Saturday, November 30, 2013

publishing warning (inri029)

this was my grade 12 final project in electronic music design. the assignment was something along the lines of creating a piece of music with a social message.

the message is part dystopian, but focuses more on the idea of identifying certain threats that would become a problem in the upcoming century. remember that this was the end of 1999. how close was i?

1) intro
2) war
3) noise pollution, or pollution in general
4) conformity (or the collapse of individualism)*
5) chemical warfare
6) global warming
7) outro

*i was thinking in terms of personality/uniqueness, rather than something political. and i think the extreme conformity underlying gen y social attitudes have played this out frighteningly well, actually. it's a reaction to the radical mindset of anti-conformity that dominated gen x, but it's still a very real thing that will have very real ramifications in the upcoming decades. if you thought the 50s were creepy, wait until you see what these kids grow up into!

i should have included something about inequality. i also removed a vegan track, partly due to time restraints. besides that, i think i got all of the broad ideas right.

most of the tracks are slightly remixed/resequenced versions of tracks from inri or inriched. track 5 is brand new, and recorded on the school's synthesizer (part of the project requirements).

noting that this contains a section i've title "symphony #0", i'm going to label this piece of music my zeroth symphony.

recorded over 1997-1999. constructed in this form in june, 1999. as always, please use headphones.

credits
j - guitars, effects, bass, synthesizers, drum programming, sequencing, sampling, digital wave editing, cool edit synthesis, tapes, production, found sounds, strategies

released june 20, 1999



1) this is track 1 from the original inri cd demo.

2) this is a combination of tracks 5 & 11 from the original inri cd demo.

3) this is a combination of tracks 3 & 7 from the original inriched cd demo.

4) this is track 19 from the original inriched cd demo.

5) this was an original track recorded on the school's synthesizer to fulfill the requirements of the project, but becomes track 7 on the original inridiculous cd demo.

6) this is track 19 from the original inri cd demo.

7) this is track 1 from the original inriched cd demo.
or, maybe, they're trying to come up out of the water and onto the land as a result of the shifts in the ocean's chemistry. hey, that probably had something to do with amphibians coming up on shore however many millions of years ago. that's how these things work.

again: you don't think that life is just going to roll over and die without a fight, do you? if it comes down to it, i'd expect more than one type of fish to give it a shot.

land sharks. consider the carnage. just another reason to fight global warming.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/moose-eating-shark-rescued-in-newfoundland-harbour-1.2434102


took me a while to find something specific worth posting. the idea is very reasonable, but only with fish that reproduce very, very quickly. which probably means not sharks.

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/55/2/421.full.pdf

so, i'm going to hold to that statement. i'd expect that, in the next fifty years, if the oceans continue to fill up with carbon, at least one species of fish will try and make the jump. seriously...
PreacherNny
I've heard that the voice on this track is J.G. Thirlwell. Anyone know if that's true or not? The liner notes credit the voice to "Hugh Foley" and I can't find any other existing music credits to that name, and any Foetus fan knows that Jim loves his pseudonyms...

deathtokoalas
google just eliminated the reply feature? that'll be popular.

anyways, it doesn't sound like jim. but, he is credited on the record as a producer and probably had something to do with the sampling.

why exactly is stomp records following me, anyways?

i have one follower on google+ (which i don't use at all) and it is stomp records.

i don't even like any bands on stomp records. i mean, i'm aware of the existence of stomp records. but it's really not my thing. well, i used to like rocket from the crypt back in the 90s, but they weren't on stomp records. nor could i see them being interested in what i'm doing.

strange. wonder if it's somebody i used to know.

*ducks*

wait. did jessica just post a pop reference?

is she alright?

like most 90s kids i had my share of exposure to sublime, and enjoyed rocking out to a few songs at parties, but i can't claim i was much of a fan. in fact, all the hendrix rips sort of bothered me.

and, like most 90s kids, i had a couple of chili peppers discs. but i liked the one with dave navarro the best. and thought they were better when they were being weird than when they were being funk.

jim thirlwell is something i was seriously into, but he falls more into the swing category.

and i guess i've spent some time exploring the ol' reverend, and greatly enjoyed his guitar playing, but he's also definitely before my time. passive fan at most.

generally, i prefer surf punk (think man or astroman?) over punkabilly or ska.



this is a thirlwell project that is often described as "industrial swing".


see, the chilli peppers were better as a psych act. sorry...this seriously blew my mind at the time....

this is also the song that the mars volta basically modeled their entire career on.


ok. i posted the album version because the cut on the video has always bothered me. cuts the song up. hate it when they do that. well, i guess they don't do that anymore..

but the homoerotic images in this video were totally risque in the mid 90s. caused a big kerfuffle with the censors.


the hendrix rip is shameless.


