|
|
|
|
Mod Breakdown:
|
+8932 / +3160 |
|
Karma Level:
|
+ 65
|
| Signed up: |
4 years ago (1/15/06) |
|
|
Last signed in:
|
4 hours ago |
|
Total time online:
|
201d 3h 44m |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
How Come I End Up Where I Started?
How come I end up where I went wrong?
So basically nothing of interest has happened in the past few days, but since I've been getting plenty of new music from Codi's laptop and the big fucking library of CDs in WMEB's main office, this'll be primarily dedicated to two of the new albums I've got. Without further ado, here are New Music Scores By Brian!
#1: “Post” by Björk. Iceland is one of those countries that is so very unassuming in cultural impact, yet simultaneously has its fingers on the pulse of England’s creative muse. As the Madchester scene was exploding in the late 80s, Iceland responded with The Sugarcubes, fronted by a young, powerful and slightly mad woman by the name of Björk Gudmundsdottír. When Madchester died, The Sugarcubes died with it, but its lead vocalist set up shop in England and collaborated with various producers and artists to consolidate a successful solo career. Post is Björk’s second release during the golden age of trip-hop, so it’s no wonder that the list of persons involved in production and songwriting include names like Graham Massey (of 808 State) and Tricky (formerly of Massive Attack). Most of the songs co-written by them display industrial, John Bonham influenced drum samples and heavily distorted electronica. Coupled with Björk’s bilingual shrieking and growling, tracks like “Army Of Me” and “Enjoy” make Portishead sound ridiculously tame in comparison. The other side of Post lies within her solo compositions and cover tunes, which makes effective usage of more organic instruments and ambient noise, a style that Icelandic counterparts Sigur Rós would replicate several years later. Even though Björk has the power to channel the spirit of Janis Joplin and proceed to scare the hell out of people with it, she decides to hold it back until the most opportune moments. The result allows Post to exist as a well-rounded, damn near perfect album that (almost) anyone could pick up. Download: Army Of Me, Isobel, Cover Me.
#2: “Fantasies” by Metric. Sometimes there are these bands that pop up in this country or that country that pose as doppelgangers to this other band that’s in this other country. Canadialand’s Metric is one of those bands that listened to both The Strokes’ Is This It and Muse’s Origin Of Symmetry a few billion times and then decided to form a band because they were such an inspiration. So if you know both of the albums by heart, you already know what this particular album sounds like. But to those who don’t, just think of the catchiest pop-rock song ever, and then removing the annoying factor out of it. For the most part, Metric sticks to that particular Strokes-y song craft, but once in a while they’ll dabble in Muse’s obsession with the science-fiction with songs like “Twilight Galaxy” and “Collect Call”, synth-heavy tracks with semi-complex structure (akin to Canadian counterparts Rush in the late 80s). Emily Haines’s voice is easily the most interesting aspect of Metric’s sound; no matter how hard she tries to sound like Julian Casablancas, she’ll naturally add dipthongs and weird accentuations in the wrong places, making her voice immediately recognizable and original. But speaking of original, let’s make one thing perfectly clear, Metric aren’t that. Yet trying to fit into both The Strokes and Muse’s shoes is by far no trivial task, and from what I’ve heard on Fantasies, Metric do it rather well. Download: Help! I’m Alive, Twilight Galaxy, Gimme Sympathy.
Today is Saturday, so for those who don't have anything to do at midnight tonight (EST), tune on in to "Inertia!" here at wmeb.fm. Other than that little advert, that's about it. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and let yourself become submissive when you're drunk...that way I don't feel so bad about letting people take advantage of me when I'm submissively drunk. Later, kitten.
- Brian 
What's wrong with my voice? There's nothing wrong with MY voice, maybe there's something wrong with YOUR voice! - Simmons/O'Malley, Ep. 100 S5.
|
|
|
| |
If I Stumble, They're Gonna Eat Me Alive
Another journal to feed your insatiable appetite for my ridiculously lengthy and pretentious literature.
HEY HEY HEY, Saturday night was fucking awesome. As I stated before in my previous journal, I am now a co-host of WMEB 91.9 FM's "Inertia!", and our first show ever aired at exactly 12 AM EST that night. It was kinda stressful at first because we had to shadow in on someone else's show mere two hours before we were set to go on air, but for the most part, things went more than smoothly. If you haven't seen the playlist that I posted in my images section, feel free to check it out, and from there you can discern whether what we're doing is your cuppa tea or not. Hit up the official station website for live stream audio if you are interested in what we do. We were the second most popular show our first time up, we need all the help we can get to become #1.  
