End of the Month Music Bitchfest - February 2013

This will probably be the best month of the year for me (musically).
New albums from three of my top five bands* and the announcement of the eventual resurgence of one of my top five bands. Gosh, that phrasing sounded a bit roundabout, eh?
Who could I possibly be talking about?

Nine Inch Nails

A week before the release of How to destroy angel's debut LP (his side project fronted by his wife), Reznor dropped the news that Nine Inch Nails will return to touring in the summer of 2013, all the way into 2014, with an extensive U.S. arena tour.**
The band line up has also been announced with Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction on bass, Adrian Belew from King Crimson and fucking every other great band ever on guitar, Ilan Rubin on drums, Alessandro Cortini on keyboards and Joshua Eustic on...intrigue. This guy is one half of Telefon Tel Aviv and I am most intrigued by his presence in this line up.
Also by the fact that NIN has never had a six-man line up...the mathematic potential is...arousing...

Just today (2/28), Reznor launched the official Instagram and Tumblr sites for Nine Inch Nails, so now, along with the Nine Inch Nails Twitter and Facebook, not to mention nin.com, there are five different ways for Trent Reznor to tease/taunt/mindfuck his dedicated fans.
Shit.

Reznor has promised the Nine Inch Nails "best of" album***, including two brand new Nine Inch Nails songs in early 2014 and then a new Nine Inch Nails album...ha a-ha...ha.

*sigh*

I'm just going to go and grease up my asshole now...
They Might Be Giants
GROW THE NANOBOTS UP!!!

Beck
Okay, check this out.
Beck's reimagining of David Bowie's "Sound + Vision".
Pretty amazing, right?
Right.
You ready?
Read the sixth word in the title of this post...
Okay...now...why the fuck would you put all that shit together for ONE FUCKING SONG?!
You fucking cockteasing FUCK!

Moving on.
Cake
Who?

Eels
A kick ass new album?
Check.
An extensive world tour?
Check.
I don't need anything else from E.
But...what's that you say? One wish? Anything I want?
Well, if you insist...
Hm...if I had to ask for something on top of all this other stuff...you know...now that you mention it...those live tracks on the second disc of Wonderful, Glorious were great, but they were such a tiny taste and those were some pretty great shows, especially the 2011 tour...so...I guess...if I absolutely must ask for more...I suppose I'd dig...a live album?
WELL, FUCK YOU, PAUL! YOU'RE GONNA GET A FUCKING DOUBLE LIVE ALBUM! IT'S CALLED TREMENDOUS DYNAMITE, AND IT'S FORTY FUCKING TRACKS LOOONG!

E...your free pass just got extended.
Go with God.

In other news...

Earlier this month, I had a brief and torrid affair with the music of Childish Gambino AKA Donald Glover of Community...and then I stopped. Party because of all the new stuff coming out this month and partly because some of his albums are a lot less interesting than others. When he's on, he is ON. I Am Just A Rapper parts 1 and 2 go up there as my favorites.
Atoms For Peace released their album, AMOK, and, duh, it's pretty fucking amazing.
I wrote a review.
Read it.
Stupid.

David Bowie has a second song/video from his upcoming The Next Day out, this one directed by Floria Sigismondi and starring Tilda Swinton.
And it's fucking creepy.

And, finally, I'm nearing the end of my journey through the intestines of Coil.
Can't say I'm not looking forward to it...
ANS took a LOT out of me.
I'll say this, add one letter and you get what I would have rather eaten about half way through track three with two plus hours to go.
Ugh.
But, aside from that and a few choice moments, the overall process has been amazing and enlightening.
And I don't recommend any of you do it.
Ever.





* How to destroy angels is enough like Nine Inch Nails that I'm just going to got with it. I invite you to do the same.
Or to go fuck yourself.
Whichever.

** Personally, I'd be a little pissed off with the timing if I was his wife ("Seriously, Trent, you couldn't have waited two more weeks?!"), but, then again, there certainly wouldn't be any How to destroy angels without Trent Reznor so...yeah.
But still, way to piss on that parade.

*** Some of you**** will notice that the font used in the 2013 picture and on the new site is from The Downward Spiral and that the font used on their tour page is that of The Fragile.

**** None of you.

A review of They Might Be Giants' "Nanobots"

In recent years, I've had to face a couple of hard, awful truths.
Among them is the fact that The Simpsons will never be as funny as it used to be.
Why will The Simpsons never be as funny as it used to be?
For of a whole host of reasons: the show has different writers, they've been on the air for almost a quarter of a century and, the most hard and awful truth, I am no longer twelve years old.
Things will never be as good as they were.
Ever.
The sooner you stop hoping and expecting them to be, the sooner your life will improve.

So, when They Might Be Giants announced a new album, yeah, I was excited, I've been a fan of theirs for over twenty years, why wouldn't I be excited?
Was I hoping for/expecting another Lincoln or Apollo 18 or John Henry?
Of course not.
Things will never be as good as they were...remember?
But Nanobots is the closest They Might Be Giants has come in decades.

First things first, the whole album is great. So great, in fact, that, if I were you, I would order it first, and then read this review so as to hype yourself up for what you're about to hear.
But that's just me.

