album of the week: 7-5

The Fiery Furnaces

I'm Going Away

Thrill Jockey (2009)

why you'll love it: cool relaxing summer pop

why you'll hate it: no weirdness

You know you're a really out-there band, when putting out something normal seems like a radical departure. For the last few years, I've described The Fiery Furnaces as "what time traveling sound like", or "vaudeville-prog". It seems that for now, the Friedberger siblings have hit the breaks on their time machine and settled on the vaudeville era. I'm Going Away is a straight loungey piano pop release without a single bloop or bleep to be found.

Normally, this would be a bad thing for a band widely known for experimentation, but last year's live double-album (Remember) sort of put their wild side into perspective. The back of the live album came with a warning "Do not listen to all at once", which goes to show even they recognize how much of an abstract legacy they have carved by this point.

I'm Going Away represents that song in a set list where you catch your breath. It's a cool down album. These are a dozen songs that The Fiery Furnaces need to keep from reaching critical mass. I'd rather hear this album rather than another Rehearsing My Choir misfire. I fully expect them to travel through audio wormholes again on the next album, so this "stop and smell the flowers" feeling I am getting from I'm Going Away is quite enjoyable.

Of course, it helps things that the songs are very good on their own. I could listen to Matthew play piano all day. Every song has at least one memorable hook to it. Oddly enough, the intro title track is rubbish. Throw that away and start with "Drive To Dallas"; it does a much better job of setting the pace for the album.

Acoustic Guilt

Beck has been posting acoustic recordings of his Modern Guilt (2008) songs on a Vimeo account. Check them out! "Gamma Ray" sounds fantastic. He says an EP of the recordings is on its way.

album of the week - 7.4

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant

Last Heaven's Bootleg

Universal Music (2003)

I was all set with a brand new release this week, when a bit of news brought everything to a stop today - Abe Futoshi, former guitarist of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant died at the young age of 43. Now, I know I unload a lot of wacky Japanese stuff onto this blog, but trust me; when you talk about TMGE, everything else is kids stuff. This isn't hyperbole - they were one of the greatest punk bands on the planet. No jokes, no gimmicks; just loud dangerous rock & roll.

Frontman, Chiba Yusuke, gets a lot of well deserved attention; but try out your ears on the rest of the band and you'll quickly realize Abe and co give it their all on every song. No member of that band was replaceable.

I'm not sure if this was their final release, but Last Heaven's Bootleg (which is a live album, if you can't infer from the title) feels like a good retrospective album for newcomers, and a memorial for any of us looking to blast some TMGE all week.

hard, core, gaming

The latest in what appears to be a series of bit.trip games has, like its predecessor, completely pushed aside everything else I could be playing. Bit.Trip:Core is a retro seizure dance party that punishes the crap out of me, but I keep coming back for more. The 80's arcade look remains, and so do the 15 minute gauntlet songs that are ungodly hard. This time, although, the controls have entirely changed.

There is a crosshair in the center of the screen, and you use the d-pad to create a line in the respective direction. Bits will come flying across the screen in every direction, and it is your goal to zap as many as you can. Just creating a line isn't good enough, you have to make sure to hit a button at the moment is crosses. Sounds impossible? Luckily this is one of the best rhythm games I've ever played. If you can locate the beat, you can tap along to it with the fire button and just concentrate on direction (which almost always has a simple pattern).

I'm currently stuck on the 2nd (of three) songs, and just don't feel I can navigate the d-pad as well as rotating the wiimote like in the last game. I've flailed my way through the second half of the song. I can't wait to tackle this game with a second player helping me out. As tough as this game is, the feeling of accomplishment when you finish a song is unmatched in anything else out there in games today. A fucking checkpoint system or no fail mode would still be nice though. These songs are great, and it's a damn shame I can't enjoy them while playing because I'm fighting for my life every step of the way.

An open letter to Gaijin games - LET US PLAY THE SONGS WITHOUT A THREAT OF GAME OVER IF WE HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED THEM! Bit.Trip:Beat was a total hit at the last party I took it to, until the controller was taken out of my hands and people were subjected to immediate game-overs, and hardly any of the thrilling music or visuals that come in the second half of every song.

Even before completion, a no fail mode would allow me to practice or just observe a tricky pattern that occurs 8 minutes into a song. Currently, if I hit one of those, I die before I can even figure out what happened, and am forced to start over. I'm already going to youtube to research these patterns anyway, it should just be in the game. The difficulty isn't a problem, it's the punishment of starting over without having learned a thing. I love hard games. Mega Man 9 was my favorite of last year, but at least in Mega Man I die and realize right away "...ahh, I should have not jumped so far, or used this weapon (etc..)" but with bit.trip, I'm left clueless, and spending 8 minutes working my way back there to blindly fire away a guess just feels like a tremendous waste of my life.

