A review of TV On The Radio's "Seeds"

The fourth album from the brilliant, intricate, living, breathing mysteries that comprise TV On The Radio is light and dark and life and death and smiling in the rain and flying. Endless flying.

Seeds takes flight with the opening of "Quartz", sprinting from a mountain top and leaping into the clear, blue sky with Tunde Adebimpe howling, "how much do I love you?", and doesn't land...ever. This whole album soars, at different heights and at various times of day, borne aloft by their energy and voices, from start to finish. 

The fuzz must be mentioned: that great, synthy, 80's VHS fuzz on "Careful You", "Love Stained" and the title track; like warm, static-y hugs. Also, the unbridled, explosive energy of "Lazerray"*, the joyful, rocketing elation of "Ride",  which has a deceptively somber and reflective intro, the dark shimmer of their fantastic first single, "Happy Idiot"**, the thudding, syrupy throb of "Love Stained", the uplifting penultimate anthem, "Trouble" and, finally, the resolutely optimistic closer, "Seeds". Never before has optimism and acceptance been better exemplified in a lyric: "rain comes down, like it always does, but this time, I've got seeds on ground". Not just optimism but the plan to turn something that could be destructive into something beneficial. It's overwhelming, too bright to look at.

Aside from "Test Pilot" and "Winter", both of which serve to drag things down around them (the former with its lethargic, limping beat, the latter with its unending and annoying 90's cock rock guitar riff), this might be my favorite TVOTR album. It's certainly their most accessible, and yet, it still manages to be a challenging and engaging listen. Seeds makes more sense, but it's still active listening, there's always too much going on for this to be background music, a huge compliment when the majority of music out there is so quickly processed and forgotten.

I also have to take a moment and give praise to the album art, something, in this digital age of disposable and intangible music never mind my grumping, I'm old. The slipcover, when combined with the art in the liner notes, functions as a Moire pattern. I won't spoil the surprise, but this is, hands down, the most inventive use for album art I've seen since Marilyn Manson's Mechanical Animals. Way to give a shit, you guys.   

It's hard to focus on the overabundance of positivity and optimism on Seeds without addressing the passing of the band's long-time member, Gerard Smith. I can't help but wonder if his death spurred this deluge of hope and light, something like a push back against the horrible tragedy they underwent, spitting in the reaper's face.

"I think I love you / and it's starting to show"
"Everything's alright / just let me be your darling"

"Think about the future / I know it's mine / look to the sky / it's time to ride"

The rain might be coming down on Seeds, but the sun is out.

P.S. I (finally) had a chance to see TVOTR live and did so on the 18th of November at the Apollo Theater. Review here on SoundBlab.

* I want Futurama to come back solely to do a music video for this song.

** And what a strange music video to accompany it...

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - November 2014

They Might Be Giants

The biggest bit of news this month, I suppose, was the announcement of and offerings in next year's They Might Be Giants' Instant Fan Club, although, when set against their 2012 IFC, they pale in comparison. 52 new songs* (one arriving in your inbox every Tuesday of the year), their new adult and kids albums (plus a disc of any of those 52 songs not included on either album), two tickets to any TMBG show, a live DVD, t-shirt, balsa wood glider (?), and some "super secret surprises". Not a bad deal for a hundred bucks, but, again, when stacked up against the 2012 offerings...I cannot imagine anything will ever be as cocksmackingly amazing as receiving a They Might Be Giants song...featuring one's own name.
The next membership level (the Super President level) includes all the above stuff but with some vinyl thrown in along with a commemorative coin and your name in the liner notes of somethingorother. Not really worth the $250.
Yes, I've already signed up.
And you can too, for another few days, anyway.


Cake

CAKE HAS NEW SHIRTS, Y'ALL!!!


Reviews this month include delightfully-energetic-and-fresh-yet-perfectly-reminiscent-of-the-best-aspects-of-90's-female-fronted pop-punk Brooklynites, Chumped, with their debut album, Teenage Retirement, the latest from gauzy synth king, Daniel Woolhouse (AKA Deptford Goth), Songs, and the newest squirt of shit from "ambient sound artist", Dirty Beaches, Stateless. As it so happens, this is Dirty Beaches' (Alex Hungtai to those who feel silly calling a grown man "Dirty Beaches") final album. I am comforted by this fact and wish him well as long as he stays the fuck away from any and all things that could even be considered a musical instrument until the day he dies.

And, god fucking damn it, I fucking pre-ordered the motherfucking new fucking piece of dribbly shit Marilyn Manson album.
FUCK.
No, I didn't get punched in the face by Manson's laughing cock, I fell down some stairs.
FUCK.

Coming soon (yet also wildly overdue) are my reviews of the brand new, utterly spectacular TV On The Radio album, Seeds, as well as their show at the Apollo Theater.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I PRE-ORDERED THE FUCKING THING! "VOTE WITH YOUR WALLETS", I CRY, AS I BEND OVER AND TAKE HIS SHIT COCK IN MY ASS WHILE PAYING HIM FOR THE PRIVILEGE.

