Mark Porkchop Holder- Let it Slide (Alive Naturalsound ALIVE0188-2)

Mark “Porkchop” Holder is from Chattanooga, TN. It seems he often plays or played solo and started off as a busker (street musician) but this album is recorded as a trio. The album features 9 tracks in about 30mins and starts off with the title track which is just a 30 sec solo slide guitar piece and then Disappearing kicks in with an uptempo drum beat, smooth bass and Mark singing and playing slide. My Black Name is a bit more intense track with a longer slide solo. The band does some backing vocals on this one as well. Headlights continues with the mid paced slide driven bluesy rock and roll.

38 is a Johnny Winter inspired track but with out the intense lead guitar but still a nice guitar and harmonica solo as well. Let is Slide-No Doctor is a nearly solo track with only a basic kick drum and tambourine. Sounds like a steel guitar? Great song. Stagger Lee is by far the most heavy track on the record. A much darker sound on this track, with a heavier bass line and cool harmonica giving it a eerie feeling. Great track. Stranger is sung sort of like Johnny Cash and a bit of country. The album closes with the standard Baby Please don’t Go. Mark does not have that unique of a voice or really stand out as an amazing guitar player either. Many of the songs are pretty average blues rock tracks on Side A but side B they really diversify. Check them out….

http://www.alive-records.com/

Mark Holder Solo 2013

Scott’s Top 25 Records for 2016

There were a lot of great albums this year and I think I bought or received about 100. These are the ones that I listened to the most and really dig a lot.. The order is not important.  I hope 2017 has as many great records. I am sure I will hear a lot fewer in 2017.. I wish you all the best. Thanks for reading..... 

1.     Brutus- Wandering Blind (Svart Records)

2.     ØSC- Ode to a Black Hole (Space Rock Productions)

3.     Glitter Wizard- Hollow Earth Tour (Heavy Psych Sounds)

4.     Brant Bjork- Tao of the Devil (Napalm Records)

5.     Baby Woodrose- Freedom (Bad Afro Records)

6.     The Golden Grass- Comin back again (Listenable Records)

7.     Wo Fat- Midnight Cometh (Ripple Music)

8.     Jacob Skøtt- All colours of the Dust (El Paraiso Records)

9.     Sounds of New Soma- Moebius Tunnel (Tonzonen Records)

10. Black Moon Circle- Sea of Clouds (Crispin Glover Records)

11. Narcosatanicos- Body Cults (Bad Afro Records)

12. Monarch- Two Isles (El Paraiso Records)

13. Red Lama- Dreams are Free (All good clean Records)

14. Mammatus- Sparkling Waters (Spiritual Pajamas)

15. Space Invaders- Ayakashi (Nasoni Records)

16. Goatess- Purgatory under new Management (Svart Records)

17. Phased- Aeon (Czar of Bullets)

18. Kikagaku Moyo- House in the Tall Grass (GuruGuru Brain)

19. Vespero- Lique & Mecwag (RAIG)

20. Motorpsycho- Here be Monsters (Stickman Records)

21. Lamp of the Universe- Hidden Knowledge (Clostridium)

22.  3^rd Ear Experience- Stones of a Feather (Space Rock Productions)

23. Datura4- Hairy Mountain (Alive Records)

24. Black Moon Circle- Studio Jams Vol 2 (Crispin Glover Records)

25.  Gösta Berlings Saga- Sersophane (Self Released)

Suyra Kris Peters- Holy Holy Holy (Electric Magic EMLP-09)

This is another limited edition vinyl release from Christian Peters (Samsara Blues Experiment).  It is a collection of some of his previous digital only EPs from the last year.  Side A is taken from the Schorfheide Blues EP and totally different with songs between 2 and 5mins in length. Leise Versprecheu starts things off with a very relaxing drone synth, piano and some wind. A very relaxing track. Tauz des Wayserläufer is a short synth piece (sounds like his modular) repeating mostly one line but with another cutting through it in a slow and buzzing way. Very cool the way it transforms. Schorfheide Blues is a bit of a shock to the system with its heavy distorted guitar played over some drums (mixed quite far back). Later it becomes two guitar layers and ending with some mellotron like synths. Soirée à Lunéville is back to some piano and a like plucked violin sound and is quite a short number. Machtscatteuspleeu ends side A with another short synth piece. Side B is a 20min long modular synthesizer exploration (listen below) unlike anything he has previously released. IT has over 20 layers of sounds and is quite complex at times. It starts off very slowly with piano, another lead synth with a bit of a mysterious sound, then another layer starts to repeat.. This is how the piece is built. Some layers get louder and others lower as it grows in complexity but with the one lead synth slowly maintaining  theme you can grab on. 3mins in a new bass line starts and a more spaced out sound with some effects that kind of gets into your brain, grab your attention. By 10mins it is a musically in a totally different place than where it started and stripped down to just two or three layers- a fast oscillating one, and one or two spacey layers. I really love the spacey guitar that cuts in around 12mins. Reminds me of some of the stuff from my solo album (due out next year). Around 17mins it devolves into an almost Tuvian throat singer like part that is quite cool and the guitar comes back again. Some really nice panning in this section as well. A great piece of music. I loved it.  More, please.  This is being released in Feb 2017 on a limited edition vinyl in 200 copies with an insert and silkscreen handmade covers. Cool..

https://electricmagicrecords.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/electricmagicrecords

Gösta Berlings Saga- Sersosphane (Self Released)

It has been quite a few years since the last GBS record but worth the weight. The album features three main tracks between 8 and 15mins, as well as three short tracks between 1 and 3mins in length.  If you are not familiar with the band, they play instrumental prog rock, with very intense drumming and playing and a great sense of dynamics. Konstruktion starts things off with a very King Crimson like track with intensity in all aspects. The keyboards lead this one from Mellotron to Fender Rhodes piano. Great guitar solo also. Sersophane starts with a keys but then the pace really picks up and the drumming really intense as the layers of keyboards step aside for some intense guitar. Great bass lines compliment the drive as well. A very epic track. Fort Europa has some really cool lap steel guitar. I really dig this track. Flip the record over for Dekonstruktion, a 3min synthesizer intro like piece to the amazing Channeling the Sixth extinction, which is a 15mins masterwork. Lots of cool dark themes and then light and back and forth. Some killer bass playing as well. This track is a mind blower. Wow.. Naturum closes the record with a very short 1min acoustic guitar piece. Awesome record guys.

http://gostaberlingssaga.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gostaberlingssaga/