Machine

Also in other news I'm recording another single off the album shortly the A-Side will be called Chief Of Police, I'm still picking out a b-side it two for it.

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boost my ego

listen to me stroke my delay pedal

ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Trollheart

Now we turn to Rexx Shred, who seems to use a different name under which he composes his music. This represents his first EP. Whether it's just his work or that of a band I don't know, but I'm sure he'll enlighten us once this goes live. No information again to hand, so Rexx, if you want to add anything you think we should know, feel free. Here's the music anyway.

EP One --- Urban Shokker (Rexx Shred) --- 2014 (ReverbNation release)

There are five tracks here, the first of which is called “Mothership re-connection” and opens, rather appropriately, with a spacey descending sound (mothership arriving?) then we're hit with a fusilade of funk, with a mid-paced disco beat, nice jangly guitar and fluid bass, a mixture of rap and singing I believe, and if this intrudes on, or indeed is, hip-hop then you'll have to forgive me as I am not at all familiar with that genre. What it reminds me of more is the seventies soul/disco of bands like EWF, Tavares and so forth. Nice brass in it too. Not my kind of thing but I'm sure anyone into this sort of music will, um, dig it. Very nice smooth bass solo there. The vocals are very good, not sure if this is just Rexx or his band, but there are other voices too, though they may be multitracked.

The song is only just over three minutes but somehow feels much longer, and I don't mean that it gets boring or anything, but there's a whole lot packed into it. Actually I'm wrong there, it's nearly six. Sounds more like it. I think I was watching the time count up rather than, as I'm used to, seeing the remaining time. Cool organ outro too. Next up is “Pick a number”, which is very what I would think would be regarded as hip-hop, lots of handclap drums with very much a rap vocal, nice descending synth line. Namechecking George Clinton: cool. Oh yeah, you can just see this on MTV with lots of fine ladies shaking their perfect booties to it, while some big heavy guys stand around, arms crossed and back to back, looking real hard. Very funky, very clubland. Slow sort of pace, with again really clever little bass lines. Also a guitar solo, which I've not heard up to now, and it's pretty damn fine, takes the song to its ending. Like this a lot, despite not being my kind of music generally.

Now, question for ya: what do you think you would get in a song titled “Raise the funk”? Well there's an unexpected short piano intro, then it breaks down into another soul/hip-hop rhythm with rising synth, jangly guitar and sweet percussion. Flashes of the organ too (ooer!) and that grindy little bass is back. It would be interesting to know how many people are involved in this, as there definitely seem to be a few. I'm sure others who are more versed in hip-hop could talk about dropping beats and busting rhymes, but all that language is alien to an old rocker like me, so I'm just going to describe this as best I can. So far I haven't heard anything I don't like at any rate, and the production values are very high apart from anything else.

“Old skool town” starts with a really nice high guitar intro, then the synth takes over as I assume Rexx sings the rap across the music and it sound like a song that takes a different tack to a lot of the gangsta rap as he sings ”Don't need a gun/ Don't need a knife/ Cos a brother like me/ Don't take a life.” Refreshing. I wish I could praise this more, but I don't really feel qualified to review it as this is so far out of my normal wheelhouse. But you can probably at least tell from my writing that it's pretty damn good, even if my attempts to describe it are falling far short of where they should. DJ Chameleon would probably do a great review of this. Where is he these days, anyway? Another really nice guitar break with some fresh bass and we're heading towards the end, not only of the song but also this collection. One more to go.

I must say I love the title: “Star Dawgg (Prime Directive)” and that vocoder at the beginning is really apt. Good vocal chorus and a really funky beat again driven on that bass and some more strong brass. Not sure if it's synthesised or not, kind of sounds real. The vocal is almost spoken here, not even rap, in places. Works really well. More vocoder, very cleverly used, but I'm not quite getting the idea I thought was in the title. Very enjoyable though; the brass really adds something, and it's good he doesn't overuse it, think it's only been in two of these five tracks? The arrangement is very tight: I feel this could be pressed on acetate as it is. Of course, what do I know about production, but it sounds very much finished to me. Like the soaring guitar or maybe it's synth at the end, sort of like an engine. Yeah, good stuff.

TRACKLISTING

Mothership re-connection
Pick a number
Raise the funk
Old skool town
Star Dawgg (Prime Directive)

Like I say, this isn't my bag personally, but I can still appreciate and applaud good music played well, sung well and produced very well. If you're into funk, soul, r&b or hip-hop, you know, Rexx Shred/Urban Shokker may be the next big thing for ya!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Rexx Shredd

WOW!!!!

Thank you so much for the review!!! I am happy to you enjoyed it even though it isnt your cup o' tea, musically

I'll answer a few of your unknowns:

- Just like the original concept for Electric Light Orchestra was to pick up where The Beatles ledft off with "I Am The Walrus", so is the concept of Urban Shokker to pick up where Parliament/Funkadelic and Bootsy left off in the late 70s.

