The Perm & The Skullet is a non-profit music blog devoted to bringing you music of all kinds.
Although we prefer that rustic, acoustic, unusual, whiskey soaked sound, we do like music of all styles and genres. If you have something you think we should listen to, by all mean, let us know.
All Links and MP3s are for sampling, evaluation, and introduction purposes only and are intended to provide exposure to said artist / film / site etc...
If you like it, please go buy it.
Most Mp3 samples are only available for a limited time, usually a week or two. If there is something you missed, and it is currently unavailable or out of print, please let us know and we can see what we can do.
MP3s, Links, and Images can easily be taken down, so if you are the owner or their representation, and would like said link or file removed, just let us know and we'€™ll be happy to do so. You can E-mail me directly here for any questions or concerns or submissions.
“As soon as it becomes your profession to critique a book, or movie, or record then, not only do you lose your passion for it, but it loses validity for whoever you’re trying to turn it onto because they’re going to be approaching it from a consumer’s point of view, not from a professional writer’s point of view.”
Submissions
You can mail any materials to me electronically here or hard copy at:
The Perm & The Skullet
9100 Cub Trail
Raleigh, NC 27615
I promise to listen to everything, but due to the large amount of material I receive, I can not guarantee review. Thanks!
Have you heard Witch yet? My introduction lies with Feathers, seeing that 2 of their members helm this project. J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr., that's right I said Dinosaur Jr., and Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons from Feathers form three-fourths of Witch.
Rhino.com had this to say, "New England's Witch may be the platonic ideal of a metal band. Long hair, vaguely mystical lyrics, muted buzz-saw hum guitars, dueling solos, a graying drummer—they've pretty much got it nailed. Their self-titled debut deals in the kind of earsplitting banshee wails and wah-wahed feedback whorls that came to define the genre."
Oh man! It's good and it's a damn shame I've had to wait 3 months to get on board. Sample the first cut on the album and be prepared to follow the line into hell.
OLD ERIE IS THE DRUG INDUCED MUSIC OF LUKE LAIN. SONGS OF REVOLUTION AND REBELLION, GHOSTS, OLD HOUSES, TRAINS, FORESTS AND MOUNTAINS.
Those are the first words on the site that attempts to harness all that is Old Erie. Raw, emotional, abstract work, that at first listen to the first track, Cabin Fire Mountain, I was literally thrown back into the comforts of the chair in which I sat. I had to lay back and comprehend the lo-fi, but blazing loud, experimental sound and lyrics that masterfully begin with, " It was ages ago when Grandfather built this cabin in the cradle of the mountain..."
Old Erie has just released an EP, King Crow, and while there is alot of what I call, Sound Collage, there is a meaningful beauty to the raw elements that flow through his music. Check out a few tracks below and get the whole EP here.
At first listen one may overlook the debut S/T album by The Donkeys, and that would be your first mistake. With an LP that seems to span multiple "genres" I could see the confusion, but The Donkeys is a must listen. To be honest, I personally am not a fan of music that hops around from track to track, but in this case it seems to work, bringing a refreshing sound from the first track to the last.
With Come on Virginia, we have a more country-rock, Stones via Parsons infactuation feel to it and In the Morning has an indie, but pop mind you, sound, sprinkled ever so slightly with a touch of Brian Wilson. Both tracks listed below would be great singles on any album, but they are both here on one disc along with a handfull of other stand out tunes.
Coney Island Baby is due to receive the deluxe reissue treatment on August 15 courtesy of RCA/Legacy. The expanded album will contain new liner notes and six bonus tracks. This is a well deserved rerelease and is one of my favorite Lou Reed LPs. It is often, in my opinion, an over looked album when talking about Reed, yet it provides one of the greatest tracks in his catalogue. Decide for yourself.
Below is a re-print of the review I did for Metallic Falcons that is currently on Kevchino. If you haven't checked out that site yet, it is a great web space for music reviews and a daily stop of mine.
