A forgotten chapter in Charlottesville punk history

Have you ever had a period in your life, be it several years or a single day, when, in retrospect, everything that happened seems to have been of utmost importance? Despite the drama, the craziness and perhaps the very real harm that was done, looking back it all seems so beautiful and golden that you wish you could keep it forever, like a flower frozen in amber.

The Big Fun Glossary captures just such a moment: “state-of-the art youth hedonism” as practiced in Charlottesville in the mid-’90s. It reads like a reality show version of On The Road, a devil’s dictionary filled with gossip, social criticism, and philosophical musings, where people with names like Morgan Anarchy and Diana the Redhead live in a state of enlightened poverty and angry joie de vivre, hoisting jugs of cheap wine like weapons in a war against the straight-laced forces of oppression.

Read about it here, via C-ville Weekly.

Stone Angels — Within The Witch

Stone Angels are a metal band from the battered city of Christchurch in New Zealand. They play between a mix of genres, with elements of sludge, doom, and even rock all thrown together in a surprisingly clean and compelling manner; it's sometimes grindy but never grimey. The recording is pristine, and even though metal of this sort is not my preferred cup of tea, I'm definitely digging the tone of the album. Read the bio section below to get an idea of the context. These dudes clearly know their music, and I hope they make it out to the States before too long.

Stone Angels — Within The Witch

Track Listing:

1. The Dark
2. Within The Witch
3. White Light, White Noise
4. Bleeding Black
5. Withdrawing The Jinn
6. Grave
7. Coffin Cross

Stone Angels are a newish metal band from Christchurch, NZ. I'll let them say it in their own words: "The album is named 'Within The Witch' and is really an ad-lib artistic release in the wake of 10,000+ earthquakes which have been smashing the city of Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island over the past year and a half. Christchurch itself as a city is really no more and the energy from such an event has had very few positive effects other than maybe as a source of inspiration for artists, musicians and creative writers alike. Within The Witch is a by product of the environment, and summarises the atmosphere and feeling of this broken city to a tee. It really is an interesting listen."

http://stoneangels666.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stone-Angels/249012665121631

Hightide Hotel — Secret Somethings Vol. 2

Hightide Hotel play a sort of airy, contemplative pop-punk or alt-rock that sounds like nostalgia made sound. Reminds me of a less distortiony Hold Tight!, but with less haste and more vocal harmonies. This well-recorded album has a good flow and good energy and makes for solid background tunes in any situation, although I'd be hesitant to call it an upper. Solid, sincere tunes for sure.

Hightide Hotel — Secret Somethings Vol. 2 (2011)

Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. Ballad
3. Ultimatum
4. Hollow
5. Your Bed
6. My Bed
7. Hospital Green
8. Malice
9. Closer
10. Outro

Hightide Hotel is a five piece from Philadelphia.

http://hightidehotel.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hightide-Hotel/100540060010431