ok, so i like to think im into at least something from every style of music, and in the pop category I have to admit that lately ive had a re-obsession with madonna.
Now i'll tell you straight out, i know you've seen these music videos a thousand fucking times growing up (if you're 25 or older), but watch them again after my commentary.
Papa Don't Preach - It came out in 1986, and because of mostly this fact alone, from the time i first have memories in life, I was hearing this song regularly in my life on the radio, i was turning 4. By the time i was 7, I probably could have sung along with all the words in the song for you, and I remember not knowing what any of the lyrics meant, but thinking it was so damn catchy.
I got turned off by madonna by the time she was like, doing the soundtrack song for an austin powers movie... it was just too... POP. like commercial pop, so i pretty much eliminated any madonna from my ears until the rebirth of new wave in 2004 or so.
So here at age 27 i redownloaded her entire discography since I hadn't rocked that shit since i was a kid, and one of the first ones i listened to was papa don't preach. It seemed like it was the first time I had heard it since the 80s, and now as an adult I just realized for the first time that I understood what all the lyrics were about.
I instantly was remembering conservative reagan era politics in our country and how bringing up abortion and teen pregnancy openly in public was pretty taboo. and, she looks so HOT in the video! the whole thing is just so fucking PUNK! "fuck you, im going to make a song about real shit that happens to kids, real heavy choices they have to make, and im going to make it irresistable for you to listen to"
Papa Don't Preach Video
Lucky Star - again, alongside michael jackson, this was one of those songs that I grew up with. one of the songs that has just existed for eternity as it is. Once I youtubed this shit again after not seeing the video for literally 17 years, I instantly understood everything so much more. My mind is thoughroughly blown for how fucking cool she knew how to be in the 80s. Her outfit? its fucking incredible! her singing and little touches? so cool!
Lucky Star video
like a prayer - same thing, I youtubed it and realized I hadnt watched it in literally 17 years. Having needing to up the bar in controversiality at the dawn of the decade of the 90s, she started using and misusing tons of religious imagery in the public eye. I remember watching this video at like age 7 and not even knowing anything about christianity or jesus and trying to understand what it all meant. I was pleased with all her religious button-pushing like a) being dressed sexy in a church b) insinuating jesus is black c) having sexual tension with jesus.... and then around 3:15 it kicks in to that shot of her in front of a field of burning crosses. YES!!!! holy shit, she knew exactly what she was doing and I never even realized it when i was a kid. Conservative christians were just SQUIRMING when they saw that video, man.
Good job madonna, thats all.
Like A Prayer Video
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Omega Massif
When I was on tour with the Blackwaves in '08, they told me I had to check out Germany's Omega Massif. I just had heard a little bit and thought it was cool, but I must have been swamped in other stuff I was listening to, because they didnt get to my queue until now. What a great band! really visual, organically moving songs. Their imagery of natural things like glaciers and monumental mountains really matches their sound to me... building massive walls of sound to sheer drops, always following the slow slow inevitable movement of time. you can go to their website and download three tracks for free. I think their website is great and perfectly captures DOOM mentality.
Portland Cello Project
When i moved to portland last summer, i heard from several sources that the Portland Cello Project cd was hella good, and based on the fact that i love a) portland and b) cellos, i bought it. the album starts right off with one of the most killer upbeat tracks "beat" that just was instantly nostalgic to me of happy summer-times activities and memories, and i used that song for this little moped rally video i put together last year.
The music throughout the album is... i would describe it as refreshing. There are a ton of creative kids out there who have lots of passion but maybe lack on the ability when it comes to music (just like me), so you hear lots of projects come out that sound really promising, or have good ideas or good moments, but at the end of the day you can lump them in with other things you've heard and they aren't outstanding. PCP is DIFFERENT. its already hard enough to find people who are into really good music and play a good cello, what to speak of up to 12 of them!!! its also really hard to find a great singer, male or female, and we all know how the vocals can seriously make or break a band. well they collaborated with justin power and Thao who both sing flowingly smooth and gentle throughout the album.
