Morning. Did you hear that the Mars Volta have a title for their new album which is expected sometime around June? It’s going to be called Octahedron. I swear, when all is said and done I think there’s little doubt that the M.V. will have been rock’s wordiest band ever. I can only imagine the size of their thesaurus collection. In related news, there’s another little teaser up for Volta side project El Grupo De Nuevo Omar Rodriguez Lopez that you can watch right here:
Tasty. Now then, any of you folks listen to Explosions in the Sky? Aside from the Friday Night Lightssoundtrack I’ve never paid that much attention to them other than to comment that they remind me of Mogwai at times. I have to be in the right mood to listen to some of that more relaxed instrumental stuff, and honestly I’m still kind of amazed that bands like this (or, say, Tortoise) have a real audience at all. Do people reach for instrumental rock when they’re combing through the aisles at Best Buy, or even if they do buy it I always wonder how often it gets listened to on the home stereo? That’s not a knock against the abilities of the musicians at all, but for the most part I can’t help but feel like instrumental rock is largely a genre that appeals mostly to other musicians first and casual listeners second. Which, if you look at it a different way, is actually kind of cool. Anyway, the point of all this is that I’m in the mood for some instrumental rock and I stumbled onto this Explosions in the Sky song which I like quite a bit. This is “The Birth and Death of the Day” (and that’s another kind of cool thing about instrumental rock: you can name your songs whatever the hell you want) from 2007’s All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone:
And while we’re on the subject of instrumentals, I also recently realized how much I like the Rush tune “YYZ.” Rock out with Geddy’s mullet-tail on this live version, but if you want the studio track then pick up 1981’s Moving Pictures. In a way, this song sounds like the best jam that ever occurred between a group of geeks in some suburban basement; we should be grateful that it ever got out:
Since you can’t talk Rush without talking drums, this will segue nicely into another thought I had recently. And it’s simply this: Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” has maybe the best combination of drum sound and drum playing I’ve ever heard in my life. I like the song just fine, but really – without Alex’s contribution there’s no way this song has the same kind of pulse to it. So now I’m about to get really nerdy on you. Somebody out there must have been thinking the same thing and has posted a (mostly) isolated drum track from this song on YouTube, which I will now present to you (but, obviously, if you don’t yet own 1984 you need to go get that):
Morning. Hope your weekend was swell. Metallica’s got a new video out. Want to see it? Sure you do. I promise you it’s better than the Guitar Hero: Metallica commercial I saw yesterday that features several famous men’s college basketball coaches doing their best Risky Business impressions, which amount to the worst Risky Business impressions you or I or just about anybody else might be able to pull off. So here’s the clip for “Broken, Beat, and Scarred” off Death Magnetic:
Like the video, but miss the studio version of the song. The whole “Show Your Scars!” lyric loses some of its bite in this live recording, but that’s a minor gripe. In other video news, Mr. Duff McKagan of Velvet Revolver and GNR fame has a band called Duff McKagan’s Loaded (get it? Isn’t that clever? Sigh…) which has a new album coming out April 7th titled Sick. The catchy title track has a fun little video featuring some old dudes playing bingo and a rather weird, silent cameo by what appears to be the Semi-Pro coiffed Will Ferrell. I can’t embed it so you’ll have to take a look by clicking here. In the meantime though, here’s a tease for the album:
