Of Montreal recently came out with a new CD called Skeletal Lamping. If you heard Hissing Fauna, Are you The Destroyer? then I think you will know exactly what to expect with this album. If you've never heard Of Montreal before, get ready for an album that you will either love to death or hate with a passion (screaming to yourself what the f!@# is he singing about!?).
Just to be perfectly clear, he's singing about being a 40 year old black man who was a woman who was a man, and who also used to be in an Ohio Players-like band in the seventies called Arousal. That's right, understanding the lyrics to this album is not simple for us single-gender folks, but they sure are fun. I don't really know what he is trying to get across, because I'm not really a lyrics person anyway, but they took some of my favourite songs from Hissing Fauna and extended the concepts into a whole album.
Expect lots of very effeminate male singing, lots of 'deep' sounding electronic beats, glitzy keyboard, extremely catchy but not pop-structured songs. Despite all the electronics, the album keeps an organic feel to it, not sounding too slick. They use repetition to great effect and the lyrics are very strange and fun. That being said, some people will probably just find it too weird to enjoy; they throw some random screams in the songs for musical effect, the band mates occasionally ask questions of the singer (which he answers), and they have song names like 'Triphallus to Punctuate!.'
So far I have really been enjoying this album. Do yourself a favour and at least give it a listen. If you don't like it, I would still encourage you to go to one of the band's live shows; they are by far the most interesting band I have seen live. I am not even sure I would like Hissing Fauna and Skeletal Lamping if I had not seen them live first. It's a psychedelic ride, with people in shiny suits dancing around and reading newspapers, and cannons that shoot glitter. The lead singer, along with the rest of the band, looks like a peacock trying to get your attention, all decked up in bright colours and metallic eye-liner. It's weird, but by god, is it ever entertaining.
First impression: 8/10
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
New Music
This may be old news to some people, but there is a lot of exciting music coming out or which has come out recently, and I thought I would mention it here. Since I haven't mentioned my musical tastes anywhere on this blog before, let me just say I listen to a great many things: electronica, pop, pop-ish folk, rock, indy, classical, hardcore, metal. My tastes tend to be broad, and I tend to pick only a few things of each genre.
My tastes tend to run in phases; for example, I'll listen to all electronica for 2 weeks, then move on and listen to a bunch of my old emocore stuff. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of more popular music in the pop/rock/alternative genres, and that's definitely going to be reflected in this list. Here are some new albums that I think are worth noting, and my first impressions of them:
Keane - Perfect Symmetry:
First Impression: 5/10
After Keane's first two albums, you would think that you knew what to expect. In this case, you would definitely be wrong! This album utilizes a lot more electronics and is much more synthy. It gives it an 80s feel, and the songs are catchy, but I don't know how I will feel about it in the long run.
If you have not ever heard of Keane, they were generally considered 'piano-rock' and their music was generally characterized by pop-structured songs, with prominent use of the piano and the singer's strong voice, and glossy, clean production. This album is much different though. I would recommend starting at their first (and still, arguably, best) album, Hopes and Fears.
Aside:
Some may view my ratings as rather harsh, mostly because I believe people are too free with their 8's 9's and 10's when they rate things. It is also a first impression; sometimes these are the albums that really grow on you over time. Also, since I believe you can't remove context from the rating of an album, Perfect Symmetry suffers from the much stronger (IMHO) first two albums by Keane. Now, back to the main event...
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night:
First Impression: 7/10
I am a relative newcomer to Kings of Leon. I only just heard of them soon after Because of the Times came out. A lot of people really liked Because of the Times, and so did I. Only by the Night is a very worthy follow-up to that album. The singer has improved on his unique but strong voice. It also has very clean production, which I thought worked well. If you liked Because of the Times I can almost guarantee you will like this album.
The band combines mostly minimal rockin' with very front and center vocals and some electronic effects. The singer is one of my favourites these days; he has a very high energy voice that sometimes borders on a screech... but in a good way.
