Guilty Connector - Beats, Noise, and Life.

imagine you come to find yourself dazed, in the middle of what appears to be an ever-expanding field of corn. you're lying on your back and with each subtle movement, the sun flickers directly into your eyes. you spot a black bird, and then another, and another, and another, until the sky slowly (yet frantically) becomes a sea. their wings wave to the beat of an alarm that sounds violently inside your stomach, but to your ears is faint and possibly delusional. a thought; the birds are either pulling a capsule over your perceived world behind them, or your body is not registering its own decision to stand.

the stalks that surround you begin to rust, and a piercing sound rings incessantly. just then, what you can only imagine to be a railroad spike is driven straight through the center of your skull. almost immediately after the shattering impact, you experience a euphoric moment of serenity as it seems the same black sea that covered the sky begins to run like tar over your brain. the clarity isn't fleeting, but is still complicated by the painful sound of ill-fitting gears struggling to rotate.

is industry coming or going? what part do i now play in this event? can i move (with intention)? do i care to change a thing? the sea is everywhere, and you are no longer able to discern whether you are the lonesome vessel or the rapidly flowing force sent to swallow it whole. you come to realize that your/the world's cyclical gestures and any semblance of pattern has been broken, and everything - including your own sense of self - is ripped to shreds and dispersed in every imaginable direction. you explode, but only to find your (true) self set in permanent motion and everything is experienced in singular moments. whether or not they are remembered is theoretically questionable, but you don't think to wonder. you're moving.

...that's what the opening track, "New York Shibaki Terror Conversation" is like. have fun with the other thirty minutes.

last.fm, Planet Mu Records, myspace in the title.

MOTIONLESS.

Gasp - Drome Triler of Puzzle Zoo People

to the handful of you who actually maintain interest in this blog: i do apologize for the wait and commend you for your patience. hopefully i'll be back to doing this on  the regular now that my life is (a little) less crazy. onto the monotonous ramblings!

gasp (pretty sure they preferred lowercase spelling, as i do, but sometimes it's capitalized for the sake of consistency and organizing...) was a noisy, atmospheric project which, without being formulaic, played spazzy powerviolence and/or heavy sludge. though only active for a brief period in the late 90's, the band appears to have had a lasting impact on other artists that are trying to push the limits of what punk rock can and should consist of. listening to this release in particular calls to mind the efforts made by bands like REFUSED, who seamlessly tied together an album that contained an array of styles, sound clips and samples, varying dynamics, etc. in a definitive and cohesive manner. in short, it shatters people's perceptions and expectations, and one can only hope it does so for the better.

in terms of the way it sounds, i'd put it much more on par with something like if GRIEF were to perform a live album underwater while tripping and forcing all the majestic sea creatures who come in contact with the sound waves/acid to get hella existential...which is just kind of what i envision rather than what it objectively sounds like. maybe i'd describe it as "bubbly" in this sense. if it helps, i'd also say the vocals remind me a lot of the later CHARLES BRONSON releases, and that the record was put out by Slap-a-Ham. no? alright. you should probably just listen to it for yourselves. it's really cool and miserable and stuff. i highly recommend listening to it alone on the subway or on rainy, introspective nights. you'll probably discover (if you haven't already) that a lot of things are "wrong" with you, but that's why we're "here" in the first place, isn't it? ANSWER ME.

instead of over-hyping it or going into useless details i'll let it speak for itself, as it has done so quietly for the last decade or so.

personal favorites include: Silk Orbita, Sky Flowers Through Horse Eggs, Auroren, and Trippy Dead Zone.

last.fm in the post's link, myspace here.

CTTS - Decompositions Vol I, Chapter I: Rites of Initiation

i don't have to say anything, do i? well, just to be sure: this is the new CIRCLE TAKES THE FUCKING SQUARE EP. as far as i understand, it will be the first quarter of their upcoming full-length. i don't even have words for how excited i am. it WILL be the best album of the year.

the only words i can muster are, "holy shit, this is heavy". i'm in awe. may be over-hyping it for some of you, but idgaf. Way of Ever-Branching Paths and The Ancestral Other Side are just phenomenally amazing. that's right. double adjective. head-spinning. lots of depth.

BANDCAMP IN THE TITLE, SUCKERS.

As We Draw - Lines Breaking Circles

punk inspired post-metal from France. some would simply collapse the aforementioned genres into "post-hardcore", and there would be a degree of validity to that. however, in an effort to paint a clearer picture, i'd say these guys are more along the lines of CELESTE, in that no one genre easily defines their sound. it's heavy, it's really angry and screamy, and no song breaches the 7 minute mark. it's an especially impressive effort considering it is their debut release. LP packaging looks amazing. seriously considering adding it to my collection, as the fizzle and pops would accompany the feel of this album quite nicely. includes lyrics that elaborate on their relation to the artwork.

the most interesting aspect(s) of this album - beyond the awesome vinyl format/package - are the vocals and the guitar tones. the vocals have somewhat of a CIRCLE TAKES THE SQUARE pattern to them. not necessarily call-and-response style, but pretty evenly divided and often overlapping scratchy skramz with guttural/more enunciated yells. as for the guitars, they lay down quite an atmospheric sound while remaining really crisp and clear.

i think they probably have a plethora of peddles/effects to aid in this, because they certainly don't rely on heavy, down-tuned chords or crushing distortion. granted, my guitar knowledge is limited (and i'm too lazy/not invested enough to look through pictures), but it sounds like a Gibson SG to me. i don't know how helpful that is to you, the reader, but it makes sense to me so i'm going with it. there's a lot of tapping riffs and hallway/reverb stuff going on, but when they want to make it more driving AWD does just fine. heavily distorted, metallic yet crusty bass aids in these efforts as well.

rhythmically, there are no abrupt shifts in either time signature or tempo, which i find suits this overall style of music better. it finds other ways of staying interesting, though. mostly through subtle snare taps, dynamic changes (lots), and ear piercing cymbal crashes. there's also occasional group vocals and group singing, which being as partial to classic hardcore as i am, i enjoy quite a bit. and it definitely helps keep this record unique and relatively unpredictable. i kind of get bored sometimes listening to sludge or post-metal where the vocals have one sound/style/technique that persists throughout.

in short, AWD has undoubtedly made an indelible mark on this recently popularized sound, and will probably only continue to get better and gain huge recognition worldwide. this isn't one of those bands you here, listen to for a month and then occasionally name drop. they're not a reference point, they're damn good. an instant classic that waaaay more people should be getting into.

favorite tracks: Sin of Addiction, Shield, Fault Lines, Draft, Scum of the Earth.

last.fm here and myspace link in the post title.

CAN YOU DIG IT?!