930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: walkman on May 31, 2004, 06:47:00 pm
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let's just make it official...I'm in. Snail, thirsty, nkotb(ie)ie, kurosawa? Rhett? Anyone?
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i went. i was in new york city all weekend seeing free jazz and wasn't near a computer, so i wasn't able to reply to this thread.
i came in and saw the last couple of minutes of need new body, who sounded great. hella absolutely blew my mind...i can't believe they played about an hour and 15 minutes of full-on high-energy spazz rock. that drummer is jaw-droppingly impressive, up there with brian chippendale of lightning bolt for the "most ridiculous drummer in rock" award. the guitarist ain't no slouch, either, and is extremely fun to watch if you can get close enough to see his face. i won't miss these guys again.
walkie, you going to et at it tonight? i'll be there, as well as the dysrhythmia/behold the arctopus show.
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Originally posted by snailhook:
i can't believe they played about an hour and 15 minutes of full-on high-energy spazz rock.
An hour and fifteen minutes is a rip off according to Rhett.
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Need New Body were INCREDIBLE. A face-trippin, banjo-pickin, free-jazz-skronkin, death metal rattlin good time. Yow!
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Worst band I've ever seen. I'll bet Markie and Lulu, whereever they are, would probably agree.
Originally posted by walkie hearts you all:
Need New Body were INCREDIBLE. A face-trippin, banjo-pickin, free-jazz-skronkin, death metal rattlin good time. Yow!
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Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Worst band I've ever seen. I'll bet Markie and Lulu, whereever they are, would probably agree.
Originally posted by walkie hearts you all:
Need New Body were INCREDIBLE. A face-trippin, banjo-pickin, free-jazz-skronkin, death metal rattlin good time. Yow!
[/b]
Worst taste I've ever seen. I'll bet Snailhook and Thirsty, wherever they are, would probably agree.
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I dunno, when I saw them, they sounded like the were just playing random notes on their instruments. Sounded more like noise than actual songs.
It's been a couple of years. Maybe they've learned to play their instruments, and discovered the basic elements of song structure.
Originally posted by walkie hearts you all:
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Worst band I've ever seen. I'll bet Markie and Lulu, whereever they are, would probably agree.
Originally posted by walkie hearts you all:
Need New Body were INCREDIBLE. A face-trippin, banjo-pickin, free-jazz-skronkin, death metal rattlin good time. Yow!
[/b]
Worst taste I've ever seen. I'll bet Snailhook and Thirsty, wherever they are, would probably agree. [/b]
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i'll agree with walkie.
Maybe they've learned to play their instruments, and discovered the basic elements of song structure.
i wasn't aware that music had to be restricted to structure and technical ability. there are incredibly advanced musicians that could improvise circles around your ass and you wouldn't know it because "there are no songs" and "they can't play." ignorance is bliss, so they say.
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Originally posted by snailhook:
i'll agree with walkie.
Maybe they've learned to play their instruments, and discovered the basic elements of song structure.
i wasn't aware that music had to be restricted to structure and technical ability. there are incredibly advanced musicians that could improvise circles around your ass and you wouldn't know it because "there are no songs" and "they can't play." ignorance is bliss, so they say. [/b]
amen, brother. I recall similar things written about Ornette Coleman, Miles, Lou Reed, Glen Braca, John Cage etc etc etc. I think "the basic elements of song structure" lost their all-important status before any of us were born.
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I'm with the boys. Finding yourself in an unfamiliar soundscape can often be a thrilling thing. Snailhook, I need to check out Lightning Bolt live sometime. Opinions?
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kurosawa, lightning bolt live is one of the most incredible, inspiring experiences you'll ever have, as long as you can appreciate hyperkinetic rhythms, abrasive noise, and an intricate drum barrage at a deafening volume. the bolt set up on the floor of the space they're playing in, making for a most intimate and interactive setting. perhaps i'm biased because i lived in boston for years and saw them develop from day one, but i've honestly never seen them play a half-assed or boring show. hopefully, i will bring them to DC on their next tour.
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Originally posted by walkie hearts you all:
I think "the basic elements of song structure" lost their all-important status before any of us were born. [/b]
All of us except Mankie of course.
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Originally posted by snailhook:
kurosawa, lightning bolt live is one of the most incredible, inspiring experiences you'll ever have, as long as you can appreciate hyperkinetic rhythms, abrasive noise, and an intricate drum barrage at a deafening volume. the bolt set up on the floor of the space they're playing in, making for a most intimate and interactive setting. perhaps i'm biased because i lived in boston for years and saw them develop from day one, but i've honestly never seen them play a half-assed or boring show. hopefully, i will bring them to DC on their next tour.
Please bring Lightning Bolt to DC.
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Needs New Body are a good example of the decline of music and art that defined the last part of the 20th Century. Just because it's progression doesn't mean it's an improvement, at least in my book. But hey, I guess we all have differing opinions. It's art, not science.
Originally posted by snailhook:
i'll agree with walkie.
