- Okay so I was actually able to find a hard copy of the new How To Destroy Angelsat a major, corporate outlet. I know what you’re thinking: “what’s a hard copy??” I was there to pay bills, not to record shop. So it was a nice treat; because — and I might be in the minority here — I do like owning a CD much better than just having it on my computer. Granted, this will get thrown onto my computer at some point… I just have yet to do that cause I’ve been blasting it through the stereo for the past few days.
So how is it, right? Fucking awesome. I’m loving this album. And it’s scary because like I’ve said in the past… I think I like this stuff more than I ever did NIN. And I consider myself a Nine Inch Nails fan, too. Mariqueen Maandig, as she’s credited in the liner notes, does a miraculous job breathing more life into into an ever expanding body of Trent Reznor production. I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t enjoy this as much if it was a purely Reznor sung collection of music. Not that he doesn’t sing. He does, only a little. It makes his vocal appearances all the more exciting, and even haunting, when he’s not around all the time. To say this album is simply a showcase of Maandig’s etheral, spot-on vocals would be beyond misleading of me though. Indeed Atticus Ross and Reznor alike really bring their A games to the table here: using their illustrious pasts apart, their work together on David Fincher soundtracks, and something new and simple as a very like-minded production team. I guess when you go back and really listen to the soundtracks they’ve done — particularly The Social Network — it is pretty simple music, really. On the surface at least. Those more ambient leanings appear on “Welcome Oblivion“; they just sit behind some really catchy, borderline basic, Electro/Industrial beats that sound like they’ve ripped directly from a late 90′s MPC. Catching a theme here? This record manages to combine simplicity with a more organic brand of Electronic music, which oddly creates a forward-thinking sound. “A house on fire/burning all the past away.” Haunting, progressive, simple, organic… like the future. This is future music.
- Stained glass water-tower. Brooklyn. By Tom Fruin.
- “Iran shipping Chinese weapons to Yemen” sounds like a Tom Clancy novel’s starting point… but:
“As the article makes clear, the Iranians, via the Revolutionary Guard Corps, are accelerating the volume and sophistication of weapons supplies transferred to extent and potential proxies in the region. In the case of Yemen, that’s the Houthi rebellion. In all cases, Iran’s support is to Shi’a or Shi’a offshoot groups fighting Sunni government or groups. The qualitative escalation is symbolized by the presence of Chinese-manufactured manpads—the QW-1M. These weapons come from a Chinese state-owned company already sanctioned by the U.S. government for illegal arms dealing.
What are Iranian and Chinese officials thinking (and let me note that in neither case can we assume a monolithic government decision system)?”
“This may sound incredible, but in recent years, research on using signals from the brain to operate machines has taken great strides. Scientists have developed brain-machine interfaces that allow paralyzed humans to move a computer cursor or even use a robotic arm to pick up a piece of chocolate or touch a loved one for the first time in years. Nicolelis has set his sights even higher: He wants to get paralyzed people up and walking around. If he succeeds it could be a tremendous advance. Right now he’s still developing this technology in monkeys. There’s a long way to go.
But Nicolelis was brimming with confidence in January when I visited his lab at Duke University to see how his work is progressing. “We’re getting close to making wheelchairs obsolete,” he said.“
- I’m going to be working on music all day today. In fact, I’ll probably hop to it after writing this. I’m staring at three pages from my creativity book — one ripped out — trying to discover the natural succession of songs as they should unfold in relation to what the album is about. What it means to me. This is easily my most personal album I’ve ever done, as it vaguely (it doesn’t beat you over the head or anything) tells the story of the hardest years of my life. So far. But in a meta-way, this time… this experience, is kind of what birthed the idea and the sounds that would become my current musical persona to begin with. It likely wouldn’t exist in this way without this experience. So it’s all a little bizarre. About halfway through I’m remixing the very first track I did officially under the pseudo-name, in an effort to recreate the frustration of what was happening boiling over and me finally going down to the basement and making this droning, Electronic beat. So… I’m excited.
That’s Doldrums new album, “Lesser Evil”, released yesterday on Arbutus Records. Canadian (Toronto) -based Electronic music that isn’t trying to make you dance (though you probably could), but that doesn’t get weird for the sake of it. There’s a hint of that new wave of Canadian electronics in here, the sounds we heard from Purity Ring and Grimes in 2012; those textures are supplemented with the more analog sounds of a group like, say, Black Moth Super Rainbow. The vocals are surprisingly un-effected out (generally speaking), and there are nods of good old-fashioned storytelling inside some of these songs; but it is not afraid to use a voice as a pure and simple instrument in and of itself as well. On top of that you’ve got these rhythmic, hypnotic back-beats that have clearly been recorded live, with a kit, in a large room with padded walls. Definitely worth checking out.
