The White Stripes + Zombies + Blood Swamp + More Blood =

Album: We Are Night Sky
Artist: Deadboy and the Elephantmen
Genre: Swamp Rock
Year: 2005
Label: Fat Possum

I’m beginning to start these all the same way: I haven’t written anything for a while and I’m not really at the top of my game at the moment. There is laundry that needs doing and I’m falling asleep at the proverbial wheel (a recurring theme to come.) So, here is a quick review of Deadboy and the Elephantmen, a contender for best band name ever. Dax Riggs was the vocalist for Sludge/Doom Metal band Acid Bath. Acid Bath came to an abrupt end when their bass player was killed in a car accident. Since then Riggs has pursued various projects. One of these, Deadboy and the Elephantmen caught my eye and I picked up their album “We Are Night Sky.” I was not disappointed.

I have never been a huge fan of The White Stripes, probably because Jack White has an extremely whiney voice and the drums have usually felt lack luster. Deadboy and the Elephantmen, a guy on guitar/girl on drums duo doesn’t exactly re-invent the wheel, but it does give it a fine and well needed tune up (har har.) Dax Riggs has a fine vocal range (never once whines) and the drums are thumptastic. The genre of swamp rock is an old tradition, and a good one, well suited to an ex-sludge metal pioneer. Lyrically speaking, Deadboy doesn’t stretch that far from Riggs’s previous place as Acid Bath’s screamer. Skulls still rain from the sky and there is no rainbow. Another recurring theme is the night sky; it is contemplated and, once or twice, envied. However, this is much easier to take in one sitting then say “When the Kite Strings Pop.” No bass, obviously, just swampy guitars, bludgeoning drums and Riggs’s bluesy howl. Some of the tracks are entirely acoustic, with just the guitar and Riggs’s voice. One of these “Walking Stick” I think may be one of the finest moments on the album. Other excellent tracks are the opener “Stop, I’m Already Dead” and the lo-fi thrash of “Kissed By Lightning.” Deadboy is refreshing on a number of levels, you have Riggs’s reinventing himself as a swamp rocker and you have proof that the wheel sometimes can be oiled and still run just fine. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The problems are really only existential ones. This is the only Deadboy album, though Riggs’s is continuing in this direction on his solo stuff (His most recent album; "We Sing Only of Blood or Love" is also very good.) Another problem is the simplicity of the music means that I don’t have that much to say about it. It’s good, you should check it out. It’s not my absolute favorite thing in the world, but it’s damn good none the less.

First Movie Review: No More Heroes... I mean, Wanted

Movie: Wanted
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann, Konstantin Khabensky and Angelina Jolie.
Genre: Action/Shooter/Comic Book Adaptation
Year: 2008

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead

I’ve seen a few movies at the theater recently, something I don’t do very often, and I’ve been enjoying myself, in some cases despite myself. Seeing this, I thought I’d give a movie review a shot. Wanted is an action movie based on a comic book by Mark Millar and JG Jones. The original comic was about a man who gets drafted into a super villain secret society who basically rules the world because they wiped out all the heroes in 1986. It’s incredibly over the top and features things like a super villain made of shit (named Shithead no less.) The film adaptation retains a number of elements from the comic (Mayhem, the main character’s name) but drops some of the less desirable aspects like rape, hate crimes and super powers. The movie stars James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, a gutless office drone who suffers from panic attacks and is walked all over by just about everyone he knows, from his anorexic bitch boss to his fuckbender of a best friend who just happens to be screwing Wesley’s girlfriend. All of this changes when Wesley is drafted into the fraternity, an organization of assassins who can slow down their perception of time, bend bullets and select their targets based on the loom of fate (as in A Loom.) What follows is a dark, twisted version of a coming of age story that culminates in McAvoy killing absolutely every other character in the movie. The plot is superior to the comic as it makes the characters in the fraternity a bit more likeable in comparison to their comic book counterparts, but really, the plot of this movie can go fuck itself. I did not go to this movie for the plot, I went to see dozens of people get slaughtered by each other and that’s exactly what I got.

