themovingturtle-blog

[themovingturtle-blog]

1.19.19

This is part of a series where I reimagine the four nations of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” through the lens of the psychological profiles described in the book “Please Understand Me”. This entry deals with the Fire Nation and the SP, or Artisan type.

Keirsey and Banks refer to SPs as Artisans. This type is primarily defined as living in the moment and being driven by a desire for virtuosity in whatever they consider their craft. If they were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, they'd be Michelangelo. These spontaneous, energetic people are best represented by fire.

In Avatar, the Fire Nation is primarily presented as a  rigid dictatorship. Real world parallels would be Maoist China or modern day North Korea. In “The Headband”, we see a Fire Nation school that discourages independence and creativity and encourages conformity and patriotism.

I feel that the Fire Nation's culture is portrayed this way to reflect the villainy of the main antagonists, since it's their homeland.The main plot also centers around the Fire Nation trying to conquer the other three nations. From a storytelling standpoint, it's really tricky to portray an invading nation in a positive light. I'm all for nuance, but this is still ulitmately a kid's show with color coded cultures.

Luckily, my made up world has no such constraints so we can be as muddled as we want.

I would lean into the carefree and artistic aspects of the SP personality type when constructing this society. Fire Nation cities would be the cultural capitals of the world. The clothing is light, bright, and colorful with many varieties of style. The climate is warm so the architecture lends itself to open air structures. The buildings are beautifully designed with Art Nouveau levels of intricacy. Music constantly fills the streets and there's always a party somewhere. Picture a blending of New Orleans, Rio, and Venice.

Rural communities would be fairly loosely organized. Crops are harvested when the farmers feel like it and it gets to be that time. Public eating and drinking establishments are always lively. Bonfires and seasonal celebrations are frequent. These holidays are beautifully decorated and last well into the night. Needless to say, the fireworks are spectacular.

People tend to live day to day lives and not worry about tomorrow. There's not much in the way of public infrastructure because no one can be bothered. Civic responsibilty is a fairly foreign concept. What few institutions there are tend to be fairly corrupt and susceptible to bribery.

This lack of respect for the future or past can cause problems. Records and history are not well maintained. Politics is mostly a popularity contest. When things go wrong, they can really go wrong, as no one is prepared for eventualities or rainy days.

Fortunately, the warm climate and plentiful resources means that hard times are few and far between. The only way this land could be turned to war would be under the guidance of a phenomenally charismatic leader.

Try These Songs

Spoiled Identity EP  – Iron Reagan

Annie – Tabu Ley Rochereau and Afrisa

I Got You – Hot 8 Brass Band

Indiana – Antique Scream

Shotgun – Jr. Walker and the All Stars

[themovingturtle-blog]

1.12.19

This is the introduction to a four-part series that truly bares the depths of my geekdom. I'll be discussing, in painful detail, my ideas for a reimagining of the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe through the lens of pop psychology. Enjoy.

My two main sources of inspiration are the television show "Avatar: the Last Airbender" and the pop psychology book "Please Understand Me" by David Keirsey and Marilyn Banks. My world is a reimagining of the world portrayed in the show through the lens of the psychological profiles described in the book.

"Avatar: the Last Airbender" tells the story of a land where people can manipulate the “four elements”, water, earth, fire, and air, through a combination of magic and martial arts. Most people can only manipulate, or “bend”, one of the four elements. There are four kingdoms named after each of the elements. The benders live in their corresponding kingdom. For example, the Fire Nation is populated by firebenders, etc. Each kingdom has a distinct culture that is reflected in it's clothing, food, architecture, color palette, and so on. For the most part, these cultures are similar to ancient or medieval Asian cultures.

"Please Understand Me" puts forward the idea that most people can be psychologically profiled and divided into 16 personality types which can then be arranged into four distinct groups. Keirsey and Banks cite information from classical and medieval philosophers as well as pioneers of psychology like Carl Jung. They also draw heavily from Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers, the mother-daughter team who developed the popular Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator survey.

Keirsey and Banks base their division on an individuals personal values and preferences. The divisions are based along four binary options resulting into 16 possible psychological profiles.

Here are the four divisions:

Introverted or Extraverted  [I or E]

Intuiting or Sensing            [N or S]

Thinking or Feeling            [T or F]

Perceiving or Judging        [P or J]

After taking the survey, your results would be arranged in a combination of four letters, like ESTJ or INFP.

"Please Understand Me" takes the 16 profiles and arranges them into four groups based on two of the four letters in the results. SPs, SJs, NFs, and NTs. Keirsey and Banks compare their four groups to other groups of four personality types described throughout history by the likes of Plato and Galen.

I think that these four psychological groups have totemic representations in the four elements as portrayed in "Avatar: the Last Airbender". My world is based around recreating the cultures and societies of the four nations as though each nation was primarily populated by one of the four psychological groups.

Try These Songs

Under the Surface – Neurosis

Hot for Teacher – Mutoid Man and Gina Gleason

Above the Water – Khemmis

Blood – Algiers

Color in Your Cheeks – The Mountain Goats

[themovingturtle-blog]

1.5.19

To celebrate the new year, I've compiled a list of ten albums released in 2018 that I enjoyed and feel deserve to be acknowledged and recognized in a public forum. They are not arranged in any sequence based on quality. The only overarching theme might be that they would generally be considered “underground” music. Even then, some have received widespread critical acclaim. I hope you might be encouraged to investigate these albums and the artists that made them.

10. Deth Crux-Mutant Flesh

There's been a resurgence of classic goth/deathrock/post punk over the past few years. I find this delightful since I've only recently begun to explore this style of music. Several albums on this list are would fall under this categorization. Mutant Flesh calls to mind Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, and newer bands like Beastmilk.

9. Idle Hands-Don't Waste Your Time

This EP has an interesting juxtaposition of super depressing lyrics and music that flirts with classic 80's speed metal as much as it does goth. It's reminiscent of In Solitude [RIP] and Ghost's recent, retro AOR sound.

8. Scorched-Excavated for Evisceration

Technically, this is a collection of surprisingly well recorded demos. John Carpenter-y synth intros (always a plus in my book) give way to old school death metal that chooses not to bury itself in distortion and let you feel every stab. Extra points for most songs clocking in under two minutes with the longest at four. Like any good slasher film, this band knows to get to the point quick and not give us time to think.

7. Sleep-The Sciences

Much has already been said about the comeback album from stoner doom legends Sleep. The riffs are amazing, the band is tight like a glove, Al's vocals are weird. It's Sleep. What more do you want? Finally hearing “Sonic Titan” as a studio recording is a dream many of us had long since deferred. The realization of that dream alone makes this album a gem.

6. Tribulation-Down Below

This is another album that has received coverage from more mainstream sources. While I prefer 2015's The Children of the Night, this is still a great album. Tribulation have tightened their blend of goth rock and melodic death metal. Other bands may be aping this style, but Tribulation still does it best.

5. Various Artists-I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas

This may be my favorite album of 2018. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and Joseph Fink of Welcome to Night Vale fame put together a podcast of a song by song analysis of the Mountain Goats album All Hail West Texas. With each episode, artists like Amanda Palmer, Dessa, and Julian Koster recorded a cover of the song being discussed. Styles range from folk to afrobeat to calliope music. Listen to the podcast too.

4. Vastum/Spectral Voice-Split

While consisting of only a measly two songs, this may be my favorite death metal release of the year. The production is better on the Vastum song, which pummels in the way only Vastum can. Spectral Voice opts for a slightly more subtle route, introducing the occasional dissonant lead over top of the bludgeoning.

3. Section H8-Phase One

Section H8 play hardcore with a Pantera-y groove and movie sample intros. Other than that, it's fairly basic, angry d-beat. I love it so much.

