Mason Adams finds and listens to stuff others don't — from the music you can find in practically any CD bin to the tapes you have to trade with a friend of a friend of a friend. Reprint Email this Article

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Here's the latest batch of reviews. The old ones follow:

Stuff you can get from band members:

• Suppression — discography (2001)

When reviewing music, I try to maintain a professional distance. But try as I might, I occasionally find something that turns me into an utter, raving fanboy. Exhibit A: Doug Cheatwood's albums. Exhibit B: Suppression, Idi Amin and the Roanoke powerviolence movement of the mid-90s. This CD collects all of Suppression's mid-90s releases - two demos, two 7-inches, two songs from compilations, two split 7-inches, a split LP and one live track. For those who are unfamiliar with powerviolence-style hardcore, it's all about brutality, in music, lyrics and visuals. To a large extent, powerviolence is hardcore punk taken to its logical extreme, with sludgy breakdowns helping to dilute all-out screaming blastbeat-driven fast parts.

Crossed Out is usually credited as the premier powerviolence band. They existed from 1990-93. Roanoke usually is a couple of years behind the curve, but not so here. Suppression's first tape came out in 1991. The first demo is very poor sound quality, but that almost makes it charming. Everything else is absolutely amazing. The music is forward-thinking and very chaotic. Even the samples are well-chosen.

Suppression's old guitar player, Dave, collected this discography, and he did a great job with documentation. Lineups for each release are included, along with a few notes about each project. And one of my favorite parts about powerviolence is the label names. Suppression's labels included Sludge Records, Fetus Records & Chaotic Noise Productions, Bovine Records, Slap A Ham Records, Pessimer & Theologian Records and Sound Pollution Records.

The band has carried on with fewer members, but this CD collects material from their glory days.

For more information, contact dcraf1@cox.net

• Cock/Nuclear Goat — demo (2004)

From Biscuit (Big Balls Malone, Crank) and Goat (Stations) comes this 21-song album of catchy train-wreck craziness. CJ Stump (Stations) plays in the live band but he's not on this recording. Cock is more straightforward punk rock with the occasional reggae tune. The songs are chockful of over-the-top offensive lyrics (the first line on the album is, "G------ I wanna stab you in the f------ neck") but you'll find them stuck in your head with a quickness. There's one more "serious" song, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else," which is actually a subdued Kinks cover, but the rest are pretty silly. Nuclear Goat is more experimental, with songs built on the foundation of beat-creating software programs. In some ways this split reminds me of Ween, as the odd and occasionally misogynistic lyrics will cause a lot of people to overlook the solid tunes.

For more, contact pehbunny@yahoo.com

• Dig Shovel Dig — Number Yum Taste (production date unclear)

Ashveville's Dig Shovel Dig sounds like no one else. The band consists of two guys, one (Mark) who plays drums and one (Ted) who plays bass, sings and plays keyboards with his toes. Often they'll drop the straight instruments and go into dub weirdness. Ted's voice is an acquired taste; it's a bit like Will Oldham's, where at first his style is off-putting, but where the listener starts to appreciate it upon repeated listens. Kinda like Cock/Nuclear Goat, this is the sound of two guys having fun with studio equipment.

Web site: digshoveldig.com. E-mail: digshoveldig@shakethebaby.com

Stuff that's lost to history:

• Red Skulls — 2 EPs on a CD (2004)

Roanoke's Red Skulls have since broken up and reformed as the Lobsters, but they left behind these 2 EPs. The first thing I noticed was that this disc was louder than the ones I listened to just before. That's appropriate: The Red Skulls play straight-forward garage rock. I'm not quite sure what's orginial and what's a cover, but it's all a good listen. I've heard one knowledgeable listener compare these guys to the Sonics. The Red Skulls are yet another good band in the fine tradition of Roanoke retro rock that also includes Thee Wanderers, Vim Vigor Vitality and the StarCity WildCats.

