Shit You Hear At Parties

JB's Live Picks, Vol. 2: The Melvins with David Yow - "Night Goat"

2010-06-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

A match made in noise rock heaven. Listen to that thick low-end feedback before the drums kick in full force! Check out the bone-crunching chug after they do! By David Yow standards, this is a pretty restrained performance, physically at least - the relativity is key - but the classic deranged mumble is pristinely intact. And it's a great song.

JB's Listenings Of The Week, 6/18-25/10

2010-06-25T20:40:00.000-07:00

Rah Digga - "Dirty Harriet"

Flipmode alumni Rah Digga's first disc, "Dirty Harriet", sounds right at home with Busta's output of the time - slick but tough beats, grimy flows and those trademark shouting choruses. Busta actually produced the awesomely-titled opener "Harriet Thugman".

Glide

Late great Aussie rockers Glide have once again slipped into my regular listening cycle. They're the kind of band where every time I go back to them I get angry at myself for being away so long. Absolutely fucking fantastic.

Magazine - "Shot By Both Sides"

Another band to check off my "one of these days" list. "Shot By Both Sides", an early example of post-punk, retains the energy of the first wave British punk from which it came, but fuses it with a rather angular melodicism. The original single version is better (simpler production), but I couldn't find it.

JB's Listenings Of The Week, 6/10-18/10

2010-06-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

Organized Konfusion

Another of my "heard ofs" to check off the list. Organized Konfusion are generally reputed as one of the best and smartest hip hop acts of the 90s; 3 albums, two of them minor classics. Although admittedly I haven't given it full album time, I can't say they strike me as quite as brilliant as they get props for, but they're still top-shelf 90s hip hop. Pharoah Monch and Prince Poetry are both all-around great MCs - sharp lyrics and great flow - and the beats knock.

Veruca Salt

See last post for more details. Here's probably the best track from their debut LP, "American Thighs".

Jake One - "The Truth" (ft. Freeway & Brother Ali)

Following up from last week's pick, "The Stimulus Plan", I grabbed Jake's double-LP "White Van Music", which features a killer guestlist including DOOM, Elzhi, Casual and many more. This track is an undeniable highlight; the kind of slick, soul-based boom bap Jake excels at, and a perfect fit for both MCs. They're in great form here, Ali in particular - dropping plenty of those soulful melodic accents that characterize his flow.

Black Milk - "The Matrix" (ft. Pharoah Monch, Sean Price & DJ Premier)
Detroit producer/MC Black Milk is for my money one of the best producers working in hip hop today. His ridiculously hooky beats were half of what made Elzhi's knockout debut "The Preface", and his solo stuff holds up just as well. This track is from his 2006 album "Tronic", and features Organized Konfusion's Pharoah Monch, among others, spitting over a propulsive synth-driven beat. And if you doubted Milk's cred, that's Premo on the scratches.

Ghostface Killah - "Supreme Clientele"

Ghostface was one of the artists that got me into rap in the first place, and remains to this day one of my favorite MCs. He's got one of the most distinct styles in the game; a jumble of stream-of-consciousness ramble, vividly detailed storytelling, oddball humor, borderline absurd braggadocio, a million other things - all held together by a rough, idiosyncratic flow. On his second LP "Supreme Clientele", he's at his rawest, and it sounds great. His dense blocks of rhyme sound right at home over the grimy beats. And on a side note, fuck the haters, RZA can be a good MC when he's on.

Antipop Consortium - "Shopping Carts Crashing"

For a long time, I had heard of Antipop as sort of the furthest end of avant-garde hip hop, which I thought sounded great. "Shopping Carts Crashing" doesn't quite live up to that promise; it falls too often into the trap of "avant-garde hip hop" read as "choppy flows/noisy electronic beats". Nothing visionary. This aside, taken as Bomb-Squad-meets-Blade-Runner hip hop along the lines of El-P's work, it's solid stuff.

Veruca Salt - "Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt" EP

2010-06-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

Veruca Salt is one of those half-forgotten 90s relics - they're still together in some form or other, even - the name floats around various soundtracks and such, they had sort of a hit with "Seether". Their debut disc, "American Thighs", is solid alt-rock, but this disc, produced by Steve Albini, is actually damn good. Albini really leaves his mark on it; thick, grindy guitars, slamming drums. Even the songs are far more aggressive than any of the "American Thighs" material - "Shimmer Like A Girl"'s big riff, the frantic screaming on "I'm Taking Europe With Me". It may not be enough to drag Veruca Salt out of the "decent 90s alt-rock" ghetto, but it's a very fine example of its specimen and definitely worth a listen.

JB's Listenings Of The Week, 6/4-10/10

2010-06-10T13:03:00.000-07:00

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - "No Need For Alarm"

Del's one of those great MCs who just always flies a little under the radar. He's put out no shortage of great shit over the years; Deltron 3030, a great track with Dinosaur Jr. on the "Judgement Night" soundtrack [my introduction to him, actually], a couple of great spots on the first Gorillaz disc...not to mention his solo work. "No Need For Alarm" was his first album after breaking out on his own creatively (his first album, which he apparently wasn't happy with, was produced under the guidance of his cousin Ice Cube). It's also his first with the Hieroglyphics clique, a California rap collective also including top-tier talent such as Souls Of Mischief and Casual. It's got a great sound...murky, jazzy beats, Del's loopy flow...for those in the back, 92-94 hip hop represent.

Freeway & Jake One - "The Stimulus Package"

Freeway, a Philly rapper I heard a while ago and sorta dug (used to be in the Roc-A-Fella crowd with Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel et al) and Jake One, a producer I know I've heard but can't remember where (but is good) have teamed up for this, a slick collection of traditionalist hip hop. Freeway is solid - nothing brilliant, but a nice gritty flow - and Jake's beats knock in old-school style.

Neil Young - "Revolution Blues"

From the album "On The Beach". Long out of print, the album became a cult favorite, and deservedly so. It's excellent, featuring some of Young's darkest work; the mournful 8-minute epic "Ambulance Blues" and this menacing pseudo-political screed. Over driving guitars and a marchlike stomp, Young spews paranoia, threats, calls to arms - a grand allusion to the Manson Family. Much like another SYAP-approved Manson Family song, Sonic Youth's "Death Valley '69", it manages to be unnerving and rocking at the same time.

A Declaration Of Principles From SYHAP (no. 1)

2010-06-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

People who don't like Borgir should be rounded up, driven out of town and promptly, unceremoniously shot.

And you can quote us on that.

JB's Listenings Of The Week, 5/28/ - 6/4/10

2010-06-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - "The Main Ingredient"

I've had the duo's previous disc, "Mecca & The Soul Brother", for a while now, and dug it a fair bit. This, I just grabbed a couple of weeks ago, and man, I feel bad for having waited this long. "The Main Ingredient" is pretty much end-to-end brilliant. C.L. is a great MC, earning his name and then some; a near-flawless flow, rock-solid lyricism - never too showy, doesn't outreach his grasp. But it's Pete Rock's show here; his beats are rhythmically addictive, and melodic enough to be stuck in your head for days. They're at once hooky and immediate and surprisingly intricate, and an argument for sample-based hip hop if ever there was one. Also, for homework check out one of the album's other standouts, the ladies man classic "I Got A Love" (which I can't post because Youtube won't allow it).

The Dismemberment Plan - "Emergency & I"

The Dismemberment Plan were another one of those "have to check them out, someday" acts for me for a long time. The name got thrown around a bunch on best-of 90s lists, this album in particular. The other night I did a Youtube run and spun a few tracks (including "The Face Of The Earth", from a different album, but included here because it was one of the tracks that had me sold at first) and grabbed their discog. The previous album, "The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified", is also very good - a lot jokier, rockier arrangements (relatively) - but this album is where they really hit their stride. Anchored by an excellent rhythm section, frontman Travis Morrison winds his way through track after track of technically complex, lyrical pop gems; sincere through the arch delivery and far catchier than you'd imagine such herky-jerky clusters could be.

Hole - various

I'll keep this one brief, as I'm going to be putting up a whole piece on Hole hopefully later in the week. For the last couple weeks, they've been on constant repeat - particularly a couple of the live boots I have and b-sides/rarities comp "My Body, The Hand Grenade". Excellent stuff.

Nirvana - various live

Nirvana are a vastly overrated band. No matter what millions of teenagers who don't know their historical context for shit may tell you, Nirvana did not invent a style, they were not true underground punk rock, and frankly, pretty much anything they could do someone else could do better. This aside, they were a pretty good band - a lot of great songs, almost one great album - and live they really shone. The noisier shit in particular (the stuff I generally prefer) is twice as heavy live. One of the better recordings I've heard is this one, from Japan in '92...good sound, and the band is in top form. "Negative Creep" is even more of a lurching beast than usual.

Sluncho's Metal 101: Death Metal

2010-06-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Good:

Fear Factory - Demanufacture

Fear Factory, for some sad fucking reason, are an incredibly polarizing band. A pretty sizable chunk of the "true" metal community do nothing but bitch about these guys, making a pile of nonspecific complaints about the vocals and never really doing much but yelling because they don't fit their exacting definition of what "real" metal is. I guess I can sort of understand the ire the band has attracted, as in all honesty some of their later efforts get into pretty shaky territory (U2 and Nirvana covers, really fucking atrocious rapping, etc.), but there is no denying that they once were one of the most exciting bands in the American death metal scene.

Technically their third LP, Demanufacture was the second full-length release by the band (after the shelved Concrete and interesting but messy Soul of a New Machine) and represents the group at the top of their game in every regard. The rhythm section of Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers is mechanically precise, throbbing like pistons over the fat, grinding riffs of Dino Cazares. The heavy/clean vocal split on Soul felt kinda awkward, with vocalist Burton C. Bell being quite plainly a better singer than death grunter, but here he manages to strike a near perfect balance between the two. His growls are closer to the bark of a drill instructor than the usual Cookie Monster mumbling, and his clean vocals have a bit of extra bite to them as well. Yet more changes to the sound come in the form of a much larger presence of synthesizers and post-processing on the instruments, cultivating a good blend of thrash metal precision with the ugly, metallic noise of industrial (and a splish-splash of ambient electronica influence, mostly prominently on the incredibly long Aphex Twin-inspired outro to the dirge-y "A Therapy for Pain"). It's different from the usual death metal song and dance, but that's a damn good thing. The scene has so little imagination these days.

Bad:

Six Feet Under - Maximum Violence

The first few times I listened to Six Feet Under I was completely convinced I was listening to a joke band. Tragically, they're about as unironic as they come. The lovechild of wretched ex-Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes (a fucking terrible growler who mucked up the band's most musically impressive albums with his incoherent gargling) and his juvenile obsession with cursing and murder (even for a death metal vocalist this guy is really hung up on the cheesiest of shock material), Six Feet Under play what can be generously described as "early CC minus the speed and technical prowess" and more accurately described as "complete fucking shit". When they're not spitting out atrocious covers of AC/DC songs (yeah, you read that right), they're recording numbers like this winner here. If you can sit through the whole thing without chuckling then you've earned yourself a no-prize, my friend.

Overlooked:

Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse

Now I'm sure you're thinking "Sluncho, what the fuck, man? Since when were Opeth overlooked?", and trust me, I know, it seems like a pretty idiotic statement at first blush. But the thing is it's true, they are. Most metal fans know them for what, "Ghost of Perdition"? A song that's been in mainstream videogame soundtracks and thrown on every "good metal" comp ever? Ghost Reveries was a good album, yeah, but half the folks out there didn't give half a shit about this great band till it dropped and I'd bet a fair chunk of those folks never bothered to go back and try some of their other stuff. They probably sat through maybe five minutes of Damnation before turning it off in disgust because their new heroes were "some fucking hippie folk faggots".

Opeth were repping Sweden in a big way long before then, and this was the album that introduced them to me. Growing up one of the first real classic metal bands I got into was Celtic Frost. I dearly loved To Mega Therion, spun it pretty much every day. Like so many other kids, I searched around on crap old p2p clients (fuck yeah, Kazaa) for more similar stuff constantly, and one day I found a cover of "Circle of the Tyrants" (my favorite CF song) by these guys called Opeth. And by god, it was an eye-opener. It was like the same thing but a thousand times better, crushingly fucking heavy, the vocals were demonic and it even had atmospheric piano to add to the tense mood. I grabbed as much Opeth as I could find, and they kept delivering. "Demon of the Fall", "April Ethereal", it all felt so new. The songs were long, complex, dark in more ways than just being loud and having spooky vocals. I spent the next several years championing Opeth as the best thing to come out of Sweden in music history, eagerly snapping up everything they released. Even as they got progressively proggier I kept coming back for more. When they really broke into the mainstream, I was kinda falling away from metal, and by the time I got back into the game people kinda stopped caring about the classics. I really hope the next generation of headbangers will revisit masterworks like this.

SYHAP Update: Restructuring

2010-06-01T09:38:00.001-07:00

I'm not quite sure why we're writing this as if we have an audience to write it for.

We here at SYHAP are massive music geeks. Hell, I spend the majority of my time doing things related to music - listening, reading about, getting, organizing, etc. - to the point where it fucks with my day-to-day life (e.g., massive sleep deprivation). We think and talk about it a lot; we've got the passion, really. But to be frank, we're just not that good at writing about it. I have a million bands I want to write about. Pretty much ever day I listen to something and think, "man, it'd be great do a piece on this". I'll get the idea, even kind of an outline in my head...a few stray phrases...then I sit down to write it and all that comes out is the few stray phrases. "[band] is like [crazy abstract description]" - stare at screen for 20 minutes, get bored, do something else. Every now and then we can choke out a decent piece, but not with any regularity and not at any kind of pace. A piece every two months simply isn't worthy of a blog. Then there's the problem of relevance. In the sea of music blogs out there, we don't really have a piece of land to claim - we're not current, we don't offer downloads, we don't focus on any specific genre or scene, we don't usually have anything really obscure, and we don't write well enough to get anywhere on that alone. Long story short, this music blog thing hasn't exactly been dynamite for us.

So we've decided to broaden our horizons. Film is another form near and dear to both of us, and really, our few writings on film for the site have been among our best, so fuck it, SYHAP is no longer a mere music blog - we're a culture blog. This mainly means tons of film writing. But hey, other stuff might creep in - TV (when it doesn't suck - so don't hold yr breath), comics, games, whatever really. And lest there be any confusion, we still plan on keeping up music writing. Essentially music writings will be as frequent as ever, but there'll be other stuff to fill the in-betweens.

So if anybody actually does read this, keep us in mind - with any luck we'll make it worth your while.

Dio

2010-05-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

2010-03-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I must truly give mad love to the internet. Until about the middle of last week, I'd forgotten entirely about Gorillaz. As I've previously written, I was a huge fanboy of the group in their heyday. The whole project made a succession of hits with a formula pretty much engineered to avoid pop conventions, and for a while they were one of the most commercially and critically successful acts on the planet. To see an album featuring a pile of classic MCs like MF DOOM and De La Soul doing strange, narrative song fragments over a multi-genre soundscape hit the top of the charts was pretty mindblowing.

Gorillaz has always had problems, though. The broad scope of the project always lead to issues with consistency. Their self-titled debut is a phenomenal collection of singles (the Del the Funky Homosapien guest cuts "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House" spun on the radio and TV all the fucking time) without a shred of stylistic or thematic consistency. There are a thousand different genres and a thousand different stories going on within the 15 tracks and while nearly every song holds up on its own, as a consummate piece it's too challenging for most casual listeners and has a lot of potential it never lives up to. By the time the follow-up Demon Days popped up, Damon Albarn and artistic collaborator Jaime Hewlett had spent plenty of time developing the whole "fictional musicians existing in the same universe as actual famous musicians" concept and turned it into this wonderfully strange sort of comic book alternate reality. Demon Days reflects this solidified concept quite heavily, and it suffers musically because of its strict adherence to being a piece of narrative fiction along with being an album. There's the usual batch of genius singles (try getting "Feel Good Inc" or "Dare" out of your head), but still the album itself alienates the listener unless they're in on the gag.

Plastic Beach had a great pre-release marketing campaign. Combining a whole slew of gorgeous new Hewlett illustrations with a massive and very difficult online game, Albarn and company captured my attention immediately after I discovered this new disc's existence. A lot has gone down in the Gorillazverse since Demon Days (Pint-sized Japanese guitarist Noodle is dead and in hell and replaced by an android for some reason, drummer and spiritual medium Russell has somehow grown huge after ingesting some toxic shit, etc.), so this sudden burst of content has proven necessary to set the stage for the album's release. On top of the usual narrative hijnks, Albarn has also found a new passion in the study of ecology. Observing landfills and impoverished communities in Mali, Albarn speaks of having discovered how the infamously derided amounts of excess plastic littering the planet have become a part of nature (specifically citing, of all things, "snakes like living in the warmth of decomposing plastic bags"). It's a strange idea, but Damon Albarn has rarely ever been a pop auteur one could call straightforward.

The sad thing is that Plastic Beach starts off incredibly weak. The orchestral intro is a decent enough way to kick things off (although a tad uninspired sounding), but the first proper track disappoints on such a massive level that it was a major blow to my high expectations for the disc. It's sad when a track featuring the likes of Snoop Dogg is terminally boring. The beat is great, but Snoop drops some wack and needlessly sparse rhymes. His flow lacks his usual musical drawl and the brief bit where he finally gets into the groove near the end is too little too late. Luckily, this misstep is followed by one of the disc's most out there (and most brilliant) tracks. Kicking off with a mellow string/percussion jam sounding like something out of every stereotypical film depiction of the Middle East, Lebanon's National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music somehow manages to back British grime MCs Bashy and Kano on "White Flag". The duo are some solid rappers, with slick flows and some clever lyrics. If they haven't collaborated before this, then they would do well to consider doing so again sometime. The interplay between them is stellar and one of the album's finest moments.

Much noise has been made on the 'net and elsewhere about Plastic Beach's lead single, "Stylo". It's easy to see why. Featuring a soaring, soulful chorus by the long retired Bobby Womack (Albarn claims this is the first studio recording he has performed on in at least 15 years) and an inventive, well shot video (featuring Bruce goddamned Willis chasing the band down a Mad Max-esque desert road with a massive handcannon and bitchin' muscle car). The pulsing electro beat has the best hook of any pop single I've heard this year, and on top of Womack's electrifying performance we get nice work from Albarn on the mournful verses and Mos Def providing a distorted vocal hook as bookends to the track. I can't say it's quite on the level of the group's previous leading singles, but it's still a damn good track and one of the better things on the charts these days.

The rest of the guest tracks vary quite wildly in both tone and quality. De La Soul make a glorious reappearance spitting their usual endearing nonsense over a wonderful pop landscape constructed by Super Furry Animal alumnus Gruff Rhys on "Superfast Jellyfish", Mark E. Smith phones it in by occasionally speaking over the annoying throb of worthless filler track "Glitter Freeze", Lou Reed (yes, that Lou Reed) does his wonderful crazy old man thing over galloping piano chords on the toe-tapping "Some Kind of Nature", Mos Def either bores or delights depending on your taste in the shambling, unpredictable "Sweepstakes" and (quite possibly the biggest and best surprise of the disc) Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash fame lend their unmistakable sound to the schizophrenic stomp of the vocodered to hell and back titular song.

Of exceptional note above all other guests, though, is Swedish electronica act Little Dragon. Providing the instrumental backing and some extra vocals for a pair of excellent tracks, Little Dragon are one of the only acts on the album who really feel like they're doing their thing with Albarn rather than Albarn having them do his thing. The entire disc has a pervasive, disappointing feeling that even at their best, most of the guest players really are just guest players rather than genuine collaborators unlike Dan the Automator, Danger Mouse and Del were on the previous discs. I guess that is to be somewhat expected given how this album is very much Albarn's baby, featuring a fairly high ratio of tracks of him as a solo vocalist and a concept he has made it clear he is exceptionally passionate about. On that note, the Albarn solo tracks this time around are actually a bit better than usual. While he's knocked it out of the park before ("Punk", "M1 A1", "Hong Kong", "Bill Murray"), "Rhinestone Eyes" and "On Melancholy Hill" are pretty much perfect. Placed impeccably between the myriad guest songs, the two tracks serve well to keep the album's forward momentum going when it begins to lag and demonstrate Albarn has never lost his ability to work pop wonders with that detached, otherworldly groan of his.

Altogether I don't quite know what to make of Plastic Beach. It's thematically consistent, that's for sure (really, find a track on there that somehow doesn't tie in to Albarn's ecological obsession, winner gets a no-prize), and there are a few moments where the music really shines, but largely the disc falls short of your expectations. I can't quite call it bad, because it isn't. For what it is, it's great, and even judged on conventional merits there are a few tracks here that are genuinely amazing. Perhaps everything will be put in perspective when the inevitable B-sides and unreleased material comp drops (every other Gorillaz disc has had such a companion, and it's been widely reported waaaaay more stuff was recorded than what ended up used), but for now Plastic Beach feels just a wee bit too high concept to be enjoyed as a pop record and far too poppy to sell itself well as a serious commentary on environmental issues. Damon and company have perfected the formula they were crafting with Demon Days, but in order to maintain listener interest we're going to need to see the great singles of days gone by come back.

Sluncho's Listenings of the Week 3/1/10 - 3/7/10

2010-03-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

DJ Sven - "Hurt the Casbah" (T.I. ft. Busta Rhymes Vs. The Clash)

Hot damn, this is somethin'. I was never really hip to the mashup and remix scene, but I've been digging lately and found all sorts of out-there stuff. Slovakia's Bozky Karol is one of the biggest talents in the scene, masterfully combing the absolute weirdest things to create hardcore dancefloor slammers. The beat here kills, jiving perfectly with each verse, Mick Jones' searing guitar a perfect compliment to the fierce gangsta swagger. The piano hits are timed masterfully, and it's come to the point where I can't listen to the original version of either of the tracks involved without thinking about how well they work together.

The Clash - "Straight to Hell"

It's rare that a punk band manages to pull off a track possessing genuine emotional depth. The British scene in particular consistently almost entirely of emotionally detached, apathetic groups like The Sex Pistols (Johnny Rotten rarely rises above a disinterested snarl, and when he does he's shrieking like a man possessed). The Clash always stood out as the odd men out in the punk scene, anyway, so it's unsurprising that I credit them as the only punk band to have written a song that moved me to tears. Instantly recognizable for its wonderful melody (famously sampled by M.I.A. for the fucking brilliant "Paper Planes), "Straight to Hell" was one of the big standout tracks on the oft-maligned Combat Rock and it's a tune of incredible emotional power. Attacking social injustices ranging from the closure of the factories that provided Britain's working class with an income and a meaning in life to the abandonment of Vietnamese children sired by American soldiers after the war, "Straight to Hell" is a song with a strong social conscious even by The Clash's standards. The sparse instrumentation aids Joe Strummer's passionate delivery, toning down his characteristic yelp to suit the mood. It's hard to listen to this song without feeling just a tiny bit downbeat, there's a sense of melancholy to it that I'd say is more universal than even the generic notion of "love" that pervades modern songwriting.

Re: Superjail!

2010-02-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have a terrible tendency to intentionally seek out the most esoteric things possible. I am the proud owner of every single episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, the "birth" of the Adult Swim programme lineup and likely the single most self-amusing television series in the history of the medium. It toys with the late night talk show format, stretching the inane conversations to absolute logical extremes by having previously taped conversations between a series staffer and a celebrity played alongside unrelated animated footage with largely improvised dialogue to create the illusion of a live discussion. Very rarely is there an ounce of cohesion present, with the guest tending to either ramble on about something irrelevant (the black and white episode with Peter Fonda is a great example of this, and on top of being aggressively strange said episode also features an endless low-frequency hum designed to disorient the already confused viewer) or freeze up and nervously chuckle (David Byrne, of all people, seems incredibly uncomfortable).

The Adult Swim block has remained consistently bizarre, although with mixed results. There have been a few winners (particular commendation is in order for Frisky Dingo's sharp political satire and the strange but oh so wonderful combination of comic book soap opera and 60s pop culture homage that is The Venture Bros.) but for the most part their programming has failed on some level or another. The block plays host mostly to low budget, oft completely hideous stuff (as brilliant as Aqua Teen Hunger Force's early years were, there's no denying it stretches poor visuals as an aesthetic point to the absolute limit on more than one occasion) written with the same level of self-indulgence as the absurd psuedo-talk show that birthed it (although frankly, the likes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! function more as an exercise in ego masturbation via LOOK AT ALL THE FAMOUS GUYS I KNOW and OH LOOK AT HOW CLEVERLY WE SUBVERT INSIPID OUTDATED CULTURE comedy than they do as genuine experiments in audience manipulation).

A show I was always warned to avoid was Superjail!, which I knew little of till very recently. When the pilot aired I found the idea to be pretty clever, but I heard nothing but bad things from everyone I've talked to about it. From critics to online geeks to close personal friends, the bashing of this show was nigh universal. I avoided it, and forgot about it for years. It just came out on DVD today, and the pre-release hype revived my vague hope in the series. Then reviews started piling in with yet more abject disgust at the programme's very existence. For a second I was discouraged, but then I thought "Fuck that, I'll watch it because of the negative reputation, not in spite of it," expecting some kind of awful trainwreck that will at least be funny in how unwatchable it was. The opposite proved correct.

Though there are many shows in the Adult Swim lineup I would say are funnier, Superjail! is without a doubt the most surreal and the smartest. It's a Kafkaesque nightmare world where anything that can be will be and in the most morally repugnant way possible. Each episode begins with an ambitious (and screamingly insane) thug known as Jacknife committing an illogical, disturbing and altogether pointless crime, only to be caught by a flying robot who drags him across the entire planet (sometimes even into space) to the volcano-inside-a-volcano location of our titular prison (set to the strains of the phenomenal "Comin' Home" by a rock outfit known only as Cheeseburger). The sequence is depicted with different visuals each time (aside from the pair of episodes where Jacknife is either killed or already imprisoned), and the interior of the penitentiary is completely different every time it is shown.

In actuality, Superjail isn't really a prison as much as it's a metaphysical playground for the deranged Warden (voiced by the gleefully batty David Wain of Stella and The State fame). The very personification of an idiot manchild, The Warden's petty desires manifest themselves in the prison, changing themes from underwater base to spaceship to Greco-Roman arena to suit whatever foolish whim is on his mind at the moment. Want to impress the lone female in the prison? Why not build a massive bar and grill despite the huge waste of funding and the sensitivity of your recovering alcoholic assistant? Morale running low among staff and inmates? Start an underground gladiator competition with the promise of freedom to the victor. The Warden approaches his problems, major or superficial, with the least sensible answer possible and shows no remorse for all the deaths his foolish plans inevitably cause. Sometimes he doesn't even have an ounce of interest in the end result of whatever foolish conquest he is pursuing, he's shown to take sadistic joy out of stringing people along (particularly his humiliation of the female warden of rival correctional facility Ultraprison).

The other major characters are a bit less unhinged, female guard Alice (an obvious post-op transsexual and the object of The Warden's childlike infatuation) is a stereotypical violent prison cop with a taste for savagely beating, sexually humiliating and even outright murdering inmates. Her behaviour is more or less as abhorrent as The Warden's, but she does not share his delusions of righteousness and she is also a capable corrections officer despite her malicious attitude (more than a few times saving even The Warden from one of his ill-conceived schemes). The Warden's assistant, nebbish midget Jared, is the polar opposite of his boss. Jared is an accountant by trade, horrified by the amount of money The Warden spends willy-nilly and trying his absolute best to discourage him from making more unnecessary expenditures. Jared's job is, imaginably, incredibly stressful and he once kept himself going by hitting the bottle. His attempts at staying on the wagon prove unsuccessful, as The Warden insists Jared become the bartender for his new venture, Party Bar. Party Bar is, like all of The Warden's plans, a disastrous failure with a cadre of inmates not partaking in the drunken bashes held there planning a daring escape while the staff are too inebriated to stop them. During this botched escape, the prison's sea gate cracks open and floods the entire facility, killing hundreds of inmates and when the chaos finally ends, The Warden's sole regret is that he didn't get to drunkenly seduce Alice.

