Band Of The Week: One-Eyed Doll

Having recently rediscovered the awesomeness of bandcamp.com, I made the mistake of having a random hop through their catalogues. I came across a band by the name of One-Eyed Doll, thought their album art looked interesting so had a listen. I fell in love within two tracks. So, despite telling myself I wouldn't buy any more music for a while (not counting MATM's EP, because I've been looking forward to that for ages), I went ahead and bought 3 albums of scrummy One-Eyed Doll material.

One-Eyed Doll are kinda hard to define. They're female-fronted, that's obvious - vocalist Kimberly Freeman has a brilliant, distinctive voice that puts me in mind somewhat of Romily Alice of Japanese Voyeurs. Style-wise though, there's hard rock, punk and some sort of metal. I mean, some tracks show a very definite thrash metal influence. Not actually thrash metal themselves, but there's that feel there. There's also quite a strong grunge feeling on some tracks. Right old mash of influences, which is wonderful.

It was Freeman's voice that really drew me in - deceptively sweet and yet sometimes so harsh (which is probably what reminded me of Romily Alice). But what caught my attention was the track Be My Friend on the album Monster. It actually made me laugh out loud, which isn't that common a reaction from me with regards to music. It's such a sweet, funny and yet sinister song. It's that that made me fall in love. I didn't need to listen to the rest of the album - I downloaded it there and then, checked out a few of the tracks on their other albums and promptly downloaded Break and Hole as well. Then I discovered this little wonder.

How can you not enjoy that? There's that same fun take on things as there is in Be My Friend. So of course I had to download the You're A Vampire single too. Ahh, new music overdose.

What's wonderful is that on the band's bandcamp, you can pay whatever you want for their albums, including nothing. However tempting it may be to download it for free, I strongly suggest paying for their music - it's well worth the money, and they're the sort of band that actually need your cash.

Damnit, I wish I could see these guys live, but I doubt they'll be coming over to Australia any time soon. I will make do with their awesome albums and the "rockumentary" I found on YouTube. An hour and a half of awesomeness, including bits of live shows. Which look like total epic awesome. When I finally get my arse over to the States, I am totally hunting down at least one One-Eyed Doll show.

So, check 'em out, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted One-Eyed Doll links:
Official site
Myspace
YouTube
Facebook
Last.FM
Bandcamp

Recommended tracks:
From Hole: Scapegoat, Hoochie Mama, Hole, Recipe 4 Success, Wheels On The Bus
From Monster: Be My Friend, Brief Candle, UFO, PAO!, Monster
From Break: Airplane Man, See Jane Run, Cinderblock, New Orleans, Resurrection
You're A Vampire/Battle On! (single/b-side)

Band Of The Week: Me And The Mountain

My Emilie Autumn post has been put on hold (again), since it was a mention by Me And The Mountain on Twitter that kinda jolted me into actually writing this week's Band Of The Week. Apparently they found my post from last week.

"@MATMofficial: Just spotted this little ditty from @ZoeDixon : We're just below @thedamnedthings so it can't be bad!"

So, they get the post, because, hey, they are indeed awesome. And if they hadn't mentioned that, I would completely have forgotten to post this week. This is what I posted about them last week:

"English, female-fronted rock. And if you dare compare them to Paramore I'm likely to kill you. Just because it's a female fronted rock band doesn't make it like Paramore. Besides, Me And The Mountain are shitloads better than Paramore. The debut EP Ruthless is due out at the beginning of February - should be on the iTunes store."

How to expand on that? Well, their debut single Hands To Yourself  is pretty damn awesome. Brilliant video to go with it too. But what really made me fall in love was their acoustic session on McFly's Super City site. As it is, I'm rather inclined to say I'm more enamoured of Me And The Mountain than McFly (although, that's not all that weird - there's a lot of bands I love more than McFly, however much I adore them). Beautiful voice, beautiful music and there's a violin. Scrummy scrummy gorgeousness. You know what's also awesome? They did an acoustic cover of Biffy Clyro's The Captain and did it justice. Check it out on YouTube. Great harmonies. Gotta love that female/male vocal contrast.

What else to say? Other than that there's something stuck under my O key, so sorry if there's any missing. Hmm... how about, I want the EP now. I wanna hear these new tracks!  And I need to see them live - will have to see if I can catch them after I get back to the UK in June. Seriously, there must be something else I can say. Gah, forget it, I'll just end with - Me And The Mountain are awesome, very rock oriented and definitely worth checking out. So, go do that, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted Me And The Mountain links:

Myspace

YouTube

Facebook

Last.FM

Twitter

No recommended tracks - just wait till the EP's out. Maybe I'll recommend some then. Till then, check their Myspace and YouTube.

