Leaping from the decaying violence of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to the melancholy lace-sewn harmonies of Why?'s new record Eskimo Snow, I'm looking for something that burns my nerves through touch. I'm looking for something so inherent to my nature that I can wrap my yo-yo moods up between them like a cats cradle of dangerous bile and sugary sweetness. I want emotions stretched to breaking point so that when they spring back, they've contorted into unrecognisable feelings. I want my moods stroked then plunged into hitherto unknown states - I want to feel angry, sad, scared and joyous all in delicious ambiguity. I want to find relaxation in discordance and discomfort in perfect harmony. I want lyrics to shear my head of uncomplex thoughts and indulge my love of language, wordplay and intonation.
I don't think this is too much to ask either.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
In No Particular Order: Albums of 2009 - as of 23rd March 2009
Mastodon - Crack the Skye: phenomenal is a word used far too often, but is more than appropriate for this seven track, fifty plus minute epic piece of progressive metal music
Propagandhi - Supporting Caste: lyrical genius and intense, emotional playing within pop-punk boundaries, it's a record which should have the power for social change, and will at least become a landmark in their already righteous history
Mono - Hymn to the Immportal Wind: embracing classical movements within standard post-rock cliches, Mono continue to craft luminescent soundscapes of beauty and bitterness
Micahcu and the Shapes - Jewellery: a DIY masterpiece, pop music started at Year Zero with homemade instrument and a sense of adventure that rivals any album made in a long time
The Thermals - Now We Can See: it's a Thermals record! Nuff said.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion: natural beauty as danced and interpreted by tropical electricity
Others bubbling under:
Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil
Asobi Seksu - Hush
Women - Women
Propagandhi - Supporting Caste: lyrical genius and intense, emotional playing within pop-punk boundaries, it's a record which should have the power for social change, and will at least become a landmark in their already righteous history
Mono - Hymn to the Immportal Wind: embracing classical movements within standard post-rock cliches, Mono continue to craft luminescent soundscapes of beauty and bitterness
Micahcu and the Shapes - Jewellery: a DIY masterpiece, pop music started at Year Zero with homemade instrument and a sense of adventure that rivals any album made in a long time
The Thermals - Now We Can See: it's a Thermals record! Nuff said.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion: natural beauty as danced and interpreted by tropical electricity
Others bubbling under:
Hatcham Social - You Dig The Tunnel, I'll Hide The Soil
Asobi Seksu - Hush
Women - Women
Thursday, 19 February 2009
What I Mean When I Say You're Really Bad
I've spent the last few months (okay perhaps the last hour or so) thinking about what I'm doing (okay, so this occupies almost every waking though between thinking about food and thinking about sex). What am I doing? Well, I tend to write about music in all it's variant forms: I criticise music, whether entire records or single songs. I conduct and transcribe interviews and write features based around the answers musicians give to questions I ask. I research and write industry press releases on amp endorsees and on new microphone equipment. I listen to lots of albums and go to lots of gigs. I occasionally get paid to do this.
It's occured to me that more and more, I'm fighting for something. I'm fighting for the things that are important to me - the notion of music as communication and expression - to be heard over what is important to other people - the notion of music as a way of making money and, consequently, a living. Now, I certainly feel that artists (for that is indeed what musicians are) should be paid for their work. I think what they create is worth paying to listen to, to indulge in, to experience. I don't however, feel that it can ever be considered a career choice. I may well have written silly things about bands "making it", but I never truly believed in this notion. Rather I've bought into what people want to hear, to make them listen to more important things.
But I guess I shouldn't lie to them anymore. Look. If you want to make a career out of music, can I suggest you stop and do something else. It's ridiculous. This goes for anyone thinking they can become an A & R scout or a music journalist too. I will say as much to the O2 class I'll be taking on March 5th. Why? Because I don't believe you've thought it through. There's no money here.
I adore music. I think it's incredible. It's a form of communcation which predates language. I find it astonishing that "dead" languages are allowed to die out. The knowledge contained within the literature and in the heads of the speakers of these tongues are being lost as a result. So, if music was to be eternally streamlined into manufactured rubbish, or severed into commerical pieces, it'd be pretty depressing. Of course you could say that most people haven't got anything worth saying. I believe everyone has something to say, and it enriches the human experience for them to say it. THe fact that we have so many ways of expressing things is one of the main reason I adore writing: I can take humour, sarcasm, irony, foreign expressions, classic phrases, quotes, similies, analogies, and countless other linguistic tricks (rhyming!) and splurge them onto a page to communicate whatever I want. It's art in itself.
What am I trying to achieve? I guess, like anyone, I'm trying to work out who I am, why I'm here and try and have fun while I'm doing this. These questions aren't necessary to answer - in fact they're futile - but it's part of the human condition and therefore I'll willingly explore how I feel and my place in the world. Music plays a big part in this - it's not just sounds to me. It's an emotional cavern that reveals catacombs so deep, they may well inhabit the entire universe.
My way of exploring is listening, retaining, talking to the artists and working out my own way of presenting their music, art and ideas. I think our own interpretations of others' efforts are as important as making our own. Hell most art is derivative of others' ideas. What we find worth in makes us who we are.
I know this sounds like pretentiousness to a lot of people - but that's your perception and it's incorrect. Not once have I pretended to be anything but myself. Self-indulgent maybe, not pretentious. Look it up. It's such an overused word.
So why do I do what I do? You know what....I don't know. I just do it. It's exciting and sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it seems worthy and sometimes it doesn't. I know I can't make a living this way, but I do. I have so many other ambitions, yet it seems amazing to me that I've managed to write things I'm proud of and learnt so much along the way. Believe me, the industry may well be collapsing, but I'm finding it fascinating. I feel sorry for good people who are losing jobs. That's terrible, especially as it's these people who have done the tiny amounts of good in this business.
But then, look at Ian MacKaye. He survived. He became a major influence and stood up for what he believed in and still does. He's changed the world in his own tiny little way. So, why can't we think this way? Why can't we, instead of thinking "this is my career" think, "this is what I do". There's a difference between a job and who you are. If you can combine the two yet keep them separate, then kudos.
So, whether anyone notices or not, I tend to have a pretty strong message in my features - it may be an anti-industry thing, it might be an encouraging positive message to new bands....I always try to have a point beyond what the "story" is. The story is never the band talking to a journalist. The story is the one I'm telling and using the band as the centrepiece. Sometimes it comes across as sensationalism, which is a shame. A lot of the time it hits the mark.
My point is this: write music to express who you are. Don't write it for other people or to sell to other people. Other people won't buy it usually anyway, so you'll have to give it away free and if you're doing that you'd better make sure you want others to hear it. It's a privilege for someone to listen to you - they don't owe you a living. By the same token, neither do you owe them anything if they buy stuff (though it's nice when you're thanked). If I criticse you, either positively or negatively, it's because I'm interested enough in your efforts to do one or the other. This is a great thing. If I completely pan something, I will still try and eke out something worth learning from it. If you choose not to read or listen, then that's great! You're simply doing something you want to do and not expecting others to like it: the purest form of expression.
I want to fight for more important things. I do already, in my own little way. Music is a great place to start though, agreed?
It's occured to me that more and more, I'm fighting for something. I'm fighting for the things that are important to me - the notion of music as communication and expression - to be heard over what is important to other people - the notion of music as a way of making money and, consequently, a living. Now, I certainly feel that artists (for that is indeed what musicians are) should be paid for their work. I think what they create is worth paying to listen to, to indulge in, to experience. I don't however, feel that it can ever be considered a career choice. I may well have written silly things about bands "making it", but I never truly believed in this notion. Rather I've bought into what people want to hear, to make them listen to more important things.
But I guess I shouldn't lie to them anymore. Look. If you want to make a career out of music, can I suggest you stop and do something else. It's ridiculous. This goes for anyone thinking they can become an A & R scout or a music journalist too. I will say as much to the O2 class I'll be taking on March 5th. Why? Because I don't believe you've thought it through. There's no money here.
I adore music. I think it's incredible. It's a form of communcation which predates language. I find it astonishing that "dead" languages are allowed to die out. The knowledge contained within the literature and in the heads of the speakers of these tongues are being lost as a result. So, if music was to be eternally streamlined into manufactured rubbish, or severed into commerical pieces, it'd be pretty depressing. Of course you could say that most people haven't got anything worth saying. I believe everyone has something to say, and it enriches the human experience for them to say it. THe fact that we have so many ways of expressing things is one of the main reason I adore writing: I can take humour, sarcasm, irony, foreign expressions, classic phrases, quotes, similies, analogies, and countless other linguistic tricks (rhyming!) and splurge them onto a page to communicate whatever I want. It's art in itself.
What am I trying to achieve? I guess, like anyone, I'm trying to work out who I am, why I'm here and try and have fun while I'm doing this. These questions aren't necessary to answer - in fact they're futile - but it's part of the human condition and therefore I'll willingly explore how I feel and my place in the world. Music plays a big part in this - it's not just sounds to me. It's an emotional cavern that reveals catacombs so deep, they may well inhabit the entire universe.
My way of exploring is listening, retaining, talking to the artists and working out my own way of presenting their music, art and ideas. I think our own interpretations of others' efforts are as important as making our own. Hell most art is derivative of others' ideas. What we find worth in makes us who we are.
I know this sounds like pretentiousness to a lot of people - but that's your perception and it's incorrect. Not once have I pretended to be anything but myself. Self-indulgent maybe, not pretentious. Look it up. It's such an overused word.
So why do I do what I do? You know what....I don't know. I just do it. It's exciting and sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it seems worthy and sometimes it doesn't. I know I can't make a living this way, but I do. I have so many other ambitions, yet it seems amazing to me that I've managed to write things I'm proud of and learnt so much along the way. Believe me, the industry may well be collapsing, but I'm finding it fascinating. I feel sorry for good people who are losing jobs. That's terrible, especially as it's these people who have done the tiny amounts of good in this business.
But then, look at Ian MacKaye. He survived. He became a major influence and stood up for what he believed in and still does. He's changed the world in his own tiny little way. So, why can't we think this way? Why can't we, instead of thinking "this is my career" think, "this is what I do". There's a difference between a job and who you are. If you can combine the two yet keep them separate, then kudos.
So, whether anyone notices or not, I tend to have a pretty strong message in my features - it may be an anti-industry thing, it might be an encouraging positive message to new bands....I always try to have a point beyond what the "story" is. The story is never the band talking to a journalist. The story is the one I'm telling and using the band as the centrepiece. Sometimes it comes across as sensationalism, which is a shame. A lot of the time it hits the mark.
My point is this: write music to express who you are. Don't write it for other people or to sell to other people. Other people won't buy it usually anyway, so you'll have to give it away free and if you're doing that you'd better make sure you want others to hear it. It's a privilege for someone to listen to you - they don't owe you a living. By the same token, neither do you owe them anything if they buy stuff (though it's nice when you're thanked). If I criticse you, either positively or negatively, it's because I'm interested enough in your efforts to do one or the other. This is a great thing. If I completely pan something, I will still try and eke out something worth learning from it. If you choose not to read or listen, then that's great! You're simply doing something you want to do and not expecting others to like it: the purest form of expression.
I want to fight for more important things. I do already, in my own little way. Music is a great place to start though, agreed?
Monday, 16 February 2009
Following on from my, as yet, incomplete Radiohead defense, I'm gonna follow it up with another relatively huge band that, perhaps, a lot of people think I shouldn't like.
There's something undeniably magnetic about The Smashing Pumpkins music. They basically took the prog and stadium rock of the 70s and early Eighties and tooled it up for the nineties. How does it work?
1) Billy Corgan's guitar work
Huge riffs, often multi-tracked almost to oblivion, solos whose role it seems to be to jettison into space at the earliest opportunity, effects used to reverberate around your head, his arranging of those mystical and bludgeoning guitar lines, feedback, harmonies, fuzz upon unending fuzz.....even on Adore (the anti-rock record) there's some beautiful guitar work underlying the drum machines and synthery.
2) Billy Corgan's voice
A Marmite voice for sure - it's could be borderline terrible but it's uniqueness and utter conviction made The Smashing Pumpkins sound like no one else. It somehow suited the utter chaos going on around it, to the point where it sticks out more on Zeitgeist (arguably their heaviest record) even with the guitars sounding like war machines.
3) Prolific
This can be a horrendous thing 1) quality control and 2) difficult to know where to start and continue
Basically, I thing the Pumpkins are a band that started off pretty mediocre really - Gish isn't great apart from the first four songs and Tristessa - before leaping to greatness almost instantly. Suddenly, after Siamese Dream, we had a B-sides, rarities and outtakes collection, a follow-up album that was 2 discs long, a box set of EPs etc., a 16 track single album and then a proposed double album with three EPs of off cuts. Just take a look at the digital rarities collection - how many songs? What's more, there's hardly a dud among them. Which is, frankly, terrifying. Even now, after the alright come back album Zeitgeist, we have had a great little acoustic EP American Gothic, two new singles (G.L.O.W. and FOL - what's with the initials?) backed with Superchrist and Gossamer, and promises of more releases along those lines.
4) Album quality
GISH
As I said earlier, pretty average but half of the album is actually brilliant. I Am One and Siva are defining moments in the Pumpkins canon, with riffs and solos and "reset" ideas all punctuating them. Rhinocerous is a great example of the future for Billy's longer songwriting (this actually being one of the best actually). Tristessa is a great pop rock song and Bury does its job. For a debut, 5 classic songs is damn fine.
