As 2009 comes to a close, we’d like to send out happy New Year’s wishes to everyone from Nightwatcher’s House Of Rock. Be safe out there, wherever you are, if you drink, don’t drive, and here’s to 2010 and the next decade being the best ever yet!

Also, we’d like to express our deepest heartfelt thanks to some of the wonderful people who have combined to make 2009 a fantastic year here at NHOR. In no particular order, Joe Bonamassa, Butch Trucks, Joe Lynn Turner, Ron Thal, Vinnie Moore, Danny Methric, Gregg Rolie. Mark Farner, Van Wilks and Jerry Donahue for being such fantastic interviews. You all rock big time! The good folks at AntiMusic, The Chicago Sun Times, The BBC, Planet Rock, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Melodicrock.com, Share Ross and Rock N’ Roll TV, This Is Rock magazine in Spain, Gibson.com, Rock Radio UK, The Mog Music Network, Guitar World, and all the various websites and ‘zines who have featured articles from this site over the past year, thank you so much! The various PR people who have assisted this site, including Erin Podbereski at Jensen Communications, Jen Goldberg at Universal and William James at Glass Onyon, Chip Schutzman at Miles High Productions, Lisa Walker and many more, you all are amazing!

Last but certainly not least, a HUGE thanks to all of you who have visited this site during the past 12 months. You’re the reason we exist, and we couldn’t do it without you! See you for even bigger things happening in 2010!

When I look below at the list of my Top 10 Albums from Northeast, Ohio in 2009, I find it notable for both who is included and who is missing. Notable albums released during the past year include Unsparing Sea’s sophomore release, In the Diamond Caverns, a band and an album both deserving of more ears, as well as Mystery of Two’s, self-titled second release. Again, I find Mystery of Two to be a case of the right band in the wrong zip code. While their blend of art-punk is distinctly Cleveland and can be traced quickly back to Cleveland legends like Pere Ubu, it’s another case of what does a band have to do in this town to get noticed, and I don’t mean just Clevelanders, but the listening public at large.

Also, you’ll find some familiar names in unfamiliar places. There’s Dan Auerbach’s solo album, Keep it Hid, recorded with the aid of his partners is old time sounds, Hacienda, is an album which answers the question, “What if the Black Keys were more than a two man band?” The answer of course, is that they’d still be treading in that muddy, blues-rock sound.

Blakroc, on the other hand, answers a question no one had bothered to ponder, “What if the Black Keys were the house band for a rap album?” If you haven’t heard, guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Pat Carney are a more than capable backing band, easily transitioning from ragged, rave-ups to deep, smooth grooves.

Conspicuous by their absence, (Besides a proper release from The Black Keys) is all the new talent in town. Bands like Casual Encounters, Freedom, and Prisoners are all starting to gain some underground buzz, but their recorded output has been sparse and hard to find. Hopefully, that’ll change in ‘10.

And speaking of ‘10, if the early releases are any indication of what Northeast, Ohio has in store for us, then next year may be one of the best years for local rock in ages. February will mark the official release date for This Moment in Black History’s latest long-player, Public Square (It’s available now at Music Saves in Cleveland and through the Smog Veil Records website). I’ve heard it, on marbled green vinyl, nonetheless, and in one word, it shreds. Plus, we’ll have a new Black Keys album, and an album from Sweet Apple, the project which pairs John Petkovic and Tim Parnin of Cobra Verde with Dinosaur, Jr’s Dave Mascis and Witch’s Dave Sweetapple. From early indications, and one pre-release MP3, it sounds as if that one is gonna shred.

2009’s Top NEO Albums:

1. Unsparing Sea – In the Diamond Caverns
2. Mystery of Two - S/T
3. Dan Auerbach – Keep it Hid
4. Keelhaul – Triumphant Return to Obscurity
5. Other Girls – Perfect Cities
6. Blakroc – S/T
7. Hot Cha Cha – The World’s Hardest Working Telescope…
8. Coffinberry – S/T
9. Beaten Awake – Thunder$troke
10. Afternoon Naps – Parade

“Since the winter of 2008, The Futureless have been enticing fans across Toronto’s booming electronic scene with their unique blend of progressive trance, techno, ambience and indie. Nolan (vocals, keys, programming), Savard (keys, bass) and Tucker (vocals, keys, programming, guitar) take dissonant fuzzy bass lines, pulsating dance rhythms and ethereal vocals and fuse them into a sound that’s as lush and moody as it is abrasive and jarring.”

Indie dance bridging the gap between Death In Vegas and early 90`s Alt-electrolica, the under-rated sounds of Eskimos And Egypt springs to our post-rave minds. The three track EP Futura reinforces this link with a rare sense of hedonistic pop and dense seismic beats, a 2010 LP release promises exciting times for the Canadian trio.