- I really hope Warren Ellis will be getting some amount of dough from Iron Man 3, if the movie is directly lifting his nanotechnology, biological modification, Extremis from his run on the character.
Speaking of Uncle Warren, he’s apparently been inspired by newspaper comic strips, and has been releasing single panel comics on his website of late… as part of a world he calls “Scatterlands”. Here’s the latest:
- Wow… so you know how sometimes you hear the argument, “Wind power? Wind?? Why on Earth would use hundreds year old technology to power anything in the 21st century?”. Well I just read on Phys.org that new information from Australia states — obviously in certain regions — wind is cheaper and generates as much or more energy as traditional forms. The study found that down under wind cost $80 per MWh (that’s “Megawatt Hour” or one million watts/hour), whereas it costs $116 for the same amount from a new gas plant, and $143 for the same amount of energy from a new coal plant. Coal is much higher, however, because of the government’s carbon tax… but the article notes that even without any sort of carbon tax, Coal comes down to the Gas plant numbers (still not close to Wind’s $80/MWh). Apparently this can be mostly attributed to the cost of renewables (mostly wind and solar) dropping hard in the past few years and the cost of traditional forms of energy continuing to increase. The article also notes that, “large solar photovoltaic installations will be cheaper than coal or gas by 2020, and solar thermal and biomass systems will be at least competitive by 2030.”
- I generally don’t like to talk about my life on here — me smart, doing this 2nd — but a little update on the current batch of tunes:
I have 22 songs, about 70% of which are “done” but not done-done. Before you think “wait… that’s like an hour and 20 minutes worth of music”, most of the songs are between 2 and 2.5 minutes. The first song, and two others (so far), are between 1 and 2 minutes. And the last song will probably clock in at about 5 or 6. Why am I doing this? It was sort of sparked by listening to Kareem Riggins’ excellent piece of work last Fall, “Alone Together“. The album is 34 tracks, only 8 of which break the 2 minute mark. When I heard this album straight through for the first time it had been a few months since I’d wrapped an album I called “Hills Run Red“; a western concept album that had 3 tracks: the first two were 16.5 and the last was 20 mins. So when I was getting to about track 23 on “Alone Together” I thought… “dang, maybe I should do something like this?” At the very least it would provide a new challenge for me, and if people think a song sucks at least it’ll be over soon. Ha. And it isn’t like I’m self-imposing rules, saying “all songs need to be 2:15 long”, hence the minute long tracks and the much longer track. I just was quite inspired by “Alone Together” (and, before I knew it, El-P’s “megggamixxx3″), how the song comes together, shows you what it’s got, and moves on. Also, for as proud as I am of some of the arrangements and instrumentation on “Hills“, I was going to go back to a more sample based album anyhow, and you have to be really good (much, much better than me) at sampling to make 5 minute tracks and have them stay fresh and never get dull. So yeah. Also, I would say a good 80% of the samples (for the song foundation; I’m not counting using Dinah Washington or someone like that for vocals, which I’m doing a lot on this) are classical samples. Mostly, from these two records:
But there’s still synths, too. And I have a concept, but I’m not sure yet the level of how obvious it’ll be. I dunno, I’M EXCITED. I guess so, Rambles McGee.
Not sure if it’s the band’s best album, but for me personally one of my favorites. RED brings the equal parts progressive Metal (before it existed) and experimental/free Jazz together, which is both stunning and shocking but surprisingly smooth on the ear holes. Course, a whole bucket full of ingredients are sprinkled in — it wouldn’t be King Crimson without that bucket — but to a lesser extent than the Jazz/Metal elements (mainly Electronica; there’s definitely synths on RED, but they’re only adding color, not driving the approach).
- Rolling Stone has the new BRONX record streaming in full. It’s just called “IV”. It’s definitely a blast to listen to, and you’ll want to jump around… but the pure, unadulterated rage of their first few albums isn’t quite there. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it depends on your perspective I suppose. Plus, you’ve gotta look at where they’re coming from: they’re a bit older, some of them probably have kids, etc. But running through it, you do get the feeling that there will not be a track titled “Shitty Future”. Still great to hear a new Bronx record though.
