The Dillinger Escape Plan

Its been a while since I've written anything here. Life in the last one year has for a large part been a vague blur. Owing to no broadband at home I haven't listened to any new music and the only listening I've been able to do is on my train ride to work. If there's one band that has really rocked my world in the recent times, it is The Dillinger Escape Plan. Fans of music in the extreme-hardcore realm will do well to check out the band's twisted debut EP Under the running board, which has a total running time of 7 minutes and 33 seconds. I will write about that album in another post. What I'm here to write about is the band's second EP Irony is a dead scene which features one of the greatest vocalist of our times - Mike Patton. Mike Patton is an enlightening musician. When did vocalists forget that language and lyrics were just convenient tools for making melodies? The true vocal melody should bend the mind by using not mere words, but by chanting and sceaming. Mike Patton's vocal style is a marked departure from the convention, emphasizing clearly what we expect to get out of music - madness and bliss. To see my point, go listen to the song When good dogs do bad things. The guitars and drums on the album are also equally genius - end result - a masterpiece of sound.

Recent Finds

I've become a fan of Cake. I've heard just one album of theirs (Comfort Eagle) and it left me on the lookout for more Cake. If you like funky music with witty lyrics, you will like the album.

I somehow gathered up the courage to listen to Converge's 2004 album titled You Fail Me and needless to say, it pummelled me. They are one of the most hard-hitting bands I've ever heard. It doesn't make sense to talk about the talents of a band like Converge. You Fail Me runs on similar lines as Petitioning an Empty Sky with a brilliant slow paced song placed appropriately on the album. The last song on the album, Hanging Moon, has to be one of the most abrupt endings one could write for a record. Respect for Converge!

This and that

I've been listening to Converge for a long time now. "The Saddest Day" from Petitioning the empty Sky is in my opinion, the best album opener ever written! Take my word, I am saying this keeping in mind Angel of Death. I know a few people who might kill me if they heard me say that. Anyway, this album is just unbelievably awesome. These are the albums that show you that the underground is still alive. Sheer energy.

That apart, A Perfect Circle has been on repeat mode. The lyrics, the music its all brilliant.

The Melvins, Lightning Bolt, Hella (these guys deserve more fame), Wolf Eyes and other stuff I can't think of right now.

I'm in the middle of "From Beirut to Jersualem" by Tom Friedman. Its a damn good one. I also recently finished reading "The motorcycle Diaries" (by Che Guevara).