Hey, Sw (Lightning Bolt)...

[UG Fiend]

I picked up Hyper Magic Mountain the other day and I must say I'm feelin' it. I still don't swear by this band (or, what we discussed earlier, other bands with only two instrumentalists), but this album is a definite keeper. You're right about the production; it's fuller, more "action-packed" so to speak. The bassist makes some hella-cool noises with his guitar and the drummer is fucking insane. And I've always said, regardless of my personal peeves, that this band has creative energy for days.

Captain Caveman and Birdy stand out right away. The hardcore stylings had me open and bring back memories of that scene. I guess this is the part where you come in and remind me that LB always had that punk/hardcore influence on their releases. I dunno, I guess the recording and the guitar tone he uses on this album brings it out more. Having said that, hardcore-punk is one thing, but when it comes to guitar-based music I'm an aggro/noise-rock freak first and foremost, and man do these fuckers deliver. Mega Ghost for instance, when that song changes up at the 3:40 mark I nearly lost it. Fucked up. And Mohawk Windmill fucking owns. And how about the bass on Magic Mountain at first sounding like a bunch of souped-up Harleys and then sounding like a LEAD-GUITAR towards the end there?? Unreal.

A couple questions. Is it just me or does 2 Morro Morro Land really open with a fucking country/bluegrass line???!! And can the band replicate the abrupt ending of No Rest for the Obsessed live? :)

What an aggressive, uncompromising rock band. This is truly 'music-to-piss-off-your-mainstream-music-loving-friends-by'. Imagine this shit playing in the gym or at the bar instead of that corporate, Top 40, metro-sexual sounding crap. Do you bump this on dates with Myspace cuties? What is their reaction? :)

What do LB fans think of this album? Obviously, I think it's their best but die-hards may think differently. Pitchfork rated this album the lowest of the three, so I'm likely correct in my assessment.

[mf sw]

I picked up Hyper Magic Mountain the other day and I must say I'm feelin' it. I still don't swear by this band (or, what we discussed earlier, other bands with only two instrumentalists), but this album is a definite keeper. You're right about the production; it's fuller, more "action-packed" so to speak. The bassist makes some hella-cool noises with his guitar and the drummer is fucking insane. And I've always said, regardless of my personal peeves, that this band has creative energy for days.

Captain Caveman and Birdy stand out right away. The hardcore stylings had me open and bring back memories of that scene. I guess this is the part where you come in and remind me that LB always had that punk/hardcore influence on their releases. I dunno, I guess the recording and the guitar tone he uses on this album brings it out more. Having said that, hardcore-punk is one thing, but when it comes to guitar-based music I'm an aggro/noise-rock freak first and foremost, and man do these fuckers deliver. Mega Ghost for instance, when that song changes up at the 3:40 mark I nearly lost it. Fucked up. And Mohawk Windmill fucking owns. And how about the bass on Magic Mountain at first sounding like a bunch of souped-up Harleys and then sounding like a LEAD-GUITAR towards the end there?? Unreal.

A couple questions. Is it just me or does 2 Morro Morro Land really open with a fucking country/bluegrass line???!! And can the band replicate the abrupt ending of No Rest for the Obsessed live? :)

What an aggressive, uncompromising rock band. This is truly 'music-to-piss-off-your-mainstream-music-loving-friends-by'. Imagine this shit playing in the gym or at the bar instead of that corporate, Top 40, metro-sexual sounding crap. Do you bump this on dates with Myspace cuties? What is their reaction? :)

What do LB fans think of this album? Obviously, I think it's their best but die-hards may think differently. Pitchfork rated this album the lowest of the three, so I'm likely correct in my assessment.

yeah, I honeslty have no idea how he gets his bass to sound like that so extreme on low and high in the same song. I need to see them live. I think I like this better than their last two albums. I can listen to this one all the way through whereas the last two I just have certain tracks that I keep going back too. This is definitly "gym" music. I listen to it while I jog sometimes. I wonder if theyll ever expand the band. that would be nuts.

I didn play this album for my friend and his girl not that lomng ago. They were like "hmm... interesting".

[dooz]

where are they from?

[UG Fiend]

Biography by Daphne Carr

Lightning Bolt emerged from Providence, Rhode Island in 1995 as a three-piece art school project. Initially there was Brian Chippendale's explosive, non-stop drumming, Brian Gibson's Contortions-like bass lines, and Hisham Bharoocha's vocals propelling them in a fury of volatile noise and orgiastic tribalism. The group helped found Fort Thunder, a music and art collective, and recorded a self-titled album which was issued through Load in 1999. By 2001's Ride the Skies Bharoocha had departed (he eventually formed Black Dice.). This left the vocal duties to Chippendale, who jammed the microphone into his mouth as he drummed. Lightning Bolt did a series of tours with bands like The Locust, Arab on Radar, Orchid, and Melt Banana before returning in 2003 with the studio album Wonderful Rainbow. The album did very well in underground music circles, and set up the release of 2005's Hypermagic Mountain.

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Interesting. I didn't know the singer from Black Dice played in Lightning Bolt. It figures, that band is even more fucked up than LB. I don't get that "noise" scene though. I really tried to like those bands (Black Dice, Hair Police, Wolf Eyes, etc), but it's just a bunch of fucking racket. It's essentially noise-rock without the "rock". At least with LB (as well as the aforementioned Melt-Banana and Arab on Radar), there's song-structure, meter and a general musical concept within the vein of rock.