Sunday 15 February 2009

Seawhores - Opus Magnanimous (2007)


I grew up in Minneapolis and lived there most of my life.  I just loved the music scene there.  Aside from the obvious bands like Husker Du or the Replacements there was also The Bastards, TVBC, Rifle Sport, Babes In Toyland, Cows, Halo Of Flies, Hammerhead, Guzzard, Janitor Joe and a bunch of other great bands that to me was just as good or better than anything coming out of NYC or Seattle at the time.  Most of our readers are already familiar with Amphetamine Reptile Records but there were some other small Minneapolis labels like Treehouse Records and Reflex Records that were putting out good records as well.  I moved away about 15 years ago and haven't really heard a whole lot from Minneapolis that has excited me much since then.  I moved to Chicago and was just kind of engulfed in the music going on there at that time and have been a little detached from the Minneapolis scene ever since.  Which brings me to Seawhores.  They take a lot of what I like about the aforementioned noise rock bands of the 90's but don't really take themselves all that seriously either.  Opus Magnanimous is one song that, as the album title suggests, has this epic structure to it.  Much like Tusk's The Resisting Dreamer (see below) it's broken up into different movements.  Starting with a xylophone (or maybe it's a toy piano, I'm not sure) then rock to drone and back again.  So Seawhores have piqued my interest in Minneapolis again.  Does anyone have recommendations for any other current bands from Minneapolis?

9 comments:

  1. That's cool you're from Minneapolis back in the day. Here's some groups you should check out that's current or existed within the last handful of years.

    Gay Witch Abortion
    STNNNG
    Vampire Hands
    Mute Era
    Blind Shake
    Clipd Beaks (Relocated to S.F.)
    Haunted House
    Knife World
    Gay Beast
    Skoal Kodiak
    Total Fucking Blood
    Building Better Bombs
    Chariots
    Song of Zarathustra

    Most of these bands have myspace accounts, blog pages or have videos on You Tube. Also, you might wanna check out Modern Radio Records from here. They have a board that all these bands and many more post on, advertise shows/releases, etc.

    Hope this suits you well!

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  2. Thanks, I'll check them out. I'm familiar with STNNNG and Gay Witch Abortion but the rest are all new to me.

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  3. assuming this is the same Seawhores from the Vaz / Seawhores split? What great name or a band.

    anyway, another great post...you beat me to the Regraped post...I too received a cd from Gus with all the Regraped, Shiny Beast, and Geezer Lake stuff. as long as it gets out there for people to hear though right?

    keep it up.

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  4. GREAT band and record!!!! kudos for posting this... their other record, "Forest" is really good too.

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  5. I like Song of Zarathustra- A View from High Tides.

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  6. Don't forget Zebulon Pike. Epic, technical, doom-prog-sludge instrumentals. I'd say their 2nd album The Deafening Twilight is the best.

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  7. Come on people if you downloaded this and like it please purchase it. (You can even purchase it off iTunes). These guys work their asses off to bring their awesome music to you. It costs a hell of a lot of money to play and record music, so help them keep going! Seawhores is a great fucking band!

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