Leave me alone now. I need to conference call my therapist and priest so they can berate my stupid, consumer-ass ass.





* Although I'm anxious, as the word "new", when it comes to TMBG, can mean a  lot of things...some of them distinctly not new.

A review of Chumped's "Teenage Retirement"

One thought kept banging around inside my head while listening to this album: Chumped could have scored both Daria and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World at the same time.* 

It's uncanny how these four friends from Brooklyn (Akina Pyle on lead vocals and guitar, Dan on drums, Doug on bass, and Drew on guitar**) manage to sound like everything good about female-fronted bands from the 90's, while, at the same moment, sound fresh and pertinent in today's toilety music scene. Pyle's vocals feel clear and declarative without being shrill or whiny, a thin line with female vocals in punk and an achievement worth nothing when it's pulled off.

Teenage Retirement, the band's first LP, is tight and bright, 12 tracks, 35 minutes. I like that math. "Hot 97 Summer Jam" is almost too 90's to believe it's not some forgotten b-side that just slipped past everyone's regard until just now, "Songs About Boats" is the one on which Bryan Lee O'Malley should base the next volume of Scott Pilgrim, and "Anywhere But Here", but for the vocals, sounds so much like Weezer that I could see YouTube's shitty anti-infringement software blocking it based on copyright grounds. I'm not really saying anything overly specific about these songs because they're all excellent bricks in an incredibly well-crafted wall of warm, nostalgic yet relevant pop punk. Except one. While everything else sounds like the best aspects of the 90's, "Coffee" sounds like a Blink-182 pastiche. It's short and quickly blotted from the listener's memory by the following song, but it's still there. Honestly, if it weren't for the guy's vocals, it would be great. The reason I'm focusing on this so much is that it's the only problem I really had with the album.

After a twenty five minute assault of BPMs, things wrap up with "The Pains Of Being" and "Old And Tired"; the former feels like pushing your way off a crowded subway: as the crowd disperses onto the platform, you get a chance to actually fill your lungs with air, get lost in your thoughts, get away from the other assholes penning you in, while the latter feels like emerging from the dark and dingy underground into hard, city sunlight. There are a few songs here featuring lyrics about trains: missing them, waiting for them, etc., and it all feels appropriate. Not only would I say this is music to be listened to on a subway, but, the album itself is a subway. There's a bright, silvery note that appears about thirteen seconds into the album that shines throughout. Bright and silvery like the outside of a subway car, which makes perfect sense, because, like a subway, the album is driving, a bit repetitive and always moving...plus, it's about 35 minutes, which is the exact length of time you'll have to wait for a fucking G train on the weekend if you've just missed one.***
If you miss the 90's and a sense of sincerity in music, you should probably listen to Teenage Retirement ...while riding the subway.

* Behold! My will is manifest as Chumped plays "Threshold" by Sex Bob-Omb!

** Fuck Drew, though.

*** Apologies to anyone reading this who is not from Brooklyn.

A review of Deptford Goth's "Songs"

Time, again, to bathe in the sullen sunlight of Daniel Woolhouse's gauzy synth forests.

Listening to Deptford Goth (the aforementioned Mr. Woolhouse) is akin to being embraced by a warm ghost. He sounds like the younger, softer brother of James Blake. There is more sophistication here, and less lyrics about fuckin'. Don't misunderstand; Daniel will fuck you, he'll just cuddle and talk and, maybe, weep afterwards. Blake might buy you dinner.
Might.

I immensely enjoyed the first DG album, Life After Defo*, and, quite frankly, Songs** blows it away.
Those that shimmer the brightest and have the most impact include "Do Exist", a sparse and delicate hymn, utilizing the repetition of the gentle sobriquet "my love", as well as the phrase "fear's gonna let you go" to create a gorgeous emotional resonance, "We Symbolise", which features an absolutely fantastic pairing of deep piano and Woolhouse's high, sweet voice, "A Circle", and "Near To A River", which nearly brought me to tears with Woolhouse's persistent pleas to "lift (his) body up" and "make (him) kind". The album closes with "A Shelter, A Weapon", a perfect ending to this rolling sunrise.

On the whole, Songs is a lot brighter, both sonically and lyrically, than Life After Defo, reaching new heights of warmth with "Codes", with its friendly, lumbering beat, like a child's imaginary friend coming in to play. While it does lack the emotional nuances of his first album because of its overabundance of light, is that so bad? There's enough darkness in our everyday lives, and, thanks to Woolhouse, we can get a little respite here, with Songs. Listen to this in the dark, cry, then feel better and move on.

* My review of which can be found here.

** Kudos on the most boldly bland album title I've heard in years.

A review of Dirty Beaches' "Stateless"

My first experience with Dirty Beaches...didn't turn out so great.* I'm going to go ahead and blame Alex Hungtai (aka Dirty Beaches), but I promised myself before I heard a note of the new album, Stateless, that I would give him a fair shake. Think of it this way: I'm in a place where literally anything he does will be a massive improvement.