There's so many perks to being a DJ on college radio. Apart from getting some usable work experience to put on a resume, there's also this HUUUUGE library of modern alternative music that is mine for the taking. I can't take the physical albums of course, but I can copy them onto a flash drive and take that home for me to keep. So once I get a hold of a flash drive, expect a bunch of New Music Scores whenever a new journal pops up. Be sure to periodically check the homepage for updates on new music, as this will most likely be updated MUCH more often than usual.
That's about it for now. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and if you like what you hear, what's stopping you from turning it up? Later.
- Brian (because this smiley combo isn't being used enough)
This microphone looks like a dildo. - Burnie (out of character), Line Reads S4 DVD.
|
|
|
| |
I Can't Believe Once You And Me Did Sex!
I mean...blaahhhgh! 
Anyways, it's been a while since I last posted. There's no new music I've gotten as of late, so this'll be mundane and boring. WAAAH.
You know, I've been in school about two and a half weeks now and I never made note of how my classes are! That's got to change. So...the first one I'll start with is by far the worst, and that's MAT 115. That place is bad enough because it's a math course, but there's so many lifeless and uninteresting business majors in there. It depresses me. Luckily I have three English classes that make up for that! ENG 271 is tedious, but I like the environment in there. ENG 308 is the best class ever, because it's all about writing poems. I've already done two this month! I'm so happy. And as for ENG 252...my teacher is awesome and all because he doesn't make us do any work...but he's god awfully boring. Three hours of listening to him talk makes me fall asleep. All in all, I hope to pass with flying colours.
Oh hey, here's another anniversary on RT. 5AwesomeRvBers has made it two long years. And as of now...I'm the only original member left. Weird. At this point, I don't really do this for anybody but myself. Because I like watching myself talk in YouTube. Really, who doesn't like watching themselves talk? But as always, if you really want to see me talk so badly...you'll see me talk about shit on Wednesdays for just a little while longer.
In a couple days, I'll be embarking on a grand adventure in mass media never explored before. I've done blogging, I've done vLogging, the only thing I've never done is...radio. Oh yes. I've been asked to volunteer by a couple friends of mine on campus to co-host a late night radio show on 91.9 WMEB from midnight to 2 AM on Sunday mornings. Best of all, there's a button to a live stream on the upper right corner there, so you can hear me and possibly my other two co-hosts make total asses out of ourselves when we're on the air. I'll post up the playlist for the week on my images section so that you can search up and listen to all the great music we'll be playing whenever you want. This. Is. Exciting.
I'm done talking now. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance, and since I'm too lazy to come up with proverbs and helpful advice myself, I'm just gonna ask Courage Wolf for it. He says, "IMPOSSIBLE IS A WORD PEOPLE USE. TO JUSTIFY GIVING UP." Later.
- Brian 
What in Betty's bloomers is on the radio now? It sounds like the feral cry of a Retarded Mexican Sasquatch! Shut it off! SHUT IT OFF, PLEASE GOD, MAKE IT STOP! Oh man, this rules. RULES! - Sarge, Simmons and Donut, Ep. 33 S2.
|
|
|
| |
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?
HA HA! I finally have those two reviews written! They're hella long, but I think they were worth the trouble. I'm gonna try and keep them shorter next time around, I promise. And with that, here are two New Music Scores By Brian.
