Graf Orlock

There is a line out there, some say, which separates the sane and rational from the absolutely fucking absurd. Graf Orlock show up and do their best to smear that line beyond all recognition. By the time you reach the final track of any one of their releases you're likely to be headbanging to your own screams of 'Sarah Connor!'

They formed six years ago in Los Angeles as four kids united by their raging love for 80's & 90's cinematography (a detail you'll soon pick up on), and have been splicing audio snippets into their grind inflected hardcore ever since. Former vocalist Kalvin Kristoff was highly influential in Graf Orlock attaining their sound, with a scream so potent it could rattle glass to breaking point. Backed up by Jason Schmidt on guitar who's own voice resonates deep, almost Dave Verellen-esque growls, as if they were coming from Beelzebub's Abyss itself. Mainstays of the listening society have been quick to paste a 'cinema-grind' tag upon anything these Californian savages do - which I confess I'm not a fan of. I just think it trivialises the music, which could leave the band being just aswell known for their inclusion of script and quotes as for their sheer power to rage. I guess you guys will make your own minds up.

After a series of well received splits & EP's they embarked on a three-release trilogy based on a screenplay Jason and drummer 'Alan Hunter' had been fervently working on during their time at college. The 'Destination Time' trilogy is absolutely menacing, track after track of riff-spun fury bolstered extensively by their often ludicrous love of action film samples. Step forward into the melee as revved up Lemmy style bass parts crush insatiably into the churning guitar on tracks like 'A Shocking Interrogation' and 'Todd & Janelle' from the Destination Time: Tomorrow EP. The tempo changes snatch you by the collar and pull you into the tangled fray of Indiana Jones and Under Siege, pumping your senses with large doses of profanity and bloodlust.

While some people will pass off Graf Orlock as a gimmick band, others will jump on board as devout followers of the Predator meets Hardcore template. On a purely sonic level Graf have measurable talent for creating great chunks of hardcore, albeit few of those chunks see the other side of three minutes. I can imagine this band putting in an astonishing level of commitment and exercising their chops in intense hard to fault live shows, brimming with blastbeats and choice movie script dialogue. I just hope Graf Orlock's select list of cinema influences affords them enough room, to produce enough records, to satiate this writer's and the rest of the Graf Orholic's thirst for fresh takes on often stale sub-genres.



Destination Time: Yesterday
Destination Time: Tomorrow
Destination Time: Today

It's a cold world out there, sometimes I think i'm getting a little frosty myself.

In 1986 seminal record producer Rick Rubin embarked on a project that revitilized a classic American rock group, and perhaps more poignantly birthed a hybrid musical subgenre, with the fusion of rap and rock. You've probably guessed it, it was infact Run DMC's cover of 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith. Released as a single from their album 'Raising Hell', 'Walk This Way' mushroomed into an International success by becoming the first rap single to break through into the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. It was something of an eye opener to the general listening public, grabbing modern assumptions by the scruff of the neck and heftily planting a bright white adidas trainer right where it hurts the most.

Flash forward to 2009 and the charts are still bothered by multi-platinum selling acts following a similiar template to the one Rubin crafted over 20 years ago, artists such as Linkin Park. Despite the breakthrough success, there lies a blistering underbelly where hip hop and rock can coalesce outside the charts, In a heavier, more satisfying allegiance. Enter Cold World who have been running with the torch for almost 5 years, albeit in a very black & white manner.

Cold World are bare as bones in their musical march, steamrolling interludes of hip-hop morsals onto a steadfast foundation of locomotive 90's hardcore. Adding a dash of hip-hop or rap influence for every stylistic value borrowed from Crown of Thornz or Life of Agony. Cold World play out of Pennsylvania, weilding a brand of hardcore not unlike the burgeoning east coast scene of almost two decades passed, very pissed-the-fuck-off but equally talented on instrumental terms which makes for interesting hardcore rather than the derivitive, mechanical concoctions many bands churn out in a feign attempt to replicate the Minor Threat or Sick Of It All glory days

There's very little out there strong enough to contend with what Cold World are doing right now and I recommend all their releases,


(Dedicated To Babies...)

