MUSINGS

 Concert Reviews  12 Responses »
Aug 242013
 

This is a photo by Jun Tiangja of rice terraces in the Philippines. It has nothing to do with anything else in this post. I just think it’s beautiful.

I forewarned you that there would be a drop in NCS content for about one week beginning yesterday because I planned to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards here in the Emerald City. And if you’re now laughing at the notion of yours truly and my fellow NCS scribes being characterized as wizards, you’re welcome.

All of us have indeed congregated in Seattle, with BadWolf arriving yesterday afternoon and TheMadIsraeli, Andy Synn, and DGR swooping in at various times on Thursday. And though I expected our collective blog time would dwindle drastically, I didn’t foresee that we wouldn’t post a goddamn thing yesterday, not even a notice saying we wouldn’t be posting a goddamned thing yesterday.

We’ve fallen down on the job because I think we’ve been enjoying each other’s company. I say “I think” because I’m not a mind-reader and am mainly speaking for myself, and speaking for myself, I am happy to learn that people who seemed like cool dudes over the internet have turned out to be cool dudes in person, too. Continue reading »

ANIMALS AS LEADERS, NAVENE-K, LEGION’S REQUIEM, JOURNAL, BISPORA: LIVE AT ACE OF SPADES 8-21-13

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Aug 242013
 

(DGR reviews the August 21, 2013 show in Sacramento, California, put on by Animals As Leaders, Navene-K, Journal, Legion’s Requiem, and Bispora.)

It’s so odd being outside of the home city right now, especially considering that just three days ago I was out in front of a venue there waiting for a show. This jet-setting lifestyle creates some cognitive dissonance with the brain for sure. On Wednesday Animals As Leaders made the incredibly cool gesture of coming to Sacramento after their time on the Summer Slaughter tour had already wrapped up. The guys chose to soldier on and play a few more shows, and one of them took place in my stomping ground.

So it came to pass that I found myself standing out front in what began as a very small line outside of Ace Of Spades, which would grow to a pretty good-sized crowd over the span of the night. It was somewhat of a local social event as well since the whole support came from local groups, with the exception of Navene-K, who would eventually go on to surprise me as one of my favorite things that I saw that night.

I tried to find videos of every band from that evening and managed to do so for three of the five. We have a new group out here called RealityCheck Sacramento who are proving to be very cool, so look them up, and SickDrummer uploaded some drum-cam footage of Navene doing the song “Microcosm”. I haven’t found anything from Animals As Leaders yet. but the previous two uploaders are amazing people and I love them. Continue reading »

NEW AND NOTEWORTHY COMPS FOR GRIND AND DOOM FREAKS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 222013
 

This week brought us the debut of two new compilations that are definitely worth looking at hard, because they go really fuckin’ hard. One is for a worthy cause and one is free.

GRINDING FOR A CURE – VOL. 3

“Grinding for a Cure” is a project that started small back in mid-January and quickly exploded into one of the best on-going comp projects in recent memory. The mission of the organizers (Dorian Rainwater of Noisear and many other bands, now including Excruciating Terror, Christine Coz, and Chris Messina of Swamp Gas) is to raise money to fund research into a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Volume 1 (featured at NCS here) contained 100 tracks, Volume 2 (featured here) matched that total, and the bands participating in both those installments included a bunch of eye-catching names.

The new Volume 3 has just gone “live” with the first 8 tracks, though it’s also going to have 100 by the time it’s finished. This time, the music is being uploaded to Bandcamp as the songs become available so people can hear the music as the comp grows.

Those first 8 tracks are really good. They includes songs by Phobia, Dim Mak, Inhabitants, Scars of Deceit, Gooze, Horse’s Silhouette, and Human Trade. But I want to make special mention of the first song — “Look At the World” — because it’s by Excruciating Terror. Continue reading »

SLOWDOWN AHEAD

 IQ Subtraction  17 Responses »
Aug 222013
 

Beginning later today and for about one week, things are likely to slow down at this site. We’ll still get at least one post up here per day, but that may be all we can manage. This is because all of the regular staff writers of NCS are gathering together in Seattle for the first in-person meeting ever. TheMadIsraeli and Andy Synn will be arriving today, and BadWolf and DGR will be descending from the clouds tomorrow trailing godlike raiments, otherwise known as jet exhaust.

