The Rabbit Hole

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ivtiojaj — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:49:40 +0000

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A Notably Missing Link

ivtiojaj — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:40:00 +0000

There’s been some buzz going around about a band recently. The Hospitals. Fantastic band, I love them. Been loving them since their Load Records album I’ve Visited The Island of Jocks And Jazz back in 2005. Their newest album, Hairdryer Peace, is getting some renewed attention this summer, thanks to its newly treated sound and reissue on CD courtesy of the Meds imprint. None of this I have a problem with. They are my darlings, I’ve wanted to see these guys get some success for a while.
And success they are reaping in plenty, as Hairdryer Peace is seeing its name heralded alongside the names of some very famous underground rock records of the past, from such respected names as The Velvet Underground and Royal Trux, etc. My problem lies with how more than a few critics are handling the distribution of said praise.
The aforementioned album on Load didn’t do half so well in reviews as this one. And yet, out of their discography of albums, it is the closest sonic touchstone to Hairdryer Peace. Also, it’s not a carbon copy of so many other noise rock albums as many thought. The mix may have been a little off, but then, if that’s your care, you likely don’t listen to much by any other bands working in this spectrum of music. Where Jocks and Jazz was a moving forward of their sound from their debut, the pieces there for all to put together, so here is Hairdryer Peace an extension and refinement of its predecessor’s sound.
But no one is acknowledging the predecessor. There have been no shifts of stance, no second glances, many reviews fail to even mention it. A couple reviews I’ve read also seem to believe that the approach to sound and resultant album came out of nowhere for the Hospitals, that this isn’t something they saw coming. These reviews usually fail to mention the predecessor, yet such underground hallmarks as those by the bands mentioned above are clumped somewhere within the opening paragraphs.
All of the above, at least to me, belies a sense of shallow trendsetting, of simply tossing out the names that people recognize or reviewing something by a band that may have been lambasted in the past, simply because their newest was recognized by a distinguished name as being a quality work. (That’s right, Hairdryer Peace got #3 on the Top 2008 albums in the Wire).
My final point is that if you read a review full of heaps of praise for the most recent work of a band, or if it was brimming with good news about the album at the time of publishing, pay your respects and at least fire up itunes and listen to some 30 second samples of what came before.

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Ariel Pink Triple Disc Perspective

ivtiojaj — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Ariel Pink is an artist whose attention from critics has been consistently divided between two sides: those who think he’s a genius, and those who think he overindulges. The problem with the work of Mr. Pink is that the opinions of both sides have truth to them.
Let’s start with his work on his second album for the Paw Tracks imprint, Worn Copy. The album opens up with an odd, off kilter and unbalanced 10+ minute escapade entitled “Trepanated Earth.” From there, the album sprawls, all the way out to its seventeenth and final track, “Jagged Carnival Tours.” Along the way there, there are plenty of delectable nuggets. “The Drummer”, “Credit” and “Immune to Emotion” all show strong pop instincts regarding beat and synth driven 80s styles, where “One On One”, “Artifact”, and “Creepshow” see him willing to explore more spacy and personal sounding areas in his sound. Counting “Jagged Carnival Tours”, “Foilly Foibles/Gold” and the interesting little bit of semi-freakout “Jules Lost His Jewels” the count comes to nine bits too enjoy. The problem is that the other eight could’ve very easily been done with out. Their sound runs the gamut from mediocre and/or boring to just flatout annoying. If the same elevator music pattern wasn’t running for 7 minutes, then a list of aspects about “Life In L.A.” could be nice to hear. The other problem is that when you can decipher his lyrics, they go beyond cheesy, this is grade school rhyming based off whatever the 7th grade’s babbling inanely about.
The follow up album House Arrest follows much the same format, a lot of sprawl divided cleanly between filler and good stuff with crappy lyrics. In terms of his singing abilities, there are a couple songs on here that show he actually can sing when he tries. “Alisa” shows him working a great midtempo ballad while “Flying Circles” provides a giddy, sugar synth fueled run around. “The People I’m Not” sounds like he wrote it after haunting R.E.M. for a few months around the time they recorded Green, which isn’t a bad thing at all. “Higher and Higher” is a catchy little rant about his drug habits. The rest of the material actually rarely gets as flat out annoying as say, “Bloody Bagonias” on Worn Copy, and it’s actually rather nice, but it’s not memorable and you don’t have any real problem with reaching for the skip button.
Then, finally, we have Scared Famous. There are some interesting moments here, and actually, much less scattershot quality. It took me more than a few listens to catch on, but a lot of what’s here is some of his best work. The strung out in the sun afternoon hard rock of the title track is actually very enticing if you just let yourself accept the weird vocals. The same goes for the uptempo “Talking All The Time”, which for anyone who enjoys mildly off kilter guitar workouts is a slab of gold. The hauntingly ponderous synth passages of “The Kitchen Club” betray a sense of nostalgia that repeat listeners of Mr. Pink should be quite familiar with. There are plenty of other moments like that here, like “The List (My Favorite Song)” the lyrics of which denote a habit a lot of music enthusiasts likely go through.
If you let yourself listen to all of this plaintively, it’s fine stuff, lots intriguing and oddly haunting moments that show that this guy really does know how to infuse his music with powerful emotions. And he really does know what the pop textbook says, there are many songs that prove he’s read it back to front. It’s not that you can’t sing along with him. It’s just that there are one too many times where you don’t want to. Kind of like how when you hang out with someone for too long, you notice some flaws you’d rather not. Genius? Perhaps. Indulgent? Yes, definitely. But then, indulgence has always been a hallmark flaw of pop, so maybe he’s smarter than we give him credit for being….

