Music

Further information/stories regarding music will be placed on my other blog, Dissonant Adagio (just add the blogspot.com to get there). Seeing that my life is absolutely boring and linear, expect more updates on that.

Hostages

Today was a monumental day, I would say, well, interesting enough for me to have a post relevant to the situation.

1. My mom traded in the Lexus for a Camry, I am not sure which one, but that means, that the chance of me getting an actual car that I can call my own has been cut down significantly. No reason for me to save for the sole purpose of having a Camry that I can smoke in and add speakers too.

2. A couple came in armed with pistols, or so I would assume, a nigger and a lady of hispanic descent, so what my eyes have transmitted. The store was slowly dying down, and it had never crossed my mind that something this drastic would be in occurrence. As the number of guests began to dwindle, I was told that the couple was stalking various guests and the gun got a gleam of light. Proper measures were put into play, undercover police officers began to make their move, the doors were shut from anyone making any attempt to come into the store. Armed with rabid dogs and assault rifles, the remaining team members left in the store were put into a frenzy as the words, "Get on your knees," every variation of it, and the savage barks rung through the store. The couple were arrested and whatever procedures necessary for such an event were taken. The store continued to work, the guests continued their night with little questions asked. Target Greatland has definitely been the Greatland of weird folk, from the emo guy to strokes, heart attacks to armed beings. Working for such a company does have it's perks, as long as it's not Wal-Mart where proper measure is not taken, resulting in the death of you or other people. On the other hand, when you are at Walmart proper procedure is. . . fuck you people, I am outta here!

PISSED!

I bought Watchmen and built up a significant amount of anticipation to watch in a number of times tonight, but there is one defect in the dvd that doesn't allow me to continue watching the movie past half way. It's between 2, or possibly, 3 scenes and it causes the dvd to stop in general. I tried it on my DVD player and on my computer and I was still unable to finish the movie. So sad. . .

Flags

Our temptations and urges for going to Six Flags has finally been suppressed. In a small group, which always tends to be better, John Lam, Mike, Bj, and myself made our way over there around 9:45. Confronted with a bit a traffic, our urges were just growing due to our immense anticipation. As soon as we got there, we decided to stop by Wendy's and seeing that Wendy's is practically the only fast food place in the area the prices were significantly higher than what we pay down here. If you expect to come to Wendy's for one dollar chicken nuggets expect to pay 1.89 for those bastards.

After devouring our fuel, we made our way to the theme park itself, parked our car and walked over to the theme park in the blistering heat. The heat proved to be something to be dealt with so we all applied sun block generously throughout the day. I was surprised to hear that this was to be John Lam's first time to Six Flags so it would only be right to have him go on the biggest and best ride. First ride was Viper, nothing to be said here, second ride was X2. I still find the name change to be rather pointless but I am pretty sure all this is a marketing scheme. The ride was amazing, nothing change in regards to the ride itself other than music being played, it never lets you down. We began hitting random rides, Tatsu, Scream, Batman, Riddler's Revenge, Goliath among others. Their newest ride, Terminator: Salvation, was a huge let down. It was by far the longest line we had to conquer and the ride itself was fast, quite entertaining but for the wait that we had to go through was not worth it. As the sun began to set, we decided to get on a few water rides, the log ride, I forgot what Six Flags calls it, and Roaring Rapids. Roaring Rapids drenched Mike and Bj in water while John Lam and myself practically came out unscathed compared to them.

The sun had set and the moon had risen, this is when speed is pick up and various effects are put into use. We made our way back to X2 and spent an hour in line. At night the full potential of X2 had been unleashed, utilizing flames and water to enhance "Total Sensory Deformation". Seeing that we were tight on time, we power walked over to Gotham City and got on Batman, became greedy and rode on it again, leaving us unable to make it to Goliath. If we were just 10 seconds faster, we may have been able to just slide right by the employees.

After a long night of thrills, spills, companionship, laughter, and whatever else may come to mind in regards to a great day, we stopped by Chevron and picked up some drinks and made our way home. . . listening to Loveline.

Free

Now that I am free, here is a

" Even better way to spend money" list
- Put more money into the car
- Purchase a Guitar and a decent amp
- Get the Music that I was unable to get because of the relationship

"Better way to spend money" list
- Save up for future trips
- Comics
- Expand the drum set (Manny's drum set)

San Francisco

A trip to San Francisco has finally been organized and with enough conviction to ensure the success of this trip. Bj, Vinh, Mike, Oli, and myself have purchased our Have Heart tickets and we are looking forward to embarking on such a journey. If you believe it is stupid to spend large amounts of money and time on the road for one night, for one show, then turn away from this blog and never return. Music is something that we all have some sort of fanaticism towards, it is our life. I speak on behalf of myself now, the impact that music has left me is something that cannot be measured by words. I have bled for it, I have bled to it, and I don't plan on stopping. This is our time, the time of our youthful lives in which we will look back when we grow old and say, "Remember the time we went to San Francisco? When we got our asses beat, trampled, and pounded our fists? When we stood together under one roof and not GIVE A FUCK about tomorrow? Did you ever regret it?" and what would I say? FUCK NO! I will be taking advantage of what I have now. I couldn't have said this any better, Angelspit, "Money comes and goes, Time just goes".