Unless he really fucked it up this time round.

Stateless consists of four tracks, totaling forty two minutes.
Not off to a great start, man.

"Displaced"

Hypnotic, stammering saxophone.
For seven and a half minutes.
Far more interesting than anything I've heard from DB; frantic, menacing. Soundtrack to an ant hill or bee hive...of course it would be far more interesting still with something else to it.
Experimental in a good way: non-dynamic dynamism.

"Stateless"

Biblical horns signify the beginning procession of a city-long march. Echoing forever. Almost liquid, a river of melted down brass bells, in which the listener is drowning.
Reverb + delay = eternity.
This was cool for about four minutes...the last seven and a half? Not as much.
If "Displaced" is like being in the rain, "Stateless" is like looking at a picture of the rain.

"Pacific Ocean"

Do you remember Meredith? From the Water Park OST? Well, she brought her cat, Dingles, with her on this visit, and, while he certainly is a cute little nipper, boy, does that spirited scamp like to climb on studio equipment!
"No, Dingles! No!"
"Well, I guess we'll have to give him a producer's credit!"
*laughter*

"Time Washes Away Everything"

There is a joke here about this song washing away my patience that I'm not going to make.
The final track has a very strong A Winged Victory For The Sullen vibe to it, only, less structured...did you get that? Less structured than A Winged Victory For The Sullen.** Or, maybe, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but with less effort and skill.
This track teases you...you think it's over, that you've made it and can now listen to...anything! Andy Gibb, The Drugs, Van Halen, Taylor Swift, MC 900 Ft. Jesus, anything that is not Dirty Beaches!
But then!
Ha! You silly bastard! You've still got eight minutes of this left! Bwa hah! Fool!

Is Stateless as drab as the Water Park OST? No, honestly, I can't think of anything that is...death, perhaps? But, less awful, droney "ambient music" is still a measurable quantity of awful, droney "ambient music".
Put this album on, then leave the house.





* This will really help with context. You know, if you like that sort of thing.

** This will only have impact if you know who A Winged Victory For The Sullen are. For that, I am heartily sorry.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - October 2014

Nine Inch Nails
Well, twenty years after becoming a thing, NIN have been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Which probably doesn't mean anything to Trent Reznor, so why the fuck should it mean anything to his fans?
Reznor is reportedly working on some music delivery system for Apple which isn't exactly music.
I'm too tired to even tell you how little that interests me.

I also reviewed the Gone Girl score.
For you.

They Might Be Giants
Some pretty ballsy news from the Johns as they announce the return of Dial-A-Song dot com for 2015...with a brand new song EVERY TUESDAY FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR.
Dag.
That's three or four albums worth of stuff.
Interested how this is going to fit in with whatever the 2015 Instant Fan Club will consist of...if anything.
And along with this, they've just announced that they will be performing one show every month in Brooklyn in 2015.
Christ. Here's hoping for some theme shows...I would love to see a John Henry show with horns and maybe some super deep cuts for the real obnoxious fans. "Nightgown Of The Sullen Moon" anyone?
I'm going to make a concerted effort to see each and every one of these shows* and I'd love if you came with me. This kind of fun must be shared.


I listened to a bunch of stuff this month. And then I forced my opinion on people who did not ask for that.
And I am sorry.

The stuff included the Flaming Lips' Beatles' cover album, With A Little Help From My Fwends.
Which I didn't like much.

Then there was my little trip to Electro-Ambient Town with Loscil and Fieldhead's Fury/Hecla and A Winged Victory For The Sullen's accompaniment to Wayne McGregor's dance piece "Atomos", entitled Atomos.

Next, the surprising Thom Yorke album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. Surprising because he just popped it up there to test out a new way of delivering music and also because it's really, really good.

And, finally...there's Marilyn Manson. That self-parodying goth dingleberry is stick clinging to the short hair of angry teen asses everywhere, as shown by his intent to release yet another shitty album. He released the first single a ew days before Halloween and, boy, is it bland.
I reviewed the "song" ("Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge") and have been promised an advance copy to review the full album when it comes out.
Outlook...not so good.
Review here.

More to come, including reviews of the new Deptford Goth, the new Dirty Beaches and the new Chumped.





* read: "I will see each and every one of these shows".

A review of Marilyn Manson's "Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge"

It appears as though Marilyn Manson will soon make good on his threat to put out a new studio album, as exemplified by the release, yesterday, of the brand new track, "Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge", which you can listen to and download here.
If you want to.
It's not very good.
Ah. Now, there's a phrase that Marilyn Manson has probably had to deal with a lot over the past decade or so..."not very good". This is because his music over the past eight years or so has been...not very good. A tradition he seems to be proudly carrying forward with his new material.

