Terrace Martin
Velvet Portraits
I was going to say something about this record. I forgot what it was.
It was pretty good, tho.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Someone is Listening to my Phonecalls...
Deftones; Gore
Feature Track: Doomed User
Keep Listening: (L)MIRL
Deep Cut: Gore
I only owned a few band T-shirts back in the day. And one of my favorites was a white baseball syle logo (in blue). If you are any kind of responsible music listener, then you must realize that Deftones possess one of the most unique and infectious sounds in all of rock music. However, in my opinion the last few albums have sounded more like a really good cover band trying to make their own originals.
But Gore comes out of the gate with a fresh new energy that should make even the hippest and most hyped new alternative rock bands tremble with a awe. This is barbaric. It is the classic sound of my youth, imbued with some creative recording techniques to sound like what we remembered feeling like when we first heard this sound.
This looks to be a great experience. The title track, Gore sounds like a social commentary on modern times and hits with a brutality beyond comparison.
I just re-listened to Around The Fur and scanned White Pony to make sure.
The best record they have ever made.
Thank you, guys!
Feature Track: Doomed User
Keep Listening: (L)MIRL
Deep Cut: Gore
I only owned a few band T-shirts back in the day. And one of my favorites was a white baseball syle logo (in blue). If you are any kind of responsible music listener, then you must realize that Deftones possess one of the most unique and infectious sounds in all of rock music. However, in my opinion the last few albums have sounded more like a really good cover band trying to make their own originals.
But Gore comes out of the gate with a fresh new energy that should make even the hippest and most hyped new alternative rock bands tremble with a awe. This is barbaric. It is the classic sound of my youth, imbued with some creative recording techniques to sound like what we remembered feeling like when we first heard this sound.
This looks to be a great experience. The title track, Gore sounds like a social commentary on modern times and hits with a brutality beyond comparison.
I just re-listened to Around The Fur and scanned White Pony to make sure.
The best record they have ever made.
Thank you, guys!
smh
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals; Call It What It Is
So this album is only streaming on Pandora. Since I switched to Spotify a few years ago, I have never looked back, but I ventured back into Pandora's box to see if I could get a listen to this new record. I love Ben Harper (who doesn't?) and was pretty excited to hear a new effort from him after almost a decade.
However, it seems that I can only get to a list of the songs, but can't actually play them. So I guess I have to create a station and then wait for the songs off the album to come up in rotation randomly.
*long sigh.....
I'll call it what it is. Stupid. It's fucking stupid. I'm sure this album is awesome, but I will never know for sure because now I'm moving on to the next one in the list. Deftones. Their new album Gore is on Spotify, because they are not stupid. smh.
So this album is only streaming on Pandora. Since I switched to Spotify a few years ago, I have never looked back, but I ventured back into Pandora's box to see if I could get a listen to this new record. I love Ben Harper (who doesn't?) and was pretty excited to hear a new effort from him after almost a decade.
However, it seems that I can only get to a list of the songs, but can't actually play them. So I guess I have to create a station and then wait for the songs off the album to come up in rotation randomly.
*long sigh.....
I'll call it what it is. Stupid. It's fucking stupid. I'm sure this album is awesome, but I will never know for sure because now I'm moving on to the next one in the list. Deftones. Their new album Gore is on Spotify, because they are not stupid. smh.
Friday, July 29, 2016
Worth a Little Bit of Patience
Black Stone Cherry: Kentucky
Feature Track: Shakin' My Cage
Keep Listening: Hangman
Deep Cut: The Rambler
Even Deeper: I Am The Lion
If you are the type that revels in derivative post-grunge pop, Please make it Black Stone Cherry. A band that sounds kind of lame at first but constantly provides its own salvation through truly grunge tones and textures. Big guitar fills and solos.
By track three, the trauma of the last 10 years of shit-grunge starts to recede a little and I feel like I can hear this band for what they are. I have nothing left to give of this type of energy, but I would have played this in steady rotation during my teen years.
If one can forget the pathetic popular evolution of grunge, it is easy to imagine Black Stone Cherry the next obvious successor to the dark and dirty, sticky wood floors that birthed Soundgarden and AiC.
Kentucky combines a strange combination of authentic late-80's pre-grunge with a modern nearly-kitshe production. Literally, every song starts out with me rolling my eyes. However, almost every song wins over a small part of my hardened, cynical soul with a few perfectly placed riffs or legitimate grungy breaks.
I would say that the music is predominantly generic and would only appeal to a very specific demographic (I will not say which one). A lot of you might want to associate a band like this with Nickel Back, Creed or Matchbox 20. But I feel that there is some subtleties taking place that put Black Stone Cherry into a slightly different category. It is worth taking a quick look at this 15 track album.
If the song sounds like a shitty alt-pop song at the beginning, skip it. But if you like how the opening riff hits you, stay in for the whole song. You will find some definite gems on here, like Hangman!
Feature Track: Shakin' My Cage
Keep Listening: Hangman
Deep Cut: The Rambler
Even Deeper: I Am The Lion
If you are the type that revels in derivative post-grunge pop, Please make it Black Stone Cherry. A band that sounds kind of lame at first but constantly provides its own salvation through truly grunge tones and textures. Big guitar fills and solos.
