Awww.....this will be the last list for a while. But I just had to post my excitement at finding these stashed away in the drawer.
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Husker Du - Everything Falls Apart and more.../Warehouse
Bloc Party - EP
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
I thought I'd lost these! Basically you should listen to these along with everything mentioned BELOW.
Soon, I will write something of interest. I promise.
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Guitar Hero (List 2)
I've just realised what a sad sorry state the legacy of guitar heroes is in. Right now, think of all the up to date popular bands of the moment - Hadouken!, The Enemy, Joe Lean, Foals, Fall Out Boy, Paramore....
Amongst them, there is not one guitar hero. There is not one maverick, intensely exciting guitar manipulator who crosses lines, punctuates music with noise or will pioneer a new style.
All I can do is look to those who have inspired me.
Jimi Hendrix - not the bluesey, widdley Hendrix that everyone seems to make up in their heads having not listened to a note of his music, but rather the guitar-shagging, feedback-howling, Star Spangled Banner-mangling fiend who set fire to his guitar, allowed his sound to degenerate into a sonic mess and genuinely reached for the stars with his sound.
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins - a man who tracked 40 guitars onto one song in order to destroy planets with it.
Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine - a hip-hop enthusiast who wanted to put DJs out of business by replicating whistle calls and vinyl scratching on guitar.
Thurston Moore and Lee Ronaldo of Sonic Youth - a duo who followed the teachings of Glenn Branca (a man who would create "human chords" by tuning a guitar's six strings all to one note and subsequently compose a chord from separate players) by jamming drumsticks under the strings of the twelfth fret, using contact mics attached to drills upon pickups, who scraped, pulled and abused the guitar as much as played a note.
Spiral Stairs and Stephen Malkmus of Pavement - who played beautiful passages of country-esque clean melodies, dropping countless bum notes into their arpeggios and then blasted the cobwebs with ugly, broken distortion.
Dave Knudson from Botch/Minus The Bear - his reverb soaked, melodic patterns fill the air with electric neon lights and rugged textures the Edge could only wet-dream of.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana - a troubled young man who frequently disregarded harmonic theory and played with violence and emotion.
Ian McKaye and Guy Picciotto of Fugazi - two hardcore pioneers who bled reggae and emo -core influences, creating awkward, vibrant and angular sounds which verged on metal.
Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs - a simple garage punk riffer who seemed more concerned with learning detuned death metal inbetween recordings, yet ended up garotting, caressing and tickling you with the simplest sounds.
Matt Bellamy of Muse - taking after his heroes, he summoned spaceships and solar systems with his hyperactive classical style loaded with distortion and built-in Kaos Pad fury.
Dave Lake of KaitO - one of the hardest losses of recent years, Kaito's guitarist loaded his frontwoman's simple chords with the most avant-garde explorations of noise/melody heard in the last five years.
Graham Coxon of Blur - seriously. Listen to his playing on Country House, then listen to This Is A Low, then listen to the stammering riff of On Your Own, then listen to the solo of Country Sad Ballad Man. A guy who used to throw his Telecaster into the air as high as possible at gigs to see what it sounded like HAS to be worshipped.
Dylan Carlson of Earth - picture this: Dylan walks on stage, turns the amp on, turns up the volume, leans his guitar against the amplifier so as to promote vibration feedback then steps out into the crowd. 40 minutes later, after the drummer has exhausted himself, Dylan emerges from the crowd, switches off the amp and walks off stage with his bandmates. Truly a genius.
Glenn Branca - I've mentioned him already, but just check out one of his solos on youtube. Since when did pick scrapes, mind-melting volume and total atonal noise constitute a solo? Probably since he did it, and guitar playing/music/the world is all the better for it.
William and Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain - without any intention of learning to play, William would hang a guitar round his neck like bling and allow the guitar to howl with feedback. Better than a Slash solo.
Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine - used a different set of effects pedals for each song and warped the speakers of hundreds of indie kids with Loveless, an album that took five years in a studio and bankrupted Creation Records, mainly because Shields fucked up the guitar mixes with insane walls of noise.
I could go on forever. There are so many players who make me want to un-learn the guitar, piece together masterpieces of eternal musical/experimental value and wreck eardrums. What are the youth doing about it? Listen to Health, Crystal Castles and School of Language. Listen to Die! Die! Die! and Popular Workshop. Listen to anything where guitars don't sound like guitars, or do sound like guitars, but like you were the one who invented the instrument, and be inspired to wreck the legacy of assumed guitar heroes forever. I never ever ever want to hear 12 bar blues played in my presence again. I never want to hear a classic rock riff played in front of me. I want to hear people who can't play. I want to hear people who would rather use the acoustics of the room coupled with overloading homemade pedals to capture something that may never be played again. Let's do it. Let's burn the blueprints, the chord maps, the tablature, restring our guitars with random guages and start playing with fish hooks attached to our fingers. I can't imagine anything more exciting than this.