2. U.S. Grave-Voice of an Idiot Ghost

The is definitely the second most mellow album on this list. U.S. Grave are another goth revival band. They follow the traditionalist path more than Idle Hands or Deth Crux, but they nail it. The guitars are much lighter and layered, and Robert Smith is probably owed some royalties.

1. Dream Coast-Golden Haze

I've been on a synthwave kick lately, but I hate dance beats so it's hard to find music that scratches that particular itch. Golden Haze delivers and then some. The melodies and chord progressions are interesting enough to avoid the dreaded “ambient” label. The beats are soft and unobtrusive. The tones fit right in alongside the best of John Carpenter and Tangerine Dream.

[themovingturtle-blog]

12.30.18

The smell hits you from about a block away. Someone has tainted the hallowed halls of the Brown Theater with reefer. A crowd mills around outside on a chilly December night waiting for Sleep, the once and future kings of “stoner doom” to dole out helpings from their bag of riffs.

Merch is expensive, but that's to be expected. T-shirts line a rack behind tables displaying vinyl, CDs, stickers, patches, lighters, and stash boxes. Most of it's green with the band's logo emblazoned somewhere.

Sleep's recent signing to Third Man Records seems to have impacted their road crew as well. The band's vendors dress in green (natch) engineer coveralls with Sleep and N.A.S.A. patches. Get it? It's because they're high, like space.

Sleep have never been a band that traffics in subtlety. Consider the album cover to The Sciences. A Marijuanaut floats through the cosmos hooked to a satellite tightly packed with weed. That same album has lyrics that refer to “hasteroid fields”, TH sea, and “Bong Water of Life”.

Their music follows the same trajectory. Songs are built around riffs that slowly steamroll the listener into submission. Tempos and dynamics rarely change. They make up for this simplicity with a combination of volume, beautiful distortion, and hooks that catch like the plague.

Everyone in the Brown knows what they are getting into tonight. One does not simply wander into a Sleep show. During their hiatus from 1998 to 2009, a cult following developed around this band. There are many, myself included, who thought we would never be able to see Sleep perform live. For most of us, this was our first experience. Tonight is a special night.

The Brown's seats and balconies allow for a more relaxed experience, which suited the opening act well. A heap of devices was piled in the center of the stage with two amps, a guitar, and a rotating lamp nearby.

A skinny dude in a white t shirt walked on stage and explained that he would be performing with this machine for the next 40 minutes. Oh no. Oh goodness no.

Weather Warlock is a music collective based around a device invented by Quintronics. They designed a synthesizer that records data from temperature, wind speed, and other factors and converts it into sound.

As it turns out, this sound is various layered drones with occasional beeps and boops sprinkled throughout. The dude in the white shirt hunkered down in front of the machine and fiddled with knobs and buttons while occasionally sipping a beer. Does it really count as performance if you can drink while you're doing it?

After about 20 minutes, the dude unceremoniously walked offstage, leaving the machine running. He was then escorted back wearing what can only be described as a wampa skin cloak. He picked up the guitar and began striking the strings with a violin bow a la Jimmy Page before kneeling in front of the machine again. The layers slowly faded out as he began to switch things off and disrobe before walking offstage again.

For the most part, we were all bemusedly entertained with the set, but enough screwing around. It's time for Sleep!

The sound check alone was intimidating. There were ten guitar amps and four full sized bass amps on stage. Let that sink in.

The guitar tech strummed a few chords while setting things up and shut everyone in the theater up. This was going to be Loud with a capital L.

Roadies headed offstage as recordings of N.A.S.A. radio chatter looped through the P.A. This went on a little longer than it needed to, but that was kind of the theme of the evening.

Finally, Matt Pike, Al Cisneros, and Jason Roeder took the stage. Everyone in the theater rose to their feet. Things kicked off a little slowly with the “Leagues Beneath”, the nearly 17-minute single released in May. It's not bad, just not a great opener.

They really hit their stride as Pike glacially layed down the opening chords to Dopesmoker, the 63-minute, takes-up-the-whole-album song that kind of broke the band in 1998. The audience roared as the first droning tone slid into place.

“I can't believe I'm hearing this riff live! I'm watching his hands move and those notes are coming out! I can feel the songs in my chest!” These thoughts and more like them bounced around my skull and the skulls of those around me as songs we've listened to for years rattled our teeth.

Despite his wizardly beard, Al Cisneros more closely resembles a gnome or elf. His head bobs with the intensity of a giggling imp as he hunches over his bass and noodles above the 12th fret. Matt Pike scoots around with more of a traditional rockstar swagger. He's still rocking the Fu Manchu, 70's stache and a recent haircut leaves him resembling Mary Tyler Moore. Seeing Jason Roeder's recently shorn head was particularly rare treat for me. He's a huge influence on my drumming and rendered all previous uses of the word “thunderous” to describe drums obsolete.

The evening's selection of songs favored newer material. 2014's single “The Clarity” sounds more like an Om song with a more bass-centric riff. “Marijuanaut's Theme” from the new album is one of Sleep's fastest songs. Which is to say it's midtempo. Their new instrumental “The Botanist” allowed a brief respite from overwhelming volume.

A brief survey of the ground floor reveals a mass of heads bobbing in time with Roeder's crashing cymbals and Matt and Al's perfectly synced riffs. A woman nearby awkwardly sashays like she was at a latin jazz club, or at least had heard about what dancing was like at latin jazz clubs. There may have been substances affecting her disposition.

Sleep ended the night with “Dragonaut”. This song may become their “Raining Blood”. Al thanked the crowd and immediately skittered offstage, presumably to light up. Matt slung handfuls of guitar picks out to the first few rows while Jason struck a salutatory pose like a martial artist concluding a demonstration.

A scare from a briefly lost T-shirt ended things on a sour note for me personally, but most everyone in the audience left with a dazed smile on their face.

Try These Songs

Sleep – From Beyond

Sleep - Dragonaut

Sleep – Marijuanaut's Theme

Sleep – Sonic Titan

Sleep - Dopesmoker

[themovingturtle-blog]

12.15.18

On Saturday December 1st, up and coming black metallers Cloak stopped by Mag Bar in Louisville during an off day of their tour with Goatwhore.

Locals Mothrog started the evening off with a blend of sludge in the vein of Down or C.O.C. and more traditional metal with occasional forays into 90s radio rock. They were surprisingly good. Better than an opening band has any right to be. The two guitarists locked in on tight harmonized riffs. One even threw in some unexpected shredding from time to time. The singer kept good pace with the band's energy. His vocals brought to mind a young Pepper Keenan.

They were followed by Bastard Sons of a Judas Goat who unquestioningly win the title of Best Band Name of the Month. This duo from Mount Sterling alternated between drone and the more bleak, punishing brand of sludge played by the likes of Thou. The sheer volume of their performance pushed many outside or to the bar. The drummer/singer screamed in a raw, untrained way that conveys true torment and also guarantees that he'd have a sore throat the next day.

Cloak are based out of Atlanta, Georgia. They've turned heads with their recent debut full-length, To Venomous Depths. Their sound seems to be part of the as yet unnamed wave of bands that blend black metal and goth rock. Think newer Watain, the late In Solitude, and most of all Tribulation. While I personally think they still lack the hooks of some of their peers, there were many fans in attendance who clearly consider them to be the next big thing.

Cloak's stage set up (purple banners, black leather cowboy outfits sans hats, intro music) seemed better suited to large venues with fog machines and impressive light shows than the back room of a bar. Sometimes their stage presence also felt disconnected, like they weren't used to looking their audience in the eye and smelling their sweat. None of this detracted from the music, which was spot on from start to finish. Impressively intricate melodies and chord changes reminded me how good metal can be when musicians who take time to hone their chops and songwriting get ahold of it.

