Calling it Now: Best album of 2008

For some reason, Mark Lanegan gets left out of music thought, yet he keeps creating some amazing music. On the first B-Cuts of the year, we did our rounds and predicted the best album of 2008. I forget what I said (I think it was Opeth?), but it wasn't the Gutter Twins' Saturnalia. Why not? Because I forgot about it. This is something I am slightly ashamed of, because I recently visited The Gutter Twins' myspace and listened to the two songs they've released... only to be BLOWN AWAY.

The Gutter Twins' consist of Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, and Soulsavers (my 2nd favorite album of 07, beat out only because In Rainbows was amazing) and Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers. Both musicians are on the same label, Sub Pop, and they collaborated on a Twilight Singers EP. They gelled so well they decided to make an album together.

The two songs on their myspace "Idle Hands" and "The Stations" have a sound different from anything either musician has done. Their combined musical forces build up this dark, genre-bending entity ready to kick some ass.

Do yourself a favor and check out this music. Maybe even do a little more digging. Sub Pop has a really interesting article describing their sound and how everything came to be.

"We're just the devil's plaything"




Peace, Love and Keep Rock Alive

New Years Resolutions

It is January and 2008 (recently declared by the Chinese as the year of the overpriced concert tickets) is officially upon us. We B-Cuts thought that we all did a good job in 2007 (the year of rampant mediocrity), but realize that there is always room for improvement. As most of you know, our 2007 resolution was "World Domination." While we did not quite make it, no one can fault us for having lofty goals. Thus we have a new batch of New Years resolutions that should make our weekly radio show and this blog that much better. So without any more delay, I present the three ways the B-Cuts vow to improve Deadbeat Melodies, our Music News Blog.

1.) More Music - Already we have begun to bring local bands into the studio for intimate interviews and acoustic live performances. We hope to both continue this into the new year and bring more of these special shows into this blog. It is my hope that we have some of the bands post their thoughts here. This will create a sort of radio show/music blog synergy that (to my knowledge) has never been done before by humans.

2.) More News - It is a big world out there in the alternative music scene, and we B-Cuts realize that it is our duty as journalists to cover it. We want to bring attention to the truely creative entertainers out there that deserve all the press in the world but often do not recieve it. Readers have always looked to this blog as a shiny chariot of journalistic and humorous excellence, and this year we promise we will not disappoint.

3.) More Blog - We realize we have been a bit skimpy on the updates. This of course will change. We hereby pledge ourselves to weekly (dare I say - daily?) updates, complete with a variety of outlits for our reporting on the music entertainment world. In addition to more reporting on news, we will also have more of our famous album reviews, genre histories, and top whatever lists. We also want You (no, not You, no, no - yes! You, there!) to participate more, either by calling our show on the telephone or electronic-mailing us at thebcuts@gmail.com.

These are our promises. It is our hope that keeping up with them will bring both B-Cuts and Deadbeat Melodies to qualities of mythic propoertions. This of course will lead us to world domination, where I will be King and all will cower under me. One can only hope.


Kevin Clang


Sidenote: One thing we will have less of - Britney Spears. Barring some unforeseen circumstance where she cures Cancer or something, this should be the last time Ms. Spears is mentioned in this blog. Never has someone been so famous for so long without releasing an actual album (and no, the horrendous Blackout doesn't count - curse all of you who bought it.)