The Warden's most repulsive moment comes near the end of the series, in the episode "Mr. Grumpy-Pants". During his usual apprehension of Jacknife (who, in a low moment even by his standards, is stealing medication from the pediatrics ward on Christmas eve), JailBot accidentally brings a four-year-old girl dying of cancer onto the grounds of Superjail. Christmas day is The Warden's birthday, and this year he is feeling particularly neurotic. Obsessed with the inevitability of his demise and his physical appearance, he demands the child be burned alive as punishment for reminding him of his lost youth. A terribly disfigured inmate who operates the prison incinerator takes a shine to the child, refusing to allow her to perish and instead taking her into his care. Lovingly dubbed "Sanser" by the illiterate inmates trying to pronounce the diagnosis on her hospital bracelet, she is warmly received by all the prisoners in Superjail and playing with her has taken attention away from Jared's planned birthday party for The Warden. This causes The Warden to literally give birth to a demonic manifestation of his inner child, which then sets about killing the child. After a chaotic fight breaks out during the party, Sanser succumbs to her terminal illness quietly and dies sitting in The Warden's chair, distracting the inmates from all the bloodshed and moving them to tears while the unfeeling Warden continues to fret about his wrinkles and hair loss.

Superjail! plays out much like a Roald Dahl book for adults would, if Dahl kicked his sense of morals to the curb and dosed up on copious amounts of hallucinogens while writing. The profound sense of strangeness in the structure and plotting caries over into the visuals, with the show boasting an eye-wrenching palette of colours and some of the smoothest animation I've seen come from a small American studio. New York's Augenblick Studios animate The Warden's every twitch and the ludicrous amounts of bloodshed with a wonderfully unique flourish. The prison's radical changes from episode to episode never clash with the general aesthetic of the programme and while the intentionally hideous designs of the prison population may initially put off most casual observers, there are plenty of visual treats to make up for the art department's shortcomings. The chaotic action sequences are frantic beyond belief, layered with massive amounts of background detail you'll often miss the first time around. These setpieces play out like a visual orchestra, with rhythmic splashes of violence building to a crescendo of explosions and blood. The ending of "Terrorarium" (in which The Warden's sickly fetishistic miniature society science project quite literally outgrows and envelopes the entire prison) is the sort of thing you can watch twenty times over and still notice new details with each viewing.

Now despite all the praise I've showered this series with, I can totally understand why so few people like it. It's an aggressive, unpleasant and very dark series, with little in the way of "jokes" and a shitload of occasionally meandering weirdness. I'm really not sure what kind of audience the show is aimed at, but it's clearly not the main Adult Swim viewerbase. There aren't nostalgic jabs at pop culture, goofy puns or "random" stoner humour to be found here. What laughs are there mostly come from the sheer absurdity of the situations, and the few conventional jokes told all have a black-hearted tinge to them. If you like your comedy darker than coal, are an animation ethusiast or are a megalomaniac who dresses like Willy Wonka, you're probably gonna dig this, but anyone else is really in for an uphill battle. You might end up liking it, but if you join the "fuck Superjail!" masses I'll be disappointed, but certainly not surprised.

JB's Best Music Of 2009

2010-01-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

[note: I didn't mean to post this so late, but I got caught up in the holidays, didn't have time to finish it.)

St. Vincent - Actor

I can pinpoint exactly where Annie Clark (stage name St. Vincent) clicked for me. It was in this video, a solo live performance of "Your Lips Are Red", a highlight from her first album "Marry Me". I like to think I'm past any gender biases in terms of music (for the longest time I scarcely even listened to female musicians, thank god I forced myself to grow out of that), but Clark caught me offguard. I mean, I don't think it was just that she was a woman; she's got a particularly polite, delicate appearance, rather in line with the standard "indie chick" look. Also, the work of hers I was previously familiar with was the quirky chamber-pop "Jesus Saves, I Spend" (cutesy, sure, but catchy enough to bring me back to this). Whatever it was, when I heard this, I was blown away. Clark is an excellent guitarist, and a fierce one too, when the time comes (her solo live stuff is arguably even better than with full band, especially for "Marry Me" material). Here, "Lips" snarls like an attack dog pulling at its chain. It's rough and jagged but tight. And that break-down; borderline proggy, played with punk ferocity. She even crunches her voice into a near-growl. It's a hell of a performance, and she was the last person I would've expected it from.

For a while, I felt almost guilty at my response to this. Then a few listens in to "Actor", it struck me: that was exactly the point. Clark's music is all about this juxtaposition. It leads you in with soft, pretty orchestral arrangements, then ambushes you with dark waves of distortion. See opener "The Strangers"; Clark's dreamy one-woman choir and delicate arrangement is suddenly ripped asunder by an aggressive, noisy guitar solo. None of it feels artificial, mind you; the soft parts are never just a set-up for the loud, nor the loud an obligatory twist - the balance gives each their due power. Even the lighter fare has its dark currents; a black lining for every silver cloud. The billowing strings, horns and choral vocals of "The Bed" frame Clark's lyrics reminiscent of a childhood nightmare, "Black Rainbow"'s angular chamber pop ends with a single phrase repeating into the void, gathering sonic debris along the way (upon first listen, I described it as sounding "like the Flying Monkeys winning"). In interviews, she's often mentioned the album being cinematically influenced, and it's easy to hear; the album is crafted with the grace and dynamics of a great film. Specifically, she referred several times to old Disney movies - again, you can see the traces. But that's an oversimplification. Maybe if Walt had teamed up with David Lynch.

Of course, part of why this all works so well is the grace with which all its parts are rendered. The productions and arrangements are lushly detailed, making for tremendously rewarding relistens, and always a perfect fit. Clark's vocals are at the center of the whole thing, alternately complementing and contrasting the arrangements: achieving a soaring elegance in the coda of "The Party", like a glass statue in a hurricane amidst the guitars of "Actor Out Of Work". And lest it be neglected amidst all the praise for the instrumentation, contrasts, etc. - there are some great songs here too. The album's singles are gems of tightly-composed noise-pop. The clattering, metallic "Actor Out Of Work" is a pop sugar-rush that seems more shockingly mechanical and dissonant with each listen, and the distorted funk stomp of "Marrow" (one of the first tracks I heard) absolutely slays (even moreso live).

From the initial announcement, I was tremendously excited about this record. I checked Soulseek literally daily for a leak (sorry, Ms. Clark), scanned YouTube for live performances (was thrilled by the above performance of "Marrow"). And it didn't let me down. In fact, it may even have exceeded my expectations.

Sunn O))) - Monoliths And Dimensions

It's a fine line between interesting idea and good music, and Sunn O))) has made a career of walking it. One can't help but consider that this may be part of how they've fallen in with the Pitchfork crowd as of late; they're like a badge of "sophisticated taste" for advanced hipsters. They're far too good a band for that kind of bullshit. If one thing can be said for them, it would be that they do not make easy music. It requires open-mindedness and, most of all, patience. Everything about their presentations bears this out; the epic song lengths, the elaborate packaging and limited-edition, vinyl-only releases, the big Druid robes they're always seen wearing. It's intimidating from the outside. For the first couple of listens, you wonder how anybody could possibly consider this "music". Then, once the initial shock wears off, you start to see the subtler elements, and it all starts to make sense. "Monoliths" continues in this vein, for sure, but this time there's less to cut through and richer rewards to be found. This is Sunn, for the first time, playing actual "music". The greatest testament to their art is that they manage this without compromise. The tracks are as long, dense and droney as ever, but there's something new: structure.

Previous Sunn efforts, great though they may be, are a little much sometimes. I hesitate to call them self-indulgent, but it's hard not to; they're long, long, long and usually seem to go nowhere. They're conceptually fascinating, with much to be appreciated, but sometimes it feels like more effort than it's worth to really get it. The kind of music that's more interesting to read about than to listen to. That was rather my feeling towards Sunn before listening to "Monoliths": I liked them, I respected them, but I had to kind of struggle to enjoy them. The first time I listened to the album, I was on vacation. I had read a piece about "Monoliths" in experimental music magazine "Signal To Noise", and of course, was intrigued. I sat down in my hotel room and listened to the album. What astonished me is that I never got distracted; I didn't read, my thoughts didn't wander - I was completely enthralled in the music. It was on constant repeat for the rest of the trip, and still it never got dull. And the most amazing part? Since then, the rest of Sunn's discog makes all the more sense. Things I used to find a real challenge to sit through, I now take great pleasure in. It's like all it needed was something a little clearer to stand it next to.
When "Monoliths" was announced as featuring orchestral instrumentation on several tracks, the band was careful to note that it wasn't going to be "metal meets orchestra". And indeed it isn't. On "Agartha", it's almost abstract - more reminiscent of a ship in turmoil at sea than any musical arrangement. The strings come on about halfway through, wailing like gale-force winds against the sea of rumbling guitar. Upright basses buzz and pop like a wooden hull pummelled by raging waves. Eventually, all give way to the calm of the storm; a warm drone of horns. All the meanwhile, guest vocalist Attila Csithar plays angry Neptune; his growling recitation lording over the chaos, commanding and ancient. The imposingly titled "Big Church (Megszentségteleníthetetlensé-geskedéseitekért)" boasts a choir, lending it a sense of gothic grandeur in addition to making it the most conventionally "listenable" track on the disc (it's also the shortest, at 9:43). But by far the best use of the orchestral instrumentation comes on the final track, the 16-minute "Alice" - my vote for Sunn's masterpiece. It's a beautiful piece; a culmination of Sunn's oeuvre thus far and a defining statement if ever there was one. As always, the key is patience. The piece builds and takes shape slowly across the span of its grand runtime. Strings and horns shine through the cracks in the guitars' tectonic shifts - organic and electric tones interweaving - until the entire piece reaches full sonic bloom; massive and glorious like the rising sun. At this point the guitars recede, leaving in their wake a glimmering orchestral twilight, which, over the span of the final 3 minutes, instrument by instrument dissolves. The trombone plays the last few notes, then silence. It's over, on record - but in our heads, it resonates for days.

Brother Ali - Us

When you've got Chuck D doing your intro, you know you've made it. And few deserve it more than Minneapolis MC Brother Ali - with his 3rd full-length "Us", he's not only lived up to his potential but in the process proven himself one of the best artists working in hip hop today. "Us" is one of the most intelligent, sincere and, most importantly, compassionate albums we've seen in a long time.

The key to Ali's brilliance is his humanity. He eschews street theatre for domestic drama, thug posturing for street-smart morality, self-mythologizing for humble, frank relatability. Despite his self-applied label of "street preacher", one of Ali's greatest gifts is that he never feels preachy, and god knows he's walking on dangerous ground for it: race and the struggles of the lower class, by far two of the most overworked topics in hip hop, are both themes running through the work. Seldom have either been addressed with such grace. Ali, though Caucasian by race, is an albino, and has often mentioned growing up feeling far more of a bond with his black friends than those of his own race. This rather complex relation would seem to have greatly influenced Ali's take on race; one of the most sensitive and insightful ever seen in hip hop. Take "Breaking Dawn", for example: Ali tells the story of a leper boy who, turned out of his white home, finds true family with the home's slaves. He takes up their music, and, one day, is invited into back into the home to sing, but leaves upon realizing their hypocrisy. This is not only a clear allegory for Ali himself, but also an well-rendered observation on the treatment of black music over the last century - far smarter and subtler than "fuck whitey" bullshit like Mos Def's "Rock 'N' Roll". The standouts are many; domestic vignette "House Keys", "Slippin' Away", an elegy to a friend lost to the streets, and "Tight Rope" (perhaps the best track on the album), which touches upon the culture clashes of immigrants, the family dynamics of divorces and the struggles of self-loathing homosexuals.

Content aside, the record sounds great. Producer Ant must be mentioned; his beats are so great, you hardly even notice the first couple of listens. This is no insult; it's just that they complement Ali perfectly and never draw the focus away from him. Not to say there aren't a few knockouts; opener "The Preacher" tears down the gates with funky horns, blazing guitar and handclaps, and "Crown Jewel" is excellent slow-burn soul. Ali has great delivery; a raspy, soulful voice and nice flow - he's able to alternate between breathless hard-and-fast ("The Preacher", "Fresh Air") and a chilled drawl ("Crown Jewel", "House Keys").

DOOM - Born Like This

I'm disappointed in myself that it took me this long to get into Doom. But really, this was a perfect jumping-on point; it's a little more polished and digestible than "Madvillain" or "Dangerdoom", but at no expense to Doom's eccentric talents. Lyrically, he's consistently on point; from the very funny superhero piss-take "Batty Boyz" to the off-kilter exploitation-noir of "Angelz". His rhymes, usually eschewing traditional punchlines, have a real way of worming their way into your brain - chunks of "Gazillion Ear" and "Ballskin" are permanently stuck in my head - and his voice, still gravelly as fuck, sounds better than ever. He's a generous host, too; he hands several tracks over to guest MCs, such as Empress Starhh's all-around standout "Still Dope" and Raekwon's typical(ly excellent) gritty sketch "Yessir!" The beats are also top-notch, by an all-star cast of modern rap, including Dilla, Madlib and Doom himself. And how many rap albums can boast not only a Thom Yorke remix but a Charles Bukowski sample? And while it's certainly more song-oriented than stuff like Madvillain, "Born Like This" is still very much a Doom album in terms of structure; it's made up of mostly short-ish tracks, often feeling rather like dream fragments, loose and strange. And I wouldn't have it any other way. It's said a lot these days that hip-hop is dead. If you ask me, as long as we have DOOM....it's got some life left in it yet.

Kate Simko - Music From The Atom Smashers

"Music From The Atom Smashers" was composed as the score for a documentary about Fermilab physicists searching for the legendary Higgs boson. I haven't seen the movie, which is perhaps an even stronger testimony to the album; only a select highest-tier of scores can work as completely independent albums. I don't know a thing about physics either, if that makes a difference. But perhaps that's for the better. Simko's music sounds like science. It's clearly intricate, gracefully and deliberately crafted, but it seems impossible to a layman to fathom the process. It's almost intimidating. Most tracks are pieces of warm, rather shapeless ambience; clicks, buzzes, bleeps and hums floating about in their own little sphere. There's more a sense of melody than actual melody - there's no apparent structure, they feel like pieces of some great unseen whole. Yet at the same time, it feels natural and coherent, fascinating, even beautiful. Occasionally it forms something recognizable, such as the Philip Glass-esque "The Creative Part", or the hypnotic minimalist-beat of "God Particle" (pretty much the only track here to betray Simko's background as a house producer). The fact that it was created as for a film should be considered - the music is far too interesting to be confined to the sole purpose of score, but perhaps being created in that framework leaned it towards coherency as a single work. Despite its lack of clear form, it remarkably never feels a mess - we get the sense Simko placed every note with care and specificity for maximum effect. Like the layman watching the work of science, we're left in naive awe; it seems almost magical.

Worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals

First things first: this is a headphone album. Drawing influence in near equal parts from ambient, post-rock and IDM, it's richly crafted and immaculately detailed, immediately engaging yet rewarding in the longterm, stunningly atmospheric, haunting, etc. None of this is to say you need to completely immerse yourself in it, though. In fact, I find it best to listen to it in a public place, at a volume low enough that outside sounds can leak in. To call this mere music does it a disservice; it's more a kind of living sound art. It adapts to any space and takes in the sounds around it till you can scarcely tell them apart. For example, the other day I put "Arrivals" on while walking around the mall, to give it a re-listen for consideration on this list. I found myself constantly pausing to figure out whether sounds were inside or outside. Everything around me - the hiss and rumble of passing cars, footsteps, voices, music on store radios - became a part of the music, complementing it as well as if it had been a deliberate addition. Sometimes the parts I most expected to be part of the music turned out to be coincidental outside sounds; a horn solo playing over the crappy loudspeaker fit right into "History Is Made At Night", the rattle of people going through CD racks sounded like another drum track in "I Am A Crooked Man". I'm as loyal as the next geek about the importance of the album, of active, focused listening, all of that - but let's be realistic: this is the iPod generation. About half the time most of us spend listening to music is in environments that aren't really conducive to sonic isolation. We need somebody music made with that in mind - music that can play off it and work within it instead of denying it or struggling against it. Worriedaboutsatan is it.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

N.A.S.A. - The Spirit Of Apollo

"The Spirit Of Apollo" is all about the cast. It's not really a coherent album - it's not even really great song-for-song - and the production is functional but nothing special. Anything that works about it is thanks to the well-stocked guest list. I mean, just look at it: KRS-One, David Byrne, Chuck D, Karen O, Scarface, Fatlip, M.I.A., Ghostface Killah, Ol' Dirty Bastard, RZA, Kool Keith, Tom Waits...and that's not even all of them. As you might guess, it gets kinda cluttered at times. Some of the guests make such subtle contributions they're pretty much present in name only. But sometimes it works. "A Volta", with SYAP-approved Amanda Blank and reggae star Sizzla, is a real banger, and "Hip Hop" - well, it's got KRS and it's great to see Fatlip again. Specialest of special props goes to "Spacious Thoughts" - Tom Waits and Kool Keith on one track. It's about as awesome as you'd imagine.

Method Man & Redman - Blackout! 2

It's hard to go wrong with Meth & Red. Their collab albums are exactly what you'd expect of the premise, two veteran MCs having some fun: it's not hardcore, it's not gonna save hip hop, but it's a hell of a fun album. Frankly, both MCs have earned this kind of throw-away; they've been around since the golden age of the 90s and each has multiple classics to his name. And they're still both in good shape too - perhaps not as jaw-dropping as their early years, but still tight enough to show most MCs half their age how it's done. Opener "I'm Dope Nigga" packs 20-ton chrome swagger, they turn in a smooth ladykiller routine on Erick-Sermon-featuring "Mrs. International", and of course there's the obligatory stoner boast track "Dis Is 4 All My Smokers". Single "City Lights" featuring Bun B is a standout; slow-drag funk that fits all 3 MCs like a glove. Ultimately, the pro and the con are one and the same; they've done all of this a million times before. There's nothing new here, for sure - but what is here is 10 plus years well-honed.

Apostle Of Hustle - Eats Darkness

"Eats Darkness" is a real clusterfuck. You can never get a handle on exactly what AoH leader Andrew Whiteman is trying to say (he describes it as "a serial poem about some struggles people go through. Battles, from the macro to the micro. Songs about tactics and attitudes needed in 'life during wartime'. Each track is like tapas at the banquet of conflict. A small contribution to the articulation of a fucked and beautiful world".....ummm, okay); the songs are messy and the album is sprinkled with short and fucking baffling audio-collage interludes. The amazing part, given all this, is that the album isn't that bad. I admire it for its oddball tenacity anyway, but the songs themselves often work out quite well and all in all it's a solid disc. Not to say it isn't pretty flawed too - the tracks tend to be more clusters of ideas than real songs; "Soul Unwind" closes with all the soar of an anthem but never really earns it, the title track meanders for nearly three minutes around a dull electronic beat. Save said title track, none of them are at all unpleasant to listen to, though. Special note must go to "Eazy Speaks", the only track here bearing the Cuban influences that marked much of AoH's previous work, and the brisk indie-rock of "Xerses". Lyrically, it feels fittingly strange and fragmentative: "Eazy Speaks" alludes to hip hop, "Soul Unwind" consists of nothing but its title, "Xerses" is a collage of strange images and corporate namedrops. And those interludes...gun sounds, weird bits of speech, clips of music; there's a running theme of war and violence, but other than that they're so bizarre as to work almost as palate-cleansers between tracks. It should be noted that none of this feels forced; Whiteman seems genuine, though it's hard to tell what he's being genuine about. In anything I've read, though, I've found Whiteman smart and sincere about even the most obscure subjects (see his Top 10 list of Doo-Wop songs). As seen here, he has a hell of a lot of ideas, and I have hope that someday he'll manage to make something great out of them. If there are a few "Eats Darkness"s along the way, I can deal with it.

The Dead Weather - Horehound

One of Jack White's primary virtues and flaws is the same thing; his restlessness. It does always keep things from getting boring; the Stripes never feel samey from record to record, and we get plenty of interesting detours like this and the Raconteurs. However, interesting doesn't always equal great: much of "Icky Thump" (which I did quite like regardless) just felt like White trying on different musical styles. It's not that he seemed insincere (far from it, actually) or even that the songs weren't done well...it just didn't feel natural. This is the flipside. It's quite possibly the weirdest record in White's canon, yet it never feels forced. But I must stop here; truly, this isn't White's record. It belongs as much or more to vocalist Alison Mosshart, and in no small part to multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita. It comes out like the best possible result of a bunch of very talented people having a jam session - loose and idiosyncratic but consistently interesting and enjoyable. Highlights are numerous; opener "60 Feet Tall" reunites Zep-style stadium blues with some of the ghostly weirdness lost in translation from the Delta (also, Mosshart is at her absolute best), "I Cut Like A Buffalo" sounds like alien reggae, and Mosshart's "So Far From Your Weapon" even has a vague hint of 60s-style soul, if you really listen (take the "get up, let go" stomp, replace the guitars with horns and put Aretha in for Mosshart...trust me, it's there).

Japandroids - Post-Nothing

"Post-Nothing" is all about simplicity. Simple instrumentation (guitar and drums), simple lyrics ("The Boys Are Leaving Town" consists entirely of the lines "the boys are leaving town/will we find our way back home?" repeated like mantras), simple melodies (big garagey riffs repeated almost hypnotically). You'd think it'd get boring fast, but in fact quite the contrary: you know how sometimes a hook is just so catchy you always wish they'd play it one more time? Well, Japandroids are for you. Japandroids are big rock gone minimalist; cut away the excesses (solos, pseudo-poeticism, showy song structures) and double the hooks. It's all about youth, too; lyrics like scribbles in a notebook margin, songs sprawled out lazily like summer afternoons. Innocent and carefree though they may, they're not naive - "Young Hearts Spark Fire" boasts the album's best and most poignant line: "We used to dream/Now we worry about dying/I don't wanna worry about dying/I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls".

Merry Christmas, everyone!

2009-12-24T17:07:00.000-08:00

Just wishing all you glorious chaps a happy holidays and announcing that Shit You Heart at Parties will return in early 2010 with a series of 2000-2009 retrospective lists from best albums to best films.

Here's hoping you've all got something nice to look forward to under the tree tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, here's a festive tune to sip egg nog to.

Sluncho's Rest Of '09

2009-12-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

Best reissue (music): Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi (Complete Original Soundtrack)

The score to Koyaanisqatsi has long suffered in home releases. The original 1988 pressing lacks a ton of material, the 1998 re-recording is far too different sounding from the version used in the film for the tastes of many and until this May a complete unabridged version was never available anywhere. Seven missing tracks are added to this release, laid out in the order they appear in the film. "The Grid" is split into two tracks, a short introduction and then the bulk of the song, which is strange but the entire piece is present so it's arguably better than the truncated version that appeared on the original release. The instrumentation is from the first recording sessions, and the remaster job is impeccable, with warm, rich tones and the natural feeling lost in the re-recording left perfectly intact. The restored pieces provide some of the film's best musical cues a venue to be heard outside the motion picture, the wonderful "Resource" and the ominous "Microchip" being definite highlights. By far the best currently existing option to hear this music, and worth upgrading from previous versions for.

Best reissue (film): Bad Lieutenant (1992)

Probably spat out again in a shrewd attempt to drum up some attention for this year's bizarre remake/sequel/spin-off/who the fuck knows directed by the absolutely insane Werner Herzog, Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant was easily the most unexpected DVD release of the year in my books. The film has a long and nasty history on video, being slashed apart for a Blockbuster-friendly release that quickly usurped the uncut version on store shelves, losing some of the excellent rap featured on the original soundtrack and in general just getting slapdash, lazy releases with little to merit the purchase. Here Lionsgate gives the film its first proper release in nine years, brandishing an attractive slipcase, a brand new retrospective documentary on the film's production and Ferrara's own wonderfully strange director's commentary. There's not much done to alter the transfer, although it already had pretty solid audio and video in the first place so that's not really worth griping about. You can find it at a relatively low price in most stores, and it's the original NC-17 cut, so if you're eager to see Harvey Keitel at his most disgusting and/or a good but flawed flick from one of America's most off-the-wall directors, this is the best way to go about it.

Best band nobody has ever heard of: Clown Core

Without a doubt the fucking strangest thing in noise rock these days, Clown Core is an anonymous two-man act wherein clowns in coveralls play what can only be described as Naked City with a wee bit less blistering speed and a lot more makeup. The saxophone/drums duo are pretty capable musicians, fusing heavy metal, jazz and circus music into a style that I can't imagine there being an audience for but is still quite impressive. For an internet joke band, their song craft and technical prowess is admirable, and the fact it's two guys dressed up as clowns adds to the strange glee.

You can check them out here.

The only thing on TV holding me back from digging up Philo T. Farnsworth and atomizing his bones: The Venture Bros.

Boy, I really showed up late to this party. Venture Bros. was one of those shows on the Adult Swim block I made a conscious effort to avoid for the longest time. Like Tom Goes to the Mayor, I dismissed the series as self-indulgent hipster dross for trendier than thou types. Until this October, I did not watch an episode of the series at all past "A Very Venture Christmas" (which aired five fucking years ago). WHAT WAS I THINKING? Seriously, goddamn.

Now before I get too preachy here, I have to note this is pretty esoteric material here. Unless you know both your classic cartoons and your alternative music history, there's really not gonna be much for you here past some violence and bad words. The show also adheres to very strict continuity, so you're going to want to watch this stuff in order lest you be totally lost. If you can get past these stumbling blocks, you're in for a real treat. The series is arguably the best looker on Adult Swim with enough of a budget to afford rather good traditional animation instead of the low-budget Flash work in the block's other shows. They can also afford the services of the brilliant J.G. Thirlwell to score the series, and it represents some of his greatest works since the 80s. Also commendable in the audio department is the fact there's only about five consistent voice actors on staff for a show with a cast well into the dozens and it doesn't devolve into a festival same-y voices like similarly understaffed shows. Some scenes have an actor conversing with themself two or three times over and it still sounds natural.

If you're disappointed that modern animated series don't make enough jokes about Station to Station or Lydia Lunch, or you're a junkie for the comics and cartoons of yesteryear, you're doing yourself a massive disservice if you're not already watching this show.

The videogame I was least expecting to enjoy but ended up having a blast with: Modern Warfare 2

As a kid, World War II shooters were pretty much my favourite kind of game. I owned so many Medal of Honours that it's ridiculous and still got excited every time a new one came out. 2003's Call of Duty changed stuff up a ton and transcended the MoH franchise in terms of gameplay, so I became a dedicated follower of that franchise. Then they lost me big time. 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare packed an entertaining campaign mode, but it was a meagre three hours or so of material and far too simple to really merit playing more than once. The multiplayer similarly got very tiresome and overall it really felt that aside from the graphics things hadn't gone very far since the first game. A spin-off set back in good ol' WWII popped up a year later from a different dev team, and it provided mild entertainment for a while but still felt unsatisfying.

So Modern Warfare 2 drops this year and sells like five million copies in a single day, and I couldn't give less of a shit if I tried. It just looks like a retread of the same boring crap that ruined the first one for me. But I'm at a loss, pretty much all the games I've been interested in playing these last few months have been delayed till 2010 or are otherwise inaccessible, so I rent this in desperation with much cynicism in my heart. Then 10 hours later I turn off my console and force myself to sleep with visions of massive, burning battlefields dancing in my head. The game's not a revolution that will change the FPS genre, but it's a breath of fresh air after the genre's complete stagnation on consoles in the past three years. The singleplayer is still easy and still pretty linear, but the experience is longer this time around and the set pieces are so unbelievably well crafted that I honestly can't complain too much about the lack of freedom. Hans Zimmer's bombastic, triumphant score goes along way towards aiding this, as does the surprising return of some breakout cast members from the last game. No spoilers, if you're into shooters and haven't played this yet you deserve to go into it knowing nothing.