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns:
First Impression: 8.5/10
Let's get one thing clear here. Snow Patrol is not really doing anything new to them. They play sappy pop-rock with a heavy emphasis on relationship/love themes. However, this is exactly why I love them, so I don't mind. The album is so overwhelmingly catchy (not unlike their first two) that you just can't but let it help you feel good. They do enough differently that it doesn't sound exactly like Eyes Open/Final Straw. So far there are no big stand-out songs, but only because the whole album is very strong. This is another one where the production is clean. I'm noticing a theme here... Oh well, like I said, my music habits tend to run in phases.
I am interested in production mostly because Liam despises overproduction. It's when he started mentioning it that I started to notice it at all. As much as Liam decries overproduction, I don't find the production over-done on any of these 3 albums. I think it makes it easy to appreciate these bands' ability. All three use traditional rock-song structure, and the music here is more about appreciating the quality of pop/rock songwriting and vocal talent than doing anything that much differently.
I will also be giving these short 'first impressions' reviews on Bloc Party's new album and Of Montreal's. I was going to do them now, but I don't think I've listened to them even enough for a first impression review. I suppose that sounds counterintuitive, but I was so distracted when listening to them, I didn't really absorb any of the music.
My tastes tend to run in phases; for example, I'll listen to all electronica for 2 weeks, then move on and listen to a bunch of my old emocore stuff. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of more popular music in the pop/rock/alternative genres, and that's definitely going to be reflected in this list. Here are some new albums that I think are worth noting, and my first impressions of them:
Keane - Perfect Symmetry:
First Impression: 5/10
After Keane's first two albums, you would think that you knew what to expect. In this case, you would definitely be wrong! This album utilizes a lot more electronics and is much more synthy. It gives it an 80s feel, and the songs are catchy, but I don't know how I will feel about it in the long run.
If you have not ever heard of Keane, they were generally considered 'piano-rock' and their music was generally characterized by pop-structured songs, with prominent use of the piano and the singer's strong voice, and glossy, clean production. This album is much different though. I would recommend starting at their first (and still, arguably, best) album, Hopes and Fears.
Aside:
Some may view my ratings as rather harsh, mostly because I believe people are too free with their 8's 9's and 10's when they rate things. It is also a first impression; sometimes these are the albums that really grow on you over time. Also, since I believe you can't remove context from the rating of an album, Perfect Symmetry suffers from the much stronger (IMHO) first two albums by Keane. Now, back to the main event...
Kings of Leon - Only by the Night:
First Impression: 7/10
I am a relative newcomer to Kings of Leon. I only just heard of them soon after Because of the Times came out. A lot of people really liked Because of the Times, and so did I. Only by the Night is a very worthy follow-up to that album. The singer has improved on his unique but strong voice. It also has very clean production, which I thought worked well. If you liked Because of the Times I can almost guarantee you will like this album.
The band combines mostly minimal rockin' with very front and center vocals and some electronic effects. The singer is one of my favourites these days; he has a very high energy voice that sometimes borders on a screech... but in a good way.
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns:
First Impression: 8.5/10
Let's get one thing clear here. Snow Patrol is not really doing anything new to them. They play sappy pop-rock with a heavy emphasis on relationship/love themes. However, this is exactly why I love them, so I don't mind. The album is so overwhelmingly catchy (not unlike their first two) that you just can't but let it help you feel good. They do enough differently that it doesn't sound exactly like Eyes Open/Final Straw. So far there are no big stand-out songs, but only because the whole album is very strong. This is another one where the production is clean. I'm noticing a theme here... Oh well, like I said, my music habits tend to run in phases.
I am interested in production mostly because Liam despises overproduction. It's when he started mentioning it that I started to notice it at all. As much as Liam decries overproduction, I don't find the production over-done on any of these 3 albums. I think it makes it easy to appreciate these bands' ability. All three use traditional rock-song structure, and the music here is more about appreciating the quality of pop/rock songwriting and vocal talent than doing anything that much differently.