- I’m more than a bit disappointed that Duncan Jones got the Warcraft directing gig and not some other, more prized, pop cultural property [cough... EP SEVEN... cough, cough]. Still though, I am very happy for the guy. He’s got chops, and it’s nice to see a bit more of a subtle filmmaker get a big gig rather than an over the top, every camera trick in the bag, in your face style filmmaker. And who knows, maybe he’ll create a really cool, other-worldly but oddly real adaptation of the world WoW exists in?
- I am firmly on the side of New Avengers over Hickman’s regular Avengers title. A bunch of people spoke of how boring the second issue was because it was a bunch of guys sitting around a table talking. That may be true, but when the “bunch of guys” are the some of the best minds on the planet and they’re discussing how to approach a problem even they can only vaguely begin to comprehend — and it’s written really, really well — that sounds mighty interesting to me.
- Speaking of, I should probably do some comic reviews one of these days.
- Newest Game Of Thrones video blog thingy (from Iceland):
- I got Mixed Blood Majority tickets this morning, along with Cecil Otter’s first solo show in some time. MBM is a super group of sorts, at least when it comes to the Twin Cities music scene. The group features vocalists from both No Bird Sing and Kill The Vultures, and production from Doomtree‘s Lazerbeak. Pretty excited, as all three members are some of my favorite local musicians. Here’s the latest thing they threw up on their Soundcloud page:
If you preorder their album right now you’ll get the album, a shirt, a poster, and a random CD from either of their other bands for just 12 bucks (without shipping). Good deal.
It was a real pleasure just so sit and talk with you. I listened very carefully to what you had to say about this compelling history, and I’ve since read the script and found it in all the detail in which it describe these monumental events and in the compassionate portraits of all the principal characters, both powerful and moving. I can’t account for how at any given moment I feel the need to explore life as opposed to another, but I do know that I can only do this work if I feel almost as if there is no choice; that a subject coincides inexplicably with a very personal need and a very specific moment in time. In this case, as fascinated as I was by Abe, it was the fascination of a grateful spectator who longed to see a story told, rather than that of a participant. That’s how I feel now in spite of myself, and though I can’t be sure that this won’t change, I couldn’t dream of encouraging you to keep it open on a mere possibility. I do hope this makes sense Steven, I’m glad you’re making the film, I wish you the strength for it, and I send both my very best wishes and my sincere gratitude to you for having considered me.”
- I’ve now got a SModcast app on my phone after enjoying having WTF! W/ Marc Maron on my phone for a few days. They’re really nice things to have access to in your pocket, eh? I wasn’t aware of this, but the “SModcast” network (Kevin Smith and friends, for those who don’t know/click/Google) features a whole slew of podcasts with and without Kevin Smith, some about comics and some not. There’s one that still gets released on a relatively regular schedule called “The Breaks”, wherein a DJ Smith knows veers into all sorts of different territory but manages to always talk music and spinning records.
Course now that I’ve got this on my phone I should probably get a Ray Kurzweil podcast or something to balance out the Universe.
- With PS Store redeem codes I received as a birthday gift, I downloaded Journey, Braid, and The Walking Dead yesterday. Cheap games… 15, 15, and 20 respectfully. I only briefly played Journey last night, and it seems spectacular: artistic, intuitive, graceful, unique as all hell. It’s going to be really nice to have a break from people sending me nasty messages after I play them in NHL 12.
- Last night I was racking my brain trying to wrap it around the concept for my next proper LP. It will be based on the most transformative part of my life (so far). I want the album to go through the journey of what I went through; this could get a little painful as particular memories are brought up, but hopefully the good memories outweigh the bad. And they do. Musically, I guess I would like to move a little bit back towards the more sample-based sound of two albums ago. My last album (I don’t know who I’m talking to, if anyone, so I’m gonna assume you have not heard it; which I’m totally cool with) went a bit more instrumentation based, with sort of complex arrangements mixed in with breakbeats. It was less about the beats and samples, and more about the instrumentation/arrangements. I want a mix of the two, of course, but this last time I used samples to compliment the synths and guitar lines I was writing, I’d like to flip that. Also, THIS BAND. Very inspiring. Seemingly unconnected and obtuse samples tied together through synths and other original instrumentation to form a cohesive whole. Also, apparently, Japanese music. Like, classical Japanese music.
- I’ve been getting really into a remix project lately, and will likely come very close to finishing on my days off work this week. Seems like lately I keep having the same crisis: during instrumental breaks do I go batshit crazy with a guitar or with a turntable. Obviously this depends on the song, but it’s still hard to be clairvoyant and know which one will work better. So typically I will just record both and compare and contrast. First World Producer Problems.
