After The Outer Limits failed to grab an audience, Voivod’s lead singer Snake departed the band. With just the two original members left (and no bassist or singer), Piggy and Away decided to start again. And they went dark and heavy. For the first 45 second of this album, you think, wow, Voivod has made a really heavy album—with thundering riffs and, yet still, some unusual chords from Piggy (the chord progressions are definitely still weird). Then new singer (and bassist) E-Force opens his mouth. And that’s when a good portion of Voivod’s prog rock fan base started weeping.
E-Force is a screamer. He’s not unlike Snake on the first couple of albums (although without the French accent). But there’s very little diversity. E-Force’s voice isn’t a total failure. It works pretty well with the heaviness of the music. But those of us who grew used to Snake’s singing can’t help but be disappointed by E-Force’s very limited range and style.
Opener “Insects” has some very cool parts and the music is kind of interesting—Piggy is always inventive and it’s cool to hear him mix some of his weird chords with such heavy music (the style is kind of like Killing Technology era but heavier and weirder). And there’s some sequences where the chords are just bizarre and cool. There is a bridge in “Insects” where E-Force sounds a bit like Snake and it’s like a great heavy Voivod album of old.
Speaking of heavy, Away sounds like he is having a great time banging the hell out of his drums. I feel somewhat surprised that after the last few albums of mellowing out that both guys could ramp up to play so fast and heavy again. “Project X” gives E-Force some room to do some different vocal styles (like on the first bridge which is actually kind of catchy), but the song is more pounding than exciting,
“Nanoman” brings some diversity, with a standard, but cool metal riff (and double bass drums). It also has a chorus that you can sing along to (or scream along to at any rate). “Reality?” is by now standard scream fare, but there is a chorus “upside down reality” in which E-Force shows he can actually sing and that part is quite good. “Negatron” is over 7 minutes long, and yet there s very little prog at hand. It does have some astonishingly noisy dissonant chords, though. “Planet Hell” opens with a bass riff that stands out a bit on this pounding album. But it quickly begins to sound like much else of the album. I do like the middle of the song where it breaks down into alternating guitar and drum breaks.
Starting with “Meteor” the album gets a little more interesting. There’s more high notes in this song, especially in the bridge—it’s still heavy and bludgeoning but there is some diversity here. I haven’t talked about the lyrics on the albums mostly because I can’t make them out, but on this song you can actually hear the lyrics and you can tell that they’re also not really up to snuff: “I don’t fucking care, I don’t care no more, I don’t give a shit.”
“Cosmic Conspiracy” opens with a simple echoing guitar line. It introduces a sci-fi element that the album has sorely lacked. Between that and the heavy drums and the crunchy bass, the song sounds really promising. Indeed, when E-Force starts singing, it’s muffled in an interesting way. And mid way through, it breaks into just martial drumming from Away. This is the diversity we’ve been looking for. There’s even an impressive (an interestingly effected) drum solo. Then the guitars that kick in are fairly traditional but actually fun speed metal. Sadly, E-Force’s voice doesn’t work with this section and kind of ruins it, which is a shame. There’s some interesting guitar work in the end of the song but it’s kind of drowned out by E-Froce’s screams. “Bio-TV” has a staccato sound that breaks up the pummeling. And the middle has a kind of pretty guitar riff (and a simplistic sing along section that sounds great amidst the chaos).
The final track is by far the most interesting and unusual. It is called “D.N.A” which stands for “Don’t know Anything” (seriously). But what’s unexpected is that the song is primarily written by and sung by Jim Thriwell (of Foetus). It’s not entirely clear if Piggy’s guitar is even on it (it is so distorted beyond guitar that it could be anything), although you do hear some chords near the end. Away’s drums are in the mix somewhere (it may indeed be all machines). It sounds like a Ministry/Skinny Puppy hybrid, and I would have preferred that electronic direction to the fairly generic death metal sound of the album. I’m really not sure what to make of this song. If you like noisy industrial music, this is an unexpectedly interesting track and surely a weird place to look for something like this.
There is a degree of irony that Blacky left to play more electronic music and Voivod recorded “DNA”. But even more ironic is that Snake left in part to start a much more heavy hardcore band (Union Made) and then the next Voivod album was the heaviest they’d done. It’s cool that Voivod is ever evolving, but this is a weird sidestep in a career of progression. It’s not a failure, but it takes a number of listens to find the gems within the noise.
[READ: September 17, 2013] “The Tribal Rite of the Strombergs”
This Simon Rich story is very funny. It begins (as the picture that accompanies it shows us) with Scrabble. Jeremy is playing his father. Jeremy always loses to his father. And yet, Jeremy reveals that he has been playing Words with Friends (his father doesn’t know what that is). And through Words with Friends he has learned that words like “qat” are playable (his father doubts the word but doesn’t challenge).
It soon becomes clear (because Jeremy can see the score) that although he is losing, it’s close enough that he might, for the first time, be able to beat his father.
When Jeremy plays Ta (a word they have always used), his father challenges. But it is useless. Jeremy’s father has a Z and that should do it. (more…)
After Angel Rat, original bassist Blacky left the band. That’s never a good sign. After the tour for this album, original singer Snake left the band. That’s an even worse sign. I still can’t quite figure out exactly why Snake left (personal problems) but he went on to form the band Union Made. For a very detailed history of the band, check out this very cool timeline at Voivod dot net.
The Outer Limits got a pretty big release. I have an original copy that came with 3D glasses and all of the illustrations in 3D. But I was a little disappointed in Angel Rat and I don’t think I gave The Outer Limits much of a chance. It was no Nothingface. But the band was always morphing. Since Angel Rat went very commercial, this album brought things back into the prog realm (with a 17(!) minute song) but also had a lot of commercial songs.
