Radio Oscillator #4

I know it's been a long time since i've done a radio show...hell!! it's been a long time since i've updated this thing, but that doesn't mean i've been slacking off or anything. Actually, i've been working on the fanzine so i can get it ready for publishing; so far, i have interviews with Melt-Banana, Discordance Axis, Hella and Rah Bras, concerts by Yo La Tengo and the Sounds Of The Underground festival tour. There's still stuff to do but i'm getting there.

I apologize for finishing and uploading this show so late, the reason for this is that, i started working on this particular show like a month ago but that week i got very sick and only got a chance to finish the spanish version, and right after that week, i went on vacations; in fact, i finished this show just a couple of days ago. But anyway, the show is up and i hope to get back to work on the radio podcast thingy every week.

About the show, it has less songs than last show (that one had 19 songs?!) but that doesn't mean the show is shorter, in fact, you always get a solid hour of music and any time i use past the hour is to give space for my witty, expert comentary. A lot of 2006 music on this one for the crowds, some of it soon to be released, some of it just released and some of it released for a couple of months now, there's also stuff from other years too. Enjoy:

1. Boris - Woman On The Screen
2. Danielson - Two Sitting Ducks
3. Comets On Fire - The Swallow's Eye
4. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks - Race Mixing
5. OOIOO - Uja
6. Peter Brötzmann Octet - Responsible
7. D.R.I. - Violent Pacification
8. The Skaters - Mister Cabin
9. Xiu Xiu - Vulture Piano
10. Bardo Pond - Lost Word
11. Belle & Sebastian - The Blues Are Still Blue
12. Jack Rose - Crossing The Great Waters

Radio Oscillator #4.mp3

News And Rants

If you give a crap about drummer magazines then congratulations!!!! You belong to a very exclusive world of suckers who are making money for a couple of people who don’t deserve it. But on the new issue of Modern Drummer, the one with The Police’s Stewart Copeland on the cover, has an article on Damon Che of Don Caballero, so you know to go to your favorite magazine shop, read the article and put the mag back on the rack (i got mad skillz yo!). Seriously, what good comes of drummer magazines?

Who’s coming to the Touch & Go Records 25th Anniversary? It’s going to slay!!! If you still don’t know who’s playing, check the list below. By the way BIG BLACK REUNITES!!! Yes! Albini, Durango and Pezzati (still no word if Roland will be the drummer or if there’s still issues and lawsuits pending) are gonna get up and do a couple of songs, it’s not a complete set but it’s enough. Here’s the other bands to get you giddy, the show will happen September 8-10 at the Tenth Annual Hideout Block Party:

!!!
3 Mile Pilot
Arcwelder
The Black Heart Procession
Calexico
CocoRosie
Didjits (all original members)
Enon
The EX
Girls Against Boys (all original members)
Killdozer (all original members)
Ted Leo + Pharmacists
Man or Astroman? (all original members)
Negative Approach (featuring John Brannon and OP Moore, Can you believe it?! NEGATIVE-tupa-tupa-tu-APPROACH!!)
The New Year
Pegboy
Pinback
Quasi
Scratch Acid (all original members)
Seam
Shellac
The Shipping News
Supersystem
Uzeda
...and they still have one more band to anounce (pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease Jesus Lizard! Jesus Lizard!...well, i’ll settle for Die Kreuzen)

Check out the new Mecca Normal animated video, it’s funny (not ha ha funny, just funny) here.

Snakes? Booty? Breakdancers? C+C Music Factory? The end credits video for Snakes On A Plane is going to go off!!! Officially, it has become the most bizarre movie in the history of filmmaking.

Converge have the new album’s title!!! It will be called No Heroes!! In short, they say that these days there aren’t a lot of people who’d suffer or are passionate about art and life...except for the ‘Verge!!! The cd will be put out by Epitaph.

Voivod posted a mp3 of a new song from their album Katorz, which comes out on July 25. The song, called “The X-Stream” sounds like Rocket From The Crypt but a teeny bit more metal. Weird.

Voivod – The X-Stream.mp3

Dischord is gonna release a crapload of new stuff on the second half of this present year, of which the most prominent are: Channels, with J Robbins (ex-Goverment Issue, Jawbox and Burning Airlines, in case you didn’t know) will issue their debut full lenght album on August 28. So far, they have only released an EP thru DeSoto called Open, the bands sounds cool; here, i leave you with an mp3 from the EP courtesy of DeSoto:

Channels – Chivaree.mp3

Also thru Dischord in October will be made available There To Here, the debut solo album by Joe Lally produced by the kickass tag team of Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios. The album has stellar guest spots by Ian, Guy Picciotto, Wino, Amy Farina, Eddie Janney, Jason Kourkounis, Jerry Busher, Danny Frankel and Antonia Tricarico. Now you know at least 75% of Fugazi are still getting along, so stop your whinning kids.

Also from Fugazi, Brendan Canty has produced the new album by Dischorders French Toast.

And to end with the Fugazi related news, The Evens are recording their next album and are hoping to release it during Fall of this year.

I thought i was done but i’m not. 10 new shows have been added to Fugazi’s live series; to browse and buy that stuff, click here.

On August 15 comes Thunder Down Under by HOT MUTHAFUCKIN’ SNAKES.

Unless it contains the words “break up” and “reform At The Drive-In”, any other Mars Volta news is a waste of time, especially after their last album Frances Of An Exhibition.

So they are gonna do a movie about Jeff Buckley...

And if you live in Portland, Sleater-Kinney has scheduled their real last show there.

If there would be just one good compilation all year, Suicide Squeeze’s 10th Anniversary one would be it; and with a tracklisting like this, who can’t it be? By the way, don’t blow it and really buy it if you want it because it’ll be limited to 6000 copies (which is a lot i know, but that means records won’t last for long). It comes out July 25th:

Disc 1
1. 764-Hero "Now You're Swimming"
2. Modest Mouse "A Life of Arctic Sounds"
3. The Scenic Vermont "Elementary" #
4. Elliott Smith "Division Day"
5. Modest Mouse / 764-Hero "Whenever You See Fit (DJ Dynomite D REMIX)
6. Pennsy's Electric Workhorses Songs "Cycle Suitor" * #
7. Pedro the Lion "June 18, 1976"
8. The Black Heart Procession "After the Ladder" #
9. Aspera "Bird's Fly" #
10. Constantines "Dirty Business" #
11. The Magic Magicians "Cascade Express"
12. The Black Keys "Yearnin' (live)"
13. Iron and Wine / Six Parts Seven "Sleeping Diagonally"
14. The Melvins "With Teeth (live)" #
15. Les Savy Fav "We'll Make a Lover of You" #
16. Hint Hint "Natural Collegiate"
17. We Ragazzi "Making You Queens Tonight"
18. The Unicorns "2014"
19. S "5 Dollars"
20. Goon Moon "Rock Weird (Weird Rock)"

Disc 2
1. Minus the Bear "The Game Needed Me (Dalek REMIX)" *
2. The Aislers Set "What Fades First (demo)" *
3. Headphones "Gas and Matches (acoustic)" *
4. Crystal Skulls "Baby Boy (demo)" *
5. Six Parts Seven "Afternoon Bed" *
6. Metal Hearts "Jean Baptiste" *
7. Of Montreal "Voltaic Crusher/Undrum to Muted Da" +
8. Chin Up Chin Up "Trophy's for Hire" *
9. Earlimart "Caruthers Boy" *
10. Red Stars Theory "Evergreen and Ivorbean" *
11. Black Mountain "Voices" +
12. Russian Circles "Upper Ninety" *
13. These Arms Are Snakes "Old Paradise" *
14. Hella "Meth Leper" *

* - Previously Unreleased
+ - First time on CD
# - Out of Print

And now a “Good” and “Bad” lesson. Good: Declining an invitation to be part of the Family Values tour with faded and pathetic people like Korn and Deftones. Bad: Releasing an album featuring a collaboration with Nora Jones.

Now you can really say you can die because of Aerosmith.

Check this video out, it’s what’s probably Megadeth’s first ever gig with Kerry King on second guitar. Headbang to “Teh Mechanix”

Check out Unexpect, they sound like a power metal version of Magma or Koenjihyakkei; yes, that’s how awesome they sound!!! But that’s not all, their bass player plays a 9 string bass and they come from Montreal, eh!!! Skin Graft are probably kicking themselves for not signing them in the first place, it’s the kind of stuff they wet their pants for. Anyway, their album which comes out August 22 is called In A Flesh Aquarium and it will come out thru The End Records.