So what i'm trying to say is the musicianship is incredibly sound on every performers part, beginning to end. The album definitely has low points, i always skip "geography" for instance with its possibly awkward part changes and Thao electing to do cranberries-zombie-style yodels for once on the album, no thanks.
what i like about the album is all the different songs grew on me. There would be two or three that would really stand out, then i'd switch to other ones that i'd play all the time... I feel like it will stand the test of time.
The last song I got around to getting stuck in my head constantly for a month was appropriately the last song on the album, "travel", leading me to believe it wasn't an accident that they placed it there. This is one of those songs that is so beautiful, so sweet, such moving lyrics, how can anyone NOT like it?
The best video of them i found online was of that very song, and this performance is fantastic. you can see some of that musicianship im talking about in watching Justin's ease of fingerpicking the ukulele and being perfectly on key singing live. i'll never get tired of this video.
The music throughout the album is... i would describe it as refreshing. There are a ton of creative kids out there who have lots of passion but maybe lack on the ability when it comes to music (just like me), so you hear lots of projects come out that sound really promising, or have good ideas or good moments, but at the end of the day you can lump them in with other things you've heard and they aren't outstanding. PCP is DIFFERENT. its already hard enough to find people who are into really good music and play a good cello, what to speak of up to 12 of them!!! its also really hard to find a great singer, male or female, and we all know how the vocals can seriously make or break a band. well they collaborated with justin power and Thao who both sing flowingly smooth and gentle throughout the album.
So what i'm trying to say is the musicianship is incredibly sound on every performers part, beginning to end. The album definitely has low points, i always skip "geography" for instance with its possibly awkward part changes and Thao electing to do cranberries-zombie-style yodels for once on the album, no thanks.
what i like about the album is all the different songs grew on me. There would be two or three that would really stand out, then i'd switch to other ones that i'd play all the time... I feel like it will stand the test of time.
The last song I got around to getting stuck in my head constantly for a month was appropriately the last song on the album, "travel", leading me to believe it wasn't an accident that they placed it there. This is one of those songs that is so beautiful, so sweet, such moving lyrics, how can anyone NOT like it?
The best video of them i found online was of that very song, and this performance is fantastic. you can see some of that musicianship im talking about in watching Justin's ease of fingerpicking the ukulele and being perfectly on key singing live. i'll never get tired of this video.
Thorr's Hammer
ive only just been super into the DOOM-y side of things for about the last two years, so i hadn't heard of Thorr's Hammer until last year. I was skeptical of the ability of anything to come out in the mid nineties to be able to avoid shades of punk/grunge, or outdated metal at the gates/early metallica sounds, but holy fuck... i got their album, after more than ten years, and its HEAVY. some of these seattle kids were in high school still when they wrote and recorded some of this shit!!!
As far as i can tell, this album must have been revolutionary! (i wasn't there at the time so i can't speak with authority on the matter.) But it seems right in line with a lot of DOOM to follow for the next ten years, and i still haven't seen such a performance from a female vocalist since.
and about the singer, Runhild- in this video, talk about a picture of perfection... jesus!
read more about them here
As far as i can tell, this album must have been revolutionary! (i wasn't there at the time so i can't speak with authority on the matter.) But it seems right in line with a lot of DOOM to follow for the next ten years, and i still haven't seen such a performance from a female vocalist since.
and about the singer, Runhild- in this video, talk about a picture of perfection... jesus!
read more about them here
slipknot, so sick brah!
so this christmas i got turned onto this slipknot shreds video. apparently it was already popular, but i just found it and basically couldnt stop laughing for a week straight. hahahah fuck you slipknot, fuck all the people in that crowd! hahah this video is the most awesome thing ever
Monday, December 7, 2009
BTBAM - NEW MISDIRECT VIDEO
Hot off the presses, BTBAM just released a new music video for their album that just came out! I want to actually provide a whole review of The Great Misdirect, but havent found the time yet.
This video is really great. I've only watched it once but its the first video they have done that has a budget worthy of the immensity of their band. its all fucking awesome but uh, one thing..... those subtitles? really? was that the best graphics guy you guys have at victory records?