Try These Songs

Mothrog – Mother Rock

Bastard Sons of a Judas Goat - Venus

Cloak -London Dungeon

Cloak -Within the Timeless Black

Cloak – In the Darkness, the Path

[themovingturtle-blog]

12.8.18

On tour supporting 2017's Red Before Black, death metal OG's Cannibal Corpse played at Manchester Music Hall in Lexington, KY. Support came from fellow Metal Blade Records' comrades Harms Way and Metal Blade alumni Hate Eternal.

Harms Way traffic in the midtempo chugging, every-part-is-the-mosh-part kind of hardcore that often stirs up a frothing audience. Their new album, Posthuman, got lots of attention. Unfortunately, an extremely cold night and a crowd of predominantly death metal fans hobbled what should have been a riotous performance. No more than a half dozen braved the pit at any given time. Not even frontman James Pligge's rippling bare torso could hype up the crowd.

On the other end of the spectrum, Hate Eternal brought a much more cerebral brand of extremity to the evening. They matched Harms Way's intensity by stacking riffs on riffs at a mile a minute rate. A scant three musicians should not be able to produce such a full wall of sound.

Drummer Hannes Grossman proved his credentials as a former member of tech-death legends Necrophagist with a near constant kick drum barrage. Guitarist, vocalist, and founding member Erik Rutan rarely moved, but still commanded the audiences attention with his lion roars disguised as vocals. That being said, Hate Eternal's music doesn't lend itself to crowd participation and a slightly too long set dampened some enthusiasm.

Fortunately, the reigning kings of death metal Cannibal Corpse took to the stage next and reminded us all why we were there. Cannibal Corpse have had 30 years to hone their craft. In many ways, they are the AC/DC of death metal. You know what a Cannibal Corpse song will sound like before you've ever heard it.

These guys know when to let a song breathe, when to shift the tempo, and when to go full throttle for maximum effect. While the musicianship may not be as blisteringly fast or tight as, say,  Hate Eternal, Cannibal Corpse is ultimately a more enjoyable experience. The fact that the good people of Lexington finally came alive and gave the overzealous security at the Hall something to worry about speaks to the band's greatness.

Frontman George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher got his neck workout in for the day, headbanging with the speed of someone half his age. He genially taunted the crowd, tricking us with a false encore and challenging anyone to a windmilling contest.

The band's set drew from all 30 years of their career, from their first album to their current. Recent hits like “Evisceration Plague”, “Make Them Suffer”, and “Kill or Become” were peppered throughout, but the last leg of the night was set aside for the classics. “I Cum Blood”, “Stripped, Raped and Strangled”, and the obligatory finale “Hammer Smashed Face” left us all howling with joy and further cemented Cannibal Corpse's legacy as the last word in death metal.

Try These Songs

Harms Way – Become a Machine

Hate Eternal – Nothingness of Being

Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague

Cannibal Corpse – Hammer Smashed Face

Cannibal Corpse – Kill or Become

[themovingturtle-blog]

12.1.18

The album release show for the latest Stonecutters record Carved in Time was a who's who of the Louisville metal community. Mag Bar was packed to the gills on Friday, September 23.

Batwizard kicked things off with sludge that borrowed from the groovy, stoner end of things as well as the noisy, hardcore school of thought. Think Mastodon, Kyuss, and Coalesce. Occasional forays into a classic metal gallop and frontman Vic Hillerich's infectious energy started the evening off well.

Thinks took a darker turn with Crown ov Serpents, a relatively new black metal trio who wafted incense across the stage before beginning their set. Corpse paint and costumes are a risky proposition for any band playing at a bar, but Crown ov Serpents pulled off a set of solid second wave black metal with hints of Celtic Frost for good measure. Early on, a faulty mic led an extra air of kvlt to the vocals. For future reference, it should be noted that stage banter rarely works when croaked.

Instrumental masters (ohlm) brought out a rare visual aspect to their set with a camera projecting psychedelic images over their heads while they played. As always, they blew minds and melted faces by dancing around time signatures and layering melodies and rhythms like it ain't no thang.

While their older material in the vein of Tool and Isis made an appearance, they also brought out several new songs with more of a post rock bent. The last song started as a sexy, Pink Floydian waltz before shifting into 90's Joe Satriani shredding. As always, they rarely addressed the audience, preferring to take the stage, play, and land a perfect dismount.

A large number of civilians filled the venue for Stonecutters set, including a little old lady at the very front who was clearly having the time of her life. In addition to unveiling their new album, this show was also the last stop of a 16 day tour to California and back. Louisville crowds are always happy to see returning hometown boys and tonight was no different.

The band opened with crowd favorites like “I, Wurdulak” and “Sign of the Pentagram” before diving into the new material. Chris Smith has recently replaced longtime drummer Johnny Wooldridge and seems to bring new fire to the band's latest output. The riffs are tighter and more intricate than ever. Tremolo picking for days, bruh. Co-guitarist Nick Burks takes on a greater share of vocal duties as well. His shrieks combined with the faster tempos lends an air of black metal to the new songs as well.

After over an hour and a half of unrelenting metal, Stonecutters were visibily tired. An equally exhausted but insatiable crowd pulled a final encore of “Sound the Trumpets” out of them before everyone retreated to the bar.

Find more from Batwizard here

Find more from Crown ov Serpents here

Find more from (ohlm) here

Find more from Stonecutters here

Try These Songs

Visions of an Unholy Past Life – Crown ov Serpents

the Forest is Churning Fire – (ohlm)

Carved in Time – Stonecutters

Embrace the Unknown – Stonecutters

The Pendulum Swings Low - Stonecutters

[themovingturtle-blog]

11.24.18

The evening of November 15th at the Tiger Room in Louisville was all about nostalgia. I attended many a deathcore concert in from 2010 to 2013 and this show brought a lot of memories.

Unfortunately, a faulty G.P.S. and a long line outside the venue prevented me from seeing the first band, Wake Up in Tsunami. They're local boys from the Radcliff/Bardstown area and sounded like a solid nu metal band through the Tiger Room wall.

Lexington sextet Left to the Wolves followed. Their sound works from a deathcore base, but stretches out in unexpected ways. They incorporate light, jazzy interludes in the vein of Cynic,  but also tremolo pickings and open chords from black metal. One vocalist mostly stuck to black metal style screams while the other was more guttural. This band also brought back the trope I had forgotten of having risers for the singers to stand on.

Russian's Slaughter to Prevail leaned further into the behaviors of an early 2010's deathcore band. They took to the stage to the swelling strings of John William's theme from “Jaws”. The singer wore a gold demon mask while everyone else wore matching bloodstained shirts. The reason I haven't talked about their music yet is because there's nothing to differentiate them from any other opening band you've seen on a Summer Slaughter tour. Even so far as cueing the audience when to mosh and synchronized onstage jumping.

Oceano were a pleasant surprise. Musically, they were one of the tightest bands of the night. Vocalist Adam Warren has mellowed out considerably since I saw them last. Instead of antagonizing the audience, he expressed gratitude and joy, throwing out callbacks to old shows at the Bulldog Cafe. He was also the only singer to use vocal effects.

Chelsea Grin had the most elaborate stage set up of the night. That's about the only thing they excelled at. Less musically adept than Oceano, less variety than Left to the Wolves, and less novelty than Slaughter to Prevail. They did have more bass drops and flat-brimmed caps, so there's that too.

Left to the Wolves were definitely the best band of the night, by virtue of bringing new stuff to the table. Their set seemed unfairly short and, though they exited the stage with tact and grace, many in the audience were left wanting more.

Try These Songs

Left to the Wolves – Slave: Mother Earth

All Shall Perish – Wage Slaves

Emmure – Solar Flare Homicide

The Acacia Strain – The Impaler

Winds of Plague – The Impaler [Yes, they're both called the Impaler]

[themovingturtle-blog]

11.17.18

On Monday, November 12rh, Windhand and Satan's Satyrs played at Zanza Bar in Louisville.

