Of Montreal is a band that I sort of lost track of after 2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? From what I’ve heard of the three albums since then, Skeletal Lamping, False Priest and this year’s Paralytic Stalks, I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing.
I am a huge fan of some of Of Montreal’s earlier 2nd gen. Elephant 6 work: Cherry Peel, The Gay Parade, Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies and Aldhils Arboretum. My favorite Of Montreal album to date is Continue reading
Air took us to the moon with their first LP, Moon Safari, and 14 years later they bring us back with Le Voyage Dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon).
I knew the title sounded familiar and it wasn’t until I saw the cover that I remembered my History of Film course in college. Le Voyage Dans la Lune (which can be seen here in its entirety, and it’s all of 13 minutes long so I highly encourage you to watch it) is an early, groundbreaking film directed by the ingenious Georges Méliès in 1902. Méliès was a French illusionist that arguably invented special effects with his “camera tricks,” mat shots, stop action, etc…
Air’s music has often been referred to as “cinematic,” Continue reading
Sharon Van Etten’s third album, Tramp, is an extremely introspective and emotional record. Have you ever walked in on somebody crying their heart out to a close friend of theirs? Instead of the “get the hell out of here!” teary-eyed look one would expect, Van Etten’s raspy yet soothing hum, akin to Kathleen Edward’s folkier acoustic work, welcomes the listener in as if to say “I don’t mind bearing my soul to a total stranger.” The album parks the listener 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
IT FINALLY SNOWED! After what seemed like forever, there is snow on the ground where I live. It is officially winter. The holidays are over and there is nothing but the grey sky and shoveling for two/three months. Refreshment be damned; it’s about staying warm. Stouts get all the love, and I’ve been on a porter kick lately [Ed’s note – not a euphemism] so I decided to crack an egg of knowledge all on all ya’ll. Porter: the other dark beer. Wikipedia’s got a whole bunch of facts that you can read if you want, but since I already did that just sit tight. Anyways, you know the band Joy Division? Yeah, Love Will Tear Us Apart and all that. Porter is what all their dad’s drank after a hard day at a Manchester textile factory. Your son would be depressed enough to write “The Eternal,” too. 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
I figured I might write a disclaimer for those of you who may or may not be waiting for a “This Year in…” article from me. Every god damn blog has their year end articles. I will be releasing the Top 11 Albums of 2011 before the end of this year. I promise. If I don’t, nightly self-flagellation (with a whip, that is) and turkey bacon for a whole year.
I’m very meticulous when it comes to rating albums. I have a formula; seriously (please see my article on spreadsheeting). If I’m reviewing an album by itself, I listen to it no less than 10 times in it’s entirety. For this article, because of the volume of music that I’m attempting to speak intelligently about, I have made at least 5 (usually more like 7) listens in an album’s entirety obligatory.
Let’s do some math. Supposing that your average LP Continue reading
Some breweries just get it. Every distributed brewery has a marketing department of some kind. Judging by the amount of beer available at any given beverage center (back in Buffalo, they call them party stores) it’s no easy task to make sure you stand out from the crowd. I mean, I’ll occasionally buy a beer because its label looks cool. I’m no more oblivious to bright colors and fancy scripts as the next guy. I’ll buy based on style of beer more than anything, but breweries have to know I’m spending upwards of a half hour looking up and down at the same shelves hoping I’ll notice their brand. There’s always a different school of thought in how they get you to look their way. There is the big-swinging-dick approach, where places like Stone Brewery more or less question your manhood by daring you to try one of their beers. There’s the fancy swirling art motif employed by 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
the self-hating hipster 
Palahniuk – Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
1 FebRant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk (2007)
I fee like an jerkoff just writing this review. Yes, it’s come time to review a Palahniuk novel…
**Aside: Remember Fight Club?? Remember 1oth grade when the movie came out on DVD and found its way into the hands of manboys across the nation excited by violence, an occasional boob (sorry, girls) and a sweet soundtrack (that may or may not have discovered Pixies and Massive Attack for you)? Remember finding out a year and a half later that it was a book, reading it in a day and then talking to other people who had read the book and were fascinated that you read books too? “Did you like the book better than the movie?” “I dunno…both were pretty sweet. You wanna go drink a beer at my parents’ house on lunch?” I did like Fight Club (both the film and the novel) and still do, but Continue reading →
Tags: boosting, Buster "Rant" Casey, Chuck Palahniuk, contributors, dark comedy, Day-Timers, Fight Club, grotesque, hipster, Kurt Vonnegut, Massive Attack, mish-mash, Night-Timers, oral biography, Pixies, Rant, Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, sci-fi, Self-Hating Hipster, social commentary, transcendence