Music Meridian

Fractured Transmitter just released their tribute album to the Melvins. It's called "We Reach". It sounds like it's badass.

Lot's of Relapse bands on there, including High On Fire, Dillinger Escape Plan, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Mastodon! Plus one of my current favs Strapping Young Lad.

One of the biggest things that intrigues me about this album is a track by a band called Strapadon Factory. This band is supposedly a collaboration between Strapping Young Lad, Mastodon and Fear Factory!

All this talent, plus the source material by the Melvins is beyond reproach. Needless to say, I placed my order. I'll post my review when it flops in the letterbox.

Tommy Emmanuel is doing a concert on PBS right now. He's an amazing fingerpicking guitar player. Catch it soon, I think it's on from 9:30pm-10:30pm.

Great tech-metal band Sulaco (ex-members of Lethergy) have a 5-song demo available to download for free on their website. Lethergy, by the way also featured members who went on to be in Mastodon. So you know these guys are good and well worth checking out.

Lot's of great Bob Dylan albums coming out tuesday. Read about it here.

A cool side project of Noxagt called Ultralyd just put out an album on Load records.. Free jazz/prog rock stylings. There's an mp3 here that sounds promising.

The new Carnival In Coal CD is out on Earache. French death-metal/disco rock fusion. It's so-so. Their older album "French Can-Can" is better. Although I've only listened to the new one once, so maybe it's a grower.

Oh and I finally got a copy of Freddie Hubbard's "Sing Me A Song Of Songmy"...it's totally mindblowing. Seek it out for adventurous listeners.

phil gave me the u2 jukebox cd he got in his mojo, because he got an extra one. i'm listening to it this morning, and i have to say i finally understand why u2 sucks in the new millennium: they have poor taste. what they listen to that's good they ignore, and what they listen to that's bad they rework for their own albums.

the chili peppers jukebox for mojo was pretty cool. the u2 one makes them sound like populist tools. i suppose that's what they are, but really, do we need to hear that shitty modest mouse song again (disclaimer: i don't like modest mouse, even before a classmate told me his friend got date raped by the lead singer). also, interpol is shite. what's with the the joy division comparisons? joy division didn't move, it didn't grove, and it totally stomped all over this trash. "her stories are boring and stuff"?! wtf? and who is charlotte hatherley and why does anyone listen to her?

all that said, it's hard to go wrong with suicide, pere ubu, the arcade fire, the cure, siouxsie and the banshees and the ramones. i wonder what influence those bands have had on u2. from what i can tell, absolutely zero. u2 had a couple classic, awesome, unbeatable albums. too bad their new ones are third-rate retreads of the lesser songs from those peaks of glory.

My latest issue of Mojo Magazine came in the letterbox today. It comes with a free CD every month, and is usually cool stuff. This month it's a CD of Bob Dylan covers.

Unfortunately, my magazine was stuffed in an offical looking U.S.P.S. envelope with a "We're sorry we damaged your mail!" type message on it. I open the evelope to discover that the plastic wrap around the magazine is sliced open, and the CD is gone. Some lucky postman got my Dylan covers CD. That bastard.

I'm going to get another copy...by hook or by crook!





Last Friday I got the phone call that I had won tickets to the Soundstage taping for Garbage from WXRT. Last night, I went to WTTW studios, got a fairly decent seat (there were only about 300 people in the audience - they make it look so much larger on TV) and then the rocking began. Butch Vig wasn't there - his mom died - so there was a fill in drummer. They played a few songs from their first album (what you would imagine they would play), a few from the second, one from their third, and most of their latest album. The band seemed nervous at first, and so was the crowd. Everyone started to loosen up toward the end. Very different than a normal show experience. Especially since I didn't know what to do with my hands (no beer? no cigarette? what do I do with my arms?). It's hard to rock out when you're standing among 11 cameras and feeling self-concious (I'm talking about me, not the band). At the end of the show they had to replay one song once and one song three times, which was neat/weird. The band played great and it was a unique experience. If you ever get a chance to go to a Soundstage taping, I would say go for the experience. I'm not sure what the air date is, but if you catch Garbage on Soundstage look for me - I'm in the green top and black sweater!