This video is really great. I've only watched it once but its the first video they have done that has a budget worthy of the immensity of their band. its all fucking awesome but uh, one thing..... those subtitles? really? was that the best graphics guy you guys have at victory records?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
BLACK HEART PROCESSION!!
I kind of have to start out and tell you that this is a band that can do no wrong in my eyes, so if you want an unbiased review, go somewhere else. If i was trying to, I could write a 5 page essay about how important Black Heart Procession was to my musical influence and life-ambience soundtrack, but i'll paraphrase it in order to tell you about their NEW cd, titled lovingly for those who will know, "six". before doing my typical pseudo-review of the album, i want to pause and give a short backstory.
When I first started getting to be the age to where you consider all genres with an open mind, black heart procession was literally one of the first bands I listened to outside of punk/hardcore/metal type stuff. one of the first bands that i heard about with a folky, more acoustic mellow sound. Well I guess in the 90s i DID listen to modest mouse, radiohead, portishead, and built to spill for a little mellow change of things, but black heart procession is definitely a mature step up from the likes of those. Its a step away from poppy and more traditionally folky and towards darker, stranger, more deeply emotional, more CLASSICAL in instrumentation and music. Probably one of the first bands where i ever heard an accordion that actually made my jaw drop and want to play the track over and over. as well as cellos, saws, distant wailing vocals, hollow wind ambience sounds, and on and on.
I got "one" and "two" albums and was instantly captivated by their dark somber beauty, and bought "three" as it was released. by the time i had played through "three" into deep channels in my brain, their first three albums all formed the backing track for an an entire fall and winter in my life, the first fall and winter where I was thrown into the adult world and becoming an adult. first year out of high school, first living on my own (with a roommate), first REALLY serious girlfriend, first job, a dehumanizing cubicle job...
throughout all of these things that we all get thrown through and chewed up as becoming adults, I had just discovered this beautiful band BHP, and had reason to feel the dark longing things they expressed in their music. but it was never a darkness that lowered you down into a sinking depression, but a bold recognition of things like depression in an empowering way to allow you to recognize and accept sadness or longing for what they are. its all part of life, and life is beautiful.
like i said, this five page essay is already getting too sappy and out there. at that point i decided to get matching black heart procession-inspired tattoos with the said first girlfriend. we would spend time designing the drawing together, in the dark and freezing cold, because we couldnt afford to pay the electric bill with our 7 dollar an hour jobs for 19 year olds. would look at the album art for "two" and "three" and think the style and the heart logos were so cute. we would just drawn them together in the candlelight, with different variations, and then started talking about mike it be a matching tattoo for us since at the end of that season BHP had just become the soundtrack for all of our time together.
well as young couples do, we eventually went through tons of really hard times and boke up, then a year or so after the breakup, i decided to actually get the tattoo we talked about. its on my wrist. barely talked to her for a long time, then she got a hold of me and asked me for some of the sketches we had done since she wanted to get the tattoo, and i was amazed. she had hers done up a bit different without seeing mine, and got a pair of them on the back of each arm.
at this point bhp came out with the radical departure of the salsa/latin ballroom "The tropics of love" and then later a very combination-of-the-new-and-old-sounding "the spell". The tropics album lets just say i appreciate, and the spell definitely has a few real gems. but i really spent from 2003 to 2009 waiting for BHP to once again make something along the lines as dark beautiful and intriguing as their first trio of albums were in their time.
