Happy Birthday

Yup, May 1 is my birfday. Just a little self-indulgent thought for the day, to do with Pop culture:
I'm grateful for all the strange little coincidences, minor twists of fate, random happenstances, and bizarre sequences that have led to the tastes I have. Much like everyone else on the planet, I am convinced I have much better taste than anyone else. Beyond that, I am grateful to have seen what I have seen, heard what I heard, and felt the things I've felt. For my birthday, I'm intended to do some Scandinavian shopping, some Brazilian eating, watch a french movie, and have a dutch beer. Let's see how it pans out, eh?

X Ray Spex

Poly Styrene. Passed on. It's too bad. Not much more needs be said.

Hmmmmm

I might be converting to a Mac person. I've had it with IE. Currently trying out Safari. It's working, quickly, and efficiently. Has all of the "new" functions of IE9- but none of the glitches, so far. If I can do effective word processing and media playback on a mac- which I suspect I can, I might just be sold......

Clapton is God

Actually, I'm not all that big a fan of Clapton. I just bring up the trope because Jonathan on his Metal Only, No Rubbish blog brought up that concept of Rock as religion thing. In a way, I'd agree that there is a spiritual component to my devotion to the form; however, I've said before that I'm not here to discuss my religious beliefs, and I'm still not. I don't look to rocknroll for guidance, exactly. However, in a more ideal world, the priesthood would be more like the Alt-Rock nation I grew up in- not a world of Rockstars like Bishops, proclaiming doctrine from on high- more a commune where everyone can say grace, and together we fumbled towards the light. I mean, we all can read, and all the religions have holy books, so why can't religion be more like a book of the month club, and less like freshman literature, with the too-old-to-still-be-teaching professor telling us his interpretation, and expecting us to regurgitate his opinions on the next pop quiz.
I'm not interested in a hierarchy of Angels, but I do like listening to the Choir.
I mean, do you really think that if Shaun Ryder was your preacher, you'd understand God any better than you do, now?

Soundtrack Meme

Thanks to Jonathan, who posted this meme on Metal Only, No Rubbish:

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every scene, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new scene, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool - first songs only

Opening Credits
Waking Up
First Day of School
Falling in Love
Fight Song
Breaking Up
Prom
Life is Good
Mental Breakdown
Driving
Flashback
Getting Back Together
Wedding
Paying the Dues
The Night Before the War
Moment of Triumph
Death Scene
Funeral Song
End Credits

So for me it's:

Opening Credits: Pale Green Stars- Everclear
Waking Up: Time Tough- Toots& the maytals
First Day of School: Jackson- Johnny Cash
Falling in Love: Fly with the High-Curve
Fight Song: Superbeast-Rob Zombie
Breaking Up: The Beautiful Dead- Killing Joke
Prom: Nice Guy Eddie- Sleeper
Life is Good: Sabotage-Beastie Boys
Mental Breakdown: 15 Minutes-Wired all Wrong
Driving: Hanging on the Telephone- Blondie
Flashback: Wired- Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3
Getting Back Together: Heartbeat-Big Black
Wedding: Testament-Disfear
Paying the Dues: Not Your Fault- Thin White Rope
The Night Before the War: If I go to Hell- Sage Francis
Moment of Triumph: What do I get- Buzzcocks
Death Scene: Why is it always this Way- The Ramones
Funeral Song: Bowl of Flies- Leatherface
End Credits: Four Horsemen-The Clash

I kinda like it. It gets a bit cheesy on some bits, and can only be seen as ironic in others, but it's not bad. I might watch a movie with Disfear as the wedding march....

