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Published Album Reviews
04/02/05

Indie-Music

( Dan MacIntosh)

 Every Day is Marked

Style: Art Rock

Quote: "It’s with good reason that this group chose a militaristic name, because this disc sure sounds like an assault at times."

 

Sophia Cacciola writes and sings like a aural bomber on a mission. She can go from intentionally sounding like a tough chick, to a caterwauling ghost -- sometimes within the same song. The sound of Every Day Is Marked can best be described as punk-ish and edgy rock. Cacciola’s lyrics and vocals are angry, nervous and consistently on edge.

Blitzkriegbliss wrote and arranged all these songs and only cover one track, “Goin’ Out West,” which was written by Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits. But instead of coming off roots-y and drunken, like so many familiar Waits’ creations, it feels much closer to a female Iggy Pop taking on one of Tom’s songs. But unless you read the CD booklet notes, you’d probably never even guess that there’s a cover contained within this set. It just sounds like one more musical rant.

It’s with good reason that this group chose a militaristic name, because this disc sure sounds like an assault at times. With Every Day Is Marked, one receives far more blitzkrieg than bliss. Nevertheless, one supposes that’s just they way they like it.

(full review) - (review link)

04/01/05

 

AMP

(JC)

 Every Day is Marked
Interesting punk band, dissonant at times, with a nicely odd female lead singer. Comparisons could be made to PATTI SMITH and PJ HARVEY, with a little NINA HAGAN thrown in. Pretty impressive stuff: Punk rock that’s not in a hurry that will hang in there and pound it out until they get their point across. All that and a damn fine deconstruction of a great TOM WAITS song.

 

(full review) - (review link)
04/01/05

The Noise
(Joe Coughlin)

 Every Day is Marked

This record arrives like a splatter of fresh puke on your sneakers, and I mean that in the best way. Sad, rumbling, frantic, wounded banshee shit with no melodies (which would actually have ruined this material, and I'm a freak for melodies). Derelict howls of alienated agony over roiling rivers of trio sludge, all impossibly structured, like riding a roller coaster into a brick wall, and it quickly starts to feel more normal than so-called real life. A new line has been drawn in the sand between true redemption and play-acting.

See, there are bands who a. have a sound that's distinctly their own, but b. this is usually a bad thing. Who a. sound like they live and feel the turmoil they create, and b. who wear band-aids as costumes. Who a. make you feel uneasy because their art is effective, and b. who think anything "unpleasant" is worth recording for its own sake. Who a. take you places you might have avoided on your own, and b. who milk old formulas for shock value. Who a. test your endurance by providing a genuine challenge, and b. who get on your nerves 'cause they're stupid and they blow. Who a. stab you in the head and make you grateful for it, and b. who merely sling slogans of pain, doom, and loss. In short, there are good train-wreck bands, and bad ones. This one's really fuckin' good.

(full review) - (review link)
03/08/05

168mag

("Soulless Record Exec”)

Every Day is Marked

From yelling like some butch softball player with a grudge to screaming like a mouse-frightened housewife perched on a chair, Sophia Cacciola’s vocals are the driving force of Blitzkriegbliss. Where it drove me was to the kitchen drawer in search of two forks to jab into my ears to replace the pain. All of the 10 tracks but one were written by Ms. Cacciola; she sings and “plays” guitar, and two dark hairy dudes cover bass and drums...

(full review) - (review link)

The Noise

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EP OLD EP review
  Warren Ellis
 

 

 

    
Published Live Reviews
04/01/05

The Noise
(Steve Gisselbrecht)

 The Zeitgeist
3/5/05


Sophia from Blitzkriegbliss is playing a solo acoustic set, a concept so alien and intriguing that I just had to check it out. It's "alien and intriguing" because her band is so sludgy/ noisy/ raucous that I can't imagine what these songs would sound like played solo acoustic. The answer proves to be something like piercing/haunting/raucous. Also, she actually sings some! This is almost the only possible configuration of human vocalization that DOESN'T get employed in a Blitzkriegbliss set. But she does some lovely singing, in between the whispering and shrieking, while strumming away hard at an acoustic guitar with a lot of distortion on it. She also veers into a little Pat Benatar break in the middle of one of her songs, to an appreciative laugh from the audience.

