Katatonia: Live Conternation (2007) 12/28/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Metal.Tags: Doom Metal, Progressive, Shoegaze
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Most live metal albums are worthless contract filler. Improvisation is not a big factor in music based upon precision, so the songs are usually identical to the album versions, with some crowd noise and variations on “Thank you!” and “Come on, you sick fuckers, let’s see you bang your fucking heads!” mixed in, maybe an extended call-and-response section if it’s power metal. Therefore, the only live metal albums I get are from bands I really like who haven’t already released a ton of them (I’m looking at you, Iron Maiden). Katatonia, my favorite band in the world right now, has only released this one, which was recorded during Germany’s 2006 Summer Breeze Festival and comes with a DVD of the same set. At just over 50 minutes, it’s not a true representation of their normal headlining set, an opinion with which cofounding guitarist Anders Nyström agreed when I interviewed him around the time of its release. Despite having the name of a song off their previous album (The Great Cold Distance) in its title, the CD does not include “Consternation,” nor the album’s first single, “My Twin,” nor anything off the Last Fair Deal Gone Down album, my personal favorite, and from what I gather, that of a lot of other fans. It goes without saying that none of Katatonia’s early doom/death tunes appear, either. You do, however, get a decent helping of songs from Distance and 2003’s Viva Emptiness, which are excellently rendered, enough to make up for what’s not there. I particularly like the included renditions of “Soil’s Song,” which benefits from Jonas Renkse’s delicate vocalization and from Fredrik Norrman’s surging riff ringing out loud during the chorus, and the titanic “Wealth,” its alternately spastic and ambient segments helmed by bassist Mattias Norrman (Fred’s bro) and drummer Daniel Liljekvist. These two are the tightest, most astute rhythm section in Swedish metal. When they joined the band before Last Fair Deal, they enabled the astounding feat of a great band becoming greater, and that magic continues to this day. Also worth mentioning is “Ghost of the Sun,” one of Katatonia’s relatively average tunes taken to intense heights here by Nyström’s sick black metal backup vocals as well as the entire band’s remarkably aggressive attack. “Cold Ways,” from 1998’s Discouraged Ones, and “Had To (Leave)” and “Right Into the Bliss” from 1999’s Tonight’s Decision, are the oldest tracks aired, and you can hear Katatonia’s current professionalism oozing from every crevice of what still sound like experiments on those albums. At such a short length, Live Consternation is bound to leave the most obsessive fans slightly frustrated because we know how many great songs these guys have, but that’s bound to be true no matter how long it is. However, this is a release I strongly recommend to die-hards who will find the type of joy I do in the subtle differences from the studio versions. As a snapshot of this particular show, it’s impeccable. However, if you want a better overview of why this band means so much to so many, try The Black Sessions, which includes a two-disc compilation of album cuts and rarities as well as a live DVD of a headlining set that more capably spotlights their career’s diversity.
“Soil’s Song” (live at Summer Breeze Festival, Dinkelsbühl, 8/17/06)
Sigh: Hangman’s Hymn: Musikalische Exequien (2007) 09/03/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Metal.Tags: Black Metal, Orchestral, Progressive
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Sigh is Japan’s most batshit insane metal band, and this is the most “normal” album they’ve done since their very early days. The previous three Sigh discs were genre-hopping feasts that featured psychedelic keyboards, woozy orchestral segments, snippets of marching band, country rock, show tunes, ’70s boogie, reggae, smooth jazz, lullabies, metalcore/sitar breakdowns, you name it – all fastened to a framework of Celtic Frost-y thrash and classic metal, punctuated with the increasingly Muppet-like howl of bizarro scene gadabout Mirai Kawashima. When I first heard it, Hangman’s Hymn was shockingly uniform in its blend of symphonic black/thrash, which despite the band’s eccentricities is not a million miles away from the style plied by thousands of Dimmu Borgir worshippers across the globe. To be fair, Sigh’s second album, Infidel Art, flirted with the synth-black genre back in 1995, so the trio wasn’t just wagging their weiners at the Cradle of Filth kids. Plus, “eccentricities” definitely sells Sigh short. The memorability with which they imbue their unusual concoctions elevates them over many of their experi-metal peers, the