 (oh the huge manatee humanity)
#1: “I” by Led Zeppelin. The psychedelic rock explosion in England had turned many pop stars of the 60s into grand experimentalists of sound and vision. In the case of the Yardbirds, the influence of psychedelia amongst artists effectively destroyed them, as a very young Jimmy Page was too involved in coming up with new innovations rather than staying the straight and narrow like the rest of the band wanted to. By 1968, Page was free to do whatever he wanted with the tools that The Yardbirds had left him. And with them, he constructed The New Yardbirds, which according to this one guy, Keith Moon, would go down like a “lead balloon”. Hence the immediately recognizable moniker, Led Zeppelin. Looking at the songwriting credits, we can discern that Page is pretty much the one who’s running the show here. What he uses for primary influence on this record are improvisational, sex-fueled twelve-bar blues, best shown by the two Willie Dixon covers that grace both sides of the album: “You Shook Me” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby”. While the songs penned by Page himself display the same qualities, there are definitely tinges of non-Western rhythms and melodies, groundbreaking guitar work which includes the use of an e-bow, and production techniques that Abbey Road had perfected only a couple years beforehand. The result of both those led to the creation of Zeppelin’s first masterpiece, “Dazed And Confused”, a 6 minute venture into the depths of Hell, which in turn spawned all that is metal. Led Zeppelin’s debut showed that even though The Yardbirds were gone, Page was still able to produce decent music with another band that wanted a different direction. And with growing popularity, growing critical respect and growing contribution from the rest of the band, especially Robert Plant, the music from here could only get better. Download: Dazed And Confused, Black Mountain Side, Communications Breakdown.
#2: “Remain In Light” by Talking Heads. Both David Byrne and Brian Eno are producers of the avant-garde who in the 70s, made an conscious effort to make nonsense make sense in a time where the mass production of nonsense was becoming mind-numbing. A match made in heaven? Clearly. Eno had worked with Talking Heads on a couple records in the late 70s, but it wasn’t until Byrne got interested in the rhythmic, hectic tribal sounds of Africa that Eno had the chance to use his position within the band to the best of his ability. The aforementioned third-world beat, combined with the boiling over of the underground hip-hop movement right in the band’s backyard, equaled to that of a field day for drummer Chris Frantz. Eno would then take the best measures, and use them as samples, looping them over and over again to give each song the hip-hop edge alongside the additional African percussion. Eno is also very keen in perverting anything melodic that may sprout up from the woodwork, using Jerry Harrison’s synthesizers and programming equipment to tweak guitar riffs or create little blips and squawks to overshadow that which is normal. But by far the most interesting quality about Remain In Light is Byrne’s lyrics. Whether one could call them streams of consciousness or ADHD infested is debatable, but his eccentric musings on politics, differing ways of life, metamorphoses and terrorism (?) provide in the most adverse sense, a meaning to the chaos that is going on behind the words. As the 1980s opened, the South African apartheid was heating up to the point where worldwide protest was simply impossible to ignore. It is possible that Remain In Light is the one piece of music that was the first in that decade to make a statement on the atrocities caused by South Africa’s government, but is that really just putting too much sense into something that’s only nonsense? Download: Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On), Once In A Lifetime, Seen And Not Seen.
Well...before I go, let me just state that a couple days ago, January 15th to be exact, was the day where I reached the 4 year milestone. I have been on this site for that long? Jesus. I think my presence here has long since diminished, but there are still a few people who have hung on throughout the years. And for that, I thank you humbly. Here's to number five.
I'm done. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and...I believe I have found the most epic live performance ever. Oh my sweet Jesus. Later.
- Brian
That guy's a nut. - Sarge, Ep. 88 S5.
LINKED MEDIA
|
|
|
| |
Take Off Your Blouse And Your Underpants
...this isn't a demand or anything, this is just a lyric that I thought was way too amusing not to post.
I tell you what else is amusing. Last fucking weekend. So basically one of my friends at school thought it would be a swell idea to throw a UMO reunion gig at his place when he parents were gone for the weekend. On Saturday night, I got drunk. REALLY DRUNK. I'm afraid it's caused a bit of drama at school, because one of my friends (who's been in a lesbian relationship as of last week) was making some passes at me. And being drunk, I went along with it. I didn't get laid, but...give me a couple more shots and I definitely would've been up for it. I kinda skipped class today to avoid dealing with any of it much longer. Hopefully this won't totally fuck things up between me and anyone else for much longer. 
A rather unexpected New Music Score By Brian!