Zanza Bar has really come into it's own as a venue since their remodeling. The dim stage lights and velvety curtains lent to the atmosphere of such a groovy evening. Obscure 60s and 70s rock oozed out of the P.A. while the crowd milled around.

Windhand and Satan's Satrys have a lot in common. They're both based out of Virginia. Both are heavily influenced by doom bands like Electric Wizard. Clayton Burgess, the Satyr's singer and bassist, even played in Electric Wizard for four years. Windhand and Satan's Satyrs also released a split in February before touring together later this year.

A late start by Satan's Satyrs burned through some of the audience's collective good will. It's also really hard to take a drummer seriously when they wear sunglasses indoors, but that's neither here nor there.

The Satyrs took a few songs to lock together, but really hit their stride once they started playing songs from their new album The Lucky Ones. Like every doomy band, they sling riffs swiped from the altar of Black Sabbath. Satan's Satyrs tend to favor the Vol. 4, Uncle Acid strain of Sabbath. They also serve up N.W.O.B.H.M. chugging and guitarmonies with occasional Deep Purple-esque dynamic shifts to quietly groove and allow for solos.

Unfortunately, Burgess's punkish vocals are not a great fit for a band that relies so heavily on melodic changes. His sludgy, powerful bass playing was great, but his singing was often distractingly off key and no amount of dressing/dancing like a long lost member of the New York Dolls could hide it.

Ominous keyboards and sound effects ripped from a 70s horror film alongside the scent of wafting incense welcomed Windhand to the stage. They chose to answer Satan's Satyrs dynamics and energy with a sonic body slam of volume and slow tempos. Despite only having four people on stage, and only half of them playing electric instruments, Windhand managed to shake the floor and walls through every inch of the venue.

Bands that focus on one aspect of extremity, be it speed, aggression, or volume, run the risk of losing a listener's interest over extended bouts. Windhand fell hard into that trap. Doom bands live or die on their riffs and Windhand just don't have riffs that hook you and get your head bobbing. See Weedeater, Sleep, or the aforementioned Electric Wizard for examples of how to do it right.

Windhand was further hobbled by several technical difficulties that interrupted songs. Hearing a boring song is bad, but hearing half of it only to watch the band come to a grinding halt and start over is an absolute slog.

Their rare shifts from distorted to clean guitars were initially captivating but as with every aspect of their music, they ran on too long and stuck to a monotonous, simple riff or chord change that left me paying more attention to the drunk couple who wandered in from the adjacent restaurant and who would surely have acute tinnitus the next morning.

It pains me not to have nicer things to say about Windhand. On paper, I should love this band. They play loud, slow, heavy music and clearly love Black Sabbath. I'll need to examine their albums more closely to see what it is that holds them back from greatness, at least to my ears.

Try These Songs

Satan's Satyrs – 'Round the Bend

Windhand – Orchard

Electric Wizard – Return Trip

Weedeater – God Luck and Good Speed

Sleep – Sonic Titan

[themovingturtle-blog]

11.10.18

I must begin by apologizing for missing last week's deadline. Several unforeseen circumstances, including a sinus infection, kept me from finishing this post in time.

When seeing the Swedish pop/rock band Ghost play live, one wonders how much of their supposed Satanic devotion is a schtick. It's hard to believe a band this weird can be so good and so popular without supernatural assistance.

On Monday October 29th, Ghost played at the Louisville Palace as the fourth stop in their “A Pale Tour Named Death” line of shows through 2018 and 2019.

Touring in support of their fourth album, “Prequelle”, Ghost are well on their way to cementing their reputation as one of the best live acts in modern rock. The band's lineup has expanded from five nameless ghouls to seven with the addition of a new keyboardist and acoustic guitarist,  both providing backing vocals.

The new frontman, Cardinal Copia, does a fantastic job filling the shoes of the recently departed Emeritus brothers who sang on the band's first three albums. His energetic showmanship and dancing rivals that of Papa III, but he also cuts a striking figure in unholy vestments a la Papas I and II. At least four costumes graced the stage, including a bone white suit, red robes, and a black bat-wing cape.

In many ways, Ghost is the most popular cult band in the world. Their devoted fan base brings an air of joy and exuberance seldom seen outside of the screening of a new Star Wars movie. There were plenty of bearded dudes in band shirts in attendance, but also families with small children and several older fans. Papal robes, face paint, and masks flooded the halls of the Palace. There was even a couple together in full 1940's style evening wear with the Ghost insignia embroidered on their lapels.

The entire performance clocked in at close to three hours, with a 15 minute intermission. This extended time slot allowed every album from Ghost's catalogue to be well represented. Hits like “Year Zero” and  “He Is” played alongside deep cuts like “Satan Prayer” and “Idolatrine”. Naturally, there were several songs from the new album too, as well as instrumental interludes (with a guest appearance by Papa Nihil on saxophone!).

Some songs were altered for the live setting. “Jigolo Har Megiddo” was played by three ghouls with acoustic guitars with the audience providing percussion via claps. “Cirice” was introduced with an homage to Pink Floyd's “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and dueling guitar solos.

One of many showstopping moments came during the “Mummy Dust”. This is the one song from 2015's Meliora that I don't enjoy, but it has gradually won me over through repeated live experiences. Cardinal Copia guaranteed that the song would be heavy enough to tickle the taints of everyone in the theater. The band definitely delivered on that promise, complete with a shredding keytar solo by one of the ghoulettes. At the songs climax, confetti cannons showered the ground floor audience with scraps of paper. For a lesser band this would have been the finale, but Ghost were only starting to round the home stretch.

Towards the end of the evening, Copia introduced the members of the band to the strains of Roky Erickson's “If You Have Ghost”. The fact that everyone in the band was masked and anonymous seemed to have no effect as he exuberantly called out each “Ghoul!” and “Ghoulette!” to thunderous applause.

After keeping the theater on it's feet through back-to-back performances of “Danse Macabre” and “Square Hammer”, the band left the stage briefly before returning for an encore of “Monstrance Clock”. Like the Papas before him, Cardinal Copia concluded the show by encouraging everyone to spread happiness and fornicate with somebody, or at least themselves, that night. While they may strive to take over the world through secret cabals and media domination, Ghost's ultimate goal is to bring joy in any way they can.

Try These Songs

Square Hammer - Ghost

Elizabeth - Ghost

Ghuleh/Zombie Queen - Ghost

Here Comes the Sun - Ghost

Danse Macabre - Ghost

[themovingturtle-blog]

10.27.18

Happy Halloween!

In honor of the impending arrival of the best night of the year, a nearby movie theater recently announced a 50th anniversary screening of “Night of the Living Dead”. I had seen the movie before, but never on a big screen, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Beware, there are spoilers aplenty from here on in.

“Night of the Living Dead” is a 1968 film directed by George Romero. It is considered by many to be the first zombie movie. It tells the story of six strangers trying to survive a sudden mass reanimation of the dead.

20 minutes in and it's clear why this film is still hailed as revolutionary and genre-defining. Once all the main players are in the farmhouse the first examples of zombie movie tropes come shambling to life.

In 2018, the notion of a zombie movie in which “The People Are The Monsters” is considered standard fare. A small group that is isolated in a temporary shelter before slowly succumbing to infighting is almost a requisite for the genre, with a few notable exceptions such as “Zombieland”.

“Night of the Living Dead” is brilliant in that it establishes these tropes while subverting them at the same time. Despite their bickering, the survivors in the farmhouse cooperate and function as a group for the most part. With one exception, no one dies because of the intentional actions of another human.