The multiplayer even improved, with a great leveling system that's a lot more user-friendly than the old one and a shitload of weapon customization options that allows for a rather robust, player-oriented experience. The matchmaking system leaves a bit to be desired, but most servers are very stable and there's a minimal amount of annoying glitches. I've only rented the game and I've had it a mere three days, but I've already logged nearly as many hours into it as a I have my copy of Left 4 Dead (which I have had since launch last year). Infinity Ward aren't the saviours of videogames, but they know how to make a nice addictive shoot-em-up.

Most surprising year-end announcement: The Maxx and Daria hit DVD

The 90s was by far the greatest decade for North American animation. Sure, most enthusiasts of conventional cartooning like to push the 40s and 50s, and the nostalgia geeks always jump for the 80s, but the 90s is where cartoons evolved beyond merely being something for or directed to children and narrative replaced the importance of visuals. The now widely reviled MTV was home to many of these excellent and challenging new series, with the bizarre anti-humour of Beavis and Butt-head somehow breaking the mainstream, and the now legendary Liquid Television giving amateur directors a chance to have their creations broadcast to a wide audience. From these two shows spun off two more brilliant series. Liquid Television bore Oddities, which combined an ongoing version of former one-time cartoon The Head with an ambitious interpretation of one of the most esoteric, deeply cerebral and audience-unfriendly comics ever, Sam Kieth's The Maxx. Years later, after Beavis and Butt-head finished, one of its writers, Greg Eichler (who also story editor on The Maxx) gave the world Daria (quite possibly the single most 90s animated series there has ever been, with its plotting focused almost entirely Gen X angst and the music of the decade).

These two shows meant the world to me growing up, The Maxx was a refreshing change up from the usual superhero fare with a pathetic, childish homeless man donning tights to fight a villain who is alternately despicable and sardonically charming (who also serves as the series' narrator, voiced by the sadly gone Barry Stigler) and Daria was so much different compared to other "high school dilemma" series both traditional and animated in that it relied heavily on real-world culture instead of lawyer-friendly analogues for actual bands and television series, and that it portrayed its characters with significant good and bad qualities instead of having everyone be purely one-dimensional. They were both drowning in style, too, with The Maxx often aping Kieth's artwork panel for panel (right down to focusing on minor background details like a penny rolling across the ground instead of a person being attacked during action sequences, something you'd never see in any other superhero show) and Daria replaces the intentionally hard-looking aesthetic of the Beavis and Butt-head universe with very sharp, colourful designs.

Sadly, The Maxx died off after 13 episodes (not too surprising given how aggressively weird it is) and Daria has been hacked apart by musical clearance issues and censorship in its re-airings, so nobody was expecting these relics of a bygone era ever available on home video past the VHS era, but MTV managed to surprise us here. There's strings attached, naturally. The Maxx won't be available in stores, instead being made to order by Amazon's on-demand DVD service, and while Daria is much more likely to see a proper release it will almost definitely lose some if not most of its licensed soundtrack due to lapses in copyrights and home video release clauses, but whatever is missing is small potatoes in lieu of losing these brilliant shows entirely.

Best Of '09 In Film

2009-12-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Shit You Hear At Parties's Top Flicks of 2009

[Note: The flicks aren't in a best-to-least-best order; "Black Dynamite" is our pick for #1 but the rest are pretty much in random order.]

1. Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite is a must-see for comedy fans, blaxploitation enthusiasts and even you people out there who've seen every cheesy Shaw Bros. kung-fu flick. If Michael Jai White doesn't go on to a long and successful career as an action star after this flick, there is no justice in the world. With the body, martial arts experience (seven goddamn black belts) and comedic timing necessary to hold the audience's attention, White is one of the single most appealing male leads I've seen in a film in the past, well, forever. Filmed entirely on old cameras with 70s stock on a $2.9 million budget, Black Dynamite builds its appeal on its low-rent charm and with the amazing funk stylings of Adrian Younge and some painfully oldschool art direction and costuming, you could probably convince yourself this movie is a lost classic from the early 70s. I refuse to spoil anything here in terms of the plot or gags though, it is definitely something you need to go into knowing as little as possible about it. The element of surprise is what makes the humour succeed, you almost never see the jokes coming. The martial arts choreography also deserves note for alternately being believable and hilariously poor, just like the best of the classic fight fests. After a decade of inept parody films that rely too heavily on pop culture nods to stand on their own, a film like Black Dynamite is a breath of fresh, malt liquor-scented air.

JB says: Couldn't agree more. We'd been anticipating "Black Dynamite" very, very eagerly since we first saw the trailer, and it exceeded our expectations by a mile. The film is impeccably styled so as to be a true feast for blaxploitation aficionados, but never falls too far into niche appeal. It's as much fun for the newcomers as it is for the geeks. It can hang with the best of 'em in terms of quotability; damn near every line is a classic. And of course, Jai White nails the role, fitting the classic blaxpoitation mold to a tee, with tongue just far enough in cheek - and the serious action chops don't hurt either. And like Sluncho, I'll keep quiet as to the specifics of the plot; "Black Dynamite" is jam-packed with surprises, each one better than the last.

2. The Informant!

This is some straight-up surprising shit here, as great as the ads looked, I would have never expected that I was going to find a movie starring Matt Damon as a middle-aged, bipolar corporate crook would be one of the most funny and compelling flick of the year. The throwback styling is impeccable, with a wonderful score by Academy Award nominee Marvin Hamlisch (his first big-screen work in 13 years) and Steven Soderbergh's obsessive direction and deliberately outdated cinematography make it one of the most believable period flicks in recent memory, successfully creating a film that looks like the early 90s without pandering too much to cliches about the era. Damon's turn as Mark Whitacre shows he has much natural comedic ability (the internal monologue is excellent) and could really benefit from some more funny roles, and the supporting cast (particularly Scott Bakula) nails it, there's not a weak link there. The subject matter is fairly esoteric, but once you get past that you're left with an immensely satisfying and very funny based on a true story crime caper that anyone can enjoy.

JB says: I have to hand it to Matt Damon; I never really gave the man a second thought as an actor. The Bourne movies are some of the best action flicks this decade, for sure, but they're not exactly acting showcases. Anywhere else I saw him, he struck me as a kind of Affleck Lite; largely devoid of any particular talent or presence. Then bam, here comes "Informant", Damon turns in one of the funniest and most idiosyncratic performances in recent memory. And he couldn't have set it in a better film. The style only enhances the comedy; it's shot and scored like a 70s TV movie. The direction is great as well; the pacing is half of the film's success. Soderbergh has a gift for slick and entertaining (see the "Ocean's" flicks) and it's put to excellent use here.

3. Drag Me to Hell

As a hardcore "Evil Dead" fan, I was very excited when I heard about this. After the bloated fuck-up that was "Spider-Man 3", going back to basics was exactly what Raimi needed - it's cheap and it plays to his strengths. It's funny, really: two of the biggest Hollywood directors of the 2000s, Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson, both started out doing low-budget, ultra-gory horror-comedies. With "Drag Me To Hell", you'd hardly believe Raimi ever left. It's thrills and chills all the way, as disgusting and hilarious as his best. The cast is great: Loman is the classic Raimi protagonist - by the end you're rooting more for the other guys - and Lorna Raver is suitably repulsive. Good to see you haven't lost it, Sam...now get on "Evil Dead 4"!

Sluncho says: I love Sam Raimi, I really do. But then he fell into the mainstream crowd, and since nothing has ever been the same. The first two Spider Man films, no denying, were pretty great. They were visual feasts with pretty solid casting and good writing, superhero flicks that even people who didn't read comics could get into. Then along came a little monster called Spider Man 3 and everything went sour. It was overlong, had schizophrenic tone, too many characters and was just all around unpleasant and boring. I was terrified Raimi had finally lost it, but then he took a break from the tights and web-swinging and this little baby got announced. I was pretty skeptical, Raimi hadn't really been in classic Raimi-mode since Darkman, so I had no idea if this'd be his infamous style of quirky horror/comedy or just some generic loud music and special effects chiller (his production company, Ghost House, sure has made plenty of those crap flicks). Fortunately, Raimi delivered and everyone was happy.

4. Zombieland

Post-Shaun of the Dead, zombies (pardon the pun) rose from the grave after what seemed like eons of stagnation. George Romero himself returned to the medium (with mixed results), Zack Snyder cut his teeth on a high-tech remake of Romero's Dawn of the Dead and countless low-rent homages/rip-offs/psuedosequels to the genre's classics, but there hasn't been anything truly unique and exciting. It all plays off the same tropes and falls for the same things that stick zombie flicks in the lower echelon of horror flicks. Zombieland, I can say with much pride and excitement, rises above these limits to present an ersatz zombie road trip adventure where there's minimal dread and maximum badassery.

The protagonists, much like the audience, aren't afraid of the zombies so much as thrilled to have the opportunity to go on a cross-country murder spree. The dread in the film comes not from the shambling ex-humans themselves, so much as the roadblock they present. The huge proliferation of zombies makes traveling around the United States quite difficult, leaving everyone stranded from their families and trying desperately to make their way home through mountains of the undead. The light-hearted tone of the film and the visual styling reminds one of a videogame, but unlike other videogame-y flicks this doesn't feel awkward and inappropriate (hell, as a big fan of Valve's wonderful Left 4 Dead series, I have to say the videogame elements added to the experience for me). Mad props forever to Woody Harrelson for cranking up the ass-kicking without losing his natural charm and Jesse Eisenberg for rising above his usual Michael Cera lite material to be both nebbishly charming and hilarious.

JB says: The horror-comedy is making a comeback, it appears. And man, am I ever glad to see it again. Look back at the 80s, when they were big; classics like "Evil Dead" and "An American Werewolf In London". The new generation, the aforementioned "Drag Me To Hell" and this, are off to a good start. Although perhaps I misclassify a bit; "Zombieland" is more an action-comedy with zombies than a true horror-comedy. Fuck classifications, though - it's a great flick. Woody Harrelson is back and firing on all four cylinders. Really, his performance alone would've made the movie. But top of that, sharp writing, tight pacing, and great zombie kills. It's got a little something for everyone - gore, laughs, even a bit of romance on the side; the popcorn flick at its pinnacle.

5. The Hurt Locker

Not only is "Hurt Locker" one of the best films of the year, I dare say it's one of the best war films of all time. Director Kathryn Bigelow has crafted a true masterpiece. “Hurt Locker” follows a three-man bomb squad in Baghdad over the course of the last seven missions of their rotation. The film is very economic in its narrative - no backstory, minimal exposition, no grand arc to story or character - it feels almost like raw documentary footage. Bigelow’s action chops (check yr history: she did "Point Break" and underrated gem "Strange Days") are put to full use here - from the breathtaking opening scene, it comes at you hard and fast and doesn't let up for a second. Not to say it's all explosions; she’s also a master of dynamics, knowing when to pull back and let the tension build. The film is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. Perhaps most amazing is that the action is never at the expense of the characters - if anything, our time in the battlezone makes us feel closer to them. This is, of course, also to the credit of the actors. All three stars (Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty and Jeremy Renner) are excellent, but Renner in particular is an absolute tour-de-force. He plays the big picture, you could say; by the end of the film we feel we know the character better than the film has shown us. Tremendous props must also go to cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and editors Chris Innis and Bob Murawski; they make viewer feel as though they're right in the battlefield with handheld camera, multiple angles, jumpy camera action, and quick, jerky cutting. It sounds obnoxious and disorienting, but in practice it’s not only viscerally thrilling, it’s remarkably clear; the viewer never feels lost or out-of-sync. What makes "Hurt Locker" truly a great war film, however, is the simple fact that it is a true war film. Few war films have been bold enough to cut through the politics and skip the ethics like this. “Hurt Locker” won’t date, because though set in a current war, it speaks of something universal and timeless. “Hurt Locker” is not about the war in Iraq; it’s about war itself and the men who fight it.

[Sluncho did not see, hence no comment.]

6. Public Enemies

With an all-star cast like this and a critically lauded director like Michael Mann at the helm, it's really hard to believe that people didn't really dig this flick. It plays fast and loose with history, leaves out some important stuff, and fills the gaps with gooey mounds of stylization, but it manages to be a fairly factual and thrilling take on the life of one of the most famous criminals of all time. Johnny Depp initially seems a wee bit too pretty-boy for the role of John Dillinger, but he does justice to the role with his excellent voice and mannerisms, Depp has proven many times he is a hell of a capable actor for period roles (his general method is quite unlike most modern actors in the first place, so this is no grand surprise). The real surprises in the acting department come from Christian Bale (who rebounds from his disappointing work in the otherwise great Dark Knight with one hell of a convincing Southern accent and a stare that could pierce through solid steel) and Billy Crudup as spot-on J. Edgar Hoover (easily one of the most satisfying supporting performances of the decade). Marion Cotillard rounds out the central cast as Dillinger's beau and she makes for a strong romantic lead although she is a bit underutilized.

Visually, the film is rather anachronistic with Mann's use of digital cameras to capture the frantic prison escape and gunfight scenes, but it does no disservice to the picture. The set design and costuming are pitch-perfect, and even the actors' body language and vocabulary feel very 1930s. Of course, the flick isn't all sunshine and rainbows. The pacing has some issues that can really make the last act of the film unpleasant, the score is overbearing at points and altogether nothing memorable and some of the fact-fudging is really ludicrous (particular having other gang members die long before Dillinger, that's just inexcusably lazy). Despite the flick's issues, it's a looker and very well acted, so definitely worth a look for crime flick enthusiasts.

JB says: Everybody loves a "meaningful" film - stuff like "American Beauty". Actors are adored and appreciated by critics and the public alike. The more technical aspects of film, however, are too often dismissed - does anybody care about the best editing Oscar? "Public Enemies" is a fairly flawed film, to be sure; score is heavy-handed and messy, it's a bit too long and occasionally drags, history is smudged (if that's an issue for you). With an eye towards the technical end, though, it's a joy to watch. The action sequences, for example, are some of the best in recent memory; sharply paced, excellently filmed - keep you on the edge of your seat. The opening prison break scene in particular is a knockout; shot fast and tight, and the complete absence of score makes later uses seem all the more jarring and unnecessary. The final shootouts are great too, in no small part thanks to the incredibly cinematic tommy-guns (noisy, big-ass muzzle flash). The digital filming, which I was very nervous about going in, turned out to be one of the film's greatest assets - its sharp picture and dynamic color give us many stunning shots. Even the hyperactive in-the-action camera, an often tired and distracting technique, is used with tact here so that it packs the kind of punch it should. Also, while the original score doesn't work, Otis Taylor's gritty blues "Ten Million Slaves", used in several scenes as well as the trailers, is a perfect fit. Performances are all-around great, as would be expected from the star cast. I second Sluncho, though: special praise must go to Billy Crudup, with his perfect 30s voice. It'd be hard to call "Public Enemies" great art. Hell, even "great entertainment" would be a stretch. Its technical grace, however, was scarcely matched this year. It's not a movie to watch and re-watch carefully and thoughtfully, or mull over long after you leave the theatre, but it's a movie that will have you riveted to your seat while you watch it.

7. Crank 2: High Voltage

The original Crank was a highly entertaining but overall unspectacular action film that assaulted its audience with breakneck pacing and ludicrous action. For the sequel, the excesses of the first film are cranked (I swear to God that wasn't intentional) to the point of sheer insanity. Like the bastard child of 80s action, avant-garde cinema and a Youtube Poop, directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have constructed a 96 minute blitzkrieg on the audience which ended with all but myself, JB and another friend angrily storming out during the screening. This is a movie that wants to fuck with you, it's got plot twists around literally every corner, an ever-evolving sense of surrealistic slapstick (from a massive amount of flashy onscreen text, to kaiju and talk show homage cutaway sequences) and an ending wherein the protagonist literally extends the middle finger to the crowd. For a studio-funded action movie, High Voltage has some serious balls.

Scored by the similarly off-the-wall Mike Patton (yes, the same Mike Patton behind Fantomas and other insane music projects), the movie is a loud and fast piece of decadent foolishness that occasionally slows down for some exposition so the audience isn't entirely lost (some nonsense about a literally stolen heart, tangled webs of dead brothers and vengeance plots and David Carradine as this Triad gang leader called Poon Dong who is in possession of the previously mentioned plundered blood-pumper) and the cast is broad enough to have audience appeal (although no doubt many people were as baffled as the crowd at our showing were when they saw the finished product). Jason Statham is a solid action hero with some big hits to his name, but his work as Chev Chelios in the Crank flicks is what earns him my love. More than any other character in the film, it rests on Chev's shoulders to take the ludicrous goings-on completely seriously. Statham beats the shit out of a bunch of doctors just after receiving an artificial heart transplant, sticks jumper cables on his nipples, has graphic sex in the middle of a racetrack, beats a man to death while on fire and dresses up in a big rubber suit to beat up a similarly rubber-suited gangster Godzilla-style in an oversized power plant, all with the cold seriousness of a real professional hitman. The self-parody and genre deconstruction here is stunning for a mainstream Hollywood film, and the open-ended conclusion gives hope for a third (and possibly even more bizarre) entry in this wonderfully fucked-up franchise.

JB says: You know how sometimes you see in foreign countries (Japan, usually), they'll take an American trope (the action movie, say) and try to repackage it for their own culture? And how they try to put their own stamp on it while still keeping the quintessential "Americanness" of it? You usually end up with stuff like this, or this, or this. "Crank 2" feels like one of those things. It's an assault on everything: good taste, your senses, even itself. It's a movie for a caricature of the MTV generation. May there be many more "Crank"s to come.

8. Adventureland

It's a real tragedy what happened with "Adventureland"; it was an excellent movie that was dead fucked from the start. Director Greg Mottola must've thrown every ounce of cred from his last flick, "Superbad", into getting this made, and even then, it seems like it'd have to be a fluke. This is not the kind of movie major studios go for. It's a low-key, character-driven comedy/drama set in the 80s. Really, it could even be argued this really wasn't suited to wide release at all, but certainly not with the marketing it got. It's totally understandable why they did it the way they did, but it doomed the film, and god knows it was up against pretty tough odds already. People went in expecting "Superbad 2", and got nearly a straight drama, with a few (mostly minor) comic accents. It just went completely over their heads. At our screening, for example, Sluncho and I were the only ones laughing, and the only ones who didn't storm out as soon as the credits hit. Ultimately, the movie itself seems to have been the biggest casualty (neither Mottola nor the cast seem to have lost any steam due to it)...and what a casualty. "Adventureland" is refreshing. Mottola never dumbs it down; he avoids heavy-handed or trite plot gestures, the characters are portrayed frankly but compassionately and never played up for effect. The emotions, likewise, are understated but honest. The cast all do perfect justice to the material, too - Eisenberg strikes just the right balance between likeable and pitiful, Stewart brings great sympathy to a damaged, difficult character. Martin Starr, as overeducated outcast Joel, is perhaps the standout - at once dryly funny and somewhat tragic. Even Ryan Reynolds nails his role. And as for the soundtrack, "Adventureland" almost deserves a post of its own here; great songs put to perfect use. Replacements, Big Star, Husker Du...I can't emphasize what a miracle it was that Miramax produced this. The opening, with The Replacements' anthem "Bastards Of Young", is right up there with my favorite movie/music moments. Really, the film's only major flaw is that tacked-on Hollywood ending. Funny for Mottola to blow it there; "Superbad"'s remarkably subtle ending was one of its high points.

Sluncho says: Love it or loathe it, Judd Apatow and his crew of chums are the new kings of comedy. Of Apatow's buddies, Mottola has proven himself to be most worthy of this cred. His last flick, 2007's Superbad, rose above teen film cliches to be both hilarious and insightful with wonderful characters, a charming visual style and great writing. Sadly, this brilliant flick also kinda damned Adventureland. Since the day it was announced, the film was pretty much marketed as "Superbad 2" with all the advertising playing up Mottola's previous effort and the involvement of Superbad star Bill Hader. When the flick hit, it was pretty much a catastrophic failure with audiences. While it is a funny film, Adventureland is a hell of a lot more talky, dark and dramatic than Superbad. The jokes are largely subtle and understated, and the romantic elements make up the bulk of the plot. For JB and I, this was a refreshing surprise. We were fans of Superbad, but this flick ended up wowing us with how surprisingly mature it was in comparison. Jesse Eisenberg (like in the also great Zombieland) manages to actually do a bit more then stand in for Michael Cera's Superbad character here, and even the wackier elements of the film like the scenery-chewing, baseball bat-wielding Hader work within the more serious atmosphere without feeling like audience pandering.

The real big surprise here is Ryan Reynolds (who also wowed us in the otherwise shite X-Men Origins: Wolverine) shows he is more than just a pretty face to bring in the ladies by playing a loathsome bastard of a character who provides some of the flick's most successful drama and comedy. Hell, my only complaint about the movie is after being brilliant for about 100 solid minutes, the film implodes with a dreadful ending wherein everything our protagonist has learned goes out the window in favour of a pathetic shot at brightening up the film's mood. That misstep aside, Adventureland is one of the smartest comedy/dramas I have seen ever, and is definitely a real standout of the Apatow crew's efforts. It also deserves points for its brilliant soundtrack.

9. Coraline

As an animation fan, the past few years at the theatre have pretty much wall to wall disappointment. The last cartoon to make its way to the cinema I can say I thought was brilliant was Pixar's The Incredibles, but I just realized that was a staggering five years ago. Aside from Up (which I have yet to see but hear is great), there wasn't a single animated flick hitting this year I wanted to see (sorry, Miyazaki fans, but Ponyo just looked like yet another boring retread with a Hollywood cast). My family wanted to check this flick, though, and instead of being an anti-social stick in the mud, I decided to tag along. The new Real-D technology works better than conventional 3-D, and in the film it is used to stunning effect. Instead of just having everything sort of pop off the screen, director Henry Selick (of Nightmare Before Christmas fame) strategically has objects launch into the audience's view, making for some nice jump moments. The voicework is spectacular for a Hollywood production, with Dakota Fanning of all people (I never got all the praise lavished on her, it seemed rather unwarranted) providing a nuanced performance with both apt dramatics and solid comedic timing. John Hodgman and Ian McShane also delight as usual.

[JB did not see, hence no comment.]

10. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra

Now I know this sounds crazy, but believe me when I say G.I. Joe is one of the most enjoyable pieces of pure cornball fun made in the past decade. While the Transformers franchise has quickly bloated into a series of overlong, moronic trainwrecks, the arguably more insipid G.I. Joe universe has somehow made the transition to the big screen without losing too much of its original charm to totally alienate fans (like myself) and by gaining enough mass audience appeal to hook in people who don't give a fuck about toys and Cobra Commander. JB and I (as is the case with nearly every film selected here) hit this up at out local cinema, expecting at best ironic amusement as fans of the cartoon and at worst some sort of masochistic pleasure at how awful it'd all be, and after a mixed first 15 minutes, the movie kicked into overdrive and from there till the credits there wasn't a wasted second. The surprisingly stacked cast of legitimately good actors is largely in fine form here, with particular commendation going to Marlon Wayans for easily his best role since Requiem for a Dream (sounds absurd, I know), Christopher Eccleston for turning Destro into a scenery-chewing badass with a delightful accent and Ray Park for giving a fantastic wordless performance where his impressive stunts feel like more than just a gimmick. Plot-wise the writers play fast and loose with established Joe mythos, but plot is ultimately irrelevant to the passion play going on. You don't really care what the end goal is, just that Cobra starts some shit and then the Joes charge in to save the day as badassly as possible. The big chase scene in downtown Paris is one of the best filmed and choreographed action sequences we've both seen in a long, long time and was worth the price of admission alone.

JB says: Seldom do I agree with the "critics hate fun" plea, but I have to second director Stephen Sommers in this case: "G.I. Joe" is one of the best action films in years. Make no mistake, it's exactly what you'd expect from a movie based on a line of toys, but I mean that in the best way possible. It's like a kid playing with their Joes, if that kid had voodoo action figures and a CGI imagination. When walked out of the theater after "Joe", we geeked out about it for about an hour. Such is the power of "Joe"; it can make a couple of film snobs feel like kids again.

Honourable mentions and various disappointments

Bronson

I'll admit right off the bat that this movie underwhelmed me. The pre-release hype and film festival reviews painted a hell of an exciting picture. "A Clockwork Orange for the 21st century" was the phrase most bandied about. I saw Bronson, and in a few ways I liked it, but it's not even one iota of the Kubrickian masterpiece it is claimed to be. Tom Hardy plays the film's titular character, a larger-than-life portrayal of real life crook Michael "Charlie Bronson" Peterson, a British robber who's become more famous for the crimes he's committed inside prison than the crime that got him there in the first place. The real "Bronson" has a reputation among Britons as sort of a crazy, but lovable old uncle. He has a history of violent incidents, but as is often said "he never killed anyone" and he displays a sense of tongue-in-cheek humour about himself and his actions. Whether he is sane or not remains to be seen (he did spend some time in a mental hospital, but as portrayed in the film he ended up taking it over and staging a televised rooftop protest that cost taxpayers millions of pounds), but in the movieverse, Charlie Bronson is barking mad. The movie's stylization is its best friend and worst enemy, because of its audio/visual excesses, the movie manages to work as a surreal black comedy but utterly fail as both a character study and an analysis of violence and mental health. Bronson isn't a film with anything meaningful to say about our dear ol' felon, it's just there for you to either laugh at him or cheer him on, but something tells me that's exactly what Charlie would want.

JB says: For once, I must disagree with Sluncho here. "Bronson" simply did nothing for me. Hardy was great, sure, but the film runs for too long on too little. Bronson is crazy - that's pretty much the entire movie. And to make matters worse, I found the visual style (distinctly British) obnoxious and ugly, a crime I can almost never look past in film.

2012

I'm probably throwing all my film geek cred in the garbage here, but it must be said. 2012 is a fucking thrillride. It's a big, dumb special effects vehicle, but that's exactly what it intends to be and that's what it succeeds at. Much like the similarly surprising brilliance of G.I. Joe, 2012 works because it is so unpretentious about what it is. Roland Emmerich is no fool, he knows full well all people want is shitloads of stuff blowing up, so that's what he gives us here. The CGI work here is unparalleled in terms of quality, some of the mass destruction scenes are almost frightening in their attention to detail. People are crushed by falling cars, windows on distant building shatter, explosions go off miles away and the flames spread all the way to the foreground. The shots of Los Angeles crumbling apart into the sea are alternately horrific and hilariously awesome. Acting, as expected, isn't shit to write home about. Woody Harrelson plays a crazy guy, Danny Glover plays Danny Glover playing the President, John Cusack is a milquetoast with no charisma, there's even a weaksauce Schwarzenegger impersonator, but none of that matters. The real stars of 2012 are the impressive computer graphics, and if you go into the film expecting to just see things explode and often, you're not going to be disappointed.

JB says: What he said. It's an absolute fucking spectacle and nothing more. I'm a bit of an elitist myself, and I say if any man needs more than President Danny Glover and the very earth going up like a game of "Perfection", he's beyond help.

Funny People

As much as I'm sure a million others have beaten me to the punch on this one, the tragic flaw of Funny People is that it just isn't funny. Adam Sandler proves once again he is a much more capable dramatic actor than he is a comedian these days, his turn as George Simmons can turn on a dime from lovable to hateable without feeling disingenuous and he even gets in a few zingers harkening back to the glory days of Happy Gilmore and his brilliant comedy albums. The always hilarious Seth Rogen, on the other hand, falls flat on his face thanks to the muddled script. When he's doing standup bits or hanging out with his wacky roommates (a surprisingly fantastic Jonah Hill and a sickeningly smug Jason Schwartzman), his performance as George Simmons' biggest fan/best friend/indentured servant Ira Wright is a blast. But once the tears start flowing and Sandler gets fierce, Rogen is still in a mood too close to his usual "lovable, shouting idiot" character to be taken seriously and his character easily gets the most flat and uninteresting of the serious lines.

