The Flaming Lips are not new to challenging the listen with bizarre and often abstract approaches to music (see everything prior to The Soft Bulletin), but they've always been optimistic in a drug-induced sort of way. This is not the case with The Terror. It is a harrowing listening experience, but captures the emotion of despair as much as happiness and wonder have been captured on past albums.
4.0/5 - Very good album, even if a difficult experience. Combines their more recent accessible offerings with past experimentation, in the context of new emotional states - the sounds of someone coping with sadness.
Vildhjarta is a pretty unique band, ESPECIALLY since they do djent, which has become to be one of the more played out genres as of late. They do these incredibly dissonant and rhythmically complex leads, and repeat NOTHING. The music therefore comes off as dense and disorienting. They also sing maybe 3 lines on an album, which just adds to the heaviness.
4.0/5 - great EP, showcases some growth (with the addition of ambient and melodic sections to offset the crushing heaviness). Rhythmically, these guys are just out of this world good.
It's Oscar Night!!! Big event in the Hanus Haus, so I figure I could post this here. Thanks to Josh and Erik for hooking me up with the movies to round out the major categories.
John's Best Picture List from Best to Worst
Who is going to win? 12 Years a Slave. Who should win? 12 Years a Slave.
Who is going to win best actor? Matthew McConaughey. Who should win? It should be a tie between McConaughey and Ejiofor.
Who is going to win best actress? Cate Blanchett. Who should win? Cate Blanchett, even though I hated her character in Blue Jasmine, but that was the point. Side note, I hated August: Osage County even though the performances were strong. I don't like scripts that are just characters constantly yelling at one another (Long Day's Journey into the Night).
Who is going to win best supporting actor? Jared Leto. Who should win? Jared Leto. I think this was a strong category this year minus Bradley Cooper. Michael Fassbender gave the performance of a career that I really loved in 12 Years a Slave, but so did Jared Leto.
Who is going to win best supporting actress? Lupita Nyong'o. Who should win? Jennifer Lawrence. Loved her performance in American Hustle, better than Silver Linings in my book, a true stand out.
Who is going to win best director? Alfonso Cuaron. Who should win best director? Alfonso Cuaron. Gonna bet on a split between picture/director this year.
I won't go into the writing categories, but I will say I hope 'Her' wins screenplay. That, my friends, was a beautifully written movie. What are your picks?
Babymetal (www.metalhammer.co.uk).
Do yourself a favor and watch. Japan probably has the strangest non-totalitarian culture ever.
"See you in th mosh'sh pit"
After listening a few more times, I think I like it better. But the story is just... retarded. And the lyrics are so bad. But in some cases, so bad I've learned to love them because they're so bad. Behold: Ride the Comet (www.youtube.com). The woman channels 80s huskiness during the chorus in such a brilliant way. SO GOOD.
Wow. This album was a tough one to get to click. It's dense black metal with complex orchestration, super challenging vocals, and in your face Satanism. A concept album from the point of view of a person about to get hung, arranged like a requiem mass. But once I heard "YOU'LL BURN IN HELL" for the 40th time, I finally got it. And it is strangely awesome.
3.5/5 - I would give it a higher rating based on the complexity of the musical and deep (and bizarre) concept and ideas, but it is just too tough to listen to. A great study in avant garde metal.
Bassnectar - Divergent Spectrum, Vava Voom
Kavinksy - OutRun
Justice - Cross, Audio, Video, Disco
Flux Pavilion - Blow the Roof
Somewhat work inappropriate, but the Riker Googling (twitter.com) Twitter account is pretty fantastic.
Silicon Valley (www.reddit.com)
Warning: video has language probably not terribly appropriate for work.
But, it's Mike Judge doing an HBO show about Silicon Valley start-ups.
Jobs was a poser; he didn't even write code.
Really interesting concept for an album: overture for the album written as a collaboration between all members of the band, then each member writes a track for the band to record. Takes a lot of talent to make something like this work... and they do!
4.0/5 - Really good EP, shows the strength of the band, as well as each band member's musical focus. Will be interested to see how their band-wide efforts continue in the future.
The Perils of Time Travel (thankyouscientist.bandcamp.com)
- I'm a little obsessed with their band name
...I'm also a little obsessed with their sound. It's essentially a progressive/experimental version of Coheed and Cambria, minus the insane Amory Wars storyline.
4.0/5 - This is a really good EP. I can't wait to listen to their full length album, Maps of Non-Existent Places. As a review on Amazon put it, "It's like Coheed and Cambria with horns! It's like Chicago meets Dream Theater! You want this!"
3.5/5 - Very good for an EP. A return to form for the Flaming Lips, a la Soft Bulletin (but a bit less clean production). A little bizarre that the lyrics are inpsired by Ender's Game, but cool nonetheless.
A summary of the story. I don't know if I'm ready after all:
"There is a growing fear of war on the horizon for the enchanted lands. The Disciples of the Black Order are gathering their army to unleash their long lost Black Messiah, Nekron, from his prison, to unleash pure evil and chaos upon the world. The wizards of the White Dragon's Order feel it. The White Dragons Order is in possession of the last of the seven black books of Nekron, which they had taken from the dark lands after defeating Nekron and banishing him from the known world. Iras Algor, the first wizard of the White Dragons Order, and Etherus had been studying the seventh book for endless days and nights, trying to decipher the hidden messages within. They finally made a discovery within the writings; The holy white book written by the warrior-angel, Erian, 5000 years ago, what many believed was only a legend, actually existed and that it contained the answers to fully understanding the terrible prophecies of Nekron's seventh black book. However, the book had been taken by the lords of the dark lands when they defeated the army of the Nordic Plains, 3000 years before in the age of the Red Moon. They knew it this book needed to be found and retrieved, for it was the only way to stop Nekron from destroying the world.
The White Dragon's Order Summoned three individuals for this challenge; Khaas, Dargor, and the Elvish King, Tarish. With the wizard Iras leading them, the 4 of them together were to set out to find Erians Book and return it to the White Dragon's Order. After a long journey, they reach the village of "Ainor". It was there the wizard Iras along with the Master Wizard, Erlien, studied many ancient documents and scripts from men and elves who had occupied the Nordic Plains, centuries before. After further study, a terrible discovery was revealed..."
