I never hated Coldplay. They seemed a bit 'chick rock'- not in a lilith fair kinda way, which would actually be halfway cool, more in a cynical Christopher Cross kind of way. But, not offensive, not evil. That changes, now. The cover of Fight for Your Right (to Party)? Loathsome. Utterly degenerate.
First of all, it's like doing a memorial to the Pope by re-enacting the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, in either case, a major event, but not exactly what either party would want to remember. Beyond that, let the guy have a moment. If you're gonna play his song, play it his way.
But, we all really know why they played that song, that way, don't we? It was the song the most audience members would know, and played  in the Coldplay "formula" so that the audience could feel like Coldplay were being "heartfelt"- That's pure cynical manipulation.
On top of that, it's emphasizing the worst part of Coldplay's sound- hopelessly simplistic melodies, with narcotic overtones- like Pink Floyd at their worst. It's bad music, played for bad motives. No, thank you.

For Fellow Travellers

Adam Yauch. You already know why. Here's why you should spare him a moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64lWVE3Tg2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf1YF_MH1xc&ob=av2e
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rRZdiu1UE&ob=av2e
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKNmLMs7ugw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNfTBzgLX8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He2M9Bbp0GA

Aeges- The Bridge

You can stream the album here.
I don't know what it is with me, lately. I swear I'm not concentrating on extremely loud rock on purpose. I mean, my wife and I just bought tickets to see The Hives in June, and I really like the new Nicki Minaj track,
so it's not like I think I'm writing for The Soda Shop, or Elementary Revolt or something. It's just what's in front of me, right now. Anyway, Aeges are members of Pelican, and The Rise, both of which are awesome bands, and the music they make is what you might expect from such beginnings- it's soaring post-metal sludge riffs married to an angled post punk attack. People keep on mentioning Quicksand, and I don't hear that, but it does feature that kind of density. I'm hearing more of a desert-stoner vibe mixed with a post-hardcore dissonance, Stoner-math? Queens of the Skronk age? I don't know, but it feels uplifting at a time when it's easier to feel depressed than optimistic, so I like it.

Prong- Carved into Stone

Frustratingly good.
Victor can play his ass off. That's why he shows up on everything from Danzig to Ministry records. So, it's a given that the guitars are stunning. Furthermore, the guy is a pro sound engineer. So, the sound is great. While he doesn't have Ted Parsons , nor Raven, he does have Tony Campos, and Alexei Rodriguez.The songs are crunchy, thrashy, and melodic. The problem is that he doesn't have what he had in 1996- But the strength is that he still remembers what he had in 1996- an incredible right hand- seriously, there's no guitarist, metal or otherwise with a better control of his picking hand. So, it's frustratingly decent. You know it could be incredible, but Raven is dead, Parsons is in England, Terry Date isn't exactly on the same level with Victor. If this set got the same presentation as Rude Awakening, it would blow that record away, but as is, it's merely good.

Torche- Harmonicraft part 2

OK, like I said, I'm coming back to it, now that it's been released. I sincerely hope you've listened to it, and bought it, because it's definitely more than worthwhile.
So, what do I think of it? Well, the first thing that's overwhelming about it is the sense of joy. Seriously, joy. It's not really a "funny" record, it's not comedy, although some things may strike you as funny. But, I think the thing that makes it seem so much more inviting and fun is the obvious relish, and yes, sheer joy these guys seem to have for playing music. It makes me think about how a sense of joy is missing in otherwise great music. Like the stoner-sludge-doom background for these guys- how many of those bands convey joy? Maybe humour, maybe satisfaction, but so rarely is it joy.
The other thing that dovetails with that, is how beautiful some of the playing is. For example, the title track is an instrumental echo-pedal workout that manages to both be crushingly heavy, and delicately pretty in a way that I haven't heard too often- the only two examples that come to mind are Dave Navarro's early Jane's Addiction work, and Tom Morello's work in Audioslave.
I realize that I do the Generation X comparison/analogy thing to utter death, but just as a reference for you, bands that I hear echoes of in the music- the guitars remind me of God Machine, Workers, U2, Melvins and Low Pop Suicide, and Jane's Addiction. The song writing, again, Jane's Addiction, but also Husker Du, Superchunk, Heatmiser, and Neurosis. The singing reminds me of Ozzy, and Helmet , Dinosaur Jr and God Machine. The beats range from Husker Du to Rush to Black Sabbath. Yes, those are a lot of bands, but not many of them suck, now do they? The point is that this is really heavy Alt-rock- not so very different from the pre- Nirvana "Alternative Nation" stuff, but modernized with a greater range in both harmony and sheer sonics. Hell, there is a bit in "Solitary Traveller" that reminds me of My Bloody Valentine and just a few minutes later, there's a bit in "Looking On" that's not so different from Floor- thus bridging the gap between unrepentant sludge and dream pop.
The lyrics are more impressions than anything coherent but if you're looking for poetry, seriously, crank up the guitars.
The folks at Pitchfork hate it, and most others love it. I think that says a lot, right there- I think you'd have to be a contrarian asshole to not find something at least likeable. Still, I have two complaints- first that they seem to have done away with the Bomb string. Yes, it was a gimmick, but I liked it. The other complaint is that they mastered it a bit "hot"- there's some distortion in the recording, itself- but not so extreme as to sound intentional, like Milligram. It's more like a minor nuisance that sometimes, the bass distorts out, so you hear mush, not sludge.
Still, a near-perfect record. But, believe it or not, despite all the massive hooks and bombastic solos- it's actually a subtle album filled with not-so subtle joy- the subtlety lies in the marriage of extreme metal trappings to early 1990's alt-rock pop- drawing out alternative ways of hearing seminal music, and a new barometer for music yet to be made.

