THE FIXX – October 19,2021 Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX

The Fixx were supposed to have the English Beat as their opening band, but they decided that covid was still too bad to go out on tour, and their drummer just passed away before they were supposed to go on the road, so Fastball got the opening slot.

Fastball

I have never been a fan of Fastball, never liked the song “The Way”, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed their set. Very well played, and has some great songs, with nice humor and crowd interaction, but I still don’t like “The Way”…lol.The intermission was relatively short, and then The Fixx hit the stage and put on a fantastic show with so many great songs that had the crowd singing along and dancing. I have been a fan since 1982, and have never seen them before, and they did not disappoint at all. Cy Curnin had a great theatrical style that suited the songs and you can tell that he was having a great time, especially finally being able to get back on the road again. I was amazed at how proficient they were and made the songs sound like the albums, but still adding enough to give them a nice spin that added to the song. The venue was just the right size to really feel connected to the band and you could really feel the raw energy that The Fixx created.

The FIXX

All-in-all, this was a fantastic evening, and one of the best concerts that I have ever been to. Cy Curnin’s voice was amazing, carrying notes that you would have thought were long gone because of time going on like a lot of other singers. The whole band is tight and probably a little to cerebral with their lyrics for the carts, which could have caused them to fall out of favor on the charts, but they still have a lot of great songs, thoughtful lyrics, and talent that many others wish they had.

The FIXX

https://www.thefixx.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thefixx/

http://www.fastballtheband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/fastballtheband

The FIXX

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PTOLEMEA: Maze

Luxembourg-based female-fronted alternative rock band Ptolemea has established themselves as a live act with a melancholic, dreamy twist. With a powerful voice, tight grooves and grungy riffs, the outfit delivers their newest EP, Maze.

It’s like the early to mid-90s never went away when you hit play on this EP. While not really being what I would call grunge, more like the glut of alternative bands that came in its wake. I really found myself likening this to Linda Perry’s singing style in 4 Non Blondes. There is a lot of energy in the playing and raw emotion in the vocals that carry this EP.  Priscila Da Costa has a great voice that hits you in the gut and sticks with you. The band is very accomplished and the total package works.

This is an album to throw on and sit in your backyard and have some drinks while cranking it up loud, or hitting the road with the windows down and feeling the breeze hit you in the face…just like this album does.

https://ptolemea.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Ptolemea-373927193069737/

https://ptolemea.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/finestnoisemusic

http://www.finestnoise.de/

THE BASEMENT PAINTINGS: Antipodes

The Basement Paintings from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan got together in the winter of 2011 and quickly got to work recording a full-length debut album which was released in March of 2013. The follow-up EP, titled Time Lapse City was released in March of 2014, and their next release was Mystic. The band has a mix of progressive rock, metal, experimental, and post-rock sound that they manage to pull off quite well.

The songs are all instrumental and at times have a touch of Tool in sound, but never enough to make them a copyist, just like adding a touch of salt to your food; it seasons it enough to make it tasty. This band has a lot of talent, they play with such precision and with feeling that you can close your eyes and just nod your head along to the tracks and drift away. Not saying that there isn’t some metal crunch, but the songs just flow so beautifully that you get into a trance-like state listening to it. All of the tracks except one, are all over eight minutes long, the last track is a whopping fifteen minutes long, so make sure that you have the time for this.

With such lengthy tracks, the band has a chance to go places with the listener that they wouldn’t if they were cut shorter in time. Grab a drink, pull up a chair and go on a long journey with these guys and see where you land.

http://www.thebasementpaintings.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Basement-Paintings/140222956134635

https://thebasementpaintings.bandcamp.com/

THE KISS THAT TOOK A TRIP: Garlands

Formed in Madrid in 2006, The Kiss That Took A Trip is the brainchild of M.D. Trello, who stands as the sole member. Since its inception, He has been regularly putting out self-made releases, with the EP Dating Aphrodite (2008) and the albums, Worst Case Scenarios (2009), The Dummy Family (2011), How The Mighty Have Fallen (2012), Electroforest (2014), Electroforest (By Night) (2015), Happiness In The Presence Of Sadness (2016), and Punk Cathedral (2017). This is a mix of experimental, shoegaze, alternative rock and post rock and works together pretty well.

“Copernicus” starts things off with a cool shoegaze sound that really was a throwback to the ‘90s when that was popular, but didn’t sound retro at all. “Whoever Hurt You Has My Sympathy” is another great track that has a woman throughout fighting against someone. The track is a mid-paced groover that really stands out. “The Hays Code” is an overlong instrumental track that could be good if restraint was implemented.

