Today’s Random Album of the Day is Long Hair in Three Stages from U.S. Maple. They are a experimental noise rock band out of Chicago.
U.S Maple is well considered when it comes to noisy math rock bands from the 1990s. And I like them. Not my favorite per se but they are good.
Rating: 9.4
Favorite Track(s): I honestly zoned out through the first couple of songs. “You Know What… Will Get You You…” is excellent. “Aplomado” has some cool guitar riffs. “The State is Bad” is an accurate description of current events and it’s a solid song! “Magic Job” might be a favorite on the album. The album is pretty consistently good.
Today’s Random Album of the Day is Different Section Wires from Uzeda. Uzeda was a noise rock / math rock band from Sicily, Italy and they are fantastic!
This record is notable for a few reasons. It has awesome guitar riffs, stupendous bass lines, excellent vocals, and it’s just an overall treat. Turn it up loud and dance to it kind of music. I wish I could still dance! I had this on vinyl going back to the 1990s and my biggest issue was always moving too much and causing it to skip.
Rating: 9.9
Favorite Track(s): “Big Lies” opens it up with intensity. “Female” carries that forward with some art-rock styles. “The Milky Way” is so good! And “Ten Stars” continues that. There isn’t a bad song on this album. But this one does stand out! Realy though I just love the whole album!
Keep or Trash: Keep. I will cut anyone who tries to take away my Uzeda!
Today’s Random Album of the Day is Zonic Shockum‘s Self-Titled LP. Zonic Shock is a band I knew from Philadelphia back in college. Rate Your Music lists them as Grunge or Alternative Rock. That fits really perhaps with a punk edge at times. Perhaps Noise Rock is most apropos.
Zonic Shockum has a nice clean sound. And apparently had a new album in 2024 though looking at the track list some of those tracks go back to the early days. I distinctly remember “No You Suck”. Great song btw!
The Zonic Shockum folks were friends as well as a band I loved. I had them on the radio a couple of times and Steve helped book my band. After we got banned he offered to book us under a different name but we never did do that.
Rating: 9.6
Favorite Track(s): “Between the Sixes” has a good mix of clean rock and angsty noise. I really like the noisiness of “Castilla”. The starts and stops are nice. I remember bopping to “Dirty Old Car”. Good song. I’ve always loved the guitar riff on “Ultraman”. No bad songs really but “Lugy” always stuck out to me as one of their best. “Labor” is pretty great too. This is a great album all the way through “Tooth”.
Today’s Random Album of the Day is the self-titled LP from Yona-Kit. This is an experimental noise rock band from Chicago dating back to the 1990s. I hadn’t discovered them back then but more recently. They are also considered to be in the Pigfuck genre which I’ve never heard of but that refers to “Sloppy, abrasive and feedback-laden riffing with vulgar and edgy lyricism, informed by Post-Hardcore’s aggression and Post-Punk’s rhythm section.” I guess it fits but what a weird genre name.
They are definitely an acquired taste. They are heavier and on the aggressive end of noise rock. That makes sense when you realize that noise rock is a pretty broad genre of music. Anyhow it’s a genre I love and there are still parts of the genre that I don’t love. But I do love this. So there…
Overall great use of repetition. Good heaviness without sounding metal (nothing wrong with metal – I just like when things are heavy like this). I even like the vocals – particularly on “Franken-Bitch”.
Rating: 9.3
Favorite Track(s): “Franken-Bitch” is great and seasonally appropriate! “Dancing Sumo Wrestlers” is a solid instrumental. I zoned out for a bit but “Skeleton King” is good. The repetitive riff in it is awesome. This album is solid all the way through “Slice of Life”
Today’s Random Album of the Day is El Maestro Interior from Iván & los Terribles. This is a noise rock band from Uruguay! They also self-tag as Post-Punk and that fits.
Noise Rock is one of my favorite genres and Iván & los Terribles does not disappoint. This is good stuff. It’s rather basic rock ‘n roll in a lot of ways – but louder and more distorted. And just better!
This was a find I made when I did a Slow Radio Shower focused on Uruguay. I’m very happy with this find.