Band Of The Week: super-mega-awesome feature... promise

Well, I didn't really feel like doing a proper Band Of The Week blog this week. So, instead, here's a few bands/artists I think everyone should check out.

Aamir al-Loki: Wonderfully odd self-described goth-pop. I'd put it closer to electronic rock, but goth-pop will do. Make sure to check out her new album Kill Your Demons. (Yes, I know I already wrote about her last week, but I'm just emphasising the point.)

Ahab: Funeral doom metal. I've never listened to doom metal in my life, but I'm pretty much in love with Ahab. Brilliantly atmospheric, plus their work's based on Moby Dick and whatnot. Someone on last.fm called it "whalecore". Made me smile.

The Damned Things: Pretty much straight up rock, with some melodic metal influences. Fall Out Boy + Anthrax + Every Time I Die evidently = a brilliant combination.

The Left Rights: Brainchild of Jimmy Urine and Steve, Righ? from Mindless Self Indulgence. Bizarre, crude, not all that imaginative, but good fun. Warning: may offend. No, seriously, may offend. I've seen the comments on some of their stuff.

Me And The Mountain: English, female-fronted rock. And if you dare compare them to Paramore I'm likely to kill you. Just because it's a female fronted rock band doesn't make it like Paramore. Besides, Me And The Mountain are shitloads better than Paramore. The debut EP Ruthless is due out at the beginning of February - should be on the iTunes store.

Get Scared: Post-hardcore type stuff. Or possibly rock with post-hardcore influences. Who needs this whole Black Veil Brides hype when you can have Get Scared and they're so much better?

The Blackout: More post-hardcore. Better live than on disc, so if you get the chance to see one of their gigs, take it. Although I warn you, it may mangle your knees. Check out their new track too - free download at the mo.

Last but not least, the wonderful Emilie Autumn, love of my life. Well, my musical life and she's a gorgeous woman too. Hey, a girl can dream. Ahem. Self-labelled "victoriandustrial", look out for the epic electric violin solos against industrial beats. On top of all that scrumminess is her voice. Eargasm, much. Seriously, go check her out. Hmm... maybe next week's band of the week can be for EA. Seeing as she's my favourite musician and all that and I don't babble about her enough. Mmm.

Anyways, go check them out, tell me what you think and pass it on.

Randomness: Downloading

I was going to write a post about the recent "rock is dead" crap. And then I got sidetracked and thought maybe I'd write about the X Factor and all it's associated bollocks. That brought me onto Biffy Clyro (who's track Many Of Horror got butchered by this year's X Factor winner) and that made me think about music downloading, legal or otherwise.

You see, I've now got a fair amount of Biffy Clyro in my library. Out of that, only 3 tracks were properly paid for. 4 tracks came from a free exclusive acoustic disc given away with Kerrang! last year and the rest I've taken from a friend. I am fiercely opposed to illegal downloading, so I should probably explain why I don't have a problem with sharing music with my friends. I know, if I give music to my friends, that at least I've paid for it. It's not like going on a file-sharing site and making it available for hundreds of people. That said, I was rather pissed off to find that most of the Biffy Clyro tracks my friend gave me are actually illegal downloads. My conscience kicked in and now I'm going to save up and buy them legally because I really don't like illegal downloads.

The reason I don't like illegal downloads is this. Quite simply, it's stealing. A lot of hard work goes into making music and so does a lot of money. What then, gives you the right to simply take it for free? An old advert they used to show in cinemas said "You wouldn't steal a computer, so why steal a movie?" or words to that effect. Surely the same applies to music? Just because it's not a physical entity (in the case of downloads), doesn't mean the same hard work hasn't gone into it.

Several people have said to me that they download illegally because they can't afford to buy it. What a load of shit. If you don't have the money to buy something, you don't steal it. You save up until you can afford it, just like you would with anything else.

I'm afraid I have to agree with all those people who have said that downloading has made music a disposable purchase. People hear a song, like it, download it illegally, listen a couple of times and never listen to it again. People expect to be able to get music free. And then when people like me point out to them that maybe the artist needs that money, they say they shouldn't be in it for the money. Let me say once again: a lot of money goes into making an album. You can't just magic it out of thin air. They have to make that money back somehow. And now, with the rise of illegal downloading, more money is actually made from touring and merch.

Ugh. In short, illegal downloading irritates the shit out of me, even more so when people try to justify it. And I'm going to leave it there, otherwise I'll just keep ranting.

Note to self: never ask a certain friend for music again. Just experienced another major problem with illegal downloads - the files aren't necessarily safe. Not sure what was wrong with it - no viruses found, could've been a corrupted file or something, but it crashed my laptop in exactly the same way said friend's laptop kept crashing last year. Hmm, coincidence much.