Unexpect – Megalomaniac Trees.mp3

Radio Oscillator #3

Another week, another show. This week, i programmed a lot of songs, mostly because i didn't put many long one (like last week with Don Cab and Virus) so more songs fit in there...it wasn't something i planned, it's just happened that way. Enjoy the show anyway:

1. T Rex - 20th Century Boy
2. Be your Own Pet - Fuuuuun
3. Boxes - Bad Blood
4. Xtatika - Immolation
5. Arthur Brown - Fire
6. Islands - Rough Gem
7. 3 Inches Of Blood - Dominion Of Deceit
8. Flaming Lips - Pompeii Am Göterdämmerung
9. Misfits - Hybrid Moments
10. Gauze - Kane Kaese
11. Camera Obscura - Tears For Affairs
12. Swell Maps - Big Maz In The Country
13. Gånglîå - Copycat Ripoff
14. The Vaselines - Dying For It
15. The Screamers - In A Better World
16. Hüsker Dü - Iron Man
17. Masonna - untitled track 6 (Frequency LSD)
18. Charalambides - Dormant Love
19. Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United

Radio Oscillator #3.mp3

News And Rants

If you buy mp3s from iTunes i have some good news for you: You, sir/ma’am are an idiot, consider that you are paying for a shitty compressed file (meaning the waveform of the music gets taken elements from it to make it smaller) and then get charged like if it was actually full sounding song, biggest ripoff of the century!. So if you do that, stop; also, you can download a new EP by Deicide.

Sleater-Kinney are breaking up!!! People are sad!!!! It sucks that i never got to see them live but they were never my favorite band or anything; still a good band indeed. They are going on indefinite hiatus and have no plans to tour or record in the future; after their 5 scheduled shows this summer (Louisville, Philly, Washington DC, NY and Chicagopalooza), they kaput. Feminists, lesbians and Spin staffers are bummed.

And speaking of Spin, what’s with them turning into Blender? I mean, Spin was shitty, but turn the suck factor to pukatronic? Is the money better?

The Arcade Fire haven’t found enough instruments and ways of recording stuff for their next album. They have recorded 15 songs and are not done yet, they want to record in their living room, they have added a pipe organ and they want to record with an orchestra in Budapest. Just make sure to mix the thing properly, maybe you should try mixing it in Dobly.

Look out!!! For soon the Toribox shall be upon us. How much Tori can it get, it’s None More Tori Amos. Here’s what you get when you buy A Piano on September 26:

Disc 1:
"Leather" (Alternate Mix)
"Precious Things" (Alternate Mix)
"Silent All These Years"
"Upside Down"
"Crucify" (Unedited Single Version)
"Happy Phantom"
"Me and a Gun"
"Flying Dutchman" (Alternate Mix)
"Girl"
"Winter"
"Take to the Sky (Russia)"
"Tear in Your Hand"
"China"
"Sweet Dreams"
"Mother" (Alternate Mix)
"Little Earthquakes"

Disc 2:
"Cornflake Girl"
"Honey"
"Take Me With You"
"Baker Baker" (Alternate Mix)
"The Waitress" (Alternate Mix)
"Pretty Good Year"
"God"
"Cloud on My Tongue"
"Past the Mission" (Alternate Mix)
"Bells For Her"
"Yes, Anastasia" (Alternate Mix)
"Blood Roses"
"Mr Zebra"
"Caught a Lite Sneeze" (Alternate Mix)
"Professional Widow" (Merry Widow Version - Live)
"Beauty Queen/Horses"
"Father Lucifer"
"Marianne"

Disc 3:
"Walk to Dublin" (Sucker Reprise)
"Hey Jupiter" (Dakota Version)
"Professional Widow" (Armand"s Star Trunk Funkin" Mix)
"Putting the Damage On"
"Bliss" (Remixed Version)
"Suede"
"Glory of the 80's"
"1000 Oceans"
"Concertina" (Single Remix Version)
"Lust"
"Datura"
"Sugar" (Soundcheck)
"The Waitress" (Live)
"Snow Cherries From France"
"Doughnut Song" (Remixed Version)

Disc 4:
"A Sorta Fairytale"
"Not David Bowie"
"Amber Waves"
"Iieee" (Remixed Version)
"Playboy Mommy" (Remixed Version)
"The Beekeeper"
"Jackie's Strength"
"Zero Point"
"Sweet the Sting"
"Ode to My Clothes"
"Spark"
"Intro Jam"/"Marys of the Sea"
"Cruel" (Remixed Version)
"Dolphin Song"
"Gold Dust"

Disc 5:
"The Pool"
"Never Seen Blue"
"Daisy Dead Petals"
"Beulah Land"
"Sugar"
"Cooling"
"Bachelorette"
"Black Swan"
"Mary" (Tales Version)
"Peeping Tommi"
"Toodles Mr. Jim"

Demo Medley:
"Fire-Eater's Wife/Beauty Queen" (Demo)
"Playboy Mommy" (Demo)
"A Sorta Fairytale" (Demo)
"This Old Man"
"Purple People"
"Here. In My Head"
"Hungarian Wedding Song"
"Merman"
"Sister Janet"
"Home on the Range" (Cherokee Edition)
"Frog on my Toe"

OHHH this rules!!! Top Of The Pops gets cancelled!!! Damn! Now where will i be reminded what is the current Robbie Willaims, Pussycat Dolls or whoever was in the Spice Girls single?

Today is the release date for Flying Luttenbachers brand new fucking cd called Cataclysm, and you can only order it from their website. The bad news, they only pressed 500 copies, bummer is right.

Portishead has broken their silence and have post two, count them, TWO new songs for an album with a “?” for a title so far that will be released in 2006 by Island Records. Well, they are not really new songs, they are more like instrumental working things, if they are final songs, then i think it’s the end of the P-Head. Hear them here.

Alright, whoever is shocked to know Axl Rose was arrested for biting the leg of a security guard in Stockholm then that person is an ignorant bastard who knows squat about the Axl man; that’s normal, everyday behavior to him and us GN’FN’R fans.

Hella are releasing an EP called Acoustics on September 12 where they...well...play some of their songs in acoustic form. While for most bands that means a giant YAWN!, for Hella that’s a big challenge considering most of their stuff is based on the power of electric guitar; seems like the axe has been drawn and war has been declared, wonder if and/or how Lightning Bolt and Orthrelm will react to it. Here’s teh tracklisting:

01 1-800-Ghost Dance
02 Hella - Women of the 90's.mp3
03 Cafeteria Bananas
04 Biblical Violence
05 Welcome to the Jungle Baby, Your Gunna Live!
06 The Devil Isn't Red

Xiu Xiu are not only dropping another weirdo elctro noisy Gamelan Sabbath lamentation of pain and suffering in the form of The Air Force, due out in September 12, but will also release a lead-in single as a limited edition 7” picture disc of the songs “Boy Soprano”/”San Pedro Glue Stick”; the thing is already available for preorder thru the label releasing it DoggPony but it doesn’t ship until July 11. The 7” is limited to 500 copies.

Big Big Big Big Big Slayer update:1) Christ Illusion’s Release Date: August 8 2) Christ Illusion’s Cover Artwork made by the dude who did the cover for Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss: click here 3) If you are willing to convert money to Euros, you can buy the new “Eternal Pyre” 7” picture disc single limited to a 1000 copies here and wait until June 30 to get yours shipped (when you do a pressing of one thousand discs it’s NOT a limited run, ok?) 4) if you live in the U.S. and are brave enough to venture to that underworld of decay and suffering that is Hot Topic, you can actually score a cd copy of the “Electric Pyre” single and 5) You can stream 3 Christ Illusion songs, “Cult”, “Eyes Of The Insane” and “Jihad”, here (they rule in a total “It’s Slayer and they hardly change their style” way)

On October 6, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead will either embarrass themselves further or will return to their glory of past because on that day they will release their next studio album.It also looks like Dr. Dre is going to help mix the album.

Atari Teenage Riot goes mainstream, it seems they use their song “Speed” on that Fast And The Furious movie.

Click here to watch Cat Power’s gangsta christian track & field video for “Living Proof”

September 12 again, appearantly the day music will live and take us away from our money, will be the day Yo La Tengo will unleash I’m Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass; yes that’s the name and you bet your ass it will deliver it’s title when we finally get to listen to it. For now take a look at the coverart (by Gary Panter) here and download a preview song here:

Yo La Tengo – Beanbag Chair.mp3

Hey, MP3.com: FUCK YOU YOU RACIST FUCKS!!!! Just because i’m in Mexico doesn’t mean i can’t watch the new Sonic Youth video for “Incinerate” does it? Well bitches, go fuck yourselves and your corporate crap. I’m not even linking the stream so if you want to see the Yoof get all glossy for MTV2’s Subterrenean, get it on a Bittorrent site or on Soulseek. Fuck MP3.com, let me see you drown next time your site closes down.

And speaking of Hüsker Youth, lookie lookie!!! Ecstatic Peace website now sells stuff, it actually looks like a real record label website; but you can’t download the videos anymore? C’mon!!! well, they were a waste of space anyway. Check out the kickass videos of Be Your Own Pet.

Go to Narnack’s MySpace page to listen to Iran, they are pretty cool, and also check out a new song by Lee “Scratch” Perry.