Rating: 9.7
Favorite Track(s): “Fiebre en Calbucco” has a haunting feel for it that is perfect for Halloween season. “O dÃa que Neymar quebrou” is good with an almost 1950s rock influence. “Bios” could be a Yo La Tengo song to be honest. I like it! “Baltasar” brings back that haunting sound in a good way! It is louder and more aggressive and I really like it. Probably my favorite track thus far. “Zweig” brings in an 1980s sound. I love this too! So many twists on this album!
Keep or Trash: Keep. I went ahead and bought their one album that I didn’t have…
Today’s Random Album of the Day is O from xbxrx. This is experimental noise rock. I love this shit!
I really like this whole album. It’s very good. But no question – this is an acquired taste. Even though there are 10 songs it’s only a 9 minute long EP. So that tells you something. It’s loud, intense, erratic, angry, and discordant.
As a bit of note keeping for the Random Album of the Day series – this is my last album from a band that starts with X. Hard to believe but there aren’t many and most XDS falls under E in my collection. So I’m basically out of X albums… So if I roll an X with the dice, I’ll have to re-roll or maybe I’ll force that into a compilation selection.
Rating: 9.6
Favorite Track(s): “Decay” is quite the intro. “Life is Our Grave” is intense. “Opposed Reality” rips. “I Can See” rocks. “Stop the Signs” is so good. “Knowledge is Death” is a head banger! “Comfort” grooves. Not a bad track really. They are all super short and super intense.
Today’s Random Album of the Day is Ourself Beside Me‘s Self-Titled Album. This is an Indie Rock band from China. They self tag as Noise Rock and Post-Punk and those labels fit here.
The intro I could do without but the album is excellent! The buried vocals are well placed. The overall sound is great. I listened twice…
Rating: 9.5
Favorite Track(s): “Sunday Girl” is just phenomenal. “Here I Come” gives me a Neo-psychedlic feel. “Someone’s Love Song” is perfectly angular. “Tuuuuuuuu” is soooo good. Reminds me of Olimpia Splendid. “Holiday” is a great instrumental. “Broken Heart Blues” brings a nice surf touch to this album.
Today’s Random Album of the Day is a Demo from The Gift. The Gift were a Noise Rock band from DC. They self identify as Punk, Death Rock, Grunge, Goth, Hardcore and Indie.
Of Note, this is the 100th edition of the Random Album of the Day! I’m super psyched to have managed this for roughly 100 days (minus hospital trip and other health pauses). I’m excited to do this for another 100 days. We’ve barely touched on our collection of digital music.
What I mainly remember about The Gift is I believe I ordered vinyl from them and never got it. An obvious indicator that I liked their music. They make good noise. And it’s totally fine. I realize an old split up group may not be organized enough to follow through on a vinyl delivery and not really care that much. I may also be remembering wrong and it was someone else I ordered from at that time. It is what it is.
Rating: 9.4
Favorite Track(s): “Sleep Forever” is just great. “Mostly in Sickness” is excellent. “I Wish You Wouldn’t” also great.
Today’s Random Album of the Day is Dying to Meet You from Vaz. Vaz is noise rock. But also I see Rate Your Music lists it as Math Rock which I didn’t think of for Vaz. But I could see how that fits at least a bit. Anyhow, Noise Rock is probably my favorite genre and Math Rock is pretty close.
I don’t listen to Vaz enough. They are quite good. I know I tend to listen to a lot of girl rock so there is that. And Riot Grrrl certainly competes with Noise Rock – though much Riot Grrrl is quite noisy in its own right. So overlap there is. Anyhow I’m off topic.
I really love this album. It’s quite good. Definitely a keeper. If I had a nitpick, the vocals are not my favorite style. They are fine. Just not my favorite style. Personal preference thing. While the guitar riffs are just phenomenal.
Rating: 9.8
Favorite Track(s): “They’ve won” opens the album nicely. I like the opening to “Blue Lip Special” and the song doesn’t disappoint. Those songs are fine but the intro to “Elastik-C” is phenomenal to me. And the song is quite good. I love the angular riffs. “White World of Death” has a great driving riff to it. By the time we get to “Headless Statue” I feel this album just gets better as it goes. “Give Us the Creeps” reminds me of early Sebadoh. That’s a good thing. “Drive-by Swordfight” is good. Really it’s just a good album…
