The Fiend 10 (plus or minus a few) - Top Albums of 2011

In a year of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the really, really, insanely ugly, some artists managed to release some pretty damn good albums.  Here are the fortunate few that made it to the Fiend's Fave List.

The Top 10 (in no particular order)

1.  The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar:  Wales' finest took classic 90's shoegaze and dream pop influences like Lush, My Bloody Valentine, etc and turned on the blast acceleration. 
2.  TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light:  Brooklyn's finest take a left turn from their new millenium style prog-rock and produce a mellower feeling but by no means less substantial work.
3.  The Roots - undun: Questlove and the coolest band on Earth make one of the most equisite sounding hip-hop albums ever. 
4.  Office of Future Plans - Office of Future Plans:  J Robbins comes out with another monster power pop album with a brand new secret weapon - cellist Gordon Withers.
5.  Anthrax - Worship Music: Apparently the thrash legends jumped back into the time machine to make this album because it sounds like it came straight out of 1989. 
6.  Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee - Part 2: It's always comforting to know that Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA haven't embraced that concept of growing up yet.  This is just a fun record to listen to.
7.  Real Estate - Days:  Just a great, dreamy yet totally substantial pop album chock full of hooks.
8.  Machine Head - Unto the Locust:  The Bay Area thrash legends follow-up to their epic The Blackening is a brutal, uncompromsing metal epic.  Oh The Pain...
9.  Wugazi - 13 Chambers:  Minnesota mash-up artists Swiss Andy and Cecil Otter do the ultimate - mix Ian MacKaye and Old Dirty Bastard on the same album.  Download immediately.
10:  Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Experience Version):  The 2011 re-release features a number of previously unreleased live and studio tracks that are amazing.  Check out the original version of the title track with jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

The Best of the Rest:
The Kills - Blood Pressures
Battles - Gloss Drop
The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Phantogram - Nightlife
Liturgy - Aesthethica
Das Racist - Relax
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Le Butcherettes - Sin Sin Sin
The Sweet Ones - Big Mistakes

A big thumbs up to "Love Goes To Buildings on Fire", Will Hermes' document of the music scene in NYC between 1973 and 1978 and "Beats, Rhymes, and Life - The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest",  Michael Rapaport's documenatary. 

 That's it for 2011.  Hope you had as much fun listening as I did and we'll see you next year. 

Lets have a party - Metallica's 30th Birthday

When many bands hit their 30th anniversary, the conventional wisdom is to commence prepping for the retirement/retread circuit.  Metallica, as is their M.O., opted to do otherwise.  The Big 4 tour, featuring the Bay Area legends plus fellow thrash pioneers Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, had a successful second run this year including a grand finale at Yankee Stadium.  Conversely, their collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu, managed to offend everyone on the planet along with a few neighboring galaxies (although I still insist there was a redeeming moment or two).

As a grand finale to their 30th year, the Godfathers of Thrash announced a series of intimate, fan-club only shows at the Fillmore in their native San Francisco.  The minute the shows were announced the speculation started as to what they'd play, who would show up, would Dave be there, how about Jason, etc??  As shown over the past week, these were shows that won't soon be forgotten.  While the shows were a celebration of Metallica's storied career,  the band, in many ways, took a step back and put the spotlight on their influences, friends, and bands that they cut their teeth with back in the day.

Here's a breakdown of who was there each night:

December 5th: Apocolyptica, Jason Newsted, Biff Byford (Saxon), John Marshall, Brian Tatler/Sean Harris (Diamond Head) -

December 7th: Armored Saint (opening band), Marianne Faithful, Ray Haller (Sweet Savage), John Bush (Armored Saint), Kid Rock, Lou Reed, Jason Newsted, Mercyful Fate

December 9th: Laaz Rockit (opening band), Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains), Animal (Anti-Nowhere League), Gary Rossingon (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Pepper Keenan (COC, Down), Jim Martin (Faith No More), Glenn Danzig (Misfits/Samhain/Danzig), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Jason Newsted

December 10: Death Angel (opening band), Bob Rock, Jason Newsted, Ozzy Osbourne (who this guy), Geezer Butler (Ozzy's partner in crime), Hugh Tanner (James' original bandmate), The original Metallica (Hetfield, Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Ron McGovney + Lloyd Grant).  

As you can tell by the participants, these were shows transcended even the host band.  This became a living, breathing history of heavy metal going back to those ominous rain drops and church bells on side 1, song 1 of Black Sabbath to current day metal.  For 30 years,  Metallica has always worn their influences proudly on their sleeves and for these four shows, they offered up their stage to them.

"We never stop, we never quit, cuz we're Metallica"

For Dime and John

Today marks the unfortunate anniversary of tragic deaths of two rock icons.  31 years ago, John Lennon was gunned down just outside of his New York City apartment building.  Nearly a quarter of a century later, former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot on stage just as his band Damage Plan was starting a show in Columbus, Ohio.  Two legendary figures, representing different ends of the musical spectrum, forever linked by a date that may be the darkest in Rock and Roll history.  It has, does, and will always suck.