The argument against Wanted is that it rips off The Matrix (Bullet Time, impossible leaps), but it also rips off Fight Club (office drone becomes something more than human.) And I really don’t care. For one, EVERYTHING rips off The Matrix these days, because Bullet Time is so popular. It’s how this movie rips it off that’s fun. Yes, bending the arc of bullets is completely impossible, but really the idea is so ridiculous, what more could you want. More? OK. Angelina Jolie is also in this movie and for what ever reason, she’s very convincing as a super hot assassin. Shocking. Moving on. The movie has many other entertaining things like exploding rats, exploding heads and Morgan Freeman. Not to mention my favorite scene where Wesley smacks his best friend in the face with a keyboard and the letters fly by in slow motion reading “Fuck You” with the “U” at the end of “You” being the guys tooth. This movie doesn’t have a point other then mindless gun slinging violence and it does that extremely well. Mark Millar’s comics aren’t known for their dialogue scenes, they are known for their fight scenes. This movie communicates that perfectly. And it’s kind of fun to watch this nameless burke become a super cool assassin. Perhaps the problem with this movie is it asks you to suspend too much disbelief as all the plot twists are over the top. But I think people are too cynical these days, so shelve your fucking ego and go see this movie you cubical drone. It May not be The Dark Knight, but it’s entertaining as fuck.

Andwoo’s Predictably Gushing Yet Awesome Review Of: In The Aero Plane Over The Sea

Album: In The Aero Plane Over The Sea
Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel
Genre: Indie Rock/Folk
Year: 1998
Label: Merge

Where Has Jeff Mangum Gone? No one really knows, do they? For those of you who don’t already know, Jeff Mangum is the driving creative force behind Neutral Milk Hotel, as the band’s primary composer, lyricist, guitarist and vocalist. And he is a genius. It is that simple. His work, the little of it that there is, is essential to the Indie Rock world in the same way that fingers are essential to playing a guitar. It is for this reason that In The Aero Plane Over The Sea is an essential record. It starts out simple, just Mangum and his guitar, and then the rest of the band comes in. Fuzzy Bass, Musical Saws and a piece of awesome brass band compose some of the unusual sounds heard on this album. It is certainly unusual.

Mangum’s lyrics are clear and sung with no irony whatsoever. You can always understand every single word the man is saying and his stories are often tragic, often wonderful and always engaging. According to my friend Ani, this album is about Anne Frank. I know that “Holland, 1945” is definitely about her, but for the rest of the album, I don’t know. I’ve also heard that it’s about tragedies large and small, which would seem to be true as well. Whatever the subject matter, it’s brilliant. That’s the thing about this album, it’s incredibly over-hyped, in fact so much that the hype drove Jeff Mangum into hiding. But the hype is deserved, it is quite perfect, musically, lyrically and it maintains this quiet perfection all the way throughout the album.

I don’t know exactly where Jeff Mangum found this album inside of himself, but that place leaves me awestruck. I don’t know if I could come up with anything like this, even if I had all eternity and was omniscient. Many people want Mangum to come out of hiding. They want him to return to the world of music and wow us again and again by repeating his brilliance with more albums like Aero Plane. He doesn’t have to though; he’s already created his masterpiece. If he wants to stay hidden away from his fame, I understand perfectly. I wouldn’t want the entire Indie rock world staring at me all the time either.

-Afterthought-

I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love Bob Dylan. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It. I Love It.

You Got Your Bones To Make A Beat. You Better Make A Mighty Good Beat!

Album: Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
Artist: Cloud Cult
Genre: Indie Rock
Year: 2005
Label: Earthology/Baria

In my explorations of the world of Music, I have a lot of stockpiled good karma and it pays off often. One of these pay offs came in the form of Cloud Cult, a band which I was introduced to by my friend Alex. Cloud Cult power is twofold; for one, all the musicians involved are talented and for another, the lyrics are great. I’m not sure how to describe lyrics, never really have been, but they at times seem whimsical at others deadly serious. Recurring themes are things like overcoming great hardships, wonder of everyday life and positive energy. That’s one of the great things about Cloud Cult to me is that they always seem to be moving in the positive direction even when the shit hits the fan.

One of my favorite songs, “Moving to Canada,” is about the end of the world (sort of) but still seems more positive than the majority of music out there today. It’s nice to find something that isn’t wallowing in the doom and gloom of the world and tries to acknowledge some of the good. Another example is Transistor Radio. In the song, Craig Minowa (Cloud Cult’s leader) tells a tale of hearing his dead grandfather’s voice in his radio, his grandfather then leads him on a journey where he encounters wondrous but ordinary things, and even after his grandfathers voice leaves him he continues the journey. It’s a really beautiful story and it makes you want to believe in impossible things like that. Minowa’s songs are sung with an intense kind of earnestness. It’s honesty like that that also furthers the music’s wonderful feel.

