“Wake Up” Ranked

5. Suicide Silence

I like death metal, and when I watch this I don’t want to say “those guys are hardcore”, I want to say “aww, isn’t that cute what they’re trying to do”.

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4. Coheed and Cambria

Not bad, but lukewarm. It’s a bit twee for me. I’m pretty quickly put off when a line like “I’ll do anything for you” is good enough for a pause afterwards, like we need time for something that deep to sink in.

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3. The Living End

The Living End had some fun garage punk output in the late nineties. Sometime last decade, they began to slow down, serious up, and settle into a radio-rock groove. Of course they’ve never been as good since, but this is not their worst offender from that latter era.

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2. Rage Against the Machine

Simply known by many as that guitar riff at the end of The Matrix. Whether or not you’re a fan of these guys, you really can’t question the passion they wear on their sleeves.

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1. Arcade Fire

Well, on the other hand, “aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAAooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOooooOOOOO”
And my chest just clamped tight with sheer emotion.

Kashiwa Daisuke – 88

Year: 2011
Genre: Modern classical, piano

Prior to 88, my only previous exposure to Japanese composer Kashiwa Daisuke was through his 2007 album Program Music I. Now that was a thick tapestry of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, meticulously and expertly dissected and arranged into what I consider one of the greatest albums of the last ten years.

Well get that out of your head right now, this is a purely piano album. No digital effects, no beats, hell, not even any obvious cutting. He’s put a completely different face of his on display. But how does it fair?

Should you obtain this album just because you liked Program Music I? No.

Should you obtain this album on its on merits within its genre? Yeah, sure.

In short, Daisuke doesn’t feel the least bit out of his element (I’m assuming he was classically trained in piano initially, it shows). You can almost hear the sigh of relief as he’s allowed to let this one instrument breathe and take up the entire space of the track. He shows some great virtuosity in his ability to manipulate pacing and tone to wring every last bit of weight out of these compositions.

There were two little surprises here that I appreciated. One was a piano recital of My Favourite Things from The Sound Of Music. Far more appealing to me though was the inclusion of a five minute piano interpretation of Stella from Program Music I, under the name Scorpion Of Red Eyes.

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Here’s a video compilation of track excerpts from 88.

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A CD version of 88 is available through Virgin Babylon.

VCV & Shinobu Nemoto – Jovian Clouds

Year: 2011
Genre: Ambient, drone

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From the blackest depths of silent space, waking from a hibernation that’s lasted eons, VCV steadily descend toward our galaxy, observing it as a somber spiral isolated in the middle of nothing and more nothing. Upon entering the solar system, a signal is received from Earth. Japan, to be precise. A young man named Shinobu Nemoto is jamming experimental frequencies on several dozen pieces of audio equipment in his backyard. VCV read his signals, wait, and understand. The two entities converse and agree to meet, where else but the harsh climate of Jupiter, to combine their abilities and create a message for mankind…

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Okay, honestly, you’ve lost me. It’s an ambient drone artist from Japan, right? Okay then.

To its credit, there is a space-age feel to to all this feedback-based ambience. Sometimes you could be hearing the roaring hum of a great ship, other times the electronic echoes of technology resonating through great spaces. It’s a peaceful work of six tracks, or clouds, that you can experience as you would the night sky. Don’t think, just let it present it’s grand emptiness and subtleties to you.

Note to self: set this one aside for stargazing.

Cloud One

Jovian Clouds is available as a digital download for $8 from Bandcamp, or in LP form from the InstallSound store for $15.

ohGr – unDeveloped

Year: 2011
Genre: Electronic, industrial

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Question: Are you a fan of Skinny Puppy and/or ohGr?

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No
This is a largely forgettable release that isn’t really worth your time. If you’re curious about ohGr, my advice would be to check out 2008′s twisted yet enjoyable Devils In My Details. If you’ve never heard any Skinny Puppy, and have an open mind to industrial music, then for your own sake please check out some of their late 80s/early 90s releases such as Too Dark Park or VIVIsectVI. You aren’t missing much by glossing over unDeveloped.

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Yes
unDeveloped certainly hits you as a departure from the most recent ohGr output. Unfortunately, this time Ogre is playing a little outside his strengths. This is him at his cleanest, trying to make something resembling an electronic pop record, with the occasional weird instrumental to remind you who he is. It’s not a bad album – tracks like pissage, bellew and tragik are fun – but it is a bit safe and tame. It’s certainly less dark than fans may be used to.

