sitting on bakunin's grave

2006-09-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's What You Need

Okay, so it's been a goooood long while...a few months, in fact. But I have no shame, and so I am unapologetic. I'm equally as unapologetic because I'm going to tell you exactly what you need, as per usual.

Canadian music, and Canadian dance music, is some of the best in the world. Of course, when I talk about dance music I'm not talking about some house producer in a studio with two decks, and even though I do like some of that stuff, I'm just not as familiar with it. So, when I mean dance music, I'm talking a little more broadly about music you can dance to.

And what better music to dance to than Vanouver's Primes? The West Coast two piece is representing BC with their version of punk-noise-dirge-dance, featuring Jack Duckworth of Radio Berlin. And we all like Radio Berlin.

Primes' new EP, Facades and Pink Forms, takes the energy and volume of the Fall, or any other dark, English, post-punk band, and interjects it with the feel and groove of Shout Out Out Out! or Holy Fuck or any other Canadian dance-ish band right now.

There's a movement going on in the Great White North, and it isn't just for hosers and booze heads, it's something very real. It's a concrete wave of strange, new, and exciting dance bands, and the leaders of this movement are those three groups I've mentioned. Weird Dance Canada is taking over. It's weird, it's from Canada, and you can dance to it. So put down your guitars, kids, and pick up a dusty Casio, buy a distortion pedal, and start throwin' down.

primes-music.com
holyfuckmusic.com
nrmlswlcmrcrds.com

2006-07-28T23:38:00.000-07:00

Twenty years on, and still nobody treads on the Mats

The greatest rock band ever, next to maybe The Clash--who are of course, in a league all their own; they don't even play the same fucking sport people, admit it--are undoubtedly The Replacements. Every rock band starting out should base everything they do on these two bands. The Replacements had the never-ending youthful energy, the rawest punk attitude, and the greatest songs. Nobody comes close to Paul Westerberg's songwriting, particularly on "Unsatisfied," "Answering Machine," "Left of the Dial," "Here Comes A Regular," "Color Me Impressed"...

The list is almost endless. Thankfully, a Replacements "greatest hits" package is being released this year featuring two new Replacements songs, although not featuring their original lineup. Original guitarist Bob Stinson died in the mid-nineties, so they obviously didn't get his help making the recordings. I'm sure he was there in spirit, in true Bob Stinson fashion however.

Anyway, what I'm getting at with all this is that I'm giving you the chance to download an entire Replacements live set in zip format. A full 25 songs, live in Chicago in 1986, and this is rare shit. So go crazy until this link expires in true digital glory. There's no catch. We're just paying tribute to the greatest band ever.

Highlights: The full band version of "Answering Machine," the cuts off of Tim, the cover of "Nowhere Man." The whole thing is awesome in my opinion.

Download The Replacements - Live in Chicago 1986 here.

2006-07-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Cassettes Won't Listen

This is pretty crazy stuff. Cassettes Won't Listen, the bedroom electronica project of one Jason Drake, has just floored me with his cover of the Pavement classic "Cut Your Hair." Drake crafts a beat-heavy bassed up dance track from the indie rock gods' song about long hair, smoking dope and daydreaming, which is tough to achieve, but they've done it.

Cassettes Won't Listen also has crossed paths with Midlake in the past, and a remix of the Midlake track "Young Bride" can be found here.

Download "Cut Your Hair" here.
Download "Young Bride (CWL Remix)" here.

2006-07-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Lounge Lives!!!

Baby Dayliner has not left my stereo in four days. I'm addicted to his "Frank Sinatra over hip hop" approach to music making, and The National loves him, which is good enough for me. If you like Morrissey or James Dean then you'll love this guy; he looks like some badass biker crooner type, only he sings over a sampler and stands alone on stage, which I think is awesome.

His latest album's opening track, "At Least," is just too catchy to ignore. I can't get enough of it, the beat is so tight and big, and his voice is so whimsical and perfect for the track. This might be one of the best singles I've heard in years. I can't wait to see this guy live.

Download "At Least" here.
Visit his official web site here.

2006-06-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Obliterate This

As of right now, I am the world's biggest Mission of Burma fan. These guys never fail to disappoint and continually release fantastic records. If 2004's ONoffON didn't show you that they're anything but washed-up, then this record will show that they have already "come back", and they are definitely here to stay.

Comparing this band with, oh, say, The Buzzcocks and their forgettable attempt at reformation, Mission of Burma is like comparing The Beatles with John Lennon's solo stuff. Basically what I'm getting at is that Plastic Ono Band is light years ahead of Let It Be, Rubber Soul, and all that other garbage that MOR patriarch Paul McCartney was involved in. Using this analogy, one concludes that The Obliterati, Mission of Burma's latest record, stomps on any release by any aging, reforming, cash hungry post-post-punk band.

2006-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Thom Yorke is awesome and will always be awesome.

The above statement is not an over or under exaggeration. It is spot on, perfectly describing the gentleman, who continues to make awe-inspiring music, particularly that off of his upcoming album The Eraser, a beautiful, electronica record. To raise some hype for the guy, because this album is going to blow everybody away, and to coax a thirst for the whiney, croonin' English art rocker, I've posted this brilliant live cover of a Neil Young classic which you can download here.

Thom Yorke - After the Goldrush (live) *EXPIRED*

2006-06-07T23:09:00.001-07:00

"Digital Riot Grrl"

Princesse Rotative has literally just taken me by storm. What amounts to breakcore interspersed with heavy duty blasts of noise, a la Emil Beaulieau or something along those lines, gives me a pleasant headache. I'm reminded of when I first heard Kid606, only this is most certainly not drillnbass, or anything associated with that culture. This is noise music. This is heavy, heavy noise music.

This is how music would sound if Merzbow devoted his life to making records with Squarepusher. I know drumnbass kids that are just flipping out over this shit, and if you listen to it you can hear why, although I love this music and I've never been a huge drumnbass freak. I am into noise though, I love the loud stuff. I freak over Black Vase by Prurient and will relax to Venerology. I like my noise.

And so I give you Princesse Rotative, come to saturate the market with loud, snarly, youthful noise dance. This music gets into you. It cuts you deep. Here's a track, "Ninja Botoc", which I'm sure will let you get the picture.

Download:

Princesse Rotative - Ninja Botoc *EXPIRED*

2006-06-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

WOLF EYES on the verge of releasing new record...Human Animal

Of course, anyone who knows me knows that I think that Wolf Eyes is the best band ever. Their sonic assault has made me a devoted fanatic of the Detroit, Michigan noise band and ever since hearing Burned Mind for the first time I considered my life indefinitely changed for good. Thier primal blasts of throbbing, heavy beats, shrieked, unintelligble vocals and harsh, textural blasts of noise created some of the most perfect, darkest music of all time. This is not music to make love to, this is music to burn your house to. And how we love them for giving us this insight to perhaps the blackest side of the human condition.

Anyways, imagine my glee when Sub Pop announced that it was going to release the next Wolf Eyes full length Human Animal. It's going to be the first recorded release featuring Mike Connelly of the equally loud and dissonant Hair Police, another fine noise band, and apparently, Aaron Dilloway has even taken some time off from his recent trip to Nepal to provide some input into the record.

This is going to blow everybody's teeny melodic mind. Finally, Wolf Eyes will once again surface from the underground, and produce a maniacal, brutal assault of unforsaken noise. On the 26th of September, the Bush administration will really have a reason to raise the threat level to red. Wolf Eyes are serious sonic terrorists; their music continues to provide a more than adequate soundtrack for the current demise of human civilization.

Wolf Eyes - Human Animal ... out September 26th

2006-05-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

I Thought Electroclash Was Dead...?

Fox n' Wolf create eighties-style heavy dance music, with titles like "Youth Alcoholic". They're catering more to the noise crowd, probably because they dress up like the animals they name themselves after--a la Animal Collective--and they are punk as fuck and angry and mad as hell. Dirgy dance, noise beats, and hardcore punk from Sweden. Like DFA, minus the trendiness, and upped in attitude and snarl. James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy coax five o' clock shadow, but Fox n' Wolf pass out in alleyways with syringes in their arms. You do the math. They're dirty and nasty and No-Wave and they make dirty and nasty dance music.

