5 to 1 Baby..

Yet another occasional feature, in which I'll endeavour to educate you as to five albums, books, games or movies that you probably haven't experienced.

And if you have?

Then you can sit and feel smug with me.
Hipsters got nuttin' on us.

Oh, and there's one you'll almost certainly know but which deserves re-visiting.

 

 The Eureka Machines: Do or Die

A fine pop punk band from Leeds, they first caught my attention supporting Ginger Wildheart.

After a magnificent set, they had me rush straight to the merch stand to purchase a CD (well not straight to, have you tried bouncing around at a gig with a CD in your pocket?).

Do or Die is their debut album and a right cracker it is too.

Some absolutely belting tunes including the track above, if you enjoy a great platter, full of cheerful hooks and punchy riffs, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

And for my friends overseas who may have a hard time finding this, may I point you to this site.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/eurekamachines

Only £8 will get you album number three in MP3 format and help support a band who deserve a shot at stardom.

Go on, it'll be your good deed for the day.

The Distillers: Coral Fang

Goddamn, I love this album.

Now, sadly defunct, L.A based punk band The Distillers released three albums, of which this is undoubtedly their best.

Lead singer  Brody Dalle screams her way through an album of songs of love, loss, hate and regret that burn your speakers even as the hooks pierce your ears like some kind of aural bullet from a big Punk gun.

If you love Punk rock done perfectly, you've gotta give this one a shot.

Peeping Tom: Peeping Tom

You all no doubt know who Mike Patton is (and if you don't, which rock have you been living under?), lead singer of Faith No More, after that bands eventual collapse, he went a bit mental...musically, that is.

To write about his recorded output would take many more paragraphs than I have here.
Founding his own label Ipecac, he fronts varied avant garde bands, including Fantomas, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Tomahawk and Mr Bungle.

However, for FNM fans, this is undoubtedly the album you should seek out.
Having gone on record as saying (about Peeping Tom): 

"I don't listen to the radio, but if I did, this is what I'd want it to sound like. This is my version of pop music. In a way, this is an exercise for me: taking all these things I've learned over the years and putting them into a pop format".

Taking such diverse elements as Trip Hop, Rap, Rock and traditional crooning, he and his collaborators crafted an album that could sit quite happily between his late Nineties FNM work.

Well worth seeking out.

Exit_International: Black Junk

  

Talking of noise.

This is an album by a band of Welsh nutters.
If you like the posted track, you'll love the rest of it.


It's not for everyone and certainly an acquired taste.
But it's absolutely marvelous for getting wrecked to.

Devin Townsend: Epicloud

You may have heard of Devin.

Lead singer/guitarist of the band Strapping Young Lad, Mr Townsend has produced a number of albums I'm very fond of (look out for City, it's fucking amazing).

However, as that bunch of Welsh reprobates up there have pretty much covered the extreme selection for this feature, I decided to go with something a little mellower.

Epicloud is an album for the Sunday morning after the Saturday before, poppy, rocky..dare I say effervescent?

Why yes, yes I do.

Mix this with a bacon sarnie and your hangover beverage of choice and you'll be up and about in no time.
Unless of course, you really overdid it, in which case at least you've still got some cracking tunes to listen to whilst your head splits open like an undercooked egg.

Win/Win I feel.

The one you've heard before

Alice Cooper: Love it to Death

The album that brought us "the" Alice we know and love.

This album would be worth it for Dwight Fry alone.
Add classics like I'm Eighteen and Is it my Body? and you've got one of the best albums of the Seventies.

Even the cover of Rolf Hariss' Sun Arise works as the album closer.



Bonus feature:


I just saw Cabin in the Woods.
It was nothing like I expected and if you haven't seen it..I'm just going to say, go watch it.

And brilliantly, it gives me an excuse to post this picture.

I've been JSayonara..and it's too damn early in the morning for this shit.