Dance, Dance, Dance!

ok, I know that I focus pretty heavily on hard rock of the "alt" variety. I suppose that does make up a goodly percentage of my listening habits. But, I hope I've been clear that I do listen to other stuff, as well. Specifically, in this case- Disco, or if you prefer- Dance music. I'm fine with calling it disco, though, because that's what I think of it. Heck, there was a time (specifically 1992) when I did some gigs as a DJ at raves. I was more into House, Acid House and a little Techno than anything else as a DJ- but I did fit in some grind right in the middle of a disco track. (Ask anyone who saw/heard my non-legendary "Walls of Jericho" mix- it was based around a sample from Ministry, but featured everything from small blips of Gary Numan- My Centurion, to some extended bits of Sly & the Family Stone- a sped up sample of the main bass riff for "if you want me to stay") Further, I'd argue that Disco has advanced pop music more than most rock music in the past 25 years.
But, I'll save that argument for another time. I'm here to revise a few things.
See, in the last post I mentioned Oh Land as somewhat Bjorkish- and I was wrong. It's more caberet-styled traditional music meets disco, than the wild avante gardisms of Bjork. However, Bjork has been known to do that same experiment- a mix of show tunes and hard electronica, so I wasn't entirely wrong- just mostly wrong. Still, I prefer it to most of the "indie girl Trad pop" stylings you hear like Sara Bareilles. I find most of that stuff to be cloying and annoying, and Oh land is more Kitsch than Cloying, and more obnoxious than annoying. Still not great, just good.
Much better disco is coming from the same old sources. With all the other old 80's bands releasing new records, did you know that Shriekback had a new-ish one out? Yes, they put out "Life in the Loading Bay" back in December. I think it's worth your time, and here's my reasoning: Remember Michael Mann? Did that iconic TV series "Miami Vice"? Well, outside of that he's responsible for some ultra-gritty modern Noire movies like Thief, Manhunter and Heat. Well, he was a major league Shriekback fan, and used their music several times in his movies. That means the downbeat, burbling kinda greasy dance jazz that people use as a cliche for Crime scenes in movies? Yes, Shriekback invented and perfected that. No less a figure than Leonard Cohen has bitten off chunks of the Shriekback sound ( If you tell me that the Whole "Future" album owes nothing to Shriekback's "Oil and Gold" I will call you a liar). It's still a very relevant sound, as 99% of what gets called "Trip Hop" is just a slightly more linear version of the Shriekback sound. So, I think it's a big miss to skip them. Here's what I suggest: put on a sophisticated outfit. Mess it up, a bit. Go to a formerly glorious bar at three in the afternoon, order some kind of hard alcohol. Drink it quick, but stay in the bar at least an hour, watching people. Then, listen to Shriekback on your way back home. If you're not in your own personal Noire by the time you get there, you did something wrong. Whether you listen to Rock, Jazz or disco, don't you listen to music to feel something? That's why Shriekback. ( oh, and do check the link for Shriekback. they have some excellent blog posts, one of which is the whole reason for this post)