The most punked up, No-Wave dance band yet has to be 10LEC6, pronouced "Dyslexics". Their website sheds light on just how outrageously punk this French band is. They have more in common with Crass than they do with Arthur Russell and !!!. They remind me of Throbbing Gristle, The Slits, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and a few other anarcho-punk and No-Wave bands. The premise of "Wolf Tooth" is brilliant--young girls scream about bitches and sex and domination. I love it. "You called me a bitch, so you think I'm a slut." How's that for opening lines?

Here's a link to a fabulos blog which has a lot of this stuff available for download. The blog's named after the incredible Throbbing Gristle album of the same name and the writers dig Wolf Eyes. Consider my subscription in the email.

Download:

10LEC6 - Wolf Tooth

2006-05-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

To further the Neil Young craze that I am currently swimming in, you should check out this video. It's Neil doing "Old Man" live in 1971, and it's absolutely brilliant.

2006-05-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

BRAVO!!!!

THIS MAN IS A GENIUS.

It's so refreshing to hear protest music. Neil Young's new album, Living With War, is a harsh criticism of the Bush administration, of the Iraq war, and neo-conservative, and it's about fucking time. Neil Young represents the complete other end of the spectrum - his newest record is a balls out, rock and roll record, which makes Rust Never Sleeps look like Harvest Moon, both of which are totally essential musical documents.

This guy will never be a dinosaur, unlike the bureaucratic, right-wing has-beens that sit in the White House. Conservatives everywhere should tremble, because your days being the leaders of the free world are numbered, and you're all suckers anyway. This album will foreshadow a coming change in North American culture within the next few years, and thankfully a great, refreshing rock and roll album is coming out that is telling us this. Thank you Neil for slapping everyone in the face with great, awesome rocknroll.

"Flags of Freedom" is one of the most honest, close to home rock and roll songs I've heard in awhile. Neil Young's latest records have all been great too - Greendale was criminally ignored, even though it was one of the heaviest, most interesting Neil Young records ever. Prairie Wind kicked ass too. This guy is one of the most enduring and most incredible musical acts of all time. Respect. Respect, respect, respect.

2006-04-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Three Really Good Bands For Three Really Good Reasons

First of all, let me tell you that Caroliner Rainbow Hernia Milk Queen are the most retarded band I've ever heard. I do not understand this band. Their music is the aural equivalent of an entire psychedelic band vomiting on a train which is spiralling out of control down a cliff where the bottom is littered with spikes and landmines and ten thousand fucking angry as hell mad rabid dogs who want to eat every rock and roll record ever made and destroy the convention of modern music by barking at high, high volumes and playing guitars with their paws.

Needless to say they are awesome. This music goes way back too. I mean waaaay back. One of their most well-known records, Rear End Hernia Puppet Show was released back in 1985. None of the albums have been sold digitally as CDs. You have to order the LPs via snail mail from their distributor Subterranean. Each record comes with a piece of trash inside of it. Absolutely essential.

Another great band at the moment is Slomo who make heavy, heavy, heavy death/drone/doom ambient. The Creep is one long, singular epic track that brings to mind SunnO))), Deathprod and Philip Jeck all at the same time. I don't know enough about this band, other than the fact that Julian Cope loves them and their are British. Sweet.

In the world of pop, Band of Horses are owning my stereo. Everything All the Time, their fantastic debut album, channels a pre-suck Shins and kicks their furry little indie ass. Repeatedly. Band of Horses is loud, beautiful indie rock that is the perfect soundtrack to my life right now. The record is cheap too, because it's on Sub Pop, and everyone knows how rich they are.

Plus check out this awesome blog: cakeandpolka.blogspot.com

2006-04-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Afrobeat and lack of beat...

I must admit I've been in a bit of a lull lately as far as finding new music goes. I just got back from Germany, and the only record I bought there was the Fela Kuti record Mr. Follow Follow, which ranks as his second best after Zombie. By the way, Fela Kuti will be the greatest musician of all time. This opinion of mine will never change. Please leave comments, and feel free to agree or disagree to this statement. I kid you not. He is the best.

When I came home, I realized that there wasn't much new stuff I really wanted to hear. The record I ended up buying, The Psychic Nature of Being by Lichens, was even released last year. This record is larger than life. Three tracks, all ten minutes plus - I think - and all recorded live, with no overdubs, which is awesome for an ambient record. Voice manipulation, minimalist guitar - it's all here. It reminds me a lot of some Jim O'Rourke stuff, in some ways.

The one-man ambient unit that is Lichens is TV On the Radio's Robert Lowe. It is a departure, to say the least, from his dance-punk counterparts, and a refreshing one at that; he can go from creating music that emphasizes the concept of "the big beat" to music that has a definite lack of a beat at all. Lichens is more like Deathprod than anything.

Of course, anything put out by Kranky is worth getting. Here's a link. Other fine bands on the roster include Low, Stars of the Lid and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, three of my favourite bands. 'Tis a good label.

2006-03-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

American Geography is a great band from Victoria, BC. They've only released a demo and I just heard them today but I love them already. I've just checked out their demos on their Myspace page. This band has a seriously sweet Le Fly Pan Am, At the Drive-In meets Shellac sound...yeah man, that good. I'm stealing one of their profile images to put up here. I can't wait to see these boys play. Proof that the Canadian music scene is the best in the world. Three-piece too, guitar and bass. Steve Albini would be proud.

2006-03-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

Folk Rules This Week

The best singing voice in North America returns with yet another stellar release. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is yet one more painstakingly brilliant Neko Case record, following up the miraculous Blacklisted, which remains one of my favourite records ever. This girl is a godsend. Her live record, The Tigers Have Spoken, proved to me that her angelic voice was not the work of studio wizardry; that even though she has quite possibly the best singing voice in pop music, it is an incredibly honest singing voice at that. Her cover of "Wayfaring Stranger" continually sends shivers down my spine.

I'm also enjoying Bonnie "Prince" Billy, an artist that I never got into for some reason until my girlfriend started liking him. Call me stupid, but I only recently made the connection that it was in fact him that took the front cover photograph of Spiderland by Slint. His record with Tortoise is great too, and shame on me for always overlooking him. Johnny Cash covers the guy, for Christ's sake; "I See A Darkness" is just that good of a song.

To put the icing on the proverbial folk cake I also indulged in my seemingly constant Red House Painters binge. Not just Red House Painters, but also the Mark Kozelek project Sun Kil Moon, who released the re-workings of Modest Mouse songs last year under the title of Tiny Cities. Not a fan of Modest Mouse, mind you, but I think that everyone that panned this record has their head firmly lodged in their anus. This is a Mark Kozelek record, not a Modest Mouse record - for some reason, indie kids had a tough time distinguishing between the two in 2005. I think the songwriting stands up to his two previous magnum opuses - Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway and Red House Painters' Songs For A Blue Guitar which are both staggeringly brilliant albums.

What did I learn this week? Every once in awhile you just have to put down your circuit bender, pick up an acoustic guitar, and find a bucket of good ol' American-born whiskey. Folk is okay as long as it's balanced with Merzbow - just as Merzbow is only okay if it's balanced with folk. Light and dark. Quiet and loud...life is about balance.

2006-02-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

Quite Possibly the Most Earth Shaking Album of the Year

I know that a lot of records have yet to be released this year, but I am absolutely trippin' out over the new Liars record, Drum's Not Dead. I heard three new releases this week; Prefuse 73's new Security Screenings, which blows my mind, and Mastodon's epic re-release package Call of the Mastodon, which gives new meaning to the term "metal", by the way - but no album has grabbed me like the new Liars album.

This record is larger than life. It is everything you could possibly hope for from a band, from music, from a collection of songs, from a group of three iced-up dudes who climbed the social ladder in the "dance-punk" scene and then did everything they could to break away from it...this band astounds me. They Were Wrong, So We Drowned was brilliant. Drum's Not Dead makes it look childish in comparison.