September 26 sees the release of Wolf Eyes Sub Pop follow up to Burned Mind called Human Animal, this will be their 27th release this year so far, look for the remaining 84 recordings later on in the year.

So it seems the vinyl edition of Genghis Tron’s album is sold out...

Animal Collective is shooting for a late October release of their genius debut Hollindagain. That album along with the Prospect Hummer EP are my fave AC albums, everything they have done pales in comparisson. Speaking of Paw Tracks stuff, check out First Nation, they have an mp3 that sounds pretty cool, you can also check out the song at their MySpace page.

First Nation – Female Trance.mp3

So yes, Terrorizer kinda reunited and they recorded a new album called Darker Days Ahead...no, seriously, it comes out August 22; the band has Jesse Pintado on guitar and Pete Sandoval on drums plus Tony Norman (a.k.a. the dude who is slaying on guitar with Morbid Angel) and vocalist Anthony Rezhawk; they recorded 11 new songs for the thing plus a new version of “Dead Shall Rise”...i might seem like a jerk here but why don’t you release the original Terrorizer demos and get over with all of this, ok?

Jack Rose is semi-on tour, catch the man if you can, the dude slays!

OOIOO will have a new album out on September 12 and it will be called Samba Pa’ Ti...i mean Taiga; this is like the most tropical Japanese noisers will ever get; i have it and it rules with capital Z; for those of you who like your mouths to get more watery click here.

More new records news: These Arms Are Snakes have just finished recording their latest album which is called Easter, the cd on Jade Tree will be out October 10, the vinyl on Second Nature will be out on September 26, but that doesn’t mean you can’t preorder it (the cd at least). Sneak preview in the form of a compressed audio file will follow at the end of this sentence:

These Arms Are Snakes – Horse Girl.mp3

Load Records are pimping us new mp3s for the new albums by Coughs (out September 19), Teh USA Is A Monster (September 5) and Vampire Can’t (no date yet, Fall of ’06 appearantly) but as of right now, you can’t download them, you get an HTTP 404. Check back until they fix that crap.

If you have $75 dollars to spend and don’t know what will you spend them on, get the new RRR/Groundfault/Troniks 10LP boxset featuring each of these fine artists playing a side each: Amps For Christ, Cherry Point, Joe Colley, Control, Gerritt, GX Jupiter-Larsen, Moth Drakula, Open City, Oscillating Innards, Damion Romero, Rubber O Cement, Sixes, Skaters, Solid Eye, Spastic Colon, Tralphaz, John Weise, Xome, RHY Yau, Yellow Swans.

Antiopic will release an album by Tetuzi Akiyama/Oren Ambarchi/Alan Licht called Willow Weep And Moan For Me as part of their live series, the thing is labeled as “Coming Soon” but it sounds too good to hold back for a long time.

Radio Oscillator #2

So here i give you show number 2, i apologize for not upping it sooner, the reason why is because i was (actually, i still am) experimenting with other ways of making these available to you, so right now i'm using Badongo and sticking with it for a little while longer, actually, Badongo has been kickass so far; also, i had some throat problems so you can laugh if you want to. Anyway, by popular demand, here's the playlist:

1. The Fall - Rouche Rumble
2. Animetal Lady - Theme From Candy Candy(?)
3. Death Sentence: PANDA! - Boomer
4. Antioch Arrow - The Fixed Orbit
5. Double Leopards - Druid Spectre
6. Cannibal Corpse - Psychotic Precision
7. Raccoo-oo-oon - Stick Eaters
8. Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar
9. Don Caballero - The Peter Criss Jazz
10. The Germs - Sugar Sugar
11. Virus - Endless Game
12. Shonen Knife - Twist Barbie
13. Daemien Frost - You've Changed
14. The Gerogerigegege - Golden Shower
15. We Versus The Shark - Ten Uh Clock Heart Uh Tack

Radio Oscillator #2.mp3

I'll appreciate all your comments

For It's Only A Melody That Can Save Us From Ourselves

TV On The Radio
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
2004, Touch & Go



This boogie woogie album of distorted bass, vocal harmonies and ambient from hell or anywhere 4:00 am was released 2 years ago and it wasn’t a sleeper at all, no sir, it wasn’t; it was one of the top albums of the year, made several best of the year lists and so on; a year before they had issued their EP Young Liars to some good reception but this was the album that took everyone by surprise, in an era of post punk revivalists and persons of less moral value, it was a breath of fresh air, something so original and alive coming out of this amazing album, with such songs so complex and simple at the same time, in odd rock n’ roll instrumentation, it was a blessed thing, i tell you, or i might not have to tell you since you probably already know about it, hipster boy.



This band is based on the bass but they have little or nothing to do with funk or reggae, the basic of bass based musics, there’s not slap at all, no melodically rhythmic low end riffs, there’s plenty of bass riffs alright but not dancy ones; to add to the insult, they also use a drum machine and their music is not dancy at all, it might seem weird to you, throw you out a bit but, believe me, that’s part of the deal here. So let’s check here: bass, not funky not dancy, but brutal as the melodic motif of the music, as the basis of their collages, distorted sometimes, commanding always; just brutal. Drum machine, almost never dancy, almost always blending with the background, in camouflage clothing and with the face painted green and brown; in fact the beat is really kept by the bass more than the beatbox, while the d-machine adds little changes over it’s lines; note that i say the bass “keeps” the beat and it doesn’t create rhythms, since rhythms are few steps from dancing and jerkying around, and that’s not happening here, not on the surface at least. This is the mold where the other instrumentations and vocal harmonies are springled over, weird ass keyboards lurk everywhere, tracks one and nine have a honking sax, guitars sometimes squeal some notes just to make it weirder and more textured, like a velvet covered rock; the voices are the real characters in this soundscapes, more than one, like the ones in your head, even thought they never scream or are raised that much, most of the time they are singing, intercepting each other in the audio field, trying to encounter the end of one and complementing the other, maybe denying the first one, or rejecting the last, coming over everywhere, unexpecting to when will they fall back and leave just one, or when will they attack, or if they would stop attacking, agreeing on disagreeing and getting to saying the same thing at the same time, reinforcing the idea, the truth: The Melody, for it’s only a melody that can save us from ourselves, from the voices in our head, from the rain and the tape hiss; it’s allied or divide and conquer and the record is the warfield, waging for all to end...and does it end? I can’t really tell from here, but then again, who can win if the subjects fighting are one and the same? This is the explosions and lights of a battlefield made music...and it’s damn great music, i might add.

PS: They will be releasing a new album soon.



mp3:

Staring At The Sun.mp3
Poppy.mp3

Flashy, Ridiculous and Self-Serving: A Progressive Rock Ode By A Brit Punk Band

The Damned
“Curtain Call”
The Black Album
1980, Chiswick



Ahh The Damned, you know them, maybe you don’t know them; they were probably the funnest of the 1977 UK punk bands, certainly more so than the media hogging Sex Pistols or the self righteous Clash. The Dam-Ned had made a name for themselves playing fun, fast odes to...who knows, and beginning with their now classic Machine Gun Etiquette, the band had started to become more experimental with their music, but really being experimental; the band had adopted many sounds, past and present, and had incorporated them to their sound while at the same time, tossing their characteristic Damned Damned Damned style to the side, leaving just their approach and humour in, which was all it was needed to be honest.

So after 11 songs of macabre death rock that constitute the Black Album, what does a band that has gone up and down in the matter of minutes go? They wrap it up with a 17 minute prog rock epic of course. And it’s not just a prog rock epic, it’s one of the things the Damned had ever done.