SIAMESE DREAM
In scope and ability this record is outstanding. Beginning with the drawn out drumming and open stringed riffing of alt rock pioneering Cherub Rock, it's almost Corgan saying: "This is how we sound, and Cherub Rock is our genre". The guitars are charged with shuttle thrusters, sounding thicker, heavier and bolder than any guitar sound ever has. With the Drop D ascending riff of Quiet, it sounds like some threatening death rock album. Come Today though, melody leaps to the forefront - an ice cream truck tune being filtered through metal histrionics - and all bets are off. Soma's gentile-multi layering of reverb and guitars before almighty explosions show Billy's imagination rocketing away. Album highlight, Mayonaise, is penned by both Corgan and Iha and showcases alternate tunings and dynamics at the core of what they do. Silverfuck is a real overstep, proving to be drawn out and pompous but giving a threat rather than a real warning shot. It's still got something which is jucily metallic. Followed by Sweet Sweet's lullaby before the luxiorous Luna, the record is a massive triumph. That's without mentioning the album's acoustic centrepiece Disarm, one of the most simple and elegant songs in their catalogue.
Pisces Iscariot
Released between their breakthrough masterpiece and their commerical goliath peering round the corner, this covers B-sides, outtakes etc. and really shows how prolific Billy is - and how consistent he can be. It openes with the beautiful and aptly named Soothe. When Billy's voice breaks, with the proximity of the mic, it sounds honest and cutting. Billy's phaser effect gets a major work out on a lot of these songs, twisting, revolving and spiralling around his solos, mutating them as you listen. It even gives a showcase for James Iha's first solo songwriting effort for SP: Blew Away. It's sweet, but inconsequential, a lot like the man's solo album. Pissant is a real angry, fast number, very different to what's come before, but an indicator of what was to come. Perhaps my fave is Hello Kitty Kat, a real distorted mess of a song that echoes a heavier Mayonaise. You can practically hear the speakers imploding in protest at the destroyed mix. Though quality depletes towards the end of this collection, Corgan's solo cover of Landlisde is lovely. Basically this could've been the band's third record and people would still love it, but they may not have been half the band they become.
Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness
Disc 1
Jaw droppingly long, yet instilled with quality beyond it's number of tracks (28). Beginning with a piano intro and synthesised strings, it bursts into Tonight Tonight (the first Pumpkins song I actually properly listened to, as I wasn't into their heavier stuff like Bullet With Butterfly Wings at the time). This dramatic, orchestral sweep is so far and away from the distorted guitar symphonies of yore that it seems nonsense to expect anything but a huge break away from Siamese Dream.
Stirring as it is, though, it gets torn apart by the following two tracks. Jellybelly sounds so fiercely distorted, it might as well be on fire. It's actually insane. There's an excruciating build up two thirds in which more than proves Billy wasn't done with abusing guitars and studios by a long shot. The staccato harmonic riff of Zero follows, showing a direct, vicious, stabbing arrangement that uses far less multi-tracking and far more emotion. The solo is sheer pitch shifting, ring modulating, octaving genius. Here Is No Why, relatively calm, is one of the greatest Pumpkins songs in it's clever melodic nuances and percussive chord playng. And that solo too. Minor US hit Bullet With Butterfly Wings follows, and, with the video, really brings to the fore the gothic chic that would become the SP's central theme for the rest of their career. Dark, metallic, lyrically devilish - it's their trademark track in the eyes of many. It's arguably also the first real screaming we get from Billy. To Forgive sticks out after so much heaviness, yet still resonates as an important transitional track almost halfway through the first disc. Barely played guitars shiver underneath Billy's laments. Hints of electronica slip out here too. An Ode To No One seems incongruous after such ugly beauty. It's a proper brutal sleaze metal thrash out. Love is another contrast, a fuzzy minimal trudge through static and Billy's nasal whine. It's extremely effective, like having a shower in guilt and shame. At about 2:44 is one of the album's many sweet spots. The insane filtered solo is haunting. Cupid De Locke feels like a bubble bath and a sleep on a cloud after Love's grime. Then Galapogos returns to Soma territory, with gentle arpeggios washing you upon a beach. Though slow to start, it eventually turns into a shifting, granular sifting sound. It's arrrangement is clever and affecting. Muzzle, though pretty standard rock, is so triumphant, it stands out as one of their best songs and shows that even when Billy strips it all back to its roots, his common thread is a sense of melody. By this time your sweating from the effort of listening, knowing there's still thirty tracks to go. Porcelina Of the Vast Oceans gives you a prolonged two minute intro, though one adorned with peaks and troughs after the injection of adrenaline from Muzzle. It then alternately drifts and jolts you across it's nine plus minutes. It was the perfect set opener for their Zeitgeist tour in 2008. In some wasy it's the perfect SP track. THe final disc ends with the whispering James Iha ballad, Take Me Down, which is actually beautiful.
Disc 2
It ricochets you into life with the noisy, pick scraping thirty seconds intro to Where Boys Fear To Tread. A discordant, sludgey opener, it's a real antithesis to the last third of the first disc (albeit with added doo-wop backing vocals). That's even before the most violent track, Bodies, comes screaming out of the (hell) gates with it's drop D octaving and full-bloodied screaming from Corgan. It's incredible. Thirty-Three, the weakest single from the album, still sounds lovely in context although it's the awkward acoustic atmospherics of In The Arms of Sleep that overrides it, meaning Thirty-Three is stranded between two album highlights. Then the best single from the album, 1979, is next; Billy's New Order tribute. A wonderful song that should be remembered as an all time classic. Following this is one of the two most fucked up mixes on the album, Tales of a Scorched Earth (X.Y.U. is the other). It sounds stupidly lo-fi and ridiculous in the album, and basically destroys the flow of the second disc. It's a fair enough rock out, with Corgan's most throat-burning vocal performance. But fighting through mic distortion you couldn't tell anyway. Luckily the gorgeous, wobbly layers of Thru The Eyes of Ruby and the simple acoustic picking of Stumbeline peel away those nasty memories. X.Y.U.s blistering rock ends the distorted section of the album, being throwaway and pointless, yet still feeding us the requisite distortion quoitant for an SP album. The last five tracks are strangely quaint and seem pretty poor, though they all suit the theme of the album, but they're almost embarassing efforts after such a trawl through Billy's imagination. It could be argued these stripped back melodic songs are a worthy rest period for the listener, but they're more likely to be skipped completely. By Starlight is the best of them. Strangely Lily (My One and Only) was dug out for the 2008 tour, which made sense live, but it's really not a creative high. It ends, appropriately, with all four voices of the band - finally united - on Farewell and Goodnight, on a sweet lullaby for the weary listener.
Overall, it's an incredible achievement which no other band of the era come close to matching.
ADORE
Having realised he could write songs without electric guitars, distortion, riffs and evne a drummer (there's more to this obviously, but it's funnier to just leave it at that), Adore became something altogether more intriguing. From the opener To Shiela's gentle beginnings, it's strange to be greeted by the throbbing synth bass of Ava Adore, somehow heavier than some of the guitar tracks from Mellon Collie ever managed. It's one of the cleverist modern singles in decades and continues to wow with it's minimal depth. Here the album explodes into a sinister, murderous, lamenting epic, feeling deeper and longer than Mellon Collie as the mood perpetuates the entire album, rather than hopping genres like the double-disc of yore did.
The electronic Daphne Descends is like shivering death, Once Upon A Time is a tear-jerking ode to Billy's dead mother, Tear is like being pulled from death's grip into bleakness, Crestfallen is a devastating musical journey of loss. After all this shadowy blackness, Appels and Oranjes is a glorious, unrepetant dance number that revels in it's contrary nature. It's excellent. Pug returns to Ava Adore's earlier rock ideas, while still forgoing obvious multi-tracked riffs. The last handful of tracks seem patchy but are well sequenced. We have The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete's country-esque story, Annie-Dog's cracked voice and piano lull, Shame's severe atmospherics before the heavy synth crescendo of Behold! The Night Mare (another track resurrected successfully for the 2008 tour). The final two tracks, For Martha and Blank page, are two brilliant, underrated songs in their canon (as is Night Mare). 17 is merely obliuque piano feedback - a strange, disconnected end to, what is probably the best SP album, while being chronically underloved by critics and general public. It's such an all pervading work, it may aswell be their masterpiece.
MACHINA/The Machines of God
Which is why, when the uber-distorted bass and guitar of opener The Everlasting Gaze kicks in, every fan the world over celebrated. It's a fantastic reminder that SP are incredibly adept at crafting songs that work in stadiums and living rooms. The right blend of riff and atrmospherics thunders through this collection. However, it's the first time you feel the flaws really hold back the artistry on display. Raindrops and Sunshowers sounds like a tip of the hat to Adore so as not to show they've forgotten their best period....but it brings and overly Eighties feel to an album that needed to sound alien. Stand Inside Your Love is a cracking single, all jangling intro riffs and bellowing, lava stream chorus. I of the Mourning, through lyrically dire, is one of the most effective songs on the album, it's distant, haunted echoes retaining that Eighties feel, while still sounding like SP. The countermelodies featured in The Sacred and the Profane are the best thing about the song, while Try Try Try was an inexplicably popular single. It's a relentlessly dismal song that somehow resonates with fans. Certainly it plays a part in the album, but it's not a song I choose to listen to very often. By Heavy Metal Machine, it seems clear that this album is hitting buttons, but not to the same extent or to the same effect. It's a fuzzed up monster, but really feels quite novelty (apart from the chorus, which is wonderful). THings get forgettable fro here on in. Though there are peaks (the utter weirdness of The Imploding Voice, the melodic pop high of Wound, the delightful fast gentle-punk of closer Age of Innocence) and clear trudges through boredom (the ten minute Glass and the Ghost CHildren, the overwrought electronics of The Crying Tree of Mercury and Blue Skies Bring Tears). There are some memorable moments but overall it's a massive drop in quality.
MACHINA II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
The second half of the proposed double LP starts, bewilderingly, with a real balls to the wall punk number, Glass. Then comes the industrial thrash of Cash Car Star, a live favourite. Dross continues this sleazy rock intro, seemingly in keeping with the loose "rock star" concept behind the MACHINA set. It's still vastly different to the mammoth polished Eighties sheen that dogs Machines of God. Real Love, a track rescued from the download-only ghetto by the Greatest Hits set, stands out as the blistering, fizzy epic single (that never was). With a lot in common with Stand.. it's infinitely sweeter and less bombastic. Go is a dismissable diversion, while Let Me Give The World To You is the almost cynically targeted commercial single (that never was...again). Acoustic baked, half-hearted verse melody, it's not great. Infact the next few tracks are just fodder until the almost unlistenable White Spyder - not because it's bad but because of the vinyl-to-mp3 transition everything sounds drowned out by the heaviness of it. It's in fact one of the best chugging rock songs they've ever produced. There's still four tracks after this. They're as bad as the last part of Machines of God. Pretty dire as far as records go, though there are definite stand outs in their catalogue not to be missed in the first third.
ZEITGEIST
Comprising only of Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain, this record could well be their heaviest. It's drenched in droning open strings, harmony voices and noisy guitar playing, easily matching the hardest moments on MACHINA/The Machines of God. Initial impressions were pretty poor. The songs sounded cliched and messy, but reassessment sees it's probably more consistent than either of the MACHINA dual set.
The primary problem is the weakness of the lead vocals, somehow not as powerful in the face of these walls of guitars and Jimmy's drumming. Perhaps this is why the harmonies are all over the place. THe other problem is the prolonged jamming found on United States (an unfortunate live set staple) and the drawn out death of Pomp and Circumstances and For God and Country. These tracks hark back to Silverfuck, Ghost and the Glass Children and the other worst excesses of Billy's guitar work outs. It may be these indulgences that make That's The Way (My Love Is), Tarantula, Bring The Light, (C'Mon) Let's Go and Bleed The Orchid sound comparatively brilliant. Overall it's quite a drab album, with little light and shade but still hangs together better than MACHINA's overlong work. On this evidence, however, there's no debating the reasons for their rejection of the album format from now on.
Overall, The Smashing Pumpkins are a band everyone loves to hate and Zeitgeist was seen as a massive failiure, to the delight of those who see Corgan as a massive egotistical rock dinosaur. Nevertheless, his earlier work cannopt be ignored.
Steve Albini reckoned SP were "made of and for the mainstream". This is probably entirely true - Billy's lullaby melodies are pretty pop - but it's the uneasy pairing of interstellar-bound guitars, arena rock pomp and elegant melodic ideas that make them what they are. Mainstream they became, but only in a climate where grunge became a household name could they have even began a career in music. If there is a modern equivalent - a baffling success that is, nevertheless, deserved - it's Muse. It'll be interesting to see what happens now they've hit their peak.
There's something undeniably magnetic about The Smashing Pumpkins music. They basically took the prog and stadium rock of the 70s and early Eighties and tooled it up for the nineties. How does it work?
1) Billy Corgan's guitar work
Huge riffs, often multi-tracked almost to oblivion, solos whose role it seems to be to jettison into space at the earliest opportunity, effects used to reverberate around your head, his arranging of those mystical and bludgeoning guitar lines, feedback, harmonies, fuzz upon unending fuzz.....even on Adore (the anti-rock record) there's some beautiful guitar work underlying the drum machines and synthery.
2) Billy Corgan's voice
A Marmite voice for sure - it's could be borderline terrible but it's uniqueness and utter conviction made The Smashing Pumpkins sound like no one else. It somehow suited the utter chaos going on around it, to the point where it sticks out more on Zeitgeist (arguably their heaviest record) even with the guitars sounding like war machines.
