Do you enjoy reading? In particular, words I have written? Then this might just tickle your fancy.
If it doesn't, I'll update this soon, pinky swear.
music is ok
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Oh wait, here I am
Yeah, ok, the quasi-habitual bimonthly "here I am back to blog etc" obligatory whatsit. No really. I think I mean it this time. (Maybe.) There's been hell of circumstances, plus being all busy with my quote/unquote day job and my quote/unquote day life.
Speaking of tangents, I also thought, maybe, since music is all so totally my entire life (refers to generic treble clef tattooed on wrist and/or ankle, hearts and stars all surrounding it) that using it as an aid in brooding and mulling and other more foreboding ways of thinking that maybe just maybe that is something I shouldn't, y'know, do. Maybe it ain't good for me to have men who want to be suiciding or already have to be whispering sweet nothings in my ear[phones]. Maybe I need to be put in a more positive mind frame. Maybe less Joy Division, Giles Corey, Jandek, Scott Walker, Swans, Zola Jesus, Death in June, Former Ghosts, Hrsta, etc, etc, etc.
Run-on sentences and general blubbering aside, what do we do about this?
oh hell yes
Husker Du is what we do about this. New Day Rising is what we do about this. Sure, there are definitely some downers on here ("If I Told You"), but in terms of sound it's an incredibly life-affirming album. It's also perfectly acceptable to leave the title track on repeat for 15 times and call it a day, because goddamn, "New Day Rising" is as fierce and ambiguously hopeful/hopeless in its simplicity as anything on the album; really, the perfect title track/opening number.
New music, new attitude?
Maybe.
Whatever, Husker Du rules.
DOWNLOAD "NEW DAY RISING".
Speaking of tangents, I also thought, maybe, since music is all so totally my entire life (refers to generic treble clef tattooed on wrist and/or ankle, hearts and stars all surrounding it) that using it as an aid in brooding and mulling and other more foreboding ways of thinking that maybe just maybe that is something I shouldn't, y'know, do. Maybe it ain't good for me to have men who want to be suiciding or already have to be whispering sweet nothings in my ear[phones]. Maybe I need to be put in a more positive mind frame. Maybe less Joy Division, Giles Corey, Jandek, Scott Walker, Swans, Zola Jesus, Death in June, Former Ghosts, Hrsta, etc, etc, etc.
Run-on sentences and general blubbering aside, what do we do about this?
oh hell yes
Husker Du is what we do about this. New Day Rising is what we do about this. Sure, there are definitely some downers on here ("If I Told You"), but in terms of sound it's an incredibly life-affirming album. It's also perfectly acceptable to leave the title track on repeat for 15 times and call it a day, because goddamn, "New Day Rising" is as fierce and ambiguously hopeful/hopeless in its simplicity as anything on the album; really, the perfect title track/opening number.
New music, new attitude?
Maybe.
Whatever, Husker Du rules.
DOWNLOAD "NEW DAY RISING".
Thursday, April 8, 2010
In case you haven't heard:
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR REUNION
Get yourself some live bootlegs to tide you over until you find out if you live in or near one of the "9 American towns" they'll be playing come winter.
Monday, April 5, 2010
I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day
"Excuse" is an ugly word; it has connotations of lie, like a reason that is a lie, at least partially. But "I've been busy" isn't a lie, per se, it's just such a bad reason that it feels excuse-esque. So there's my reason (however poor) for not keeping up with this, though I'm sure it must feel like an excuse to one Devin Hildebrand who emailed me a few weeks back about his sound-collage project Dth. Excuse me.
A lot of this new EP seems to stem from forlorn distress, from the slightly heartbreaking title I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day to the individual songs ("I Always Feel Like Crying (For Mom) is a knee-jerk " :'( "), but musically it isn't quite so hyper-depressive, nor is it as explicitly annoying/boring as sound collage can be. After the clusterfuck and appropriately titled opener "[!]" the album unscrambles and is surprisingly delicate and deeply personal, culling samples not just from random found-sounds but "From our VHS labelled "X-mas '95 / Jodi". It's all set to understated ambient instrumentation, some synth drones and acoustic guitar mostly, it seems, but nothing to overpower the star(s) of the show here (though that being said, cut-up sample set to a live drum beat at the end of the title track is a definite highlight). The whole album is beautifully balanced, between collage and composition, between the vaguely hopeful and the utter despair, between cacophony and ambiance but, somehow, it always ends up an entirely compelling and a quietly disturbing experience.
