Self-promotion: new Cogwheel Dogs EP out today

Dear blogreaders, may I open with an apology: this blog has been a bit quiet, lately. The desertification is, however, soon to be reversed – with a verdant influx of music: I've a review or two on the boil (amuse-bouche: the new Mountain Goats album looks to be very, very worthwhile indeed).

But for today, I have a little ardent self-promotion to be getting on with.

The band in which I play cello (variously referred to as 'laser cello', 'distortion cello' or 'is that a cello?') is called Cogwheel Dogs. And we have released an EP today, entitled Greenhorn.

The music? It's folksy art-grunge, in a nutshell. Or maybe experimento chamber-blues. Who can say?

Here's what Drowned in Sound had to say about Greenhorn:

The EP might clock in at less than 15 minutes, but there’s a hell of a lot crammed in here. The twin forces of Mosley’s bewitching voice - which can go from little girl lost to demented she-devil like the flick of a switch (often in the space of the same song) - and Parnell’s unrestrained, ultra-distorted cello are the band‘s strongest weapons. On opening song ‘Kitchen’, the two combine to create a sinister, menacing atmosphere that hangs around Greenhorn like a morning fog that won‘t quite lift.

The EP starts off with an egg slicer and ends with saliva on an envelope. The in-between? Download it (for free, for free, for free) for yourself and make up your own mind.

Here's the linky to the whole of Greenhorn EP (zip file), and here are the individual tracks as mp3s:

1. Kitchen mp3 by Cogwheel Dogs
2. Spit mp3 by Cogwheel Dogs
3. Power in Paper mp3 by Cogwheel Dogs
4. Octavia mp3 by Cogwheel Dogs

Like? Subscribe to the Cogwheel Dogs blog for future updates.

That's it. Self-promotion over. I'll get back to writing about other people's stuff, now.

Unplugged Hole

To wind up the ramshackle theme, let's take someone to whom the aforementioned adjective (relative to some of the things she's been called) is practically a compliment: Courtney Love.

Rebecca was kind enough to send me a link to the video embedded below. As she points out, Ms Love screams pretty impressively in this'n (compared to Cobain, her screaming is haphazard, often somewhat weak; but not here). She also looks a good deal better pre-plastic (or, at least, pre-quite-so-much-plastic – I know not which).

Bear with the song beyond the first minute or two, because it's a slow builder.

What's the verdict, O Heavy Soilers?

A reminder of brilliance

Today, my friends: moshing. But moshing with a turding great splinter in your foot.

Nirvana. Specifically, the song You Know You're Right. This was recorded during Nirvana's last ever session. That knowledge = the splinter, right?

The lyrics are fairly direct and uncompromising. Not a great deal of analysis needed there, I feel.

Things to love about this song

• The fact that the song proper kicks off with this cheesy, palm-muted, faux-jaunty intro
• The lack of pissing around with a lengthy build-up: a Pixies-esque cut to the chase
• The modal, oriental-sounding melody of the chorus
• Cobain's sodding fantastic vocals at around the 2-minute mark
• The repeating 'You know you're right', which continues that bit longer than you think it possibly could

Read the tabloid-friendly soap-opera of a story of the song (after Cobain's suicide) on wikipedia.