3) Prolific
This can be a horrendous thing 1) quality control and 2) difficult to know where to start and continue
Basically, I thing the Pumpkins are a band that started off pretty mediocre really - Gish isn't great apart from the first four songs and Tristessa - before leaping to greatness almost instantly. Suddenly, after Siamese Dream, we had a B-sides, rarities and outtakes collection, a follow-up album that was 2 discs long, a box set of EPs etc., a 16 track single album and then a proposed double album with three EPs of off cuts. Just take a look at the digital rarities collection - how many songs? What's more, there's hardly a dud among them. Which is, frankly, terrifying. Even now, after the alright come back album Zeitgeist, we have had a great little acoustic EP American Gothic, two new singles (G.L.O.W. and FOL - what's with the initials?) backed with Superchrist and Gossamer, and promises of more releases along those lines.
4) Album quality
GISH
As I said earlier, pretty average but half of the album is actually brilliant. I Am One and Siva are defining moments in the Pumpkins canon, with riffs and solos and "reset" ideas all punctuating them. Rhinocerous is a great example of the future for Billy's longer songwriting (this actually being one of the best actually). Tristessa is a great pop rock song and Bury does its job. For a debut, 5 classic songs is damn fine.
SIAMESE DREAM
In scope and ability this record is outstanding. Beginning with the drawn out drumming and open stringed riffing of alt rock pioneering Cherub Rock, it's almost Corgan saying: "This is how we sound, and Cherub Rock is our genre". The guitars are charged with shuttle thrusters, sounding thicker, heavier and bolder than any guitar sound ever has. With the Drop D ascending riff of Quiet, it sounds like some threatening death rock album. Come Today though, melody leaps to the forefront - an ice cream truck tune being filtered through metal histrionics - and all bets are off. Soma's gentile-multi layering of reverb and guitars before almighty explosions show Billy's imagination rocketing away. Album highlight, Mayonaise, is penned by both Corgan and Iha and showcases alternate tunings and dynamics at the core of what they do. Silverfuck is a real overstep, proving to be drawn out and pompous but giving a threat rather than a real warning shot. It's still got something which is jucily metallic. Followed by Sweet Sweet's lullaby before the luxiorous Luna, the record is a massive triumph. That's without mentioning the album's acoustic centrepiece Disarm, one of the most simple and elegant songs in their catalogue.
Pisces Iscariot
Released between their breakthrough masterpiece and their commerical goliath peering round the corner, this covers B-sides, outtakes etc. and really shows how prolific Billy is - and how consistent he can be. It openes with the beautiful and aptly named Soothe. When Billy's voice breaks, with the proximity of the mic, it sounds honest and cutting. Billy's phaser effect gets a major work out on a lot of these songs, twisting, revolving and spiralling around his solos, mutating them as you listen. It even gives a showcase for James Iha's first solo songwriting effort for SP: Blew Away. It's sweet, but inconsequential, a lot like the man's solo album. Pissant is a real angry, fast number, very different to what's come before, but an indicator of what was to come. Perhaps my fave is Hello Kitty Kat, a real distorted mess of a song that echoes a heavier Mayonaise. You can practically hear the speakers imploding in protest at the destroyed mix. Though quality depletes towards the end of this collection, Corgan's solo cover of Landlisde is lovely. Basically this could've been the band's third record and people would still love it, but they may not have been half the band they become.
Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness
Disc 1
Jaw droppingly long, yet instilled with quality beyond it's number of tracks (28). Beginning with a piano intro and synthesised strings, it bursts into Tonight Tonight (the first Pumpkins song I actually properly listened to, as I wasn't into their heavier stuff like Bullet With Butterfly Wings at the time). This dramatic, orchestral sweep is so far and away from the distorted guitar symphonies of yore that it seems nonsense to expect anything but a huge break away from Siamese Dream.
Stirring as it is, though, it gets torn apart by the following two tracks. Jellybelly sounds so fiercely distorted, it might as well be on fire. It's actually insane. There's an excruciating build up two thirds in which more than proves Billy wasn't done with abusing guitars and studios by a long shot. The staccato harmonic riff of Zero follows, showing a direct, vicious, stabbing arrangement that uses far less multi-tracking and far more emotion. The solo is sheer pitch shifting, ring modulating, octaving genius. Here Is No Why, relatively calm, is one of the greatest Pumpkins songs in it's clever melodic nuances and percussive chord playng. And that solo too. Minor US hit Bullet With Butterfly Wings follows, and, with the video, really brings to the fore the gothic chic that would become the SP's central theme for the rest of their career. Dark, metallic, lyrically devilish - it's their trademark track in the eyes of many. It's arguably also the first real screaming we get from Billy. To Forgive sticks out after so much heaviness, yet still resonates as an important transitional track almost halfway through the first disc. Barely played guitars shiver underneath Billy's laments. Hints of electronica slip out here too. An Ode To No One seems incongruous after such ugly beauty. It's a proper brutal sleaze metal thrash out. Love is another contrast, a fuzzy minimal trudge through static and Billy's nasal whine. It's extremely effective, like having a shower in guilt and shame. At about 2:44 is one of the album's many sweet spots. The insane filtered solo is haunting. Cupid De Locke feels like a bubble bath and a sleep on a cloud after Love's grime. Then Galapogos returns to Soma territory, with gentle arpeggios washing you upon a beach. Though slow to start, it eventually turns into a shifting, granular sifting sound. It's arrrangement is clever and affecting. Muzzle, though pretty standard rock, is so triumphant, it stands out as one of their best songs and shows that even when Billy strips it all back to its roots, his common thread is a sense of melody. By this time your sweating from the effort of listening, knowing there's still thirty tracks to go. Porcelina Of the Vast Oceans gives you a prolonged two minute intro, though one adorned with peaks and troughs after the injection of adrenaline from Muzzle. It then alternately drifts and jolts you across it's nine plus minutes. It was the perfect set opener for their Zeitgeist tour in 2008. In some wasy it's the perfect SP track. THe final disc ends with the whispering James Iha ballad, Take Me Down, which is actually beautiful.
Disc 2
It ricochets you into life with the noisy, pick scraping thirty seconds intro to Where Boys Fear To Tread. A discordant, sludgey opener, it's a real antithesis to the last third of the first disc (albeit with added doo-wop backing vocals). That's even before the most violent track, Bodies, comes screaming out of the (hell) gates with it's drop D octaving and full-bloodied screaming from Corgan. It's incredible. Thirty-Three, the weakest single from the album, still sounds lovely in context although it's the awkward acoustic atmospherics of In The Arms of Sleep that overrides it, meaning Thirty-Three is stranded between two album highlights. Then the best single from the album, 1979, is next; Billy's New Order tribute. A wonderful song that should be remembered as an all time classic. Following this is one of the two most fucked up mixes on the album, Tales of a Scorched Earth (X.Y.U. is the other). It sounds stupidly lo-fi and ridiculous in the album, and basically destroys the flow of the second disc. It's a fair enough rock out, with Corgan's most throat-burning vocal performance. But fighting through mic distortion you couldn't tell anyway. Luckily the gorgeous, wobbly layers of Thru The Eyes of Ruby and the simple acoustic picking of Stumbeline peel away those nasty memories. X.Y.U.s blistering rock ends the distorted section of the album, being throwaway and pointless, yet still feeding us the requisite distortion quoitant for an SP album. The last five tracks are strangely quaint and seem pretty poor, though they all suit the theme of the album, but they're almost embarassing efforts after such a trawl through Billy's imagination. It could be argued these stripped back melodic songs are a worthy rest period for the listener, but they're more likely to be skipped completely. By Starlight is the best of them. Strangely Lily (My One and Only) was dug out for the 2008 tour, which made sense live, but it's really not a creative high. It ends, appropriately, with all four voices of the band - finally united - on Farewell and Goodnight, on a sweet lullaby for the weary listener.
Overall, it's an incredible achievement which no other band of the era come close to matching.
ADORE
Having realised he could write songs without electric guitars, distortion, riffs and evne a drummer (there's more to this obviously, but it's funnier to just leave it at that), Adore became something altogether more intriguing. From the opener To Shiela's gentle beginnings, it's strange to be greeted by the throbbing synth bass of Ava Adore, somehow heavier than some of the guitar tracks from Mellon Collie ever managed. It's one of the cleverist modern singles in decades and continues to wow with it's minimal depth. Here the album explodes into a sinister, murderous, lamenting epic, feeling deeper and longer than Mellon Collie as the mood perpetuates the entire album, rather than hopping genres like the double-disc of yore did.
The electronic Daphne Descends is like shivering death, Once Upon A Time is a tear-jerking ode to Billy's dead mother, Tear is like being pulled from death's grip into bleakness, Crestfallen is a devastating musical journey of loss. After all this shadowy blackness, Appels and Oranjes is a glorious, unrepetant dance number that revels in it's contrary nature. It's excellent. Pug returns to Ava Adore's earlier rock ideas, while still forgoing obvious multi-tracked riffs. The last handful of tracks seem patchy but are well sequenced. We have The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete's country-esque story, Annie-Dog's cracked voice and piano lull, Shame's severe atmospherics before the heavy synth crescendo of Behold! The Night Mare (another track resurrected successfully for the 2008 tour). The final two tracks, For Martha and Blank page, are two brilliant, underrated songs in their canon (as is Night Mare). 17 is merely obliuque piano feedback - a strange, disconnected end to, what is probably the best SP album, while being chronically underloved by critics and general public. It's such an all pervading work, it may aswell be their masterpiece.
MACHINA/The Machines of God
Which is why, when the uber-distorted bass and guitar of opener The Everlasting Gaze kicks in, every fan the world over celebrated. It's a fantastic reminder that SP are incredibly adept at crafting songs that work in stadiums and living rooms. The right blend of riff and atrmospherics thunders through this collection. However, it's the first time you feel the flaws really hold back the artistry on display. Raindrops and Sunshowers sounds like a tip of the hat to Adore so as not to show they've forgotten their best period....but it brings and overly Eighties feel to an album that needed to sound alien. Stand Inside Your Love is a cracking single, all jangling intro riffs and bellowing, lava stream chorus. I of the Mourning, through lyrically dire, is one of the most effective songs on the album, it's distant, haunted echoes retaining that Eighties feel, while still sounding like SP. The countermelodies featured in The Sacred and the Profane are the best thing about the song, while Try Try Try was an inexplicably popular single. It's a relentlessly dismal song that somehow resonates with fans. Certainly it plays a part in the album, but it's not a song I choose to listen to very often. By Heavy Metal Machine, it seems clear that this album is hitting buttons, but not to the same extent or to the same effect. It's a fuzzed up monster, but really feels quite novelty (apart from the chorus, which is wonderful). THings get forgettable fro here on in. Though there are peaks (the utter weirdness of The Imploding Voice, the melodic pop high of Wound, the delightful fast gentle-punk of closer Age of Innocence) and clear trudges through boredom (the ten minute Glass and the Ghost CHildren, the overwrought electronics of The Crying Tree of Mercury and Blue Skies Bring Tears). There are some memorable moments but overall it's a massive drop in quality.
MACHINA II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music
The second half of the proposed double LP starts, bewilderingly, with a real balls to the wall punk number, Glass. Then comes the industrial thrash of Cash Car Star, a live favourite. Dross continues this sleazy rock intro, seemingly in keeping with the loose "rock star" concept behind the MACHINA set. It's still vastly different to the mammoth polished Eighties sheen that dogs Machines of God. Real Love, a track rescued from the download-only ghetto by the Greatest Hits set, stands out as the blistering, fizzy epic single (that never was). With a lot in common with Stand.. it's infinitely sweeter and less bombastic. Go is a dismissable diversion, while Let Me Give The World To You is the almost cynically targeted commercial single (that never was...again). Acoustic baked, half-hearted verse melody, it's not great. Infact the next few tracks are just fodder until the almost unlistenable White Spyder - not because it's bad but because of the vinyl-to-mp3 transition everything sounds drowned out by the heaviness of it. It's in fact one of the best chugging rock songs they've ever produced. There's still four tracks after this. They're as bad as the last part of Machines of God. Pretty dire as far as records go, though there are definite stand outs in their catalogue not to be missed in the first third.
ZEITGEIST
Comprising only of Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain, this record could well be their heaviest. It's drenched in droning open strings, harmony voices and noisy guitar playing, easily matching the hardest moments on MACHINA/The Machines of God. Initial impressions were pretty poor. The songs sounded cliched and messy, but reassessment sees it's probably more consistent than either of the MACHINA dual set.
The primary problem is the weakness of the lead vocals, somehow not as powerful in the face of these walls of guitars and Jimmy's drumming. Perhaps this is why the harmonies are all over the place. THe other problem is the prolonged jamming found on United States (an unfortunate live set staple) and the drawn out death of Pomp and Circumstances and For God and Country. These tracks hark back to Silverfuck, Ghost and the Glass Children and the other worst excesses of Billy's guitar work outs. It may be these indulgences that make That's The Way (My Love Is), Tarantula, Bring The Light, (C'Mon) Let's Go and Bleed The Orchid sound comparatively brilliant. Overall it's quite a drab album, with little light and shade but still hangs together better than MACHINA's overlong work. On this evidence, however, there's no debating the reasons for their rejection of the album format from now on.
Overall, The Smashing Pumpkins are a band everyone loves to hate and Zeitgeist was seen as a massive failiure, to the delight of those who see Corgan as a massive egotistical rock dinosaur. Nevertheless, his earlier work cannopt be ignored.