The album opens with “Fix My Heart” which starts out much heavier than anything on Angel Rat. It’s also got some metal guitar pyrotechnics (squeaks and harmonics). Snake’s voice isn’t quite as pretty as on Angel Rat either—he growls a bit, but maintains his nicer voice overall. Nevertheless, “Fix My Heart” is a pretty commercial enterprise (as the title might even suggest). There’s some good “spacey” guitars sounds which bode will for the sci-fi angle of the album (and there’s some cool effects that reward headphone use). “Moonbeam Rider” starts with a very classic rock sounding riff and then morphs into a kind of pretty, mellow verse. But the interstitial guitar is all speed. It’s a nice mix of fast and slow. This song features some interesting bass work—nothing fancy but for the slow parts it is actually keeping the beat instead of the drums. The bassist was a studio musician for this album. There’s also what sounds like a bong during the pre-guitar solo section (the solo is fairly traditional).
“Le Pont Noir” is a mellow, slow guitar song with a very cool delay effect and Snake’s whispered vocals. The bridge gets heavy with a wonderfully weird Piggy guitar riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Then the band’s second Pink Floyd cover appears. This time it’s the even more obscure “The Nile Song.” They have rather heavied this one up with crunching guitars and Snake’s distance screaming filling in the void (although in fairness the original vocals are also screamed). It’s not as dynamic or exciting as “Astronomy Domine,” but it’s still a cool cover. “The Lost Machine” starts off heavy with Away’s double cymbal work (a noisy splash and a fast ride cymbal). Then Piggy’s guitars have a slight delay on them which makes the opening chords sound especially odd. The bridge is a place for Piggy to show off some more weird spacey chords and some very cool guitar riffs. There’s even a spoken word narrator in the middle of the song that explains the “mission” “Time Warp” opens with a very bright and up beat sounding verse. But it quickly disintegrates into (intentional) musical chaos as the narrator gets lost in space.
This all leads up to the 17 minute “Jack Luminous.” If anyone doubted their prog rock leanings, this should dispel that immediate. 17 minutes, multiple parts, a sci-fi epic, it is prog (but heavy prog) at its finest. There are some incredibly catchy parts as well as some less catchy parts, and sections seem to change every two minutes or so. The slow down at 10 minutes is very cool—different guitar effects and the suspenseful bass line. There’s repeated sections as well, which means if you like some guitar line (the spacey part near the end) it comes back! It’s not quite as dynamic as say 2112, but it’s a very successful sci-fi epic.
“Wrong Way Street” returns to the normal and more conventional. The bass that opens the song sounds great and the chords are fairly conventional–the chorus is even really catchy. “We Are Not Alone” is a break-neck metal song, The drums are super fast, the guitars are relentless and the chorus even has an echoed “Hey!” that gets you to sing along. The song also features a cool slow, almost jazzy bass and drum section that lets Piggy throw some soloing in before returning to the fast paced verses.
There’s lots of theories about what happened to Voivod after this album. The success they had achieved earlier was now gone and the band seemed like they couldn’t decide to be metal or prog or is they should go for more pop music. The problem of course is that they were too weird to get mainstream acceptance anyway.
So Snake left and then there were only two original members. The next step would be a drastic one.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #7
This issue seemed to come hot on the heels of #6. But I enjoyed it just as much. A few notes: no Jeremy Lin in this issue. Lots of LeBron James, three articles about soccer! And a few pop culture moments that I had forgotten about.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-“The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament JUST. GOT. REAL.
Leonard Cooper didn’t know the final Jeopardy answer but he still won and he made a hilarious joke at the end (in cartoon format);
BILL SIMMONS-“Daring to Ask the PED Question”
Simmons talks a lot about PED’s in this forum. Of course, to me PED is my initials. For him (and sports fans) it is performance enhancing drugs. He asks why sports doesn’t do more about it. There are so many people who do it that every time we see someone who might be doing it or who suddenly has a good season, we assume they are doing them too. It would be a service to the players and the fans to have rigorous testing or none at all.
CHRIS RYAN AND ROBERT MAYS-“The NFL Coaches Family Portrait By the Numbers”
A silly analysis of a photo of NFL coaches.
WESLEY MORRIS-“Jodie Foster’s Big Night”
What exactly did Jodie Foster say at the Golden Globes? (This was in January and everybody talked about it and now it’s September and I’ve completely forgotten about it—funny ephemera of pop culture).
JONATHAN ABRAMS-“Out of Africa”
A serious look at trying to bring basketball to Africa. How the culture and language problems make it very difficult to establish any real cohesion in the diverse country. But there are a few examples of boys coming from Africa and benefiting from host families and then heading back to help those who love basketball back home. The main focus is on a 15-year-old Alexis Wangmene who came to the States (and left his family!) to try to gain an education and basketball skills. It’s a heartfelt story.
MOLLY LAMBERT-“Modern Love”
About the show Catfish which just goes to show we can sink even lower as a culture.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN-“Mental Health Protocol”
About Royce White again. Last time there was a lengthy look at him. Now we get to hear that he thinks that everyone has some kind of mental health issue.
ANDY GREENWALD-“Eat Bray Love”
How cooking shows have gone from educational to crazy and annoying. He dislikes Top Chef and the new Anthony Bourdain show The Taste (which he says is awful) but he likes a decent show called Chopped.
ZACH LOWE-“The Fragile Science of Basketball Chemistry”
Sure the Heat were great this year, but it’s the way they evolved as a team, creating chemistry, that is so impressive.
RAFE BARTHOLOMEW-“The Pariah”
Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in a disputed judges call. Instead of rising to fame, he has been avoided like the plague.
BILL SIMMONS-“The All-Manti Te’o Mailbag
Remember that crazy story about the football guy with the dead girlfriend who turned out to be fake? I never really understood the story and while they spend a lot of time talking and theorizing about it I still don’t get it. Did they ever find out the truth about it?
CHRIS BROWN-“Speak My Language”
When you play for the Patriots, you learn their way of doing things—it is simple and efficient, a streamlined version of what other coaches try to do.
KIRK GOLDSBERRY-“The Evolution of LeBron James”
Using diagrams, we see how much of a different player James is in just the last few years with The Heat. This article has made me want to watch James in a game while he is at his peak. So, Heat vs Bulls at the end of October, you’re on my schedule.