In short, give it a listen first. You could, like me, get some worthwhile enjoyment out of it despite its shortcomings, or it could put you off entirely.

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unDeveloped is available in digital and CD form through Metropolis Mail Order.

Wreck and Reference – Black Cassette

Year: 2011
Genre: Sludge, doom

Hey, I should give horror manga another shot.

These guys started out as a Bandcamp stream of curiosity for me, I came for the cool cover but I stayed for the music. W&R have a very tight sound, thanks in part to some excellent drumming that keeps the music feeling natural and powerful as it changes up and down all over the place. Listening to this really feels like hearing a bunch of really in-tune guys playing in a basement together.

Another curious point is that there is not a guitar to be found on this EP. The recording is deliberately flat, so the bass and synthesizers tend to bleed into each other to create some ungodly sound that drives the music forward. It’s something you may not even notice if you didn’t know beforehand, but it does give them a bit of a distinctive flavour.

It is a pretty short release though, clocking in at under thirty minutes. Yeah it’s an EP, but I’m left wanting more from these guys. I’ll be keeping an eye on them, maybe you could consider that too.

#6 A Lament

Black Cassette can be downloaded for free from their Bandcamp page. A CD version is also available from the Music Ruins Lives store.

Glacis – Lost Again On Waking

Year: 2011
Genre: Piano instrumental

Lost Again On Waking is a set of four piano compositions, each inspired by a set of photos taken by Heidi Kuisma. The fifth track is an unrelated bonus, but it fits the tone and feels welcome. I obtained a digital copy of this, and found it really had some emotional weight to it. I’m curious about the photo sets that led to these pieces, but alas, they were not included. I was unable to find them online anywhere either. Maybe they’re reserved for the physical release? I’m not sure.

In any case, this is a release worthy of your attention if you hold any interest in piano albums, particularly those with some effective ambient effects and texturing. My personal favourites are the melancholic and melodic opener the forgotten time, and the only track to contain vocals; you can still be beautiful. Give this one a spin at the end of your work day.

#4 you can still be very beautiful

The album can be streamed in full, or downloaded for ₤3 from Mini50′s Bandcamp page.

Music Games: Gitaroo Man

But what if, what if I were to indulge my desire to write about some games, and disguise it as a music-related post? Devilishly clever.

Gitaroo Man is a 2002 release for the PS2 by KOEI, it also received a PSP port a few years later. It’s a series of rhythm-action levels strung together by a supremely bizarre and very Japanese storyline. You control a pessimistic and unpopular boy named U-1 (that’s right), who has the power to wield an instrumental weapon that his robot alien dog gave him, and transform into a warrior known as Gitaroo Man. He’ll have to fight off other instrument-wielding alien warriors working for an evil ruler who wants to collect all these weapons, so most levels take the form of “duels” against adversaries who all fight with different instruments. Other levels have you dodging enemies or playing a serenade for an alien girl.

Gameplay is fast and furious, even on the earlier levels. You’ll switch between dodging enemy attacks (pressing the face buttons) and attacking or charging with your gitaroo (hitting notes while setting the pitch with the analog stick). It’ll take a few goes to really get the hang of, but it’s fun to play. The difficulty is initially challenging but never quite overwhelming, so it’s fun to revisit the same songs once your reflexes and rhythm improves. The varied “gitaroos” you fight also means some nice song variety, from rock, j-pop, spanish guitar, reggae and even some jazz.

Probably its largest drawback is the game’s short length. There’s only about ten levels here, with no bonus non-story songs to try. The plot and cutscenes may baffle or annoy some players, but honestly, I love them. There’s some hilarious dialogue in the cutscenes (though I wonder how intentional some of it was), and it’s hard not to smile at the sheer cheeziness of it all.

This is definitely one to track down if you love challenging rhythm games, weird Japanese shit, or just the idea of a game where you use a guitar to fight a glam rocker with a church full of organs at his command. If that doesn’t sounds cool, then hey, your loss man.

