New Videos, Plus Lots Of Assorted Recent News & Updates!!

Today's post largely clears out a bunch of shorter and assorted recent news items, and we'll kick things off with some new videos, starting with a new webseries by Blood Shed Productions, entitled "BreakingSh!tWithBloodShed"! The title implies what you think it implies, with label performers and staff (namely, Blood Shed founders/Brutally Fatal bandmates Tyler Gibson & Austin McCrae, plus rapper Jean-Paul "Phat Boii" Archambault) breaking assorted objects on camera. Two episodes of the series are now on the Blood Shed Weekly YouTube channel, and they include the second episode where a pool table is broken, and the one embedded below where the guys break five chairs. If you're wondering what these have to do with music (aside from who's breaking everything), then you'll want to know that both videos feature new Brutally Fatal songs from their forthcoming CD "Blood of the Devil" as backing music, so fans of the goregrind intensity will like that! The videos themselves are escapist fun, and presumably good stress relief, so check them out above & below!



Next up, here's a new solo acoustic cover from RedStone Riot/ex-Elipzis bassist Ryan Harrison's YouTube channel from Saturday, this time a rendition of Prince's "Purple Rain", in tribute to the music legend following his death last week. Fittingly played "in the key of purple" (and even tinted that colour), it's a strong cover that Prince fans should like, and Ryan's voice is in top emotional form here! Give it a look below!



Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist, event, station, or website name:

• Local doom metal trio AlgomA's split vinyl EP with Saskatchewan's Chronobot received a new review from Kai Ellerman of the German metal website XXL-Rock in recent weeks, though it is in German, so you'll need a translator to read it if you don't know that language. Receiving a rating of "L" (keeping with their motif of scoring by clothing sizes, basically meaning a 4/6), Kai favorably recommended the split to fans of Eyehategod and Neurosis, and said that AlgomA's half is "somewhat messy, but has charm." Give the full review a look at this link (but have a translator ready), and stay tuned for our review of the split very soon!
• This is more of a housekeeping note, but we had pencilled in a formal write-up today to roll in 2012-2013 local rock band Lazer Queen to our inactive band links finally, as they honestly should have been in our full coverage long ago given their membership & sound, but I discovered yesterday that their Facebook (and only online) page has been deleted. Featuring 3/4ths of Late & Loud alongside The Danger Cats' Kate Drew & Pillory's Bret Shuttleworth, Lazer Queen were a talented band that sadly didn't last too long, but be sure to follow members' more recent work!
• The closure of local news/video website Local2 and it's subsequent merger with sister website SooToday was finalized on Monday via this press release, which notes that existing Local2 links will now redirect you to SooToday, and that it's video programming (including Tuned) will largely continue under the SooToday banner, with archive videos also available there. It's a little sad to lose the former SooNews & LTV News after a lengthy run, but this makes sense as SooToday continues it's growth, and we have removed Local2 from our "Other Local Metal Links" as a result!
• Local grunge/alternative band The Pixo Control's headlining set on May 5th at the Sky's the Limit mental health fundraiser concert at The Tech will be an acoustic set sans drummer Keeghan Rosso, according to the band's Facebook page last night. A reason for the change wasn't announced, but hopefully it's just as simple as Keeghan not being available that night. This should still be a fun set for fans of Michael's unplugged sets, so keep it in mind for next Thursday, and stay tuned for more on the openers!
• The planned Summer Bash! concert at The Rockstar Bar THIS FRIDAY has been indefinitely postponed, as per Gnaeus frontman Aaron Alessandri on the official Facebook event page on Monday.  He cited "unforeseen circumstances" and the ongoing renovations at the venue for the postponement, which seems to imply that there's more going on at The Algonquin Hotel than just the downstairs bar (however, note that Kamloops folk band The Decoys are playing there on Saturday, so the "unforeseen circumstances" may be more to blame.) Hopefully Gnaeus, K.I.C.K., and DJ Fuels get a new date soon for the Summer Bash!
• Lake Superior State University's campus radio station WLSO (90.1 FM) announced the results of their recent naming contest for their forthcoming online station on their Facebook page on Monday, with the (oddly unidentified) winner's suggestion being The 46th Parallel, referencing the latitude circle that Sault Michigan lies on. It should be noted that the post mentioned that "our station name" will change to that next semester, implying that the FM station will also get the new name, but an extension past the new internet station hasn't been otherwise confirmed. We'll let you know if this is elaborated on at all!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!