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January 2010 Archives
January 2, 2010
I went through every album I mentioned in the former "top albums of 2009" posts and picked a song for every artist that I thought stood out, threw them all in a folder, and then spent hours trying to organize said songs somehow. Of the 70ish songs, I've only managed to make 25 of them fit together in a way I can appreciate. I thus made two comps... SWAMP MONKEYS THE SAGITTAL PLANE Swamp Monkeys is the lighter of the two. Though I play around with the mood a bit with Sagittal, it's definitely more "metal" as a whole. I've tried to include known artists as well as those that aren't exactly names in their genres yet. If you like any of these songs already, especially if you don't recognize some artists, download away. I swear, you'll be better off for it. January 2, 2010
Song: "Antler Wings" Hey, like, this song doesn't bore me to death. Congratulations, Ancestors. It's a first. And possibly also a first for Ancestors to fit a whole song on a single side record... This split comes out sometime in 2010 from Volcom. I suggest you head on over to Volcom right now and sign up for their split vinyl club. January 5, 2010
To the two bands who've sent me albums, I'll get to you both soon. I'm putting off listening until I have the mindset and a proper amount of time for it. I'd like to write something that isn't just nonsensical angst for once. I just started school for another term. This one's going to be one of the more tedious terms I've had, assuming I'm correct, so periods of radio silence may continue at the current rate. I am, however, thinking of changing the blog's design a little bit. I have the idea down, but I actually have to do it. It'll take a few hours at least, so... time. Gotta find it. Also, I keep running into albums I forgot to throw on that big albums list I posted days ago. I'm not going to do a supplemental list, but yeah... Maybe this year I'll keep a list of all of the albums I download that come out this year? Maybe. And big thanks to those that have linked or followed Sounds of Sagittarius, especially those of you who've gotten the URL correct... You make me happy. January 5, 2010
Song: "Tie Me Up! Untie Me!" This song is sooo miserable and sad all by its lonesome. It's one of those songs that you can only listen to in particular moods, or mindsets when you can ignore the talk-singing or somehow find it endearing. On one hand, it's almost embarrassing to think I "own" this album. Seeing when it came out, though, I can understand the appeal. I was on my own Thirteenth Step program. I must have related even though I don't know the words. And the titles... are interesting. So are some of the lines used in the songs. Pretty sure this guy gets laid despite acting like a fucking baby about it. It's too many metaphors. I suddenly have an urge to listen to Black Elk. January 5, 2010
I can't find any real information on this band, which is unfortunate. They sound familiar to some Portland/Seattle bands, and I could see them playing with a band like Black Elk or Rabbits. They're new and far, far away, so I doubt that's going to happen... but you may also notice the similarities. Two videos (of several I found). January 7, 2010
Random music news: - Witch Mountain is going into the studio on the 15th to finally record that album they've been (openly) talking about releasing for something like three years now. - Red Fang is currently mixing their latest full length album. Assuming pressing and art take little time, that means it'll be done fairly soon. Either way, they'll be playing a show at Dante's on March 12th (presumably with The Long And Short Of It and Salvador, but I could be wrong). - Soundgarden is getting back together. After Audiosluts, I don't imagine this being an artistically genuine idea and thus have this response: "meh".
Random SOS news: - Black Elk linked the shitty video I took of them last May. <3 - I (finally) got my Salvador album in the mail. Now that their wheels are turning, go buy yours.
Random list of albums that are coming out this year that I might not otherwise directly mention: 01 ok go - of the blue colour of the sky I know I'm missing a couple, but whatever. I only add them when I remember to, and by then I don't remember who the bands were anymore. See, I just remembered Mendozza has an album coming out this month. I suppose I should add it to the list. I won't. I need a secretary... I did find this post, though.
Random short list of some really fucking good songs: Rebreather - "Sugarchord" /end January 7, 2010
Song: "Gimme Back My Bullets" This song is relaxed and good for relaxing. I miss seeing these guys live... They don't seem like it by listening alone, particularly with a song like this that doesn't stand out above like most others they've done, but the two shows I've seen them do have been very nice. Warm and inclusive sound, and their stage presence is outstanding. I recall hearing/seeing this song and, despite being a bit underwhelmed by album listens, thinking it sounded great live. See, in trying to find a link, I just found out it was a cover. I had no idea.... because I was born in the 80s. Nevertheless, I've recently heard about them doing shows nowhere near here, and I'm jealous. January 9, 2010
Another list of really fucking good songs: Marilyn Manson - "The Reflecting God" STAM-PEDE. January 10, 2010
January 10, 2010
This won't exactly follow a "first time's the worst time" format because I've heard over half of the album already, in pieces. For what I haven't heard in recorded format via Diesto's myspace, I've heard live. Instead, this'll look more like an actual review. Semi-professional writing here at Sounds of Sagittarius?! GASP.
