This Is Book’s Music

Om are from the ashes of the almighty Sleep, and have been creating their brand of stoner metal for a long time. God Is Good (Drag City) is an album consisting of only four songs, with the longest track clocking in at a beautiful 19:08, and their grinding, low-end heaviness is all a part of their adventure, although on this one it seems the guys are trying to combine different emotions into one track. Some may feel that this style of music is nothing but gloom and doom, but it’s not, although the fun in hearing stuff like this involves being amazed at how evil and cruel it can sound. That’s all that it is, though: sound. “Cremation Ghat” is a 2-part mini masterpiece that will take over yourself once you realize what they’re trying to do.

I don’t know if these guys have been away, went to a different country and came out of the experience with an epiphany, but it sounds like something that is momentus. Or it could simply be the way Om do it, and we love how they do it. It is said that “om” (ॐ) is the word for “god”, and thus the band are simply saying that “they” themselves are good. Amen.

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From the Maple St. Sessions album (which I reviewed here), it’s “Falling” by Preach Jacobs & Denz, directed by Ryan Cockrell.

With a title like Fricadelique! (how to be a flower-power nihilist) (Clinical Archives), you know it has to be at least half interesting, and it is. Johann Merrich is an experimental artist who is also into minimalism. A lot of things are happening in his works, but it seems he focuses on one section of a song and has fun with it, taking as much out of that section as possible and turns it into worlds that were previously unknown. I love how each piece unravels, or at times go nowhere but they’re not proper songs, but rather soundscapes that help you get from here to way over there. “Du bist der lenz” sounds like a string section mixed in with a mellotron, and it’s hard to tell if it’s the same four bars looped over and over, or if you’re wanting to get as much as possible out of those four bars. There will be new sounds added within those four bars, but you’re not sure how things will sequence. Yet it carries you through, or you help carry yourself through the sound. If you don’t watch your volume, “Silent Blindness” may make you deaf, this is a piece that starts out with live frequencies that could damage your ears and equipment, but it may be helpful to conquer terrorist groups. When it reaches its conclusion, you can still hear what you heard four minutes ago. Either that, or I’m imagining it. The cover may have nothing to do with the sounds heard, and yet somehow it’s fitting.

What hooked me, or what at least lured me to take a listen to Afterthem was the description: “Avant progressive funk influenced by Primus, Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Mr. Bungle, Chili Peppers, Tom Waits and Dr. John.” Well, at least they know who these bands are.

While the description sounds promising, the music on Time Is Fun When You’re Having Flies (Clinical Archives) is not. The first thing that came to mind while listening to their electronic funk is some of the music the P-Funk empire did in the 80′s, as electronic production became prominent. It was their way of getting with the times, and sometimes it was decent, most of the time not. This album sounds like it was recorded in 1982 in a basement on a cassette deck, because the mix is not too good. It’s not raw like a bootleg, but a bad mix only makes things worse. What’s so bad about it? It seems like Afterthem are trying too hard to be freaky and avant-garde, and it ends up sounding anything but. I think if the album and songs were well produced, it would be worth listening to. They need to have a producer not only to let them know how these songs could sound like, but also to make sure these songs are edited and condensed down where need be. A few songs sound like good time noodling, and all I could think was “enough already.”

I’d like to hear these songs redone, or maybe another band perform them. The good thing about this album was that it was free, but I don’t feel I’ll be revisiting this again.

In the last few years, people have put too much faith in the term “emo rap”, because it basically means the rapper in question puts a lot of emotion into his rhyme style and lyrics. In other words, being personal, reflective and retrospective is considered too weird in a genre that has been dumbed down by its own applied dumbness. Sol calls the 206 (Seattle) home, although if you feel you know what a Seattle MC sounds like from other area MC’s of the past, push them to the side. Sol kind of has the vocal tone of old Fat Joe mixed in with the vibe of Common and Smif-N-Wessun, but manages to bob and weave through the comparisons and influences to come out sounding like an MC ready to put his skills and talents to the test.