Amongst them, there is not one guitar hero. There is not one maverick, intensely exciting guitar manipulator who crosses lines, punctuates music with noise or will pioneer a new style.
All I can do is look to those who have inspired me.
Jimi Hendrix - not the bluesey, widdley Hendrix that everyone seems to make up in their heads having not listened to a note of his music, but rather the guitar-shagging, feedback-howling, Star Spangled Banner-mangling fiend who set fire to his guitar, allowed his sound to degenerate into a sonic mess and genuinely reached for the stars with his sound.
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins - a man who tracked 40 guitars onto one song in order to destroy planets with it.
Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine - a hip-hop enthusiast who wanted to put DJs out of business by replicating whistle calls and vinyl scratching on guitar.
Thurston Moore and Lee Ronaldo of Sonic Youth - a duo who followed the teachings of Glenn Branca (a man who would create "human chords" by tuning a guitar's six strings all to one note and subsequently compose a chord from separate players) by jamming drumsticks under the strings of the twelfth fret, using contact mics attached to drills upon pickups, who scraped, pulled and abused the guitar as much as played a note.
Spiral Stairs and Stephen Malkmus of Pavement - who played beautiful passages of country-esque clean melodies, dropping countless bum notes into their arpeggios and then blasted the cobwebs with ugly, broken distortion.
Dave Knudson from Botch/Minus The Bear - his reverb soaked, melodic patterns fill the air with electric neon lights and rugged textures the Edge could only wet-dream of.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana - a troubled young man who frequently disregarded harmonic theory and played with violence and emotion.
Ian McKaye and Guy Picciotto of Fugazi - two hardcore pioneers who bled reggae and emo -core influences, creating awkward, vibrant and angular sounds which verged on metal.
Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs - a simple garage punk riffer who seemed more concerned with learning detuned death metal inbetween recordings, yet ended up garotting, caressing and tickling you with the simplest sounds.
Matt Bellamy of Muse - taking after his heroes, he summoned spaceships and solar systems with his hyperactive classical style loaded with distortion and built-in Kaos Pad fury.
Dave Lake of KaitO - one of the hardest losses of recent years, Kaito's guitarist loaded his frontwoman's simple chords with the most avant-garde explorations of noise/melody heard in the last five years.
Graham Coxon of Blur - seriously. Listen to his playing on Country House, then listen to This Is A Low, then listen to the stammering riff of On Your Own, then listen to the solo of Country Sad Ballad Man. A guy who used to throw his Telecaster into the air as high as possible at gigs to see what it sounded like HAS to be worshipped.
Dylan Carlson of Earth - picture this: Dylan walks on stage, turns the amp on, turns up the volume, leans his guitar against the amplifier so as to promote vibration feedback then steps out into the crowd. 40 minutes later, after the drummer has exhausted himself, Dylan emerges from the crowd, switches off the amp and walks off stage with his bandmates. Truly a genius.
Glenn Branca - I've mentioned him already, but just check out one of his solos on youtube. Since when did pick scrapes, mind-melting volume and total atonal noise constitute a solo? Probably since he did it, and guitar playing/music/the world is all the better for it.
William and Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain - without any intention of learning to play, William would hang a guitar round his neck like bling and allow the guitar to howl with feedback. Better than a Slash solo.
Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine - used a different set of effects pedals for each song and warped the speakers of hundreds of indie kids with Loveless, an album that took five years in a studio and bankrupted Creation Records, mainly because Shields fucked up the guitar mixes with insane walls of noise.
I could go on forever. There are so many players who make me want to un-learn the guitar, piece together masterpieces of eternal musical/experimental value and wreck eardrums. What are the youth doing about it? Listen to Health, Crystal Castles and School of Language. Listen to Die! Die! Die! and Popular Workshop. Listen to anything where guitars don't sound like guitars, or do sound like guitars, but like you were the one who invented the instrument, and be inspired to wreck the legacy of assumed guitar heroes forever. I never ever ever want to hear 12 bar blues played in my presence again. I never want to hear a classic rock riff played in front of me. I want to hear people who can't play. I want to hear people who would rather use the acoustics of the room coupled with overloading homemade pedals to capture something that may never be played again. Let's do it. Let's burn the blueprints, the chord maps, the tablature, restring our guitars with random guages and start playing with fish hooks attached to our fingers. I can't imagine anything more exciting than this.