“They create a style that is both intense and vulnerable, allowing listeners to tap into their deepest emotions. Collaborating with award-winning Shawn Lefebvre (Muse, Dragonette, Cancer Bats, Billy Talent) on Futura, the artists have created three tracks that truly demonstrate the brooding spirit of The Futureless.”

The Futureless : Article 58
Learn More

Courtesy Of The Musebox

Twenty4
2010

These last few months have seen a lot of activity that will undoubtedly interest KISS fans. First Ace Frehley emerged with his first album in twenty yeas. Then of course KISS returned with Sonic Boom. Now former guitarist Bruce Kulick comes forward with his newest outing. Kulick recruited a number of guest stars for this album including Gene and Nick Simmons, Eric Singer, John Corabi and Steve Lukather. The album is actually more varied in style than I figured it would be. I expected much of the disc to sound like leftovers from Kulick’s KISS days. There are a few songs that sound like they could have been on Revenge, but they are better than leftovers as they are actually quite catchy. I also don’t blame Kulick too much for copying that sound as Revenge was far and away the best KISS that he played on. However there are a number of more mellow hard rock songs and even some just plain rock songs. The majority are handled well enough and sound like they could have come out around the early-mid 90’s. The album reaches a bit of a low towards the middle with a few consecutively slow songs that had me starting to lost interest. There isn’t one sound throughout and a large part of that is likely due to the number of guest stars. Overall it sounds like Bruce Kulick is playing music he likes and the majority or it is instantly likable although overwhelming or highly original. I always thought that Kulick was likely the best guitarist technically to play with KISS, but he was basically a journeyman filling in the slot. Here he gets to call the shots, but he opens up his playing sporadically as he holds back more than I was hoping. Still it’s tight and KISS fans will probably find enough about it to enjoy.

It’s New Year’s Eve. Time to party.

1) Matthew Robinson: “Party All Night”
2) Rawls and Luckett: “Shake It, Shake It, Baby”
3) Lonnie Johnson: “Happy New Year Darling”
4) The LeRoi Brothers: “Rhythm and Booze”
5) The Iguanas: “The Liquor Dance”
6) Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: “Party in the Woods Tonight”
7) Los Straitjackets: “Twist Party”
Elvis Presley: “Party”
9) Ray Charles: “Let’s Go Get Stoned”
10) Otis Redding and Carla Thomas: “New Year’s Resolution”

Roland S Howard, who’s best known as a collaborator with Nick Cave and as the author of the song “Shivers,” has died of liver cancer.

I’m particularly fond of his recordings with Nikki Sudden. Howard’s latest album, “Pop Crimes,” is excellent as well. RIP.

At a loss
2009

It figures right after I make up my top albums of 2009 list I discover others that I might have put on the list had I heard them a few weeks earlier. As I made my way through the stack of discs piled on my desk to review I saw this dark covered disc and rescued it from the pit. I don’t know what drew me to it this time around because I don’t even remmber taking it out of a package, but I know that I to have done it. Still I stuck it in not knowing what to expect. Even after one whole I still was not exactly sure I now had it my hands however I knew it had far exceeded expectations and that I needed to play it again. The second convinced me even more that this was indeed something special, but still hard to pin down. Raise the red lantern draw on a variety of styles. They also use these styles in an unexpected approach as you never know when they jab at you with steady, fuzzed out pounding then start knocking you around with some thundering noise before finally knocking you out with some old style thrash bursts. They regularly reach into their trick bag and pull out doom, hardcore, grindcore, thrash and other styles without flinching or giving up any ground. They can mix and twist styles easily and still keep the pace tromping forward. The production is fittingly spectacular and works bringing all of the sound too and above the surface as needed. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I sure got more than I bargained for which turned out to be a good thing this time around.

The daily mix:

1) Doc Watson: “Gambler’s Yodel”
2) Sonny Terry: “Harmonica Blues”
3) Lil’ Son Jackson: “Roberta Blues”
4) Hank Williams: “The Lost Highway”
5) Jimmie Rodgers: “Train Whistle Blues”
6) Wayne Raney: “Jole Blon’s Ghost”
7) Blind Willie McTell: “A Married Man’s a Fool”
Cootie Stark: “Lay It on You”
9) Darby and Tarlton: “Roy Dixon”
10) Big Joe Williams: “Brother James”

Here you go, it is two covers of Heavy Artillery releases.


At War-Infidel

vs.


Exmortus-In hatred’s flame

***Which cover do you prefer?

****Originally I had Ignitor’s Spider Queen as the second choice, but blogger found it offensive and removed it so I put Exmortus in it’s place.

God bless Argentinian rockers Los Fabulosos Cadillacs for spreading the Gospel According to Saint Curtis Mayfield on their latest album, “El Arte De La Elegancia.”

I’m sure Mayfield would have loved their grooving version, “Vamos Ya.” I’ll bet he’d have dug the rest of the album, too. I certainly do