The music is fantastic. Lots of it is guitar, bass and drum based, which is totally conventional, but thrown into the mix are a violin and what I believe is an electric cello. Proving that even convention can be made good with these days, Cloud Cult’s guitar rock is the perfect blend of arty and accessible. I know that usually I favor things with all the accessibility of a forty foot roof, but this is a rare situation where the “pop” aspect of this music doesn’t serve to discredit it but rather speaks to the artists skill in creating a sound that is both unique to them but still manages to be pleasing to many ears. This is Indie Rock, not polished pop crap so don’t be scared away from getting this album because I said the word “pop” and didn’t chuck biscuits. There is always more to say, but for now I think I’ll leave it at that. This is a fantastic album and you should pick it up now, because the world could use more positive energy. Ignore your inner pessimist and get this album.

Show Review: Visualize Industrial Collapse!

Main Act: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Opening Acts: Mute Socialite, Jason Webley
Venue: Neumos

Jason Webley has, in my experience, never failed to deliver the goods. Each album, while not all masterpieces, is excellent and interesting. He has a unique voice in folk music, somewhere between a seafaring pirate and roaming vagabond. How he got paired with the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was a question that inspired much speculation and honestly had an answer which was ultimately less spectacular then I thought it would be. But how this show came to be isn’t as important as the show itself. I like Neumos, it’s a good venue. Good size, shape and atmosphere. I got to the show when doors opened an hour before the show actually started. Fortunately, I didn’t go alone and had people to talk to through the monotonous pre-show music. The first act of the evening was Mute Socialite, an instrumental metal ensemble that had two drummers, one of whom was Moe! Staiano, a former member of Sleepytime. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of dual drummers and I like a nice powerful drum sound, stereo drums all the better. With that Mute Socialite had one thing going for it and little else. Fortunately they didn’t play long and weren’t uninteresting, actually, they were fairly entertaining, even at one moment covering a section of Sleepytime's “Sleep is Wrong”.

After Mute Socialite hustled off stage, Webley was on. The first time I saw Webley he had a full band, tonight it was just him, an accordion, guitar and jug of coins. Any skepticism I had at the idea of his solo show was crushed utterly by the sheer entertainment of his performance. Obviously, this is how he began I thought, playing solo shows with sparse resources. It was a very raw performance, with Webley playing “The Last Song”, “Dance While the Sky Crashes Down” and “Icarus” among others. One of the coolest things was watching him provide his own percussion by stamping his feet. The accordion is a hefty instrument and anyone who can play it and stamp out their own percussion deserves your respect. Like the first time I saw him, he was funny and charismatic and an overall nice guy. Other similarities were the performance of “There’s Not A Step We Can Take That Does Not Bring Us Closer” which involved the crowd becoming an orchestra of violins and trombones. Once again I was a trombone, and my vocal chords are still paying for it. This turned out to be the 10th year anniversary of Webley’s career and in honor of that he preformed “Music that Tears Itself Apart” and subsequently convinced the entire room to start tickling each other. The man puts on good shows.

After Webley left the stage, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum began to set up. This in itself was something to behold. The Museum has a lot of homemade instruments, which have names like “The Sledgehammer Dulcimer”, “Piano Log” and “The Vatican”. Many of these are percussion/string combination devices which produce familiar yet alien sounds. These instruments were, I believe, assembled by their Bass player Dan Rathburn. But no matter who built the instruments, one cannot help but recognize the band genius. Dressed in quasi-tribal outfits and makeup, the band creates a cacophonous sound that could very well be the disorganized collapse of society as we know it. Tagging a genre could be difficult but ultimately I decided on “Avant-Progressive/Chamber Metal”. Inventive percussion, invented instruments and philosophically apocalyptic lyrics made for an excellent combination. I only took my eyes off the band to grin manically at my comrades. Seriously, this shit rules and it was something of an anomaly that I was able to see it. If not for Jason Webley this probably would have been a 21+ show and it was unless you got you tickets in advance like I did. Because of that I was able to witness the brilliance of songs like “Helpless Corpses Enactment” and “The Angel of Repose”. Carla Kihlstedt, Dan Rathburn, Nils Frykdahl, Matthias Bossi and Michael Mellender create something brilliant and terrifying every time they step on stage. The show was loud, chaotic and powerful. And yet, completely contained as it was clear that the band had these death-prog anthems down to a science. Maybe it was a science. Each member of the band except Frykdahl played at least three instrument, homemade and otherwise. And they were all fantastic players at them too. What made this show one the best I’ve been to in a while was that I was right in front and had an unobstructed view of everything. During one song, Rathburn was playing a trombone right in my face and I had to lean back in order to avoid being hit in the eye. They played for a long time, ending with a fifteen minute prog-jam starting from the base of “Sleep Is Wrong”. I left completely exhausted and thoroughly pleased with myself for having gone.