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Artist Highlight: Sightings (Load Records Discography)

ivtiojaj — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Now this is a band for passionate listeners. From their self titled debut on Load Records, up to their most recent there, Through the Panama, this trio has consistently turned rock and roll, and even rock and roll deconstruction, on its head.
Their first album was a brutal dose of furiously concocted noise rock, channeled through the spirit of no wave, the movement headed up decaded ago in their home city of New York by such iconic underground figures as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch, DNA and Mars. Yet even when viewed alongside the most comparable recordings from that time and even alongside those from today, the album is still impenetrable to unprepared listeners. People who have given various genres of rock and roll loving attention can find all kinds of stuff buried in the mix, but if you’re not the kind who believes in patience and listening to an album multiple times to glean its rewards, you won’t like it.
Their second Load album, Absolutes, showed a more focused approach, reining in some of the sprawl from the first album and with song time lengths getting noticeably longer. However, the result was perfect: no compromise in the sound of the band, but with more easily identifiable swathes of song and a more refined approach to their formula. Burning rockers like “White Keys” and “Right Side of the Hall” were balanced out nicely by jams like “Reduction” and the free form call-and-response from hell of “Anna Mae Wong”. Even keeping the hostility fully intact, I left that album wanting more.
Arrived in Gold was next out the gates on Load and showed some very interesting changes. First off, the production and subsequent attitude of the album were different. More sinister and low-key in demeanor, thanks to generally slower tempos and a heavy paring down of scattershot bits of rending noise. Secondly, very much of what’s on the album could be definitively called songs, songs that flirted with traces of funk and groove which had been hinted at on the tracks “Canadian Money” and “Bishops” from Absolutes, but not explored with such focus.
The most recent Sightings album to date continues nicely in their trend of evolving their sound by a few steps with each album. Through the Panama is a very nicely refined amalgam of various traits from the previous three albums. Bringing back a bit more of meditated employment of atonal noise from Absolutes and their debut and partnering it with the song writing focus of Arrived in Gold makes Through the Panama a unique blend. The minor electronic sprinklings from Arrived in Gold are given more use here, and to great effect.
The end all point about what makes Sightings so great is what they do with their music. For a band who’s musical sound already puts a pretty fair limit on their audience, taking a daring stance like requiring patience and endurance from their listeners is downright ballsy. If you want cheap thrills that are still no less awesome but far more immediate, buy a Lightning Bolt album and enjoy the night. But if you’re on the market for something that won’t hand over its treasures until you’ve sat down with it a few times and learned some things from those periods, pick up a Sightings CD.

Artist Highlights: The Intelligence & The Hospitals

ivtiojaj — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:27:00 +0000

Two awesome bands, each replete with some solid albums. My aim here’s going to be showing some of the more choice cuts for listening. Sadly, I lack a functioning turntable, so these glances are limited to what I know is on CD.