SEAN McINDOE-“The Non-Hater’s Guide to the NHL”
Even people who hate everyone in the NHL (which is everyone) can agree that there are some players who are universally admired: Martin Brodeur, Pavel Satsyuk. Teemu Selanne, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Elias (Devils get two!), Ryan Smyth, Steve Sullivan, Saku Koivu, Henrik Lundqvist.
ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“God Needs a Hobby”
A look at Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown. Harmon seems like he might be a crazy alcoholic, but he’s also pretty darn funny.
MARK TITUS-“Duke’s Ignominious Son”
Everybody hates Christian Laettner, but that’s only because he’s pretty and he made The Shot
MARK LISANTI-“Three Days in Austin”
Dealing with the craziness of the South by Southwest film festival. Sounds awful.
HUA HSU-“The Alien Has Landed”
Soccer legend Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford
BILL SIMMONS-“The Greatest Action Franchise That Ever Was”
Live blogging the Fast and Furious 6 trailer. I admit I may have to see these films after reading this.
ZACH LOWE-“Lights, Camera, Revolution”
There’s some kind of new technology that will change the NBA forever. I pretty much don’t care.
TESS LYNCH-“Nostalgia Bites”
Watching old Real World episodes shows how much things have changed in reality TV, but also how much certain behaviors are not new.
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“Maradona, Then and Now”
Maradona was an amazing kid—at 15 he was remarkable at his ball control. Now at 52 he’s a crazy loon. What exactly happened in between?
ANDY GREENWALD-“From Big to Small, From Movie to TV”
Why not make Men in Black into a TV show—with some other film recommendations.
AMOS BARSHAD-“How Soccer Explains Israel”
I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found it very interesting. An Israeli soccer team has signed two Muslim players and it has caused incredible animosity and even arson. How this look at a team is like a microcosm of the whole Israeli situation.
LOUISA THOMS-“Back to School”
Missy Franklin won a ton of medals in the Olympics. And then she went back to high school. What’s it like to be on her team at Regis Jesuit?
WESLEY MORRIS-“Run, Frank, Run”
Frank Ocean apparently wasn’t as huge as I thought he was.
MALCOLM GLADWELL AND CHUCK KLOSTERMAN–“The Lies He Told”
More about Manti Te’o. This discussion was a bit more helpful about what happened and how crazy it is.
CHRIS RYAN AND REMBERT BROWNE-“A List of Possible Reasons for Rob Gronkowski’s Arm Infection”
Hypothetical humor.
JORDAN CONN-“The Invisible Man”
Marc Gasol is extremely respected by scouts and agents, but the fans all think of him as Pau Gasol’s chubby little brother.
REMBERT BROWNE-“French Quarter Lessons”
While in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Browne decided to go to a bunch of used bookstores. This is very funny and enjoyable.
JAY CASPIAN KANG-“Fiercely Disputed”
Mike Tyson’s one man show is weird and strangely affecting.
KATIE BAKER-“Do Svidanya to All That”
Several NHL players went to Russia’s KHL during the lockout. And some don’t want to come back.
CHRIS RYAN-“The All-Star Circus”
NBA All-Star weekend is a crazy circus (and sounds worse than the above SXSW festival).
CHUCK KLOSETRMAN AND ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“The Nobituary”
There was a serious rumor that David Bowie was on death’s door. Klosterman and Pappademas imagine writing his obituary.
DAVID SHOEMAKER-“Glenn Beck vs. WWE”
The WWE has always had racists as part of the act. What happens when some goons start acting like the Tea Party?
DAVID JACOBY-“The Pure Heart Meets The Bachelor”
Jacoby’s grandmother watches The Bachelor and he feels badly for her.
STEVEN HYDEN-“Is This It?”
The Strokes’ fifth album had just come out [really?]. It could be their last, but Hyden thinks their last two have been quite good.
BILL SIMMONS-“The Heat in Hindsight”
The Miami Heat came close to breaking the longest winning streak in the NBA. Simmons looks at the fallout and who “wins” and “loses” in the effort.
CHARLES P. PIERCE-“Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”
I had no idea that Charlie Pierce was a Canadiens fan!
KATIE BAKER-“The Ethics of a Family Plan”
Is it ethical to pretend that you are married to your roommate to get a family discount a ta gym? Hell yes.
EMILY YOSHIDA-“A Dark Force”
J.J. Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars films. Why, when sci-fi is so multifaceted and so different is everything coming down to J.J. Abrams?
SEAN FENNESSEY-“The Case Against Justin Timberlake”
Timberlakes’s previous album was amazing. Then he took years off to make (bad) film and (good) TV. His star would only continue to rise if he stopped making music and only hinted that he would make another album. But the release of his new album (which isn’t that good) can only hurt him.
BRYAN CURTIS-“Waiting for Bettman”
While many New Yorker’s didn’t care about the NHL strike, Canadian writers camped out waiting for Bettman to announce the strike was over.
WESLEY MORRIS-“30 Rock Landed on Us” 30 Rock was many things, but it dealt with racial issues (at least between blacks and whites) better than any show.
RANY JAZAYERLI-“Fall of the Evil Empire”
The New York Yankees look like they won’t make the playoff this year (this was written in March and as of my writing this they have a slim chance at getting the wild card slot). It will be the firs time in a while, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s the start of a new drought for the Evil Empire.
BILL BARNWELL-“The Master Raven”
Ozzie Davis knows how to pick players for the Baltimore Ravens.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-The Best Chappelle’s Show Sketches of All Time”
Done as a series of cartoons (by Parker); Browne picks his eight favorites:
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Prince
Wayne Brady’s Show
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James
Black Bush (especially now that Obama is president)
Clayton Bigsby: Black White Supremacist
Making the Band (P. Diddy)
The Racial Draft (Tiger Woods Now 100% Black)
The Niggar Family (uncomfortable and hilarious no matter how many times you watch it).
Once again, there’s another great issue of Grantland. Once again, I wish they would follow up on some of their speculative stories. But it’s fun to have a time capsule of events that occurred just a few months ago and yet which I have totally forgotten about.