The jump to dramatics in general does a major disservice to the film, because it makes the amusing opening act feel less entertaining and by the time the film gets back on the right track it is very nearly over. I left the theatre bored and sort of annoyed, and by the next day I'd forgotten pretty much everything about the film, even the parts I liked. The film is unmemorable, overlong and only moderately amusing. I have yet to see the director's cut that recently hit DVD, but unless it also trims some fat on top of also adding new material, then I doubt I'll like it more than I did the theatrical version.

JB says: "Funny People" is Apatow's "look ma, I really made it" movie. After a string of blockbusters, he finally has the money and freedom to make a personal movie, and he doesn't want you to forget it for a second. Celebrity cameos galore, his family in starring roles, an ambitious blend of comedy and drama, the near 2 1/2 hour runtime; everything about it reeks of cinematic nouveau riche. The really sad part of it all is that somewhere in there, there's probably a great movie - it's just bloated. When it goes for straight comedy, it works; the standup bits are great. Even its drama has potential, as the characters are well-written. None of it holds up under the weight of its ambitions, though - which all come crashing down around the middle. On the upside, there are some great performances in there; though neither Rogen and Sandler are at their best, the supporting cast knocks it out of the park. As a million critics noted, Jonah Hill steals every scene he's in. Eric Bana is brilliant in his cranked-to-11 turn as the husband of Simmons's ex. Special note must go to newcomer Aubrey Plaza who shines even in her fairly brief role as Rogen's girlfriend. Like Sluncho, I'll give the DVD a look, but mainly for the extras; a ton of extra stand-up footage.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0

Goddammit, Oshii, what have you done? Having picked the worst possible film in his catalogue to give the George Lucas treatment, ol' Mamoru decides to jump back to his 1995 classic and muck it up with re-writes, a new cast member and some godawful CGI. Though the core of the film is unchanged in terms of plotting, the aesthetics of the film are rebuilt from the ground up. In its current state, the film more resembles a carbon-copy of Oshii's brilliant 2004 flick Innocence than Ghost in the Shell. The green Tandy computers monitors and vibrant penwork of the original film have fallen to the wayside for a festival of clunky 3D models, orange filters and persistent colour muting that looks like you're viewing the film from inside a shoebox at the bottom of a pit. The enhanced visual darkness detracts from the attention to minor details that draws animation enthusiasts back to the classics of 90s anime, nods to brand-name clothing and the subtle physical tics of characters are obscured because you can't see fucking anything and the addition of a few full CGI re-imaginings of classic scenes from the film take all the life out of Oshii's world-famous directorial style by replacing swift movement with awkward jerking. Thankfully untouched is animator Mitsuo Iso's career-defining climactic battle scene, but so many other great moments are ruined by this dreadful Star Warsification. The animation isn't the only thing to suffer, though.

The original sound effects (a combination of the wonderful Sunrise stock library of giant robot clanks and whirs with some punchy gunshots and explosions) are replaced with a bunch of newly recorded foley mixed by Oscar-winning Randy Thom, while the new sounds are good, they lack the distinct Eastern charm of the original mix and instead sound much too similar to every other futuristic action film you've ever seen. The music suffers a much worse fate, as Kenji Kawai's score is given a great remix but stripped down from ten songs to about three or four. The repetition of the same tracks during scenes that had very different music kills the mood, one can only hear the same booming choir so many times (Innocence, also scored by Kawai, suffered from a similar problem by having one song repeated in its entirety three goddamn times in the film). In the acting department, all the major players have returned but Iemasa Kayumi, who is replaced (bizarrely) by Yoshiko Sakakibara as the Puppet Master. Sakakibara is a wonderful voice actress, but her casting as a male character depicted in a female body cheapens the surprise of the big reveal and seems a bit too straightforward while Kayumi's gravelly old man voice added to the mystery of the character. Sakakibara's voice is also a bit too close in timbre to lead Atsuko Tanaka's, which can make their big verbal showdown a bit hard to follow. Altogether the film is just a case of trying to fix what ain't broke and doing a completely awful job of it, a damn shame, really.

[JB did not see, hence no comment.]

Watchmen

Let's face it, if you've read the comics you know the end result of the film adaptation was pretty much the best movie we'd get of the story made for a close to sane budget from a major studio. The movie is largely unsuccessful in living up to the comic's standards (which while high aren't quite as high as fanboys make them up to be), but it is a damn fine action flick and there are a few moments where the cast and crew nail the kind of magic Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons brought to the four-colour world in 1986. A bunch of shit was started over the film's deviation from and exclusion of some plot points, but I have to say in a lot of cases the changes made were steps in the right direction. The hardcores love it, but I found the "Tales from the Black Freighter" segments to be heavy-handed and uninteresting, and I cannot imagine them logically fitting into a motion picture of any sort. The ending change also is a beneficial one, since despite how stunning the art in the opening pages of the final issue is, the fact the destruction of New York is caused by a bio-engineered psychic squid is so ludicrously comic book-y would make the scene pretty tough to take seriously on-screen. A few alterations are unwelcome, though.

Director Zack Snyder (who previously turned Frank Miller's tepid 300 into a gorgeous but idiotic slashfest) tries too hard to actionify the story, having the diminutive and scrappy Rorschach fight off police trying to arrest him with a kickboxing meets Adam West Batman routine that never occurred in the comic and similarly goes all out with Rorschach's prison escape by having Silk Spectre and Nite Owl fight like Matrix rejects but in even slower motion. Aside from that, Snyder plays it commendably straight (much straighter than comic geeks claim, but less than the critics who foolishly see it as brilliant think) and the aesthetics of the film (aside from the aforementioned slow-mo) are impeccable.

The CGI Dr. Manhattan isn't exactly lifelike but emotes very well and suits Billy Crudup's fantastic vocal performance, and with a few exceptions the costuming is faithful to the comics and stylish. Music is also surprisingly well selected, with a period soundtrack focusing quite heavily on pop music (right down to "99 Luftballons", of all things). Not every selection is successful, though. One particularly overblown scene is set to a cacophonous and generally downright terrible recording of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and the My Chemical Romance cover of "Desolation Row" that blares over the credits is utterly wretched. Tyler Bates' score (largely incomplete, allegedly) is similarly a huge miss, never really enhancing the action any and leaving the viewer wishing the film was soundtracked entirely by music of the era (or better yet, more Philip Glass, since two of his pieces provide backing for the most emotionally resonant segment of the film.

In terms of the cast, Jackie Earle Haley does much justice to Rorschach in terms of body language and vocal performance, but a combination of sloppy writing and directing misrepresents Rorschach as the bastard son of Batman and the Punisher instead of the mentally ill riff on Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy that he's supposed to be, leading the audience to cheer on his mean-spirited bastardry instead of questioning his actions. Patrick Wilson whines and blubbers through the role of Daniel "Nite Owl" Dreiberg, succeeding at actually nailing the more pathetic, human elements of the character instead of suffering the same fate as Rorschach. Malin Akerman isn't anything of substance as Silk Spectre, but I'd say it's more the fault of the writers than her since a lot of her character's most significant dialogue ends up on the cutting room floor. The surprise star, at least in my books, is definitely Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. Like in the comics, Comedian is arguably the most reprehensible character in the cast, but Morgan's charisma allows you to put up with his dastardly antics and see the sad, old man on the inside. Morgan's scenery-chewing in the flashback scenes is crowd-pleasing, but doesn't lose the nihilistic philosophy his character espoused in the comics. The movie isn't great, but it's also not a terrible trainwreck. If you're looking for a good action movie and you have enough patience for the extreme runtime, it's worth a watch, and if you enjoy comics and aren't a total stuck-up snob, you might even have a hell of a time with this.

JB says: Really, "Watchmen" shouldn't have been made. The book is vastly overrated; though a very good comic, it certainly never transcended the medium as it's been made out to. And this is perhaps key to why the movie was doomed from the start; "Watchmen" is a comic book through and through. Its structure and style are all constructed so specifically around and within the comic book format that much would be lost in translation in any film adaption. To make matters worse, its very production is a knot of Catch-22s. An independent studio, even if it were to be interested (unlikely), could never affort to translate it to film with any degree of accuracy, and if a major studio is to expend the necessary budget, it'll need box office results to break even. If it were to be made faithfully to the comic, it would be brutally uncommercial; far too long, lacking in crowd-pleaser content, ultimately only marketable to the fanboy crowd. If it were to be made marketable to mainstream audiences, the work would suffer for it. And indeed it did. Both the story and the characters were given real short shrift by a combination of oversimplification and trimming. As Sluncho mentioned, Rorscharch is perhaps the worst casualty; much of his part, including many scenes which give us key insight into his character, are cut, and he's reduced from a walking moral dilemma to a typical "gritty badass anti-hero". Silk Spectre is left as little more than a placeholder. Even Dr. Manhattan, one of the better adaptions, loses painful amounts of depth in the editing. Not only that, much of the time spared by mutilating the characters is filled with big flashy action scenes. And even after all this, it's still too long, too complex and not exciting enough for the average moviegoer. It's a tremendous irony, really; the comic that was supposed to transcend comics ended up just another comic book movie.

Inglourious Basterds

I really don't want to write a big fat blurb on this because I could probably fill a whole article with minor complaints and faint praise for this flick, so I'll cut to the chase. It's entertaining, well-cast and gorgeous, but weighed down with even more of Tarantino's smug pretension and exploitation homage bollocks than even the Kill Bill flicks. If he'd played it a bit more straight and trimmed the length a smidge, this could have easily been his best film since Pulp Fiction.

JB says: I walked into "Basterds" expecting to hate it. Looking back on it, all the things I expected to hate about it were there; over-the-top violence, cartoonish Nazi villains, etc. It was also too long, bloated by unnecessary subplots and (typically) too talky. So I can't say it was a good movie, but it certainly was an enjoyable one. And really, isn't that what Tarantino has always done? He's never made art. He makes entertainment, and at its best damn good entertainment. Sure, I know "Basterds" is schlocky and self-indulgent, but I had a great time and walked out of the theatre satisfied.

The first annual SYHAP stylish nonsense award: The Limits of Control

Boy howdy, I loves me some Jim Jarmusch. Ol' Jimmy-boy is one of the best and most painfully underrated directors in the history of cinema. His aesthetic sense is impeccable, the way his camera moves is graceful and he uses black and white like no one else. Mr. Jarmusch has made some of my favourite films ever (Down by Law standing out as the pick of the crop), so I was pretty excited to peep this flick. In terms of sheer hypnotic beauty, I wasn't let down, but my God, it sure lived up to its reputation for absurdity. I'm no stranger to Jarmusch's brand of mundane weirdness (I honestly thought aside from the "serious" bits that Coffee and Cigarettes was an entertaining film), but this movie is a real patience-tester. The dialogue is very well delivered by the excellent cast (mad props to John Hurt for his five seconds of screentime), but it's at best whimsically goofy and at worst utterly laughable.

If you can manage to tune all the strange conversation out (it's not hard, the bulk of the film is almost entirely silent), you have one of the most gorgeous films in recent memory in front of you. Nearly every shot is something you could frame and hang on a wall, and it uses a variety of usually obnoxious techniques (slow motion, illogical jump cuts, poorly lit night shots) to amazing effect. The choice of music aids this, as the film is soundtracked with some fantastic drone from the likes of Boris, Sunn 0))) and Michio Kurihara. Unconventional music for an unconventional film, and outwardly almost as strange as the writing, but in practice it works much better than I imagine anything else would.

JB says: "Limits", when you get down to it, really is pretty much completely a matter of taste. If you find Jarmusch's previous work boring, stay away. If you have little patience for slow-paced films, stay away. If you value narrative clarity over atmosphere, stay away. If you value substance over style, stay way the hell away. My bias: I am none of the above. I knew what I was getting into and it was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. Everything critics complained about is true. It's fucking incoherent. There is no story, the characters are characters in only the most technical sense, the dialogue is pretentious babble, the pace is so slow it's barely there, etc., etc., etc. It is, however, absolutely exquisitely styled. The music, one of the features that drew me to it in the first place, is excellent and suits perfectly. It's stunningly shot; from composition to motion to color, even the editing. Look at "Limits" like the drone-doom that soundtracks it: it's long and slow, there's no real story(melody), it may be pretentious and not really make sense. But if you're willing to look past all that and just feel it, there's much beauty to be found.

Biggest disappointment in cinema: The Men Who Stare at Goats

I usually don't get unnecessarily excited based solely on trailers, but the teaser for this flick had me anticipating it more than any other comedy this year. Inevitably, it just had to let me down. The flick is impeccably cast and has a few genuinely brilliant moments, but it's incredibly tedious and there are 10 minute to half hour blocks without a single joke and that's utterly unacceptable in a comedy film. The narrative is too messy and has too many characters to really go anywhere, and it ends on a confusing and unsatisfying note. I don't even think some editing could really save this flick, it has really deep-seated issues in scripting and would take a lot of spit and polish on the plotting to work.

If you go in without high expectations, it provides a mildly amusing diversion, but it fails to live up to the hype it got on the festival circuit and squanders its potential on meandering dialogue.

[JB did not see, hence no comment.]

Apologies, dear readers...

2009-11-30T07:23:00.000-08:00

It is with heavy heart that I must announce the cancellation of New Music November, because, as you've no doubt noticed, the intended goal was a complete failure. JB has written nothing at all and I myself have had an unusually hard time selecting albums, so instead of me trying to flail wildly to select ten pieces on my own before the month ends and spit out a ton of one-sentence blurbs about stuff I have only lukewarm interest in, we've decided to end this.

To anyone out there who was looking forward to this or enjoying what I had been writing, I'm sorry but as it stands I did not have the will nor really the time to contribute. It's hectic at home and school this time of year, so trying to keep a sinking ship afloat on my own wasn't high on my list of priorities.

However, we will make a promise we can keep. December will be dedicated to both year-end and decade retrospective best of lists from JB and myself, which I can assure you will happen as I have taken the initiative to have already written most of mine over the past few days. They're not as exciting and definitely a cliche of blogging, but people love to read lists and frankly, we enjoy writing them.

Sincerely,

Sluncho, co-writer or Shit You Hear at Parties

New Music November: The The - Soul Mining

2009-11-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

If there's one thing I'm a huge sucker for, it's big solo musical projects. Growing up on Nine Inch Nails and then graduating to Foetus, I really admire the drive of these guys who with nothing but their own skills and a few session players here and there can construct music that rivals that of many proper bands. I'd heard a few good things about The The (one memorable description was "Foetus lite" from some commenter in the depths of Youtube), but I'd not actually heard the music till recently. Doing one of my usual music exchanges, a buddy of mine throws me a copy of Soul Mining, telling me he'd spent a solid week listening to pretty much nothing but it.

Well, I'll get this out of the way, it's not quite that good. I couldn't really even see myself listening to something I'm immensely fond of that much. It is, however, a tragically forgotten gem of early 80s pop. The The's de facto leader Matt Johnson rips through countless genres (from driving dance-oriented synth pop to Bowie-esque minimalist rock) with the assistance of a pile of no-name session jobber and some shocking guest stars (including TV host Jools Holland on piano and motherfucking J.G. Thirlwell. Johnson gets a bit too ambitious with the genre-hopping, but when he focuses on just doing straight-up pop he shows a good ear for a catchy melody and the drum machines on the opener "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" are excellent dancefloor bait. The nine and a half minute "Giant" is also commendable for managing to craft a hook that remains listenable for the entire length of the track, with a four minute percussion breakdown that combines African polyrhythms with the typical digital percussion of most early synth pop to make an interesting listening experience. All told, the disc is a glorious relic of the early 80s, misfiring a few times but with enough moments of brilliance to justify the screw-ups. Definitely worth pursuing if you're after synth stuff a bit more challenging than the usual fare.

New Music November: Peter Brötzmann Octet - Machine Gun

2009-11-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

You gotta love free jazz, man.

As I'm sure you know, we here at Shit You Hear at Parties are big fans of noisy chaos, and brother, it doesn't get much noisier or more chaotic than some good ol' free jazz. I've been a big fan of the late, great Sonny Sharrock's insane guitar freakouts for a good six or so years now, but it wasn't until recently I started giving some of the horn-oriented freeform stuff a shot. Peter Brötzmann and his seven pals are absolute killers, about as loose and wild as you can get. Presenting two different takes of the album's two main tracks (plus a final piece that almost resembles a song on some level), Brötzmann's saxophones howl and shriek like a banshee tumbling down a spiral staircase.

The title of the album is an apt way of summarizing the sound of the band, the horns and drums fire off like a MAC 10, squawking and clattering with ferocious intensity. Sven-Ake Johansson and Han Bennink litter each track with loose, jittery percussion focused on rattling cymbals and marching hi-hats, alternating syncing and clashing with Brötzmann and Evan Parker's duo of screaming horns. The group almost sounds like the musical equivalent of a violent argument, but they aren't without their moments of tight and cohesive melody (the brief clarinet/saxophone duet in the middle of "Music For Han Bennink (1st Take)" sticks out as particularly memorable for how surprisingly calm it is). The basswork provided by Buschi Niebergall and Peter Kowald is sparse, but appropriately spastic and with a nice funky kick. Fred Van Hove closes out the octet as the predictably key-hopping pianist, his fingers dancing across the ivory like a combination of a ballerina's grace and the frantic shakes and pops of a man having a seizure.

Unsurprisingly, Brötzmann has gone on to uphold his reputation for insane volume and unpredictability (he collaborated with Sharrock and Bill Laswell as a member of the infamous improv act Last Exit, who veered quite close to full-on noise rock territory) and his son Caspar has become a respected figure in the avant-garde community in his own right as the brilliant guitarist for power trio Massaker. I'd definitely advise checking both of them out if you're looking for some real abnormal musical experiences. They stretch the limits of what both the saxophone and the electric guitar are capable of and to great effect.

New Music November: Merzbow - Pulse Demon

2009-11-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

Merzbow is a love-hate thing for me, back when I was but a wee lad and just starting to get into extremely abrasive music, Merzbow was something of a fable I'd heard many a music geek tell. "This crazy Japanese guy records these horrible piles of noise and then does limited print runs with all this bizarre pro-animal shit printed in the liner notes and on the covers, you need to check this out" was something I'd heard many a time, but I could never really get around to actually listening to it. Back then I didn't have good internet nor the magic of iTunes or even an MP3 player so I had to buy CDs and Merzbow was both unbelievably expensive and hard to find.

Flash forward a good five years and now we're here, drowning ourselves in this ear rape. On top of New Music November, I grabbed Pulse Demon as part of a little dare with friends called the Merzplunge. We'd all grab three Merzbow albums, give full listens without trying to ignore or turn down the music and then share our thoughts once we finished. It was a pretty daunting task to select the discs, but then we ended up all just getting the same three (1930, Venereology, and Pulse Demon).

I was originally going to review 1930 for this piece (my little blurb, just for fun: unexpected beauty), but after going over all three discs I ended up finding this to be the most interesting (Venereology was boring, frankly, incredibly loud but without a shred of interesting texture or anything resembling musicianship on even the most base level). Pulse Demon is very much a Merzbow record (which is to say long, loud and decidedly unpleasant), but it has a certain je ne sais quois. With the benefit of proper stereo versions over the terrible Youtube videos I'd heard in the past, I can finally appreciate the subtleties of the nonmusical parts. The bass has a very steady throb, not quite a beat but more than just a dull thud, relaxing in a strange way. There's the usual squeals and slams you expect from Masami Akita's oeuvre, but a lot more restrained this time around.

There's not really much difference between each of the tracks, but with an artist like Merzbow the concept of a song really isn't applicable in any way. To truly enjoy something like this, you have to clear your mind and listen to the whole disc. It's not something that'll convert you to Akita's little ear-raping, PETA-loving camp (frankly, I'm not even there, the man annoys the balls off of me and for the most part the rest of the Merzcatalogue seems like meandering bullshit), but if you have an appreciation for the more abstract side of noise music, this disc is a must-listen.

New Music November: The Walker Brothers - Nite Flights

2009-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

It takes a lot for a record to catch me completely off guard. Maybe in all my years of listening to noise and other avant-garde ridiculousness I've become sort of desensitized to weirdness. Despite this, I can't help but feel utterly baffled every time I listen to Nite Flights. The Waker Brothers are already a fairly strange band, despite the "Brothers" gaining some substantial attention in Europe during the British invasion era, they're not brothers, British or even named "Walker" (not a single one of them). Masterminded by guitarist/vocalist Scott Engel, the Walkers had a pile of top ten hits and disbanded after a few dramatic incidents involving Engel (including an attempted suicide and a stay at a monastery) in 1968.

But they didn't stay broken up for too long, and by the time the seventies rolled around they got back together, but the material was totally different. 1978's Nite Flights is the final album the original trio recorded together, but it plays out much more like a series of loosely connected solo albums glued together.

The first four tracks are written and sung entirely by Engel, the next two are written by drummer Gary Leeds and the last four by rhythm guitarist John Maus. Engel's tracks have a very eerie, dark tone, indicative of his own personal battles, while the rest of the disc is more in keeping with the pop songcraft the group gained its fame for. Leeds throws jazzy horns into the mix and gives the disc some of its finest hooks and Maus is a more than serviceable songwriter, but the most arresting parts remain Engel's opening quadrilogy. It all sounds so alien, much like David Bowie's mindblowing Low (recorded the year before) but even weirder still. Engel's baritone vocals sound perpetually mournful, even when he sings on later tracks he doesn't really sound like he's getting into the lighter side of things. "The Electrician" runs for six minutes with proto-drone guitar dominating the first and last parts, with a wonderful baroque instrumental interlude, and the art rock-tinged title track manages to rock and baffle in equal measure (eventually ending up covered by Bowie in a fitting tribute). "The Death of Romance" and "Den Haague", the two Leeds tracks, are excellent pop rock tunes, but Engel's voice both sours and enhances them with its melancholy rumble. Maus' tracks suffer a bit less, but probably because his writing isn't too far-removed from Engel's in tone and style.

I enjoy it thoroughly, but I still don't quite get Nite Flights. It's kind of like trying to imagine The Beatles doing Sunn O))) but with saxophones and while it sticks out like a sore thumb in the group's discography of chart-toppers (the only single off this disc, "The Electrician" backed with "Den Haague", failed to chart), it is easily the Walker Brothers disc with the most impressive display of musicality and hopefully it'll one day be widely appreciated as their crowning achievement.

New Music November: Soul Whirling Somewhere - Hope Was

2009-11-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

An album with a reputation for being extremely difficult to listen to due to its sheer length and bleak content, Hope Was is the third full-length album by Arizona-based vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Michael Plaster, part of his still on-going Soul Whirling Somewhere project (of which he is the only consistent member, save for live drummer Jason Farrell). Plaster's work tends to be described as dark ambient, but unlike most musicians in that scene he has a strong acoustic backbone to most of his songs, with live guitar and percussion ringing through the electronic soundscapes.

Clocking in at just shy of two hours and spread over two discs, Hope Was softly plucked guitar balladry with huge walls of ethereal synthesized drones to create something that's closer to a shoegaze version of The Cure than anything more in keeping with the world of dark ambient and the strange style works. The church-like reverb to the vocals give a sense of detached melancholy fitting of the subject matter (preoccupied with lost love, suicide and feelings of isolation). The length of the album is both a curse and a blessing, though. A great deal of the songs sound quite similar and a few of the longer tracks get grating (which also has the consequence of making some of the shorter tracks, specifically the four that run less than three minutes, feeling unfinished and lacking), but the nine minute closer "Forget it. I Give Up. Goodbye. I Love You." is one of the best songs about love and loss written in the past few decades and is worth the price of admission alone. Some of the entirely electronic tracks, like "Unsleep", are also spectacularly beautiful and show a profound early era Aphex Twin influence.

Also worth mentioning is Plaster's latest project, the much more upbeat but no less wonderfully strange Mr. Meeble. They're one of the most exciting groups out there these days, with a very funky trip-hop sound and subtle, effective use of autotune and vocoders (something modern pop music lacks).

New Music November: Guitar Shorty - Topsy Turvy

2009-11-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Blues is something I've always appreciated but never really actively listened to. Blues is pretty much the foundation upon which the majority of modern music is built on, and there are several bluesmen out there still rockin' with oldschool charm to this day (as much as he's no guitar master, I'd being lying if I said I didn't think B.B. King is a badass who can play some hot licks).

So when JB and I decided to start this little challenge, I figured it'd be a great idea to try some contemporary blues (no, not like Clapton and his oft-tedious whiteboy treacle). A few furious slams of Wikipedia's random article key later and I discover this badass motherfucker. Mr. Shorty has been playing some of the finest guitar in the known world since the 50s (working with everyone from Ray Charles to Sam Cooke), but it wasn't until the late 80s he began a recording career. Topsy Turvy is his second studio effort, recorded in 1991 with an 11 piece band. It's a wonderful showcase of both ol' fashioned blues guitar and some damn nice rock numbers, with Shorty providing both the fretboard wizardy and some wonderfully raw vocals.

In live shows, Guitar Shorty is infamous for his off-the-wall showmanship. He can stand on his head, do flips and somersault without missing a single note. That's right, this man is a goddamn guitar acrobat, and while there's really nothing like seeing it, you can hear in his clean but raunchy tone and tight playing that he is a man capable of such insane feats. The riffs are air-tight and the solos are so impeccably timed and played it's a damn shame that Guitar Shorty isn't as well-recognized as some of his peers.

As with many blues guitar virtuosos, he isn't really the greatest singer you'll ever hear, but there's a passion in his voice and his delivery of the lyrics have all the warmth and soul an old bluesman such as himself needs. From the humourous tale of "Mean Husband Blues" to the sorrowful pleas of "How Long Can It Last?", Shorty never feels insincere. He sounds like the kind of guy who gets threatened by tough-looking guys for bedding their wives and then jets off to the next town to continue his wild antics.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! And who better to celebrate with than the perennially slept-on Geto Boys; their over-the-top sex and violence has as much in common with a slasher flick as gangsta rap. Bushwick Bill in particular embodies this idea; breaking and entering, murder, necrophilia and a Manson namedrop all in the span of one verse. Scarface plays it to the title, driven off the edge by bloody visions. Even Willie D, with relatively straight battle raps, shines here.

New Music November: Introduction

2009-10-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about how there's really a profound narrowness to my taste, it's not that I don't listen to a lot of different stuff, but I have some distinct favourites and they take precedent over absolutely everything else. Particularly in terms of music I blog about, it's pretty much all noise or avant-garde shit. So with November about to start, I hit up JB with a little challenge.

During this coming month, all reviews posted here will be of albums the two of us have never heard before, from genres we aren't familiar with. We will both select nine albums, give full listens, and write an article about each, on November 30th, the two of us will exchange albums for the tenth selection, each reviewing something only the other knows well. It might be a catastrophic failure, but it's a hell of a way to maintain consistent activity on here, challenge ourselves as writers, excite our audience with totally off the wall shit and possibly even find some new favourite artists.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to New Music November.

Scary Track: Sonic Youth - "Death Valley '69"

2009-10-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

You may recall in my portion of the "scary music" list I mentioned the most listenable song on Sonic Youth's "Bad Moon Rising" was about Charles Manson. This would be it, an unusually straight-up rocker by SY standards. Guest vocalist Lydia Lunch pushes it into another realm of unsettling, though; her wailing throughout, especially through the extended near-spoken bit in the middle, is bone-chilling shit. The guitars work themselves into an apocalyptic lather as both vocalists shout "HIT IT" over and over like a mantra, Lunch's voice growing to a full-on scream, then bam, that riff slams back in.

JB and Sluncho's Pumpkin Day Picks

2009-10-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

With Halloween just around the corner, what better time is there to share with our good readers a bunch of our favourite scary music? I know a lot of you are thinking "how the fuck can music be scary?", and trust me, once you are done reading this you will know true auditory terror.

So turn off the lights, crank up your speakers and get ready....