I simply wish there was something I could say which would encapsulate this record for me, but I am simply at a loss for words. Tribal percussion dissolves in and out of the forefront of the mix, a noise influence is at work - you can tell the effect that Wolf Eyes has had on the indie world - but, for the most part, we are noticing a definite homage to the post-punk music of This Heat. Interestingly, Liars manages to wear this influence on their sleeves without dulling the original bombast of one of the world's best-ever bands. They take the This Heat sound and refresh it, hopefully forcing thousands of fans to pick up the soon-to-be-re-released copy of Deceit.

This will be the album of the year. It undoubtedly is so far.

Here are the two tracks that really stood out for me:

Download "Drum and the Uncomfortable Can" off of Drum's Not Dead **EXPIRED**

Download "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" off of Drum's Not Dead **EXPIRED**

2006-02-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

This Is! Reissues This Heat Back Catalogue

It's about damn time that someone released the back catalogue of one of the finest bands of all time. Allegedly, This Is!, a new label set up by Charles Hayward and Charles Bullen from the seminal post-punk band This Heat is releasing their former group's entire back catalogue. I know this for a fact, because I saw the first This Heat release - the blue and yellow self-titled album - on the shelf at Listen two days ago. Apparently, Deceit will be dropping soon, and so will the amount of money in my bank account.

I can't stress enough the sheer greatness of these first two records, particularly the former. Deceit has stood the test of time, proving to be the a rare example of the type of album that could be released tomorrow and still be ahead of its time, in terms of complexity, innovation and intensity. Its relevance has been overshadowed by no one, and the greatness of the band has never been met before or since.

2006-02-13T16:32:00.001-08:00

Don't Believe the Hype
Now that the initial shock of living in a country where women's rights and gay rights are constantly running the risk of falling off the proverbial political cliff has worn off, I move on to my next calculated and studious outrage. Which is, of course, the Arctic Monkeys, the latest hype factory from the UK. Shall I inform you of how I feel about this band? I think that the amount of ass-kissing done by the NME has created a hickey so gargantuan that it is removing all the blood from the heads of these young lads - only then can a group of young dudes make rock and roll sound this bad.
Allegedly this album now holds the record for fastest selling debut in the UK - 100 000 copies on its first day - and I have decided that it is my birthright on Earth to discount this band and their songs for nothing but trash and drivel. It is boring, manufactured, pre-packaged rock and roll which would be nothing without the magic of the studio. I kid you not.
The last thing we need is another band like this. How boring. It wouldn't surprise me if they're all in cohorts with the Test Icicles, Britain's other shite band of the moment. Avoid, avoid, avoid. Don't even download this garbage. Let it rot on the shelves of HMV.
Do Believe the Hype
On the complete other side of the good and bad musical spectrum lies Supersilent, who have just recently released their live DVD 7. I haven't seen it yet, because I haven't had a chance to buy a copy yet, but I have complete faith that it will blow my mind and the minds of those around me.
Supersilent features Helge Sten, better known as Deathprod, who is responsible for one of the finest ambient albums ever made - Morals and Dogma. This man is groundbreaking, not only for his work in Supersilent and Deathprod, but also for his magic hand on the production of albums like List of Lights and Buoys by Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. As a band, they are untouchable. If you listen to the entire Supersilent catalogue, ranging from 1 to 6, you will hear the evolution of a group of improvisers so skilled that they seem to simultaneously break the restraints of every kind of experimental music genre ever. While every record can be and is considered free jazz, elements of every imaginable artistic statement drift in and out of their porous textural improvised experimentation.
My personal favourite Supersilent studio album is 6. It truly is a phenomenal record, pushing boundaries, challenging its listeners, and defying expectations consistently. From the soothing, emotional and disjointed synths and samples of the opening track to the pounding toms which drift in and out of the record, this is a magnum opus, a modern masterpiece, and a destroyer of convention. All the more reason to appreciate it.
Buy 6 from Amazon.ca
There's No Hype to Believe
Unfortunately, nobody is really talking about Mouthus. They're really well known in the No Fun Fest crowd, those New York hipsters who go to the Thurston Moore curated event every year, featuring numerous chart-toppers such as Wolf Eyes, Nautical Almanac, Birds of Delay, Dead Machines, and other bands I really doubt that your mom likes.
This band is really interesting. All I've heard is a collaboration record with Valerie Allen. It sounds like the end of the freakin' world. It's as epic and monumental as that too, with voices, guitars, and drums seeping in and out of an electronically modified, effects pedal mindjob. Check out this band.

2006-01-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

Look Who Came Out On Top But Remains On the Bottom!
Or: "I Am Standing Up For Canada - By Not Voting For You, Asshole!"

It is a dark day in Canada thanks to the man pictured above.

And is it just me or does every socialist - democratic or revolutionary - have a bald head and a moustache?

There's Still Hope in the Harper World...

It's okay Jackie - all your leftist supporters understand the teeth-grinding frustration that is the only result of another right-wing conservative regime such as the one your fellow Canadians have now been subject to. We can all now collectively look forward to an era of pro-life, militaristic, Harper-heiling robots who impose their tyrannical thoughts on everybody who actually owns a brain.

Remember, in such blue times it's even better to be red. All we need now is a united, solid left-wing, democratic socialist party which will (over time) consume the hateful and greedy Conservative ideological fortress and topple every right-wing castle that comes our way. Come to think of it - Harper's got nothing. This government is doomed to fall - let's all do some castle topplin'.

On a Musical Note...Hahaha (Pun Count: 1)

I've also come to the stern conclusion that everything sucks. All institutions are corrupt and unbearable - marriage, the family, school, rock and roll, the church...call it ranting; I call it nowhere to turn. And so, I listen to Wolf Eyes...and enjoy.

For this kind of mood, living in a "Heil Harper" world, only Nautical Almanac will do. Just look at this guy on the left...something tells me they don't sound like Billy Joel. I think they're more along the lines of making Throbbing Gristle sound like schoolchildren. Before you go, do two things: check out Rick Mercer's blog, and the Nautical Almanac album Rooting For the Microbes.

Buy Rooting For the Microbes from Amazon.ca

2006-01-22T14:43:00.000-08:00

Clever, Ironic Name - Haha, Sounds Like "Testicles"

I've decided that I hate this band. The Test Icicles, the newest British focal point for all that is trendy, indie-rock and dancepunk, and how average it is. I think this is the first time I've featured a record on this page that I completely despise, but there is a first for everything I suppose.

Basically this album makes me wonder why I threw out all those Chinese Stars records. Oh wait - they're shit.

From the purposely shrill vocal stylings of this band's singer to the conveniently treble-y guitar - most likely tweaked to studio perfection - and the whole "Bloc Party with an edge" chord changes, I honestly feel like this album's hype is only growing to grow and swell; not unlike an obnoxious, benign goiter.

Can You Spell "Bloc Party And Libertines Are Shite - Don't Copy Them"?

Here's a formula - take some young trendy kids, give them some guitars, teach them a dancebeat, give them a Bloc Party record, hand them a cleverly semi-controversial name, and slap their record in the hands of every twelve year old girl with a Pinback shirt and a pair of ripped jeans and you've officially made a profit. Because that's all this band is about - can the praise, people. Test Icicles fail.

Bang Bang Rock and Roll, last year's supposedly brilliant debut release from Art Brut, a few rock and roll loving punks from Britain who sing songs about flailing around maniacally while under the influence of The Rock. Their songs are simple, precise, sharp to the point, and infectiously boring. A friend actually managed to convince me to listen to this drivel, and I was convinced within the first ten bars that it was garbage.

This music is disposable. When did rock and roll get so boring? Why did I grow out of punk rock? Why, four years ago, would I have listened to this and thought it was exciting, innovative and necessary? Now, when I listen to it, I want to throw out all their Richard Hell records - which is something that should never happen to anybody.

Was I Wrong About Rocknroll? WAS I WRONG?

