"Happy Flowers were formed in 1983 with two members of hardcore funband The Landlords. John Beers adopted the name Mr. Horribly Charred Infant and Charlie Kramer named himself Mr. Anus."
"Humourous and fun; unlistenable and terrible: Happy Flowers occupy a strange niche. Most tracks here are characterised by a single repetitive riff, or piercing feedback ‘experimentalism’ whilst drums pound and lyrics are spat or spoken. The lyrics are really where Happy Flowers shine though."
"All songs recorded LIVE in the studio, no mixing, no dubbing, no synths."
This is raw noise rock, as unbearable as it is entertaining.
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic composer of Austrian / Bohemian descent.
I'd like it if I knew more about him, but at the moment I am at a loss of clever, insightful information regarding one of classical music's most famous contributor. Here are the 10 symphonies, no choral works can be found here.
The tenth symphony was Mahler's final work before his death, but he never fully completed the piece. Quite a few others have tried to finalize the work, tying up loose ends and such, but there is one attempt that has become a sort of standard for performances and recordings, and that is the revision of Deryck Cooke. There is much more information to be found on the subject here, and I'm only so interested in it because it is my favorite out of the ten.
Pinebender is Chicago-based trio signed to Lovitt Records who has to date released three full-length albums and one EP. Working Nine to Wolf is their latest effort.
This is honestly one of the most beautiful albums I have heard in recent times - each track has its share of hnnnngg moments, and the varied sounds this band is capable of are evenly spread throughout. The first track, "Parade of Horribles," has been described as a "fourteen-minute synopsis of Pinebender." Their strong musicality carries with it notes of sadness and beauty, and each and every song on here is impossibly brilliant. "Mask Tree" and "Polly Gray" are two of my favorites. Well, I also love "Broadcast All Your Dreams" too, and the final track is mind-blowing. "She Destroys the Light," with its soft but intense energy also stood out to me. I guess I can't pick one favorite! Pinebender play a mix of loud, intensive indie rock and sludge, but some might call it "math rock" that has been slowed down.
"Working Nine To Wolf finds Pinebender at its most aggressive. Still, the band adheres to the modus operandi that makes it special. Playing long melodic compositions very slowly and very loudly is what Pinebender does. They do it well."
Hey Colossus is a London-based noise rock band, and "the Van Halen Time Capsule" seems to indicate the addition of extra people, but this is not a split. Eurogrumble, Vol. 1 is perhaps one of the most monstrous albums of noise rock, but it varies in style from noise, sludge, and pure experimental doom. I initially came across this album by the track "13 Millers Court," which haunts as much as captivates, but that first fatal note in "The Question" is just mind-blowing.
You will find some pretty great reviews of this release here, as well as a fairly recent interview with the band and other exclusive links.
Heitor Villa-Lobos was Brazilian composer of modern classical music, as well as a leading composer of Latin American music. His style is derived from Brazilian folk traditions, as well as the classical European sounds of early 20th century classical music. After Villa-Lobos met with Darius Milhaud in 1917, a French composer who experimented with polytonality and jazz, the two influenced each other greatly. Milhaud gave to Villa-Lobos the a spectrum of new possibilities in the music of Debussy and Satie, and to Milhaud Villa-Lobos showed Brazilian folk and street music. Perhaps this is what prompted Milhaud to create his amazing Saudades do Brazil for piano.
This recording includes his Suite Populaire Bresilienne, Five Preludes, and Twelve Etudes.
Villa-Lobos' guitar music flourishes with colorful chords and tones, but it also is quiet - meditatively so. It is constantly changing, transmogrifying into new shapes and sounds as the landscape changes as well. From verdant hillsides to lulling cities above the clouds, I can actually feel myself melting away as I listen. In these pieces by Villa-Lobos, beauty is given a whole new meaning.
My favorite piece is the third of the Five Preludes, in A minor.
Here is the 1985 EP released by Japanese experimental group Ｓｔｉｌｌ, the silken vocals provided by Toshie Santo. Their style consists mostly of jazzy guitars, poppy beats and an overall light and airy atmosphere. Some might consider their sound as new-wave. Pale Face is easy and whimsical to listen to, with not a second of filler that I could detect.
少女時代 is the correct Japanese tagging of the Japanese releases by South Korean pop group 소녀시대, also known as Girls' Generation and SNSD.
Here is 1st Japan Album, a conglomeration of a few singles ("Hoot," "Gee," "Genie") that have appeared on other releases, and some new tracks. It is awesome. Simple as that.
