Tuesday, May 29, 2012

French Prog? Sacre Bleu!

In the last year I've come upon a French progressive rock band called Alcest. Not only are they French but they sing in French. So for all I know they are chanting hymns to Satan. Granted I took two years of French but it's enough to get me to navigate (poorly) the Parisian subway but not rock lyrics.

Check this track out:


This is a promo clip for the first cut off their latest record. The song is called "Autre Temps." The album is called Les Voyages D L'Ame. Very roughly translated to "other times" and "Voyage of the Soul."

This is really beautiful music. Some of the other tracks have the scream-vocal-thing going on, but not often. This song has the things I like best about progressive music. It's got a great melody, it's complex but not show-offy, it's pretty but it rocks. The songs on the record sound like a voyage of the soul. It's uplifting and touching and exceptionally good.

Sadly, I missed them when they came to town a couple months ago. They played DC the night my band had practice right before our first gig. It's disappointing to have missed their show but it's much more gratifying to know my band had such a great show of our own.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Day...New Rush Album!!!

For whatever reason I thought the Rush album was coming out today May 29th, when in truth it is June 12. So I feel like a real dumbass. But it doesn't change my enthusiasm! All this negativity just makes me stronger!

I've written before about my love for Rush. Happily they have their new album Clockwork Angels, coming out tomorrow. A lovely anniversary present from the fellas! Thanks, guys!!


That's "Headlong Flight," which I am listening to right now. With this new record Rush is back to the concept-album idea. Evidently this one is about watchmakers, steampunk, quests, pirates and lost cities. This song shows they are back to their old tricks of kind-of-long-songs and time-signature changes.  As someone whose life has been enormously affected by Rush all I can say is "awesome!"

I will be seeing them for the umpteenth time this September. The last time I saw them was last summer in Baltimore. My wife was actually very excited to see them and we had decent seats on the floor but were way too far back. That experience convinced me that I can never be that far back for a Rush show again. This time I splurged and did the fan club thing and guaranteed us (Yes the missus is going back for a SECOND Rush show!! She's a keeper!) somewhere in the first 15 rows. This will be night and day difference for her compared to the last. She had a hard time seeing things last time; this time there will be no such problem.

This track and the other two songs I have heard, BU2B and Caravan bode well for this record. Unlike other bands, I think Rush has aged spectacularly well. I will admit the new stuff isn't as good as Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves but that isn't a bad thing. Hell, man, it's impossible to make a record as good as Moving Pictures. The new stuff is still fresh sounding. It's still interesting. It is impossible for the Rolling Stones or Kiss or Boston or Eric Clapton or AC/DC or many other bands from the 70s and 80s to make a new record that is even remotely interesting. How many bands can you say that about? Seriously, do you really think the Rolling Stones are ever going to make another good record? They haven't made a good record since 1972!! Rush is still pushing themselves. They haven't gone soft, they haven't given up, they haven't sold out, they continue to musically challenge themselves. Geddy can't hit the high notes like he used to but they are still bringing it. And that is why they are my most favorite band in the world.

I'll post my thoughts on the record in it's entirety later this week. CAN'T WAIT!!

PS...the other band that comes to mind that is still making interesting records despite their age is Iron Maiden. I am seeing them this summer as well!! YES!




Sunday, May 20, 2012

BRAD, or what to do when not doing Pearl Jam

While Pearl Jam is on hiatus it is good to see the fellows still working on side projects. Jeff Ament (with an assist from Mike McCready) had a solid record with Tres Mts. Eddie Vedder's solo record, Ukulele Songs was kind of meh primarily because it's Eddie playing the ukulele and that gets old kind of quick. Matt Cameron did some work with a little band he used to monkey around with called Soundgarden. Now Stone Gossard returns with his side project, BRAD.

BRAD has made a few records before but their new one, United We Stand, is the first one I have picked up. It is VERY 90s alternative sounding, which to someone my age is usually a pretty good thing. There's an R&B kind of vibe permeating through it. It's a catchy record. The songwriting and the melodies are especially good; the musicianship is fine. The vocals are interesting. Shawn Smith is the singer and he has had a fine career out of the limelight. His voice reminds me a bit of America's Dewey Bunnell.

If you are a casual Pearl Jam fan this record won't register with you. If you are a Pearl Jam fanatic you probably don't need me to tell you about it. If you are looking for something new to listen to it is definitely work a check out. I have been coming back to this record a bunch of times since it came out mainly because they are placing the Red Palace Tuesday night and I am trying to talk myself into going. I hear parking is a bitch down on H Street though. That's a very old-man-reason not to go but hey. 

Here's the second track off the record, called "Bound In Time." Enjoy.


Monday, May 14, 2012

(One Of) The Best Artists You've Never Heard Of

About a month ago I was turned on to a 2010 collaboration between one of the guys from The Shazam, Hans Rotenberry, and Brad Jones. It's the latter I want to briefly write about tonight.

Usually I am pretty hip to these kinds of developments, so I was surprised when I found out I was 2 years behind on this record. I was never a big fan of The Shazam but I have always loved Brad Jones' meager output. He made one of the greatest power pop records ever, Gilt-Flake, back in 1995 or so. Since then he has done a lot of producing for bands like Cotton Mather (another criminally under-rated band) and Matthew Sweet. There aren't too many people who really nail the Beatles-esque thing as perfectly as Brad  Jones does. And it's really really sad he doesn't have a bigger profile.