Maybe this kind of stuff always sucked. Maybe the New York Dolls are totally overrated. Yet, when I hear a Shellac record, which is also brutally honest, stripped down rocknroll, and a Guided By Voices record, which is essentially the same thing, I'm not succumbed to the same kind of mental wear. I mean, in all honesty, Guided By Voices and Shellac are two of my favourite bands. I don't think I've ever fallen asleep listening to At Action Park. And how about the Clash? I shed more than a few tears when Joe Strummer died - I was there, mate. I remember that day. I knew that the greatest band ever had died with him. I love the Stooges - Fun House is one of my favourite records of all time.

Which makes you wonder why exactly the Libertines and all their cronies fail so miserably. I love rock and roll, but I hate Test Icicles, I hate Art Brut, I hate the Libertines, I hate the Hives, I hate Death From Above 1979. These bands are booooooooooring. But why?

Wait - I know what it is. Steve Albini, Joe Strummer and Robert Pollard had BALLS.

Buy At Action Park from Amazon.ca

2006-01-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

The Greatness of GBV...

One of the greatest American bands of all time, Guided By Voices, played their final show last year, but documented it on a fantastic live album box set. It is full of Robert Pollard's drunken, indecipherable stage ramblings; and the band's sloppiness increases as they play through their three hour long set. A recording of sheer greatness, however - it is subject to much awe from myself and many of my friends. There is a reason why many cities have named a Guided By Voices day - they are the embodiment of the greatness of a national holiday. Unbelievably excellent.

Downloadable tracks:

Listen to just how great this is:
Guided By Voices - Navigating Flood Regions (live) **EXPIRED**

Buy Guided By Voices stuff from Amazon.ca

2006-01-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today in history...

A bassist named Paul Simonon first auditioned for the London SS. The London SS, after changing their name, would become the greatest rock and roll band ever. Mark it on the calendars.

It's also Captain Beefheart's birthday.

2006-01-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been awhile - since last year, really, since I posted on here. I think I'm going to start trying to host mp3s, so you'll be able to download some songs or albums from now on. Go crazy.

Best Cover Song Ever

So I might start giving you guys some songs I've been listening to lately, starting with this one. The Arcade Fire do an absolutely incredible live version of the Magnetic Fields song "Born On A Train" - which I think totally trumps the original. The Magnetic Fields' version doesn't create the same kind of intense longing, nostalgiac loneliness, and alienation that the Arcade Fire's music has become synonymous with. And this is live - it just makes you realize what a fantastic band this really is.

At first, when Funeral first came out, I remember thinking that it was an average record. Not a bad record, just very average - I thought there were moments that seemed too hastily decided, and I thought that it was one of those albums that the band would see all their faults in hindsight. Now, however, after all my pretentious indie friends stopped liking them, I realize that the Arcade Fire is actually a great band. Funeral didn't even make my top ten list for 2004; it is the one example of a record that I absolutely love now that I didn't love upon release. It's fabulous.

Buy from Amazon.ca

The Dead Angles

This is a band I'm not yet sure of - I'm not sure if Les Angles Morts is either visionary and amazing or just pure annoying. Apparently, it features some ex-members of the Arcade Fire. Yes - Les Angles Morts are yet another one of those "Montreal" bands that mixes "post-something" with "post-something else", inflicting their amalgamation with "noise influences"...you get the idea. Les Angles Morts are totally the stereotypical example of this.

They sometimes remind of kind of a dancier Lightning Bolt - in a weird kind of way. Even their song titles - "Portals", "Huge Antlers" - are absurdist and sarcastically post-modern, like our favourite Providence, Rhode Island noise band. I have a feeling I'm going to like this a lot more in a couple of weeks than I do now. Right now I'm still deciding on it - I'm not quite sure. And I don't quite know why I'm not quite sure.

Buy from Amazon.ca

"Slow-beat"? WTF?

Here's kind of an interesting band. I don't know a whole lot about Hot Chip, aside from the fact that they're apparently inventing a new kind of electronica called "slow-beat". Please. Are these genre names going to get less and less creative every time an original band is pulled out of some ass somewhere? I don't buy "slow-beat". This is quite a good record though, and this song, "Playboy", is some heavy shit.

I love the tongue in cheek lyrics about pimpin' in a benz with some 20 inch rims, but you have to know that it's being sung by some geeky music nerd somewhere. This is a pretty sweet record too; optimum opportunities for some producers to sample this shit. Some of these songs would make some killer beats. Especially if the beats are "slow". How lame.

Buy from Amazon.ca

Downloads this week:

The Arcade Fire - Born On A Train (Magnetic Fields cover) **EXPIRED**

Les Angles Morts - Huge Antlers **EXPIRED**

Hot Chip - Playboy **EXPIRED**

2005-12-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

It's been a good two weeks since I even decided to shed an eye on this blog...maybe my enthusiasm for music in 2006 will drift away slightly...who knows. All I know is that I've spent the last little while compiling my top ten list for this year. Here it is.

10. It seemed that this year everybody and their boyfriend's newt was bugging out on M.I.A. Well-deserved I thought, even though the first time I heard this record I thought that it was the most overrated piece of crap I'd ever encountered in my adolescent life. After being exposed to it in a record store setting for twenty four hours a day, non-stop for eight weeks, I found that it kind of grew on me. This was the year of grime, the year that dancehall and hip-hop found a place with electronica and baile funk, and so here is the most mainstream of that outcome. Also hear: Kano - Home Sweet Home, V/A - Run the Road Vol. 1

09. I think that Low's The Great Destroyer reassured that great songs make great records. There was nothing out of the ordinary here, no analog delay pedals, no screeching noise-infested bouts at hyper-originality, just three people who write amazing, amazing songs. The SLC trio that is known for their delicate, subtle compositions with acoustic instruments and soft, whispered vocals went balls out for Sub Pop here, creating one of the heaviest records of the year. Also hear: Low - The Curtain Hits the Cast

08. No one can dispute the heaviness of SunnO))). Arguably no one before or after them will ever seem this heavy, but I'm sure that has been said before about many bands. The punishing minimalism of their metal assault is so unbelievably interesting - how can something so obtuse and crushing come from something so simple? Easily one of the coolest records of the year, if not the coldest. This is music to fill the holes in your soul with dry ice. Also hear: Earth - Hex: Or Printing In the Infernal Method

07. Black Dice never cease to amaze me. One minute, they're crafting Ebullition Records-style grindcore/noise workouts which inevitably lead to broken ribs and lost teeth; the next, they're associating more with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, illustrating their abilities to conduct climactic sound waves from old, dead radios and mixing boards - now, they're the easily the best band on DFA, and they fit in quite well, making noisy dance albums and continually developing a reputation for the loudest band on the face of the earth. Broken Ear Record is one of the catchiest albums I heard this year. When the bass drums come in on "Snarly Yow", the effect is so hypnotic it's like some weird sort of Talwin high. Also hear: Jetone - Ultramarine

06. I love the abstract chaos of The Hospitals. One of the most overlooked records of the year, I've Visited the Island of Jocks and Jazz explores every texture imaginable and does so with the lowest recording quality I think I've ever heard. It sounds like two guys fit their circuit benders into a closet with a booming PA system and pressed "record" on your dad's thirty year old tape player, on some gross old slimy cassette. And that's exactly the kind of balls-out character that makes this record so appealing - The Hospitals embody the honesty and spirit of the new noise-punk movement, and don't sound anything like the other noise bands. Wolf Eyes, in all their glory, better watch out, because this feedback driven group of retarded noise makers is boiling up from the underground. Also hear: Sightings - Arrived in Gold

05. So what - I know it sounds like Wonderful Rainbow. The point is, there is no band out there as wicked as Lightning Bolt. Everything they do is a sweaty, bloody affair, and these two Providence wackos have proven it with Hypermagic Mountain. Taking every Japanese noise-rock band ever - Boredoms, Melt Banana, Fushitsusha, etc. - and simply insulting them by being just more ferocious, Lightning Bolt look, act and sound like they could sink the Titanic all over again. That's practically the only adjective fit to describe them - titanic. Also hear: Boredoms - Super Ae