So I’ve had just about a week now with the new Mastodon album, Crack the Skye, and I realize there’s plenty of discussion being had elsewhere about how they’ve “changed” or “gone proggy” to try and make more money (I’m paraphrasing Decibel’s review, which seems a little unfair to me because when has going prog ever translated into more album sales??). I’m not going to get too involved in that discussion here other than to say if you liked Blood Mountain I think you’ll like this one. The most notable difference is with the vocals, and of course leave it to metal fans to complain about being able to actually understand what a vocalist is singing…Personally, I love this record. I mean it. Classic stuff, big, spacey – a real headphone album if ever there was one. And not that an artist’s intentions have anything to do whatsoever with how one should judge their art, but watching the making-of DVD that comes with the album is a very satisfying experience and I think increases the appreciation of what the band has done. It’s not going to MAKE you like the album if you don’t, but if you already do then definitely give it a spin. Here’s a live version of the opener “Oblivion.” Brann’s lyrics at the start just destroy me:
Boo. Did I scare you? Good. Not a lot of news I know of to report so I’ll just keep this simple and short. Hope everyone’s having a good Friday (not the Good Friday – that’s not for a couple weeks) and staying dry. First up, my dream of a Soundgarden reunion came 3/4ths true the other night in Seattle. Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron got together for the first time since 1997. Cornell was nowhere in sight, so who did they get to fill his spot? None other than the literally biggest man in grunge, Tad Doyle of TAD. While that’s kind of like replacing Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin with…Tad Doyle, I still can’t help but get a small thrill from it. Tad may have struggled with the vocals (and lyrics) a bit, but man the rest of the band sounded great! Here’s them ripping through “Hunted Down” from Screaming Life/Fopp:
And here’s them doing “Spoonman” with Tom Morello, who apparently was the one who was actually booked to play that night as part of his “Justice Tour.” This video isn’t the best quality, but there’s a pretty funny profane shout-out to Cornell at the front and hearing Tad try to grunt out the lyrics he clearly doesn’t remember is a darn good time:
And the night got even better! Here’s the guys playing the MC5 classic “Kick Out the Jams” with Mudhoney vet Mark Arm on vocals and Wayne Kramer on guitar. Ahhh yeah:
You can read more about the whole fandango by clicking here. I was going to close this out with a video of the previously mentioned Chickenfoot (Hagar, Satriani, Anthony, Smith), but I think I’ll just save that for another day. Enjoy your weekend. More Monday…
Sup. The internet is on fire this morning so let me help you see through the smoke for a minute. First up is news that Metallica have announced their fall tour dates for North America, which includes an October 18th stop in – yep yep – Charlotte (tix go on sale April 4th). No word as to who will be pulling opening duties yet, but I’m hoping for the Sword. You can see all the dates by clicking here. Tool’s also confirmed they’ll be playing some shows this summer so keep your eyes peeled for those dates as well. Over at Rolling Stone’s website there’s a pretty amusing interview with Perry Farrell where he discusses signing a girl’s boob, doing coke, and how he just recently realized that Jane’s Addiction isn’t Radiohead. I may take some heat for even asking this question, but is Perry one of the world’s most admired flakes? Consider example A:
God love him…Anyway, I also keep failing to mention that this Tuesday saw the re-issue of Pearl Jam’s classic debut Ten. This comes in a couple different varieties, including a mega box set that unbelievably includes a cassette tape among other things. I’m kind of looking at the Deluxe Edition, which can be had for under $30 and includes the remastered album, a remixed version with bonus tracks, and a DVD of the band’s MTV Unplugged performance. When I was in Best Buy picking up the new Mastodon record I also noticed that they’re selling a version of the Deluxe Edition that includes a code to download three tunes playable in Rock Band, so that might interest you gamers out there. If anyone has picked up any of these reissues drop a comment and let us know how they are.