All-in-all, not too bad of a collection of songs that vary from track to track, and will definitely catch your ears. I’m looking forward to checking out more of his music in the future.

http://www.thekissthattookatrip.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thekissthattookatrip/

DELYN GREY: Battle

 

Delyn Grey from Toronto, Ontario has released a new Alternative Rock single that made her dig down deep inside herself. “This one hurt,” she says earnestly. “The craziest part was discovering how much pain I was ignoring, and how I had accepted that as a norm. I couldn’t package this one up in pop chords and upbeat shit. It had to sound how I felt.” She continues to say, “Battle is me acknowledging that I was happily drowning in my self-deprecation. It filled this twisted void that ran deeper and deeper the more I gave in to it, but there was always this voice that fought against the heaviness. I eventually let it get louder, and I fought. Fighting gave me purpose, and this song granted me control of the uncontrollable. I wrote this song in the throes of it all. It helped me process all that was happening, and still happens, up in here “she says pointing to her head. As you can see, doing a song about depression can be hard, yet beautiful as well.

With the piano leading off the track and taking it by its throat, the song just gets deeper and more melancholy, yet beautiful due to the amazing voice of Grey. You can hear the rawness of her emotions come through loud and clear. The rest of the band comes in and just pushes the song into greatness as the vocals just overwhelm you. A very deep and sombre song that the pain just gets into your soul and as beautiful as it all is, it’s just so sad at the same time that people have to go through things this tough.

A fantastic track that the more that you listen to it, the better it gets and it just draws you in and sticks with you. I can’t wait to hear more from Grey and hopefully, this will help get some of the depression sorted for her.

http://delyngreyofficial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/itsdelyn/

 

BRAINIAC 5 : Back To The Shore

I reviewed their last album here on here in 2017 and their mix of rock, prog, punk, psych and a touch of freak out is still the selling point of this great band. Look for that review to give you a background of this interesting and long-lived band.

We are now presented with eight new tracks that carry on from the previous album and put a smile on my face. Starting off with the punk-fuelled “Long Enough,” the band really gets things going with a ton of energy and gets the foot tapping right away. Next song is the first part of “Back To Shore,” subtitled “A Woman’s Work” that is more folk-rock oriented and has amazing vocals from Chrissy Quayle, and at over eight minutes long, doesn’t feel like it at all. Second, of four parts of the title track is called “This Way,” and has toasting from Oxman, and great harmonica and guitar playing throughout. The bagpipes and female vocals added to this eclectic track work together so well. The third part, “Tribute To Alex Ward” has bongos and a guitar that is perfectly all over the place in style combined with the sax and everything else going on, all I can say is wow! Last part, “The Seal Man” has a great beat and that sax is just incredible. It reminds me of 808 State a bit and the female vocals come in and kick it up a notch. “Elegy” is the shortest track at just over two minutes and is a beautiful instrumental. Back to more rock-oriented music with the catchy “What We Can” and its great beat. Closing things off is “Breaking Up” and its crunchy, punky sound that ends off another great collection of songs.

With another mix of instruments and styles that you would scratch your head at for trying, this band proves how talent can figure it out and make it work beautifully. Every track has its merits and is perfectly played with more than enough emotion and will find a fit on your playlist.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBrainiac5/?fref=ts

http://www.brainiac5.co.uk/

https://brainiac5.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-shore

https://www.facebook.com/RecklessRecords/

https://reckless.com/

HOIA : Scavenger

Prateek Rajagopal returns with his newest album as a solo artist titled Scavenger. The album deals with human-sentimentality concepts like nostalgia, demise, anxiety and the need to “scavenge” to survive; bubbled in fictitious concepts as individual stories. This Mumbai based artist has been playing in the Indian metal scene since 2013 and is the guitarist of Mumbai-based death metal band Gutslit. He also plays with Porcupine Tree bassist Colin Edwin and Polish-drummer Wojtek Deregowski on this EP.

Sounding at times like Pink Floyd, the five songs on this EP are just spectacular and I was amazed at how much I loved them. The vocals are well done and give a lot of feeling and depth to the songs. The musicianship is just perfection. You can hear the talent from these guys pouring from your speakers and it just gives me shivers to listen to such a bunch of great artists. Rajagopal obviously has a great talent and ear for music, especially with the beautiful production on this album. I really can’t say which song I like the best since this is an album that needs to be played all at once, not piecemeal.

Having never heard of Prateek Rajagopal’s solo career before, I can say that he has blown me away and any expectations that I had when I first opened the CD. This is a definite keeper and should be heard by as many people as possible.

https://hoiatv.bandcamp.com/album/scavenger

https://www.facebook.com/hoiatv/

ANGELIC UPSTARTS: The Albums 1983-91

After having pretty good success on their early releases, the band started to lose some traction and after the failure of the Still From The Heart album, EMI said bye-bye and they were back to the indie scene. This was a great wake up for them since Reason Why? was a terrific album that brought them back to the punk rock glory that people loved them for. “Geordies Wife” and “Dollars And Pounds” are both politically charged poetry that adds something interesting to the album. The cool part is that you get ten bonus tracks added to the original album. CD2 which again comes with ten bonus tracks, mainly rare studio demos that show the bands raw edge. Along with politically charged punk rock, you get a cool cover of Martha Reeve & the Vandellas’ “Nowhere To Run.” Next up is Live In Yugoslavia, which is basically a greatest hits collection of the band’s songs and played with vim and vigor. Disc 4 is 1985’s Power Of The Press album which now comes with the bonus single “Brighton Bomb.” The album is a little more into the new wave sound of the time but still is a great listen. Next up is the even more new wave sounding Blood On The Terraces album with an included extra seven bonus tracks. The band still has some punk, but there is a lot of sound of the times going on and some controversial titles like “Heroin is Good For You,” and a cover of Kenny Rogers and The First Edition’s “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town.” Ending with Bombed Out which saw original guitarist Mond reunited with vocalist Mensi for the first time in nearly a decade. This seemed to invigorate the band and they came back to the punk rock sound again, and the box set ends on a high note.