04. This is a record that really shook my tree, but just not enough to drop enough fruit to make it into my top three. Keith Fullerton Whitman, I think it's safe to say, is a genius. The guy spends most of time at Harvard, I do believe, in the electro-acoustic section of the campus, whittling away at instruments which emit some sort of magnetic field which can be disrupted, resulting in the culmination of processable sounds - or at least I assume so. I really don't know much about him - I just think that this record is beautiful. This music provided a soundtrack for all my endeavours through changing jobs, changing schools, changing weather patterns - and it seemed to compliment it all perfectly. Also hear: Tim Hecker - Radio Amor

03. Ahh, the top three. Better undoubtedly kick it off with Antony & the Johnsons. I Am A Bird Now is probably one of the greatest records I've ever heard - it's not everyday you hear a brilliant mixture of experimental music, jazz, soul, punk...etc. Everything was thrown into this record, and the result is a magnificent, Mercury-prize winning record, full of smooth, comforting melodies, and cinematic climaxes. "Fistfull of Love" - song of the year, hands down. Also hear: Antony & The Johnsons - Antony & The Johnsons

02. Here's where it gets really easy. A guy walked into the record store a while back, probably right after summer ended, and asked what record he should buy if he was looking for something that wouldn't leave his CD player for weeks upon weeks. A guy I worked with handed him The National's Alligator, and within two minutes, he had listened to it, taken the CD out, and decided we were right. This made me realize the power of this record - within two minutes, I understood that a stranger had heard the most brilliant pop album of the year, and I assume that he has not removed this album from his stereo - it's December. This record came to me in a difficult time; just when I thought that noise had taken over the underground and that Wolf Eyes was the future of music, a band comes along and shows me the possibility of life being otherwise. Thank you. Also hear: The Clientele - Strange Geometry

01. The greatest record of 2005 was also the most misunderstood. The Constantines are the greatest band on the planet. They are the greatest band in Canada, they are the greatest band in Ontario. Tournament of Hearts is the greatest record released this entire year. It is the most expansive, daring, and exciting album I have heard in 365 days. It is characterized by the sheer anticipation I experienced after Shine A Light had become unplayable because I had played it out. Every single person to critiscize this band and this record is musically uneducated. No other band will ever be this good. Also hear: Black Mountain - Black Mountain (though not even nearly as good)

Honourable mentions:

Kano - Home Sweet Home
Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - Buck Dharma
Black Mountain - Black Mountain
Red Sparowes - At the Soundless Dawn
Hair Police - Constantly Terrified
Early Man - Closing In

Even the honourable mentions are kick ass records. A good year for music, all in all. See you in 2006.

2005-12-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

Wow. Such lateness this week; a good three days. Inexcusable - except for the fact that sports and music have been otherwise consuming my life. My iPod broke for the fourth time last night, unfortunately. Looks like I'm back to the olden days' ways of listenin' to that there analog vinyl on my turntable.

I had a really hard time picking my top three for the past week. I have been in a very strange mood constantly.

First off, The Mouse and the Mask by Dangerdoom - something I wasn't particularly stoked on when it was released, but I think that it's kind of grown on me. I was disappointed, probably because - like every other MF Doom fan I know - I was comparing it to Madvillainy, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hip-hop album ever. I'm not even kidding. That album is perfect in every way. Dangerdoom, after pondering its existence for many a night, is of course not as good, but uncomparable. Whereas Madvillainy is an experimental, abrasive, dark, harsh, and all-encompassing exploration of jazz, punk, soul, funk, noise, hip-hop, and just about any other kind of recorded "music" of the past twenty years, The Mouse and the Mask is a much more happier, poppier release. Still good though.

Madonna still owns. I'm serious. "Hung Up" is such a killer single. That beautiful ABBA sample, that punishing, heavy, bass, the awesome EQ on the snare, the totally compressed, poppy production, the emphasis on the extreme hook, the lack of lyrical subject matter...I love it. This is what overproduced, spoon-fed pop music crap should be. If every pop musician sounded like Madonna I would be feeling a lot different than I do about mainstream music at the moment. Unfortunately, Madonna merely sets the standard, and nobody really follows her lead.

I needed some Nels Cline to lift me out of the abyss of guilty pleasures that is pop music. Destroy All Nels Cline is some of the most textural abstract jazz guitar music ever recorded. I stand by the statement that Nels Cline stomps on Jimi Hendrix any day. Jeff Tweedy doesn't just pick his musicians out of a hat - there is a reason why Nels Cline is Wilco's touring guitarist. This guy runs toy lazer guns through his pickups, which he runs through a plethora of pedals - he is so punk rock it is sickening.

Nothing for next week, except promises of punctuality. Thanks for reading, see you soon...

2005-12-07T21:49:00.000-08:00

A quick link to one of the best podcasts on the internet right now, Radio Free Brooklyn. Two awesome guys play absolutely awesome music - fans of Godspeed!, Isis, Boredoms, Arab on Radar, Black Dice, Bad Brains, Et Sans, etc. take note - you have the podcast for you.

2005-12-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

This week was my week of Mark Kozelek; I dove head first into the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon catalogues and discovered one of my new favourite songs.

I got sort of back into folk, which is stuff I haven't really listened to in awhile - I didn't get into Iron and Wine, Kings of Convenience, and I'm not much of a Holopaw fan. The whole indie-folk thing just doesn't usually do it for me. For this reason, I couldn't be totally consumed by the acoustic guitar - I had to give myself my usual dose of noise.

Songs For A Blue Guitar was my number one record this week. The opening track, "Have You Forgotten", is achingly beautifully, re-acquainting you with all the sad moments of your life, and forcing you to find solace there. It is one of the most delicately written, accurate pieces of music I've heard in a long time, and I must say that the fact that the Red House Painters were on 4AD at one point makes them that much cooler. This music is so dark, yet it makes you feel so happy. Get out the hankies.

I have never heard an album as violent and heavy as Black Vase by Prurient. The sweat and pain of one crazy, manical shirtless man with two microphones and four towering amplifiers copulates with primal drumming and rhythmic screams to form something that can only be described as Black Flag meets Merzbow. Both of those artists seem like the Bobsy Twins in comparison however - the track "Silent Mary" speaks for itself I think. You can download it from the Load website. Echoey bellows, catapulting ferocity, all from one guy, two mics, and some floor toms. Totally incredible.

White Mice are just simply crazy. They dress up like lab rats - literally, bloody, sliced-up lab rats - with gigantic masks and weird bloody coats. They are a bass guitar, a drum set, and a circuit bender, and they make the craziest, weirdest mix of black metal/dirge/noise/sludge that I've ever heard. This album is one of my favourites of the year, hands down, and will find a place nestled in my top ten list. ASSPhiXXXEATATESHUN is one messed mindjob of a record - take it in pieces; it's ultra powerful.

So, couldn't be totally quiet this week - I really tried though. Keep those acoustic guitars coming, folks, and I'll keep smashing them into quaint, tiny little bits.

2005-11-27T16:52:00.000-08:00

I used some of my birthday money to get myself a new record, one that I most definitely had not heard and one that I was going to be totally gripped by for weeks to come. I think I found exactly what I was looking for.

I was in the mood for ambient on the most part in the past seven days, so I indulged in some Rune Grammofon stuff and Akira Rabelais.

This week in music...

spellewauerynsherde is one of the most haunting albums I've ever heard. Released in 2004 and under the noses of basically everybody I know, I am now understanding the error of my ways for not picking up on Akira Rabelais' wonderful record. Rabelais digs into his tape archives a la William Basinski and decides to digitise his old documents. What he finds is hours of Gregorian lament songs, and so he overlaps them, processes them with a laptop and forms these wonderful compositions, instilling in you only feelings of regret and loss. This album is not an upper, yet it is so sadly beautiful.

This week also got me into Luigi Archetti & Bo Wiget's Rune Grammofon recording, Low Tide Digitals. This record demonstrates Rune Grammofon's ability to release only the finest in free jazz/noise/ambient/experimental music, and this is absolutely no exception. With the quintessential Rune Grammofon addictive digipack packaging and the absurdly high quality production, I knew that as a Deathprod and Supersilent fanatic I was committing musical hubris by not picking this up.

