BLAST FROM THE not so distant PAST: Tenacious D rock n' roll Invitation Request

I am digging through my old files, and I found this little gem from when Julia and I found out Tenacious D were playing in Vancouver. The story goes that we are ridiculously devout D fans, and their music represents a special fraternity in our marriage that cannot be broken. When we found out about this show it was already sold out. So we put together a swarthy Craigslist ad. A day or two later, by some miracle of the heavens, a second show was added, and we ended up getting seats in the FRONT ROW. We even took a sharpie to the show and designed our own tee shirts on the spot to further supercharge the occasion. Jack Black sweated on me. Definitely a highlight of my concert going life...


We be two humble peasants wandering the path that was chosen. A man. A woman. Side by side, in rare friendshipian union, staring toward the blazing horizon, lusting after all the possibilities of the world. Nary a day goes by when we do not weep at the prospect of missing our mentors' grand judgment of rock upon our beautiful Canadian soil, for we missed our chance at snagging an invitation. When the D doth come a summoning, we must appear before their holy feet, to be learned another lesson of life, to have our socks rocked clean off, to get one step closer to answering the Ultimate Question.

For us, this would be a life-changing event. If yee be selling or losing tickets, lose them this way. If you want to ensure that your pretties are given to someone who will maximize their enjoyment, thus causing the Earth's biospheric aura to swell productively, please consider us.

PS, we have a tv and a playstation2 that we want to sell, but it can definitely be implemented into our obtainment of Tenacious D rock invitations. If you want said electronics, do come a calling.... with love Nayt and Julia

A Winged Victory For The Sullen

Behold. This album is so gorgeous. Not to be missed. My full review on The Silent Ballet is pretty well written, too, I think.

Not everything is immediately apparent on this debut album. If you know Adam Wiltzie from Stars Of The Lid or The Dead Texan you know to expect orchestral drones and chamber minutaie performed by real instruments and expertly manipulated guitars. If Dustin O'Halloran’s performance prowress has you excited, you know you are in for some understated poignancy on rare pianos. If you heard that Peter Broderick guests on violin or that Hildur Guðnadóttir plays some cello, you might hear this album go by like a constellation secretly appearing at dusk and ask, “Wait, what?” It is that effortless in execution. It can take many listens, for instance, before one realizes a harp is being played on track four. At first, it all blurs together as one song, as if the mind and heart have some growing to do before the details begin to pop out. Where were all these supposed instruments, one wonders? But, boy, after some flexing of the mind, do these details pop out!

a winged victory for the sullen 'steep hills of vicodin tears' by kranky

Talvihorros - Descent Into Delta

I done reviewed a pretty good guitar drone record. Ben Chatwin is pretty on it.

Chatwin seems to get better with each Talvihorros release, and Descent Into Delta is a fine example of the diverse ways in which a guitar can contribute to the crafting of a cohesive environment. Overall it has the sensibility of Aidan Baker and the real-time nocturnal features of Expo 70. Chatwin improvises much of his work and goes in to tweak it later. Yet despite the obvious amount of care, this release has the air of spontaneity. On the final track, “Delta”, a viola wanders like a ghost through the dead of night, clearly present, but without tangible form, like a lucid dreamer in the ether of sleep.

Nest - Body Pilot

Nest are lovely aren't they? A more extensive exploration of this record is here. Here is a snippet:

More restrained and subtle than their previous release, this EP focuses on the phenomenon of flight or weightlessness. The opening "Stillness" provides the clearest link to Retold, inviting the listener to play the releases back-to-back. Out of a delicately sustained set of strings emerges an inquisitive and spartan piano motif. These singular notes and chords languish in the open air, vestal in feeling. The background textures and chordal ambience beckon a letting go into the clouds, which is where Nest heads next with tentative, outstretched wings.