strange shifts and juxtapositions built seamlessly into tunes that would stick with you regardless of the bells and whistles and handclaps. This is what saves Hangman’s Hymn from the pile of generic goth/black pifflers. The songs here are consistently exciting and engaging, every pompous swell of synth horns propelling Shinichi Ishikawa’s rabid German thrash riffs further into the Technicolor darkness. Because the disc adheres to a concept structure, musical segments are repeated, revived and revamped in various songs, a sonic narrative device of which I am inherently a fan. Mirai has brought back his frantic black metal scream, which appears alongside his charmingly nasal clean singing and intermittent outbursts of crazed cackling, all adding to the disc’s King Diamond-ish horror show vibe. A choir also graces the proceedings, its voices comprised of fans who sent in home recordings to Mirai (one was the vocalist for unfortunately disbanded Chicago death metallers Enforsaken). Drummer Junichi Harashima benefits from the best production Sigh has ever enjoyed, as this is their fastest material to date and Harashima’s blasts thump and kick exactly where they should. Yes, in most respects, it’s a “proper” metal album, one that would certainly appeal to a more general metal audience than their previous few masterpieces would. Yet, I must agree with other reviews I’ve read where the writer thought it sounded too normal at first, only to grasp its curious intricacies once they found themselves unable to stop listening to it. It’s not my absolute favorite of the catalog (that would be Imaginary Sonicscape), but it confidently maintained Sigh’s spot as Asia’s most fascinating and talented metal act. In the two years since its release, they’ve put out an EP of straightforward Venom covers, added Mirai’s saxophone-playing girlfriend to the lineup and toured the States. However, if their forthcoming Scenes from Hell retains the energy and professional sound of Hangman’s Hymn but delivers the variety of Gallows Gallery, their best work has yet to come.
“Death With Dishonor” (at Damnation Festival, Leeds, 11/22/08)
Goblin: Contamination (1980) 03/10/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Soundtrack.Tags: Jazz, Progressive, Rarities
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At long last, we return to productivity with a lesser-known creation of Italian soundtrack mavens Goblin. The progressive rockers formerly known as Cherry Five are, of course, best known for their collaborations with giallo/horror legend Dario Argento, most famously on his masterpieces “Profondo Rosso” and “Suspiria,” as well as his production of George A. Romero’s epochal “Dawn of the Dead” — although Romero largely removed their work from the American version, it’s all in the European cut entitled “Zombi.” This selection, however, is the score to the 1980 film “Contamination” by Luigi Cozzi, the director of the Lou Ferrigno “Hercules” flicks as well as the hugely entertaining “Star Wars” knock-off “Scontri Stellari Oltre la Terza Dimensione” (aka “Starcrash”). Incidentally, Cozzi himself worked with Argento on several early ’70s projects, two of which have finally seen U.S. DVD release in recent months: the great murder mystery “4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio” (“Four Flies on Grey Velvet”) and the TV anthology “La Porta sul Buio” (“Door Into Darkness”). “Contamination” was ostensibly a rip-off of Ridley Scott’s blockbuster from the previous year, “Alien,” in that it’s a sci-fi/horror crossover featuring ominous giant eggs, only it’s set on Earth and these eggs exude slime which causes people’s guts to explode. Typical of Goblin’s work, the soundtrack combines ominous Floydian prog (“Withy”), groovy funk rhythms (The Carver”), atmospheric jazz (“Ogre”) and vintage electronic touches (“Connexion”). It’s far classier and more exotically diverse than its roots as a Spaghetti splatter score would suggest to the uninitiated. It’s also a good example of the labyrinthine nature of the group’s recording history, fraught with revolving members and recycled tracks. While “Contamination” features the familiar rhythm section of bassist Fabio Pignatelli and drummer Agostino Marangolo, by the time of its recording, the core group had splintered, with both keyboardist Claudio Simonetti and guitarist Massimo Morante having moved on. Also, four of its eleven tracks actually come from Goblin’s score for Aristide Massaccesi’s 1979 necrophilia sleazefest “Buio Omega.” The link provided here takes you to the 2000 Cinevox reissue, which beefs up the original content with three alternate takes and two excellent “suites.” As for the film, it’s now widely available in its uncut form and is pure lurid fun, a must-see for all golden-age Italian gore afficionados or “Video Nasty” completists.