(full review) - (review link)
   
     
 
 

 

 

    

 

 

Misc Unpublished Reviews
03/18/05 Personal Web Site 03/17/05
Skybar

Blitzkriegbliss are playing the Dark Skies series at the Skybar, which is a goth night. This seems like a fairly odd fit for them, but what do I know? The bassist has absurdly heavy eyeliner on, presumably in honor of the occasion, and they very wisely start with the song whose lyrics begin, "Who's afraid of the dark?" It's a powerful set, a little rough at times, and extra heavy on the growly roaring from Sophia. (Hurray!) There's an oddly extreme amount of delay on her voice, which I've never noticed before, so some of her more terminal shouts echo intriguingly into the stunned silence that generally follows them. There is a new song, which is very solid and very good, and they close with a wildly climactic "Vronsky," which is fast becoming a favorite of mine.

(full review) - (review link)

03/18/05 Blog 03/17/05
Skybar 		I reckon most people spent St P's day like I did - at a blue collar bar on New Wave Goth Night, drinking imported beer from plastic cups & trying to avoid clunking your head on the low ceiling.

A few weeks ago I caught a solo performance by Sophia, lead singer from the band Blitzkriegbliss (a moniker I've found extremely difficult to pronounce after a drink or two). She battered a low-slung acoustic & howled passionately in a way that marked her in my mind as a descendent of PJ Harvey. After seeing her in full electric battle regalia last night, though, I've reassessed this impression. A more likely blood relative is Iggy Pop. Whereas she & Polly Jean were probably leaders of rival street gangs in high school. [Cue scene from Switchblade Sisters here.]

Blitzkriegbliss is primal, relentless, & frickin' loud. Sophia is the obvious focal point, right out front with her arsenal of unyielding growls & screams destined to stir up impure thoughts in the minds & trousers of her male audience. But the real sonic anchor is provided by the bass player, referred to by their website as The Sleepwalker (who probably gets mighty sick of being told he looks like Frank Zappa, so I won't mention it). His monstrous basslines are firmly rooted in the mix, like a sturdy corrosion-resistant pipeline running through the more jagged bursts of guitar. Meanwhile, the drummer thunks & whacks with a confidence that proclaims "sure, I could play more if I wanted to, but I choose not to."

It's really pure, immediate, blisteringly cathartic basement rock. What's not to like? They even turn Tom Waits' "Goin' Out West" into Ramones-fueled rockabilly. Clearly they're onto something - take a look at this vehemently negative review for their album from New ("birthplace of punk") Hampshire's 168 Magazine. Sounds suspiciously similar to whitebread America's initial reaction to Chuck Berry, eh? Almost certainly to the first Stooges album. "What's that racket you whippersnappers are listening to? You'll go deaf, mark my words."

Just as long as they don't find it boring. A review to be damn proud of.

(full review) - (review link)

 
03/18/05 Blog 03/17/05
Skybar

Blitzkriegbliss...where can I begin? This was my first time seeing them live - all I'd had to go on were mp3 clips and reviews. Sophia has an amazingly powerful voice - raw and edgy - I'm reminded immediately of The Superheroines. I told her flat out that those mid-90's Seattle riotgrrl bands ain't got nothin' on her....d*mn...I was just blown away. They've got a serious punk rock ethos there. Mwahahahaha...I might have some plans for them, and it just might involve a certain music festival slated to take place in September.

(full review) - (review link)

 
01/29/05 Warren Ellis Blog MP3s

Three mp3s here, and the one I really recommend is “Dark,” which is fucking brilliant. It prowls and spits like early Velvet Underground, with a raw-voiced, pissed-off female vocalist.

(full review) - (review link)

 
 

 

 

    

 

All content Copyright 2005 Blitzkriegbliss - Photos courtesy of Bethany Blodgett/Exploded Lung