Posts By 75orLess
Motif Magazine reviews Hope Anchor’s ‘Beautiful Corpses’
Hope Anchor – Beautiful Corpses
In terms of getting into the Halloween spirit, it doesn’t get any better than going to the release show for an album called Beautiful Corpses. Hope Anchor guitarist Terry Linehan warned me a few months ago that this would be their goth record. First impressions of Beautiful Corpses are that it does have a noticeably darker and urgent feel. “You Alone” kicks off with an ’80s U2-styled guitar riff before pulling the indie rock curtains over the beat. “Dead Gone” is another slab of indie rock that reminds me of some descendant of Echo & the Bunnymen and Wire. All good goth albums need a ballad and the dreamy “Rain Won’t Stop” fits the bill for a shot of indie guitar melancholy.
Hope Anchor, Jets Can’t Land, Ghosts of Industry, and Man & Wife rock Dusk on October 20.
The Noise reviews Keith A/B’s ‘Unbridled Optimism’
Keith A/B – Unbridled Optimism
6 tracks
Innovative textures and instrumentals are matched to quirky vocal melodies to form some intriguing songs by this solo performer; some of which verge on epic, notably the opening track “We’ll Send Our Sympathies,” which is supported by relentless rhythm guitar and a positively eerie horn-like refrain. The tumultuous churning in the back of “Your Mother Needs a Man” fails to completely obliterate the rather sweet, almost poppy vocal melody delivered with a degree of intensity which creates an interesting sensation of dissonance, literal and cognitive. “Capital S” is instrumentally deliberately jarring and angular, with over-miked guitar thrumming layered in back of Keith A/B’s almost sing-songy vocal melody. (Think Patsy Cline’s version of “Tennessee Waltz.”) The end result is an almost nightmarish ambiance, as the vocalist ominously declaims “You will tremble/ You will tremble/ You will tremble like a leaf.” Of the remaining songs, the repetitive “An Hour a Day” seems like a misfire; “Fortune Cookies” is a brazen, poppy rock song but otherwise not particularly innovative; “One Bad Egg” is an anodyne wistful ballad. But the first three songs are strange and wonderful. Recommended.
Video for Bill Keough’s ‘I Am The Lighthouse’
Hope Anchor – Beautiful Corpses
75OL-249 Hope Anchor – Beautiful Corpses
$8.00 S&H Included
Digital download is available here
Track Listing
1. You Alone
2. Dead And Gone
3. Rain Won’t Stop
4. Down
5. No Blood
6. Prime Mover
7. Not Asking
8. Skeleton Walk
9. Xoxosos
10. Beautiful Corpses
11. Without A Sound
Hope Anchor returns with a new album
header Hope Anchor Beautiful Corpses
The McGunks – Basement Anthems
75OL-258 The McGunks – Basement Anthems
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download is available here
Track Listing
1. Think it Through
2. Fall
3. Monday Morning
4. Story
5. Who’s Laughing Now?
6. Killing Me
7. Don’t Need You
Basement Anthems has the feel of a live McGunks show. You can almost taste the sweat and stale beer covering each track. Recorded in a hot practice space and a musty basement, this is the best representation of what the McGunks are about. Grab a 12 pack, some whiskey and start singing along.
Bob McGunk – Vocals, Guitar
Bobby McGunk – Drums, Vocals
Nate McGunk – Guitar, Vocals
James McGunk – Bass, Vocals
header McGunks Basement Anthems
header Steve K L4EO
Steve K – L4EO
75OL-262 Steve K – L4EO
$8.00 S&H Included
Digital download and streaming is available here
Track Listing
1. Break Your Life
2. Not Intentional
3. Don’t Pull On That Thread
4. Light
5. Invisible Sun
6. Rearrange
7. Break Your Life II
8. After It All
9. What Kind Of Love Is This
Steve K is known to a dwindling few as the former guitarist/songwriter for the 1980s bands “The Asparaguys” and the mock/rock outfit “The Friendly Dragons.” With L4EO (Live For Each Other) he offers a heartfelt array of songs culminating from experiences at mid-life, addressing both hopeful and darker themes with sincerity.
Fall-Winter 2017 Album Covers
six albums to be released in oct/nov 2017.
