Nine Inch Nails
Well, I finally experienced TENSION, and, while I still don't have any idea why it was titled as such, it was pretty amazing.
In a nutshell: while each song (for the most part) had its own incredible set of lights and programming, the whole show seemed to lack coherence, the back up singers worked except for when they didn't and I was 90% surprised and delighted at the set list.
For a full (read: fanboy) review of the two shows I attended, go to HERE.
They Might Be Giants
TMBG are having their last U.S. concert until 2015 on Saturday, November 2nd at Terminal 5, and I plan on being there (unless I'm still sick, as I am at the moment). They've promised the entire first album (something they haven't done since 1992) and I am greatly looking forward to hearing some stuff I've never heard before, as well as more stuff from Nanobots.
Still no word on the 2014 IFC...
Eels
Plans for a fall / winter tour have become plans for a new album, which is so much more exciting.
I love Wonderful, Glorious and think that the new approach of having no approach worked excellently; here's hoping for more in studio collaborative gold.
At the behest of Chris Kniker (Primitive Race founder and mastermind), I went ahead and checked out the latest Gary Numan, Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind), and, while I haven't had too much time with it, I'm enjoying the majority of what I'm hearing. Maybe as much as Dead Sun Rising, although I'd need more time with it to be sure.
On the whole, Splinter sounds like it all takes place in the same rotted, filthy shell of a building; with crumbling walls of diseased synth and infected guitars. Some rooms are better than others though.
It opens strong with "I Am Dust", which features a huge, invocational chanting chorus, but things get ridiculous fast with the scary whisper talking of "Here In The Black". This song actually contains the lyrics "so it waits like...a demon assassin of God."
Oy.
Some other "Oy" moments include "Who Are You", which, although it only clocks in at 3:45, became annoying and skippable after about a minute and "Love Hurt Bleed"*, which sound like something Gravity Kills, Stabbing Westward and Marilyn Manson pooped on, a track that might pop up in a 90's, WB tween drama made-for-TV movie club scene to show that the cute, blonde protagonist is NOT in Kansas anymore!!!!
Ugh.
But, aside from those skid marks, most everything else on the album is good, and some of it is very good.
"The Calling" sounds like a Gary Numan Bond theme (very interesting), the title track feels vaguely reminiscent of something from Peter Murphy's "Dust", and the programming and textures on "A Shadow Falls On Me" are fantastic.
I also really enjoyed the softness and sincerity of "Lost" (which feels a bit like "For The Rest Of My Life" from Dead Sun) and "My Last Day"; when those walls of noise are finally broken down, you can really appreciate the depth and detail that Numan's been putting into his work for the past decade or so.
Splinter holds together very well and is a really solid work with great sonic atmosphere, but it still vacillates between sounding like more interesting Depeche Mode and less interesting Nine Inch Nails for me.
And, while I hate to keep saying this about Numan's more recent albums, I wonder what having Reznor's input would do for him and his music, and I'd love to see the two of them work on something, be it a Numan record, a NIN record or something that is just the two of them.
Bottom line: if you liked Jagged and loved Dead Sun Rising, you're going to dig this.
Along with Splinter, two new tracks from the upcoming Alessandro Cortini album, Forse 2, have been released and it sounds like more of the same.
Which works just fine for me.
Here are "Canta" and "Luna" (fourth track in) from Forse 2, coming in November.
And there you have it.
Might have something to say about that TMBG show next month and another bloated trip down my NIN memory lane...
Until then.
* Which may be the silliest, gothiest, angstiest song title FUCKING EVER.
No comments:
Post a Comment