#1: “The Rescue [EP]” by Explosions In The Sky. In some ways, it really must suck being a part of Explosions In The Sky. It sucks that you’re just about as obscure as you can get, even amongst the indie kids. It’s worse that there is this huge, looming shadow by the name of Godspeed You! Black Emperor cast over you every time you put out a record. But if your van breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and you have no way of getting a secondary vehicle to catch your remaining gigs…that when you know some higher power’s against you. So what do you do? You take those eight days you spent stranded and make a concept record about them! In eight more days! Explosions In The Sky refuses to write any lyrics for their songs, so the only way to make a concept record out of nothing but instrumentals is to provide sonic textures with enough visualization power to create a story. As proven in the track “Day Three”, it pretty much is impossible to do so without providing some sort of spoken word recollection of the event. But don’t let the failure of not letting the music tell the story overlap the fact that some of these songs are just downright beautiful. Each of the EP’s eight tracks showcase a mastery of ambience and technique comparable to any other mainstream post-rock group, even when they decide to go against the norms of the genre. “Day Five” is a track that could have been penned by Silversun Pickups, had they written some lyrics in there. Where the meaning of this album is lost in translation fairly easily, it is without a doubt that by the end of the half hour, this band has earned its right to be the successors, not the carbon copies of Godspeed. Download the EP for free on their website here.
I'll get those other two albums up as soon as I can. They're really hard to write about for some reason. 
That's about it for this edition. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and keep in mind that you would do anything for love...you just wouldn't do that. Later.
- Brian
Just be sure to save some for the post-op. That's medical speak for afterparty. - Sarge, S2 DVD Deleted Scenes.
|
|
|
| |
Mediocrity Applauded In These Hard Times
Oh hey, it's the first journal of the decade. This must be viewed as a really really special occasion and I can't afford to muck it up. But I probably will anyway, so whatever.
But in an effort to make this kinda special, here's a pretty big announcement. I can't stand living with my parents anymore, because they destroy my self-esteem. If you have me on Facebook, you heard me bitch about it more than I ever have in here. So next semester, I'm probably going to live with people who don't destroy my self-esteem, which naturally means that I'm probably going to live at UMaine come September. Sure it's gonna cost me a hell of a lot of money, but this summer (as well as the rest of the year afterwards) is gonna be the time where I get a job or actually become a prostitute for a living...plus I'm pretty much buying happiness for 2 years. And who says you can't buy happiness? GOD. Whom I don't really believe in. So there. More news to follow as the year goes on.
And speaking of costing a hell of a lot of money, who the fuck is responsible for making everything in the UM Bookstore so god fucking expensive? I haven't even bought all my books for 2 out of 4 classes yet, and it's come out to 130 bucks. I've got other important things to spend money on! Like music (like anything has ever stopped me from buying music)! And girls (I wish...maybe)! I swear, if the entire semester's book expenses come out to over 200 dollars, I am going to have to strengthen up my pimp hand for the proverbial bitchslap that I will be laying across the Bookstore's left cheek. 
And speaking of buying music, I bought two new albums with the store credit I still had left on my Bull Moose card. That store has been busy expanding its size twofold over the past week, and I gotta say, I believe I should have a plaque dedicated in my honour for pouring so much of my hard earned (loan) money into that local business. Seriously, has anyone ever heard of an EXPANDING indie record store? NO. YOU HAVEN'T. So cough up the bronze sign, assholes. (By the way, I'll post up those two reviews next journal.)
Well...that's about it. Besides the fact that next Friday is the 4 year anniversary of my joining the site. But that's for January 15th, not now. So keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and if you haven't taken down your Christmas lights yet, I have the god given right to strangle you with them. Later.
- Brian
But, if we do survive this, then it's totally because of me, and you should build a fucking statue in my honor. I'm serious! Something cool. Like me on a horse! No no no wait, a motorcycle! - Church, Ep. 52 S3.
|
|
|
| |
I'm Gonna Do It Again In 2010
Ok, this'll probably be the last journal of the decade. SO FUCKING ENJOY IT.
As promised, here are two New Music Scores. By Brian.
#1: “Self-Titled” by The Smiths. How the hell did this happen? How is it possible that a band like The Smiths was able to form from circumstances that appeared as if it could never happen at all? Johnny Marr was a socialite, the envy of those who wanted to have him or wanted to be him. Morrissey was an unemployed recluse living in the upstairs of his mother’s apartment, probably brooding. But somehow, they found each other, and within a matter of a year, produced a debut record and an indie-rock hysteria all throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Unlike most classic debuts, this one is rather rough and inconsistent compared to the rest of the back catalogue. The production is rather sparse, limiting the amount of control Johnny Marr had over layering multiple guitars over each other. Morrissey’s voice is nowhere near alluring at times, due to several ventures into falsetto in tracks like “Miserable Lie”, a technique he quickly dropped later on in their career. The songs that truly show The Smiths for what they were capable of achieving are the songs that do not stray off course, yet simultaneously do not hold anything back. The singles that were released in support of the album, as well as a few underrated gems, display the bright future that The Smiths deserved to have. A future in which they strived to double, maybe triple the effort to hold nothing back. Download: The Hand The Rocks The Cradle, This Charming Man, Suffer Little Children.