There will be much touristy activity, there will be a bit of drinking, there will be some live metal indulgences (among other things, Wintersun, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Arsis are in town tomorrow night), there may be fisticuffs. It is unlikely there will be much blogging.

We have some ambitious plans for that Wintersun show. Two of my comrades signed up for that Arsis crowdfunding perk where James Malone cuts your hair; if that actually happens, there will be a photo op and maybe an impromptu interview. And regardless, we will all be hanging out at Seattle’s Studio Seven tomorrow night. If you’re there, look for a mismatched quintet acting as if they should be on stage but are not.

It’s entirely possible no good will come of this. It’s one thing to pray together at ChristianMingle.com. It’s another thing to share popcorn on the sofa at a screening of Left Behind in person. Like, what if your butts are too big to maintain a chaste distance? Continue reading »

FUCK THIS BIRD BITCH, DRINK THIS BLEACH: NEW DEATH GRIPS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 222013
 

“Birds” is the name of a new Death Grips jam that came out of nowhere this morning. It’s a free download. If you click this link, the download will start immediately:

DOWNLOAD

If you’re the cautious type, you may want to hear it before you download. You can do that after the jump.

If you wonder why this metal blog has been on the now-crowded Death Grips train since early days, it’s because we drank this bleach. It goes big.

I GOT TOMORROW COMING
I GOT GOT I GOT
I GOT TOMORROW COMING

I GOT TOMORROW COMING
I GOT GOT I GOT
I GOT TOMORROW COMING
IN

BIRDS

FUCK YOU Continue reading »

YOUR BRAIN, IN A BLENDER: BATILLUS, LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, CLERIC, AND AQUILUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Aug 222013
 

As usual, I have a few things for you. As usual, the selection consists of new things I found yesterday. As usual, the music is diverse (and possibly also different, diverse, divergent, distinct, dissimilar, and disparate, though I’m still not sure I grasp the distinctions among these words). They do have one thing in common: they’ll put your brain in a blender and tune the setting to purée.

BATILLUS

In February I reviewed an album named Concrete Sustain by Batillus. I characterized it as “a 2013 must-listen for fans of doom, especially those who might want to do more than stand in place and nod dreamily at the floor.” When I wrote that line, I had in mind a couple of songs on the album, chiefly “Concrete”, which I tried to describe as “black industrial funk, the dancebeat at the end of the world.” I’ve probably had better days at the keyboard, but that’s what popped into my head.

Yesterday, Invisible Oranges premiered a video for “Concrete”. I can now describe the song as “the soundtrack to that creepy video named ‘Concrete'”. The video risks dominating the music, it’s so weirdly magnetic. But the music and the imagery definitely go hand-in-hand. A lot of people deserve credit for it, but I’ll name three: director Gretchen Heinel, editor Matthew Silver, and SFX specialist Jacqueline Valega. Prepare to be weirded out (and puréed). Continue reading »

NEW CHTHONIC VIDEO: “SET FIRE TO THE ISLAND”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Aug 212013
 

Chthonic’s 2013 album Bú-Tik, garnered significant praise from our own Andy Synn when he reviewed the album in June, calling it the band’s “greatest attempt so far at speaking the universal, world language, of metal”. Yet with all of the band’s drawing together of diverse musical and cultural strands, he gave the track “Set Fire To The Island” as an example of “pure Chthonic majesty”, describing it as “a venomous mix of symphonic darkness and calculated wrath.”

Today the band released their official music video for that same song, the fourth video released so far from Bú-Tik. Unlike the three previous videos (all of which we’ve featured here), this one is a live performance, filmed at last year’s Mass Battle concert in Taiwan. According to bassist Doris Yeh (you see, I did have a reason for putting that photo up there!):

“This is the live video we shot when we first played the song. It’s the most exciting song to play off the entire album! It has now become a ‘tradition’ for the fans in Taiwan to come to our show with ghost money, they throw in the air to show respect and release all kinds of their emotions. When I see the ghost money thrown in the air, sometimes the scenery before my eyes seems like a dream.”