- I think I’ve posted Ulises Farinas’ art here before, but it’s well worth a second mention:
The past three decades of wanton patent-granting have created a disastrous environment for innovation. Today it’s practically impossible to build anything without violating a patent of some kind—and risking a multimillion-dollar lawsuit for your troubles. Once intended to protect lone inventors, patents now form a kind of shadow tech industry, in which billions of dollars are spent on amassing huge portfolios. (A recent New York Times article noted that Apple and Google, companies that define themselves by innovation, now invest more in patent acquisition and defense than in research and development.)
Why are companies spending so much money on patents? First, as protection. “Patents are like bullets,” law professor Chien says. “They’re cheap to acquire but can cause a lot of damage.” But if you have your own bullets, would-be assassins are less likely to target you. That’s the thinking behind RPX (Rational Patent Exchange), whose clients include Google, Microsoft, and IBM. RPX amasses patents, it says, to keep them out of the hands of lawsuit-happy competitors, and it vows not to sue anyone over them.
- I’m a massive proponent for not going to war with Iran. The problem with my viewpoint is we kinda already are at war with Iran. It’s just a sophisticated war, a secret war.
The dramatic spike in suspected Iranian cyber attacks this year also has some in the U.S. distinctly worried. While direct denial of service attacks on U.S. banks – widely seen as retaliation for US sanctions and attempts to freeze Iran from the international financial system – were seen relatively simplistic, attacks on US allies in the Gulf were more complex.
The most worrying, experts say, were those on Saudi oil firm Aramco and Qatari gas export facilities. Last month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described the Saudi attack as the most sophisticated yet launched on a private company, effectively destroying tens of thousands of computers – although he stopped short of blaming Tehran directly.
- Any news headline that features ‘Russian Arms Deal’ sounds like it’s either from the Cold War era or a bad spy film. Nevertheless, I opened my browser this morning to BBC News and there it was staring me down like a blast from the past: Iraq Cancels $4.2 Billion Russian Arms Deal Over ‘Corruption’. The new Iraqi Prime Minister apparently believes there is corruption within his own team (most likely there is), and Russia is suggesting the United States has pressured him to reject the deal (which also could have some truth to it). Whatever the case is, billion dollar arms deals from whoever to whoever frighten me. Mass quantities of technology to kill people always do.
- Everyone is mentioning the most obvious, and worst, ideas for directors when it comes to who should do Episode VII. I’ve heard Christopher Nolan, which is of course just dumb. No. Sorry, but no. Let Nolan go back to making psychological thrillers, please. Leave the guy alone… these big action movies he’s doing now are when he’s at his worst. I’ve heard Spielberg which… oh God, if Indiana Jones and the Flying Saucer was any indication, let’s keep Spielberg to historical character films please… not action movies. I’ve even heard Tarentino. What are you, nuts?? Can’t have Mr. Fuckin Reservoir Dogs directing Han and Leia’s kids! Two people that came to my mind, that I believe (of course “you believe” you’re writing it you jackass) are capable, unknown enough but have the experience and chops: Duncan Jones and Rian Johnson. But hey, what do I know?
Within a few years of Fear and Desire’s release, Stanley Kubrick would begin the process of becoming Stanley Kubrick. In 1958, when Kubrick was fresh off his first hit, Paths of Glory, he cut a familiar figure in the New York Times Magazine, which described him as a “lank-haired, slightly elusive, seemingly diffident young man who talks little, wears dark suits in the bright sunshine on Canon Drive, and makes astonishing movies.” He reportedly burned the negative of Fear and Desire shortly after it came and went at the box office, though he could never completely write the film out of his personal history.
- Holy shit this is an awesome Gus from Breaking Bad poster:
I think I would need to listen to the album again in its entirety — which is a quite a job — to really say how much I like or dislike like it. So I’m categorizing this under the “upon first listen” thoughts. Which can, and do, change. I’ve been up to date with Neil Young’s modern material since 2003′s “Greendale”, having listened to all his albums since then. And I like most of them. Fork In The Road was probably the weakest of the batch, followed by the ground shaking Le Noise (which, in a strange bit of artistic freedom, featured little to no percussion). So new Neil Young, or old for that matter, is nothing new to me. Hearing him with Crazy Horse in the world of cellphones and private space companies, however, is. Turns out Americana was just rehearsal for the big dance. They’re really bringing out the big (epic, long, operatic, etc) guns for this album. And that world of cell phones and nano-tech is not something Mr. Young wants to be a part of; he sings on the 30 minute opener, “When you hear my song now, you only get 5 percent, you used to get it all… I’m driftin’ back”. The instrumentation is a little nostalgic too, with the band hearkening back to their 70′s days of drawn-out freeform jams, mic’ed 30-watt amps, and that vinyl, analog sound. It feels good on the ears (even if it feels a little strange when just a few years ago Young made an album about retro-fitting his classic car(s) with enough modern tech to free them from gasoline), and it’s sometimes nice to hear the legends crave the old days.
