Some Kind of Birthday Party (Playing catch up part 4)

Party animals rejoice, it's Some Kind of Birthday Party! There is indeed good reason to celebrate; this is my favorite album we've released this year, and probably a new high water mark for The Brown Christmas. You know you're in for something truly special as Al Santillo introduces the album with the words; "Every slice got something different on it..." Each track is a different experience, with different flavors of synth patches spread across the whole album.

Seamlessly we slip from the electronica infused melodies and shattering grooves of "Neon Glass," to the gritty lo-fi sizzle of "Crystal Shards," and  the silly chaotic panic of "Hyper Train Rail Workers." Dreamy guitar ambiences and soothing synth sax playing on "Lunar March," contrast the harsh walls of noise on "Storms of Jupiter." Deep rumbles of feedback attempt to smother the listener; occasionally allowing a pensive breath of fresh air before attempting to suffocate you again. There are absolutely no lulls on this album, it constantly pushes forward with the purposeful energy of a charging rhinoceros.

What really sets this album apart however, is that it rocks. It rocks earnestly, it rocks hard, and it rocks the full way through. The shredding solo on "Hard Nights, Harder Dreams" has no business being so hard hitting and emotionally charged. Revel in Joemazings ability to take his synth from sounding like it's on it's last breath short circuiting, to then emerge with a victorious crisp lead line. Feel the high energy orchestra hits of "Get Fucked or Die Frying" and prepare for a head to head battle in a cloud of synth drones. Wrap things up with the forceful growls of "The Last White Rhino" with it's weeping marimba-like solo, and you've got an album that's good to the last slice.

The art work on this album is also my favorite of everything we've released this year. A fun combination of several techniques that have been used on previous covers. Bright and welcoming, while also surreal and disconcerting; Michael Burke knocks it out of the park again.

This album is also available on KRXMA Records, be sure to check it out there as well. https://krxmarecords.bandcamp.com/album/some-kind-of-birthday-party

Books Suck

Books suck, plain and simple! You can't listen too a book (unless it's an audiobook, but that's just a book pretending it's a recording) they don't fit in tape decks and they're the wrong shape for record players or CD players. Music came first, music rules, books are just a bad sequel.

This album is the perfect example of the inferiority of books; there is no possible way for books to capture the essence of these songs. The driving kick on the first track calls the listener to adventure, an arpeggiated bass line adds a sense of urgency, and Joemazing's drones and melodies add an element of uncertainty and danger.

Things get a little hectic, but there is an opportunity to relax within the cosmic swirling synth tones of the second track. The stars are not entirely welcoming however, and the listener must avoid their supernova bursts. This moment of rest is short lived and the kick drums soon become jittery from all the delicious juice.

Joemazing's guitar work takes center stage, while I stack synth textures and feedback noise on our 10 minute post-rock opus "The Asteroid is Here." If you thought The Brown Christmas couldn't rock sick riffs and kick ass drums, this track will prove you wrong. This leads into our hard rocking closing track; "Sludge Cruiser." Who needs a distortion pedal when you can just crank your mixer up way to hot?

This album is the first release in a long while that hasn't been a single day jam session, and it takes us almost into the present year. There is one more album that was recorded in 2016 that's set to be released, but it's a christmas album so we had to release it out of order. The last 2 tracks of Books Suck are from November 2016; part of our Christmas album jam session. Since there's really nothing Christmasy about them, it was decided they would need to be a separate release. They were too short to be put out as their own album, but luckily we had another short jam session from January 2017 of almost the same length. These tracks were from a brief warm up jam before a very different upcoming secret project.

...But why are you hear reading this? It's so long it's almost a book, and books suck!

Listen to our album.

New Jersey Sound Machine

There are a few of our albums that really standout for one reason or another, this is one of those. We are very much at the top of our game on these recordings and I would now consider this to be the best thing we've released so far.

This album covers a multitude of musical territories, but over all I would say there's a definite psychedelic feel to the tracks. The first song Self Born Cosmic Egg, opens the album feeling very spacey and mystical, before we intentionally or unintentionally, summon dark entities and split a hole between worlds (see tracks Dweller of the Abyss and Broken Seal of the Inter-dimensional Wall).

Have noo fear however, we here at The Brown Christmas are skilled in all kinds of occult mysticism. There's no need to shield your chakras or break out your quartz crystals, everything is well within our control. We'll guide you back safely and finish the journey with some dumb lo-fi rock.