Review: B. Hamilton – Everything I Own Is Broken

B. Hamilton are a three-piece band from Oakland, CA. Initially a project comprising various musicians accompanying singer-songwriter Ryan Christopher Parks, most recently the line up has solidifying to include bassist Andrew Macy and drummer Bill Crowley. Everything I Own Is Broken is their first full length album, excluding a collection of songs released back in 2009. After initially releasing the album online following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the band will release a physical version of the album through fascinating ecologically-minded independent record label Parks & Records.

As soon as I heard this record I was taken aback by the power and energy contained within and I was compelled to write about it as soon as possible. Sometimes you hear an album and just know it will stay with you for a long time. This is one of those occasions. I’m enormously indebted to Conan Neutron of fellow Oakland, CA band Victory & Associates for cluing me into this great band. They deserve exposure and this album needs to be heard. Check out the Bandcamp page for a taster and then head on down to Parks & Records to place your pre-order.

You can read my full review here.

Article: Return of The Dirty Three

The Dirty Three are one of the most exciting and rewarding bands ever produced by Australia and indeed, the world. Fellow Melbourne resident, author and music fan Harry Saddler took the time to pen this appreciation of both their new album Toward The Low Sun, released earlier this month on Drag City, and also one of the band’s effervescent live shows.

Harry was one of the first people I thought of when we started this site and we’re extremely excited and grateful for his debut contribution to Pocket Jury. Previously we worked together on another music blog and his stirring and incisive guide to The Dirty Three’s considerable discography motivated me to collect their entire recorded output. If you have any feedback, feel free to comment here or on the forum.

You can read Harry’s article here.

Reviews: Shortcuts 03.12

The third in our monthly feature encompassing some releases from March 2012. We’ve been absolutely blessed again over the past few weeks. Each month has seen progressively more exciting and challenging records and March was no exception. There have been some frankly brilliant records, many self-released online via Bandcamp, all of which deserve much wider exposure and at the very least, your attention. If you enjoy reading Pocket Jury, have a listen to the records featured this time around. I absolutely guarantee you’ll be surprised by the quality of independent underground music in 2012.

This month saw debut albums by two Chicago based rock trios – The Heavy Bombers and Blackout Dates, each with their own subtle take on minimalist punk rock. Two bands who virtually made our year in 2011 combine on the Minutes/Whales split EP, in particular the Whales tracks are extraordinary. There is also a debut EP by promising Indianapolis based road-dogs Male Bondage and a three song release by recently reformed Welsh rockers She Ripped. As per usual, you can find links to all of the above on the next page. Help to support these fantastic bands!

You can read Tommy’s reviews here.

Review: Fake Limbs – Man Feelings

This week we see the release of the debut album of Chicago, IL based quartet Fake Limbs. Four friends pushed together by a shared love of 70s hard rock and quasi-pornographic facial hair, the band celebrate their first birthday with Man Feelings, a terrific half-hour eight song record soon to be available on BLVD Records. If you’re a fan of no-nonsense rock, you might want to scoot along to their Bandcamp page to give it a listen right now. For some reason when I was listening to this album I realised that one of the strongest comparisons I could make was not to a band but to a brilliant but occasionally esoteric comic called Achewood. Something about humour with heart, minimalism with ingenuity. Maybe you’ll agree!

Contains: Riffs, Drums, Ideas, Facial Hair, Love Handles, Coarse Language, Early-Morning Revelations, Flaming House-Hold Appliances, Mingus References, Drunken Recollections of Athens, Unsubtle Come-Ons, Adult Situations, Kentucky Straight, Bingo, Magnetic Tape, Partial Nudity, Full Frontal Nudity, Full Rear Nudity, Full Side Nudity, Implied Jon San Paolo Nudity, Coquettish Feigned Accidental Nudity, Disturbingly Rambunctious Nudity.

Please read our full review here.

Review: Mass Effect III

The final instalment of the popular, largely critically acclaimed space RPG has been causing some controversy since its release. If you’ve already played it through, you might enjoy an in depth analysis of its place in the highly successful Mass Effect franchise. Fortunately, one of our resident video game enthusiasts has taken up the challenge and penned a thought-provoking treatise on the final chapter of the series. If you have any comments, feel free to make them at the foot of the article. We welcome feedback on all of our articles and I’m sure this one will generate some dialogue! You can also join the forums and vote in the Mass Effect III poll.

Mild Spoiler Warning: If you haven’t played the game, you might want to do that first. There are a handful of plot-details contained in the article, which is not so much of a review as a piece inspired by playing the game.

Please read John’s article here.