The Metallic Falcons are one half Sierra Casady (CocoRosie) and one half Matteah Baim (Voodoo-EROS). I first became aware of this collaborative effort on The Enlightened Family compilation that was released last year on Bianca Casady’s label Voodoo-EROS. That cd was released in celebration of her new endeavor, and collected a series of previously unheard songs from friends and family, the first track being Berry Metal by Metallic Falcons.
Desert Doughnuts, their first LP, was released, very appropriately, on June 6, 2006. The fog began to lift and the mirage that was before me started to take shape, and upon first listening, I entered a world of baron lands and nocturnal dreams. I was blown away by the angelic howls of Casady and Baim as they soothed me with their lullabies.I conjured up images of a Lynchian world meets, what you might hear upon judgment day, or as the dawn breaks before the Holy War begins. I floated on clouds of incensed air from burnt offerings, while watching the actions below break before my eyes.
I see a dark world in which Desert Doughnuts lives, but I can also see in residing in a world of celebration and rejoice. Their myspace insists “Desert Doughnuts contains samples from Nicos last trip to Disneyland, pagan songs welcoming the solstice, small hearts waiting for morning, and a tender electric fire fanned to a smolder by the fevered longing of teenagers.” and “The saintly melodies are always close to your heart while the secluded drums buzz like a growing and waning desert hum; ringing loud in your ears from the absence of any other sound.”
From the smallest click to the whistling winds to the clangorous beats and haunting harmonies, Metallic Falcons have created a sound unlike anything I have ever heard, and with the assistance of Tarantula A.D. drummer Greg Cosgrove, Antony (Antony & The Johnsons), Jana Hunter, and Devendra Banhart, we get an album from start to finish that summons the lost souls within each of us. Simply put, Desert Doughnuts is one of the most breathtaking and, dare I say, life changing albums that I have ever heard. A must own and it sits atop my list of top 5 albums of the year hands down.
Seriously folks, If you have not yet checked out Metallic Falcons, I emplore you to do so. Below is a re-post of the track Disparu from Desert Doughnuts.
Tindersticks front man, Stuart A. Staples releasedLeaving Songs, his second solo lp, on June 6th (States side anyways).
Leaving Songs is a "collection of songs written over the last year and recorded at Mark Nevers' studio in Nashville, with Dave Boulter, Neil Fraser and drummer Thomas Belhom. Further sessions at Lucky Dog studio featured Tindersticks' stalwart Terry Edwards and longtime collaborator, Gina Foster."Beggars Banquet Take the choice elements of Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Nick Cave and there stands Stuart A. Staples somewhere in the mix. His voice, heartfelt and weathered, I'm only imagining eroded valleys lining his throat with streams of whiskey and gin filling the voids. Images of Staples hunkered down in the back of a smoked filled bar declaring his soul for the creatures of the night. A glimmer of restoration for the listener, a chance of cleansing for our troubadour.
Check out That Leaving Feeling, from Leaving Songs below.
***EDIT: It's now Tuesday morning and I've stumbled into work. Unable to write last night. Fill in the blank for the reason why. Somehow, I managed to get the Scorps online though.
What an amazing game! The Hurricanes by far played their best hockey of the playoffs last night and are the victors of Lord Stanley's Cup. Congrats to them, congrats to North Carolina (especially Raleigh), and to hockey being back, better than ever.
Braden Rapp is Sleep Said The Monster and after I had a chance to hear his demo tapes, I knew he had to be mentioned on the P&S. Braden has recording under the Sleep Said The Monster moniker for roughly three years now. He records his raw emotional work using a red digital 8-track in the corner of his apartment bedroom, and after you experience his music, you could not imagine him doing it anywhere else. Armed with an instrument arsenal consisting of keyboards, a synthetic piano, numerous guitars, a melodica, some pedals, and for percussion, suitcases/a tambourine/and metal poles, Sleep Said The Monster provides the listener with a very intimate experience laying out his soul for all to here.