And here’s the cover of The Outer Limits in non 3D style (which I haven’t see before)
SOUNDTRACK: DAVID LYNCH-“Crazy Clown Time” (2012).
It’s hard for me to divorce this song from the video, because the video is so…David Lynch. Even though it pictures the lyrics literally, there’s so many weird little Lynchisms that it’s an art unto itself. Imagine David Lynch directing a rocking music video, but of a song he wrote. Wow. But I’m not going to talk about the video.
Musically, his song is a fairly simple construction–it’s primarily drums with some echoing guitars (with no real melody) and other crazy noises. Over the rhythmic cacophony, we get David Lynch’s bizarre falsetto/spoken words. Lyrically the song seems to be describing a party that gets pretty out of hand (and the video certainly shows that).
Lyrics include: Paulie he had a red shirt; Suzy, she ripped her shirt off completely; Petey set his hair on fire. And then the chorus: It was crazy clown time. It was real fun.
Lynch’s voice sounds like an excited child (or demonic clown) as he talks about certain details of this party. This is definitely a song that people will ask you “what are you listening to?” There’s very few who will want to listen to this, although I’ve found that after three listens, it makes a kind of twisted sense.
If you dare, watch the NSFW video
[READ: September 10, 2013] Animal Instincts
I very rarely talk about reviews of TV shows–that’s a slipper slope if ever there was. But I like Lorrie Moore and I like Jane Campion and I hadn’t heard about Campion’s show called Top of the Lake Moore suggests is the best show on TV. It aired on the Sundance Channel but was originally a BBC production. Like Campions’ other works, it is set in New Zealand and the location and cinematography are part Deliverance, Road Warrior, Winter’s Bone and Hobbit.
The show sound very dark, but as soon as Moore started describing it I couldn’t help but think of Twin Peaks. And indeed, there is a David Lynch nod within the show (girls say they are reading Blue Velvet for their book club). (more…)
Since I mentioned “Artificial Light” the other day, I thought I’d link to it today.
The song opens with a pretty guitar melody punctuated by horns. The singer’s vocal style is dramatic and often unexpected–especially the way he gets louder mid sentence and then drops to a whisper at other times (reminds me a bit of Wolf Parade or perhaps even Modest Mouse).
There are very pretty moments in the song (especially when the orchestration fills in). But the horns also give it a kind of Spanish feel, which rides on top of the heavier guitars in the verses.
At about two and a half minutes, the song drops out completely. It is picked up by some gentle guitar and horns as it builds back up. By the end the chorus of voices builds the song to new heights and widths.
It’s interesting what you can do with so many band members in five and a half minutes. This song really runs a breadth of ideas but remains quite pretty throughout.
[READ: September 12, 2013] “The Colonel’s Daughter”
The Kids in the Hall once made a sketch in which there was no beginning or ending, just a middle.
In the sketch, a man in a tutu slaps a man in a scuba diving suit saying. “Stop it. stop it. I’ve got to stop you and your revolutionaries from taking over this country.”
This story is like the inverse of that sketch. It has a beginning and an end but no middle. Interestingly, since it is also about revolutionaries taking over a country, I now just insert that sketch into the story (I’m sure that makes Coover very happy. I wonder if anyone else mentions this sketch in the review of this story).
I have mixed feeling about Coover’s work in general. It often feels more style over substance. And I fear that this one may have been playing with that somewhat. Interestingly as well, there is a lot of substance, but it is played in such as way as to make it almost seem meaningless—unless you are willing to really unpack it (which I wasn’t).
So, the Colonel is intent on overthrowing the President (the country is unnamed). He has chosen the group of men sitting in the room with him. Some of them know each other but not all do. They look around and size each other up. Indeed, 5/6 of the story is the men sizing each other up. To me, the men are interchangeable. I don’t know if that is lazy reading on my part or if it is indeed on purpose.
Each man gets a brief biography—the Deputy Minister, the Police Chief, the biplane pilot, the business man, the professor, the doctor and possibly someone else.
We learn a little about each man and why the Colonel would have chosen him. We learn about his fears about the mission and who he mistrusts the most. We also learn that one of the men is a double agent, working for the President. Like a game of Clue, pieces of information are given that would let you know who the man is, but again, I didn’t feel like doing the work to figure it out. I am curious to know if you can tell who it is from the story, but not curious enough to do the work (so I should not be rewarded). (more…)
Chastity Belt are notorious for their band photo. And the fact that their album is called No Regerts (sic). By rights they should play ugly abrasive punk or something weird and edgy and probably a little scary.
So imagine the surprise when “Black Sail” opens and sounds like a Guster song–simple chords with a very catchy melody (it reminds me of a rawer version of “Architects and Engineers”).
Then the vocals come in and the singer sounds a bit like Jefferson Airplane-era Grace Slick–powerful but kind of slow. It’s a very compelling mix.
Especially when things change in the chorus–a simple, pretty guitar riff leads us into the simple chorus “black sail, strong wind.”
The difference between the image and the music is so striking that i wonder if I’d have been as taken with the music with out the picture. Was this a brilliant strategy or just a really bad idea (it has already made a list of unfortunate band photos). You can decide for yourself, I’m including the picture at the end of the post.
And you can listen to the song on NPR or at their bandcamp site.
[READ: September 12, 2013] “Amaranth”
Amaranth is a 12-year-old girl who goes by the name Merry. She is out driving with her father one night when he gets a call from his business partner. Amaranth pretends to be asleep while her father goes to talk to the man. But rather than a conversation, the partner, Otto, kills her dad. And Amaranth saw the whole thing happen.
Amaranth is devastated. But she is even more devastated when Otto starts coming around. Like a remake of Hamlet, soon Otto and Amaranth’s mother are getting married.
Amaranth wants nothing to do with this; the rest of the story details the ways she rebels against the unpardonable acts.
