Music Meridian

Went to see Opeth last night at the House Of Blues. After sitting through the derivitive death metal stylings of opener Nevermore, of course. They were good for about 1-2 songs, then I was bored and just became restless for the headliner.

But Opeth really brought the goods. Almost a full 2 hours worth of prime prog-metal material. A very good version of "Deliverance", absolutely ripping version of "Demon Of The Fall" and the selections off the new album were great too.

The lack of anything off of their classic album Morningrise (specifically "Advent") left my friends and I grumbling, but that's nitpicking.

They had a drummer subbing in for their usual player, and he was so-so. You could tell some of the parts were a little shaky and a few of the tempos were slowed a bit. At some other point in the tour Strapping Young Lad's finest Gene Hoglan was pounding the skins, but alas not here. He probably would have brought the show to unbelievable heights.

At any rate, buy some Opeth albums or you're totally missing the boat! Plus they claim they'll be back touring the U.S. in February, so get ready.

let's see, recipe for disaster. one hip, up-and-coming producer: check. one hip, up-and-coming rapper: check. album themed around cartoons: check. result: genius.
a mouse and a masked man walk into a studio. they watch lots of cartoon network's [adult swim]. they make an album about it together. it rules.
how does this happen? well, danger mouse is a very good beatsmith, and mf doom is a talented flow artist. [adult swim] is awesome. the chance for a terrible trainwreck is there, but in the hands of these two talented artists it's a triumph.
i'm not really interested in telling you all the details about 'the mouse and the mask', but i'll tell you it's everything you'd hope to get from the dynamic duo, plus aqua teen hunger force. check it out, bitches.

i saw this movie last night and i recommend it to anyone interested in percussion and/or improvised music. it follows evelyn glennie on different musical projects, including an improvisation with fred frith in an old factory. the music is almost as amazing as she is. since tonight is the last night it's showing at the music box theatre, you need to scrap your plans and go see this instead. it really is worth it. (the irony of seeing it at music box, though, is that the theatre's sound isn't very good.)

Thomas Riedelsheimer's (RIVERS AND TIDES) new film takes us on a remarkable journey with Evelyn Glennie, one of the world's foremost musicians, a Grammy-winning classical percussionist whose solo work is unrivaled. Nearly deaf as a result of a neurological disorder, Glennie claims her entire body can hear. She performs in cities from New York to Kyoto with a variety of classical, found and experimental instruments, from which she is able to coax a startling variety of sounds. Performance footage is blended with breathtaking impressionistic images of the world around us that implore spectators to be more attuned to their surroundings. (2004, 99m)

Showtimes for October 14-20
Weekdays 5:10, 7:20, 9:30

Weirdest news of the day? Mike Patton put his old computer on ebay and tried to sell it. He autographed it to sweeten the deal. Apparently not sweet enough...it didn't sell because the reserve was not met.

I had a dream last night that I bought an iPod to specifically put only Frank Zappa songs on it. I put all my CDs (including all the regular albums, plus live stuff, rareties and bootlegs) on it. I put them all in chronilogical order and drew a big Frank Zappa moustache on the back of it. I called it the ZappaPod.

Then I took it to work and left it on my desk when I went to lunch. When I came back I discovered that someone had stolen the ZappaPod.

I was really mad, but I wasn't so mad that I was out of all the time and money that the ZappaPod had cost me. I was more mad that the person who stole it probably didn't like Frank Zappa's music and would just erase all the tracks and put Nickleback songs on it or something.

I was writing an angry email to the staff when I woke up.

Yep, even my dreams are music-nerdy.





The new Lightning Bolt album comes out next week!! Download a track from the new album here!

Rock n' roll!