Previous reviews

Here's some stuff you can find in record stores — not all record stores, though. Check the "local" sections in Record Exchange and Crossroads Music for these albums.

• Shadows and the Silence/Choke the Rivers with Our Dead — 7-inch split

Shadows and the Silence is from Blacksburg and play a sort of hard-hardcore/emo combo that seems to be in vogue these days. I like the raging and the screaming and the loud guitars, but the quiet, slower parts just leave me bored and cold. I still haven't made it all the way through this without pulling it and throwing something else on. This goes against my principles, but somehow I think I'd like this better if it was on CD instead of vinyl. Choke the Rivers isn't from around here, so I'm not bothering with a review, but they're pretty similar.

Go to the band's Web site

• The StarCity WildCats — Rockabilly Trio (2004)

My band pick for best group of 2003 releases its first album of eleven tunes, including five covers. You're pretty much getting a studio version of their live set here, and that's not a bad thing. The WildCats play straight-forward rockabilly that'll get the toes tapping. It's not particularly innovative, but then again it doesn't need to be. Any album with a song named after a local road deserves your money.

Go to the band's Web site

• Out of Orbit — A Wake in Understanding (2004)

Take some classic 70s prog-rock, then feed it through an emo-punk blender. Or is it the other way around? In any case, it'll probably come out sounding something like Blacksburg's Out of Orbit. The music sounds a bit wanky, but that's to be expected. If you're into the spacier side of rock'n'roll, it may be worth your time to see these guys live. I'm less impressed with the album.

Go to the band's Web site

• Doug Cheatwood — Songs About Gods and Heroes (2003)

Much like early ’90s Roanoke band Thee Wanderers, it's easy to cite apparent influences, but the result sounds completely different from anything I've heard before. Cheatwood's recorded some of the most original music I've heard lately, not only from Roanoke but in general.

I can hear traces of Tom Waits, Prince, Beck and Nine Inch Nails, but these five songs don't sound like any of those groups in particular. Imagine primal, dusty beats layered over with numerous samples, electronic twinges, guitars and funk/gospel/blues vocal melodies.

There's only one tune I don't like on "Songs." The rest I can't get out of my head, and that's fine with me.

Go to Cheatwood's Web site

• Pelt - Ayahuasca (2001)

Two CDs of gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, ragas and Appalachian folk tunes. Pelt is a sort of experimental-music supergroup, touring Europe and occasionally playing with members of Sonic Youth. The genre name, 'drone music,' pretty much describes the sound. For the right couple, this could be great make-out music.

Go to the band's site

• Stations - Last Gasp (2003)

Stations is most definitely not a pop-punk band. However, they've got a knack for recording catchy tunes that get stuck in the head. This is along similar lines of "A Positive Side to Negativity," but the band is slightly tighter here. That's probably due to impeccable drumming by Goat. If you see Stations booked at a local club, it'll probably be an fun and energetic show, and this album's a good reflection of that.

Go to the band's site

• Stations — A Positive Side to Negativity (2001)

Already a classic of Roanoke rock music. "Citizen Youth" will get stuck in your head, and it's impossible to get out. The rest of the album follows that strong start, mixing strong hooks with catchy and fun lyrics. There are a few mediocre songs, but on the balance this is a good, full-length album. Stations has since put out more recordings, but this one is easy to find at local record stores.

Go to the site

• Poseidon M.C. — Day 3: Poetic Mischief (2004)

"Day 3" represents a return to solo work by Byron Mack, one-half of Mack Jones and head of the Salem-based True Noke label. Mack's skills with production and beat-crafting have made a giant leap forward from "Phat Kidz Need Gigs." The disc is chock full of fun samples, mostly drawn from old jazz records but also sped-up reggae and classic rock. Mack's rhymes are thick-tongued yet nimble, dancing through the beats and dropping clever lines and puns along the way.