The new single consists of the title being repeated (squawked, mumbled, screamed etc.) several times, some worn out word play, if you can even call it that ("I can't decide if you wear me our / or wear me well"), and a lot of slurry humming/moaning/pooping (?) noises, all set to yet another uninspired, tired and easily forgotten blur of sound, probably perpetrated by Twiggy "I'm Almost Fifty Years Old And People Still Call Me Twiggy" Ramirez. Manson's vocals are muzzy and grumpy, sounding like someone just shook him awake and demanded that he "sing", which would also explain the repetition.

I used to be a Manson fan. Portrait Of An American Family, Antichrist Superstar and The Golden Age of Grotesque are all fantastic albums, the first two for their raw, reeking viscera, and the latter for its twisted style and devilishly fun lyricism, but, being a Manson fan over the past eight years or so has been like being in an abusive relationship, and every time he announces a new album that will redefine/reinvent/reinvigorate MUSIC ITSELF, I say the exact same thing: "Maybe things will go back to the way they were...maybe things will get better."

Will I ever learn?

P.S. On top of everything else is the fact that the new Manson logo (as seen above) looks a heck of a lot like the early 90's Nine Inch Nails logo used on the Sin single.
Just saying.

Some thoughts on "The Evil Within" (on PS4)

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Some thoughts on The Evil Within, which I played and completed in about 25 hours on the normal setting on PS4.

Wonder what it would have been if it we're just next gen. Feel like I'm going to be saying and thinking that a lot over the next few...half a decade.

This looked like a really nice PS3 game, but I've seen better on a PS3, so, you guys need to up your lazy ass game.

Overall, this was a nice blend of Resident Evil (resource management, mood, settings...in fact, sometimes the settings were so Resident Evil (specifically RE 4) that I had to wonder what new stuff Shinji Mikami has up his sleeve) and Silent Hill (the lack of explanation, the uncertainty, the vaguely mystic storyline). Anything original? Erm...

I like some of the Lovecraft feel. The catacombs were absolutely fantastic. Bosses varied. 

The first appearance of Laura was utterly horrifying and I really wish they hadn't had it in the fucking trailer, because that would have been an excellent pants-shitting moment for me. Her one-hit-kill thing got old quick though. 

As for the Keeper...ugh... We need to just accept that nothing will ever be as awesome as Pyramid Head and move on from putting different geometric shapes on top of bad guys' shoulders in order to make them look intimidating.

I'll stop there.

Established early that nothing is real. Kind of like that, although it seems like they built on an easy out if they need one.

The protagonist is milk. Gritty milk, but, still, milk. 

Good atmosphere, very good at times, and kudos for not relying on jump scares.

Glad they didn't have the old run-around-shooting-at-the-huge-bad-guy fight at end. Enjoyed the last fight.

The explanations for what the enemies were were good and bad, the descriptions (that you'll only see if you go through every entry in the Model Viewer) were at times a bit of a stretch. I have a feeling the sketches came first, then the back story.

Glad there were no helpless, busty women to save/oogle. Even after finishing the game, no ridiculous costumes to be found. Way to make a stand, Shinji. 

Could have done with a bit more exposition at the end.

Looking forward to the DLC, the Kidman stuff, anyway. Really hope we get a clearer picture of who Mobius are and what the fuck was going on.

Had a lot of fun with Evil Within and glad to have another horror franchise to look forward to along with whatever Resident Evil and SIlent Hill have coming next.

A review of The Flaming Lips' "With A Little Help From My Fwends"

Do you like the Beatles?

Do you like the Flaming Lips?

Well, then, you might like this…depending on how precious you are about the former and how forgiving you are about the latter.

It would also help if you enjoy reverb and hashish.

Yeah.

Several tracks are almost completely ruined by overloud elements, specifically “Good Morning Good Morning” and the first three tracks of the album, which is either stupendously ballsy or stupidly obnoxious with regards to accessibility. In either case, it’s not clever. Others feel like your basic Beatles cover: nothing too weird or adventurous or offensive; just someone else playing a Beatles song. Some of the more novel takes include the charming vulnerability of Dr. Dog and Chuck Inglish’s off-key rendition of “Getter Better”*, the man/machine duet of “When I’m Sixty Four” and the choice to put Maynard of Tool on vocals for “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”. 

Personally, I only enjoyed a handful of what’s offered; the quiet, almost menacing haze of Electric Wurms’ “Fixing A Hole”, the lightness, flow, and drum machine splish-baff of both “She’s Leaving Home” (Phantogram and Julianna Barwick) and “Lovely Rita” (Tegan & Sara with Stardeath and White Dwarves), and, God help me, Miley Cyrus and Moby on “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”**, which would have made a great single but for those goddamn idiot drums.  

As this is a pretty schizophrenic release, I’m going to offer a few different opinions:

First, if you are a Beatles purist, you’re probably going to hate this as it might seems a bit like ruination and sacrilege.

If you love the Beatles and love hearing their music reinterpreted…well, you still might hate this, but it’s an interesting, multi-textured hate you’ll be feeling.