Steve Albini reckoned SP were "made of and for the mainstream". This is probably entirely true - Billy's lullaby melodies are pretty pop - but it's the uneasy pairing of interstellar-bound guitars, arena rock pomp and elegant melodic ideas that make them what they are. Mainstream they became, but only in a climate where grunge became a household name could they have even began a career in music. If there is a modern equivalent - a baffling success that is, nevertheless, deserved - it's Muse. It'll be interesting to see what happens now they've hit their peak.
Friday, 6 February 2009
Band of the last seven days - Radiohead
It had to come sooner or later. They don't need any introduction though I may need to explain why I find Radiohead to be perhaps the one band that seem to encompass almost everything I love about music.
How they got to be so popular is beyond me. I never ever expected them to be the behemoth they are now, dividing people into fans and people who don't understand them (this is a joke, obviously). In fact, I despised them once upon a time. A youngster, having heard perhaps one or two of their songs, I remember looking at that hateful artwork on the cover of The Bends, recently released and innocuous, and proclaiming that that was one album that I would NEVER buy.
Since then I've bought it twice; the second time was to replace the scracthed, worn out CD copy I had bought previously. I will buy it a third time on vinyl as it belongs in my record collection of favourite albums of all time.
But why so much love for this rather forlorn - some may say depressing, boring - band? Let's count the ways shall we?
1) Johnny Greenwood's guitar work
At the time I actually started to appreciated The Bends on a cassette copy my friend insisted I listen to, there was one thing that stood out amongst all the high points. It wasn't Thom Yorke's voice - it was always about Johnny Greenwood's (and t, to give credit where it's due, Ed O Brien's) pioneering guitar explosions. Seemingly spliced from blues and rock with an extreme amount of futuristic filters and ideas, his strange lead parts and interesting textural use of a tremelo pedal on tracks like Planet Telex and Bones made me sit up and get very excited indeed. Not only was his playing extraordinary but so was watching him play: long hair obscuring his face, he thrust his strumming arm directly downwards, as if trying to break the strings from pure force. He wore some kind of arm guard so as not to brutalise his flesh. It was an incredible thing to watch. Pretty quickly, my favourite guitar part of all time was that impossible high, pitch-shifted note that rings out and fluctuates in tone for about 5 seconds in Just.
2) Their music is uplifting
Buh? Are we talking about Radiohead? The guys who make "music to slit your wrists to"? Well, yeah. Their descent into despair somehow electrifies me, making me smile and want to celebrate life. Certain stirring moments like the falsetto backing vocals coming in during the second verse of There There, or the climax of Let Down and even the band's self-confessed bleakest song, Street Spirit (Fade Out), when Thom Yorke bursts into the closing coda of "Immerse your soul in love" is both chilling and warming. Their intensive structures, the brilliant musicianship and, most of all, the overall atmosphere of Radiohead's material does nothing but motivate me and make me want to shout from the rooftops and sing all day.
3) Innovation
Sure, even when they were making pretty standard rock songs on Pablo Honey and The Bends, they weren't shockingly original or anything. Nevertheless the ideas, riffs and vocal lines always had something unique about them. Their layering of certain guitar ideas, the directions the songs would take and Yorke's way os seamlessly flowing over it with his sublime vocal range all constituted something different.
By the time OK Computer started messing with the formula a little, Kid A seemed inevitable. The album that turned people off because of it's inaccessibility or got people interested after that boring rock rubbish was a brave and interesting move. Kid A is undoubtedly a brilliant work, which was actually still pretty standard as far as structures went. Amnesiac seemed, in comparison, like offcuts thrown onto a record. Hail To The Thief merged the two styles perfectly while In Rainbows is actually the perfect Radiohead record. Throughout they're messing with ideas, trying to stay away from the bombastic arena rock that makes U2 and Coldplay so tedious. Though often thrown together, it's clear that Radiohead have very little to do with what those bands seem to be about. If anything they ahve more in common with Muse, except Muse are, again, very predictable in a prog-rock for the 00s kind of way.
4) They are NOT flawless
This is important. I am not a rabid, love-everything fan. They've done some attrocious music in their time. I think you can get a better persepective on a band from their mistakes or bad points. In this case Pop Is Dead (terrible, although still enjoyable to listen to), We Suck Young Blood (tedious and griping), How Do You? (similar to Pop Is Dead but less emabarassing), Pull/Pulk (a bit pointless? sounds like machinary running in the back of your mind), Treefingers (nice but ultimately redundant), Exit Music (good, but goes on a bit)....there are other things. However, there are so many high points in their catalogue which makes these throwaway songs seem like studio larks.
5) Albums are most definitely albums
Everything from artwork, presentation to the flow of the tracks. The general exception is Amnesiac, which I've never really felt works as an entire record and a recent listen has confirmed this.
6) Consistency
Each album, with each of their flaws, has an incredible amount of brilliantly written songs on them. Here's what confuses me - the kind of bravery and esoteric ideas, within their own songwriting framework - does not lend itself to commerciality. I mean, why do people like this band on such a scale? I know why I like them, it's all explained above, but their commercial aspect has always and will always buffle me.
How they got to be so popular is beyond me. I never ever expected them to be the behemoth they are now, dividing people into fans and people who don't understand them (this is a joke, obviously). In fact, I despised them once upon a time. A youngster, having heard perhaps one or two of their songs, I remember looking at that hateful artwork on the cover of The Bends, recently released and innocuous, and proclaiming that that was one album that I would NEVER buy.
Since then I've bought it twice; the second time was to replace the scracthed, worn out CD copy I had bought previously. I will buy it a third time on vinyl as it belongs in my record collection of favourite albums of all time.
But why so much love for this rather forlorn - some may say depressing, boring - band? Let's count the ways shall we?
1) Johnny Greenwood's guitar work
At the time I actually started to appreciated The Bends on a cassette copy my friend insisted I listen to, there was one thing that stood out amongst all the high points. It wasn't Thom Yorke's voice - it was always about Johnny Greenwood's (and t, to give credit where it's due, Ed O Brien's) pioneering guitar explosions. Seemingly spliced from blues and rock with an extreme amount of futuristic filters and ideas, his strange lead parts and interesting textural use of a tremelo pedal on tracks like Planet Telex and Bones made me sit up and get very excited indeed. Not only was his playing extraordinary but so was watching him play: long hair obscuring his face, he thrust his strumming arm directly downwards, as if trying to break the strings from pure force. He wore some kind of arm guard so as not to brutalise his flesh. It was an incredible thing to watch. Pretty quickly, my favourite guitar part of all time was that impossible high, pitch-shifted note that rings out and fluctuates in tone for about 5 seconds in Just.
2) Their music is uplifting
Buh? Are we talking about Radiohead? The guys who make "music to slit your wrists to"? Well, yeah. Their descent into despair somehow electrifies me, making me smile and want to celebrate life. Certain stirring moments like the falsetto backing vocals coming in during the second verse of There There, or the climax of Let Down and even the band's self-confessed bleakest song, Street Spirit (Fade Out), when Thom Yorke bursts into the closing coda of "Immerse your soul in love" is both chilling and warming. Their intensive structures, the brilliant musicianship and, most of all, the overall atmosphere of Radiohead's material does nothing but motivate me and make me want to shout from the rooftops and sing all day.
3) Innovation
Sure, even when they were making pretty standard rock songs on Pablo Honey and The Bends, they weren't shockingly original or anything. Nevertheless the ideas, riffs and vocal lines always had something unique about them. Their layering of certain guitar ideas, the directions the songs would take and Yorke's way os seamlessly flowing over it with his sublime vocal range all constituted something different.
By the time OK Computer started messing with the formula a little, Kid A seemed inevitable. The album that turned people off because of it's inaccessibility or got people interested after that boring rock rubbish was a brave and interesting move. Kid A is undoubtedly a brilliant work, which was actually still pretty standard as far as structures went. Amnesiac seemed, in comparison, like offcuts thrown onto a record. Hail To The Thief merged the two styles perfectly while In Rainbows is actually the perfect Radiohead record. Throughout they're messing with ideas, trying to stay away from the bombastic arena rock that makes U2 and Coldplay so tedious. Though often thrown together, it's clear that Radiohead have very little to do with what those bands seem to be about. If anything they ahve more in common with Muse, except Muse are, again, very predictable in a prog-rock for the 00s kind of way.
4) They are NOT flawless
This is important. I am not a rabid, love-everything fan. They've done some attrocious music in their time. I think you can get a better persepective on a band from their mistakes or bad points. In this case Pop Is Dead (terrible, although still enjoyable to listen to), We Suck Young Blood (tedious and griping), How Do You? (similar to Pop Is Dead but less emabarassing), Pull/Pulk (a bit pointless? sounds like machinary running in the back of your mind), Treefingers (nice but ultimately redundant), Exit Music (good, but goes on a bit)....there are other things. However, there are so many high points in their catalogue which makes these throwaway songs seem like studio larks.
5) Albums are most definitely albums
Everything from artwork, presentation to the flow of the tracks. The general exception is Amnesiac, which I've never really felt works as an entire record and a recent listen has confirmed this.
6) Consistency
Each album, with each of their flaws, has an incredible amount of brilliantly written songs on them. Here's what confuses me - the kind of bravery and esoteric ideas, within their own songwriting framework - does not lend itself to commerciality. I mean, why do people like this band on such a scale? I know why I like them, it's all explained above, but their commercial aspect has always and will always buffle me.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 29/30/31
Hi. No bus escapades recently, but rather being busy and rediscovering an uncontrollable passion for music. This has been helped by the following bands.
Kit Richardson
Courtesy of the lovely Ellie Coden from Fierce Panda, Cool For Cats is a regular night last Tuesday of every month, named after her very own offshoot label. She usually collects together a diverse and pretty good set of bands. Tuesday just gone she excelled herself with two incredible acts.
First up was Kit Richardson. I know very little about her, apart from she must like Jeremy Warmsley because I met her at his stint at the Lock Tavern last Sunday. This is uninteresting but her music is the antithesis of uninteresting. I've not been as exhilirated by an artist as I was by her performance that night. Announcing that she was "really fucking scared" one song in, she promptly chose not to show an ounce of fear. Diving into her high register, experimental delivery - backed by her own keys, a wonderful cello player, bassist and drummer - her songs weave, duck and dive like Regina Spektor's most tuneful moments while easily forging her own path. Clearly inspired by excellent musicianship, her songs never lose sight of the power and emotional potential from choosing a weaving path rather than a direct route.
www.myspace.com/kitrichardsonmusic
Violet Violet
Headliners this Tuesday, Violet Violet take riot grrl, have fun with it, turn it on it's head and make music that is unbelivably clever within its self-regulated punk template. The three ladies all use their vocal talents - sometimes to astonishing effect. One example is the clever "echo" effect they used during one song, or the indescribable backing vocals that seemed to 'dip' during a different one. They have plenty of completely brilliant songs that seem to run circles around contrived and pre-packaged "girl" music. Shudder. Anyway, so impressed I even let them keep my pen.
www.myspace.com/violetviolet1
Propagandhi
An update to my ealier post because, frankly, I hate rules and I don't play by them very often if I can get away with it. Here I can. So, for those who weren't listening first time (that's everyone because no one reads this thing), Propagandhi are back.
Why is this important? Well, try and comprehend this: Supporting Caste, their fifth full-length studio album, both excites and scares the shit out of me. It practically moved me to tears today...and it's a punk album. I ADORE the fact that the artwork has a graphic drawing depicting the band cooking and eating the remains of 'post-vegetarians'. Several times throughout the lyric sheet they make (semi) jokes about wanting to eat such people. The song Human(e) Meat starts with someone screaming as their limbs are sawed off. The lyrics are a frightening, detailed pastiche of, one imagines, the same reasons people use for eating animals but, in this case, for eating "fermenting-festishist" and chef Sandor Katz. It's incredible. I'm afraid to post lyrics word for word for the song Night Matters, about the separation of families and friends due to war through the eyes of refugees and survivors. I want to, because it's very moving. Again, try and imagine shedding a tear to punk rock.
Of course there's a great deal of humour in the record, as there has been in every record they've done. I must reiterate too: BUY Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes. Hell, it may even change your mind about a few things.
Anyway, expect a huge update about Propagandhi's return again when I feel I can publish lyrics etc. I adore this band. In the meantime, go to their website and read all they ask you to. It's all very interesting and may well inspire you to do more...
Kit Richardson
Courtesy of the lovely Ellie Coden from Fierce Panda, Cool For Cats is a regular night last Tuesday of every month, named after her very own offshoot label. She usually collects together a diverse and pretty good set of bands. Tuesday just gone she excelled herself with two incredible acts.
First up was Kit Richardson. I know very little about her, apart from she must like Jeremy Warmsley because I met her at his stint at the Lock Tavern last Sunday. This is uninteresting but her music is the antithesis of uninteresting. I've not been as exhilirated by an artist as I was by her performance that night. Announcing that she was "really fucking scared" one song in, she promptly chose not to show an ounce of fear. Diving into her high register, experimental delivery - backed by her own keys, a wonderful cello player, bassist and drummer - her songs weave, duck and dive like Regina Spektor's most tuneful moments while easily forging her own path. Clearly inspired by excellent musicianship, her songs never lose sight of the power and emotional potential from choosing a weaving path rather than a direct route.
www.myspace.com/kitrichardsonmusic
Violet Violet
Headliners this Tuesday, Violet Violet take riot grrl, have fun with it, turn it on it's head and make music that is unbelivably clever within its self-regulated punk template. The three ladies all use their vocal talents - sometimes to astonishing effect. One example is the clever "echo" effect they used during one song, or the indescribable backing vocals that seemed to 'dip' during a different one. They have plenty of completely brilliant songs that seem to run circles around contrived and pre-packaged "girl" music. Shudder. Anyway, so impressed I even let them keep my pen.
www.myspace.com/violetviolet1
Propagandhi
An update to my ealier post because, frankly, I hate rules and I don't play by them very often if I can get away with it. Here I can. So, for those who weren't listening first time (that's everyone because no one reads this thing), Propagandhi are back.
