Tag Archives: Roadrunner Records

The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Mind Structure

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Good evening, readers!  Well, another Monday has come and gone.  That’s okay by me; coming back to work after a three-day weekend is never fun, and I am glad to get it over with as quickly as possible.  Before the end of the day, though, I need to check in with the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website to find something good to listen to, so that I can share it with you!  Today, I found a message that I’d received from Mind Structure, a band whose members come from the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv (Київ) and Kryvyi Rih (Кривий Ріг) asking for a review of their music.  Now, I’m familiar with Kyiv (also called “Kiev”), which is the capital of the country, but Kryvyi Rih was brand new to me.  Thankfully, I have Wikipedia to help me; it informs me that this city is located in the middle of a large iron mining region, and in fact, that it’s one of the most important locations in eastern Europe’s steel industry.  Sounds like a place I can relate to!  Besides that, I had such success listening to Ukrainian black metal last week, I figured it would be a good idea to check out someone else from that country.

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Jamie Parker

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Hello, readers.  To be honest with you, as much as I’ve bitched and moaned about the workdays dragging by, I really can’t believe it’s already Monday again!  This weekend went by far too quickly, but not only that, it hardly feels like last Monday was a whole week ago.  I’m guessing this is because school is just about wrapping up for this semester (only one more week to go!) and I’m trying to make sure everything is caught up and turned in before the deadline, and so it is starting to feel like days are slipping away from me.  But enough about that, like I said, it’s Monday, and you all know what that means!  It’s time for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week!  As you know, this is the thing where I go to the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website and check out the messages that bands have written to me asking for a review of their music.  Then I grab one of those bands, listen to the songs they’ve got posted, then I write about them here so YOU can discover some awesome new music. 

Today I’m looking at a solo artist from Dorchester, in the southern part of England, whose name is Jamie Parker.  He says the three songs currently included on his Signmeto page are just demo tracks that will soon be re-recorded with a new full band line-up, but they sound pretty fully realized to me.  I like where things seem to be going with this project so far, and if you like your stoner rock on the heavier end of the spectrum, then you’ll probably dig it as well.

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Chopstick Suicide

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Hey look at that, it’s Monday.  Around here, that can only mean one thing: it’s time for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week!  Just like I do every single Monday, without any exceptions ever*, I’ve gone to the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website and checked out some of the bands there who are looking for people to review their music.  I’ve picked out one of those,  listened to the songs they’ve got posted, and now I’m writing about them here so that once again, YOU can discover some awesome new music. 

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*Okay, okay, okay, I lied. I missed last week. I was too busy travelling and visiting with relatives and junk like that over the Easter weekend, and didn’t have anything prepared for Monday. But that was just one time! It won’t ever happen again. Ever. But don’t quote me on that.
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Anyway, that bunch of pissed-off looking dudes in cartoon character shirts, up above, are a band of mathcore hooligans from Istanbul, Turkey, called Chopstick Suicide.  These guys recently released an album called Lost Fathers and Sons on the Turkish label Peyote Müzik, but nevertheless they do have a few of their songs available on the Signmeto Roadrunner Records website, and therefore they qualify as an Unsigned Band of the Week here on Valley of Steel, mostly because they are currently seeking a relationship with other labels to help distribute their stuff internationally.
 
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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Obscurcis Romancia

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Well, it’s Monday again, and that can only mean one thing.  It’s time for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week!  As you are already aware, this is that thing where I go to the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website and check out the messages that bands have written to me asking for a review of their music.  Then I pick one at random (where “at random” usually means “whoever wrote to me the longest amount of time ago”), I listen to the songs they’ve got posted, then I write about them here so YOU can discover some awesome new music. 

This week we’ve got a nice sample of black metal from the frozen tundra of the far north — except instead of northern Europe like you might be expecting, this is northern North America.  Specifically, we’re looking at a band who come from the French-Canadian province of Québec, who call themselves Obscurcis Romancia.  If you couldn’t decipher it yourself, the band’s name (which seems to be a hybrid of French and Latin, as far as I can tell) translates to something like “Obscured Romance.”  They play a fantastically proficient form of classically-influenced black metal, and they’ve also recently released their second full-length album (details on how to get your hands on a copy, later in this post!)

 

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Information Harvest

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Hello, Readers!  It’s Monday, so of course it’s time once again for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature.  As you should all know by now, this is when I write about an artist whose songs appear on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website.  People contact me there all the time, looking for reviews of their music, and I am more than happy to oblige. I listen to whatever they’ve got, and then I talk about it here, and then YOU (the devoted reader) can go check it out for yourself. Maybe you’ll really like what you hear. There’s only one way to find out, so let’s get started.

This week, I’ve got something totally different to share with you, and I’ve also got a request. It’s audience participation time! Usually when I check out a new artist over at Signmeto, I find a few songs that they have recorded for a collection of demos or promos, or sometimes even songs from an independently released EP or album. The goal, ostensibly, is to gain further exposure for the band, possibly even (judging by the name of the website) the chance at a contract with a record label. Well, today what we’re looking at will be more like rough sketches of unfinished songs, which have been posted for the purpose of soliciting feedback. These basic outlines have the potential to turn into something pretty great, so I think you should take the time to listen to them — hopefully you’ll have some great ideas of how something could be changed or improved (I’ve got faith in you, readers, because obviously you have good taste in music or you wouldn’t be here in the first place!).

