SX Bass

After reading about the how good the SX basses were considering their price, I ordered an SX BG-205 fretless from Rondo Music. For $100 they had a left-handed 5-string fretless bass in a black finish. It's far from flawless, but the quality of the instrument for the price is fantastic.

I've never played a fretless bass before as no one caries one around here. So I took the gamble and ordered one to see if I'd like playing a fretless. I love the sound of the fretless but I'm afraid I'd always be out of tune. The BG-205 has lines on the fretboard to help me out with the learning process. If anything this bass could be upgraded with new pickups and a new bridge to make it sound even better.

Heavy Winged - Alive In My Mouth

The latest release from Three Lobed Recordings continues their trend of an LP on 180g black vinyl with a CD of the material with a bonus track. Heavy Winged have a previous release on TRL that featured material released on a pressed CD for the first time. That was my introduction to the trio. Since then I've bought their Archive release 'Feel Inside' and the vinyl-only 'We Grow' LP which I think is their best material to date.

Until now. Side A offers the familiar sound of Heavy Winged with a few new elements/textures to keep things interesting. Then comes Side B which contains the most crushing song they've yet to record. The first half the 16+ minute track is a wall of sound that comes crashing down half way through and then simmers until the end. The CD contains a third song clocking in over 17 minutes alternates between a frenzy of sounds and quieter, moody parts. Chalk up another stellar release from Three Lobed.

New Stuff From Lou's

On Friday I went down to Lou's Records to pickup new albums from Boris and The Black Angels that I had pre-ordered. They also had a sale going on and I picked up a bunch albums from Jefferson Airplane, Weather Report, Soundgarden, The Velvet Underground, Rush and Neil Young that have been on my "to buy" list for many years now. I also bought the two full length CDs from Howlin Rain and a Religious Knives disc.

Vinyl purchases included the debut LP from Holy Fuck, a vinyl only release from Gown, Fatso Jetson's live album and a GHQ record they had on sale. A good haul from Lou's.

A Couple From Crucial

I ordered up a couple of new releases from Crucial Blast and they arrived today. After reading some reviews and an interesting description of their music, the debut full-length CD from Wildildlife sounds right up my alley. Yet another Nadja album has been released, this time it's not a reissue but brand new material from the duo who both play bass and are accompanied by a live drummer this time around. Can't wait hear where their sound is heading. Both CDs come in high quality mini-LP gatefold sleeves.

Gear And A CD

I went over to Guitar Center today to check out the new line of Acoustic Amplification products. I played their new B200H bass head through their new 4x10 and 1x15 cabs. Sounded good to me but I wasn't able to crank it like I would have liked to. Seems like a great buy for the price and I probably get the amp and a cab if I didn't already have an old Acoustic 370 head and had room for more cabinets.

The minor purchases was a new strap for the Squire bass and some bass and guitar strings.

I've been wanting to get a delay pedal and have been reading up and asking about them on some forums. I wanted something that was analog and wouldn't break the bank so I bought the MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay. It's easy to use and should work great with the rest of my pedal chain.

Arriving along with a book from Amazon is the latest album from bassist Victor Wooten. After the upbeat R&B sould music on 'Soul Circus', Vic has returned to more of a fusion sound. He pulls bits of African, Indian, Middle Eastern and jazz music along with material that might fit on a Flecktones album. 'Palmystery' could end up being his best album to date after repeated listens.

CDs From 20 Buck Spin

Put in an order to 20 Buck Spin since there was a distro sale and some new releases available. As a teaser for the full length album, the collaboration between Black Boned Angel and Nadja has produced an EP with a 21+ minute track. Can't wait to hear how the full length album will turn out for 20 Buck Spin. The lone new label release comes from Humanfly. They're one of the best bands from the Neurosis/Isis mold I've heard in awhile.

Other distro items include the debut double album from Monarch! and collaborations Fear Falls Burning did with Nadja and Birchville Cat Motel.

ATH Order And More

I had a 10% off coupon for All That Is Heavy distro and put in a good sized order to them. From their Meteor City label I bought their latest releases from Dead Man and Farflung after liking the sample tracks. A couple of solid albums from bands I had never heard off before. I'm trying to get the complete Elektrohasch discography so I got the Sula Bassana and Rotor albums. Amazingly they got back in stock Fatso Jetson's 'Flames For All' and now have Spirit Caravan's 'Dreamwheel' EP back in print. Lastly are pair of albums from Sweden's Graveyard and Burning Saviours.

Utech Records has started a new series with artwork by Stephen Kasner called the Fine Are Series. The first release comes from Skullflower and is features packaging and artwork that rival the many releases from Archive CD. A well done release and some of the better Skullflower material I've heard.