20:09, Part 2: Albums

It's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Go here for the songs. Below are the albums:

:09) The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted

Devin Townsend has always been on the fringe of what I tend to like in a metal band, but somehow he manages to impress me where similar artists bore me, or worse, make me laugh. I'd given up on him after a so-so latest release from his full-time band, Strapping Young Lad, but I'm glad I gave Addicted a shot. With Swedish-style industrial pop tracks like these, it should be easy to see why “HevyDevy” and I are on good terms again.

:08) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

At War With the Mystics is what happens when the Flaming Lips try to sound like the Flaming Lips. Embryonic is what happens when the band goes balls to the wall and see where it gets them. I like that Flaming Lips much better. This album starts off sounding like 70's krautrock mixed with Kid A-era Radiohead, and goes all over the place from there. Sometimes their experiments prove unsuccessful (take the annoying “I Can Be a Frog”...please*rimshot*), but for the most part, everything works, and works together to create what should be remembered as one of the best albums of their career.

:07) Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

Maybe the most amazing thing about Lightning Bolt is that I've yet to grow tired of them. What we basically have here is a band with about 1.5 songs repeated ad nauseum, spread across a ten year career and (now) 5 albums. But maybe I just find it hard to be super critical of a band who is constantly doing this to my face:

Earthly Delights came after a four year hiatus and they haven't missed a beat. Still melting faces.

:06) Dälek - Gutter Tactics

Dälek are like that friend you don't always like to hang out with because all they ever wanna do is talk radical politics. Oh sure, the conversation starts with your new kitten, but before you know it, it ends up with how the government plans to use the microchips implanted in pets to emit a mind control signal that will expel minorities from America. Good thing the music is so damn good. DJ Oktopus seems to mature with every new album, and this is his darkest, most consistent, and overall strongest effort yet. To give credit where it's due, MC Dälek's doomy lyrics fit the mood, and his thoughts are often passionate, well-researched, and perhaps agreeable. But...damn dude, can we just talk about kittens for a minute?

:05) Converge - Axe To Fall

I've figured it out: Converge are not human. They look human, but that's just a ruse. Any bit of human they may have one point had in them belongs to a power far more sinister. They've sold their souls for rock and roll, which has given them an uncanny level of stamina that allows them to thrive at a pace that would've destroyed other hardcore bands. What's more impressive is that Axe To Fall is what most people consider a “weak” Converge record. This does not bode well for their hardcore peers.

:04) The Mars Volta - Octahedron

A funny thing happened in 2009: the Mars Volta made their comeback record; only many of those who might have cared have long since given up on the band. Octahedron is the album many people thought they no longer had in them: a shorter, straightforward album that significantly trims down on the elongated prog-rock passages they've indulged in as of late and brings back the hooks. This is what people wanted to hear after De-loused In The Comatorium, and after six years, they finally have it. Better late than never, right?

:03) Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Let's take notice of a few things working against Crack The Skye: 1) it's Mastodon's most progressive and indulgent album yet (which is saying something). 2) It's a concept album in which the concept sounds like it was written while on acid, at 4AM, by a monkey that has been trained to type. 3) The lead singer was a douchebag before the band found success and is an even bigger douchebag now that they've made it kind of big. 4) The band were coming off their weakest album to date in Blood Mountain, and many thought they'd only go downhill from there. And now here they are with a collection of songs that can't seem to decide which riff it wants to settle upon and it still manages to be among the best things to come out of 2009. Though the lead singers' massive ego needs to be deflated a little, I can't find reason to do so after listening to this album. The most hyped metal release of the year totally deserves it.

:02) maudlin of the Well - Part the Second

I really want to hate this band. Look at those fucking song titles (“Another Excerpt: Keep Light Near You, Even When Dying”, and “Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)”, to name two)! Look at that fucking all-lower-case-except-the-last-word band name! Look at that fucking haircut! Anyone who's been exposed to Toby Driver's music has figured out that he's frustratingly pretentious, but goddammit if he doesn't strike gold sometimes. On Part the Second, he strikes five times. Yeah, the pretense is still abundant in the music, but these melodies do too good of a job calming the part of me that wants to punch him in the face.

:01) Ancestors - Of Sound Mind

The lead guitarist of this band found a review I wrote of this album and personally thanked me for my kind words. I could speak about his act being humble, but when you're as overlooked and unknown as this band is, humility has yet to enter the picture. I could spend most of this space speaking of how criminally overlooked this record has been, but when it all comes down to it, I'm not that surprised. A little-known psych rock/doom metal band channels 70's progressive rock and records an album full of 12-17 minute epics? Not the kind of thing that's going pique the interest of a press stuck on the discussion of where Merriweather Post Pavilion ranks among the best of the decade. Oh well, that's their loss. I have little hesitation in calling Of Sound Mind a modern classic. I can only hope that time will earn this album the more widespread praise that it deserves.

20:09, Part 1: Songs

It's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Below are the songs:

:09) “Hand of the Host” by Isis
I've sort of tired of Isis' repetitive song structures lately, but when done well enough, it can still make for some infectious music. As this song demonstrates, the band's predictability doesn't always ruin the listen experience.



:08) “Gutter Tactics” by Dälek
How to describe this? It's like an industrial flavored doom/sludge metal shoegaze track but with rapping, except it doesn't suck nearly as much as it sounds like it should.



:07) “Isis Unveiled” by ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Sometimes Trail of Dead can overwhelm themselves with the amount of bombast they throw into some of their songs. But every once in a while, you get songs like “Isis Unveiled” that strike a perfect balance and destroy without destroying the song in the process. Completely epic, this one.



:06) “Anonanimal” by Andrew Bird
Honestly, I often find singer/songwriter music to be a little boring, but I'm glad I gave Andrew Bird a shot after years of ignoring him. This song combines violin melodies with post-punk guitar and acrobatic word play, which is like automatic win in my eyes.



