Tag Archives: Local

Cleveland, Hardcore, Music, New Release, Post-Hardcore, Punk, Review

Album Review: Brain Cave – Stuck In The Mud

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I got to see one of my all time favorite bands play Cleveland last year. Worried I would not have a good spot to see said band, I arrived early to claim my area.

I’m glad I showed up early that night because, little did I know, I was about to be introduced to my soon to be favorite local band.

The band I speak of is Brain Cave.  The three-piece noise-rock / post-hardcore locals blew me away that night and turned me into a fan.

Fast-forward 6+ months and I just so happen to see that the band is taking preorders for Stuck In The Mud, the band’s first full-length album released by Tiny God Inc. (the drummer’s label).  They had a couple of songs to check out and after hearing them both, I immediately preordered the release on cassette. I cannot even tell you the last time I did something like that.

So I guess I take this time now to talk about why I’m so enthusiastic about these guys.

“Erosion” started off the album with a self-preservation method many of us could use right about now with “reset” being repeated throughout along with other words of encouragement.

“Night Work” continued with aggression and force.  This tune accompanied with restless thoughts was full of breakdowns, riffs, and just insane drumming.  Technical as hell, as much as I hate to say this, it was almost Mastodon-y sans that wizard shit and whiney vocals.

“Assigned Seat” brought me back to the years when I would see hardcore and post hardcore shows what seemed like daily.  Loved this track a ton musically as well as the message presented about not giving up ever.

“Sideline To Rot” was equally technical as was it just untamed.  This was one of those tracks where I asked myself how the hell a three-piece pulled this out.

“Bar Seat No. 1” are on me a lot since this album dropped.  Maybe it was the hint of punk embedded within the post-hardcore track.  It was most likely because this song filled me up with rage in the best way.

Precise like a Cave In track, “Ahead Thought” sucked me in.  Just when I thought I liked it, things shifted down and I became even more consumed.  The ending of this track was dead-on amazing.

“Moved Obstacle” finished up the album with the bad just not letting up at all.  This was the kind of song introduced to a young me that held the capability to open up my thought process.  I am trying to think of best how to explain this.  Think about the message and hose it was received.  That is the feeling that hit me when this song played.

The sound that Brain Cave delivered brought me back to the 90s in the best way possible.  All I could keep thinking about while listening is how they related to Helmet, Handsome, and Quicksand.  The year is half gone and Stuck In The Mud will be sitting high on my best of list for this pretty screwed up year.

Perhaps once this COVID crap is tame and venues start allowing shows to play Brain Cave will play again.  I honestly would love to check this band out again, especially now.

With that said, if you need a solid distraction due to these current events, check out the Brain Cave debut already.  I cannot get enough of it.  In fact, I listened to it two times earlier today and once more this evening as I wrapped up this review.  It’s that damn good.

Akron, Cleveland, DIY, Got Local?, The Awesome

Check It Out: Akron’s WhiskerTin Lighting

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“Hand Made Crafted Light”

That is what Akron’s WhiskerTin Lighting is all about.

WhiskerTin Lighting

So what is WhiskerTin you ask?  Well, two friends from Akron, OH had an idea of making lamps from leftover sheetmetal parts.  Each lamp is hand-made by the duo.  As each lamp was created, their passion for their creations grew and ideas were formulated.  They were reinventing the way people looked at lights.

At first, it was just the hand-made lamps.  Don’t get me wrong, these lamps are amazing.  I have seen them in person.

WhiskerTin Lamp

Soon they were taking requests and creating one-of-a-kind floor and desk lamps for their customers.  Heck, they have even made commercial lights out of Great Lakes Brewing Company keg halves.  No seriously, next time you are at GLBC restaurant in Cleveland, head down to the basement and check them out.

They have had booths at many of the craft and vendor shows in the Cleveland / Akron / Canton area this past summer.  Novak even sets up a display at the Worship This! merch table, his punk rock band, just for people to see.

WhiskerTin Shirts

With new ideas, the duo decided to up their game and take their brand to a new level.  They created t-shirts of their logo and artist renditions that people are buying up left and right and even started making custom lamps for businesses like Melt Bar & Grilled in Akron as well bands like Beach Slang.

MeltBeach Slang

These guys are always making lamps.  Not even a year into their venture, Aaron Novak and Glenn Miller have taken lamp making to the extreme.

Just when I thought they were already on top of their game, they made an announcement that I could not help but share.  Earlier this week, WhiskerTin announced a collaboration with Say-10 Records.

Wait…a lamp company and a record label?  What exactly could these two possibly have in common?

This:
WhiskerTin Say-10 LampWhiskerTin Say-10 Lamp

How cool is that?  Seriously, my jaw dropped when I saw this for the first time.

Say-10 Records also happen to sling skateboards featuring tons of punk rock bands.  Novak and Miller have taken custom lamp-making to a new dynamic and turned a skate deck into a ceiling light.

They also shared this photo today of a wall lamp:
WhiskerTin Say-10 Iron Chic Lamp

They are taking orders now.  Hit them up on their website or on Facebook page for more information.

I can not wait to see what these guys come up with next.

 

Akron, Cleveland, Got Local?, Hardcore, Music, Punk, The Awesome

Harvey Pekar (the band, not the legend)

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I love Cleveland and its half-cousin-of a-city Akron.  There are a ton of reasons that have kept me here for so long.  One of them is the good people who I have surrounded myself in.  I know some of the best people in this area and feel privlidged.  The other reason I dg Northeast Ohio so music is because of the music scene.

What?  Cleveland and Akron have a music scene?  You bet your damn ass they do.  Lately it has been picking up too.

Sure, it might be a week or two between a solid show, but the local bands in Cleveland and Akron are good, scratch that, they are amazing.  Well, at least to me and that is all that should matter.  Some of my favorite releases last year were local bands.