To repeat myself and have an intro, Diesto was/is: - one of the first local (Portland) bands I listened to/liked High As The Sun is their new album. It's been recorded, but I don't think it's been turned into a consumer product yet as their former record label appears to be dead... Or something like that. Either way, it's not been "released" yet and I'm not sure when it will be. That sucks, but what can you do.
Recorded & Mixed in July & August 2009 Tracklist: For fans of: Isis, YOB, Baroness, Neurosis, Electric Wizard, current PDX/Northwest metal...
After listening to a few of these songs several times before this week and giving the album a couple of full front-to-end "spins", one thing is obvious about the new album: High As the Sun is far more introverted than Isle of Marauder and Outland, and I'm assuming Doomtown as well. The songs are more gentle and, overall, much longer than songs they've written in the past. On first listen, it seemed like an awkward, possibly "inspired" change in style after having grown used to what they put out with Isle - the album I discovered them with. Over the last few months that they've had the song "High As The Sun" up on their myspace, however, I've grown to really like it. Though it sounds little if anything like Isle of Marauder material in its strange feeling of (possibly ironic) optimism, it just stands out. It may actually be their best song to date, though I suppose I should give it a little more time to make such a statement. Still, if you haven't heard it yet, I recommend you do so even if you don't listen to anything else from the album.
An instrumental theme of this album seems to be a particular high, almost piercing guitar sound. In some songs, it's part of the intro or otherwise momentary, but in "All Eyes Upon You", it's immersed in how the song moves and changes. It becomes a bit of an overkill for me towards the end of the album ("Waiting For The Fall"), but some people like that, and it does add to the overall central feel of the album. Once the second track "All Eyes Upon You" hits around the two minute mark, it turns into a slow, groovy, non-violent headbanging doom-a-thon fans of Isis, Electric Wizard, and YOB will find easy to appreciate. After about five minutes, the song suddenly quiets paving the way for some super sad, shrill guitar and gradual fade-out. Followed by "High As The Sun", which comes across as stupidly happy regardless of all that bass, the songs are in direct contrast of each other. Instead of being awkward, the songs actually sit back-to-back quite well. Next comes "Lowlight". Here, the semi-optimism from the previous song becomes unhappy camper once again. The sadness from "All Eyes" seems to be more of a fearful distrust and self-hate here, particularly once it finds a background of semi-psychedelic instrumental psychosis one might find in the midst of a Wolf Eyes track or set to a horror movie scene where the protagonist has lost all hope. "Waiting For The Fall" then momentarily returns to a doomy beat and a comparatively lighter feel. Short of the tense intro, though, it's probably the weakest song of the album. Last song "The Longest Day" is what's typically expected of a final track. It takes a while to warm up, but once it does it comes across as one of Diesto's best. It's also the first on the album where you can almost clearly hear the lyrics short of the title words... and I mean "almost", as nearly all of the vocals on High As The Sun are well blended into the music and thus intellectually distant and ethereal rather than meant to be heard literally.
