The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features

Red Sparowes

Aphorisms | Sargent House
By DAVID BOFFA  |  September 2, 2008
3.0 3.0 Stars
redsparowesinside.jpg
The brainchild of Isis guitarists Jeff Caxide and Bryant Clifford Meyer (only Meyer contributes here), this Los Angeles post-rock outfit is inspired by Mao Zedong’s attempted eradication of farm-pestering sparrows in the late 1950s, one of many ill-fated attempts to push China’s Great Leap Forward to Communism that brought on only locusts and more death and starvation. This EP is, then, more stoner doom theater than full metal onslaught, with the metal de-emphasis gradually turning to blackened grooves: tuplet-drum-roll-coaxing dropped-D power chords are soon nixed in favor of weighty guitar echoes with damn-near-danceable bass-line-dredging beats. They rock dark: moody pedal-steel waves entwine rumbling bass gristle, the perfect complement to, say, a Neurosis demon incantation ceremony. And they rock slow: Buzzo-like sustained diatonic guitar bends shake and snake beneath charcoal-stained, Crover-inspired tom-tom thwacks. It’s all gloriously radical, but stay away if sludgy rock makes you queasy.
Related: Creative manifesto, Review: Katyn, Giant step, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Politics, Entertainment, Music,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
Comments

[ 11/24 ]   Fenway Jazz Jam  @ Tiki Hideaway @ Howard Johnson
[ 11/24 ]   Berklee Jazz/World String Orchestra  @ St. Paul's Cathedral
[ 11/24 ]   Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band  @ Mohegan Sun Arena
[ 11/24 ]   Baliset  @ O’Brien’s
ARTICLES BY DAVID BOFFA
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: DAVID BOFFA

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2009 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group