One track, "All The Way/The Fire," starts with a sample and beat, then mutates with each verse to become something entirely different by the end. Another tune, "Feel Me," which Mack says is "big in the suburbs," features Downtown Music Lab mainstay Genesis as a guest and is built on a guitar sample, a la Run-DMC's "King of Rock," only played backwards for a sluggish, trippy effect.

Go to the site

• Mack Jones — Phat Kidz Need Gigs (2003)

This disc, on the Tru Noke record label, has a lot of excellent songs and some that are merely mediocre. There's nothing outright bad, though. With some radio play and well-promoted shows, these guys could be a lot bigger (in terms of audience, not girth). "Underground" is a great song about the challenges of making independent music in Roanoke. It's cool that these guys have stuck with it. Solid, old-school hip-hop with smart lines ("I'm changing sides like Ric Flair") and clever beats.

Go to the site

• Johnny Boy — Champagne Dance Party (2001)

Johnny Boy included drummer Andre Burroughs (now in the StarCity WildCats) and bassist Dave Fueglein (now in Dead End Heist). This CD is good on its own merits, though. It took a while for this to grow on me, but now it's a favorite. Bratty lyrics that make fun of goth girls and people with "OBX" stickers on their SUVs are pretty good. If you're just starting, take it slow, a few songs at a time (the first five are great) and go from there.

• Captain Dangerous — Mr. Disease vs. Moonlight Jupiter (2002)

Former Roanoke artist Captain Dangerous has since relocated to Washington state, but he left behind several copies of this album. Production is lo-fi, the recording muddy at a few spots, and the album has a few "padded" songs to make it longer. Overall, though, it's a pretty fun disc.

Captain Dangerous mixes an untrained voice, drum machine, synthesizer, ukelele and lots of imagination. Musicwise, I can hear a lot of Residents and Captain Beefheart influence. The lyrics to "Rebirth of Mr. X" sound like "Dr. Octagon"-era Kool Keith.

If you can find this at an affordable price, it's worth it if you're feeling adventurous. Basically, some good weird ideas, but there's too many uninspired and boring filler songs. If this were 30 minutes instead of 56 minutes, I'd dig it a lot more.

Albums you have to get from the bands:

Groups often use recordings to leave something more than a memory, though less than the live experience, after they play shows. Go see the bands and you can usually buy their album before or after the show.

• Fire at Will - self-titled (2004)

Fire at Will fuses reggae, punk, metal and a couple other genres into a fun mish-mash. When the band hits its stride, they're up there with any other group around. I think this recording lags a little bit behind the live show. At a few points the vocals are too loud relative to the accompaniment, and the softer, less distorted guitar lines are a bit too low. Really, that's to be expected. They've only been around a short while and it takes years and a lot of money to perfect the studio sound. These guys are doing something different and original, and they'll only get better in the future. Check 'em out at Factory 324 or the Green Dolphin.

• Brave New World - One False Step (2004)

BNW's new album rehashes some of the material from last year's demo, but here it's much tighter and better produced. The songs are well written and tightly played. I'm pretty impressed by the technical abilities of the musicians, though if I had to quibble I'd say I'm not particularly into the singer's voice. It's not bad, just not my style. Other than that, my only criticism is that melodic hardcore is starting to get a bit trendy and ubiquitous. For hard-edged local music, though, it's hard to go wrong with Brave New World.

• TK-421 — Hollow (2002)

TK-421 is one of the more popular bands here in Roanoke. They play a lot of well-attended gigs, and of the bands in their "scene" (including Burning Bridges and the Worx), they play by far the most originals. Good on them.

The musicianship here is tight and the music very accessible and radio-friendly. You'd think with the Star Wars references in the band name and on the first track, there'd be a little more geekiness in the music. But no, it's straight-forward "modern-rock" in the vein of Alice in Chains. The cover even resembles that of Tool's "Aenima."

Actually, the music is a little too straight-forward for me. I feel like the music adheres so closely to genre conventions that it neuters itself. Then again, take my opinion with a grain of salt, and consider that I usually listen to more extreme music (like Idi Amin, reviewed below). If you wish that 101.5 FM had never changed to a classic rock format, though, you'll probably dig TK-421.

