Recently I've hit my head alot. I've given myself concussions, lumps, and now I happen to have taken a nice chunk of skin off the top of my head. Thankfully no medical assistance was required and I can write this post without the aid of chopsticks or something.
Anyway to celebrate my most recent head injury as well as the fact that I'm in a dastardly mood right now I thought I'd post some metal up here for you to all enjoy, given that I know WBDF is at the forefront of the global Metal scene..... or not.
Psychroptic are a band you have to feel sorry for, not for any other reason than the fact that they hail from Tasmania. Drummer Dave Haley is one of the most phenomenal metal drummers in the country. The clip is for the first single from the new album Ob(servant) - take it from about the 1:20 mark if you get bored.
Who else makes me bang my head? Canadians Protest the Hero were brought my attention by a friend and while they grated a little bit at first I've started to realise that maybe this is how a band like Karnivool could sound if they grew some balls. Now thats not fair but yeah. Its like Coke and Diet Coke I guess. Awesome musicianship though regardless.
And finally I'll leave you with the obscure madness that is Mike Patton and Fantomas - I know they say size doesnt matter but when you've got a kit that looks like that I'm sure you get more sex.
Remember those people who never made learning fun? Those teachers that were more concerned with what you were doing with your penis out instead of how they could help you learn? The ones that would confiscate the cigarettes and then go and smoke them? I suppose we're all inducted to the concept of a police state early in life.. where individualism is stifled and we must bow down to the conceived structure of a 'normal' society.. Not me though, I was a good boy..
Anyway here comes Professor Javid esq. with a mathetmatical and somewhat algebraic deconstruction of System of a Down. Ironic given the previous paragraph.. Anyway if you dont know them, here they are:
So.. as you can see it's basically one guy with a beard who sings ranty weird stuff in a mix of kookiness and politics, and another dude without a beard who sings harmonies to the dude with a beard and then does his own kind of punk-rock thing with anger and a bit of charisma. Add a dude with a beard on the drums and a dude with a kind of weird goatee beard thing on bass and together you have a collection of pronumerals we shall call, for this equation, (SOAD).
Now two alums have come out since (SOAD)'s decision to take a hiatus. The first one is a solo release by the guy with the beard who sings the ranty stuff also known as Serj Tankian and henceforth known as (ST). His album was called Elect the Dead and given his contribution to the band in terms of lyrics, amazing vocal diversity and political agenda, you'd expect a solo album to pretty much contain these three things. And listening through it, from 'Empty Walls', to 'Money', to 'Sky Is Over', it pretty much is. Oh, and he plays the piano.
The second half of this breakdown comes from the skinny punky guy without a beard, known as Daron Malakian who happened to rope the drummer with a beard (John Dolmayan) along to form their band Scars On Broadway - which we will call (SOB). You would think that the album would contain pretty much some stock standard fun and hilarity with a bit less of a message, but plenty more hooks and some solid drumming. Do you get that? Yes. The single choice is appalling but the album is quite palatable.
Oh, and as you may very well notice the only guy that DIDN'T have a beard in (SOAD) now has one in (SOB). You may also noted that I havent included the bassist as he doesnt really do much, isnt that amazing and no doubt does what he's told for the most part, although he does make a good interview and that goatee is mucho enviable.
So mathematically, as teachers would have you believe, the following is true;
SOAD = ST + SOB
and that therefore
ST + SOB = SOAD
and even that
ST = SOAD - SOB
And you know what, if you showed all your working, you'd be right. The teacher would give you all nice ticks in his or her red pen and maybe even a smiley face but the fact of that matter is that you're wrong. Its quite evident that yes, System of a Down minus the others WOULD be Serj but this does change the sound of the music. While (ST)'s album sounds the same as an (SOAD) album this is mainly due to the production values. While (SOB)s album sounds like (SOAD) as well this is in the production.