I will also be giving these short 'first impressions' reviews on Bloc Party's new album and Of Montreal's. I was going to do them now, but I don't think I've listened to them even enough for a first impression review. I suppose that sounds counterintuitive, but I was so distracted when listening to them, I didn't really absorb any of the music.
Updates (to what!?)
If there's anyone who reads this blog; here are some personal updates, and some pertaining to the blog!:
I changed that layout a little bit, and you can now subscribe to us with the button on the side. If you don't use RSS feeds, try it out. I use Google Reader, and it such a glorious time-suck that it has effectively replaced Facebook as my primary procrastination tool. Firefox by default will ask you what you would like to subscribe with and Google Reader is a choice on there. Internet Explorer and Opera both have their own built-in RSS Readers, which I don't really like. I don't know what other browsers do. Anyway, that should get you our very infrequent updates!
That being said, I would like to update this more often, and in the interest of that, I've bought a notebook for recording my random thoughts during the day in the hopes that more of them will make it onto this blog! The notebook I got is this nifty little unit called a Moleskine, a fantastic little notebook with a nice leather cover with a strap for holding it shut, a ribbon bookmark, and full of a bunch of reference information. Apparently, these notebooks are a little bit of a hit among creative types, and there are a few internet sites devoted to them. Here is an art site devoted to art drawn in Moleskine notebooks: http://www.skineart.com/.
I am planning updates to the layout of the blog, depending on how long it takes me to relearn HTML. This prefab layout, while my favourite one, is pretty drab, and I want to mess around and get something a little bit more interesting online! The chances of me finding time to sit down and learn HTML in one day is unlikely though, so expect small, incremental changes. My recreational attention span is even worse than my attention span at work. I am also trying to learn how to create programs in PyGTK for Linux, and have my attention further divided by rec soccer, Ian Esslemont's new book (which is fantastic!), and Warcraft 3 (how do I still enjoy this game so much after 5 or 6 years!?). I also seem to lose a lot of time to poking around on my computer in Ubuntu.
Which brings me to my next point! For computer nerd types who like to try something new. This October 30, Ubuntu comes out with Intrepid, the latest version of a Linux operating system which is almost fully ready for casual users. I have been using the previous version, Hardy, on my laptop for 4 months now, never looking back to large, bloated Windows Vista. I still use XP mostly on my desktop, because I like using iTunes for my iPod and Warcraft 3 doesn't run that well on Ubuntu. However, out of the box, you can use Ubuntu for office applications, internet browsing (with Firefox), and listening to music (with Rhythmbox, a music player very similar to iTunes). I would recommend giving it a try. There's a link on the sidebar (which also counts down to the official release).
That's all for this post. I had more but it was all music related and this post is getting long, so I am just going to post another one.
I changed that layout a little bit, and you can now subscribe to us with the button on the side. If you don't use RSS feeds, try it out. I use Google Reader, and it such a glorious time-suck that it has effectively replaced Facebook as my primary procrastination tool. Firefox by default will ask you what you would like to subscribe with and Google Reader is a choice on there. Internet Explorer and Opera both have their own built-in RSS Readers, which I don't really like. I don't know what other browsers do. Anyway, that should get you our very infrequent updates!
That being said, I would like to update this more often, and in the interest of that, I've bought a notebook for recording my random thoughts during the day in the hopes that more of them will make it onto this blog! The notebook I got is this nifty little unit called a Moleskine, a fantastic little notebook with a nice leather cover with a strap for holding it shut, a ribbon bookmark, and full of a bunch of reference information. Apparently, these notebooks are a little bit of a hit among creative types, and there are a few internet sites devoted to them. Here is an art site devoted to art drawn in Moleskine notebooks: http://www.skineart.com/.
