w/Faun Fables the Stares

The News Review:

- w/Faun Fables the Stares
- Rock Solid: Dubai’s Underground Bands
- Klaxons:Carling Academy Glasgow Sunday May 6

w/Faun Fables the Stares
TheStranger.com – May 23, 2007
: Pythagoras the first man to call himself a philosopher wanders past a blacksmith beating on an anvil. Listening to the sound of metal against metal he reasons that all pitches come in divisions of four. Through continued study he determines that every planet’s orbit produces a different pitch creating a sound that resonates through all space and time governing everything from biology to the seasons to the human soul. Eventually an entire mystical sect called the Pythagoreans forms around his idea of musica universalis—music of the spheres. “I don’t really expect anybody to get any of this stuff” says Trey Spruance multi-instrumentalist and obsessive brain behind Secret Chiefs 3. “It’s just our own way of creating music… Bungle Spruance and two other Bunglers formed Secret Chiefs 3—less a band and more an amorphous project for Spruance’s wild virtuosic compositions. Secret Chiefs 3 includes countless rotating members and a whole catalog of obscure genres from Middle Eastern techno to thrash punk to romantic film music. But instead of a big random mess of music SC3 are meticulously divided into seven different subgroups separated by musical style and a system of Led Zeppelin–like symbols that fill their liner notes. These iterations are all connected through a trilogy of mystical concept albums introduced on 2004′s Book of Horizons and continued with the upcoming Book of Souls. With this trilogy SC3 have finally descended into the depths of their weird hermetical world using “a second-century pre-kabbalistic commentary on the Torah” to create a structure that requires years of research to funnly understand. Yet despite all the intricate work that goes into these structures Spruance doesn’t want the occult to become the music’s crutch.

Rock Solid: Dubai’s Underground Bands
XPRESS – May 23, 2007
Some are trying to break the stereotypical barrier where the term ‘metal’ defines negativity and pessimism while others play for the sheer fun of it. Ben Bruce the 18-year-old guitarist for Asking Alexandria said “We just want people to feel alive when they hear it. ” Alternative band Gotwood likes to weave different genres into their music. “We’ve been talking about starting a new project so that we could live out our non-metal roots… “We’ve been talking about starting a new project so that we could live out our non-metal roots. We started the band not only to be able to add variety to the predominantly metal music scene but also to have fun” said Dayaan Wickramarachchi voc-alist for the band. Hardcore metal band Decoy Death Trap laments the reality of the high cost of living and education in the UAE. “ne of our members Paulo had to leave for the Philippines [to study]. This has really affected the band as every member is important” said Sary Bibi. According to Dayaan 20 a student at the American University of Sharjah the local music scene has never been able to sustain any steady growth as band members and fans are constantly coming and going. “There are however several members of our community working to revive and reinforce the scene by hosting events and promoting local talent” he said.

Klaxons:Carling Academy Glasgow Sunday May 6
NME.com – May 23, 2007
When ?Totem n The Timeline? arrives disguised as a frantic tech-mosh meltdown it slowly morphs into Gloria Gaynor?s ?I Will Survive? albeit ?I Will Survive? being bludgeoned to a pulp with mechanical excavating equipment. And they?re a new romantic band: ?Two Receivers? is Duran Duran?s ?A View To A Kill? made 2007 with an itching crack comedown of a bassline. h and they?re a prog space metal band as well ? the wiry pop brilliance of ?As Above So Below? suddenly gets stomped under 10 seconds of death-metal Muse guitars halfway through. And what is ?Atlantis To Interzone? if not Rage Against The Machine racing stolen ambulances? Plus any band writing about cyclops wizards and the four horsemen of the apocalypse must have spent many hours casting fire spells at imaginary orcs along to Judas Priest. As he swaggers about behind a hefty mop of spider hair stage right meanwhile Simon Taylor?s impresario guitar sweeps add even more depth ? the Smithsy splashes on ?Isle f Her? or the mariachi mania on ?Magick?. Klaxons? genius is merging all of these wild-card styles into one coherent identity so you can?t see the join. Forget the crass idea of a rave revival Klaxons slot into a proud lineage of scene-blurring innovation alongside Primal Scream Super Furry Animals and The Postal Service.