(Ice Grillz)

Existing Underground

Posts have, and will for the immediate future be few and far between due to logistical reasons. Broken down it means i'm never in the midst of a good internet connection, so all my blog ideas have been given the pen to paper treatment as of late. I'll have to wait a little bit longer before I can spew forth the many, many metaphors i've collected to describe Thom Yorke's voice & the beauty of Radiohead at Leeds Festival. Meanwhile I've been listening to alot of Poison The Well, predominantly that new behemoth 'The Tropic Rot' (Get it here) and Joy Division, don't say thats depressing though.

Meanwhile...


Mike Patton from Faith No More / Mr Bungle


Johnny Depp in Donnie Brasco

I also think Tim Mcilrath from Rise Against looks like Thom Yorke.

The Troubled Youth of Suburban Life

Thank God for Punk, I owe my way of thinking to it.

An evening in with Fall Out Boy

There's no doubt about it, I used to dismiss this band. I never really let them register and even when I did it was a fleeting fancy for one or two of their big hits that more or less everyone could move to. I never thought of them as a band right at the forefront of making good music, they never were a totally amazing group of songwriters to me, Fall Out Boy didn't get the obsessive treatment I reserve for alot of the other big hitters I listen to. Nevertheless, as with anyone submerged in today's pop culture milieu they've always flirted with the boundaries of my listening radar.

For a group of guys who churn out solid hit after solid pop punk hit they possess somewhat double-edged sword charachteristics, take the very inception of Fall Out Boy; Joe Trohman overheard future lead singer Patrick Stump talking about Neurosis in a book store and went on to introduce himself. Not Bad Religion, not early Green Day but Neurosis! Pete Wentz, as preened and coiffed as you might like to think of him, played in a succession of hardcore punk and metalcore outfits, notably Arma Angelus (The Grave End of The Shovel), and Yellow Road Priest. Furthermore along with future drummer Andy Hurley, he played in the political straight edge act Racetraitor. It was only after the group discussed taking their musical aspirations in a direction that reflected their early pop punk listening habits (Descendants, The Get Up Kids), that Fall Out Boy came into being

I was really well and truly impressed with Folie á Deux, bringing it out roughly only a year after Infinity On High and still managing to pack in an abundance of delightfully well crafted songs aswell as furthering their musical maturity Is surely praise worthy in anyone's book. Bands don't do that nowadays, well not the gilded pop punk generation. They're so obsessed with the particulars of producing, mixing and mastering, to really put out what they want to put out. Pete Wentz, no longer the limelight thief with perfect teeth that i thought he was, is worthy of the recognition he gets. His lyrics are as satirical, layered, meaningful and seductively blazé. Metal has so many restrictions and boundaries that are watertight if you want to be deemed part of the fold, yet i have never seen a downside to 'wimpy' pop punk. It's just sailing in the sunshine, there's no downside to great hooks & great melody. Punk Rock is freedom, it is Art, someone great once said 'Art is expression, in expression you need 100% full freedom" .. and so i will advocate for Fall Out Boy.

So I've started my love affair, 5 years later than everyone else maybe, but hey, I'd like to think I listen to alot! The point of this blog? Probably to say that I was wrong to dismiss Fall Out Boy earlier on in their career, and also to say sorry to Pete Wentz - he's not the ego monster I labelled him as, he has quite a bit of wit about him, I love how he makes a complete mockery of young coked up Hollywood. Probably just a product of growing up listening to The Smiths.

For those who haven't heard Folie á Deux and feel like giving it a chance - Download

Wolf Whistle

My friend Josh alerted me to a band called Wolf Whistle, who play a brand of fast hardcore straight out of New Bedford MA. Pretty good on their own merit but dig a little deeper and you'll learn they're fronted by Pat Flynn from Have Heart; which is pretty special in itself especially to think that this might well take up more of his time once the final Have Heart tour is through. They're completed by Trevor Vaughan of XFilesX, Derek DaSilva, and Evan Radigan of The Rival Mob (Get Rival Mob's 'Raw Life' record) and wrote a 10 song demo followed by another 4 song demo with ideas now to get back in the studio and record further tracks.