Go to the site

• Dead End Heist — demo (2004)

The only fault I find with this CD is that it's only three songs. And those three are so good that I find that when this demo is in my CD player it's usually on repeat mode. All four band members have played in other groups, with perhaps the most notable being Dave Fueglin, bassist for Johnny Boy.

Singer Tanya Terror rages all over these songs. I guess they qualify as straight-forward streetpunk. At the recent Kory Bishop benefit, DEH played these three, another original or two and covers by Billy Idol, AC/DC and the Clash. DEH probably is my favorite new band and they've got tons of potential.

Go to the site

• Random Noise Generator - "Fragments"

Metal seems to be growing in popularity again. Solid songs and musicianship can be found on what I think is a demo recording. Something here is missing, though I can't put my finger on it. Somehow the total is less than the sum of the parts. This is a little reminiscent of mid-era Sepultura. With a little exposure, Random Noise Generator could well find a larger audience beyond Western Virginia.

• Out For Justice — Kids After Hours demo (2003)

Based out of Blacksburg, Out for Justice is helping revive the thrash sound of yore. The music flips between fast 2-beat thrash and slower, catch-your-breath-but-keep-circling-for-blood breakdowns. Song topics include friends and Va. Tech football. Sample lyric: "I'm screamin' out loud/I hope you're doing the same/Muthaf***in H-O-K-I-EEs/Lee Suggs be careful with those knees/Michael Vick is our diety/And he also dated my friend Tiffany/4th and goal, what's it gonna be?" This is fast, short and doesn't compare to the group's live shows, but that's standard for first-time efforts.

Go to the site

• Strait Jacket — demo (2003)

These guys live and work here. They've since put out a full-length album, "Strap You Up," but I have yet to hear it. Here, the riffs are catchy, the lyrics are singable and the songs tend to get stuck in your head ("Shackles and Chains" is a particularly egregious offender). The band has since evolved, playing faster and using more personal lyrics than the ones found here, but this remains a nice intro to one of Roanoke's best punk bands.

Go to the site

• Magraw Gap — Magraw Gap (1996)

Virginia native Larry Keel got together in 1995 with a number of other string musicians to make this progressive bluegrass album. A shot of Natural Bridge adorns the back of the CD package, and songs like "Fireline" remind me of my work there with the U.S. Forest Service in 1996 and ’97. Some of the songs blend bluegrass with other genres, including reggae rhythms and traditional Asian melodies. Keel still plays around the area with the Larry Keel Experience, but this was how I first became acquainted with the long-bearded growly guitarist.

Albums that are hard to find anymore:

Skim historical music Web sites, make friends with folks who have big album collections, start a local music mixtape swap, launch a music zine and solicit for old records: Those are about the only ways you're going to lay hands on this music.

• Idi Amin — self-titled 7-inch, split 7-inch with Tomsk-7 (1998 on both, I think)

Most readers will probably hate these two records. They're loud, noisy and heavier than anything I've ever heard on the radio, even counting Virginia Tech's student-DJ'd station. I guess this falls under the "noisecore" genre, or maybe even "power-violence," but basically it boils down to this: Blasts of distorted guitar, bass and drums; screamed and shouted lyrics full of zen riddles and absurd takes on armed penguins and musical trends; sonic experiments with droney feedback and movie samples.

Within the cultlike noisecore scene, Idi Amin is known internationally. I love these two records. They take hardcore punk to its logical extreme, yet retain definite elements to keep the listener from forgetting that this was indeed recorded in Roanoke. These records are difficult to track down, but you may be able to find material by a related Roanoke band, Suppression.

• Obscurity — demo (1993)

This is standard punk rock with occasional metal flourishes. For the most part it's mediocre: There are a few decent songs but nothing that'll really stick in your head.