I am planning updates to the layout of the blog, depending on how long it takes me to relearn HTML. This prefab layout, while my favourite one, is pretty drab, and I want to mess around and get something a little bit more interesting online! The chances of me finding time to sit down and learn HTML in one day is unlikely though, so expect small, incremental changes. My recreational attention span is even worse than my attention span at work. I am also trying to learn how to create programs in PyGTK for Linux, and have my attention further divided by rec soccer, Ian Esslemont's new book (which is fantastic!), and Warcraft 3 (how do I still enjoy this game so much after 5 or 6 years!?). I also seem to lose a lot of time to poking around on my computer in Ubuntu.
Which brings me to my next point! For computer nerd types who like to try something new. This October 30, Ubuntu comes out with Intrepid, the latest version of a Linux operating system which is almost fully ready for casual users. I have been using the previous version, Hardy, on my laptop for 4 months now, never looking back to large, bloated Windows Vista. I still use XP mostly on my desktop, because I like using iTunes for my iPod and Warcraft 3 doesn't run that well on Ubuntu. However, out of the box, you can use Ubuntu for office applications, internet browsing (with Firefox), and listening to music (with Rhythmbox, a music player very similar to iTunes). I would recommend giving it a try. There's a link on the sidebar (which also counts down to the official release).
That's all for this post. I had more but it was all music related and this post is getting long, so I am just going to post another one.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Jacket weather...
Travel diary excerpt - 18 August, 2008 - Faeroe Islands:
It's my last day in the Færoes, I am watching little wisps of mist slowly affix themselves to the bus window. The mist is thick and the visibility poor. In my few days in Tørshavn, I have become acquainted with the narrow and winding streets. I am not sure I will see them again, but I would like to; Klakkur still awaits my return. The sea is vaguely visible from the road, it seems to be seething, swelling, tumultuous. A force, a foe, to this Prairie boy. The fog finally clears and I can see blue sky, across the water, an island is crested with a brilliant white swath of cloud. We drive by some small industrial complex, to its use, I have no no useful thoughts, it fascinates me none-the-less. We then head into a tunnel, it defeats the Færoes to biggest and constant obstacles - its mountains and the North Atlantic. Through the tunnel - the fog has disappeared and the sky is cloudless, a beautiful clear ultramarine. They are gathering hay in the fields, and small lakes add additional colour to the greens and greys of the mountains. Again a tunnel, yellow and white dance across the crack in windshield, as artificial lights guide through this sub-abysmal cavern.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Life is..
Sometimes I wonder at this very human tendency to want to reduce all things great and small to a width no wider than that of a clever sentence.
I'm guilty of it; you're guilty of it. How many people have you seen with tags like "Love is a battlefield" or "Seize the day." Sometimes the sayings are just complete clichés. Sometimes they are poorly disguised versions of the same thing you have been hearing for years. Sometimes they are actually pretty clever, but still trying to stuff meaning into a container that is just not big enough. How can you possibly fit the meaning of life into one sentence? How can you explain love to someone with but a few choice, clever words? I use life and love as example, because they are probably the most commonly victimized concepts in this phenomena, but it could be anything, really: Death, the finance market, the bar scene, music, art, sports.
Why do we do this? There's so much going on behind every word we speak, let alone every emotion we feel or sensory input we experience. I don't know about you, but the idea that so much meaning can be expressed through a few words is intriguing. I use "seize the day" as an example. First of all, that sentence should not mean anything. It doesn't make sense, seizing a day. You can't seize a day.. it's an abstract concept, incapable of being grasped. We all know what the sentence means, though, and if read at the right time, these three little words can send people into fits of guilt, or joy, or amateur philosophy, or promiscuous sex-binges.
You can take those three words (or two for the also-common 'carpe diem'), filter them through millions of people, and get a different result each time. We pack meaning into these little sentences, not unlike a computer putting a file into an archive. When we send these bits of packaged information to other people, though, they are unpacked in an entirely different way. They are modified and applied to each person as befits their experiences, and their world views. They were generalized only to be once again made specific, and they bridge the gap between two humans, two humans experiencing the subjective world differently.
