You should listen to more Tragically Hip. It’s really as simple as that. Most of the music I talk about here on this blog is weird, difficult, extreme and most certainly only for a small portion of the music listening public. I thrive in the hidden gems and those that work against the grain. The convention flaunters. This does 2 things: It makes them awesome, but it only makes awesome for a small group of people.
The Tragically Hip, on the other hand, simply rock. That’s been their mandate since day one. “Let’s make some rockin’ Canadian tunes.” While they’ve evolved through the years and matured they still retain the same flavour (Canadian spelling) they had in the early days.
A few tunes you should definitely check out:
Boots or Hearts
Nautical Disaster
My Music at Work
Poets
Fully, Completely
Long Time Running
Little Bones
700 ft Ceiling
Gift Shop
38 Years Old
New Orleans is Sinking (not actually about New Orleans sinking)
I’m a Werewolf, Baby (not a great song, but fun)
Locked in the Trunk of a Car
There’s more of course. But that’ll get you started. That’ll give you the taste.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Silver Mt. Zion - beginnings
Godspeed You Black Emperor! (now Godspeed You! Black Emperor) has been one of the most influential post-rocks bands in the history of the movement. Although I should pause here to mention that that label is one of controversy. GY!BE would not describe themselves as 'post-rock' just as most bands labelled 'post-rock' would not describe themselves as such. It's a troublesome point as while you can call Mogwai, Sigur Ros, GY!BE and Slint post-rock, there is not much similarity to these bands' sounds.
Regardless, there has been a movement, call it what you will, of bands that have taken rock instruments and rock aesthetics and created something decidedly un-rock, while still revelling in its roots. At the forefront of this movement was Godspeed You Black Emperor! A revolving collection of musicians, they usually had at least 3 guitars, 2 basses, 2 drummers, a violinist, electronic manipulators, and an assortment of other players. The didn't create songs, so much as songscapes. Somewhere between hard rock and ambient, if Brian Eno decided to put together a rock band, they might sound something like GYBE!
A more detailed post about GYBE! (or GY!BE) itself will come later, put the important setup here is that after just one official album, an EP and an aMAZEine split, GYBE! had made a huge name for itself within the indierock community. These guys had a sound that no one had heard before, and while there were greatly justified accounts that they were about the most pretentious musical act on the planet, there was also the consensus that their work was one of unparalleled brilliance, and that they were carving a path that no one had ever tread before.
Sometime in 1999, Efrim Menuck (one of the guitarists and founders of GYBE!) grew frustrated with what they were producing. Not that he was disappointed with the results, but he found process to be somewhat lacking. Efrim was an essentially self-taught guitarist and was not learned in the often highly confusing and convoluted world of music theory. Many of his bandmates, classically trained, would refer to "diminished fifths" or "augmented sevenths". It was a language that he did not speak, and felt frustrated that he could not communicate his ideas in a way that many of his peers easily could.
At the same time, he had new ideas for music, ones that he felt would not necessarily fit within the vast framework of GYBE! For one, his ideas were a great deal more minimalist, at least as far as instrumentation was concerned. He decided he would learn how to read and write music, and spent some many months to that effect and then took to the task of writing an entire album longhand with proper musical notation. It was an unmitigated failure. Efrim hated the process and wasn't terribly pleased with the results. He felt it robbed him of his particular realationship with music, one that was etherial to be sure, but that yielded results that were certainly emotionally substantial.
However, in trying to put together a scripted piece of work, although that was a failure Efrim found himself with a new band of players and an interest in creating something different. Sophie (violin) and Therry (double bass) were both recruited out of GYBE! and now they joined with Efrim to create something similiar but distinct.
The result was A Silver Mt. Zion (which was also to change its name at least 4 times in the following years) and their first effort was the equally challengingly named "He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Still Grace The Corners Of Our Rooms..."
