Got this impersonal, seemingly management company generated email, a generic press release, I assumed was asking for a review, without specifically asking for one (more of a statement than a request) and therefore, almost wrote this band off without listening to them. The press photo at left intrigued me enough, sorta thought, these guys might have something interesting to say over a cup of coffee. Listened to the tune, a minimal, synth, darkwave kind of thing and was pretty fucking impressed. In that email, “electronic pop” was mentioned, and I’m just enough of a music snob to be instantly annoyed anytime the word “pop” is used (I have to work on that). But this has an edge to it, where as pop is a butter knife that’s only good for spreading butter, this is sharp and will cut you the fuck up. It’s dark, but not contrived forcing a guy to have to put on eye liner, it feels natural, perfect for promoting thought. And I thought, the lyrics, what I can understand are pretty killer, so I wrote back to see if I could get those wrote up. Bradley kindly wrote back and reading along only makes the song that much better…
the sort of love that makes you ache
can’t see a thing but you know you’re awake
at the ole gin mill where everyone knows
stranger in town and he’s moving in close
i am the pleasure to your pain
i am the one who got away
the sort of nerves that show on your face
nowhere to hide so you pick up the pace
strollin’ the boulevard right in plain sight
stranger in town and he’s staying all night
i am the pleasure to your pain
i am the one who got away
my love is cynical
love so criminal
i am the one who got away
So they’ve got a Soundcloud page, you can get to that below along with some other links, Femmefatality.net, Facebook.com/femmefatalitymusic, and Instagram.com/femmefatalityofficial/. Went ahead and started listening to some of their songs of the past on that Soundcloud page, there an impressive 43 of them, and song after song I was blown away. This newest song is the darkest of the lot, but these other ones are crazy good too. Poppy? Yes, but this electro power pop kind of thing,that is hyper catchy. How the fuck have I not heard of this band who like an iceberg the majority of their mass lies underneath the surface. Simply incredible composers and songwriters make up this band. I was kind of proud of myself for making this discovery, but of course I deserve no credit, it was that seemingly impersonal press release that ended up in my mailbox…
Yesterday was my 46th birthday. Not a special or memorable number like 21 or 40 were, or I imagine like 50 will be, but still okay because it was a pretty alright year. Nothing mind blowing this year, but my life in general is fairly good…my Wife is still hot (way too fine, considering I’m fat and falling apart) and for the most part supportive, my Son is going to a division I university and is a well rounded individual, I have two beautiful Grandbabies, I enjoy spending time with my 4 dogs, ten (outside) cats, two horses and my miniature donkey Jet Li, work isn’t my favorite part of my life, but I get paid well enough and what I do is important to the lives of others, I own my Great Great Grandfather’s homestead, I have two pickups in case one breaks down and I have enough extra money to meagerly support my hobby, music. Life is good and I value it (which wasn’t always the case). Most importantly, so I can enjoy all that, is I’m not a slave to the bottle anymore. Didn’t do much on this birthday, worked, came home, changed into my pajamas, had coffee, a juicy steak and watched a decent movie, Lucy (actually I dug it tremendously). And thanx to the paradoxically good and evil Facebook, I got lots of birthday wishes from the people I love. My Native Brother Tom sent me the killer vid/tune below…
Happy New Year imaginary audience. I can remember some really bad years, so even though this year wasn’t particularly mind blowing, I am grateful. I don’t put forth a lot of effort in life and am satisfied with pretty much taking what I can get. Shit happens sometimes that is out of our control, but I’ve found that the quality of life that you have is for the most part in your hands (short of being born into some crappy situation in life). This place is as good as it gets for me other than being happy for the family and friends around me. In 2014 I did manage to discover a few electronica related blogs that are worth of mention. I highly recommend you check out 
Can’t believe I’ve never posted any Joy Division, perfect for those moments of apathy and self-loathing. My buddy Dougie Grime turned me onto them in 1987, at the time he said that I looked like the singer. I really felt these guys back then wallowing in my own teenaged depression and nothing goes better with a dark mood than dark music. The epitome of post=punk and perhaps the first coldwave band??? If you don’t know this band, then you should and this is a perfect place to start. Written on the jacket is, “unobtainable session tracks and live recordings” and I couldn’t agree more. The candle was burning at both ends for singer Ian Curtis, who of course hung himself in 1980, live fast die young baby. Crank this puppy up, grab your favorite razor blade and start cutting designs into your flesh, live it up a little bit…
From our harbinger of the day, “Hey, man. I stumbled onto your blog from a Brent’s TV video you posted on YouTube and spent the last hour reading your reviews. I appreciate the amount of effort you put into your writing. My name is Andy. I ran a label called Mortville Records in the 1990s and 2000s, but it sort of petered out. I’ve been playing in a band called Captain Three Leg since 1995 that’s flown under the radar for most people. No big deal, I play and record to entertain myself. A few years ago I decided to just stop releasing physical copies of our stuff because nobody was buying it. I like recording, but I don’t like losing money pressing shit nobody wants. Bandcamp has been great for people like me who just want to get music out there for people to hear and don’t care about money.” You know, first off, it’s nice that someone out of the blue, comes along and shows the blog some appreciation. Seven years of doing this here thing, and I know it’s not mind melting shit, really just barely interesting at times, fuck, if it wasn’t for the music there would be no point, what’s the fucking point anyway. Well, creative souls like Andy, one of the rarely thanked, movers and shakers of scenes all over the world, make it all worthwhile. Imagine my delight when I put the proverbial needle into the groove and it turns out to be a vibe I haven’t explored in a while, taking me back to my late teens. Captain Three Leg is some of the finest power violence, I call it post-hardcore, I’ve run across in years. This is the pinnacle of the evolution of hardcore, started by none other than Middle Class and ending with bands that took what little good there was in youth crew, beating it to a pulp with a ball-peen hammer. The vocals remind me of Infest or my buddy’s band Lack of Interest, yelled x2, but understandable, not screamed beyond comprehension. The musicianship is razor blade sharp, stopping and starting on a dime, maneuvering around your head like a zero-turn mower. In the Winnie the Pooh hardcore punk world these guys are lightning fast bouncing around like Tiger at times and at others, deliberately plodding like Eeyore, in no rush at all. A little metallic here and there, with a very short burst of noodly solos and some chugga chugga chunking, and that’s just fine with me. Something that makes the songs interesting is that there are these short little sound bites at the beginning of each one that serves as some sort of lead in or intro, I like that they took the time to put that kind of thought into these compositions. Overall, made my day, and the gravy is that it’s a free fucking download ready to be loaded on your iPod!. Oh yeah, there’s more, to top it off, this is a split release, so along with the sweet sounds of Captain Three Leg, the first three tunes are done by a late 80’s (when it was still good) styled grindcore band (with a little PV thrown in) called Flvx Capacitor. The vocals here fall into the grunted, growled, screamed category and I can’t understand a thing, reminding me of when I first heard Napalm Death, but like ND the songs come with lyrics and they’re worth reading or following along if you dare. This shit has an old school sound too, nothing like the pop-grindcore of today. Only down side, only three songs. Go give this split a listen/download at their 
Well my favorite Finnish aging punk rockers