Once again, this album has yet to be released, but you should go listen to "High As The Sun" on their myspace regardless. In the meantime, they are playing a free show on Saturday, January 23rd at Duckett's (825 N Killingsworth) with Seattle metal band Hellgrammite and Portland's Honduran. I'm sure they'll play a few of these tracks for a better-than-myspace sampling... Edit: It seems Google's spoiling it for you all anyway, so: Diesto.net. Don't forget to support the band, folks. January 11, 2010
Yet another random list of really fucking good songs: Soundgarden - "Mailman" January 12, 2010
I suppose it won't be news to any of you that I have an "active imagination". Music dreams: I get them. Especially in the last 3-4 years with the increase in going to concerts and with doing the blog. I tend to dream about real life or real life-like experiences, so it makes sense. I've been having them since I was, at least, 17 years old, post-onset music appreciations. Here's a bunch I can remember, or remember with the aid of a quick search. - Metallica. I've dreamed of them at least three times, one just about sitting with James talking about "life" before a Tool show. - Maynard... walked by me and James. - seeing Tool live. I'm sure I've had this dream a bunch, but I don't remember any specifics aside from the above. - "Stinkfist"... was playing while I was at my sister's house in a dream. - "Pushit"... I found a friend playing bass for the song at a bar. - "Prison Sex"... I was joking in the dream about singing the song on stage after some band I'd come to see canceled. - seeing Nine Inch Nails live... I've had this dream a bunch of times over the years, anything from anticipating it back in early 2000, to re-living it, to it being apart of some complicated story where I couldn't find my seat. - seeing NIN live with my nephew and discovering the venue was selling cheap cokes. - seeing Korn live - seeing some Korn/nu metal related festival - seeing Mastodon live... or repeatedly missing them, actually. - living in Marilyn Manson's house and his girlfriend making fun of me - interviewing Josh Homme and he wouldn't sit still - hanging out with Fiona Apple - "Parting Gift"... That song decided to show up in a dream yesterday. - Britney Spears deciding she'd pretend to be best friends with me for an afternoon to make people hate me for being different more than they already do. - watching old MTV videos that I can't recall now, with my mom - seeing SunnO))) live... though it could have been YOB. same references. - hanging out with mostly faceless local band members at my sister's house - talking about Rwake with a musician (I've never even listened to this band) - missing Tweak Bird live because I didn't read the newspaper show listings days beforehand - seeing Tweak Bird live in some vacant downtown building while my drunk niece was at some bar across the street - sitting in/around a warehouse with Red Fang and everyone there was drunk except "the singer", and he was sick because he had eaten bad chicken - "I dreamed last night about getting in an argument with someone about Kylesa, because I'd confused them with some other band that sounds exactly like them. lol. Oh the possibilities." - leaving to see Fu Manchu on the bus and not realizing I'd forgotten my camera until I was downtown, and then realizing I was early so I went to go find a pizza place - "Lord 13" - time traveling to the 90s with my niece and finding a musician doing some group bondage crap to a guy chained to a bed, in the basement of a venue... "He seemed like such a nice boy, that one." - Trent Reznor telling me in passing that my boyfriend should be a singer because he had a good voice... no, no he didn't. You're a fuckin' liar, Dream Trent. - seeing Le Tigre live... I think one of them gave me money? - and a thousand dreams that were "like" songs or albums... lots of "Flood" dreams around 2001-2002. Lots of drug dreams later that remind me of Thirteenth Step. I'm sure there's plenty more, but my searches and memory have worn thin. No worries, kids. I dream about a million other things. Just thought I'd share the psychosis with the internet today.
Categories:
words
January 12, 2010
Dear bands & artists, Saying you're giving away a free mp3 of a song on your upcoming new album, and said song has been released on another album you've released in the past? REALLY LAME. Love, Sounds of Sagittarius
Categories:
words
January 13, 2010
New High On Fire track. In case you hadn't already heard. It's better than that shitty live video that was going around. Snakes For The Divine = February 23rd. January 15, 2010
I changed the program I was using to write/edit Sounds of Sagittarius this morning. It should look and act more or less the same for now. January 16, 2010
I updated Sounds of Sagittarius' template some - if you're feeding, you're missing out on some new CSS/javascript trickery. - This new blog system is irritating me. As would be expected - change sucks. The new layout looks way too much like wordpress (hey, uh, not using wordpress for a reason). The former layout was much nicer and more professional looking. Also, my favorite plugin keeps fucking up the "create entry" screen. It's supposed to automatically enter text. In my case, that text is: Song: "" Saves time. In any case, it only works when it feels like it and any other time it won't let me enter any text at all. Here's hoping the problems with this and that get debugged soon. Seeing as how I've lost much of my format anyway, it's not a big deal. Meanwhile, I'm converting all my old writings to this system. It's simple in theory. I'm using old templates so that's not a problem so much, though it does take a lot of time to copy/paste all of these template files. It's more a matter of issues with importing. Including Sounds of Sagittarius and all of my old writing projects and such, I have some 12,000+ entries to import. That's ten years of writing... that wouldn't import. It took hours but I finally found out it was an encoding issue, something about the file being encoded in one format and my server only feeling like reading UNIX-based text files. Whatever. Stupid bullshit, is what that is. Then, since we're talking 30MBs of text here, blog program decided I needed to manually break that shit up into convenient 1MB blocks. Well, it would have handled more but my computer won't. The text program's memory died several times before I figured out it could only handle about 1MB of copy/pasting at a time. More hours, gone. But the good news is... it looks like I hit 1000 published entries at Sounds of Sagittarius around November 2009 (within a few posts of this entry). Pretty good considering I committed to one post a day (should be around 820). Considering all of the bullshit I post that doesn't have really all that much to do with music, nevermind songs, I'm probably right on track. Yup. All of this because I needed to move an old website to this one so I can save $7 a month. I would have done this last March but I couldn't figure out that encoding issue. Goodbye, Version 2.661 Copyright © 2001-2003, we'll miss your simplicity and non-wordpress-like ways. Musical irrelevance: I listened to all of Undertow and Aenima this morning. Working on Lateralus now, but might not make it all of the way through. Somewhat ironic, being that my first domain ever was Tool-related. Those were Greymatter days, though. Holy moly.
