Daniel Romano/bRavenous/Serration
Daniel Romano
How Ill Thy World Is Ordered // You’ve Changed Records
Daniel Romano is at it again...for his 9th! album release of 2020. This guy has a load of creative juice he needs to let loose upon thy world. His collaborators on these releases have been equally as impressive. He’s gotten down with Danny Carey of Tool (Forever Love’s Fool - May 6th), members of Fucked Up and Jade Hairpins (Super Pollen - April 24th) and the Constantines’ Steve Lambke (Spider Bite - May 20th). The releases have ranged from fast paced punk to low-key country, with and without his latest backing band, The Outfit.
How Ill Thy World Is Ordered, released September 18, 2020, is only the second physical album pressing (in LP and CD forms) of the nine 2020 releases since the March 27th live album Okay Wow. This one too features the mighty skills of The Outfit, a tight-knit group of impressive musicians who join Daniel Romano to create a poetic yet rocking record: Julianna Riolino (vocals), David Nardi (guitar, vocals), Roddy Rossetti (bass), Ian Romano (drums), Mark Lalama (organ, piano), Briana Salmena (vocals), Victor Belcastro (sax) and Aaron Hutchinson (trumpet).
The album was recorded following simple guidelines and simple rules: “play the whole thing, in sequence, 3 takes or bust, with no overdubs; play “the sound of the feel of a snake bite”; play “a heist on horseback for fool’s gold”. The urgency and rawness of this recording style can be felt throughout the album. Going back to rock roots without glossing over the music with an Instagram beauty filter. This is what you would hear live and without pretension.
The overall feel of the album is similar in style and orchestration as many of Romano’s past musical-leanings, a slightly 1960’s psych feel with lyrical poetry playing in your ears. As a songwriter, I’m not sure if you’ll find someone as prolific with his imagery and rhythmical composition as Romano. It’s hard not to fall into thinking in the same 19th-century style of wording that Romano uses on the regular.
The album opens with “Rat Without a Tale”, giving us a view into the harsh realities of a hard world where we gotta do what we gotta do to get by, lightened by lovely harmonization and horns. “How Ill Thy World is Ordered” carries on with this dark view of society, greed and our insatiable quest for wealth. The two-part “Joys Too Often Hollow” brings back some of Romano’s country roots and the beautiful closer “Amaretto and Coke” show the band as “adept at the swing and sway of softer sentiments, and as quickly tender as brave,” according to the albums press release.
From peeking into the way Romano's poetic mind views the world, we see a dystopian society in which we are scurrying around trying to build our nests, subjected to the evils of greed and narcissism. “Every day reveals new cracks in the artifice, new crimes from the oligarchs and politicians, new types of genocide and dispossession. New visions of contempt. O, how ill this world is ordered. Yet music can lift the spirit, can, uniquely, restore dignity. To sound together, bringing hope”, as Romano explains in his own words.
Oh man, do I ever hope it can.
- Mo Lawrance
bRavenous
Between The Lines // Badmouth Ent
Between The Lines, released in October of 2020, is the 4th LP by Halifax-based artist bRavenous, and it’s exactly the album you would hope to hear from an old school Hip-Hop head who’s been in the game as long as bRavenous has. Classic boombap beats laden with samples and scratching from collaborator DJ Uncle Fester are all over this tape, and if that isn’t enough to satiate any old school cravings, bRavenous’ flow, reminiscent of Black Thought, Nas, and the Blue Scholars, will have you bobbing your head, lighting something up, and wondering if you still have that old bucket hat.
There’s an effortless charm that comes about when a group of people who’ve been around long enough to master their craft come together to do what they do best and pay homage to their culture. This is especially apparent on the tapes first single, “Classic Material Remix,” featuring bRavenous’ longtime collaborators Hermitofthewoods, DJ Uncle Fester, and Sean Juan. The track is about as classic boombap as you can get, with the MC’s touching on growing up in rap and shouting out local spots over some really clean scratching and sampling. The second single off the tape, “Tape Deck Flex,” features DJ Uncle Fester again, and Max Deuce, who’s been working with bRavenous for going on twenty years. The two MC’s pay homage to the tape deck and it’s important place in the continuing history of Hip-Hop with the same timeless boombap style.