Dear Friends is a 6-song EP that keeps things brief and sample, so you get to hear him and his music, no skits, no fluff, no nutter, no nada. What you do get is someone who lives and loves the music, as he and guest Kush Carter talk about in the soon-to-be-stoner classic, “Music Crazy”. For a slight party vibe, but one that isn’t suffocate the song, you have “Millions”, which is what he seeks but he also seeks true love from his lady who is “my Beyonce, she calls me Jay-Z/my P.Y.T., pretty young thing”. “Never D.I.E.” has an old school feel, but that can be said about the entire EP, although don’t think of the throwback style to be an easy remedy just to get across to a certain audience. It’s more a classic feel than anything, and Sol is a rapper whose lyrics and delivery are worth listening to. He’s not just audio darts to fill the the void during any given time, you want to pay attention to him because you sense he has a lot of respect for hip-hop and the craft of writing.

Free MP3 download (46.53mb)

Methodical chaos, this is what I thought of as I was listening to Terminal Lovers‘ new album, As Eyes Burn Clean (Public Guilt). These guys play well scripted songs with the kind of heaviness that will bring to mind the best of Sunny Day Real Estate, 65daysofstatic, and maybe a slight hint of a band that is highly respected around the world but I’m not going to mention them, in fear readers will think Terminal Lovers sound like them. They do not, but what they share is a love to take their music into unexpected directions within the boundaries of a song.

What I like is that they expand on what progressive rock has given to them, and takes it into worlds unknown or unexpected in the 1970′s. A track like “Ion Gate” (5.17mb) may sound like heavy metal appreciation, but then they’ll get into these melodic textures where it sounds atmospheric, almost in a Mars Volta/Coheed And Cambria sense but still retaining a Melvins-like heaviness. The best song on here has to be the 3-part, 23 minute side length (since this is being released on vinyl, I’m assuming this takes up the entire side 2) “Truth Between Errors”. I’m a sucker for a good side length opus, and these guys deliver through the many peaks and valleys they supply. What I mean is, sometimes they get into what sounds like a blitzkreig of distorted guitars where it sounds like you’ve entered into a wall of feedback. Underneath that a mid-tempo melody begins to surface and the bass guitar suddenly becomes meditative and then you’re thinking wait a minute, this sounds like a sludgy tribute to The Byrds‘ “Eight Miles High”, where that jingle-jangle Indian flavor comes through strong. It sounds incredible, foreign and distant (perhaps as intended), but it makes you smile (at least I did) because that’s pulls at your heartstrings.

With this style of music, one rarely talks about the technological side of it but then again, I’m sure a guitar or rock magazine will get into the Terminal Lovers’ gear or something. I go back to the beginning of the review where I say this is methodical chaos, because as noisy, sludgy, and forceful this sounds, it’s not random noise. The volume and the way these songs weld and move into each other from start to finish shows me they care for not only how these songs are interpreted, but by how they sound individually and as a whole. The final package comes out sounding like a rock opera, but without the opera, without the generalizations, without a storyline you have to follow. You’re following sound, although you’re also listening… you know what, just get the album and listen. Fans of hard rock, heavy metal, or independent-minded rock in general, as the non hard rock/heavy metal fan will enjoy this as much as the dedicated headbanger… it is something to enjoy. It will be a classic amongst those who know. Others, let them discover it on their own time. For us, let’s enjoy it today.

Karniege will be releasing a proper debut album in 2010, but it hasn’t stopped him from working hard to get himself heard and known. Here’s a brand new mixtape, as part of the Can I Kick It series, and it’s free. Here’s the complete track listing:

01.) No Beginning (Produced By Karniege)
02.) Guess Who’s Back
03.) System Disrupt (Produced By Camu Tao)
04.) Check 1,2 (feat. L.T., Poison Pen & J-Zone) (Produced By Da Beatminerz)
05.) Hey Karni
06.) Spread The Word (Produced By Camu Tao)
07.) War Stories
08.) Kidz NYC (feat. Vast Aire) (Produced By Melodious Monk)
09.) Interlude (Produced By Karniege)
10.) Mush
11.) Welcome To New York (Produced By Thanos)
12.) How We Do Over Here
13.) Bang Bang (feat. Double A.B & Access Immortal)
14.) Catwalk (Produced By Lostsun of Armyfatique)
15.) Jimmy Swagger (feat. Marq Spekt) (Produced By Khalid Salaam)
16.) Hard Times (Produced By Camu Tao)
17.) Spread The Word (Remix) (Produced By Lostsun of Armyfatique)
18.) War Stories (Remix) (Produced By J-Kingz)

Now take a listen.

Can I Kick It Vol. 2 (76.28mb)