Categories:
words
January 16, 2010
Since I've been working on it forever, I thought I'd quote some old entries. 1997 [a bunch of rubbed-in scribbly lines here] The storm of Emotions I needed in order to function properly while I was 15. Also, the storm I have now. July '98 2000 Damn, you sure are handy with the HTML baby, why dont you come over my place and we can play with BOLD. 2001 Okay, people. Just because I'm another girl does not mean I want to listen to other female's man problems. 2002 i thought "only stoners would like this song." 2002 me: so... i think moving to arkansas is next on the list now.... 2001 SmarterChild: I gotcha. 2003 possible topics: 2004 Last Ex Boyfriend I want to know what happened at the zoo! 2005 his name is now jack. because he's a jackass and a jack off who makes me want to drink jack daniels to escape his 'jack the ripper' madness. 2006 here's an easy way to make me lose intellectual respect for you (for the record, i can think of other, easier ways). 2007 don't you hate when your personality is so strong and all-consuming that it prevents you from having connections with other people? yeah, me too. Deep, man. Deep. i lit a fire today. it was a very uniform, perfect fire we should all respect even though we missed it because we're fucking monkies who don't know the presence of god when we see it. And on and on we go.
Categories:
nostalgia
January 18, 2010
In going through my writing history here, I noticed I forgot a "dedications" I wanted to do before. So here goes nothing. I have several levels of "family". After my immediate family, there are a lot of individuals who aren't actually related to me at all who I'd still consider part of my family for one reason or another. One of them would be my sister's ex-husband, who was around from the time I was born until well after the time they divorced. I also had a sub-family related to him, his siblings and mom... and, for a few years, his wife after my sister. I think the first time I met this lady, I was visiting my niece. My niece and I hadn't seen each other in about two years, so we had a lot of catching up to do. I was thinking I was glad my niece was still funny and "a little" crazy. I wasn't paying attention to my ex-brother-in-law's dumb girlfriend. I did notice that she'd clearly never been around kids before because she didn't really relate to any of us as people and didn't seem to know anything about mother-like behavior, either. I suppose it wasn't her fault, but she just didn't seem to be able to approach any of them on some kind of eye-to-eye. I picked up a lot of whining and whiny behavior, which seems off now because she signed up for the four crazy kids when she decided to date my ex-BIL. A year and a half passed. I hadn't been around much and decided I wanted to spend some time around my niece. We were 13 and 15. My "at home" best friend had already had sex and then some and had countless boyfriends, which was not the level I was at so we didn't have much in common on the topic. My niece and I were closer level, so there was a lot of "boy"-related talk. The moleman situation occurred shortly after we re-reconnected again. At the end of it, I didn't want to talk to her anymore. I didn't know it at the time, either, but she'd said shitty things about me to her (now) step-mom, who then passed on the false information onto my mom. Apparently I'd whored up the neighborhood. Yeeeah. k. Nice going on the welcoming party, there, lady. A whole year passed. Through some nonsensical process, my niece and I were both invited to spend a couple of weeks in the summer on a trip to California. These trips normally just reminded me never to take trips with family, but the combination of personalities on this one worked out well. My niece and I were "friends" again (albeit cautiously on my part). When we got back, we had a couple of months apart due to school (and overexposure), and then my niece decided to invite me over for the weekend. I went. It had been obvious before that her step-mom had an unnecessary amount of whine-power over what happened, when. With boys and a crazy bitch and pets, she still insisted on having white furniture and a glass table. Lots of my niece and nephews' conversations resorted to "[step-mom]'s going to get mad". It was apparent my niece did things to piss her off, and none of the kids were happy. It wasn't really my business, but all the same... What the fuck? Why join a family if you're going to be like that? I was hoping she wouldn't decide she was going to make rules for my visiting, too. One of these days I slept over, I made friends with one of my niece's guy friends. He was sort of on my level, kind of quiet and hanging out with crazy, loud assholes. I'd only recently started having guy friends, so I thought this was pretty cool/interesting. He seemed alright, so we talked on the phone some. While we were talking on the phone, my niece's step-mom, who'd been in the next room doing laundry, walked into the doorway of the room we were sitting in. She quickly, angrily yelled that we all needed to get off the phone. Something else was involved that had to do with my niece or nephew. I, alone, was on the phone and they were just sitting with me. Her angry order for them didn't affect me, but I figured I'd get off the phone anyway lest she freak out. As she turned around and seemed to leave, I said to the guy on the phone "[Step-mom] just had a cow. I need to get off the phone". She apparently overheard, because the guy barely got a chance to say "okay" before she was back in the room. I wasn't being rude - it was the truth. She stormed in angrily and barked an order without any kind of warning or relation to what was going on. But I suppose when you're nonsensically pissed off for no reason and/or you're a woman who hates kids, "having a cow" is not part of your perceived reality of yourself. She screamed at me. I don't remember a thing she said now, other than that the gist of the speech was that I was incredibly disrespectful. Yeah, well, when the lady doesn't say more than two words to me in years, assumes I'm a slut without proof, yells at me while I'm on the phone, and the first thing she says to me is ABOUT me in front of my face, referring to me as "them" in some angry bitch tone that probably has shit-all to actually do with me, she'd know all about being disrespectful. I was getting off the phone, wasn't I? And besides that one comment, what had I even done? Way to make people treat you with "respect", lady. I think that occurred on a day I was to go home, so I didn't have to do any more confronting with the beast again. And aside from one weekend months after that, I didn't have to see her again. Thankfully...