“Contamination” [theatrical trailer, featuring “Connexion”… by “The Goblin” ;)]
Xploding Plastix: Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents (2001) 03/01/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Experimental.Tags: Electronic, Jazz, Trip-Hop
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Just as contentious as the classification “post-rock” is the term “livetronica.” Essentially a fusion of electronic music and live instrumentation, it’s typically associated with the jam band scene, since groups like the Disco Biscuits and Sound Tribe Sector 9 are among its most famous practitioners. Like many jam-related subgeneres, however, livetronica has a more inclusive appeal than one might think. I mean, I don’t like to dance at all, but having actual musicians involved takes away a lot of the anonymous monotony that bores me in regular dance music. Although they’re more likely to play to bespectacled hipster crowds, I would personally include bands like Ratatat, The Octopus Project, Sleepy Eyes of Death and Xploding Plastix under the livetronica heading. The last of these is a Norwegian duo, comprised of Jens Petter Nilsen and Hallvard Wennersberg Hagen (once the keyboardist of unfortunately forgotten black metallists Kvist). Their invigorating debut, the amusingly-titled Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents, crossbreeds flavors of jazz and trip-hop with whirlwind IDM rhythms, exotica’s velvet cocktail lounge opulence and the moody ambience of a film noir soundtrack. It feels like a spy movie, and copious dialogue samples — the only vocals heard — reinforce the retro-modern cinematic aesthetic. Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents makes great background music, while the kinetic percussion on singles “Behind the Eightball” and “Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation,” as well as highlights like “Having Smarter Babies” and “Comatose Luck” perking up the album’s mellower latter half, make it just as suited to active listening. Its shifting mélange is immersive enough to reel in even those who think they hate electronic music.
“Doubletalk Gets Through to You” (fan-created video)
Grand Magus: Iron Will (2008) 02/24/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Metal.Tags: Doom Metal, Pagan, Traditional Metal
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Although doom and traditional heavy metal bands have their younger adherents, you’re more likely to see short-haired IT guys and skullets in their crowds. That’s because these were the types of metal spawned during the genre’s early days, the ’70s and ’80s, before downtuned speed and indecipherable vocals became prevalant among youngsters seeking the most extreme music they could find. I was lucky enough to come into metal fandom during the late ’80s, so while I’m able to appreciate a well-executed blastbeat and subterranean growl, I can just as easily enjoy a hooky riff and powerful “clean” singing. Sweden’s Grand Magus do have old-school appeal, in that there’s nothing very modern in their music, but that does not make them pure “dad rock.” They started as a more American-sounding doom band (read: lead-heavy blues, Pentagram/St. Vitus/Trouble style), but have evolved into a more melodious Eurometal beast, evoking the Dio years of Black Sabbath more than the Ozzy ones, with a heavy helping of pagan lyrical themes that are at once timeless and conveniently contemporary. Iron Will, the trio’s fourth album, begins and ends with massive Viking riffs, “Like the Oar Strikes the Water” and “I Am the North” as well as the title track riding manly seafaring surges untainted by gothic frills. They occasionally pick up the pace (“Fear Is the Key,” “The Shadow Knows”), and even hearken back to their early days with the Candlemass-y double-whammy of “Self Deceiver” and “Beyond Good and Evil.” What makes Iron Will truly supreme is the hearty leather-lunged wail of guitarist Janne “JB” Christoffersson (also of Spiritual Beggars, the stoner rock faves featuring Carcass/Arch Enemy axeman Michael Amott and Opeth keyboardist Per Wiberg). Vintage and emotional, that voice is as metal is it gets, and, yes, your dad might like it, too.