Review: Teeth – The Strain

It was with great sadness that we were informed of the passing of John Grabski III, most recently of the band Teeth. Over the past few months, John became part of our extended online family and we were deeply shocked by the news. We would like to extend our sincere condolences to everybody close to John, especially his family and friends. Although everyone knew about John’s extensive health issues, he was such a brave and strong figure that even against such improbable odds, we never really considered the fact that one day we’d be missing his considerable presence. Thus, we’d been writing about his incredible album The Strain since it was released at the end of February but sadly, hadn’t had a chance to put it online until now.

After much soul searching, we decided that it would be more fitting of John’s amazing life if we continued to extoll the virtues of his unique musical voice. Together with his younger brother Benjamin, he recorded an album in Chicago at Electrical Audio studios with Steve Albini. During their stay in the city, they played out live and became firm friends with everybody in the small but vibrant independent music community which has formed around the studio. In a short period of time, he had an enormous impact and he touched us all. In his last days, he commented repeatedly that one of his goals was to show his children that anything was possible. With the completion of The Strain, he made a mockery of the perceived barriers of human endeavour and had a lot of fun doing so.

You can read our review of The Strain by Teeth here.

Tommy Dski also wrote a brief tribute to John Grabski III here.

Once again, huge condolences to the friends and family of the deceased. We will update this post as soon as we know if there is a particular charity which they would consider most appropriate for donations in John’s name. In the meantime, we encourage you to purchase The Strain – part of the money made will go to John’s local cancer centre in Canandaigua NY. Thanks.

RIP John Grabski III (1978-2012)

Review: The Nurse Novels – Frozen Muzak

The Nurse Novels are a collaboration between three members of now defunct Chicago band Let’s Get Out Of This Sandwich Shop and Nicole Vitale from Unicycle Loves You. You might have seen them playing on Chic-a-Go-Go recently, where they ended up using a puppet as a substitute for guitarist-vocalist Tom Vale and had to explain to watching children what a cult is. Drummer and vocalist Tony Mendoza also plays in the great country rock band The Bitter Tears and Tijuana Hercules. They play warped but undeniably catchy pop music. Imagine a cross between a sixties power pop band and a Mr. Show sketch. Incidentally, if you buy the whole album on Bandcamp, you can even hear them cover a song which originally featured in that sketch show. Maybe they have broken up already but maybe not!

You can read Tommy’s review of the album here.

Reviews: Shortcuts 02.12

The second in our ongoing monthly feature, encompassing all of the albums and records we were sent for review during the month of February 2012. If you are interested in having your music reviewed by Pocket Jury, please feel free to get in touch via email (pocketjury at gmail dot com) or on Facebook. We’re not the quickest off the mark but we usually get there in the end. We like digital music but we’re more likely to spend a little bit more time on writing the review if you send us a physical release. Ask for our mailing address for more details. Please.

This month we were lucky to receive some great music including two records from our favourites at Phratry Records – Palo Verde and The United Sons of Toil. Speaking of favourites, there is yet another EP from IfIHadAHiFi already! We also hear from Latest Flame Records synth-rockers Nervous Curtains and there’s an EP by Police Teeth affiliated hardcore band Cold Lake. There’s also some terrific IDM from London based artist Hanetration and last but not least, a promising debut single from Brooklyn math-pop band Season Finale.

You can read what Tommy made of these releases here.

Revisited: The Birthday Party – The Birthday Party

Another new feature for 2012 here on Pocket Jury is the Classic Albums Revisited, which we hope to run every couple of weeks or so, between reviews and features on current bands. The idea is we will have various writers tell us about the history of a particular record, maybe a little about why it is considered to be a good or influential album. Occasionally we’ll hand the reins over to somebody outside the normal pool of writers so they can tell us how a particular album affected or influenced them. Hopefully as the years go by we’ll build up a decent archive and it can help people to find information or inspiration.

The first Classic Albums Revisited article is about the 1980 debut album by Australian band The Birthday Party. Unusually, the album was both the first record by the band under that name and also the last under their previous name – The Boys Next Door. In their brief existence from 1980-83, they released nearly four albums worth of material and were highly influential across several genres of music.

Please give the article a read here.

Reviews: Shortcuts 01.12

Here is the first instalment of another new feature we’re introducing in 2012. We get a lot of records sent to us including albums, EPs, singles etc but we can’t always find the time to write longer reviews. Thus, the Shortcuts feature will round up some of the other releases which happen on a monthly basis, so we don’t leave as many people out.  Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the year (hint, hint record labels) and we will be able to do this on a monthly basis rather than quarterly.

January saw the release of some great records, including an EP from the Chicago based noise rock band Nonagon which we especially love. There was also an improvised album by Brighton band I’m Being Good, who remain perpetual favourites here at Pocket Jury. There are also a couple of album length releases by Dischord influenced rockers Disguised as Birds and The Jet Age. Another Chicago rock trio My Canadian Girlfriend put out their best record yet. There are even two releases by Pocket Jurists Chris, Mason and Johnny‘s bands!

You can read what Tommy Dski made of these releases here.