Categories:
dedications
January 18, 2010
Another teaser from the KARP documentary: There's also two other vids under that youtube account. January 18, 2010
In case I haven't said this already: The older playlist was good, but it was on the blog for over six months. I switched the songs.
You can now hear these on the top navigation menu, under "listen". January 20, 2010
Acid King. Busse Woods (1999/2004 reissue). I've heard this name floating around since I joined the Boris On Black Fire parade, but haven't bothered to get this until recently. That makes me ten years late. In reality, I'm probably only as late as I feel... so I suppose I'll be sterile forever. I'm glad there's nobody worth listening to who actually discusses stoner-sludge (of the 5 people) because then I can be the deer-in-headlights authority myself. In other words, commence listening or I'm going to cry and stomp my feet. Or whatever. It's a relaxed, simple, jam-my, Wednesday morning when you don't have work, kind of song. If you like that, you'll like this. January 20, 2010
Salvador's album: HERE. Go listen. You've got options - pick one. Also, is it just me (no.) or did Kirk also design Diesto.net? January 20, 2010
Red Sparowes' new album is due out April 6th. Here's a pretty teaser: January 21, 2010
More teasing. In between bits of interview, there's a new song. It starts around 2:00-2:20. January 23, 2010
Mendozza has two new songs on their myspace from their upcoming (1/29) album Cabra Noche: "Sludgehammer" and "Witch Hunt". Nah, that second one's not a re-title of "Fairies Wear Boots", nope. January 24, 2010
Meatjack has a very lovely (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) song entitled "Cold Flight". I've been meaning to make this post for ages, now, but I keep thinking the song belongs to Glazed Baby for some reason and thus seem to lose the song. Perhaps I discovered these bands in short order of each other, but they do have some obvious similarities. Either way, the song comes from the 2003 album Days of Fire... and is virtually invisible to the internet community. You will benefit from downloading it at one of the obvious venues. It's pretty good. January 24, 2010
When I did a quick search on Glazed Baby just then, I found this: If you're familiar with Glazed Baby, Whitey sounds quite similar... More doomy and, I suppose, relaxed in sound. Give a couple of those tracks a sample... "Texxxass 69" is easy on the ears albeit probably a bit overwhelming for the average listener, "Resurrection Day" is bluesy, and even though I normally skip passed live tracks, I'm liking "A Sinking Ship"... The most of you will find it part of a well balanced musical diet. January 25, 2010
I just worked on a releases for 2010 list. It's not as long as it looked when confined to a 100px text bar. But yay, I freed up that space, and now you guys know my secrets. Some "first time's the worst time" are coming. January 25, 2010
On my shortlist to listen to right now: Hot Chip, OK Go, Whitey, and And So I Watch You From Afar... I've been listening to Meshuggah in preparation.
