Here
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Kemialliset Ystavat- Lumottu Karkkipurkki (The Enchanted Candy Jar)
One of the best art stores in
Based on a children’s book of the same name (‘the enchanted candy jar’), the story is essentially an
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
This Little Sonic Iceberg
I just wanted to quote this from a particular little blog.
"Everytime i come back to this page i think to myself, "what can i say about what i'm listening to that lends any importance to an album that is likely already being reviewed by a thousand other embarrassingly amateur weblogs and music critic's websites?" Nothing. So unless i find myself with a lot more time on my hands, i'm not going to give number ratings and pretend to know more about an album than the artists that make them. I don't consider myself qualified. I'll keep this informal, which will let me write more. I hate to be so wishy washy, but i think i tried to do something that i really just can't bring myself to do. I was fooling. I visited The Silent Ballet today (once linked on this blog, now removed) and saw 3 things off the bat: They gave Mogwai's new album a 6.5. They gave Talkdemonic's new disc a 2.5 (what?!- is that even professional?). They gave my friend Jason's disc a 6. And it's not that they aren't entitled to their opinions. They are. It's just that, all of their reviews are by different writers, all varying in skill level, all varying in editing taste, all with very DIFFERENT opinions. What thousands of people are receiving in the form of a number score is just one pimple-faced college radio dj or aspiring "music journalist"s passing opinion. There is no cohesiveness. If i was the editor of that magazine, i'd never let anyone give a score as low as a 2.5, especially to such a great, creative, talented band like Talkdemonic. There seems to be no filter. Just a bunch of kids sitting in basements enjoying all the free promo cds in return for writing a shitty piece of paragraph once a month. I hate that website now, and i hate postrockxchange, for the same reason. They devour, not devote time to, music. Though they do pick good music to review, their reviews of them suck.It's as many new bands as you can learn, as obscure as you can get. Microwave fishsticks. Instant gratification. Why pay homage to a band like Mogwai- to whom you owe the whole reason your stupid website was started- when you can shuffle right on by to find the next "new" thrilling group. Somebody to impress your friends with by obscurity. "
Thankyou This Little Sonic Iceberg
"Everytime i come back to this page i think to myself, "what can i say about what i'm listening to that lends any importance to an album that is likely already being reviewed by a thousand other embarrassingly amateur weblogs and music critic's websites?" Nothing. So unless i find myself with a lot more time on my hands, i'm not going to give number ratings and pretend to know more about an album than the artists that make them. I don't consider myself qualified. I'll keep this informal, which will let me write more. I hate to be so wishy washy, but i think i tried to do something that i really just can't bring myself to do. I was fooling. I visited The Silent Ballet today (once linked on this blog, now removed) and saw 3 things off the bat: They gave Mogwai's new album a 6.5. They gave Talkdemonic's new disc a 2.5 (what?!- is that even professional?). They gave my friend Jason's disc a 6. And it's not that they aren't entitled to their opinions. They are. It's just that, all of their reviews are by different writers, all varying in skill level, all varying in editing taste, all with very DIFFERENT opinions. What thousands of people are receiving in the form of a number score is just one pimple-faced college radio dj or aspiring "music journalist"s passing opinion. There is no cohesiveness. If i was the editor of that magazine, i'd never let anyone give a score as low as a 2.5, especially to such a great, creative, talented band like Talkdemonic. There seems to be no filter. Just a bunch of kids sitting in basements enjoying all the free promo cds in return for writing a shitty piece of paragraph once a month. I hate that website now, and i hate postrockxchange, for the same reason. They devour, not devote time to, music. Though they do pick good music to review, their reviews of them suck.It's as many new bands as you can learn, as obscure as you can get. Microwave fishsticks. Instant gratification. Why pay homage to a band like Mogwai- to whom you owe the whole reason your stupid website was started- when you can shuffle right on by to find the next "new" thrilling group. Somebody to impress your friends with by obscurity. "
Thankyou This Little Sonic Iceberg
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Great Australian Albums
There is a show on at the moment on SBS called Great Australian albums. I'm really enjoying it. Unfortunately I've missed all the ones that I've actually really wanted to watch i.e. Nick Caves one and The Triffids. Anyway, for anyone watching the series too I've loaded up all the albums from series 1 and 2. I haven't listened to all of these. Powderfinger and H & C I've thankfully avoided but I might just give them a shot.