:05) “Abdul Alhazred's Anxiety” by Bird From The Abyss
Sometimes you can hear the first 30-seconds of a song and just know that it was tailor made to your tastes. This is a creepy experimental track with Eastern-style instrumentation, therefore bound to be one of my favorite songs of the year.



:04) “Gorgon” by Natural Snow Buildings
Part of the reason “Gorgon” is so striking is because of it's placement on the album. Following a 24-minute heavy, daunting drone, this song comes out of nowhere and this delicate voice serenades you. It's like the aftermath of some terrible disaster, letting you know that, in the end, shit's gonna be alright.



:03) “Fields of Coal” by ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
I'm breaking my own rule by putting two songs from the same album on this list, but when I thought about it, I couldn't honestly say that there were many other songs this year better than both "Isis Unveiled" and “Fields of Coal”. This is a monumental anthem that seems to express the joys of youth so well that I have a hard time believing it was recorded by a band in their 30's.



:02) “Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)” by maudlin of the Well
The title of this song alone is almost pretentious enough for me to hate it. In fact, if it weren't such a great song I'd probably talk shit about it. But honestly, this song got me through the month of August. The most moving 11+ minutes of music I've heard this year.




:01) “Bounty of Age” by Ancestors
Nearly 14-minutes of bliss. “Bounty of Age” achieves the notable feat of getting more badass every 2-3 minutes. Take a bluesy opening baseline, add a psychedelic guitar solo, super down-tuned chugs, megaphone vocal effects à la Outkast's “Da Art of Storytellin' pt 2”, a church organ solo, and a fast section with tag-team vocals, and you've got the recipe for song of the motherfucking year.

High Ate Us

(view of Himeji-jo from near my new home)

I'm bringing this blog out of hiatus, much to the cheer and fanfare of no one but myself (but that's okay). If there does happen to be anyone reading this, I'll explain further.

The difference between this post in my last one is that I'm writing this one from my apartment in Japan, where I've been living for the past four months. I moved here for the same reason a lot of foreigners come here: to work as an assistant language teacher in Japanese public high schools. I've had this move on the agenda for quite some time, but was hesitant to write about it on a public forum for fear of being found out before telling my employer in the states that I planned on quitting. Perhaps it was just paranoia, but in a bad economy where jobs were being cut, I'd rather not have given them any reason to consider letting me go before I was ready, when I was relying on those paychecks to prepare for my wife and I's big move. But I told them with enough time in advance to transition smoothly and leave on good terms, so all is well.

The Future of What? Xoxobra...
Since moving to Japan, I've began putting a lot of time into the research of the Japanese music, especially the hip-hop scene. Why Japanese hip-hop? Well, pretty much because I knew nothing about it and was curious. Essential in my research has been reading Ian Condry's 2006 book Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization, which, as far as I know right now, is the definitive introduction into the genre and its relatively short history. While I don't plan on going to the lengths that he did for his research, I do plan on providing some reviews and insight on the differences/similarities between the American and Japanese hip-hop scenes and the general perception/acceptance of black culture in Japan from my point-of-view (which is all I really can do), and hopefully that's interesting enough.

I'll still review non-Japan related stuff, of course, but for the most part, due to my surroundings, this blog will likely just be another fish in the sea of Japan-centric music blogs (removing it from the even bigger sea of general music blogs).

The Reason for My Return
Mainly, because I'm finally starting to get my head straight and get settled. I've been so busy with school and adjusting to my new life that I could barely even remember to call my family at times, so trying to maintain a blog was just kind of out of the question. But I've still been writing, and I've got enough of a handle on things to begin putting more attention to hobbies and all that other shit.

That, and because it's December and I have a music blog, and as such a person I wouldn't be able to stand it if I didn't post a year-end list or two. It's required. It's in mah blood. So that's coming up soon enough.

For those who have for some reason maintained interest in this blog, thanks. Here's a short introduction to Japanese hip-hop by way of Rhymester, one of the leaders of Japan's underground J-rap scene, who also don the cover of Hip-Hop Japan.



"AB・A・O・B" by Rhymester

Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)

Isis
Wavering Radiant (2009)
One thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately is expose the weaknesses of In The Absence of Truth. Not that Absence was a bad album by any stretch, but it was missing that certain whatever-it-is that made you feel as if repeated listens would continue to reveal new and exciting subtleties. There were certainly good songs on there, but since its release in the fall of 2006, I haven't been back to hear them again. Exposing Absence's weaknesses is about the only thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately. You know that it is a stronger album when you hear it, but the magnitude of that strength takes a while to gauge. Even after several weeks of ownership I still wasn't sure where I'd place it in the hierarchy of Isis albums from best to worst.

Admittedly, my first few listens revealed a certain sense of staleness; that feeling that they as a band and I as a listener had been down this road one too many times before. Isis aren't a band known for sea changes between albums, and over time it seems like the differences that do exist from one album to the next is getting harder to spot, and perhaps is almost nonexistent; and that is especially pertinent here. Wavering Radiant presents the same basic formula as their other works as of late: the crystalline guitar tones, predictable clean vocal/growl variations, long post-rock buildups withs sludge crescendos, the token ambient album break. Even if you haven't heard this particular album before but have heard their previous work, chances are Wavering Radiant sounds eerily similar to how you thought it might sound, which is obviously a little disappointing if you were looking for more significant growth.

But there's something about this album that kept bringing me back. Once the initial disappointment faded, I actually discovered some nice touches here once I paid attention to the details. A lot of merits can be given to the production, which is getting more and more layered and complex to a degree that, to be honest, I notice but don't quite understand. Isis have experimented with sound on previous albums, but this one finds them taking those tricks a bit further, and with mostly positive results. You'll notice this immediately in the start of songs like "Ghost Key" and "20 Minutes/40 Years", even if they are eventually buried by Isis' standard song development methods.

In the end, Wavering Radiant is just good enough to satisfy me as a fan, but without some noticeable adjustments in the future this will likely be the last time I'll be able to say that with any level of sincerity.