It’s understandable that it’s a little understood song, since, when compared to “New Rose” or “Neat Neat Neat” or “Smash It Up”, it’s pretty opposite to what the band had been all about, or at least what they had been best at; but then again, people who think that are probably inventing genres and listening just to that, they might even believe the Sex Pistols invented punk and ended with them breaking up which always makes me laugh; so, listening with an open mind is a must, not just for the Damned, but for everything really, but let’s just leave at listening to the Damned. The song starts innocently enough as one of those summons of the deadly depressed feelings so common in goth rock (the kind which rocks, not the one which is just dumb and ridiculous) with keyboards and everything and Dave Vanian’s ghastly baritone all over it, then the pace goes up and the band starts to rock, then a few minutes later the band goes into Beach Boys vocal harmonies. The Fiends!!!!! It’s all good and games when the keyboards leave on droning and the piano plucking for the Phantom of the Opera, mask and shame to be seen and everything, stay to give place to something that sounds nothing like British punk at all and that’s where the genius of this piece lies, it’s nothing like what you expect, not the vocal harmonies, not the piano plucking, not the Yes references, not the droning, not the guitar solos, not anything. I mean i can certainly picture the band coming up with this song going “le’s do a 17 minute sung!!!” then, the band would wonder what would they fill it with, and then they would just brainstorm thru the whole thing, the influences, the instrumentals, the pretentiousness and the laughter, for those are perfect ingredients when it comes to vaudevillian music which is what the Dam-Ned did best, it’s also at the core of punk, Johnny Rotten said it on camera on The Filth And The Fury, the Ramones were all about laughs, they were a band for fun times, whether the fun times were as innocent as having a girlfriend or hanging at Rockaway Beach or as fucked up as sniffing glue, the New York Dolls were one big joke, i mean, you can tell it to friends, tell the story of the Dolls and it’s just laughs after laughs; and where can you take that when you’ve gone back and forth with the three chords and the dresses and the offenses? The real joke that is the Black Album was on the punks, but more than on the punks, it’s on the people who care about punk superficially, that category whose members include teh spiky haired possers and the rock critics, who to this day trash this album and consider it “sub-par” to their previous stuff. And when those people don’t like it, then the joke hits the fan, that’s when you know it works, that’s when music becomes punk, or punker compared to other music. The musicianship in this song is superb, no doubt about it, but it’s the song that shines, even if it’s designed to be flashy, ridiculous and self-serving, for that is a FUCK YOU to all who expected another brand new rose in town.

mp3:

Curtain Call.mp3

Radio Show #1

Here i give you the first show of this site's radio program/podcast. The bandas i played on this program are Sonic Youth, The Arcade Fire, No-Neck Blues Band, Karp, Loop, M83, Yo La Tengo, Sonny Sharrock, Acid Mothers Temple, Agnostic Front and Ruins; some of those songs are live or rare. Listen up:

Radio Show #1.mp3

Leave a comment after listening.

New things

Alright, so it's been a while since i posted, well, that's probably about to change, since i have many things in store.

First of all, i'm going to branch out start doing a paper, physical fanzine called, you guessed it, Oscillator. I still don't know when the first issue will be finished or how much it's going to cost or whatever, but rest assure, you'll know and (more importantly) i'll know for sure soon. And don't worry, it won't be boring, it will be more essay based instead of record reviews, yadda yadda.

Also, in the works is the radio show/podcast, show number 1 will be uploaded soon and show number 2 is in the works. I hope to do it as a weekly thing, and the show will have a wide range of artists, as is to be expected.

I'll keep you posted on what will happen next.

When Critics And Pretentiousness Screw Music Up

The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground & Nico
1967, Verve



Yesterday i was reading some stuff at Mark Prindle's website, where he reviews a shitload of bands' entire discographies (actually, i have it listed on my Links thing to your right, you'll fall out of your chair laughing when reading about Lady Terminator on the Dinosaur Jr reviews and his very apt comparison of Jarboe on Neurosis' discography) and i was reading the Velvet Underground's, because coincidentially enough, i've been listening to the band's debut album; surprisingly, Mark doesn't like the Velvet Underground (which i understand once you pick up, after casually reading some of his writings that he is all about pissing on sacred cows and being an irreverent wiseass in the process), and i started to read the comments people leave after each entry/disc, a lot of people agreed with Mark and said the Velvet was shit and others, predictably, were defending theband's work. What ticked me off wasn't the people against the album or the band but that everyone who tried to defend the album, why? you may ask, well, the reason is because each one of these persons that tried to clarify why this band deserved such reverence made it look like the most pretentious, snobby and dogmatic thing in the history of arts, all they wanted to rationalize why this band SHOULD be considered the best of the best, couting reasons, dates, influences, influencees, etc etc. A person in particular, who wrote his response in spanish, pissed me off; all he was trying to explain was that he somehow felt they were grading him for his Spelling and Written Composition course, like if it was an example on how to write a poem following predetermined structures and putting a certain number of metaphors and comparisons to pass the class without having to do a final exam. NOBODY talked about the emotions found on the recording, about the power the music had or some other stupidity that doesn't require a scholar analisis by idiots that feel like they are authorities just to feel superior to someone else. And the most stupid thing about everything is that this band and this album have all of these intangible and awesome things galore.

Conceptions like thos have kept me away for some time from a lot of bands/artists that rule because of the contexts where someone else puts them and make me feel despised by them, something i want nothing to do with it because i'm not like that at all, i don't need reasons to like stuff (especially music) i want sensations that make me wanna experience something, but if they put it like it's an obligation doing, making or saying something then i automatically do the opposite and, because of that, i've missed out on a lot of stuff (and thankfully have put my prejudgments aside long enough to discover some of my current favorites like Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo and Pavement, among many others). Critics are to blame that intentions get confused, that maybe a band just wants to make music, there's people that make it seem that it's our duty to recognize that there's some deep indulgent motive or something and that, because of that very same reason, and not because of the emotional "reasons", is the reason to bow down before their recent discovery of some jerk with a dictionary and a hell of a lotta free time (and for your information, i DO have a dictionary, but i never use it!).



So Velvet Underground & Nico...first of all, when i bought this record, i fucking hated it, it let me down, i was promised a dissonant explossion of nopise and feedback and all i got were these useless hippie/lounge ballads with Lou Reed singing like bootleg Bob Dylan (NOTE: i know and i knew that VU were against everything hippie and that is the same reason it let me down, it sounded to much like flower power shittyness for people who claimed to be so repulsed by it). Even "The Black Angel's Death Song" seemed surprisingly crappy, because it's almost impossible to have a song about Satan to suck (except if it's a band who sing nothing but about Satan, then it's possible that only a few songs won't suck), i couldn't stand it! but this is one of those records that grow on you little by little until one day, a divine light fell from the heavens to my forehead and right then, friends and acquantances of mine, everything fits and every sound you hear sounds as essential as walking or washing the dog. That's right, i'm not sure how many listens after happened but it happened and it has become one of my favorites.

So i'm not going to talk to you about how the Velvet Underground basically created the concept of underground and alternative rock or how they were one of the first bands to expand the sonic barriers of rock n' roll BLAH BLAH. I'll talk to you about MY Velvet Underground and why i think they are one of the best. First of all, in the band you find a troubador with a small case of Charles Bukowski, a female drummer who (almost always) played without a snare, cymbals or drum sticks, just mallets and toms that once she replaced with garbage cans, a guy who told contemporary classical music to shove it to play viola in a rock band, a model/actress/singer who told fame to shove it to sing three songs in a rock band and a guitar player who didn't have to do much to be icy chill (which reminds me, i'll take this opportunity to say, yes, Nico doesn't sing nice; infact, she sounds more manly than Lou Reed in the whole record, but that's the way she sings, if you want soft and pretty voices, look for them elsewhere). They all wore black turtleneck sweaters and sunglasses, they used noise in their songs and basically all they wanted was scare the shit out of the entire planet playing in a rock band. All of this in 1967, mind you; almost all of their songs are mellow but they have a palpable menace that is difficult to overlook. What you hear are rock songs that, somehow, blend folk, noise, 20th century experimental symphonic music, rockabilly, the Beatles, free jazz, garage and for some strange reason, it sounds like the most natural thing in the world.

Once i read a critic of this very same album that said that the songs in it are more like long verses and it's true, don't expect choruses or dynamics, these are pop rock chants surrounded by an atmosphere that hints us what lies whithin these or give us a false sense and fool us. Listening to these classic songs, folkloric in the sense of how natural and ancestral yet relevant and demanding, is like fighting with someone while you cuddle with them at the same time and you feel comfortable and soft, even if your guts are twisting inside from being with that person. It's like being digusted by life but feeling like there's no other way to fly. And you know that with this album, there's no other way.



So i'm uploading my 4 current favorite songs from the record...well, that's not true, actually i would swap "Venus In Furs" with "There She Goes Again" and "Heroin" with either "Black Angel's Death Song" or "European Son", but i had to put a couple for the novice and the truth is that they sort of are the stock favorites anyway...yet i love each song in the album. Listen to those songs a lot and listen loud!!!

mp3:
Venus In Furs.mp3
Heroin.mp3
All Tomorrow's Parties.mp3
Run Run Run.mp3
---------

Velvet Underground website: http://www.velvetunderground.com/
Buy The Velvet Underground & Nico in Amazon
Buy The Velvet Underground & Nico (Deluxe Edition) in Amazon