If you like space-rock bands like Hawkwind...look no further than Danava!

The link at the bottom has a 2 song demo available for download. It's amazing.

Apparently the drummer from Glass Candy plays in this band. The difference between the two bands is like night and day. I've never really been a fan of Glass Candy's brand of no-wave simplicity. But Danava absolutely rules.

http://www.piecemeal.net/artists/danava/demos/index.html

opening for a fashion show sunday night at the Darkroom, even an out-there indie fashion show, is an odd position for the members of People Will Blink to fill, but they did it, and they did it with aplomb.
i tell you i was excited to see them play their first show in over a year and a half, though looking around the club i wasn't entirely sure the well-dressed and made-up patrons would cotton to the Blink style. my recollection of the PWB sound was one of difficult, room-clearing music. not abrasive, not annoying, but not necessarily crowd pleasing, either. it may be because my best memory of seeing them play they shared a bill with Milkplow, a band with quite a following in the frat boy (and girl) crowd. trucker hats all round! needless to say, i would think, when Blink got going that crowd retreated to the bar. the Blink set then wasn't long enough for them to get drunk enough to return, so the room remained sparsely populated save for those who got there early enough to drink before the bands, and a few dodgy stragglers who kept demanding more blast beats.
the Darkroom is no Lion's Den, however, and both ambience and attitude sunday night were dramatically better. for one, the decor was nice. for another, you could color paper models at the tables. before People Will Blink took the stage, a dj spun groovin' dance music while a projector cast random short films on a screen above the stage. the basic color was red or pink, and everything seemed warm and soft, even when it wasn't.
Blink unveiled their full name during the set, but i cannot remember it. neither do i recall the exact set list. i know it included a song about the tortoise and the hare in space (the opener, i think)--it had two parts of the video game soundtrack Blink is writing (after both of which the band members, in a confusing gesture, raised two fingers); they played a 12-bar blues number (intended to be heard before an irish wake); they played three new songs, all of them cool; they finished, as usual, with aaron's idea, even going so far as to enlist the titular aaron on cowbell.
Ed may dislike my babbling, because i've taken a long time to get to the reason why i think Blink is better this time around. over their hiatus they lost their guitarist. the new guy, the aforementioned Ed, is a lot of fun. not only that, he plays with the same flare as the other band members (Patrick, Azeem, and Mark) and seems to be having just as much fun as they are, if not more. i can't speak to musicianship, i'm no pedant, but the new Blink brought a whole lot more energy than i've seen them display in the past, and it was infectious.
so infectious was this new energy, that the crowd was theirs from the first song. you might not expect a song about the tortoise and the hare in space to speak to most people, but in no time the bar was on the floor groovin along. for the dance numbers they danced, for the arty numbers they nodded their heads, and for the songs that were both they looked really funny. i haven't seen an audience as excited about Blink before. the band obviously fed off this appreciation and played a more exciting, if somewhat ragged, set.
in brief, Blink were blazin.

People Will Blink have an in-store at Record Emporium in chicago on saturday 27 august 2005. be there. i want to see how many people fit in the store. we should test the maximum occupancy limit. and the band rocks.