Double Leopards produce some of the greatest drone/noise stuff around. With circuit benders, tone generators, guitars, and other assorted electronics, Double Leopards coax their instruments into delivering long, sprawling, orchestral drone compositions right to your headphones. Not as bassy as SunnO))) or as abrasive as Wolf Eyes, Double Leopards instead find a sort of shoegaze-influenced beauty in their ambience, a sound that Kevin Shields could identify with somewhat well. I like Halve Maen a lot, particularly "Hemisphere in Your Hair", a track clocking in at twenty minutes fifteen seconds.

Next week in music...

I'm hoping to pick up some Sunroof stuff, and possibly a killer Whitehouse album. I'm also really feeling Minamo, an ambient electronics duo from Japan. Sayonara...

2005-11-21T20:39:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy this week. So busy, in fact, that I am yet again late with the update of this blog. So busy, that I did not even ponder which albums I listened to more than any others this week. I think I can pull it together now though...

Recording the music for a film makes you listen to certain albums by artists that the director wants to have influence your work. This week was pretty singer/songwriter-ish; and I hate most of that stuff, but when you're forced to listen to one particular genre, you pick the best of the best.

This week in music...

The director wants lots of Tom Waits I give him Tom Waits. Immersing yourself in Rain Dogs is never hard. People are constantly overlooking the greatness of this record. Taking you on a trip through acid-induced, Vaudevillean soul, to cryptic, percussive, dark stories of sadistic great uncles and slaughterhouses, this is basically as perfect as a folk record gets - mostly because it is so much more than that. Tom Waits is all attitude; even his love songs are snarly, gruff lyrical affairs that you can imagine have to be sung with and only with a leather jacket and a Philip Jackson.

One of the finest releases this year has undoubtedly been Arular, M.I.A.'s first proper studio album. Me, you, and everyone I know was probably floored by Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1 last year, which left me in a funk driven, hip-hop based, experimental mess. That is a gripping album, and it left me literally salivating for the release of her debut. Lo and behold, Arular delivered, and it hasn't left my stereo much this last week. A fine record, possibly numero uno for 2005.

Lyle Lovett's Pontiac is a great album for one reason and one reason only: "If I Had A Boat". The rest of the album, while strong, is not even remotely close to touching this song for sheer quality. It sends chills down my spine every time I hear it, and its chord changes, its lyrical subject matter, and its delivery are so expertly crafted that you cannot deny that this is undoubtedly one of the finest songs ever written. Plus, the guy married Julia Roberts - he must be doing something right.

Next week in music...

Hopefully I'll get around to actually listening to some music...and hopefully I'll be on time with my next post.

2005-11-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the tardiness of this post, Sunday was a busy day for me. Opted not to see the Dillinger Escape Plan last night due to my commitment to basketball. Don't much care for Hella and Between The Buried And Me anyway, so I figured it was slightly missable.

I do eventually want to see them though, considering that Miss Machine was a highlight of last week...though not listened to enough to score a place on my top three list.

Rova::Orkestrova's absolutely staggeringly interesting interpretation of John Coltrane's Ascension is breathtaking. Easily some of the most textural free jazz I have ever heard, offering up a slough of shrieking, cacophonic horns laced with the guitar noise of Nels Cline and the laptop manipulation of Ikue Mori. What a fantastic exploration into the field of sound, and such a brilliant delivery of the power of improvisation. The instrumentation is absolutely fascinating; modern digital experimental instruments are fused with a sonic virtuosity to a traditional approach to free jazz, creating an atmospheric, energetic and intense noise experience.

The Great Destroyer by Low is one of the most incredible records released this year. I once asked myself the question, "is it cooler when loud bands make quiet records, or when quiet bands make loud records?" before hearing the proof, in this document, that it was undoubtedly the former. Low, the definition of awesome wimp rock, bought a load of powerful Marshall Amps and electric guitars and used them. Their previous explorations into noise, like The Curtain Hits the Cast, are mere anecdotes to the loud, burgeoning riot they have going on here. Such an evolution is being show from these three Mormons from Salt Lake City - I basically can't wait till they release a split with Hair Police...That'll be the day.

The newest SunnO))) album, Black One, is one of the top releases this year. To those that have counted off this band as being merely Earth copyists, take note - Oren Ambarchi and John Wiese both make appearances on this record, offering one the conclusion that SunnO))) are total noise artists, furthering the violent experimentation of Merzbow's remixes on The Flight of the Behemoth, which were highly effective and climactic. Nothing beats going to sleep with SunnO))), especially the nightmares experienced when you're brave enough to follow through.

Next week in music...

I'm going to buy one more record with my birthday money. We're teetering closer to the edge of the year, meaning that everybody should have most of their best of lists completed by the end of November. I think I'm pretty sure what mine will look like; I doubt there's many surprises left in the last month of 2005. See you next week, on time this time...

2005-11-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Still a certain stagnation of live music around these parts...aside from a punk show which was a definite pass and a couple of hardcore outings here and there, the lack of quality live music in this town is laughable.

I guess that forces you to find bands that really move you. This week saw me digging into some Montreal Krautrock influenced experimental punk, some Chicago blues-based noise, and some seriously progressive hip-hop.

Le Fly Pan Am are quite possibly the best Constellation band. I think that Godspeed You Black Emperor! obviously has their moments - they're one of the best Canadian bands of all time - but there are moments where they tend to lack Le Fly Pan Am's...je ne sais quois...punch. Le Fly Pan Am are a loud rock band who sit on chairs during live performances and crush their crowds with crunching, violent, Can-influenced noise rock. N'ecoutez Pas is their best, most expansive and enthralling work to date, incorporating Godspeed's tape manipulation and sonic experimentation. A great work, no doubt.

Talker by U.S. Maple shows that noise bands don't have to be loud and Hair Police-y. They don't necessarily have to improvise, they can write songs and compose, and this seems to demonstrate that U.S. Maple have their roots in the other side of African-American music - the blues. While Hair Police and Dead Machines build on the free-jazz work outs of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, U.S. Maple are from Chicago - and so, they feel the pound of Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson. The result is a complex, dark love affair, with stories told by the lead singer's wheezy, lungless drawl.

Anti-Pop Consortium take hip-hop, remove the turntables and process it with a laptop. Anti-Pop's strange, digital beats show more of a reference to Aphex Twin than RZA, and the outcome is a refreshing blend of experimental electronica and rap. Arrythmia is the best example of this, its songs littered with beats made from bleeps and short, computerized pitches, elaborate stereo panning, and sampled ping-pong balls. Call it "free rap"; it's just experimental music. And it's rad.

Next week in music...

I've been a Krautrock-ish mood lately. Probably more Can, Neu! and maybe even Kraftwerk. I don't know. We'll see when we get there...

2005-11-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Not a Sunday, but the day after Halloween, and what better way to celebrate the spooky season than to list off ten of the best Halloween albums ever - by Halloween albums, I am of course referring to theme of total darkness that engulfs the whole album.

I'm not talking about the Cramps or Ramones doing novelty Halloween hits here. I'm talking about chilling melodies, chanted voices, pounding, throbbing industrial drumbeats - I'm talking about dark, dark music. Throbbing Gristle. Bauhaus. Eyehategod. Anything on Southern Lord. Very dark music. Music that makes you feel alienated and alone, and plunges your soul into a pit of total blackness. This is the music that makes me chew my nails down to the bone. In no order, of course.

This Heat's 1981 masterpiece Deceit is a contender for perhaps the darkest album ever. I have been listening to this record daily since last Sunday, and it is so gripping, so chilling, and so awe-inspiring that it truly makes your skin crawl on October 31st. Listen to "Cenotaph" while walking alone on a street at midnight on Halloween like I did last night, and feel the goosebumps grow to the size of cities...like I did last night.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s F#A#oo is yet another masterpiece in the field of black. Songs evoking the end of the world, man's tragic downfall, a sky of fire, apocalypse...the end is near my friends, and embrace it. Listen to the soft spoken voice at the beginning of "The Dead Flag Blues"...those words are cold, dude. Very cold. On vinyl, this album is even more spooky...watch as amidst vinyl crackles and pops, the record simply bleeds on forever into infinity.