If anything, the violence in this movie occur almost at random. There is no rhyme or reason to when or how someone meets their fate. Johnny struggles to defend his sister, only to hit his head on a gravestone. Judy and Tom die in an explosion caused by panic and his accidental mishandling of the gasoline pump. Helen dies alone, murdered by her reanimated daughter. Barbara triumphantly breaks out of her catatonic state only to be immediately swarmed by her undead brother and a horde of zombies.

Even the zombie outbreak itself is caused by cosmic chance. News broadcasts reveal that the dead have been resurrected by radiation from a passing meteor.

The most blatant example of the brutal nihilism of this film is Ben's death at the end. He alone has managed to survive the night through a combination of resourcefulness and courage only to be callously shot  by a potential rescuer who has mistaken him for a zombie.

The local sheriff unceremoniously heralds the end of the story with the words “Ok, he's dead. Let's go get him. That's another one for the fire.”

Other zombie stories like “The Walking Dead” have tried to match the unfeeling senselessness of “Night of the Living Dead”. A few have come close but none have truly matched it. Every other story brings some degree of karmic, moral justice. Characters who we hate often get their violent comeuppance. Good people who have the will to survive often make it to the end.

Not so in “Night of the Living Dead”. It tells the story of a few horrible hours where bad things happen to good people and bad people for no reason. There is no closure or resolution. The violence simply peters out before an abrupt end.

Try These Songs

Black Kerouac - Night of the Living Dead

Gost - Erotic Nights of the Living Dead

Entombed - Living Dead

Fire - Arthur Brown

Dr. John - Danse Kalinda Ba Doom

[themovingturtle-blog]

10.20.18

Let me begin with a shout out to my brother and mom for inspiring this concept and helping to flesh it out.

This is an idea for a prequel to the Disney film “Mulan”. This movie would tell the story of Mulan's father, Fa Zhou.

Early in the 1998 film, when Mulan has first entered the army camp and introduced her self as Ping, the son of Fa Zhou, Shang's reaction is one of awe.” Fa Zhou? The Fa Zhou?!” Shang is the son of the general of the Chinese army. The emperor's adviser also knows Fa Zhou by name, remarking that he didn't know he had a son. These two men represent some of the highest echelons of Chinese society and they know Mulan's father by name alone. What had Fa Zhou done to command such recognition and respect?

Out story begins several decades before the events of  “Mulan”. Fa Zhou is a younger man. He's driven and motivated, but he's scrawny, not very clever, and comes from humble origins. A civil war has broken out in China. A rival dynasty is trying to assert a claim to the imperial throne.

As in the original film, Fa Zhou feels it is his duty to serve in the army. His family's ancestors send an animal guide to help him, the Great Stone Dragon.

Fa Zhou reports to his training camp. His commanding officer is Shang's father, General Li. Like Shang, the commander fires an arrow to the top of a post and orders the recruits to retrieve it. Any who attempt this task are shackled with weights meant to signify discipline and strength.

While this scene would be a parallel of the one in “Mulan”, it will also highlight the differences between the messages of the two stories. In the original movie, Mulan ties the weights together and uses them as a tool to pull herself up the post. She uses her wits to circumvent problems that others view as impossible. See also when she uses a lone rocket to trigger an avalanche and wipe out the Hun army, avoiding certain death for her and her friends. She joins the army in the first place as an alternative to an unavoidable sacrifice on her father's part.

Fa Zhou is a man compelled by duty and honor. When she confronts him at dinner, he says he will die to do what is right. Mulan is also a strongly moral character, but is forced to think outside the box to achieve her goals. In Fa Zhou's story, we learn that his means to success is extraordinary levels of dedication and discipline.

When faced with the dilemma of the arrow, Fa Zhou takes the weights in his hands and strikes them against the post like an ax. Over several hours he slowly wears an indentation into the post. He slides his toes in the indentation and pulls himself up a few feet before striking the post again. He keeps this up, slowly carving a ladder of sorts into the post. His training montage will keep cutting back to this grueling process as he gradually gets stronger, faster, and shows signs of improvement in other fields of combat. By the end, sweat is pouring off of him, he's gasping for breath, and his hands are bleeding, hut he finally makes it to the top and retrieves the arrow.

This is how Fa Zhou works as a character. He has a single-minded drive and sense of purpose that borders on the supernatural. He will do what is right, no matter the cost. Rather than think around a problem, Fa Zhou faces the problem head on and wears it down through sheer willpower. Think Steve Rogers before the experiments that turned him into Captain America.

Fa Zhou's quickly rises through the ranks of the Chinese army and is instrumental in defeating the rival dynasty. This is where he gains the wealth to establish his family as landed gentry. He eventually gains a seat in the imperial court as one of the top generals in all of China.

At this point the Great Stone Dragon comes into play. It has helped Fa Zhou along his journey, but mostly offered advice and motivation. Now it begins to whisper in Fa Zhou's ear. The emperor is weak.  He is stronger than the emperor. The only things he lacks are ambition and vision. He has proven himself to be more deserving of the throne. Why shouldn't he rule China? Together, he and the Dragon could take that power for themselves.

Fa Zhou rejects the Dragon, so the Dragon tries to kill the emperor himself. This is the third act climax of the movie. We get to see Fa Zhou straight up fighting a dragon to save the emperor! At the end of the fight, Fa Zhou sees a chance to incapacitate the dragon, but it means he will have to let the dragon strike him. He takes the hit, a crippling blow that leaves him with the limp we see in “Mulan”, but finally traps the dragon within a stone statue, a la Ghostbusters.

Rather than continue his career as a general, Fa Zhou chooses to go home and tend to his family, taking the statue with him. He fully rejects the path of ambition and focuses on serving those who need him the most.

This story is ultimately about the value of dedication and the importance of truly knowing one's purpose, and also that fighting dragons is awesome.

Try These Songs

The Glitch Mob - Drink the Sea

Hammerfall -The Way of the Warrior

The Mountain Goats - Riches and Wonders

The Dead Weather - Rolling in on a Burning Tire

L'Orange -The Masquerade

[themovingturtle-blog]

10.13.18

A while ago, the film “The Secret” was recommended to me. I tried to read the book first, but a good friend told me that all the text in the book was taken verbatim from the movie. The movie actually precedes the film, which was released as a companion piece. I love to read, but given the choice between a two hour movie and several hours of reading, each with the exact same content, I chose the former.

To be frank, “The Secret” was not an easy film to watch.

“The Secret” was made in 2006 by Rhonda Byrne. The thesis statement of the movie is that a universal law called the Law of Attraction is what allows people to gain wealth and happiness in this world. By focusing their mental energies on something, be it a new car, a bigger house, or a promotion, a person can bring the object of their focus into their life.

The dated visual effects and corny monologues [all speech in the film comes either from an unseen narrator or various talking head “experts”] are forgivable. My biggest issue with “The Secret” is the air of insincerity and even dishonesty that seems to permeate the film.

This movie is quite good at implying things without directly stating them. The ideas that the film seeks to teach are implied to be some sort of ancient knowledge. The narrator often speaks over footage of various times and places throughout history. For the most part, the screens behind the talking heads portray sketches and scribblings reminiscent of Da Vinci's notebooks, further trying to lend an air of historicity and timelessness to the ideas they are selling. None of these places or events are explicitly connected to law of attraction, but they are put in the film for a reason. This method tries to give credibility to the ideas being taught without citing any actual experts. It's comparable to the advertising method of putting pictures of attractive women next to a product.

There are also vague allusions to the knowledge of the law of attraction being purposely kept hidden by a mysterious group of elites, hence the title of the film. However, it is never explained how Ms. Byrne or her daughter got a hold of this suppressed information. I would guess that the reason so many things are implied, rather than said, is that the filmmakers know that their claims are tenuous at best, if not outright false.

It's worth pointing out that the law of attraction can actually trace its roots to the teachings of Phineas Quimby and the New Thought movement of the late 19th century. Quimby taught that illness was caused by mental failings and that all diseases could be cured by properly believing in God.