Score: 6.5/10


"Hand of the Host"


"20 Minutes/40 Years"

The Mars Volta - Octahedron (2009)

The Mars Volta
Octahedron (2009)

Reviewing Mars Volta albums feels slightly pointless. Chances are, you've already got your opinion of the band and it's not really going to change. So eff that; instead of reviewing Octahedron outright, I'll share some personal thoughts inspired by listening to Octahedron -- which will likely be barely distinguishable from a proper review, but that's neither here nor there. For what it's worth, though, I will say that this album is a slightly different beast than their recent work, and that if there is any Mars Volta album that will change peoples' minds about them, or reengage any wayward fans, then this would be it. If you were not keen on the pointlessly long solos, chaotic drumming and guitar playing, and general prog-rock indulgences, you may like what they've come up with for Octahedron. At 8 songs and 50 minutes long, this is easily their most straightforward, digestible album yet. Inversely, if you were a fan of the long solos and chaos, you may not like Octahedron all that much. And that's all I have to say about that.

I've always positioned Mars Volta as the kind of band that I would eventually grow out of. They provided some good music and memories for my younger days, but their brand of rambunctious prog-rock was surely bound to work its way through my system as the process of my maturing musical tastes simultaneously coincided with their inevitable decline in quality (though can you ever tell which is occurring faster, if at all?). It's no wonder, then, that I've approached their last few albums with a bit of hesitation, none more so than Octahedron. I saw it sitting on the New Releases wall at the record store, stacked next to new albums by Green Day, Depeche Mode, Eminem, Mos Def, Marilyn Manson, Dave Matthews Band, Iron Maiden, and other such artists past their prime (arguments on whether some of those artists ever had a prime will be heard at a later date), and wondered about the kind of people who buy those records. How much do they really expect these new albums to live up? It's not because those artists are still making classic material, I decided, but it's more of a comfort issue. The listener knows what they're gonna get. The purchase doesn't require them to take any risks and there's little uncertainty as to how it will sound. Certainly I'd never fall into such a habit, right? Right? Wrong. Because there I was, doing exactly that with the Mars Volta.

So what does it mean if I tell you that Octahedron is a great album? Or if I add that it's their best since De-loused In The Comatorium? I believe that I mean it, but there's that nagging feeling that I may merely be trying to justify my continued support of a band that many of my friends no longer listen to. That I'm not listening to them because they are still good, but because they have only done a good job at reminding me of how I felt when I first heard them when I was younger. On that note: does how much a new album reminds you of a past good album mean that the new one is good too? Is Octahedron successful in my eyes because it sounds the most like their earlier material, or because it is an honestly well-written, well-performed, and well-executed album? The more I think about it, the more I think the answer to those questions don't really matter, and that it's a lose-lose situation to try to provide a completely objective opinion of a band with as polarizing a history as The Mars Volta.

I walked out of the record store with Octahedron feeling like the oldest 25-year old in the world. I was barely anticipating that the album would be worthwhile, yet I bought it anyway, realizing that I was now able to answer my own question: Did I really expect that this new album would live up? No. But maybe it would be good enough. Good enough to remind me of the old days (that really aren't very old at this point). Good enough to satisfy me for a short time. Maybe good enough to get me to buy their next record. And if I was lucky, it would be more than that.

In my eyes, Octahedron is more than that; and even if I do just have smoke in my eyes, I suppose there are worse aspects of aging than stubbornly supporting bands that you felt like you should've stopped caring about a long time ago. Besides thinking that 90% of teenagers are fucking retarded, supporting declining bands is about as "old" as I get...at this point.


Score: 8/10


"With Twilight As My Guide"


"Desperate Graves"

Ya Ho Wha - Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony (1974)

Ya Ho Wha 13
Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony (1974)
Living very literally up to the phrase "cult" band, Ya Ho Wa 13's recordings are the product of California's Source Family, one of the more well known and slightly less creepy hippie communes formed during the 1970's. Led by well-traveled weirdo Jim Baker (a.k.a Father Yod a.k.a Ya Ho Wha), the Source Family gained a large following which consisted of many musicians. With profits garnered from their popular vegan organic food restaurant on the Sunset Strip, the group recorded albums in a soundproof garage, completely unrehearsed in the early morning hours, and sold them in their restaurant under the name Ya Ho Wa 13.

Abstract. Meditative. Improvisational. All descriptions apply here. As such, I'm having trouble coming up with a review of something so thoroughly trance-inducing in nature, because with albums like this, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, I could probably talk about the haunting quality of Father Yod's nonsensical howling or the rhythmic taiko-like beat that is complimented by meandering psychedelic guitar strums, but I couldn't do so without sounding like a complete and udder tool. The songs are not really individual songs, but mere separations to mark the ends of certain movements before changing course slightly and building on a new rhythm. There are no individual moments. Swallow this one whole and enjoy. I'm sure there was a similar mindset going around within the Source Family (OOOOOHHHH!).


Score: 7.5/10


"Ho"

Selda - Selda (1976)

Selda
Selda (1976)

The aging hippie at the register when I bought this while on vacation in Portland was totally unimpressed. I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only motherfucker who's ever come in there looking for Turkish rock, but certainly I'm one of a very small number, right? Right? "Oh yeah, Selda. Good choice. I really like the stuff she did later on that was just super avant garde, experimental psychedelic stuff. You should check it out. This one's more pop, but it's still good." Well, fuck you too, aging hippie. Sure, most people wouldn't have caught your subtle jab at my musical selection, but I'm on to you, buddy. Don't think I don't know what you meant by "pop". The word has resulted in fisticuffs between hardcore record elitists on more than one occasion. It's the equivalent of throwing down the gauntlet; a quick way of communicating that your musical tastes are waaaay more esoteric and that the challenger's attempts to dethrone you are admirable, yet weak. Fine, you win this round. I'll take my "pop" record, thank you very much, and maybe I'll rip it to my computer and put it on my iPod so I can listen to it while I'm at my job THAT ACTUALLY PAYS WELL AND PROVIDES HEALTH INSURANCE! Yeah. Maybe my wife will like it, too. That's right, I bet you don't have one of those either...dick.

