P.S it's you as a chicken

musings, notes, punk rock.
The National

—Graceless

fuckyeahthenational:

Graceless | The National | Trouble Will Find Me, 2013

this one’s my favourite so far

thisismy50: #33 - Converge - Jane Doe I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Jane Doe isn’t my favourite Converge album, but it is objectively, unquestionably their best album. It is an incredible achievement on how far the “limits” or hardcore music can be pushed, and there’s never been anything even like it before or since. Right from that opening minute and 19 seconds of “Concubine” it’s a bit difficult to understand what has just happened to the listener. Just, “what is this?” It’s so technically proficient, and yet so seamless, it verges on being humorous. “What am I listening to? How is this band even doing this? Are there even words? does it matter?” But once you accept the chaos, and once “Fault and Fracture” speeds towards it’s climatic breakdown, you begin to understand. It’s a tough album to digest, simply because there was no precedent for it. The band had always been one of the most inventive hardcore bands up to this point, but they never even came close to producing anything on this scale before. Because for an album that is such a cacophonous mess for the majority of it’s running time, it’s startlingly melodic too, which ratchets up the tension even further. Take “Distance and Meaning” intentionally put in after the 1-2 sucker punch of “Concubine”/”Fault and Fracture” which tones things down somewhat, in that you can actually hear Jacob Bannon’s lyrics through his creepy talking voice. Even further to this point is “Hell to Pay” which is would have been about as “quiet” as the band ever had been to this point. What one quickly realises and the bluesy swagger descends into the hardcore stomp of “Homewrecker” is that this is one of (if not the) the best sequenced records in the genre. It simply does not let up for it’s 45 minutes, just pummelling you with noise and aggression, but with a point to it. Ultimately, every song on Jane Doe is an instant classic, all working perfectly in unity as a record, throwing the listener ever closer to the epic, incredible title track finale. With Jane Doe, Converge asserted themselves as the best in the game. They were never a band who sat still particularly, that much was clear already in their first two full-lengths. But Jane Doe was a game changer, both for the band and the genre, it saw all 4 members at the absolute top of their game to produce and incredible piece of art (Ben Koller’s drumming in particular is simply astonishing), and we are still feeling it’s effects 12 years later. Watch: Concubine/Fault and Fracture video. FYI, I prefer the editing of the video when it’s just Fault and Fracture so the performance and “narrative” run simultaneously, but as far as the song goes, it’s pretty impossible to have one and not the other. This video made me begin to understand what an incredible band this was and still is.

thisismy50:

#33 - Converge - Jane Doe

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Jane Doe isn’t my favourite Converge album, but it is objectively, unquestionably their best album. It is an incredible achievement on how far the “limits” or hardcore music can be pushed, and there’s never been anything even like it before or since.

Right from that opening minute and 19 seconds of “Concubine” it’s a bit difficult to understand what has just happened to the listener. Just, “what is this?” It’s so technically proficient, and yet so seamless, it verges on being humorous. “What am I listening to? How is this band even doing this? Are there even words? does it matter?”

But once you accept the chaos, and once “Fault and Fracture” speeds towards it’s climatic breakdown, you begin to understand. It’s a tough album to digest, simply because there was no precedent for it. The band had always been one of the most inventive hardcore bands up to this point, but they never even came close to producing anything on this scale before. Because for an album that is such a cacophonous mess for the majority of it’s running time, it’s startlingly melodic too, which ratchets up the tension even further.

Take “Distance and Meaning” intentionally put in after the 1-2 sucker punch of “Concubine”/”Fault and Fracture” which tones things down somewhat, in that you can actually hear Jacob Bannon’s lyrics through his creepy talking voice. Even further to this point is “Hell to Pay” which is would have been about as “quiet” as the band ever had been to this point. What one quickly realises and the bluesy swagger descends into the hardcore stomp of “Homewrecker” is that this is one of (if not the) the best sequenced records in the genre. It simply does not let up for it’s 45 minutes, just pummelling you with noise and aggression, but with a point to it. Ultimately, every song on Jane Doe is an instant classic, all working perfectly in unity as a record, throwing the listener ever closer to the epic, incredible title track finale.