In essence I think that these phrases are appealing because of their succinct generality; we love them, because we get to unpack them and apply them at will. We love them because in our differences, we can still rally behind these general phrases, and be inspired by them. I think it's an art in and of itself to come up with phrases that apply to so many people.
"Seize the day" means different things to different people, but I think most people will pretty much agree that the day should be seized. Other sayings are less universal ("You laugh at me because I am different, I laugh because you are all the same" rings pretty hollow to me, for example), but are still rally like-minded people, even though the meaning is slightly different for each of them. In some cases, I have seen the same phrases being used to rally people behind completely conflicting ideas (think Einstein and his definition of 'God' and the fact that his quotes are used by both theists and atheists). In closing, I would like to prove that last sentence by quoting a man whose general philosophy I disagree with, even though this quote rings true to me:
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." - Carl Jung
This has been my latest bout of caffeine-fueled, amateur philosophy. Thank you for tuning in. I welcome your comments, criticism, and discussion points.
-------
On a related note, Chuck Norris is trying to sell me a gym machine. What do I do? I don't think I could live through one of his kicks...
I'm guilty of it; you're guilty of it. How many people have you seen with tags like "Love is a battlefield" or "Seize the day." Sometimes the sayings are just complete clichés. Sometimes they are poorly disguised versions of the same thing you have been hearing for years. Sometimes they are actually pretty clever, but still trying to stuff meaning into a container that is just not big enough. How can you possibly fit the meaning of life into one sentence? How can you explain love to someone with but a few choice, clever words? I use life and love as example, because they are probably the most commonly victimized concepts in this phenomena, but it could be anything, really: Death, the finance market, the bar scene, music, art, sports.
Why do we do this? There's so much going on behind every word we speak, let alone every emotion we feel or sensory input we experience. I don't know about you, but the idea that so much meaning can be expressed through a few words is intriguing. I use "seize the day" as an example. First of all, that sentence should not mean anything. It doesn't make sense, seizing a day. You can't seize a day.. it's an abstract concept, incapable of being grasped. We all know what the sentence means, though, and if read at the right time, these three little words can send people into fits of guilt, or joy, or amateur philosophy, or promiscuous sex-binges.
You can take those three words (or two for the also-common 'carpe diem'), filter them through millions of people, and get a different result each time. We pack meaning into these little sentences, not unlike a computer putting a file into an archive. When we send these bits of packaged information to other people, though, they are unpacked in an entirely different way. They are modified and applied to each person as befits their experiences, and their world views. They were generalized only to be once again made specific, and they bridge the gap between two humans, two humans experiencing the subjective world differently.
In essence I think that these phrases are appealing because of their succinct generality; we love them, because we get to unpack them and apply them at will. We love them because in our differences, we can still rally behind these general phrases, and be inspired by them. I think it's an art in and of itself to come up with phrases that apply to so many people.
"Seize the day" means different things to different people, but I think most people will pretty much agree that the day should be seized. Other sayings are less universal ("You laugh at me because I am different, I laugh because you are all the same" rings pretty hollow to me, for example), but are still rally like-minded people, even though the meaning is slightly different for each of them. In some cases, I have seen the same phrases being used to rally people behind completely conflicting ideas (think Einstein and his definition of 'God' and the fact that his quotes are used by both theists and atheists). In closing, I would like to prove that last sentence by quoting a man whose general philosophy I disagree with, even though this quote rings true to me:
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." - Carl Jung
This has been my latest bout of caffeine-fueled, amateur philosophy. Thank you for tuning in. I welcome your comments, criticism, and discussion points.
-------
On a related note, Chuck Norris is trying to sell me a gym machine. What do I do? I don't think I could live through one of his kicks...
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