Weekly 3x3: 16-Jun-2013

Howdy, y'all. I'm starting up a new weekly post called Weekly 3x3 where I share and talk briefly about what albums I've been jamming for the past week. I've only chosen 9 albums because it's close enough to 10 and square/ rectangular layouts are the only thing this site can do. So yeah.

I'm thinking of posting it every Sunday, just because it's usually the day I have the most off in the week. I also just want to say, albums I review aren't included, unless I end up listening to them a bunch after my review is up. Here's this week's:

Weedeater - Jason... The Dragon: Southern sludgy doom made for headbanging and whiskey drinking. It took me a while to get into Weedeater, but now I can't get enough of Dixie Dave's raspy growls :and mind-bending bass riffage.

Isis - The Red Sea EP: I bought this on vinyl before ever listening to Isis before. It was a risky buy, but I've only ever heard great things about all their albums, so I decided to take the plunge, and it was totally worth it. The Red Sea is some heavy as fuck post-metal and is a must-listen for anyone who is into atmospheric and totally engulfing music without much vocal work.

Kanye West - Yeezus: It took me a couple listens to warm up to Yeezus. As underwhelming as it is (compared to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, at least), for some reason I can't help but keep jamming this record. It's dark and simple, but still pretty powerful. Check it out if you can. It officially drops this Tuesday.

Minor Threat - Complete Discography: I don't even have to explain this. Blast some Minor Threat and start circle pitting!

Nails - Abandon All Life: Grindcore/ hardcore done right. It's a short, brutal album that I haven't been able to stop spinning since I first heard it. Kurt Ballou is a studio wizard with this album's production. Hard. As. Fuck.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of us is the Killer: Any Dillinger is good Dillinger. Get wrecked with this year's most unfuckwithable album.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories: There was so much hype for this album, what when it finally dropped, I was a little disappointed. After realizing that I was a wet blanket, I opened up to RAM, seeing it as it really is: a simple, awesome dance record. It's tons of fun and has some seriously infectious grooves and hooks. Highly recommended, but don't go in expecting the usual Daft Punk house music.

Baroness - Blue Record: This is a modern classic in sludge/ progressive metal. Definitely my favorite Baroness release by far. It was raining like crazy earlier this week, and Blue Record fit perfectly with the torrential downpour on the way to and from work.

Foxy Shazam - The Church of Rock and Roll: Opposite to Blue Record, this album makes for some of the best summer driving music there is! Luckily, the past few days have been beautiful, so I've been jamming this with my windows down for everyone to hear.

That's all for now, folks -- that's been my week! What have you guys been listening to?

-DG

Album Review: Baroness - "Yellow & Green"

For anyone who doesn't know who Baroness is (If you don't, please get your shit together here and here. Let this wash over you afterwards as you pick your jaw up off the floor.), they're a sludge metal band turned rock band rising from one of the capitols of sludge, Georgia, USA. Like most bands, they've evolved over time, but instead of taking little steps over the course of an entire career, Baroness didn't fuck around with trying to expand and push their sound with every album.

Their first full length release Red Album was pure Southern sludge metal, blasting your ears off with John Baizley's caveman vocals and raw, in-your-face production. Their next album, Blue Record went for a more progressive metal oriented sound, cleaning up some of the sludge and bringing in boatloads of melody and harmonization. Now we have their newest release, the double album titled Yellow & Green.

Above: Proof that doing lots and lots of drugs is a good thing, kids.

Yellow & Green sees Baroness pulling further away from the sludge sound and delving into psychedelic rock and prog rock territory. I remember reading a while ago that Yellow & Green would turn off a lot of fans with it's change in their sound. It did too, with a bunch of comments online saying how much they "went soft" or "sold out" or whatever. Yeah, maybe they did go softer, but going softer is what they wanted to do, and they actually probably gained a lot more fans than they lost with making their music more accessible. Enough with the rambling, though. Let's get on with the review.

Yellow & Green still has elements of Baroness' style of sludge metal in it. Those oh so delicious, gain laden harmonized guitar leads are sprinkled throughout the album, and Baizley's signature voice can be heard booming out of our speakers, too. The one thing he's changed up though, is he's no longer bellowing and yelling so much as actually singing now. His voice is still powerful, but its a lot less harsh to listen to. The instrumentation is still thick and warm, with the guitars sounding smooth and beefy while the bass thumps away in the background. The drumming is as superb as ever on Yellow & Green. There's really not much to say about the overall sound of this album other than that it's "softer" and "thick and warm". Mr. Cannibal Spork, an album reviewer on YouTube gave probably the perfect description of the Yellow half, saying the album felt like a warm blanket on a cold day.

Green on the other hand, seems to take that warm blanket on a cold day and replace it with a cool breeze on a warm beach. Much more laid back than it's rocking sibling, Green seems to go for a more jangly and twangy sound. While some parts are heavier than others, the whole ride seems to be like floating in the ocean down the shoreline.

This is literally all that ran through my mind when I saw this picture.

There's not really anything I can objectively dismiss about Yellow & Green. The songwriting is tight, the musicianship is great, and the final product is in itself a complete package. They couldn't have released Yellow without Green or vice versa. Both had to come together simultaneously for this project to reach it's full potential. However, subjectively, I can find something I dislike in these albums. I was so heavily invested in Red and Blue (seriously, they're two of my favorite albums ever) that my mind was programmed to think that Baroness = sludge. Since I didn't hear the singles off of Yellow & Green until pretty much right before I heard the whole album, the big change in sound took me by surprise. Don't get me wrong, I really like this new direction Baroness have taken, I just miss the old sludgy stuff.

Bomb-Ass Tracks - Yellow

Take My Bones Away: The big, burly first single off of the album chugs forward with massive guitars, bass and drums and stays in your head for days with its ridiculously catchy vocals.

Little Things: This playful little tune (it's that God damn twisty guitar riff) is perfect to close your eyes and just melt away with. Once it hits the 4:26 mark though, it'll wake you the fuck up with some of Baizley's kickass riffs.

Eula: Just listen to this song and stare into an open flame. You won't regret it.

Bomb-Ass Tracks - Green

Board Up the House: Kicking off Green with this song (after the mandatory intro track "Green Theme"), This song definitely sounds like it could get some radio airplay on a rock station. When I hear this, memories of summer and care-free days come to mind.

Psalms Alive: Another summery song here. Is "stoner ska" a genre? Well, if it isn't, Baroness just invented it.

Stretchmarker: Muthafuckin' guitar-based instrumental songs. They get me every time.

On a Playlist With: Well... this is awkward. Just listen to Red Album, Blue Record, and Yellow & Green. In that order. Or in reverse order. Or just listen to Yellow & Green over and over again. Whatever.

Overall Score


4.0

Baroness win at music. Again. Pretty much, unless you're butthurt about Baroness changing their sound, Yellow & Green has lots to offer to any music fan. Listen to Yellow & Green yourself here, and let us know what you think!

That's all for now, folks.