Selda Bağcan was one of the premiere artists of the Anatolian rock movement in 1970's Turkey, which combined traditional Turkish folk with western-influenced rock (and even a bit of funk). She's the first artist who's music I just had to hear more of after I got rather addicted to the Turkish Psychedelic Music compilation courtesy of the good guys responsible for the Love, Peace & Poetry series. Hearing "İnce İnce Bir Kar Yağar" -- found both on this album and on the compilation -- it was hard not to be taken with her grating, raw, powerful vocal style. The sick, fuzzy saz riffs didn't hurt either, and luckily they're all over this album, because I love them. Just sick, fucking fuzz riffs all over the goddamn place from the first track on. Actually, the first track might have the best one; there's this one part where she stops singing and everything drops out, and she just starts shredding this hard ass fuzzy solo as if to say ,"Yeah, I'm kind of a badass", and I can't do anything but agree wholeheartedly. While there's certainly a good amount of fuzz, the album is actually pretty varied, with a couple of beautiful ballads that aim for use of softer instruments (like the silky violin-led "Dam Üstüne Çul Serer") as well as a few that incorporate some early electronics in with your traditional rock instrument fare.

Of course, it's all going to come down to her voice for most people. Selda's not exactly what you'd call a classically trained singer, and frankly, sometimes her voice can sound like very bad karaoke from a little boy, mid-tantrum. But dammit, she puts her heart into it and that's all I care about. A known political activist in Turkey, Selda's songs often contain politically charged lyrics that criticize government and military, and speak for the oppressed, struggling working class. Openly calling herself the "bitter sound of Turkish people", her vocal limitations aren't lost on her. Obviously, it doesn't bother me. She does a bang-up job conveying the emotions of the people she's speaking for, and sometimes what they have to say or how they say it isn't pretty. Let it bother you if it must, but you'd miss out on a great album in the process.


Score: 8/10



"Mehmet Emmi"


"Dam Üstüne Çul Serer"

Breaking the Hiatus

I didn't mean for my writing hiatus to last this long, but you know how things can go. I was on my honeymoon for the remainder of May, and the last weekend of that month was spent packing up and moving into the new apartment I'm writing from at this very moment. My excuses ran out as of the beginning of June, though, and my lack of any form of writing since then has come down to a few reasons. Firstly I suppose is writer's block. I've sure been listening to a lot of good music, including my haul from record stores in the Northwest during my honeymoon, but the words necessary to review them have been hard to come by. I can sit in front of my computer and try to force the words to come out, but up to this point that has been time wasted. Writer's block, indeed.

Or maybe not. I've actually spent quite a lot of time outdoors recently. My new apartment is located right in front of a scenic, six-mile series of parks with a running trail, basketball courts, and a disc golf course. Naturally, I've spent the past couple of weeks running, practicing my jump shot, and trying to lose as few Frisbee's as possible to the man made lake that stretches the length of the park. I've been out of commission on the exercise front for a while, so it's nice getting outside and getting back into shape. My fitness is beginning to crawl back to pre-wedding levels, and now that I've recently found a tennis buddy, that crawl will likely turn into a sprint pretty soon. I'm enjoying the summer and enjoying getting outside and breaking a sweat for the first time in a while.

Looking at it this way, who could really blame me for not cooping myself inside in front of a computer when there's so many things to do in close proximity outdoors? Does this mean that I'm done writing in this blog? Nah, I'm just trying to find a balance between new and long-standing hobbies, so naturally there's some sacrifice involved. I'll still post regularly, just maybe not on such a rigid schedule. I've always liked writing about and sharing music, so I don't see that going away completely. More posts coming soon. I promise.

Roll Out

Today my wife and I leave for our Honeymoon to the fabulous Northwest! We're going to Portland and Seattle to (hopefully) enjoy a relaxing week and a half vacation amongst trees and normal weather conditions. Phoenix has been in the triple digits for much of the last two weeks, so this break couldn't have come at a better time. We've got some things planned, but for the most part we'll be winging it and playing things by ear. If you know me, you of course know that part of these plans is to hit up as many good record stores as I can find, and thanks to the wonder that is AquariusRecords.org, I'll be going into those record stores with a shopping list.

So updates from this point will be sporadic. I'll see what I can post from the road in our downtime. Otherwise, entries will resume at the end of May. Peace out.

Digital Good Time: "Baby Baby Baby"

Digital Good Time: "Baby Baby Baby"

Damn. People sure are making creative use of nudity and censor bars in music videos lately. Last year there was Keith Schofield's video for the Brighton Port Authority, then there was Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim's "Lesson Learned" video, and now comes French electropop duo Make The Girl Dance with "Baby Baby Baby". Does the amount of female nudity in this video have anything to do with why I'm writing about it in a feature where I typically only write about videos with some artistic brilliance? Heeeeeeeeellllll yeah Maybe, but you do have to appreciate the direction in this video. I mean, France may be a much less sexually conservative country than the states, but I'm pretty sure orchestrating three naked chicks walking down the street in one take without interruption is no small feat.

The main thing I wonder about this video, from a purely technical standpoint of course, is if they put trackers on the nipples. If you've ever tried to track movement in post-production to add a graphic element (in this case the censor bars), you'll know that tracking markers makes the job a cinch compared to the time-consuming duty of doing it all manually in post. The movement on those censor bars seems way too accurate to have been done manually if you ask me. Plus, having tracking censors would definitely have skirted (juuuust barely) any public indecency laws that may have hindered production. Hmm...anyway, just watch it; and if it wasn't obvious: NSFW!!!