Scotland Is This Week's Japan

Arab Strap
Monday At The Hug And Pint
2003, Chemikal Underground/Matador



So, thanks to my good friend Paul B., i discovered another gem of an album, another band to look for discographies and such; yeah, you know how it is when something grabs you by the first listen and WHAM!!! you are in the floor crying to all, but wait...why am i crying about here? it's not from the pure physical crazed agonizing pain of crippling proportions gotten from pushing play on my Winamp too hard, oh no sir-e, it might be because of an unhealed wound, one i knew i had once before but totally forgot about, thought it had healed and all, like most wounds do...well, almost all wounds, you know which ones stay there for a big while and hurt like pulling your pubic hair, not to get too emo here, but yeah, emotional wounds are what the subject might be called for, you know how it is: things happen, you feel like crap...things get worse and you feel...well...worse, sometimes it's like if you are getting dismembered yet you keep your fingers and toes and senses, still, you get to die a little. So we've all been there, how it is to feel like that, but then time comes and time heals it's pressumed by the common knowledge and you go around, living your life like it's none of your business only to find the truth and nothing but the truth in some cases and by certain circumstances: TIME HEALS NOTHING!!!, yeah, time may pass and the pain might disappear but sometimes it takes almost nothing to collapse, choke and spazz; BAM welcome to miseryville. Miss Misery as you said, you don't see it coming, you don't see the waiter come and salt your dish, your main course: The Wound, and it takes just a little wind or a couple of songs to get there. Wounds might be cathartic, but they can also open us to new amazing songs, even if they give us no clue as to what's wrong with us



So the subject here is Arab Strap, band from Scotland, also the homecountry of Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai who in various points in time and depending on where and why you are listening, rule. The headline comes from me listening to a lot of Mogwai lately (it helps they are coming to Mexico soon) and me being a recent B&S convert, so instead of finding the next Boredoms side project to worship, i've been revealing in the sounds of the land of the Loch Ness monster. Arab consists of two guys: Aidan Moffett (who sings and writes what he sings) and Malcolm Middleton (he of the music), and like many good duos, they create a hell of a soundtrack with so few people involved. They have been around since 1995, the have a newish album called The Last Romance and have been either called the best band ever or completely ignored by the world. I pity those fools.

The album is lush with instrumentation and drum machines that sparkle the moods of loneliness, emotional distress and longing for that sweet taste of poisonous love...that said, the music is hardly sappy, it all goes from either subtle and somber in it's stark presentation to full blown chaotic and frenetic, yet keeping a calm underneat that really tells how it's not ok to feel so much and play that loud but have this ground which is stable, it's wrong to be here and it's wrong that it's now but that's the way it is and that's the feeling you get from hearing the 808 collapsing with the bowed string instruments while the feedback still rings throughtout the sorrow, the wetness of the tears just picked up by the edge of your index finger and that desire to have THAT person come and tell you: "Everything is going to be ok", while you still sit and stay and expect a ghost to waltz you thru the last dance on the ballroom; but instead, you reach into your pocket to call somebody, could be your friends, your mom or the suicide hotline and just talk, and listen to your voice complain back to you. The Wound should feel like a cello in a somber room



mp3:
Fucking Little Bastards.mp3
Who Named The Days.mp3
Act of War.mp3
--------------

Arab Strap website: http://www.arabstrap.co.uk/
Matador Records: http://www.matadorrecords.com/
Buy Monday At The Hug And Pint at Amazon

New And Rants

McLusky will release a "greatest hits" both available for n00b (as a one cd deal) or for experts (as a montruos 3 cd set with a-sides b-sides and no-sides). Both will have their last song known as "McLuskyism". Look for it February 27 on Too Pure, mark the calendar right the fuck right now!!!

The Rogers Sisters will be jerking and herking around in March, first with the single "Never Learn To Cry" and then with their full lenght next album The Invisible Deck. Get into the groove

Stereolab freaks will have a busy day on March 7, they will release 3 7-inch/a double 10"/ single cd/ whatever you fancy set of new songs known as Fab Four Suture.

The AIDS Wolf album, Lovvers LP fucking rocks!!! Don't let the dumbers at Spin fool you!! if you are perverted, go to the Skin Graft website to watch the band get, get nekkid

Do People know that the new augmented rhythm section of the Melvins is Big Business? Is this the raddest fusion of bands ever? is the earth more prone to earthquakes now?

Britt Daniels will be kicking it old school like Nancy Drew on that Veronica Mars show

JR Connors, formerly of Cave In, is now in Doomriders

Rose For Bohdan rock, check them out; dance and noise and pop, but not like when people make you believe stuff like that then it's nothing at all like that, this is the real deal. Buy their album from Deathbomb Arc.

-> Peter And The Rabbit And The Wolf.mp3

Coachella is looking like slaying this year; so far the bands anounced are: DEPECHE MODE and TOOL as headliners and Paul Oakenfold, Franz Ferdinand, My Morning Jacket, Bloc Party, TV On The Radio, Sigur Ros, Scissor Sisters, Cat Power, Damian Marley, Tricky, Nine Black Alps, Hard-Fi, Editors, the Zutons, Art Brut, the Magic Numbers and the Subways, the Walkmen, the Dears, Carl Cox, Wolf Parade, Metric, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Phoenix, Deerhoof, Derrick Carter, Devendra Banhart, the Like, Sleater-Kinney, Mogwai, Dungen, Animal Collective, Coheed & Cambria, Mylo, Jamie Lidell, the Go! Team, Tosca and Coldcut.

Radiohead is playing Bonnaroo with Tom Petty, talk about rad, right?!

Melissa Auf der Maur is now an A&R for EMI Canada. Cool.

The Arctic Monkeys are the new saviour of rock n' roll and will be loved by every tonedeaf poseur in Mexico and Latin America for the months to come

Julien Temple will be making a documentary about the life and times of Joe Strummer. Cooler

Opeth is getting ridiculous, the are now going to be playing with a ballet

Megadeth will release the mother of thrash metal dvds before Get Thrashed gets released. Arsenal Of Megadeth will be out March 21 and it will feature everything from Peace Sells... era shit until their fake selves of today

KRS are releasing a comp with new Sufjan song

Orthrelm are touring for the first time in like a million years. They will be also releasing a split with Behold The Arctopus (with artwork by Away from VOI-muthafuckin'-VOD no less!!!!) on March 29 on Crucial Blast

Livewire Records will release a grunge retrospective album with the very inventive name of Sleepless In Seatle. To balance out the lameness, it will include Mr Epp And The Calculations' monster anthem "Mohawk Man"

Xiu Xiu is releasing and rereleasing a shitload of stuff, but that's hardly news. Go to Deathbomb Arc

INSTANT COMPOSER HOMAGE

Derek Bailey (1932-2005)
-A tribute to a man whose music i recently heard too late-



I’m not going to lie to any of you, i’m not going to posse as some big expert on the matter at hand, nothing could be further from the truth for me, in fact i’m constantly asking myself over and over again why am i trying to write this piece, i’m not sure, but i have to do it, i have to go and type something because it’s important, more important than ignorance and bigger than this. The purpose of this piece is to remember a man who has released great music and indeed changed the way we perceived it, even if it’s possible that we (and i really do mean WE, it’s all of you plus me, because franckly and on the wise words of Wayne Campbell: “I was not aware of this”) don’t know about it, we are not concious of it at all in all of our brain, yet it’s true as all the facts in history we don’t have and all the things in the world we can believe or not, but we assume exist; in this case, it’s more like the history thing, some of us didn’t see it happen, yet it happened and boy those it mark the way we live and do stuff, meaning music, the music we breathe and the music we dream, the music we eat and the music we fuck, it’s the music, man. And yet for it, we’re still ignorant and do shit about it, because that’s the way you do with music, you know shit, then time passes and you start discovering new things, new sounds, new names and new hostages, new recoveries as well as uncoverings, we do and that’s how, after ringing around the rosy for a while we stumble upon it, the pink white yellow orange truth, the truth of ourselves and the truth of unclearing your eyes after a nap, of focus and yawning to get back online at 100% and the excitement that follows, usually it’s excitement. And that’s a moment we cherish forever, yet we also curse it, because it’s when after, tumbling backwards a rock to uncover these sonic wonders we also unearth something else that can bother your very own conciousness: WHY DIDN’T I HEARD THIS BEFORE?!!, why could i be so late to the party?, i mean i had my invitation and all but i just felt like not showing up until now; in here, you can always enjoy it because the party never ends, it lives in grooves and binomial lossless data transfers; yet sometimes we miss out on the people you could have swapped knowledge or spit with. The only comfort is on the clichéd lines: better late than never.

So yes, i was late to it, and no it wasn’t for that long, in fact i just missed it for a few minutes, and that’s how the mortality game is, always by seconds, then minutes then hours then days then months, then years then decades then you lose count (not always, sometimes you dust out the abacus). Who i was late for? The same man i’m driven to write about the same way i was driven to finally giving a good, hard honest listen just hours after he died. Of course i’m talking about Derek Bailey, who passed away on December 25 05, just as i was, for the first time, enjoying his magnificent long player Ballads; just as i sat here, in this very same computer to appreciate the completely free, amorphous guitar solos the speakers were spewing when i found out online about it.