“Like the Oar Strikes the Water” (at Metal Rock Fest, Lillehammer, 8/16/08)
Aesop Rock: Bazooka Tooth (2003) 02/23/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Hip-Hop.Tags: Backpacker, Progressive
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I get pissed if a “music fan” dismisses the entirety of hip-hop based on the limited impressions provided by the genre’s superstars. Wouldn’t these same people in turn be rightly offended if someone were to equate all punk with Green Day, all electronic music with Moby, all country with Faith Hill, all indie rock with The Strokes or all heavy metal with Slipknot? The truth is that when you have only passing familiarity with a type of music, you’ve probably only heard the popular stuff that is formulated to appeal to dabblers, and thus the most watered-down, lowest-common-denominator examples of the form at hand. Everyone who thinks they don’t like hip-hop should try Aesop Rock’s third widely-released album, Bazooka Tooth. The disc’s first point of departure is the New York MC’s delivery, which is utterly unlike the “Yo, my name is ____ and I’m here to say…” strain of rhyming popularized by 1980s TV commercials. Aes’ meter typically alternates between a rapid-fire flow and a punch-drunk drawl, sometimes within a single line, flitting around his tracks’ central rhythms like a stoned hummingbird. Similarly, his lyrics rarely stoop to the crassly direct approach of radio rappers. Even when bluntly dealing with a particular subject, he dips, dives, and dances around his descriptions, employing abstract details amid jargon-dense disses, boasts and personal revelations. He employs alliteration, consonance, assonance and other language-lover’s tools so enthusiastically that it’s hard to imagine any type of writer objecting. Plus, while Aesop Rock’s unique style is evident in all of his work, Bazooka differs from his earlier catalog as well as 2007’s follow-up, None Shall Pass, because its pointillist musical foundation is so utterly bizarre. It was where he branched off from longtime producer Blockhead, who only provided the beats for a few tracks here, and Aes’ own stuttering funk shards are among the most fascinating of the warped electronic bedrocks championed by foward-thinking rapper/producer El-P’s Definitive Jux label. Polarizing upon release, Bazooka Tooth remains so atypical that even Aesop Rock hasn’t replicated its oddball aesthetic. It’s the kind of album that drives most traditional hip-hop fans nuts, yet its peculiar, homemade collages are just the sort of building blocks that sparked hip-hop in the first place. For evidence, see the two-disc set dubbed Build Your Own Bazooka Tooth, released expressly to allow listeners to assemble their own songs from its parts.
“No Jumper Cables” (official video)
Sleepy Eyes of Death: Dark Signals (2008) 02/22/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Post-Rock.Tags: Electronic, Progressive, Shoegaze
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Sure, post-rock should be spacious and ethereal, but if it’s going to live up to its name, it should ideally sound like music from the future. Most post-rock acts are instead content with aping the rise-and-fall guitar suites Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai were constructing a decade ago. Meanwhile, Seattle’s Sleepy Eyes of Death (named after the American title of a series 1960s samurai pictures), do not actually promote themselves with this dodgy term, but they might as well, since they approximate what you might hear in a nightclub circa 2109. The quintet’s latest EP, Dark Signals, is one seriously trippy jaunt through alien soundscapes. A couple of the tracks offer minimal vocals, heavily processed robot-ghost transmissions which bleed into the band’s neon ether. Primarily, though, they keep it instrumental, melding lockstep krautrock, keening shoegaze textures and delicious analog synths into an electro-prog haze redolent of monochrome laser patterns and glowing cocktails which billow fog about patrons’ glittering unitards. Dark Signals resembles a glorious collaboration between Cosmos-era Zombi and Before the Dawn Heals Us-era M83, and shows Sleepy Eyes of Death working toward a more powerful identity than evidenced by their already entrancing 2007 full-length, Street Lights for a Ribcage. Turn on, tune in, blast the fuck off.
