Today's Post: A Mix

It's Monday folks, the day you can't stand, unless you work part time, then you might have today off, in which case, you have no excuse not to check out the next two releases mentioned below this very instant. Get on it, slack ass.

Today I will post about another obscure French act (pattern development?) and a solo artist that most of you hipsters most likely know about, but for this writer, she is another one of those glistening gems in a mountainside of useless rubble.


Superstatic Revolution - Goodbye Mr. Wanton (2005)



This French Grind/Noise/Metalcore act released the above full length, a pair of splits and one MCD before their break up. This is my second post about an underrated and obscure French act, maybe I am trying to say something... In any case, Superstatic Revolution came to me by way of a friend in 2003 or 2004. He sent me two tracks which I would later find out were from the band's split with Submerge. The files were lost and I had forgotten the exact name of the band. The songs I had been provided were still flooring me years later when I rediscovered them on an external hard drive. I needed to get more of these guys and find out their correct name. So one day I set out to find out just where the hell they were from and what other releases they had, if any.

It wouldn't be until about 2 or 3 years later that I found out they had released "Goodbye Mr. Wanton". Oh the excitement of rediscovering this band, and with a full length worth of material to explore.

This act was one of my first introductions to a more abstract way of playing heavy music. The band utilizes a huge sound while stuffing the loud mess with assaulting breaks of grindy havoc and unsettling riffs that resemble the mid to late 90's era of true Metalcore heaviness the likes of early Cave In, Snapcase, and Bloodlet. Like other heavy acts I have been posting, these guys definitely kept things interesting, there are no boring moments in this release because their ability to put their influences to work creates plenty of curve balls while at the same time ensuring a heavy delivery. It's also one of those bands where the name is a direct representation of the actual music they create. That doesn't happen all too often.

While I tend to focus on a particular album, sometimes the band itself is the purpose of the post. Like Rot In Hell, Superstatic's older releases are long out of print and hard to find. "Goodbye Mr. Wanton" is still available from Crucial Blast on both vinyl and CD.

St. Vincent - Actor (2009)



Annie Clark's creation St. Vincent has probably been man handled ad nauseam on Pitchforkmedia.com but I'm going to write about it anyway while bashing that hipster version of MTV. Here we go.

That site is a damn disgrace. It's basically your hypocritical hype machine. They are true flavor of the week sales people bent on eating their young. Go ahead, read their lengthy reviews that don't really supply much more than "It's not Vampire Weekend, so who gives a shit?" to "It's like Vampire Weekend so check it out!" If I ever saw a trend setter it's that site, and if I ever saw a trend follower, it's a clueless hipster who visits that site regularly to make sure the new Animal Collective is just as good as he or she thinks it is (it's not). Don't miss out on the who's cool this year list people! You may just find yourselves as lost as those who failed to catch yesterday's TRL top 10 list.

I better stop there.

As the solo artist, in the true sense of the word, Clark takes a hands on approach to her music. All the songs were completely written by Clark, and she took up the production with John Congleton.

"Actor" is the follow up to the acclaimed "Marry Me". I prefer "Actor" over the last release because she tends to show off her voice a bit more. The album contains more electronic beats and sampling but there's still plenty of instrumentation to go around. Catchy parts are rampant and the playful nature of the songs exists to lighten the mood on some of her more relational pieces. Sincerity has a place in her music and the variety of tones and emotions definitely play a large part in her song writing.

Clark is a stunning song writer who actually writes her material and plays it allm that's all you should need to be both inspired and enticed by her work. I patiently await her next release while you download or buy her current ones.

When you take into account how the average female pop star is portrayed and how they are exploited or how they exploit themselves for the sake of money and the covers of tabloids, (Women, I can only imagine the disgust you feel) it is a relief knowing that a really solid female talent like Clark exists.