Much of what the speakers in the film have to say seems to be pseudoscience and quantum mysticism. There are also frequent references to supposed facts and stories that are not properly sourced. These uncited sources are then used as an unquestionable foundation to explain the law of attraction. This is to say nothing of when the speakers make vague or even untrue statements. One that particularly stood out was Bob Proctor's comparison of electricity to the law of attraction. Basically, he says that no one understands what electricity is, but that we still manage to harness it. This borders on ridiculous. There are plenty of people who know exactly what electricity is and exactly how it works. They teach it in high school. That's how we are able to use it!

One of the speakers, a supposed quantum physicist, also throws out the "we only use ten percent of our brain" myth, implying that there is some kind of inactivated potential that the law of attraction may be connected to. This is purely an urban legend and has been refuted several times. Our conscious thoughts may only take up a small percentage of our brains functions, but a much larger percentage is devoted to unconscious tasks that keep our bodies functioning.

The main idea of “The Secret” is that "the universe" responds to our feelings and frequent thoughts by bringing the things we think about into our lives. Essentially, good things happen if you think about good things in a positive way and bad things happen if you think about bad things in a negative way.

This line of thinking puts the responsibility for one's happiness entirely on one's own shoulders. That's all well and good until you consider those whose lives are outside of their control. This film was marketed towards people who lead generally comfortable lives. They don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from. Immediate danger to life and limb is rare. Very few things are held back from them and opportunities abound. Their biggest hindrances in their lives are often mental blocks. Positivity and mindfulness are good tools to overcome these problems, even if they are discussed under pseudoscientific pretenses.

However, there are people throughout the world who suffer terrible fates regardless of their disposition. The soldier facing down enemy fire cannot wish his way out of a war. No amount of contemplation on a magical key will free the illegally imprisoned journalist. Who would dare tell the mother in Somalia as she watches her child die of malnutrition that what is happening is her fault because she wasn't happy enough in the preceding months?

According to “The Secret”, the way to know that you are "in tune" with "the universe" is to only do things that make you feel good. Good feelings are a natural signal to continue whatever you're up to. This bugs me for two reasons. One is that the film tries to distill and polarize the entire human experience into good and bad, as though there are no shades of grey in life. There are plenty of choices we make that may feel good in the moment but be looked back on with regret. There are also several actions that may be hurtful at the time but have positive effects in the long run, such as exercise or moving away from friends to pursue a new career.

My other concern is that the idea of good feelings being a natural affirmation seems to encourage hedonism and only acting on what makes one feel good in the moment. Speaking of hedonism, I also took issue with the film's focus on material wealth, specifically nice cars and big houses.

As a diehard Joseph Campbell fan, one of the most unforgivable sins of this movie, in my eyes, was the misrepresentation of his teachings. Towards the end of the film, a picture of Campbell appears next to one of his most famous quotes. “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

When Campbell says to follow your bliss, he is referring to the idea of pursuing a path that stimulates your passions. Find a career and lifestyle that you care enough about to devote yourself to it entirely and make sacrifices for it. Following your bliss does not refer to embracing hedonism or doing whatever feels good in the moment. This quote began to be misinterpreted while Campbell was still alive. He is reported to have joked that he should change it to "Follow your blisters".

While I do think positivity and mindfulness are useful skills to cultivate, I wholeheartedly disagree with the way the movie attempts to sell them. It uses shaky sources and vague methods to assert its claims. It makes claims about universal laws but only considers a small portion of the human experience. While “The Secret” received tons of exposure and press attention in its day, it's not any different from any other half-baked self help movie.

Try These Songs

Author and Punisher - Terrorbird

Gehennah - Still the Elite

The Roots - Walk Alone

Tiberius Rising - Ookla the Mok

Hangar 18 - Megadeth

[themovingturtle-blog]

10.6.18

This week's post is about a fandom convention called ConGlomeration. It's happens annually in Louisville, Kentucky and I wait for it like others do for Christmas.

ConGlomeration started in 2000. It's been running every year since then without fail, except for that one time.

In many ways, ConGlomeration is a continuation of RiverCon, a literary fandom convention that ran for 25 years from 1975 to 2000. After the founders of Rivercon decided to close it down some of the staff chose to carry on under a new name. This new convention would focus less on the literary side of fandom and embrace all aspects of geekery. Cosplay, gaming, anime, movies, comics, and more. A conglomerate of fandom, if you will.

ConGlomeration, like Rivercon before it, is entirely organized and run by a committee and staff of volunteers. This convention is no one's day job. Everyone involved puts the work in because they love to see this crazy thing get off the ground one more time.

While ConGlomeration officially begins on Friday afternoon, the first stirrings begin on Thursday. Volunteers roll in to start assembling displays for the art show, washing dishes for the Con Suite [more on that later], and arranging tables for the vendors. Ice cream may also be involved.

From Friday to Sunday afternoon, the halls of whatever hotel and convention center will have us are swarmed with every stripe of nerd. Some attendees take a seat in the gaming room and only briefly step away for sustenance or sleep. Others wander the halls dressed as their favorite anime character, frequently pausing to pose and have their picture taken. Still more browse the vendors tables for comics, paintings, handcrafted jewelry, or books from local authors.

In rooms throughout the convention center panels are held to discuss any aspect of fandom that you could imagine. In recent years there has been an emphasis on D.I.Y., or do-it-yourself fandom at ConGlomeration. Experts demonstrate how to sew your own costumes, draw your own comics, write your own stories, or plan your own Dungeons and Dragons campaigns.

There's also free food. One of the hotel's rooms is converted into the Con Suite, a kitchen and buffet for snacks and finger food. Tea, coffee, and sodas are also available.

ConGlomeration is not a large convention. 700 attendees is a great year. What sets it apart from other fandom conventions is the sense of community. For a lot of the people here, it's a family reunion. Like any holiday gathering, you spend a weekend having fun with people who's company you don't often get to enjoy.

ConGlomeration is a convention designed as a full weekend experience. It's not an event you spend a few hours at, then continue with your day. ConGlomeration is your day, and the next one, and probably the one after that. Event programming runs well into the night and the annual jam sessions have been known to run til dawn. If you go to ConGlomeration, you go hard.

http://www.conglomeration.info/

Try These Songs

D & D - Stephen Lynch

Welcome to the Con - Ookla the Mok

Be Our G.O.H. - Tom Smith

Mario Overworl - Super Soul Bros.

Ghosts of Alderaan - Hoth

[themovingturtle-blog]

9.29.18

Punk rock is one of the most influential artistic movements of the late 20th century. It sparked a firestorm of energy, artistic freedom, and DIY mentality that is still rippling through popular and independent music today.

The origins of punk rock are debatable. Some consider the Detroit garage rock of the MC5, Alice Cooper, or the Stooges to be the beginning. Others say that the Ramones or the New York Dolls are the first punk band. Still others consider the U.K. bands like the Sex Pistols or the Clash to be the birth of punk. As with most artistic movements, it's almost impossible to pinpoint a single band or album as the start.

It's worth noting, as an interesting aside, that the Sex Pistols, who are widely considered the first “true” punk band, were in many ways a commercial act comparable to a modern boy band. The band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, was a fashion designer and boutique owner. He had previous experience managing and designing clothes for the New York Dolls, a proto-glam metal band. McLaren changed the name of his boutique to SEX and focused on provocation and shock tactics in art. He met members of the Sex Pistols and later introduced them to John Lydon, the singer more famously known as Johnny Rotten. McLaren organized the band while also selling punk style clothes in his boutique. Many of the band's controversial actions, like playing “God Save the Queen” on a boat near Buckingham Palace, were planned ahead by McLaren to maximize the band's promotion through shock and outrage.