my ears are ringing. they will be for a week, after the bands i witnessed last night. loud, fast, exciting.
the evening begin with us getting off the blue line at logan square and wandering around, wondering where the logan square auditorium is. i'd never been there before, so it was something of a challenge. then, as we were getting frustrated and tensions started to mount, my companion spotted it. as it turned out, our confusion saved us from standing around waiting, as we arrived 5 minutes before doors opened. for whatever cracked out reason they took my pen when we entered, though they didn't even ask to see in my companion's purse. i guess girls get to carry pens to punk shows, but with guys pens are lethal weapons. they told me i could get my pen after the show (all pens got deposited in a box) but seriously, how has a name tag on a pen?
logan square auditorium is pretty much your basic auditorium, looking as though it's been used as a dancehall and meeting space for many years now. maybe it still serves those purposes, but it's fitted for hosting music, usually for smaller clubs that book bands that will attract more people than can fit in their darker confines. the 'bar' is limited to cheap beer, and the urinals are filled with ice because the plumbing's iffy at best. in other words, it's a great place for a punk show.
the show kicked off with scotch green, a punk band from idaho with a banjo player. they were basically classic gang punk (complete with full-group shouted anthems) with country thrown in because they're from idaho and they don't know any better. it was cool. loud, with plenty of attitude. the banjo player looked bored, like he really wasn't into it, but the rest of the band seemed appropriately excited/fuck-you-i'm-punk-rock. i don't think they had a song over three minutes, and most were under two. it was great.
following them was a band from southern california, throw rag. their banner has a skull wearing a captain's cap, and their set opened with a recording of the theme from 'the love boat', complete with a splash of disco guitar. the singer pointed that out for us, because i'm not sure we noticed. the band was mostly dressed up, except for the drummer who expected to sweat bullets all night. the singer eventually removed his shirt and captain's cap, to display a variety of tattoos from his pelvis on up. how one wears pants just high enough not to reveal pubic hair i really should learn. at least before i start my career as a rock singer. like scotch greens their set was fast and punk, though i'd expected some faux sea shanties given their banner. they did have a guy from the audience get up and dance and sing along, and during the last song their friend from new orleans (now homeless in chicago, they claimed) came out in pink briefs and jumped around kind of singing. the audience seemed to like it (and my companion implied pink briefs might work on me, too, though i'm not so sure). throw rag is a hedonistic rock band with punk attitude. quite fun and invigorating.
finally, the moment for which we were all waiting, the reason we'd all made the trek to logan square auditorium: gogol bordello! my companion and i discovered gogol bordello through a pretty cool documentary on new york punk (well, no wave vs. the present crop of crap coming out of nyc) called 'kill your idols'. eugene hutz, the frontman/mastermind behind gogol bordello initially came across as a poor imitation of steve martin's wild and crazy guy persona, but as the film progressed i realized he was the real thing. a ukranian gypsy, he's come to america to play punk rock and spread love and freedom to the world. his band includes traditional gypsy instrumentation like a violin and an accordion, but i suspect when in new york it's fleshed out with more instruments.
gogol bordello began with their song 'immigrant punk', and it was madness from there. some songs stuck to a few minutes of english/ukranian singing about engaging different cultures and being true to yourself (good punk themes) while others (with the same themes, i think) stretched out into raucous jams. everything had the crowd moving. it appeared that many in the audience were loyal fans, and probably even ethnic kin of hutz and his band of (mostly) gypsies.
periodically two women would come out for some of the songs. one played a big marching drum, and the other had cymbals. their first appearance was more theatrical, with them throwing life preservers to the crowd and hauling them back in (i think people were supposed to cling to them and get rescued onto the stage, but maybe not). later they made slingshots and rocketed memorabilia into the crowd (i did not make a diving catch for any, though). at the end of the show, the one with the drum got the crowd to hold it, then climbed on top and banged with all her might. hutz followed to sing from the drum, a great way to engage the kinetic crowd. it really was wild, with a lot of jumping and semi-ethnic dancing shaking the house.
if you get the chance to see gogol bordello, i wholly recommend it. i doubt this band will make dramatic inroads into mainstream culture, given their diverse background and middle finger to corporatism and authority, but they're definitely worth checking out.

the other day i got pan sonic's kesto (234.48:4), which, as the title suggests, is massive. the album, all new music from the finish electronic duo, is four epic discs. at this point i've only heard it once (at 4 hours, it takes a while to hear it all, much less understand it), but i thought it good enough to warrant a quick review. i'm not sure many of you would like it (i know my x-girlfriend wouldn't), but i do.
the album (it's tough for me to call this an album, since most 4-disc sets are career-spanning collections, not cohesive releases) begins abrasively and gradually eases off until the fourth disc which is an hour of shimmering synth tones and feedback, oscillating in your ears until you slip into a trance. it's a great ride, one that would be potentially dangerous if you happened to throw them all in the cd player and hit "shuffle".
make no mistake, this isn't dance music, it's mood music. sometimes you're in a rough, angry mood, sometimes you're dour, sometimes you're calm and meditative. "kesto" has something for each mood, and if you listen to the whole thing in one sitting will run you through them gradually. i rather enjoy music that takes me somewhere, and with "kesto", the journey is well worth the time it takes.

Just a couple quick thoughts....

The new Coheed and Cambria is pretty lame. What a letdown. Pristine production, and a lack of the "edge" and a frenzied sound. There used to be a kind of nervous energy to their music that is totally missing in the new stuff.

So what's spinnin' in my player then? The new Municipal Waste CD called "Hazardous Mutuation". Totally blazing old-skool thrash metal. Very similar to classic D.R.I., Anthrax or M.O.D. It rules! Monsterous drummer Dave Witte (ex-Discordance Axis, Burnt By The Sun etc) proves why he is such an in-demand metal skinsman. He totally slays on this thing. If you're at all into classic thrash, you are doing yourself a severe disservice by not getting this album ASAP.

More to come...