I thought it was sad, not so much for the reasons of his passing, but because it happened again, over and over what has happened before and most probably will happen again and again, over and over, i missed out on a genius while he was still getting tanked on oxygen on this very same grounds and this very same salty seas which surround ‘em, it shouldn’t be that way, it shouldn’t be that you don’t get to enjoy somebody’s heart and soul and not having them there to...i don’t know!!...you never know what to do when someone is alive and well and giving us wonderful music, you just feel more secure, i guess. Yet it shouldn’t be that way, it should be a given’take, it should be about being the closest you are to the persons responsable for great music, and having them know that you are A-ok with their stuff and that they should keep doing it, so they realize that their music is something beyond them and beyond you and beyond Beverly Hills or beyond name-your-legendary-music-holy-land. it’s fucking something else, and something else is enormous and glorious and divine, someone knows it. I guess we all do.



So Derek Bailey passed and i just heard the very first notes i could truly appreciate for the first time hours after his passing which sucks. It also means i don’t have the slightest idea of what the hell am i trying to write here, all i know is that i’m writing; i first thought about doing some thorough research on him, trying to put a nice and tidy good tribute to a man of innovation. Yet i decided to do something different that, at the same time, has more to do with Bailey himself than some retrospective: As of right now i’m listening to his album Daedal and typing this, getting the sound worked to where i could just join Derek and start giving off some of what i got, i’m improvising along with him yet my instrument is the lettered and numbered keyboard hooked to my computer so i can write this piece, no guidelines, no beats, no scales no grammatical corrections, no spell check (well, i little spell check) and no technique. Just freedom.

But first, some background is needed; you see, Derek was a pioneer in the whole sense of improvised music, in the way you can not know anything about an instrument yet feel comfortable enough to not let it intimidate you and go away with it, to whateverland or endlesspossibilityville; his approach is totally primal and instinctive, with some notes and mostly they are accidental anyway. Derek had played with everyone who’s been remotely called avant guard from John Zorn to Peter Brotzman to Ruins; he is also a huge influence in people like Sonic Youth, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice, No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand Of The Man, just to name a few. He had no sense of swing and no sense of bop, yet he is totally jazz in the way John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Sonny Sharrock at their most extreme and free were. He was the jazz in fact, the jazz for the beat deficient.

And so i go along to the plinks and skronks of his music to write the best tribute i can in probably the way he would most like to, just by going off, not looking back, not knowing anything just being and expressing; expressing all of which torture us or joy us and keeps us going and keep us back, back way bakc. Rises and falls to the sound of the drum rolls and the pick scrapes. Complete denial could be something, or nothing not mixed but stirred at the same time or at no time; time signature to the core seven 15ths to the left and a hundred myles away. Improvise. Improvise, keep on going, keep that bang coming, keep the strum, hold the mustard. Turn around and find something else, a harmonic perhaps or just count the tempo and name a song, go a head, you pick, pick a song, pick a chronometre. Ring it and take it away from and from us, for you to us and from here to you. It’s your choice

I hope you like it, i certainly felt better to let go.

Concerts Of The Year, Attended By Me

In no particular order:

Anthrax, Circo Volador: Before they once again became the metal Journey, i’m glad i got to see them with John Bush as their vocalist, and even though Scott Ian was not feeling well, they gave classes. Bonus to hear amazing versions of “Walk” and “Fucking Hostile”

Peter Murphy, Salón 21: Demonstrating that he’s still the best frontman in black, Murphy gave a hard rock concert like few solo artists can, in fact, he didn’t need to reunite with Bauhaus and still showed that there’s a big gap for all the H.I.M.s and My Chemical Romances

Nine Inch Nails, Palacio de los Deportes: They might have become new wave on their last record, but live, they became a truly good arena rock band

THC, Papa Bear: Crimson, Can and Lightning Bolt came out of their amps, before a steakhead metal crowd in a place that looked like a play room with a pool table. Feeling how the volume of the music incresed in mass was impressive

Tristeza/Austin TV/Hummersqueal/Sad Breakfast, Club Vintage: Sad Breakfast served screams laced with interstellar delays, Austin gave me hope for rock in my country with mellanchollic, kinetic post rock (and that instrumental music can inspire brutal slam dancing and screams), and Tristeza sent us into one circular, very intense trance

Dinosaur Jr/Broken Social Scene/Radio 4/Magik Markers, Central Park (NY): Definitely, it was not the right stage for Magik Markers and it bummed me out that Bardo Pond opened on other dates of their tour and Broken Social Scene are ok and Radio 4 are horrible, but none of this mattered after after listening to the roar of J Mascis’ amps and the energy of a band that appearantly found that the edge doesn’t have to come from hate. A show with lots of smiles.

Judas Priest/Whitesnake, Palacio De los Deportes: Because sometimes a show (especially Whitesnake) can be so bad and funny that it becomes a great concert experience. Spinal Tap is still alive and knows how to play for sure

Orquesta de Animales, Tysha Club: A very jump cut&paste improvisation, but still covering more ground than most bands’ entire careers

Morbid Angel, Hard Rock Live: This band is getting closer to facing Slayer mano a mano and giving them a hell of a fight. Still one of the raddest live bands.

Dillinger Escape Plan, Salón 21: After the ultra shitty multinational emo freakshow, DEP took the stage by the balls and smashed it to the floor the whole time. It’s amazing how crazy they can get and still play their Mahavishnu psychotic metal note for note perfectly

Oscillator in MySpace

Oscillator now has a page in MySpace, add us to be your friends

www.myspace.com/oscillatorzine

Still Living

So it's been two months with no postings and already most of the blog is spammed, yep, that's the way it's been here lately. Finishing college can take some time you know, but now that's over so is the year, almost, so yeah, i do have some reviews sitting plus an excellent interview with Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, and above all, i'll, sometime early next month, be posting my best of the year list. Don't worry i'm back and it'll be cool

yarraw

PS: I'm thinking of changing the name of the blog
PPS: Check out the new song i upload to Myspace by I/C/O/C: www.myspace.com/icoc

Interview: Hair Police

Harsh, abrupt glitches of thundering humming and car factory rhythms or long and droning soundscapes of evil and bad trips, Hair Police are masters of both. Their albums like Blow Out Your Blood, Obedience Cuts, more recent offerings like Constantly Terrified and Drawn Dead plus splits with Viki and Dead Machines are punishing, brain-bashing concrete banging slabs that can either be long and painful or ADD-short painful. But we all know the pain that comes with enjoying quality noise is a good one. I spoke with Mike Connelly (who’s currently replacing Aaron Dilloway in Wolf Eyes) about the finer points of enjoing noise, his thoughts on rock n’ roll and the new punk.


Marcos Hassan (Sweet Disonancia...): Please introduce yourself

Mike Connelly (Hair Police): I am Mike Connelly and I play guitar, tapes and vocals in Hair Police.

Could you give us a little history of Hair Police?

Hair Police started in 2001, it was 5 of us at that time, we were all in different bands, and one day decided to combine them all together and make one; we have since slimed down to 3 members: Myself, Tervor Tremaine and Robert Beatty.

What makes Hair Police stand out from other bands doing what you do, in your opinion?

Fuck...can’t really answer that one without sounding weird, huh?



Do you consider what you're playing as "rock n' roll"?

Nah...i wouldn’t say that. There is certainly rock elements and energy, but when i think of rock n’ roll I think of the Cramps and AC/DC, not really us. But you can call us whatever, i don't mind.

Do you think your albums or releases are conceptual pieces?

No, not really. i mean, like any album, a lot of thought goes into the order and flow of the thing, but thats just basic shit. No, we dont really have overriding conceptual agendas.

What impresses me a lot about your music is how you can play very short and consistent stuff or longer, looser pieces; do you have to change gears, physically and/or mentally, to do so or does it come naturally?

Recently, we have been doing only songs off Constantly Terrified which are all pretty long; I think its just because we’re more patient these days. Before, we were spazzes, we just wanted to freak out, I think we could balance the two nicely nowadays, so we'll see. We haven't talked about doing shorter songs again, but who knows.

What aspect of noise do you find the most fascinating?

I know this may be like "duh!!", but for me the whole fucking sound of it is what gets me. To throw on Macronympha Pittsburgh, PA and just lay on the couch and let the thing slam into your brain and take over for the duration--there's really is nothing like it.

How important is the specific gear you use in your music?

Robert is the main gear modifier in the band. I’m too stupid.



You're a very physical band onstage, are you playing angry music?

No, I never think of the music we play as angry. I think the whole thing is just a fucking insane gathering, so everyone can just flip out; get what you want out of it. Maybe you want it to be angry, thats cool; it’s release, however you want it to be. Anger, sexual, or just plain drunken release, that’s all fine with us.

Do you have many cases of people not "getting it"? like hearing them say stuff like "this is the worst music i've ever heard!"?

Sure, but i could really give a shit.

Would you ever work melody into your music, even as an experiment?

No, not in Hair Police. Trevor and Robert are both very interested in melody in compostion, and they have another band Eyes And Arms Of Smoke that partly explores that. I love music with melody, but not for me to play. I have zero interest in that.

How important is improvisation to you?