THE TIME HAS COME. they just came out with "six", like a welcome and fresh homecoming. as soon as i saw some banner ad for it online i went to my record shop and bought it and was instantly please with nostalgia when i took it out and it was bound like an old canvas book. adorned with the very similar vein of cute iconic dark art. the music is much like the first trio of albums, but more intentional, matured, and thoughtful. I dont think we will get any more extended bad-acid-trip through the snow wailing ambience type tracks from them like in "the waterfront" on "three", but we still have fantastic ambient samples, an array of instruments, and never-wavering perfectly ON vocals that maintain an emotional honesty.
so, i love this band and everything they create and their body of work will always influence everything i create.
now that its out there, here is a piece they made from SIX::
When I first started getting to be the age to where you consider all genres with an open mind, black heart procession was literally one of the first bands I listened to outside of punk/hardcore/metal type stuff. one of the first bands that i heard about with a folky, more acoustic mellow sound. Well I guess in the 90s i DID listen to modest mouse, radiohead, portishead, and built to spill for a little mellow change of things, but black heart procession is definitely a mature step up from the likes of those. Its a step away from poppy and more traditionally folky and towards darker, stranger, more deeply emotional, more CLASSICAL in instrumentation and music. Probably one of the first bands where i ever heard an accordion that actually made my jaw drop and want to play the track over and over. as well as cellos, saws, distant wailing vocals, hollow wind ambience sounds, and on and on.
I got "one" and "two" albums and was instantly captivated by their dark somber beauty, and bought "three" as it was released. by the time i had played through "three" into deep channels in my brain, their first three albums all formed the backing track for an an entire fall and winter in my life, the first fall and winter where I was thrown into the adult world and becoming an adult. first year out of high school, first living on my own (with a roommate), first REALLY serious girlfriend, first job, a dehumanizing cubicle job...
throughout all of these things that we all get thrown through and chewed up as becoming adults, I had just discovered this beautiful band BHP, and had reason to feel the dark longing things they expressed in their music. but it was never a darkness that lowered you down into a sinking depression, but a bold recognition of things like depression in an empowering way to allow you to recognize and accept sadness or longing for what they are. its all part of life, and life is beautiful.
like i said, this five page essay is already getting too sappy and out there. at that point i decided to get matching black heart procession-inspired tattoos with the said first girlfriend. we would spend time designing the drawing together, in the dark and freezing cold, because we couldnt afford to pay the electric bill with our 7 dollar an hour jobs for 19 year olds. would look at the album art for "two" and "three" and think the style and the heart logos were so cute. we would just drawn them together in the candlelight, with different variations, and then started talking about mike it be a matching tattoo for us since at the end of that season BHP had just become the soundtrack for all of our time together.
well as young couples do, we eventually went through tons of really hard times and boke up, then a year or so after the breakup, i decided to actually get the tattoo we talked about. its on my wrist. barely talked to her for a long time, then she got a hold of me and asked me for some of the sketches we had done since she wanted to get the tattoo, and i was amazed. she had hers done up a bit different without seeing mine, and got a pair of them on the back of each arm.
at this point bhp came out with the radical departure of the salsa/latin ballroom "The tropics of love" and then later a very combination-of-the-new-and-old-sounding "the spell". The tropics album lets just say i appreciate, and the spell definitely has a few real gems. but i really spent from 2003 to 2009 waiting for BHP to once again make something along the lines as dark beautiful and intriguing as their first trio of albums were in their time.
THE TIME HAS COME. they just came out with "six", like a welcome and fresh homecoming. as soon as i saw some banner ad for it online i went to my record shop and bought it and was instantly please with nostalgia when i took it out and it was bound like an old canvas book. adorned with the very similar vein of cute iconic dark art. the music is much like the first trio of albums, but more intentional, matured, and thoughtful. I dont think we will get any more extended bad-acid-trip through the snow wailing ambience type tracks from them like in "the waterfront" on "three", but we still have fantastic ambient samples, an array of instruments, and never-wavering perfectly ON vocals that maintain an emotional honesty.
so, i love this band and everything they create and their body of work will always influence everything i create.
now that its out there, here is a piece they made from SIX::
Sunday, November 22, 2009
the yellowbus rider
dude..... god, i just dont know what to say....
just... dude my mind is totally blown, this is so good!
they are going dumb on that shit!
just... dude my mind is totally blown, this is so good!