- EP ONE is actually coming out on a Label from Indiana called Carbon 12 Records
Carbon12 Records : Music For A New Dark Age . It was supposed to be released last montrh but, for whatever reason, the release date is pushed back to this month

- Although I am a vocalist, my lead vocals weren't right for this project. The lead vocals are from a friend named Jaybee, who was also the drummer for a band I played with a long time ago. His vocal style was perfect for this as he is very "old school" influenced and he totally gets the Parliament/Funkadelic thing. I do many of the backgrounds, harmonies, and most of the vocoder parts

- I play all the bass parts, many of the keyboard parts, some of the guitar parts -- well , I pretty much play or program everything. Even when utilizing programming, I try to program as real as possible -- I am very meticulous about this. For example, the horns: Each horn utilizes actual horn sample one-shots that I edit and re-edit. There can be 10 of these for each horn so a three part brass section can use 30 or more one-shots just for one little phrase...Same thing with the acoustic drums: all meticul;osuly programmed. I use real drum samples with difdferent stick velocities. For a basic 5 piece kit ( I use a Rogers, a Yamaha, and a Sonor sample sets with Paiste Hi-Hats and Zildjian Cymbal sample sets - one Sabian splash). Each drum or cymbal is a set so for a simple 5-piece kit with one crash, one ride, one splash, and a hi-hat can use over 100 one shot samples...I also do not program loops: I make sure that there isnt a hi-hat, tom, and snare all played at the sametime ( no three-armed drummer programming)....

- I am very fluent in music theory and it is most certainly applied when constructing the songs, performing the parts, and the solos -- be it live recording or programmed

- Slap Bass is my forte on bass guitar but I think it gets overdone over the years as many folks already have a pre-conceived notion that "Funk = Slap Bass". The one thing I wanted to do with Urban Shokker was to keep slap bass to a minimum -- This was very very difficult for me to do on purpose. However, I did find MUCH joy in using various effects on the bass guitar for parts. There are many parts throughout the 5 songs that sound like keyboards or guitar that are actually bass ran through various effect chains...at the end of "Starr Dawgg ( Prime Directive)", you mention the keyboard or guitar solo at the end like an engine --- nope, thats bass


Thank You SO much again

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OK :)

URBAN SHOKKER -- Old School P-Funk Style FUNK -- out NOW on Carbon 12 Records

Rexx Shredd

The album has been released -- Yay

https://carbon12records.bandcamp.com/album/ep-one

__________________
OK :)

URBAN SHOKKER -- Old School P-Funk Style FUNK -- out NOW on Carbon 12 Records

Trollheart

I once promised Frownland I would listen to his album, or the album by his band, and review it, but after (sorry man) suffering through it I felt I would have only negative things to say, and as I didn't want to upset him or have him set a giant spider on me, I said ti would be best if I didn't review it. He agreed. But now we come to the Showcase and it's fair to say that although I certainly wouldn't be into his (or their) brand of music, probably a lot of people here are or could be, so it's unfair for me to dismiss him out of hand. Also, this is supposed to be the place where anyone can showcase their talent and it's not really up to me to decide what can and can't be reviewed. Well, it is, but I have to try to be as even-handed and open-minded as I can (which is not that easy when you're wearing a pair of plastic antlers I can tell you, but it is Christmas!) and so I've decided to try a different album of his. It's not the one he suggested but it was the first one that came up when I went to the bandcamp page, therefore I assume the latest. Here's what I thought of it.

Lizard of Ox --- Wolves in Sheepskin --- 2014 (Bandcamp release)

The opening track is weird. Now I expected this, having listened to the previous effort and found it, well, how can I put this? Weird. But it's only a short track, so probably not a real indication of what the rest of the album is going to be like. Or maybe it is. Anyway, it sounded to me like beginning with thunder or some sort of rumbling noise, then someone pushing paint cans along a warehouse floor, followed by water swirling down a bath plughole. Yeah. It's called “Hushtug”, and it lasts just shy of two minutes. The next one is much longer, almost seven, with another odd title: “Sundress nimbus forecast”. This one has a lot of percussion that sounds like someone falling down a flight of stairs and then some horns that wail like the souls of the damned, while other sounds I cannot identify but which may contain guitar, harmonium, keys, piano and possibly a reanimated corpse dancing all flood out of the speakers and grab you by the throat. Hell, even Waits would run from this!

But to put it in context, this is what I'm told is called experimental or noise rock, so my good friend melody is unlikely to be found loitering anywhere in the vicinity. Some sort of chanting vocal now coming in --- are they sacrificing someone to Captain Beefheart? --- and what sounds like a gaggle of geese passing through, probably wondering who these guys are and why they're practicing in the barnyard? Could be some mice in there too, or some restless spirit being chased across the yard? “Act III” is very Beefheart (from what I know of his work, which is very little), with a crashing drumbeat with lots of hi-hat and a spoken vocal in a sort of absurd poem, something that sounds like banjo in the background and guitar.