If you love Flaming Lips, the Beatles and psychotropic drugs; lock yourself in for the weekend because you have found your home.

And, finally, if you know of the Beatles and aren’t the Flaming Lips the band that did that “she uses tangerines” song? Then…how did you find this review? Sod off.

In preparation for this, I listened to the cover album first, then revisited the original before returning to the cover project. Was everything added necessary? Absolutely not. Was everything added interesting? Eh. No. Some of it is, but by no means everything.

It’s mostly fun though, and, if Flaming Lips are about anything, it’s having fun.

And reverb.

And hashish.

Seriously, there’s too much behind this album. I can't live your lives for you. Did I love it? No. Were there a few cool interpretations? Sure.

Go. Be free. Make choices.

* “Charming”, though not really “good”.

** I found it startling how much Moby sounds like Jim Rash from Community. Look it up. Seriously.

A review of Loscil / Fieldhead's "Fury and Hecla"

Steam, ice, water, pixels.

Loscil and Fieldhead’s (not really a) collaboration, Fury and Hecla, has light reflected backwards on smoke, violins, a high mass performed in a cathedral of steam, and a crazy rain stick filled with glitchy ice crystals. If none of that entices you…well, I hear One Direction is pretty shitty.

Ambient musicians Loscil (Scott Morgan) and Fieldhead (Paul Elam) shared echoes and ghosts of each others’ sounds throughout the six track release (the former taking the odd tracks, the latter taking the even), so everything feels connected; creating a massive, continuous, sonic landscape. There are freezing oceans (“fury”), blizzards (“with northerly winds”), a volcano (“hecla”), an ancient haunted mansion (“helluland”), and an abundance of bells, tolling forever (“northumberland”).

While Elam takes less time to get to the meat of his pieces, Morgan is more languorous, assuming you’ll make the effort and embark on a slightly longer journey, which you should. On the whole, I could have done with a bit more from Fieldhead, but I appreciate the oddly humble decision of his to put more content into less space.

It feels lazy just calling this “ambient”, so I won’t. This is the music I would want with me if ever I became an interplanetary explorer. And, if any interplanetary explorers are reading this, go and check out Loscil / Fieldhead’s Fury and Hecla, because it’s a lot better than listening to the empty suck of the vacuum of space.

A review of Thom Yorke's "Tomorrow's Modern Boxes"

Thom Yorke is a pretty innovative guy, yes? We can agree on that?

Good, so I’m going to skip over the part where I remind you of how Radiohead chose to distribute In Rainbows and the whole “releasing this surprise album through BitTorrent so he can see if it might serve as a viable method for artists to etc.”.*

Cool?

Excellent.

Overall, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes could be considered to pick up right where The Eraser left off in 2006. Probably not AMOK**, as TMB isn’t as intricate; not that that’s a bad thing. I find Yorke’s voice works best when it has empty spaces to fill and bounce around in. The album’s opener, “A Brain In A Bottle”, is probably my least favorite track here, which is good, because I like it. The dark waves of “Guess Again!” are fantastic, Yorke is a goddamn gloom sculptor. The warbly, NES dungeon feel of “Interference” is downright chilling, finding a grudgingly repentant Yorke sitting in his sunken ruins, the One, True King of Gray. Things get a little brighter on “The Mother Lode” (on which I could see Waronker or Refosco lending some skitters)***, but it’s a nervous brightness, you’ll want to squint or you might hurt your eyes. The hyper jitters of “The Mother Lode” are juxtaposed nicely with the syrupy, almost-lazy, faux-hip-hop beat of “Truth Ray”. Then, the last three tracks evolve from percussive, glitchy boink into blurred, saturnine rivers into, finally, dolorous etheria. The second of those last three, “Pink Section”, makes me want to wonder what a full instrumental release from Yorke would sound like…

Whether people consider Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes a "real" album or not, it's a good album; lacking only the months and months of costly promotion real fans don't want or need. It becomes an even better album when you consider that Yorke could have used anything to test out this method of distribution. More artists should surprise their fans with flowers and candy made of new music more often. They'd probably get more head.
Keep it up, you groundbreaking, space alien trendsetter, you.

* As far as the question of “will this manner of distribution work to revolutionize blah blah blah”, I’m leaning towards no, as a lot of (uninformed) people do not and most likely will not ever trust anything with the word “torrent” in the description…the filthy Luddites.

** If you’re not familiar with AMOK is…why are you reading the review of a Thom Yorke solo album? P.S. Here’s my review of AMOK.

*** Drummer and percussionist (respectively) who’ve both worked with Yorke.

A review of A Winged Victory For The Sullen's "Atomos"

I can't think of many artists whose name better reflects their art. Everything Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and contemporary classical composer Dustin O'Halloran have released under the moniker A Winged Victory For The Sullen (AWVFTS) has the feeling of a costly achievement, a balance of triumphant glory and infinite sadness; a warm, sun-drenched lake in a quiet woods just within sight of a graveyard. They explore the true, exquisite beauty of melancholy.

