05 Review
"Monster
S/T
The New Black Music
2005
[12.11.05] Little gems in the proverbial rough. Like Pasadena, for instance, LA’s bucolic neighbor to the east. Among other things, it’s the home to an upstart label called The New Black Music, a modest outfit quietly putting out some of the most promising music in the Southland.
Which leads us to Monster, a standout on the TNB roster. My first exposure to the band was watching the video for the song "Sincere Blues" on the band’s site (www.monstertheband.com). I dare you to watch this video and not be reminded how much you like good music. Sure, the video’s concept and simple visual production is refreshingly powerful, too, but the song’s still the star. More precisely, singer Alex Johnstone’s voice is the main attraction.
It turns out that Johnstone’s talents don’t end with effortless and original vocal performances. It seems that Monster is her project, with other people only covering percussion and incidental instruments on the album. And this sense of personal investment and revelation comes through on Monster. Johnstone coos and rails atop acoustic guitar and banjo, presenting highly crafted, wonderfully arranged tunes that showcase her voice and storytelling abilities. Other times, she’s strapping on a Univox in front of a half-stack and supplying some sufficiently rocking leads.
Fans of Cat Power, Devendra, Mojave 3, Galaxie 500 will find a lot to like here. Moreover, this album can make jaded music fans begin to believe again that people are making good music out there. JC "____MUSICSPORK
..
<3 <3 <3 Issue 10 OUT NOW!!! <3 <3 <3 pictures up soon!
limited 50 copies
words on: Anni Rossi Voice on Tape She Sells Sea Shells Tik///Tik Small Breed Talbot Tagora "To The Contrary"
1 page of drunken art [each art piece is hand done and different from one another so its like each zine is one-of-a-kind] current obsessions from jon, des, crow, and ricado +news, things we're looking forward to, ports o call bedroom schedule 5-6 or 7 pages each. 5 pages of content but some kinkos copy mistakes happened. There's always one EXTRA LARGE copy with each issue that contains everything left over.
comes folded and bound with green yarn or rubberbands [like 7 in rubberbands cause we ran out of yarn] NEWS- we put it together literally the day of the Captain Ahab/IE show sadly cause it took so long to put together we completely missed the show but we have them made and we'll bring them on our trip to the Turtle Shouse today! : )
no, no it is I who should be thanking you! thank you, thank you! I could fall in love with the almost languorously wandering spectral sound here where every note seems to be haunted or lingering in a sanskara that through every frame acquiesces the sad/beautiful nature of ...
PODCAST VII, kindly curated by the wonderous london label UPSET THE RHYTHM (uk home of BARR, JOHN MAUS, NO AGE, HANDS ON HEADS, DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! et al) is up now at caff-flick.com and it's a blockbuster of 30 tracks and 1hr 30m!! pick it up FREE
oy. i'm ussually not this forthcoming; but i'm a poet and you're musicians so you may appreciate the validation... stumbled across your sight like 6-7 months ago. liked what i heard; added ya, etc. Any-fuckin'-way- my sorta girlfriend and i broke up tonight and, after much more stumbling, wound up listening to your highly ethereal and charged cova of "one more cup of coffee..." like 8x n a row. -made me feel less alone. Truly. merci buckets- you guys are a heluva band. glad we had tonight.
I like your news songs Monster. I heard you played a great show a couple days ago. I will be happy to see Monster again play sometime when I come back here to stay. bonne nuit.
oh, I forgot to tell you though... you should really check out my sexy webcam. All you have to do to sign up is give me your credit card information and you're ready to go. PS - good show!