Okay, here goes; the really amazing songs are as follows: "Nanobots" (poppy and sunny and about how billions upon billions of self-replicating, microscopic robots are going to rise up and overtake the world), "Call You Mom" (too good to describe, just listen to it), "Stone Cold Coup D'Etat" (a song about role reversal, murder and revolution...sorry, a super-catchy, rock/pop song about role reversal, murder and revolution), "Sleep" (Linnell only needs forty-two seconds to get things done and done well), "Sometimes A Lonely Way" (a beautiful, heartwrenching Flans ballad that serves to remind folks that these guys aren't all "quirky" and "nerdy" and other adjectives they've come to loathe over the years), "Tick" (FLANSBURGH ONLY NEEDS ELEVEN SECONDS TO GET THINGS DONE AND DONE WELL), "Replicant" (a loungey, vibraphone-soaked swagger through a tale about, what else, a killer clone. One gets the unsettling feeling that Linnell is speaking from experience), "The Darlings of Lumberland" (not only is it a song about zombies, but I have never, EVER heard TMBG sound like this before. I'm assuming this has a lot to do with sonic collaborators, the Elegant Too. The whole thing...is robo-cyber horns...kind of?), "Stuff Is Way" (best way to describe this: it's like listening to an English professor's stroke), and "Icky" (a smarmy, surf-rock romp about that awful person we all know and detest...this might be a prequel to "When Will You Die?").

AND THERE ARE STILL TEN REALLY, REALLY GOOD SONGS ON THE ALBUM! Like a rampant footstomper about a guy whose head is on fire ("You're On Fire"), a kid's song that was too dark for TMBG's most recent Disney-funded kids' album, Here Comes Science ("Tesla"), a straight up Flans rocker reminiscent of "On The Drag" ("Circular Karate Chop") AND FREAKING SEVEN MORE SONGS!
Jesus, I feel like a hyperactive Time/Life salesman...

Every month, I write about my five favorite bands and what they are (or aren't) doing that month. At the end of 2012, I wrote what amounted to a musical wish list for the coming year. One of the things I wished for was that I would listen to a new album by one of those five favorite bands, and that I would love it the first time through; top to bottom, first to last, no "well, I kinda like this, but I think it needs time to grow on me", no "the first two thirds are awesome...but the rest...", love at first listen.
Nanobots did that for me.
Not even three months into the year, and that wish has been granted.
Are there songs that don't stand out as brightly and as proudly from the rest? Sure...but those songs are still good.
The only problem I see here...the only problem...is that I have no idea how They Might Be Giants are going to top themselves after this.

Go buy Nanobots.
And then go watch the eighth season of The Simpsons.
And remember that this is as good as it can possibly get.

A review of Atoms For Peace "AMOK"

As I've said before, I'm not the biggest Radiohead fan. I love some of their stuff, but, in general, I won't put on an album of theirs and just listen. I honestly believe that, if you went through their entire catalog, you'd have an amazing double disc or really, really good triple disc "Best Of" collection.
I bought The Eraser when it came out as, like them or not, Radiohead unarguably one of the most talented and interesting ground breaking etc. bands out there and I found myself enjoy it as a whole more than any one Radiohead album. So, when I heard that Thom Yorke was going solo again, but this time recruiting Flea on bass, Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Brian Eno) on percussion, and Joey Waronker (Beck) on drums, as well as Nigel Godrich back on programming and production...I was anticipating a great album.
And...well, let's just say that if these five guys hadn't made something amazing, I'd have been more surprised than if they had.
And they did.
Make something amazing.

Of the few tracks that don't jump out at me, the opener, "Before Your Very Eyes...", is one of them.
It isn't bad, just not as good as what surrounds it and opening with a track that isn't amazing is kind of a weird choice, but, you know, Thom Yorke is kind of a weird choice.
The brightness and bass are pretty awesome though, so, you get a pass this time, Thom.
This time.
The first single, "Default", is still as absolutely brilliant as the first time I heard it and it's the main reason I've been so expectant and hopeful about this album. I can't say enough good stuff about this song, so I'll just move on.
Funny thing about "Ingenue"...I can't tell if I love it or hate it. I don't know if I like that little descending melody in the back or not, but, based on the fact that it keeps rattling around in my head for hours afterward...I think that's a good thing? Or I have a developmental disability.
Vocally though, I can't think of a time when I've heard Yorke so vulnerable...and, folks, this guy always sounds vulnerable.
"Dropped" made me think of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" when I very first heard it, something about that continuous programming and doo-wop beat in the background. Try singing her track along with it. It's fun. I was caught up in that until the song unfolded like some groovy disco flower that makes you nod your head forever. I could not stop listening at that point. This one goes right up there with "Default". I love the bass on this...although...I'm thinking of just letting you assume that as a given unless I say otherwise...and I'm thinking of extending that to the programming and percussion as well...
Next, "Unless", another great track. It starts off sounding a bit like something from an 8-bit Haunted Mansion. Then there's the vocals, "I couldn't kill us"*. I love the boss fight feel of this...dark and evil and confrontational....like fighting Death Adder at the end of Golden Axe. At one point, Yorke's looped, layered, yammering vocalizations mimic keys doing the same thing and it is unnerving.
"Stuck Together Pieces" is sweet and warm and whimsical, really comforting; even more so when juxtaposed with what we've just heard. Like a summer jam in Greenland. Things get a little distressed when the guitars come in, and then settle back down. It ends in a place not as comfortable as where it started, but, come on, were you really expecting a happy ending? The buzzy synths at the end are perfectly placed.
Remembering that I'm not huge into Radiohead, "Judge Jury and Executioner" sounds the most like a Radiohead song to me...and I think that's because this was, at one time a b-side or something by Radiohead.
Or maybe not.
I also think it sounds a bit like Depeche Mode's "Dream On" (the beat and the guitar).
I really dig the chorus here and I think the mournful moaning in the background adds a lot. Also, the asymmetrical clapping works very well.
The piano on "Reverse Running" (which feels very Beck-like) and the final track, "Amok", stick out like sore thumbs from all the electronics we've heard thus far and I love it, it adds such a different mood... These two tracks provide an excellent ending to an amazing album. The barely audible vocals on "Amok" and the palpable sense of regret create an absolutely perfect feeling. There's a rising tide and then a quiet drop off and then we're through.
Too soon, in my opinion.

