk feel but with often played alongside loud, over-driven, guitar. The vocals were delivered in a folksy, yodeling, manner that sometimes went slightly off key and it accented the music well.

Buxton^

I was fortunate enough to talk to Balaclavas outside on the Mango's patio before the show and they were very nice guys. One of them even directed me to a website called "Trouser Press" which is a guide to alternative and underground rock music. I just bookmarked it a few minutes ago. Anyway, their live music nothing like I've ever experienced before. As soon as they went on, I was immediately entranced by the strange mix of noise and music that I heard. The studio versions of these songs I listened to, before the show on Friday, were good but during a live set, these songs explode into a fascinating flurry of feedback, drum machine, and dancy bass lines. Obviously, being a very loud band, it was difficult to make out the vocals of Balaclavas but on their studio recordings they sound a little bit like those of Peter Murphy from Bauhaus (as does some of their music). Balaclavas was definitely my favorite new find of the night and they're from Houston so I hope I can catch them again this summer.


To my surprise, Warpaint, who was headlining the entire show, went on in the penultimate time slot rather than Grandfather Child. Since Warpaint came on early, I rushed through the crowd, pushing, shoving, and issuing apologies for drinks spilled and elbows brushed. It's surprising how many people will let you through if you're holding a camera above your head. I finally got up to the very front though and started snapping photos of the band.



< "Elephants" Warpaint, for those of you who don't know, is an all female, experimental, rock band from LA and they seem to like Texas because they already played Houston once about two months ago and SXSW a few weeks ago. The whole set was excellent but my two favorite songs were "Stars" and "Elephants" which were both loud, dramatic, and captivating. Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman provided haunting, mournful vocals that only intensified the effect of the dark mysterious melodies the rest of the band played. Emily Kokal (guitar and lead vocals) and Stella Mozgawa (on drums) were hands down the best performers in the band. It was hard to take my eyes or camera off of Emily Kokal; she seemed to exude some kind of dark, beautiful, electricity during the performance. It's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't seen her live but she's an excellent performer. As headliners, Warpaint definitely brought it. "Grandfather Child" was the last act and regrettably I didn't stay for their entire set because I was sort of worried about whether or not my car was gonna get towed but I saw about five songs and thoroughly enjoyed them. They're a local band and I've seen them on a lot of different bills so I don't think it will be last opportunity to enjoy their music this summer. Grandfather Child's music contains elements of funk and blues with a generous helping of beautiful lap steel guitar playing. The vocals were bluesy and soulful which was a huge change of style from the Gothic, elegiac, style of Warpaint.



And luckily my car never got towed. Very Good night.