Although not as mandatory as the first box set, this is still a great collection of songs that sound better on this release than on the originals and will bring back memories to us old guys. The booklet features pictures of all relevant sleeves, liner notes, news clippings, and many previously unpublished photos.

https://www.facebook.com/angelicupstartsofficial/

https://www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords/

https://www.cherryred.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/captainoirecords/

http://captainoi.com/

999: The Albums 1987-2007

 

Jumping from the previous box set that covered 1977-1980, this one skips a few albums and goes right to their most up-to-date album currently. Maybe there will be another collection of the missing albums…we’ll see.

With just four albums over a twenty-year span, the band slowed their releases down a whole lot, but what we have is a great collection all the same. Starting off with the band’s first official full-length live album Lust Power And Money, recorded at the legendary Klub Foot in London, it has a track listing that reads like a Greatest Hits Live with classics such as “Emergency,” and “Homicide” played with energy and power. Disc 2 contains 1993’s You Us It!, their first studio album in eight years which saw the addition of new member Arturo Bassick, formerly of The Lurkers. The band got right back to the harder-edged sound of their younger days and it was a great return to form. Disc 3 is the Takeover album which was originally released in 1997 and is even better than their last album. A classic from start to finish with tracks that stand up to their older gems. The final disc is 2007’s Death In Soho, which keeps up the high standard of punk rock with catchy choruses and great playing that bands more than half their age would be and should be jealous of. This is a great ending to the box set but makes you yearn for more from them.

The 20-page booklet contains in-depth liner notes, pictures of all relevant sleeves plus memorabilia and clippings from the era. The sound is so good and improves on the original releases by a long shot. Although the classic period was in the previous box set, this is still a terrific collection to get and will definitely be something that you will come back to, time and time again.

https://www.facebook.com/999Music/

http://www.nineninenine.net/

https://www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords/

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/captainoirecords/

http://captainoi.com/

THE FLESH EATERS: Continental Club Austin, TX 2/22/19

So, the Flesh Eaters got the classic lineup back together and out on tour they went, so I obviously had to go see them. There were two other bands playing that night, Sean Wheeler and the Reluctant Messengers, and Churchwood, but I really was there for just one band…the Flesh Eaters! I was looking forward to this show since I heard they were coming to my very extended area, but some mishaps were presented to me that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I live around an hour away from Austin, so I had to fight the traffic to get there, as expected it was crappy, but I made it to Austin. Of course, the next obstacle was to find the venue which I had never been to before. I got to the venue, saw that the parking was this ridiculous “back into the spot while blocking traffic style,” which no one would let me do, and I nearly got hit by a car trying to do it. Luckily, there was a side street close to the club and after parking on the street there, I was off to the show. Walking in, I showed my identification and the email pass that I had and of course, I was not on the list…sigh. After a bit of back and forth, I was inside! The show was on! The band blazed through old songs with the energy of guys a third of their present age, reminding me of the old days back in the 80s, which is what the club was like. They played their two new songs, “Black Temptation” and “Ghost Cave Lament” with emotion and the crowd accepted them as if they had always been part of the set. While playing on the cramped stage, the band gave a performance that was smoldering, energetic, and full of raw emotion. Playing some covers as well, especially the fantastic take on Fleetwood Mac’s “The Green Manalishi.” That song was a definite highlight. With banter from lead singer Chris Desjardins, the songs got some explanation and some fun stories about the past. According to the club’s website, they were to only play for around 45 minutes, but they played longer than that and I was in heaven. The sound was a bit off, with a lot of high-end making it a bit hard on the ears at times, but the band’s performance more than made up for that. The saxophone and marimba really gave the band such depth and added a lot to the sound. I really have to give it to Dave Alvin whose guitar playing was tremendous, with such flair and technique, drummer Bill Bateman pounding away in the back and the thick and fluid bass work by John Doe. These guys have proven through the years just how good they are at playing in their own bands and really shined in this setting.

This was a great night, despite some not so fun things that happened, but the good thing is that the band took the negatives and turned my face into a great big smile, and a memory that I will cherish. Thanks for the great night guys, and many more for the future.

https://www.flesheaters.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theFlesheaters/

http://www.yeproc.com/

http://www.facebook.com/yeproc

http://continentalclub.com/