I deduced the reason why this is such a strong album, why it has such a unique and unified sound: it's the mathematics; it's the precise and masterfully planned placement of layers of simplicity and randomness. Nothing on here is accidental, every hand clap and metallic click you hear is exactly where it should be in order to have the most impact on the listener. This is what you get when you put such intelligent, calculating and exacting artists on one project. This is what you should get.
Here's how I know this is a great album: at this particular point in time, the end of February 2013, there is a lot of stuff coming out that I am very, very excited to hear: the new Eels album, Wonderful, Glorious, the debut LP from Trent Reznor's side project, How To Destroy Angels, the sixteenth They Might Be Giants album, Nanobots, and, of course, the totally unexpected and immensely anticipated thirtieth album from David Bowie, The Next Day...and yet I'm going to continue listening to AMOK after I've finished this review. I'm going to keep spending time with it because these guys have put a lot into it, and there is a lot more here for me to find.





* At least I think that's what he's saying. Surprise surprise, no lyrics in the liner notes!

A List Of Why Today Is Good

In no particular order.

1. In less than 30 days, I'm getting married (getting our license on Monday)

2. Tomorrow, my One and Only is going to surprise me with something here in the city. And I'm completely in the dark about what it could be.

3. I have another session with the wonderful and excellent Speakaboos next week.

4. My podcast (digressive_obscenity) is going strong, and I'm getting a bunch of new subscribers every day.

5. I'm in the midst of recording my second audio book and it's going great.

6. The new music I've been looking forward to isn't just not disappointing, thus far it's all been excellent (Eels, Atoms For Peace, How To Destroy Angels) AND it's not even all out yet (They Might Be Giants, Bowie).

7. Production has begun on the They Might Be Giants music video for "You're On Fire", starring Peter Firehead, who may or may not be the song's inspiration.

8. Seeing Eels LIVE in a week.

9. Had a psychic flash earlier today that, based on Reznor's promise of "big news next week", he'll announce Nine Inch Nails' return to the stage at the end of 2013...with opening band How To Destroy Angels.

10. I accidentally became a vegetarian (okay, pescatarian) for a few days and will continue being one, just to see what will happen. I hope this will somehow make up for my experience with Redbull some years ago.

They Might Be Giants to Peter Firehead: "You're On Fire"

Just a quick note to tell you that there's a new They Might Be Giants track (from their March 5th release, Nanobots) called "You're On Fire".
It might or might not be the theme for my web comic, The (Mis)Adventures of Peter Firehead.

Listen and look and then decide for yourself, but I will tell you that the music video is now in the works.

A review of Coil's "Worship The Glitch"

Originally this was released as Worship The Glitch by "ELpH vs. Coil", but, as ELpH IS Coil...shut up.
A lot of this album feels like multi-track elements for something else or snippets of songs or, in some cases, just sounds, so this is going to be short and to the point.


"Dark Start" - The birth of dark, digital angels. Great sense of space here.

"Opium Hum" - A word, trying to be spoken. A prayer. A phone ringing from inside someone's body.

"Caged Birds" - An open mic. With pops.

"The Halliwell Hammers" - Begins with breaking pixelglass, then, we rise up to see the angelic creatures creating the glass up on their mountaintop, casting down the malformed pieces.

"Clorax Hurd" - Starts off with a short, repeated, distorted tune, then switches to the choked, semimelodic, chuffing laughter of a sick and dying circus robot. Then, the track revisits "Caged Birds", but now there's a dark, yawning chasm behind the birds.

"The Halliwell Hammers (2)" - This sounds like a child's nightmare taking place in a church. Everything is warped. Resembles something from Aphex Twin's Drukqs.

"We Have Always Been Here" - It appears that some of the birds became uncaged and that they are supersonic. About halfway through, we hear their predator, a great, black maw; it's slow though, good for the birds.

"Manunkind" - Blowing into conchs to summon the elders. Not the Lovecraftian eat-the-world Elders, but the tribal elders... for a meeting...to discuss corn, or, as the Indians called it...maize.

"Bism" - Rain in a swamp about three miles from a cathedral where bells are tolling. Probably the most identifiable sounds on the album. Then, the rain stops, the bells stop, and we're left with the sounds of the swamp: it is filled with happy birds.

"Hydlepark" - This might be those same cathedral bells heard from the other side of some dimensional membrane. A lot more sinister than before. Then, more Drukqs stuff; higher and lighter in tone, but still pretty menacing.

"Hysteron Proteron Jewel" - Something large, dark and spinning entering our reality; distorting its fabric.

"Decadent & Symmetrical" - A jaunty (creepy) pipe toots out a little (horrifying night terror) tune while some woman tells a joke in what sounds like a mix of English and Gaelic.