While bRavenous is loyal to the old school sound, the album is far from one-note, mixing things up a little, like on the track “Sociables,” featuring Living for Sunday and Drew Skaggs, where they forego the more chilled out sound for a fun song about the classic drinking game sociables with an enjoyable hook and an energetic trumpet sample. The last track on the album, “Rhythm Of Earth” featuring Drew Skaggs, Broc Hamilton, and DJ Uncle Fester, ties things off with a soulful hook and some grandiose trumpets for bRavenous and friends to spit over about the good and bad things that got them where they are today.
Between The Lines is both thoughtfully crafted and well executed. bRavenous speaks on his current place in life, being a dad, still working to make it in Hip-Hop, and the Halifax scene, but you won’t need to relate to any of those things to enjoy this tape. Who can’t get behind good production and well-crafted bars? New and old listeners of bRavenous will be well served by this master class in classic Hip-Hop.
- Devon Acuña
Serration
Shrine Of Consciousness // Wax Vessel
Wildrose Hardcore is as strong as ever, and few bands represent the scene harder than the dual city dominators, Serration. The Serration team is incredibly cohesive, as over half of the band also play in Calgary’s Mortality Rate. Serrations vocalist Cody beats the drums for Mortality Rate, Jake shreds on the guitar for both bands, and Serration drummer Colter is the newest member of MR, playing the guitar. Colter is also one half of Calgary’s newest Vegan straight edge duo “World of Pleasure” along with Jess from, you guessed it, Mortality Rate. Bassist Matt and Guitarist Jose throw in their sound that help make Serration the heavy weights that they are!
Serration is split between Calgary and Edmonton, two cities with fierce sports rivalries, but not quite as fierce as their new release Shrine Of Consciousness. If you were a fan of Serration before hearing this album, you’ll notice almost all of the songs sound familiar. That’s because this album, like its title, is a combination of two previous Serration EPs, 2018’s Shrine Of Eternal Life and 2019’s Ease Yourself Back Into Consciousness. The one and only new song on the album shines through on the last track of the album.
The first four songs that kick the record into gear are songs from the 2018 banger Shrine Of Eternal Life. Even if you are familiar with the 2018 release, it’s still well worth listening to the re-recording, as it has a crisp sound while still keeping all the fire and brimstone that the tracks possess! If you are not familiar with their 2018 release, you can expect ecstatic breakdowns, chaotic panic chords, relentless drums, and dark lyrics executed with pure fury! On top of that, there are plenty of fun little sound bites throughout that erase any doubt that this outfit resides in Alberta. The next four songs are from the 2019 EP Ease Yourself Back Into Consciousness. The excitement that the first four songs bring is matched perfectly with these next four, laden with incredibly Infectious riffs such as the two step driven “Downpour”. This section of the album also features the first of two guest appearances, the first is John Pettibone of Himsa/Heriess on “The Event Horizon” The lyrics in “The Event Horizon” are the toughest and most inspirational on the whole record, with themes of a fresh start and new hope, as opposed to themes of complete despair found on the rest of the songs. That being said, I love the lyrics on all the songs, Cody does an excellent job conveying emotions in a way that makes the listener feel something too. Now that you have jammed to the re-recorded EPs, it’s time to dig into the new one, “The Pain of Birthing Golden Ash” The song will blow your face right off, it’s packed full of visceral energy that doesn’t let off till the last second! Frazer of UK’s ballistic hardcore outfit Cauldron closes off the song with madman like shrieks that pleasantly penetrate your eardrums!
Even though I had already heard 90% of the songs on this album before its release, I was still thrilled to give this album countless front to back listens, and it absolutely did not disappoint!
- Justin Olson