The highlight here is probably the closer, "Humans are like Ripples", which is probably the simplest in terms of structure and use of samples, but is strangely hypnotic as a whole crowd of people is asked "how was your day?". It sort of epitomizes the forces at work on the album, as the answers range from humorous to somewhat worrisome (sometimes simultaneously) and the music fluctuates accordingly, apparently with some science behind it:
Notes on a set scale (0-20, including halves of numbers) droned accordingly to numbers spoken in spontaneous dialogue prompted by "how are you feeling today, 1-10?"
Basically, I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day is a wildly curious set of songs, which is meant entirely as a compliment. It's the sort of quiet headphone listening for one of those days. When you're not quite sure you want a pick-me-up or if you'd rather throw on Unknown Pleasures as a hold-me-down, then go ahead and try Dth. It'll kind of do both to you, and you'll like it, promise.
Click here to download/stream the whole thing.
A lot of this new EP seems to stem from forlorn distress, from the slightly heartbreaking title I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day to the individual songs ("I Always Feel Like Crying (For Mom) is a knee-jerk " :'( "), but musically it isn't quite so hyper-depressive, nor is it as explicitly annoying/boring as sound collage can be. After the clusterfuck and appropriately titled opener "[!]" the album unscrambles and is surprisingly delicate and deeply personal, culling samples not just from random found-sounds but "From our VHS labelled "X-mas '95 / Jodi". It's all set to understated ambient instrumentation, some synth drones and acoustic guitar mostly, it seems, but nothing to overpower the star(s) of the show here (though that being said, cut-up sample set to a live drum beat at the end of the title track is a definite highlight). The whole album is beautifully balanced, between collage and composition, between the vaguely hopeful and the utter despair, between cacophony and ambiance but, somehow, it always ends up an entirely compelling and a quietly disturbing experience.
The highlight here is probably the closer, "Humans are like Ripples", which is probably the simplest in terms of structure and use of samples, but is strangely hypnotic as a whole crowd of people is asked "how was your day?". It sort of epitomizes the forces at work on the album, as the answers range from humorous to somewhat worrisome (sometimes simultaneously) and the music fluctuates accordingly, apparently with some science behind it:
Notes on a set scale (0-20, including halves of numbers) droned accordingly to numbers spoken in spontaneous dialogue prompted by "how are you feeling today, 1-10?"
Basically, I Hope I Can Feel Something Like That One Day is a wildly curious set of songs, which is meant entirely as a compliment. It's the sort of quiet headphone listening for one of those days. When you're not quite sure you want a pick-me-up or if you'd rather throw on Unknown Pleasures as a hold-me-down, then go ahead and try Dth. It'll kind of do both to you, and you'll like it, promise.
Click here to download/stream the whole thing.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Pillows & Prayers Vol. 1
I'd like to call this one a "hidden gem", but in contains in itself so many more hidden gems that we'd get into a very messy intergemuality or somesuch thing. A much better way of describing this, in immediate retrospect, would be a treasure trove of hidden gems. Ahem.
Pillows & Prayers was released in 1982 with the strict order of "pay no more than 99p" printed on the cover. The dirt-cheap LP is a sampler from Cherry Red Records, featuring a bunch of sorely underrated new wave/post-punk as well as a few heavy-hitters, including Everything But the Girl, Felt and Quentin Crisp. And when those are the "popular" bands on the compilation, it certainly says something about how underappreciated it is.
It's a solid listen all the way through, but if I had to pick-and-choose favourites, The Monochrome Set's angular post-punk "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens", Thomas Leer's synth-heavy "All About You" and Ben Watt's acoustic faux-jazzy "Some Things Don't Matter" would be top picks, alongside The Nightingales and Eyeless in Gaza (holy shit, that is a rad name for a band.) Throw in a spoken word track and a poetry piece by Atilla the Stockbroker and you've got a well-rounded mix. It was worth your 99p 28 years ago, and it's definitely worth the 10 minute download now.
DOWNLOAD: Pillows & Prayers Volume 1
And yes, there is indeed a Volume 2. If anyone's interested, let me know!