Sluncho's Picks

Whitehouse - Dedicated to Peter Kurten

Without exaggeration, this album is probably the closest music comes to making the listener feel like they've been raped. The intense treble and squealing feedback combined with the howled and shouted vocals can turn anyone's stomachs. The subject matter of the band's lyrics (fittingly, rape and other degeneracy) walks an uneasy line between extreme satire and serial killer idolizing insanity. Out of an entire career built on the backs of shocking antics and noise terror, 1981's Dedicated to Peter Kurten stands out as one of the most extreme examples of their "power electronics". Sampling everything from the sounds of urine sloshing around to news reports about infamous killer Peter Sutcliffe, the entire album plays out over an unending hiss that fades in and out of prominence, but never quite goes away. It isn't the loudest Whitehouse album, but is certainly the most jarring and eerie.

For full-effect, you can make the fool mistake JB and I did and try to listen to the album while watching E. Elias Merhige's Begotten at five in the morning. It's an experience you will never forget.

Swans - Greed/Holy Money

Another profoundly noisy, rape-obsessed act. Swans tones it down on the long, slow droney nature of their sound on this disc, but to compromise they've added face-smashing drum machines and a louder vocal mix to their sonic repertoire. One of the most musical but also one of the bleakest entries in the Swans discography, it's a bit of a shock to hear piano and female vocals on a Swans' track after their long series of guitar-driven albums where songs felt like they lasted hours and melody was nowhere to be found. The more dynamic sound greatly enhances the terror, where barks and shouts once would have been instead are Michael Gira's now famous emotionless intonations, chanting and whispering for minutes without stopping as the band bangs on in the background. Horns factor heavily into this disc, and give it some of its biggest jump moments (the opening to "A Screw" in particular could jar Rip van Winkle out of his sleep).

Lustmord - Purifying Fire

One of the most famous names in dark ambient, even if you don't know him, you've certainly heard the music of Brian Williams at some point in your life. With 28 years worth of recordings, spanning at least 26 records, 33 films and countless other credits in both the film and music world for sound mixing work, his brand of haunting field recordings and slow, gothic dirges has invaded the public consciousness anonymously and will likely continue to for quite some time. His solo albums are utterly mortifying exercises in the extremes of ambient music. Recordings of crypts, blood-chilling screams and other "straight from a horror film" audio experiments blend with very dark, sparse instrumentation to make listening a distinctly unpleasant experience.

Runhild Gammelsæter - Amplicon

With a PhD in cell physiology and about as much underground metal cred as you can get, Runhild is one of the strangest female vocalists around these days. This scholar and entrepreneur's first solo disc combines her loves of extreme metal and science to make one of the most haunting albums of the decade. Combining frogthroat vocals, some straight singing, incredibly unpredictable and noisy production and experiments with audio textures, Amplicon is thinking man's black metal without being too heavy-handed on the experimental, intellectual side. If you don't shudder at least once listening to the fucking creepy opener "Collapse/Lifting the Veil", then you are clearly Satan himself.

JB's Picks

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising

The first time I listened to this album, I happened to be alone in a dark room. Make no mistake, I'm usually pretty good for this kinda thing...many a horror movie I've watched in similar setting with no effect. But this...this unnerved me. Fresh out of their No Wave period, SY are still very unstructured and horrifyingly noisy here; most of the album bleeds together as one nightmarish soundscape. There's a hypnotic quality to it; pounding tribalesque drums and churning guitars with all the rhythm and warmth of a decaying factory. The guitars sound like they're being abused; they howl and wail, squeal and screech, creak and groan. Melody is scarce, and when present, usually lost in the tide of droning feedback. The lyrics are pretty spooky in their own right; check out the collage-horror of "I'm Insane". It says something of the general tone of the album that the love song is an 8-minute drone/noise jam and the most listenable song is about Charles Manson.

Khanate

Khanate are quite possibly the most harrowingly fucked-up, soul-dead thing on this list, and that's saying something. They are heavier than you can fucking imagine. The guitars and bass hit with force of a natural disaster, and vocalist Alan Dubin sounds like he's coming live from the deepest part of Hell. This is usually dragged out over at least 9 minutes, sometimes up to nearly 20. It's like pure evil in sonic form.

Cranes - "Lilies"

This track is far subtler than most of the other stuff on the list, but in its own way, just as unsettling. I'm rarely really caught off guard by music anymore, but the first time I heard "where am I? where am I?" followed by those crashing guitars (about 1:30 in) it hit me in the gut. There's something a little creepy about Alison Shaw's childlike vocals on their own (a memorable Youtube comment said "she sings like the ghost of a 7 year old girl"), but when those guitars slam down it's straight up horrifying. NME said it best when they described Cranes as sounding like "a beautiful siren being slowly strangled on a spiral staircase of hammer-horror guitars".

Sluncho's Listenings of the Week (19/10/09 - 23/10/09)

2009-10-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Foetus in Excelsus Corruptus Deluxe - "I'll Meet You in Poland, Baby"

A victim of my terrible old habit of not actively relistening to tracks that didn't snag me on the first listen, this wonderful number is bizarre by even Foetus standards but the violin melody is gorgeous and the lyrics are very funny. I'm sure you'll be hard-pressed to find a better tune that styles the conflict between Hitler and Stalin as a break-up song. Video sadly lacks a spine-tingling electric violin solo at the beginning, but it is present in full on Male.

Mule - "Mississippi Breaks" (Thanks, JB)

Equal parts Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Jesus Lizard, Mule combines slamming production with infectious southern rock grooves to create a wonderful sound that wouldn't be out of place coming out of the stereo of truckers and good ol' boys the world over. Vocalist P.W. Long's voice is so distinctly working-class country that you can almost smell the cheap tobacco and sweat coming out of your speakers.

The Sugarcubes - "Traitor"

Yet another victim of my terrible attention span, I went as far as to dismiss it entirely in my review of Life's Too Good, something I now immensely regret. One of the album's strongest tracks, it is soaked in uncharacteristic darkness and it works wonderfully. The sudden, jarring intro hits you like a brick and the matter-of-fact delivery of the lyrics has quite an unnerving quality. This is without a doubt co-vocalist Einar Örn Benediktsson's finest hour.

Public Image Ltd. - "Public Image"

An uncharacteristically conventional track, especially coming out of the band's early era (First Issue is a record so infamous for a challenge to listen to that it was never released in America and even our own JB had a nigh impossible time trying to enjoy the album), "Public Image" feels like the last spark of John Lydon's Sex Pistols spirit and it makes for a hell of a toe-tapper. While PiL can rock and pretty hard, here they're rocking as tight a Top 40 pop band but without losing their unique sound (Jah Wobble's bass, there is nothing on Earth like that).

Re: Sam & Dave

2009-10-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Sam & Dave were some of the first soul music I remember hearing, back when I was a kid. My mother had an old greatest hits cassette (coincidentally the exact same cassette they play during the mall chase in "Blues Brothers"), and I think I loved it from the first time I heard it. They're still high among my favorites, just all-around incredible...great instrumentation, both great, soulful vocalists and the interplay between them is amazing. The other Sam & Dave memory from my childhood is that when I told a friend of mine about them, he thought the name sounded like a hillbilly band (it sorta does, actually) and every time I mentioned it he'd go (in hillbilly voice) "My name's Sam, and this here's Dave!" How far from the truth...

[tiny observation: love the second of the who at the very end of the first video]

Re: Iron Maiden

2009-10-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

I always feel proud when I detect and eliminate hipster bullshit within myself. Take Maiden, for example; a few years ago I would've been distinctly "ironic" about this, laughed it off as something I was smarter than. Fuck that shit. Everytime I listen to "2 Minutes To Midnight" I wanna fuck shit up. If you can listen to "Run To The Hills" without being awestruck by its pure rock power, I think there might be something wrong with you. Those riffs, those choruses...they have harnessed the power of the beast. Goddamn.

Sluncho's Listenings of the Week (08/05/09 - 09/08/09)

2009-10-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Breaking in a nice new Altec Lansing stereo system for my computer, having audio lags issues with my garbage onboard soundcard but as long as I'm just playing a game/watching a movie/listening to music, there's no issues. So I figured I'd go back to stuff I've heard this past week to give it a go on proper equipment instead of my headphones.

Colorpulse - "A Glorious Dawn"

I've always been a big fan of video remixes and YouTube Poop, but this is one of those rare wonders where it transcends merely being a joke and is excellent music in its own right. The melody is phenomenal and the vocoder gives Carl Sagan's already wonderfully lyrical science lectures a eerie quality. The video, culled from clips of Dr. Sagan's classic television miniseries "Cosmos", is incredibly well-edited as well.

Spank Rock - "Bump"

Spank Rock is sadly one of those great groups that never really went anywhere. After a few soundtrack appearances and a few mixtapes, they seemingly disappeared in 2007 just after signing a new record deal. A goddamn shame, really, as their sound is one of the most unique spins on modern hip-hop I've heard. The simple, driving electro beats fit the geek chic lyrics and insanely speedy flow like a glove. Particular commendation is in order for Amanda Blank, who slays with one of the finest verses I've ever heard from a female MC.

Public Image Ltd. - "Poptones (Peel Sessions)"

"Poptones" was always a pretty good PiL track, but in this brilliant recording it really comes alive. With room-filling, almost disorienting guitar and Lydon giving a straight, passionate vocal delivery, the sound of the track fits the lyrics much more than the overproduced original track (the vocals in particular were buried under far too much modulating and chorus, which detracted from the stark immediacy of the delivery). The bass loses a bit of its thump here, but that's hardly worth complaining about for how good everything else sounds.

Underrated Discs #2: Foetus in Excelsis Corruptus Deluxe - Male

2009-09-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

If J.G. Thirlwell is committed to one thing, it's always coming up with a bizarre new name for his long-running and ever changing solo project, Foetus. On this disc, the solo element falls away in favour of a proper live band (and not just your average group of touring musician mooks, motherfucking Swans along with violinist Hahn Rowe and trombonist David Ouimet), adding extra punch to new and old tracks from the Foetus catalogue, as well as a few selections from Wiseblood, Thirlwell's collab with Swans' drummer Roli Mossiman.

Male is a strange album, acts such as Foetus have a tendency to either fall apart or reduce the scale of their music in order to make for a proper live show, but Thirlwell and his band instead of compromising select songs better suited to a live performance by a relatively simple lineup (that means big-band freakouts like "J.Q. Murder" and "I Became...Anenome" are out). Blasting off right out the gate with the stomping "Free James Brown (So He Can Run Me Down)", the album rocks much harder than most Foetus records and it's a damn good thing it does. With such a small band, more ambitious and jazzy pieces would fall flat (much like how Swans themselves often had a hard time translating the melodies of their studio pieces in live shows).

Despite the presence of Swans and the harder edged sound to the music, the humour long associated with the Foetus project has not faded. "Free James Brown" has a wonderful sing-sony chorus and some rather witty jabs at the circumstances of Brown's then-recent arrest, and before the show is out Thirlwell finds room to play covers of Elton John's "Rocket Man" (reworded into "Puppet Dude", a strange tribute to Jim Henson), Scottish glam rocker Alex Harvey's "Faith Healer" and a slamming rendition of (arguably, the most bizarre selection) Seattle grungers TAD's "Behemoth".

Musically, there are shades of Swans' live sound, though a bit more in pacing than tone. Songs are almost universally long, slow and drum-heavy, with simple guitar riffs smashing and droning over Algis Kiyzs' infamously loud bass. The trombone and violin add a distinct charm and fullness to the sound, making it sound more like a Foetus effort than an outside band doing covers of Foetus tracks that just happen to have J.G. providing the vocals. On that note, J.G. sounds much more diverse than usual, not masking his voice with any studio tricks and showing a delightful hint of Tom Waitsian tone, it is also very easy to see how Trent Reznor counts Thirlwell as an influence in the singing here, as just about every track has a chorus that could pass for Nine Inch Nails to a casual listener.

It's pretty far from the most immediately accessible effort Thirlwell has put forth, but it's a fantastic and well-recorded live document from an era already ripe with brilliant live discs from brilliant bands. If you're into Foetus, Swans or the extreme ends of early 90s rock, the album is definitely worth a look. Really, the album is worth getting for "Free James Brown" and "Stumbo" alone. If you wanna be a real gent, pop on over to Mr. Thirlwell's recently redesigned website and download the album for a fee that's nothing on the exorbitant price you'll pay for a physical copy.

Video: Flying Lotus - "Fall In Love" (fan-made)

2009-09-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

Found this video tonight...nothing indicates otherwise, so I'll assume it was made by the user (whose other vids are also great). This track, by the ever-brilliant Flying Lotus, is actually a tribute to the late great J Dilla. Much like FlyLo's music, the low-fidelity debris becomes as much a part of the image as the actual subjects, and the woozy, psychedelic beauty fits perfect into the warm but melancholy music. Actually a remix of a Dilla beat, Flylo adds texture; ghostly horns, twinkling keyboards. A suitable tribute to one of the greats, from another who rises in his wake.

Re: Andrew W.K.

2009-09-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Mr. Wilkes-Krier, I must applaud you. Reaching my teens at the height of your popularity, I heard much of your blasting, keyboard-driven party anthems. I always dug "Ready to Die", probably because it was used with brilliant irony in the trailer for Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. Aside from that, I never really got you. Sure, you had high energy live performances and an affable demeanor, but the music never clicked.

So when I heard about your latest albums, 55 Cadillac and Gundam Rock, I was skeptical to say the least. The prospects of the man behind "Party Party Party" doing both new-age piano improv and covers of classic J-disco cheese were baffling to me, until I heard them both. Mr. Wilkes-Krier, you have my sincerest apologies for ever doubting you.

First thing's first, you are a goddamn excellent pianist. One of the few things that ever struck me about your early efforts was how deeply keyboard-driven it was, for a big dumb rocker you really made those ivory keys fucking sing. The improv work you do is masterful and manages to capture many different moods, with some excellent classical stylings and a real nice jazzy edge. The sparseness of "Car Nightmare", the ambient sounds in "Starting the Engine", the subtle guitar on the closer, "Cadillac", it was so difficult to process the first time I heard it. My expectations had been crushed and I was hit with something much better than I could have ever imagined. These tracks are the kind I hear and lament the fact I cannot play piano for shit.

But then I hit Gundam Rock and for a second I was kinda iffy, "Fly, Gundam" felt a bit too different from Koh Ikeda's original (a stupid, nitpicky complaint, but I'm not the biggest fan of covers and a huge elitist weeaboo) and it was turning me off the disc, but then I realized it's unfair and stupid to dismiss an entire album based solely on a single track. I heard "Soldiers of Sorrow" at a friend's house not long after and my interest in the disc came flooding back. I've always loved the song's ability to contrast bleak lyrics with a fist-pumping, sing-along-worthy melody and you nail that better than any other cover of the song I have heard. The vocal harmonies and piano are unbelievable earworms and it's hard to listen to that track just once. The rest of the disc has a real consistency of likable rock silliness ("Here Comes Char" sounds more delightfully cheesy than ever, and "Star Children" rocks so hard it's not even funny), but then I hit the back to back fuckwin combo of "Encounter" and "Amuro Forever" (two of the most memorable songs in the history of the franchise) and just when I thought nothing could surprise me, my jaw is on the floor by the end.

Two of the most ludicrously dated, but lovable, tracks in the history of Japanese pop get a delicious hard rock modernization without losing what made them so awesome to begin with. The harmonizing and fingersnaps in the first verse of "Encounter" were one hell of a "dear God, yesssss" moment and then I hit the Engrish chorus faithfully kept from the original and the guitars just explode into that magically kind of ridiculous that beg to be strummed along to with air virtuoso enthusiasm. "Amuro Forever" is even more of a goddamn shocker since the original (another Ikeda track) does not rock at all, and it's turned into a toe-tapper with excellent riffs that wouldn't be out of place on 80s MTV. I actually very nearly shouted "FUCK YES" out loud the first time I heard the chorus, and I've listened to that track so many times that it's almost become part of my daily routine. When I heard you were going to perform this shit live, I immediately hit up your upcoming concert schedules and was pissed to find I'd have no chance to get to any of them, but I swear, one day I will. Also, extra nerd points for recording Gihren Zabi's eulogy for his brother Garma with scenery-chewing luster.

God, I now feel so shitty for all the times I've said you sucked and were just another generic rocker, sir. Even looking back (hindsight being 20/20 sure is a bitch) I've realized you always had an excellent sense of pop song craft and know how to make good party songs, I guess I was just too caught up in all my stupid "HURF METAL IS THE BEST" elitism to appreciate it. As a musician, a music lover, and a big Gundam fan, I have such immense respect for you, my weeaboo pianist brother, never stop being awesome.

Track: Big Star - "Big Black Car"

2009-08-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

I confess: for the longest time, I never really got Big Star. I heard a ton about them, their influence, etc. and grabbed the albums, but none of it really stuck much. I mean, it was really good, for sure, but I didn't love it. Another one of those bands whose albums I kept around but didn't listen to often. Fairly recently, within the last year, probably, I've kinda started to get it. This can likely be traced back to "Adventureland" (sidenote: excellent movie, SEE IT). A Big Star song, "I'm In Love With A Girl", was used to great effect in the film, so I sort of went back to their catalogue, and it started to make a little more sense. Just the other night, I gave another listen to their final album, "Third/Sister Lovers", which this song is from. It really clicked with me this time, so much, in fact, that I had trouble picking a single song for this post. But anyway, for those not in the know, a bit of history: Big Star today hold a high place in rock canon; hugely influential, loved by a who's-who of indie rock, covered by everybody and their dog, etc. etc. Most people would be familiar with them through the theme song from "That 70s Show", which is Big Star track "In The Street" with a few edits. In their time, however, they were pretty much the quintessential shoulda-been band. Big Star was a Memphis powerpop band in the 70s, signed to legendary soul label Stax. They had great tunes, great reviews, and a singer-songwriter, Alex Chilton, straight out of hitmakers The Box Tops. In their brief run, they were plagued by distribution problems and crumbling relations within the band. I've always thought Chilton himself summed it up quite well in "Thank You Friends": "All the ladies and gentlemen who made this all so probable". That's exactly what Big Star was; a big ball of probablys that never came true.

This album, "Third/Sister Lovers", was recorded while the band was falling apart. After 3 years and 2 albums of getting fucked over by Columbia's lack of cooperation and interest, relations in the band were fraying and Chilton was in bad shape. It seems he took these sessions with a sort of nothing-to-lose mentality. The music sounds strange and uncommercial even today, so one can imagine what it would've been like by 1974 standards. It didn't get released until 4 years later. Chilton sounds weary, lonely, sad, frustrated; the gloom pervades the whole album, even the upbeat numbers. The aforementioned "Thank You Friends", despite its joyful horns and soul backup vocals, is dripping with bitter sarcasm; Chilton "rejoices to the skies" in praise of the "friends" who helped him get there. Musically, the album is some of his best work; darkly beautiful pop accented by often haunting string arrangements. Some tracks literally sounds like they're on the verge of collapse (the tangled rock of opener "Kizza Me", the stark, lonely "Kangaroo", its mournful acoustic melody played against squalls of feedback), others are simply strikingly pretty (the string-driven ballad "Blue Moon", the bittersweet "Nighttime"). This track, "Big Black Car", leans more towards the latter; a simple, sad pop song.

When I think of car songs, something like "Little GTO" comes to mind; an upbeat track about how the singer loves his sweet ride/cruising with his baby/etc. "Big Black Car" goes against this in terms of both sound and content. Chilton sings of driving almost more like medication than a passtime; "I can't feel a thing," he sighs. Fittingly then, the music is played in narcotic pace and tone. The instruments seem to float in dreamy reverb. Acoustic guitars shimmer, snatches of piano occasionally tumble across, a woozy electric moan emanates from the background. Chilton himself, drifting through, sings in a hushed, breathy voice, sounding exhausted to the point of numbness. Lyrically, Chilton plays with the classic pop symbolism of car as escape. "Nothing can touch me, nothing can hurt me," he starts, evoking the trope, "why should I care, driving's a gas, it ain't gonna last." His final word hangs in the air for a moment, silently, before the music stumbles back in. He's reminding us of the real world physicalness of driving, as opposed to its fantasy transcendence; basically, you can dream your life away, but once you wake up, everything's still the same. Where most people would write escapist songs, Chilton wrote a song about escapism; its delusiveness, its fleetingness, and ultimately, its futility.

Sluncho's Top 5: Richard D. James recordings

2009-08-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

1. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85–92:

A beautiful and incredibly varied compilation of works recorded by James in his youth, SAW collects 13 tracks of mostly ambient music ripped from James' personal cassette collection. While these recordings date all the way back to his early teen years, this is easily the most mature and nuanced Aphex release. With layered beats that don't get too cluttered, beautiful vocal textures and warm analogue hums, James manages to strike a good balance between the percussion-oriented electronica of the era with classic ambient's soundscapes to form the foundation for which the rest of his long and unpredictable career is built. The nine-minute long "Tha" repeats a simple percussion loop over a shimmering, almost violin like synth pad and eerie echoed recordings of people speaking, while the frantic "Green Calx" draws on vocal samples from Public Image Ltd's "Fodderstompf" and noises from classic 80s flicks Robocop and The Thing to add extra kick to the thudding tribal percussion.

Choice track: "Xtal", the album opener. It provides a great balance of beauty and intensity to perfectly sum up all of the early Aphex material.

2. Aphex Twin - Ventolin + Remixes:

Punishing beyond punishing, the title track of this pair of EPs is almost unrivaled in its pure sonic assault. Named for an asthma drug capable of causing tinnitus as a side-effect, "Ventolin (Salbutamol Mix)" is just short of six minutes and consists almost entirely of throbbing percussion and an ear-piercing hiss (as a sufferer of tinnitus, I can say this sound is a pretty accurate recreation). The remixes, on the flipside, focus almost entirely on gorgeous trance melodies. "Crowsmengegus Mix" starts off with a strange rush of percussion, almost like an oncoming train blasting through a subway tunnel, and then shifts into a Philip Glass-esque series of arpeggiated chords with a simple hi-hat beat.

"Carharrack Mix" has this really uneasy sort of woozy feel to it, echoing notes shifting up and down in pitch over a broken keyboard phrase, the volume of the drums rising and fading as the song drags on. "Probus Mix" feels at home with early Aphex works, dancelike drums with analogue synth drones and little clusters of notes trading back and forth. The final track, "Asthma Beats Mix", has a stomping drum pattern over this strange twisting bass tone and melancholy piano. It is the shortest track on the album, but I find myself drawn to it. It feels so different from everything else.

Choice track: "Crowsmengegus Mix", it captures two different moods with totally different sounds, evolving the remix into something about as far removed from the original track as possible. The second section is one of my favourite Aphex moments of all time.

3. AFX - Analogue Bubblebath 5:

Recorded in the mid-90s and only released to a handful of people via an unannounced mail-order during the Analord era, AB 5 is the final (as of the current date) part of James' Analogue Bubblebath series of EPs. This series consisted primarily of acid house recordings that James didn't use on albums or release as independent singles, usually with bizarre song titles. This final disc is entirely untitled, identified only by side and track number (this was a vinyl-only release, like much of James' works have been in the past five or six years).

Despite being part of the sequence and recorded around the same time as the others, AB 5 is largely a step in a different direction, consisting mostly of abstract and ambient pieces as opposed to anything remotely conventional. The entire disc has a very relaxed, dreamlike feel. Personally, I've been a big fan of listening to it when extremely tired. The tracks all bleed together and form this one uniform soundscape, with a multitude of instruments samples (everything from the usual piano to an absolutely amazing bit of synthesized horns) and very discrete tonal shifts.

Choice track: "Side A, track 2". The best representation of the album's hallucinatory beauty, it slowly builds in volume and eventually even acquires an almost danceable quality in its last minute or so.

4. Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes for Cash:

One of James' most infamous personality quirks is that he often refuses to do conventional remix work, accepting offers from many different artists but almost always turning in totally unrelated mix instead. This compilation samples the best of his work for other artists, with everyone from obscure J-poppers Nav Katze to indeterminist composer Gavin Bryars. While rarely retaining much of the original piece, James does not simply destroy the song, in fact, in a few cases (dare I say it?) he manages to improve it. He takes Japan's ridiculous cock-rockers Buck-Tick and turns them into piano-driven minimalism, British genre-blenders Jesus Jones go from rock with mild hip-hop sensibilities to sparse and dark ambient. James doesn't remix so much as re-imagine songs.

There are also a handful of entirely original pieces, two remixes of his own tracks and a pair of ambient works he did for a Nine Inch Nails EP (James seemed to be disinterested in Trent Reznor's music at the time, but has since sampled his work and claims to have interest in doing a tour with him). "The Beauty of Being Numb, Section B" (one of the Reznor-comissioned tracks) has always been one of my favourite Aphex pieces. A simple clarinet/piano jam, locking into a tight, relaxed groove. Laid overtop, what sounds like a computer malfunctioning during an earthquake. The extreme contrast between these sides somehow does not detract from the beauty, if anything, the natural-sounding melody and the fragmented, decaying electronic sounds work together perfectly.

Choice track: "Heroes", a mix of David Bowie's original song with Philip Glass' orchestral rendition. Bowie's excellent vocals soar into the stratosphere, alternating between crooning and shrieking over the ocean wave-like wall of violins.

5. Mike & Rich - Expert Knob Twiddlers:

A straight collaboration with Mike "µ-ziq" Paradinas, Mike & Rich is a surprisingly jazzy and relatively conventional project. Allegedly recorded during a relatively short period of time while both parties were incredibly high, Expert Knob Twiddlers showcases James' ability to step outside his usual playing field and still write excellent melodies. The first track, "Mr. Frosty", is irresistible electro-funk with tight beats that pretty much force you to your feet. "Jelly Fish" propels itself along on an unconventional but excellent guitar sample. The double bass-driven "Eggy Toast" finds itself at the crossroads between jazz and electronica with spacey synths over the slow finger-plucked bass line.

The entire disc's instrumental samples, especially shocking for James, are almost entirely undistorted and have a very crisp, real sound to them. If it wasn't for the fact I knew of the previous works of the two musicians involved, I would quite easily believe this was all newly recorded instrumentation. Paradinas' work is what brings the real jazz influence, though, as his solo material (quite oddly for the British electronica scene) has a profound jazz-funk influence. "Winner Takes All" showcases Paradinas' jazz love with a real simple percussive buildup to a massive blast of horns reminiscent of the jazzier side of the trip-hop scene. Cut it up a bit and slap in a Q-Tip verse and you've got yourself a long-lost A Tribe Called Quest track.

Choice track: "Winner Takes All", it really stands out as the album's most unique track and probably the most radically out of character piece in the entirety of James' discography.

Sluncho's Top 10: Film Scores

2009-08-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

1. Koyaanisqatsi (1982, Philip Glass)

This is a pretty biased choice, I'll admit. Koyaanisqatsi is my favourite film of all time, so of course I'm going to be kind of the music, but at the same time, from an objective standpoint I think I can say it's hard to top a good Philip Glass score (see: Truman Show, The Thin Blue Line) and of his film works this is the one I find myself listening to the most. In the context of the film, the music serves as a sort of special kind of dialogue, filling the entirely silent film with a broad range of emotions, giving voices to the people whose mouths flap but say no words. The synchronization of the film's action to the music is actually probably why I enjoy the film so much. It makes the sheer beauty of the visual and auditory experience even more powerful. Loaded with Glass' usual repetitious arpeggios, fierce tempo changes and haunting chants, this easily would stand on its own as just a Philip Glass album (Glassworks, a chamber music piece from the same year, is almost a Koyaanisqatsi-lite to the point where it even shares entirely identical cues played on different instruments). Hell, really, aside from being my personal favourite film score, I'd be quite tempted to flat out say the recording itself (particularly the brilliant new reissue with the music cut into the exact segments it is used in the film) is the greatest album I have ever heard and I honestly doubt I will ever hear much better.