Nest / The Dying Roar (Preview / Excerpt) by Serein

Paavoharju - Ikkunat näkevät

Ikkunat näkevät is a brief collection of rare tunes and alternate takes from one of Finland’s outsider forest collectives. Paavoharju’s previous two LPs burst with imagination, extracting syrup from trees and turning it into blissful psychedelic pop and folky toy-tronica with male and female Finnish vocals. The band's edgy but gentle sound is entirely unique and mesmerizing, yet decidedly odd, like Bjork and The Sugarcubes trying to pull off a Broadcast and Focus Group record. The same sound is on offer here, but on the whole it's not nearly as intriguing as on the full records. Three tracks are reworked versions of some of the group's more memorable tunes, notably "Kevätrumpu" and "Aamuauringon tuntuinen". The familiarity of the hooks contained in these mutant versions glues the EP together, but if you've heard these before and aren't an obsessive fan, they are fairly similar to the originals. Paavoharju usually have a dark shadow lurking behind the smiling face of their songs, but the newer tracks here feature a more blissed out take on the dreamworlds they love flying around in. The title track is more of a traditional ballad featuring violin and piano as well as hand-on-heart male vocals, grounding the spacecraft for three minutes in rural, Finnish folklore. Overall, this EP is a digestable twenty minutes describing what these ascetics can do, and a lovely place to begin exploring some of Finland's more unusual groups.

Paavoharju: Ikkunat näkevät by Fonal Records

Donato Wharton - A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark

An intricate, after hours foray into ambient expertise. Read my full review, or read this snippet:

The sonic territory is somewhat akin to the solo work of Aidan Baker, but Donato Wharton is more interested in the details than in melody or ambient propulsion. Tracks like “Breath Held”, graced by gong like plucks, white tones, amplifier gain and solitary guitar ambling, may be spartan, but their sonics are intelligently designed and highly evocative. These pieces feel like reflections of the human experience, rather than edgeless depths and clouds. As a result, the interacting creatures and winds of White Rainbow feel more like arctic shorelines than descriptors of arctic shorelines: memories grafted onto the backs of storm petrels.

Donato Wharton / Ink Mountains (Full Track) by Serein

Weird Al directing the Jr. Phiharmonic Orchestra of California at the 54th annual "Battle of Batons"

Special. It's from 1991. I doubt Al is this limber these days.

Beware of Saftey - Leaves/Scars

I wrote a review again. This time it was for the beloved Beware of Safety. Here is an excerpt:

Throughout Leaves/Scars, the bass playing is virtuous and versatile, and contributes a new aspect to the band: a sense of humor. This new levity is a welcome buffer between the album's emotional highs and evocative rock conversations. A soft but chipper bass riff introduces the playful “Crooked Nails For Catching Skin”. Eventually it is joined by an intelligent shimmery guitar line and a pair of expressive melodies. The opening riff almost sounds like something one makes up the first time one picks up a bass; but once the drums are added, and the song evolves, it's impossible to imagine a different phrasing. This track is the album's most exciting, as each section is in constant motion. The rhythms have bounce, the guitar melodies morph, and the playing sounds urgent and emotional.

Plaid compose music for robot band

Extract from composition: 'Glide' recorded and filmed at Gasworks winter 2008

Noveller - Glacial Glow

I wrote a full review of Glacial Glow here. I always want to route for the female artists doing something different, and fortunately Noveller is getting better with every album.

After an overall presentation of slow motion post rock and icy but vivacious drones, “Waxwing” is the experimental gem. Scrambled cetacean calls reveal themselves to be lost violins and reversed, reverbed guitar plucks. A new movement enters with a flurry of looped eccentricities, guided by (possibly) a cello and bolstered by more high-neck guitar busy work. It invokes microorganisms or perhaps a flock of wintering birds (the song’s namesake) all feasting on a leafless berry tree. Sarah Lipstate then lets the listener down gently like a sinking hot air balloon with “Ends”, a simple and earnest conclusion.

M. Mucci - The Secret is Knowing When to Close Your Eyes

It's rare these days to find an expert guitar recording without added studio embellishment. Canadian Michael Mucci graced our listening ears with last year’s lush and acoustic-heavy Time Lost, a refreshing take on the American primitive technique. This follow-up cassette is limited to just 100 copies, making the singular and gentle electric guitar vignettes that emerge seem all the more personal. (Don’t fret*, digital copies are available.) The Secret is Knowing When to Close Your Eyes is an ode to the beaches and culture of Malta, and the ease with which one feels a true sense of home in a gorgeous yet humbling environment. With a nod to Loren Connors’ style of play, M. Mucci captures a truly emotional and honest performance, not one of extreme emotional highs and lows, but one of tranquility and comfort. A title like “The Calm of Knowing What is Going to Happen Next“ reflects the guitar player’s fragility and confidence. A detectably bittersweet tone is found in “The Three Cities”, but the resounding feeling of peaceful composure is featured in the title track, where notes and chords sculpt a lovely offering of gratitude. The Secret is Knowing When to Close Your Eyes is a wonderful 25-minute album for holding still.