Now then. Hollywood has gone and done it again. You may remember a previous post where I championed the use of an Arcade Fire song in the trailer for David Fincher’s film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Well, Fincher’s buddy Spike Jonze has followed suit, using the Arcade Fire anthem “Wake Up” in this first full trailer for his upcoming adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Have a look:
Let’s hope that unlike, Button, this trailer isn’t better than the film itself. For more on the film and this trailer, head on over to Crane’s Inanities and read his excellent analysis. Have I mentioned that when I saw Arcade Fire on their Neon Bible tour that they didn’t play this song? I remember reading some interview or another with the band where they basically stated that they stopped playing it for a little while because the audience was expecting them to do it and they didn’t want to be predictable. Unfortunately, I think A) they’re apparently thinking about this kind of thing way, way too much and B) they’re putting greater significance on the downfalls of predictability than the crush of disappointment. It seems inconsiderate to me. It feels as if they’re only looking at their concert experience from their own perspective instead of their fans. Not to mention, dudes you only have two albums. It’s not like you’re culling your setlist from twenty years worth of hits. You’re not U2 (and you have the potential to be better!). Be unpredictable all you want on your records. I encourage it. But when you’re putting on a show and I’m paying forty bucks just to sit near the back of the auditorium, and you’re playing an INCREDIBLE set, would it really kill you to just play the damn song??? No. It wouldn’t. Get over yourselves. After all, you’d play it if Bowie asked you to:
And that’s the last I’ll say about that. More tomorrow. Or hopefully a little less…
Hey hey hey. Couple things right off the bat. First up, go get some free music courtesy of Amazon. They’ve got a nice little 11 song sampler from legendary indie label Sub Pop that includes tunes from Flight of the Conchords, Red Red Meat, Fleet Foxes, and Iron & Wine among others. Check it out right here. Also, the first single from the upcoming Heaven & Hell album The Devil You Know (which drops April 28th) is out and is great. The tune’s called “Bible Black” and I’ll probably embed the vid here sometime in the future, but in the meantime go have a listen. No dudes that age should sound that evil. Awesome. In other cool older dude news, it seems that Sammy Hagar’s put together a bit of a supergroup, if you will (and you probably shouldn’t), called Chickenfoot that includes fellow Van Halen castaway Michael Anthony on Jack Daniels, alien surfer Joe Satriani on guitar, and Red Hot Ogre look alike Chad Smith on drums. Did I mention the band’s called Chickenfoot? You can read more here.
Now then. It’s dawned on me that I don’t believe I’ve mentioned Interpol once on this blog. And I really like Interpol. And I haven’t listened to them in quite awhile. So that’s getting remedied right now, compadres. This is “Slow Hands” from the excellent 2004 album Antics:
Interpol’s an interesting band. For starters, look at those clothes! Bands have worn suits and ties before Interpol, but I’m not sure anyone else has done it so smartly as to have it move beyond a simple gimmick. It’s terribly pretentious, mind you, but the band has committed to it so much that by this point it doesn’t really strike me as being entirely forced. Seriously, I saw the band play an outdoor venue in 90 degree heat and they didn’t remove so much as a cufflink. These guys make an effort to look good, and I suppose that appeals to the side of me that so greatly appreciated the similar (but different) effort the guys in Britny Fox and Firehouse made to look good back in the late ’80’s. The only thing that’s changed really is the definition of “good,” thankfully. If you’re a kid living in a one Wal-Mart town in the middle of Nebraska, how could you not be intrigued by seeing these sharp lads who are so cool they don’t even wear t-shirts? Interpol offers a sophisticated type of escapism in the image they sell and fortunately it accompanies the music they write quite nicely. Also fortunate is the fact that they just so happen to write really good music, too. That, as always, is the key. Here’s the first Interpol song I ever heard, “PDA” from 2002’s debut album Turn on the Bright Lights:
I’ve always felt there was a layer of darkness (for lack of a better word) in Interpol’s music but that’s not to say they’re in anyway a depressing listen. Lines like “gonna trek this shit around” or song titles like “No I in Threesome” show that there’s a sense of humor present behind the aviator shades. And then there are moments, like the “Untitled” opener of Bright Lights where the band makes sounds that could almost best be described as “pretty.” They’ve taken their fair share of criticism for aping Joy Division (at least vocally), but there are worst offenses in the world and I think that’s also something that becomes less evident as Interpol continues their career. To take us out here’s “The Heinrich Maneuver” from 2007’s Our Love to Admire:
Cool. Interpol’s apparently working on a new record and I know the drummer has some kind of side project and the bassist made some kind of indie film. So they’re busy, which can only be a good thing. More tomorrow…