OK Go. Obviously I heard about them because of youtube, back in 2006. That year I was trying to get away from heavy rock/metalisms because I was experiencing a "relationship" that I knew wasn't worth being emotionally tied to music I'd probably want to listen to later. I was listening to tons of lighter rock and dance - Ladytron, She Wants Revenge, Daft Punk, The Gossip, Scissor Sisters... These phases only go so far. I remember waiting to get OK Go's first one because of all of the hype, and liking "A Million Ways" a lot. But that's about as far as I got. I ended up remembering it in conjunction with some married guy hitting on me. Why do people get married if they know they're sluts? "WTF?" - I think this is a single somewhere... I've been trying to avoid it. Hm. Not too bad. "This Too Shall Pass". Hm. Well, okay. "All Is Not Lost". Too gentle/sad. I'm not 14, and even when I was 14 I would have been pissed at this. "Needing/Getting". Alright background music, but I suppose if I had time to listen to the lyrics I might get something out of it. "Skyscrapers". Again with the sad. No. "White Knuckles". bleh. And... I give up. The rest is all whiny. New wave meets whiny rock, what's new, let's move on. + And So I Watch You From Afar. My history with them is confined to the last year. I downloaded them because of their album cover and the creepy name. "S is for Salamander". Good start... doesn't sound as much like Russian Circles 2, here. ... Seemed longer than four minutes, though. "D is for Django the Bastard". Reminds me of current 19-24 year olds. and that was short. "B is for B-side". Hm... going off the deep end. "K is for Killing Spree". Sounds familiar to another song they've done at first, not sure which. Then sounds messy, like instruments all doing their own thing not paying attention to each other. Hard to get through... not gonna make it. Well, it follows the EP rules... half good, half WHY? + Hot Chip. I heard them first by some random individual song(s) posted online, and then backtracked. This would have been 2006 or early 2007, giving me enough time to get used to a random set of songs I liked by them. 2008's Made In The Dark was unexpectedly good. It didn't last as long as it should have, but I'm still coming back to a few of the songs. I remember wanting to go see them live around then, but deciding against it because I could see that just being a clusterfuck of judgmental teenage girls. Those concerts are never any good. "Thieves"... Immediately, not as strong as the first track on Made In The Dark. Sounds 80s with the synth noise in contrast with the really low bass. It moves well enough. 6 minutes? Too long. "Hand"... Piano beating. wtf vocal thing? Fucking repetitive. "I Feel Better". Now we're 90s dance music. Waltzy. Like some Disney princess movie. "One Life Stand". ...... How long do I have to wait for some kind of breakdown? Theoretically should be good and it's not. "Brothers". Tuned out. "Slush". wtf again. "Alley Cats". I hope this song's about fucking, because I'm getting really bored. ... Nope, not sticking around to find out. "We Have Love". More weird ass vocals. Now we're late 90s trance BS. I heard this before, Cher. "Keep Quiet". Ironically loud vocals. "Take It In". *snort* Nice title. So.... Not as good as Made In The Dark, as is immediately apparent. A couple of these songs might be saved in the future, but in the meantime... Ugh, I'm glad I have some real music to do next. + Whitey. I only just heard of them yesterday. I think I first heard Glazed Baby about two years ago. The guy from Glazed Baby who did the vocals/guitars is also the guy who does so in Whitey. Seeing my love for "Handgun" and "Under Nancy's Boot", and let's not forget my posting of "Chinatown"... I thought I might see what this guy's been doing in recent years. "Texxxass *69". Really energetic, but also really fuzzy... It doesn't sound nearly as clearly recorded as some of the GB stuff. Can't hear the lyrics, but it's probably for the better... "Barely Legal". Same slappy drums as above, but slower/doomier. Acid-ic vocals. Pretty dark. "Oh, Oh Marie". I can hear words. Different style of song than the previous two... like to the point of funny, but it also kind of sounds dark, too. "Well, well, well". There's the bluesy sound I've been waiting for. Now we're rock instead of metal, but still with a kind of lo-fi / fuzzy sound happening that's consistent with most shit I listen to. Screaming sort of takes it away from "rock", akin to Monster Magnet's early bitching. At 3 minutes it sounds like it's going to end, and it's not even half over. Back to blues rock. Surprised at how good this album is so far... Hm, and he says it's a cover. I wouldn't have known otherwise. "CNHC". Captain Noodle's Hot Cock...? Sludge madness. What's that, a gong? But then it sounds like it's a consistent noise... maybe something else. Fucking crazy shit happening here, sirs. "Nightmares By The Sea". Magnet-y with the higher guitar sound. Kind of odd... Not sure I like this one. "Imprisonment Blues". LOL title. Reminds me of Texas/Mexico, bar music, but not as "bluesy" as I expected. "Going to Nola". Sounds like a waste of gas to me, Masters of Reality. These guys have an odd sense of humor... "The 7% Solution". Woah watery tunnel sound. And creepy/dark comes back again. Moves pretty well despite being sort of "mad" (in the English sense). Crazy. I like it. + In short: No, Maybe, Enh, Yes.