Maybe they've learned to play their instruments, and discovered the basic elements of song structure.
i wasn't aware that music had to be restricted to structure and technical ability. there are incredibly advanced musicians that could improvise circles around your ass and you wouldn't know it because "there are no songs" and "they can't play." ignorance is bliss, so they say. [/b]
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Speaking of live Lightning Bolt, you can check out a bunch of live MP3s and videos on their web website (http://www.laserbeast.com/). Pretty intense stuff. I've been meaning to pick up their DVD, but I'm too cheap and/or lazy.
Originally posted by snailhook:
kurosawa, lightning bolt live is one of the most incredible, inspiring experiences you'll ever have, as long as you can appreciate hyperkinetic rhythms, abrasive noise, and an intricate drum barrage at a deafening volume. the bolt set up on the floor of the space they're playing in, making for a most intimate and interactive setting. perhaps i'm biased because i lived in boston for years and saw them develop from day one, but i've honestly never seen them play a half-assed or boring show. hopefully, i will bring them to DC on their next tour.
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Originally posted by snailhook:
i wasn't aware that music had to be restricted to structure and technical ability. there are incredibly advanced musicians that could improvise circles around your ass and you wouldn't know it because "there are no songs" and "they can't play." ignorance is bliss, so they say.
It doesn't have to be restricted, but you must admit that many people favor song structure. I find that nearly all music I just like or don't, I *feel* whether I like it -- you can try to slip something past me from a genre I generally don't like, and I still generally won't like it (there are exceptions, of course). Song structure is high on many people's lists, though a lack thereof doesn't make music "the worst," but not something I or a lot of folks would like probably. I love that other folks do, but I can still not dig it.... I do my best to say "I" don't like something rather than it sucks, 'cuz it's all subjective, ain't it? Art not science and all...
:)
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Ok, I'm a little lost on this song structure thing. Everyone likes The Ramone's, did they really have song structure, or The Pixie's, The Clash, well maybe The Clash did. I don't know, maybe I need an example of who has song structure and who doesn't.
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Good points, Bags. I didn't say they sucked, just that they were to worst band I've ever seen. Of course, that is totally based on my subjective taste.
Guiny, they sounded to me like their instruments were all out of tune, and that they were just playing random notes rather than songs they had actually written. I guess the best comparison would be to some of the more modern, improvisationally inclined jazz artists, not to the bands you list. I think some of the jazz artists can pull it off. NNB combined all that was listed above with an abrasiveness that is thankfully lacking in jazz stuff, and that combo made it intolerable. Plus, they looked like total dorks, which didn't help.
Originally posted by Bagalicious Tangster:
Originally posted by snailhook:
i wasn't aware that music had to be restricted to structure and technical ability. there are incredibly advanced musicians that could improvise circles around your ass and you wouldn't know it because "there are no songs" and "they can't play." ignorance is bliss, so they say.
It doesn't have to be restricted, but you must admit that many people favor song structure. I find that nearly all music I just like or don't, I *feel* whether I like it -- you can try to slip something past me from a genre I generally don't like, and I still generally won't like it (there are exceptions, of course). Song structure is high on many people's lists, though a lack thereof doesn't make music "the worst," but not something I or a lot of folks would like probably. I love that other folks do, but I can still not dig it.... I do my best to say "I" don't like something rather than it sucks, 'cuz it's all subjective, ain't it? Art not science and all...
:) [/b]
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washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8113-2004Jun1.html)
At Warehouse Next Door, A Long Descent Into Hella
Wednesday, June 2, 2004; Page C04
If musicians were paid by the note, Hella might have flown a Learjet to the Warehouse Next Door on Monday. The Sacramento guitar-and-drums outfit assaults its instruments with such unrelenting speed, the music might be dangerous to more sensitive listeners. You can't dance to this stuff, but you could have a seizure to it.
Like Washington's own Orthrelm and Providence's Lightning Bolt before them, Hella is a duo specializing in rapid-fire, arrhythmic and primarily instrumental post-punk. Their Memorial Day set sounded like "Led Zeppelin II" on fast-forward, with drummer Zach Hill righteously playing the John Bonham role. Hill's ham-fisted cacophony was a joy to witness, and his blunt avalanche of tom-smashing gave some much-needed soul to the band's otherwise monochromatic performance. Guitarist Spencer Seim wandered the fretboard as if trapped soloing over a never-ending drum fill, quickly dulling the band's initial burst into an exhausting hour of prog-punk aerobics.
Opening act Need New Body fared much better. The oddball Philadelphia sextet blithely hurdled back and forth between loungey piano ballads (sung in mock-falsetto) and reckless spasms of tribal percussion. With their amps draped in faux-fur and sequined fabric, and a bicycle wheel inexplicably jutting out from the center of the stage, their performance felt like an acid trip at the thrift store.
And the lunacy was apparently contagious. By set's end, the crowd had erupted in a fit of hysterical dancing, causing the Warehouse floorboards to bounce and wobble as if they might cave in.
-- Chris Richards