 

The music you are about to hear was put together by a Rhode Islander named Andrew James Liles. I’ve gotten to know him as a reviewer, through my interaction with other members of the Signmeto website, and he seems like a pretty nice guy. Recently, Andrew sent me a request to check out these demos for his project Information Harvest, because he is getting together with the rest of the band soon to rehearse and work on fleshing out these songs a little more fully. As it stands currently, these are instrumental pieces with Mr. Liles playing the guitar, bass, and keyboard; some of the guitar solos or leads here might be replaced by vocals but he says he is still “on the fence” about whether or not to add vocals. Also these tracks are supported by drum loops temporarily; Andrew echoes my own sentiments 100% when he tells me he hates drum loops — so let’s all agree to ignore the fact that the drums currently sound terrible and fake, secure in the knowledge that they will ultimately be replaced by a living, breathing human drummer.

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Barbarian Prophecies

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Happy Monday to you, Dear Reader.  It’s time once again for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature.  As you know by now, this is where I write about a band I’ve discovered on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website (usually after they’ve written to me asking for a review of their music).  The process goes something like this: I listen to their songs, and I tell you all about them, then you can go listen to them, and bingo! you’ve found a brand new band to fall in love with, and that band has a new devoted fan.  Everyone wins.

Today’s artist is called Barbarian Prophecies, formed over a decade ago by merging two other bands called Barbarianth and Venomous Prophecies.  These gentlemen come to us via Lugo, a town in northwestern Spain which lies in the region of Galicia.  This town has the distinction of being the only place in the world that is still surrounded by fully intact Roman walls.  Although the population of this town generally speaks either Galician or Spanish (or both), this band’s lyrics tend to be in English.  Furthermore, although this area is just a little inland of the Atlantic Ocean (to the west) and the Bay of Biscay (to the north), and therefore generally enjoys a fairly temperate oceanic climate year-round, you’ll find that Barbarian Prophecies concoct a cold, dark variety of death metal that leans in a rather doomy direction, such as you might expect to come from someplace much further to the north…

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Ex Inferis

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Hello, Readers!  Once again it’s Monday, which means it’s time for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature.  As you know by now, this is where I write about a band I’ve discovered on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website (usually because they’ve written to me asking for a review of their music).  The process goes something like this: I listen to their songs, and I tell you all about them, then you can go listen to them, and bingo! you’ve found a brand new band to fall in love with, and that band has a new devoted fan.  Everyone wins.

Today I would like to share a band from Bandung, Indonesia called Ex Inferis.  That latin phrase (which literally means “from below” or more colloquially, “from Hell”) is also the name of an album by Sweden’s Naglfar, and the two bands happen to share a similar style of melodic blackened metal. Continue reading →

The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: The Jack Antonio Project

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Well, it’s time once again for the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature, that thing where I talk about a band who has written to me on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website, looking for reviews of their music.  I listen to it, write about it, and share it with you.  Ready?  Here we go.

“ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT, SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS, IRREVERENT, MISUNDERSTOOD, COMEDY MUSIC!”

That’s how Jack Antonio of The Jack Antonio Project identifies himself.  He goes on to describe this “comedy music” as being “raw and simplistic and almost ‘bad’ on purpose to capture your attention,” with “the humour of Frank Zappa, the bizarreness of Captain Beefheart, the simplicity in songwriting of Daniel Johnston, the leftist politics of Jello Biafra and the voice a mixture of Doctor John and Tom Waits.”

This project was formed last October, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, by a Canadian gentleman operating under the eponymic pseudonym.  During the intervening months, the concept has expanded from being a single singer/songwriter to working with a full backing band; at the end of February an EP was officially released, and is now available for purchase — stay tuned for further details on that, later in this review. Continue reading →

The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Dirty Shirt

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Welcome to another installment of the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature, that thing where I talk about a band I found on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website.  You know the drill by now — you listen to some songs from a band you might not have heard before.  Then later, when they explode in popularity and sell a million records, you can scoff at all the bandwagon-jumpers, saying you’ve been a fan since the beginning.

Today, I’m presenting you with Dirty Shirt, who are from the Northern Transylvania region of Romania.  Their sound is made up of a hybrid of many different influences, but for the most part I would describe them as a sort of industrial nu-deathcore.  The band first formed in 1995, and over the next five years toured extensively throughout Romania, while also recording a few demos and a full-length album, Very Dirty, in 2000.

After a hiatus of a few years, they reformed in 2004, embarking on more touring and recording more demos, followed by a second full-length, Same Shi(r)t Different Day, recorded in 2009 and released in 2010.  Since that time, Dirty Shirt have kept themselves fairly busy playing more live shows across various parts of Europe, as well as putting together videos for three of the songs from their last album.  Those are now available for your viewing pleasure, and if you like what you hear, at the end of this post you’ll find some details how to download the album for free.

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Closer to Hell

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Welcome to this week’s installment of the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature, which is where I profile a band I’ve discovered on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website, and then give you the opportunity to listen to a few songs from somebody you might never have heard before.  My hope is, you might find something you really dig, and then when they explode in popularity and sell a million records, you can scoff at all the bandwagon-jumpers, saying you’ve been a fan since the beginning.

All of the bands I’ve written about so far in this weekly column have been people who’ve contacted me directly, actively seeking reviews.  If your band has already written to me, don’t worry, I’ll get to you soon — I’ve got a few more lined up for the next several weeks.  But today is a little different because it’s a band I ran across last weekend when I was writing about the upcoming Dream Death reunion show —  one of the opening acts for that show is a local band I hadn’t heard before, so in the course of writing that article I had to do a little research to find out who they are.  That was Closer to Hell, a death metal band from Ford City, PA (just a little while north of Pittsburgh in Armstrong County).  After I located their Facebook page, I found that they also had an account on Signmeto, where I was able to give them a listen.  So naturally, I decided to include them here so you could do the same. Continue reading →