Some 2008 New Releases

A couple of packages arrived yesterday with some new releases.

Germany's Colour Haze have released a monster of an album appropriately titled "All". It's lengthy album with quite a few tracks to show their range as a band. It's an album that will take several spins before it sinks in. The debut album from The Freeks has finally arrived. The Freeks are the "all-star" collective of Ruben Romano (Nebula / Fu Manchu), Scott Reeder (Kyuss / Across the River), John McBain (Monster Magnet / Wellwater Conspiracy), Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless), Lorenzo Woodrose (Baby Woodrose / On Trial), Jack Endino (Skin Yard / Earthworm), Jason Corbin (Bartenders Bible / The Casbah), John Cobett (Hammers of Misfortune / Ludicra) and Bernie Worell (Wizard of Woo & Woo Warriors / Funkadelic / Parliament). Should be interesting to hear what they come up with.

Another new release from Three Lobed Recordings is out. Matt Valentine and Erica Elder have a strickly duo LP that features songs with a heavy influence from India and surrounding areas. With the help of some non-Western instruments and a couple of Electro-Harmonix effects pedals, they create some interesting sounds. As a bonus, there's a full length CD that contains a collection of unreleased material from MV&EE with The Golden Road appearing on some of the tracks. As always the final is on 180g black vinyl and this time housed in a thick single pocket sleeve. The CD comes in it's own plastic sleeve with artwork. I'm not a huge fan of the duo but this a solid release.

Another One For The Board

I've been reading a bunch of the TalkBass forums recently and it seems everyone has a SansAmp Bass DI pedal or similar pedal on their board or use it as a pre-amp with a power amp setup. It sounded like a box that would give me that tube amp sound without having to buy a tube amp. So I gave it a spin to see/hear what the hype was all about. Playing into a solid state amp you could definitely dial in that tube sound and then some. Being able to use it for some dirt in your signal chain, as a pre-amp or DI box really seems to give the pedal value for the price.

Having only used the stock strings on my Carvin bass, I decided to try some new strings and picked up a set of DR high beams to see how much different the bass might sound with some aftermarket strings.

Acoustic Guitar And Some New CDs

Ever since I got my electric guitar I've wanted to get an acoustic guitar for the times when I don't feel like plugging in and when I'd like to be more mobile. That and I love the sound of acoustic steel guitars.

Being left-handed, I have a limited selection to choose from and music stores tend to carry the really cheap lefty guitars. Thankfully Carvin has a lefty acoustic that I'm able to try out and the price was right for me. I doubt I could find a cheaper lefty guitar that sounds as awesome as the Carvin C250LH.

After a long delay, I finally received my order from Important Records. Short and sweet, Grails have a new album that could be their best one yet. I really wish they could have recorded a track or two more while they had the momentum. Also arriving is another album from Acid Mothers Temple under the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. banner. Usually the heavier material from Kawabata and company is under the Cosmic Inferno name but this release is definitely the heaviest set from the Melting Paraiso which has two 36+ minute tracks on it.

New At Lou's

I went down to Lou's Records on Friday to return a CD I already had (I can't believe this finally happened) and picked up some new albums.

After a long time between albums, Spiritualized have returned to good form with a new album. So far I like it much better than the past two albums from J. Spaceman and company. Opeth have unleashed a new album with their new guitarist and drummer. Their albums seem to be growers so I'm unsure of where this will rank in their discography. Harvey Milk have followed up their 2006 album (my favorite of that year) with a quality new full length. I'm not sure if it will sit atop my 2008 list but it's great to have them back as a band making records again. Lastly, I finally got around to buying Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads which has been on my "to buy" list for nearly a decade. I guess it's better late than never.

Oscillation III, Part 2

Part two of the Oscillation III CD series from Three Lobed arrived on Saturday with three discs. That leaves one final disc to complete the series.

The second set contains albums from Bardo Pond, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth fame and The Micheal Flower Band featuring members of Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Will all the recordings they do, I expect a quality disc from Bardo Pond. Lee Ranaldo is always doing something different that's interesting. The Michael Flower Band is something I have no clue what it will sound like but a mix of those bands would be interesting. Time to get listening.