they are going dumb on that shit!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Aleksandr Hrustevich
dude, holy fuck.... who did you learn from? the grace of god himself? this kid has to be in his own class. i dont even know what the fuck that kind of multi-octave accordion instrument is called. i didn't hear any mistake in this performance. this is something like a 4-part vivaldi composition for strings and hes playing all of the parts. the first day i saw this i watched it like 10 times, and then another day i just listened to the audio of it on a stereo and was almost able to appreciate it more.
america should get with the program like romania, russia, china, and start producing these force-taught kids in a variety of subjects. just imagine how we could advance science, math, medicine, death metal.... teaching four year olds sweeps.
america should get with the program like romania, russia, china, and start producing these force-taught kids in a variety of subjects. just imagine how we could advance science, math, medicine, death metal.... teaching four year olds sweeps.
Friday, November 20, 2009
DAM
I first heard them on the soundtrack of a couple things and wondered who was rapping in arabic, then i was watching democracy now and they played it on one of their break segments and amy goodman said what group it was, DAM. I bought their cd this summer and it's pretty good.
unfortunately, i think its unfair to compare the state of hip hop in any other country with the USA, because it was born here and we live in an absurd fantasy land. while in palestine it might be hard to just come across electricity sometimes what to speak of a mic, MPC, and a place to play, in america if you produce a 4/4 hot club beat and rap about "shawty" and "bein up in da club", you can make a million dollars overnight. then you ride home in your hummer with 10 18's.
the highlight of their album is Al Huriye Unt'a (Freedom for my Sisters), one of the tracks featuring the female rapper Safa' Hathoot. once i read their lyrics (translations) thats when i knew these guys were legit. in that track here is safa's verse:
"The Arabic woman’s life is written
What should she do, where should she go, it’s all written
She’s like a wounded bird in the sky
Scared to land because of the hunters
Imprisoned in her own house, thirsty for freedom
And can drink nothing but her own tears
Then they dare ask me: why do I cry?
Because I’m a body without a spirit
U abuse it and then I’m wrong while u are right?
Who the hell are you to tell me how to behave?
Asking me “where r u going?”
What? You forgot where u came from? U came from me
But from now on I’m going to be independent
And the new generation follow suit
We should fight for our rights, let men ask questions
But let our sisters answer"
the albums price is worth it just to hear a CHICK rap that shit IN ARABIC. its like, fuck you islam, fuck you backwards ass koran culture!
also, fuck israel (the leadership and the expansion and the human rights abuses, not the civilians).
unfortunately, i think its unfair to compare the state of hip hop in any other country with the USA, because it was born here and we live in an absurd fantasy land. while in palestine it might be hard to just come across electricity sometimes what to speak of a mic, MPC, and a place to play, in america if you produce a 4/4 hot club beat and rap about "shawty" and "bein up in da club", you can make a million dollars overnight. then you ride home in your hummer with 10 18's.
the highlight of their album is Al Huriye Unt'a (Freedom for my Sisters), one of the tracks featuring the female rapper Safa' Hathoot. once i read their lyrics (translations) thats when i knew these guys were legit. in that track here is safa's verse:
"The Arabic woman’s life is written
What should she do, where should she go, it’s all written
She’s like a wounded bird in the sky
Scared to land because of the hunters
Imprisoned in her own house, thirsty for freedom
And can drink nothing but her own tears
Then they dare ask me: why do I cry?
Because I’m a body without a spirit
U abuse it and then I’m wrong while u are right?
Who the hell are you to tell me how to behave?
Asking me “where r u going?”
What? You forgot where u came from? U came from me
But from now on I’m going to be independent
And the new generation follow suit
We should fight for our rights, let men ask questions
But let our sisters answer"
the albums price is worth it just to hear a CHICK rap that shit IN ARABIC. its like, fuck you islam, fuck you backwards ass koran culture!
also, fuck israel (the leadership and the expansion and the human rights abuses, not the civilians).