Very important, and it can be very killer as long as the people playing are fucking in tune with each other, you know. You have to be comfortable and listen to everyone else. That is why i hate sets when people who have never played or talked get together and have a big ol' freak out jam. That to me is very boring...i'd rather it be people who are really fucking listening, not just freaking out. The Carlos Giffoni Death Unit at No Fun this year was a very good big ol' jam thing. But i've seen pleny of that shit go awry, all in the name of improv.



If someone wants to get into your music, but they're totally unprepared for it, what are the artists and records you recommend to listen so they understand where you're coming from?

Nothing that we checked up pre-Hair Police up until now is really any easier! When we started, we were really into bands like Macro, Prick Decay, To Live and Shave in LA, shit like that. Now we still like all those bands, but throw in some Prurient, Pengo, C Spencer Yeh, Corsano/Flahery, Sick Llama and we're pretty good. There's a million more bands of course.

Spin did an article about "noise punk" and you were in it, how do you think it came out to be? do you think the bands covered in it are really THE bands, all contemporaries? have you seen a backlash or a boost in sales/concert attendance?

I don’t think that article did a damn thing, I forgot about it until now actually! They listed a lot of bands that are definitely down, but some I had never heard of, like Mars Volta?! Who are these people? But i dont really thing people got into the music through that article. Maybe though, who am i to say?. The article itself was pretty funny i thought.

Is there really a noise movement or does the media, meaning the internet, make it out to be more than it really is?

I always say its just a huge fucking crew of friends who are into and play fucked up music, It’s really great. Every state, every country you go to, you can find a few of these freaks hiding somewhere. I was talking to a dude who used to tour manage a huge modern "hardcore" band, and he was saying how noise now is so much like early days of hardcore. Friends setting up shows, letting anyone stay at your house 'cause you know those people are gonna respect it and shit. He says "hardcore" now is a rock star jock infested scene. The noise scene is just a lot of people who wanna get together, get messed up and check out some fucked up tunes. That rules.

Do you think noise or whatever you want to call it that you do is really the new punk?

I would never make such a statement, but i do see what we are doing to be very related to early 80’s hardcore, much more than any current "punk" bands. Our approach, attitude, they way we do things are very much in line with all the early hardcore shit. But really, isn’t like Green Day the new punk??!! I think Gwen Stephani is the real new NEW punk.



How important is playing shows for you?

Extremely, though HP have been on a little show break, due to me being in Wolf Eyes now and Trevor and Rob working really hard on Eyes And Arms Of Smoke, who are so great. You gotta hear them. Playing live is the best part of being in a band i think.

What can we expect from your live shows? Ever had any weird/funny/great experience while playing?

Every show is a great experience, or that’s the goal at least. The best one recently was our set at the 2005 No Fun. The thing turned into such a fucking riot. So many people came up to me after the set showing me their injuries...it was great! The whole crowd was onstage by the end of the set. Truly what I love to see happen live. People just let go and flipped out...fucking brilliant.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would that be?

We've gotten to collab with a lot of great people, with HP and for me with Wolf Eyes... i am talking to Joe from Macronympha about jamming with him, which obvoiusly excites me to no end. We love playing with other people...what’s better than making fucked up music with your friends?

Do you think that somewhere along the line in time, this kind of music you play will crossover to the mainstream?

Fuck...i can’t imagine it, but why the fuck not? This is the music that i love to hear and play, why shouldn’t a million people feel the same way? oh yeah...because those people are fucking lame.

What have you been listening to lately?

Dude, i listen to so much shit, i can barely think on it. Actually, i listened to Donovan a lot yesterday. And i also listened to Big Joey, MSBR (RIP), Music Emporium, Christopher "What'cha Gonna Do?", Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center LP, the new Caroliner LP, All of Thus, a lot of black metal too like Watain, Black Witchery, Xasthur. And a shitload more LPs I cant think of at this time.

What's next for you?

Wolf Eyes is hitting the road for a while in Sept/Oct, then Hair Police will record a record for Eclipse Records and do some shows in the area. Right now, i am going to the pool 'cause its fucking hot.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


That's Not Blood.mp3 from Blow Out Your Blood (2002)
Not Raft, But Cage.mp3 from split with Viki (2003)
Let's See Who's Here And Who's Not.mp3 from Obedience Cuts (2004)
My Skull Is My Face.mp3 (excerpt) from Constantly Terrified (2005)

Hair Police: http://www.freedom-from.com/hairpolice
Load Records: www.loadrecords.com
Freedom Form Records: www.freedom-form.com
Gods Of Tundra Records: http://www.geocities.com/godsoftundra/
Trobleman Unlimited Records: www.troublemanunlimited.com
Eclipse Records: http://www.eclipse-records.com/
Buy Hair Police cds at Amazon
Photo credits (from top to bottom): first and third by Nuuj courtesy of Carbon Records, the rest by Bill T. Miller: http://billtmiller.com

September 6 de Septiembre Releases/Lanzamientos

*Bellini – Small Stones
*Between The Buried And Me – Alaska
*Black Dice – Broken Ear Record
*John Coltrane – Love Supreme Live In Concert
*Miles Davis – Miles Tone (reissue)
*Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are (reissue)
*Earth/KK Null – Tour split
*The Exploited – Beat The Bastards (reissue)
*Frantic Mantis – Data Is Not Information
*M83 s/t
*Bob Marley – Lively Up Yourself
*New Model Army - Carnival
*Pere Ubu – Pennsylvania (reissue)
*Pere Ubu – Ray Gun Suitcase (reissue)
*Ruins – Pallaschtom
*Sloan – Navy Blues (reissue)
*Sloan – One Chord To Another (reissue)
*Vibracathedral Orchestra – Tuning To The Rooster
*Muddy Waters – Muddy’s Blues
DVD:
*Punk: Attitude
*Saturday Night Live – The Best Of Dan Aykroyd
*Saturday Night Live – The Best Of John Belushi

August 30 de Agosto Lanzamientos/Releases

*Alabama Thunderpussy – River City Revival
*Daniel Ash – Come Alive
*Biohazard – Means To An End
*Johnny Cash – 32 Original Classics
*Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison/At San Quentin/America
*Cold – Different Kind Of Pain
*Brian Eno and John Cale – Wrong Way Up (reissue)
*Brian Eno – Music For Films, Vol 3 (reissue)
*Enthroned – Black Goat Ritual: Live In The Flesh
*John Fahey – On Air
*Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (reissue Internacional)
*Mad Proffesor – Method To The Madness (reissue)
*Mercyful Fate – Melissa (25th Anniversary reissue)
*Nuclear Assault – Third World Genocide
*Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Free To Be Dirty: Live!
*Opeth – Ghost Reveries
*Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby (reissue International)
*Lou Reed – Live In Italy (reissue International)
*Patti Smith – Horses (reissue International)
*Sodom – In The Sign Of Evil/Obsessed By Cruelty (reissues)
*Soulfly s/t (25th Anniversary reissue)
*Spiritual Beggars – Demons (UK)
*Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (reissue International)
DVD:
*ABBA – Waterloo
*Blues Brothers (25th Anniversary Edition)
*Great Women Singers Of The 20th Century – Chaka Khan
*Clueless (Whatever Edition)
*Curb Your Enthusiasm – Complete Four Season
*Devo – Complete Truth About De-Evolution/Devo Live
*Devo – Live 1980
*Garfield And Friends Vol 4
*20th Century Masters – The Best Of Joe Jackson
*Shaft/Shaft’s Big Score
*Tommy Boy (Holy Schnike Edition)
*Great Women Singers Of The 20th Century – Nancy Wilson

Voivod - RRRÖÖÖAAARRR: Disco Favorito/Favorite Record

Este es un disco favorito muy especial, ya que esto va en memoria de Denis D’Amour, también conocido como Piggy, guitarrista de Voivod, quién murió por cancer de colon el Viernes 26 en Montreal; esta es una gran pérdida ya que Piggy era un guitarrista con un estilo muy fuera de lo común en la escena metalera y una gran influencia para muchos.

Voivod se formó a principios de los 80’s en Montreal, probablemente gracias al underground y a la cultura de intercambio de demos por correo alrededor del mundo, por Denis Belanger, Michel Langevin, Denis D’Amour y Jean-Yves Theriault. Aunque para el tiempo en que sacaron su disco debut en 1984, War And Pain, la revolución thrash estaba bien puesta y la vanguardia parecía salir de California, la banda, probablemente por su origen tan lejano de esa escena, prefería tomar inspiración principalmente de bandas europeas como Hellhammer y Venom; especialmente sentían una gran conección con Venom, quienes eran probablemente la mas grande influencia directa en todo el thrash, Voivod adoptó la producción lo-fi (es decir, de poca fidelidad), los vestuarios (spandex negro, pintura negra en los ojos, picos) y los sobrenombres (transformando a Belanger en Snake, a Langevin en Away, a D’Amour en Piggy y Theriault en Blacky) de Venom pero su música tomó un giro muy particular, decidiendo experimentar con ritmos impares y con riffs angulares que eran muy característicos del jazz fusión y del rock progresivo, pero tocándolos con una intensidad y velocidad que podían rivalizar a los de cualquier banda de metal o hardcore punk de la época, ambos de los cuales estaban muy presentes en la música de Voivod.