^ it's really practically a hendrix/marley mashup.

also popular, and a progressive track overall, but maybe a little offensive by current standards.


and i don't know how well known these guys are nowadays, but they were basically drive like jehu's arty side project, drive like jehu being the band that hot snakes was formed out of.


actually, this is something else that's relevant, although they were in some ways a foetus knock-off.

inri - warning

release date.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/warning

on the frustrating lack of actual musicality in crystal castles (and why alice glass always sucked)

deathtokoalas
crystal castles are so frustrating. production wise, they're one of the more interesting electronic acts out there, but they have no concept of harmony at all and, as a result, they end up more or less coming off as a third rate ebm/goth act c. 1998. it all fades into itself. a medieval blur. i mean, check out late 90s delerium to see what i mean.

but you know what would be really interesting? if they collaborated a bit with kate stelmanis, because the two acts have precisely what the other lacks - austra is thick with harmonies, but often suffers from dead production.


Fabio Patanè
What you state is interesting as rather articulate , but I believe it is actually not true. I think you're confusing the concept of "harmony" with that of "orchestration" or "arrangement". Or even "production" (which, again, is something different). As an electronic project, CC could actually be accused of shabby, simplistic and repetitive rythmic parts, if only. But, as with every great band, CC is about a defined aesthetics: if you get it and like it, you'll embrace it for what it is. If not, no much point in criticising. But please bother mention a specific track by Delerium: I'm interested. but don't want to come across some homonimous band by mistake. Regards.

deathtokoalas
no, i meant it the way i said it. when i said the production is interesting, that included finding the rhythmic programming (and, to an extent, the orchestration) interesting. harmonically, though, it's dead. it's almost microtonal; i'd suspect the singer is probably technically tone deaf.

that being said, i could see how somebody could respond with "it's interesting because it's minimal" but that's exactly what i'm rejecting.

actually, maybe the confusion is that i didn't specifically state "the subpar vocalist is fundamentally incapable of harmonizing with the much more interesting music", leading you to think i was talking about synth parts or something.

it puts them in a tough spot. if they want to be sleigh bells (or meg lee chin), why not go out and do it? that they don't clearly demonstrates that they want to do something more musical than that. so, this is why it's frustrating. it could be pretty compelling, if only it had a more talented singer fronting it.

to reiterate, the flip side of that is that a lot of the more interesting singers in the general genre are working with much less interesting producers. which is also frustrating...

Fabio Patanè
Harmonically, CC's music is not "dead": it's not classical composition, nor as plain as it may seem to a first hearing (lots of subtle work in the background: wear some headphones, and give it one more try!) I believe you're still confusing concepts: "production" with "arrangement" (producers usually help shaping arrangements amongst other things, but prodution involves lots more aspects, and arrangements can theoretically be exclusive care of the songwriters), and possibly music harmony with vocal harmony. Ask a decent musician to explain all these issues: it may end up in some useful and interesting learning (no disrespect intended). And, I don't espect A.Glass to do vocal harmonies (it would be corny!), although if you pay enough attention to their songs, a certain degree of vocal harmonisations are artificially created by Khan on a regular basis, and are often present in CC songs.  Also, I noticed Joy Division are featured in your channel: would you expect their music to feature some vocal harmonies? Harmonically, their songs are indeed a good example of the rather uninteresting! And, would you expect Curtis to deliver a traditional singing part? Or rather, was JD music about something else, and coming from a brand new approach? You see, there's a lot of DIY and punk aesthetics in CC music which often gets unoticed.

deathtokoalas
i would consider myself a decent musician. i don't know what your attempt at mansplaining is really all about, but if i wasn't clear that the comment is about a lack of vocal harmony the first time then i certainly was the second time.  i'm not confused, you're just failing at being a smug asshole.

joy division were a punk band. crystal castles are a pop band. i could swing the criticism to "alice glass doesn't have the aggression to be an interesting punk vocalist", but she's not trying to be a punk vocalist so i'd be missing the intent.

Fabio Patanè
You might even be a decent musician, but you still have clearly shown to have a comnfused idea of concepts such as harmony, harmonisation, production, programming, arrangements and so on. And, most importantly, you are a disrispectful individual, therefore no longer a decent interlocutor for me. Good luck. Ah!, you might check out some American AOR music: lots of vocal harmonies there for your pleasure...

deathtokoalas
indeed. fabio knows exactly what i'm thinking, because he's got that great big penis that he came in here and started swinging around. obviously.

...and he'd have to know what i'm thinking, in my brain, to be able to make the claim he has. i simply wasn't descriptive enough (except when i clarified otherwise) to come to any other conclusion. i must be interpreting the music the same way he is, and because i'm suggesting that i'm not, i must therefore be confused.

generally, fabio, when you're not sure what people are thinking (and if you stop and THINK for a moment, you'll realize that's the only possible circumstance here), the way to go about getting a better understanding is to ask, not to pull asinine assumptions out of your great big giant cock.

pro-tip: women tend to like it when you take that approach.