Watch the video after the jump. You’ll be glad you did. And if “ghost money” is a new term for you, as it was for me, you might try this. Continue reading »

TOURISM: DARK TRANQUILLITY, OMNIUM GATHERUM, AND EXMORTUS TO INVADE NORTH AMERICA

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Aug 212013
 

Not long ago we received this announcement: Beginning early next year  Dark Tranquillity will be mounting a North American tour in support of their new Construct album, and they will be joined by Finland’s Omnium Gatherum. Both of those bands turned in superior albums this year, with OG’s Beyond being a particular favorite of this site.

The third band on the tour is a California outfit named Exmortus. It appears we will have to investigate their music.

The tour begins on January 31 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, before moving to the actual North American continent in Atlanta on February 1. It’s scheduled to conclude in Philadelphia on March 2. I know you will be thrilled to learn that, in between, it will stop in Seattle so that I may see it. These are very accommodating bands.

The entire slate of dates follows the jump. Tickets are already available for purchase at this site: Continue reading »

REFLECTIONS IN THE VOID: LIVING METAL

 Mosh Pit  38 Responses »
Aug 212013
 

(This is the third in a series of guest posts by NCS supporter Utmu in which he poses questions and seeks answers.  In the last installment, he sought reader input for a paper about metal that he has been preparing for a college Composition course, which we may be seeing here soon.  And in this post, he’s asking for reader opinions again. Please leave your thoughts in the Comment section after the post.)

I’d like to apologize for the untimely manner in which I’m going about my paper. My composition class ended on August 2 and I’ve been on break since then. The reason why I’ve been reluctant to submit it to Islander is because I want to make a few changes with the structuring. Also, I’d like to proofread it to make sure that it impresses upon people in the way that I want it to, and I’d also like to make sure all of my arguments are cogent. But to the matter at hand!

In the last installment of RitV, I surveyed you all about the general well-being of metal in order to gather information for the paper. Part of me thinks that the results weren’t what I was looking for, but the other part of me does. Regardless of whether or not my respondents understood what I was asking depended entirely on the way in which I asked it—that is to say, any faults in the survey were my doing, not the respondents’. I’ve diagnosed the possible faults of my survey as a symptom of not actually knowing how to conduct one. Specifically, I don’t know when I’m leading my respondents and when I’m informing them (my instructor intended for this to occur as a form of “on-the-job training”, I suppose). However, I still got the general idea from the respondents that metal is indeed alive and well.

Now I’d like to take a moment and ask you how you define living metal. What makes metal alive? Is it based on the extent of perceived innovation in the music? Or is it a function of the simple fact that new music continues to be made, whether innovative or not? Perhaps you would subscribe to a different explanation entirely. Continue reading »

THE LENA ABÉ STORY: BOLLOCKS-FREE EDITION (An NCS Interview)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Aug 212013
 

(NCS guest writer and hard man to please KevinP wrangled the following interview with Lena Abé, bass-player for legendary UK doom squad My Dying Bride and guitarist for Severed Heaven.)

 

K:  So you joined My Dying Bride in 2007, but were a relatively unknown name at the time.  Give us some back-story before entering the fray?

L:   I started playing guitar when I was ten years old. Usual story really, joined bands throughout high school, became involved within the metal scene, and eventually joined My Dying Bride.  Music is in my family, so I was always going to do something along those lines.

 

K:  Are you a native/lifelong Brit?

L:  Mostly yes. I’m half Japanese and half British. Born in Tokyo, but my family moved to the UK when I was still a baby.  I was brought up in Yorkshire and definitely have the accent to prove it.

 

K:  So growing up, when did you first hear about My Dying Bride? 

L:  I can’t remember exactly. I remember friends’ older siblings being into them when I was a kid and  I remember seeing the band in magazines like Kerrang and Terrorizer, old school MTV as well. It was eye-opening because it was the first time I had heard “doom”.  I really got into them around the Songs of Darkness, Words of Light era (2004-ish) and saw them live.  That changed it for me and I then explored the rest of their catalogue.

 

K:  Were you already into death metal/extreme music by that time?

L:  Not fully, but I was half-way there if that makes sense. Continue reading »

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