Why is this important? Well, try and comprehend this: Supporting Caste, their fifth full-length studio album, both excites and scares the shit out of me. It practically moved me to tears today...and it's a punk album. I ADORE the fact that the artwork has a graphic drawing depicting the band cooking and eating the remains of 'post-vegetarians'. Several times throughout the lyric sheet they make (semi) jokes about wanting to eat such people. The song Human(e) Meat starts with someone screaming as their limbs are sawed off. The lyrics are a frightening, detailed pastiche of, one imagines, the same reasons people use for eating animals but, in this case, for eating "fermenting-festishist" and chef Sandor Katz. It's incredible. I'm afraid to post lyrics word for word for the song Night Matters, about the separation of families and friends due to war through the eyes of refugees and survivors. I want to, because it's very moving. Again, try and imagine shedding a tear to punk rock.
Of course there's a great deal of humour in the record, as there has been in every record they've done. I must reiterate too: BUY Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes. Hell, it may even change your mind about a few things.
Anyway, expect a huge update about Propagandhi's return again when I feel I can publish lyrics etc. I adore this band. In the meantime, go to their website and read all they ask you to. It's all very interesting and may well inspire you to do more...
Monday, 26 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 26/27/28
Hello. I missed my stop on the bus last night by falling asleep. I've never done this before in my life, and therefore think my life has turned a corner. Anyway, as this gives you an indication of how tired I am, please forgive these late'uns.
Death From Above1979
With one album proper of devastating dance thrash, this drums and bass duo were playing at being the pop Lightning Bolt, or perhaps just playing dancable pop songs with the most basic of all rock music requirements - a rhythm section. Either way, their music is fantastic bundles of noisy riff-strangulated anthems. The thing that makes this band stand out though, is their dedication to making you move. The fact that a remix album was released keeping a lot of the original elements from the songs intact makes you realise how cleverly constructed each track was. But forget that...its the pure passion and energy flowing from these songs. They burnt out quickly (though you can find one in MSTRKRFT and one in Sebastian Grainger and the Mountains), and left us with an indelible mark via their kerosene-fuelled love songs.
Pull Out (with excellent and colourful description of the songs lyrical content)
Liars
Having made two of my favourite albums of the 00s, Liars are a law unto themselves. Starting with the funk-punk demolition of They Threw Us In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top, they then progressed/regressed to a screeching, stuttering concept album about witches called They Were Wrong So We Drowned, followed by another concept album about two fictional characters called Drum and Mt. Heart Attack which revelled in percussion, drums, rhythms and foregoed melody and finally made a self titled record in which, vocalist Angus admitted, "we actually tried to write songs this time". All of these records are essential - Drum's Not Dead is an incredible, atmospheric achievement which has little to do with virtuosity and a lot to do with texture, emotion and ambition. Be prepared for a wild ride is all.
Mr Your On Fire Mr
Broken Witch
Let's Not Wrestle Mt Heart Attack
Plaster Casts Of Everything
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/0Blk6RWzubgNXgc4vBcVxJ
1) There's Always Room On The Broom (from They Were Wrong So We Drowned)
2) Let's Not Wrestle Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
3) Freak Out (from Liars)
4) It Fit When I Was A Kid (from Drum's Not Dead)
5) Broken Witch (from They Were Wrong So We Drowned)
6) Drum and the Uncomfortable Can (from Drum's Not Dead)
7) Cycle Time (from Liars)
8) Be Quiet Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
9) Protection (from Liars)
10) The Other Side of Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
At the Drive-In
Are you crazy? This band was always going to be here somewhere. Why? Because despite some guy on a messageboard a few years ago arguing with me that this band just ripped off Drive Like Jehu and therefore I shouldn't like them as much as I do, this band just tore my head off when I finally listened to Relationship Of Command. It was also my first real experience of Q being so severely wrong that I think the magazine should be exterminated. They are never ever right. Anyway.
At the Drive-In combined all sorts of guitar sounds, threateningly violent tones, Cedric's intense, Daryl Palumbo-type delivery and the incredible live show...something I never got to see. Nevertheless, both their breakthrough album and In/Casino/Out are fantastic rock records and were far more focused and exciting than their creators now give credit. Shame.
Arcarsenal (yes, this is incredible - respect for walking off early too, a protest at the moshing/slam dancing that ended up killing a young music fan that day at Limp Bizkit's set)
Pattern Against User (purely for the dedication to the Fall and the anti-crowd surfing shout AND for how shambolic they could be melody wise)
One Armed Scissor (absolutely thrilling, yet an indication that things were about to fall apart)
Rolodex Propaganda (probably one of the best live performances ever)
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/0Nxb9JzsFTF0bNYutBU00z
1) Cosmonaut (from Relationship of Command)
2) Pickpocket (from In/Casino/Out)
3) Fahrenheit (from El Gran Orgo)
4) Sleepwalk Capsules (from Relationship of Command)
5) Napoleon Solo (from In/Casino/Out)
6) Picket Fence Cartel (from El Gran Orgo)
7) Extracurricular (from At the Drive-In/Sunshine split 7")
8) Catacombs (from Relationship of Command)
9) Transatlantic Foe (from In/Casino/Out)
10) Invalid Letter Dept. (from Relationship of Command)
Death From Above1979
With one album proper of devastating dance thrash, this drums and bass duo were playing at being the pop Lightning Bolt, or perhaps just playing dancable pop songs with the most basic of all rock music requirements - a rhythm section. Either way, their music is fantastic bundles of noisy riff-strangulated anthems. The thing that makes this band stand out though, is their dedication to making you move. The fact that a remix album was released keeping a lot of the original elements from the songs intact makes you realise how cleverly constructed each track was. But forget that...its the pure passion and energy flowing from these songs. They burnt out quickly (though you can find one in MSTRKRFT and one in Sebastian Grainger and the Mountains), and left us with an indelible mark via their kerosene-fuelled love songs.
Pull Out (with excellent and colourful description of the songs lyrical content)
Liars
Having made two of my favourite albums of the 00s, Liars are a law unto themselves. Starting with the funk-punk demolition of They Threw Us In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top, they then progressed/regressed to a screeching, stuttering concept album about witches called They Were Wrong So We Drowned, followed by another concept album about two fictional characters called Drum and Mt. Heart Attack which revelled in percussion, drums, rhythms and foregoed melody and finally made a self titled record in which, vocalist Angus admitted, "we actually tried to write songs this time". All of these records are essential - Drum's Not Dead is an incredible, atmospheric achievement which has little to do with virtuosity and a lot to do with texture, emotion and ambition. Be prepared for a wild ride is all.
Mr Your On Fire Mr
Broken Witch
Let's Not Wrestle Mt Heart Attack
Plaster Casts Of Everything
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/0Blk6RWzubgNXgc4vBcVxJ
1) There's Always Room On The Broom (from They Were Wrong So We Drowned)
2) Let's Not Wrestle Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
3) Freak Out (from Liars)
4) It Fit When I Was A Kid (from Drum's Not Dead)
5) Broken Witch (from They Were Wrong So We Drowned)
6) Drum and the Uncomfortable Can (from Drum's Not Dead)
7) Cycle Time (from Liars)
8) Be Quiet Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
9) Protection (from Liars)
10) The Other Side of Mt Heart Attack (from Drum's Not Dead)
At the Drive-In
Are you crazy? This band was always going to be here somewhere. Why? Because despite some guy on a messageboard a few years ago arguing with me that this band just ripped off Drive Like Jehu and therefore I shouldn't like them as much as I do, this band just tore my head off when I finally listened to Relationship Of Command. It was also my first real experience of Q being so severely wrong that I think the magazine should be exterminated. They are never ever right. Anyway.
At the Drive-In combined all sorts of guitar sounds, threateningly violent tones, Cedric's intense, Daryl Palumbo-type delivery and the incredible live show...something I never got to see. Nevertheless, both their breakthrough album and In/Casino/Out are fantastic rock records and were far more focused and exciting than their creators now give credit. Shame.
Arcarsenal (yes, this is incredible - respect for walking off early too, a protest at the moshing/slam dancing that ended up killing a young music fan that day at Limp Bizkit's set)
Pattern Against User (purely for the dedication to the Fall and the anti-crowd surfing shout AND for how shambolic they could be melody wise)
One Armed Scissor (absolutely thrilling, yet an indication that things were about to fall apart)
Rolodex Propaganda (probably one of the best live performances ever)
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/0Nxb9JzsFTF0bNYutBU00z
1) Cosmonaut (from Relationship of Command)
2) Pickpocket (from In/Casino/Out)
3) Fahrenheit (from El Gran Orgo)
4) Sleepwalk Capsules (from Relationship of Command)
5) Napoleon Solo (from In/Casino/Out)
6) Picket Fence Cartel (from El Gran Orgo)
7) Extracurricular (from At the Drive-In/Sunshine split 7")
8) Catacombs (from Relationship of Command)
9) Transatlantic Foe (from In/Casino/Out)
10) Invalid Letter Dept. (from Relationship of Command)
Friday, 23 January 2009
Band of the Day - 25: Boysetsfire
There's no doubting my perchant for socially conscious, politically active and justifiably motivated bands (having discussed Fugazi and Propagandhi already on here). Boysetsfire were discovered courtesy of a college friend who gave me a tape (yes a tape) of After the Eulogy, their most recently released record. It ended up having a massive effect on me. It was funny how so many other people felt the same when I gave them a copy too.
They'e part of that melodic hardcore genre so popular during the late nineties, early 00s but they had far more to say than most - plus Nathan Gray could actually sing incredibly well. THey had a brief foray on a major label (their weaker material found on Tomorrow Becomes Today) before quickly being sent packing to Burning Heart for what became their final album. Finding random tracks from long out-of-print EPs was a delight with this band. I found Thursday, At the Drive-In and other such bands around the same time and it informed my musical tastes forever. Boysestfire will always make me feel like throwing all my weight behind a cause, something I believe in. Sometimes I feel like I let down that young, shy nineteen year old who really believed that despite being unpopular, quiet and unloved (sniff), he could do something incredible. Sorry lad, I didn't manage it for you. Boysetsfire will alwys give me the hope they wanted to instill in people, even if it seems wasted - it's worth remembering that it's not, by a long shot.
Mixtape:
1) Pariah Under Glass (After the Eulogy)
2) The Tyranny of What Everybody Knows (In Chrysalis)
3) My Life In The Knife Trade (After the Eulogy)
4) Voiceover (In Chrysalis)
5) Vehicle (This Crying, This Screaming...My Voice Is Being Born)
6) Curtain Call (Live For Today)
7) Handful of Redemption (Tomorrow Comes Today)
8) Nostalgic For Guillotines (The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years)
9) Rookie (After the Eulogy)
10) (10) and Counting (The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years)
They'e part of that melodic hardcore genre so popular during the late nineties, early 00s but they had far more to say than most - plus Nathan Gray could actually sing incredibly well. THey had a brief foray on a major label (their weaker material found on Tomorrow Becomes Today) before quickly being sent packing to Burning Heart for what became their final album. Finding random tracks from long out-of-print EPs was a delight with this band. I found Thursday, At the Drive-In and other such bands around the same time and it informed my musical tastes forever. Boysestfire will always make me feel like throwing all my weight behind a cause, something I believe in. Sometimes I feel like I let down that young, shy nineteen year old who really believed that despite being unpopular, quiet and unloved (sniff), he could do something incredible. Sorry lad, I didn't manage it for you. Boysetsfire will alwys give me the hope they wanted to instill in people, even if it seems wasted - it's worth remembering that it's not, by a long shot.
Mixtape:
1) Pariah Under Glass (After the Eulogy)
2) The Tyranny of What Everybody Knows (In Chrysalis)
3) My Life In The Knife Trade (After the Eulogy)
4) Voiceover (In Chrysalis)
5) Vehicle (This Crying, This Screaming...My Voice Is Being Born)
6) Curtain Call (Live For Today)
7) Handful of Redemption (Tomorrow Comes Today)
8) Nostalgic For Guillotines (The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years)
9) Rookie (After the Eulogy)
10) (10) and Counting (The Misery Index: Notes from the Plague Years)
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Band of the Day - 24: Dizzee Rascal
Not a band. Don't care.
Dizzee Rascal is one of the most passionate musicians about music that I've met and interviewed. He can't get up without something musical going on as he gets out of bed. So he said. In my opinion, Boy In Da Corner is an extremely influential debut and one of my favourites of all time. Whether its the saturated, noisy scuffling that constitutes the music, or his impressively honest and cynical flow I can't say. I'd imagine, like all things I like, it's the ambidextrous nature of the whole thing. Certainly, the oppresive darkness and wandering viciousness of the first commerical grime record and its follow up, Showtime, captured my imagination and inspired me in a way that not many rock records ever have.