Rest In Peace Dime and John.  Here's hoping you're throwing down a BlackTooth Grin on the other side. For the rest of us - here's a couple of songs to remember these legends by:

Getting Whiggy With It....

Apologize for the cheesy title but the news came out today that the mighty Afghan Whigs are reuniting next year to headline the All Tomorrow's Parties fests in both London and New Jersey.  Somewhat overlooked in the bum-rush of bands that came out during the alternative boom of the early 90's, the Cincinnati-based band churned out a series of monster albums between 1990 until they broke up in 1998.  Lead singer/songwriter Greg Dulli's angst filled lyrics were complimented perfectly by the bands soul infused garage rock.  Their soul influence become much more prominent over time, especially on their 1998 swan song, 1965.

Also known for being the first band on Sub Pop records not from Seattle,  The Whigs' crowning moment is probably 1993's Gentlemen.  Dulli's angst and frustration were at fever pitch on this record.  The album is very similar to a movie - lots twists and turns, highs and lows, and then slowly fading out when you can't take anymore of the intensity.   

After the band broke up in 1998, lead singer Dulli formed the Twilight Singers and released a number of great records over the past 10+ years including this years Dynamite Steps.

So if you see Santa Claus this year, thank him for the early Christmas present.  And, if you guys get the chance, try making it to Chicago this year too.  Until then, here's the classic song Debonair for your listening pleasure.  

Revisited: "Probot" - Dave Grohl's underground metal all star album

There is only one person in the storied 50 + year history of rock and roll who could get away with playing with both Sir Paul McCartney and Cronus from black metal pioneers Venom and make it seem as natural as breathing.  That, of course, is Dave Grohl - the Kevin Bacon of Rock and Roll.  

While he cut his teeth back in the 80's with the legendary DC Hardcore band Scream, Grohl was one of the many legions of teenagers (Blogmaster General included) who were equally entranced by both punk and the burgeoning underground metal scene that was happening across the globe.  Metal or crossover bands like Metallica, Corrosion of Conformity, and Napalm Death had no problems acknowledging the equal influence of punk bands like Discharge and GBH along with their traditional idols.  Conversely, many a punk could be seen wearing Motorhead shirts or showing up at their concerts.  

Set the clock ahead to the early 2000's and Grohl, now a full blown rock star with the Foo Fighters, starts working on some metal songs in his spare time.  As the story goes, many of these songs were designed with specific vocalists in mind but the wasn't supposed to go beyond the garage.  Somehow, this little garage project took on a life of it's own and over time, Grohl started to reach out to many of these singers such as Mercyful Fate's King Diamond and St Vitus' Wino.  The songs came together and by 2003 Probot was ready to go.  With little interest from the majors, Grohl released Probot on Sunn - 0)))'s Southern Lord Records in 2004.  

Probot explodes out of the gates with "Centuries Of Sin" - a collaboration with Venom's Cronus.  Starting with an eerie, hellish intro reminiscent of their landmark song "Black Metal", it quickly becomes the best Venom song they never made.  Sepultura's Max Cavalera throws down one of his patented screams on "Red War"- a track featuring the same quick time changes prominent on their classic "Chaos AD"album.  What homage to the world of underground metal would be complete without Motorhead's ageless Lemmy who appears on "Shake Your Blood" - a song that even makes it into the occasional Foo Fighter's set. 

The one amazing thing about this album is that, in most cases, how spot on Grohl was in matching the singer to the song.  The Emerald Law with Wino, is a perfect showcase for his feedback drenched guitar. While lacking Voivod's instrumental prowess, "Dictatorsaurus" featuring Snake has a quirky sci-fi-like but is strangely pop-like. 

Of the many great tracks on this album, "My Tortured Soul" featuring Eric Wagner of Chicago's very own Trouble is the standout song.  Similar to their classic album "The Skull" it's that perfect mix of dark, doom style metal but has a very sticky melody.   

The closing track "Sweet Dreams" is a horror movie set to music with vocals from King Diamond and punctuated with an apocalyptic guitar solo from Soundgarden's Kim Thayill.   If you like this solo, check out Thayill's spine tingling guitar work on Sunn-o)))'s and Boris' track "Blood Swamp" - not for the faint of heart.  Rumor has it, that if you keep listening to the album after the end of "Sweet Dreams" that guy from Tenacious D makes an appearance. 

While it's not a perfect album - there are moments where Grohl could have used some instrumental support - Probot places the spotlight on a era of heavy metal that, while wildly influential, never quite the recognition it so richly deserved.  Bravo to Dave Grohl to pulling this project together. Rumor has it that a second Probot album may appear one of these years.  

Just as an FYI  - here are the vocalists that appear on Probot.  Listen to them if you dare.  

Cronos - Venom

Max Cavalera - Sepultura, Soulfly

Lemmy - Motorhead

Mike Dean - Corrosion of Conformity

Kurt - DRI

Lee Dorian - Cathedral, Napalm Death

Wino - St. Vitus, The Obsessed

Tom Warrior - Celtic Frost

Snake - Voivod

Eric Wagner - Trouble

King Diamond - Mercyful Fate