To be truly dark on Halloween, you cannot do without the Satanic black metal. And what other Satanic black metal record is more Halloween appropriate than Darkthrone's A Blaze in the Northern Sky? Grab your corpse paint, don satanus, and embark on a journey to the inner circle of hell, filling your soul with evil.

Some of the darkest music ever recorded is some seriously old blues. Dock Boggs and his banjo crafted some of the blackest, most disturbing music ever. You can hear the years of whiskey induced sufferin' in his voice, and the dirty secrets that must lay in the memories of a Southern white man in the early twentieth century. Tales of murder, of drinkin', and of woe are all embedded in his most definitive collection.

Dark does not even begin to describe Burned Mind by Wolf Eyes. This record is a sonic, wintry wasteland, full of anger, regret, despair, and alienation. The manical, homicidal nature of Wolf Eyes is also some of the most comforting music available - "Wolf Eyes", says a friend of mine "is someone hitting you with a sledgehammer." Nothing speaks darkness like Wolf Eyes. Blast this from your car stereo and go trick or treat - even the ghouls will run like hell.

Norwegian tape manipulator Helge Sten releases some of the most haunting music ever under the name Deathprod. Morals and Dogma, his masterpiece, forces you back into the saddest, scariest moments of your life and says "deal with it." His dark, flowing soundscapes become crushingly heavy with repeated listens - all eleven minutes of "Dead People's Things" is not unlike being crushed by thirty thousand tons of ice.

Khanate freaks the hell out of me, especially this self-titled album. They have a song called "Skin Coat", for Christ's sake. They play so...god...damn...slow. They look like metal incarnate. Their music is so dark you have to listen with a flashlight, and that barely does the trick. Like crawling through a forest full of snapping twigs in the middle of nowhere at three in the morning and then plummeting down a cliff to your death. The music is called doom metal for a reason. This is it.

Feel like some much-needed alienation and misery? How about some murder and death? Alright then. Throw on some Hair Police, particularly Obedience Cuts. Sure, Constantly Terrified is scary as hell too...but how many noise records accurately sample the unnerving sound of a man drowning in a bathtub? None - except this one. This is basically as dark as it gets.

With a name like The Grimmrobe Demos, how can you be unsure about SunnO)))? With a name apparently alluding to a total eclipse of the sun, therefore spraying complete and utter darkness on the mortals of Earth, you are positive that this album will evoke spindly trees at the cusp of winter, grasping for a gnatch of water before the snow falls and they face their long dehydration. This music is made for tundras, for barren, deserted wastelands where you are left with your hope and your guilt.

Finally, the quintessential album of death, despair and uncertainty. Without a doubt, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. With tales of serial killers and armageddon, these are truly the words of a man teetering over the edge of the abyss. Not in the sense of Iggy Pop and having fun with it, this is disturbing. This album disturbs me. It makes me uncomfortable, it makes me emotional, and it makes me passionate. This is music I put on when I feel unloved, because I know that the artist feels my pain. Look at the lonely cover, man. This is seriously gloomy stuff. Totally nightmarish.

Anyway, that's my guidebook to dark tunes. Don't listen to these albums with a loaded gun by your side. Like I said, dark, dark stuff. Happy Halloween!

2005-10-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

This week I didn't really find anything new that totally grabbed me and changed my world - it was more of the same old, same old. I listened to a lot of hip-hop, and noise stuff - this week was very "beat-heavy", except for my brief introduction with the new SunnO))) album, and some Fennesz live bootlegs.

And now for my week in music...

Wolf Eyes' Dread is the most Burned Mind-ish of all the pre-Burned Mind albums. The title itself is pointing toward the dub influence in their work. This record is very heavy on the digital and analog delay, the screamed vocals, and the heavy, industrial, throbbing beats. While Burned Mind meets sort of halfway between this album and their very ethereal Slicer, Dread is almost even more straight-forward and song-y Wolf Eyes releases. Their second best album, and part of "The Big Five" Wolf Eyes releases, along with their self-titled debut, Slicer, Dead Hills, and Burned Mind. All these releases are amazing in their own right and different enough to have been released by completely different bands.

I have a very strong Wu-Tang Clan obsession. I think that 36 Chambers is the absolute pinnacle of hip-hop - dark, lyrical, evocative, passionate, angry, and paradoxical - how can an album be so ethereal while at the same time be so straightforwardly down to earth? The RZA's beats compliment the gritty, through-the-teeth rhyme style of the eight MCs, and the best post 36 Chambers solo albums are undoubtedly some of the best hip-hop albums of all time. The cream of the solo Wu-Tang crop is Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. It reigns supreme in all categories - it is artistically untouchable in the field of production, lyrics and rhyme delivery. Mad props.

This week's last pick was a tough choice, especially since I visit this album so often. This release remains one of my top albums of all time, and it seemed to offer the perfect soundtrack for some moments of my life in the past seven days. Isis's Oceanic is by far the most perfect metal album of all time. The music moves you in such an unprecedented way that I find anyone would be unable to feel the same. Its haunting, washing distorted guitars create such an atmospheric effect on the listener that I find myself incapable of shutting it off until completion - and when I do, I find that I have either committed some sort of great injustice to the world of music, or I feel rather incomplete, and have to return to the record at the exact spot I've left off and finish listening - it is a testament, a monolith, an epic feat of artistic achievement. I feel for this record unlike any other.

Next week in music...

Haven't really been keeping track of new releases lately, I've been trying to improve my back catalogue. I'm anxiously trying to track down a digital copy of Deceit by This Heat, but I doubt I'll have any luck. Check back next Sunday...

2005-10-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

This week, not so heavy on the metal. I did manage to tone it down a bit, although I have lost the shame in admitting that I enjoy banging my head. I'm actually pushing it on people now; it's as though I'm coming out of the metal closet. I listened to the new Early Man record today, and despite the fact that it's a bit too "hair metal"-ish for me, there were endearing qualities in that which I would have waved away mere weeks ago.

Didn't see any good bands this week, unfortunately. Saw Thumbsucker, that Mike Mills movie, which Elliot Smith did a vast amount of the music for and I thought it was a fantastic film. On the musical front...

The Foreign Exchange's Connected is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. It explodes with a delicious introduction, laying down the most ethereal electronica-inspired beats I've heard in a very, very long time. It also mixes soul and hip hop effectively - the evidence of course being "Happiness", the twelfth track on this excellent album. That was definitely a standout track of last year, and I feel sorry to say that I missed the boat and only bought Connected now.

Matthew Dear blows my mind. Leave Luck to Heaven has some of the most intricately woven, delicately crafted dance beats I've heard since Aphex Twin's Windowlicker. Gettin' down has never felt this artsy-fartsy - "Is it from Manchester, circa 1991 or Berlin, circa 1974?" Perfect mix of rave culture and black turtlenecks. His other album, Backstroke, is elegant as well, although the enveloping, shadowy sense of darkness in this record is too appealing to avoid.

I have never owned an album as over the top as Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope by Agoraphobic Nosebleed. It is undeniably pummeling grindcore, with sadistically humurous lyrics, and a drum machine that allows the band to reach speeds exceeding 220 bpm. The distorted, grunted, horrowshow vocals are so unbelievably intense, and the songs are so short. This album is awesome. So is the title.

Next week in music...

Hopefully I'll see a decent concert or two. That's my only wish. This week seemed sort of music-less due to the lack of live music...see you next Sunday...

2005-10-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

I went to the Constantines show and it was undoubtedly one of the best shows ever. That band floors me every time; I am continually astounded and astonished by their sheer energy, vitality, and quality. Their songs are consistently fantastic and I sincerely feel that they improve with each album. I can't wait until 2006 or 2007 so that they can top my year end lists then.

This week I found myself getting into some bands and some styles that I didn't think I'd be normally pumped on - namely metal, grind, and other assorted genres. I found myself splurging on some releases by some bands that I never thought I'd find myself listening to.