On the other hand

Much as I love the new Pandoras.box, and I do- I had to drive to the motor vehicle administration yesterday, and Monomeet was the ideal soundtrack for driving a country road in Maryland on a grey early spring day, I listen to a lot of music, and so I have listened to other music in the past week or so, but much of it will unjustifiably get the short end of my attention span because there's been so much good music in the past three or four weeks. So, if these come across as negative, it's only in comparison to stuff as great as Pandoras.Box....
Young Widows-In and out of Youth and lightness. It's decent post-metal. It's not as great as Pelican, or Isis, but still for stuff that's more sophisticated than Sludge, but not exactly "Metal"- yet still holds the Doomy-ambience of pound and crawl, it's decent. Strangely, it reminds me of Cop Shoot Cop, a bit...
Royal Bangs- We Breed Champions. Pop Math? A hybrid of Radiohead and Blink 182? I'm not quite certain. It's noisy indie rock with some odd bloops on keyboards. Yeah, I'm behind on them, but what do you want? I'm not hip.
Amateur Party-Truncheons in the Manor. My first impression? A very Garage rock version of the Kaiser Chiefs. Which isn't a bad thing. The Kaiser Chiefs are a good band to see live- the records are disposable. Likewise, this band, if they can bring the energy to the show seems like it'd be a fun show. I wonder if they'd tour with Capsula? That seems like it'd be exhausting, but worth it.
Lotus Feed- A Savage Breath within our Lives. Wow, these guys really LOVE the 80's. I mean REALLY. It's like Shriekback meets the Call to play a gig with Wire Train. Decent in a black eyeliner and costumes of ambiguous gender kind of way. I also get the feeling like English is a second language for these guys. A kind of Eastern European vibe, makes me think they play gigs in Poland and Austria....
The Lazy Cowgirls- Somewhere down the Line. And now for something completely different... I've been a fan of the Lazy Cowgirls since the late 1980's. They played a garagey form of Cowpunk, like a mix of the Ramones, early 1970's Rolling Stones and Waylon Jennings. By the early 1990's there was a pretty awesome "party Rock" scene going in Los Angeles; These guys and the Cadillac Tramps and Social Distortion, and the Hangmen, and a bunch of others. So, it's still nice every once in awhile to blast one of their records, and drive fast down a sunny Highway.
The Wails- EP. What's going on in Texas? Another great Shoegazer kind of band. A bit more Lush than Ride, a bit more Chapterhouse than My Bloody Valentine- but still really nice, pretty stuff.
Warm Widow- Widower. Sorry. I've already heard Chrome/Six Finger Satellite/Brainiac styled trebley Art damage punk. This just doesn't do much for me.
The Boxer Rebellion- The Cold Still. Ummm, it's better than Coldplay and Keane? Not really my deal.
Oh Land- Oh Land. Really Bjork-ish at times, as absurd as that might sound. What I mean is that it's pretty, sophisticated and avante Garde Dance pop. I might get into it sometime later, so I'll hang on to it.
White Lies- Ritual. Hmmm. It's very indebted to both the "coldwave" set, and Interpol, and Joy Division. It's good, but very... Naive? Raw? I'm not sure what the word is- the production is well done, and the musicianship is good, but there's something a bit juvenile about the songwriting, and the execution- not in a playful sense, far from it, but in a sophomoric, way too self-serious way. I think that given two more records they should be really excellent....

Pandoras.Box- Monomeet

If you've been reading my blog posts for over a year, you might recall my love for Pandoras.box. If not, ok here's a quick breakdown on what they do: amazing,atmospheric, adventurous experimental rock- sometimes they get called "post rock" but I wouldn't quite lump them in with the brilliant Scots ( Mogwai, Aerogramme, etc). Instead, I'd put them in with modern European progressive bands, like Radiohead, Kashmir, Silence is Sexy, Mew, Kasabian, dEUS, and Ghinzu ( and if you don't know those- start researching, immediately- you're only cheating yourself)
However, moreso than even Radiohead or Silence is Sexy, Pandoras.box play it very close to the vest what they're doing, or even who they are. So, the music must just be experienced to get a handle on it. You'll hear everything from nearly Stoner rock guitar freakouts to techno beats, to pure atmospheric washes of synthesized sounds. I know a lot of people want to compare such modern music to Pink Floyd, but if you must compare it to stuff from the 1970's, this is more germanic, more krautrock, more sharp than hazy drug references- the closest I could get to mainstream would be Steely Dan.
So, I must have lost track on them a bit because the second release is available as a digital download, now. Really stellar stuff, here. I highly suggest you follow the links and listen to some for yourself. As soon as I put on the new downloads I just got, they're once again one of my favorite bands. Best new tracks? I think "State of Rust" and "A nervous Smile" are the most immediate, but any of the songs are sweet and salty and light and dark- you can't really judge by just one movement what the dance is like, you know?
I think it's such a shame that this new album won't take the charts by storm. You'll note I've not done a review of the new Radiohead, nor the new Elbow, but as soon as I'd listened to Monomeet, I started posting- as that would suggest- I think this blows them away. You might disagree, and fair enough, but still give them a try, and see if it doesn't sink in deep and hook you.

