METROID METAL: VARIA SUITE...REQUEST YOUR DIGITAL REVIEW COPY NOW, PLUS "THEME (NES)" MP3!

Here, especially for your posting and sharing pleasure, is Metroid Metal's astoundingly crushing "Theme (NES)" MP3 off the new Varia Suite full-length! (Please note that the last MP3s I sent your way weren't from the full-length and were intended to be extas shared for fun--I want to clean up any confusion where that's concerned. Okay? Okay.)....

METROID METAL: "THEME (NES)" MP3 FROM VARIA SUITE (PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND SHARE!):

http://tinyurl.com/y9eaeju

ABOUT METROID METAL:

Metroid Metal is a collection of high-energy arrangements from the Metroid video game series. Originally the brainchild of Grant Henry, MM has garnered fans and praise from a stunning variety of humans from the gaming community, the metal/hard rock universe, devotees of prog, space rockers and people who didn't even know how viscerally they'd respond to MM's smart arrangements, nuances and graceful power.

The winter of 2008 brought Metroid Metal the opportunity to perform live for the first time, and Henry pulled together a group of musicians that were to become not only MM's live incarnation, but their final studio lineup. After the success at MAGfest 2009 (where the band played to literally thousands of screaming fans), the decision was made to re-record the best of the band's canon with the live group for Varia Suite, MM's first studio record.

The new album, released from Silent Uproar records, contains 14 tracks, totaling 50 minutes of uptime. In Henry's words, "It's a reinvention of a reinvention with a more human, solid, and commanding sound than any of the Metroid Metal material so far."

Please get in touch (joan at riotactmedia dot com) for your review copy, to interview Grant Henry, or for more info on Metroid Metal....until then, enjoy!

VARIA SUITE TRACK LISTING:

1. Prelude (SM)
2. Lower Norfair (SM)
3. Brinstar (NES)
4. Item Room (NES)
5. Item Collect (NES)
6. Kraid (NES) 02:39
7. Ridley (NES) 02:06
8. Phendrana Drifts (MP)
9. Boss Medley (SM)
10. The Tunnel (M2)
11. Space Pirates (MP)
12. Maridia/Escape (SM/NES)
13. Ending (NES)
14. Theme (NES)

METROID METAL IS:

Guitar - Grant Henry (Stemage)
Guitar - Dan Behrens
Guitar - Micheal Molnar
Bass - Dan Taylor
Drums - Kevin Lawrence

LOCH LOMOND LUXURY WAFERS SESSION IS UP!

Check it out HERE. The band, who plays the Crocodile in Seattle this Saturday the 30th and the Doug Fir in Portland on 2/4, play "Holiday" (BeeGees cover, below), "Ghost of an Earthworm", "Night Bats" and "Wax and Wire" from their new NIGHT BATS EP (Hush Records), as well as "Spine" and "Blue Lead Fences". Enjoy!

Loch Lomond - Holiday - Luxury Wafers Sessions from Luxury Wafers on Vimeo.

NEW SHELLSHAG VIDEO: "RESILIENT BASTARD"!

I have just watched this five times in a row. Directed by Don Giovanni label head Joe Steinhardt! "Resilient Bastard" is off the upcoming RUMORS IN DISGUISE LP, which is out in two weeks (2/9). EMAIL US (joan at riotactmedia dot com or nathan at riotactmedia dot com) for yr review copy if you don't already have it.


SHELLSHAG PLAYING MUSICS SHOWS (including the massive Don Giovanni label showcase on 2/6 at Bowery in NYC, the crazy Harvest of Hope fest in Florida and SXSW):
02.06.10 - NYC @ Bowery Ballroom (Don Giovanni label showcase & record release!)
03.05.10 - Brooklyn NY@ Cedar Mansion Brooklyn
03.08.10 - Columbus, OH @ Carabar
03.09.10 - Athens OH @ Smiling Skull Saloon
03.10.10 - Asheville NC @ Static Age Records
03.11.10 - Athens GA @ Caledonia
03.12.10 - St. Augustine FL@ Harvest of Hope Festival
03.13.10 - Pensacola FL @ Sluggos
03.14.10 - New Orleans, LA @ Dragons Den
03.15.10 - Houston, TX @ Super Happy Funland
03.18.10 - Austin, TX @ Ben Snakepit's party (SXSW)
03.19.10 - Austin, TX @ Lew from Wild America's party (SXSW)
03.21.10 - Austin, TX @ Beerland (Panache party) (SXSW)
03.27.10 - Chattanooga, TN @ Sluggos

