The title is 100 percent true.  A Las Vegas rally for Republican Newt Gingrich on February 2nd was interrupted by Nevada grindcore band Traumatic Anal Devastation. The band showed up outside the rally, plugged their instruments in, and generated what a Gingrich staffer described as “the sound of a tank driving through a minefield.”

After five minutes or so, police showed up and put a stop to the protest performance. Vocalist Chip “Gravelthroat” Corbin said the inpromptu performance was a political statement based on the band’s agenda for equal rights, animal rights, and support of anti-war movements across the world, and added that the band’s name “is obviously metaphorical for the way the government and capitalism has continually raped the public at-large.” (via Universe Number Five)

I must admit that I’m not that familiar with this band, but I do love the lightning-fast psychobilly sound that’s associated with acts like Nekromantix, Tiger Army, and The Reverend Horton Heat. Immediately I was taken in by the opening track, “Four Beast Ride,” with its amazingly fast slap-bass and driving guitars, along with the somewhat out of place crooner vocals of Rene D La Muete. D La Muete’s vocals remind me a lot of Murder By Death’s vocalist Adam Turla (especially the sound of Murder By Death’s song “Brother”), but Muete’s style comes across more along the lines of a lounge singer — Michael Andrew from the swing band Swingerhead comes to mind.

While Muete’s vocals reflect that retro sound, the music does not. Some cuts like “Six Rounds” and “Drunk Not Dead” are more melodic in their sound, reminiscent of The Living End. The harder tracks on the album, such as “Oh Murder” and “High On Speed,” are heavy on guitars and group vocals.

Overall, the 13 tracks featured on Drunk Not Dead are extremely enjoyable. Full of high energy and excellent instrumentation, The Brains are a band I am glad to have discovered.

(Stomp Records, 1223 Blvd. Saint-Laurent, Suite 305, Montreal, QC H2X 2S6 Canada)

Click below to download “Future’s Classic” by Minneapolis-based rapper MaLLy, featuring Tigre.

Click (right click for pc) to download!

Click here to download "Future's Classic" feat. Tigre by MaLLy

Unless, of course, it turns out that welfare recipients use drugs far less than the average American, and the whole program actually wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then we’d look foolish, right? All that constitutional subversion for nothing!

Recently, it seems like Robbins has been content staying behind the board, producing albums by bands like Braid, the Promise Ring, Against Me!, and Lemuria. But his new band, Office of Future Plans, seems to have fallen together perfectly.

Robbins asked bassist/multi-instrumentalist Brooks Harlan, drummer Darren Zentek, and cellist/guitarist Gordon Withers (who released an album of Jawbox songs played on the cello) to back him on what was initially a one-off solo show in 2009. But all four musicians clicked, and you can hear it on their debut self-titled album.

Office of Future Plans features Robbins’s angular guitar, but it’s not just a Jawbox rehash. Wither’s cello swoons around the riffs, both majestically (“Riddle Me This,” “Abandon”) and diabolically (“The Beautiful Barricades”), and the rhythm section keeps the vast, textured sounds moving forward.

Even though Office of Future Plans was sort of an accident, J. Robbins proves that he’s still got it, even out from behind the production board.

(Dischord Records, 3819 Beecher Street NW, Washington, DC 20007)

An image of the hacked website is below (via Reddit):

Beaus$Eros, the recently-announced seventh full-length from indie rap artist Busdriver, is out soon with a North American release date of February 14th. Preorders of the CD and double-vinyl editions of the album in advance come with a shirt, a book of original poetry by Busdriver, as well as a limited edition seven-inch that features ”Superhand’s Mantra (Fuck Us All),” Busdriver’s collaboration with Aesop Rock. Stream “Superhand’s Mantra” below.

SUPERHAND’S MANTRA( FUCK US ALL ) feat. AESOP ROCK prod. by Loden by Busdriverse

Busdriver is also currently on tour.

Busdriver on Tour
2/3 Fort Collins, CO @ Hodi’s Halfnot
2/4 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
2/16 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom with The Coup & Buck 65
2/17 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
2/18 Bend, OR (venue TBA)
2/19 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
2/21 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
3/14-17 Austin, TX @ SXSW

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

• Talib Kweli

Long-time Verbicide contributor Shahab Zargari shares great shots from Talib Kweli‘s performance at Insert Coins in Las Vegas.