The Intelligence has a history of highly entertaining albums, dating back to Boredom and Terror. I personally didn’t find myself enjoying much there, except for “The Universe” with its zonked out meditations on insanity, and the lovely little jaunt of “Telephone Wires.” Their next after that, Icky Baby, their In The Red debut, was a whole different beast. A fair bit more manic in its energy and noisy in its presentation, it made for some riotously intelligent times. The two minute blast of surf rock hell in “Tropical Struggles”, the floaty, malignant tones of “Cheer Up Switch” and finally the amusingly titled in-joke of “The World Is Not A Drag.” Back to front the album’s a lot of fun.
Their 2007 album Deuteronomy, I can safely say is a fantastic album. No weak tracks to be had. Less hostilely noisy than Icky Baby and more refined than Boredom and Terror, this album is just solidly fun. The whole affair actually reminds me strongly of the Talking Heads’ classic Fear Of Music, in it’s presentation of no wave/new wave hybrids and strange yet intriguing lyrics. I’ll get up some word on Fake Surfers when I get a chance to listen to it in full, but for now I can safely say it and its companion album Crepuscule With Pacman both sound awesome from what I’ve heard.

Then, there are the Hospitals. A frenzied beast unto themselves, but one that never seems to tire, but just gets increasingly wild. Their self titled debut on In The Red was a fantastic record for anyone who enjoys hardcore punk that’s been pushed beyond what could be called the normal limits. The album follows a basic formula: manic, frenzied, fire licked rockers, paired up with low, depressed, strung out and hung over yet mildly anthemic and blues rooted dirges. That being said, the only weak moment present here is “Freer”, mainly due to a riff that just sounds weak and even more repetitive when paired against it’s fellows on the album. The rest is barnstorming though, in the most fun ways possible.
Then we have the second full length from these crazies, I’ve Visited The Island Of Jocks And Jazz. This album can still definitely be identified as their work, rooted in noisy strains of punk and hard rock, but with the noisier moments bookending songs from their previous album brought more into the fore. The result is a spectacular breed of penchantly weird and entertaining psych/noise rock. Sadly though, the album contains a few more misses than its predecessor. But with stomp rock cuts like “She’s Not There” and “Airplanes There” and other gems like “Be”, “Bands” and “Boom, Bap, Biff” the spare few weak tracks are easily forgivable. Their most recent available on CD, Hairdryer Peace, seems to have taken the direction of Jocks and Jazz to a thrilling new plateau, but again, more on that when I’ve got the chance to listen to it back to front.

Tips, Tricks, General Advice

ivtiojaj — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Keeping in trend with keeping you informed, I’m going to throw out there a sort of expansion to the helpful supplies list. There are lots of websites out there that are helpful for getting information on music and discovering related goodies and things. Yes, reading is a huge factor, deal with it, learn to love it. I’m not bragging, but I have been fine tuning my list of tools for this sort of thing for a long time. so, I’ll leave you all a nice long list of websites that are always useful.

1. Major retailers: Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Borders.com. Their inventories are huge. Forget Best Buy, they can only scratch the surface. These sites are good bets all the time.
2. Last.fm. The tagging system and playlist tracking on this site, plus the community, makes for an amazingly dexterous tool for navigating obscure and major sub genres. Fantastic.
3. Wikipedia.com. Hit or miss really. Usually, you get some helpful information, like discography.
4. Allmusic.com. Very comprehensive in all areas of music, very helpful, very detailed. Extremely worthwhile.
5. Decent review websites. These are essential for combing the underground, as critics have a tendency to name drop and cross reference genres. If you have an interest in learning about your music to appreciate it, reviews are your absolute best friends. After you read a review, google the terms you’re not familiar with, and search the referenced genres on last.fm. Results await you and all it takes is some typing. My favorite sites for reviews are www.tinymixtapes.com, www.dustedmagazine.com, www.pitchfork.com and www.aquariusrecords.org. Aquarius Records is also an online store that offers fantastic reviews from the perspective of fan and record collector, backed by a superb and impeccable inventory of underground records in just about every format. (Metalheads reading this can reference www.metalencyclopedia.com and www.metalreview.com for detailed info and reviews on that area.)
6. Last but not least, label websites. Many labels tend to sign bands based off a certain sound range or genre. So if you particularly enjoy the work a certain band, check out what label your favorite album from them is on, odds are there will be plenty more there that you’ll like. NOTE: The larger the label is in terms of signed artists, profits made, popularity, profile level of artists, etc., the less effective this technique is likely to be.

With huge search engines and great tools available, learning to groom your info is easy. Hopefully this makes it easier for people.

Shallow Trend

ivtiojaj — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:23:00 +0000

There’s one thing I’m definitely getting tired of: the name dropping of the White Stripes when talking about duos. First off, that horse is long dead. The White Stripes are a duo. We know. They play rock n roll. We know. I listen to a lot of two man bands that sound absolutely nothing like the White Stripes, and, given that taste in music is a personal matter, arguably don’t give a shit about them. But for these bands, there’s a very good chance that the name “the White Stripes” will come up in the first paragraph, when all they have in common is the number of players. On the other hand, now I can feel safe knowing I can mention the Offspring legitimately while reviewing a System Of A Down CD.