First she begins starving herself. She eats just enough to survive but her mother hates how thin she is getting. Eventually they send her to a place for girls with eating disorders. She returns plumper, but with a new scheme. This time her rebelliousness gets her put into a special hospital. (more…)
I have talked about Nothingface before, but here it is in sequence with the Voivod catalog.
This is the culmination of Voivod’s move toward progressive metal. Even nearly 25 years after its release, this remains one of my favorite albums ever. The guitar chords are complex and wonderful. Snakes’ voice is melodic with odd tinges of weirdness thrown in—where he goes up or down a note unexpectedly. Plus, he has that peculiar pronunciation/emphasis that makes the words sound even more exotic (like “repugnant”). And despite the fact that they cover Pink Floyd (!), the album is still heavy.
The whole band is in top form here—Away’s drumming is explosive and complex, Blacky has a fantastic rumbling sound that’s not distorted but really fills in the bottom end and Piggy’s guitar is masterful. “The Unknown Knows” has some cool staggered notes and a great catchy guitar riff during the verses but the time changes come fast and furious. I love the way the guitar and bass play off each other in this song. But then comes the cover of “Astronomy Domine”. Imagine the band from War and Pain who used to cover Slayer and Venom now covering Pink Floyd. It’s hard to fathom, but man, do they pull it off wonderfully—adding a heavy bass element but keeping it very faithful. And Away’s drumming is stellar. It’s a marvelous cover.
“Missing Sequences” starts with a cool bass line and Snake’s great pause… “NOW!” Then when he starts singing again, his voice is phased in a very cool sci-fi kind of way. There’s also some interesting effects—keyboards maybe–in many of the songs. There’s also a great part where there’s a rumbling bass and Snake’s scream of “GO!” before a weird guitar solo and then even weirder shifted guitar chords. It’s magnificent.
As is the guitar playing in the verses for “X-Ray.” I’m not even sure how Piggy came up with the bizarre chords in “Pre-Ignition.” And yet despite the harshness, there’s pretty melodies like in the cool catchy “ground and rock and sand” section of the song. And as for pretty, the quiet beauty that opens “Into My Hypercube” is really impressive for such a dissonant album—Snake whispers his vocals and the guitars are all pretty, major chords. Until the bridge where dissonance enters and then the post bridge (who even knows what to call these song parts) which is once again a heavy round of dissonant chords. And then when the “tumult in the dark” section starts, it’s practically a whole new song—until Blacky’s bass section reintroduces the beginning motif.
The final track has a wonderful moment where Snake’s voice follows Piggy’ unusual guitar line perfectly. And then the very cool almost funky (great bass sound) of Blacky after the “too late for S.O.S.” line. The album ends abruptly (too late for S.O.S.) and you’re left contemplating everything that just happened (I haven’t even mentioned the lyrics).
It’s a prog metal masterpiece.
[READ: August 26, 2013] Werewolves of Montpellier
I enjoyed Jason’s Lost Cat so much that I went to the library and checked out some other books by him as well.
Werewolves has the same looking characters as in Lost Cat, but they are different people (I assume). The strange thing about this book is that the werewolves don’t look all that different from the main drawings. At first I wasn’t even sure that he was wearing the werewolf mask. But on closer inspection there are subtle differences (the eyes, the ears, the fingers). Indeed, it took two reads for me to really notice all the subtle details. Nevertheless, it’s just funny to imagine the characters thinking he was a werewolf when he looks for the most part the same anyway.
But so this story starts with the main character, Sven, dressed like a werwolf and breaking into someone’s house. When the victim comes home, she catches him, but is frightened and he flees out the window. In the next scene his next door neighbor, Audrey, (not his girlfriend, as she is dating a woman named Julie) brings him some food and tells him that he was in the paper (unidentified but in costume).
Then we see the main character and a bird looking guy playing chess in the park (and talking about the value of escalators for checking out women’s asses). The main characters seems to be primarily dog-like and bird-like, but they intermingle freely.
The final new characters are two men talking about the photo. They say that the werewolf in the photo is not part of their brotherhood and they want to punish this newcomer for causing them trouble. (more…)
As I said, this album’s art looks much better. And you can hear from the first notes that this album is better produced and is going to be a lot more interesting than the previous two. It’s hard to know just how much of a leap this is from Rrröööaaarrr because that album was so muddy–maybe there were gems of guitar chords under all that noise. Like the previous openings, there’s a sort of prologue to the album. But unlike the previous album’s swirls, this one is beeping with a computer voice announcing “we are connected”
The opening chords are heavy, but man they sound clear—like they weren’t recorded underground. You can also hear all of Piggy’s weird higher notes—he’s playing complicated chords, not just solo notes. And when the chorus of “Killing Technology” rolls around, it offers stop and start rhythms and Snake’s voice even goes up an octave at the end. But the first real indication that Piggy is on to something new comes in the bridge. Underneath the robotic voice, Piggy is playing some really strange-sounding chords. The story is that he had been admiring Robert Fripp’s guitar work and so he added some of those King Crimson-y angular weird chords to his repertoire. And he melds them perfectly with the heavy thrash that the band had been playing.
Lyrically also, this album has moved away from killing and headaches. “Killing Technology” while having “killing” in the title is a very different subject:
The star wars have started up
The new invention is coming out
Making a spider web over the atmosphere
To make them sure that we can’t get out of here
Computers controlling your functions
Seems like we got electronic alienation
Trading children for a new kind of robot
Waiting for the old people to disappear
Quite a departure from Rrröööaaarr’s “Fuck Off and Die”
Stand up, right now, kill
No pleasure, the pain comes down here
No return, don’t look back, there’s no tomorrow
And if you’re a fucker and don’t believe it
I’d say fuck off and die, fuck off and die
“Overreaction” leans more towards the heavier side—Snake screams a bit more—but the subject (nuclear disaster) is thoughtful. Then comes their first truly amazing song: “Tornado.” Not only building like a tornado, this song allows them to talk about violent imagery without resorting to bloodshed. It’s even scientific:
Cumulonimbus storms arrive
Lightning flashes a hundred miles around
Electrical collision course
Creates the elephant trunk
But the best part is the chorus—it’s simple enough (just the word Tornado repeated) but it’s completely catchy and sing-alongable with bright major key chords.