Case and point: Harvey Pekar (the band, not the legend)

I love this Cleveland hardcore band so much that I am going to pimp them out to anyone who happened to accidentally read this.  Last December this band opened up for my pals Worship This! and killed it.  I was an instant fan.  With no material released at the time of the show, I was almost bummed all I was able to do was hear them one time.  Luckily a few weeks later they uploaded their EP to Bandcamp.

Harvey Pekar mixes up punk rock and hardcore with intelligence if that makes any sense.  The lyrics are the kind that make me want to research and the music makes me want to go nuts.  Some people might think the breakdowns are a tad excessive on a couple of tracks, but honestly, I think it works.  I dig their Thirty Ghosts EP a whole lot, especially “Confronting Flag” and “Begotten of Ian Fleming” (I do like me some James Bond you know…).  I look forward to seeing this band play out more and more in 2012 and drop a full-length.

Check them out if you want.  Keep it local folks.

Bad Times, Cleveland, Got Local?, Music, The Suck

CBS Radio Kicks Cleveland’s Music Lovers In The Pants By Yanking Radio 92.3 From FM Radio

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I figured I might as well talk about the 92.3 change while I had a moment.  I know that many of my friends are all sorts of excited for the sports radio station to take over.  Honestly I would be happy too if I were into sports as much as they are. 

I guess I look at the change a little differently and not even because I think Cleveland needs to have  crappy music like Paramore and My Chemical Romance played along with even worse music like Audioslave and Staind.  Oh, dare I mention Sublime???  (It was not that bad, they played the hits of Bad Religion, Rise Against, and Rancid too sometimes…)

The rumors are true.  92.3 is now called The Fan.  Its Cleveland’s first sports radio station.  Rejoice!!! 

The logo looks….well…you decide:

Seriously, how many people that you know actually have HD radio?  I know I don’t know anyone who has one of those, and if they did, they never told me because it just is not anything worth mentioning about.  I honestly think that not many people are going to listen to the iPod on shuffle, I mean, HD-2 92.3.

Yes, HD-2 will still play music, list shows, and keep listeners informed, but it is not going to be the same.  I have no desire at all to even jump onto the HD station’s website and stream music.  Done.  Maybe me recall the time I bought a portable XM radio player thinking it was a good idea. 

92.3 has been around for as long as I can remember and it was always music related until now.  There was 92 RQCK, Jammin 92.3, 92.3 The Beat when I was younger, and then the more memorable 92.3 Extreme Radio, K-Rock, and of course Radio 92.3. 

I know that not everyone out there was a fan of Radio 92.3.  A lot of the music they played was not really my thing and sometimes repeated one too many times, but every once in a while they would throw a gem in there.  They took the liberty to cater to as many people as they could, and that is no easy task.  They kept the community informed on what was going on and even threw together some awesome shows.  One in particular was the impressive Kuyahoga Fest that K-Rock threw together years back at Blossom.

There were a couple people who worked for the FM station I felt owe a shout out to.  Not only were they entirely too cool to me, but they also supported this dinky little website of mine.

Nard, the man behind the curtain, really gave it his all when it came to that station.  Not just inside the studio, but also during promotions and events.  It’s tough to please one person, but he managed to keep the attention of all of the surrounding communities of Cleveland that set their dials to 92.3. 

The regular Sunday night locally focused Inner Sanctum, featuring Pat The Producer and Matt Wardlaw, just celebrated 18 years as a continual program only to have to find a new home.  Luckily WNWV 107.3 FM Cleveland was quick to pick them up and they will not even skip a beat sharing the local music scene with Cleveland every Sunday.  There’s some good news for some good people who I have had the pleasure to call friends for a few years now.  If you have not checked out Inner Sanctum yet, you should.  They play a lot of good quality tunage by some amazing local talent.

Will there be a new radio station to jump in and take over? Is the HD-2 92.3 going to stick around, or will CBS ax that too?  Does it matter really anymore?  How many people really listen to radio these days as much as they did 10 years ago?  I know I do not.

The fact of the matter is that Cleveland has lost another alternative rock station and good people have lost their jobs because of it.  Where as I did not listen to the station daily, I did have the pleasure of making friendships with many of the staff that CBS released.  Regardless of how shitty some of that music was on that radio station at times, the people I knew there were incredible and I am happy I was able to network with many of them.

Good luck to everyone from 92.3 that CBS took a giant Cleveland steamer on.  Thanks for all you have done for me (and the rest of the city for that matter) with music.  I am sure you will have no problem finding something else soon.  I have no problem if you all collaborate and decided to make a radio station that played all punk rock and Clutch.  In fact, I would totally be ok with that.

RIP Radio 92.3…

Alt Rock, Cleveland, Festival, Good Times, Indie, Live Shows, Music, Music News, Rock, The Awesome

Don’t Miss The Inner Sanctum 18th Anniversary Concert On The Pier This Saturday!!!

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Tomorrow, Inner Sanctum (as heard on Radio 92.3) will be celebrating 18 years of Pat The Producer and friends pimping out local music to Cleveland by throwing a huge festival downtown. 

Featuring live music by a bunch of great Cleveland musicians/acts like the Suede Brothers, Prisoners,  Craig Ramsey, Leah Lou & The Two Left Shoes and many more, this is going to be one hell of a day-long fest!!! 

The fun starts at 1pm on Saturday the 20th at The E. 9th Pier located next to the Rock Hall.  There will be plenty of local food vendors to keep your stomachs full and even an on site tattoo shop if you care to get that tramp stamp you always wanted (I actually told Pat that I would get Pat The P tattooed on me if someone else paid for it…).

Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door.  If you would like to purchase tickets now, click HERE and grab one!!!

See you there tomorrow!!!