See also: My reviews for The Cost of Living by Jason Webley & "In Glories Times" by The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Spooky.

Album: Delirium Cordia
Artist: Fantômas
Genre: Dada Metal/Ambient Terror
Year: 2004
Label: Ipecac

I’ve been wondering about writing recently. Specifically, I’ve been wondering if I, being a fairly competent writer can, on a whim, write an excellent piece of music review or if I need some kind of divine inspiration. I’ve had moments of intense inspiration and these have lead to some of my better works. At the same time, when I write without having had one of these moments, I still manage to bang out some kind of paper. Usually, those are pretty good too. You’re probably wondering what the point of all this is. Well, I’m now wondering if having a nightmare can count as divine inspiration. I think I’ve been gearing up to review this album for a while now, and having a nightmare seems like the perfect sign that it’s time to do it.

Fantômas is Mike Patton’s main band. I’ve already wrote about them at length during my previous job (ha ha), and that piece of writing is floating around on the internet somewhere… anyway, on to the album. Each Fantômas album is centered on a different theme and this one’s is a doozy. “Delirium Cordia” is like the soundtrack to an unmade horror film, dark, ominous and filled with an overwhelming sense of dread. The theme this time around is surgery…without anesthetic. Whereas previous Fantômas albums were spastic rides through a realm of jump-cut metal, “Delirium” is a much more drawn out affair. It’s one track long, clocking in at 1:14:17 which makes for a unique listening experience. It’s like a movie with no scene selection, no ability to jump directly to anything, you’re in for the duration. The album begins with the sound of a needle hitting a groove, and then the lights go out and the horror show begins. Operatic, howling vocals, dark ambient stretches and abrupt explosions of noise are the game pieces involved and they are used to terrifying effect. This more than any other Fantômas album drips with Patton’s dementia. Guitarist King Buzzo (Melvins), Bass Player Trevor Dunn (Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant) and Drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer) all contribute in their own way, but only when and where Patton directs them to and sparsely even then. They do get moments to shine though, like about ten minutes in when Dunn’s bass sludges its way through the slowest and most protracted solo you will ever hear in your life. Another great moment is the jazzy piano piece about sixteen minutes in, sounds very noir, like Bohren and Der Club of Gore.

The album isn’t all ambiance, of course, the dark void from which it emerges is filled with samples (mostly of a surgery going wrong), booming distant drums and more creepy sounds than Wes Craven can shake a stick at. As the album goes on the sense of dread builds and builds until eventually it peaks and all we’re left with is the sound of a record skipping…for the last twenty minutes. As I said before, the album is like a soundtrack to an unmade horror film. The exact nature of the film seems like this; a man goes in for surgery and when he goes under, he awakes in a nightmarish version of his reality where bizarre and horrible things happen. Meanwhile, the doctors race furiously to save his life. Cliché? Maybe, but when you reach the end of the album, it’ll be up to you to determine whether or not the man escapes his nightmare and lives, or succumbs to it and dies? I’m not sure which; I guess I’ll have to see the movie.

Clear Your Mind of all that Guitar Hero Bullshit and Listen to This

It is incredibly easy for me to review something negatively. All I have to do is use my gigantic vocabulary and love of a good cuss fest to rip, tear, shred and otherwise reduce something I think should be dead into a pile of steaming rubble. I have done this on several occasions and it gives me a rush of energy similar to what cocaine addicts must feel after their first snort of the day. And while it’s all fun to spit in the eye of musicians who are wasting your, my and everyone else’s time, it is, again, easy and doesn’t bring positive energy into the world. So noting that, I would like to say something good about something.

Album: Clearing
Artist: Fred Frith
Genre: Solo Guitar
Year: 2001
Label: Tzadik

Yes, Solo Guitar is a genre. I decided to review this album almost purely at random and my decision may not have been the best one. But I do like this album as Fred Frith is something of a genius when it comes to the guitar. While the world is filled with these wanktastic guitar solo loving assholes, Frith is like a cool drink of water to quench your thirst for something both refreshing and genuinely original. There aren’t any words, just guitar and probably some pedals. It is simple, beautiful music that would probably please even the Buddha with its grace, minimalism and dare I say Zen. That’s what this is, Zen Guitar.