In many ways punk music in the mid 1970s was a rejection of the popular rock music of the time. Progressive rock bands like Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson were famous for long, masterfully played, multi-part songs that took up entire sides of records. Arena rock was also quickly approaching it's peak. While this is all well and good, this musical trajectory had taken rock and roll, which began as a youth-centric, everyman's music and made it more elitist. Brian Tatler, the guitarist for Diamond Head, described the feeling of a young rock fan in the 70s as “You didn't breathe the same air as Led Zeppelin.”

Punk rock was a rudimentary style that relied on volume and energy. This made it a more accessible genre in terms of fans and musicians. An appreciation of complex music theory was not necessary to enjoy or play punk.

Generally, younger musicians are not as skilled as older ones. It takes time to practice and develop one's craft. This new form of music lowered the bar enough that a young band could write and perform their own songs without having to reach such a high level of peers. Only master musicians can play on the level of Rush or Pink Floyd. By widening the parameters of what constituted “good music”, more people were allowed in the proverbial door.

In many ways, punk was a complete artistic movement as much as a purely musical one. It rejected all established norms, not just musical, and embraced experimentation.

Consider the variety of sound in the early American punk bands. Patti Smith recited poetry over jamming bands like a reanimated Jim Morrison. The Ramones played Beach Boys songs on meth. The Velvet Underground sang about social transgressions over droning violins and guitars. Blondie was a straight up pop band. All these groups played at CBGB's and all were considered punk. There were no established rules or definitions yet for what was or wasn't allowed. In many ways, punk was the progressive music of it's time.

Bands like Suicide, Throbbing Gristle, the Birthday Party, and Swans all started in the late 70s or early 80s and provided the starting point for noise rock and industrial. In the U.K., Caribbean immigrants introduced reggae and dub to other working class punks and created ska. Elsewhere in the U.K., fans of established rock bands like Black Sabbath were being inspired by the speed and energy of punk to create the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The N.W.O.B.H.M. included bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Venom. It's the point of origin for all extreme metal. Thrash bands like Slayer and Metallica  listened to N.W.O.B.H.M bands as well as hardcore punk [which we'll get to later] groups like the Dead Kennedys and the Circle Jerks, further blending the two genres.

As the years went on, some punk musicians grew tired of the constraints of simple, immediate, aggressive music and tried to evolve. This is where we get post-punk. Artists like the Smiths, the Cure, and Joy Division were part of this movement. They added keyboards, guitar effects, and nontraditional song structures to their sound. Evolution beyond punk is a common thread in a lot of great bands from the 1980s onward like Fugazi, Nirvana, Neurosis, and most thrash metal bands. Punk rock is, by it's nature, a fairly limited style of music. It's a fantastic starting point. It's easy, intense, and liberating but it can become formulaic over time.

This danger of being formulaic and unimaginative also carries the danger of stagnation. As more people flocked to punk, the amount of creativity and experimentation started to dwindle. As punk started to get mainstream media attention people started coming to shows with preconceived and often inaccurate notions of what the punk concerts and fans were like. A sense of uniformity began to take hold. To identify yourself as part of the tribe, you had to dress and act a certain way and only listen to certain records. As the goth kids in South Park say “If you wanna be one of the non-conformists, all you have to do is dress just like us and listen to the same music we do.”  This attitude can breed exclusivity and elitism, which are the enemy of creativity and free thinking.

There was another branch of punk that, rather than evolving outward, chose to distill the key ingredients of punk: speed, simplicity, and aggression, into an even faster, more intense breed of hardcore punk. These groups, like Black Flag, the Bad Brains, and Minor Threat, learned to play based off of the records of the first wave punk bands, especially the Ramones. As mentioned before, these groups would inspire the progenitors of extreme metal like Slayer and Napalm Death.

Another lasting effect of hardcore punk was the popularization of the D.I.Y., or do it yourself, mentality. The music that hardcore bands played is not easy listening. Record labels had no interest in trying to sell it.

Since no one would  record, promote, or distribute their records, bands and/or fans did it themselves. There's a famous story of the Teen Idles, an early hardcore band from Washington D.C., unfolding a 7” record sleeve, tracing it on paper, printing 1000 copies of the outline, cutting them out with scissors, then folding and gluing them all together to use for their own records.

There were also countless fanzines where fans and bands alike would write, copy edit, and publish magazines often dedicated to their local scene. These fanzines also often had pen pal sections that allowed readers write to each other and mail tapes of their favorite bands all over the country. Two of the most famous fanzines were Flipside and Maximumrocknroll.

Due to the intense, often violent nature of hardcore shows, few venues or promoters wanted anything to do with the scene. This forced bands to book their own shows at V.F.W. halls, abandoned houses, and any other available space.

The reason punk spread as far and grew as big as it did was the community of devoted musicians and fans who were willing to do whatever it took to play or hear their music. This D.I.Y. network unquestionably set the template and business model for independent music from the 1980s onward. D.I.Y. empowered a generation of artists and fans in ways that are still seen today.

With the advent of the internet, anyone can make and distribute any kind of music, but it takes devotion and drive to make something great. This drive is seen in other fandoms not even related to music. Fans of science fiction, fantasy, horror, pop culture, and comics have been organizing conventions on a grassroots level for decades.

Punk rock is the nexus of four decades of creativity, empowerment, grassroots organization, and youth community. At its best, it is the soundtrack to forging one's own path under one's own power.

Try These Songs

Suicide – Frankie Teardrop

Black Flag – Rise Above

Bad Brains – Big Takeover

Bikini Kill – Feels Blind

Joy Division - New Dawn Fades

[themovingturtle-blog]

9.22.18

I should begin by apologizing for the lateness of this post. This weekend I started some seasonal work that disrupted my schedule. I did not plan accordingly and missed the Saturday evening deadline. The next post should resume the regular schedule and be posted on the 28th.

When last we left our heroes, they had toured themselves to the breaking point on the strength of their latest record, Through Silver in Blood. In 1998 they reconvened to begin writing one of the defining albums of their career.

Times of Grace is an important album in the history of Neurosis. In many ways, it codified what the band would be from then on. Their musical lineup was already stabilized, but when they met famed producer Steve Albini they found the last piece of the puzzle. Albini has recorded every Neurosis album from Times of Grace to the present day.

Albini is well known for playing in bands like Big Black and Shellac, as well as his production work with noise rock bands like The Jesus Lizard and Oxbow. His most famous work is unquestionably engineering Nirvana's final album In Utero. Albini uses as little digital recording technology as possible, preferring analog tapes. He is also known for refusing royalty payments from albums that he has engineered, instead charging for services rendered and time spent in his studio.

In the winter of 1998, Neurosis headed east to the Electrical Audio studio in Chicago to record Times of Grace as well as the Sovereign EP. \

In an interview, Scott Kelly compared Times of Grace to Through Silver in Blood.

“Through Silver in Blood is like a bludgeon and Times of Grace is more like a sword-it cuts you much quicker, cleaner, and deeper.”

This album sees the band stripping away even more layers for a clearer, more immediate experience. They abandon the sonic punishment of the last two albums to explore dynamics and melody. Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till first began singing clean vocals on this album.

Continuing the vein of experimentation, Times of Grace was released in tandem with a companion ambient music album called Grace. Grace was recorded by the Neurosis side project group Tribes of Neurot and was released through the bands own label, Neurot Recordings. Grace is meant to be listened to in conjunction with Times of Grace to create an active listening experience.

As popular and well regarded as Times of Grace is, I have to admit that it's never been a standout record for me. The dynamics aren't as noticeable and the riffs don't hook like they can on earlier and later albums. It seems like a median point between more interesting extremes. Having said that, their next album may be my favorite of their entire career.

2001's A Sun that Never Sets is, in my opinion, the true maturation of Neurosis. They had been incorporating acoustic strings, horns, and woodwind instruments into their albums since Souls at Zero, but A Sun that Never Sets is the album where they master the art of arrangement and composition.