Let's Get Positive (List 1)
Things around here have been far too negative of late, and it's bringing me down. So let's reflect on the fact that, two months in, I have heard some incredible music:
Health - Health * Yes I know this came out last year but it's official UK release is Feb
Autechre - Quaristice *Yes I know it's their ninth album, but it's fresher than anything else I've heard this year
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing *Yes I know its pure noise, but on this showing, that's far better than melody
Les Savy Fav - Inches * Yes I know it's a reissue but I don't give a flip, it's still snap crackle and pop
School of Language - Ship From Shore* Yes I know it sounds like Field Music but this should be encouraged wherever possible
Envelopes - Here Comes The Wind* Yes I know they have a boring name, but they are the musical equivalent of exploding space hoppers piloted by Oompa-Loompahs
Chris T-T - Capital *Yes I know it's the end of a trilogy, but it gives Godfather a run for its money
Frank Turner - Love, Ire & Song *Yes it's so much better than the excellent 2007 debut
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You *Yes, just turn the volume up
Charlottefield - What Are Friends For *Yes without a bloody question mark, it's a statement
MIT - live at Barfly *Yes I know the album's disappointing but live they are INCREDIBLE
This is without mentioning Shield Your Eyes (ex MMISL), Maths Class, MGMT, Vessals, Throats, and countless other musics I have yet to discover.
Also I've been digging through my archives, and look what impossibly amazing gems I rediscovered (for the sixtieth time)
Pavement - Their entire back catalogue apart from Westing and Wowiee Zowiee which I don't own
Fugazi - Steady Diet Of Nothing and The Argument
The Appleseed Cast - Mare Vitalis
Mineral - The Power of Failing (specifically Parking Lot)
Love Is All - Nine Times The Same Song
Weezer - Pinkerton
Mogwai - Come On Die Young and Rock Action
Sonic Youth - their entire back catclogue apart from Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped, Jet Set... and NYC... which I don't own
Blood Brothers - Crimes
Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
...and loads more.
Look at the happy smiles on yours and my faces!!:D
Back to regular service as soon as someone pisses me off again....
Health - Health * Yes I know this came out last year but it's official UK release is Feb
Autechre - Quaristice *Yes I know it's their ninth album, but it's fresher than anything else I've heard this year
Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing *Yes I know its pure noise, but on this showing, that's far better than melody
Les Savy Fav - Inches * Yes I know it's a reissue but I don't give a flip, it's still snap crackle and pop
School of Language - Ship From Shore* Yes I know it sounds like Field Music but this should be encouraged wherever possible
Envelopes - Here Comes The Wind* Yes I know they have a boring name, but they are the musical equivalent of exploding space hoppers piloted by Oompa-Loompahs
Chris T-T - Capital *Yes I know it's the end of a trilogy, but it gives Godfather a run for its money
Frank Turner - Love, Ire & Song *Yes it's so much better than the excellent 2007 debut
This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You *Yes, just turn the volume up
Charlottefield - What Are Friends For *Yes without a bloody question mark, it's a statement
MIT - live at Barfly *Yes I know the album's disappointing but live they are INCREDIBLE
This is without mentioning Shield Your Eyes (ex MMISL), Maths Class, MGMT, Vessals, Throats, and countless other musics I have yet to discover.
Also I've been digging through my archives, and look what impossibly amazing gems I rediscovered (for the sixtieth time)
Pavement - Their entire back catalogue apart from Westing and Wowiee Zowiee which I don't own
Fugazi - Steady Diet Of Nothing and The Argument
The Appleseed Cast - Mare Vitalis
Mineral - The Power of Failing (specifically Parking Lot)
Love Is All - Nine Times The Same Song
Weezer - Pinkerton
Mogwai - Come On Die Young and Rock Action
Sonic Youth - their entire back catclogue apart from Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped, Jet Set... and NYC... which I don't own
Blood Brothers - Crimes
Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
...and loads more.
Look at the happy smiles on yours and my faces!!:D
Back to regular service as soon as someone pisses me off again....
Sunday, 17 February 2008
I Is Music Journalist (III)
You know, I don't intentionally go out searching for material from other music journalists to criticse, but it just seems to be open season right now. Check this appalling piece of music journalism:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/dizzee-rascal-i-still-get-the-bullshit-that-black-boys-get-783288.html
Sarcastic? Attempting to inject some comedy into proceedings? Admits he can't be arsed to think up good questions (well, he admits he's going to give up, meaning he hasn't held Dizzee's attention, so the implication is there)? This is terrible.