Particular moment of brilliance: "The Grid", a twenty-one minute scene set to one continuous piece of music. I cannot help but cry every time I see this, not out of any sort of sorrow, but in sheer amazement at the strange beauty of the world we live in and how this piece captures it.

2. Ghost in the Shell (1995, Kenji Kawai)

Mamoru Oshii is a director I have a real love/hate relationship with. I dug Only You because it was a pretty goofy comedy with painfully 80s music montages and some surprisingly solid writing, Beautiful Dreamer was damn smart but a fucking pain to watch, his little self-indulgent projects like Talking Head and The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters (which is essentially a cinematic inside joke whose punchline is 20 years too late) stand on the borderline of genius and pretension, and for some reason I could never bring myself to like Ghost in the Shell. Critics love it, it's his most mainstream film (hell, I am quite sure a great deal of the flick's audience doesn't know who Oshii is or how fucking strange the rest of his flicks are) but something about it never clicked with me.

Post-apocalyptic Japanese cinema is really a huge acquired taste. On the low end we've got things like Fist of the North Star (imagine Mad Max, but with acid trip visuals) that are good, dumb fun for people who aren't familiar with Japan's cultural fixation with post-nuclear decay and the "rise from the ashes" mentality that brought them from decimation in World War II to some kind of ultramodern technogiant in the modern era, but then you get flicks like GitS that take out all the fun of the harsh future by replacing wandering messianic heroes in vast deserts with a cold, mechanical world where robots masquerading as people are everywhere and humanity is more a figurative concept than a literal one. This sort of stuff used to bore me to tears, so I never really gave the flick much of a chance. But then I started to watch more and more Oshii, I decided I might as well attempt to re-evaluate it, and I discovered I was really missing out on a huge gem. If there was any one thing that hooked me, though, it was the score.

These kind of films, strange considering their super futuristic visuals and concepts, tend to have a very raw, tribal sound to the music. Kenji Kawai's score to the film consists almost entirely of very similar chants. Long, drawn out drones just a wee bit faster paced than Gregorian, that are typical of the sound of Japanese Noh theatre. It's deeply spiritual in both lyrics and tone, but somehow it doesn't clash with the "world of tomorrow" visual sense. If anything, it serves as an eerie contrast. The extremes of the past vs. the future. The perfect music for one's quest to find their humanity in a mechanical world. Aside from the vocals, the mood is further set by clanking bells, hard-hitting but rare bursts of drums and sparse shamisen and zither work.

Particular moment of brilliance: "M01 Chant I - Making of a Cyborg", the film's opening credits song. The finest example of the music's stark contrast to the film's plot and visuals. Also, though this is no doubt utterly lost on non-Japanese speakers, this song also serves as a brilliant piece of foreshadowing for the film's ending.

3. Boss Nigger (1975, Leon Moore)

Mr. Moore's only known theatrical credit, Boss Nigger is a surprising triumph of a film made even better by his phenomenal music. What easily could have been just another cheesy "fuck whitey" blaxploitation flick actually ended up being a bittersweet western with a strong anti-racism message that's not heavy-handed enough to get in the way of the gunfights and tough talk. Moore's music manages to capture period charm (right down to the obligatory saloon piano) without being too cliche and gets anachronistic without being absurd by giving Boss and his partner Amos these heroic, string-heavy funk themes that shame most other black cinema of the era. It's not just cheesy wah-wah and slap bass, there's some genuine beauty and skill to the arrangements of these tracks. Of course, it would be idiotic to select this film for a best of list without mentioning....

Particular moment of brilliance:...the absolutely unforgettable opening title theme. I have nothing else to write here, just listen for yourself.

4. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977, John Williams)

Say what you will about him nowadays, there is no denying that there once was a time that George Lucas was a visionary film maker who left an indelible mark on science fiction with his imaginative visuals and fresh writing (blatant Eastern mythologizing aside, a lot of Lucas' concepts were pretty unique at the time). A New Hope was my favourite movie growing up. It has good guys you can root for, a charismatic bastard of a villain, great special effects and one of the finest sequel set-up endings ever. But if there's one thing about it I will never forget, it will be the music. The main theme from Star Wars is an internationally recognized, much praised and commonly hummed classic that will likely retain social relevance longer than the film itself. John Williams has an excellent track record (Fiddler on the Roof in particular being brilliant and very deserving of its Oscar win) and the works he composed for the Star Wars films pretty much perfectly capture the spirit of what a good Hollywood score should be.

Science fiction film scores are a tricky thing to succeed at. The early era of the genre is pockmarked with far too many attempts at trying to be "futuristic" (y'know, I love the theremin as much as the next bloke, but it gets old) and modern sci-fi scores are all CRASH BANG BOOM noise that senselessly punctuate already over the top explosions (really, sci-fi and action have knotted together into an awful ball in the recent past, so I guess this is to be expected). Some composers manage to eek out a niche for providing a unique take on typical sci-fi fare (I will never get tired of whoring out Shigeaki Saegusa), but Williams manages to play the middle and do very typical big orchestral film scores for his futuristic works, but he crafts excellent melodies with big heroic brass and stomping marches and perfect ambient interludes. These are scores that could work for any film with the right implementation. He compliments the visuals without making pieces that are mutually exclusive to them, and can set up the right mood in an action scene without having the music get in the way of what's going on visually (which is something very few Hollywood composers can do well).

Particular moment of brilliance: Isn't it obvious?

5. No Country for Old Men (2007, Carter Burwell)

This is a strange choice, but bear with me, people. As anyone who has seen this film knows, there's almost no music in the film at all. Only sixteen of the film's one-hundred and twenty-two minutes has music, most of which plays during the end credits. The lack of music helps to create a different kind of score, though, one of natural sound. Aside from speech, ambient sounds and gunfire, there is nothing. It adds a dark realism to this already tense film. Any film can get you to jump with a sudden orchestral blast, but for silence to be ended by a blast from a shotgun and the sound of a body coldly hitting the floor will give you a much more genuine scare. The unpleasant violence of the film would be trivialized if it was scored the way most thrillers are, this is a film with no real hero or villain, so if typical music would be unbecoming of it, then it is for the best for the action to play out in silence. In fact, the few times music does play in the film are some of its calmest moments.

The first time I saw the film, I actually could not recall having heard anything other than the end credits music, and left the theatre feeling uneasy and tense. Comparatively, not long after I saw the dreadful remake of the already so-so J-horror "classic" One Missed Call, which uses an obnoxiously IN YOUR FACE BOOGIDDY-BOOGIDDY score to amplify its weak scares and left the theatre not even close to shaken up, but I was also able to laugh out loud at the film with all this cacophonous noise going on. The key to evoking true terror is subtlety, and even though No Country isn't a horror film by definition, packs more genuine jump moments than most actual "scary" movies do.

Particular moment of brilliance: Originally I was going to give this nod to the excellent end credits, but instead I figured it would be best instead to showcase some of the film's "natural" score instead. It loses a bit of its kick due to YouTube's dreadful quality, but if you saw it in a theatre, every little noise would hit you like a freight train .

6. Akira (1988, Tsutomu Oohashi)

One of the few living geniuses of music, Tsutomu Oohashi (best known under the alias Yamashiro Shoji) is a brilliant composer and scientist who blends high and low technology to create some of the most powerful music ever recorded. He and his music collective, Geinoh Yamashirogumi (a hundreds-strong group of doctors, students, businessmen and average folk), have scored films, performed concerts all over the world and recorded a little over a dozen albums since 1974. Using personally modified synthesizers and a broad range of ethnic instruments, they combine prog rock, classical and many varities of Asian spiritual music to create a sound unlike anything else you will ever hear. Their utterly brilliant 1986 album, Ecophony Rinne, caught the attention of director Katsuhiro Otomo, who requested they compose a similar score for his upcoming film.

Much like Kenji Kawai's brilliant work on Ghost in the Shell, Oohashi contrasts Otomo's bizarre vision of future Tokyo with Buddhist prayer chants, clattering Indonesian percussion and a recurring (and nigh deafening) slam of some drum so painfully low that I cannot identify it. Heavily built on recurring motifs and setting the action to sound, there is a blend of fierce fighting music (the mostly vocal "Battle Against Clown" appears in almost every action scene) with melancholy ambient pieces (the utterly gorgeous "Illusion" lightly fades in and out at several points in the film, with its flutes scoring many a flashback and hallucination) and phenomenal opening and closing bookends (the film begins and ends with the same chant). Interlinked via vocal cues and running percussive themes, the movie has distinct song cycles and associates some pieces with specific characters (antagonist Tetsuo's appearances are often set to the piece bearing his name, "Mutation" sets the mood for his evolution to something either above or below humanity).

Particular moment of brilliance: "Kaneda". Set to an utterly gorgeous motorcycle chase in the dead of night, the song sets the tone for the rest of the film, managing to compliment the ferocity of the visuals while still packing an otherwordly beauty all its own.

7. Predator (1987, Alan Silvestri)

A man with an incredibly varied career, Silvestri is a terribly underrated composer. While he has worked on his fair share of horrendous films, he has also scored some incredibly popular and memorable films and the music always compliments the picture. With Predator, Silvestri's score is the foundation for which the rest of the film is laid. While far from what most people would look at as a masterpiece, Predator is for my money the greatest action film ever made and one of the finest American motion pictures of both the 1980s and all time. It is a simple, effective film where all the different parts come together to form one uniform piece. Every element of it is perfect. The cast have the right amount of hammy ridiculousness and true emotion in their performances, the dialogue is incredibly sparse but utterly unforgettable (just about everything said in the film is quotable), the visual work is a great blend of practical effects and convincingly rendered computer graphics (the Predator's heat vision in particular doesn't feel nearly as fake as it should) and the music doesn't fall behind or usurp the pace and tone of the film. If even only a single one of these things were missing, the film would fall apart.

Particular moment of brilliance: The early parts of the team's jungle trek. With distant, rolling drums to build up tension and massive blasts of horns and string squeals to make you jump, this scene demonstrates that (like the film itself) Silvestri is capable of jumping back and forth between subtlety and ridiculousness without ever coming off as trying too hard. The frantic tempo and volume changes as our heroes charge recklessly forward are effectively contrasted by the stark silence (mechanical hums aside) when we see the action from the Predator's point of view. (No clip available, sadly, you can thank FOX for that.)

8. The Proposition (2005, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis)

We've had two post-apocalypse cyberpunk films with odd soundtracks thus far, so why not two contemporary westerns with odd soundtracks? Nick Cave is one of my absolute favourite musicians of all time, and when I found out he was writing AND scoring a film, I had to see it. The Proposition is a stark, brutal portrait of 1800s Australia, violent and unpleasant with dialogue as vicious as its visuals. The music is a mix of of incredibly reverb-heavy and dark strings with these inexplicable vocal songs dropped in now and again that I don't quite understand the point of but love nonetheless. Describing the onscreen action in strange hushed tones over this eerie backing, the vocal pieces are very different but not at odds with the more cinematic pieces in the film. Ellis' violin work provides one of the best examples of music fitting visuals in motion picture history, as even listening to the music on its own will inevitably have you remembering the harsh, insect-ridden deserts of the film, even long after seeing the film.

Particular moment of brilliance: "The Rider Song", easily the most musical of the vocal tracks. A folksy, melancholy tune about the protagonist with wonderfully simple lyrics delivered with profound emotion by Cave in one of his most subtle vocal performances ever.

9. Ghostbusters (1984, Elmer Bernstein)

Whether you're a fan or not, there's no denying that Ghostbusters was one of the most important films of the 80s. A triumph of humour, horror and special effects, it spawned a lengthy and uneven franchise with a so-so sequel, two television series, a pile of dire videogames (save for this year's brilliant Ghostbusters: The Video Game) and an upcoming sequel/relaunch. The sins of the franchise aside, the film still holds up to this day and I cannot imagine the day were it will no longer be seen as brilliant. The late, great Elmer Bernstein's 50 year career is loaded with classics (An American Werewolf in London, To Kill a Mockingbird, My Left Foot) and his versatility is on display better in Ghostbusters than anything else.

Bernstein nails both comedic beats and big scares perfectly, massive orchestral stings and the drones and hums of the Ondes Martenot punctuating the paranormal scenes with jangly piano and mellow woodwinds providing a backdrop for the film's near-endless stream of quotable banter. While Ray Parker Jr's brilliant theme song will forever be the music most commonly associated with the film, the score itself is equally unforgettable and thanks to Terminal Reality, used exclusively in their excellent videogame adaptation, allowing another generation to appreciate the dramatic strength of this music. Comedy scores rarely ever go above and beyond the call of duty like this.

Particular moment of brilliance: Just watch this.

10. Paris, Texas (1984, Ry Cooder)

Wim Wenders' terribly underrated desert wandering drama wouldn't be complete without its hauntingly perfect score. Ry Cooder, as most music enthusiasts know, is an utterly brilliant slide guitarist, and this score here is quite easily his finest hour. Based around an instrumental interpretation of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground", the treble and fret noise compliment the long, quiet shots of Harry Dean Stanton stumbling through Texas better than any other music I can imagine.

Slide guitar has this amazing dark, ominous quality to it. The distinct metallic hum of the slide gives the oft sparse instrumentation even more of a kick.

Particular moment of brilliance: The introduction. A perfect representation of the film's aesthetics. I'm hard pressed to find more films that start off with a scene this striking.

Track: Lloyd Chandler - "Remember And Do Pray For Me"

2009-07-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

I've long been interested in American traditional music in its various forms; folk, country, blues. I sort of grew up with it, and somewhere a couple of years ago I got into it more seriously and since I grab pretty much every compilation I can find. I think it's really bullshit that this stuff often gets written off as hillbilly music or something. Part of this, I'm sure, is simply ignorance; most "roots" music that makes the mainstream in any capacity is either too deeply crossbred with pop music forms or else is simply watered-down, shined-up crap. Mainstream country has always tended towards glossy, sappy stuff, and modern mainstream country and blues are as much rock as they are themselves. Whatever bluegrass gets noticed is almost exclusively of the pickin' 'n' grinnin' variety. These things seem like total sacrilege to me, because they go completely against large parts of what draws me to this music. Not to say that I believe it's not open to further evolution, but polishing it to make it "easier" is rather contrary to the roots of it, and the music is weaker for it. Most of these people with whom this music originates would've been making music very much apart from the cultural context we're used to it in. The whole system of influence would be totally different; instead of albums or radio, most if not all music would be known just from oral tradition within most likely a small area. Much less outside influence seeping in. Without charts and a music industry, the music would also be less shaped by commercial standards, etc, etc, etc. As a result of all these things, it's very pure. That concept, of music in a raw form, really fascinates me.

This track is from a compilation of old folk field recordings (field recordings being recordings made outside a formal studio) called "High Atmosphere". It was recorded throughout Virginia and North Carolina in 1965 by John Cohen, a musician and musicologist. This guy, Lloyd Chandler, was a Baptist preacher in addition to a singer, and there are claims that he wrote the earliest version of "O Death", now a bluegrass standard. This track is a perfect example of that rawness I was talking about; there's not even any instrumentation, just Chandler's voice. And what a voice it is. I'm used to unconventional singers, and it even took me a bit to get used to this. Chandler has a strong voice, ragged though it is. His style is sparse, for sure, no flourishes, but the melody is solid throughout. Really, I think that serves the piece best. Chandler's howl sounds almost unearthly, but at the same time the distinctly human frailty of it is part of what makes it so compelling. There's just something else about it, though, that I can't quite describe. It sounds like more than a song, I think; like something from within coming out in the form of music. I'll spare further grasping into pretension...long story short, I find this a tremendously powerful piece. It's unrefined and harsh, but those imperfections are vital to it. This is raw music.

Sad Songs

2009-07-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

I've been mulling over the possibility of lists for a while now, but until I hammer out some solid top 10s in at least a handful of categories I figured I'd do a little piece on some of the saddest songs I've heard just to get some writing done.

Beck - "Heaven Hammer"

My father walked out when I was about 11 years old. I never quite forgave him for that. He was for the most part an absentee regardless (civil engineer, we ended up moving often, including a narrowly avoided move to Israel) and a manic depressive who for every positive trait he instilled in me (love of music, comic geekery, tech knowledge) he left two profound emotional scars for his cold treatment and sometimes violent outbursts. Despite all his odd behaviors, the family maintain he loved me deeply and looking back I can see he definitely did in his odd little ways. He'd always buy me obscure or out there albums for me when he visited record stores (through him I discovered Alice in Chains, Slayer, Aphex Twin, you name it).

The last record he bought for me was Guerolito, a terribly underrated Beck remix EP with a lot of damn catchy tunes. He loved "Heaven Hammer", and mentioned once that it sounded like a song Sting wrote (I have yet to discover exactly which one) and we listened to it often. Listening to that song was the very last thing we did before he told me he'd see me "next week" and he drove home one day in January. He died in a head-on collision with a truck that night. Ever since I haven't been able to listen to the song, until today, and even now it brings me to a bitter mix of angry and sad tears. As much as I resent him for what he had done to me, I somehow can't help but miss him.

Removed due to copyright claim, like just about everything mildly mainstream on YouTube these days.

Shigeaki Saegusa - "A Boy In Green Noa"

I have absolutely no shame admitting that Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is one of the most profoundly emotional television series I have ever viewed. Rarely does TV, let alone 80s animation, affect me on any sort of level aside from maybe providing some laughs or a "FUCK YEAH" or two. The show starts off as a pretty typical giant robot show, but it builds to a fucking crescendo of death and despair, ending with just about everyone (both heroes and villains) dying and usually quite horribly. The last two episodes in particular are a nonstop killfest where we see women and children slaughtered in unflinching detail (at least by 1985 standards).

Saegusa's score for the series has always been a favourite of mine, he eschews typical generic cartoon music for a broad combination of funky jams, melancholy strings and heroic brass that puts most film scores to complete and utter shame. I was very, very close to giving this spot to "Riders In the Skies" (the titular song of the final episode), but there's no denying the song that's always hit me the hardest is the ending theme.

Well, to the English adaptation, at least. The Japanese version of the series closed with the ridiculously cheesy Neil Sedaka-composed "Believe in the Starry Sky" (a song I can't even say I enjoy for any sort of irony value) while due to rights issues the English credits play to "A Boy In Green Noa", a pretty low-key jazz piece that plays as incidental music in the first episode of the show. The song never stood out to me as particularly strong at first and I often ignored the closing credits anyway since, like so many other shows, they end with an obnoxious "NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE" preview where this generic movie voiceover type announcer artfully finds a way to spoil every plot twist of the coming installment. I left the last episode playing as "fin" appeared onscreen in a haunting white typeface and instead of fading to black or cutting to a more subtle credits segment, it just plays that fucking song.

I somehow managed to fight back tears during the episode, but the second the smooth clarinet intro hits I start fucking bawling. Almost every time I've heard it since, I've either literally burst into tears or at very least felt like it. Led to one particularly great moment where me and my uncle were waiting in line to see a performance of Fiddler on the Roof at the local community theatre and I started to pretty loudly sob when this song popped up on randomize while listening to my MP3 player. I sincerely apologize to anyone weirded out by that.

Marco D'Ambrosio - "Into The Sea" (was unable to find existing stream or upload this to YouTube, sorry)

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, tech wizardry aside (mastered at Skywalker Sound), had pretty poor music. It's well mixed and not overscored, but the music itself lacks something. At best it's unmemorable and at worst it's difficult to ignore how decidedly average it is, but my god, the music that plays over Joseph's eulogy for his fallen comrades in the last episode is heartbreak sad. Ambient music has this real power to it, and with all the showy instrumentation and attempts at multi-ethnic flair stripped away, D'Ambrosio shows he knows what a melody is and on top of that manages to construct a piece that has two sharp drops to the depths of despair for every bittersweet rise.

In context the piece is sad, but I've found it's sort of become a multipurpose sad song in my life. Remarkably wussy story, but for a few years I modded on a fairly popular and now almost totally forgot forum called The Revird. It was a pretty tight community of oddly classy and smart geeks who went there to post lengthy discussions about obscure, outdated politics, old movies, whatever. The rules were pretty lax, but we enforced them good and we never had much trouble. One day the admin gets bored and just decides to quit the internet for a while. Under new management we run a few months (by this point I'm the oldest remaining staffer there) and then we all mutually decide it'd be for the best to retire the site. Logs weren't even kept, to my mind, so it's really lost in the depths of the net, and embedded in the site's farewell thread (music embeds were pretty common in special discussions) was "Into The Sea".

It was our swan song and still holds a weird sort of resonance in relation to the site to this day. I believe that was the only time I've ever actually cried about something on the internet, pretty much everyone just disappeared and I've only spoken to a handful of those guys since. Our tightknit community is now totally nonexistent and an attempted relaunch of the site by a late-joiner went over pretty badly, so now most of us don't really speak too often.

Philip Glass - "Prophecies"

I know it sounds like a strange choice, but I regard Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi as the greatest film ever made. It is wordless, plotless and almost entirely devoid of substance, but never has a film simultaneously filled me with joy, disgust, fury and sadness. I'm not even much a fan of still life/nature documentaries, but this film amazes me more and more every time I see it. It is visual perfection without lavish effects or a huge budget, and the gorgeous images are complimented by an absolutely unforgettable score.

"Prophecies" hits at the very end of the film. A long shot of a rocket launching, then exploding. A small piece of burning wreckage plummets toward Earth in slow motion while mournful organ plays over an ominous chant of "Koyaanisqatsi" for an almost punishing eight minutes and eleven seconds. Like "Into The Sea", "Prophecies" is still just as impactful in other contexts, as well. Whatever you can say about the film itself, Zack Snyder's adaptation of Watchmen has an utterly brilliant soundtrack and the selection of this piece and the similarly excellent "Pruit-Igoe" for Dr. Manhattan's exile on Mars scenes couldn't possibly be a better one. As soon as I heard the organ kick in tears immediately began to well up in my eyes and by the end I was sobbing. The scene in the original film itself gets me every time, too. The burning metal plummeting for what seems like forever is made all the more bleak and tragic by the slow pace and ominous chords.

Track: Band Of Skulls - "I Know What I Am"

2009-07-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Saw this on TV last night. They're British...I suppose you could throw them in with the recent wave of 70s rock throwback bands i.e. Wolfmother. This track really nails it, though; sounds like a song of its own rather than the sort of knockoff vibe you get from much of that kinda stuff. Dual vocalists, an unusual feature given the type, work really well. Video is nice too...stylish but not too showy. Simplicity is pretty much the key to the whole thing.

JB's Live Picks, Vol. 1: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - "High Gear/Talk About The Blues" [TV performance, 1998]

2009-07-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

I became familiar with the Blues Explosion because Jon Spencer used to the frontman of a band called Pussy Galore. Basically, Pussy Galore was like a giant "fuck you" to everybody. Their music was noisy and offensive, their demeanor was confrontational, pretty much their every move seemed designed to disgust. There's a lot more to it, really; they're one of my favorite bands and I genuinely think they're brilliant. They'll eventually get a few write-ups on here, but for now I present a track from Spencer's next band, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Spencer is absolutely off the walls here...it's a more digestible version of one of the key elements that made Pussy Galore so interesting; celebrating the raw power of rock 'n' roll while mocking it and tearing it apart.

JB's Cover Picks, Vol. 3: Pavement - "The Killing Moon" (Echo & The Bunnymen Cover)

2009-07-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

I wasn't familiar with the original before hearing this version; Echo & The Bunnymen, much loved though they are, have done little for me in anything I've heard of them. (They did do a bitching cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"...a possible future pick?) Pavement, on the other hand, are a longtime favorite. They didn't do many covers, and most of them were live and not particularly spectacular. This one, however, is brilliant; Pavement on a rare occasion of sounding really dark, and damn stunning at that. In my opinion, it surpasses the original by a long shot.

Pavement's Version

Original Version (Echo & The Bunnymen)

News From Babel - Work Resumed On The Tower

2009-07-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

Oh, the wonders of the Internet. After once again watching spoonerstreet's brilliant mini-doc about the lovably awful Complete I decided to check Wikipedia and see if somehow these musical clowns had a page. On the "Complete" disambiguation page I see "Complete (album) by News From Babel" and immediately captivated by the band's name, I click it. Initial readover isn't compelling, compilation of some English group's only two albums. But when I read about the band themselves, I'm almost immediately enthralled.

A studio group consisting of members from avant-garde rock groups Henry Cow and Art Bears, News From Babel was a genre-defying experiment with only three consistent members (woodwind player Lindsay Cooper, drummer Chris Cutler and harpist Zeena Parkins) that recorded two albums with several guest musicians from 1983 to 1986. With intellectual if strange lyrics and an incredibly varied musical style, they didn't seem to get much notice back in the day and from what I can gather are still considered quite the acquired taste, which is something I very much like. I immediately set out to grab Work Resumed on the Tower (which also gets my vote for quite possibly the best album title ever) based solely on having heard a single song.

Everything about this track stands out to me as oddly brilliant. The hypnotic intro almost seems like a low-key trip-hop loop with its mellow horns and clattering, processed drumming. The vocals kick in and change the song's mood entirely, harmonizing over a simple bit of harp chording, which soon builds into a nice instrumental break (I really don't think I've heard any "rock" band use harps quite this well, frankly). The vocals return, their eerie harmony delivering oddities like "all art is beauty" and "can such economy be done?" before a piano-based variation of the intro brings an almost dreamlike mood to the song. Flutes squeal and flutter in the background. After another brief bit of vocals, the song closes with a fairly long and dark harp solo (insomuch as the harp is playing by its lonesome as opposed to being a "solo" by any conventional standards).

The rest of the album is loaded with this distinctly charming sort of unpredictability. The album opener "Odysseus" is a really freaky vocal-driven piece of wordless noise texture, it really must be heard to even fathom. "Auschwitz/Babel" starts off with some mild violin and is otherwise mostly quiet until the vocals arrive and a strange stomp (part funk, part funeral march) clatters in with the drums slamming and the piano building in speed and intensity until the only place to go is backwards and it grinds to a sudden halt. "Klein's Bottle" implements reversed samples and dissonant prepared piano to create this real mood of pure unease, which the depthy philosophical lyrics certainly do not aid. Cutler's lyrics are so dense that you must wonder sometimes if he's just fucking with you.

"Black Gold" blasts onto the scene with a fucking great drum intro and some excellent horns. This song has a real solid rhythm and is about the closest the album gets to being any conventional sort of catchy. "Devils" is a short, mostly spoken piece with some slight piano and horn backing. "Dry Leaf" by contrast starts off wordlessly with very quiet percussion exploding into a drum/piano freakout to rival "Black Gold" in terms of sheer power and volume. The final two tracks, "Victory" and "Anno Mirabilis" are by far the most musical, but nonetheless have the same kind of weirdness the rest of the disc packs. "Anno Mirabilis" in particular deserves points for having an utterly gorgeous and tightly focused melody, closing the album on a perfectly melancholy note without merely devolving into some sort of chaotic mess of noise. "This is the year of peace and was the year of silence" precedes the album's thirty eight second silent (naturally) conclusion.

It's rare that I find an album that I genuinely consider challenging to listen to and write about. While I know it is brilliant musically, I must confess I've not got the firmest grasp on the lyrics, but I have a feeling that's the intention. This is one of those discs that merits further listening and discussion. If the odd and artsy is your bag, it's hard to do better than this.

Here's a Rapidshare of it, if you wanna check it out for yrselves.

Let's cast a critical eye towards shit we listened to years ago!

2009-07-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday night. Rainstorm. Obnoxious shit. I was really, really wakeful at about 2 AM, which wasn't a good sign since I needed to be up for 9. After about an hour of laying flat on my back, nowhere close to sleep, I give up the pretense of trying to sleep. I'm rummaging around my room trying to find something to distract me, and I notice a pair of burnt CDs on my night table. So I plug in some headphones to my awful clock-radio thing and get listening.

Pretty quickly I realize I burnt these discs like five years ago, and in my wakefulness I resolved that the best way to bring myself out of my "NOT POSTING ANYTHING" slump would be to get some writing done about some old favourites, so here we are.