Below is a track from this new collaboration, titled Mountain Jack. This song, titled "A Likely Lad" features Brad Jones singing and is easily the best track on the record. Is a perfect song: it has a great hook and a beautiful melody. Brad Jones' voice is unique but it suits the material and this song especially just perfectly. The quality isn't the best but it will do. I say it a lot but if I wrote a song this good I'd be happy. I hope you like it and if you do, do yourself a favor a track down Gilt Flake. It's just so good to hear him writing and singing songs again. If you read this, Brad, puh-leeeeeeze make another record soon!




Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Community of Metal

Last week I went to see a metal triple bill. I have been seriously looking forward to this show for some time now. First off it was my maiden trip to The Fillmore in Silver Spring. Secondly and more importantly it was to see three killer bands: Ghost, Mastodon and Opeth and their Heritage/Hunter Tour.

The Fillmore is one of these nice new and clean clubs. About the same size as the 930 Club. It has a couple fancy bars, big screen TVs with the stage on them behind the bar and is less of a death trap if the place starts to burn down. It has an upstairs balcony and it has a downstairs bar if you want to get away from the noise. It reminded me of the Rams Head Live place up in downtown Baltimore. So, cool venue.

Now on to the important part. First up were Ghost. Here's a picture I snapped:


These "guys" are from Sweden. I have guys in quotes because nobody appears to know who they are. The band wears long black robes with hoods and their faces are wrapped up so all you can see are their eyes and their hands. The singer wears a skeleton mask and is dressed like a psychotic Cardinal. Oh, and they sing songs about the devil. Seriously about the devil, like "We really dig you, Devil." Normally I don't go for that kind of stuff, but the music is sooooo good. Very melodic, very anthemic, very well put together songs. And the whole stage antics is very tongue-in-cheek. The singer came out with an incense burner like you see a priest swinging around at mass. They had incense sticks burning on their amps so the show had a very pleasant aroma. They played about 30 minutes and rocked the joint.

Here's a clip of the first song from the show I was at. There's about 1:45 of intro stuff as the band comes to the stage, but it gives you a great idea of their schtick. I am somewhere on the left. I am one of the guys going "woooooooo!"


Next up was Mastodon. Here's another picture I snapped. And check out that awesome double neck Brent Hinds has. Sweet!


Mastodon are from Georgia and do the heavy stoner metal kind of thing. Lots of their songs are about whales and the Elephant Man and about avenging one's wronged goat. Noble things all.  Live, they bring it. They don't say much. In fact I don't think they said one word to the crowd the whole show. They just did their thing for about an hour, which in this case is kicking serious ass, then waved and left. The drummer had a few things to say about how f-ing awesome we were, but that's a given.

Here's a video of their set opener, "Black Tongue". Thank you Internet!


Last and certainly not least was another band from Sweden: Opeth.


Opeth used to be do the whole death metal thing but now they are pretty much a killer progressive rock band. Because of that I like their newer records better than the old ones. That said, they sounded kind of out of place on this show. Mastodon really brought it hard and loud. Opeth's set dialed it down a couple notches, so it honestly felt like a bit of a let down. Which is a shame because the music is great.

Here's them doing "Windowpane" at the show.


See, sort of mellow-ish compared to the last couple. I could have linked "Slither" which is a wonderful Dio rip-off of a song (I mean that as a compliment) or a couple of their older songs with the cookie monster vocals but I wanted something that better captured the overall vibe of their set and this song does.  They played an hour as well. No encore, which was OK because I was beat.

I told a friend at work about the show and she asked what the crowd was like. That got me thinking about metal shows and their crowds compared to indie rock shows and their crowds. At indie rock shows you'll see people (some, not all) just hanging out not really paying attention to the music. It appears they are more interested in being seen than seeing the show. There will be people talking and having conversations while the show is going on. At a metal show, you will rarely if ever have that happen. The crowd looks kind of scary because they all have on black tee shirts for Slayer, Sepultera, Meshuggah, and Naplam Death and they'll have lots of piercings and tattoos. One girl in front of me had her nose and lip pierced along with a blue mohawk. But I guarantee you that you won't find a friendlier crowd. I have seen more fights at a single Shins show than at any five metal shows.

I think it's mainly because a metal crowd is a kind of community in of itself. A lot of these folks are outsiders, the not cool kids who sat by themselves drawing "Zoso" on the covers of their notebooks in high school. The music is something that got them through that and it has become a part of their identity. The scary looking tee shirts are their badges to identify one to another (as if the blue hair didn't do it at first). Sure you will have crowd surfing and mosh pits and slam dancing, but it's all done in the spirit of the music. I saw a different Mastodon show where the slam dance circle had formed and people were flinging themselves and each other into, colliding like neutrinos in a particle accelerator. One skinny kid was flung in there and was tossed around like a rag doll. When he went ass-over-elbows two big dudes picked him off the ground, set him on his feet, dusted him off and with a pat on the head sent him back happily into the circle. Nobody is looking to start shit or hurt people. Everybody is just having a good time in the metal way. Sure there are dicks but it is a great crowd and a great way to see a show. Just don't be surprised if you are jostled some or crashed into at some point or feel inspired to flash the devil horns at some nut in a Cardinal outfit singing about human sacrifice.