Frith was originally the guitar player for Henry Cow, an Avant-Garde British act that I’ve heard great things about but never heard. Since Cow, Frith has collaborated with everyone from Bill Laswell to John Zorn, occasionally at the same time. Indeed, one of Frith’s more insane moments was as the bass player for Zorn’s Naked City, a Thrash Jazz act which would discombobulate you with a flick of the wrist and then tear you a new one, all under a minute. But that’s off topic. Clearing is nothing like that. It is, again, simply beautiful, with Frith’s minimalist guitar creating delicate paintings of aural grace. I know I keep repeating myself, but that’s only so I get my point across that this music is brilliant, in a very subtle way.

Individual tracks would be poorly described with words and are better to just experience. I feel to continue talking at this juncture would just be a waste. So, go get this album now. The next time you’re in the need for Zen, put it on. If tracks like The Bow Moon and Open Ocean don’t convince you that there is beauty in the world, then nothing else will. That’s all.

Andwoo VS. Vampire Weekend

Now, I have been having writers block which is an absolute pain in the ass and getting on my nerves. In an effort to destroy this condition in a manner similar to smashing china plates with a hammer, I’m going to be writing and posting at least one review a week from now till the end of summer. I believe it is both healthy and professional to do this. I don’t know if anyone actually reads this thing, but I’ll be damned if I see my writing fall off because of something like boredom.

Album: Vampire Weekend
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Year: 2008
Genre: Indie Pop Rock
Label: XL

Now, I have decided to review Vampire Weekend because it’s been awhile since I tore into something with my fangs, rend it and subsequently threw it on the roof to bleed to death. First off, it has come to my attention that while I was off having a good time with Lillian (my girlfriend, we got Thai food,) the world was having hysterics over this band from New York called Vampire Weekend. Because, apparently, they’re the best/freshest/hippest thing to hit music since Mozart… actually just The Strokes (who’re neither fresh nor hip,) but you see my point. Why this is is a mystery to me, because weeks later, after acquiring Vampire Weekend and listening to it a few times I have to say WHAT THE FUCK? I’ll say it again, WHAT THE FUCK? Because this really sucks (insert Vampire joke here.)

Now, Vampire Weekend gets props for trying something new. What it sounded like to me was some sort of worldly keyboard funkiness which apparently doesn’t sound like anything that’s come before. Actually, it sounds as if early DNA had been a pathetic pop outfit instead of a No Wave Noise fest, sort of. Yes I acknowledge the fact that on this record the Keyboards and Drums take more of a spotlight then the Guitar, but so what. The truth is, is that anytime someone tries something new I’ll give them props for effort, but when it sucks just as much as everything else that’s come before then there isn’t a fucking point is there? Really, what’s the point of hyping all of this innovative sound if said sound is total shit.

Also, that voice. If I sounded like that I would start smoking and drinking heavy liquor so that I either A) get so blitzed that I forget how bad I sound Or B) my voice gets so raspy that I sound like Tom Waits for the rest of my life and die from lung cancer at an early age and therefore am spared the sound of my own voice. The voice is whiney and weak, so much so that it makes any merit the music might have had be swept away in a flood of crap that flows from his mouth. Mind you, there wasn’t that much merit there to begin with. Yes I am a professional, and yes I hate this band. Not because they are super hard on the ears but because of how easy and simple they are. There is no substance here, nothing that will hold my, or anyone else’s interest for more then five seconds. And for that matter, it’s been a few weeks so nobody is going to give a fuck about Vampire Weekend at all. Everyone’s moved on to something else now, so again, what was the fucking point. If you did make the mistake of purchasing Vampire Weekends debut (something I avoided, thank you tape trading,) my advice is to use it as a Frisbee, because that would make it sufficiently more interesting then, say, the music of Vampire Weekend. That’s all.

Post Script.