System of a Down

Then: I bought Toxicity on a whim back in summer '02. I was a really big metalhead for a long time, and about then I was starting to just listen to whatever just because it's metal/tangentially related to metal. SoaD were a pleasant surprise at the time. They've got the grind, they've got the ARGHBLARGH vocals, but they still know how to craft a pretty decent melody. After Toxicity, though, they ended up doing a few really dire albums and dropping off the face of the earth, which was kinda disappointing. I was really fond of the band and I made a point of getting all the non-shit stuff in their back catalogue (including a copious amount of now lost live boots.)

Now: My God. I can still say Toxicity, (and possibly to an even greater extent, their self-titled LP) remains listenable for "alternative metal" or whatever bullshit genre people throw about for bands like this (honestly, they aren't quite TR00 KVLT, but "alternative metal"?), but the lyrics have aged about as well as a seven year old ham sandwich. Full of borderline offensive conspiracy theory claims ("Prison Song" informs us of how drugs seized by the DEA pay for "BRUTAL CORPORATE SPONSORED DICTATORS AROUND THE WORLD", among other things) and blatant Liberalism (see: any track). There's also a healthy dose of obnoxious non-sequitur, although less so than on their later albums. Serj Tankian's vocals are a real love/hate thing, too. He's pretty grating and not good in large doses, but a mile better than Daron Malakian (who also plays a bigger role in the later discs). Musically there's no real showing of much talent, but competent rhythms and nice meaty guitar.

Gorillaz

Then: DAMON ALBARN IS MY HERO AND I WOULD SUCK HIS DICK

Now: Really, of all the early 2000s fad bands, Gorillaz stands out as the one worth the most legitimate praise. Sure, the whole marketing approach was rather gimmicky, but the whole "narrative music" thing is awfully smart, the characters were memorable and the albums themselves are utterly fucking brilliant. Self-titled disc is a delightful piece of pop with Raymond Scott samples (YES!), some great guest vocalists (the late Ibrahim Ferrer in particular shines) and some surprisingly solid genre switches (I don't think I've ever seen a disc nail both rap and punk with this sort of efficiency without feeling like a cheap imitation of one or both). Demon Days is even better, I'd say it's probably one of the few pop albums of the past two decades worthy of being called a masterwork. It takes the successes of the first album and builds on them. The list of guests is astonishing, everyone from Ike Turner to MF DOOM is here and their presence does not detract from the album one bit. DOOM's track in particular, "November Has Come", is simultaneously full of mournful beauty and sheer badassery. The closing combo of "Don't Get Lost In Heaven" and the title track strikes me as the best conclusion to an album I think I've ever heard, they manage to sum up the album lyrically and musically while still standing alone as great songs.

Frank Zappa

Then: Zappa was my introduction to a lot of older "serious" music. I'd heard all the classic rock bands before, but stuff like this was new to me. Frank managed to blend zany humour with a genre-defying mix of simple melody and technical virtuosity to create some of the most memorable songs ever written.

Now: As soon as I put on Joe's Garage, I remembered all the lyrics to every song on the album. I listened to Zappa religiously and I'm astonished that I don't do it anymore. His entire catalogue (even silly little experiments like Cruising With Ruben & The Jets) holds up very, very well and likely always will. I bought Joe's Garage on vinyl lately, and now I'm going to have to track down all the Zappa albums I used to have (as well as the stuff I haven't heard). If I'd never become a fan of Zappa, I most likely would never have been able to appreciate many of my current favourites like Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart or even Sergei Prokofiev. Both avant-garde and classical music were never interests of mine before, but listening to Zappa made them two of my biggest loves.

Dimmu Borgir

Then: TRULY FROSTBITTEN KVLT THAT SATAN HIMSELF WOULD BE A FOOL NOT TO LOVE

Now: From my metal phase, I only have a couple of things left. Cannibal Corpse's discography, a few Slayer albums, a cassette of Anthrax's Spreading the Disease, and some comps with the likes of Opeth and Old Man's Child on them. Really and truly, a lot of what I was listening to at the time isn't good and probably wasn't ever good, but there were a few diamonds in the rough. Dimmu Borgir's discog as a whole is an incredibly mixed bag, and I'd say they're more of a decent black metal band than an excellent one, but when they're on, they're on. They've got the silly frogthroat vocals and pounding double-bass drums, but they use them well. The guitars are a bit flashy for black metal, but seeing them incorporate motifs from Beethoven into their riffs is a real treat as too many acts in the genre seem to have little to no reverence for classical music. Hell, I'd say Borgir are at their best with grand orchestral works. "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" I feel comfortable in calling a legitimately good song. The massive sweeping strings and vocals (from guest-starring Mayhem singer Abbath's fierce growls to I.C.S. Vortex's absolutely gorgeous tenor) give it a real epic feel without being cheesy (I.C.S. Vortex also had his own band alongside Borgir called Arcturus who I have to say were one of the most brilliant acts to have come out of Europe in the past twenty years).

Track: Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr - "You Can't Blame Me"

2009-07-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

I found this track a while ago on one of the "Eccentric Soul" compilations [a series of comps of obscure vintage soul/funk put out by a label called the Numero Group...they're excellent, i recommend them highly]. These guys were from Columbus, Ohio...they recorded a few tracks for an independent soul label called Capsoul in the 70s (this one was from 1971). Long story short, they broke up, the label never achieved success, henceforth they faded into obscurity save for a few connaisseurs. To get Capsoul tracks for the compilation, Numero Group had to get them from old records, as all the master tapes were destroyed when the label went out of business. This track is an example of why things like "Eccentric Soul" are so great; buried amongst the rubble of generations of lost music, there's gems to be dug up, polished and brought into the light.

The track starts with a muffled-sounding bass and drums and a light touch of guitar, then stops; the vibes come in, leaving a trail of sweet, high resonance as the band comes back in. A slow, almost sad groove begins to form and wordless backing vocals emerge. Suddenly, the lead vocals come in an almost alarming staccato burst, sung in unison with the backups. Singer Irving Johnson tears into the track with passion, riding the groove from a ragged howl to a smooth, clear falsetto. With the swells of strings, the track sounds even more mournful than before, but it also takes on this widescreen midnight-blue majesty; the elegant and subtle instrumentation prove the perfect bed for Johnson's soulful intensity. Even the production suits; the bass flows under the track like a deep, murky river, maintaining a cool groove throughout, the drums at times almost disappear in the mix under the overwhelming wave of the vocals. Johnson's lead soars over the track, at times coming so high as to almost drown out everything else. The strings are placed perfectly; lowish, almost muffled a little, a subtle compliment to the vocals rather than the tacked-on gloss that strings too often come off as. This is what makes the track...not any of the individual elements, which, though excellent, aren't the best of their type; it is how all the pieces run together perfectly into one pool. Johnson takes centre stage and plays it for all it's worth, the rest of the band provides a lovely foundation for him to work upon and adds a graceful touch without ever getting too showy. The harmony of all the parts imbue the track with a tragic grandeur really unlike anything else I've ever heard. It kind of fascinates me that, had by some coincidence somebody not remembered this song and kept it and spread it around, it could have been lost, maybe even forever. Would there ever be anything else like it? Has there already been? In the digital age, it's much harder for something to completely disappear. For years and years, however, the physical nature of really almost anything made it quite easy; the natural processes of decay, accidents, even deletion. I think it's been said that only about 20% of films before, I think, 1930, survived. A lot of old TV shows are pretty much completely gone because of studio house-cleanings. I suppose the desire to have record of everything is a fairly recent trend; in a lot of ways it probably goes too far...god knows a good half of the internet will be utterly meaningless years from now. But on the other hand, we have stuff like this. Each piece of art, of anything, is, regardless of how "good" it is, a unique thing that, if all copies of it are lost, will as itself cease to exist. Perhaps it'll live on in the memories of a few, it may be documented as having existed, but in a way this is worse, as it just serves to taunt us. Songs can be written down, sure, but a performance is really too much its own distinct form and object to even compare the two. Take this song, for example; as I mentioned, the production, the interplay amongst the band, all of these are key factors to the song's effect. Perhaps even a different performance from the same session wouldn't carry the effect. A performance is a moment, it's as much coincidence as technicality. Notation covers the technical aspect of how to physically play a song, which, while undeniably a huge factor in the merit of a performance, is not the make-or-break factor. I'm not sure what is, exactly, but whatever it is it's certainly a nonphysical, perhaps even unspecificable element. A performance can be captured, and copies can be made of the capture, but if none of the copies physically exist, the nonphysical elements, the essence of the performance, are lost forever. It's fantastic that people like Numero Group are out there trying to find this stuff and preserve it, but you can't help but feel sad that for each one they save, there's almost certainly two more just as good that are physically gone, eventually by passage of time and life forgotten, and by then, really, it's as if they never existed at all.

JB's Listenings Of The Week (6/29-7/6, 2009)

2009-07-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Busta Rhymes - "Show Me What You Got" from "Anarchy"

Just found this track the other night. Busta, though a great MC, is solid but unextraordinary here; the greatnes lies in the beat. Produced by the late great J Dilla, it's remarkable in its restraint; laid back, simple repeating guitar loop, but still with a distinct hip-hop thump. Dilla really does deserve all the props he gets as of late...not only did he leave behind a catalogue of great material like this, his stuff is still being put to new uses, such as the excellent tracks on DOOM's latest disc.

Sam Roberts - "Stripmall Religion" and "Detroit '67" from "Love At The End Of The World"

Picked up this album after hearing the single, "Them Kids", on the radio for a while last summer. Like it more than I expected. Dig the piano on "Detroit '67".

The Everybodyfields - "Don't Turn Around" and "Everything Is Okay" from "Nothing Is Okay"

I've mentioned the Everybodyfields here before (they broke up the next day), but I figure I should post some of their own material. Up until recently, I very much preferred the rootsier approach of their first two albums, but upon another glance, I've grown to appreciate their third and final, "Nothing Is Okay". The folk influence is still clear in the instrumentation and vocals, but the songs themselves take it more as just a base from which they grow into something on a much larger scale. Much of the stuff on this album has a kind of tragic sweep to it, such as on "Eveything Is Okay" here. "Don't Turn Around" has a big sound too; the drums and guitar give it a heavy, dark tone. I've included a track from each of the band's singer-songwriters here; "Everything Is Okay" from Jill Andrews and "Don't Turn Around" from Sam Quinn. It'll be interesting to see how each of their solo work turns out. [NOTE: both videos have a long silence after the song ends for some reason, just ignore it)

JB's Listenings Of The Week (6/22-6/28, 2009)

2009-06-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - "Rattlesnakes"

Rattlesnakes was another stumbled-upon album...I don't remember how exactly; magazine review, maybe? Either way, I knew little of it before I got it...British pop, was kinda something in its time ('84)...It's the kind of album that doesn't necessarily hit you as great upon a first listen, but it sticks. Catchy tunes, great jangly guitar throughout. I generally dig Cole's lyrics, even, though they occasionally run the risk of being a bit too glib. Though the Commotions split an album or two later, Cole has done quite a bit of solo work since, some of which I have (most of which I have not yet listened to).

Aesop Rock - "Labor" and "Daylight" from "Labor Days"

Def Jux is a label started in the 90s, generally known for a more intellectual, often experimental brand of hip-hop. For the longest time, I had this idea in my mind that I didn't like them. I'm not sure why; I think it was some kind of stupid hip-hop purism thing I had going on. Either way, recently, I decided to take a run at it, and one of the albums I got was "Labor Days", the consensus definitive album of one of their flagship artists, Aesop Rock. Aesop Rock is a white rapper from New York, and has some fucking dense lyrics. Seriously, tremendously wordy, a lot to digest. Amazing shit. Also, the beats here, by producer Blockhead, are great; unconventional but still with a definite hip-hop sense of beat. I haven't given the whole album a proper listen, but these two tracks, "Labor" and "Daylight" are both fantastic. "Labor" has a slow, menacing beat, while "Daylight" is gentle and melancholy, and Aesop drops cutting rapidfire flow on top of both.

Mr. Lif - "I Phantom" from "Emergency Rations"

The track itself, and a bit of backstory as to how I found it, was put up a few posts ago. Lif, another Def Jux artist, has great rhymes and flow, and that beat...Producer El-P (who also puts out solo stuff with Def Jux) makes this dense, buzzing beat, Lif's voice kind of cuts and weaves through it like another instrument.

Unwound - "Repetition"

Unwound was one of the more important indie bands of the 90s. I'm still not as familiar with them as most of the era (i have their discog but haven't listened to most of it) but this album is great. It's often harsh; it squalls, screams, pounds, scrapes and pummels. The dynamics of it are amazing...each instrument fits perfectly into the piece. It's tight and jagged as often as noisy and chaotic. The rhythm section, in particular, are great; always steady, even as the guitars make storms of feedback above them.

Underrated Discs #1: Big Black - Atomizer (LP, 1986)

2009-06-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

Big Black always tend to be remembered more for their influence than for their actual output. Their howling, trebly sound has left a profound mark on both the noise rock and industrial scenes. They're also one of the few bands of note out there who not only got away with using a drum machine in place of an actual drummer, but benefited from it. But that's all most people give 'em points for, and even worse is on top of the widespread ignorance of their actual body of work, most of the cred they do get all seems to slant towards their final album, Songs About Fucking. Now, I'm not knocking Songs, it's a pretty solid disc, but the songwriting isn't their strongest and most of its appeal lies in its low-fi recording and outrageous album art.

Although far from their first walk in the park, Atomizer is their first LP and by far the strongest recording in their catalogue. The band themselves think quite highly of the disc (going as far as to warn listeners that their following EP was "not as good as Atomizer, so don't get your hopes up") and they make frequent mention of 1986 being their most solid year for musical output. Listening to the album makes it pretty apparent they aren't bullshitting. Noticeably louder than the infamously "loud" Songs, Atomizer is a chaotic mess of thrashing drum beats, strange guitar tones and shouted vocals. It also showcases the band's ability to craft strong hooks and memorable choruses.

Kicking off with slamming drums and Albini's chilling shrieks, "Jordan, Minnesota" wastes no time and goes for the throat in every sense applicable. Fierce and offensive, Albini himself said it best when he described it as a song about "this group of people, which is literally about a third of the adult population of this town, Jordan, Minnesota, who were involved in this elaborate kid fucking ring". The throbbing beat is a perfect accompaniment for the nigh-chanted lyrics. Albini goes out of his way to use his voice to add to the shock factor, with his delivery described by guitarist Santiago Durango as sounding like "those kids being raped".

Then, like a bullet train slamming to a halt, "Passing Complexion" rockets in. The melody is bizarre, very unlike any guitar tone I've heard before but definitely a guitar. Lyrically, Albini one again finds a sensitive topic to scream about, this time race relations. "In certain circumstances," Albini said of the song, "a man could prefer to lose his entire heritage, when another more comfortable one presents itself. especially if he plays piano. especially if it's 1926". Based on a radio inteview he'd heard once about the black maid of a white family wet nursing the white children and still being treated poorly, Albini seems to have a deep belief in the unfairness of this situation and even in his usually offensive lyrics he treats the topic with a fair amount of subtlety. "Big Money" by comparison almost entirely avoids depth and instead presents a simple tale of a cop who goes around using his authority for kicks, not too much to remark on musically either aside from a fuzzy to the point of inaudible guitar tone.

The fourth track, "Kerosene", is one of the band's most enduring songs. A big, singable chorus, some great riffs and a general "fuck you, life" attitude. Albini's take on the song is something entirely different from most others. "While the band was active, much ado was made about the "pork roast" nature of the subject of this song. The lyrics were an afterthought, actually, and were originally about either race car driving or frog gigging, I forget which." While it's doubtful the song really is that unsubstantial, the lyrics pretty much explicitly imply it's a semi-autobiographical about the tedium of everyday life as a youth in a small town (he spent his youth in Missoula, Montana, far from the most exciting place) with the self-immolation plea in the chorus merely being a melodramatic statement about the boredom he suffers. The dissonant "Bad Houses" has to be one of my favourite Big Black tracks of all time and it's one you rarely hear much about. It has very low key guitar and vocal work here, but a gorgeous melody and powerful if simple lyrics. "I tell myself I will not go, even as I drive there" in particular strikes me every time I hear it. "We do things, bad things, and go places, bad places," said Albini, "even when the thrill is seldom worth the degradation. maybe we associate it with the thrill, and after a while, they become inseparable. then the thrill becomes secondary."

"Fists of Love" once again brings out the terse and offensive Albini, "take expression of emotion to its physical end. until the expressions take on meanings of their own. they become almost rituals in their gravity. fist fucking, wife beating, whatever." The slow pace of the song give it an almost Swans-y feel (note: slow pace by Big Black standards is still about 25 times faster than anything Michael Gira has ever composed) and the vocals really hit you in the face (was trying to avoid a pun here, but it's the best way to put it, really). He then turns to more philosophical territory with "Stinking Drunk", "if you haven't been for a while (a long while), then the reasons you quit lose focus. you forget the sensations that used to be all-important. then curiosity overcomes you.". The ponderous nature of the lyrics is offset by the thrash of the band, the drums lock into a steady groove and thud along while the guitars trade squeals and drones over Albini's frantic shouts.

"Bazooka Joe" is entrancing, with its bizarre chanted vocals. Ol' Joe came back from the war and doesn't seem to quite fit into society, so he struggles to find his place in the world. Albini seems to have little to say about this track, sadly, but with a close listen it pretty much speaks for itself. The wordless "Strange Things" thuds along with a pounding beat and sports night "HEY!" shouts. The album closes itself with a live version of "Cables" from the Bulldozer EP. Written about a particularly sadistic friend's obsession with visiting slaughterhouses, "Cables" is dark and grimy sounding even by Big Black's standards, and this live presentation offers up an almost totally nonmusical wall of guitar noise to top it off.

Atomizer is the tragically forgotten gem of 80s noise. Its lyrics have more to say than the rest of Albini's material from the era, its arrangements are more complex and tuneful than Songs About Fucking and it's also a fuckload louder than BB's other work. Sure, it might not have the trebly extremes of "Precious Thing", but overall it's got a much more aggressive mix and packs one hell of a wallop at any volume. It's sad to know that during their reunion concert in 2006 they didn't play a single tune off this excellent disc, and if live recordings are anything to go by Atomizer tracks were a rarity at live even back when it came out. If you are in any way interested in the extreme side of 80s underground or a fan of Albini's modern work, you'd be a fool not to check this shit out.

Re: Tony Hawk's Underground Soundtrack

2009-06-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

I remember back when it first came out, my friend grabbed the first Tony Hawk's Underground game for PS2. I hadn't heard of it, but I played it, dug it, got it. (it's a great game too, by the way) The soundtrack has a lot of rap shit, and at the time I wasn't into rap at all, but I remember some of it I kinda liked...Nas doing "The World Is Yours", Jurassic 5 doing "A Day At The Races".... Those are some of my favorite rap tracks even today. Just the other day I played it again, and godDAMN, it has a great soundtrack. All the Tony Hawk games do, actually....they make some pretty out-there choices for a mainstream game; tons of real underground rap. Looking back on it, it's funny; half the stuff I didn't even remember being there, but there's a ton of stuff on there I've discovered and gotten into since...MF Doom, Deltron 3030, Aceyalone, Busdriver. So respect to THUG for having a fucking great soundtrack and helping get me into rap. Also, driven by the Mr. Lif track, "I Phantom", on there, I'm gonna jump into some Def Jux (big time avant-garde/experimental hip hop label). I never dug what I heard before, but upon taking a scan now, much of it sounds great, so I'm gonna grab a few albums and posts here will ensue.

Here's the Lif track...love that beat; dense and noisy as fuck.

The end of an era.

2009-06-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

Beck to do one-day cover albums

2009-06-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've always loved the idea of bands covering another band's entire album. The whole concept never really occurred to me until I came across a mention of Pussy Galore covering "Exile On Main Street" (rolling stones album, if ya dont know). I'll do an entire post on that someday; it's one of my favorite bands doing one of my favorite albums, and I think it's brilliant in a strange, strange way. It's a pretty drastic example...the album is completely torn apart and reconstructed as a Pussy Galore album. It's the same principle of covering a song; you can play their song, or you can make it your song. In the right hand, a song's entire mood and meaning can seem changed. And I suppose the other part of it is just that I geek out hearing bands I like covering songs I like/think they could do something with. Anyway, Beck just announced that he's gonna start a cover album project called Record Club on his website.

"The first one to be added is called Record Club, an informal meeting of various people to record an album in a day. An album will be chosen to be reinterpreted and used as a framework. Nothing rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track will be uploaded once a week on beck.com as well as through the web sites of those involved with the project."

For the first edition, they're gonna cover the Velvet Underground's first album. I am tremendously excited about this whole thing. For one thing, I love the idea and would check it out no matter who was doing it. Also, I like Beck and think he'll be able to realize the potential of the concept. And, as for the first one, "Velvet Underground & Nico" is a great album. I'll be interested to see what they'll do next; he mentions that they nearly chose the Digital Underground's "Sex Packets" for the first one. I haven't heard it, but I know it's an influential 80s hip hop album, so that could surely be no less than epically awesome. He's got a video of "Sunday Morning" (first track on the VU album) on his website and it sounds great, and the best of the album is yet to come, so hopes are high.

JB's Listenings Of The Week (6/15-6/21, 2009)

2009-06-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

John Zorn - "Alhambra Love Songs"

For the uninformed, John Zorn is one of the most batshit brilliant musicians of our time. Coming out of the NY downtown music scene, he knows his shit formally; a ridiculously prolific composer, arranger, performer, producer, etc. I suppose you could say his base is in jazz, but his work is far too eclectic to confine to any one genre. That is part of what makes Zorn so unique; throughout most of his career, he's taken a completely uncompromising approach both musically and as a public figure. He rarely does interviews, asks for his performances not to be reviewed, and the music....dear god. Take, for example, Naked City, probably his best known project; they're essentially a giant "fuck you" to the serious jazz crowd on every level. Imagine if you took a hundred jazz and grindcore records, broke them all into a million pieces, put those pieces back together in random order, then got a live band to play the result in a thousand minute-and-under parts. That'd probably sound a bit like Naked City. Song titles weren't exactly subtle; "Pigfucker", "S&M Sniper", "Jazz Snob: Eat Shit". Even their cover art was confrontational; Zorn got kicked off their label for insisting on using photos of autopsies and torture victims. They broke up in '93, but Zorn didn't slow down in the least...check out his discog. Most of Zorn's output, if not brutally avant-garde, is at least a little experimental for common tastes; one of his other major projects, Masada, is described as "[putting] Ornette Coleman and the Jewish scales together." So it comes as a surprise to hear his new album, "Alhambra Love Songs"; it's pretty much straight, laid-back jazz. In true Zorn fashion, it's excellent. Piano, in particular, I love here; sparse, loose...it plays essentially as a lead instrument here. Bass is also lovely.
Listen to samples here.

Brother Ali - "Blah Blah Blah" and "Missing Teeth" from "Shadows On The Sun"
Not much need be said here, as I posted "Blah Blah Blah" and gave Ali a blurb a few posts down. "Missing Teeth" is similar; also features Slug, nice bluesfunky drag to the beat. Unusually short, too; under 2 minutes. If y'all wanna check it out, I think it's in the related videos for "Blah Blah Blah".

Yo La Tengo - "Periodically Double Or Triple" from upcoming "Popular Songs"
Yo La Tengo, one of the few hold-outs from the golden age of 90s indie rock, are still going strong; they've got a new album, "Popular Songs", due out September 8th. This track is alarmingly unlike any Yo La Tengo of the past; it swaggers, and it's funky as hell. The organ is great; sounds straight out of the '70s. Kaplan, an unusual figure for this kind of thing, croons his way through it impressively.
Listen here. [it might take a minute to open up, but if you wait a player will open at the top of the list]

Glide - "Dream Of Sammy"
Ah, where to start...I don't even remember how I first discovered Glide. It was unintentional, I remember that...I found a webpage somewhere giving some history and praising them as forgotten genius, so I sort of filed them in the back of my head somewhere. Eventually I got their first album, "Open Up And Croon"...it's phenomenal. Like, seriously; it's great. I don't even know quite how to describe them...they sound like 90s alt-rock, but that doesn't do them justice. There's a real haunting, beautiful quality to their stuff. Sad story, too; they were Australian, played from early to late 90s, apparently were kinda something there, and just barely started to cross over to the U.S. when their lead singer, guitarist and songwriter William Arthur died. They only put out 2 full albums and a couple EPs. Nowadays, they're obscure beyond obscure; I can hardly even find them on the 'net. I'll do a full post on them someday...they deserve all the love they can get.

Royal Trux - "Thank You"
Royal Trux were, or at least started out as, a junkie mess trying to pass themselves off as a band. Their early stuff, second album "Twin Infinitives" in particular, is indescribably fucked-up. I hesitate to not call it music only because I can't think of what else to call it. Occasionally things that vaguely (i stress, vaguely) resemble music as we know it try to claw their way out of the swamp, but they always crumble back into it. Eventually, they cleaned their act up a bit (musically, at least) and started making rock music. This was their first album on a major (they were dropped an album later). It's still very shaggy and burnt-out, mind you, but it actually rocks. Kinda Stonesy. Plus, my copy is all blown-out and distorted...makes it all the better.

Silver Jews - "The Natural Bridge"
I'm generally not a lyrics person, but I think David Berman is a great lyricist. I dunno what about it, but there's something about that imagery...like "jagged skyline of carkeys" from "Black And Brown Blues", or:
"When I go downtown
I always wear a corduroy suit
cause it's made of a hundred gutters
that the rain can run right through"
Or a million other lines, really. Berman's weary drawl, though technically a very weak voice, suits it perfectly, as does the laid-back countryish backing. The whole album carries that kind of ragged grace that Berman excells at. Silver Jews were unfortunately pretty hit-or-miss; first three (this, "Starlite Walker" and "American Water") are great, but since nothing much they put out much drew me, and Berman officially quit music earlier this year.

Some stuff from Minimum Maximum.

2009-06-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Minimum Maximum has always been my favourite Kraftwerk album, I really don't have loads to gush about it aside from it being fucking gorgeous music (their stuff tends to be awfully unsubstantial, although it's quite clear they intend that) so I figured I'd just share some great cuts from the disc instead of writing a wall of text that goes nowhere (because there was no chance I was gonna not post this stuff).

Track: Brother Ali ft. Slug - "Blah Blah Blah"

2009-06-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

I first heard Brother Ali from my cousin (who also pretty much got me into the rap in the first place). "Uncle Sam Goddamn", it was. That, by the way, is a great track as well...one of the best beats I've ever heard. The album it's from, "The Undisputed Truth", is not bad, but little else earned much replay. So I always kept that in the library, gave it little listen. I'd always heard a ton about his first album, "Shadows On The Sun". Got it the other day...haven't listened to it proper, but the two tracks with Slug (from Atmosphere) are fucking killer.

For the uninformed, Brother Ali is a blind white (as in, race) albino. Motherfucker can rhyme, though. He's got a good flow and solid lyrics, generally strongest with battle rap shit - like this track here. I've heard more about than of Atmosphere, but Slug holds his own here too. The two have good chemistry, and they play it real loose and raw here. The beat's perfect too; from Atmosphere's house producer Slug. Great horns....sounds like 90s eastcoast. Anyway, crank this shit:

Track: John Lee Hooker - "I'm Bad Like Jesse James"

2009-06-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

"Little thing I'm going to do, called "I'm bad....like Jesse James."

