as a package this has high and low points, and this kind of music borrows heavily from itself, but the problem with recycling the epicness of such a well known riff as the coast explodes it's that it's probably the most epic piece of music that the late 00s produced due to the specific nature of it's angularity. that is, the riff stands out and generates it's power because it's unique in the genre - so trying to recycle it instantly draws your mind back to it. there's some stuff that you just can't appropriate within the same genre without sounding like you're stealing it. i mean, it's one thing to rearrange a string section for guitar, but it's another to go so far as to emulate the same guitar tone. and, unfortunately, it's by far the best riff on the disc.
i saw them in detroit last night and it was enjoyable. heavy music recs aside, it kind of reminded me more of a perfect circle, with (a little bit over-simplified) dashes of swans and gybe. however, the mammatus riff was also the best riff of the show.
it would be one thing if they were some kids starting off and i could say "well, maybe they'll put it together on their next disc", but this is a veteran and moderately successful act that is in the process of pivoting their sound. will most people hear it? probably not. but, for anybody that does, the level of pastiche is really heavy-handed and very difficult to put aside to put focus back on the tunes. i mean, i'll never be able to listen to "the usher" without hearing "the coast explodes", so they've kind of shot themselves in the foot with that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w7lkQoJmqY
predictably, boris was a good show. i didn't catch the fatty acids tonight, but i slept most of the afternoon, so i didn't get anything done, either. back at it for the night...
i've decided i want to get the song done before i start working on the shelves, as it creates a more natural separation. i just don't want to stop for a week and then get back to it.
well, this is certainly unexpected. somebody has made a video for one of my songs...
i received a link to this in my inbox when i got back from a boris concert early in the morning of aug 10, 2014. it's apparently put together by a camera person in australia, and the music was chosen on the recommendation of his daughter's boyfriend. so, there's not a conceptual link between the video and the music or the lyrics.
most of the time, i'm going to react badly to something like this, but the camera person was very honest in his denial of any conceptual link, so i don't have much to react against. the kind of thing that's going to piss me off is if somebody takes the music and reinterprets it to present some kind of social or cultural messaging that (1) i didn't intend and (2) i'm opposed to. there's none of that going on here, so i have nothing to be upset about.
further, there's actually some nice camera work here to check out. so, i'm going to throw it up.
but i do want to make clear that this isn't an official video for the track in any way. it's just the track set to some images.
i survived my second night in detroit just fine, including my first night at the legendary magic stick, and familiarity is actually producing a level of calmness. i realize that i've only explored a small part of the city, but the part i have explored is really not very scary. what i saw walking up woodward at 8:30 on a saturday night was actually a very vibrant, cosmopolitan and relatively clean city.
it's good to know that my health card is acceptable as id, but i haven't been able to test if my bank card works yet. the magic stick itself is a lot smaller than i thought it would be - smaller than the upstairs gym at the sala in montreal, and not much bigger than babylon in ottawa. the design actually reminded me more of a bar in ottawa called cafe dekcuf, although it's certainly bigger (but not substantially so). i was worried about the bus, so i didn't get a slice of pizza on the way out. next time...
so, i got there just as subrosa was starting, got stamped with an inverted crucifix (that's not cliched.), asked to be surprised by a beer (and received a somewhat uncreative pbr) and stumbled off to the middle of the floor.
subrosa is an act of some importance in underground rock circles and that i've intersected with multiple times over the last ten years, but have never really been able to get into much. they've just always existed in this kind of middle point of ideas without really taking any of them anywhere. it's maybe a proof of concept, and it's influence has been and will continue to be felt, but they've continually missed the mark in actually producing substantial work themselves. so, i was expecting some overly pretentious and mildly goth doom/sludge pop for mopey young people to get their gloom on to and that ultimately lacked any real depth.
what i got was actually pretty surprising: they've finally taken it to the next level in extrapolating their ideas by giving the songs a bit more space to breath. some listening this morning has informed me that this is something that began with their 2011 disc and reached it's first real application with their most recent one. that is, subrosa's new record is a real pivot for them and may represent an entirely new phase in their career. ten years from now, they may have a fan base that starts their career with their new disc.
while still being fundamentally a pastiche of ideas, i have to say it was enjoyable. what i got out of it wasn't very comparable to anything in the genres they're usually associated with, but an extrapolation on the sound a perfect circle put together in the early 00s. now, i always had some problems with apc - the production always struck me as very cold, the drumming very clinical, the musicianship very hired. their records have a "made by session musicians" feel to them that negates a lot of what maynard was trying to do with the band. i don't think he ever figured that out. but that's a criticism that doesn't apply to subrosa, who came off as a much more organic, living, breathing entity with a very forceful drummer. i was actually a little concerned about the structural integrity of the building at a few points; their drummer thumps exceedingly hard, like a good rock drummer ought to. the extrapolation was filled out by drawing substantially on swans and gybe!. if they can get the right exposure with their new sound, they could go very far with it....
as for the show i saw last night, all i can say is that it was a nice surprise and that while it's not likely to turn me around on their older work it's going to get me to listen to their new disc a lot more closely than i would have otherwise. further, i think there's a lot of potential for the next one.
if you can get a chance to see them on this tour, don't skip it.
i kind of have to point out, though, that the above track has a riff that was lifted directly from this song:
here is a full set:
i didn't want a second pbr between sets, so i asked the bartender what else there was.
