SOME STRANGER review from Alternative Press

Pretty rad SOME STRANGER review from Alternative Press.



Vinyl pre-orders going for another week or so until the actual records show up:

http://www.roboticempire.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&keyword=Some+Stranger

Full review can be read here:

http://altpress.com/reviews/entry/some_stranger_some_stranger_ep

"this is a real ep" (aka, two awesome THOU reviews!)

It's pretty awesome and inspiring when we get sent reviews for a release we didn't even mail out promos for. BIG ups to Ian Wise and Demian Johnston for taking the time to review the THOU, Baton Rouge, You Have Much To Answer For EP all on their own volition. Seriously, much appreciated!

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Thou somehow manage to consistently put out fully realized records with obviously thoughtful artwork and meticulous packaging. And they do so at a pace that makes me embarrassed of how slowly my own musical endeavors come together. This release, their most recent 12” EP (it’s four songs, but each side is about 15 minutes, so “EP” is sort of misleading) sums up most things I love about the band. Their earlier releases were heavy, but focused on slow parts with really pretty sounding guitar harmonies. I loved it, but recently they’ve picked up the pace a little and have gotten much, much more dissonant in their sound. This record is no less abrasive than the “Smoke Pigs” track they contributed their split with Black September, but they have some spacey, jammy parts that go well with their sludge aesthetic and help the record flow better as a long player. The tracks here also seem less disjointed than songs on Tyrant or Peasant, both of which had some awkward changes. Of course, the packaging is great as the band partnered with the always diligent Robotic Empire, the only people who may actually be nerdier than Thou about vinyl packaging. -Ian Wise / Razorcake (buy here)

holy shit. this is fantastic. super heavy, super thick and totally amazing sounding. you can really tell they gave a shit in releasing this. i have no idea if this is coming out in any other formats but this is a real ep. so often bands will release a cassette to keep some sort of "cred" going but it ends up being some throw away demos or noise from a band that has no business making noise. this feels real. two heavy and interesting originals on the a side and an instrumental laden with samples and really heavy guitars followed by a Nirvana cover with a killer guitar solo using a phase shifter in a excellent way. the way this sounds is also another reason why having James Plotkin master your releases will never make you regret the affordable price. you just have to hear it. it sounds amazing. the packaging is a double sided screenprinted three panel j card and it looks fantastic. the artwork is great, the music is great. i used to not really dig thou but after the last couple things i have heard i am completely sold. great work. - Demian Johnston / Dead Formats

This release is still available on both formats (vinyl and cassette):
* THOU - Baton Rouge, You Have Much To Answer For 12"
* THOU - Baton Rouge, You Have Much To Answer For Cassette
* THOU - Most of the rest of their (available) standalone releases, plus t-shirts/etc

"an inspirational pace, yet still dazzlingly hyperactive, tongue-in-cheek and thrilling" (aka: badass NEON BASTARD review!)

The first freakishly accurate NEON BASTARD review has come in, courtesy of our longrunning Canadian brothers at Exclaim! Check it:

"The debut release from some of the craziest New Zealanders this side of Peter Jackson, Meikhaus features more chaos, dissonance and overt belligerence than dudes dubbed 'kiwis' should be able to dig up. Creating a volatile cocktail of extremities, the album's 11 songs barely reach out beyond the time necessary for a really good bowel movement, but in those 20something minutes, we hear the frenzy of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Zeke-ish primal punk, the rumbling upheaval Death Breath have been milking lately and loads of fuzzed-out, Sabbath-meets-Sabbath cover band groove (read: decadent stoner rock). Capable of managing an inspirational pace, yet still dazzlingly hyperactive, tongue-in-cheek and thrilling, Meikhaus sounds almost as if Mike Patton channelled his spirit into something less snide and more appreciable on multiple levels while stealing some of the youthful energy of his hosts."

BOOYA! That well paraphrases the madness that is NEON BASTARD's debut album, now available direct from us for only 6 bucks! We're keeping this one real cheap to encourage people to pick it up, as we're real hyped on what these down undererer maniacs have cooked up. There's so much going on within this album that we highly implore you to check it out!

* Preview here, here or here
* Purchase here

New FLOOR feature, old TORCHE interview (wtf?)

Our man Steve Brooks has recently gotten some e-ttention on the ol' blogosphere, with a newly posted writeup on the massive FLOOR box set, and a freshly unearthed TORCHE interview conducted a couple years ago.

Longrunning Canadian rag Exclaim! has posted a writeup about the FLOOR - Below & Beyond Box Set, including this little gem:

"this stands as one of the coolest/geekiest things out there"

We couldn't agree more. Click here to read the whole thing.

Fairly related to that, Mental Funeral has posted an old interview with Steve from a couple years back, mostly regarding TORCHE. It covers a variety of topics including the weird reactions they got from MOGWAI's fanbase, the early incarnation of In Return as a 7", and this awesome reply when asked about the unreleased FLOOR material:

"The discography probably will never happen"

CLASSIC. Well, glad we proved him wrong! Click here to read the whole thing.

The massive Below & Beyond Box Set is still available for pre-order, but things are entering various stages of production and we will undoubtedly take the pre-orders (and exclusive t-shirt offer) down at some point to prepare for it's actual existence! Yep, we're inching closer to the physical release of this unreal 10xLP, 1x7", 8xCD complete discography... so if you want to get in on the pre-order for this beast, now is the time.

* PRE-order the FLOOR box set @ Robotic Empire's Online Store

* Preview 10 tracks (8 previously unreleased) from this beastly set at the FLOOR myspace page