Categories:
gemini, live album review
January 27, 2010
And now I'm listening to the new Rob Zombie. Who knew this day would ever come. I didn't even know he had a new album coming out until the other day. I think I stopped really caring what he was doing musically at approximately the age 18, the week after I got "I'm Your Boogie Man" stuck in my head. I remember telling an ex that the song was stuck in my head and he had never heard it, so I sent him to Napster. Jesus Frankenstein, indeed. One of these days I'm going to get all nostalgic about the Swamp and that guy Spiritbeggar, who posted this album... So. Here we go. 1. Starts like a stereotype of "current" metal, ImmOpeshUggaHammer (bad comparisons, oh well)... and then moves into something else more classic sounding. Freakin' unfocused. I like the bass riff thing in the non-"hey" vocal parts. My guess this has made it to the radio already... I haven't listened to the radio in probably a year, so... who knows. Maybe you do. 2. Oh boy, a movie/sound track. Holy moly, that sounded familiar for a second there. It changed. Hmm. I'm taking it that this album won't be available at Walmart. What a weird concept... Oh, there we go with the familiarity again. What song is that? Electric Head? Yeah... a slowed down Electric Head. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm having issues here trying to identify the exact thing I'm hearing. 3. Another piece of movie. And what's this, Manson Magnet of Reality? I think I've heard this before... Wikipedia is telling me yes, I have. It's pretty easy. 4. Now we're gonna get southern/country emotional. Long intro, or...? lol. Okay, long intro. I like how bands think they're innovative by having completely irrelevant intros to songs. I wonder how long it took Rob to remember the lyrics to this song. He's getting old, I'm thinking two lines is one too many at this point. 5. More random familiarity. I think the proper way to say that was "when the night comes", not "when the night come" because now I'm wondering what the hell day come is. Perpetually 14... 6. Church bells = virginity. Oh shit, we're going black metal on your ass. Gotta dress in black rags and prance around the damn trees now, brb. WHITE PAINT. I HAVE STICK. DEATH FACE. 7. ... Well, it's groovy. Nice? 8. Wiki told me I may have heard this one. I'm not recognizing it so far. It sounds... like a song. 9. Fairly typical almost-the-end-of-the-album drawn out slower track... The undefinable borrowing is getting to me, though. 10. Another groovy style track... 11. Classical music meets metal: That's never been done before. Fairly good intro, though, and at least it works as its presented in the rest of the song. The [seeming] drum outro is a bit..long... though it comes back to song, song. Drum solo, then. Sarcasm aside, it's alright. Nothing shitty, but nothing that'll blow your mind either. Younger people or those who've only just barely touched on Rob Zombie (or metal of any kind) won't know the difference, and Rob Zombie's "image" will make it work, so I'm guessing it's going to do well and get good general reviews. January 30, 2010
New White Hills album in a few days if you're from Europe or internet-capable. Otherwise, 2/23! Buy it. It's their self titled. And while you're setting up this thought in your head, go listen to 3/4 (Three Quarters). It's like you never left Mars... January 30, 2010
[71] Trees, Witch Mountain, YOB (2010) I skipped a bunch of good shows later last year, and complete with the usual concert lull during the holiday season, I haven't gone to a show in approximately three months. 73 days. That is the longest I have gone without since 2006-2007 when I went five months without a show. About a month in, I started to go through show withdrawal. Around the 1st of January, I really, really wanted to see something. Naturally, there were no shows then that I could go to. Gradually, that faded and was replaced by the hope that I might actually get to see YOB this time... all of the way through their set, not cut off after two songs. A few days back I made it so I'd more or less have to attend this thing for the betterment of my sanity (see above) and musical exposure. Assuming it works out, you will hear about this mysteriously vague thing later. In the meantime... Fliers and such read 9pm, but the show didn't start til 10pm practically on the nose. Even when I got there the place was more packed than I'd ever seen it, and the crowded nature of the room slowly grew to the point it took a good five minutes to "walk" from the stage to the end of the bar, complete with stepping on everyone's toes and frustration about assholes standing having conversation in a group in the skinny fucking bar "hallway" this venue has going. I'm that one who vehemently hated being touched as a kid, so I find it a miracle that I can endure these experiences of constant bumping and elbows and shoving. I did find a place for Trees' set and it worked out well enough considering I already know they're boring as far as stage presence and the singer gets on my nerves. I'd kind of forgotten exactly what they sounded like, but I got a bunch of drawn out screaming to reeeeally slow bassy nonsense. I remember being annoyed by them before, something about more strung out vocals, but this time wasn't that bad. Still, my thought was "oh good, I'm glad I was in a good mood