"blue or canadian."
"what?"
"blue or canadian."
"you sell canadian beer here?"
"ok, one canadian."
"that's not what i...."
*bottle opens*
"well, ok, i guess."
the canadian did indeed taste like a canadian. but the blue turned out to be more deceptive.
the atlas moth were, in a word, "bad". it's not the first time i've seen a second band with a smaller audience than an opening band, but it was one of the more dramatic drops in attendance i've witnessed.
again, it wasn't quite what i was expecting, though. i had them mentally categorized along with wolves in the throne room, liturgy and the like in toning down "black metal" to something less racist, satanic and nihilist (and stupid) due to the bit of recorded material i'd heard. that's not something that really appeals to me, so i was expecting to cringe my way through the set. live, they were more of a generic post-grunge act that existed somewhere between kyuss and early deftones. it's more like i ended up yawning my way through it...
the singer was very critical of the audience's lack of response, but maybe he should have looked at his own band's lack of torque. the riffs could have been worse, but they just kind of spun around in circles on the stage without projecting any kind of force outwards. then, he complains that nobody's reacting. if you want to get people dancing around and throwing their underwear at each other, you start an ac/dc cover band and riff out "thunderstruck". if you're going to do a lot of mopey (and mostly boring) post-grunge, you're going to get a lot of mopey (and mostly bored) people.
there's no harm in skipping these guys.
now, the next thing you need to do is watch this. he's right in deducing that blue is a "party beer" and that it is "watered down", although his tastes are a little gauche if he's happy with a canadian. give the man a keith's.
the takeaway is that blue is a lighter beer than canadian.
....but that's exactly why i'd rather get blue at the bar when i'm seeing a show. the beer is half for fluid retention in a sweaty pit (it wasn't too tight last night), and i'm not there to get smashed, just a little loose. neither option is very good, but i'll pick the blue every time.
so, this is what i asked for.
"just a blue, please."
"ok, one bud blue."
"excuse me?"
"you asked for a blue?"
"did you say bud blue?"
"are you asking for a blue?"
*awkward silence*
"yeah, just a blue please."
"ok. so, one bud blue."
"you keep saying that."
"listen, what do you want?"
"since when did budweiser start making blue?"
"forever? who else would make blue?"
"well, in canada, blue is manufactured by labatt."
"but it's all made by budweiser."
"so, i'm buying a bud is what you're saying."
"all labatt beers are made by bud. it's just a different label."
"in canada, blue is not manufactured by budweiser."
"riiiiiiiiight."
"ok, now i HAVE to try it."
sure enough, it did not taste like blue. as stated in the above video, blue is a light and watery beer. the "blue" i purchased was almost as strong as the pbr, and actually a little syrupy. i've done some research today and can report that when you buy a blue in the states you're actually getting something brewed by genesee, which is a medium sized brewery in the state of new york. when labatt's parent compant and annheiser merged in 2009, anti-trust legislation forced them to spin off blue because it was popular in new york. it follows that none of the labatt products in the usa are bottled by budweiser, and the bartender was flat out wrong in her suggestion of a "bud blue". it's a "genesee blue".
the american blue was pretty gross, really. i'll be avoiding those in the future....
boris is a known entity, and very good at what they do in a live setting, if their recorded output is a little less consistent. they started off with some more upbeat material, and let it flow into some of their bigger, epic tracks, including some new stuff.
something i found really interesting watching them is that they've managed to master a technique of waving along with the music in a way that feels like time has slowed down. anybody that's ever done psychedelic drugs knows that feeling - the music slows down by around 20-50 bpm in a way that you're consciously aware of.
but it's very rare to get that kind of trip when you're entirely sober, or even after three beers (which is pretty sober). it's a combination of the drone on some of the heavier tracks (vomitself, for example, which is just surreal to see live) with some physical performance art. the wave is just off the beat. i guess it's sort of hilarious on some level, but it's a powerful experience.
i'm going to post some newer material, because you couldn't possibly get the effect of experiencing boris live by watching a youtube video, anyways.
the walk home was actually very nice - a little breeze was coming through. but i was stuck waiting for the bus for almost an hour.
detroit was in the midst of a "ribfest", which backed up traffic under the tunnel.
it'd have been really, really nice if i could've just walked across a bridge.
