New Arrivals

A massive order from All That Is Heavy arrived on Wednesday (with a nice hole in the shipping box thanks to the post office). Mostly new releases from Eagle Twin, Ararat, Yawning Sons, Brant Bjork, YOB, Causa Sui, Circle, and Fu Manchu. ATH included a couple of freebies, self-titled albums by Elder and Sardonis.

Get Your Death On!, It's Casual and Fu Manchu at the Casbah, San Diego January 18, 2008

First show of the year and it was my first time seeing Fu Manchu live.

Opening up the show was San Diego's Get Your Death On!. I knew nothing about them going into the show so I was curious to hear what they sound like. Thankfully their sound is hard to describe. They mix elements of what people would call "indie rock", add elements of Black Sabbath inspired doom along with elements from the "jam band" scene. If I had to guess, these guys like a lot of the same music I do. Looks like they had a friend on "aux percussion" to augment their quartet. I thought they had a couple of great jams. There's a new album from them on the way and I'm looking forward to hear what they do in a studio setting. Great band to open the night.

In the middle was slotted It's Casual from Los Angeles. I knew a little about them going into the gig mainly that they are a duo on guitar and drums and their guitar player is left-handed. After a long delay as the guitar player was having trouble with his monster rig, they were off and running. These two play with a lot of energy and have a strong hardcore punk influence. You would think that a duo would have a drummer with a huge kit to take up all of the empty space but this guy had the most minimal kit I've seen - bass drum, snare, high-hat and crash symbol. That was it. Just the right band to get the crowd fired up before the Fu hit the stage.

I really don't have any excuses as to why I've yet to see Fu Manchu live (other than I was out of town when they played last year) as I've been listening to them for many years now. I've read all about their live shows and seen video footage. Well they definitely were rocking the Casbah last night. The setlist covered much of their discography, with only their first two albums and 'California Crossing' not getting any attention. The crowd was as into the music more than I've seen at any Casbah show. Perhaps due to more Orange County/L.A. presence? 'Saturn III' and 'Hogwash' and 'Anodizer' were the best jams and the highlights of the show for me. Ending the show with 'King Of The Road' was perfect. Not sure if they did an encore (it wasn't looking like it so I left), but the set ended perfectly without one.

Fu Wax

The new Fu Manchu album arrived on clear vinyl yesterday. Seems like I pre-ordered it a long time ago from Century Media. The artwork has been changed to fit with the larger space and it's nice to see the lyrics we also kept. My only complaints are that there is a bit too much noise at the start of 'Sensai Vs. Sensai' and a weird bit of noise after the end of 'Knew It All Along'. Not sure if that's the pressing or limited to just my copy. Other than that, it's one of the finest Fu Manchu albums in awhile and sound great on the turntable.

The New Fu

The new Fu Manchu album, 'We Must Obey', arrived today directly from the band. Since they're just up the road it got here way ahead of the street date. It's one of my favorite releases of the year so far. Just some fantastic tunes on this disc. I also pre-ordered this album on clear vinyl which is due in late April/early May.

Also arriving was yet another order from All That's Heavy. I got Acid King's 'III' for very cheap since it was part of their daily deals. I also gambled on a CD by a band called Saturnia titled 'Muzak'. Nik Turner of Hawkwind fame and David Allen from Gong each play on a track. That sample I heard sounded very much like early Pink Floyd. Hopefully it will be another great psych rock album from Elektrohasch Records.