Links:
Make The Girl Dance

Revisited: Sub.bionic - You I Lov/// (2002)

Revisited: Sub.bionic - You I Lov/// (2002)
(I mentioned this band in Friday's feature and decided I'd share this old story of how I discovered this album)

Growing up in Cincinnati, I would often listen to WOXY on 97.9 FM before it went off the air and became a popular internet radio station (which sadly folded for good in the fall of 2006). Seeing as I had only just discovered the radio station in the year 2001 when I got my first car, I didn't realize how lucky I was to have such a resource for independent music right in my own town. It was a nice escape from the horrors of Clear Channel radio stations, where Nickelback and P.O.D. dominated the airwaves that year. I was able to listen to bands I had never heard of, none of which ever got overplayed.

WOXY got me into more bands than I feel like listing here, but one of them, as you may have guessed, was Sub.Bionic. I heard the song "Reply (Without Recourse)" one day while driving home from work and knew immediately that I had to have the album. The only problem was that it was impossible to find. I was just getting into independent music at the time, so I wasn't quite sure how to go about finding CD's that Best Buy didn't carry. No one on WinMX (one of the post-Napster clones) had their songs available to download. Even the internet provided very little information on the band. And I never heard the song played on WOXY again. To this day, I've yet to come across a website or even a MySpace page that documents the band in detail.

I finally did find an independent record store that was able to order the album for me, several months later. Thankfully, after all that time searching, the album didn't disappoint. It was mostly typical of the indie rock sound of the day, which I enjoyed back then but have since grown tired of. But even listening to it these days, be it because of nostalgia or whatever, there's a lot to like. The album starts nicely with "The Last Song on Earth", which totally wasn't the last song on earth, but shows the bands knack for embellished, over-produced soft rock. The band obviously knows a lot of studio tricks and/or plays a lot of instruments. Though there are only five musicians, you'd swear there were at least double that amount on each song, with the exception of the excellent, acoustic marvel "God In Neutral". The simple guitar riff is repeated throughout and backed occasionally, and effectively, by piano keys and keyboard effects. The singer desperately delivers powerful lines ("...for you don't know shit like you're daddy does!") before launching into the cryptic, nerd-tastic chorus ("You're just two bytes of RAM size numb on a hard drive"). The song is probably some statement on society or something, but hell if I know. I never studied the lyrics sheet and tried to get to the bottom of the meaning. Tough. Good song though.

"Reply (Without Recourse)" was as good as I remembered, with it's lazy yet memorable, effects-laden riff carrying the chorus as the singer croons something about multiplying and amplifying his love, his voice maintaining a delicate balance between Matthew Belamy (Muse) and Matt Berninger (The National) in it's own way. The song trickles on quietly before reaching this emotional chorus with a subtle, almost glacial feel, and trickles out the same way, acting as sort of the calm before and after the storm. "Phonophobic" is the only outright indie pop song on the album, and as far as my research went, the only proper single that spawned a video. The song ditches most of the extra instruments and tricks in favor of the traditional guitars, bass, and drums. It's catchy for sure, but almost too easy and dumbed down for their talent. The only real sour point on the album comes, conveniently, on the last track, "Nuclear Bomb Parade". I say "conveniently" because it's easy to just turn the CD off before the song comes on. The song attempts to be heavy with fuzzed guitar, distorted drums and vocals, and a faster pace. While not a totally terrible song, it sticks out like a sore thumb on this album much in the same way "Dog Door" did on Sparklehorse's It's A Wonderful Life album. Putting this song on an album where there's nothing but soft, orchestrated rock makes it seem out of place and tacked on.

Overall it's a nice listen. I'd like to hear more from this band, but it seems that they will continue to exist in relative obscurity and have probably disbanded. Which would be a shame, since this album showed some real potential.



"Reply (Without Recourse)"

8 Good Songs From Albums I Once Loved

In preparation for my upcoming move, I've spent the past couple of weeks going through my CD collection one-by-one and ripping them to my hard drive. With over 400 CD's to my name, this experience has been...how do you say....a time-consuming pain in my ass. I'm almost done, though. As I write this I've made it through S, and am hard at work on T (which reminds me: why the hell did Tool split Undertow into 69 separate tracks? I mean, yeah, I know, 69 ha ha ha...whatever, it's effing annoying).

Overall, it's been a fun experience. I'm being reminded of albums that I'd forgotten all about (some of which I'm getting rid of), realizing how many crappy indie and hardcore bands I'd got into during my late teens and early twenties and wondering how the hell I even found out about some of them in the first place. There have been many pleasant rediscoveries, though. I keep coming across songs I haven't listened to in ages and falling in love with them all over again. So, in true music nerd fashion, I decided to make a list of some of them here. Many of them are really somber and depressing, but I was a pretty emo kid back in the day:


"Lies, and Release From Silence" by envy
(from All The Footprints...)
Before they went the post-rock route, Japan's envy (lowercase preferred, I guess) were a hardcore screamo band. Surprisingly, I like their screamo stuff better. If I heard this for the first time today, I'd be turned off by the vocalist's lack of vocal variety (he's all "I'M GOING TO SCREAM FOR THE ENTIRE FUCKING ALBUM", except in Japanese). But back in the early-aughts, I was really addicted to this song. Even after all these years this still might be the most mind-blowingly relentless song I've ever heard.



"Six Days At the Bottom of the Ocean" by Explosions In The Sky
(from The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place)
Pure post-rock perfection from a band at its peak [note: I didn't put the P's in there purposely [note regarding note: I did that time, though]]. This album has stood the test of time very well. On this song, from the 4:49 mark until the end just may be the band's best moment ever.



"Is This Desire?" by PJ Harvey
(from Is This Desire?)
PJ Harvey's music never really gets old. This is quite possibly the finest song she's ever recorded and one of the few songs I've ever heard that gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it. It's so simple and minimal but so haunting and powerful at the same time.