It is unfair to say that people dismissed the band and the album right off the bat. They did not. However, at the time of its release He Has Left Us was certainly overshadowed by GYBE!'s most recent output "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven". The latter was a juggernaught of sound and fury and arguably the band's most impressive effort. The former by contrast, was a much more sedate affair by a side-project consisting of 1/3 of GYBE! Comparisions between the two were inevitable.
Many reviews were largely positive, but the feeling was that the album was a 'lighter' version of GYBE! Certainly many sections did feel like the quieter moments of GYBE!, and the pieces that were strikingly different, like the vocal/piano piece Movie (Never Made) [another song whose name and arrangement would change over time], were so different as to be a bit baffling. Efrim couldn't really 'sing'. His voice warbled and cracked in places. It was strange, and it had been anyone else, it might have been written off as crap. But because this had been produced by part of the team of GYBE! there was willingness to allow for some experimentation. At worst, it was labelled an attempt that was interesting, but didn't quite reach the heights of relevance.
It would take further efforts by the band, a change in members and even name of the band and the inevitable hiatus of GYBE! before A Silver Mt. Zion was fully understood and appreciated. Once this happened people would go back and hear the foundation for what was to come. Only then would He Has Left Us be discovered for the truly great album that it is.
Regardless, there has been a movement, call it what you will, of bands that have taken rock instruments and rock aesthetics and created something decidedly un-rock, while still revelling in its roots. At the forefront of this movement was Godspeed You Black Emperor! A revolving collection of musicians, they usually had at least 3 guitars, 2 basses, 2 drummers, a violinist, electronic manipulators, and an assortment of other players. The didn't create songs, so much as songscapes. Somewhere between hard rock and ambient, if Brian Eno decided to put together a rock band, they might sound something like GYBE!
A more detailed post about GYBE! (or GY!BE) itself will come later, put the important setup here is that after just one official album, an EP and an aMAZEine split, GYBE! had made a huge name for itself within the indierock community. These guys had a sound that no one had heard before, and while there were greatly justified accounts that they were about the most pretentious musical act on the planet, there was also the consensus that their work was one of unparalleled brilliance, and that they were carving a path that no one had ever tread before.
Sometime in 1999, Efrim Menuck (one of the guitarists and founders of GYBE!) grew frustrated with what they were producing. Not that he was disappointed with the results, but he found process to be somewhat lacking. Efrim was an essentially self-taught guitarist and was not learned in the often highly confusing and convoluted world of music theory. Many of his bandmates, classically trained, would refer to "diminished fifths" or "augmented sevenths". It was a language that he did not speak, and felt frustrated that he could not communicate his ideas in a way that many of his peers easily could.
At the same time, he had new ideas for music, ones that he felt would not necessarily fit within the vast framework of GYBE! For one, his ideas were a great deal more minimalist, at least as far as instrumentation was concerned. He decided he would learn how to read and write music, and spent some many months to that effect and then took to the task of writing an entire album longhand with proper musical notation. It was an unmitigated failure. Efrim hated the process and wasn't terribly pleased with the results. He felt it robbed him of his particular realationship with music, one that was etherial to be sure, but that yielded results that were certainly emotionally substantial.
However, in trying to put together a scripted piece of work, although that was a failure Efrim found himself with a new band of players and an interest in creating something different. Sophie (violin) and Therry (double bass) were both recruited out of GYBE! and now they joined with Efrim to create something similiar but distinct.
The result was A Silver Mt. Zion (which was also to change its name at least 4 times in the following years) and their first effort was the equally challengingly named "He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Still Grace The Corners Of Our Rooms..."
It is unfair to say that people dismissed the band and the album right off the bat. They did not. However, at the time of its release He Has Left Us was certainly overshadowed by GYBE!'s most recent output "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven". The latter was a juggernaught of sound and fury and arguably the band's most impressive effort. The former by contrast, was a much more sedate affair by a side-project consisting of 1/3 of GYBE! Comparisions between the two were inevitable.
