Honkeyfinger - Invocation of The Demon Other

Genre: Dirty Lo-fi Blues
Year: 2008
Label: Hoarse! Records
Who: One Sexy Creep of a Man
Where: UK
Like: Dirty blood coated backseats and sweaty shoulders
Rating: 9/10

Compare to: Flat Duo Jets, Tree Machine, Orange Goblin, Royal Trux, old Kills, D-66

A one man force of evil seduction. I dare say he tops Rob Zombie. Hailing from Bethnal Green, he describes his sound as skronk blues beast rock partial to fuzzy harmonicas and driving percussion. He's got the sound of an entire angry shotgun toting hillbilly ensemble all to himself, expect magnified to the grimmiest most careless sense of that analogy. Throw a little beatboxing loops and rattlesnakes into the mix and you've got one bad ass motherfucker. Oh wait, he's from the UK? I don't get it either, but it sounds pretty damn nastalgic.

Choice Track: Trouble

1 Honk N Skronkin
2 Got This Rage
3 Margarine Man
4 Jiherbode Boogie
5 Trouble
6 Parchman Farm
7 Cobra
8 True Believers

9 Farmer George

10 Fine Things

11 Margarine Man (Pt.2)

12 Burning Skull Blues

13 Boss Honk

14 Running On Empty

15 Subaquatic Homesick Blues

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Mac Blackout - Mac Blackout

Genre: Post-Punk, Experimental, Noise Rock
Year: 2008
Label: Dead Beat
Who: Mr. Blackout
Where: Illinois
Like: Grinding our teeth and taking sheers to bonfire
Rating: 9/10

Compare to: Blank Dogs, Digital Leather, Human Eye, Jay Reatard

Mr. Blackout's album is his side-project aside from his band The Daily Void. He's no newbie. In fact, he's been around putting out his work since the late 90s, but here is his full length released this year, an extremely cohesive and compressed collection of genuinely great post-punk noise rock. Very very listenable guy.

Choice track: You've Lost Your Eyes

1. Everybody Rock
2. Voodoo Doll
3. Heartache in the City
4. Dreamin’ of Summertime
5. Nowhere Man
6. March of Love and Hate
7. Baby Face Killer
8. Searchin’ for an Angel
9. The Lonely People
10. You’ve Lost Your Eyes
11. Delirium Trim Man
12. I Came from Another World

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Metallic Falcons - Desert Doughnuts

Genre: Freak Folk, Experimental, Psychedelic
Year: 2006
Label: Voodoo-EROS
Who: Sierra Casady and Matteah Baim
Where: Brooklyn
Like: Being in a rough tall tree patch at the foot of a mt. range
Rating: 9/10

Compare to: Jana Hunter, White Magic, Vashti Bunyan, Islaja

Casady of CocoRosie and Baim, make an enticing haunt of a duo. With densely Gothic vocals, Metallic Falcons take dark psyche to a whole new level of beautiful. Their albume Desert Doughnuts, released in 2006, certainly inspires visions of a young self figure in the 1800s splashing free-heartedly in a vine engulfed fountain.

1. Journey
2. Airships
3. Night Time And Morning
4. Snakes And Tea
5. Desert Cathedral
6. Silent Night
7. Berry Metal
8. After Metal (Sound Of Stars)
9. Pale Dog
10. A Heart Of Birdsong
11. Misty Song
12. Ocean
13. Disparu
14. Four Hearts

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Talkdemonic - Eyes at Half Mast

Genre: Post-Rock, Instrumental, Experimental, Strings
Year: 2008
Label: Arena Rock
Who: Kevin O’Connor and Lisa Molinaro
Where: Portland
Like: Traveling through the rundown country without stopping
Rating: 8/10

Compare to: Growing, The Octopus Prjoect, The Dead Texan, Horse Feathers, Whip

Formed in 2002, this folktronic duo, Talkdemonic, certainly knows the trade of instrumental music. Their September release of Eyes at Half Mast makes this their fourth studio album; one that is intricately orchestrated to an honorable degree, and meticulously dynamic throughout. It's a perfect fusion of electronics, strings, and percussion.

1. Leaving Light
2. Ending the Orange Glow
3. Duality of Deathening
4. Shattered into Dyes
5. Tides in their Grave
6. Civilian
7. Black Wood Crimson
8. March Movement
9. Dim Sky
10. Shallow Doldrums
11. Dust and Heat
12. Huancayo Orchestrelle
13. Dream by Heart
14. A Hundred Faces in the Neon Forest

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Lackthereof - Your Anchor

Genre: not-so-quirky, Lo-Fi, Folk, Solo Project
Year: 2008
Label: Barsuk Records
Who: Danny Seim
Where: Portland
Like: Driving over a big bridge in a foreign city
Rating: 8/10

Compare to: School of Language, Menomena, Field Music, Throw Me a Statue

Seim, the drummer and founder of Menomena, started Lackthereof in 1997, but since the recent touring and grand attention garnered by Menomena, Lackthereof has become the side project. Alone, Seim has a significantly less orchestrated sound, respectfully, as well as a noticably more energizing, light-hearted style compared to his usual, yet still achieves equal texture. Great for a midafternoon listen. Not peppy indie riffs, but instead a hint of electronic fuzz and lo-fi undertones mixed with extremely accesible vocals. Seim's third studio album for Lackthereof, Your Anchor, was released this july and has gained some critical acclaim thus far.

1. Chest Pass
2. Fire Trial
3. Choir Practice
4. Doomed Elephants
5. Locked Upstairs
6. Last November
7. Ask Permission
8. You Can
9. Vacant Eyes
10. Fake Empire

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