Now speaking from experience, Dylan Mills isn't an easy interviewee. He does come across as disinterested and rather irritated with the fact that he has to be there in front of you, answering your questions as if under interrogation. He admitted during my interview that he understands the role of the press, and just does it because he has to. Fair enough.
Now, where Cole went wrong (bearing in mind that I definitely understand that sometimes interviewees have bad days) is that he never engaged with Dizzee. He didn't talk about music for a start, and if he did, he didn't follow it up because he wanted something jucier, something more tabloid or sensationalist. Now, this means, that the interview should never have been printed, or even commissioned in the first place. Dizzee Rascal becomes animate, interested and respectful once you're talking about his music, or any music. He lives for music. He can't start his day without it. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most passionate musician I've interviewed about music itself. This was our common ground - I enjoyed my time with Dizzee Rascal, and I believe the feeling was mutual. For Cole to get sarcastic because he wasn't getting the responses he wanted is unprofessional and condascending to Independent readers.
Once I get the PDF of my Rascal piece for Playmusic from the relevant people, I will link to it/post it here for comparison. Frankly, my article blows this professional journalist's out of the water. Do we REALLY still want to read shit like this? REALLY??
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/dizzee-rascal-i-still-get-the-bullshit-that-black-boys-get-783288.html
Sarcastic? Attempting to inject some comedy into proceedings? Admits he can't be arsed to think up good questions (well, he admits he's going to give up, meaning he hasn't held Dizzee's attention, so the implication is there)? This is terrible.
Now speaking from experience, Dylan Mills isn't an easy interviewee. He does come across as disinterested and rather irritated with the fact that he has to be there in front of you, answering your questions as if under interrogation. He admitted during my interview that he understands the role of the press, and just does it because he has to. Fair enough.
Now, where Cole went wrong (bearing in mind that I definitely understand that sometimes interviewees have bad days) is that he never engaged with Dizzee. He didn't talk about music for a start, and if he did, he didn't follow it up because he wanted something jucier, something more tabloid or sensationalist. Now, this means, that the interview should never have been printed, or even commissioned in the first place. Dizzee Rascal becomes animate, interested and respectful once you're talking about his music, or any music. He lives for music. He can't start his day without it. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most passionate musician I've interviewed about music itself. This was our common ground - I enjoyed my time with Dizzee Rascal, and I believe the feeling was mutual. For Cole to get sarcastic because he wasn't getting the responses he wanted is unprofessional and condascending to Independent readers.
Once I get the PDF of my Rascal piece for Playmusic from the relevant people, I will link to it/post it here for comparison. Frankly, my article blows this professional journalist's out of the water. Do we REALLY still want to read shit like this? REALLY??
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
I Is Music Journalist (II)
I found this today. Sigh....
"But these things only get truly offensive when the audience gets some of the steaming action. At least the singer with The Dismemberment Plan had the good grace to crap in a towel which he then wrapped in a plastic bag before he threw it into the crowd one hungover Sunday morning at Reading Festival."
Question: who was this written by and for what blog, on what website?
Answer: someone whose writing I so admired that it convinced me choose this route of poverty to write for music magazines. It can be found on his blog on NME.com.
The Dismemberment Plan = emo pop
The Dillinger Escape Plan = jazz-flecked metalcore
Mark Beaumont = wrong
Me = sigh
*sigh*
"But these things only get truly offensive when the audience gets some of the steaming action. At least the singer with The Dismemberment Plan had the good grace to crap in a towel which he then wrapped in a plastic bag before he threw it into the crowd one hungover Sunday morning at Reading Festival."
Question: who was this written by and for what blog, on what website?
Answer: someone whose writing I so admired that it convinced me choose this route of poverty to write for music magazines. It can be found on his blog on NME.com.
The Dismemberment Plan = emo pop
The Dillinger Escape Plan = jazz-flecked metalcore
Mark Beaumont = wrong
Me = sigh
*sigh*
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
I Is Music Journalist
Okay so this is perhaps the worst case of journalism (online or otherwise) I've ever seen.
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/les-savy-fav
(I hope this article doesn't get removed otherwise you're just gonna have to trust me)
What I'm really hoping is that he's not actually employed by The Word - whose blatantly false slogan atop their magazine and website is "Home of Intelligent Life on Planet Rock" - and that this writer hacked their website.
