Lonesome Wyatt And The Holy Spooks - Halloween Is Here 10" / CD

Around my house the Wife makes sure we are properly seasonal. Come mid-September, by the time of the autumnal equinox, the house is splashed with orange and browns, even before you see those colors outside. But when we hit October it's on like donkey kong...pumpkins, scarecrows, spiders, skeletons...Halloween is our holiday. So imagine me, a snickering jackal, when our old friend Lonesome, of Lonesome Wyatt And The Holy Spooks, told me they had released a Halloween album. I could pretty much say, "I was DEFINITELY not disappointed", and that would summarize everything else I have to say. Here's was my response, "damn Lonesome, I fucking love it. How the hell do you guys come up with this stuff, the creative juices must just ooze out of your pores. The wife and I are big time Halloween people, both spiritually and commercially, so this is right up my alley (gonna have to play it off and on for the rest of the month and then of course that night)." In their usual cryptic and enigmatic way, this was all they had to say, "Halloween Is Here" is a terrifying tribute to all those strange and obscure Halloween albums from the 1950s to the 1980s. It contains twelve spooky stories and monstrous sing-a-longs for your unholy holiday party at the local insane asylum." So here we have LW&HS rearing their ugly little heads again, with a theme that just fits perfectly into their creative aura. As their description says you get these stories reminiscent of those kids Halloween records that I used to listen to in the 70's, only these are much more descriptively gruesome, taking the theme to the next level. The sing-a-logs are like wise gruesome, but they are super catchy. You have these black metal bands that almost sound silly in their dramatic attempts to sound evil but LW&HS really are evil, tormenting you with smiles on their faces. They toy with you, playfully like a child pouring salt on a slug, a soundtrack to that same child pulling the wings off a fly. Behind it all you have just damn good music, created by a genius. On any given day Lonesome has more creativity in his pinky nail than most people have had in their entire miserable lives. I've tried to ween more information out of these guys, but they lurk in the shadows, someone did what I should have requested and did an interview. LW&HS have a Facebook, a Last FM, a Myspace, and of course their WEBSITE. Unfortunately the vinyl is sold the fuck out (would have really liked to have gotten my greedy little hands on one of those, put it on my "want list" on Discogs), but you can still get the CD or digital download HERE. Here's a monstrous sing-a-long... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKJbDmKDFs&w=790&h=695]

Prayers - From Dog To God

My old San Diego bro Rafa (owner of one of my very favorite restaurants there in SD, Pokez, downtown, 5 minutes from where I lived...used to take all my lady friends there for wining and dining, and it never failed to impress) turned me onto some killer music he's involved with.  Old school New Wave with a modern twist...SD KILLWAVE..... Street Goth ....Cholo Goth, is what it says in the video description.  Dark, foreboding, anguished and minimal.  Dig it or don't...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVvabsXFT7w]

Nonagon - The Last Hyrdronaut EP

It's time for some Nonagon again...visited with them March of last year with their People Live Everywhere EP. Back then I had this to say, "These guys don’t fuck around when it comes to their music and play their instruments like they go to sleep with them every night. The music is furious but it’s not angry at all." I stand by those statements and second them on this latest release, it seems like they've spent some time sharpening their blades. He's the blurb from their page, "Nonagon is a raucous, three-piece, music concern from Chicago that’s been playing together since the early-to-mid aughts. We play a collection of loud, short songs with varied time signatures and unconventional hooks." It goes on to say, "We occasionally find ourselves compared to the likes of Fugazi, Jawbox, Naked Raygun, Drive Like Jehu, The Jesus Lizard, etc… all of which is deeply flattering but makes some sense given our influences and vintage." I've never met John (Vox, Guitar), who has been my contact for the band these two times, but I have tremendous respect for him, the band and the label. He sent me a note in between albums talking about this new label that they and another band, The Austerity Program (whom I have yet to hear) had come up with, Controlled Burn Records, as the label they were, Hydra Head, on went kaput. Shouldering that burden to further your creative output is commendable. Speaking of commendable, this EP is a masterpiece, in everything except it's not long enough.  This is proof again that the Midwest (Chicago) is on fucking fire musically. Let's begin at my usual starting point, I'll be damned if we don't have another killer piece of art for a cover, at the hands of Robert (Bass, Vox).  It's almost as though it's telling you that the music is that of a doomed man.  The band though is not doomed, they are very much alive and kicking.  Kicking hard like Tony's (Drums) bass drum, that shit is all over the place.  I've had drummers tell me that when checking out other drummers, the first thing they do is see what their doing with their kick...Tony knows how to use his kick.  Robert's right there with him on the bass, noodling up and down those fat ass strings, making fat ass sound.  As far as John, I can't tell what I like better his guitar or his voice, lets just call it a toss up.  He knows the perfect times to either play a chord or pluck a sting and even though the music isn't hyper fast grindcore/power violence, he is playing a hell of a lot of notes.  I just love the vocals, like I said before, not angry, more pleading, like a man making his peace before getting eaten by sharks. You can catch these guys at their Web Site, their Facebook, or their Bandcamp. I believe the album is already available digitally, but you can pre-order, for a 10/22 release, at their label Controlled Burn Records. My absolute favorite tune, John really belts it out, is called "Elvis"... [audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Nonagon-The-Last-Hydronaut-04-Elvis.mp3"][/audio]

...a couple more via Soundcloud...

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[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/112298375" params="" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]