"Mono" - More distorted tolling bells, maybe the same bells, but heard from yet another dimension...calling Things. At the very end, we get some squeaking...labeled thusly by some children saying the word "squeak". Hm.*

"The Halliwell Hammers (3)" - A church in Silent Hill. Bells, distortion, etc. While all the "distorted bells" tracks have their own feels to them, this does start to get a bit old. There's just not enough here... More birds from "Caged Birds" ends this track.

"Anything That Flies" - We follow a broken gear down and down and down through the bell tower we've visited so frequently on Worship.** The tower seems to go forever. There might be a circus outside (the same one from "Clorax Hurd" and "Decadent & Symmetrical").

"Ended" - A creepy, dusty recording of a woman (Leah Hirsig, the wife of Aleister Crowley***) singing something creepy and dusty ("For All We Know"****). As heartwarming/breaking as the entire Cash family singing "We'll Meet Again" is, this is that...but fear instead of heartwarming/breaking.

As I mentioned before, there's just not enough here. Some of this is interesting, but the rest...I don't know. It would work better tucked into a proper Coil release. This is just a collection of scraps, or, I suppose, if you want to wax artistic, a collection of glimpses into other worlds.
Tiny, tiny glimpses.
Like, strobe flashes.
Bottom line: This should have been more.





* So, apparently, this track is actually a completely fucked up cover of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra. I won't argue...for fear the track manifests as a goblin and sucks the eyes right from my screaming face.

** I'm reading a lot into these but I'm just bored that's just me.

*** According to Wiki. Sorry.

**** See ***

A review of Coil's "The Restitution of Decayed Intelligence"

Two tracks, telling a before and after story of a robotic factory planet and the introduction of a virus to said factory planet.
Maybe.
I read a lot into this, but I think it works.
Listened and reacted to this track in (sort of) a stream of consciousness:

I
Inside a factory where pixels are made.
Assembly lines/robot arms.
Not a human to be ofund.
Factory getting bigger, expandig, maybe a whie planet?
Something emerges that sounds like a pixeldog.
There is a problem.
The workers are revolting, fighting back.
The boss might be a huge, dot matrix printer.
Screaming radio static floods in, modem noises, leaving in its wake a broken, crippled rhythm: a rusted, jagged knee.
Speed picks up.
A voice so manipulated I can barely inderstand it comes in, then screaming: the door to hell (elerctir robot hell) is torn open.
Organics beomce metal against their will.
ASIDE: If they ever have a moment in a Silent Hill game where the protagonist is in a facotry when the darkness comes and the whole factory starts chasing them, this is what their template should be.
The program running things tried to right itself, to purge itself of this virus, but it does not work, still trying as it dies.
Almost at the end and the creature arrives and begins consuming things.
Are the revolters responsible for this monstrosity, or is it a weapon of the humans meant to destroy this factory/planet and the robots that inhabit it?
A high, repeated, womanish screaming begins and is splintered.
The creaking builds and then a horrible alarm.
The whole system is under attack, but by whom?
systemdown
diagnostic
findvirus
corruption
Only way to save itself is self-destruct.
Erase all code and start over.

II

A shattered electric glass jungle.
We hear a voice, shattered as well: the voice of the robot jungle.
Everything is out of sync, like listening to a paradox, things from paralell universes trying to occupy the same space at the same time.
This could be the sound of the factory rebooting/rebuilding itself, seconds, minutes or millenia later.
The voice broadcasting from the radio stops (readytoexecute), and the foundations begin to dissolve; the earth, sky, even the air begins to shred itself into glittering ribbons of dirty sound.
The program was not ready to reboot, and these are the consequences.
The digital void rises, the dots and cogs tremble, but are swallowed.
The feedback loops gets smaller and smaller, until it deletes itself, a robot ouroboros.
Almost at the vert end, a printer prints; not sure we're meant to see what's on that printout...
Then, finally, everything quietly sinks into the cyberbog, not a bang, just a whimper.

This intelligence, no matter how decayed, will return.

A review of Coil's "Black Antlers"

The first iteration of this album had only six tracks, but, on the "deluxe" edition released later, three new tracks were added, all of them reflections of one another and the second track on the original album ; different elements appear in different places at different speeds behind different curtains of effects. For me, this makes the re-release of Antlers less impressive than the original, but there's plenty of stuff that more than makes up for that fact.

"The Gimp (Sometimes)" is just as eerie as a song by Coil with this title should be. In fact, this might be what a gimp hears inside his box: diseased, wavering band organ over a greasy, sodden warbling noise. The incongruous bass is a touch jazzy. Great vocal performance from Balance. Before your attention drifts away, some awesome, scary plinking shit comes in. It's not played, but, rather, being forced out of whatever instrument that is; maybe a toy piano. It sounds as if it's being abused by an angry child or a monkey. Then the vocals come back in with some scary effects on them, making this yet another pants-shitting opener to yet another Coil album.

Excelsior!

Thocking bass, mellow keys, great, infected programming and a bit of clacking in the back left comprise "Sex With Sun Ra (Part One - Saturnalia)". Balance sounds like a drugged and malicious David Bowie recounting a late night bar crawl which ended up with him getting taken advantage of (maybe? The drugged quality of Balance's voice makes me think date rape, but, you know Balance...) by Sun Ra*. After a while ("Sun Ra 1" is almost ten minutes long), this track gets old; you get the point and you want to move on, but there's still four minutes left. The oddest thing about this is that it makes me think of the beginning of Ghostbusters 2 when Bill Murray is hosting World of the Psychic and interviewing that chick who thinks she was drugged and picked up by an alien whose ship looked like a room at the Paramus Holiday Inn.