By track three, the trauma of the last 10 years of shit-grunge starts to recede a little and I feel like I can hear this band for what they are. I have nothing left to give of this type of energy, but I would have played this in steady rotation during my teen years.
If one can forget the pathetic popular evolution of grunge, it is easy to imagine Black Stone Cherry the next obvious successor to the dark and dirty, sticky wood floors that birthed Soundgarden and AiC.
Kentucky combines a strange combination of authentic late-80's pre-grunge with a modern nearly-kitshe production. Literally, every song starts out with me rolling my eyes. However, almost every song wins over a small part of my hardened, cynical soul with a few perfectly placed riffs or legitimate grungy breaks.
I would say that the music is predominantly generic and would only appeal to a very specific demographic (I will not say which one). A lot of you might want to associate a band like this with Nickel Back, Creed or Matchbox 20. But I feel that there is some subtleties taking place that put Black Stone Cherry into a slightly different category. It is worth taking a quick look at this 15 track album.
If the song sounds like a shitty alt-pop song at the beginning, skip it. But if you like how the opening riff hits you, stay in for the whole song. You will find some definite gems on here, like Hangman!
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Schrödinger's Unfortunate Discovery
Autolux - Pussy's Dead
Feature Track: Listen to the Order
Notable Mention: Brainwasher
Keep Listening: Change My Head
My kind of guitar solos! Noise, with only the bare essentials of a hook to hold it together. Sound portrayed as music.Beginning with the break in the first track, Selectallcopy, Autolux lays out the thesis for a collection of songs that breaks from the 'Pink Floyd-esque' ideas of their back catalog. With Pussy's Dead, Autolux solidly steps foot into a new evolution of hook.
Noxious bass lines that reflect off of the pads like a craggy old tree on a winter lake. This band will fool you into thinking you are listening to just another house track. Then, suddenly, it will be an ugly pop song screaming with urgency, breaking free from the pablum. A contemplative album that ebbs and flows with brave expressions of rhythm and granular synthesis.
Deadly unproductive drone tracks such as Brainwasher more than make a nod to The Beatles, but in a way that highlights the power of that McCartney turn rather than try to directly exploit it. Listen to the Order promises A Wolf at the Door kind of high and delivers in less than two minutes with the first guitar break. I am getting blindly and wonderfully disoriented into the world of the drummer during this track. at 2:30 when the rest of the animals come out to play I am beyond elation.
Reappearing sounds like a 60's summer beach song with played in 3 different keys at the same time. Their complete disregard of the currency that is harmony brings a warmness to my soul.
Change My Head is a masterpiece. It sounds like they used a speed-affected sample at different speeds to imply a bass line. These muddy sounds are replaced by an actual bass guitar for the meat of the song, which plods along like kurt kobain trying out a new progression.
Don't let the above comparisons come off as diminutive towards Autolux's accomplishments with this album. I see this band as one who is working to understand the new language of alternative/psychedelic music. This language has rapidly developed in the last 15-20 years as main-stream rock, alternative rock, EDM, classic rock, hip-hop, jazz and classical have all started to blend together as influences of popular music. It is an ever shifting and ephemeral dialogue and Becker is as fine a punctuation as any to end any significant statement. Such as, Pussy's Dead.
Feature Track: Listen to the Order
Notable Mention: Brainwasher
Keep Listening: Change My Head
My kind of guitar solos! Noise, with only the bare essentials of a hook to hold it together. Sound portrayed as music.Beginning with the break in the first track, Selectallcopy, Autolux lays out the thesis for a collection of songs that breaks from the 'Pink Floyd-esque' ideas of their back catalog. With Pussy's Dead, Autolux solidly steps foot into a new evolution of hook.
Noxious bass lines that reflect off of the pads like a craggy old tree on a winter lake. This band will fool you into thinking you are listening to just another house track. Then, suddenly, it will be an ugly pop song screaming with urgency, breaking free from the pablum. A contemplative album that ebbs and flows with brave expressions of rhythm and granular synthesis.
Deadly unproductive drone tracks such as Brainwasher more than make a nod to The Beatles, but in a way that highlights the power of that McCartney turn rather than try to directly exploit it. Listen to the Order promises A Wolf at the Door kind of high and delivers in less than two minutes with the first guitar break. I am getting blindly and wonderfully disoriented into the world of the drummer during this track. at 2:30 when the rest of the animals come out to play I am beyond elation.
Reappearing sounds like a 60's summer beach song with played in 3 different keys at the same time. Their complete disregard of the currency that is harmony brings a warmness to my soul.
Change My Head is a masterpiece. It sounds like they used a speed-affected sample at different speeds to imply a bass line. These muddy sounds are replaced by an actual bass guitar for the meat of the song, which plods along like kurt kobain trying out a new progression.
Don't let the above comparisons come off as diminutive towards Autolux's accomplishments with this album. I see this band as one who is working to understand the new language of alternative/psychedelic music. This language has rapidly developed in the last 15-20 years as main-stream rock, alternative rock, EDM, classic rock, hip-hop, jazz and classical have all started to blend together as influences of popular music. It is an ever shifting and ephemeral dialogue and Becker is as fine a punctuation as any to end any significant statement. Such as, Pussy's Dead.
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