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/1BKBOd74k2LEpxfJAxxoj1
1) Sittin' Here (Boy In Da Corner)
2) Stand Up Tall (Showtime)
3) Brand New Day (Boy In Day Corner)
4) Do It (Boy In Da Corner)
5) Everywhere (Showtime)
6) Sirens (Maths + English)
7) Respect Me (Showtime)
8) I Luv U (Boy In Da Corner)
9) Imagine (Showtime)
10) Jus' A Rascal (Boy In Da Corner)
Dizzee Rascal is one of the most passionate musicians about music that I've met and interviewed. He can't get up without something musical going on as he gets out of bed. So he said. In my opinion, Boy In Da Corner is an extremely influential debut and one of my favourites of all time. Whether its the saturated, noisy scuffling that constitutes the music, or his impressively honest and cynical flow I can't say. I'd imagine, like all things I like, it's the ambidextrous nature of the whole thing. Certainly, the oppresive darkness and wandering viciousness of the first commerical grime record and its follow up, Showtime, captured my imagination and inspired me in a way that not many rock records ever have.
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/1BKBOd74k2LEpxfJAxxoj1
1) Sittin' Here (Boy In Da Corner)
2) Stand Up Tall (Showtime)
3) Brand New Day (Boy In Day Corner)
4) Do It (Boy In Da Corner)
5) Everywhere (Showtime)
6) Sirens (Maths + English)
7) Respect Me (Showtime)
8) I Luv U (Boy In Da Corner)
9) Imagine (Showtime)
10) Jus' A Rascal (Boy In Da Corner)
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Band of the Day - 23: Pixies
I believe in retrospective reset points in rock where a band appears that has relatively little impact at the time, but actually makes a meteor sized crater, completely changing the face and landscape of popular rock music forever. The Beatles were the catalyst, Hendrix was one, The Ramones were another but everyone knows this. It's only now people realise Sonic Youth changed everything. It seems we're in a greater position to acknowledge these changes pretty quickly after they happen.
Pixies were another band who changed everything. Frqankly, there is no one out there who have done what Pixies did. You don't believe me? Songs of sex and death, sometimes sang in Spanish, male and female harmonies, screaming, piercing lead guitar, thrashing guitars, science fiction, surf-rock, disturbing imagery and some of the best pop songs ever created. This sort of band doesn't appear very often, if at all.
The sheer lunatic brilliance of the Steve Albini recorded Surfer Rosa - a violent, colourful outburst from imaginations clearly expanded in some narcotic, far-reaching way - is one of my favourite records of all time. It's savage, innovative, unbelievably melodic and excruciatingly superb. I find it difficult to cope with the fact that a person might dislike this record. Sure, it's devoid of production polish, it's confrontational, it's noisy, it's offensive - but it's still packed with lightning fast tunes, gorgeous harmonies and broke the idea of alternative pop songs into the present day.
Then there's Doolittle, Bossanova, Trompe Le Monde, the Come On Pilgrim mini-LP, their B-Sides, their live shows, their side projects (The Breeders, The Amps, Frank Black solo...). The effect they've had on me is clear; anything with the bravery to scour the human underbelly, the disgusting dark thoughts we all conjure up in our lowest (and highest) moments, and their sonic invention in the realms of popular music make this one of a handful essential bands to anyone. Investigate and adore.
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/13mD0uEQx9mwl5NfmcubBv
1) Bone Machine (Surfer Rosa)
2) Broken Face (Surfer Rosa)
3) Gouge Away (Doolittle)
4) Velouria (Bossanova)
5) Letter To Memphis (Trompe Le Monde)
6) I've Been Tired (Come On Pilgrim)
7) Debaser (Doolittle)
8) The Holiday Song (Come On Pilgrim)
9) Something Against You (Surfer Rosa)
10) Tame (Doolittle)
Pixies were another band who changed everything. Frqankly, there is no one out there who have done what Pixies did. You don't believe me? Songs of sex and death, sometimes sang in Spanish, male and female harmonies, screaming, piercing lead guitar, thrashing guitars, science fiction, surf-rock, disturbing imagery and some of the best pop songs ever created. This sort of band doesn't appear very often, if at all.
The sheer lunatic brilliance of the Steve Albini recorded Surfer Rosa - a violent, colourful outburst from imaginations clearly expanded in some narcotic, far-reaching way - is one of my favourite records of all time. It's savage, innovative, unbelievably melodic and excruciatingly superb. I find it difficult to cope with the fact that a person might dislike this record. Sure, it's devoid of production polish, it's confrontational, it's noisy, it's offensive - but it's still packed with lightning fast tunes, gorgeous harmonies and broke the idea of alternative pop songs into the present day.
Then there's Doolittle, Bossanova, Trompe Le Monde, the Come On Pilgrim mini-LP, their B-Sides, their live shows, their side projects (The Breeders, The Amps, Frank Black solo...). The effect they've had on me is clear; anything with the bravery to scour the human underbelly, the disgusting dark thoughts we all conjure up in our lowest (and highest) moments, and their sonic invention in the realms of popular music make this one of a handful essential bands to anyone. Investigate and adore.
Mixtape:
Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/13mD0uEQx9mwl5NfmcubBv
1) Bone Machine (Surfer Rosa)
2) Broken Face (Surfer Rosa)
3) Gouge Away (Doolittle)
4) Velouria (Bossanova)
5) Letter To Memphis (Trompe Le Monde)
6) I've Been Tired (Come On Pilgrim)
7) Debaser (Doolittle)
8) The Holiday Song (Come On Pilgrim)
9) Something Against You (Surfer Rosa)
10) Tame (Doolittle)
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 19 - 22
So one step forward, four steps back. Kinda feels like each time I catch up and feel good about things, something happens and I'm almost worse off than before. Kinda like my bank account really (sigh).
The Age of Rockets
A friend of mine worked with the brainchild of this project on their own little duo the Mercenary Rhymes. Andrew Futrall has written two albums worth of teary-eyed electronica-pop with both albums having a dstinctive flavour - last year's Hannah was orchestral led excellence.
Listen: www.myspace.com/theageofrockets
Propagandhi
On this eve of Obama's inaguaration, we'd all like to think America's problems will be swept away. More likely, they'll be swept under the carpet. This means Propagandhi are as relevant as ever, which is good because they have another album on the way. Now, possibly unlike most bands featured here, I'm not enamoured with everything they've done. However, it's their third record Todays Empires, Tomorrows Ashes that is more than shining light - it's an incredible, righteous and irrefutably brilliant political record, maybe one of a handful in the world. Nothing feels contrived, its sense of humour is plastered all over the lyrics, while the seriousness is shocking and more than a little riling. They tackle all their favourite subjects with intelligence while their music is fast, rousing, technical and exhilirating. Incredible.
Albright Monument, Baghdad
Rings
Formerly First Nation, Rings' debut album Black Habit was an astonishing piece of work which stirred in feminism, concentric circles and musical mantras that echo and hypnotise. Semi-improvised, these tribal repetitions and haunting refrains made for one of last year's greatest albums. I know very little about them, and thats a really good thing in my opinion.
www.myspace.com/firstnationlove
Neil Young
I can't even attempt to put into words what an influence his entire back catalogue has had on music and what it means to people. Could I even do a mixtape? No not really. I only own Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Rust Never Sleeps and Sugar Mountain. So, why not use Spotify to have a listen to his back catalogue and let it seep in gradually? It could take you a long time, or you could be at a time of life where it all makes sense. 27 seems to be the optimum time...
The Age of Rockets
A friend of mine worked with the brainchild of this project on their own little duo the Mercenary Rhymes. Andrew Futrall has written two albums worth of teary-eyed electronica-pop with both albums having a dstinctive flavour - last year's Hannah was orchestral led excellence.
Listen: www.myspace.com/theageofrockets
Propagandhi
On this eve of Obama's inaguaration, we'd all like to think America's problems will be swept away. More likely, they'll be swept under the carpet. This means Propagandhi are as relevant as ever, which is good because they have another album on the way. Now, possibly unlike most bands featured here, I'm not enamoured with everything they've done. However, it's their third record Todays Empires, Tomorrows Ashes that is more than shining light - it's an incredible, righteous and irrefutably brilliant political record, maybe one of a handful in the world. Nothing feels contrived, its sense of humour is plastered all over the lyrics, while the seriousness is shocking and more than a little riling. They tackle all their favourite subjects with intelligence while their music is fast, rousing, technical and exhilirating. Incredible.
Albright Monument, Baghdad
Rings
Formerly First Nation, Rings' debut album Black Habit was an astonishing piece of work which stirred in feminism, concentric circles and musical mantras that echo and hypnotise. Semi-improvised, these tribal repetitions and haunting refrains made for one of last year's greatest albums. I know very little about them, and thats a really good thing in my opinion.
www.myspace.com/firstnationlove
Neil Young
I can't even attempt to put into words what an influence his entire back catalogue has had on music and what it means to people. Could I even do a mixtape? No not really. I only own Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, Harvest, Tonight's the Night, Rust Never Sleeps and Sugar Mountain. So, why not use Spotify to have a listen to his back catalogue and let it seep in gradually? It could take you a long time, or you could be at a time of life where it all makes sense. 27 seems to be the optimum time...
Friday, 16 January 2009
Band of the Day 18 - The Arc People
Promising myself a vow of relative silence over these guys, giving them time to develop, making sure they feel ready themselves, I'm breaking this now, as it's got to a point where they now have a live band and are releasing a single. I discovered them - or rather, they contacted me - via myspace and the two brothers, Marcus and Miles, had recorded some demos without names. One of these was the brilliant Light Streams. Struck by their ambition in the arrangements and the baritone vocals, excitement got the better of me. Luckily it also got the better of other people. Having seen them play with their full band, it's clear theres a talented lot here and all it will take is time and increasing songwriting risks before The Arc People become a long-term favourite. They're definitely a band I have nothing but admiration for, so I'm hoping their promise extends to excellent results this year.
www.myspace.com/thearkpeople
www.myspace.com/thearkpeople
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Band of the Day 17 - Micachu and the Shapes
Finally catching up with yourself is a beautiful thing. :)
I will start with this opening statement: DIY in music - a subject close to my heart - has been marginalised and contained for a long time. You can refer to one of my earliest posts about how the mainstream press went about that. Now, however, it is being celebrated in far more honest ways. When I found my next Band of the Day on the cover of Plan B, it was the first time I've been utterly compelled to read the cover story of a magazine since I can remember. Not only that but a feeling swelled up inside me - something along the lines of utter excitement. For once, it seems, these meshing of words, sentences, syntax and ideas collided with the subject itself and made something worth reading. No, not just worth reading but perhaps essential reading.
Enough. Let's examine Exhibit A:
Micachu and the Shapes
Y'honour, I must confess, here now under a vow of trust, that I hated the Micachu album when it was sent to me late last year. I viewed it as ridiculous, childish rubbish. Instead of throwing it angrily into the bin though, my mind knew, deep down, that a) I was missing something and b) I may well have to review this album in time. Lo and behold! I had to review the album. After hours of listening, trawling through the contents of this hyperactive, messy, lo-fi, off-key extravaganza of a record, it clicked. After hours of tearing my hair out trying to figure out what words might do this unique imaginative platter justice, they leaked from my fingers and onto the Word document. Frankly, Jewellery is one of the most exciting, unfathomable records I've heard in ages. I still don't know if I can really enjoy the whole thing. It's scatterbrained, inventive and perfect for attention spans that are merely a fan rather than a wing. I don't even know if this sentence makes sense, but this certainly does - even if it doesn't.
Live show
Lips
DIY, to me, is music that wouldn't exist unless it was done in this way. In other words, it's the only way we're going to find new ways of expressing ourselves musically. Money can help, but carving out your imagination and presenting an ice sculpture - or a pile of rubbish - is infinitely preferrable to spangly production and guest superstars. In fact, I'd trade all that for one of Micachu's home-made instruments. Call me mad if you like - I just despise mediocre records.
I will start with this opening statement: DIY in music - a subject close to my heart - has been marginalised and contained for a long time. You can refer to one of my earliest posts about how the mainstream press went about that. Now, however, it is being celebrated in far more honest ways. When I found my next Band of the Day on the cover of Plan B, it was the first time I've been utterly compelled to read the cover story of a magazine since I can remember. Not only that but a feeling swelled up inside me - something along the lines of utter excitement. For once, it seems, these meshing of words, sentences, syntax and ideas collided with the subject itself and made something worth reading. No, not just worth reading but perhaps essential reading.
Enough. Let's examine Exhibit A:
Micachu and the Shapes
Y'honour, I must confess, here now under a vow of trust, that I hated the Micachu album when it was sent to me late last year. I viewed it as ridiculous, childish rubbish. Instead of throwing it angrily into the bin though, my mind knew, deep down, that a) I was missing something and b) I may well have to review this album in time. Lo and behold! I had to review the album. After hours of listening, trawling through the contents of this hyperactive, messy, lo-fi, off-key extravaganza of a record, it clicked. After hours of tearing my hair out trying to figure out what words might do this unique imaginative platter justice, they leaked from my fingers and onto the Word document. Frankly, Jewellery is one of the most exciting, unfathomable records I've heard in ages. I still don't know if I can really enjoy the whole thing. It's scatterbrained, inventive and perfect for attention spans that are merely a fan rather than a wing. I don't even know if this sentence makes sense, but this certainly does - even if it doesn't.
Live show
Lips
DIY, to me, is music that wouldn't exist unless it was done in this way. In other words, it's the only way we're going to find new ways of expressing ourselves musically. Money can help, but carving out your imagination and presenting an ice sculpture - or a pile of rubbish - is infinitely preferrable to spangly production and guest superstars. In fact, I'd trade all that for one of Micachu's home-made instruments. Call me mad if you like - I just despise mediocre records.