However, Obscurity's influence far outweighs its achievements. Its former members are now key players in Piss Ant, Stations and Random Noise Generator. Obscurity also included Dave "Meat" Caldwell, whose older brother Doug was in Blemish on Society back in the early ’80s. Many consider Blemish to be Roanoke's first Important Punk Band. Meat played in bands throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, directly influencing many of the people who play big roles in the scene today.

So while Obscurity's demo album isn't going to become a big hit 10 years after the band's breakup, it does provide an important glimpse into Roanoke's music history.

• The Noisehood - self-titled (1997)

The Noisehood was a Martinsville band with a seeming fixation on Far Beyond Driven-era Pantera. Lots of songs here sound like B-sides from that record, from the guitar leads to Jack Kitchen's yowley vocals. Still, in 2004 that's not bad, and to my ears it's better than yet another screamy hardcore band that sounds like everyone else. It might be derivative but the source material is strong.

• Piss Ant — Stinch of the Underground (late ’90s?)

Solid but standard street punk from Roanoke. There's nothing too flashy here, but there are some solid singalongs that work well live. The only song that really stands out is "About U," a get-stuck-in-your-head-type tune that starts out with the band mangling a version of "Earth Angel."

But Piss Ant's influence on the Roanoke punk scene extends well beyond their music. Singer Joe Marston (aka Joe from Roanoke aka Wigga Joe Blow) also works as an active promoter, booking bands from across the country, from The Hypodermix (Bristol, Tenn.) to All or Nothing HC (Southern California).

My favorite Piss Ant story involved one band, A Global Threat, that decided to blow off Roanoke after they were booked. Piss Ant and the Hypodermix both played that night. When it became apparent A Global Threat wasn't showing up, Piss Ant played an extra long set. Even after they ran out of songs, the bassist, guitarist and drummer remained on stage, jamming out every tune they knew (quite a few Metallica riffs in there). The night still ended earlier than planned, but I appreciated the extra effort from the band.

• Stevie D — Pass the Biscuit (1999), Leaping Lesbians (2000)

What an invention, the karaoke machine. It's given a nation that formerly sang only in the shower the ability to inflict their voices on the rest of us. But I always wonder why more people don't go and change the lyrics to the tunes they're singing. It's all too easy to pull off, and yet I've only heard one person ever ad-lib or rewrite lyrics. That all changed when former 20-something columnist Laurie Borslien let me borrow these two tapes by her former classmate at Ferrum College.

Stevie D's gone and made (at least) two full-length albums by rapping over karaoke versions of hip-hop tunes, along with the occasional rock song. He's corny, annoying, offensive and utterly hilarious. You can think of him as rap's version of Tenacious D: Copping the conventions of his chosen genre to equally parody and pay tribute to it.

Both these albums are pure novelty schlock, but they're fun and super-catchy. Stevie D's lines are obvious but clever, and they somehow hit this weird zeitgeist for someone like me, who grew up listening to Slick Rick, Digital Underground and MC Hammer in rural western Virginia.

I hear Stevie D still lives in the Roanoke area, working at a nursing home and putting on the occasional show for residents there. And if you're reading this, Stevie, come down to Kara O'Caen's one Wednesday night and do some raps over the karaoke there.

• MNP - Mindecision (1985)

MNP (pronounced Mihr) was part of the same homegrown hardcore wave that also included Eggbert and Christian Smut. The 1-2 hardcore drum beat is omnipresent, but within that constraint MNP experiments a great deal, blending diverse genres and bizarre interludes into an otherwise straight-forward punk sound. Lyrics represent the dark side of 1980s politics.

• Doom Syndicate - Bootlegg Vol. II (2004)

As goes the 2-beat in hardcore, so goes the blast-beat in metal (blast-beat = hitting the snares and bass simultaneously and very quickly). Doom Syndicate plays fast, but it sounds good to me. Not quite death metal, but not thrash either; there are lots of growls, a few screams and some funny samples thrown in too. Good guitar and bass work but it's all kind of drowned in the face of the almighty blast-beat. Apparently these guys recently got a record deal and we should see a new album later this year or early next.