Many reviews were largely positive, but the feeling was that the album was a 'lighter' version of GYBE! Certainly many sections did feel like the quieter moments of GYBE!, and the pieces that were strikingly different, like the vocal/piano piece Movie (Never Made) [another song whose name and arrangement would change over time], were so different as to be a bit baffling. Efrim couldn't really 'sing'. His voice warbled and cracked in places. It was strange, and it had been anyone else, it might have been written off as crap. But because this had been produced by part of the team of GYBE! there was willingness to allow for some experimentation. At worst, it was labelled an attempt that was interesting, but didn't quite reach the heights of relevance.
It would take further efforts by the band, a change in members and even name of the band and the inevitable hiatus of GYBE! before A Silver Mt. Zion was fully understood and appreciated. Once this happened people would go back and hear the foundation for what was to come. Only then would He Has Left Us be discovered for the truly great album that it is.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Street Horrrsing
When I'm talking about music that I really, really love I often talk about the marriage between beauty and filth. Between harmony and noise. My favorite band, Mogwai, does this very well. Find a nice light, sweet melody and then just put a bunch of feedback behind it.
Another band that I discovered very recently (that were actually touring as support for Mogwai) that does quite spectacularly is called Fuck Buttons.
Right off the bat they are drawing a line in the sand. You can't put that name in print, you can't mention it on the radio, you can't, in essence, ever elevate yourself past a certain point in popular culture with a name that has a "naughty" word. But they don't care. They are certainly not appealing in any way to the mainstream. I'm not even sure what radio stations would be playing this type of music.
Their first album "Street Horrrsing" was released last year and this fucker is quite the juggernaught of a debut. It's starts very innocently with a nice lilting melody, quietly plinking out on a keyboard, but within about 20 seconds is covered up by a heavy batch of feedback and white noise that nearly drowns all other sounds out.....and continues for almost the entirety of album.
There are small breaks within the album where the noise dissipates to hear a bit of percussion, but for a good 80% of the disc it is unrelenting and angry. Yet, behind all of this there is at its heart a quiet, happy and indeed beautiful piece tying it all together.
And then the vocals come in.
There are many artists who have used the vocoder as a substitute for vocals when they want to have it be distorted... somehow not quite human, somehow not exactly singing. But I have never heard a band scream into a vocoder throughout an entire album, obscuring any and all lyrics, or sense of the original voice.
I assume there are actually quite specific and personal lyrics to all of these songs, but the vocoder obliterates ANY semblance of clarity at all. We don't know what the words are, we only hear the emotion behind them. And this emotion is not happy.
This album has to be one of the greatest examples of 'beautiful noise' I have ever heard..... and it is fair to say that I have heard a lot of them.
If you are willing to listen to something truly different, truly blending the gorgeous with the incredibly caustic, check out Fuck Button's first album Street Horrrsing.
Another band that I discovered very recently (that were actually touring as support for Mogwai) that does quite spectacularly is called Fuck Buttons.
Right off the bat they are drawing a line in the sand. You can't put that name in print, you can't mention it on the radio, you can't, in essence, ever elevate yourself past a certain point in popular culture with a name that has a "naughty" word. But they don't care. They are certainly not appealing in any way to the mainstream. I'm not even sure what radio stations would be playing this type of music.
Their first album "Street Horrrsing" was released last year and this fucker is quite the juggernaught of a debut. It's starts very innocently with a nice lilting melody, quietly plinking out on a keyboard, but within about 20 seconds is covered up by a heavy batch of feedback and white noise that nearly drowns all other sounds out.....and continues for almost the entirety of album.
There are small breaks within the album where the noise dissipates to hear a bit of percussion, but for a good 80% of the disc it is unrelenting and angry. Yet, behind all of this there is at its heart a quiet, happy and indeed beautiful piece tying it all together.
And then the vocals come in.