“Forgotten in Space” features some great drumming from Away—he’s really quite underrated both in speed and technique—which explands even more on later albums. “Ravenous Medicine” is another highlight—an interesting series of uncomfortable chords opens this track about scientific research. It’s a pretty fast, heavy song. Although not too complicated except for the occasional breaks as the story progresses.
“Order of the Blackguards” is another fast song, but this one has so many parts that if you don’t like one, just wait a few seconds for the next one. “This is Not an Exercise” ends the disc proper. The middle section has a great heavy riff. But it’s the beginning of the ending sequence which is so perfectly sci-fi that really sets the tone of the album and looks towards the next one. It’s cool to think of Piggy playing these spacey chords on his guitar. And when Blacky’s bass rumbles in to resume the song, it’s quintessential Voivod.
By th way, this disc is a concept album as well. There’s a “Killing Side” (the first three songs) and a “Ravenous Side.” The strange thing about the CD though is that they have added two tracks from their Cockroaches EP which is nice. But they put one song at track 4 (the end of side one). How odd to put a bonus track in the middle of a sequenced album.
The EP came out before the album and it has a slightly different feel from the album proper. Although as a step towards Killing Technology it’s perfectly in sync. “Too Scared to Scream” is heavy and has some interesting time changes—I love the way the song feels like it is crashing to a halt around 3:30. “Cockroaches” feels like more traditional metal. It opens with drums and Piggy playing a typical sounding metal solo. Then the riffing starts and it’s very heavy indeed. Even the staggered section near the end sounds like a mosh section more than the prog time changes that Voivod uses on the album proper. The song ends with Snake screaming as the cockroaches are coming. A good ending to the EP and a pretty good ending to the disc.
The whole album has a very mechanical and robotic feel—the chords that Piggy plays just sound like mechanical failure, it’s very well constructed and foreshadows the music of their future.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #6
Grantland #6 covers from Sept 2012-Dec 2012. Despite the short time frame, this is the largest issue yet. And it maintains all the quality that I’ve come to expect from the book/magazine thing. Which means, I love the writing (especially about people/sports I’m not that interested in). And it also means that the editing is typically crap. In this issue the editing was crap more because they simply forgot to remove mention of hyperlinks. At least I assume that’s why sentences like “See here for ____” are included in any given article. But yes, there are some very simple typos that Word would correct pretty easily.
But beyond that, I really enjoyed this issue. And I’m finding it amusing how much certain people and shows crop up in a given time frame. So this is a four month period and Kobe Bryant still dominates (there will never be an issue without at least one Kobe article). But this time Homeland is the big show (since Breaking Bad has been on hiatus I gather). Basketball remains the favorite sport here (even though they speak of football as being the most popular sport).
Chuck Klosertman and Charlie Pierce continue to write thoughtful (sometimes funny) articles. And I like how there is still talk of Jeremy Lin even if Linsanity has gone away somewhat. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH-Live at KEXP (September 8, 2012).
The Tallest Man on Earth is Kristian Matsson a Swedish singer songwriter. His albums have a very full sound, but when he plays live, it’s just him and his guitar. And man, is he a compelling performer. His guitar playing (primarily classical-sounding but often heavy and mostly rocking) is gorgeous–fast and pretty. And his voice is gravelly and powerful. I’ve enjoyed the studio songs I’ve heard, but he is transcendent live.
This set opens with a buzzy guitar that sounds like the show is not recorded well. But that quickly goes away and the songs shine. Matsson is a charming and self depreciating performer and when he has a malfunction as in “Love is All”and at the end he says “that was kind of embarrassing.” But he not bothered by it and plays on with a great, short set.
The set includes some (then) new songs and a few older ones as well: “A Field of Birds,” “King of Spain”, “Tangle in This Trampled Wheat,” “Thrown Right at Me,” “The Gardener” and “Like a Wheel.” It’s a great introduction to the guy and his amazing voice. which you can enjoy at KEXP.
[READ: August 20, 2013] Miss Wyoming
I first read the book during my trip to Vancouver on the eve of Y2K (the best flight I’ve ever had—mostly empty and we were given champagne). I started reading it on the plane and then in the second chapter the heroine is in a plane crash. So I stopped reading. I’m sure I finished it later, although I didn’t remember much of anything about it.
I read it again now and I was a little disappointed when I started reading it. The first few chapters are so full of similes it is insane. The word “like” is tossed around at an incredulous pace. Like:
John’s teeth were big and white, like pearls of baby corn
…his skin like brown leather.
His eyes looked like those of somebody who’s lost big.
They crossed San Vicente Blvd, passing buildings and roads that once held stories for each of them, but which now seemed transient and disconnected from their lives, like window displays.
Susan was wrapped in a pale light fabric, cool and comfortable, like a pageant winner’s sash.
John was sweating like a lemonade pitcher,
…his jeans, gingham shirt and black hair soaking up heat like desert stones.
John felt as close to Susan as paint is to a wall.
Staring at the pavement, like Prince William behind his mother’s coffin.
This man with sad pale yes, like snowy TV sets
That’s all in the first chapter!
Now, I have come to see that the story is cyclical and it’s about people looking for their real selves. So it’s possible that the simile heavy beginning is meant to reflect the fact that the protagonists are looking for themselves—they have no substance so they can only be compared to other things. But man, it is hard going with that many comparisons.
The other major problem I had with the story was the really aggressive use of coincidence. Susan and John both end up eating out of fast food dumpsters; just as Susan’s mother wants to sell their house, a pile of garbage from an airplane falls on it. Right after we learn of a guy hoarding gasoline, the house explodes. Again there are arguments for why these things might happen in this story (numerology is an important aspect of the book), but it seems too…easy.
