Deadly, Deadly Bees

I'm bad at this.

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:46:19 -0400

I’m not out of this yet, though. Some of my favorite albums to come.

Mini review

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:13:00 -0400

Archer has been making my laugh out loud repeatedly.

Darondo

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:21:28 -0400

A mythos is fun, whether or not its true. Darondo may or may not have been a pimp, he may or may not have travled the world collecting interesting artifacts, he may or may not have been a Bay Area cable television personality, but both wikipedia and allmusic agree that he worked as a physical therapist later in life, and at some point recorded some serious damn jams.

Musically, Darondo’s career had somewhat of a limited scope. He only recorded a couple of albums, a single and an EP, but damn. Smooth and soulful only start to describe the hot buttery sounds that are presently spilling out of my speakers.

I love saying I knew about artists and bands long before other people, but this shit was news to me. I love it and have welcomed it into my music collection with open arms. I think, just maybe, if you could hear tits, they would sound like this. I will be really missing out by not seeing him at bonnaroo this year. Anyway, I’m gonna tag this with “hunger games” for no particular reason.

Moon Taxi

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:19:51 -0400

The emo kids listened to too much folk and jam bands, and now we have a problem. I like longful lyrics and electronic doodley doos as much as the next guy but something seems insincere about Moon Taxi. They always look just a little too pleased with themselves, too. While I don’t find their music distasteful, per se, I just think there are markedly better examples what they have to offer. I’m just not 100% on what that might be. Maybe a neo-hippy electronic take on blind melon? I might have developed a more classical taste in psychedelia, but that’s not to say that older is better. Those recordings are from 67, 85, and 99 respectively. What I’m getting around to is that its easy to impress kids on drugs, and that’s great, but it does not necessarily translate into staying power once the trip is gone. I once thought hooping to Gorillaz was the greatest thing ever. Turns out I was wrong. and for no particular reason I’m including a link to this. Draw your own conclusions.

Minecraft, bonnaroo, and productivity

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:58:46 -0400

I need a break from building my galleon and doing battle in the nether. Actually, I need to just start being more productive. So coming up in the next day or so, I think I’ll start working through the Bonnaroo 2012 lineup. Unfortunately I can’t make it this year, but I miss the old campgrounds.

Endless Routine

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:15:00 -0500

I was asked to take a look at the electro-post-industrial-ambient music project Endless Routine (tumblr here). They decribe themselves as a blend of

“electronica, industrial music, rock music, alternative music and hip-hop together to create a neat blend of abrasive electronic music, using multiple different styles of electronica to create a diverse range of songs.”

Although I didn’t really catch on to the hip hop influences (except maybe One Inch Punch), I could hear where they are coming from. But what I heard still sounds very under developed. This project is still very young and in danger of riding Nine Inch Nail’s coat tails a little too hard. There is potential here, don’t get me wrong. Teenage Lust was an interesting song that could be a really cool song with some revision. The second half of the album could even stand alone as an EP.

If I could give some advice (and another batch of links), it would be this. Don’t try to spread yourself too thin. If you want to do industrial, do it. Your influences will come through without you listing them as part of your style. Get back to your roots. If you want be “abrasive” then you have got to rub some more grime on it. Lastly don’t be afraid to take your foot off the brake. Oh, and if you don’t have any, get some combat boots. Couldn’t hurt. I’ll keep my eye on future releases.

I only heard about skrillex in the past couple of weeks after...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:29:00 -0500

I only heard about skrillex in the past couple of weeks after someone told me dub step was getting popular. I recalled some fond memories of listening to the late night 2 step and dub remixes on the radio, and broke out a couple of my favorite old jungle cassettes for fun (Lion live in arizona new years eve 98-99, and one I only know as “the yellow tape”). Then I actually heard Skrillex, and he was playing the same song over and over.

It sounds like someone watered down my acid that I was getting straight from Aphex Twin’s tap. I thought someone took little bits from Autechre and Squarepusher and made a neat little pop song out of them. Even his use of kids in his videos looks like what Chris Cunningham was doing for Aphex twin and Squarepusher. I know i’m not the first be down on him (and I won’t be the last), but better late than never.

Placebo

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:20:54 -0500

I want to write music reviews, but it can be hard knowing where to start. I don’t usually follow the most current trends. That being the case, I decided to begin with what I know. One of my favorite bands is Placebo. So I’ll talk about them now.

I am transported back to a place soaked in gin and cigarette smoke. Dark rooms that smell like ether. Crawling on the floor towards the silhouette of someone you’re sure will be your savior. Knowing absolutely what love is and throwing my gauntlet in its face at every turn. A time of concerts and parties, lost friends and ones that showed up unexpectedly out of the rubble. We owned that town and we were no one. Trying desperately to find an identity for ourselves, wanting our little experiences to matter in a bigger way. All the time not knowing what it meant to actually have something matter, like trying to speak a language we had only heard of. We romanticized our exploits and chased them like an increasingly dangerous animal through the forest, and some of us didn’t make it out.

Placebo didn’t make us act like this. I actually was one of the few people in my circle of friends who listened to them, and the only one who was such an outright fan. We were mostly punk rockers with a smattering of goths thrown in for good measure. And that is a good start on how to describe Placebo, except I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the glam rock overtones that are make a more complete package. I feel, though, that describing them as a band is somewhat irrelevant, seeing as how they have been internationally famous for over 15 years now.

There is something I hear in the progression of their albums that I don’t think has widely been touched upon. One can almost identify a particular cast of characters within their albums. Beginning in their self titled album form ‘96 we hear a very young voice struggling to find its way through. This is most obviously shown in the songs Nancy Boy and Teenage Angst, but I found it clearly visible throughout. 1998’s Without You I’m Nothing gives us a voice more sure about his place in the world that our hero has carved out for himself. He no longer seems like the newcomer. There is a new intensity, though. With establishing himself there are more clear lines of friends and enemy. The emotions are more focused. There is also a sense of loss, possibly from leaving behind a part of life that is no longer compatible. The next albums carry on exploring this life and the themes of loss, redemption, and soul searching. Also maturing this entire time has been the bands musical style, adding in more layering of sounds and electronics into the mix. Musical experimentation to go along with the social experimentation that they are singing about.

When the band replace drummer Steve Hewitt after Meds, though, I lost some interest. Their followup album Battle For The Sun did not carry the same weight for me. I found it more of a return to the more rock oriented sound of their early work and not the stylistic step forward I had been expecting. After songs like Space Monkey and Post Blue from Meds, I found myself skimming through BFTS without much interest. Maybe its me that changed, though. I’m definitely not in the same place I was in those years gone by. Whatever the case, they have made an indelible mark on my life and I wouldn’t put them away because of one album I didn’t quite care for as much. They are going back into the studio to record a 7th album soon and I will be waiting eagerly for its release.