I had the pleasure of experiencing Atomos in its intended setting: as the accompaniment to Random Dance Company founder, Wayne McGregor's new work of the same name*. Something interesting I noticed while going through the album divorced of its original setting was that the simplistic, tragic splendor inherent in the music was far more present. 

The instrumentation leans heavily towards piano and strings, although there is a strong electronic presence as well. Atomos opens with "Atomos I" and its breathtaking lunar swells, "Atomos V" is underscored by a watery pulse that, while a touch jarring, adds a welcomed layer of texture. "Atomos VI", with its gentle throbs and waves of light, and subdued explosions of color, is my favorite piece here. One of the themes explored in the dance piece as well as the music is technology, and its potential destructive capabilities, as exemplified, perfectly, by the distinct future-as-viewed-from-the-past feel of "Atomos VII", the disturbing blur of truncated, jabbering voices floating underneath the troubled ocean of "Atomos IX" and "Atomos X", which could be the sound of the very end of human civilization, brought on by information poisoning. The album closes with "Atomos XII", which centers around a five note phrase, repeating throughout, cold and lonely.

Atomos is more focused than AWVFTS's self titled debut, utilizing a richer palette of sounds in more varied environs, and, although it was created to accompany the gorgeous Wayne McGregor dance piece, the music undeniably stands on its own as an emotional masterpiece, shining darkly, like tears at night.

* You might know his work from the Atoms For Peace video for "Ingenue", which he also choreographed.

A review of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' "Gone Girl" score

It's clear that someone is lying...

From the first mistrustful, tentative, unsure waves of "What Have We Done To Each Other?" all the way through to the final, grinding, menacing throbs of "At Risk", the one thing we know for certain is that something is wrong, something is being hidden, someone is lying. About what and to what end, we can't be sure, it's just...a feeling; gooseflesh on the back of your neck and arms, a faint, almost imperceptible noise you can only hear when you aren't listening for it.

This is Reznor and Ross' third foray into scoring the films of David Fincher, and Gone Girl is their most subtle work to date. The main themes of the music perfectly reflect those of the relationship between the two main characters in the film, Nick and Amy Dunne; specifically those of suspicion, distrust and a bright, brittle veneer obscuring a darker, perhaps deadly, truth. While the Dragon Tattoo score worked wonderfully at lowering the temperature of the film and the Social Network score was excellent but as incongruous as...well, a Nine Inch Nails album at a Jewish fraternity party, the score for Gone Girl actually informs us of the characters and their hidden motives.

Rather than break down every single track, as I did with Reznor and Ross' score for Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo*, I'll just focus on some of the standout pieces, which consist of about a third of the twenty four track, eighty minute album: "Clue Two" is steeped in sinister mystery with some excellent strings emerging from the crunching thump about three quarters of the way through. The soft, feverish warmth of "Something Disposable" is utterly horrifying, especially once the choking, gasping noises kick in. The feel of "Technically, Missing", with its chugging yet subdued guitars rising and falling in crescendo could fit in on The Fragile. "Background Noise" is a straight up piano piece with a whisper of menace hiding in the light, it also shares elements of "Perihelion" from the Dragon Tattoo score. "The Way He Looks At Me" is, basically, the sound of the Dunne's relationship decaying and dissolving right in front of us while "Strange Activities" is the sound of some entity constructed from electric wheelchairs chasing you. Finally, "Just Like You" starts out sounding like a combination of something from Silent Hill, "A Warm Place" and Radiohead's "Everything In Its Right Place", then, about halfway through, becomes the most standout moment on this album: an almost loungey piano solo from Reznor, literally unlike anything he's done before.

I've said it before and, here I go, saying it again: a lot of Reznor's score work (not so much his work as Nine Inch Nails), has a very Akira Yamaoka feel to it.** In fact, about a third of the Gone Girl score would fit in perfectly (and perhaps better?) that some of Yamaoka's original compositions. Why am I bringing this up? Because I want Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to score the new Silent Hill game. Listen to "Consummation" while watching some of the more nightmarish footage from any Silent Hill game and tell me that this pairing wouldn't be perfect.
Go on.
I'll wait.
...

Sorry. This is something about which I feel very strongly.
Anyway, when I first heard that Reznor was going to get out of his musty little studio and actually utilize a traditional orchestra for Gone Girl, I was thrilled, as I've wanted him to do so for years. While there's not as much as I would have liked (should have guessed the majority of the instrumentation would only be manipulated and perverted to serve as his tools), seeing him step into the arena of crusty composers like Zimmer, Williams and all the other fossils who get dusted off every time Hollywood needs to ram something down our throats or up our asses, and using their tools in ways they'd never think to was fantastic and will, hopefully, serve to both garner Reznor and Ross the regard they deserve and light a fire under those other guy’s asses. That being said, I feel as if something is lacking on this album; perhaps that was the intention or at the behest of Fincher, or, perhaps, Reznor took on more than he could handle, conducting a nationwide tour of the States while working on this project at the same time, a tour which wrapped up exactly a month before the release of the album. Both of Reznor and Ross' earlier scores were much more involved.

