G-CLASS mini-review by Stevey Seven

G-Class from Dayton brings the party midweek at Skully’s as a poetic threesome hip-hop comparable to any popular artists rolling in Diablos and tossing paper around…they got the females in the “Wear Your Sexiest Outfit” competition on the dancefloor despite the rough crowd and heat-exhausted clientele. Everything was tight in what must be a tough genre to work in…I expect these guys to be making many more appearances in the future. Check out their free release at giftedclass.bandcamp.com – Stevey Seven

REVIEW: Vocabularinist – Monkey Brains Controlling Robot Arms CD, 2006

Vocabularinist – Monkey Brains Controlling Robot Arms CD, 2006

VOCABULARINIST
Monkey Brains Controlling Robot Arms CD, 2006
Funky, mechanized grooves with miles of vocal loops. And funk. It’s not Meat Beat Manifesto, but it’s also not Perry Como, it’s not a lot of things. Rhythm and melody. “All Refelctions End Here” is kind of like the bastard offspring of Gary Numan and early Nine Inch Nails, but better. Dark electronica. Have I said Skinny Puppy enough yet in this issue? In the early 1990s, we called this stuff ‘industrial,’ just meaning that it’s dark and girls could dance to it. “Getting To Thou” gives those headphones a workout, all the elements jumping across the stereo spectrum. “It’s A Dull Ride” is like drum & bass Pop Will Eat Itself. Monkey Brains Controlling Robot Arms is fun, funky and futile to ignore.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: Evan Peta – Mockingbird Hill CD, 2011

EVAN PETA - MOCKINGBIRD HILL

EVAN PETA
Mockingbird Hill CD, 2011
www.dezvalentino.com
This is a good album for fans of rock guitar in all its guises. Classic rock with clean, harmonized riff and vocals just like that band Masters Of Reality. “It’s All Too Much” opens in grand fashion, amid squalls of lead guitar. Tuneful guitar rock. Is this freedom rock? “It’s All Good” is like Blue Oyster Cult meets They Might Be Giants. Or is it? “Jazz And Peanut Butter” is a delightful thrash-speed romp for guitar, bass and saxophone sound, definite Frank Zappa territory there. “Gamma Ray Shuffle” is built on a John Bonham drum break, but not the one most people use. Cool. “Peace, Love & Nuclear Fusion (Part 3)” is a pretty/menacing instrumental keyboard ditty, a la Ace Frehley’s “Fractured Mirror.” “Dorian Gray Scale” is a fun guitar/bass riff pattern thing. The last song, “Mockingbird Hill” is a similarly enervating procession. Of rock.
Ian C Stewart

AUTOreverse Issue One (1995)

People have been asking for years how to get copies of the original print run of AUTOreverse.

This issue includes interviews, reviews and essays by home recording artists and a raw graphical style that is pure, improvised grindcore for the eyes.

Contributions include essays by Carl Howard and Eric Lanzillotta, interviews with Chris Reider (Luster), John Sosnowski (Broca’s Area) plus reviews of self-released cassettes, CDs and records.

Published in 1995 and almost immediately out of print. Available here for the first time in PDF form.

AUTOreverse Issue One

last one for today, AUTOreverse Issue One review – SANITY ASSASSINS 7″ (1995)

excerpt from AUTOreverse Issue One

last one for today –
SANITY ASSASSINS
Martian Beach / Hot Foot 7″
Comes on like a surf record. Uptempo rock, or is it punk? (That’s not a philosophical question, I’m really curious) Overly reverbed distorto guitar over a driving bass-n-drums beat. “Hot Foot” is fast and has all of your favorite surf elements: tremolo guitars, fast ride cymbal work. Makes me think of loud cars and old rockabilly guys trying to keep their hair from going flat in the sun. We surf a lot in Ohio, so this is like soul music to me.
Ian C Stewart

another AUTOreverse Issue One excerpt – CD review – BACCHUS JIHAD (1995)

BACCHUS JIHAD
BACCHUS JIHAD CD
Music that has no agenda, and that can’t be compared to anybody else’s has always appealed to me. That’s the case with Bacchus Jihad. This CD was really relaxing, and very emotionally absorbing. The vocals, (especially in the first track “Cranial Bedfellows”) are absolutely beautiful. The CD contains a lot of machines, a little chanting, and other fun-filled effects. There is a lot of unmasked potential here, and I hope everyone who read this will give them a true listen. If I had to throw it at a certain group of listeners, I would reocmmend this to anyone who likes a cross between industrial and gothic, and has a sense of humor.
Kim Rizzo

TEENAGE SLOTS – WE OUTLIVED REAGAN – CD 2011

Teenage Slots

TEENAGE SLOTS
We Outlived Reagan
Stedmusik CD 2011
http://www.russstedman.com
Gorgeously rendered trips down memory lane. The beauty of modern technology is that you can go back and make everything sound as it was intended. The circa-1986 songs are energetic, melodic, tuneful, energy-up. This genre would be, I guess classic midwestern punk rock, if that’s not an oxymoron. “Ronald Reagan Is A Dick!” Don’t dance the poot. Righteous. “People On Drugs” gets one hell of a retrofit, with booty bass drums and autotune vocals. And there’s a whole current of anti-jock rhetoric, which amuses me to no end.
Ian C Stewart

BUY NOW, BEFORE THEY RUN OUT!!!!!!!!!!

