A few Thoughts on Crossover

So, it's almost Christmas, thus my thoughts naturally turn to Metal. Yeah, right.

Actually, I've been reading "This Ain't the Summer of love" by Steve Waksman, and while it's not the worst bit of music criticism disguised as cultural anthropology I've ever read, it is merely that- this is just his way of writing about some bands he likes, and he managed to get it into book form because he got some grants from a few universities. His point is that Metal and Punk are connected, and while he's not wrong, he misses a whole lot; not the least of which goes something like this: His title is from a Blue Oyster Cult song. In the late 1970's, Blue Oyster Cult collaborated with Patti Smith, and their in-house producer, Sandy Pearlman, also produced the Clash's 2nd LP. The song in question "This ain't the Summer of love' shares a riff with Mudhoney's "Swallow my Pride", and a big song for BOC, "Godzilla" was very similar to a few Nirvana riffs, including "Smells Like Teen Spirit"... That's off the top of my head- I could get deeper, easily, but I don't think Waksman could, seeing as he's just a recovering "Hessian' ( Los Angeles punk rock slang for Metal head)

Anyway, enough about the book because it's just my jumping off point. Punk and Metal clearly are closely related, but mostly because they're both hard rock, and roughly contemporary. However, I'm a pretty big fan of punk, and really not such a big fan of Metal. That's more what I want to discuss.

See, I know I've mentioned metal on this blog, and on previous blogs and even in printed articles, and so, it might seem like I'm some kind of metal head, but I'm not and the reasons are many. I'm not a big believer in Virtuosos. I'm not impressed by speed picking, hammer ons and the like. I know plenty of music theory, and I can play well enough that I've passed for professional, but I just don't care for the whole notion that sheer technical prowess is musically more worthy. Shredding just doesn't mean much to me. Likewise, I don't give a rats ass about Frodo or the Devil. Fantasy and occult lyrics mean less than nothing to me. I don't like long hair, bullet belts, or black leather, either. Spandex is best left to strippers and pro-wrestlers. On top of all that, there inevitably is something... vaguely trashy about metal, in an unappealling way. What I mean is, ummm, well, let's do this by way of a story. Most socialists struggle a bit with the dichotomy between wanting to do what's best for "the masses" and the short-comings of those same 'masses". I had a friend who resolved this dichotomy by dividing up the Proletariat between the proles and the "lumpen Proletariat". I disagree, respectfully, but I can see what he meant. That's the kind of problem I've got with Metal- it always seems to lead to ignorant hickoid trash, of the least amusing kind- racists, close minded bigots, sexist pigs, etc. Do I have to bring up Zakk Wylde, or were you already there with me? I can deal with Cat Scratch Fever, but do I have to take Ted Nugent, too? See what I'm getting at?

So, almost reflexively, the only Metal I like shares some kind of 'crossover" with Punk. I can deal with the aforementioned Blue Oyster Cult in that their music fits in, at least in enough ways, with the detroit "Proto punk' style. I'm ok with Tru$T, and, very early Iron Maiden, because DiAnno was a bit of a punk, and hell, Jimmy Pursey even got thrown into the mix (East Enders, all). Likewise, bands like Kylesa and Torche have roots in Southern Crust punk, and it shows enough that I like them.

And what do I have to say about Motorhead? Isn't it obvious that they're as much a Punk band as a Metal band?

If you are a big Metal head, I know we share some musical tastes, but there are some points of divergence, and I'm bringing up that divergence because Waksman reminded me-

ultimately, the reason why I'm not real keen on Metal comes down to this- the divide isn't academic. When someone throws a punch at you, either for liking a band he doesn't, or for not liking a band he does, or, horrors, for both, it tends to turn you off to everything that clown likes. Well, I had more than a few punches thrown at me from Metal heads. Everything beyond that is just icing on the cake of hate. If Waksman missed anything important, it's that- there were plenty of real, not verbal fights between punks and Metal heads in the 80's. I haven't forgotten that, so I still have a bit of a grudge against Metal as a genre....

