Endless Boogie - Full House Head (2010)

Ladies and Gentleman, shave your beards, cut your hair, and throw out your Skynyrd records in disgust at the fact you haven't heard this band before. Taking their name from the 1971 John Lee Hooker album, Introducing, Endless Boogie. Hailing from New York, a city and scene that is undoubtably one that's hard to crack, this band have been hidden away for over a decade. Maybe they've been hiding behind the front mans questionable haircut, I don't know, but going by their latest release Full House Head I feel I've missed out on something.




A CLOSE PAL pointed this band out to me after seeing them at the Pavement curated All Tomorrows Parties festival in Mineshead. Stephen Malkmus is a fan and so am I. The album starts with a certainly laid back, "Empty Eye" which pretty much sets the platform for the rest of this tarrying yet felicitous album. Followed by a catchy filthy blues rock track with an equally catchy/disgusting title, "Tarmac City".
This album is clearly very well produced, but don't let that put you off, singer Paul Major manages to keep it dirty with his rough, liquor-soaked woodbine vocals, varnished by a landscaping display of mini Hendrix licks. The album ends as good as it starts with "A Life Worth Leaving", which to be honest they may as well have just been titled Endless Boogie, because that's exactly what it is. Sounding more lo-fi than the rest of the album, this 22 minute jam is certainly the highlight of the 8 tracks. Upset that I'll never own previous releases, due to them being out of print, I can only eagerly await future releases and tours!

Track List;
1 Empty Eye (9:39)
2 Tarmac City (4:55)
3 Slow Creep (10:50)
4 Mighty Fine Pie (6:28)
5 Top Dollar Speaks His Mind (8:31)
6 Pack Your Bags (8:37)
7 New Pair of Shoes (4:47)
8 A Life Worth Leaving (22:36)

buy it here. http://noquarter.net/shop/

Sloath - Sloath (2010)

Sloath are a psychedelic drone sabbath-worshipping 5 piece from the sunny south of England. Formed in 2007 with their debut album out on Riot Season, they play repetitive, loud, slow skull smashing riffs that don’t really ever get old.



Their self titled release features 3 tracks and is over 40 minutes long. Might as well start at the beginning, the opening track, “Black Hole” doesn’t beat about the bush and hits hard straight away with spine shaking fuzz. Vocals are sparse, with an onslaught of chaotic wails every few bars. Track 2 see them introducing elements of desert rock, with bass tones reminiscent of early 90s Kyuss. With the crushing bass-heavy riffs, comes a high pitched bellowing riff complimented with well timed feedback and hard hitting drums.

Winding down with “Please Maintain”, we are mellowed out with slow, sombre tones that wouldn’t sit so out of place with Earth’s Bees Made The Honey In The Lions Skull. This 22 minute masterpiece reaches a peak just over half way through, then becoming more distorted, louder and setting a standard for what new bands describing themselves as post-metal, should probably try to sound like. Either that or they should put down their instruments and give up after hearing this album. Released only on vinyl and limited to 500 copies, this is a treasure worth owning. You can buy it here http://www.riotseason.com/REPOSELP023.htm