Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday

This wasn't what I expected. I guess if I had known that Grails were originally called Laurel Canyon, I would have recalibrated accordingly. I thought I'd be getting pummeled by metal, but Grails is much more aligned with stuff like Dead Can Dance or Godspeed You Black Emporer. There's a heavier world music influence than I normally hear this side of Michael Gira curated fare, but with Tod from CopShootCop resuscitating Firewater and Gogol Bordello setting Brooklyn on it's ear, I can see this getting a lot of notice.

Now I'm totally new to Grails, so maybe they are already a big deal, but the sheer volume of their releases, Doomsdayer's Holiday being the second in 2008, I'd say someone's taking notice. The band is based out of Portland, OR and has adopted some curious tendencies (only touring Europe initially, now only touring the East Coast) and kind of sounds like Isis covering DCD. It's good stuff. Grails had released material on Neurot previously, but this time around Temporary Residence has stepped up and added them to the roster. The band members are keeping busy, too as members tenure in projects with such heavy hitters as Jandek, Steve Von Till and M. Ward. Evidently one of the guys is in OM, now too. Gotta pay those bills.

Doomsdayer's Holiday is evidently one of two Grails recordings this year. Important Records has also released Take Refuge In Clean Living. After typing that, I'm pretty sure that I have a copy of that around, so look out for a companion review soon. If you are looking for some instrumental music that isn't just background white noise, you could do a lot worse than Grails.

R