I don't Do "Best Of" Lists

However, I've not put anything new under your nose in awhile. Why that is would be a combination of three factors; 1. I'm too busy working two jobs, and taking care of a household, and buying stuff for other people. 2. Really, music-wise, book-wise, and Film-wise, there hasn't been anything in the past month or so that really spoke to me. Now, TV, on the other hand- Boardwalk Empire is AMAZING! you must watch it at your earliest convenience. The acting? Michael Shannon, and Michael Pitt were just ungodly good. Steve Buscemi actually isn't playing Steve Buscemi. This is something harder, and more menacing. I like it. Gretchen Mol has finally redeemed herself from that horrible Bettie page movie, and is playing a vicious psycho who reminds me of my ex-wife ( and how's that for playing the villian?) and Kelly Macdonald finally, finally, Finally pays off that promised she showed in Trainspotting. The production? Hell, this is the most beautiful depiction of the prohibition era since prohibition. Just absolutely gorgeous. It blows away stuff like the Coen Brothers' attempts (Millers Crossing, and O, Brother) and yes, the Godfather flicks.The story is very loosely based upon the real-life Enoch Johnson, and, yes, some of the fun is in the docu-drama aspect, but there has been enough variation on real life that I'm rivetted to my seat- and nothing hammered in those rivets more than the season finale. I won't give you any spoilers, but I will say that the real-life counterpart to a major character was very much alive into the 1970's- so the point is that there are no rules- the story will play out, and what a story it is. Basically, it imagines a noirish world in which all are corrupt, and the only real nobility is if your corruption serves the greater good. In terms of plot, it centers around the efforts of Enoch 'Nucky" Thompson to run Atlantic City at the time when it was the Vice Capital of the USA. Beyond that, you can google it. But, hey, I'm getting distracted.... I'm just meaning to say the Boardwalk Empire has been the sole new pop culture thing to really catch me since the beginning of december.

So, since I don't do best of lists, since that would imply that I've not only got taste, but that my tastes are worth emulating, I'm just giving you a list of the 15 musical releases I've listened to the most this year. All are truly spectacular, and I think all are worth your time. Of course there's no hierarchy, and, of course, I listened to other stuff, but I just dumped itunes, and I happened to notice what had been most played, and these were the 2011 releases:

Gang of Four- Content

Ringo Deathstarr- Colour Trip

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Belong

The United Sons of Toil-When the Revolution comes, Everything will be Beautiful

Pandoras. Box- Monomeet

Wire- Red Barked Tree

Ritual-Paper Skin

Red Fang- Murder the Mountains

Cute Lepers- Adventure Time

dEUS- Keep you Close

Kasabian- Velociraptor!

Wild-Flag-Wild Flag

Lydia Loveless- Indestructible Machine

Wilco- the Whole Love

Coliseum-Parasites (ep)

Most of them should be available at Amazon, and Bandcamp. There's your christmas list if you don't already have them.

Giving Doubletwist a whirl

As the title states, I'm trying Doubletwist as an alternative to Itunes. It's... different, so far. Uploading was a freakin' breeze, and compatability doesn't appear to be an issue. I mean, 2000 songs uploaded in 10 minutes, that's not bad. And I lost no artwork, or whatever. playlists are organized a bit different, and I'm still learning there. It's easier just to right click and play in Windows Media player (which,by the way, sounds pretty good via headphones- seriously, I've not had bass response like this in quite awhile. Some of the highs are a bit mushy, but I've gotten fairly used to a pretty tinny sound, so I might be adjusting)
We're not quite at the Honeymoon, here, but not a bad introduction.

Except when I don't

Well, Apple, it was fun for a little bit. I'm done with you. Safari was a good browser, and I really liked my Ipod, but I was never the biggest fan of Itunes, and, now, with the Icloud, Ping, Home sharing crap, I view your products as a threat to my well being.
See, I got this shiny new laptop, and it really is shiny and new, all silvery and speedy. Then, I tried to upload itunes on. First, it wouldn't let me download it. Seems my shiny new laptop is a bit too shiny and new for anything but the absolute latest version of Itunes, the one that comes preloaded to operate on the cloud. Which would be OK if it retained functionality, but it didn't. See, I couldn't access my library. Worse yet, when I tried to access through Home sharing, I got someone else's library. Yes, I couldn't believe that either! I mean, I was using my information. My username, my password, my email address, the works, and yet, there I was, staring down a list of bad Nu-metal and pop country tunes owned by what I can only presume is a girl in dire need of therapy - and Amy K, if you ever stumble across my email that I sent you, before you delete it because you think I'm some kind of Nigerian Prince scam, I wish you the best of luck, and whoever is the guy who made you so hurt and angry, he's not worth it.
But, Apple, things got worse. I was still trying to make it work. After all, I'd invested so much time and money in you. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 songs purchased, not to mention the hardware, and all the time spent trying to recover from previous crashes, glitches, and problems. But, you were unavailable. No easy access to a help desk, unless I gave you a product code, but there is no product code to itunes, is there? I had a certainty inside that it wouldn't work. But I finally found a few places to email, and so I did.
Then, I heard back from you. More precisely, from Theresa. Theresa, I know you're just working a shit job. I know this because one of my jobs isn't so very different from yours. Theresa, I know you need information to do your job, but you don't need the personal data that you were asking for. I'm not going to sell out Amy K, either. On top of that, my kaspersky LIT UP every time I opened one of your emails. Worms, trojans, viruses: you're carrying more threats than a Somali hooker with a poorly made AK. It was then that my heart turned and hardened. I realized how bad our relationship has been.
I will find love again. I know I will. One of my real friends will set me up. When I fall in Love, I'm doggedly loyal, and I'm shameless in promoting. When I love something, or someone, I love them all the way, except when I don't. Then, I leave them behind me like excrement. Worth nothing but disgust. Yes, Apple you disgust me. Go fellate Jobs' corpse, you cancerous piece of trash. I mean it. Just like that. You've betrayed me for the last time. I won't trust you, and I don't like you. I hope that effing Coby electronics outsells you. I hope that someone hacks your new Iphone, and makes your operating system a cheap concubine for Russian Mobsters. Go die.