It remains very hard, despite my determination to get through this, to review it. It just sounds like noise to me, which I know it's not; my musical palette is not developed enough to appreciate this I guess you could say, but it really does just grate on me. I can hear a certain repeated melody of sorts in the drumwork, yes, but everything else just seems to be firing off in all directions, everyone doing their own thing. I'm sure that's not the case and that this is a very tight band who really know what they're doing; it's just not something I can appreciate on any level. The fact that the tracks are mostly very long too is not helping. I see with horror that the closing, and title track, is over eleven minutes long. God save my poor soul!

“Weepy flor” (don't ask me!) has a lot of tinkling bells, sudden piano chords and what could be a glockenspiel (or just a Glock; wouldn't put it past these guys!) and sounds almost like those wind chimes you hear blowing in the evening breeze, often presaging the attack of the madman on the porch. This seems fairly sedate though, compared to the other tracks, and I could almost call it ambient to a degree. Certainly the most “musical” so far by a country mile. But hold on a moment: “Brazilian basement lodge” has a nice acoustic guitar opening and while it still sounds like someone's trying to open boxes behind the guitarist with a crowbar, it's relatively melodic. Bit of a mad growl there and then some squealing horns, but definitely more approaching what I'd call music. Sounds like they brought some pigs into the studio, and maybe a baby? Some very nice quiet bass going on in the background too.

“Verb the noun” (see what you did there guys!) has someone clumping upstairs in heavy boots, or maybe hammering in nails into wood, then a sound like someone sanding wood (is this a DIY job set to music?), add in some screamed, growled vocals which are basically indecipherable but sort of resonate with a Waitsness and then either someone crying or a zither maybe. Kinda sounds like a drunk guy wending his way home while being accosted by another, slightly less drunk guy shouting at him with a kazoo jammed in his mouth. Really, that's what it conjures up to me. There's a spacey intro then to “Piano parlour overdose” which reminds me of nothing more than a videogame, don't hear any piano but hey, it's over eight minutes long (oh no!) so there's time. Actually I think I hear one there, being played very fast and maybe out of tune, scales going up and down while a screechy guitar --- you know what? I don't know what's being played here most of the time, and since the bandcamp page notes “home-made instruments”, they could be bashing chair legs on the floor or playing toilet brushes for all I know.

Sort of sound like a jet going overhead, then some piano breaks though with what sounds to me like the theme to “The Twilight Zone” (appropriate, in my case) and descending chords then make it sound like everything is falling down a flight of steps. Again. Well I said I wouldn't say this but I'm glad we're at the end. I'm not sure how I've lasted this long but here we are, and I'm glad I stuck it out, not because I've enjoyed the music but because I feel like I haven't taken the easy way out. Mind you, the closer is as I said eleven minutes long, but there's really nothing left for me to say about this. It's music I'll never get into, or understand, or appreciate. But if this kind of thing is your kind of thing, check Wolves in Sheepskin out. I'm sure it's a solid example of that sort of music, well played and delivered, well written and well thought out.

But, you know, and I say this with a heavy heart, to me it's just noise.
Sorry man.


Note: Hope you didn't mind all the jokes but I could really think of nothing to write musically after a while, and looking at it in a lighthearted vein was sort of the only way I could get through it...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Frownland

That's kind of why I recommended Knuckle in the Mud, it's far less abrasive and has a larger focus towards psych and jazz. Piano Parlour Overdose is a recording of four hands piano being played through effects. I doubt you're willing to give another of my albums a go, but I think you would take a lot more kindly to Knuckle. Thanks for the review anyway, you wee far nicer than I expected.

However, I am working on a solo guitar record that'll have some more acoustic based and accessible tracks. It'll be mixed in with some drones of course, but I'll send you a copy because some of what I have recorded so far I think you'd really enjoy.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Do, absolutely. I feel bad that I can't find anything good to write about your music, cos I'm sure it deserves a lot of praise When Christmas has slowed down, and before I pile into research for Metal Month III and begin the 1001 albums thing, I'll definitely try the Knuckle album.

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Frownland

You won't regret it. Or you might, who knows. You probably will regret it.

Anyway, here's the low down on the instruments used:

Hushtug - Guitar (2)
Sundress Nimbus Forecast - Guitar (3), Turntables (2), Organ, Keyboard, Vocals, Party Squacker Attached to the end of a flute, drums (made up of tin cans, yogurt cups, **** like that)
Act III - Bass, drums (standard kit), banjo-mandolin, vocals
Weepy Flor - bells (upwards of 20), keyboard, organ, dorophilihist (homemade stringed instrument), plucked bows
Brazilian Basement Lodge - drums (2, standard kit and homemade kit), squacker, guitar, vocals
Verb the Noun - Overdubbed drums (13ish), vocals
Piano Parlour Overdose - four hands piano, electronics
Lizard of Ox - Guitar (2), snare (looped), electricified drum kit

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

DeadChannel

I have to give it to frownland, lizard of ox was extremely unsettling. I need to give more of his stuff a listen.

Pet_Sounds

Gotta hand it to you Frownland, I've grown up with a music teacher, yet I've never heard of a "dorophilihist". Your own invention?

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