This is where neither half of the sum has done themselves justice. It works more for (SOB) because it contains the guys who are making the music anyway. So which album is better? Ultimately it comes down to what you like more about System. Serj's agenda and kookiness or Darons catchy offensiveness. Both of them do show off a bit of diversity, Serj in his vocal stylings and piano and Daron shows some variety with trance, chunk and even some Dylan-esque vocals. Alot of the (SOB) tracks however do sound like they were left on the cutting room floor after (SOAD)s massive Hypnotize/Mesmerize collection.
Anyway, if you've gotten this far you've probably wasted your time..
I've always had a soft spot in my ears, heart (and occasionally loins) for talented female vocalists. Thats why I still like Amy Winehouse even though shes just come out of a phase in her career that she might sadly never recover from professionally (please prove me wrong)
Listening to Triple J last week (or given that its now monday - the week before) and they featured a stunning album that presents amazing female vocals with an interesting and diverse range of sounds. For all I know this could all be old hat but the artist I'm talking about is Florence and the Machine.
And only now am I finding out that I cant embed ANY of their videoclips due to copyright. No one thinks of the bloggers anymore... sigh.
But anyway.. Based out of the UK the band is fronted by Florence Welch - 22 years old and with a voice like a woman many years her senior - she was labelled dyslexic and a troubled teen during her academic days, to which she says "I was just quite absent, mentally as well as most of the time physically." Im sure this is something many people, including myself can relate to.
The music itself keeps an etheral feel to an extent and paints a kind of cheerful but melancholy picture over which the singing soars from dynamic heights to intimate lows.
Is she brilliant? I think so. They're currently doing a massive amount of dates throughout Europe but with nothing announced in this part of the world - all I can say is keep your eyes out for Big Day Out time. I'll be there. The album is called 'Lungs' and I cannot do anymore than recommend it ahundredfold and yell at their label for stopping me from promoting them more effectively with good clips and stuff. Fuck you Island Records its a video, not an album FFS.
This may be a clear indication that I am not the young precocious man that I perhaps once was but despite every blogger trying to convince you they never watch trashy television and spend every waking minute listening to Nick Cave and going to awesome gigs with awesome bands you've never heard of, I found myself watching Dancing with the Stars. Not a once off really either, while it was my first viewing this season, I have watched it quite a bit over the 8 or 9 seasons it's been on. Like anyone else who watched the show, the inclusion of blind Paralympian Gerrard Gosens heightened my interest.
Previous to appearing on this show, I had no idea who Gerrard Gosen was and clearly he is a man who has achieved more in one day than I will in a lifetime. Fattering cliches aside, I was honestly deeply disgusted by the conduct of everyone else on the show. This could be where I'm losing my young and free thinking but I thought some of the jokes regarding Gosen's lack of knowledge of the moonwalk and other things bordered on being offensive. Then the judge Todd Mckenny's comments that Gosen's performance was appauling pushed me over the edge.
Now I have to tell you, by no means am I one of those Perez Hilton fucks that uses my blog to make a comment about everything I see on television but I thought this went beyond that. This isn't my audition speech for Miss Universe (i got great legs though) and I'm sure this probably didn't faze Gosen in the slightest with what he has overcame in his life, but there have got to be more appropriate targets. Like maybe Layne Beachley... CAR CRASH!
I know Gosen would insist on being judged on a level playing field with everyone else and obviously he is doing Dancing with the Stars as a means of both challenging himself and raising money / awareness for his selected charity. My God though, if Dancing with the Stars needs ratings so badly it must excessively hack on a blind man who is clearly achieving the impossible, I personally thing there is a line of common decency and respect for Gosen not as a blind man or any other label you want to throw out there but as a human being. Am I right?
In my opinion the comments he recieved were ones that not even Red Simmons or Pauline Hanson were subjected to and I can only then be led to believe it was in the pursuit of the "shock factor" so ridiculous hacks like myself would blog about it.
Mission Accomplished.
Now I couldn't find a youtube of the episode in question, but here is a sample of what the man can produce.
I hope this will be my first and last journey into blogging about the world of trashy television.
