Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Aeges- Above & Down Below

Do you like "Alternative" rock? What I mean, and what's meant by the quotes- there's a type of rock music that's hard to pigeonhole- so, in the late 1980's some genius PR dude came up with Alternative to cover it. Suddenly, there was a label that encompassed everything from Jane's Addiction styled Goth-Cock Rock to the mannered psyche folk of REM. It never meant anything, of course, but it was a useful false flag in the same way that "New Wave" was- it's not punk, it's not fueled by rage, and reaction, but does have the iconoclastic spirit of exploration.
So, what Aeges does is an "Alternative" for today. It's got elements of more metallic grunge ( Soundgarden, maybe Alice in Chains) and exploratory Nu-metal ( Tool,  Barkmarket) but isn't afraid of a pretty, shoegazer styled shimmer ( My Bloody Valentine, Catherine Wheel, and early Smashing Pumpkins), or the greasy thrill of Stoner Rock ( QOTSA, Torche, Etc) but it builds all this around a post-hardcore framework ( Quicksand, Cave In) . Got that? It puts them as contemporary to Pelican, Baroness, Boris, and precious few others. This is straight up Rock, not punk or metal, but it's dedicated to a very loud iteration of the rock gene- basses get distorted here, and feedback occupies a sacred place.
So, I was a little late to their first record "The Bridge", but I've corrected that, now. I am right on their new one. I'm not going on about every track, but on first blush, the tracks  "Echoes" "Parasite" "my Last Words" "Halos" "Wasted Time" and the Cheap Trick cover "He's a Whore" are getting multiple repeat listens out of me.
Expect me to babble more about it, but if you're one of my friends more on the Heavy Stoner/ Big Block Rock side than the Shellac-y mannered noise rock end- you already have this. For the rest, look into it. They have the Rock, for real.

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