Currently living in Omaha, NE and attending the University of Nebraska Omaha for writing, Sleep Said the Monster is currently looking for label representation. He recorded a Demo Album this past year called THE WEIRD MASSAGE YOU NEVER ASKED FOR. It is fourteen tracks, of personal declarations and intimate thoughts, and I do hope it gets a proper release. The track from the demos below has been on every mixtape I've made since I got it. You can check him out online atwww.myspace.com/sleepsaidthemonster or email him at sleepsaidthemonster@gmail.com
Theres a girl written on paper in gorgeous fountain blue Shes a trite amalgamation of deceptively conforming to The words of shoulder-sitting, apparitional advice She tells me that a conscience is not a reason to stay alive
She belittles integration as a way of getting by, While her ghoulish little voice is so punitively nigh
"I love it how you think youve got it now but
Theres an easier way out That you are never supposed to have found, Let alone use Theres no comparison at all To the morose exit from which youll fall dah dah do"
There was a time that I would have taken such a marketable death But now that antiquated notion seems bereft of what it kept Her ghoulish little voice remains ubiquitously live; She spews out spores of nether-tones that perfectly remind
She offers her best intentions, whats better than that?
Theres an easier way out.
What do you say you just put me away forever and I remain there?
I've just been informed that the guys from Division Day (great band! check out previous posts here and here) have just completed their first music video, directed by Chris Levitus, for the song Hurricane off of "Beartrap Island." Check it out below and then visit them online either through their website or myspace. Thanks Kevin.
A hint at Death Cab, tweak your ear and hear E. Smith, and if you like Nada Surf's new stuff, then make way for Duplomacy. From a one-man band in Andy Flynn to a full on barrage adding, Adam Egerdahl, Judd Hildreth, P.A. Corts, and Erik Dahl, Duplomacy may be the next big surge in indie rock. The College scene will love them and old scenesters will enjoy their coffee to the subtle, but striking voice of Flynn and company. Definitely worth a listen.
If anyone is still out there checking the ol' P&S, sorry for the lack of posts. It seems to go in spirts these days and it sucks. I've had out of town guests the last two weeks, I'm renovating the "Man Room", work, and I'm in pre-production on our latest film project, with shooting starting next weekend and through the summer.
I'll be updating when I can, which I hope will be a couple of times a week, but no promises, so no guilt. I have piles of cds that need to be reviewed, some more JK's corner stuff, and a stack of vinyl ready to be converted for some VU Series.
Anyway, thanks for sticking around. There is more to come, but in the mean time for those of you who didn't get a chance to grab that Neil Young @ Massey Hall 1971, here it is again.
Oh, and Go Canes!!! (Stanley Cup baby) .: On My Way Home .: Tell Me Why .: Old Man .: Journey Through The Past .: Helpless .: Love In Mind .: A Man Needs A Maid / Heart of Gold .: Cowgirl In The Sand .: Don't Let It Bring You Down .: There's A World .: Bad Fog of Loneliness .: The Needle And The Damage Done .: Ohio .: See The Sky About To Rain .: Down By The River .: Dance, Dance, Dance .: I Am A Child
Released today, 06/06/06, is Desert Doughnuts by the Metallic Falcons, one half Sierra Casady (CocoRosie) and one half Matteah Baim. Amazing! and a must own. Think David Lynch meets, what you might hear upon judgement day or as the dawn breaks before the Holy War begins. Breathtaking and a top 5 album of the year without a doubt. Behold and experience all that is the Metallic Falcons.
Just a few free albums available online listed below.
Danger Doom - Occult Hymn EP (Art + Video + 7 tracks) available here. Highly Recommended!
Mirsa Sampler The Mirsa Record label ( Great Lake Swimmers, Phosphorescent, Centro-Matic, Flotation Toy Warning, Shearwater to name a few) Available here.
Anti Records Sampler Also on emusic, a free label sampler with artists such as Neko Case, Jolie Holland, and Tom Waits. Available here.