AUTOreverse Issue One excerpt (1995)

AUTOreverse Issue One

My First Tape Recorder by Ian C Stewart

Pretend you care for a minute. On my 8th birthday, I got my first tape recorder. I’m sure my mom grew to regret her choice of gifts within hours of giving it to me. I took it with me everywhere. Mostly I remember recording myself reacting to the other kids in the neighborhood and at school. There was also a brief period where I stood there with the tape recorder every time I had to pee. You know… compare the lengths of each pee, etc. As a kid, it seemed like research but now it would be some kind of joke. I also recorded a lot of things on radio and TV. Recording was always more important than listening, which I rarely did. I often recorded over entire tapes without even listening to them. One of these days I’ll break out those old tapes from 1980 and surprise myself with what I find. I hope. Then again, it could be a bunch of classic rock b.s. from the radio. QFM for 2 hours or some shit.

Ian C Stewart

AUTOreverse 2010 Podcast Episode 2

autoDIVERSE quagazine

AUTOcast 2010-06-22
WHEN ALL THE CALENDARS ARRIVE

dave stafford “wettonizer”
icy stew “chewing the rubber bands” / “contemporary cannibalism”
r.stevie moore “a clever combo”
james call “pictures of people”
samarkand “i’m so glad you’re back”
spazz “tangzigang”
mjbkc “mr mystery (mjb mix i)”
russ stedman “sophisticated elephant”
endt “gus hated peas”
dave stafford “ballet for a rainy day”
http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-24T13_18_21-07_00

PODCAST: AUTOreverse 2010 Podcast Episode 1 – Remastered & Expanded Edition

autoDIVERSE quagazine

http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-24T13_18_21-07_00
AUTOreverse Podcast 1
2010-04-23
remastered edition

fzzy pmpr “crzytrn (c. reider train that won’t stop boy mix)”
ian c stewart “start here”
russ stedman “prowler”
jamie barnes “the fallen acrobat”
body full of stars “we’re all americans now”
any crowded ceiling “pigtown”
crook’d finger “ycd”
russ stedman “why am i alive”
devilcake “deez nuts”
drone forest “drone forest vs anne murray”
samarkand “down in the valley (for diva)”
velveeta heartbreak “i shot the invisible man”
ian c stewart “dogs on a mousepad”
r. stevie moore “paintings of pairs”
the verdant spiral “chiming breakdown”

http://iancstewart.podomatic.com/entry/2010-06-24T13_18_21-07_00

for

for one man bands

for we who toil in permanent obscurity

REVIEW: TOD HOWARTH – OPPOSITE GODS – CD – 2010

TOD HOWARTH
“Opposite Gods” 2010
CD or download
www.todhowarth.com
So….Tod got the memo that all of the many KISS-related releases of the past year will be heavy, dark, tuned down and surprisingly well-done. (That list of albums includes Ace Frehley’s “Anomaly,” KISS’s “Sonic Boom” and Bruce Kulick’s “BK3”.) The advantage of Tod Howarth’s creative autonomy is that if he wants to put a relatively happy sounding-song in the middle of the playlist, or if he wants to put some keyboards way out in front of the mix, then he’s gonna do it! (That’s one thing about the current wave of of KISS-related stuff, it’s a bit one-dimensional, whereas Tod can layer all the vocal harmonies he wants since he doesn’t have to keep it simple enough for onstage reproduction, if ya know what I mean.) This is a full-on, Todd Rundgren-style do-it-yourself-er of an album, all the instruments, all the songs. And you’d never know this fact just by listening. The album is cohesive, the production is great & modern, the songs are complex & deep. I hope “Opposite Gods” finds a wider audience than KISS obsessives. I LIKE IT and it gets better with every listen. Plus occasional swearing. NICE.
Ian C Stewart

PODCAST: AUTOreverse Episode 1 – we invented the podcast in 1997

and yet we still don’t know what we’re doing.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/0f21a18b-b40b-4d72-a5ef-81400d90d62c/au20100423

things that start with the letter D except the ones that don’t
20100423

ian c stewart “start here” 2010
russ stedman “prowler” 2010
iron maiden “prowler ’88” 1988
russ stedman “why am i alive” 2010
kiss “tomorrow and tonight” 1977
devilcake “deez nuts” 2006
drone forest “drone forest vs anne murray” 2003
samarkand “down in the valley (for diva)” 1992 from forthcoming samarkand box set
ian c stewart “dogs on a mousepad” 2003
r. stevie moore “paintings of pairs” 2003