REVIEW: Bunnygrunt’s “Vol. 4”

The album cover is homage to Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4 but instead of Ozzy Osbourne extending his hands, it’s a cat. Or at least I think it’s a cat. Nonetheless, Bunnygrunt are here with what some are calling their 4th or 5th album, but Vol. 4 (Happy Happy Birthday To Me) shows what it can take for a band to completely rock your face off, even if the sound quality is not superior compared with others or it’s that sharp.

Is the music as raw as The Mummies or something recorded on a cassette, not quite. It sounds like a nicely made demo where things aren’t tweaked to perfection but those things help give the music a bit of grit, or something like that. The majority of the songs are about three minutes, if not less (some very less) but there’s one song, “Chunt Bump”, that runs at 7:02. It comes off like the Sonic Youth song that features Lee Ranaldo where you want to separate everything and pay attention to that one song. However, by doing that, you also focus on the remaining 15 songs that are true scorchers. Songs go back and forth between male and female vocals but when you hear the harmonies of both, it works with brilliant perfection. The cool thing is that as raw as these songs sound, full of garage rock power, there is no mistaking what they’ll sound like in a nightclub. You’ll want to hear stuff like this louder and in your gut. There are occasional odd glimpses of slight weirdness, such as the ragtime feel of “Tonight You Belong To Me” but then it gets back into the blooodiness of band who rip up their instruments without regret. Even during songs that may remind some of the charmful pop of The Partridge Family (as you may hear in “1000% Not Creepy (Weepop Version)”), you’ll play another song and it will feel like busting out the crevice of your noise full of acne. It’s that fun and just when they group will make you want to rip your eyes out and eat it, they revert into a delicate corner of the room and get slyly delicate to play with your emotions. By the end, you want to experience the unique musical changes again.

REVIEW: Frog’s “Kind Of Blah”

Kind Of Blah (Audio Anti-Hero) is the kind of pop music that music fans would want to immerse themselves into on a regular basis, for it is a wonderful and balanced blend of pop and rock, with enough eclectic qualities that show they are not afraid to share a sense of humor because they may not take themselves too seriously. In other words, the guys of Frog aren’t here to share any level of snobbery and while the humor may be in the distance in most of their songs, that subtlety is very much present. You can say that their music fits alongside the likes of Brad, Weezer, Qui, and the Foo Fighters, bands where you can champion because they sound good but don’t mind laughing with because they expose that side of themselves without being ashamed. They seem to want to enjoy dipping in and out of different things within each songs, loving the aggression of hard rock and punk while throwing in new wave here, late 70’s pop there, synth pop way over there, and early 90’s alternative grooves without trying to cash in or try to be trendy. The music here is easily accessible but I say this because it’s accessible to me, someone who feels they are pop music traditonalists will throw flags and call this an abomination, but it’s not. This is the type of pop/rock craftiness that needs to be heard and hopefully more people discover their sounds, they will continue to make music like this, exploring and going beyond their limits, and become a force. I wish them well.

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REVIEW: Marshmallow Coast’s “Vangelis Rides Again”

Marshmallow Coast has been making music for 20 years and have been releasing albums on the Happy Happy Birthday To Me label for awhile. They have a new one in 2015 and this one is humble and promising, and it’s called Vangelis Rides Again. If you love the brand of pop Andy Gonzales continues to perfect with each release, you are really going to like this effort.

Vangelis Rides Again is a 9-song EP, two of which are brief interludes but if you are someone who only likes to hear music in small doses, you’re going to enjoy this. “Homeless Baby” takes portions of The Coasters’ “On Broadway” and brings it into modern times, as if there isn’t a sense of optimism but you still must have some sense of home, somewhere. “Foreign Dental” sounds like something you might find on a Todd Rundgren or Let’s Active album while the title track is slightly groove, slightly funky, slightly psychedelic, but borderline trippy, the song that might make you go “who is this?” and “I must invest time in the back catalog.” It’s a lot of wonderful pop textures from someone who is willing to take the listener wherever he goes musically and while some American ears may not find this of interest, I can see this being very favorable in the UK and other countries who love their pop with fondness.

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VIDEO: Mick Jenkins’ “P’s & Q’s”

Watching “P’s & Q’s”, I wish more hip-hop video directors were as clever as what was done in this new one by Mick Jenkins. I don’t particularly want to see the stereotypical things over and over and over and over, I want something different. It works very well, if not brilliantly, and when you got a damn good song from Jenkins, you know he is going to make Chicago proud.

Jenkins is coming to the west coast, head out and show some support.

June 10… Phoenix, AZ (Club Red)
June 11… San Diego, CA (Observatory)
June 12… Santa Ana, CA (Observatory)
June 13… Los Angeles, CA (Fonda)
June 16… Santa Cruz, CA (Catalyst)
June 17… San Francisco, CA ( Regency)
June 18… Eugene, OR (WOW Hall)
June 20… Seattle, WA (KUBE Radio Show)

VIDEO: Tony Millions’ “2k15 Freestyle”

Can showing substance abuse be enough to turn a song into a hit? You may see a bit of smoking and drinking in this but is it enough to make you want to hear this song repeatedly? It is the power of a good song and this one is good enough to want to play it over and over. He is Tony Millions and “2k15 Freestyle” is something that may or may not come off the head but the song may work excellently upon first listen, then second listen, and then on your 37th listen.

VIDEO: Sweet Crisis’ “Fight About Nothing”

Sweet Crisis sound like a cross between Bush and Blue Murder but they want to let you know they are their own band and want to rock it out when the best of them. “Fight About Nothing” will be formally released on July 13th but you can hear (and see) it now.

AUDIO: Getter & MUST DIE!’s “Mega Gun”

Allegiance (OWSLA) is the forthcoming EP by Getter and what can get any better? Knowing this song also features MUST DIE!? Now you know. You can now hear a song from the EP called “Mega Gun” and it will not lead to you having mega runs.

VIDEO: Newham Generals featuring Brakeman & Chronik’s “Bang Boy”

The “Bang Boy” is talked about in this new track by British rappers Newham Generals, who welcome Brakeman and Chronik into the picture and throw out rhymmes like crazy. Don’t overdose on this. The song is from their new EP N’s to the G’s (Dirtee Stank Recordings).

VIDEO: Free Weed’s “I’m Free”

Upon listening to the first few seconds, I thought this was a cover of The Who’s “I’m Free” from their 1969 album Tommy but once he said the song title (similar to The Who song) and heard the rest of the words, I realized it was not the same song. The similarities end at that point but it’s a new song by the group, taken from their Bad Diet album Introducing. The video was presented to the world by Steele O’Neal.

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AUDIO: Creed Chameleon’s “I’m A Old Boy (Remix)”

When I heard this song, I immediately wanted to say “ladies and gentlemen” due to one of the samples used, and perhaps Creed Chameleon knows what. He has a new song where he rhymes over a Chinx instrumental so in honor of him, he gives up “I’m A Old Boy (Remix)”. Include this in your mixes.