UPDATE: Im kind of pissed off that the only comments I get is probably on one of my least favourite posts, Hunters & Collectors. I've decided to take down H & C, Powderfinger and Silverchair posts. The password for anyone who downloaded H & C, it is: overhere. Everyone's been asking about that one bloody post. I actually really want people to look at the other way more interesting artists. Check out Francis Plagne, Emeralds and Space Cactus. Honestly, they're so much better, just take a little step into the dark please.
UPDATE: Im kind of pissed off that the only comments I get is probably on one of my least favourite posts, Hunters & Collectors. I've decided to take down H & C, Powderfinger and Silverchair posts. The password for anyone who downloaded H & C, it is: overhere. Everyone's been asking about that one bloody post. I actually really want people to look at the other way more interesting artists. Check out Francis Plagne, Emeralds and Space Cactus. Honestly, they're so much better, just take a little step into the dark please.
Francis Plagne- Francis Plagne
Review coming soon. An extremely good album that spurts, jitters and changes quicker than an 11 year old with a bottle of red cordial (in a good way, not a bad way) .
Tim Hecker- A collection of recordings
Hecker is almost my favouritest drone/ambient/person in the whole wide world. Here is a selection of his vast back catalogue. If anyone is interested I can load up some other recordings of his. I want Oren to bring him back to Melbourne again!
COH + Cosi Fanni Tutti- COH Plays Cosi
Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice. Glitch. Voice.
Space Cactus- Outside
This is a new release from Space Cactus. Beautiful, pensive and slow. More thoughts laters.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Shaggs- The Philosophy of the World
I’m always questioning my intentions for listening to music and what, personally I want to attain from the experience. Am I like so many others listening to this to be difficult and to try and extract meaning from what is not actually there or do we genuinely love what we are hearing? The Shaggs, like Johnston, put me on edge. Are we listening to this because someone we respect adores it and in trying to acknowledge them we acknowledge something we don’t like? Similar to Johnston is it fair to admire someone for a misfortune that they cannot control?
Michael M, on some other website wrote this interesting point of view:
‘The worst album ever recorded, but not for reasons that are entirely obvious at first.My reasoning behind this is that there is no purpose to the madness. Usually, so-bad-it's-good albums succeed because either the musician is in on the joke and plays up the utter horribleness of the work or because the musician is not in on the joke and truly believes they are creating good art. This leads to good art in a Dadaist sense of "expanding the boundaries" of what we can appreciate and even like, in a macabre sort of way since most of us will be snickering inside at the stupidity of the musician.The Shaggs have no opinion one way or the other. They don't even know what the joke is. The only reason they made this album at all was because of their fairly tyrannical father, who took a prediction of his mother's far too seriously and inflicted what I can only assume was a fair bit of psychological damage on these poor girls to try to make them into successful musicians. He even pulled them out of school so they could practice daily. The girls themselves just don't care, and it's painfully obvious in their work. I can think of no better example of a parent forcing their own desires on their children against their will.It's better to wrongly believe you're a good musician and fail at it than to make music but not have any investment whatsoever in the quality of what you're doing.This is child abuse set to music, and anyone who enjoys it has either been suckered into the myth created by Zappa* when he said they were "better than the Beatles" or is just so desperate to seem different and cool and (dirty word coming) indie that they will pretend to like whatever is necessary to accomplish this.I have nothing against most "deconstructivist" music. Anything that attempts to redefine art is fine by me; that's kind of the point of art. However, Philosophy of the World is not art, it's torture.* Zappa used every opportunity he could to take potshots at the Fab Four because he contended that Freak Out! is the first concept album, not Sgt. Pepper's. I am noncommittal about this. His obsession with degrading them is behind his famous proclamation that the Shaggs are better. Unfortunately, rabid fans took it too far and actually fooled themselves into liking it.’