"Blatchford" by Ilya
(from Poise Is the Greater Architect)
Ilya are one of those run-of-the-mill indie rock bands (well, they're more trip-hop actually) that I found out about randomly and got really into for a short time. Listening to it now I realize just how average they were, but admittedly I still enjoy this song a lot.
(P.S. - I saw them live once, and the Brazilian-born lead singer, Blanca Rojas, was stunningly freaking sexy. Like ridiculously sexy. Like you see her and the word "Gawddaaaayum" escapes from your lips before you even realize that you just said it out loud. Not that that's why I liked them or anything, since I got the album before knowing what she looked like, but when I talked to her at the merch counter after the show to thank them for the performance (and for that dress she was wearing - ooohhhhhh!), I totally signed up for their newsletter when she asked me to and I received their emails loooooong after I stopped caring about them because I didn't have the heart to block them.)



"With You" by Linkin Park
(from Hybrid Theory)
Shut up. Don't act like you haven't heard ONE Linkin Park song that stuck in your head and you thought was kinda catchy and that maybe you would've admitted to liking had it been recorded by another more hip, more obscure band. So yeah, I was really into Hybrid Theory in my teen years; what of it? I harbor no shame about this (I'm trying not to, at least). They had about ten billion hit singles from this album, but this album track was actually my favorite one.



"No Closure" by Piano Magic
(from Artist Rifles)
I never knew much about Piano Magic. I still don't. Artist Rifles was the only album of theirs I ever bought and this was the song that made me buy it. Another song that I can only describe as haunting; driven by that thundering kick drum and topped with spoken-word lyrics. Ultimate sweetness.



"Hurricane or Sunshine? by Signer
(from The New Face of Smiling)
I have no idea how I ended up there, but I vividly remember somehow finding Signer's label's website (Carpark) and hearing this song, then listening to this song on repeat for the next few days in a row (still from their website) before I finally found it in stores. Pretty good lo-fi shoegaze/glitch pop here, but the rest of the album isn't as good for the most part.



"God In Neutral" by Sub.bionic
(from You I Lov///)
Any band that spells their name with a period and their album title with three forward slashes probably deserves to wallow in obscurity and fade away without ever registering even a blip on the popularity radar, but Sub.bionic actually weren't that bad of an indie rock band even if they were pretentious as fuck. I got into them after hearing the song "Reply (Without Recourse)", but it was this acoustic track that I was addicted to as a youngster.

K-The-I??? - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (2008)

K-The-I???
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (2008)
I'm typically not one to dump on anyone who tries to experiment with music. I fully support it, actually. This is how genre's expand and how new sounds are brought to us: by artists who aren't afraid to push envelopes and turn off some listeners in favor of attracting those few who really want to hear something new. But as with any experiment, some ideas work and some just don't. Rules are made to be broken, yeah, but some rules are there because they're a really good idea. Take rapping on beat, for instance. Good idea! I mean, if you have a beat, why not follow it, right? Otherwise the beat is wasted. It's there but it's serving no purpose. It's wondering why its creator didn't just use white noise and abstract sounds or something that fits the rapper's freeform style. It dreams of a relationship with a rapper who will respect it and treat it right; take care of it when it's sick and never dare raise their voice at it unless the crescendo obliges. And when it starts to have doubts about the relationship like that, the song will invariably fall flat. That is pretty much my experience with most of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

To state it clearly: this album just didn't do it for me. The idea of it sounds really appealing on paper. On one side, you have an innovative producer in Thavius Beck, who has found success making great experimental beats for great experimental rappers like Busdriver and Saul Williams. On the other side you have K-the-I???: perhaps the most experimental rapper Beck has ever been paired with. K's stream-of-consciousness style of rapping probably can't claim to make any sense to anyone but himself. The only way he could make his lyrics more abstract at this point would be to invent his own language and words (which I wouldn't put past him, actually).

Sadly, the pairing of these two talents never really meshes well. Beck provides a lot of nice beats and soundscapes, but they seldom seem to have been made with an intent for vocal contribution. It's as if he were working on an instrumental solo album, K-The-I??? approached him about some beats, and Beck simply allowed him to pick through what he had and rap over it. The fact that it was actually the other way around (Beck approached K-the-I???) is a little perplexing. They make a pretty convincing case on songs like "Lead The Floor", but otherwise Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow strikes me as a nice experimental turntablism album that happens to have some vocals on it.

Plus, the rapping slightly offbeat thing really does bother me. But I've already spent an entire sarcastic paragraph addressing that.


Score: 5/10


"Decisions"


"Lead The Floor"

Digital Good Time: "Warrior's Dance"

Digital Good Time: "Warrior's Dance"

Remember The Prodigy? Yeah, that techno-ish band that got really big in the late-1990's with songs like "Firestarter" and "Smack My Bitch Up"? They're still around, you know. Don't worry, I didn't know either until this new video, "Warrior's Dance", popped up about a month ago; and it's actually a pretty badass video. It was directed by the morbidly brilliant Corin Hardy, who's obsession with children's stories and old horror movies has blossomed into an impressive body of work thus far. He does a lot of stop-motion animation in the style of old special effects wizards like Ray Harryhausen, and his admiration for that era of movie-making really shows through in video's like "Warrior's Dance". Here, he brings to life a discarded pack of cigarettes who personify and commence wreaking havoc inside a bar with their recently freed cigarette box buddies. That is, before they burn themselves to death while dancing like there's no tomorrow. It helps to actually watch it for that description to make sense.





Links:
Corin Hardy

The Prodigy

Good Songs: April 2009 Edition

Good Songs: April 2009 Edition
(A quick recap of some of the best songs from albums I reviewed in the month of April)

There weren't many good songs in the month of April, mainly because I didn't write a lot of reviews, so I'll fatten this feature up a bit by taking an opportunity to post some video of the from the 1-on-1's & Heartbreaks breakdancing competition I posted aboutearlier this week. Here's the final battle. The guy in the yellow hat (whose name I can't remember) would emerge victorious.