Some Helpful Supplies

ivtiojaj — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:45:00 +0000

For those of you who read the reviews and are looking to sample some of the delightful sounds, here’s a list of links to relevant material. What I could find at least.

1. The Hospitals – I’ve Visited the Island of Jocks and Jazz
http://searchservice.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sitesearch.results&orig=search_Header&type=Music&qry=the+hospitals

2. Pixeltan EP
http://searchservice.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sitesearch.results&qry=pixeltan&type=Music (check out Runaround and Beats Prepare For Torture if you want the stuff off the EP specifically)

3. Sightings – S/T
Pages 2 and 3 of this search contain all the songs from this album. The rest of it’s nifty too if you dig that, so don’t skimp.
http://searchservice.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sitesearch.results&qry=pixeltan&type=Music

4. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Worn Copy
Some Youtube links here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szahkz-yaWI (Somewhere In Europe/Hot Pink)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ahR9DEQavE&feature=related (Creepshow)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqKwzlRi4Lc (Jagged Carnival Tours)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUPUWriGwFU (Immune To Emotion)

5. Kites – Peace Trials + Hallucination Guillotine/Final Worship
All the material from both albums I reviewed can be found on pages one through three here.
http://searchservice.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sitesearch.results&qry=Kites&type=Music&musictype=1&searchid=6ba04484-b2dc-4b08-923d-c2b6366ef7b0&pg=1

Also, just to be sure everyone can find the stuff on the myspace pages effectively, the album title is listed with each song. Page numbers are towards the bottom of the page. Happy listening everyone!

A Hodge Podge of Metal

ivtiojaj — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:28:00 +0000

1. Tombs – Winter Hours

This one for people who like their metal tinged with nice, cerebral touches, a good understanding of the effective use of repetition, and heaviness. The songs on this album alternate beautifully between langorous, spacy passages, and heavy, chugging, metal juggernauts. Available cheapest at www.relapse.com

2. High On Fire – Death Is This Communion

High On Fire’s most recent studio album is another amazing slab of doom metal, picking up where Blessed Black Wings left off, and expanding on a couple of things from that album. Where Blessed Black Wings snuck in accoustic passages in the background here and there, they’re a full part of the music here, lending itself to an even greater feel of epic metal than the three albums preceding it. Highly recommended. Available cheapest at www.relapse.com

3. Soilent Green – Inevitable Collapse In The Presence Of Conviction

Already having a tidy history of albums under their belt, the southern boys of Soilent Green give us this new monster. Compared to the structuring of their previous albums, the track layout is nicely concise. They haven’t done much to change their style of blitzing you with three or four different variants of metal at once, but if you’re a fan, there shouldn’t be much complaining. If you’re not a fan and you’d like to get into Soilent Green, this is an excellent starting point. Especially when the cover art and accompanying album art happens to be so damn awesome. Available cheapest at www.metalblade.com

4. The Sword – Gods Of The Earth

Can’t recommend this one enough. These guys are just amazing. Any fan of just about kind of metal can find something to enjoy here, especially when the musicianship is so spot on from front to back. Also, it’s yet another album with stunning artwork accompanying. Available cheapest at www.kemado.com

Snazzy Books

ivtiojaj — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Punk 365

Ok, so at first glance it looks another shitty reason to publish an overpriced calendar book. Not really though. Great photos, great factoids/quotes/info etc. Ends up being much more enjoyable than it looks.
http://www.amazon.com/Punk-365-Holly-George-Warren/dp/0810994046/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237920845&sr=8-1

No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980.

Enjoyed this one immensely. It’s not put together like some endless list of facts arranged in chronological order. Instead, everything flows together nicely, telling more of a story than anything else. Hell, even the photo captions have humor. Couldn’t put it down.
http://www.amazon.com/No-Wave-Post-Punk-Underground-1976-1980/dp/0810995433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237921047&sr=1-1

Maggots

This book is more than a little weird. Sure, go for the god-mode difficulty setting and try and make sense of the book by reading it as per the author’s (Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt) instructions. Or, sit back and enjoy it on your own terms for what it was. A highly interesting and surreal collection of pen-doodled art pieces. You can do either you like, or something else, but it’s best if you actually read it along with some of Chippendale’s music from Lightning Bolt. Perhaps it wasn’t intended to mesh so well with the music, but to me at least, it certainly seems to.
http://www.amazon.com/Brian-Chippendale-Maggots/dp/0978972260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237921240&sr=1-1