Fabio Patanè
Instead of fantasising about my "great big penis" (which I wish I had - and sorry to be such a let-down...), if you were an intellectually honest person you'd have recosidered what you wrote and stated, and see therefore where I'm coming from. Instead, you keep on being disrispectful, on top of showing a funny sexual frustration which I feel is  slightly off-topics here... Take care.

deathtokoalas
the irony and surreality of claiming that i'm the one that's being "disrispectful" (sic) and intellectually dishonest is really off the wall.

FatherAcid
I totally get what you're saying about Alice, but I actually got a chance to see Crystal Castles LIVE and my view of Alice got a lot better.  I already kind of liked her before, but after seeing Crystal Castles live, I really understand why she's tied to Ethan.  She offers a lot of power to Ethan's already very powerful instrumentals.  Her enthusiasm in both performance and voice is contagious and rather entrancing.  I know you're referring purely to the songs themselves and what you're hearing of their final, polished recording, but if you get a chance to see Crystal Castles live, I highly suggest it.  It might improve your view on this singer and you might grow more of a taste for her voice knowing what excitement it offers to the songs.

ashley x
they do it on purpose as a sort of anti-music and i think all in all if you know what shes truly trying to say its beautiful :)

Ben Sheridan
They are not whatever. Who cares. I like ko killing them. They are teddy bears with claws, I bet a pack of koalas would bed devour you. at you in a confrontation where you are both starving, the koalas will tear you to shreds anoalas, so fuck you, nEnjoy ze noise.

daph dc
Crystal castles a pop band? alice glasses's and ethan's influences are punk and metal bands. that said,  they never intend to make pop music.  they are an electronic music act.

FatherAcid
They do give a shit about harmonies.  If they didn't, their music would be absolute and utter garbage and it's not.

daph dc
i know. if you'd paid attention, i said vocal harmonies. do you consider screaming vocal harmonies? cause she does that a lot. ugh. i love her to death

kilva
Yes, they do in fact give a fuck about vocal harmonies. If you push aside the fact that it's loud, and "screaming," you might realize it. A scream can still hold a note, and in fact they're showing that such a raw sample can be used in music, in rhythm and actually sound pleasing.

Of course, this is much easier to appreciate if you listen to things like Breakcore/etc.

deathtokoalas
this is kind of what i'm getting at. it kind of contradicts itself in a way that doesn't often work out. just as a comparison to this, and i'd never suggest anybody should even try and emulate this band, but i'm a big fan of an act called skinny puppy that mixed difficult and often distorted lyrics with very abstract electronic music. if this is trying to be that, it gives too much away in it's neat, poppy, electroclash presentation. which is to say that it's clearly created to reach a conventional audience (and check out the record 'last rights' to hear something that makes no attempt to hit a conventional audience). the vocals really get in the way of that....

...and it sort of comes off like somebody trashing a rembrandt, rather than somebody creating a picasso, if the analogy means something.

i mean, it would be one thing if the person doing the beats decided "fuck it, i'm going to town with this noisy shit", but he's never done that - he's always focused on taking a catchy pop sound and embellishing it a little to make it more interesting. it's pop music, it's just (very) slightly abstracted pop music. if the guy producing this wants me to interpret it the same way i interpret skinny puppy or psychic tv, he's got a lot of work to do in making it more interesting. but, he doesn't - he wants me to interpret it the same way i interpret ladytron. the vocals often make that almost impossible...

stated differently, it's not abstract enough to be experimental music, and the lack of vocal attention makes it too atonal to be pop music, so it becomes difficult to connect with and gets thrown into this pile of "frustrating music".

...and it's definitely possible to succeed as 'pop' and 'experimental' simultaneously. you can run through a thousand examples from debussy through to the beatles and into nine inch nails. it's not an empty intersection at all.

...but when you're trying to be both and fail at both, it's....it's just frustrating...

(but i need to be clear that i don't think this is trying to be experimental. i think it's trying to be an updated pop sound. i do think that some of the comments here have clarified that the band has an "emo audience", and that maybe clarifies a few things in terms of it being updated pop. it's still frustrating, but maybe partially because i'm too old for emo.)

kilva
I tl;dr'd most of your quadrupost but if you don't think CC's music is experimental enough to be labelled as such, that's your opinion. I feel like they made the most that they could out of the most unharmonious stems, and it's beautiful that they made such raw stems and samples flow so well into the three albums they've created.

sort of missing the snow, actually

the beatles were geniuses compared to the smiths. coil v the beatles is apples and oranges. the smiths don't belong in the conversation at all.


but this video just hit me pretty hard. i recently moved from a very snowy place to a rather snowless place. i'm sort of missing the blizzard, and specifically experiencing the blizzard alongside wonderful music.
got those funky levin stick lines on my mind...

(robert fripp does not want his music on the internet; i initially posted a link to king crimson's sleepless in this space that i have not been able to find, since.)