mmm mmm I luuuv technology

So, still setting up the new computer. Actually, two computers. I got a Dell Inspirion as the "home" computer, meaning that it belongs mostly to my wife, but I can use it, too. She's got a netbook, and an HP Laptop for her use, as well. But, what I'm typing on is my new Toshiba Satellite. I got a rather low end model, nearly discontinued- one of the 4 gig, 2 ghz 755 models. Why? Well because I actually trust Toshiba. As far as corporate behemoths go, they're not so evil. But also because they make relatively reliable stuff. So, why go so low end? Because, so long as I've got a decent dvd/blu ray drive, and enough memory to run IE and Open Office, and a few USB ports, I don't need anything more. Really, I probably could have managed with a 2 Gig version, but then, it's a 1.6 ghz processing speed, and I'm used to have about 2ghz speed, and this one was en vente, at a muy bien price. The idea is to keep processes to a minimum, on the hard drive, and keep everything on external drives. Also, I'm OK with Microsoft, I've got good friends who work at Microsoft, but I was almost convinced to go mac, based upon how horrible Vista was, and how clunky MS office was becoming. Can I say that I hated it? Yeah, pretty much. So, I wasn't going to go full bore PC. I can still run IE happily, and Windows 7 is back up to snuff. Certainly not better than a Mac, but not so much worse. But, Office, I'm done with. I like Open office so far, and yes, I've got friends at Oracle, as well. I do have google chrome preloaded on this sucker, so there's always that option, as well. The only other "big" thing, is that I'm going to have to download Itunes on here. I'm worried about that, a bit. I've got somewhere around 1600 songs on 11 CDS to load, and we'll see how that works.
But, in the meantime, I've got, essentially, a netbook, with word processing, a blu-ray player, and a cool wireless mouse, and decent 25 watt speakers, at under the price of an IPad. So, yeah, so far, so good.

I've been away

No, I'm not dead. Just busy. And somewhat bummed out. And well, typing this on a new computer, which says that yes, the old one is dead. So, while I can't say I'll be putting up a whole lot of posts in the near future, but there might be some forthcoming. Again, if somebody tells you "But we really need to have you" for a second job, really consider if you need them.

Never let me down

Yes, I've got stuff to say- but no time to say it in. On top of my insane work schedule, I've got relatives visiting in short order. So I really cannot post much. I know that this lets down the entire world, as I've been posting so consistently lately (sarcasm can be printed, you just have to know the author).

So, just a thought to tide me over- I have two main jobs, right now. Bothare basically servicing the needs of rather wealthy people. Without getting too deep into it, you know that line in Fight Club- We watch you while you sleep- well, it's true. I get compensated middle class wages, which is good. But, I'm seen as being part of the machines I operate- these people depend on me, and don't realize it. For example, a very big reality TV star uses my services. I'm not stupid, so I know what they are doing, and so, I don't need the tabloids, I do know their secrets, and probably could make a mint by spilling said secrets. But, then, I'd have to live with myself, and quite frankly, it's against my sense of propriety to divulge these things I know. But, it irks me that so many wealthy people are so utterly base, debased, venal, and crapty humans. have you seen what Spencer Pratt wrote? It's ironic, because he's basically flogging a book, probably so's he'll get some additional fame and fortune, but what he says about the commercial nature of all things celebrity is dead on the money (all puns intended). If you buy into the celebrity culture, you're literally buying in, and I'm warning you now, it's a sick game where you'll never get what they promised you.

Alt Country?

More of a by-the-bye than a real post: you may have noticed some "alt country" in my tastes. I hate that term. Rocknroll, by its very nature is a mix between the blues and country. It wasn't just white people playing the blues- especially because the guys who pioneered it, like Ike Turner and Little Richard were black. It was incorporating what was around- so, from the gaelic and Scots high country interpreting American Swing you derive American Western Swing, then, add some Latino cowboy chords, and you get the kind of Country that people heard- hillbilly music. You add that to the gospel, and jazz derived blues formats, and you get rocknroll. If it was just White guys playing the blues and not a real mix, it'd be a lot slower, and a lot more modal- less open and major chords...