Band of the Week: Aamir al-Loki

Well, Band of the Week has been rather MIA the last few weeks. My bad. But it's back now - happy times all round! This week we have the lovely Aamir al-Loki, a solo project by a lovely lass I bumped into online.

Aamir al-Loki is a self-described goth-pop musician. Personally, I think there's more of an electronic rock influence than pop, but I can see the gothic tendencies - subject matter, tone and overall feel. I first checked her out some time last year when I asked for suggestions of new music on deviantART.com. I can't say I was all that enthralled at the time, but then I did just skim through the tracks available without really properly listening. I was also slightly put off by the somewhat silly artist bio. Then last week I was asked by the artist if I'd write a review of her new album, Kill Your Demons. Well, I needed some music to review for the group I run on dA, so I figured I'd have a look. This time I listened properly (you kinda have to when you're reviewing) and I fell in love. I downloaded the album within a couple of minutes of hearing the 30 second preview snippets, stuck it on repeat all day and the next day pumped out a glowing review. Said review has now been tweaked because no one wants to read my gushing about how brilliant it is. It is brilliant though.

That done, I had to download the debut album, It's Easier In The Afterlife. That's now going through it's fifth rotation since I bought it yesterday afternoon. I'm as much in love with that as I am with the new album. Now, instead of gushing some more about her brilliance, I'm going to attempt to explain why Aamir al-Loki is worth spending your money on.

Firstly, she has a voice which I would personally rate as one of the best I've heard recently. It puts me in mind somewhat of Emilie Autumn (who just happens to be my favourite musician EVER) - beautifully ethereal in parts and yet capable of turning harsh within seconds. The music reflects this, with hard electronic beats powering the tracks along underneath sometimes exotic sounding instrumentation. This is why I'm more inclined to label it electronic rock than goth-pop. Or maybe electro-goth. Can you have electro-goth or have I just made that up? Whatever.

I also love that there's so many little influences showing up. There's an instrumental track on Kill Your Demons called How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality. My first thought on hearing it was "this sounds like it's come out of the 80's". It's a lovely little chunk of synth-pop. I should have expected it really - I know she loves Tubeway Army.

What else to say? I love her. She's awesome. Go download her music now - (Kill Your Demons) (It's Easier In The Afterlife). Or if you're of the CD buying kind (which I would be if I had a CD drive, grr), and you live in the US, you can buy a physical copy of Kill Your Demons here. Check it out, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted Aamir al-Loki links:
Myspace
Ourstage
Youtube

Recommended tracks:
From It's Easier In The Afterlife: My God, Guillotine, Myopia, It's Easier In The Afterlife, Let's Start A Cult
From Kill Your Demons: How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality, John 3:16, Romans, Khuda ke Bacchey, Kill Your Demons

Seriousness: Queensland Floods

Band of the Week is coming in a couple of hours and I apologise for two serious posts in a row, but I needed to mention this.

As I'm sure many people are aware now, vast tracts of the Australian state of Queensland have been devastated by flooding in the past weeks. An area apparently 5 times the size of the UK and twice the size of Texas has been affected. Three quarters of the state have been declared a disaster zone. Given how huge the state is, that's an absolutely massive area. At least 30 people are dead, with another 61 still missing. 15 of the deaths are from this last week alone, after a huge wave of floodwater ripped through Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley and flooding spread to previously unaffected areas such as Brisbane and Ipswich.

All in all, Queensland is having a rough time of it. Flooding in the last few weeks has ruined food crops - some farmers have estimated that they may have lost up to 95% of some crops. This is affecting even those areas not subject to flooding. I was in Cairns last week and the supermarkets there were having shortages because a) crops had been lost and b) there were problems actually getting the produce up to Cairns. Many roads have sections underwater, which is playing havoc with transport. Townsville, down the coast from Cairns, is having to bring supplies in by sea, despite not being directly affected by the floods.

It's not just Queensland, either. Flooding has been ongoing in parts of New South Wales since mid-December and Melbourne has had flash flooding in the last few days. Western Australia experienced floods in December too, when the Gascoyne River burst its banks. In my Travelling post, I included a picture of a sculpture named "Cow Up A Tree" because during flood events, cows can become stuck in trees. I thought it was quite silly at the time, but I just read a story from a farmer in Western Australia who has seen some of his cows stuck up trees. Not so funny any more.

But back to Queensland. The point of my posting this was to tell you a) about the floods and b) to tell you you can help. All you have to do is go here and donate to the flood relief appeal. Some people have lost everything and it's going to take a long time to put it right. The floods aren't over yet - new areas keep coming under threat and some towns are still underwater. Just this morning, I read that a town up the coast from me in Tasmania has been flooded. Not Queensland, but it does show that this flooding isn't over yet. A cyclone seems to be forming off the Queensland coast too, which is going to cause even more problems.

