sound crunch 1

ASTRONAUTALIS: GOLD BONES CDR
nice, smooth hip-hop with dynamic vocals that sing, spit, and harmonize over the course of six tracks, several featuring collaborations with Colorado hip-hoppers Otem Relik, and Com. Pare. The beats are well-executed and the production stands out. Third track makes good sparing use of a Johnny Cash track that I would normally consider over-played right now, but it flows so well with the heavy message of the song that i totally overlook it. I got this EP at a house show by complete accident and fell for it right away. Hey, I can review something other than noise, all right? "The Audience: Skinny Fat Kids spins in a nice brief Wu-Tang sample over a jazzy beat, keeping this out of the usual cliches of white-boy electronic bliss hip-hop. And wow, even some nice sing-alongs as well on "Sea of Grass". See this dude on tour and see the light.


DIRTY LORDS: DEMO '05 (TUSCO EMBASSY)
Members of Ohio's Tusco Terror do nasty start and stop thrash with guitar feedback filling in the odd spaces between the blastbeats. The cover features a traditional metal-style gritty red and black photo of the guilty parties. Not straightforward at all, getting into some kind of proggy Lightning Bolt style jams for a few seconds before disintegrating into backwards tape and hollow, raw yelling. True insistence on this here lo-fi document that is for the fans of all things overblown, heavy and rotten despair. They get into these weird grooves that actually rock out a little bit before disintegrating into feedback buzz. Very nasty in that Cadaver in Drag/early Hair Police sort of fashion. Apparently there is supposed to be a new cassette from Tusco Embassy in the works for the future. This should still be available as well, so get it while its hot.
http://www.tuscoembassy.com/