In a bout of rage and unprofessionalism, I swore up a storm, gratuitously using the word Now and Fuck to my hearts content in describing this piece of crap band. Normally, I try to reign in my the furious tirade of swear words gathering behind the gate of my mouth but this time the flood was too great to be stopped and so I just let go. And you know what? It’s fun to swear and the impact is greater because I don’t do it that often (on paper). So while this may be my least professional piece of work, I can guarantee you that this band (Bloodsucking Weakness) is absolutely worth the full range of my ire-ridden vocabulary. Because, as I have already said, they are bullshit munches. Poor vocals, unimaginative music, lack of actual innovation and so much hype that you could choke on it. All the perfect ingredients for my wrath.

Post-Rock and Post-Metal

I was introduced to the bands, if not the concept, of Post-Rock by my friend Ani. If not for her, I would probably have taken a lot longer to find out about some these groups. Post-Rock is characterized by grand orchestral arrangements for rock music, and I don’t mean rock opera or anything like that. The music is expansive, like looking out at a sweeping landscape or vista. Its music that is either uplifting or dooming on an epic, sometimes apocalyptic scale. Bands in this category of music include Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai and Sigur Ros, to name just a few.

Post-Rock is separated from similar genres like Progressive Rock (Prog Rock) by a few things. The first is while Prog Rock is still based around the idea of a rock band, Post-Rock feels like it’s going beyond those constraints, hence its name Post-Rock. Another thing that separates them is that while a guitarist in a Prog Rock band might take time to solo off into infinity, in Post-Rock guitars play a more integral, rather than standoutish, role. The guitars have a more cascading or ambient feel to them, rather than a more in-your-face feel in other genres. In the case of Sigur Ros, guitarist/lead vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson plays the guitar with a cello bow, giving the now traditional instrument an otherworldly, alien feeling.

Post-Rock is often, but not always, instrumental. Even Godspeed You! has had guest vocalists, who usually recite poetry rather than sing. Sigur Ros is an exception in that they have a regular vocalist, but there’s a twist. Sigur Ros created their own language or voice music, depending how you look at it, for their albums. I already can’t understand Icelandic, but they’ve taken it a step further by singing in a made up language. Often, Post-Rock groups go beyond typical guitar, bass and drum arrangements to create music. Godspeed You! incorporates numerous string instruments into their arrangements as well as trumpets, samples and found sounds. Another group, A Silver Mt. Zion (which incidentally, shares members with Godspeed You!) is closer to a full on orchestra than a rock band. Explosions in the Sky counterparts this mentality with a three guitar and drums line-up. Do Make Say Think have a jazzy style which sets them apart from the rest of the Post-Rock scene (if such a thing exists?)

Lots of Post-Rock is played in major keys, which lend an epic, uplifting feeling to the music. When played in minor keys, the intricate music brings a crushing sense of doom and gloom, more so then most rock music. Likewise, the more major key focused groups bring on a sense of transcendence, or they do for me anyways.

Post-Metal is a slightly different beast than Post-Rock, usually more in line with Progressive Metal and Sludge Metal. In fact, Post-Metal can often be seen as a halfway point between Post-Rock and Sludge Metal, especially in the case of groups like Isis and Pelican. Others, like Kayo Dot, take on a more experimental side. The term Post-Rock has been called “an invention of "hipper-than-now taste-makers" by constellation records, but once a title like that is made, it’s hard to distance yourself from it. Also, it may be a title with serious possibilities of pretension, but it’s simply a title, and nothing else. These groups may not like it, but Post-Rock does at time describe their music very well. It’s an excellent genre, and all of the musicians involved are exceptionally talented, or else they wouldn’t be there.

-Listening Guide-

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Canada)
-F#A# (Infinity)
-Lift You Skinny Hands like Antennas to Heaven
-Yanqui U.X.O.

Explosions in the Sky (USA)
-How Strange, Innocence
-Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever

A Silver Mt. Zion (Canada)
-Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upwards
-13 Blues for Thirteen Moons

Do Make Say Think (Canada)
-& Yet & Yet

Mogwai (Scotland)
-Cody

Dirty Three (Australia)
-Ocean Songs

Red Sparowes (USA)
-At the Soundless Dawn

Sigur Ros (Iceland)
-Ágætis byrjun

Team Sleep (USA)
-Team Sleep (Somewhere between Post-Rock and Trip-Hop)

Pelican (USA)
-The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
-City of Echoes

Russian Circles (USA)
-Enter

Isis (USA)
-Panopticon

This is only a place to start, most of the groups here have more than what I’ve listed. This is simply my collection.

Writers Block

I have writers block, hence the lack of writing. So, here are some things I wrote a while ago, but havn't gotten aroudn to posting till now. Enjoy.