what's mono up to nowadays?

it's more of the same, really.

they just don't want to break out of the box - they want to follow this post-rock formula to their death, and they're happy to do it over and over and over....

even when i listened to a lot of the style, i would have found this subpar. but, they're one of a handful of acts that has just kept chugging by refusing to change, and building up an audience of people that actually don't want them to. if they could mix it up in any way at all, they might be able to hold my attention. they don't want to....they don't want to scare people off....

so, i'm not that impressed by this, but i really never was that impressed by them.

if you like far and further, be sure to check out yanqui uxo, though.

https://monoofjapan.bandcamp.com/album/nowhere-now-here

i just want to briefly take note of this show, which appears to have been cancelled on wednesday night, i'm guessing due to the snow. they claimed they could "not access the venue".

i probably would have dropped by after anamanaguchi, had i gone to anamanaguchi. but, weather aside, i wasn't that keen on the new disc, and there's a review up if you go back a few posts.

i can't remember when i first heard of ilkae. he's been doing his thing for many years now, and i see he's built up a huge discography by this point. i always found his work to be kind of aesthetically interesting for a few minutes, but lacking any serious experimental or compositional basis. but, i checked out a recent recording to see if he's evolved.

he really hasn't.

on some level, this is exactly the kind of techno that i actually like. but, it's just lacklustre.

https://ilkae.bandcamp.com/album/formal-format

ok. i found some video of a six piece.

but, it's the record release show from six and a half years ago, when i lived in ottawa, and those three extras look like they're for hire, to me.

like i say - it's not that they're bad as a three-piece, the drummer carries them regardless, but i'm not going to get much out of it, even as i'm wondering if i'm dealing with theists or not (the evidence from existing footage seems to be that they aren't praying on stage).

i'm going to put the question off, because it seems like they're actually a three piece, and while it's not bad for what it is, it's actually pretty good for what it is, it's not what was going to drag me out in the cold - i was expecting at least some kind of extra arrangement.

i don't know if those extra arrangements were done by somebody else in the studio or what, but every video i can find has them performing as a three piece.

no, listen.

i'm tolerant up to a point. i really don't care what your beliefs are, so long as you don't try to enforce them on others - and i have absolutely no tolerance for people that do try to enforce their beliefs on others. once you start trying to pass religious laws, i'm in favour of ejecting you into orbit. you essentially lose your status as a human, in my perception.

i'm a little less reactive when it comes to the intersection of religion and art. i'd rather it not happen, but i'm not going to react by trying to shut it down, as then i'd be doing what i'm fighting against. i mean, there's a difference between writing a song about god and passing a law based on something written in the koran or the bible - i can tolerate the former, but i have to aggressively fight against the latter.

so, there's a difference between singing kumbaya, essentially, and saying a prayer. a prayer is organized. it suggests a belief in a structure, a system. when you start dealing with "art" that brings in references to systems and structures, then it ceases to be art and becomes propaganda.

so, it's a question of scale, of degree. but, that's what is in front of me to figure out. on first listen, i mostly heard an instrumental act with some some kind of typical prog rock lyrics about going on a journey through life that probably ultimately works it's way back to rush as the meta influence. further, the last song was obviously about the legacy of  slavery, which is something that a black band has every right to sing a song about, although the references to the christian god are perhaps somewhat of a strange thing, in context. none of that really set me off, until they started praying.

i'm ultimately not in favour of any action besides boycott.

i'm just trying to figure out if that's the better approach or not - if these religious references are light or heavy handed.

do i want to see a band that puts religious imagery in it's recordings, though?

if the purpose is networking, i'm not going to get along well with christians, so it defeats the point. it's kind of a shame - i was excited until i got to the last track, and then the whole thing caved in on itself. seems like a foolish move, on their behalf. they wouldn't have alarmed me if they hadn't included the prayer. now, i'm apprehensive about showing up.

should i blame it on the weather?

the prayer might be the larger disincentive.

it's not the actual temperature out right now that's so bad, it's the wind, and i'm just really not interested in what is going to end up being well over an hour walking in it.

i won't pay to take a cab. you know that. it's not worth it. but, is this too good to skip?

this is actually local, and i'm wondering why it's the first i've heard of it. but, that also means that i might not get another chance for quite a while...

so, i'm thinking about it, against my better judgement.

the windchill walking home is going to be pushing -10. yes, i'm canadian. that just means that i know that i need to take that seriously.

what is this, exactly? well, it's some kind of orchestrated math rock. we're starting with something like sonic youth, and then we're adding in layers of morricone & miles davis on horns, of gybe! in the strings, some schizy piano....

i need to get to shows like this, to talk to people.

*sigh*

so, i'm thinking about it....

https://soundcloud.com/isles-of-esp/sets/isles-of-esp-album

so, the weather made actually going to this somewhat of a non-starter. i would have had to have dragged myself, and an unknown punk band wasn't going to do it...

it's an interesting proof of concept, but i wish they did more with the electronics than they are. it just kind of comes off as something to distract people while they're tuning or changing busted strings...

purely as a punk act, it's fun enough, if relatively generic.

i actually bet it was fun. but, my impression is that they should be doing more than this, and i hope they do.

https://weepingicon.bandcamp.com/album/weeping-icon

i started writing this back in the middle of october and didn't finish it because i wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. i missed the show in detroit for a number of reasons, and i thought i made the right choice at the time, but i don't know if i wish i was there or not.

i did see her perform at the height of her popularity in mid-2016. my first exposure to chelsea wolfe was actually all the way back in 2011, though, and i will eventually post a review of apokalypsis that was written soon after it was released, so i'm not at all taken aback by the retreat to a less grunge-y sound; if anything, it was the loudness that caught me off guard when i caught up with her again c. 2015. she's a quality songwriter one way or the other, and it really shouldn't be the guitar tone or the guitar volume that determines whether you're into what she's doing or not - it should be the atmosphere, the presentation and, for a lot of people, the lyrics. if this was just loud rock music to you, you only got it on the surface.

that said, this is a gamble for her, and she is going to lose the interest of a lot of people.

the question for me is whether the songwriting holds up, and it does seem to on first listen. the tonal collapse in the title track is pretty powerful, and the the highlight on the first listen through. on subsequent listens, what actually appears to define the record is it's stasis, rather than it's sudden shift - she's actually not doing much different here, she's just turned the volume down a little. this creates the perception of being different, when it actually mostly isn't. rather, if you were to chart the path she's taken, her path into rock music actually coincided with a move away from the kind of cathartic pagan presentation she started with, and into a kind of more normal "goth" rock, so that when she's taken the distortion out at the end, what's left is just a kind of sombre pop-rock. this is less a return to her roots, and more like an existentialist taylor swift on heroin. and, one of the things i noticed when i saw her come in to the show without her stage makeup is that she's not actually like this in real life, she just plays the part on tour - that she's just deranged for rock and roll. but, they all are.

so, i'm going to conclude it's actually a pretty good record, after all, if you like the style, even if it takes a few listens to recalibrate. there are points that remind me of the smashing pumpkins' adore, which may generate some snickers and dropped jaws when presented as a compliment, but the fans liked that one. it was the stuff after it that got really awful really fast....

i skipped the show because i thought it would be boring, and maybe my intuition was right. but, i suspect there was a song or two - a few moments - that were worth the price of admission on their own. and, you can ask around.

i hope she surprises me, but it's hard to follow this kind of artistic shift, and it usually signals creative death. so, even if you're not that keen on this, you should catch her while you can, if you want to. because the next one may be even more like taylor swift....

https://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/album/birth-of-violence