“Pulse from Breath” (at Nectar Lounge, Seattle, 11/8/08)
Finsterforst: Wiege der Finsternis (2006) 02/21/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Metal.Tags: Black Metal, Ethnic, Pagan
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In recent years, the most interesting corner of the nebulous metal scene has been the explosion of bands incorporating traditional folk music. This largely started in Scandinavia as a pagan offshoot of 1990s black metal, which encouraged a return to pre-Christian ideals through romantic notions of atavism and nationalism. The movement gained momentum in former Eastern Bloc countries, where native cultures had been suppressed under Communist rule, and quickly spread throughout Europe as the threat of homogenization loomed under the banner of modernity and globalization. At its ugliest, ethnically-focused metal can be a vehicle for kneejerk xenophobia and esoteric racism, and at its most trivial, it can simply be an excuse to get drunk and wax nostalgic for an era in which its adherents would ultimately find life exceedingly difficult or boring. Finsterforst, from southwestern Germany, fall into neither of those categories. Their tunes lean toward the most accessible end of black metal, with both keyboards and a real accordion pumping up their beerhall guitar melodies and raspy native-tongue vocals. Their out-of-print, self-released debut EP, Wiege der Finsternis (“Cradle of Darkness”), is a great place to start in both Finsterforst’s catalog and the subgenre itself. At 26 minutes, it contains only three tracks, each long enough to weave pastoral interludes among its high-energy material. These guys provide jaunty fun as well as an idealized, brooding old-world flavor, appropriately conjuring the Black Forest that both shadowed their upbringing and provided their band’s name. As one of the most engaging, ready-for-prime-time acts in Germany’s thriving folk metal scene, here’s hoping their upcoming second album, …Zum Tode Hin, catapults Finsterforst to the same level of fame enjoyed by the genre’s (generally Finnish) superstars.
“Schatten der Nacht” (at Skullcrusher, Dresden, 12/22/08)
Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light (2009) 02/20/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Pop/Rock.Tags: Avant-Garde, Orchestral, Pop
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Although I’m here to heap further praise at the feet of Antony Hegarty, he doesn’t need my help, having already gained support from the cognoscenti at the intersection of avant-garde and popular music (David Tibet, Björk, Lou Reed, etc.). For the most part, his music would be filed under the “easy listening” category, populated by gentle piano and light symphonics. Yet Hegarty’s spooky, wavering voice elevates him over your standard sensitive minstrel, along with the haunted demeanor of his songs, which often blur gender lines and speak of loss and longing in doomed romantic tones. His latest album with his band the Johnsons is not really a rocked-up departure, despite the soothing pulse of percussion on tracks like “Kiss My Name” and “Aeon.” It is, however, a less ponderous set than he’s offered in the past, with Hegarty’s lush, fluttering vocal melodies taking the fore in standouts like “Epilepsy is Dancing,” “One Dove,” “Daylight and the Sun” and “Another World,” the latter previously heard on the 2008 EP of the same name. For fey art songs, the material offered on The Crying Light is surprisingly engaging and rich with personality. Its stark, surreal beauty echoes its strikingly bizarre cover image, which depicts Japanese butoh legend Kazuo Ohno (the album is dedicated to him).
“Aeon” (“Late Show with David Letterman,” 2/19/09)
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Elvis Presley: Elvis’ Greatest Shit!! (1983) 02/19/2009
Posted by scrambledface in Pop/Rock.Tags: Bootleg, Pop, Rarities
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I learned about the existence of this bootleg just last night during, of all things, a heated round of “Trivial Pursuit: The 1980s.” With such an intriguing title, I had to look it up. I’m no big Elvis fan, tending to agree with the great Chuck D: “Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant shit to me you see/Straight up racist that sucker was/Simple and plain/Motherfuck him and John Wayne…” However, I do kinda enjoy a few Elvis songs, mostly from the end of his career: I’ll take the sappy, bloated, velvet Vegas Elvis, if you please. I’m not old enough to explicitly remember when he stole the “King of Rock n’ Roll” title from more worthy forebears, so only the ridiculousness of this hillbilly icon intrigues me. Well, Elvis’ Greatest Shit!! is all about Mr. Presley’s ridiculous side, compiling some of the stupidest songs from his movies, including a few flubbed versions, alongside his mangling of a couple of his own “classics.” The song titles alone should let you know what kind of chicanery is afoot. Who can resist the allure of Elvis songs called “(There’s) No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car,” “Song of the Shrimp,” “Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce” or “Dominic the Impotent Bull”? Even better (or worse, if you somehow respect this clown) are a possibly drunk version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” a studio job in which he forgets the words and exclaims, “Hot damn, tamale!” and a live take of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” which he mostly spends mumbling, rambling and laughing to himself. An embarassment no matter your opinion of the man, Elvis’ Greatest Shit!! is the funniest Presley compilation this side of the infamous Having Fun on Stage with Elvis, the nearly unlistenable official live album consisting entirely of between-song banter.
“Queenie Wahine’s Papaya” (from the film “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” 1966)
Scrambled Face 