With Jane Doe, Converge asserted themselves as the best in the game. They were never a band who sat still particularly, that much was clear already in their first two full-lengths. But Jane Doe was a game changer, both for the band and the genre, it saw all 4 members at the absolute top of their game to produce and incredible piece of art (Ben Koller’s drumming in particular is simply astonishing), and we are still feeling it’s effects 12 years later.

Watch: Concubine/Fault and Fracture video. FYI, I prefer the editing of the video when it’s just Fault and Fracture so the performance and “narrative” run simultaneously, but as far as the song goes, it’s pretty impossible to have one and not the other. This video made me begin to understand what an incredible band this was and still is.

nogravebutthesea: Man City away yesterday. A pretty good way to end the season.

nogravebutthesea:

Man City away yesterday. A pretty good way to end the season.

Meneguar - Cambridge, Portland Arms - 04/10/07

I can’t remember if I’ve written about this before (I probably have) but if I could go back in time to go to any show, it would be this one. This was two days before my 19th birthday, and later that week I would listen to Meneguar’s “House of Cats” for the first time (a song that still gives me chills to this day) and start an unrequited love that never has fully been fulfilled. This show happened about an hour from where I lived (Norwich), having played the Portland Arms with Maths I knew what a great venue it was, and I mean, just look at that video. The Jam at the end, the vocals, the intensity. My biggest musical regret. What’s yours?

guardian: Hand-drawn maps are enjoying a renaissance as contemporary artists use their imagination, creativity and humour to breathe new life into the traditional craft of cartography. Here are 10 of the best Photograph: Jenni Sparks Well this is exactly my kind of thing

guardian:

Hand-drawn maps are enjoying a renaissance as contemporary artists use their imagination, creativity and humour to breathe new life into the traditional craft of cartography. Here are 10 of the best

Photograph: Jenni Sparks

Well this is exactly my kind of thing

thisismy50: #- Orchid - Gatefold (2002) A brief aside here, as I realised this very special album had been missed off. Because really, Orchid are a stunning band who can still compete with the best. It seems unfair even to pick just one records of theirs, so consistent were they in approach, but the upwards trajectory in production and song-structure left me at their swan-song. I already wrote at length about City of Caterpillar’s only full length. It was also released in 2002 (the peak and death of screamo) and how it came to epitomise the most post-rocky, progressive element to “Screamo” music. Well Orchid represented the other end of the spectrum (and Circle Takes the Square did both, but I can’t handle them today). Screamo is a strange old genre, widely addictive and satisfying to so many at a certain time in people’s lives, then just to disappear as quickly as it entered those peoples lives. It’s easy to get caught up in Screamo hyperbole; for many, once discovered (myself included), it’s a genre which makes one feel like punk music can’t progress any further, that this is the pinnacle, it’s all you listen to and all you want to be as a musician. But after a while, you realise the genre and scene has been dead for 10 years and there’s not much else one can do about it. This record largely is the reason for and eulogy of a scene. Of course, there are still plenty of great bands to this day who are influenced by the hypnotic, chaotic rhythms, the black-metal-esque atmosphere, the occasionally catchy vocals. But often bands (both then and now) got too caught up in a singular idea and didn’t use it to progress themselves in anyway. Ironically, Orchid are actually the archetype for this sort of thing, they did largely only do one thing their entire career of three full lengths and lots of singles and split EPs. The difference is, they simply did it louder, better, more consistently and first. The key to Orchid is that they never outstay their welcome. There are so many bands of this scene and genre, Saetia, Neil Perry, Pg.99, to name a few who wrote incredible songs but never really translated to full records because they simply didn’t have the imagination to really do anything exciting longer than a couple of songs ending in meaningless repetition. No Orchid record is longer than 25 minutes (this one) and barely any songs are longer than a minute. Somewhat left-field, but this is (and I’ll come back to this) a large reason why Madvillainy is one of my favourite albums of all time; every track is quick and to the point, but with enough innovation and intrigue in every single song to leave you wanting a little bit more each time. This is something Orchid perfected over their three full lengths. They found a unique sound blending the emo-post-hardcore of their forefathers and grindcore, thanks in part to their friends and early contributors Pig Destroyer, and stretched it as far as it possibly could go before it got dull. Whereas other, lesser bands, would put all these riffs into lots of longer songs, Orchid had a strict one riff per song (apart from the final song on each album, which they allowed themselves to indulge in being a couple minutes long) ethos which led to far more catchy and memorable songs. On top of this, the band were phenomenal musicians too. Will Killingsworth is probably the best songwriter in the game (something he continued to prove in his later band Ampere) while the bands rhythm section kept things going at an incredible breakneck speed. On top of this, Kurt Ballou’s (Converge) production meant Orchid didn’t fall into the trap of so many of their peers; it was possible to make chaos sound beautiful. And then there’s vocalist Jayson Green, who has one of the recognisable voices in the genre, a low-end bark, but also a highly witty sense of humour, and smart-alec literary references to boot. Orchid were a special band who like their music, never outstayed their welcome, splitting up just as they released their final record. Their last ever show is on youtube, and it remains one of the best performance videos on the internet.