Orchid's self titled release is a seriously aggressive collection of work. I fell asleep listening to it last night, and I strongly feel that in prepared me for today. I find that music this intense tends to share a lot of the effects of noise music a la Wolf Eyes - the intensity becomes so overpowering that it actually calms you down and relaxes you. Orchid's speed and energy becomes so consistently pummeling that it ends up sounding like a drone after ten or fifteen minutes, which, coincidently, is exactly how long this album seems to last. Some songs fail to to top thirty seconds of sheer grind/metal noise, which is awesome - when you're in the mood, which I totally seem to have been.

The fathers of metalcore, Rorschach, released Autopsy in 1995 to offer a complete discography of their recorded material. The sheer influence this band has had on the punk and hardcore underground is laughable - when listening to Autopsy sometimes you swear that you're hearing Converge. There is nothing subjective about this statement - compare Jane Doe with Remain Sedate. Autopsy's power floored me, however, and after the first couple listens I've decided that I might have heard one of the best compilation releases of all time. I think this Rorschach release rates as high as Minor Threat's Complete Discography for sheer scope and power. Simply unforgettable.

Despite the fact that seemed to be my week for metal, I couldn't help but be fully absorbed by The National. "Finally," I keep saying to myself, "a wimp-rock band that doesn't sound wimpy." The National are pop music at its greatest - the songs are so brilliantly constructed, the lyrics are heavenly, and this record has not left my CD player for four days. I think I listened to Alligator more this week than any other album. It is beyond enjoyable, completely perfect. Chris Martin from Coldplay could learn a thing or two.

Next week in music...

Next week I guess I'll see how far I dive into my current metal and grind fixations. I picked up an Agoraphobic Nosebleed record today - it's called Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope. What's happening to me, what's happening...

2005-10-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

This week was spent revisiting some old classics and identifying with some bands that I hadn't really connected with before. Constantines play live on Wednesday, but I still have to get tickets. In the past seven days, I've indulged in some Canadian indie pop, the most brilliant amalgamation of free jazz, grindcore and dub I've ever heard, and some German experimental laptop music from last year.

Broken Social Scene is going to top all the critics polls at the end of this year. The new self-titled release is going to send scenester kids into fits of spastic rage due to the sheer poppiness of it. Just when you thought the Arcade Fire's Funeral was becoming more and more of a guilty pleasure as the minutes ticked by, another fine Canadian pop band releases another fine pop record. There's nothing wrong with songs - for every Wolf Eyes record I own, there's an equally important and interesting Guided By Voices one.

My week in music:

As previously stated, this record will blow everyone away. Feel Good Lost drew comparisons to ambient electronica and sometimes bores me to death, You Forgot in People was pretty "rock-y" and frankly: formulaic, Bee Hives was interesting, but didn't quite cut my cake - but this Broken Social Scene album delivers. Its songs are excellent, the instrumentation actually makes sense this time; along with the ever-expanding-previously-deemed-unnecessarily-large roster of musicians. A humble, self-titled album, with brilliant artwork and brilliant songs. Very impressive, already being touted as album of the year by people who either haven't heard the new Constantines album or are too afraid to rock with their balls out. But still, the complaints are few and far between - Broken Social Scene are making it okay for me to like sugary coated pop songs again. And thank god.

When I started working in a record store, the complete studio works of Painkiller was the first thing I bought. John Zorn's landmark experimental noise project blended grindcore, free jazz, dub, and ambient music into one sadistic, violent and bloody mess. Players include Bill Laswell of Last Exit and Mick Harris of Napalm Death - Execution Ground is one of the finest bridge-building albums ever recorded, an epic feat of jazz improvisation, and one of the heaviest, most extreme jam sessions ever set to analog tape. It's more than ten years old, and when I play it for people, they still don't know what to do with themselves. People don't know what to make of it. I've listened to this record every single day this past week, and I discover new things every time. It simply drowns me in wonderment. I'm shocked out how effortlessly the three guys play off of eachother, and manage to construct these incredibly ethereal blends of free jazz, grindcore and dub. It floors me, and it's incredibly hard to find.

Venice by Fennesz is giving me one big week-long chill. It is the most atmospheric, textural and comforting music I've ever heard. This, upon consideration, should have topped my lists for last year, but I just never got around to listening to the damn thing all the way through. One year later, here I am; enthralled by its magnificence and constantly searching for the new adjectives to describe the effect that it has on me. David Sylvian's guest appearance on "Transit" is exceptional - his smooth, soft voice seems to be the perfect mate for the harsh, yet beautiful noise sounds coming from Fennesz's processed guitar.

Next week in music:

Hopefully I find a way into the Constantines show so I can see them live again. The best band in the world right now, hands down. These five Canadian gentlemen are the most incredible sight to behold. So amazing, you'll go into cardiac arrest, I guarantee it.

2005-10-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Saw Black Dice at Victory Lounge on Friday. We played with them, and that's the only way I would have seen them, since I'm under eighteen. I don't really know what to think of our set, but life's all about the next gig, right?

Black Dice is crazy. Not in the conventional sort of sense; they don't freak out, and jump around like most other crazy noise bands. Instead, all the energy stems from the fact that they are the equivalent to a large jet taking off, and are easily mistaken as such at times. The loudest live band ever, no jokes - and the sheer intensity of the volume equals sheer intensity of a live set. That is the only band I've ever seen that has literally rendered my earplugs useless. I think that I permanently damaged my hearing that night; the Victory Lounge is such a small venue, too, and seeing a band like that in a venue like that is simply skull crushing.

My week in music:

New Constantines album released on Three Gut - apparently the last release from the label that brought you Oneida, Jim Guthrie, and the first two Constantines albums. I think that Tournament of Hearts is the album of the year. Hands down. It's going to come down to Constantly Terrified by Hair Police, Broken Ear Record by Black Dice, Arular by MIA, that Xiu Xiu/Larsen collaboration, and this new Constantines record. It slays. It sounds like Fugazi playing Motown - or Mission of Burma playing Otis Redding - or something along the lines of some dirty punk rock band doing the craziest, oldest, deepest American rock'n'soul covers. You have to own this - own this or pose. Check out their webpage here. It's going to be tough deciding which album of theirs comes out on top. They are all absolutely wonderful records.

Matthew Herbert's Plat du Jour is ridiculous. Dance forged from the field recordings of chickens, bottled water, coca cola, pigs, cows, other slaughtered farm animals - is this electronica? Is this experimental? Is this political? It's a combination of everything; the beats are ambient enough to relax to, and the samples are recognizable enough for you to understand their political intention. This guy is taking a shot at the big food industry, and it's the thinking man's Super Size Me. I think I'm going to be listening to this for quite some time now. I tracked down some images of the guy, and the most interesting I thought was a picture of him squatting next to a baby chicken, sampling some squawking with a three thousand dollar Seinheiser microphone. Awesome.

I've also recently checked out The Hospitals, the album is I've Visited the Island of Jocks and Jazz. They're a really good San Francisco noise band. Awesome stuff on Load, home of Lightning Bolt, Sightings, White Mice, and anything else that's worthwhile and interesting in the musical world right now...except for maybe Neon Hunk. Good, original stuff doesn't come along all that often, and the lo-fi/no-fi ethic taken in the production of the Hospitals' music is almost just as endearing as that of Ariel Pink. I swear to god, this Hospitals stuff was recorded in a closet in a basement. It sounds that distant, that muddy, that noisy. Tape hiss is like an instrument on this record, and it adds to the haunting, pummeling effect of the sheer noise. Hanson totally missed the boat on this one dude, the Hospitals are totally a Hanson band. "They sound sort of like Scissor Girls," says a friend of mine. Decide for yourself.

Next week in music:

In the world of hip-hop, new Ghostface Killah, Atmosphere, Alchemist and Twista out next week. I've also got good feelings about the new Broken Social Scene album, there's some Captain Beefheart interview archives being released, and the Why? album is going to be good too. Good things happening in music right now, keep your ears glued to your headphones and your headphones glued to the ground...