Fans of Have Heart will no doubt throw themselves onto this wholeheartedly but on a purely sonic level they don't draw that many parallels with the Boston flag boys. Think faster, more sporadic drumming and frenetic guitars with the track times more than halved. Just a grittier approach to hardcore in general and a backlash against the soaring chants and thumping hooks of Have Heart. Pat Flynn's vocal prescense remains untarnished, he's just as relentless as hes previously known to be, spitting his lines like a brown bear on steroids. Pat Flynn's good friendship with Lee from Trash Talk might have rubbed off a little on Wolf Whistles style, who are definitely more aligned to that pissed off Sacramento/San Fran sound than anything Boston is tending to at the moment. Great Stuff, get listening!

Wolf Whistle - Demo '07
Wolf Whistle - Winter Demo 09 + Live on WERS

My Summer Overture

This is the last weekend before Leeds Fest 2009 lands and it's a definite case of 'the calm before the storm.' I feel the need to abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants in preparation for the four days of debauchery, kind of like the few days of fasting before the feast-banquet-marathon. Either way nothing but good times are in the pipeline. This is the finalised line-up, I could not be more stoked for Faith No More, after years and years of thinking i'd never get the chance to see them..

I Don't Care How Many Times You've Seen Fight Club, You Are Not Tyler Durden.

I have little money to live but had enough to buy this.

No Jobs Here, Transients Turn Back

An actual Ladder. I kid you not, after what initialised as a trivial argument with my Dad's wife, my father saw fit to heave a bulky step ladder in my direction - all the while huffing and panting like a threatened silver back. It wasn't pretty and to be honest none of you fucks needed to know anything about my family quarrels but every story has a beginning. Yes even 'The Neverending Story'

Post Paternal Meltdown left me stranded with nowhere to stay so I packed up the only things that mattered; Ipod, thrashed skinny black shorts & some fresh T's and took off to Peterborough to get away from everything. All I could listen to for the 4 hour journey was Saves The Day's 'Through Being Cool' - A band who I will staunchly defend against anyone. For those who are blinking blearily with no Saves The Day framework, think Sunny Day Real Estate glazing over heartbreak with sugary melody. For fans of The Movielife, The Get Up Kids etc. They're really not you're average 'Punky Pop Rock' band, 6 albums under their belt puts them high up on the mantle of genre heavyweights. Always a delight to listen to and Chris Conley's lyrics deal with so much of his own torment which flies directly in the face of whatever happy care-free pop punk you're listening to this week.


Link (Mediafire)
I spent the subsequent few days partying with everyone and going to the beach, Alas the number of attractive females falling into the 16-25 catergory was so low I was reduced to passing the time by playing beach cricket for hours on end and Gnarkill really fucking loud in the car. 'Mustard Man', 'Golden Egg', 'Skeletor vs Beastman' .. we nailed all the classics. On the Thursday I went to see This Is Colour in Peterborough with my brother Lewi, Shane & Andy - Alex was at the gig aswell. Small world, figures. I wore my Throats shirt.


So for the past week it's been hightimes all round, right now it's 8:35 am and i'm propped up on a caffeine scaffold trying not to succumb to the lulls of Incubus. Going to some wine bar tonight to have a root through whats left of the local indie scene, hopefully my next post will be a bit more cohesive.

The other night I wrote what I thought was a killer Cold World review, Sod's Law then prompted my laptop to overheat and shutdown instantly, obliterating my unsaved work. I scurried to a notepad and jotted down everything I could remember so once thats been pieced back together I'll post it for all you arm chair critics to scrutinise.

August will consist of finding somewhere stable to rest my head, paying my scandalous £90 college bus pass, unleashing everything at Trash Talk in Huddersfield and mastering the art of partying at Leeds Fest '09. Bring on Municipal Waste, Bring on Thursday, Bring on Deftones! One month of freedom left so lets fucking RAGE! 'til then this is what i've been listening to...

Trapped Under Ice - Secrets of The World
Hardcore out of Baltimore, drawing a few similarities with Bitter End and older stuff like Crown of Thornz. Big & brass good tyme Hardcore, very refreshing.

Link (Mediafire)

The Shins - Oh Inverted World
Musing Alt Rock, soft & comforting with melody & meaning to boot. For those who've also been sucked into the cult of Death Cab.

Link (Mediafire)

Kylesa - Static Tensions
Dark, brooding metal, Not far from the sound Mastodon aim for. Some would say 'Stoner Metal' but I really hate that term. I like this album so much I'll probably go into more detail in a later post!

Link (Mediafire)