This Week in Tunes

In an act of almost criminal negligence I have, for a good many years, ignored the music of Gary Moore (because, of all things, I had the idea that he was an over-bearing guitarist of the Yngwie Malmsteen ilk). I want to right this injustice here and now. I'm listening to Moore's After Hours album, and it's one of the best blues-rock albums I've ever heard. Damn, I don't know how I could have liked Roy Buchanan all these years and ignored Gary Moore.

Speaking of guitarists, Vernon Reid (Living Color) and Free Form Funk Freqs have a great, funky, jazzy, free-jam album called Urban Mythology, Vol. 1 that's well worth checking out. This is good stuff, folks!

If you've ever wondered what "Christian punk" might sound like, check out mewithoutyou. It's actually a bit more like post-punk, and I'll be damned if I can hear anything "Christian" in their tunes, but they fuckin' rock!

The somewhat depressingly-named Dead Child have a great new album, Attack, that's a very fine paean to TNWOBHM.

[Fuck, this Gary Moore album is smokin'!]

Lately I've been diggin' the garage-ishness (-yness?) of The Fleshtones, especially their 1982 release, Roman Gods. Their newer stuff is good, too.

The best album I've heard in the past couple of weeks is by a band called Earth, The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull. I guess this would be called post-rock, but it has clear roots in drone/metal, and I consider it an ambient album. I don't generally like ambient music, but this is (very) slow, guitar-based, almost soundtrack-like music. I first heard it while extremely hungover (I'd recommend that you do, too). The next time was while driving to work (also good!). I'm not generally into referring to any rock stuff as "ground-breaking," but this is as monumental a rock album as I've heard in many, many years. Without dope. Not for everyone...