There are many artists who have used the vocoder as a substitute for vocals when they want to have it be distorted... somehow not quite human, somehow not exactly singing. But I have never heard a band scream into a vocoder throughout an entire album, obscuring any and all lyrics, or sense of the original voice.
I assume there are actually quite specific and personal lyrics to all of these songs, but the vocoder obliterates ANY semblance of clarity at all. We don't know what the words are, we only hear the emotion behind them. And this emotion is not happy.
This album has to be one of the greatest examples of 'beautiful noise' I have ever heard..... and it is fair to say that I have heard a lot of them.
If you are willing to listen to something truly different, truly blending the gorgeous with the incredibly caustic, check out Fuck Button's first album Street Horrrsing.
Friday, November 28, 2008
So here it is
Hi,
My name is Weasel, and I love music.
I listen to music on the bus. I listen to music at work. I listen to music when I'm writing, when I'm sad, happy, when I don't know what to feel. Sometimes I listen to music when I sleep.
I even listen to music on the shitter.
You gotta do something, right?
This is going to be observations of my own on the music that I love. It's a pretty damn broad range, but it does have its limits:
This blog will mainly deal with modern music. I might talk about classical composers once or twice, but that ain't too much my thing. For the most part I'll be talking about stuff produced in the last 50 years.
Other than a few exceptions this will be POP-FREE. I just got next to no interest in that shit.
You might also see a few genres that get under-represented here. Country and Dance spring to mind as items I will rarely talk about.
Other than that however, it's pretty much a go. I might be talking about a certain style, an artist, and album, maybe even just a song or a concept.
It'll be what I wanna do, cause this is my goddamn game show.
Finally there's the title. Observations in 5/8 time. Christ I hope that's a good title, cause I don't think I can easily change it. But I think it works. What I like most about music is what is different. Not what everyone else listens to, but what I can pull out of something that touches me. And maybe, just maybe I can find new things that'll touch you too. Touch you in the bathing suit area. But, you know, in a good way. No bad touch.
At any rate 5/8 is a goofy resgister and so is my taste. Plus 5 and 8 are consequetive Fibonacci numbers and broad mathmatical concepts give me a boner. One of these days I want to bang some chick that works with imaginary numbers and logarithms all day.
But perhaps that's for another blog......yeah, probably is. At any rate, here we are.
Enjoy.
Snoogins,
Weasel
My name is Weasel, and I love music.
I listen to music on the bus. I listen to music at work. I listen to music when I'm writing, when I'm sad, happy, when I don't know what to feel. Sometimes I listen to music when I sleep.
I even listen to music on the shitter.
You gotta do something, right?
This is going to be observations of my own on the music that I love. It's a pretty damn broad range, but it does have its limits:
This blog will mainly deal with modern music. I might talk about classical composers once or twice, but that ain't too much my thing. For the most part I'll be talking about stuff produced in the last 50 years.
Other than a few exceptions this will be POP-FREE. I just got next to no interest in that shit.
You might also see a few genres that get under-represented here. Country and Dance spring to mind as items I will rarely talk about.
Other than that however, it's pretty much a go. I might be talking about a certain style, an artist, and album, maybe even just a song or a concept.
It'll be what I wanna do, cause this is my goddamn game show.
Finally there's the title. Observations in 5/8 time. Christ I hope that's a good title, cause I don't think I can easily change it. But I think it works. What I like most about music is what is different. Not what everyone else listens to, but what I can pull out of something that touches me. And maybe, just maybe I can find new things that'll touch you too. Touch you in the bathing suit area. But, you know, in a good way. No bad touch.
At any rate 5/8 is a goofy resgister and so is my taste. Plus 5 and 8 are consequetive Fibonacci numbers and broad mathmatical concepts give me a boner. One of these days I want to bang some chick that works with imaginary numbers and logarithms all day.
But perhaps that's for another blog......yeah, probably is. At any rate, here we are.
Enjoy.
Snoogins,
Weasel
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