Six Records CMM Wants You To Know

Caustic Roll Dave "Approaching Noise" LP (causticrolldave.bandcamp.com)

Hailing from Barcelona Spain Caustic Roll Dave is a true original and his latest album "Approaching Noise" embraces the spirit of raw rock n roll and blues and adds plenty of experimental elements throughout that give it a sound that's truly it's own. The crushing beat and driving riff of "What We Understand" sets the pace for a roller coaster ride of enigmatic energy that immediately jumps into the dirty blues brilliance of "You've Got Your Silver, You've Got Your Gold". "Thoughts Send Him Down" harnesses a bit of a Stones like strut while tracks like "Restart" and "Reality Falls" are a bit more spacey and ambient but retain an underlying roots rock vibe. Stand out track "Low Cost Countdown Beat" sounds like Gene Vincent fronting Skinny Puppy with it's thunderous industrial beat and in your face old time rock n roll vocal. "Many Pigs" has even more of a touch of industrial flair to it as the droning drum machine adds a layer of gloom and doom that sits well next to Dave's screaming harmonica. Other highlights include the colorful and mysterious trip of "Paranoid Blues" and blistering attack of "Looking For Something That I Never Had". Simply put Caustic Roll Dave is a one of a kind artist that makes rock n roll from the heart and in his own way. "Approaching Noise" is a relentless album made to be played often and made to be played played LOUD!!!

KOSMOBERKH "Dim Nachttag" LP (kosmoberkh.bandcamp.com)

There is an eerie tone that runs through "Dim Nachttag" the debut album from German instrumental post rock band KOSMOBERKH.The songs all work together as one binding force that harnesses a primal energy and evokes a moving and inspiring feeling throughout. The organic approach of the album is based around the astonishingly warm work of acoustic guitarist David Adrian and the mysterious presence of violinist Paula Töpper along with the vibrant rhythm section of drummer Alex Pojda and bassist Thorge Freidel. Tracks like "A Muse Meant" bring to mind the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson while "Zeichenlos" comes off like a combination of legendary composer Mike Oldfield and slow-core pioneers Low. Overall "Dim Nachttag" is an excellent movement that combines stellar arrangements with top notch musicianship from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

Moon Loves Honey "Apart" E.P. (moonloveshoney.bandcamp.com)

Loving this debut E.P. from Denmark's Moon Loves Honey. It comes off like a beautiful breath of fresh air as opening number "Tell Me More Of Your Lies" is a bright energetic blast of dream like jangle pop. The weightless feel of "Balloon" is matched with ethereal layers of atmospheric sound, while the shimmering feel of "Start All Over Again" is good spirited and fun. "Quiet Goodbye" features a strong ambient vocal delivery and brilliant arrangement that matches well with the liquid like flow of stand out track "My Friends". The E.P. closes with the delicate sounds of "Nothing Will Change" which creates a wandering cinematic vibe that sends things off in fine form.

Snowball ii "?" LP (snowballii.bandcamp.com)

Snowball ii is the brainchild of Los Angeles musician Jackson Wargo. He wrote, performed, arranged, produced, and engineered this debut album which is a truly remarkable effort. The infectious sounds of opening number ""Don't Feel Bad (For Me) take you through a psychedelic underworld of atmospheric bliss that's backed by a pounding beat and shimmering guitars. The cleverly titled "Antonio Banderas & a Semester Abroad" is a well crafted track that shows off Nargo's stellar song writing abilities. As the album continues it takes you further into a colorful world of intrigue as the captivating sounds of "Off/On" and "Lived/In" stir up a sea of beautiful imagery and sound. "Hurry' features an earth shattering riff backed by a lulling vocal presence that's second to none. Closing piece "The Sight Of Setting" winds everything down well as it's combination of gloomy tones also offer a feeling of warmth and hope. An inspiring release that's most excellent from beginning to end.

Swall "A Swall Kinda Feeling" LP (shanewatt.bandcamp.com)

An experimental masterpiece of an album from Montreal's Swall. The sound collage fueled "Binary Built For Two" takes me back to my love of artists like Ringworm Sideshow and John Oswald. "Plainview" is a straight up blast of 60's psychedelia that's full of fuzzed out guitar mayhem and a felling that "anything is possible on the road". Another standout piece is the experimental based "HJKL" which blends hip hop, dub and psych sounds in amazing fashion while "A Serious Error Has Occurred" is a haunting piece that is truly a work of it's own and goes quite well with the "Progressive" sounds of "Natural Animals". "Too Damn Tough" sounds like The Beatles and The Beach Boys joined forces with Zappa to create the ultimate in mind altering music. Besides amazing songs my favorite part of this album is the amount of textures created throughout. It's such a vibrant and colorful record that shows you something new with each listen. Hands down this is just brilliant and I look forward to hearing more and more from Swall for years to come.