Ah, look at me.
Complaining.

The Gone Girl score is something similar, yet completely different from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The addition of a traditional orchestra, and seeing in which brilliantly horrible ways they use and misuse it, adds a new dimension to their work, something not yet seen. I'm very interested to see what Reznor takes from this and how he applies it to Nine Inch Nails and How to destroy angels in 2015.





* Which you can read here, if you're mad / bored enough.

** Composer and sound designer for the majority of the Silent Hill survival horror game series since the late 90's.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - September 2014

Nine Inch Nails

Just a few days ago, Reznor & Ross released their latest score for the latest Fincher film adaptation of a popular literary work, namely, Gone Girl.
Still sitting with it, but, overall, it's a lot more subtle than their previous work on The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, for better or worse. Planning on seeing the movie as soon as it's out as I'm curious just how much of the score will be utilized. After the weirdness with Dragon Tattoo (the fact that, of the 39-track, two hour and fifty-four minute score, I'd say less than a quarter of it was actually in the film), I find myself pensive.
Here's the whole thing on NPR.
Should be a review up soon.

All my other bands are either touring, recording new stuff, in post-tour hibernation or douchebags, so I'll leave it at that.

As I'm now doing reviews for SoundBlab, I have experienced some new stuff this month: the first is the new album by the band Maxi Bacon. The album, Maci Baxon, is what a lot of people would call unlistenable.
Those people are cowards.
Read the review and then listen, if you dare.

Then, there's the latest from industrial noise artist/pretty, blonde New Yorker, Margaret Chardiet aka Pharmakon. While the story of her new album, Bestial Burden, is pretty amazing, the flatness of the album itself doesn't really do it justice. Review just went up on SoundBlab.

Finally, the brand new, not-as-amazing-as-Drukqs Aphex Twin album, Syro was released as well. This is Richard D. James' first album as Aphex Twin in thirteen years, and I didn't love it. REVIEW HERE.

Over the next few days or so, aside from the Gone Girl score review, I'll also be reviewing the new A Winged Victory For The Sullen album, Atomos, which accompanied the Wayne McGregor dance piece of the same name and the brand new, completely out of the blue Thom Yorke album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (from which you can check out the darkly hypnotic video for "Brain In A Bottle" as well as see how Yorke is, yet again, trying to revolutionize how music is distributed to the fans, here).

And, if you thought this was a bit of a lackluster month, don't blame me, blame the bands I like for not spacing out their release and touring schedules to better suit my writing goals.
Twats.

A review of Aphex Twin's "Syro"

Richard D. James has fucked himself in the ass.

How was he supposed to top Drukqs?

How could he?

I was actually left breathless the first time I heard "Mt Saint Michel+Saint Michaels Mount" and the simple, raw, sorrowful beauty (not to mention the object lesson in juxtaposition) of "Avril 14th" was just unmatched. Then, of course, there's the nightmare soundscapes of "gwarek2".
Following up Drukqs was going to be insanely difficult, but following it up after thirteen fucking years?
Shit, man.

Syro is, undeniably, Aphex Twin, but a lot more subdued that I would have hoped for his return; I don't want Aphex Twin appropriate for Sunday morning tea consumption, I want microscopic lacerations all over the surface of my brain. To put it another way: "Come on, you cunt, let's have some Aphex acid". The restrained feel of Syro could stem from the fact that a lot of it might have been created over seven years ago. Rumor has it that, in his absence, James crafted anywhere from six to more than a thousand albums, and that Syro is twelve tracks selected from this wealth of unreleased material. That would certainly account for the lack of cohesion.

For me, I didn't start actively enjoying the album until about halfway through, when "CIRCLONT6A (Syrobonkus Mix)" came on. It has a nice, thick, blurred wall of sound which I most closely associate with AT. Things continued to be good with "Fz pseudotimestretch+e+3", which, with its elasticized beat and that particular strummed chord progression, has a touch of both something from Coil's "Love's Secret Domain" and Gorillaz "El Manana". Way too short though. The mid-way nugget of good stuff extended into "CIRCLONT14 (Shrymoming Mix)" and its soft, eerie opening sinking into its splintered electro jizz and concluded with "Syro u473t8+e (Piezoluminescence Mix)". "S950tx16wasr10 (Earth Portal Mix)" has some interesting stuff as well and the album closer, "Aisatsana", is very nice, a simple piano piece that would feel at home echoing through some long abdicated fairytale kingdom. Based on the track titles and the rumor of Syro's cut and paste origins, I think I want more from CIRCLONT, if that is, in fact, one of the lost albums and not just some of James' buzz gub.

Am I the biggest Aphex Twin fan in the world? Does James’ twisted, demonic slash of a grin confront me every time I look into a mirror? Do I think in circuitry? No, but I am a fan and would be surprised if someone could convince me there's a better AT album than Drukqs...unless that someone is Richard D. James.