They go over the edge, Crust does, with no limits in sight. Their sound varies slightly from track to track, but their initial heaviness will stay with you, and haunt you. My personal least favorite track, although I recognize it's brilliance, is "Country Lesson." Oh yeah, there is also "How About You," which takes the listener on the journey of an innocent young man picked up on the side of the road by a psychopath who gets off on the idea of having sex with hermaphrodites. That particular narrative doesn't seem to end well, as the song draws to a close before we can find out what happens to the young kid... hmm. I actually really love the first two tracks a lot, and you probably will too if you're willing to take a risk.
"Unhinged and packed with humour, Crust played a very special brand of noise rock, namely: AAAAHHH NOISE ROCK. If the bludgeon of Cherubs met the off-the-wall attitude of Killdozer, the result would be this very album, albeit with some apt samples and a vague predisposition towards 90’s industrial included."
Here the Athens, Georgia-based sludge band Harvey Milk play through their 2006 album Special Wishes at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, GA. I haven't heard the original album, but this live album is full of crushing tracks that hook you in almost immediately. My personal favorite would have to be "War," it being just so damn catchy, but many tracks here lend themselves to a deluge of heaviness and earthmoving brilliance. For a while now I've admired their 1996 album Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men, a milestone in this experimental / sludge genre. There is something about their guitar sound which blends southern drone with a Boris-esque dread, completely inundated with mystery, and the utterly spine-tingling voice of Creston Spiers, reminiscent of Jandek and Cohen, that innately draw me to them. It is said of Creston that he would only do Cohen covers if he could, and I don't think that would be a bad idea. On Courtesy they did an incredible cover of "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong," I can't remember if I've already mentioned that in an earlier post or not, but listen to it right now if you haven't already. Live albums are always spontaneously alive and awe-inspiring, and this is no exception!
"Umberto is the alter-ego of which one talented young man - Matt Hill, delivers his fresh and inventive take on the sadly overlooked Italo-Horror soundtracks of the mid-seventies. Total Goblin worship at it's finest, with his own magic-dust sprinkled over it. Matt is no stranger to epic musical landscapes either,he is also the main man behind drone/psych juggernaut Expo 70, who also dish out some fantastic purely instrumental ear candy.
With his fairly recent Umberto project, he conjures up the ghosts of early horror film and soundtrack pioneers like Goblin, John Carpenter, Claudio Simonetti, and even the more recent Zombi works. I can't help but imagine a giant backdrop flashing images of classic Argento films, in a live performance. Hill almost effortlessly creates hypnotic layers of haunting synthesizers, topped with some rather stunning synth arpeggios, as a damp low-end growl slithers around them. His tasteful use of soft synth patches, mixed with the buzzing sine-waves melts together almost too perfectly, creating a dense black cloud of deep chords and brooding swells. He's got quite a knack for melody too, which has been proven time and again with his incredible and expansive work in Expo 70, and he applies the same tuneful wizardry to these blackened electro numbers.Leaning more towards the subtle-yet-danceable downbeat, opposed to the symphonic-progressive rock styles of most of his predecessors.
Now, this isn't a total throwback to the Italian horror genre. Sure, the song titles are spooky nods, and the artwork is just screaming 'Obscure Horror Soundtrack,' and yes, the music is very similar to the aforementioned acts, but with Prophecy there is a much more modern and revitalizing take on this outsider sub-genre. Hill is clearly paying tribute to something that has been greatly overlooked for decades, and he is doing it so,so right. Songs for chasing someone through the woods, peeking through a stranger's window, creaking doors and some late night dancing in the dark."
Donovan is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist whose groundbreaking sounds gained him much popularity in the UK, and eventually the world. Here is his third album. I just love "Celeste" so so much...
"Sunshine Superman blended his original folk style with American folk-rock, jazz and psychedelia, also managing to bring in eastern and medieval flavours into the mix. Whilst his earlier albums had been mostly performed solo, his new material had his voice and guitar augmented by electric guitars, drums, strings, percussion, sitar and more. Donovan was one of the first artists to make extensive use of the sitar, and on Sunshine Superman it is played by Texan singer-songwriter Shawn Phillips, who he had met in '65 and become close friends with.
Sunshine Superman kick-started a new period in Donovan's career, both in terms of chart success and recognition as well as musical exploration. It is widely considered a landmark psychedelia album."