Is that weird?

Next, we have "The Wraiths and Strays of Paris", what might be my favorite track on here. Echoing marimbas and piano juxtaposed with some distinctive frayed sounds provide a beautiful canvas on which the synthesizers and violins are used to paint an exquisite and sad masterpiece. This sounds a bit like some of the stems from Nine Inch Nails' "The Day The World Went Away" and sections of "A Warm Place"; the chord progression here is just gorgeous. Occasionally, Balance will sing, sounding a bit like Stephin Merritt or Julian Cope. Suddenly, everything speeds up as the beat comes in with some distortion, and Balance begins to whoop and holler, yelling, "Shoot!" again and again. The metamorphosis from the wake to the post-wake celebration is exciting and revitalizes the whole track. The song is about nine minutes long, but I could have done with a few minutes more...maybe taken from "Sex With Sun Ra"...

The fourth track, "All The Pretty Little Horses", is a traditional lullaby about sleeping babies, lambs and pretty, little horses and, guess what, when Balance sings about sleeping babies, lambs and pretty, little horses, it's fucking creepy. The only real accompaniment is a beautiful and haunting melody played on the marimba, until it's joined by a terrible, dissonant screech which works great for juxtaposition as it actually causes you to focus more on the gentle, lonely tones of the marimba. Once you get past the eeriness of Balance singing this, it becomes strangely beautiful...but I still wouldn't play it for my children.

So, sometimes I'll look at a song title before I listen to the song, and sometimes I won't/don/t. I find both methods have their own effect on my perception of the track I'm listening to. In this case, I did not refer to the tracklisting beforehand and was therefore confused and then pleased to realize that this was "Teenage Lightning (10th Birthday Version)"**. This excellent recreation begins with looped and stuttering voices cheering over looped and stuttering beats. The harshness of these is mitigated by yet another act of juxtaposition; the soft, drawn out notes played on what might be an organ go perfectly with the frantic chattering and cheering. After a moment or two of this, the slate is wiped clean and some of the excellent marimba found scattered across the album returns with some squishy noises and some reverbed guitar, all very well arranged. Once the piano comes in, I begin to figure it out and then, finally, once the bass line drops, I remember that they had redone "Teenage Lightning" at one point, and that this must be that point.

It was, overall, a delightful surprise.

The title track, "Black Antlers (Where's Your Child?)" (originally done by acid house artist, Bam Bam) is menacing as fuck. It starts out sounding like a John Carpenter theme and gets nothing but more disturbing once the pixelated fan screaming begins.*** Like much of the album, this also sounds very...zappy; as if there is a loose, sparking connection that is absolutely a hazard unless someone fixes it...and soon. This track is actively pursuing you, looking to do you harm. It becomes even more Carpenter-y as it develops. Where's my child?

This track killed it.

And ate it.

"Sex With Sun Ra (Part 2 - Sigillaricia)" seems to be the other side of the story from part one, from the perspective of Sun Ra himself, although both songs would work much better, both on their own and in the context of the album if they were, in fact, about the Egyptian deity. This is the other side of the tale; not only is the speaker not drugged, but the music is bouncier, glitchier and faster (it could even be the exact same from "Sun Ra 1", just twice as fast). At least it's only five minutes and not ten.

Next is "Departed", a reflection of the title track. Much like "Black Antlers", this is full of menace as well, but it's far more repetitive, more present. This killer is more focused and inexorable. And he's running after you. There's also more of that dilated fan singing.  When the key changes, the blade sharpens. This track is, literally, trying to stab you to death.

The final track, "Things We Never Had", sounds like a lot of other music on the album, namely the two "Sex With Sun Ra's", "Black Antlers" and "Departed".  There's more to it, though. This is also menacing, dangerous. There's a strong sense of predator and prey, of being hunted by something both organic and metallic. The moaning and binary rhythm really gets under your skin. There's not a lot here for an song that's nearly twelve minutes, but there is enough to keep the listener interested, especially towards the end when the higher sounds come in; once that happens, I can hear a lot of Coil's influence on the Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral remixes. After that point though, there is a very long fade out, which, I found, diminished the ending for me.

Most everything on Black Antlers feels as if it's being electrocuted for our entertainment. And some of the tracks want to murder us for it.

The repeating musical themes appear to be spooky marimbas, singing into a fan and that pervasive zappy, buzzing sound I'd mentioned earlier. This is a really great album with very strong and disturbing themes. I got bored a bit during "Sun Ra 1" and during the really long lead up to "Gimp", but that's it. 

* The jazz musician, apparently, not the Egyptian deity, although I can picture most of this album drifting through the tunnels underneath the pyramids.

** Updated/reworked/rerecorded version of "Teenage Lightning 1" and "Teenage Lightning 2" from Coil's Astral Disaster.

*** Remember talking into those oscillating fans as children? Okay, well, picture Balance moanhowling into one and you kind of have an idea what this sounds like.

A review of Eels' "Wonderful, Glorious"

In just under a year, from June 2009 to May 2010, Eels released three albums (Hombre Lobo, End Times and Tomorrow Morning). Despite the sheer volume of music (those last two had a handful of bonus tracks as well), I honestly believe that there was one really amazing Eels album there.
Then, they toured, then, they disappeared.
At the end of October 2012, the Eels website dropped a bomb: a brand new Eels album would arrive in just over three months.
Eels would return.
It would be wonderful.
It would be glorious.
I was worried that, with a title like that, E (Mark Oliver Everett III, the man behind Eels) had set himself up for mockery.
I thought, "What if it was neither wonderful nor glorious?! What then?!"
As it turns out, I am happy to report that I had nothing to worry about.
Because this album is fucking awesome.


The album opens with "Bombs Away", a strident declaration from E that he is tired of not being heard; he's going to "shake" and "rattle the house" and also stop "being a mouse". He's letting the bombs fall and blowing open the doors. While the lyrics (punctuated by his defiant, carefree howls) speak of exploding from the gate and damning the consequences, the music seems somewhat less enthusiastic. Is it weird to say that I would have liked more BMPs? There's a line, "Nobody listens to a whispering fool / Are you listening? I didn't think so", that is repeated and changed to reflect E's state of mind. It goes from a question, to a whispered statement ("You're not listening, I didn't think so") to the final, declarative "Are you listening? I know that you are", only the music, while it does build, slightly, throughout the song, doesn't seem to match that abandon and confidence. Hm, I feel as if I'm overexplaining this...okay, putting it another way: there aren't enough changes, musically, to warrant the changes, lyrically. With a name like "Bombs Away", a track opening an album called Wonderful, Glorious, I would have expected a little less restraint.
But.
This is only the opener, and E does like to take his listeners on a journey.
The journey continues with the excellent little funk number, "Kinda Fuzzy", which introduces the theme of fighting ("I'm feeling kinda fuzzy / but the sun's shining bright / don't mess with me I'm up for the fight") as well as the theme of dancing around uncontrollably while listening to this album.
Next up, a sweet, simple song called "Accident Prone", which serves as an interlude between the rollicking "Kinda Fuzzy" and the album's fuzz bass-laced love romp, "Peach Blossom". Listen to this song and try not to dance...go on.
"On The Ropes" is a brave and heartfelt song about not giving up and staying on your feet and winning your fight, no matter what. You can hear the age and fatigue in E's voice, but also the steel and determination lying beneath it.
Next is one of the best tracks on an album full of great tracks, "The Turnaround". This builds, slow and steady, starting at the lowest point and ending with E's triumphant, screaming defiance. Nothing is standing in his way.
Then, "New Alphabet", a harder sounding track with a softer message: when things in your life don't make sense, when you're lost, find a way to make them make sense. Carry on, you can do it.
The heavier tone of "Alphabet" is juxtaposed nicely with the frantic, foot stompin' feel of "Stick Together". Oh, those drums... Something about this feels almost like an old fashioned tent revival...or the scene in the buddy comedy when they accidentally rob a bank and are trying to get away with it. It feels...rampant.
Some more juxtaposition with "True Original", which sounds like a continuation of "The Longing" from Hombre Lobo. The last verse, the one that goes: "And if a gun was pointed at her / I would stand between the bullet and her / and if not being with me is what makes her happy / I'd take that bullet too" is just a bit too clunky and obvious to be effective, it sounds like something a heartsick teenager might say.
Which may have been E's intent.
So ignore me.
EVEN MORE JUXTAPOSITION with "Open My Present". If I had to sum this song up in six words they would be as follows: this dude wants to bone...now. The song itself is fun and sassy, but the simple and repetitive lyrics get old fast, which is a problem for a song that's just over three minutes long.
We get it, you're horny.
Next is another one of my favorite tracks, "You're My Friend". Just as with "Present" the lyrics are pretty simplistic, sounding a bit like Randy Newman at times ("you're my friend / you've done a lot of really nice things for me / and I won't forget 'em / do you know how much you mean to me?"), but the heart of the song is just so sweet and pure that it doesn't feel simple, it ends up feeling true, sincere. Also, musically, it's, by far, the most interesting song on the album, infused with plinking, blippy synths and guitars that sound like Casio clockwork...it's a veritable midi-parade, and it's just great.
Second to last, we have another really excellent track, "I Am Building A Shrine", which centers around bringing one's love for another into the afterlife; yet again, a subject that, if handled wrong, could come off as cheesy (or creepy), but here, coming from E, it comes off as nothing but genuine and loving.
The final track, "Wonderful, Glorious" is exactly what it should be: not the typical "well, the world is shitty and made of shit and everyone is dead and dying but, somehow, SOMEHOW, I will carry on..." *tear rolls*, but a huge, open festival of exultation. There is a choir and it fits perfectly. Towards the end, the ebullience is palpable; this is the sound of the sun rising on E's heart and it is just so beautiful...

And then, there are the bonus tracks...*
Usually, these are something to be tacked on to sell a few more records to the die hard fans who want...no...need...to own everything an artist does and are, for the most part, forgettable.
Not. Here.
The first sounds a bit like Eels covering a Screamin' Jay Hawkins remake of the old Eels b-side "Stepmother" (but with one's mother as the subject matter instead). It's called "Your Mama Warned You" and the git-tars contained within are dirty.
Love it.
Then there's "I'm Your Brave Little Soldier", which, continuing the trend, sounds like another band; Magnetic Fields, perhaps. This is a great upbeat track with an awesome and adorable little shuffling thump.
And I think it's about homeless people who are in love...I think.
Next, "There's Something Strange", seems to be E complaining about his neighbors.
Nothing more, nothing less. Some nice, slinky guitars and Doors-esque keys make this more than just an odd novelty. I have a feeling this might have been composed for a film...perhaps one about annoying neighbors.
Finally, there's "Happy Hour (We're Gonna Rock)". You know how, every once in a while, you just wish that a b-side had been made into an a-side?
Yeah.
This song...makes me want to twist. The fuzz bass will kill everyone...
You ever hear how E is always threatening to kill us with rock?
Well, he may have just done it with this track. Why this isn't on the album, I just cannot fathom.
After these four tracks which range from solid to brain-explodingly good, there are eight more tracks, some from their 2010 and 2011 world tours and some from in studio radio appearances, all of which make me want a full live album release like Eels did in the old days.

So.
Is this the best Eels album ever?
Does it top their earlier stuff?
No, but it's their best since Blinking Lights.
Do I have a few issues with Wonderful, Glorious?
Yes, musically, I wish there had been more experimentation as there was with "You're My Friend".
But, as I mentioned before: it's fucking awesome.
Now, I'm going to avoid the cliches that everyone is going to have to deal with in the coming days and weeks by not saying something stupid like "this album certainly is.......wonderful and glo-blah blah blah-jerk-spurt."
What I am going to do is tell you to purchase it.
I don't usually do that.
I tend to be more diplomatic and say something like "if you enjoy so and so" or "if you're a fan of such and such"...not in this case.
Buy this album; either the regular or the deluxe version, it doesn't matter (although the deluxe has more good music on it and why you wouldn't want more good music makes utterly no sense to me or anyone).
Buy it.
You will like it, because it's fucking awesome.
Then, go see Eels in concert and have the rest of your face blown off by their blistering rock show.





* If you bought the deluxe edition...which I did.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - January 2013

Nine Inch Nails

Well, they did it. They said "Q1 2013" and, by Christ, they did it.
The full length How to destroy angels_ album,* "Welcome oblivion"** is set for release on Tuesday, March 5th...although I won't believe it until I'm listening to/complaining about its shortcomings on Thursday, February 28th when it leaks onto the internet.***
Also, I was just complaining that I don't have enough seizures...thanks How_to_^destroy$%%^___angels!!@$$#%
How to destroy angels_ - "The loop closes" music video.
Then, on the 31st, they released album covers, track listings and yet another new song and video. The song hasn't had a chance to grown on me yet and the video is what would happen if Gollum was in The Road in your nightmares.
How to destroy angels_ - "How long?" music video.

Oh, also, Nine Inch Nails is going to return to touring some time in 2013 with Adrian Belew as their guitarist.
No biggie.

Eels
Album leaked.
Sounds awesome.
Review soon.


They Might Be Giants

On a personal note: I've had the song "Nanobots"**** stuck in my head since December 29th.
Which is a very good sign.
On a less personal, more awesome note, with little more than a day's notice, TMBG dropped the first three tracks of Nanobots via Amazon and iTunes on Tuesday the 22nd. Along with the excellent and catchy-as-hell "Call Your Mom", fans can now check out "Lost My Mind" (a track I didn't love live but which sounds great on wax) and the Flansburgh helmed "Black Ops", which harkens back to "Spy", "Working Undercover For The Man" and "The Shadow Government", in content if not sound.
Also, the band released a free iPhone/iPad app called, simply, They Might Be Giants. The design is simply and darling and kinda sorta serves as a Dial-A-Song, but not really.
If you have an app-friendly device and are also into TMBG, check it, totally, out RIGHT HERE.


Atoms For Peace released a new track from their new album, Amok, arriving February 25th. While not as enthralling as "Default" was, this new one, "Judge Jury And Executioner" is still very solid.
AND a (secret) new track from the b-side to "Default" called "What The Eyeballs Did" which is superbassed to the MAX. To find it, you have to go to their web site (www.atomsforpeace.info) and click on the Arco Street clock tower.
Very cool stuff.
Hopes still up, anticipation still sizzling.
Check out the super geometric video for "Judge, Jury And Executioner" here.

And, finally, the biggest and most unexpected music news I've ever had the pleasure to share (not that anyone who knows what music is hasn't heard this yet): in a little over a month, we're getting a brand new David Bowie album.
At midnight on Tuesday, January 8th (his 66th birthday), a press release announcing his 30th album (dropping March 12th), titled The Next Day, was posted on the official David Bowie site as well as a link to a video for the first single, "Where Are We Now?" and pre-order options.
I'm not even going to say anything.
2013 can only go down from here.





* Originally slated for Q1 2011.

** Not sure if that's a suggestion, a command or a greeting.

*** Bless you, huge, sloppy, dying record industry!

**** The title track off their new album, also dropping March 5th.

A review of Coil's "Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil"