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 15/16 - Nelson/Abe Vigoda
Hi. I have band for you.
Nelson
Parisian twenty-somethings Nelson are currently working on what will be their second album and it's about time people took notice quick sharpish. Why? Well, leaping from their melancholy, Factory Records-influenced debut Revolving Doors they've embraced the happy - as evidenced by last nights Artrocker Fest headline slot. The band are a revelation live, swapping instruments, all singing, all performing as if their little lives depend upon the energy they get from the crowd. Anything to work us up from dancing, using a radio to sample static, thrashing their guitars - see my little bit of wordz on it http://www.artrocker.tv/reviews/article/artrocker-festival-night-two
Anyway, truly brilliant songs and their new stuff is sounding more than promising - they sound like vital, urgent anthems.
Abe Vigoda
If you split this band open they'd probably spill out a bewildering array of viscous colours. Using tropical melodies as a starting point to ACTUALLY create noise in tuneful shapes means they're one of my favourite discoveries of recent times. Live they are borderline chaotic, as you'd expect, but always hitting those evergreen sweet notes they swim in. Skeleton, their only UK release, captured my imagination in a way similar bands really didn;t. Why? Again, it's because of the noise factor - the unexplainable descent into discordant fizzing and weird off-key elements that actually seem to provide a symphony of sound, for that split second they resonate.
Incredible.
Dead City/Waste Wilderness
Bear Face
Nelson
Parisian twenty-somethings Nelson are currently working on what will be their second album and it's about time people took notice quick sharpish. Why? Well, leaping from their melancholy, Factory Records-influenced debut Revolving Doors they've embraced the happy - as evidenced by last nights Artrocker Fest headline slot. The band are a revelation live, swapping instruments, all singing, all performing as if their little lives depend upon the energy they get from the crowd. Anything to work us up from dancing, using a radio to sample static, thrashing their guitars - see my little bit of wordz on it http://www.artrocker.tv/reviews/article/artrocker-festival-night-two
Anyway, truly brilliant songs and their new stuff is sounding more than promising - they sound like vital, urgent anthems.
Abe Vigoda
If you split this band open they'd probably spill out a bewildering array of viscous colours. Using tropical melodies as a starting point to ACTUALLY create noise in tuneful shapes means they're one of my favourite discoveries of recent times. Live they are borderline chaotic, as you'd expect, but always hitting those evergreen sweet notes they swim in. Skeleton, their only UK release, captured my imagination in a way similar bands really didn;t. Why? Again, it's because of the noise factor - the unexplainable descent into discordant fizzing and weird off-key elements that actually seem to provide a symphony of sound, for that split second they resonate.
Incredible.
Dead City/Waste Wilderness
Bear Face
Monday, 12 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 12/13/14 - The Thermals/Converge/Frank Turner
So now I owe you all three of the bastards....
The Thermals
With news that their new album is being prepped for February release, and that theya re back in the UK, it's about time you all gavbe into the temptation that is The Thermals. Garage rock with smarts, sexiness and energy by the socket-load, this trio have delivered three delicious albums of the same song. Luckily that song is amazing.
Agreed? Good
Mixtape:
1) No Culture Icons (from More Parts Per Million)
2) Here's Your Future (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
3) Time To Lose (from More Parts Per Million)
4) Our Time (from Fuckin A)
5) It's Trivia (from More Parts Per Million)
6) God and Country (from Fuckin A)
7) A Pillar Of Salt (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
8) Goddamn the Light (from More Parts Per Million)
9) Returning To The Folk (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
10) Back To Grey (from More Parts Per Million)
Converge
Frankly, one of the best technical and brutal albums I've ever heard comes from this band. That would be Jane Doe. Incredible work, and I've always maintained that if I ever went to a gig of theirs, I'd probably end up dead. Here's why:
Locust Wrath
Concubine
And because there are absolute dicks in the metalcore scene...
Purchase and watch the Long Road Home for extensive coverage of what they get up to live.
Mixtape?:
1) Concubine
2) Fault and Fracture
3) Distance and Meaning
4) Hell to Pay
5) Homewrecker
6) The Broken Vow
7) Bitter and Then Some
8) Heaven in Her Arms
9) Phoenix in Flight
10) Phoenix in Flames
11) Thaw
12) Jane Doe
Yeah, so what? It's Jane Doe, in full. You can't rip tracks out of the heart of the top metalcore-influenced album of all time. It would be like dissecting your pet dog. You just don't do it.
Frank Turner
Because he's already on this blog lots AND his previous band have been a Band of the Day, I'm gonna try and NOT mention him for the rest of the year on here. It's only fair. So, he's a folk superstar now is he? Well, he's paid his dues and more. Acoustic open mic nights in Canonbury pubs, playing at peoples flats for no pay - he's done a lot. With two full length albums, a compilation of rare and unreleased stuff and a third album being written and recorded for this year, you should hear a bit more from our Frank. Why is he here? Because without his songs, a friend would've contemplated suicide, another would feel lost and unloved and I wouldn't have gone to half as many gigs in the last three years. Oh, and I like his lyrics and stuff, yeah?
The Real Damage (in tribute to the recently burned Nambucca, which is where the projector montage pics were shot - I'm in one of them, tucked away at the back at 3.10)
Casanova Lament
My Kingdom for A Horse
Mixtape:
1)I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (from Love, Ire and Song)
2) Nashville Tennessee (from Campfire Punkrock EP)
3) The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (by The Postal Servivce from The First Three Years)
4) Father's Day (from Sleep is For The Week)
5) Love Ire and Song (from Love Ire and Song)
6) The Outdoor Type (from Jonah Matranger/Frank Turner split vinyl)
7) St Christopher Is Coming Home (from Love Ire and Song)
8) Wisdom Teeth (from Sleep Is For The Week)
9) To Take You Home (from Love Ire and Song)
10) The Ballad of Me and My Friends (from Sleep Is For The Week)
The Thermals
With news that their new album is being prepped for February release, and that theya re back in the UK, it's about time you all gavbe into the temptation that is The Thermals. Garage rock with smarts, sexiness and energy by the socket-load, this trio have delivered three delicious albums of the same song. Luckily that song is amazing.
Agreed? Good
Mixtape:
1) No Culture Icons (from More Parts Per Million)
2) Here's Your Future (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
3) Time To Lose (from More Parts Per Million)
4) Our Time (from Fuckin A)
5) It's Trivia (from More Parts Per Million)
6) God and Country (from Fuckin A)
7) A Pillar Of Salt (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
8) Goddamn the Light (from More Parts Per Million)
9) Returning To The Folk (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
10) Back To Grey (from More Parts Per Million)
Converge
Frankly, one of the best technical and brutal albums I've ever heard comes from this band. That would be Jane Doe. Incredible work, and I've always maintained that if I ever went to a gig of theirs, I'd probably end up dead. Here's why:
Locust Wrath
Concubine
And because there are absolute dicks in the metalcore scene...
Purchase and watch the Long Road Home for extensive coverage of what they get up to live.
Mixtape?:
1) Concubine
2) Fault and Fracture
3) Distance and Meaning
4) Hell to Pay
5) Homewrecker
6) The Broken Vow
7) Bitter and Then Some
8) Heaven in Her Arms
9) Phoenix in Flight
10) Phoenix in Flames
11) Thaw
12) Jane Doe
Yeah, so what? It's Jane Doe, in full. You can't rip tracks out of the heart of the top metalcore-influenced album of all time. It would be like dissecting your pet dog. You just don't do it.
Frank Turner
Because he's already on this blog lots AND his previous band have been a Band of the Day, I'm gonna try and NOT mention him for the rest of the year on here. It's only fair. So, he's a folk superstar now is he? Well, he's paid his dues and more. Acoustic open mic nights in Canonbury pubs, playing at peoples flats for no pay - he's done a lot. With two full length albums, a compilation of rare and unreleased stuff and a third album being written and recorded for this year, you should hear a bit more from our Frank. Why is he here? Because without his songs, a friend would've contemplated suicide, another would feel lost and unloved and I wouldn't have gone to half as many gigs in the last three years. Oh, and I like his lyrics and stuff, yeah?
The Real Damage (in tribute to the recently burned Nambucca, which is where the projector montage pics were shot - I'm in one of them, tucked away at the back at 3.10)
Casanova Lament
My Kingdom for A Horse
Mixtape:
1)I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (from Love, Ire and Song)
2) Nashville Tennessee (from Campfire Punkrock EP)
3) The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (by The Postal Servivce from The First Three Years)
4) Father's Day (from Sleep is For The Week)
5) Love Ire and Song (from Love Ire and Song)
6) The Outdoor Type (from Jonah Matranger/Frank Turner split vinyl)
7) St Christopher Is Coming Home (from Love Ire and Song)
8) Wisdom Teeth (from Sleep Is For The Week)
9) To Take You Home (from Love Ire and Song)
10) The Ballad of Me and My Friends (from Sleep Is For The Week)
Friday, 9 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 10/11 - Glassjaw and Gossamer Albatross
They went in two by two....
Glassjaw
Imagine being at the end of your tether, feeling as if everything you've worked for, every time you've been polite, lovely and charming individual has been for nothing because the tall fucker with a unhealthy disrespect for women has grabbed that gorgeous, intelligent girl you were getting on with. Now imagine your mind being torn asunder by Pretty Lush - the first track on Glassjaw's debut album Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence. Suddenly the world makes more sense. The rage, the misogyny (never something I approve of in any context, but for this band I make the exception because the anger would not be fully formed without this utter, self-destructive contempt for Daryl's imaginary evil female), the brutal spiked melodic guitars, the incredible vocal delivery - this album basically napalmed my entire late teenage life. It's still unbelievably potent - it is like being pummelled by ill feeling and righteousness. Worship and Tribute stripped the focused anger and spread it over lots of topics (notably war and 9/11)and proved that glassjaw only make records when they feel the need and enough reason too. That's why this band are one of the most influential and emotionally strident of my life. Perhaps the most stinging moment comes at the very end of the debut album's title track. After screaming his heart out, Daryl sounds like his breath is hitching - perhaps he's in tears? I've always imagined him to be - while the guitars feedback and crescendo around him. A few seconds later and he's pleading: "You don't need another one do you?" to the engineer. Sobering.
When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
Tip The Bartender (sound bad, energy off the Richter scale)
Mixtape:
1) Pretty Lush (from Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence)
2) Piano (from EYEWTKAS)
3) You Think You're Fucking John Lennon?(listen at Glassjaw.com - after about 2 minutes of percussion)
4) Radio Cambodia (from Worship and Tribute)
5) Two Tabs of Mescaline (fron Worship and Tribute)
6) Babe (from EYEWTKAS)
7) Pink Roses (from Worship and Tribute)
8) Lovebites and Razorlines (from EYEWTKAS)
9) Ry Ry's Song (from EYEWTKAS)
10) Tip The Bartender (from Worship and Tribute)
Gossamer Albatross
This lovley, charming bunch of youngsters make dramatic, orchestral tinged and slightly barmy music that appeals to the eccentric in all of us. Well, in me at least. The disarming vibrato of the vocals, the subtle string melodies and the disturbing lyrics all compounded by the fact that these guys are still doing their A Levels makes for one of my favourite new bands. Yep.
Whispered Thoughts
Live at This Ain't No Picnic 2008
Glassjaw
Imagine being at the end of your tether, feeling as if everything you've worked for, every time you've been polite, lovely and charming individual has been for nothing because the tall fucker with a unhealthy disrespect for women has grabbed that gorgeous, intelligent girl you were getting on with. Now imagine your mind being torn asunder by Pretty Lush - the first track on Glassjaw's debut album Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence. Suddenly the world makes more sense. The rage, the misogyny (never something I approve of in any context, but for this band I make the exception because the anger would not be fully formed without this utter, self-destructive contempt for Daryl's imaginary evil female), the brutal spiked melodic guitars, the incredible vocal delivery - this album basically napalmed my entire late teenage life. It's still unbelievably potent - it is like being pummelled by ill feeling and righteousness. Worship and Tribute stripped the focused anger and spread it over lots of topics (notably war and 9/11)and proved that glassjaw only make records when they feel the need and enough reason too. That's why this band are one of the most influential and emotionally strident of my life. Perhaps the most stinging moment comes at the very end of the debut album's title track. After screaming his heart out, Daryl sounds like his breath is hitching - perhaps he's in tears? I've always imagined him to be - while the guitars feedback and crescendo around him. A few seconds later and he's pleading: "You don't need another one do you?" to the engineer. Sobering.
When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros
Tip The Bartender (sound bad, energy off the Richter scale)
Mixtape:
1) Pretty Lush (from Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence)
2) Piano (from EYEWTKAS)
3) You Think You're Fucking John Lennon?(listen at Glassjaw.com - after about 2 minutes of percussion)
4) Radio Cambodia (from Worship and Tribute)
5) Two Tabs of Mescaline (fron Worship and Tribute)
6) Babe (from EYEWTKAS)
7) Pink Roses (from Worship and Tribute)
8) Lovebites and Razorlines (from EYEWTKAS)
9) Ry Ry's Song (from EYEWTKAS)
10) Tip The Bartender (from Worship and Tribute)
Gossamer Albatross
This lovley, charming bunch of youngsters make dramatic, orchestral tinged and slightly barmy music that appeals to the eccentric in all of us. Well, in me at least. The disarming vibrato of the vocals, the subtle string melodies and the disturbing lyrics all compounded by the fact that these guys are still doing their A Levels makes for one of my favourite new bands. Yep.