It's been said that the best Neurosis albums are the ones where they explore a certain aspect of their sound. A Sun that Never Sets is the album that explores the bands experimental, progressive side. The variety of instrumentation allows this album to have the intense dynamics that I felt were missing from Times of Grace.

“Falling Unknown” starts with a simple guitar and whispered vocals before gradually building to a marching waltz with string accompaniment, abruptly cutting all instruments for a few bars of layered vocals, and then dropping one of the heaviest riffs of Neurosis's career to end.

Josh Graham took over visual media, including album artwork, for the band in 2000.

After the epic, bombastic grandeur of A Sun that Never Sets, Neurosis reined everything in for their next album, The Eye of Every Storm, released in 2004 through the band's own label, Neurot Recordings.

This album is Neurosis's most mellow work. The guitar tones are relatively clean and singing seems to supplant shouting as the dominant vocal delivery style. Synths and samples serve as accents or replace guitars altogether instead of filling in a wall of sound. Albini's production allows the instruments to have more space, giving everything a less oppressive feel. While still heavy, The Eye of Every Storm is Neurosis exploring their atmospheric post-rock side.

It's worth noting that Given to the Rising, released in 2007, is a bit of a blind spot for me in the bands discography. I haven't listened to it as often as some of their other work and may have only consumed it from start to finish once. It seems to follow the pattern of Times of Grace in that it reaffirms the band's central identity. There isn't a lot of exploration or experimentation on this album.

Their next album, Honor Found in Decay, is all about experimentation. It is most fans least favorite Neurosis album and is widely considered to be too meandering and a rare example of the band spinning their wheels. Personally, I love it.

The biggest complaint about this album is that it's too long. While the shortest song on the record is just shy of six minutes, Honor Found in Decay is actually one of the shortest albums in the band's career, clocking in at just over an hour.

The perception of an overlong album comes from the way the songs are written. This record combines the psychedelic experimentation of A Sun that Never Sets with the droning post-rock of The Eye of Every Storm. Unfortunately. that doesn't leave as much space for killer riffs. There are still riffs to be found, you just have to wait for them. Jason Roeder's drumming is also excellent on this album, particularly the song “At the Well”. Live footage reveals that what sounds like a simple beat is actually full of four-limb independence and other techniques that cement Roeder's reputation as a drummer's drummer despite rarely ostentatiously flaunting his talents.

As I said, Honor Found in Decay was not well received and criticized for being too indulgent. Neurosis responded to this with backlash with Fires Within Fires in 2016 a concise, forty minute mission statement. This album refocuses on riffs and songwriting to great effect. It follows the Times of Grace / Given to the Rising template of Neurosis being influenced by Neurosis. Some complain that this album doesn't explore new territory enough, but others say that it is the band course correcting and represents an anomaly in their discography.

New Neurosis albums tend to come out every three years. Fires Within Fires was released in 2016. That makes us due for a new record sometime next year. This will be the first Neurosis album to come out while I've been a fan of the band. I can't wait.

Try These Songs

The Doorway – Neurosis

Falling Unknown – Neurosis

The Eye of Every Storm – Neurosis

The Tide – Neurosis

At the Well – Neurosis

[themovingturtle-blog]

9.8.18

I'd like to talk about a band I found out about in 2015 that have quickly become one of my favorite things to listen to. I find myself wanting to tell all of my musician friends about them. They're called Neurosis.

This is part one of a two part post. I’ll continue next Saturday.

Neurosis started in San Francisco in 1985. The first members of the band were Scott Kelly and Chad Salter on guitar and vocals, Dave Edwardson on bass and vocals, and Jason Roeder on drums.

Their first album, “Pain of Mind”, is crusty, hardcore, punk rock. It came out in 1986 and isn't wildly different from other punk of that time. It's mostly noteworthy as the origin point of a wildly experimental and influential musical career. Neurosis follows the familiar template of a band that starts out running solely on energy and intensity before gradually, over several albums, honing their sound into what they will be known for. See also Metallica's “Kill 'Em All” or Black Flag's early singles.

In 1989, Steve Von Till replaced  Chad Salter as a singer and guitarist in Neurosis. His first appearance is on their second album, “The Word as Law”.

“The Word as Law” is fairly similar to “Pain of Mind”. It retains the speed and rawness of Neurosis's earliest work, but starts to incorporate grooves and more technical playing.

After “The Word as Law”, Neurosis began to dramatically expand their sound. Simon McIlroy joined the band  in 1990 playing keyboards and various samples of different bits of audio. Adam Kendall also joined the band. He constructed elaborate visual presentations for Neurosis's live shows out of slide projectors, colored lenses, and cuttings from films. McIlroy and Kendall met members of Neurosis through a shared interest in the underground rave scene in San Francisco.

Around this time, the band started to incorporate ideas of mythology, collective tribal experiences and full sensory overload into their performances and lyrics. They also began experimenting with adding trumpets, flutes, and strings to their recorded work. I know, right?!

“Souls at Zero”, the band's 1992 follow up to “The Word as Law”, shows a band breaking out of it's chrysalis. It was released through Alternative Tentacles and mixed by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys. One of my favorite descriptions of this era of the Neurosis is their “damaged art punk” phase. Instead of verse-chorus song structures, riffs from guitar, bass, synths, or even audio samples loop and form layers that provide a framework for still more riffs. The dynamics of the songs tend to rise and fall like an avalanche piling up in a valley before melting away. “Souls at Zero” is where we begin to see why Neurosis are as widely regarded as they are.

In 1993, just one year after “Souls at Zero”, Neurosis released “Enemy of the Sun”. Many consider this album to be a transitional piece between two phases of the bands career. The experimentation of Souls is now being tempered with a focus on aural punishment through repetition. Take a simple but intense riff and play it into a trance-like state. It could be argued that “Enemy of the Sun” is really an EP, since the last 30 minutes of the album is a drum circle and noise loop.

Speaking of drum circles, during this time, Neurosis would finish live performances by looping noise samples and having everyone in the band, even Adam Kendall the lights and visuals guy, form a drum circle on stage for five uninterrupted minutes. Their goal was to completely take over whatever room they were performing in and wring every drop out of the audience.

As a quick aside, I'd like to point out that the sample at the beginning of “Lost” of the man contemplating how finite life's experiences are is taken from an interview with Brandon Lee. You can find it on the VHS copy of “The Crow”.  

In 1995 Noah Landis, a good friend of the band, replaced Simon McIlroy on keyboards and samples. Adam Kendall was also replaced by a dude called Pete Inc.

If “Enemy” is a transitional album, then what is it transitioning to? I'm glad you asked! Their next album, “Through Silver in Blood”, doubles down on the simple, repetitive, hypnotic arrangements of “Enemy of the Sun”. It also strips some of the layers to present a more concise, if not clearer, sonic image. This is an album that, like the best doom metal, achieves intensity through profundity and distortion. This album also features some of Neurosis's most well known songs like “Locust Star” and the title track.

“Through Silver in Blood” is considered Neurosis's “breakout” album. They switched record labels, leaving Alternative Tentacles for Relapse Records. Relapse is the closest thing underground metal has to a major label. This was big doings for a group that started as an unsigned 80s punk band.

For the next few years, Neurosis would undertake a grueling touring regimen. They opened for Pantera and GWAR on two separate tours and also played the secondary stage on the 1996 and 1997 Ozzfest tours. This combination of physically and emotionally punishing music with relentless touring left the band severely drained. They didn't release a new album until 1999.

We'll talk about “Times of Grace” and Neurosis's shift into a more mature phase next week.

Thanks for reading.

Try These Songs

Neurosis - The Web

Neurosis - Lost

Neurosis - Raze the Stray

Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood

Neurosis - Aeon