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By shade, in Music In General: David Bowie Appreciation Station

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shade

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The actual words do not really matter, the emotions in the vocals behind them do. Lyrics are imported to different extents depending on the artist to me. However, overall I don't think they are as important as a lot of people seem to think.

 

As for artists who lyrics I enjoy the most, I'd go with Thom Yorke, Bob Dylan, Doseone (subtle, cLOUDDEAD, 13 & God), David Bowie, and Maynard.

 

A lot of the stuff I listen to that has vocals is in another language. Even though I cannot understand the message or meaning the songs still come across as beautiful to me.

 

Here's a perfect example:

 

Acid Mothers Temple - Interplanetary Love

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Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home by These Arms are Snakes

"This Is Meant To Hurt You" was a debut effort that had many excited long before it was even released for public consumption - largely due in part to the ravenous cult fanbase that the musicians involved had propagated prior to These Arms Are Snakes' alignment. Diehard followers heard former members of Kill Sadie and Botch were collaborating on a new project and suddenly the Northwest was alive with drooling fanboys imagining orgasmic hardcore eruptions. Though the group certainly launched from the gate with a style devoid of the hardcore muscle many expected; they offered something intricate, spacey and complicated enough to appease the indie faithful ready for nothing short of the holy grail. For all the buzz that surrounds the group, expectations were held (impossibly?) high for the Seattle three-piece (drummer Joe Preston and keyboardist Jesse Robertson quietly exited the ensemble once returning from tour). With the help of Minus The Bear drummer Erin Tate, These Arms Are Snakes have rebounded admirably, proudly brandishing the brilliant seizure known as "Oxeneers Or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home" at listeners with a middle finger towards those who dare even mouth the word "hype".

The year they spent on the road may have resulted in some unfortunate departures, but with one listen to the album it is clear that the time spent honing their sound night after night has paid dividends. This is a continuation of the ideals shown on their earlier EP and a redefinition of the very essence of what These Arms Are Snakes are about. The caustic unpredictability of "This Is Meant To Hurt You" has given way to a newfound confidence and energy resplendent in rich electronic inclusions. Plus an unconventionally roundabout way of songwriting that embraces hooks without resorting to the traditional bells & whistles paint by number design. Brian Cook proves to be as comfortable on the keyboard as he is at handling the bass duties, and this proves to be as vital an instrument to the band as Ryan Frederiksen's guitar or Steve Snere's vagabond vocals. Whether teasing with darkly ambient passages, svelte trip-hop dalliances or pulsating drum & bass experimentation, this inclusion thickens the group's melting pot of sounds.

Matt Bayles production is phenomenal in capturing each note and discordant squeal with equal emphasis. Where the bands previous material had a decidedly garage feel, echoey and uneven in its delectable imperfection, "Oxeneers..." is a whole new beast which allows each member to be singled out and focused upon rather than hidden by one another. Cook's arduous bass procedures are just as vibrant as Frederiksen's distortion-filled string-articulation. The track "Gadget Arms" is a perfect example. Being little more than an indulgent eight minute instrumental of searing distortion and droning dissonance, it gives the band a chance to move beyond conventional song design and instead build skyscrapers of sound that illuminate just how talented this outfit are when given the chance to simply jam. The band also prove to be just as capable at making ear-catching indie rock gems, as cuts such as "Big News" and "Darlings Of New Midnight" are serrated blades that cut with toe-tapping energy. "Your Pearly Whites" is perhaps the gleaming jewel that is found in the middle of this delectable oyster, as Snere's impassioned vocals and the hauntingly melodic slow build is exquisitely crafted to capture his enigmatic lyrical content.