#2: “Dummy” by Portishead. The mid-90s in Britain musically was a time where everyone was looking back to the 60s for inspiration in a quickly dulling scene. While Oasis was looking up to by-gone guitar pop, specifically The Beatles, to find inspiration in their tunes, Portishead was looking in a different direction. They missed the sultry lounge singers, the James Bond themes and the old gramophone records that would crackle, hiss and slip in and out of tune every 5 seconds. The incorporation of all those elements into their debut record would turn out to be the sonic perfection of the alternative to Britpop: trip-hop. The band uses a very particular method of recording to recreate the crackling, hissing, distorted sound of a vinyl onto CD format. That, combined with the down-tempo drum samples and orchestral arrangements, provide a pervasive sense of alienation between the music and the listener. And Beth Gibbons’s voice doesn’t make things any different, either. Like a female version of Morrissey, her voice is ridiculously sexy, yet her usage of bi-tonal, dissonant harmonies make her voice sound devoid of libido at the same time. Critically, this album is stronger than Oasis’s sales record-shattering debut, but it is no surprise that its oddities kept Portishead in the underground for the better part of the decade. But like most underground bands, Portishead liked it that way. Download: Sour Times, It’s A Fire, Glory Box.
A huge snowstorm is coming up here to Maine for New Year's. This ought to make my travel down to Penobscot Bay rather interesting. However, I believe that nothing is going to stop me from throwing away the old decade in style...even if it means I might die trying to. Expect pictures.
That's about it for this year in journals. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and if I get into a car crash headed back into town, I gotta say that it was a good run. Take care of yourselves. Until 2010, later...
- Brian
Grif has resolved to quit smoking and overeating. Fuck that, I'm not quitter! Also to die. - Sarge and Grif, New Year's PSA S4.
|
|
|
| |
All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye
Another 10 days, another journal. I see a pattern forming.
Christmas weekend came and went. I don't want to wait until 5AR to show off my Christmas haul, that's something that John would do. I managed to get my hands on a bunch of gift cards, because I never asked for anything. With the 50 dollar Bull Moose Music card I got, I bought new bass strings and two new albums (which I won't review in this journal, wait until next time). With the 100 dollar JC Penney card I got, I bought a new pair of jeans. I still have 70 something bucks left on it, which will be IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of. Maybe I'll buy a pair of Chuck Taylors just for shits and giggles. Some other random stuff includes a PC version of Call Of Duty: World At War, a really comfortable blanket to curl up in and a bunch of candy, which I ate that following night. Is this a good Christmas? Possibly better than last year. Let's see how the next one goes.
I got my grades back from Fall 09 semester.
ENG 222 - Reading Poetry: A
ENG 253 - Shakespeare's Plays: A
GER 102 - Elementary German II: A-
HTY 279 - European Military History: B+
Once again, I don't know how or why I got these grades. German was too good, I personally think I deserved a D at best. And History wasn't good enough, I thought I could ace that shit. Oh well. I'm right on the verge of making Dean's List now with a 3.3 GPA. I hope next semester will be just as great. 
New Year's is coming up, which will be fun. I think. It all depends on what plans'll come up during that time. Of course, there's talk going around of making resolutions and shit, and this has something to do with 5AR's Theme Of The Week this week. I won't state them here, because I can't skip out on a theme like I almost always do, but I can't mention it without making some conversation about it. So feel free to think of what you want to resolve for the New Year and state it here. Hopefully, you can give me some good ideas.
I hope to make a few more journals by the end of this decade, so expect a lot of writing in the days ahead. Because Winter Break is so boring, I have nothing else better to do. I'll end it here, then. Keep the faith, don't believe the hype, give peace a chance and a very special thanks to Marion and Ahna for giving me Christmas cards. I'm so bad when it comes to giving stuff back in return, but someday I will. Laters.
- Brian
Ho ho ho...dirtbag. - Sarge, Christmas Point/Counterpoint PSA S3.
|
|
|
| | | |
|
|
|
|
|
