Hello Team.

Once again, I made the trek to Santa Monica - and this time the $30 Dunlop GCB-95 I bought arrived. Unlike the last time I made the trek to Santa Monica, I wasn't listening to any KCRW or being thrown into horrendous confusion with southbound 405 traffic to Long Beach backing up for miles. No, today was different; and the traffic was surprisingly easy.

But, it did give me a chance to muse on some pedal things...

So there's a group of Fender Rhodes aficionados who post by the name of "Audiotech VR" on Youtube. The video that they've posted is well over an hour long. The video describes the Rhodes Electric Piano, its pieces and its function, and a bit of history as to when it first started being built. They describe the Rhodes in its heyday and put theirs through a number of different songs and artists. They then also go through and put the Rhodes through several effects for a really cool viewing experience.

So we've loved Orange Goblin for years here at Thermionic. It occured to us to share Orange Goblin here because, while we like to find and share new (and old) obscure stuff that we search out, sometimes we're so deep in it, we don't realize that what's "well known". Orange Goblin is one of those bands that clearly creates and performs great music. They really haven't broken through. There's no radio airplay. There's no mention of them in the media. Of course, that could be said of just about every "heavy" band today.

So I actually saw this a few years ago, and it just occured to me that this would be a great post here - not because it's "new" (it was released in 2011 at www.crybabydoc.com), but because crybabydoc.com now forwards to jimdunlop.com instead of showing the movie, we thought it would be important to make sure that the links are still available. I have been, since its release, looking for a DVD of the crybaby movie to purchase, but none has been forthcoming.

The Snorkler is an amp that people talk about in hushed tones - as if it were a holy relic. It's almost mythical in the lore that surrounds it and the way in which people speak about the guitar tones that issue forth from it. It is a one-of-a-kind butchered Marshall JCM800 combo amp that, at the request of the owner, was turned upside down and converted into a custom head amp, by Reinhold Bogner. The speaker / combo amp shell was done away with and the owner (Ronnie Champagne, as referenced below) had another tech shop build him a headshell for it.

I happened upon Dope Flood when I went to the site Doommantia. I was reading about Ed Barnard, who started the site, and his having had a second heart attack...

Just found this! Very pleased.

Released in 2013: Black Oath. Nice tempo. Good (not great) vocal harmonies. No banshee screaming or cookie monster. If this is their freshman effort, I expect great things from them in their future. I'll be putting these guys on the short list for my next purchase.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pGrRjBvTZo

Enjoy!

In what is arguably the finest expression of the form, we present Blood of the Sun. For the quality of music that this band puts out, they seem to be dancing with obscurity. We're not aware of any particulars of this band. They just write and perform music that evokes 1971 at its finest.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tV8F4t-tQY

Sometimes I wonder if anything more needs to be said...

Formed in 1993 in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, Sheavy (or sHEAVY) has an incredible sound. Clearly they love themselves some Black Sabbath. I looked them up because I wanted to hear a tune of theirs and had forgotten just how much I like them. "Synchronized" is the tune linked below:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdOS1JcNTVw
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheavy