How To Destroy Angels

Trent Reznor warned Earth that Nine Inch Nails would no longer be touring after last year. Already the first side project has emerged! With his wife! She can turn knobs apparently, showcased in the "teaser" video offered on the mini site. Of course, knowing Trent, they also have Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, DoubleSpeak, Avatar happy meals, laptops singing in random outhouses to unsuspecting campers, etc. The video has got to be the most boring teaser video ever made. It is devoid of intrigue. Such a salesman! He knows we're hooked already, he doesn't have to show us ANYTHING. At least the search for the next best logo (behind the NIN logo) has begun.

Mouth of the Architect - The Violence Beneath

Read the entire review of good at The Silent Ballet.

On their own, each song offers something unique. "Restore" feels like the ship has a broken rudder, leaving our dizzied, metalloid pirates to rage on about how distracted we have become that we cannot see things as they truly are. There is a lot of burning and breaking being foretold on the EP, as Mouth of the Architect unapologetically expresses that real change is only going to come about through suffering, destruction, and the like, on a mass scale. The many vocal textures seem more like instruments than vehicles for lyrics, and as with most metal, it is not easy to discern what is being said. The inclusion of Peter Gabriel's song at the end seems to indicate that the band members are in fact romantics, not exactly eagerly awaiting the crush of global cleansing; they likely believe in the power of love over all else. It also says that this group from Ohio is capable of trying anything, and now that over ten people can be called "former members" of the band, it seems ever more likely that the project will produce interesting and ego-smashing results.

Loscil live

What a treat to see Scott Morgan come out and play a set on Record Store Day. Loscil rarely does live gigs and prefers to keep a low profile. His whole family was there, which was great, as I brought Everest along, and he was actually really interested in the sound coming out of the PA speakers high above his head. He would point and say, "Dah." I said, "Soundwaves." Or, "Mixing Board." He then demanded to get into the expensive LPs. The people at Redcat Records left LPs everywhere, like they were going out of style! At least they were lined up in rows, looking somewhat organized. A few people paid money for them! I caught a glimpse at the round, black saucers contained in the paper sleeves. Curious, I purchased a copy of Endless Falls, the new Loscil (as well as the new Erykah Badu, which has a killer album cover. Hopefully Everest will get lost in there some day). Mr. Morgan signed it for me. Apparently he lives in my neighborhood.

Here is a link to a two minute interview with the photographer of Loscil's album cover. It's so cute, you simply must hear.

Interview with Bersarin Quartett

Bersarin Quartett was one of my favorite albums (from '08), and still is. I interviewed Thomas Bucker (who is in Germany), and he was really warm and receptive. He's re-releasing his record through Denovali, on vinyl, and as gratitude for doing a nice interview, the label is sending me a copy! So lovely.

Olan Mill - Pine

Read my entire review of awesome on The Silent Ballet

Good music is capable of frolicking in the unconscious mind. The Rihannas and the Timbalands can cook up a catchy batch of popcorn, but once the body excretes the sugars and salts, the satisfaction is lost. Pine speaks like a great story, in that, as the critic Walter Benjamin descibed, "It does not expend itself. It preserves and concentrates its strength and is capable of releasing it even after a long time." This album is surprisingly grand for being so short, and once the closer "Flume" has ever so slowly faded away, it resonates in the negative space of perception. Pine has great power within it. Benjamin might compare it, like a story, to seeds of grain that "have lain for centuries in the chambers of the pyramids shut up air-tight and have retained their germinative power to this day." Pick up this album if you seek the chalice of perpetual self-rejuvenation.

Olan Mill - Pine (Free Download) by Serein

Floyd for the NES

Godspeed You! Black Emperor say, "Fuck it, let's play."

Since I'm in the instrumental veins, I better put this up. The most influential of all bands in these circuits is reforming after about7 years of hiatus. They are curating All Tomorrow's Parties for three nights, performing each day. In ENGLAND. Not in Canada, their home turf. Hopefully they will play where I am (i.e. their home turf). Here is the official "press" release, if you can call it that. Godspeed are usually very opposed to The Press and all it stands for. Their public existence is enigmatic by rule.

I wrote up a pretty decent account of 2010's Cumulus Festival. I hope I did everyone involved justice and represented all the bands well. It's tough to balance real people in an article that also features bits of personal interests of my own. This was the first editorial piece I've really ever done. My first on the spot reporting kind of thing. I really enjoyed it. I was lucky that my wife encouraged me to go all three days and then some, while she took care of our son and our house... and our chickens. Thanks Julia!

It's finally published. As are the four interviews Steve and I did with some of the bands.

Grails: Black Tar Prophecies IV

Need I say more? Ok, I will. I invented a new term to describe Grails. Epiclectic.