But once the story starts moving the actual plot is really interesting and compelling. (more…)
I just recently realized that Live Bait 9 has been released. So I grabbed it just in time. Vol 9 is full of long jams. The shortest track here is 10 and a half minutes and there are three over 30 minutes (true, some of them are actually multiple songs melding into one track, but they still retain that long jam feel).
What I especially liked about this set was that it included a few songs that I feel like aren’t represented all that well in the Live Bait catalog. Like “Foam” from 1994—a solid rocking jam (at 10:47). And “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” (from 2004—I like how they splice the cuts together, so in this case they jump a decade but it doesn’t sound it). I feel like this song is not played as much, so it’s nice to hear. And then there’s a lively “The Moma Dance” from 2000.
There are a number of quirky moments in many of the songs. Like “Split Open and Melt” which comes in at 31 minutes. Around 11 minutes, they morph into “Kung,” and what’s weird about this version (aside from the fact that the song itself is bizarre) is that instead of it just being them making noise and shouting, there’s actually music behind it—mostly drums—I’ve not heard it done like that before. During the jam, at around 15 minutes, Mike plays Collective Soul’s “Shine” riff on the bass, but the rest of the guys don’t join in.
“Mike’s Song” (from 1999) begins a 40 minute jam. The song seems slower than usual, which I find odd. But it works well for the very mellow jam that constitute the big instrumental section—they even use the echoey guitar the runs for a few minutes keeping the beat and setting a pace. At 17 minutes the song morphs into a rousing version of “Twist”. Then at 31 minutes they morph into “Weekapaug Groove” (with Gordon’s great bass opening. At 36 minutes Trey starts playing the Macarena, although not exactly right, which is pretty funny in and of itself.
“David Bowie” (from 1995) is a 25 minute jam that gets pretty dark in the middle. Then comes the most interesting juxtaposition of songs jam. From “AC/DC Bag” one of their earliest songs to “Ghost” one of their then newest ones. “Tube” a, to my mind, underplayed song is next. It has a funky jam and is appreciated.
This free set ends with “Undermind,” one of my favorite new songs (this one recorded n 2012). It opens with a staccato riff which gives it a kind of reggae feel. But it soon returns to its normal sound and proves to be a great ender to this “set.”
I can’t say enough good things about the Live Bait series. I’m not one to buy many concert sets, but having free samples is really cool.
[READ: July 28, 2013] A Questionable Shape
Karen read this book and not only raved about it, she personally recommended it to me. So imagine my surprise to find out that it’s a zombie novel! But it is a zombie novel like no other. If Colson Whitehead (in Zone One) made a zombie novel that was literary, Sims has gone one step further, making a zombie novel that is philosophical.
The story is set in Baton Rouge and takes place some time after a zombie epidemic has broken out. In the time since the zombies started appearing (worldwide, it is suggested), the police and emergency teams have managed to contain the worst of it (already that’s something new). Panic has subsided somewhat and the government has even released a pamphlet on how to deal with everything that’s been going on (called Fight the Bite–I never checked to see if there was a version online, it would make a great “online extra” (having now read Karen’s review, I’m glad to see she agrees)).
The book focuses on two primary characters: the narrator (Michael Vermaelen–referred to mostly as Vermaelen whose name is not given until very long into the story) and Matt Mazoch. There is a third important character–the narrator’s live-in girlfriend, Rachel, who plays as something of a foil.
The simple plot takes place over a week. Mazoch is searching for his father. Mr Mazoch died just before the epidemic and Matt believes that he is among the walking dead. And so Matt has asked Michael to go with him to try to find him. There’s a couple things to note right off the bat (the pun was not intended, although Matt carries a bat with him as his line of defense and who knows what else). Matt and Mr. Mazoch had a weird relationship, one which fell apart considerably over the last few years. Mr Mazoch let himself go completely and seems opposed to everything that Matt believed in–physical fitness and intellectual pursuits (or, as Michael points out, perhaps Matt pursued them to be the exact opposite of his father). The second is that while Michael is happy to go along with Matt, he has no idea and is even afraid to ask what Matt plans to do should he find his father. And this issue comes to a head later with Rachel.
Matt has given them exactly one week to find his father, with the explicit instructions that after a week thy give up pursuit so that it doesn’t drag on indefinitely.
Okay so far so good–they are going zombie hunting. But the thing is, the zombies have become a part of the landscape, but they have been tamed. It is illegal to kill them (what an interesting twist). Despite their zombie-ness (it’s actually considered an insult to call them zombies), and their desire for human flesh, rather than eradicating them, they are being rounded up and put in camps. Naturally there are still a number of stragglers (zombies get everywhere), but there is a hotline to call if you see one and within minutes the police come and quarantine them.
So, what’s one to do on a day long adventure hunting zombies–or more specifically, one zombie–if you aren’t actually hunting them? Well, mostly, you talk. Michael is a philosophy student (he intended to read all of the important philosophical works although the outbreak has taken him off his goal somewhat), Matt is a literature student (Rachel is an art history major), so the discussions get very philosophical. In addition to quoting Heidegger, Kant, Nietzsche and many other big names, they also talk video games and seek for metaphors for the zombie invasion. The video game discussion was quite fascinating–Matt imagines the grid of zombie takeovers to be like a video game–going into blank nothingness. But Michael imagines it more like a filmy haze.
Indeed, since this is all told from Michael’s first person point of view, we learn a lot about what is in his head. And it turns out that Michael is obsessed with the zombies (which is understandable, really). But his obsession is different. When the outbreak first happened he, like everyone else, refused to go outside. But soon, when the government gave the all clear, Rachel not only went outside, she volunteered at the facilities. But Michael refused–seeing potential contamination everywhere. Indeed, even though he goes out with Matt every day, he still imagines and worries what would happen if and when someone he knows is infected. When they go to a diner, Michael won’t even eat the food, imagining some kind of contamination.
He even tries demilitarization exercises with Rachel (which she is understandably freaked out by). But as the story moves on Michael’ footnotes (did I say there were footnotes? There are–almost one per page) spend more and more time wondering what the zombies are experiencing–he seems to be trying to pick the best one. And he goes over and over these ideas in great detail.
