Useless Clatter...[Hear This] Brian Jonestown Massacre Announce New Album + Latest Single "Blue Order New Monday"

      I wouldn't be going out on a limb in saying that The Brian Jonestown Massacre could be the most diverse band out there right now.  But whether that's because of the numerous genres they've tapped into throughout the years or just due to the immense line up changes that have come their way, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are truly in a class of their own.  Those of you who've seen DiG! know what I'm talking about. But to base the band's reputation solely on the hot headed temper of band leader Anton Newcombe is a bit one sided.  Maybe he is a little wacky, but the stuff he and his band-mates put together in the studio completely makes up for it.

      On that note, I am thrilled to report the news of a new BJM album to be released May 7th called Aufheben.  As of late, Anton's made his home in Berlin so its not completely bizarre to see the German word appears as the album's title.  And thanks to the possibilities of web translation, I've tracked down the meaning of the word which now leads to an assortment of interpretations on why he chose that word.  Aufheben (pronounced auf+he•ben) is a verb lending itself to a variety of actions- 'to pick up, to abolish, to lift, to reverse, to capture to preserve' to name a few.  Anton could have had any number of these in mind when choosing the word and unfortunately I don't think we'll ever  know what he truly intended.  But that's alright because the greater concern, as it always is with a new BJM album, is what the stuff will sound like.  Thankfully we won't have to wait until May because with this news came the release of the first single from Aufheben titled "Blue Order/New Monday." 

Hear This...Beach Fossils- "Shallow" | "Lessons"

      "Lo-fi" rock always seems at risk of steering into certain criticism.  I used to think that lo-fi  and garage bands sounded the way they did  because they could't find an adequate singer.  To hide this, they go ahead and scratch out the vocals.  In no way is that true, but its something I've always thought of. What's the point of distorting the vocals like that? I'm not going to criticize Sealings here but a song like "Rails Means Rails" kind of led me to that assumption early on.  But when I try to imagine "Rails Means Rails" without the scratchy, lo-fi voice blaring into the microphone, it just doesn't sound right.

      But I've taken a new stance on the idea of lo-fi though the more and more I acquaint myself with it.  This band, Beach Fossils, have steered me the right way.  "Shallow" and "Lessons" are the band's latest release since their What A Pleasure EP came out last May.  Commonly associated with lo-fi is the term "fuzzy" , there's actually nothing really "fuzzy" about these songs.  Both songs achieve a very clean sound in which every guitar stroke and drum tap are heard individually, all coming together in a very ornate manner.  "Lessons" and "Shallow" both possess some of the smoothest and uncomplicated guitar solos I've ever heard, and it works immensely with the mesmerizing sound of lead singer, Dustin Payseur's voice.  They do not try to do anything too fancy, [I could probably score these songs in Rockband pretty easy], but that's the beauty of their sound.  Beach Fossils don't strive for any sort of technical rock n' roll mastery and as a result, they standout in the midst of a vague and poorly defined genre such as "lo-fi."