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Lovers
of Tad will rejoice at the first spin of the first half
of this split between Seattle’s Brothers of the Sonic
Cloth and Mico de Noche. As far as I know, this is a
return to music for the giant of Seattle. Lovers of the
sludge unfamiliar with Tad’s grunge fame and high
quality noise will enjoy it as well. It won’t take much
from either as the song his new outfit offers isn’t a
stretch nor does it sound like Tad, the band either.
I was so
unaware of this Seattle band that even after I got this 10 inch
split (I requested it without knowing who was behind) in the
mail, I neglected to hear it for about a month and a half. When
I did, I was stunned by the tune and went out searching for
their two-song demo. Only then did I realize that Tad Doyle was
the mike and the guitars behind Brothers of the Sonic Cloth.
Doyle needs no introduction and his good vibes are all over this
excellent twelve-minute tune “Fires Burn Dim in the Shadows of
the Mountain”. Yeah, with a title that long you kind of expect a
slow burner.
Let us not
speak of grunge in 2010. (What is that anyway?) What this trio,
rounded by bassist Peggy Tully and drummer Aaron Edge (Himsa,
Harkonen), does is some sweet sludge. Keyword being ‘sweet’
because these Brothers offer up swift chords and sublime
melodies. There is no drama here, no exaggeration in the music
nor acid passages. Instead, there is certain calmness within the
whole tune. It is also the recording, which is fat and organic,
but grounded in the naturality of it all. Even after the
breakdown about four minutes in, when the songs gets truncated,
what we have is a nice heavy song where moods and guitars take
the lead and relegate the vocals of Doyle and the haunting
phrases spoken by Tully to the back. Then, there is the calm
within the storm and then thunder wipes you out. I want more
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth right about now.
Mico de
Noche have more history behind. They are a quartet with a deal
to Australia’s Australian Cattle God and have two EP’s and one
full-length already on their backs. While their music might fall
in the stoner rock realm, their sound is much more abrasive and
visceral than that of the Brothers. Metal Archives has two
members handling the vocals, I am not 100% sure if they both
show in these two songs, but the moods between each vary greatly.
“Hanges” is
violent, with a thrashy rock and roll riff and vocals that
border in a seriously punked up noise angle. The track in
question comes to a groovy and repetitive close. Their second
song is titled “Misanthrope”; the groove is even deeper, the
riff is pretty bad ass and then yeah, things get sped up.
Rambunctiousness ensues and that rock and roll energy that
pervaded during the first half of the first tune rules the
second half of this one. I think the nice folks over at
Australian Cattle God sent me a package containing a Mico de
Noche recording a few weeks ago. I must go dig it soon.
Brothers of the Sonic Cloth MySpace
Mico de Noche MySpace
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