Invisible Elephant – Anomie or Swimming in a Black Sea

Year: 2011
Genre: Shoegaze, experimental

Anomie or Swimming in a Black Sea, Invisible Elephant’s second album, is the first release from the Two Hands Music label, and they’ve burst out of the blocks like a kid on Sports Day filled with a little too much parental encouragement and red cordial. That’s qualitatively speaking, there’s nothing frantic or rushed about the poppy ocean waves that wash in with a satisfying natural flow from this record.

Everything is the first notable track, it establishes a nice dreamy pace with it blurred vocals and relaxed beat. Arguably, it would be nice enough for the album to remain in this chilled style for its entire duration, but it did get up and move around more than I expected. The centrepiece is the seven minute When It’s All Over, which grabs hold of the laid back atmosphere and really gives it some legs, ending in a surprisingly dense breakdown of live drums and electric guitars. After that tension breaks Invisible Elephant seem happy to push their music up against any boundaries they please, including noise, rock and trip-hop. It’s a little hard to believe the whole journey was only around thirty minutes long.

You can stream or obtain a ₤2 (or more) download of this album from Two Hands Music’s Bandcamp page.

Music Palooza: Adelaide July 16-17

I was deflated by the hiatus of Vinyl Palooza, the bi-annual music sale here in Adelaide where a gymnasium was crammed full with the kind of releases you just can’t find for sale anywhere else here. Then I find out it’s coming back as Music Palooza, cue excitement.

"I brought my camera today" "Uh huh.." "..because I want to blog about this." "..pfftHAAAHAHA"

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As usual, the variety here was incredible – and as usual, I spent an awful lot of time flicking through the metal vinyl stall. You can find something you’ll enjoy from almost any genre you can think of. The selection is predominantly vinyl, both new and second hand, but there are also plenty of CDs, DVDs, even books.

My brother and I walked out with these two:

Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Edition

I’m not sure when the event returns, or even if it’s going to do so in fact, but you can follow them on Facebook for updates. It’s definitely worth attending if you get the chance.

Glaring rather sternly at my eight-year-old self

I generally consider 1996 to be the year I started taking a real interest in music. I would park my little eight-year-old self in front of our large wooden TV and watch Rage and Video Hits every Saturday and Sunday morning (for non-Australians, these were two weekend music video shows, Rage with an alternative slant, Video Hits purely mainstream) providing no awesome cartoons were on to take precedence of course.

Disturbingly often, I tend to look back on things I liked only a few years prior, musically or otherwise, with more than a little regret or embarrassment. What then would I think now if I thought too hard about my taste back then? What songs would have made me hold my little cassette recorder up to the TV speaker to for my mixtape? Oh dear, let’s try and remember.

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Savage Garden – I Want You

My god that is 90s, listen to that guitar distortion, that choppy drum machine, this song would bleed Crystal Pepsi. I suppose I can forgive this, it’s a catchy pop song with a nice pace to it.
Verdict: 3/5 facepalms

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Garbage – I’m Only Happy When It Rains

I loved this freaking song, and I still do. Nothing overly special or complicated here, just a downbeat rock song (oh, hello again 90s) with some infectious chords and lyrics that could be lifted from a gothic teenager’s diary. Would I like this as much hearing it the first time today? No, so thank god I heard it first back then.
Verdict: 1/5 facepalms

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3T – Anything

What the hell is your problem you wretched little freak? My soul is bleeding! YOU KILLED US!
Verdict: 5/5 facepalms

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The Offspring – All I Want

What kid wouldn’t like this? A quick punch of rebellious punk energy, and one of the Offspring’s better songs. Hmm, this song doesn’t really remind me of my childhood anymore, now it reminds me of Crazy Taxi. Hey, I should go play Crazy Taxi.
Verdict: 0/5 facepalms

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Oasis – Wonderwall

The obsession I had with this song was ridiculous, I bugged my poor mother incessantly until she bought me the single on cassette. Looking at it now, well, I know it’s still beloved by many but I don’t think it’s held up as well as that. Liam’s vocals in particular grate on me in a way they didn’t back then.
Verdict: 1/5 facepalms

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No Mercy – Where Do You Go

Oh wow, when I see the guys in this video it scares me in a you-could-have-grown-up-like-this sort of fashion.
Verdict: 4/5 facepalms

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The Presidents of the USA – Kitty

At one point, my friend and I had a whole lip-synching mime set to this song, making this more embarrassing to me than it otherwise would be. I think I want to stop this now.
Verdict: 3/5 facepalms