What I'm taking from Syro is that Aphex Twin is back and, hopefully, he'll soon have something amazing to show us.

A review of Maxi Bacon's "Maci Baxon"

You know those albums of classical music made for in utero babies? This eats those, shits them out and then eats them again. Some of my most uncomfortable listening experiences have come courtesy of Mindless Self Indulgence, Coil and Error, to name a few. But even those artists had BPMs.

I don't want to spoil the surprise for you or color your time with Maci Baxon, so I'll just touch on some highlights. A lot of this album sounds as if someone stomped on a bunch of CDs and then stapled the bits together. The first track alone contains some hip hop, some Looney Toons  and some circus music. Over the course of the nine track, twenty-six minute album, crafted lovingly/hatefully by Scott Sinclair (aka Company Fuck) and Freeka Tet (aka Sgure), you'll encounter total eradication in the jaws of an inexorable metal mouth, robots having diarrhea, an old car with whooping cough, tape decks vomiting, the death throes of a handful of small kitchen appliances, and, finally, Frank SInatra telling you that he's going to love you.

Standouts include "analchemy"*, which, in whatever nightmare world this is considered pop music, would be the radio single, "a666 tamagotchihunter 
pikootee raper gnochi cooker pouik wheeler kuchipatchi trasher" and "careless
 sniffle", which centers around someone with a cold singing George Michael's 
"Careless Whisper" while, in the left channel, we hear some creature 
gleefully eating a watermelon...or performing cunnilingus** before suffering 
a grand mal seizure. The right channel stars some tiny things farting. This is the longest and most hilarious track on the album.

One thing I can say without a shred of doubt: Maxi Bacon are the finest crafters of robotic bodily functions I have ever experienced. I have never heard anything like this and never want or need to again. What would be the point? I've seen the singularity, and it's scored by Maxi Bacon.





* A fantastic and horribly intriguing elision, no?

** Or performing cunnilingus on a watermelon, I suppose.

A review of Alessandro Cortini's "Forse 2"

I'll save you some time: if you liked Forse 1, go get Forse 2.
For the most part, this is a much colder album than its predecessor, just in time for winter.

Forse 2 starts in space with "Canta" (perhaps where we left off after Forse 1? ). The instruments are cold and old, but the notes are warm and reassuring, until something goes wrong; a change in trajectory? Meteors? Interference.
Bursting through the atmosphere and bearing witness.

"Cerca" feels a bit like "Canta" with the (almost) alert noise which starts off smooth and then gets distorted.

"Conta", at the very start, sounds like a variation of "A Warm Place". Nice. Evolves into questing through huge ice caverns. Then, the caverns start to glow. Reds and oranges, but they are still ice. And there is something alive in these caves.

"Grigia" is sharp and piercing, the light reflecting off the ice. Blinding. Movement in the motes in ones' eye. A melody emerges, high and stinging, then distortion and dissolution. Melting ice / snow.

"Lenta" sounds like something from Forse 1. Plodding, deep, contemplative. Emerges from its own shell and then grows large enough to swallow you whole.

"Luna" is another reminder of Forse 1. Again, there's a strong sense of emergence. At just the right moment, I happened to come out from the sticky, muggy subway and into the chill of an early fall evening. The music reflected that perfectly. Odd abrupt ending.

Something about "Marcia" feels dated, nostalgic.  The record scratch and hiss in the background. That and the delay work very well together. This becomes mesmerizing. Words for the end: photon array.

"Menta" is one of the softest tracks on here. Freezing to death in your sleep. False warmth. The fuzz in the background adds an excellent texture.

The very beginning of "Salta" reminds me of Goldfrapp but then evolves into something that sounds like an early Doctor Who theme...which makes me want to hear Cortini cover the Doctor Who theme. The Who-ness actually takes me out of the flow of the album. The second half of this track is great, supplanting and then obliterating the first half, becoming regal, the rising of a pitch black sun. It's interesting to hear what the removal of a beat can do. The second half of this is my favorite part of Forse 2.

"Strada", which clocks in at just over three minutes, serves as a playful denouement to the massive climax of "Salta"; the perfect counterpoint to its world ending finale. Everything is mellow until all the knobs get turned up and the controls start to smoke and fizzle and explode, leaving us drifting, once again, in space.

Something that keep occurring to me in regards to Cortini's Forse, is how much it has the same quality of some of Coil's instrumental releases, namely, the quality to tell (or, at least, allude to) epic stories without containing a word.

While Forse 2 absolutely sounds like it's in the same galaxy as Forse 1, it's a far less inviting and habitable world; whether it's still and beautiful and sad, like a body found in the snow, or rough and frozen and heavy, like a thick slab of ice, it's always cold. Going along with that drop in temperature, I found Forse 2 to be less dynamic than Forse 1. There are glimpses of dynamism here, but not enough for me, although some might simply call it more subtle.