So...imagine if, sometime after the release of Musick to Play in the Dark, Vol. 2, a Coil fan sees John Balance on the street or in a supermarket or worshipping at the same blood-soaked, black mass as himself. Making sure not to corner him or bother him, the fan approaches Balance and shyly introduces himself. He tells Balance that he's a huge fan and he loves Coil; that Coil has changed his life, inspired him and everything else a great artist does for his fans and loves to hear about.
They chat back and forth and, at the end of said chat, the fan, feeling that burst of confidence one feels after meeting, talking to and discovering his favorite musician isn't a prick, while shaking Balance's hand, off handedly, says, "And, seriously, I don't think you guys have sold out."
Balance, who was genuinely enjoying this little exchange up to that point, falters and stops shaking the fan's hand.
"I'm sorry...what do you mean?" he says.
The fan, suddenly losing that confidence, stammers something like, "Oh...uh...n-n-nothing...I mean...n-no...uh..."
Balance, still holding the fan's hand, squeezes it, just enough.
He leans in close and just a whisper of the ranting psychopath he channels on the Coil albums creeps into his voice. "Tell me...what...you...mean...boy."
The fan, now shit scared, blurts out, "Well, you know, a lot, well, not a lot, but some, a few, several fans think that you guys maybe, kind of, well...you know, like those Musick to Play in the Dark albums...they...well, every song had vocals on the last one and you know some people, not me, think that, you know...maybe you guys have, you know..." he trails off.
"Sold. Out." Balance finishes.
"...yeah."
There is a long, considering silence as Balance, who is still clutching the fan's hand, looks off into the middle distance. Minutes pass and the fan has actually wet himself a little when, finally, Balance turns, slowly, back to him, a fierce grin on his face and fire in his eyes, and says, in a poisonous, deliberate voice, "You...just...fucking...wait."
Then he consumes the fan's soul, gets a spot of tea, enters the studio with dear "Uncle Sleazy" at his side and creates the following album.
Imagine all that.
Because I did.

"Higher Beings Command"*, a harsh and grating buzz like an error pitched low and drawn out, welcomes listeners to this latest work by Coil. Some chains jingle faintly in the background, contributing additional flavor. This is an orchestrated malfunction, a roar from a broken, digital maw, and, although it's little more than pure texture, it's an excellent opener, subtle and sinister. Plus, at just over four minutes, it doesn't outstay its (un)welcome.
The scrambled radio signal overlayed with the unsettling marimba on "I Am The Green Child"** does a great job of purveying a strong sense of disarray, confusion, that something is damaged, but it's when the muffled voice of your favorite grandfather, deep in the throes of late stage Alzheimer's and with his mouth stuffed with cotton, starts speaking that things get really fucking creepy.
Did you know grandpa was a priest in a suicide cult?
The marimba adds a lot to the atmosphere on this, but it really is Balance's vocals that take the taco.***
Oh, and, hey, if you weren't shitting yourself already, at one point, Balance just starts laughing., but not in a "we're sharing a joke" way, more like a "I've put my darkness inside of you and soon it shall hatch and bear oleaginous, ebon fruit" way.
Thanks, John.
Towards the end, those radio interference buzzes get more prominent and try to be scary, but their effort is wasted: the listener has already died.
But, just in case they aren't dead, Balance throws in one of his trademark moan/howls at the very end, like the cherry on the sundae...if the cherry is made of fear and the sundae is made of nightmares.
Next is "Beige", which consists of tidal waves of electronic discord****, slowly sloshing back and forth, ebbing and flowing, between the left and right channels.
And that's about it.
"Beige" flows right into "Lowest Common Abdominator" which is almost the exact same track, but with some added texture; the calm seas are frothing, menacing. Did LCA and "Beige" really need to be two separate tracks? Wait, I've got a better one for you...did LCA, "Beige" and "Free Base Chakra" really need to be three separate tracks?
Some backwards cymbal hisses are tossed in and some of the noises from "Beige" and LCA are pitched a bit differently at times, but, overall, there's not too much changing here. These three could have been one, sixteen minute track...but, then again, if it's good enough for Coil, it's good enough for me.
And speaking of good enough for me...the final eighteen tracks of Shallowness are one song.
It is called "Tunnel of Goats" and...hm.
Okay, originally, I was just going to post links and have you listen rather than waste space here just calling the whole thing "shitty, abrasive, awful, boring, noisy fucking noise", but then I considered that nothing is just "noise". Even the most nondescript noise has texture and depth and there has to be something that can be said about it or else it doesn't technically exist.
So.
The right channel is quiet, Silent Hill radio sounds letting you know there are monsters here. The left channel is a loud, repeating progression of what sounds like four "notes"*****. There are slight variations to the sounds coming from both channels; they phase, splutter, stutter and strobe. You want something positive about this? Nice texture. The noise in the left channel resembles a guitar at times. Some singing begins at the end of "Tunnel of Goats V"******, although it's more like monks alternately chanting and talking...about animals and dying and shit, but not about tunnels or goats. Which disappoints me.
The singing is finished by TOG 9 and, although I actively tried to pay attention, I started getting bored and tuning out by the end of 11; diminishing returns like a motherfucker. Another positive note: these guys really know how to make noise. In fact, I'll go a step further and say that this "music" would be just perfect for torturing prisoners of war with sleep deprivation.
At one point, some bugs start chewing on the right channel, but I don't really care.
In the end, listeners who have soldiered through this entire twenty plus minute thing are rewarded with......nothing.
Not even goats.
 Everything just stops.
Then, after about a minute of blissful, blessed silence, you get fifteen seconds of John Balance's disturbed/disturbing laughter.
And thus ends Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil

This album can be described as "textured" just as an ass studded with broken glass, rusty nails and the suppurating sores caused by said glass and nails can be called "textured".
I can't help but feel that the laughter at the very end of "Tunnel of Goats" is at me.
Not with me and not at the fact that constant shallowness does, in fact, lead to evil, but because I just listened to this whole thing.
You win this one, asshole, you win this one.




* An excellent song title

** Whether this is a reference to the green children of Wollpit, I have no clue; most likely, knowing Coil (which I do not), it is (or not).

*** The Taco of Inchoate, Screaming Horror

**** This might be a tortured guitar...

***** That's in quotes because every sound falls somewhere on a musical scale.

****** Each "Tunnel of Goats" varies in length from five minutes to about thirty seconds.