Through the technological wonder and infinite time-sink that is Facebook, I’ve had the fun of reconnecting with gobs of old friends from college, high school, heck, even grade school; and part of that fun is seeing how many of my friends still maintain their youthful passion for music, no matter what kind. Jeff is off and running to see King Khan in the City, Diana is posting early morning vid.
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Originally released in 1989 on Metal Blade, it’s good to have Anvil’s kick ass live album back in print. This came out after their minor brush with North American success thanks to the video for “Mad Dog” from the 1987 album Strenth of Steel and right before their decline into obscurity. We all know that Anvil is now bigger than ever thanks to the excellent film Anvil! The Story of Anvil b
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I often find myself in a place of reverie, contemplating what my life would be like without heavy metal. From the time that I first heard the distorted notes of “Detroit Rock City” at the tender age of six, to the more poppy, yet still fairly aggressive riffs of Def Leppard’s Pyromania, to the ultimate epiphany of Metallica’s Ride the Lightening or Slayer’s Haunting the Chapel, the music
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Puscifer – C is for (Please Insert Sophmoric Genitalia Reference Here) EP Once upon a time Maynard James Keenan applied his unique vocal stylings to Tool, and Tool alone. Then, he signed on with A Perfect Circle and we all got to hear his voice do something that we weren’t quite used to. Now, our hero is fronting a band called Puscifer and showing even further range to those plaintive pipes, h
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I love driving on the open road. Convertible top down. Wind blowing through my hair . . .er . . . scalp. Whatever. Wind blowing against me, chilling my skin, making me feel alive.With that in mind, I think you can agree that the antithesis of the joyful, freedom abandon of the open road, is being stuck in traffic. And I mean, bumper-to-bumper, flipping-off-the-jerk-who-just-cut-me-off, tra...
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Knocking our heads for a spin with his straight-out-of-the-desert brand of stoner/doom rock, Oscape made a big impression on the Ripple office when their first EP The Growing Ground fell into our laps. Needless to say, we couldn't wait til we had a chance to chat with Oscape's main man, Scott Heller, and dig deep into his fertile mind.When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil
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While perusing the pages on MySpace, the name of Byzantine caught my eye, and being the monumental fans that we are at The Ripple Effect about this band, I figured this might be worth checking out. Sure enough, after reading the blog from the bands page, there was a mixture of excitement and disappointment from the following announcement. So, go ahead . . . read the following.Following their hi...
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The thing that I’ve always liked about the singer/songwriter has always been their ability to strip the music down to its barest form and move the soul with a vibrant array of lyrics. But the lyrics alone don’t do the work. Generally, the voice comes in and conveys the emotion with well phrased lines, slight changes in intonation, subtle nuances that captivate the senses and let the imaginatio
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There’s really only one way to describe The Accused – sick. That’s the way it’s been since 1981 when guitarist Tommy Niemeyer formed the band with his perverted friends in Oak Harbor, Washington. The Accused has always been a band that you either love or hate. Most hate, but those who love do it with a heart full of gore. Too metal for punk, too punk for metal, The Accused sound is fast an
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The act of distillation is to extract the essence of something, condensing it down to its most pure state. When referring to whiskey, the distillation is done in a big pot and Scotch whiskey is distilled twice, producing an end result that is pure and smooth. The Irish go for three runs of distillation, creating something that achieves perfection.When referring to riff-massive, huge '70's ro...
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It was 1976 when the Steve Miller Band played the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on the Fly Like An Eagle tour. A thin-framed, long-haired apparition, with no discernible instrument, stepped to the forefront, pulled out a mouth harp and blew a hypnotic soulful rendition of "Mercury Blues." It wasn’t Steve Miller that hooked me on the Steve Miller Band – it was Norton Buffalo. Steve Miller call
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Generally, I tend to like weird. By weird, I simply mean something that’s different than the status quo or something with a unique twist on the usual. That’s what weird is, right? Outlandish and bizarre is a whole separate category and I can get into that in later reviews. But for now, let’s discuss John Frazier and the 8 Year Olds. This band, for all intents and purposes, is weird . . . wei
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Swirly, spacey, transcendent, and altogether a near-spiritual experience. Yes, I'm describing the first time I ever heard My Sleeping Karma's brand of pyschedelic stoner rock. Mesmerizing is another word that leaps to mind. Naturally, we were thrilled when the guys stopped by the Ripple office to chat, light some incense, and become one with everything Ripple.When I was a kid, growing up in ...
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French experi-metalists HYPNO5E have just announced their headlining run through the US on the METAL AS ART Tour with Revocation of Relapse Records, and The Binary Code. The METAL AS ART Tour marks HYPNO5E’s second tour in the US, and expect the band to play a little bit of new material live this time around.HYPNO5E’s Emmanuel Jessua (vocals, guitars) comments: “We are very excited to come
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Brothers of the Sonic Cloth/ Mico de Noche - Split 10" I don't care what you say, Tony Reed is the Stephen King of the music world. I don't know when that cat ever sleeps!On top of his raving retro-seventies band Mos Generator, his much-more-than-a-side-project, blues-rock rave-up Stone Axe, Reed somehow managed to find the time to either engineer, mix and/or master each song on this bludgeon...
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It had been over 15 years since Saint Vitus toured the east coast and since breaking up in 1996 their popularity had grown considerably. They did some reunion shows in 2003 that left everyone wanting more, and they finally played again earlier this year in Europe. The warm up show they did in New Orleans was the first time Saint Vitus ever sold out a club in America and featured members of Down...
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Every time that I hear music like that found on The Pimps of Joytime’s High Steppin’, the words of Chuck D ring in my head like the man was rockin’ the mic two inches from my ears. “Who stole the soul?” he would yell time and time again, and finally, in this scenario, I would jump up and say, “Brother! No one stole the soul. It was just misplaced for awhile, but I know who found it. Th
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Now, I don't know if I'd call myself a Finn brothers groupie or not, but I'll tell you, ever since the day that I first heard "Poor Boy," off of the Split Enz True Colours album, I've picked up just about everything that Neil or Tim, or Neil and Tim, have ever done. And truth be told, rarely have the Finn brothers let me down. With an uncanny knack for a melody, and golden-soaked voices, the ...
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If Genesis was music for art school aristocrats, Yes for classical music purists and ELP for fans of pomp in all its bombastic glory, then Jethro Tull was prog rock for the everyman.Maybe it's the band's genesis as a working blues band that makes them seem so approachable compared to those other bands, or simply the band's raving medieval persona. Either way, Jethro Tull isn't prog rock for th...
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Continuing on with our series of interviews with the people who bring us the music.How did you get started running an independent record label?I have been a musician my whole life. Since I was young, I always thought it would be cool to have a small label. I looked up to the likes of SubPop (when they were indie;)What motivated you? Did you tap into a particular local scene or were you aiming...
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