You know what got me though? The international coverage. The flooding started weeks ago. It's got progressively worse, yes, but it started weeks ago. I remember seeing Rockhampton inundated on the news before New Year. Obviously, the coverage in Australia has been ongoing since it began, but the international media only seem to have picked it up in the last week. And yet, when Europe and the US were having ridiculously cold temperatures and vast quantities of snow, it got covered on Australian news. So why on earth does it seem to have taken so long for everyone else to notice the floods. Let me repeat those comparisons again - an area roughly twice the size of Texas is affected. That's HUGE. How has there been so little coverage outside of Australia? Ah well, no point in complaining.

Weather's fun, isn't it...

Queensland Flood Appeal donations here.

Seriousness: vaccines

I have had it up to here with people scaremongering about potentially dangerous ingredients in vaccines. The latest is this: Flu vaccine contains mercury (via @TimMinchin on twitter). Basically, it claims that one of the flu vaccines used for children contains a type of mercury that some people think is dangerous. Please note: SOME people. So I did a little digging of my own. I've seen scaremongering like this before, particularly with regards to the MMR vaccine. The doctor who authored the research which suggested MMR was dangerous subsequently got struck off for his dodgy research and in my eyes and others is at least partly responsible for those children who died because he scared their parents into not giving them the vaccine (see HERE - yes, I know it's wikipedia, but all the relevant references are linked within that section).

So, onto this mercury compound, thiomersal,  in the flu vaccine. Even a quick dig through that ever unreliable site wikipedia is enough to say it's probably safe. The World Health Organisation reckons there's no evidence for it being overly dangerous (see HERE, there's a lot of stuff). I mean, they're the biggies of the health world, you'd think they'd check through the research properly and come to a justified conclusion. Apparently certain people think not and this gives them grounds to write scaremongering articles like the one linked above. In particular, the article suggests that the removal of thiomersal from vaccines in the US and Europe is due to its dangerous effects. Try again, love. These two pieces say otherwise and I'm more inclined to believe them than some shoddy journalist: Mercury, Vaccines and Autism and The US Food & Drug Administration's vaccine FAQs. I promise they're both easy to read. The point is, the removal was precautionary, because at the time there seemed to be some evidence that thiomersal could be dangerous.

So, coming to the conclusion that thiomersal isn't dangerous, at least in the low doses present in vaccines, why oh why do people feel the need to write articles that say they are? Because they sell papers? Well, yes. But you know what, I think people are genuinely scared. They hear one little whisper of a possible danger and not being the logical minded individual that some people are, they don't consider the overwhelming body of evidence and latch onto the one, dire example. That's what happened with MMR. One man wrote a paper containing manipulated evidence suggesting the MMR vaccine, given to almost every child in the UK, was a cause of Autism Spectrum Disorders, the newspapers got hold of it and suddenly parents are panicking. I doubt most of them read the original paper. There is no link whatsoever between any Austism Spectrum Disorders and the MMR vaccine. None, nada, zilch. Andrew Wakefield, the man who wrote the paper, was struck off in May last year (2010). Among the charges against him were 12 counts of abusing developmentally challenged children, i.e. those children with autism that he used to give (shoddy) evidence for his study.


Basically, everything about Wakefield's study was a load of absolute bollocks. Having said that, if the newspapers hadn't got a hold of it, maybe we wouldn't have had the problem we had. The paper would have sat in an issue of The Lancet (a medical journal) quietly by itself, perhaps provoking some discussion among medical professionals. Instead we got nationwide panic, vaccination levels dropping and a few years later, guess what makes a comeback? Measles, mumps and rubella. Measles and mumps especially and they kill people. The man sickens me.


What's really awful though, is that even though the study has been discredited and its author struck off, people still won't vaccinate their kids because they're scared. When I was with my relatives near Sydney at Christmas, I discovered that my mum's cousin isn't going to vaccinate her 5 month old little girl. Her older sister has a son with autism and the family seem scared that it was the vaccines that did it. Regardless of the fact that his older brother is fine, they're still scared. Now, I can kind of understand this, but you know what they're using as an alternative? Homeopathy. Yes. Homeopathy, this biggest load of bull the medical world has ever come across. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that it works. How can it, when the doses are so dilute there's basically no active ingredient left? The only effect you're going to get is placebo and I'm sorry, love, but that won't work against diseases. It hurt to see them putting their beautiful little girl at so much risk, simply through fear. I wanted to say something, but my mum gave me a warning look, like, don't upset them. Upset them? By all means, if it'll protect their daughter.


And at that, I am going to end, because I'm getting pissed off once again about something I can do nothing about. Suffice to say, all vaccines are stringently tested before use and if you do happen to come across something that claims a vaccine is not safe, I'd advise you to read up on it before you freak out. Things are not always as the newspapers make them out to be.