Another New band with a name that is a sentence because just don't you love awkward, over-long titles

Because I'd heard the first record, and thought that it was a bit too tonally "challenging" (Read the guitar tone was so shrill it was like slowly poking your eardrums with screwdriver) I never gave another thought to "Brooklyn's Loudest band"- A Place to Bury Strangers. However, when they came up because I was professing my taste for the new Ringo Deathstarr long player, I grudgingly watched a youtube clip or two, and found the songs from the newer release much better. So, please understand I really would suggest avoiding the first record, but the second may be worth a few minutes of your time. The sound is a mostly loud shoegazer variation- along the lines of Ride or Jesus and Mary Chain, but with a martial metronomic drums sound, a la Interpol, or Joy Division. The end result seems like a prime example of what might be called second generation American Coldwave- akin to what Blacklist, Workers or Veil Veil Vanish are doing. They're not as good as Workers, but better than Blacklist. Picture a noisier variation on what Interpol is doing, and you're not far off. Just, whatever you do- avoid watching interviews with the band, as a more annoying bunch of Williamsburg hipsters would be hard to imagine. Download Exploding head to your itunes, eliminate 3 or 4 of the more meandering numbers, and you've got a decent EP...

Ringo DeathStarr

OK, now that I've had a chance to listen to the new Ringo Deathstarr a couple of times, let me talk about why I'm excited over it:
Have you ever noticed how people at a certain age calcify a bit? For example, the basketball fan, who still lionizes the team and players he liked when he was 20? A much closer example- Classic rock radio for baby boomers. Listening to nothing made past 1980, for 20 years, because "today's music ain't got the same soul" is exactly the kind of calcification I mean. Of course I suffer from that a bit. For me, it's the alternative Rock just barely pre-grunge. In some ways, my aesthetics stopped in 1990. Fortunately, it's not total for me, and I have enjoyed music that would not even be possible in 1991. Some of that even has aesthetics that run counter to the music I liked in 1988. For example, I don't think you'll find much ground between Sleigh Bells-styled noise pop and Killing Joke. However, I have just enough sediment hardening in the old taste buds that I do think that we're seeing the waning years of rock aesthetics. I just don't see a whole lot radically new and different coming down from that particular pike.
So, enough mixing metaphors- the situation is that Ringo Deathstarr have a reputation for sounding exactly like My Bloody Valentine, circa Loveless. If they did, I would still like them- I can think of few things that I would like to do more than mastering such a sublime sound. However, the truth seems a little bit off from that. Yes, there is a very lot of MBV in their sound- but it's tempered with the punk rush of Jesus and Mary chain. There's some buzzsaw underneath the woozy oceans of processed guitars. There are others who get just as close to the "Loveless' sound- Asobi Seksu, and Blonde Redhead spring to mind. But all of the others seem to concentrate more on the shimmery wallow of the feedback, and less on that incredible right hand tremolo of Kevin Shields. The real similarity between Ringo Deathstarr and say, Asobi Seksu, lies in the breathy little girl vocals buried under echoes that owe a lot to Bilinda Butcher. However, if we look past that, Ringo Deathstarr is a very different band, indeed.
So, yes, there is a lot of My Bloody Valentine on this record. Again, I'm good with that. However, there's a fair amount of Jesus and Mary Chain, some New Order, and even a little bit of Boris in there as well. They play faster, and with more aggression than most of those influences, though. So, is it nostalgic? More than a bit. However, given the prevalence of at least a Shoegazer influence in bands from Silversun Pickups to Best Coast to Isis, I'd say that the nostalgia quotient is arguable. It would appear to be quite contemporary, as well- Ringo Deathstarr are thus much more "purists' than 'revivalists". Yes, that sounds somewhat perverse, given the band's careless attitude- but here's what I mean- rather than being a shoegaze influenced band, or a "nugaze' band, they are trying to be as purely about the shoegaze sound as were the original bands. When I think of a 'revival" - it's about trying to bring something back- about carrying something forward into the present tense. When i think of a "purist" is about trying to isolate and preserve something- about keeping it out of the present tense. In either sense, it's a kind of time travel wish- the revivalist wants to bring the past back around, while the purist wants to stop time.
All that is probably getting far too esoteric- here's the hard and fast Aristotelian reality- Ringo Deathstarr play loud, lush, uptempo heavily distorted post punk with digital effects. I rather like that sound whether we're talking 1987, 1997, 2007 or probably 2017. So, despite the fact that this may reflect something about my age and character, I'm just as excited as I was in 1991....