Seriously - it must be a reader review. Not that I think he reads much. When a journalist admits to not knowing anything about a HEADLINING act - there are two questions that spring to mind: 1) What the fuck are you doing there and 2) Isn't part of your job to, well, research what you review/criticise?
What I despise more than his indecent dismissal of Future Of The Left is the fact that his highlight was Los Campesinos! Hell, I didn't see them, but I don't care. It smacks of HOT FOR 2008 bias. Los Compesinos! are a great band, but to say Les Savy Fav are "slightly arty shouty punk metal" pretty much demonstrates, to me at least, that this guy should not be writing for the website of a magazine that I thought I respected. Fucking hell.
Music journalism these days is utter tosh. The majority of higher profile writers are terrible, ill informed and not at all entertaining. I could ramble on about a one-man crusade that I'm waging, but that's not true because there are tonnes of amazing writers out there - except they are writing FOR FREE. How is this fair? Sure, shit writers don't necessarily get money too, but then they shouldn't even be writing.
Now you're probably thinking: "Oh you're clearly a FOTL/LSF fanboy who doesn't like this writer's opinion". Fuck you. Fuck you and your judgmental idiocy. I love both of those bands, but anyone with basic reading skills can see that the opinions have practically been spat onto the keyboard and the phlegm smeared across keys which the spellcheck has picked up and formed into actual sentences.
Well....perhaps not. But the only entertainment value here is in this display of incompetence of this man's (boy's?) literacy and journalistic skills. I could now trail the internet searching for other examples that rile me, but I've got far too much to do. I just despair that as I write about bands I love and hate - yet still create pieces worth reading, if only for enjoyment - with passion, conviction and talent, others are squandering web space (which is pretty much infinite, but it's still a bad use of space) with this utter drivel. Seriously, fuck substandard writers and ESPECIALLY lazy music journalists. Go read about/listen to bands that have been around for a decade before you review them. It's not hard. It's in fact your fucking job.
PS Brad apologises for any bad grammar or spell-check failiures in the body of this post. He is clearly fucked off enough to not bloody care.
PPS. Expect more shitkicking of terrible music journalism at a later date.
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/les-savy-fav
(I hope this article doesn't get removed otherwise you're just gonna have to trust me)
What I'm really hoping is that he's not actually employed by The Word - whose blatantly false slogan atop their magazine and website is "Home of Intelligent Life on Planet Rock" - and that this writer hacked their website.
Seriously - it must be a reader review. Not that I think he reads much. When a journalist admits to not knowing anything about a HEADLINING act - there are two questions that spring to mind: 1) What the fuck are you doing there and 2) Isn't part of your job to, well, research what you review/criticise?
What I despise more than his indecent dismissal of Future Of The Left is the fact that his highlight was Los Campesinos! Hell, I didn't see them, but I don't care. It smacks of HOT FOR 2008 bias. Los Compesinos! are a great band, but to say Les Savy Fav are "slightly arty shouty punk metal" pretty much demonstrates, to me at least, that this guy should not be writing for the website of a magazine that I thought I respected. Fucking hell.
Music journalism these days is utter tosh. The majority of higher profile writers are terrible, ill informed and not at all entertaining. I could ramble on about a one-man crusade that I'm waging, but that's not true because there are tonnes of amazing writers out there - except they are writing FOR FREE. How is this fair? Sure, shit writers don't necessarily get money too, but then they shouldn't even be writing.
Now you're probably thinking: "Oh you're clearly a FOTL/LSF fanboy who doesn't like this writer's opinion". Fuck you. Fuck you and your judgmental idiocy. I love both of those bands, but anyone with basic reading skills can see that the opinions have practically been spat onto the keyboard and the phlegm smeared across keys which the spellcheck has picked up and formed into actual sentences.
Well....perhaps not. But the only entertainment value here is in this display of incompetence of this man's (boy's?) literacy and journalistic skills. I could now trail the internet searching for other examples that rile me, but I've got far too much to do. I just despair that as I write about bands I love and hate - yet still create pieces worth reading, if only for enjoyment - with passion, conviction and talent, others are squandering web space (which is pretty much infinite, but it's still a bad use of space) with this utter drivel. Seriously, fuck substandard writers and ESPECIALLY lazy music journalists. Go read about/listen to bands that have been around for a decade before you review them. It's not hard. It's in fact your fucking job.
PS Brad apologises for any bad grammar or spell-check failiures in the body of this post. He is clearly fucked off enough to not bloody care.
PPS. Expect more shitkicking of terrible music journalism at a later date.
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