Despite this hurdle, it's still the best downloadable game of the year on any system (until Shadow Complex comes out, probably).

2P vs mode would be really fun too! No death, just whoever missed the least bits by the end of the song loses. There are so many places this game can go to make it enjoyable to all audiences without curbing the difficulty. Hopefully Gaijin will take note of this when making the next game.

album of the week - 7.3

つしまみれ

あっ、海だ。

Victor Entertainment (2009)

why you'll love it - Unfiltered and carefree punk rock

why you'll hate it - high pitched vocals and a whole lot of noise

I can't bring myself to review... that album.... one that is so terrible, I haven't even made it halfway through. And with every passing week, it becomes less and less relevant to waste time on a blog post for it... so... fuck it. Here is a good album instead!

Well... not exactly. You will most likely hate it. If you are a normal human being, this is not for you. For everyone else, enjoy this reckless abrasive punk catastrophe! つしまみれ plays loud music, is always singing out of tune; and even undermines the tough guy crowd with constant fits of over the top cutesy pop, like a square peg hammered into a round hole.

Despite being around for a good five years, this is technically the trio's first full length album. They've been strictly dealing out EPs their whole career. A smart move, since their corrosive sound can wear down any listener after a while. Luckily, this LP is their finest and most consistent material yet. "まつり" has already became by favorite つしまみれ song, and "Time Lag" is a quality pice of madness, as well as a wise choice for a single.

Unlike the last two releases, the group lets their pop side only emerge in moments, not consume entire tracks. The closest thing to pure pop is "Stop & Go!", which is offset by a lo-fi skate punk pace. "Mic Smellくんくん" is a bit too gimmicky for my taste, but still a worthy track for the way they handle the content. You can even hear the singer laugh and mess up in the middle of it.

So... that shitty album that will not be mentioned may be recognized, sell, and be loved more, but あっ、海だ。 is for me. Even its shortcomings represent what I love about punk music.

iTunes dishes out downgrade updates

iTunes made the news this week with its 8.2.1 update that cuts off access to Palm Pre users. Sucks for them, but I've found an even worse problem. Any update above 8.0.2 has a big issue with songs that are encoded with software iTunes does not recognize. If you try to play one of these songs, the app will straight up freeze for a good 45 seconds.

I've experimented, and converted one of these songs (yes i know that makes quality drop) to ACC. ITunes suddenly plays well with the song. I'm not going to re-encode half my library! I've got bit.trips to core. Downgrading to 8.0.2 did the trick for now.

So tread lightly, oblivious mac users. iTunes has been dealing out Trojan Horse updates that force assimilation. It could get a bit bumpy from here on out....

album of the week - 7.2

The Mars Volta

Octahedron

Warner Bros. (2009)

why you'll love it: You've always wanted The Mars Volta to be a "normal" band

why you'll hate it: boring as all hell

I've been a Mars Volta fan since day one. To me, the band has always meant "At The Drive-In with more guitar solos" and never pretentious wankery. I love Cedric's insane ramblings just as much as I had in ATDI. The concept of TMV being a bunch of artsy hotheads has never occurred to me, therefore I've never been frustrated by any of their albums.

This is a bad album.

Surprisingly, it's for different reasons than what you'd expect from their detractors. This is a boring album with very little of what makes TMV special. The melodies are very slow and predictable. Cedric's lyrics have no cryptic mystery to them at all. They're, at best, slightly macabre, but not inspiring at all. This album sounds like TMV tried to be a band to appease those who think they are too crazy and artsy. Now they sound like every other boring band.

Huge disappointment. Though I don't think this album is a sign of things to come. Every TMV album has sounded different thus far. They just picked a dud of a style this time.

Concerning that album I can't find...

I just found it.

Should I keep doing crappy albums? hmmm,

i think.....

album of the week: 7-1

The Aggrolites

IV

Hellcat Records (2009)

Why you'll love it: It's reggae

Why you'll hate it: It's reggae

I'm a bit annoyed I still haven't found the latest release by TsuShiMaMiRe; so out of spite, I'm going to be reviewing some less than stellar 2009 albums this month. Consider it summer cleaning.

For our first castaway album, I'll go easy on you. This is simply just mediocre. It's reggae. Nothing more. If you're having a 4th of July BBQ this weekend, this would make for some alright background music, but there is nothing here to really sit down and listen to. In past albums, The Aggrolites have messed with the format in the past to create some fun interesting songs, but this album is nothing but textbook.

Keep in mind that this, and the next few weeks of reviews are all of my own opinion. You might actually like the music. And hey, once July is up, we'll have certainly good albums by The Fiery Furnaces and the telephones. The future is bright!