Megachurch – “Speak In Tongues”

MP3: || “Speak In Tongues” ||

Cleveland stoner-metal trio Megachurch released their second album, Megachurch 2: The Final Judgement, just about a week ago, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is one of the biggest sounding and most fun releases this year. Check the highlight “Speak In Tongues” above, or head over to their Bandcamp to get the whole EP digitally, on CD, or on vinyl (limited to 250 copies). Their release show is tonight at the Beachland Tavern, and of course they’ll have copies of the vinyl there, so come out!

Megachurch Kickstarter

Megachurch’s self-titled 12″ last year was chock full of fiery bass riffs and insane religious samples, and that helped it make my Best of 2010 list . The trio is now in the process of recording their follow-up, and like the first album, they want to press vinyl. So they set up a Kickstarter with tons of extras included depending on your backing amount, like a guaranteed copy of the new album on vinyl, an EP called MEGACHIP which has their first album being played like an NES soundtrack, and original artwork by famed Clevelander John G.  Get to it!!!

Megachurch – “Exorcism”/”The Gay Agenda” from Megachurch 12″

Genre: Metal, Experimental
Year: 2010
Location: Cleveland, OH
Label: Self-Released
Myspace

MP3: || “Exorcism” ||

MP3: || “The Gay Agenda” ||

I have been waiting to make this post for a long long long time!   I bought their self-titled 12″ at their Beachland show a few months back and since then, the intense creativity and talent has been bringing me back to the Megachurch of Cleveland all summer. Here’s Megachurch in a nutshell: Two bassists, one drummer, and a fuck load of ridiculous religious/political samples all at the same time. The formula isn’t for everybody, but for those Lightning Bolt fans out there, this is heaven. You can order the 12″ from the band with Paypal instructions on their MySpace, or pick one up at their upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show opening for Trans Am on August 18th!

UPDATE: Megachurch just released a music video for “More Mormon Than Mormon,” another track from their 12″. Here it is!

2010 Half-Year List!

Man the year’s flying by! Here’s a bunch of my favorite albums, EPs, and 7″s so far this year, in alphabetical order. What’s some of your favs? Comment with them!

Albums

Albatross – Bugs, Berfday, Gum
Allo Darlin’ – Allo Darlin’
Beach House – Teen Dream
Beach Fossils – Beach Fossils
Caddywhompus – Remainder
Citay – Dream Get Together
Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
Fang Island – Fang Island
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
Free Energy – Stuck On Nothing
Harlem – Hippies
Light Pollution – Apparitions
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Mount Carmel – Mount Carmel
Surfer Blood – Astrocoast
Suckers – Wild Smile
The Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Trouble Books – Gathered Tones
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Wild Nothing – Gemini
Young Mammals – Carrots

EPs

Former Thieves – The Great and Alleged Great
Ghost Mall – Goons
Glitter Bones – Returning The Magic
Hooray For Earth – Momo
James Blake – CMYK
Keepaway – Baby Style
Megachurch – Megachurch
Tanlines – Settings

7″s

A Lull – “Weapons For War” b/w “Spread It All Around”
Cloud Nothings – “Didn’t You” b/w “Even If It Worked Out”
Family Trees – “Dream Talkin”
Gauntlet Hair – “I Was Thinking…” b/w “Our Scenery”
Japandroids – “Younger Us” b/w “Sex and Dying in High Society”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Say No To Love” b/w “Lost Saint”

Cloud Nothings/Megachurch/Mr. Gnome (Live @ Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH 6/11/10)

The rise of Cloud Nothings has almost been a blur, starting with Dylan Baldi sending a few tracks to some friends, to Pitchfork and Stereogum covering his every move, and now an upcoming tour with Wavves.  Somewhat of a send-off show, Cloud Nothings played the Beachland Ballroom (not the Tavern) for the first time opening for bass-orgy Megachurch and the obscure Mr. Gnome.  Cloud Nothings were up first with a good amount of people looking on.  They opened with a new song, which I caught on video, and then quickly flew into Turning On opener “Can’t Stay Awake”.  Having only seen them a few times, they still impress me how good they can be on stage.  They manage to be fun, tight, and insanely talented at the same time.  My favorite songs in their set were the ones on their new 7″ from Old Flame Records, “Didn’t You” and “Even If It Worked Out”, which are competing against eachother for best pop song in 2010.  After an 8-song setlist (which you can see after the jump), they turned the reigns over to bass-band Megachurch.  I had been hearing about Megachurch quite a lot but had never seen them in concert or heard any of their music.  They set up in the middle of the ballroom floor much like Lightning Bolt (who they will also be opening for in July).  I feel like the video I caught of them will describe it better, but its basically two guys on bass and one dude on drums playing insanely heavy and loud metal alongside evangelical and political samples.  The formula might sound stupid or strange, but it works so so so well that at some points, you just kind of smile cause its so ridiculously good.  I kind of wandered around and talked with people after Megachurch, but I caught some of the cult-band Mr. Gnome.  I really couldn’t get a solid read on them, as they went from a scary drone to a blues jam.  Check out a bunch of Cloud Nothings videos and pictures as well as a video of Megachurch.

Cloud Nothings MySpace
Megachurch MySpace
Mr. Gnome MySpace