- Then you’ve got Kendrick Lamar’s debut full-length which deserves most of the credit it’s getting.
This is probably the strongest Rap debut we’ve had in some time. I use the term “Rap” deliberately. The production is rock solid, rarely missing the mark. And the slate of producers, besides perhaps Just Blaze, are a little bit off-kilter compared to the sometimes predictable melody makers of 21st Century mainstream Hip-Hop. I always like Pharrell’s beats, and I almost wish he’d do an entire album for a guy like Kendrick. And what of Kendrick himself? He lives up to the hype. Well, most of it. A lot of the these lines are really thought provoking, more than what Top 40 Rap was giving us in the hey-day of materialism Rap, when the illustrious 50 Cent album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” was the big anticipated album of the moment. Those days are gone, thank God. And Kendrick Lamar, along with a whole slew of new-ish rappers, are taking mainstream Rap into the 21st Century (finally) with equal parts style and substance. It’s nice to see. What this album is not, is “Illmatic”. This is not an “instant classic”. It might become a classic one day, but it’s not instant. In fact, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City might suffer a little bit from Dark Knight syndrome: levels of anticipation so off the charts there’s absolutely no way it can live up them. Which is too bad. This album isn’t breaking down any walls, it’s not shattering the paradigm Rap music exists in as it stands, but it is solid. And it’s the best mainstream Rap has been (w/ a few notable exceptions) in quite some time.
Much like this summer’s anticipated Cancer 4 Cure from El-P, the next step in P.O.S.’ discography is probably the most accessible release of his career. But (also, like El-P) he manages to accomplish this without sacrificing any of his personal and artistic flavors: the DIY aesthetic, the percussive tones, the clever but understated wordplay… it all remains. In fact, this might be the album that is most representative of him. Every little moment, hit, lyric, it all breathes P.O.S. That’s not to say he’s not breaking any new ground here. If you haven’t heard, this album is (mostly) Electro inspired; producers like Ryan Olson, Patric Russel, and even some German dudes have cooked up some tasty synths and E-progressions for a dance party behind an abandoned factory somewhere in the future. On some of the later tracks the combination of this new Electronic sound and the percussive drum hits I alluded to earlier is really where the album shines: carelessly treading new ground without reservation or fear of reprisal. In fact, it’s almost daring you to not like it and turn it off. The second half — with the exception of the catchy as hell “Get Down” featuring Mictlan; which feels like the first half — is ALL up this alley, specifically “All Of It” and “Piano Hits”. One of my biggest gripes in fact is that I would have liked to have heard more of these tracks drag on longer. With lyrics or instrumentally, particularly the last song, it would have been nice to hear these songs themselves explored a bit more the same way the initial sound was to begin with. But let me go back to the first half, like I said it’s catchier than shit. “Bumper” the opener is a charming knocker with live drums and possibly the catchiest synth on the disc. Following that “Fuck Your Stuff” and “Where We Land” are impossible not to sing along to, the latter featuring a very cool appearance from Justin Vernon. By the time a pair of head-nodders come around the corner, you’re ready to give your voice a break anyhow; and you do, letting appearances by Astronautalis and Sims shine. Then there’s a mid-point, almost devoid of drums of any kind (“Lock-Picks, Knives, Bricks, and Bats”)… before cruising through about 4 or 5 tracks like nothing that’s ever been done on a Hip-Hop album before. In this sense, the album is structured very cleverly. It brings you in with some amount of charm, then gives you a little break before delving into the weird shit. Lyrically the album tackles 21st Century alienation through freeing yourself from the system in which that alienation exists. “Want to be happy? Don’t even live within their system”. The title of the album sums it up pretty well. When it’s finishing up and he’s saying, “That misstep, that’s mine. That rough wake, that’s mine. This might be it. This might be it.”, you get the sense that if we lived in his world — totally free — he might still have tribulations and struggles and real problems, but at least they will be his and his alone.