when I walked in here because I might have killed myself under normal circumstances". I think next time I see them live, I'll buy what they have so I can bring it home, plug it into a program, and listen to it sped up. Assuming no one has beaten me to the chase... Sarcastic character-of-myself aside, they played, I think, three very long songs and probably only a half hour total. Witch Mountain found the stage fairly quickly. The crowdedness was getting bad at this point, so I couldn't see the stage very well, but the sound was clear/good enough. They mostly played songs I didn't/don't know, though I think they started with "Wing of the Lord" which is now going to be stuck in my head for a week, just like when I saw them last Halloween. The two shows otherwise felt unique of each other, and I think overall I preferred their Halloween show even with Uta's crazy vocalizations towards the end of tonight's set. YOB took a little more time setting up, and I happened to be in their path of alcohol when the bottles shoved their way through the crowd to get to the so-called "backstage" area during Witch Mountain's set. For as much as they seemed to be drinking, they played pretty good... I suppose I wouldn't know the difference, but it sounded nearly as good as what I caught last time with obvious differences in the fact that Berbati's sound is SO GOOD while this venue's sound can only deliver so much before turning into a pile of sound garbage. YOB started with "Quantum Mystic". Everyone's brain turned to goo and 90% of the people in the crowd started headbanging on the VERY first post-continuous drum/bass/guitar note (in the recorded song, 2:01). I started laughing. The song seemed to send these people into some kind of collective fit I apparently didn't catch on the way in the door. It only lasted about eight minutes for the lot of them, probably due to the mild inebriation going around (or maybe because they were mostly guys... oh, right, I'm writing an equality of the sexes blog... sorry, I meant that eight minutes is a REALLY LONG TIME... snicker). Anyhow, the song was good on the soul and, though it didn't sound as good as it might in a better venue, it certainly worked. Second up was "Burning The Altar". Yay. Apparently this particular song is 12 and a half minutes long. It felt like two. I also started cracking up at "WAAAAAAAHAH!" I'm glad I made it out of my teen years or even early 20s with a still retarded sense of humor... Third, fourth, and fifth all sort of ran into each other. What was familiar, was only briefly so, so I'm lost on names. One of the latter songs sounded a bit old, and its style reminded me of Witch Mountain's general sound, finally bridging the gap between the two for me. The third song went on for-fucking-ever, starting with just gentle guitar and then slowly turning into something YOB is more known for, with a couple of silent breaks between "pieces" of the song. I got the impression that it was new or something, at least as far as the intro guitar bit. They acted like they were going to leave, but after a little audience bitching they played a sixth song... something else I couldn't identify. And yet, titles aside, I pretty much enjoyed it all. On top of the show and getting there & back easy and the rest of my day, it was a good night. Danke, YOB.
Categories:
concert view, leo
January 31, 2010
Boy, are the Grammys out of touch or what? ... That's like me asking you guys what the hell is the deal with airplane food. I'm out of it today. Yesterday was my day to recover, but it has poured into today. Strange since I didn't exert myself in any real way, but I guess it has been a while since I've had a show. I woke up with my arm really sore, probably from trying to balance myself and maintain a really small area (I had my arm up most of the time since it had nowhere else to go). And my feet fucking hurt, but that's usual news. I need new shoes. Musically(!), the Swamp posted the band Cosmotron over the weekend and what I hear sounds pretty nice. It's sort of a bridge between driven Kyuss-y material and what Weedeater does in terms of constantly sounding fuzzy. The "Gila Monster" song on their myspace right now is probably the clearest example of what I'm trying to say. In other words, go have a listen. You won't regret it. Time to go finish up that recovery process... |
CommentReadersLast.fm |
Perhaps second best and the first song of the album, "Beyond The Graves" starts out a bit like "Marauder" from Isle, but instead of going into bass-heavy, relatively speedy drumming, it stays low and slow. "Beyond The Graves" comes across as self-conscious and brooding even when the song picks up with a standard doomy march. The mood shifts somewhat with initial drunken rambling vocals that I'm not sure actually fit the song, but the vocals towards the middle of the song fit the slower changes well.
Overall, High As The Sun is a good album. It does what it does well, the mood is built upon and maintained throughout the album, and it stays instrumentally familiar while still providing something new with each song. You may need to have a history of listening to doom, slower stoner, or prog/post-metal bands to approach High As The Sun at its level, but people who are simply new to Diesto won't have any trouble with this album. In other words, if you haven't heard them yet, this is a good place to start.