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
iron thrones - new stuff
I can't remember if i paid for their album or not, but i downloaded "visions of light" off of their website where they offer it for free or donation. all i gotta say, is GET THAT SHIT.
and while on that topic of them being unsigned and offering their album for free - i have something to say for that....
these are really transitionary and interesting times we live in. when i was a kid, to find new bands you had to march your ass down to the sketchy punk record store where all the "older kids" hung out and ask the kids working there what sounded like this band or that band, and asking recommendations. you bought albums to check it out. sure, there has always been DIY punk metal etc, but when i was a kid it was way more possible to make some money playing shows and selling records. now, while people will say otherwise by qualifying it with tons of preconditions, i just flat out assume that YOU CANNOT MAKE A DIME off of music, and when you do, it doesnt have anything to do with talent or quality of the music, but how you are marketed and how you are sold to the consuming public. as my homeboy immortal technique says "If you go platinum, it's got nuttin' to do wit' luck it just means that a million people are stupid as fuck".
and so in these changing times, how do we respond as musicians? do we throw a metallica-fit and say "OHHH NO WE ARE LOSING ROYALTIES BECAUSE OF DOWNLOADING! CALL THE FBI AND NSA!!!" or do we have to adapt and figure out how to be even more revolutionary than selling cds? we adapt, nukkah.
so i take it to mean iron thrones was saying F.U. to the record label system, the pay-to-play radio system, the download controversies, all of that, and just saying fuck, guys, we just want to do music. if this means we can get it to you the fastest and purest, then shit, its free.
so fuck yeah, distribute that shit, and support the band directly if you have the money to.
so on to today's video, i like how this is something they just wrote at one practice and recorded on a video camera, and it sounds better than anything i've done in my life. this is the kind of music that i get wet dreams off of imagining playing, but to them its just "we feel it's got a good framework to build off of."
and while on that topic of them being unsigned and offering their album for free - i have something to say for that....
these are really transitionary and interesting times we live in. when i was a kid, to find new bands you had to march your ass down to the sketchy punk record store where all the "older kids" hung out and ask the kids working there what sounded like this band or that band, and asking recommendations. you bought albums to check it out. sure, there has always been DIY punk metal etc, but when i was a kid it was way more possible to make some money playing shows and selling records. now, while people will say otherwise by qualifying it with tons of preconditions, i just flat out assume that YOU CANNOT MAKE A DIME off of music, and when you do, it doesnt have anything to do with talent or quality of the music, but how you are marketed and how you are sold to the consuming public. as my homeboy immortal technique says "If you go platinum, it's got nuttin' to do wit' luck it just means that a million people are stupid as fuck".
and so in these changing times, how do we respond as musicians? do we throw a metallica-fit and say "OHHH NO WE ARE LOSING ROYALTIES BECAUSE OF DOWNLOADING! CALL THE FBI AND NSA!!!" or do we have to adapt and figure out how to be even more revolutionary than selling cds? we adapt, nukkah.
so i take it to mean iron thrones was saying F.U. to the record label system, the pay-to-play radio system, the download controversies, all of that, and just saying fuck, guys, we just want to do music. if this means we can get it to you the fastest and purest, then shit, its free.
so fuck yeah, distribute that shit, and support the band directly if you have the money to.
so on to today's video, i like how this is something they just wrote at one practice and recorded on a video camera, and it sounds better than anything i've done in my life. this is the kind of music that i get wet dreams off of imagining playing, but to them its just "we feel it's got a good framework to build off of."
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
DECAPITATED
this band is crazy, this performance is crazy. perfectly album-accurate. what dedication and talent, those guys. rip VITEK
kurtis blow
so sure, this father of hip hop is at his ultimate pop-disco-sellout phase here, but who fucking cares now! look how good this clip is!
If i were to rate video clips on their merits across different categories, this clip would score 5 stars on all criterion. the footage style, the soft filter, the lighting, EVERYONE's outfits, the hairstyles, blow's shirtless blazer stylings, blow's delivery is sooooo spot on and ahead of it's time! i mean if you added a strobe light, put stunna shades on him and added some autotuning to that backing track this would be a kanye west show! in 1980, man! destroying it.