I think he has a strong point. I do believe that some people listen music for the wrong reasons and some people will listen to this album for the wrong reasons but it is dangerous to say that everyone will. I concede that this album is not art, it was never intended as art and in this circumstance it shouldn’t be analysed artistically. The way it should be seen is as a record, in the literal sense as a record of events. As so many people had said it is incredible that this was ever created. From an almost sick voyeuristic position we can listen to the pain of three girls with a dominating father. To me this is one of the saddest records I’ve ever listened to. Not because they sing about terrible things but in fact the opposite and that is the reason why it is so mesmerising. The delusional joyousness of the album only serves to highlight the instability of the girl’s adolescent world. If the back story is true (which I’m almost certain of) this is a document of a destructive family dynamic that many people experience. The question is then should we enjoy it?
Michael M, on some other website wrote this interesting point of view:
‘The worst album ever recorded, but not for reasons that are entirely obvious at first.My reasoning behind this is that there is no purpose to the madness. Usually, so-bad-it's-good albums succeed because either the musician is in on the joke and plays up the utter horribleness of the work or because the musician is not in on the joke and truly believes they are creating good art. This leads to good art in a Dadaist sense of "expanding the boundaries" of what we can appreciate and even like, in a macabre sort of way since most of us will be snickering inside at the stupidity of the musician.The Shaggs have no opinion one way or the other. They don't even know what the joke is. The only reason they made this album at all was because of their fairly tyrannical father, who took a prediction of his mother's far too seriously and inflicted what I can only assume was a fair bit of psychological damage on these poor girls to try to make them into successful musicians. He even pulled them out of school so they could practice daily. The girls themselves just don't care, and it's painfully obvious in their work. I can think of no better example of a parent forcing their own desires on their children against their will.It's better to wrongly believe you're a good musician and fail at it than to make music but not have any investment whatsoever in the quality of what you're doing.This is child abuse set to music, and anyone who enjoys it has either been suckered into the myth created by Zappa* when he said they were "better than the Beatles" or is just so desperate to seem different and cool and (dirty word coming) indie that they will pretend to like whatever is necessary to accomplish this.I have nothing against most "deconstructivist" music. Anything that attempts to redefine art is fine by me; that's kind of the point of art. However, Philosophy of the World is not art, it's torture.* Zappa used every opportunity he could to take potshots at the Fab Four because he contended that Freak Out! is the first concept album, not Sgt. Pepper's. I am noncommittal about this. His obsession with degrading them is behind his famous proclamation that the Shaggs are better. Unfortunately, rabid fans took it too far and actually fooled themselves into liking it.’
I think he has a strong point. I do believe that some people listen music for the wrong reasons and some people will listen to this album for the wrong reasons but it is dangerous to say that everyone will. I concede that this album is not art, it was never intended as art and in this circumstance it shouldn’t be analysed artistically. The way it should be seen is as a record, in the literal sense as a record of events. As so many people had said it is incredible that this was ever created. From an almost sick voyeuristic position we can listen to the pain of three girls with a dominating father. To me this is one of the saddest records I’ve ever listened to. Not because they sing about terrible things but in fact the opposite and that is the reason why it is so mesmerising. The delusional joyousness of the album only serves to highlight the instability of the girl’s adolescent world. If the back story is true (which I’m almost certain of) this is a document of a destructive family dynamic that many people experience. The question is then should we enjoy it?
Dirty Projectors- Live at WVKR 10/7/06
On a lighter note, this is my favourite Dirty Projectors album. It was recorded at an American radio station just before the release of their album Rise Above. This collection of songs are from the album arranged in an acoustic fashion. It is easier to see the intricacy of the arrangements without the layers of instruments and complicated vocals that pepper the actual album. The song Rise Above is definitely my favourite.
Sibylle Baier- The Colour Green
Bayer has the same back story as Vashti Bunyan and if the planets were aligned differently it may have been her name and filled that niche. But as fate has put it she has received much less attention than Bunyan. I personally don’t really like either but I’m sure someone will. Here you go.
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