This is the kind of video I'll be working with in After Effects. I still need to edit what clips I want to use and then decide on what kind of look I want to give it. There will probably be some storyboarding and art tests involved, so I'll update my progress as I....make...progress. Anyway, GOOD SONGS!



"Drunken Leaves" by Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound
Assemble Head are at their best when they do these types of songs, and this one is well-placed on the album as it really picks things up. It's just a really classic-sounding, surf-rock tune. I could listen to this on repeat a lot.


"Down Foe My Thang" by Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony
Yeah, I didn't actually review Bone's Creepin' On Ah Come Up EP, but since I picked it up a few days ago it has not left my stereo, bringing back good memories of my childhood just like their full-length E. 1999 Eternal did (as I wrote about here). This song is so fucking haaaaaard. The epitome of gangsta rap.


"Absolutely" by Doom
I love this beat. Just a really chill, laid-back sound with a smooth flow. I wish this album had more songs like it.


"Oblivion" by Mastodon
A rather subtle start to an album by Mastodon's standards, but the Mastodon on Crack The Skye isn't quite the same Mastodon. They're much more focused this time around. I love Brent Hinds' soulful vocals on this song. It really sets it apart from the IN-YOUR-FUCKING-FACE disposition of some of their other material.


"Crack The Skye" by Mastodon
"Okay, xoxobra. You love Mastodon's new album. We get it. *rolls eyes* Holy shit."

Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - When Sweet Sleep Returned (2009)

Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound
When Sweet Sleep Returned (2009)
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound exude a certain air in their music that I can only describe, perhaps badly, as a "California cool". Fitting, I suppose, being they're from San Francisco and all, but still not descriptive enough to properly get across their hazy, lethargic space rock sound. I suppose I mean that their sound brings to mind vivid images of sunsets, beaches, relaxation, and maybe even recreational drug use. They're good at creating ambiance, as if their music opens a door to a room and welcomes you into it's warmth. Some would say Assemble Head are a poor man's Comets On Fire. More accurately, I'd argue that they're like Comets On Fire's shy little brother: not as in your face, comfortable living in the shadow, and all the while displaying plenty of their own unique qualities if you actually take the time to get to know them.

Ekranoplan, their 2007 sophomore effort, was the kind of album you didn't realize was awesome until you found yourself wanting to listen to it again. With When Sweet Sleep Returned, they go for the same effect, but with a few immediately noticeable changes. The addition of two new members (Anderson Lanbridge on synth and theramin; multi-instrumentalist Camilla Saufley) helps expand their sound a bit. The use of violin, for instance, adds a nice compliment to songs like "By the Rippling Green". They've even developed somewhat of an alt-country twang to their sound, as is the case with "Two Birds". "Drunken Leaves", with it's distorted guitars and surf rock-style rhythm, is the sole hard-rock track in the same vein as Ekranoplan. The rest is just as laid-back as they've ever been.

While When Sweet Sleep Returned is in many ways similar to Ekranoplan, it's not quite as good. Assemble Head have not gotten worse, nor do they display any particular growing pains. In fact, they incorporate the new elements to their sound fairly well. But at the end of the day, the songs aren't quite as inspired and memorable. Still an overall solid listen, but more than anything it makes me want to dust off Ekranoplan again for a few spins. I think I'll do that, actually.


Score: 7/10


"Drunken Leaves"


"By The Rippling Green"

1-On-1's & Heartbreaks

Breakdancing has been a long time pipe dream of mine. It's such a creative and expressive art form, born from children living in poverty in New York just playing around in their free time, and eventually evolving into this worldwide phenomenon that has withstood the test of time (even surviving a fad period in the 1980's). It's amazing when you really think about it. Anyone who has known me in the past five or so years has probably been subjected to my b-boy fantasies at least to some extent. I'd always had plans to actually pursue it, and I still do, even though at 25-years old, my window of opportunity is dwindling. Until then, however, I'll continue living vicariously through the skilled b-boys and b-girls out there in the Phoenix area.

A number of them put those skills on display this weekend at a local event in downtown Phoenix called 1-on-1's and Heartbreaks, where 19 competitors from around the American Southwest (and Tokyo!) battled in a tournament-style dance off for a top prize of $100. Chump change, really, but the event wasn't all that huge and seemed to be more of a warm-up to most of the participants, who are no doubt getting in shape for big money events in Las Vegas and other cities. Still, excellent dancing all-around. A few young kids even competed for the first time and did really well. Damn whippersnappers; barely one-third my age and they can still teach me a thing or two in the cipher. Here are some pictures:

(Can't be good for the kid's skull development)

I used the event as an opportunity use my wife and I's brand new Canon Vixia HV30 video camera, which shoots really nice looking stuff. I've always had this idea in mind to put a video project together with breakdancing footage and compositing a bunch of 3D effects and graphics on top of it that moves with the motions of the dancers, so this gave me the opportunity to finally build some stock footage. It'll be my first motion graphics project in ages, but I plan to document my progress here on this blog. I'll also post non-effects laden footage of the dance-off. Stay tuned for that in the near.

Doom - Born Like This (2009)

Doom
Born Like This (2009)
I was pretty sure Born Like This was going to be the next Chinese Democracy; the Hip-Hop Chinese Democracy, I should say. After so many unfounded release dates went by and MF Doom's impostor antics sullied his legacy a little, I was skeptical that the promised March 24th 2009 release date was actually real. But then three things happened: 1) Chinese Democracy was actually released, 2) official artwork and an official track list for Born Like This surfaced, and 3) I remembered that Dr. Dre's Detox already holds the title of Hip-Hop's Chinese Democracy, making Born Like This more like hip hop's...I dunno, new Jeff Mangum album or something.