Pillows & Prayers was released in 1982 with the strict order of "pay no more than 99p" printed on the cover. The dirt-cheap LP is a sampler from Cherry Red Records, featuring a bunch of sorely underrated new wave/post-punk as well as a few heavy-hitters, including Everything But the Girl, Felt and Quentin Crisp. And when those are the "popular" bands on the compilation, it certainly says something about how underappreciated it is.
It's a solid listen all the way through, but if I had to pick-and-choose favourites, The Monochrome Set's angular post-punk "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens", Thomas Leer's synth-heavy "All About You" and Ben Watt's acoustic faux-jazzy "Some Things Don't Matter" would be top picks, alongside The Nightingales and Eyeless in Gaza (holy shit, that is a rad name for a band.) Throw in a spoken word track and a poetry piece by Atilla the Stockbroker and you've got a well-rounded mix. It was worth your 99p 28 years ago, and it's definitely worth the 10 minute download now.
DOWNLOAD: Pillows & Prayers Volume 1
And yes, there is indeed a Volume 2. If anyone's interested, let me know!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tied to Stone
Prurient's Adam Tied to Stone might just be my favourite noise album. Which is funny, because a few years ago I would've scoffed at the notion of a "favourite" noise album, or in fact, "better" or "worse" noise in general. I'll admit it: I was dismissive of the genre as a whole. I could appreciate noise in a context, such as in The Velvet Underground or Sonic Youth's early material, but concrete noise was over my head. But I suppose approaching a whole new genre can be a bit daunting, and one as anti-... music... as noise can be especially inpenetrable.
Now I'm by no means any sort of noise guru, but I at least have an appreciation for the genre, and listen to enough that I can finally answer people who ask me what makes a "good" noise album? How can one man's static be "better" than another?.
Adam Tied to Stone, as previously mentioned, is a decidedly "good" noise album. First and foremost, I think noise (by and large) can't be judged by "musical" standards - melody, rhythm, composition, etc. - but by "sound" standards: by its texture, volume, power (if I dare be so artsy-fartsy abstract). "Adam" is absolutely ferocious in terms of texture, a clipping, engulfing mess of static. Additionally, we have possibly my favourite distinguishing feature of Prurient, and that being vocals. Crank this to 11 and try not to get goosebumps during the first overdriven scream.
What also sets Adam... apart is - get this - variation. "Bad" noise is lazy noise. Bad noise is laptop looping. Bad noise can be made in 15 minutes with little care or attention. "Returning Rape", while just as destructive as "Adam", is audible different: there is a decidedly different texture, and the synths at the end even reveal different instrumentation. A big step, really, in an age where noise can be entirely "laptop music" (which is why earlier noise is so fascinating, with all the homemade instruments and guerilla tactics). "Tied to Stone" even has a goddamn beat.
So if you're noise-curious, give this a listen. It's out-of-print, but it's still kicking around and highly recommended - coloured vinyl, hand-numbered, the works.
Download: Prurient - Adam Tied to Stone
Now I'm by no means any sort of noise guru, but I at least have an appreciation for the genre, and listen to enough that I can finally answer people who ask me what makes a "good" noise album? How can one man's static be "better" than another?.
Adam Tied to Stone, as previously mentioned, is a decidedly "good" noise album. First and foremost, I think noise (by and large) can't be judged by "musical" standards - melody, rhythm, composition, etc. - but by "sound" standards: by its texture, volume, power (if I dare be so artsy-fartsy abstract). "Adam" is absolutely ferocious in terms of texture, a clipping, engulfing mess of static. Additionally, we have possibly my favourite distinguishing feature of Prurient, and that being vocals. Crank this to 11 and try not to get goosebumps during the first overdriven scream.
What also sets Adam... apart is - get this - variation. "Bad" noise is lazy noise. Bad noise is laptop looping. Bad noise can be made in 15 minutes with little care or attention. "Returning Rape", while just as destructive as "Adam", is audible different: there is a decidedly different texture, and the synths at the end even reveal different instrumentation. A big step, really, in an age where noise can be entirely "laptop music" (which is why earlier noise is so fascinating, with all the homemade instruments and guerilla tactics). "Tied to Stone" even has a goddamn beat.
So if you're noise-curious, give this a listen. It's out-of-print, but it's still kicking around and highly recommended - coloured vinyl, hand-numbered, the works.
Download: Prurient - Adam Tied to Stone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)