The Owens S/T E.P. (theowens.bandcamp.com)

Made up of twin brothers Larry & Randy Owens this Boston duo create their own brilliant world of indie rock. From the opening notes of the spooky "Stay Drivin" you know you are in for a treat. It's the type of song that may appear to be light and quiet but actually sets one of the heaviest moods I've heard in a long while. It's got an early Velvet's type vibe that I love and also makes great use of a beautiful phase effect mid way through the track. "Your Way Through Mine" is more upbeat with a flourishing pattern of experimental sounds that flow alongside it's punchy lo-fi beat while the breezy spirit of "Things" falls someplace between Mercury Rev and Galaxy 500. Closing track "1980's Poison" has a feel good swagger and swing to it that I really love. It moves with such elegance and eventually fades out with a brief but thought provoking noise that leaves me wondering what will be next for this promising new project.

"Five For Friday" with John Strohm of Blake Babies

Blake Babies were an alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts. The three primary members were John Strohm, Freda Love and Juliana Hatfield. In March of 1988 they entered Cambridge, MA's Fort Apache Studios to record demos of the songs that would become their 1989 LP, "Earwig". The tapes sat in a basement for close to 30 years before the band "rescued the recordings" remixing and remastering the sessions 12 tracks. A campaign has been launched via Pledge Music where fans can pre-order these "Earwig Demos" on vinyl. Visit http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/blakebabies for all of the details on this project which will also include a few very intimate live shows. Guitarist/vocalist John Strohm shares some of his favorite songs from some of his favorite Boston area bands along with some amazing stories on how he discovered them in this weeks edition of "Five For Friday" but first enjoy the sounds of Blake Babies "Rain".

I moved to Boston from Bloomington, Indiana, after high school in 1985 to attend Berklee College of Music. It took me a few years to really find my place in Boston and get my band The Blake Babies off the ground. Eventually, however, we found an amazing community of like-minded musicians who influenced us enormously. Though it’s hard to narrow it down, here are 5 songs by some incredible regional artists that really helped me on my way during those first few years.

Volcano Suns: Balancing Act

Juliana Hatfield turned me on to Volcano Suns around the time we met at Berklee in 1986. I’d been a fan of Mission of Burma’s Signals, Calls and Marches record but I don’t think I even really knew they were from Boston. Volcano Suns included one former member of MOB and a couple younger guys. We used to cover Volcano Suns’ son Jak at the earliest Blake Babies shows, but this was the song that really blew me away. A mid-1990s lineup of the Lemonheads I played in covered this song, and I’ve played it in my solo shows for decades. To me, this is an all-time classic.

Dumptruck: Going Nowhere

My then-girlfriend Freda and I used to sneak into TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge when we were underage. They used to serve food there, something called the Hoodoo Bar-B-Cue and we would go around 6:00 for dinner and just wait it out. The show started around 9, and by that time they were checking ID’s at the door but they would have forgotten to check ours. We saw a lot of great bands that way, but a few of them really blew me away. Dumptruck got sidelined by a legal dispute after the release of the album "For The Country", which included this track. But the lineup around 1987, when this album came out, was remarkable. Kevin Salem, the guitarist at the time, really influenced my playing. His solos had an element of barely-contained chaos that I tried hard to emulate.

Throwing Muses: Fish

My friend who lived in the apartment upstairs, who eventually recorded the first Blake Babies tracks, was a video artist from the Boston Film & Video Foundation named TW Li. TW kept a lot of cool art videos, which he would play for us on a massive ¾” video deck. He had this video around 1986 more as an art piece than a rock video, before this band from nearby Newport, Rhode Island signed to 4AD Records in London. I watched this obsessively in various states of altered consciousness. I could tell these people were no older than we were, and what they were doing seemed so far from our frame of reference or influences. Eventually we played shows together and became friendly, but I never stopped being intimidated by them. They introduced us to The Pixies, which opened up a whole new world of intimidation a year or so later.

Galaxie 500: Flowers

So much of trying to play in a band in Boston in the 80s was about learning humility. In 1988 my roommate Marc had a label and his first two releases were by Galaxie 500, who actually opened for Blake Babies at an early show. A couple of friends from my hometown were visiting for that show, and afterwards back at our apartment one of them insensitively pointed out that we should have been opening for them. It stuck in my craw, but deep down I knew he was right. They were miles ahead of us. I got the references – I was obsessed with the third Velvet Underground album, which was clearly a point of reference. But it never occurred to me that a band in the 80s could actually reinvent that sound for the future. This track still sounds ahead of its time.

Dinosaur Jr.: Freak Scene

By the end of 1988 Blake Babies were recording our first real album at Fort Apache, a huge thrill. To save money we worked the graveyard shift, beginning around 7 or 8 and going until the wee hours. All of our favorite band at the time was Dinosaur (before the “Jr.”) from nearby Amherst, Mass. We’d seen them a few times at clubs, worn out their first two albums, and we’d at least become a little bit acquainted with them – though they were remarkably aloof. The Dinosaur guys were making their third album during the day shifts, and one day they were far enough along in the process to play us a song from the sessions. Sean Slade pulled up a mix to Freak Scene in the control room and turned it up to an ear-splitting volume. I don’t really think we ended up doing much work that night. In that moment it just seemed futile to even try.