Go to the site

• XLIV - demo

The band, consisting mostly of Roanoke youngsters, shows promise. The songs aren't bad, and despite a few missed notes or timing here and there, this feels like it could be a good record. Vocals are only "demo" quality in some spots, but in others they're really really good and passionate. Background singing, on the other hand, is not so hot. All in all, though, this demo is worth seeking out.

Go to the site

• Brave New World - demo (2003)

This was Brave New World's first record. They sound a lot like other bands in the "melodic hardcore" genre. I hear a lot of Hot Water Music, a little Leatherface and even a little Marginal Man. For choosing a genre, though, they could do worse. There aren't a lot of local bands doing this sort of thing, it's popular on a national level and this is a good start. Technically they're solid. If they can find a more unique voice, they'll be huge.

• Fungus - tape (1996)

Awesome, crushing female-fronted punk. Too bad it was released in 1996 and the band's since broken up. Fungus consisted of a few Ferrum students and totally rocked. This is one of my favorite recordings of Roanoke area music. Lindsay, the singer, has a voice that goes from sweet to scary and back. Mostly it's scary, though, and goes right along with the tough sound. I wish I'd had a chance to see them play.

• The Convicted - discography (2004)

A more recent, though also defunct, punk band. Most members were in their mid-teens and still are in high school. The songs here are catchy, well-played (for the most part) and well-written (for the most part). Over the course of the discography, the vocals start to wear a bit, so these songs play much better in smaller portions. The Convicted broke up when three members lived up to the band's name and got popped for public drunkeness. Two got probation, and one got put on house arrest, which effectively put an end to the band's practice sessions. For such a young band, though, this is really really good, so I'll be watching for its members future projects. One member went on to play guitar for Piss Ant. Two others play in the MakeOut.

• Eggbert — Dern That Kudzu (1985)

Roanoke's own. According to a 1985 Roanoke Times story about a Grandin show, Eggbert "specialized in feedback, distortion and 60-second pseudo musical thrashings." The group tossed rubber balls into the audience at one show. Their demo is entertaining, though it does sound a little too heavily influenced by Black Flag, especially on some slower tracks. The singer, a raspy spastic, is charismatic and gives the band an extra umph.

• Graven Image — Kicked Out of the Scene (circa 1983)

Technically this band is from Richmond, but singer Dwain Curd, who also wrote most of the lyrics, is from Vinton. This is pretty raging stuff. There are the standard songs about friends and the "scene." Curd also defies cliches by attacking hardcore itself for a general anti-religion stance. If you can find this, get it.

• Thee Wanderers — Thrust in Through the Outer Wall (circa 1990)

Thee Wanderers play a weird mixture of folk and punk rock with slight surf overtones. The members of this band have been around in one form or another for ages, from The Waltons to this band to Vim-Vigor-Vitality (see below). There's really nothing that orginal here, but somehow the band mixes familiar elements in a way to make them seem completely new. Thee Wanderers (and related bands) also had an influence on Roanoke music that continues to be felt in the garage rock scene, with local groups like the StarCity WildCats and the Lobsters mixing it up with out-of-towners once a month or so.

• Vim Vigor Vitality — You've Got a Date With ... (1997)

You can hear a progression from Thee Wanderers to Vim-Vigor-Vitality — the latter has less folk and more surf and psychedelic elements to it. "Dementia on the Rise" is more reminiscent of the older band, while "I Dreamed of Venus" shimmies and shimmers as a feedback-heavy guitar veers to far reaches of the solar system while staying grounded in terra firma.

• O-X-3 — Emotion (circa late ’90s)

At least one member of this band went on to play in Burning Bridges. It makes sense. If Burning Bridges plays covers of current pop hits, then O-X-3 sounds like radio from a few years ago, with that whole "grunge-lite" sound. A subpar version of Creed or maybe Smashing Pumpkins. It's really not bad if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not but I still find this tolerable.