Live: Vagina Panther @ Trash Bar 10.17.12

Vagina Panther have become quite the rock juggernaut in the last year or so, playing well-received gigs from here to Columbus behind their recent Aqualamb EP Judge. The foursome returned to Trash Bar for their CMJ debut, romping through way too short of a set to a full house. I expect their Tinderbox set next month at Webster will be a tad more expansive.Vagina Panther is loud rock made in small rooms to be played on big ones like Webster Hall.

Seems like JS-NYC isn't the only one to think so. Check the interview with Vice here.

R

Live: HHR at Spike Hill 9.14.12

JS-NYC has been pleased to enjoy a lot of the Aqualamb roster personally and professionally over the last year, but had yet to see Human Highlight Reel (aka HHR) tread the boards in town. The instrumental post-rock thing is a slippery slope for me, especially in 2012, but HHR do it properly and more importantly, without disappearing up their own ass. Add an 8pm start time to the proceedings and I'm there with bells on.

Four pieces, two guitars/drum/bass are the lineup, with the added benefit of vintage sports footage looped behind and the sagacity of America's Bass PlayerTM Mr. Jonathan Swafford. A little bit Chicago, a little bit DC, the foursome are good with the guitar interplay. The rhythm section doesn't fuck around either. Buy the book, see the live show, check out their debut EP Taking Drugs To Make Music To Sell Cars To. HHR web presence can be found here.

R

Human Highlight Reel - Taking Drugs to Make Music to Sell Cars to

JS-NYC has been spinning a lot of the Aqualamb roster around the HQ of late and Human Highlight Reel have been topping the playlists with their aces instrumental post rock. Think Russian Circles or perhaps a more metal Seam purveying the rock via the conventional rock line-up of two guitars/bass/drums, but without the burden of vocals cluttering up the proceedings.

Taking Drugs to Make Music to Sell Cars to is four songs, comprising what I believe is their debutante release. I'll earmark Inaswinger! as the top track, but all four get high marks for their adherence to dynamics and obvious arrangement sense. There is an exceedingly visual aspect to the HHR tracks that definitely seems to beg for soundtrack placement. In the interim, in keeping with Aqualamb aesthetic, Taking Drugs to Make Music to Sell Cars to is available in a snazzy art book of sorts as pictured to the upper left. Whether you opt for tangibility or just digital satisfaction, the post rock stylings of Human Highlight Reel live up to the Atlantic Hawk that is their namesake. Here's hoping they have the same career run.

Get Taking Drugs to Make Music to Sell Cars to at the Human Highlight Reel bandcamp here and use this link to keep track of their live goings on (like the upcoming 6.1 show at The Gutter JS-NYC intends to be all up in) at their web presence.

R

Live: Vagina Panther @ Grand Victory 4.20.12

Aqualamb artists Vagina Panther have dropped a pretty aces new EP called Judge in recent times and followed it up with a surge of live activity. This show was on everyone's favorite stoner holiday at a curiously familiar address that turned out to be the old Bruar Falls. I rolled up to a pretty full room of VP-ophiles, some I recognized from previous shows, but with a pretty fair amount of new faces, as well.

Vagina Panther were up in short order, blazing in charmingly hirsute form through a gang of rockers old and new. Visually, the contrast between the Mountain Man half of the band and the Mod half make watching Vagina Panther live a pretty fun proposition. The new EP seems to be getting a lot of shine, as well. I suspect that it won't be very long before we have to work a lot harder to see Vagina Panther play much bigger rooms.

Keep track of the Vagina Panther ascension and grab a copy of the new Aqualamb release Judge here.

R

Descender - And So We Marched

Imagine a tasty cold brewed beverage in a sweaty glass bottle.

Isn't that refreshing?

Now imagine if someone took that bottle and smacked you in the mouth with it. That feels like And So We Marched sounds. Shouting and pummeling their way through four tasty tracks, Descender sound a lot like a 21st Century compliant post-hardcore band that was raised on metal and got dosed with a tab of AmRep before it showed up at the Aqualamb Christmas party.

And So We Marched is pretty crushing. I'm not especially crazy about the vocals, but the songs more than hold their own and the bellowing seems sincere in an adult, rather than latch-key stepkid with a PRS and daddy issues, sort of way. I bet there are a high percentage of sleeve tattoos in Descender, but they got them over decades, not months. I'd pick it up. If you like Planes Mistaken For Stars or Git Some as much as you do Quicksand, And So We Marched could be your aural trip to a brand new set of front teeth.

R

Vagina Panther - Judge

I've had the pleasure of spending time around the lady and men of Vagina Panther over the last year or so. They are a pretty aces rock franchise and a pleasure to tip a fermented beverage or hand-rolled cigarillo to/with. Their newest release is the Judge EP. Sadly (probably to no one but myself), the record is not a collection of covers from everyone's favorite New York Crew, rather a quintet of dome-splitting modern rock from a quartet of forward-rocking Gothamites.

Let's not be hasty with the MR description: we are talking rock music here that is modern, not whatever dungheap of an ad hoc ensemble some management company is foisting onto our suffering ears currently. Vagina Panther combine big fucking guitars and a pummeling hirsute rhythm section with female vocals to serve up a heady brew of quality rock you'll want to beer bong straight into your earhole(s). And eyes too: Vagina Panther are part of the Aqualamb roster, a Gotham collective that releases music in digital and vinyl formats, along with exceedingly snazzy commemorative short-run printed books ala the Judge cover art above.

VP aren't just a pretty face (see: their rhythm section). The fearsome foursome purvey candy of the aural as well as eye variety. Judge is hands-down the biggest, best sounding record I've heard in a very long time. The five songs here sound a lot like Lush covering Blondie, with maybe a little Velocity Girl for good measure, recorded to crisp 21st Century tolerances by James Brown (not that one) of Foo Fighters/Jane's Addiction fader-rocking fame. I can't underestimate how great the production values are here. You can thank the big sound Judge sports for delaying my Falling Down-esque jihad against Williamsburg douchesters sporting full-on studio cans plugged into their iPhones, as this EP is tailor-made for headphone facilitated head-fuckery. Jeff's Song captures that aesthetic the best, but there really ain't a bad song here.

Get Judge here immediately from the Vagina Panther bandcamp presence and stop by the Aqualamb virtual HQ for all your tangible rock enjoyment needs. VP tourdates and news updates is here.

R

Aqualamb

As I put more and more decades behind me, it appears that the bad sign I was born under has manifested itself in the albatross that is having to have a million bearded drummers among my favorite people. One of that questionable lot is my dear Ruttypants, who currently brutalizes the skins for Brooklyn's own Vagina Panther.

The force is strong with Vagina Panther, but in this new millennium, rocking hard is only part of the equation. VP are a sharper bunch than the average bunch of outer-borough rockers. Having realized that no one really buys cds any more and possessing formidable multi-media savvy, Vagina Panther has decided to release their stuff in book, vinyl and digital formats through Aqualamb. It's a shrewd move: music nerds get their fix, vinyl collectors have something to hold in their other hand and artistic multi-taskers can marvel simultaneously at good design work while they enjoy their rock.

Beyond the Pantera de la Vagina, Aqualamb maintains three other bands on the roster currently, namely Descender, Human Highlight Reel and Black, Black, Black. Look forward to coverage of the Aqualamb roster in the coming days and wonder how JS-NYC will connive its way into the third bass spot in Human Highlight Reel.

While you're waiting, peep the Aqualamb web presence here.

R