Do you like it hard and heavy? Then come to The Record Exchange and visit The Headbanger’s Wall, a listening station devoted to some of today’s best bands pummeling you with raw power and raw emotion.
The Headbanger’s Wall currently features Iced Earth, Insomnium, Megadeth, Evile, Krisiun, Vallenfyre, Cradle of Filth, Amebix, Redemption and Threat Signal. Come melt your face with us.
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When three teenaged brothers and their cousin rebelled against their strict, religious Southern upbringing to form Kings of Leon, their humble backstory garnered almost as much attention as their music. Many questioned if they were really related and if rumors of their father being a Pentecostal preacher were true. Since then, the band has achieved worldwide, Grammy® Award-winning success and Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon lies to rest the mystery and myths as it details the rise to fame from their bible belt beginnings.
The documentary kicks off at the annual Followill family reunion in the back woods of Talihina, OK, where the boys return to their roots and unwind with their family. First-time director and Followill friend Stephen C. Mitchell weaves personal home videos, unedited interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of the band’s journey from their small-town beginnings — spent in poverty and touring the circuit with their father, a Pentecostal evangelist minister, and their devout mother — to living the rock star dream.
OTHER NEW DVD/BLU-RAY RELEASES:
Cars 2
6 Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Rolling Stones
Water For Elephants
Lindsey Buckingham Songs From The Small Machine – Live In L.A.
Placebo We Come In Pieces
TCM Greatest Classic Films – Vol. 1 – Thin Man
TCM Greatest Classic Films – Vol. 2 – Astaire & Rogers
Usher OMG Tour – Live From London
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With The Decemberists, it’s s safe bet that somewhere between the post-Brit-folk of Fairport Convention and Morrissey’s darkness, leader Colin Meloy will emerge with a collection of impossibly literate tales that embrace death, consider love’s perils and offer up a swirling pastiche of indie rock. Emotionally complex and lyrical seems the rule in a musicality that’s straightforward as it can be.
And Long Live The King, a six-song EP culled from songs recorded during the country-tinged The King Is Dead sessions, fits the template. Whether evoking the college radio swirl of The Waterboys and R.E.M., the gilded country rock stain of The Flying Burrito Brothers or the essence of ancient folk songs, The Decemberists find all roots fulfilling. – Paste
OTHER NEW VINYL RELEASES:
Coldplay Mylo Xyloto
Big Business Big Biz Quadruple Single
Ryan Adams Ashes & Fire
Journey Journey’s Greatest Hits
Journey Vol. 2 – Journey’s Greatest Hits
Panda Bear Tomboy 4LP Box Set
Matt Pond PA Emblems
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Goodbye surfing, hello God! The title of Jules Siegel’s 1967 magazine feature on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys sums up how well the group was outliving the early-’60s beach fad — and revolutionizing pop music in the process. During 1966, the twin shots of Pet Sounds in May and “Good Vibrations” in October announced first that the group had entered the vanguard of pop music and then, not content with mere critical praise, seized control of the singles charts with a chart-topper as catchy as it was complex and costly to record. Early on, though, “Good Vibrations” had actually been slated to appear on Pet Sounds, which reveals the long odds on whether Wilson could ever finish an entire album of his pocket symphonies (at least, in the time frame of a label circa 1966).
Nevertheless, beginning in August of 1966, he began planning a new album project, first called Dumb Angel and later SMiLE. Working from the ideas in his head, he and his studio musicians and band mates recorded continually during late 1966 and early 1967, putting down hours of tape during dozens of sessions. He labored over every note and, more than that, every tone, often asking his musicians or the Beach Boys themselves to revise when the results didn’t match his conception of the music going on inside his head. Such care and control produced music that was far beyond Pet Sounds, and when the impressionistic themes and lyrics of collaborator Van Dyke Parks were added, SMiLE began shaping up as the most unique LP ever produced by a pop group. That much is perfectly clear after listening to Capitol’s release of The SMiLE Sessions, the first official SMiLE release ever. (As most music fans know, the album was never completed, although elements of the whole have trickled out ever since.) Each version of the SMiLE Sessions set begins with a re-creation of what a mono release of SMiLE could have sounded like, with a track listing patterned after Wilson’s 2004 recording, Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. Each version also includes some SMiLE sessions in stereo, in order to hear Wilson’s working method in the studio. Peeling away the layers from these tracks, several instruments at a time, reveals more of the music’s magnificence, how each element combined in ingenious ways to become the songs that have entranced Beach Boys fans over the years. The sessions and studio chatter also reveal how much of the SMiLE sessions were a family affair; far from the previous conception of Wilson holed away in the studio with a coterie of handpicked musicians, virtually all of the Beach Boys make themselves heard with suggestions and contributions both vocal and instrumental (and beside the infamous credits of Paul McCartney, even Brian’s wife Marilyn, a singer in her own right, is heard on backing vocals). – All Music
OTHER NEW CD RECOMMENDATIONS:
Susan Boyle Someone To Watch Over Me
Miranda Lambert Four The Record
Lou Reed & Metallica Lulu
Decemberists Long Live The King
Megadeth Th1rt3en
Justin Bieber Under The Mistletoe
Girl In A Coma Exits & All The Rest
Vallenfyre Fragile King
U2 Achtung Baby
Brite Futures Dark Past
Carole King Holiday Carole
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While there’s no denying that the voice of Florence Welch is a bit like Marmite, the last two years have shown that she has many more lovers than haters, and deservedly so. Her unique sound and original lyrics paint stunning images of a spiritual world, where the joy of being alive is palpable.
The follow-up to debut album ‘Lungs’ is a confident, cohesive effort. The steady hand of Paul Epworth on production has helped Florence & The Machine to take the winning formula of her distinctive vocals and melodies, the twinkling harps and thundering drums, and augment it with string arrangements, subtle electro touches, and gospel choirs.
‘Ceremonials’ boasts no less than six massive anthems – the power balladry of first single ‘Shake It Out’, the beautifully wistful pop song ‘Never Let Me Go’, the uplifting and typically Florence-sounding ‘No Light No Light’ and ‘Spectrum’, the primitive tribal rhythms of ‘Heartlines’ and the dramatic gospel closer ‘Leave My Body’. That’s not to say that the remaining songs are disappointing; far from it. They’re still beautifully crafted, but take the energy down a few notches. – Clash