May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes, May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes, May all sentient beings never be separated from bliss without suffering, May all sentient beings be in equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger
I remember thinking that that was an amazing, perfect prayer. I was stunned at the conciseness with which it expressed the overall beliefs of the Buddhists. I think I told myself I really wanted to devote my life to their teachings. But that moment flickered and faded as I remembered what life was really like... After that we chanted a few songs and did a 10 minute meditation. I closed my eyes and could distantly hear train flying past somewhere, going nowhere. It was steaming hot in the inner room of the temple, but for some reason I wasn't that affected by it. The woman had a nice, calm voice, and I let my mind drift away a tiny bit but not too far away. She told me to imagine a blank, black space - to put my mother to my left, my father to my right, those I have an issue with in front of me, and all of my friends and loved ones behind me. Then she told me to generate love in my heart and extend it in all directions. First of all, I can't even picture my dad anymore. And my mom... I wanted to put her in front of me too. Everything became a little fuzzy. I kept picturing all of these people I have hurt in my lifetime, and they were placed all around me in no particular order. All of these people who shouldn't have ever met me and would be better off if they never did. Also I was really hungry and was nervous about my stomach making loud noises because that reeeeally embarrasses me. Love is just... I don't know. The woman said to not worry that the love we generated would run out, because it is an infinite amount of shimmering energy and that we were to imagine it as a bright light. I thought "Love will ruin your mind," and I felt like my mind really was ruined. When, in my whole life, had love brought me anything positive or radiant or beautiful? I can only think of illusions and strange tinges of grief. All the colors of my mind mixing together, runny and dark and drying up, hardening in a center at the core of my existence. I couldn't generate the love in time, before she said to open our eyes... One of the guys that worked there gave me some water when I asked for it. WOW I actually think that is significant, but it was. He was cute. After we left the temple I went to hang up some of my art at this indie coffeehouse place in the really old, desolate part of the city. My art class is having this art show on Wednesday night. I.... am awful at art. I can't even draw a person, cat, or car - I can't draw anything. I guess I can copy pictures alright. But I'm not very artistic in that cool artistic way.
If I think about it, there isn't all that much to me. I'm not a book snob, a film snob, and I'm definitely not an art snob either. I don't know enough about anything to have all of those strong opinions. I don't play that many videogames. All I really know is music and classical music and composers. I guess it doesn't matter.
My grandma said she was buying me a fluffy beach towel for college. And shampoo. She is very nice. I have to finish (I mean.. start) my Chemistry final project. I want to record myself playing a certain song for my friend, so I need to go practice that. I've been working on 4 piano songs, 3 for myself and 1 for my teacher. Here they are, in order of least difficult to most difficult and my estimation of the percentage completed:
Maurice Ravel - Sonatine, III. Animé (95%) Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major (30%) Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne Op. 48, No. 1 (80%) Franz Liszt - Un Sospiro (25%)
On Thursday night I have my last piano recital EVER, ever ever in the history of high school and middle school and elementary school. I am not looking forward to the actual pieces I'm playing (Chopin - Nocturne Op. 27, No. 1 & a Bach Prelude/Fugue) but I am looking forward to the piano I'm playing on! It's a Bösendorfer (a really awesome piano that is extra long). I have played on it before, but that was like when I was 10 or 11. It should be fun I guess. I am graduating on Saturday. My cousin and two aunts are coming to visit us on Thursday.
I haven't been listening to that many complete albums lately, other than this one Frogs album and a Sun City Girls one. I might post those later, but I still don't really know what I think about them. I feel bad for not posting more awesome musics. I want to, really... hnnnnnnngg. Today I heard Grieg's first piano concerto on the radio and it was SUCH a bad recording! I think it was like 50 years old, but seriously... I had to turn it off. I forgot the name of the pianist - a Frenchman whose birthday is today, or tomorrow, I think. At first I thought it was like Rachmaninoff's second or third because I really always get those mixed up with the Grieg, much to my shame. They're just all so beautiful.
More to the point, there are two lists of amaaazing songs that I keep listening to over and over again. Here they are:
list # 1 - random songs that I like
Bombay Bicycle Club - The Giantess Elysian Fields - Sleepover & Red Riding Hood Vangelis - Bicycle Riders (Harps of the Ancient Temples) & Chew's Eye Lab Blouse - Shadow Pinknruby - Lusima Frédéric Chopin - Nocturne Op. 48, No. 1
list # 2 - songs from M., my new best friend in the whole world
Matt Howden - Intimate; Allude Anne Clark - At Midnight 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden Philip Glass - Symphony No. 3, III. Niccolo Paganini - Caprice for solo violin in A minor (Theme & Variations), Op. 1/24, MS 2 Joseph Haydn - Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major Mogwai - Friend of the Night Current 93 - The Seahorse Rears to Oblivion Donovan - Celeste
Here is the acoustic version of "Celeste," one of the most amazing things in the universe to me right now:
Also I wrote two poems in my head last night before I went to sleep. I wonder if I can remember them. :3
p.s. Here is a picture of Jhonn Balance that I honestly saw for the first time like last week. It is a beautiful, dark picture. I think he looks like an angel.
Senator Flux was a D.C. hardcore band from the late 80s. Their syle is more indie rock, but influences of pop and punk are pervasive in Storyknife. This is a nice record of interesting music, I think I like "Canadia" the most.