Rather than be daunted by the ridiculous hype surrounding them since the group's very conception, These Arms Are Snakes have used such accolades and praise to elevate their game to the next level. The band have eclipsed themselves with this, their full-length debut, as "Oxeneers..." ostensibly maximizes every single fiber that made up their core sound on the "This Is Meant To Hurt You" EP, while simultaneously incorporating a plethora of titillating new concepts and textures to the post-punk extravaganza. Essentially, this album is Pop Rocks & Coca-Cola; the spider babies in your bubblegum. The big urban myth of indie rock... that of an album that is as indulgent and irresistible as it is intellectual (and even accessible!) has been realized and proven to be fact by these Seattle musicians. They have given birth to an indie prodigy that is as tuneful as it is tactical in its execution. Delivering an indictment of society and its monetary obsession all the while being an album that personifies the perfection of music in 2004. Rambunctious indie rock, cynical art-punk, progressive post-hardcore; all are telltale genre classifications that feel far too cumbersome and somehow lacking in truly depicting what these musicians excrete. "Oxeneers Or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home" is genuine, it is original and it is undoubtedly one of the year's very best offerings.

(5 / 5)

 

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Red-Eyed Soul by The World/Inferno Friendship Society

The fifth full-length release by art-punk collective World/Inferno Friendship Society is just as enjoyable and intermittently frustrating as their other albums, but Red-Eyed Soul finds the Brooklyn-based outfit both mellowing slightly and moving tentatively into more commercial waters. Opening track and first single "Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater" is a straight-up pop song that, with its infectious horn riffs and scat-sung chorus, would have fit comfortably on Dexy's Midnight Runners' Searching for the Young Soul Rebels. It's followed by the even more accessible and catchy "Velocity of Love," which has
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Brick Soundtrack by Nathan Johnson and the Cinematic Underground

I wrote, not too long ago, that originality and passion are what I look for most in film scores these days. Nathan Johnson's score to the modern film noir Brick does not exactly hit you over the head with, well, a brick of passion the way a 90-piece choir can, but you can definitely put a big yellow "ORIGINALITY" sticker on the cover. If most of the score sounds like it was recorded in someone's kitchen with utensils and glasses, it's because it sort of was. The idea behind the score was to create a musical junkyard, an atmosphere of desolation and weirdness. The composer took a shopping cart to the local grocery store, a big grin on his face, no doubt, and started buying his instruments.

To call Brick a collection of whisk clicks and glass clacks would be a gross generalization. The kitchen utensils, filing cabinets, and radiators are complemented by guitars, Rhodes pianos, metallophones, lonely trumpets, contrabasses, violins, banjolins, a fluttery clarinet and, most distinctive of all, a wine-o-phone, an array of wine glasses tuned to recognizable Western pitches. This wine-o-phone becomes the calling card of the score and the backbone of Emily's Theme. While Brendan, a high school outsider played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, investigates the mysterious death of his girlfriend, Emily, that theme serves as a reminder of the quest. It is a sad yet elegant theme and, the way it is played on the wine-o-phone, recalls the way one plays a mandolin. "Emily's Theme 2" brings a distorted Rhodes piano to replace the wine glasses, while "Emily's Theme 3" has the guitar and the violin taking turn with the hummable melody. At least two other strong themes make their way onto the soundtrack: an airy, slightly gypsy-sounding clarinet aria for Kara, the drama queen, and an urban blues-y Rhodes piece for Laura, the rich femme fatale.

When these melodies are not playing, the score is an interesting mix of film noir idioms, The Caveman's Valentine's percussive follies, and Jeff Beal's Carniv

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If you only get a few out of those ^  get The Melvins and Dan the Automator in my opinion.

really? because the melvins are terrible.

Heh, at the risk of sticking my face into a smouldering brushfire, I might as well give it a shot:

 

I can easily see how Melvins aren't someone's cup of tea. Even though they've released a ridiculous amount of albums, and have changed their style a bunch over the years, they're still ridiculously odd and dense, and sometimes, nearly unlistenable.

 

And knowing all that, it's why I upped A Senile Animal. It's one of the few albums where they seem to be fairly accessible throughout. (The only other option I had in mind was the Crybaby, but even then, I don't think Buzz does much/any vocals on that one.)

 

But yeah. To each their own.

 

I will say this though: I love These Arms are Snakes with a passion.

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