Full disclosure: I love Jameson. I began a long love affair with whiskey during my college years. I had a hard time getting drunk drinking beer because I had a lot of tummy trouble at the time and the carbonation made it difficult to drink large amounts without blowing chunks. Whiskey has been a close friend of mine ever since. Continue reading
I don’t really watch a lot of television. That being said, the television shows that I do spend my time watching are always cartoons. I don’t know what it is about cartoons that is worthy of my attention. Maybe it’s the exercise my imagination needs, maybe it’s that the list of possibilities is endless when Continue reading
The year is 1996, I was 11 years old, and I was having a sleepover with a good friend from around the block. With a little help from my parents, we moved all of our furniture out of the living room and set up a tent right there indoors. It was fucking dope. The evening’s chosen entertainment? Resident Evil, beginning to end Continue reading
I hesitate to call this a movie review, rather I hope that it sparks some interesting discussion about Banksy and how much of a cheeky fuck he is. In addition, I hope that everybody reading this has already seen the movie, making this here article beautifully irrelevant. All that being said, let us begin.
Firstly, let us look at the name of the film: Exit Through the Gift Shop. On the surface it stands as an obvious Continue reading
Every time I listen to Government Commisions (Mogwai’s collection of live recordings from the BBC) I get the same feeling. Radio 1 DJ John Peel introduces them in a minimalist, but succinct and no-nonsense way: “Ladies and gentlemen… Mogwai.” My heart starts beating faster, breath shorter. I can feel the little hairs in my ears and the small brittle bones in my eardrum perking up in anticipation. Mogwai.
It all begins and ends with Mogwai. In a mere moment Continue reading
I consider Russian Circles to be the post-rock band that people who like classical music might be down with. Not because there is an overwhelming use of orchestral pieces or anything, but because there is beauty in every fucking detail. Every sound you hear blowing through your headphones was carefully constructed and recorded to have that very effect. There is nothing that is left up to chance and Continue reading
Pelican is one of my favorite bands of all time. In fact, my long and torrid love affair with heavy instrumental rock began with this band. I was listening to ISIS, whose lead singer is also one of the owners of the Hydra Head label which Pelican was on (until they made the switch to Southern Lord).
Earlier Pelican leans toward long song structures that focus on building up to heavy driving metal riffs. In a musical genre where it’s difficult to get to know the names of songs, I know Continue reading
When this band was first described to me, at one point I heard the term beardgaze, which actually ended up being a pretty apt description. This Will Destroy You tries to get away from the post-rock label by venturing further and further into outer space. There are a few things that TWDY do that few of the other bands on this list do, like use drum machines and record tracks of nothing but ambient feedback and reverb.
They’re not my favorite band, but I do feel that they merit mentioning. They have this kind of “fuck you and your categorization of musical genres” attitude, which Continue reading
I hate calling it Post-Rock. Not in a self-important “categorization of art kills it” way, I just don’t think it really captures what it is. Other people might call it experimental metal, post-metal, instrumental metal, metalgaze, but I just call it what it is: contemplative experi-instrumental post-metalgaze.
This is part one of six, where I will be examining one band per post. I would recommend using headphones when listening to these bands (or any music for that matter) and, in most cases, cranking it. Sure, I’m probably Continue reading
There are some great songs about robots out there. There are also some not-so-great songs about robots out there, go figure! Some of these songs might fit rather loosely into the ‘robot’ category, but they’re all good songs regardless.
If you have trouble listening to any of the songs below, you can find the playlist on my Grooveshark page. Continue reading
