pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

In order of awesomeness…

Noctaluca, one of my favorite Cincinnati-based rock bands (and quite frankly, one of my favorite rock bands regardless of local flavor) just put out their newest CD, Still the Wicked Rest.  I ordered it the same time as their Live DVD, and somehow thought that the new CD was just a live thing, too.  Well, when it showed up, I was all like, “hmmm… this looks like a legitimate studio CD.”  And, well, it is a new studio CD.  And it’s awesome.  Think two-guitar hard rock (with a sound that’s equal parts Led Zeppelin & early Alice in Chains) with a strong singer-songwriter core, powerful vocals, and lyrics for the Rage Against the Machine set…

Noctaluca is fronted by singer-songwriter Jason Ludwig.  His solo debut, PeLL MeLL, was one of my Top 10 from 2003.  Right after he got a lot of local acclaim for this, he ditched gigging by his name and started gigging his new band, Noctaluca.  In 2003, I snagged a copy of of the “Monkey Moon” radio single they had at a table at the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards.  This was the only recorded Noctaluca until 2006’s long-awaited Towering the Sum.  Towering the Sum was in a good group of favorite local CDs that year, as well as being in my Top 10 vocal CDs in 2006, too.  All this to say that I LIKE NOCTALUCA.  Being surprised with a new studio CD is well, awesomes…

And they start the new Still the Wicked Rest CD off with a re-recording of “Monkey Moon“… natch.  It deserved to make its way onto an official CD… finally.

Check ’em out!
http://www.noctaluca.com/
http://www.myspace.com/noctaluca

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Next up in awesomeness… getting endless mileage out of the same songs, there’s a new download-only dub mix of Puscifer songs by the dark & ambient Lustmord.  Puscifer is Maynard James Keenan (from Tool & A Perfect Circle).  Lustmord has had his hand at remixing the Melvins, Puscifer music previously releases, as well as maybe A Perfect Circle song(s).  My mind fails me, and I’m too lazy to check at this point. :)  The new album is 53 minutes, 8 songs… and fits in with the Puscifer album as well as a darker dub sound.  I’d recommend it if you like Maynard’s music, Lustmord’s music, dark dub, or remixes…

It’s available only at Puscifer’s store for now:
https://store.puscifer.com/

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Next up in awesomeness… still awesome, but it is Christmas music (of which I usually don’t like); so it gets last billing.  David Bazan of Pedro the Lion put out another holiday-themed 7″ vinyl – a split of melancholy Jingle Bells & All I Want for Christmas.  This was the first one since I’ve lived on the West Coast.  The East Coast people got a 3 hour jump on the overnight email he sent out, and they snatched them all up… except for a few on Suicide Squeeze‘s website.  I scored one… but barely.

A 1,000 quantity pressing may not be enough, bro.

~Dan – np: Tesla – Forever More