So a fortunate day, March 24th turned out to be for me. Along with Mastodon's Crack the Skye, two of my favorite artists in their respective genre's would release new albums that day. It wasn't as fortunate a day for Born Like This. After leaving the record store with both albums in hand, Mastodon won a coin toss I used to determine which one I'd listen to first, and I never really looked back. Born Like This got a few spins here and there, but with nothing immediately striking about the album, I didn't feel the need to stick with it for extended periods. Frankly, the initial letdown proved the album to be the disappointment that I thought it would be but hoped it wouldn't be.

While I can't say that time was great to Born Like This, it did start to catch on a little after a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I would call it a good album, but it is not as bad an album as I originally felt. Even after a several year hiatus, Doom's flow is still intact for the most part. While there's a noticeable lack of mind-blowing couplets that he'd previously been able to deliver habitually, he's still one of the most skilled rappers out there. He only falters noticeably on "Batty Boyz", if only because the homophobic undertone of the song is highly disappointing to me personally. If he wants to call other rappers' sexuality into question, that's nothing new, but he already did that on Mm..Food's "Beef Rap" ("Yuck, is they rhymers or strippin' males/Out of work jerks since they shut down Chippendales"), and he did it better, with more class, and in less words.

Even with that aside, Doom is missing something here, and it's not just the MF. There have been many a word written about the origin of the tracks on Born Like This and how some were cobbled together from previously released unofficial mixtapes or something of the sort or...I don't know. I can't say I've payed a lot of attention to any of that, but there is a bit of a disjointed feel to the album. The songs really do seem to have been collected from different recording sessions; there's even a couple of tracks that sound almost completely unmastered. Apparently there is a theme connecting the songs, but I've yet to place it. If there is one, I can't say I'm eager to figure it out. Mm..Food had an obvious theme, but it also had a number of good songs that made the listener care about the theme. Born Like This? Not so much. Unfortunately, the good here is outweighed by the average, which is ultimately what the album is.


Score: 5/10


"Absolutely"


"That's That"

Revisited: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal (1995)

Revisited: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal (1995)

Rappers would make great small business owners, and perhaps even great corporate CEO's. Most people listen to a rap album and hear boasting and braggadocio; I hear branding. Take Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for instance. They use E. 1999 Eternal to continually state what they're about and establish their brand. If they came up with a mission statement, I imagine it would read something like the following:

With Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, we promise to celebrate marijuana culture and to pursue financial security through the distribution of cocaine and other related drugs and paraphernalia. We are intensely focused on increasing our revenue, and with a comically large arsenal of illegal weaponry, we will continually strive to provide more murder than any of our competitors.

The major themes and statements on this album are driven home with just enough repetition to commit to memory but without ever annoying the listener. After only one listen, you will have intimate knowledge of the band's smoking habits as well as be fully aware of their killer instinct. You will know exactly where the group is from; SCT will be a familiar acronym. Terms that may have been unfamiliar to you before, like "llello" (yay-oh) and "pap", will be made apart of your everyday lexicon. When your skeptical friends question whether "shots to the double glock" actually makes sense as a statement, you'll be able to argue against their suspicions in detail. Any company on earth would die for that kind of brand recognition and loyalty. Had Easy-E been alive when the group recorded the remix of "Crossroad" (which would've then nullified its re-recording altogether, but lets not start analyzing my rant too much), he probably would've scolded them in a morning meeting for failing to adhere to the groups' core principles regarding drug use and violent retaliation, and kept them after work until they could recite the mission statement verbatim. Tell me that's not the attitude of a successful businessman.

I used to listen to E. 1999 all of the time as a kid. You know how sometimes people will excitedly reminisce over their favorite childhood cartoons and Disney movies when they're around a group of peers; bringing back all of these fond memories and having them state regrettably how kids today are getting ripped off in comparison? That's how I am about this album. My wife raised an eyebrow at this. It's now probably on the list of things I've told her about my past that makes her marvel at the fact that I turned out to be such a normal and level-headed adult. I may be all about responsibility and budgeting these days, but in the summer of '95, at the tender age of eleven, I was all about "keepin' em on da run wid a me shotgun".

Blame my older siblings: they both bought the album the day it came out, assuring that I was never to be very far from it. You have to try and understand their excitement, though. After the Creepin' On Ah Come Up EP and the success of the single,"Thuggish Ruggish Bone", the anticipation for Bone's full-length was huge in Ohio. HUGE. Bone were the only worthwhile rap artists representing our home state in a time where the genre was dominated by the east and west coast, skipping the Midwest entirely. Yet here Bone were: the talk of the entire rap world, and certainly the talk of the entire region and state. I didn't grow up in Cleveland, but I imagine they were bursting with so much pride that mine was just a mild seeping of pride in comparison.

Listening to E. 1999 Eternal today, I'm delighted as to how well it has held up over the years. You know, despite all the talk of murder and whatnot, Bone have always seemed like a pretty likable group of guys. There's nary a discriminatory remark about women to be found on the whole album, which is notable for almost any era of rap music. Their rapid-fire rhymes mixed in with occasional harmonizing (they aren't called Thugs-N-Harmony for nothing) provide a style that totally sets them apart, and the verses are delivered with such sincerity that when Krayzie talks of a murder he's recently committed ("I didn't want to take his life, but the nigga tried to run and get away with me llello"), you believe him and sympathize with his difficult decision. I mean, the guy tried to take his drugs for Christs sake, he had no choice.

My only complaint with this album, besides some filler tracks here and there, is that the version I bought doesn't contain the original version of "Crossroad". True, the "Crossroad" remix was much better (Grammy nominated, even), but they didn't have to take the original off entirely; they could've made it a hidden bonus track at the end or something. I miss the original mainly because it was one of two tracks on the album to borrow a sample from the Sega Genesis fighting game, Eternal Champions ("Eternal", naturally, being the other). See, that's another reason why Bone seem like likable guys. Despite their tough exterior personality and rampant drug use, they were really just geeks who liked nothing more than to chill out and play video games, which made me feel a lot better about myself growing up.



"Eternal"