Snapped

Today I snapped putting my relationship into a tremendous amounts of jeopardy. Words were exchanged, exasperated, a short break up, tears, and then the apology. I do in fact regret the majority of those words, but do I? The time spent with her has brought me a significant amount of happiness but it has also been accompanied with stress. I don't think I am in any way capable of participating in a long distance relationship, my car is reaching the end of her days, my hours are being cut and they will only be shortened to lesser amounts when school begins, and well, the majority of the money I do have is spent on the trip there. I am going to try to see this through, but what I prefer to get out of the way is, peace of mind by purchasing a car. Selfish, no, it's what's necessary for my whole life to continue full speed. Compassion for this occurrence is going to be kept to a minimum.

I may have given up too much for so little. As all of my close companions know, my life revolves around music, life ceases when sounds halt.
I am lost.

Wolves

Wolves and the Throne Room have got to be some of the best performers in the whole Metal scene. There powerful sound demands your attention, the intricate drum patters pound on your chest, the shrieks send chills down your spine, the raw emotion put into those riffs demand movement. Although WITTR attract casual metal listeners rather than hessians, the response to their music is unimaginable. I'll be honest, their music on cd is good but not great, however, what was performed tonight deems this band a title that hasn't been said too much, they are better live than on CD. Next time they come around, I'll be sure to get the day off.

Post - Rock and Shoegaze confusion

I have noticed that the number of bands that have the "Shoegaze" genre name in alliance with Black Metal has become an increasing number. I have yet to figure out how these two genres ever met and who started the "compatibility".

Shoegaze and Black Metal do possess common qualities but the qualities that make the genre what it is are contradictory to each other. Shoegaze has tremolo picking, distorted strumming that illustrates the same effect that tremolo can evoke, repetition, and a BRIGHT sound. On the other hand, Black Metal possess tremolo picking, heavy abuse on distortion, and a dark, dismal, sinister sound. Although you can include some brightness to a sinister riff exuding the evil, but for the genres to ever come hand in hand together just wouldn't make sense. What I believe is that someone blindly, or in this case deaf-ly, heard My Bloody Valentine and thought Alcest would fall into that genre nicely. Alcest being a band created by Neige of Peste Noire and Amesoeurs fame attracted Black Metal fans into "Shoegaze" thus giving birth to many offspring with resemblance to the sonic art that Alcest has portrayed. I like to consider myself a fan of Shoegaze, although my knowledge isn't vast, I do believe that it is enough to be familar with what it is in terms of music not ideology, and by a key quality of the two genres what metalheads know as Shoegaze is far from what it is.

I believe that Alcest are more of a post-rock band, very little Black Metal in their first full length, resulting in the absense of Black Metal. I think their sound can easily be compared to Sigur Ros, although they too have their share of differences, the compatibility between the two genres seems much more relevant than the Shoegaze/Black Metal relationship. After being exposed to more Post-Rock, credits go to Bj for getting EVERYBODY into Post-Rock, I would have to say that Amesoeurs, Heretoir (must listen), Liam, Onryo (must)and the many others that flood myspace are relatives of Post-Rock and the offspring of Post-Rock/Black Metal, I conveniently prefer Post-Black Metal.

The common qualities between Post-Rock and Black Metal are more frequent. Drum patterns heard in Heretoir are similar to that of ________ and the riffing is very reminiscent of The American Dollar, I went blank for a bit, so the bands may not be so suitable but it still beats what any shoegaze could share. The songs tend to be very lengthy including a epic build up or even slow down. One key difference is the vocals, Black Metal is littered with them while Post-Rock throws them out.

Anyways, I think that all Black Metal bands that have the subgenre, Shoegaze, included should detach it and put Post Rock.

Industrial

Industrial is fucking great, if I had to dance it would be to industrial. The harsh atmosphere is amazing, I know that dancing was never suppose to be aggressive, except in the Wheel of Time, but to each his/her own. After doing some research, this isn't industrial exactly, more like a sub genre of it by the name of Power Noise/Noise and Aggrotech, honestly, I don't care, it's not like I will be one of those people at Das Bunker every weekend trying to be elite, I get enough of that at the Black Castle.