With that, Hooker leads the band into quite possibly the most badass song in blues history, if not music as a whole. The melody, though simple, feels like a threat. The band plays it for all it's worth; lazy piano dances across lumbering bass, guitar occasionally snarls through, drums thud along slow and steady. It's not aggressive, but it's got a relentless drive; hypnotic and imposing. The subtlety of the instrumentation only accentuates the inherent dark swagger of the music. Hooker himself completely owns the track; the tale of brutal revenge made all the more chilling by his laid-back delivery. "Look, man," he drawls, "I'm gonna warn you, just one time...next time I warn you...I'ma use my gun." But he isn't satisfied yet; he's gotta really lay a beatdown on somebody. The band hits it harder as Hooker pulls the strings; "Now you don't see me, I'm the big boss, I do the payin' off after they take care of you." His voice is perfectly suited to this kingpin role; deep and gritty, but always cool. He does pretty much the whole track in this low mumble, occasionally breaking into quavering, soulful melody. But Christ, he can go low...it's borderline inhuman. It's like what a bear would sound like if it sang the blues. Listen to how he growls the end of "I don't care"...."I don't carerrgrgggghhh!" Hooker is intimidating in a way most gangsta rappers couldn't even come close to; he's not waving guns, he's not going psycho, he's just sitting back while his boys fuck you up. "They may shoot you...they may cut you...they may drown you...I just don't know, I don't care! Long as they take care of you...in their own way."

This track is the dark side of the blues. To the uninformed, "blues" calls up heartbroken moans, "my woman left me, the world is out to get me" kinda shit. Not to say that isn't a prominent element, but there are some bad motherfuckers in blues lore. When you look at it, blues is a clear precursor to rap both musically and in culture....but that's another article. But keep it in mind when you listen to this track. This is a master at work; pure menace.

Regarding the Grammys removing the "Best Polka Album" category

2009-06-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Grammy awards decided to eliminate the "Best Polka Album" category. This strikes me as a real bullshit move on their part, for several reasons. For starters, they're the fucking Grammys. God knows they can afford it. The primary reason I find this so offensive, however, is their justification:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/06/04/grammy-changes-polka-ostanek.html?ref=rss

"The decisions were made to ensure "the awards process is pertinent within the current musical landscape," academy president and CEO Neil Portnow said.
"The board of trustees continues to demonstrate its passionate commitment to keeping the Recording Academy a relevant and responsive organization in our dynamic music community.""

This is ridiculous. Genres are not invalid because they're not considered "cool", especially not by the standards of the Grammys and their audience. I don't listen to polka, and yeah, to be frank, reflex would be that it's dorky, but it's a defined, valid genre. I'm sure the people who make it and listen to it enjoy it and take it just as seriously as anybody else takes their genre of choice. I listen to enough "uncool" music to be sympathetic; old country isn't much respected, and much of whatever hip-cred old folk music gets I'm quite sure is laced with condescension. Shit like this is a slippery slope; genres like that are struggling as is, a major institution like the Grammys should at least give them the dignity of recognition. And it's not like this is a behind-the-scenes change; it's a public announcement, it gets press coverage. They're making a statement, essentially....asserting how cool they are at the expense of a whole group of people and their chosen career. How does obscurity or lack of popular favor make a genre less relevant? Current and relevant are not the same thing. If we're gonna look into what they're considering "relevant", I fail to see how the fuck "Hawaiian music" or "Native American music" are any more relevant than polka. This is nothing against them, I'm not even familiar with either...they're just two examples of other nichey genres with clear ethnic ties that the Academy has no issue with. If we're gonna start clearing house of genres that aren't currently "in", I see no reason either of those should stay. I'd bet my last dollar if "Hawaiian music" were to be removed, there would be a huge outcry about discrimination, and that's most likely why it's still there. I'm sure polka has just as strong a following as Hawaiian music, and it's certainly not as if Hawaiian music is or has been "hip" in recent times either. I'd say that the lack of the race card as a potential defense is a large part of why polka gets knocked off and tons of other equally nichey genres get to stay. Polka was an ideal pick for a PR move like this because it's essentially defenseless; it's not popular, it doesn't have serious "art cred". There's probably not going to be a public outcry, because the polka crowd doesn't have a big voice to reach the masses, and most people simply don't give a fuck.

Not that I take the Grammys seriously anyway, but really, considering the effort and publicity of removing it against just letting it have its little niche and treating it with respect, I think it's remarkably condescending and tactless of the Recording Academy to do this.

You've Got Foetus On Your Breath - Ache (LP, 1982)

2009-06-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

J.G. Thirlwell is a pretty crazy guy. Ridiculously prolific under countless aliases (doing everything from Nine Inch Nails remixes to the soundtrack for Adult Swim's brilliant Venture Brothers animated series), he's regarded as a pioneer of industrial. Frankly, calling Thirlwell's work industrial is a pedestrian description at best. It's noisy, there's some metal percussion, but his music has more in common with Cab Calloway than it does Throbbing Gristle.

Yeah, you read that right. Ache sounds like a slightly less unhinged Nick Cave doing swing jazz. Thirwell performs all the instruments on this disc, and he's quite skilled at most of what he plays (some of the horns are underwhelming, but that's likely intentional). Kicking off with a short, rocky track ("Dying With My Boots On"), Thirlwell throws the listener headfirst into a hurricane of upright bass, piano, spastic clanking and bizarrely delivered stream-of-consciousness lyrics. "J.Q. Murder" stomps with a real 20s jazz vibe and has some of the album's most memorable lines ("He makes Jackie Collins look like Jean-Paul Sartre" in particular stands). It's also probably the most conventional song on here. Verse-chorus-verse, tight instrumental work, sticks pretty closely to the genre it's imitating. Catchy, too, got a real toe-tapper of a melody.

Things get more avant-garde with "Gums Bleed" (which oh so delightfully uses dental trauma to describe the pains of love). The repeating quad of notes and bursts of detuned horns give it a slightly Swans-y vibe, although much more up-tempo and much less humourless. Around two minutes in a brief and strange slap bass solo takes the foreground, this is one of the weaker instrumental performances on the album and quite disappointing given Thirlwell's bass in "J.Q. Murder" kept the song's jazzy beat going without fault. He can do better, and he sure does. "Mark of the Ostracizor" feels like a long lost Taking Heads demo from the Remain in Light era. Excellent slap bass, harmonizing chorus of voices, sparse guitar. If you don't find yourself chanting "Move 'em on, head 'em up, roll 'em on, get 'em up" for the rest of the day after listening to this, you're not human. The tense breakdown near the end is great, another excellent bass riff surrounded by overlaping chants. The song closes out a second before it hits six minutes.

Slamming snare rolls bring us into "Exit The Man With Nine Lives". This one's really vocally driven, the instrumentals don't offer too much (typical piano/horns setup). Thirlwell's ramblings jump all the way from "I feel like I'm stuck in a maze...ment" to "You wouldn't look so damned surrealist if you didn't have an apple on your face". Weird shit even by his standards. "Get Out Of My House" keeps the weird train rolling with a nigh endlessly repeating sample of a woman yelling "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, GET OUT!" in sync with Thirlwell shouting the same thing. Once things have calmed down and the song really begins, J.G. tells us "I feel like I've just walked in on the set of a Roger Corman movie" as rumbling bass and rolling metal percussion pumps along with the frantic shouting. Bonus points for another brilliant Thirlwellism in the second verse, "At the end of my tether, they're hell for leather, everybody talks about the weather". Illogical word association at its finest.

As the album wears on, you see a profound Frank Zappa influence in Thirlwell's music. The lyrics are absurd, but pack some real cleverness with their blend of observation, wordplay and social commentary. Lyrics come to the forefront again with "Wholesome Town". A cowpoke dirge about lynching, thudding percussion feels at odds with Thirlwell's high-pitched drawling as he spits out stomach-turners like "Don't try to understand 'em, just tie and rope and brand 'em" and "Let's lynch a nigger in that tree: the Christian way of life". The main verses end early on in the song, leaving it to close out over a three minute and twenty second chant of "Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them darkies rollin'". Dreadfully unnerving, even for satire.

"Whole Wheat Rolls" continues the chant (minus the flagrant racism), using only the vocals to build a Danny Elfman-esque piece. Sped-up and slowed down till they're closer to whirling strings then they are anything spoken by a person, there's a strange beauty to this one. You can quite easily leave it on repeat and sit mesmerized by it. Finger-snaps bring us into the 50s throwback "Kid Hate Kid". The flute/keyboard harmony and sustained piano notes build a real sense of ominous tension over the fairly calm vocal delivery, exploding perfectly in the shouted verse-ender "Someone's gotta drive through traffic jams and that someone's gonna be me". At 1:53 the song as we knew it ends entirely, and an absolutely beautiful instrumental jam begins. Brass, woodwinds and keyboards play the same arpeggio again and again in different patterns for a little over a minute, feels like a looser, more relaxed take on Phillip Glass' famous arpeggio-centic instrumentals. The song kicks back in exactly where it first began. A final verse rumbles by just as the others did.

"Instead...I Became Anenome" brings Thirlwell's lyrics to the forefront again, the Zappa influence more clear on here than any other track. Despite the pun in the title, "Anenome" is more a straight commentary on the downfalls of welfare and housing projects. A brief, but sweet, instrumental jam closes out the album proper, a shambling jumble of piano, guitar and trombone. To think that this album is the product of a one-man band is staggering. Even more staggering is how this album manages to avoid dating itself. A fair amount of the 80s industrial movement lacks the bite it had then, but Thirlwell manages to avoid this by avoiding electronic gimmickry. Thirlwell is said to have disliked being refered to as industrial, and that's understandable once you really listen to his solo material. His production work for other artists and collaborations are undeniably industrial, but his own work is something much more unique. Something so glib as a genre doesn't do it justice, it's the kind of music you really need to hear for yourself to find any kind of description.

[EDIT: Mr. Thirlwell left a polite and entirely reasonable comment requesting we remove the album link. We're glad to oblige and, as he suggested, we'll link you to his website at http://www.foetus.org/ where you can listen to and buy his stuff. Thirlwell is a talented, hardworking and criminally unknown artist and more than deserves your money, so we encourage you to grab something there. Also thanks to J.G. for being a real upstanding gent instead of a typical blowhard artiste talking through a lawyer and spitting legal threats, I've been meaning to grab the Venture Brothers soundtrack for my collection anyway, so be on the lookout for that in a future From the Vinyl Pile column.]

Everybodyfields Broken Up

2009-06-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

FUCK.

Seriously. Did I jinx them or something? There's a message on the official Everybodyfields website announcing they've broken up. It does add a few "for now"s that I'll desperately cling to, and I'll be all over any solo stuff, but Christ. Goddammit. The Everybodyfields are one of those bands I'm actually genuinely sad to hear breaking up. I was aware there had been conflict in the band before; they mentioned in interviews they had to record their last, "Nothing Is Okay", 3 times due to shit within the band....but still. Everybodyfields were the kind of band I didn't just like and kinda keep in my notebook as being good, I actually frequently listen to their stuff, particularly their second album, "Plague Of Dreams". Really excellent. And to make matters worse, there's new material that I'll have to track down as live recordings because it won't be on an album.

God.

This is depressing.

JB's Cover Picks, Vol. 2: The Everybodyfields - "Today" (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)

2009-06-03T14:52:00.001-07:00

The Everybodyfields are an excellent and disgustingly unknown alt-country band from Tennessee. They've got 3 albums to their name, all of which are really top notch. They generally tend to the rootsier end of alt-country (vocal harmonies, largely acoustic instrumentation), although they're evolving beyond that as of late. I can't recommend them enough, but anyway, here's their cover of "Today". They manage to get a sweeping, shimmering sound that I dare say might even be able to stand its own against the original. Also; beautiful harmonies as per usual.

Albums of Bizarre Sentimental Value #1: Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good (LP, 1988)

2009-06-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today was my second dental visit in the past week.

Last Thursday I went in for my (thrice delayed) regular checkup. Proceeded just fine, not much wrong with me, just a cleaning and that was it. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get some cosmetic work done (British ancestry can do a number on your enamel, I've had ugly Limey chompers since birth). So I schedule a sanding session, and lo and behold, the only date available was today.

The waiting room's pleasant, spacious, lacking in that distinct "dentist's office" smell most other places have. I'm thumbing through my MP3 player, wondering what to slap on during the procedure. Surfer Rosa is just ending when my name is called, the next album is Life's Too Good. I decide not to switch to something else, and march on into the office.

"Traitor" plays while I talk to the doctor, it's a pretty meh opener, so no loss. The dissonance is a bit unnerving, though, especially since I'm about to have my teeth cut (quite literally). By the time I'm laying back and the drill gets pulled out, the track's just about over. The second the drill hits my teeth "Motorcrash" begins. I really love this song, it's probably the best on the album, but Christ, ill-fitting chorus for this situation. I don't care how sexy "So dangerous, dangerous..." sounds coming out of Björk's mouth, it's the last thing I wanna hear now.

The drilling done in a routine sanding procedure is terribly unpleasant. There's no mouthrinse or anesthetic, so I've gotta deal with the pain of my teeth being grinded flat AND the downright repulsive taste of burning bone (seriously, it's the single most disgusting thing you could ever taste). "Motorcrash" runs its course on the first tooth (I only opted to get the two fronts on my top jaw done today since the rest of my teeth are more or less normally shaped) and then "Birthday" comes on. Great tune, bizarre lyrics (most readers probably don't want to know what it's about) but at least it's not chockful of zingers like "it's very bloody" (as if I wasn't terrifed of twitching and having the drill fuck my gums to hell as is). The vocal gymnastics somehow cut over the whirring of the drill and manage to relax me somewhat, still can't get the taste off my mind, though. The other one goes pretty easy, all things considered and I'm out of the chair by about forty seconds into "Delicious Demon" (mad catchy).

I don't continue listening for the ride home, opting instead to finish my listen of the album at home. "Mama" is a really mellow track, but it has excellent guitar work and pretty subdued vocals by Björk's standards (also, it mercifully lacks Einar Örn Benediktsson's bizarre vocals, which range from awesome to really obnoxious).

"Coldsweat" gets a bit rockier, but still has their trademark charm and Benediktsson's badass trumpet playing (as much as I'm mixed on his vocals, no denying this man uses horns to a great effect, which is really cool to see in rock music). Benediktsson takes lead vocals on the funky "Blue Eyed Pop", and he's not much better than your typical "80s foreign guy singing in English" but not nearly as bad as he can be and Björk's little solo bits are pure class as usual. The bass riff has a good hook to it, too, which makes it stand out nicely. "Deus", by contrast, really isn't much and is one of the album's least impressive tracks. Imagine every late 80s rock tune you've heard with a woman on lead vocals (except with a weird Icelandic dude interjecting with disjointed rambling about being made "squeaky clean, real clean" by a man who "put [him] in a bathtub").

"Sick for Toys" is another Benediktsson-led track, and it's some weird shit. Decent riff, but the lyrics are plain odd and the delivery doesn't help. Shit hops right the fuck back into form by the next track, though. "Fucking In Rhythm and Sorrow" is one of the best 80s alt rock tracks ever. Excellent instrumental backing (cheery rockabilly riff with booming trumpet) and Björk delivering a vocal that'd make Frank Black's head spin (the lyrics aren't too shabby either, "Oh my God and Jesus as well!" in particular gets my vote for the best line on the whole album). Fucking great.

The album closes out on a weird note with "Take Some Petrol Darling", a psuedo-PiL post-punk drone with frantic lead vocals and Benediktsson growling like a pirate in the background. It's very short and very strange, but far from bad. As a final track, though, it leaves a lot to be desired (really, swapping "Fucking" into this one's position would have been a perfect ending). The album sometimes feels like pretty decent sandwich you made at like 4 AM. One piece of bread is a heel from the very bottom of the bag, the other only mildly better, and the mayo's a bit dated, but you've got fresh lettuce and some good leftover ham, so it's edible and even downright delicious depending on how you look at it. Hell, I'm sure the band would delight in a simile like this. Sugarcubes are a strange band crewed by strange people writing strange songs, but the stunning vocals and great sense of melody make this an endearing listen whether weird shit is your bag or not. Definitely worth a look.

Björk's work has always held a bit of weird sentimental value to me ("Venus as a Boy" was in Luc Besson's phenomenal Léon so everytime I hear it I think fondly of Jean Reno, I got Debut and Post for Christmas from my mother a few years back and lent them out to a friend once who was having trouble sleeping and wanted calm music to slap on before bed), but now I've finally got an album featuring her I can connect to both an improved smile AND the worst thing I have ever tasted. Bravo, Björk, the sheer memorability of your music never ceases to amaze me.

Note: Apparently, the version Iceland got actually DID end with "Fucking in Rhythm and Sorrow" (fuck yeah, better track listing), and I'm also aware of a 17 track reissue with four added songs (two in English, two in Icelandic) and some remixes.

Obligatory album link.

Details, Vol. 1: "O Pencil Sharp" - Drive Like Jehu

2009-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Track: "O Pencil Sharp" by Drive Like Jehu, from "Drive Like Jehu"

Detail: Slow drone buildup/crash into rest of song

If you're unprepared and/or not into droney noise experimentation [as I was when i first heard this track], the 2 minutes and some opening drone'll probably come across as pretentious and dull. I remember digging most of the album (and still do, phenomenal and criminally underrated) but this track was just a little much. The nearly 10 minute length was intimidating, and when I tried to listen to it I couldn't get past the intro. I think the way it clicked in was when I left the album playing in the background once; album is playing from beginning, "O Pencil Sharp" comes on and I just let it play, and suddenly, it absolutely explodes. It's almost startling. Granted, I'm a sucker for the old buildup->freakout trick, but this is a brilliantly executed example of it. A standout track on an excellent album. If you dig this, you'll probably like the rest of the album too; most of it is far easier to digest, though no less intense.

From the very start of the track, a mid-range drone is steadily building in the background; a warm metallic hum. It ebbs slightly over its course as the ringing guitars dance across it; shimmering like drops of mercury falling on a raincloud. It has a hypnotic effect, making it all the more jarring when at 2 minutes and some in, the drone suddenly rises; a deeper drone comes rolling over, growing to a roar, feedback rings out, cymbals hiss. Then a drum hit, and it stops. One guitar plays as the lingering feedback fades out, then suddenly, everything crashes down as one; drums slamming, one guitar and bass growling a riff out, the other guitar scribbling in the background. They play the riff a couple times, then pause for a second, guitar plays a few notes, drums clatter and then it's on again, with Rick Froberg howling over the ruckus. The whole band tears through it as one screaming beast; not particularly fast but vicious enough to more than make up for it. They go at it for a few more minutes and it closes with the drone again.

Raymond Scott: Manhattan Research Inc. (compilation, 2000)

2009-06-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about rap's sample culture, but there's no denying it has revitalized interest in some of the best and most obscure music out there. My first exposure to Raymond Scott was J Dilla's brilliant instrumental "Lightworks" (recently given a vocal makeover by the brilliant DOOM on Born Like This). A strange, pulsing beat set to otherworldly vocals, I was immediately captivated. After spinning the track a few times, I look up some of Scott's stuff and discover Manhattan Research Inc.

Recorded between 1953 and 1969, this compilation gives us a staggering sixty-nine tracks ranging from radio jingles to rough equipment tests. Scott was incredibly prolific for decades, but relatively unknown. These two discs showcase him at his finest, recorded on his own home-made instruments (with delightful names like "Karloff" and "Bandito the Bongo Artist") featuring countless anonymous studio vocalists and voice-over artists.

The first disc kicks off with Scott explaining what we're about to listen to, the music is "completely electronic" and "has been created and produced on equipment designed and manufactured by Manhattan Research, a division of Raymond Scott Enterprises Incorporated." Then begins a trilogy of corporate jingles he recorded in the sixites (for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co, Bendix Corporation and Lightworks Cosmetics, respectively). These tunes are terribly unconventional by the standards of the era, with very strange synth beats combined with traditional narration and vocals. Scott was certainly far ahead of his time, as much 70s electronica is not this bizarre or elaborate. By the fifth track, the experimental nature of his music really becomes the foreground, as Scott showcases a two-channel demonstration of his Bass Line Generator invention. This track has a real Aphex Twin vibe to it, mellow stuff but with a catchy melody and just the right amount of weirdness.

Track six, "Don't Beat Your Wife Every Night" is a baffling sound collage. A blend of different genres, weird squeals and non-sequitur narration that combines various advertising slogans with absurd thoughts like "Someday, science tells us we'll be able to clean our walls electronically." and then ends with a depressed man talking about when his wife left him. Like many of Scott's spoken word pieces, it is simultaneously comedic and unnerving.

Tracks seven to twelve are more jingles, ranging from very conventional ("Melonball Bounce") to completely and utterly bizarre ("Sta-Ful", which Scott explains is the sound of a car battery dying). Up next is "Limbo: The Organized Mind", possibly the strangest track on the entire compilation. Narrated in a frantic manner by Jim Henson (yes, the same Jim Henson of Muppets fame), "Limbo" is a surreal piece about the parts of the brain that deal with memories and how the narrator has organized his by different criteria (fears, academic thoughts, family stories) as if his brain is a filing cabinet. The music and the narrator both go through major mood whiplash throughout the song's duration, bouncing from being mellow to panicked, the track ending with the memories breaking loose and a pane of glass loudly smashing to illustrate the chaos.

The rest of the comp is a mixture of pretty standard jingles and experimental work (while good, it requires little in-depth analysis, if you liked the first dozen or so tracks you'll definitely enjoy the rest), but I simply cannot finish this review without touching upon "IBM MT/ST: The Paperwork Explosion".

Whether intentionally or otherwise, this is Scott's masterwork. A proto-Youtube Poop if there ever was one, "Paperwork Explosion" chops up clips of office workers explaining the decline of productivity in the faster and faster paced world of business and how IBM's lasted electronic typewriter was to revolutionize the industry so that one person will begin a statement and another person will finish it (which becomes especially creepy once the nigh-endless chant of "Machines should work. People should think." begins). Punctuated with explosions and nigh-musical syncopation ("The IBM MT-ST can type ever free."), Scott's cut-up seems less an advertisement and more a criticism of the product. It ends with mournful organ chords as one of the speakers chortles "So I don't work too much anymore, I'm too busy thinkin'." To call this track any less than stirring would be a crime.

An absolutely wonderful compilation, Raymond Scott is a terribly underrated genius who helped pioneer electronic music and change the face of commercials with his avant-garde compositions. There's not a single bad track on either disc, and recordings of Scott explaining his music and machines make it all the more fascinating. Anyone into musical oddities or ambient music should have this stuff, it's truly outstanding.

Disc one

Disc two

From the Vinyl Pile #1: Shigeaki Saegusa - Symphonic Suite Z Gundam

2009-05-31T20:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge whore for vinyl records. I've got hundreds of them, from the Beatles to Pavaroti. A few weeks ago, I started actively buying vinyl again after about a year of inactivity, and From the Vinyl Pile will chronicle my new finds (as well as the occasional old favourite).

Naturally, I hit eBay nigh immediately once I decided I wanted to get back to collecting, and I discovered this one really excellent store, Cool Hand Records. These guys have an insane selection, great prices and excellent service. Not to mention they've got one of the best shipping sleeves I've ever seen in my days as an online shopper. Sadly I can't get a decent photo of it at the moment, but I sure can provide you with a verbatim quotation of the text on this sexy beast.

WE ARE COOL HAND GANG

WATCH OUT!! WE ARE LOOKING FOR A MASS OF GOLD.

WHEREVER WE GO WE LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND. WE TAKE

THINGS SMARTLY AS PLANNED, THAT'S THE WAY WE DO IT.

DON'T BE SURPRISE TO SEE US AT YOUR DOORSTEPS.

IF YOU DOU YOU MIGHT BE EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED.

SO JUST BE AWARE OF THAT!

ORIGINAL INTELLECTUAL RECORD SHOP

So I'm browsing around, and I find this bad motherfucker.

Now I'll admit I'm a huge Wapanese faggot, but I don't think there's a man alive who can deny how awesome this cover is.

Musically, this is a damn solid disc. Saegusa knows his shit, and this isn't like the pathetic crap that passes for music in modern Japanese animation. Strong, militaristic marches sit side by side with melancholy strings that put most modern composers to shame. Saegusa doesn't tackle all the show's music here (which is a damn shame, since there was a lot of great stuff, especially in the later episodes), instead showcasing his traditionalistic orchestral pieces here. Recorded by the All Japan Symphonic Orchestra in 1985, seven meaty tracks give you a good taste of Saegusa's more classical material.

The opener, "Z-Gundam's Theme" kicks off with a pounding timpani. Horns come in and build over crashing cymbals and clanging bells. By the time the violins have kicked in it's part WWII march, part whimsical stroll through the countryside. The intense percussion compliments the gorgeous string work and energetic brass perfectly.

Track two, "War and Peace", trades tense strings and bursts of percussion like gunfire for about a minute before the grand brass strikes up once again. This is not quite a victorious theme so much one of building tensions. The song is loaded with tense starts and stops, punctuated by the occasional furious burst of trumpet over rolling timpani. A very intense and unpredictable piece.

"Space Cruiser's Theme" begins on an even more ominous note. Dissonant prepared piano backed by melancholy horns, a death march if there ever was one. Near the minute and half mark, it becomes a subtle but no less tragic woodwind-driven track, a rare arpeggio here and there showing but a glimmer of hope through the darkness. It then ends where it began, and slides perfectly into the perfectly titled "Suspicious Victory." A blend of themes from Saegusa's "Mobile Suit Combat" and "Reunion" (from the original score recordings), it once again combines a tense militaristic stomp with quiet, sad strings. The final movement cuts through the melancholy air with a heroic sci-fi theme straight out of Star Wars. Triumphant brass and very marchlike snare drums drive the song to its conclusion.

"Psycho Aurora Polaris" is a very dark, minimal dirge. Little happens over the seven minutes and thirteen seconds it runs, but this makes its sudden roar of horns have the impact of a desert wind on a cold night.

"The New Type" brings a more percussion oriented and mysterious approach to the syncopated Moog themes Saegusa so regularly used to punctuate battles in the series. It fades out with slow piano chords over whirring violins and so begins the finale, "Concerto of Love".

Yet another fittingly named track, this romantic theme is a piano showcase, eschewing the military undertones of the other tracks. After eight minutes of beautiful chording and subtle arpeggios, the timpani and brass that brought us in returns to slam the album to an impactful conclusion.

All in all, this isn't Saegusa at his best (the original score for the series, while slightly more synth/bass oriented, had much more to it and a real funky edge that is totally absent here), but it's some wonderfully recorded and well aranged orchestral nonetheless, made even sweeter by fucking brilliant album art. If you dig neoclassical, it's most defintely worth a look, even if you're not into sci-fi or giant robots.

If you're so inclined to check it out, here's a complete collection of Saegusa's work on Zeta.

JB's Cover Picks, Vol. 1: Elvis Costello & Jakob Dylan - "Straight To Hell" (The Clash Cover)

2009-05-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is from Costello's interview/performance show, "Spectacle" (which is very good and I recommend). I'm actually not even familiar with the Clash version of this, but dear god, that distorted reverb thing they've got on the guitar is beautiful.

Busta Rhymes - "Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check" (single, 1996)

2009-05-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

Busta Rhymes is a really unique motherfucker. His flow is furious, but his lyrics possess such a tongue-in-cheek charm. He's like a dancehall standup comedian. While his first real mainstream exposure was his excellent shit with A Tribe Called Quest, his solo shit is where he really shines.

His first single, "Woo Hah!!" is a pretty strong track. It has a good beat, solid rhymes and the beginnings of Busta's more intense modern flow. But the real reason to track down this single is The World Wide Remix.

Seriously, there are no words to do justice to this, just watch.

The disc also has the typical instrumental tracks and another bitchin' album track, "Everything Remains Raw" (which has some of Busta's most memorable lines), but none of the other remixes come close to how awesome The World Remix is.

Grab this shit for yourself here.

This blog is not a rebel blog.

2009-05-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hello there, internet. I'm Sluncho, and I'll be one of two contributing writers to this new music blog. We're probably gonna be pretty slow to start off, but when it picks up, we guarantee it will pick the fuck up.

HOLLA AT THE ZULU NATION

Postscript: I'm JB, the other guy. What he said.