If i were to rate video clips on their merits across different categories, this clip would score 5 stars on all criterion. the footage style, the soft filter, the lighting, EVERYONE's outfits, the hairstyles, blow's shirtless blazer stylings, blow's delivery is sooooo spot on and ahead of it's time! i mean if you added a strobe light, put stunna shades on him and added some autotuning to that backing track this would be a kanye west show! in 1980, man! destroying it.
Mare. the metal band. fuckin, MARE
Most bands that I would say are my favorite bands, I have some long background with... bands that were the soundtrack of my life for certain times, or bands that i grew up around... but i've only heard of MARE for less than 2 years now, after they were even still together, and from a single five song disc they became favorites.
It might sound like a little bit of an exaggeration, but it seems like when i look back on it from the future, i will view my understanding of music in my life in terms of per- and post-MARE.
I found out late that they had done a reunion show in toronto this year, if i had time i would have driven across the country to see that shit! i've been emailing the frontman tyler, hounding him to keep me posted on another reunion show, and he says it's coming!
I found what is most of their set from their reunion show, and i can never watch all these clips too many times it feels like. Mare is seriously fantastic.
It might sound like a little bit of an exaggeration, but it seems like when i look back on it from the future, i will view my understanding of music in my life in terms of per- and post-MARE.
I found out late that they had done a reunion show in toronto this year, if i had time i would have driven across the country to see that shit! i've been emailing the frontman tyler, hounding him to keep me posted on another reunion show, and he says it's coming!
I found what is most of their set from their reunion show, and i can never watch all these clips too many times it feels like. Mare is seriously fantastic.
cyann and ben
last year i complained to athena that there weren't enough bands that explored the black heart procession kind of sound, and challenged her to find me one. having a show at the college radio station, she had access to all sorts of obscure stuff. she came back with cyann and ben, that she had listened to for a while. i got "sweet beliefs" and the album is just beautiful! I definitely would place their sound in the same ballpark as black heart procession for sure, but leaning way more towards a more indierock-aware blonde redhead (which is a great fucking band to be compared to.).
while every track on sweet beliefs is sometimes laughably "gloomy" with that saddened distant lamenting sound, they are so cute that they just get away with it! they have delicute cute melody hooks in every track, and every track on the cd plays like a single. I love these guys and they look real fun to see live.
more proof that france is killing it, too.
while every track on sweet beliefs is sometimes laughably "gloomy" with that saddened distant lamenting sound, they are so cute that they just get away with it! they have delicute cute melody hooks in every track, and every track on the cd plays like a single. I love these guys and they look real fun to see live.
more proof that france is killing it, too.
samothrace
while you were sleeping on doom subgenres, samothrace came out of kansas and settled more appropriately in seattle, wielding with them the best metal cd of 2008, "life's trade". seriously, they are that good. i call it soul-metal, or metal with a purpose.
perhaps youve seen a band before, and all the dudes are good at playing their shit, their songs arent HORRIBLE, but you find yourself standing there thinking "what? what was the point of that part you just did?" I'm super jaded, but i feel this way about most bands i see that i've never heard of.
well samothrace is doing it RIGHT. even if they are spending a minute and a half just droning out during their live set, it captivates you. nothing goes on TOO long, nothing is too repetitive, but rather the music just grows organically, each piece lasting however long was needed to express what they were going for.
if there was one project i were to respectfully model my own musical project after, it would have to be samothrace. I'm dying to see them live again and i hope they keep coming out with material.
heres a really cool part of a house show clip from about a week before i saw them play in portland this year. that is an excerpt from a 9 minute or so song. its cool that you guys are doing house shows, but seriously you can't figure out any better lighting situation for a band to play than all the way on? shit.
perhaps youve seen a band before, and all the dudes are good at playing their shit, their songs arent HORRIBLE, but you find yourself standing there thinking "what? what was the point of that part you just did?" I'm super jaded, but i feel this way about most bands i see that i've never heard of.
well samothrace is doing it RIGHT. even if they are spending a minute and a half just droning out during their live set, it captivates you. nothing goes on TOO long, nothing is too repetitive, but rather the music just grows organically, each piece lasting however long was needed to express what they were going for.
if there was one project i were to respectfully model my own musical project after, it would have to be samothrace. I'm dying to see them live again and i hope they keep coming out with material.
heres a really cool part of a house show clip from about a week before i saw them play in portland this year. that is an excerpt from a 9 minute or so song. its cool that you guys are doing house shows, but seriously you can't figure out any better lighting situation for a band to play than all the way on? shit.
