The RadioActivist

If you’re like me, you probably discredited Heavy Heavy Low Low long ago despite never hearing them due to their questionable name and association with the often unreliable Ferret Records. But whether or not their prior material is worth any attention is currently moot, as the spastic hardcore clusterfuck of Hospital Bomber is not only worthy, but demanding of said attention. 18-second opener “Je Suis Ame Solitaire” serves as a proper introduction for the unpredictable and brash four-song EP. Equal parts noisecore, hardcore, post-hardcore, metalcore and some type of jazzcore, Heavy Heavy Low Low ricochets an emotional pinball from violent outbursts to discordant, psychedelic moments of mellow. ”Customary Input” opens calmly before a near-instantaneous barrage of angular buzzsaw riffs and a rhythm that quickly moves from revolvers to machine guns to shotguns. The dizzying track cycles through at least eight movements in its 1:38 of length before launching into the heavy (heavy, low, low...

While it’s important to know who Cameran are, it’s also important to know who they aren't. For instance, they are not the Academy Award-winning director of Titanic and Avatar. They also aren’t the Grammy-nominated rapper responsible for hits like “Hey Ma” and “Oh Boy.” What they are is an incredibly talented, forward-thinking Austrian post-hardcore ensemble with the potential to properly blow away any listener expecting otherwise. Although the comparisons are actually less simplistic than conveyed here, it’s hard to imagine a band like Cameran had Refused not blazed a path for more abstract portrayals of hardcore years earlier in The Shape of Punk to Come. A Caesarean was even recorded in Umeå, Sweden and with Magnus Lindberg, who also worked with Refused. Cameran, though, is a level or two milder than Dennis Lyxzén and company even at their artsiest. While the opening track “Zombie Walk” pulsates with a rise-and-fall intensity and energetic shouts, its lyrics command gently, “Delv...

What about the voice of Geddy Lee… How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy (?) I know him, and he does” - Pavement, 1997 What about the voice of Cedric Bixler-Zavala… How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy (?) I’ve heard him, and he kind of does” - GlassPipeMurder, 2009 It’s been just a year since the Mars Volta’s Grammy-winning The Bedlam in Goliath dropped, but everyone’s favorite pair of afroed Texicans are already back with a new set of spacey riffs, vexing time signatures and hallucinogenic lyrics comprising the eight songs of Octahedron. While comparing this post-hardcore/prog-rock/Latin-influenced jam factory to Rush is both a lazy description and an erroneous one, it’s harder to avoid on Octahedron than in the past. While this may be due in part to not promoting the album with a free Circle Jerks cover, and the album itself somewhat lacking the frequency of spastic freakouts found on Goliath,...