For me, then, Rocknroll inherently has a country element. I've been hearing it since I was a boy, and it was that lack of the electrified country tempo that was killing my love for music in the late seventies. I don't hate the disco beat, and I like funk. I'm ok even with the blues, but minus that hillbilly shuffle, and it gets pretty flaccid.

For me, therefore, a lot of what gets called "alt country" just sounds like rocknroll to me. I've been listening to it about as long as anything else- starting with True West, and then, the Americana side of the Dream Syndicate, and the more pronounced "Death Country" (Thanks George, for that term) of Thin White Rope, all the way back in 1984-85, going through stuff that actually made the country charts like Dwight Yoakam and the Mavericks, into Uncle Tupelo, and Son Volt and Wilco, to the present day, it's always been a part of what I listen to (oh, and bear in mind, I'm skipping over the " Cowpunk" of bands in Los Angeles- everyone from Los Lobos, The Minutemen, The Gun Club, to the Blasters, and X, as I just think of all that as Punk Rock, not even rocknroll)- so much like Alternative rock- Alternative to What?? It's just rocknroll to me....

Hybrid Moments

So, the past couple of days, I've been listening to what might get called hybrid music- for example, Lydia Loveless and her country/punk stylings. I'm not sure if I really think of this stuff as hybrid music. I mean, right this second, I'm listening to "Old Folks Boogie" by Jack Oblivian, from his new one "Rat City". I can hear the memphis R&B and the early 1970's rock and soul connection, and I can hear the Crypt/Sympathy for the Record Industry garage-rock production, where treble is clarity, and bass is blur. So, I know that it's got hybrid characteristics, but it still sounds whole to me, following its own thing. I mean, without the labels, I'd just think of it as a particularly funky garage boogie. For yet more clarity, I've been listening to Mariachi El Bronx II, which most folks classify as "The Bronx playing Mariachi music". But, it's not straight Mariachi music, at least not traditional Mariachi music. It's not the Rocking thrash punk that the Bronx specialize in, either. It's too uptempo to be Mariachi, but the instrumentation isn't rock. So, is that a hybrid between the two, or is it something new? I'm not sure. It's not a goof on traditional music, like how I get the feeling that Hayseed Dixie is a goof on both Ac/Dc and bluegrass. Let's not forget that Rocknroll is a "hybrid" to begin with, and rarely stays pure even to that supposed blend (Country and Blues). Of course, it's tempting to say it's all just "music", and who needs labels , Maaaaaan. But, that isn't honest, either, because Mariachi El Bronx has little in common with Jack Oblivian nor Lydia Loveless. So, what is it, a hybrid, or a flavour? a colouring? a shade? a mix? a mash up? Hard to say, hard to say....

BLAAARG!

So, it's the time of year where I start to get grouchy. Not really seasonally affected, just grouchy. See, Christmas is coming soon, and my office is near a mall. So, I have to put up with about ten times the bad driving than I normally do. Also, because of the increased commute time, it means I do see the sun very little (less than 20 minutes in a day). On top of that, the forced festiveness of the season makes me irritated, as well. So, grouchy, yes. Depressed, no.

This is why I start looking for more aggressive music about this time. I'm just as big a fan of the other Arts, but music is for my emotional states, more than my philosophical stance, or my need for human connection ( though everything plays into everything; I'm not suffering from too much alienation)

So, here's three new bits of aggression that have been an appropriate soundtrack to my commute.

First is Lydia Loveless' "Indestructible Machine" which I have mentioned at least once before. Really, it's suiting me very well- it's country punk, but not like you think. This is more like The Clash running into Loretta Lynn, than some naff Eagles with distortion. Lydia's characters are alcoholics, pure and simple. Her voice is right up there with Lucinda Williams in the authenticity bracket, even if her songwriting isn't that great, yet, but her band makes up for it in pure drunken passion. I'm impressed.

Second is the new Coliseum EP, "Parasites". Wow, these guys just go from strength to strength. Stoner rock, Punk, hardcore, and edgy postpunk beat up in a blender with a handful of railroad spikes. If you like at least two of those genres, you should at least give them a listen. I've said before how they're a great fit for my musical tastes, and i stand by that, here. This is exactly what I want to hear when I just got cut off by some grandma in a minivan, talking on her archival cellphone.

Finally, we've got Poland's Joe Sixpack, with their new one "Riders of the Bomb". Yup, it's hardcore. Complete with strained vocals, and sloppy musicianship. The songs squeal, thrash, and wander, just the way I want hardcore to be. Aggressive, self-indulgent, and immature- like a temper tantrum. very nice, I like it.