Whispered Thoughts
Live at This Ain't No Picnic 2008
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 08/09 - Gentle Friendly and Fugazi
Shut up.
Gentle Friendly
Having heard the Night Tape EP last year, I made sure it wasn't one of the CD's that I regularly recycle. Throwing together reverberating keyboards being used as drone funnels, time changes, yelling and a general sense of anarchy sealed inside the restrictions of melody, Gentle Friendly excite me.
Fugazi
Every word I've written about Fugazi fails to convey how important they are. Everytime I hear or see something new that I haven't heard or seen before from them, I'm left gawping like some half-wit. I FINALLY started watching Instrument last night, and there's no doubt it's one of the most important musical documents of our time. That combined with their 6 albums and various EPs of work, the fact that their live shows were entirely unscripted and that Ian McKaye has always forged his own path, this petty little paragraph cannot do any justice to them. Perhaps it's best to just watch, listen and learn.
Turnover
Waiting Room
Blueprint
Mixtape:
1) Waiting Room (from Fugazi EP)
2) Caustic Acrostic (from End Hits)
3) Life and Limb (from The Argument)
4) Bed For The Scraping (from Red Medicine)
5) Styrofoam (from Repeater)
6) Burning Too (from Margin Walker EP)
7) Latin Roots (from Steady Diet Of Nothing)
8) Epic Problem (from The Argument)
9) I'm So Tired (from Instrument)
10) Last Chance For A Slow Dance (from In On The Kill Taker)
Gentle Friendly
Having heard the Night Tape EP last year, I made sure it wasn't one of the CD's that I regularly recycle. Throwing together reverberating keyboards being used as drone funnels, time changes, yelling and a general sense of anarchy sealed inside the restrictions of melody, Gentle Friendly excite me.
Fugazi
Every word I've written about Fugazi fails to convey how important they are. Everytime I hear or see something new that I haven't heard or seen before from them, I'm left gawping like some half-wit. I FINALLY started watching Instrument last night, and there's no doubt it's one of the most important musical documents of our time. That combined with their 6 albums and various EPs of work, the fact that their live shows were entirely unscripted and that Ian McKaye has always forged his own path, this petty little paragraph cannot do any justice to them. Perhaps it's best to just watch, listen and learn.
Turnover
Waiting Room
Blueprint
Mixtape:
1) Waiting Room (from Fugazi EP)
2) Caustic Acrostic (from End Hits)
3) Life and Limb (from The Argument)
4) Bed For The Scraping (from Red Medicine)
5) Styrofoam (from Repeater)
6) Burning Too (from Margin Walker EP)
7) Latin Roots (from Steady Diet Of Nothing)
8) Epic Problem (from The Argument)
9) I'm So Tired (from Instrument)
10) Last Chance For A Slow Dance (from In On The Kill Taker)
Monday, 5 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 07/08 - Sonic Youth and Three Trapped Tigers
Fuck sake. I'm annoying myself now. Two for the price of one again.
Sonic Youth
Without Sonic Youth, I don't think I'd understand music quite as much as I do now. Even with fifteen studio albums to their name (and that obviously doesn't include any of the SYR recordings - most of which are live anyway - and the Ciccone Youth LP) I still discover new beauty and ugliness in what they do. Yes, there are passages of pure noise but the invention and discovery from the self-titled EP to the melodic heights of Rather Ripped is truly astonishing. Below are several videos, most live, which go from accessible to unlistenable and then, the final one, back to mainstream. This only gives a snippet of what the band have achieved and barely an iota of what has inspired thousands of other bands. Without Sonic Youth, rock music would've died a long time ago.
Teenage Riot
Brave Men Run (In My Family)
Burning Spear (why don't bands do this sort of thing anymore?)
Inhuman (on Brighton Beach!!!!)
The Empty Page
Mixtape:
Spotify Link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/5HRWmAEtvkhPRtggJ8X2Tp
1) Death Valley 69 (from Bad Moon Rising)
2) Dirty Boots (from Goo)
3) Shadow Of A Doubt (from Evol)
4) Sunday (from A Thousand Leaves)
5) The Good and the Bad (from Sonic Youth)
6) Shaking Hell (from Confusion Is Sex)
7) The Sprawl (from Daydream Nation)
8) Plastic Sun (from Murray Street)
9) Stereo Sanctity (from Sister)
10) The Diamond Sea (from Washing Machine)
Three Trapped Tigers
They make me want to scream their name from rooftops. Like swizzle sticks dispersing through molten magma, Three Trapped Tigers magnify the elements of math-rock labelled bands, process it through their own warped inventory and disperse it like thunderous electronic armies. Incredible. No videos, but check out their myspace for evidence of what I'm saying.
http://www.myspace.com/threetrappedtigers
Sonic Youth
Without Sonic Youth, I don't think I'd understand music quite as much as I do now. Even with fifteen studio albums to their name (and that obviously doesn't include any of the SYR recordings - most of which are live anyway - and the Ciccone Youth LP) I still discover new beauty and ugliness in what they do. Yes, there are passages of pure noise but the invention and discovery from the self-titled EP to the melodic heights of Rather Ripped is truly astonishing. Below are several videos, most live, which go from accessible to unlistenable and then, the final one, back to mainstream. This only gives a snippet of what the band have achieved and barely an iota of what has inspired thousands of other bands. Without Sonic Youth, rock music would've died a long time ago.
Teenage Riot
Brave Men Run (In My Family)
Burning Spear (why don't bands do this sort of thing anymore?)
Inhuman (on Brighton Beach!!!!)
The Empty Page
Mixtape:
Spotify Link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/5HRWmAEtvkhPRtggJ8X2Tp
1) Death Valley 69 (from Bad Moon Rising)
2) Dirty Boots (from Goo)
3) Shadow Of A Doubt (from Evol)
4) Sunday (from A Thousand Leaves)
5) The Good and the Bad (from Sonic Youth)
6) Shaking Hell (from Confusion Is Sex)
7) The Sprawl (from Daydream Nation)
8) Plastic Sun (from Murray Street)
9) Stereo Sanctity (from Sister)
10) The Diamond Sea (from Washing Machine)
Three Trapped Tigers
They make me want to scream their name from rooftops. Like swizzle sticks dispersing through molten magma, Three Trapped Tigers magnify the elements of math-rock labelled bands, process it through their own warped inventory and disperse it like thunderous electronic armies. Incredible. No videos, but check out their myspace for evidence of what I'm saying.
http://www.myspace.com/threetrappedtigers
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 05/06 - Million Dead and Salem
I'm not meant to be doing these in twos, so I'm already failing in my mission to provide you with a band a day. I'm sorry.
Million Dead
Once every few years there's a band that seems to completely define your musical viewpoint, lyrical leanings and passion for music. Million Dead was that band from 2003 to 2005. Within two albums, a handful of B-sides, EPs and rarities and, of course, their lethal live shows, Million Dead captured my early twenties and magnified them. Frank Turners incredible lyrics and fiery delivery provided the perfect foil for the blitzkrieg intensity behind - whether the minimal, wiry guitar of Cameron Dean or wild histrionics of Tom Fowler was driving it. That they've wrote and recorded at least four of my favourite songs of all time and that they mean so much, makes them one of the best bands of my entire life. Listen good children.
Living the Dream video - a song that sums up how I feel about music
Pornography For Cowards - abrasive, exhilirating, at the final London show in 2005
Sasquatch - one of my favourite songs ever; the end is just devastating
The Rise and Fall into My War by Black Flag - this is the only band I can imagine MEANING it this much.
This last one shows you shouldn't throw beer on drummers. Ever.
Finally a 10 track mixtape:
1) Bread and Circuses (from Harmony No Harmony)
2) Smiling At Strangers On Trains (from A Song To Ruin)
3) Sasquatch (from Living The Dream CD single)
4) (Tonight) Matthew (from Living The Dream 7" single)
5) Hipsterclad and Clueless/Epilogue (from Million Dead EP Two)
6) Asthma (unreleased from I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder sessions)
7) Breaking The Back (from A Song To Ruin)
8) It's a Shit Business (from I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder single)
9) Living the Dream (Harmony No Harmony)
10) The Rise and Fall (from A Song To Ruin)
Salem
Salem are one of those continual mutations from electronic roots which has turned into grimy, terrifying possibilities. Really one of the most exciting things I've heard since Crystal Castles - okay so they didn't deliver on their early promise, but I can't see how Salem can fail to. Forget Dubstep - this is the real sound of uneasy listening.
SALEM - DIRT from ACEPHALE on Vimeo.
Million Dead
Once every few years there's a band that seems to completely define your musical viewpoint, lyrical leanings and passion for music. Million Dead was that band from 2003 to 2005. Within two albums, a handful of B-sides, EPs and rarities and, of course, their lethal live shows, Million Dead captured my early twenties and magnified them. Frank Turners incredible lyrics and fiery delivery provided the perfect foil for the blitzkrieg intensity behind - whether the minimal, wiry guitar of Cameron Dean or wild histrionics of Tom Fowler was driving it. That they've wrote and recorded at least four of my favourite songs of all time and that they mean so much, makes them one of the best bands of my entire life. Listen good children.
Living the Dream video - a song that sums up how I feel about music
Pornography For Cowards - abrasive, exhilirating, at the final London show in 2005
Sasquatch - one of my favourite songs ever; the end is just devastating
The Rise and Fall into My War by Black Flag - this is the only band I can imagine MEANING it this much.
This last one shows you shouldn't throw beer on drummers. Ever.
Finally a 10 track mixtape:
1) Bread and Circuses (from Harmony No Harmony)
2) Smiling At Strangers On Trains (from A Song To Ruin)
3) Sasquatch (from Living The Dream CD single)
4) (Tonight) Matthew (from Living The Dream 7" single)
5) Hipsterclad and Clueless/Epilogue (from Million Dead EP Two)
6) Asthma (unreleased from I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder sessions)
7) Breaking The Back (from A Song To Ruin)
8) It's a Shit Business (from I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder single)
9) Living the Dream (Harmony No Harmony)
10) The Rise and Fall (from A Song To Ruin)
Salem
Salem are one of those continual mutations from electronic roots which has turned into grimy, terrifying possibilities. Really one of the most exciting things I've heard since Crystal Castles - okay so they didn't deliver on their early promise, but I can't see how Salem can fail to. Forget Dubstep - this is the real sound of uneasy listening.
SALEM - DIRT from ACEPHALE on Vimeo.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Band(s) of the Day(s) 03/04 - Tubelord and Pavement
Because I didn't do this yesterday for obvious reasons (that's right - I forgot), I get to do two bands of the day, because I'm a good looking rebel who plays by his own rules.
Tubelord
Being innoculated against their sheer melodic-influenza (or being naturally immune you unlucky people) feels like it would be the only way you could dislike Tubelord. I hear Biffy Clyro, Idlewild and Saves The Day in what they do, and this is of course incredible.
Pavement
I'm currently re-obssessed with Pavement, perhaps due to the reissue of Brighten The Corners, the first Pavement album I heard and finally understood. I have a theory, and the theory is this: the best bands of all time are bands where you just wonder why they thought it was a good idea to go into a studio and record. This isn't derogatory - I just can't fathom why anyone would spend money to record music that other people almost certainly wouldn't like; except they did. I'm so glad Pavement's five records exist and that I've heard them, something which is further enforced by the fact that even with around 30 extra tracks on the deluxe editions, they are flawless pieces of work.
An (obvious but amazing) 10 track mixtape then:
1) Stereo (from Brighten The Corners)
2) Zurich Is Stained (from Slanted & Enchanted)
3) Cut Your Hair (from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
4) Grounded (from Wowiee Zowiee)
5) Date with IKEA (from Brighten The Corners)
6) Flux = Rad (from Wowiee Zowiee)
7) Shady Lane (from Brighten The Corners)
8) Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17 (from Slanted & Enchanted)
9) You Are A Light (from Terror Twilight)
10) Gold Soundz (from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
Oh and if you're at all wondering what the hell I'm doing up so early on New Year's Day...well, I'm going to work in an hours time, so WHO WINS HUH?!! WHO WINS??!!! It's probably you guys.
Tubelord
Being innoculated against their sheer melodic-influenza (or being naturally immune you unlucky people) feels like it would be the only way you could dislike Tubelord. I hear Biffy Clyro, Idlewild and Saves The Day in what they do, and this is of course incredible.
Pavement
I'm currently re-obssessed with Pavement, perhaps due to the reissue of Brighten The Corners, the first Pavement album I heard and finally understood. I have a theory, and the theory is this: the best bands of all time are bands where you just wonder why they thought it was a good idea to go into a studio and record. This isn't derogatory - I just can't fathom why anyone would spend money to record music that other people almost certainly wouldn't like; except they did. I'm so glad Pavement's five records exist and that I've heard them, something which is further enforced by the fact that even with around 30 extra tracks on the deluxe editions, they are flawless pieces of work.
An (obvious but amazing) 10 track mixtape then:
1) Stereo (from Brighten The Corners)
2) Zurich Is Stained (from Slanted & Enchanted)
3) Cut Your Hair (from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
4) Grounded (from Wowiee Zowiee)
5) Date with IKEA (from Brighten The Corners)
6) Flux = Rad (from Wowiee Zowiee)
7) Shady Lane (from Brighten The Corners)
8) Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17 (from Slanted & Enchanted)
9) You Are A Light (from Terror Twilight)
10) Gold Soundz (from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
Oh and if you're at all wondering what the hell I'm doing up so early on New Year's Day...well, I'm going to work in an hours time, so WHO WINS HUH?!! WHO WINS??!!! It's probably you guys.
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