The Caretaker - An empty bliss beyond this World

This album is exceptional. Read my review, of which I am somewhat proud.

If you play this for a room of unsuspecting friends, they may quickly remark how much they enjoy it, but as Kirby's movements start to play out and mysteriously disappear, something odd may unfold in their souls. You may have given your guests the gift of second guessing, misplaced nostalgia, and temporary mental illness - even bliss! If this suggestion is a bit much, consider An empty bliss beyond this World as the perfect soundtrack choice for your haunted house this Halloween. I know it will be playing in mine, daring children and adults alike to question this reality and spend a moment in their own halls of horror.

Years Of Rice And Salt - Nothing of Cities

This record is simply joyful. I wrote a review.

To sound “happy” on record takes confidence, and Years of Rice and Salt have it in spades. This album is strong from start to finish, weaving traditional post-rock, experimental stanzas, folky gaeity, triumphant singalongs, emotive journeying and seamless instrumental interplay. Perhaps it is the band's attempt at conjuring an imagined future, a statement implying that change is possible. To behold these songs in a place where cities play no part is the perfect strategy. Nothing of Cities is a celebration of life and sound.

Nothing of Cities (2011) by Years of Rice and Salt

Amon Tobin - Isam

Amon Tobin! I wrote a review, which was, admittedly, from the perspective of HIGH EXPECTATIONS. Ah well. He's good, but this album is not...listenable, most of the time.

Isam is complicated, and relentlessly so. I never thought I’d say this, but Amon Tobin, an artist who changed my life and is in a league of his own, has slipped up, folks. For all its production complexity and the artistic talent incorporated into the release, this musical journey falls way flat. Amon Tobin is perhaps going somewhere I cannot go. They say that if it’s too loud, you’re too old, but I don’t think that applies here. Instead, let’s say that if it’s too not-good, you’re not fooling anyone. At least not me.

Hans Zimmer & Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Pirates Of The Caribbean IV: On Stranger Tides

Yes, I reviewed this album. And I saw the movie, one of two I've seen this year, the other being TRON whose soundtrack is more consistent. However, the actual music on this one is arguably better. It's just... the remixes that kill the thing as a cohesive unit.

Those who enjoy following up an adventure film score with drum n’ bass remixes will find the complete package here. Barring Photek’s more than decent rehashing, the rest of the (six) remixes tacked on to the end of On Stranger Tides reek of Disney shmaltz, including a few with sword-on-sword clangs doubling as percussion (read: fail). Were these not involved whatsoever, the soundtrack would be pretty sensational. Hans Zimmer and his composer posse have been hitting home runs lately with scores like Inception and Sherlock Holmes. Here, Zimmer pairs his rock-influenced symphonics with the work of Rodrigo Y Gabriela, a Mexican duo who spent many years busking metal tunes in Ireland before rising to international distinction. The duo ends up stealing the show. Along with a rough sounding violin performer, they give the film a flavor distinct from that of the other Pirates films; it’s their soundtrack, with Zimmer doing his thing in a complementary role. (It’s their “Y” vs Zimmer’s ampersand!) Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s machine gun precision on the acoustic axes is a revelation. (They play so fast they ice their hands after every show!) Their talents are utilized particularly well on the playful “Angelica” and the riveting “The Pirate That Should Not Be”.

Overall the eleven primary pieces are paced very well, but whenever the flamenco/metal duo isn’t involved, Zimmer’s soundtrack seems to be missing that unique something that he seems to conjure time and time again. The forced feminine mystery of the “Mermaids” track sounds like something we’ve heard a lot before, unless one listens on headphones for the bizarre, sickly non-harmonies in the distant background. In the film it does its job - but really, how crazy can a man get when he’s working for Disney? The articulate acoustic shredding makes up plenty for the blatant, orchestral hot points, but those darned remixes continue to perplex.