thisismy50:

#- Orchid - Gatefold (2002)

A brief aside here, as I realised this very special album had been missed off. Because really, Orchid are a stunning band who can still compete with the best. It seems unfair even to pick just one records of theirs, so consistent were they in approach, but the upwards trajectory in production and song-structure left me at their swan-song.

I already wrote at length about City of Caterpillar’s only full length. It was also released in 2002 (the peak and death of screamo) and how it came to epitomise the most post-rocky, progressive element to “Screamo” music. Well Orchid represented the other end of the spectrum (and Circle Takes the Square did both, but I can’t handle them today). Screamo is a strange old genre, widely addictive and satisfying to so many at a certain time in people’s lives, then just to disappear as quickly as it entered those peoples lives. It’s easy to get caught up in Screamo hyperbole; for many, once discovered (myself included), it’s a genre which makes one feel like punk music can’t progress any further, that this is the pinnacle, it’s all you listen to and all you want to be as a musician.

But after a while, you realise the genre and scene has been dead for 10 years and there’s not much else one can do about it. This record largely is the reason for and eulogy of a scene. Of course, there are still plenty of great bands to this day who are influenced by the hypnotic, chaotic rhythms, the black-metal-esque atmosphere, the occasionally catchy vocals. But often bands (both then and now) got too caught up in a singular idea and didn’t use it to progress themselves in anyway. Ironically, Orchid are actually the archetype for this sort of thing, they did largely only do one thing their entire career of three full lengths and lots of singles and split EPs. The difference is, they simply did it louder, better, more consistently and first.

The key to Orchid is that they never outstay their welcome. There are so many bands of this scene and genre, Saetia, Neil Perry, Pg.99, to name a few who wrote incredible songs but never really translated to full records because they simply didn’t have the imagination to really do anything exciting longer than a couple of songs ending in meaningless repetition. No Orchid record is longer than 25 minutes (this one) and barely any songs are longer than a minute. Somewhat left-field, but this is (and I’ll come back to this) a large reason why Madvillainy is one of my favourite albums of all time; every track is quick and to the point, but with enough innovation and intrigue in every single song to leave you wanting a little bit more each time.

This is something Orchid perfected over their three full lengths. They found a unique sound blending the emo-post-hardcore of their forefathers and grindcore, thanks in part to their friends and early contributors Pig Destroyer, and stretched it as far as it possibly could go before it got dull. Whereas other, lesser bands, would put all these riffs into lots of longer songs, Orchid had a strict one riff per song (apart from the final song on each album, which they allowed themselves to indulge in being a couple minutes long) ethos which led to far more catchy and memorable songs.

On top of this, the band were phenomenal musicians too. Will Killingsworth is probably the best songwriter in the game (something he continued to prove in his later band Ampere) while the bands rhythm section kept things going at an incredible breakneck speed. On top of this, Kurt Ballou’s (Converge) production meant Orchid didn’t fall into the trap of so many of their peers; it was possible to make chaos sound beautiful. And then there’s vocalist Jayson Green, who has one of the recognisable voices in the genre, a low-end bark, but also a highly witty sense of humour, and smart-alec literary references to boot.

Orchid were a special band who like their music, never outstayed their welcome, splitting up just as they released their final record. Their last ever show is on youtube, and it remains one of the best performance videos on the internet.

FUCK OFF