Record Store Day

I Couldn't make it to a record store today, so, instead I ordered the Bomb 11" record "The Challenger" from No Idea records, directly. Yeah, on one level, that's not the point of Record Store day. I know you're supposed to go to a brick and mortar indie record store, and purchase some super hip piece of vinyl, to show off to our your friends with Fixie bikes.
Here's what I take from Record Store day- rather than downloading to your itunes account, in a faceless transaction,  Record Store day is about celebrating the human transactions of buying commercial art. So, I bought from people I know ( I used to work in Rocknroll, you know? think I've never been to Gainesville?) to support musicians I know ( I first met Jeff when Naked Raygun was touring the "All Rise" record) . Furthermore, it's an 11" record ( no typo) so there's no CD or download equivalent, now is there?

Pelican-Ataraxia Taraxis

A little less Rock, a little more Art tonight. However, Pelican still rock. I don't know if I'd still call them "Post metal", but then, I never did, really. Instead, I think of them as a really heavy Instrumental indie rock band. But, your milage may differ.

So, yes, there are no vocals, and no guitars don't get much louder. Still, it's not so concerned with challenge, this go around. Instead the songs are like the best bridge sections of the extended live versions of your favorite Rock songs. You know, where the band just plays, and it's not so much about hyping the crowd up, as it is about just enjoying the moment? So, no, this isn't as complex as some of their past releases, but I still really like it. One track, "Parasite Colony" even reminds me of a really heavy passage from a Thin White Rope song- so yeah, that's high praise. Still good stuff, I'd say.

Torche Harmonicraft

I don't own it yet. It hasn't been released yet. But I will own it. I heard some of the songs when they played live, and you can stream the record (yuck, I had to link to Spin magazine) so I am ready to give a preliminary thought on it. It's even more Pop than Meanderthal, but it's exactly up my alley. It reminds me of an unsung (except by me, I think) band- Workers. It's got that same melodic blasting- like U2 meets early Jane's Addiction meets 1st album BRMC meets Kyuss- see how that goes from Pop to less pop to post punk to rock? Well, that's how the songs are with Torche-at first, you're assaulted by the Pop sheen, then you start to notice the subversion, then, you notice that really that guitar is mighty loud, and before the short track ends, you realize that it's monstrously heavy, but performed so tightly, that it seems more pop than it is. So, if you like Stoner/Grunge/Alternative loud rock, give it at least two listens. The first just to get the initial impression, and the second to realize what you actually heard. In that spirit- this will be the first word on the new LP from me. The second will come when the record is released, and I get a chance to listen to the CD/LP ( whichever I get first). I think it's the only way to be fair to this band.

Dick Clark

Rest in peace old man. For the man, himself, I hope he had a good life, and that his passing was easy for him and his family.

As a cultural force, however, he wasn't much to me. I got into radio more for Shadoe Stevens, Casey Kasem, and Rodney Bingenheimer. I think Don Cornelius, Dick Cavett, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson were better television hosts.

Dick Clark's persona, as the World's Oldest Teenager, diminished rock and roll, and our culture, as a result. I think he served as the face of the homogenization of American culture. So, no, I don't mourn Dick Clark. Again, I hope that life was good for the man, himself. I don't hate him. But I hope that something better replaces him in our culture.

Return of Da King

Well, not everything is music. I got the new Mark Leyner book, though I've not yet got a chance to read it. Who's Mark Leyner? Well, I discovered his high powered absurdist pop culture satire with his book "Et, Tu, Babe" back in the mid 1990's. Then I read some of his Esquire articles, and I even read "Why do men have nipples" which is the closest thing to non-fiction in his canon. So, I was happily surprised to hear he's got a new fiction out, called "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack". From the sounds of things, this time it's pop religion, reality TV and procedurals that gets his blown out hyperbolic satire. It should be good. I realize, I'm basically a hack journalist who's not even bothering to edit on this blog, but I swear, I've got decent taste in writers, and actually know that Leyner is, in certain technical aspects, a better Satirist than our esteemed Dr Hunter S Thompson.

So, give it a look-see, huh?