ABOUT SHELLSHAG:
In attempts to dance about Shellshag's architecture, they've been explained as an amalgam of The Breeders, Sonic Youth, The Ramones, DFA, David Byrne, Guided By Voices, Moldy Peaches and early Superchunk—and, because they're a male guitarist/female drummer duo, those touch points (Jack and Meg, Matt and Kim, Juicifer) get tossed around like so much confetti, too. They've played with everyone from Iggy Pop, The Slits, The Cramps, Lightning Bolt and J. Mascis to Evan Dando, Les Savy Fav, Shonen Knife and their label mates Screaming Females, and their first (and now out of print) Gary Young EP was recorded by Pavement's Gary Young in 2004. Together, Johnny "Shell" and Jen "Shag", have forged a legacy on both coasts over the course of this crazy thing we call life: as seminal members of the '90s DIY scene in San Francisco, they ran the now-legendary public arts space Starcleaners, the former home of the Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Residents and others, they launched their own label of the same name, releasing Destroy Me, I'm Yours in 2007, and they moved to Brooklyn, forming Shellshag and becoming integral members of the Jersey-based Don Giovanni family of artists and musicians.

The thing to get, though, is that, aside from the universal truth that all roads point to now, it's not their back story, tour history or the fishing lure mentions of the scads of played-withs and sounds-likes that is of import. What is of import is that, with Rumors In Disguise, Shellshag has not only made their most incredible, inspired, hooky, crunchy, distilled and concentrated record yet—they've made the record that will define what making music in the new decade should be like. Joyous, raw, engaging, innovative, personal, weird, loud, fucking communicative, inclusive, pure. You know, the kind of qualities that made the experience of digesting and living music magnetic to begin with. That's this record.

The record's heart-theme is made up of the stuff we all, as evolving humans, struggle with, as the band explains: "Most of the songs on the record are about hope and despair, love and survival, death and fear." From the grin-laced stubborn pride in Shell's vocals on "Resillient Bastard" to Jen Shag's tom-heavy heartbeat rhythms on crunchy duet "Means That Much", every inch put to tape is as real as it gets. Finding honesty and purity of creative expression in the vastness of what our musical landscape has evolved into is a more difficult task than ever before, and it takes a band like Shellshag and a record like Rumors in Disguise to answer that search. Now, listen.

PITCHFORK REVIEWS BOAT'S "SETTING THE PACES"

"From the "Victoria"-mined verve of "Prince of Tacoma" to the quiet beauty of "100 Calorie Man", no stretch is skip-over territory. Every song is irrepressible in its own right." Read the full review HERE.

WOW.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PORTLAND, OREGON’S CHURCH CHANGES THEIR NAME TO HOSANNAS

JANUARY 25, 2009, PORTLAND, OR: Tender Loving Empire artists Church knew that, right along with the myriad of great opportunities currently being afforded the band, those pesky things called “copyright issues” might come a-knockin some day due to their not-uncommon (and, incidentally, tough to Google search) moniker. A handful of weeks ago, the inevitable happened: representatives of legendary Australian band The Church got in touch with Portland’s Church to kindly point out that, the law being what it is, a name change was in order for the Oregonian quartet. No hard feelings, of course—it’s just the law, and besides, the band (or their publicists and label, anyway) had already been considering ways to solve the problem of being tough to find online.

Portland’s Church has now officially changed their name to Hosannas. On the subject of how they settled on this particular name, the band explains thusly: “I suppose you can just tell people it was whispered in my ear by the magic pink dolphin that saved my life last month. It translates literally to ‘save, please’ and I mean it to be a talisman that keeps us safe while on the road.” The story about the pink dolphin is fodder for a future press release that will be sent when the time is right. Speaking of good times, the band has several upcoming dates in Portland and Seattle, all of which are listed below.

HOSANNAS PLAYING SHOWS:
1/31/10: PDX, OR @ Rontom’s (Rontom’s 100th show! W/Dirty Mittens, Jared Mees, Nick Jaina)
2/11/10: PDX, OR @ Mississippi Studios (Haiti benefit w/Blue Giant, The Minus 5, Laura Gibson)
2/12/10: PDX, OR @ The Pink Room (w/Double + Good, Orca Team, Chrome Wings)
2/18/10: PDX, OR @ Portland State University, Parkway North, Smith Student Union
3/13/10: Seattle, WA @ University of Seattle (@ The Bistro)
3/14/10: PDX, OR @ Knife Shop

For more information, contact Joan Hiller Depper and Nathan Walker at Riot Act Media (Joan@riotactmedia.com, Nathan@riotactmedia.com).

Hosannas on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/songforcecrystal
Tender Loving Empire: www.tenderlovingempire.com

NEW BOAT VIDEO FOR "100 CALORIE MAN"!

D. Crane & Co. just sent us this tremendous new video for "100 Calorie Man" off the tremendous SETTING THE PACES (Magic Marker) with the caviat: "It doesn't have a high production value, but neither do we." Au contraire, BOAT! Bravo, dudes.