After a few days (each chapter is a day) Rachel needs to know what Matt is intending to do if (when) he finds Mr Mazoch, especially since Matt suddenly believes he has some “evidence.” Michael doesn’t want to know, which enrages Rachel. She assumes the worst (that he wants to kill his father). She assumes he would kill him out of malice towards zombies, but Michael suggests it would be to put him out of his misery).
Rachel has a personal stake in this issue. Her father died before the epidemic, but she was convinced that he would be turned (before they proved that the longer-dead weren’t rising, it was only the recently dead). So she waited at his graveyard, with the intent of digging him up if need be. She proves to be a real bleeding heart on the issue. To make her case, she gives the recent example of a scientist training a zombie to speak. She discusses the emotions of the woman whose father was the zombie. She says this shows that these creatures still have humanity in them and to kill them all would be genocide.
By the end of the book, Matt has taken a polar opposite position–hurricane season is coming and these things are a security risk for all the living. They should all just be killed. For the safety of everyone. Michael–always the intellectual–has a somewhat more nuanced position–he feels that perhaps they should be spared because we have so much to learn from them. And each case is made rather convincingly.
There are some wonderful passages–the discussion about leaves and greenery and the amazing description of Michael’s first encounter with a zombie (not at all frightening, just chilling) show what a great writer Sims is.
The strange thing about this book (aside from the whole “it’s about zombies, but not” premise) is that for such a short book (just over 200 pages), it’s a pretty slow read. Between the footnotes and the philosophy, the book doesn’t exactly flow quickly. It’s not light reading by any stretch. And at times it’s a little…dull? too in its own head? Something? But those moments seem few and far between, because ultimately the language is so interesting and fulfilling.
The end is one of those endings that’s not a real ending–it’s more of a “what would you, the reader, do?” kind of ending. That’s always unsatisfying. And yet at the same time, I have not stopped thinking about what I would do in his case. And so it almost becomes the perfect ending.
Bennett Sims was a student of David Foster Wallace and although this book does have footnotes, the author he resembles most is Nicholson Baker–where not much happens in the body of the work and all of the “action” (which is really thought) is in the notes.
Karen put Bennett Sims along with Seth Fried and Manuel Gonzales on her “magnificently weird” list, a list that I am intrigued enough by to hunt down these other two authors (and Sims’ story “House-Sitting” which i don’t seem to be able to find online. So thanks Karen, i wouldn’t have found this one on my own.
To my dismay, my friend Lar recently informed me of a terrible thing that is happening to Phish’s LivePhish series of CDs. This series came out from 2000-2002 and consisted of 20 CD sets of full concerts. The “nifty” thing about them was that they were packed in plastic sleeves (4 discs to a sleeve) which had three holes in them so you could store them in a binder (the LivePhish binder with secret pocket for your stash).
Well, it turns out that whatever material they used in the plastic sleeves leeched out of the sleeves and onto the CDs. For many CDs, it left a goopy residue that wiped off with a little effort. But on other CDs, the goop actually ate through the paint and, apparently (although I don’t know how) through the music. When you look at the discs there are clear “holes” in the paint, so you can see right through the disc. When you play the discs, it ate away at the music as well.
Since this was over a decade ago and Phish is no longer with Elektra and the collections are long out of print, it looks like fans are simply shit out of luck. I have at least 8 sets that have at least one disc that was eaten away like this.
The shows are available for download at the Phish Dry Goods Store, but then you’re paying $10 for something you already own.
Those sleeves seemed like a great idea, but they clearly weren’t tested for long term durability.
I don’t believe there’s any recourse for this, but if you know of any, do pass it along. I’m sure fans must have the concerts online somewhere too, but that’s not the point. Seeing as how the sets are fetching as much as $300 on eBay (which I’m sure no one is paying), there was the possibility that these would have collector’s value. But clearly not anymore. Major buzzkill.
[READ: July 29, 2013] In My Home There is No More Sorrow
This book came with McSweeney’s 40. It is a book unto itself, hardbound and with its own ISBN, so I didn’t feel compelled to read it right then (especially given that the subject was Rwanda and it didn’t seem like an especially happy book to be reading).
But I decided now I was up for it and so in I dove. And it’s not an especially happy book to be reading.
Bass is a writer with many books to his credits (although I didn’t know him). He was sent to Rwanda on an assignment. I gather that as part of the assignment he was sent to teach a writing workshop to local writers. (The actual purpose of the trip, as far as logistics goes, is a little vague I must say).
At any rate, bass and his family (his wife and teenaged daughter) went to Rwanda for ten days. And the first few days are as harrowing as one might expect. I was familiar with the atrocities in Rwanda, but only insofar as I had heard bits and pieces of the story from the news. I had no idea about the extent of the violence–millions of Tutsis killed by Hutus. Nor the extent of the way the survivors have dealt with the atrocities in the seventeen years since they happened. Which is: they have created shrines to the dead and in many cases have not cleaned up or in any way hidden what happened.
And so , we have churches with blood on the walls where people were murdered (I will spare some of the details of the way the children were killed, but I will certainly never forget it). The family also goes to a shrine where the bodies were exhumed and placed in this area for fuller viewing. And the creepiest thing about this shrine is that the bodies were packed so tightly in the mass grave–with no oxygen and with quicklime poured on them , that they did not really decompose–they were more or less mummified–their skin just sort of shriveled. These bodies are practically like living skeletons, left ion their death poses. That’s another image I will not be able to expunge from my mind any time soon. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-Negatron (1995).
After The Outer Limits failed to grab an audience, Voivod’s lead singer Snake departed the band. With just the two original members left (and no bassist or singer), Piggy and Away decided to start again. And they went dark and heavy. For the first 45 second of this album, you think, wow, Voivod has made a really heavy album—with thundering riffs and, yet still, some unusual chords from Piggy (the chord progressions are definitely still weird). Then new singer (and bassist) E-Force opens his mouth. And that’s when a good portion of Voivod’s prog rock fan base started weeping.
I Just Read About That... 