Black Sheep Wall is a band from L.A. somewhere that I stumbled upon over the weekend. They are a doomy/sludgey band, and their riffs are so heavy they will knock your dick in the dirt. It’s dirty, grimey, sloppy, they tune to negative Z, and scream at the top of their lungs about 90% of the time - and it’s bad fucking ass. The copy of the album I got contained a burned CD that was spray painted black….and that was it. No song names, no contact info, nothing. And they probably only used black because they couldn’t find anything darker.  Awesome. Go to their Myspace and jock them as hard as I do or you are composed exclusively of loss.

Breath easy internet, I have returned to my blogging post. Over the last week and a half I’ve been journeying up the Pacific Coast with Bear Hunter . As it turns out, when I try and write on my laptop while in the van I start to puke all over my band mates — hence, my absence from Synthesis Blog. Over the next few days I will be recounting my harrowing journey (in between fascinating posts about pop stars getting busted for drugs, children with weird growths on their bodies and general paranoid-paranormal fodder). Get ready, dear readers. Get your asses ready.

JoeX2 is an awesome graffiti artist that has been a major player in the Los Angeles graffiti movement since it emerged in the 1980’s. JoeX2 started out in the graffiti art subculture and recently moved his artwork out of the community and into mainstream popular culture. He teamed up with JanSport for its Spring 2008 Artist Series in New York City.

His collections for the Artist Series are titled “JoeX2″ and “Seeing Red.” JoeX2 or “Joe Joe” is from Philadelphia and his graffiti is a mix of old school style and underground art. He focuses on issues like cultural materialism and has some badass portraits. Here’s an example of his work & the new JanSport line he collaborated with artist Julie West on. You can check out TONS more here at his Web site!

As Spencer previously posted, Coldplay have recently announced the dates of their upcoming tour, but it seems that choppy waters have arose across the pond. Due to what the band referred to as “production delays”, they have been forced to postpone the start of their tour for two weeks, now starting in LA on July 14th. The tour will now wrap in Boston on August 4th. They are offering refunds for those that can not make the new dates. The free shows in London, on the 16th, Barcelona on the 17th, and New York on the 23rd are still scheduled as planned. I am no musical genius, but what causes “Production delays”?? And is this going to foreshadow what is to come? Get it together Coldplay! We are all counting on you!!

In honor of Martin Luther King, Band You’ve Never Heard Of…OF THE DAY!!111 took a day off yesterday. However, this break turned out to be very fortuitous , as it allowed me to actually seek out a band I’d never heard of and investigate them personally, in the flesh, tewtally IRL. And that band is HEALTH.

If you happen to live in Los Angeles, and wear American Apparel V-necks and totally boss vintage ’80s fashion, you might have actually heard about HEALTH. They are signed to uber radcore label Lovepump United, home to such noisey spock bands as AIDS Wolf, Genghis Tron, etc. Though some bands would be content with mere intra-city fame, HEALTH are on a quest for world domination. They came through Synthesis’ hometown of Chico last night on their never ending tour schedule, and basically wrecked shop for an hour in the middle spot of a three-band bill on a fucking MONDAY night. From here, the band is seriously going to circle the country twice over the next few months, before heading to the UK in Spring. I would list the tourdates here, but its like two pages long. HEALTH are on some road warrior shit and I highly suggest checking them out when they inevitably come through your town. If nothing else, you can pick up some of their fucking sweet merch and feel like you’re on the cusp of fashion for a few moments before you remember you live in fucking Springfield, MO. DO IT!

The Virgin Megastores in LA and NYC will be shutting down early next year, according to Variety. Not surprising given that holiday CD sales were down 18% from last year.  Meanwhile, the folks over at Torrent site The Pirate Bay are having a banner year, doubling their traffic and getting themselves new and improved hardware to better serve up free movies and music to people smart enough to know what Torrents are and how to use them. Which isn’t me. I guess when all the music stores close I’ll be forces to figure out how to use that shit, but for now, I’ll keep buying my CDs at Tower…I mean…Virgin Megastore LA…uh, I mean…The Wherehouse….fuck!