Black Heart Procession
What you will find about me if you get to know me is that it's no secret that Black Heart Procession is among my top 3 favorite acts of all time, across all genres. I love this song, I love them live, I love this performance, so i thought I would share this as evidence of how fucking awesome they are. do yourself a favor and buy their discography and attend any show of theirs you can make it to.
dead to fall
anyone familiar with metal/metalcore in the last 6 years should not need any introduction to chicago's Dead to fall, who called it quits a year or two ago. more than just the broken up band that will not die on myspace, they established themselves early on as epic, serious, and above all brutal. They had mosh parts, sure, but you'd never lump them in as a mosh band.
as i am still just in the beginnings of posting to this blog, i am mostly for now just cataloging most of my youtube favorites, and early on in my list i rediscovered this video, which as far as i can tell i deem to be one of the best live performance videos of any band, any genre, any venue. kids right up against the band? fun. singalong parts? fun. inflatable beach toys? (this was right when they came out with their chum fiesta shark themed t-shirts, shows, and songs) fun. singer jon hunt taking the video camera from a random slovenian kid and then filming the crowd during the song? awesome. crowd surfing the guitar player? so much fun. shows like this idealize how fun a hardcore show CAN be.
take special note: there is an absence of military jock muscle douche bags in the pit marching around with some mean scowl and punching little girls in the head and asking if "you wanna go???". we should learn something from slovenia.
as i am still just in the beginnings of posting to this blog, i am mostly for now just cataloging most of my youtube favorites, and early on in my list i rediscovered this video, which as far as i can tell i deem to be one of the best live performance videos of any band, any genre, any venue. kids right up against the band? fun. singalong parts? fun. inflatable beach toys? (this was right when they came out with their chum fiesta shark themed t-shirts, shows, and songs) fun. singer jon hunt taking the video camera from a random slovenian kid and then filming the crowd during the song? awesome. crowd surfing the guitar player? so much fun. shows like this idealize how fun a hardcore show CAN be.
take special note: there is an absence of military jock muscle douche bags in the pit marching around with some mean scowl and punching little girls in the head and asking if "you wanna go???". we should learn something from slovenia.
Korpiklaani
back in june, nancy thought i might like this band so she showed me this video of korpiklaani. did i EVER like it! man, pure gold. it doesnt even matter if you watch the rest of the video, because the your day is already made by the time you see the opening log chop timed to the hit followed by the shot of the fidlist mysteriously emerging from the outhouse with some DMT-induced permafried face expression while playing from the hip.
Before the time i saw this video, i did not realize that there was such a strong renaissance faire folkmetal scene, but there you have it. I listened to 5 or 6 of their other jams, but wooden pints is where its AT!
Before the time i saw this video, i did not realize that there was such a strong renaissance faire folkmetal scene, but there you have it. I listened to 5 or 6 of their other jams, but wooden pints is where its AT!
Monday, November 16, 2009
tablas
are great! I was reminiscing of some indian beat stylings that are so familiar to me from being raised around a lot of that music, so i went youtubin' for performance videos of the various instruments.
I found this father and son duo and i watched all 5 parts of their concert. if some of you don't realize, you'll notice that the two are perfectly in sync, so even on the random super-fast hand waving, it is all composed parts written ahead of time. they have very complex time signatures that can be nothing like what we find in any western music, i mean this is the kind of stuff these guys are doing in there head
I found this father and son duo and i watched all 5 parts of their concert. if some of you don't realize, you'll notice that the two are perfectly in sync, so even on the random super-fast hand waving, it is all composed parts written ahead of time. they have very complex time signatures that can be nothing like what we find in any western music, i mean this is the kind of stuff these guys are doing in there head
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