Depressive Years

With names like Nocturnal Depression and I'm In A Coffin, I would instantly consider the band a bunch of little angst filled kids that believe they have suffered the hardships of life. But then again, after reading various interviews and doing necessary research, you come to the conclusion that some of these people may not be like that.Depressive Years is a band that has a shitty name and not much is known about them, so I'll give him (one-man band, of course) the benefit of the doubt. But then again, you can go so many ways, the music created may have been created to reflect the times of struggle especially when only one release has been made. Anyways...

Depressive Years produce well played DSBM, although the riffs are held for too long, the alternate riff to come in that song is well worth the wait. The songs progress from a slow, clean, new Hypothermia-esque riff to a somewhat post-rock happy, joyful pattern. Although only four songs the album stretches to nearly an hour, which I believe is a good move by the man behind the project, if he were to seperate each riff, the bad will out weigh the good leaving me unhappy with the purchase. Each riff complements each other positively making the unsettling atmosphere that much worse. The drums remain the same for quite sometime as do the riffs, but when the transition arrives they both change as a cohesive unit. The vocals are more on the raspy side rather than the shriek yet still undecipherable.

I find this to be incredibly soothing, the atmosphere isn't as unsettling and hasn't brought me anywhere close to shedding a tear like some of the songs that I'm In a Coffin produces but it can hit the spot. Musically amazing with lots of potential behind the band.

6.5/10

Boring riffs should have been shortened, but what can we do about it?

so KVLT I had to take the picture from a seller on eGay

Infiltration. Downfall. Death.

War Metal has never been something that I was totally into, which I am still not. It takes lots of time for me to become accustomed to such brutality since I am exposed to more "melodic", in this case, "weak", forms of music.

Revenge follow the same patterns of their previous albums, chaotic war noise, if that makes sense, if not just imagine noise. In other words, if you listen to one album you have listened to all of them, but there is hope for some sort of diversity with this album. The album is filled with tumbling drum fills like pails falling down a hill, rabid cymbal strikes resembling shattered glass, and of course the signature snarls and barks. They still follow the same formula except with much more accuracy. Militarism is still intact within the drumming, this time being far more accurate, consistent, and seemingly effortless. As the songs slow down the guitars become deep, bass is heard. Even the vocals have some chant-like melodies, perfect for fist pounding.

War Metal done by Revenge may in fact remain in my playlists for quite some time.

7/10

Moon Knight

Because I was in the area, I decided to make a stop at Comics Unlimited with a small ounce of hope to come across some Marvel Knight's Punisher comics. Instead, I decided to begin the MAX series of the Punisher but I saw something that caught my eye, Moon Knight. I couldn't find any of the beginning issues on ebay for an affordable price and here, they had the first 6. I should have bought the 6th one but I shouldn't even be spending at that issue was 10 dollars so I just stuck with the first 5.

I do not have a bit of regret for buying Moon Knight. This series is amazing, it is perfectly balanced with gore, comedy, and darkness. Although I prefer Punisher for the large amounts of sarcasm thrown into the series, but Moon Knight compensates the lack of sarcasm with just the right amount of blood and the dark psychological struggles that Spector faces. Moon Knight is the super hero for Black Metallers, he howls at the moon, worships violence, and suffers from mental illnesses.

Monterey

Tonight, after breaking the dominance of my laziness which has had a firm grasp on me for the last month, minimum, I drowned in the hypnotizing art that West Indian Girl conveys. West Indian girl was heavily listening to around fall of 2008 and since that was a tumultuous era in my life, it serves as a mnemonic device. It was always great listening to West Indian Girl but when accompanied with rain the imagery is quite vivid, taking you somewhere else, taking you to Northern California and bearing witness to the Gold Coast. A trip to San Francisco, the northern coast, etc, was always attempted to be planned extensively, but due to complications, it has never been done. One thing that does sadden in me in regards to the north, it is an area that bears numerous cultures yet it is looked at as a mecca for all things "hip" and "cool".

I hope one day that trip will be put into motion, and I hope soon the sky bleeds and roars and the clouds shadow our steps. Although we are growing old, I wish to take full advantage of what life has in store for me, a few of you may think otherwise but that's your dilemma that I wish to never come across.

Entourage

Rather than do anything productive or talk to my lady, I sat at home, had some pasta, and watched Entourage all night, finishing the 5th season. And I must say, this is the best yet, although the ending has been done before the episodes possessed many more laughs. If any of you have not seen this show, it's a must, thankfully, it did not get dragged down when all the writer's went on strike. It's 3 o'clock and I am not sure if I should go to sleep or stay up. Time will tell.

Onto other news, I am changing my internet provider by next week to Time Warner Cable, thus more blogs will be written and possibly another one created solely focusing on music much similar to bestialbeats. No jokes, no stories, music only. If any of you are interested, you know who you are, then let me know.

I completely forgot about this song, popped up in Entourage
Couldn't post the original video unfortunately