Después de War And Pain y de tocar por todos lados, la banda no solo no comprometió su sonido para estar mas en línea con lo que era aceptado en esos tiempos, sino que decidieron llevarlo un paso mas al extremo; y eso es lo que es RRRÖÖÖAAARRR. Oír este disco es algo muy difícil; para empezar, la producción es asquerosa, es de calidad muy casera (pero ¿a quién le importa la producción cuando se trata de música agresiva, verdad?), lo cual no ayuda a que de por sí suena a que viene de otro planeta; hay veces que durante las canciones el bajo y la guitarra no coinciden con la batería, y casi no hay veces donde puedes headbangear a gusto porque los ritmos no cuadran bien. Riffs cambian sin aviso previo, la bataca sale de fase, o de repente se sueltan a tocar en chinga para el solo, el cual esta muy fuera de los basados en el blues o en modales neoclásicos de otros tantos pero de alguna manera se encuentra en algun lugar entre ambos, y para acabarla, está la voz de Snake, la cual es imposible de categorizar o comparar, ya que es muy particular y potente sin ser muy gruñona o siquiera estridente, pero aun así es demasiado bizarra, lo cual complementaba los temas de ciencia ficción que abundaban en sus letras. “Fuck Off And Die” es una especie de prototipo para el math rock de Slint, Shellac, Polvo, Unwound o Rodan pero en metal 100%; “Ripping Headache” es una thrasher que ejemplifica los cambios de ritmos tan de ellos, muchas veces demasiado sutiles para notarlos las primeras veces que se escucha; y “To The Death” es lo que se acerca mas en todo el disco a una rola mas convencional con un coro gritable pero aún con riffs característicamente fuera de lo común.

Después de RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, Voivod fueron explotando cada vez mas su lado Pink Floydiano, culminando en discos como Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross y Nothingface, los cuales les ganaron reconocimiento. Después se fueron Blacky y Snake, lo que los regresó a lo mas bajo del underground, con fans en disgusto por los cambios de alineación y de sonido. Su influencia es muy grande y amplia aunque a veces poco clara, muchas bandas y estilos han tenido una piedra estructural en Voivod y muchas veces no lo saben. Como lo mencioné antes, el llamado math rock como Slint, Rodan, Shellac y Polvo le deben mucho a la banda (¿no me creen? En la gira de reunión de Slint, David Pajo algunas veces se ponía una camiseta de Voivod mientras tocaba en el escenario), Dave Grohl no solo llamó a Belanger a salir en su disco Probot sino que también llamó a Away para que diseñara la portada del disco; sin Voivod y sus tiempos frenéticos pero impares, es imposible imaginar a Antioch Arrow de principios, Converge, Union Of Uranus o Saetia, quienes hubieran tocado en 4/4 con riffs de tres acordes sin variaciones; bandas como Dillinger Escape Plan o Dysrhythmia son también imposibles de imaginar siquiera sin Voivod, el grindcore de Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer y Discordance Axis esta muy influenciado por los riffs de Piggy en los primeros discos (sin mencionar los innumerables guitarristas de death metal); y Hella, Orthrelm, Flying Luttenbachers, Battles e inclusive Lightning Bolt le deben demasiado tanto a RRRÖÖÖAAARRR como a Dimension Hatross, con explosiones de guitarras técnicas (o bajo, nada mas oigan si pueden lo que hace Blacky) y ritmos angulares. Incluso, si no fuera por los valores de producción de War And Pain y RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, es posible que las grabaciones de Wolf Eyes, Hair Police y Hive Mind se oyesen muy diferentes hoy en día.

Descanse en paz, Denis “Piggy” D’Amour.



Fuck Off And Die.mp3
Ripping Headache.mp3
To The Death.mp3

Voivod: http://www.voivod.com
Compren RRRÖÖÖAAARRR en Amazon

P.S.: Trataré de subir algunas rolas de Dimension Hatross aunque la verdad apenas y me estoy metiendo bien en ese disco, por mucho tiempo no me quise mover del RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, así de bueno es.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is a very special favorite record since this goes to the memory of Denis D’Amour, also known as Piggy, guitarist of Voivod, who died of colon cancer this past Friday 26 in Montreal; this is a huge loss, Piggy was a guitar player with a very out of the known style in the metal scene and a big influence on many.

Voivod formed in Montreal during the early 80’s, probably thanks to the underground scene and the tape trading culture around the world, by Denis Belanger, Michel Langevin, Denis D’Amour and Jean-Yves Theriault. Even though by the time they had released their debut, War and Pain, in 1984, the thrash revolution was already well installed and the vanguard seemed to be coming out of California; the band, probably because their origin was far removed from that scene, rather took bigger influences from European bands like Hellhammer and Venom; they felt a special connection with Venom, whom were probably the biggest direct influence on the whole thrash movement, Voivod adopted the lo-fi production values, the costumes (black spandex, black mascara, spikes) and the nicknames (transforming Belanger to Snake, Langevin to Away, D’Amour to Piggy and Theriault to Blacky) from Venom but their music took a very particualr turn, deciding to experiment with odd-time signatures and angular riffing, which were characteristical to jazz fusion and progressive rock, but playing them with an intensity and speed that could rival any metal or hardcore punk band of the era, both genres which figured heavily on Voivod’s music.

After War And Pain and playing everywhere, the band would not only not compromise their music to fit their sound with what was accepted during the time, but they also decided to take it to a new level of extremity; and that’s what RRRÖÖÖAAARRR is. To listen to this album is a very difficult thing; for starters, the production is disgusting, very lo-fi in quality (but who gives a fuck about production values when it comes to aggressive music, right?), which doesn’t help when the music sounds like it’s from another planet; there are times when the bass and guitar don’t match the drums, and you can hardly bang a good head here because the rhythms don’t really fall square. Riffs change without previous warning, the drums go out of phase, or all of a suden they start to play hyper fast for the guitar solo, which is far from blues- or modal neoclassical-based of so many others but somehow lies somewhere in between, and to top it off, there’s Snake’s voice, which is impossible to categorize or compare, since it’s pretty particular and strong without being very growly or even strident, but it’s still very bizarre, complementing the sci-fi themes that flood their lyrics. “Fuck Off And Die” is a sort of prototype to the math rock of Slint, Shellac, Polvo, Unwound or Rodan but done 100% in metal; “Ripping Headache” is a thrasher that demonstrate the rhythm changes so characteristic to their sound, often so subtle that they seem almost unnoticeable at first listen; and “To The Death” is the closest the album gets to a more conventional song with a shout-along chorus but still featuring leftfield riffs that are so much part of their sound.

After RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, Voivod began to exploit their more Pink Floydian side, culminating on records like Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross and Nothingface, which won them acclaim. Afterwards, Blacky and Snake left the band, which returned them to the deepest reaches of the underground, with fans in anger because of all the changes in line-up and sound. Their influence is very big and broad even though sometimes it’s a little unclear, many bands and genres have a structural stone in Voivod and often they’re not aware of it. Like i mentioned earlier, the so-called math rock genre like Slint, Rodan, Shellac and Polvo owes a lot to the band (don’t believe me? On Slint’s reunion tour, David Pajo sometimes wore a Voivod t-shirt onstage), Dave Grohl not only called Belanger to sing on his Probot album but he also called Away to do the album’s cover art; without Voivod and their frenetic odd time signatures, it’s imposible to imagine early-Antioch Arrow, Converge, Union Of Uranus or Saetia, who would have played invariably three chords in a 4/4 signature; bands like Dillinger Escape Plan or Dysrhythmia are also impossible to even be imagined without Voivod, the grindcore of Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer and Discordance Axis are very influenced by Piggy’s riffs on their earlier work (all the millions of death metal players go without mention); and Hella, Orthrelm, Flying Luttenbachers, Battles and even Lightning Bolt owe a lot as much to RRRÖÖÖAAARRR as well as Dimension Hatross, with their explosions of technical guitars (or bass guitars, just listen to what Blacky does, if you can) and angular rhythms. Even so, if it wasn’t for the production values of War And Pain and RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, it’s possible that recordings from Wolf Eyes, Hair Police and Hive Mind would end up sounding pretty different today.

Rest In Peace, Denis “Piggy” D’Amour.



Fuck Off And Die.mp3
Ripping Headache.mp3
To The Death.mp3

Voivod: http://www.voivod.com
Buy RRRÖÖÖAAARRR in Amazon

P.S.: I’ll try to post some songs from Dimension Hatross but to tell you the truth i’m just getting into that record, because i couldn’t really move outside RRRÖÖÖAAARRR, it’s that good.