I first saw Arcade Fire at Lollapalooza. I had to scurry off virtually immediately to buy their CD "Funeral" and I was not disappointed. I didn't post the review right away because I really wanted to immerse myself in this music. It's been playing nonstop since I got it. First impression was actually the CD packaging. As a rule, I hate the cardboard-esque boxes, which tend to tear and corners bend. However, this one seems right with the feel of the album, artwork, and most of all liner notes, which look like a program from an actual funeral. The CD is aptly named, recorded after several of the band members lost family members within a short period of time. However, the music doesn't sound sad or anguished, but rather beautiful and hopeful. Most of the songs start slow and crescendo into a magnificent rich interplay of instruments and harmonies with driving rhythms and unlikely hooks. I've said before that I love any artist that can combine electric guitars and strings/violins and Arcade Fire does this beautifully without the strings sticking out - everything seems to go together. The "Neighborhood" series of songs evoke different moods (mysterious in "Tunnels", Parisian in "Laika", ironically powerful and strong, almost anthem-like in "Power Out", the folk-influenced "7 Kettles" etc.) but all weave together not only with each other but the rest of the album. "Crown of Love", which starts slow builds to thumping and energetic pace, may be my favorite track, but that changes every time I listen. To me, this was a jem of a find (and probably my single favorite side-effect of going to Lollapalooza), and I can't wait to see them live at the Riv in September. The energy with which they performed live is actually apparent on the recording, which is rare to capture. I want to be a part of that again. I love this band.

Coheed and Cambria's new album comes out on Sept. 20th. I, for one, and pretty excited as it's sizing up to be quite the proggy album.

First of all, the title of the album is "GOOD APOLLO, I'M BURNING STAR IV, VOLUME ONE: FROM FEAR THROUGH THE EYES OF MADNESS"....how insane is that?? Now, check out the tracklisting...

1. Keeping The Blade
2. Always & Never
3. Welcome Home
4. Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)
5. Crossing The Frame
6. Apollo I : The Writing Writer
7. Once Upon Your Dead Body
8. Wake Up
9. The Suffering
10. The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court
11. Mother May I
12. The Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End
13. The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
14. The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth
15. The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut

Ah, yes! Roman numerals. A song cycle! Things are looking good. Then, there's this offical blurb:

"Coheed And Cambria return with their highly anticipated third album release - GOOD APOLLO, I'M BURNING STAR IV, VOLUME ONE: FROM FEAR THROUGH THE EYES OF MADNESS. The intricate title only hints at the density and complexion of the music it contains.

The band's musical growth is mind-blowing with GOOD APOLLO, I'M BURNING STAR IV, VOLUME ONE It is a rock fans' ultimate dream album - monster rock riffs, epic jams, catchy hooks, and intricate time changes. The new album is also the first half of the third installment of the band's daringly ambitious prog-rock/sci-fi tale of young Claudio Kilgannon - who is out the avenge the deaths of his parents (Coheed And Cambria) and his three siblings. The new album has a twist however: this one steps outside the story and focuses on the writer of the tale, and how the goings-on in is own life affects the outcome of the story he's in the midst of writing. "

Sign me up!






I found out that on Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy's website you can order DVDs of him playing dream theater albums, in their entirety. The views are drum-cam (behind the kit) and look awesome. Plus you can hear them with the whole band, or as solo drums.

Too cool.





i don't mind the hand that feeds, but this album, with teeth, is a let down. a disappointment. i've really enjoyed everything up til now, even, yes, even the things falling apart, which is the nin remix album that gets slagged the most. i was annoyed that trent released 'we're in this together now' on 3 separate discs, and i'm not happy with the single release program for 'with teeth', but i guess he needs money to fight his former lawyer/business partner. the real problem with this album, though, is the how uniform it is. the dynamics don't really grab me, and the lyrics seem kinda generic. he needs to be more specific. i like the sounds, i think, the disco and the synth stuff, but it seems formulaic and routine, almost like he's making an album to make an album, and not like he's inspired. this is nine inch nails by numbers, as manufactured as weezer's green album. i'm disappointed. you've let me down, trent.

so, according to this article, the new foo fighters cd is copy protected in such a way that makes it incompatible with apple's ipod. this annoys me, so i haven't bought the album. i want it, but i don't like all this copy protection on cds. i don't like it one bit. however, there is a way to put it on your ipod, and this article tells you how: copy the foo tracks to your computer using their system, burn them to cd, then rip the cd into itunes. it's complicated and annoying wasting a cd in the process (or two, since it's a double album), but then you have the new foo fighters' album on your ipod.

not that i have room left on my 40gb ipod, but you get the idea.