Hella

I've been wanting to write about Hella for a while now. I discovered the band a couple of months back and I have run through whatever albums of theirs I could get hold of. They are primarily a two member jam-band with Spencer Seim on the guitars and Zach Hill on the drums, who are both infact multi-instrumentalists. I do not know how to start describing the band. Words like "avant-garde" and "genius" are not sufficient to describe these gentlemen, who have been wreaking havoc in my life! They started experimenting with vocals and samples in their later albums and got even weirder! I wish I had the technical knowledge to exactly describe the guitarist's techniques and sounds. The drummer is a god of kick drum and cymbals. Their most recent double release "Churches Gone Wild/Chirping Wild" has a lot of Nintendo influenced music, so all you gamers will love it. The music is still very melodic in its own way. Melody gets redefined when one talks about bands like these. Ghost Dance, Post-Ivy League Depression, Biblical Violence and Famnail are some of the most disturbing songs I've ever heard. Their creativity scares me!

Inspired by Hella, I started searching for other similar bands and found quite a few actually. These guys are themselves playing in numerous side-projects, with other equally mad musicians. I'm dropping a few names to give you an idea.. Mike Patton, Les Claypool, Chino Moreno etc. The Advantage is a band in which Spencer Seim plays the drums. All their songs are covers of classic 8-bit Nintendo music! (remember Contra, Batman etc..?) They play these songs to deadly perfection. I've listened to their 2006 release Elf-Titled and am trying to get hold of their earlier album in which they covered Mario tunes! An other bands you have to check out is The Ladies, an other two member project in which Zach Hill plays drums. 

The Snake Trap

is a really cool instrumental rock band. The name describes their long convoluting, extremely pumping songs perfectly! I can't help but smile at their whacky and maybe silly song titles like "Redheaded Manual Festival", "Four Sores And Seven Beers Ago" (parts I, II and III) and "Untitled". Though I'd rather not label them as this genre or that, I'd suggest this band to people who are into post-rock/stoner-rock, especially bands like Pelican and Isis and to anyone who likes long pointless jams. You'd do good to check them out. I can't find even one decent review of their 2006 album "At Home in a Hostile World". They don't even seem to have a homepage! How lazy can a band get? So listen to these guys and spread the word. Their songs also have a loaded bass sound which can crush you to pulp, so go get hold of the bloody album.

Jim Morrison's biography by Stephen Davis. Richard Linklater's "Waking Life". A Perfect Circle and Rush.

A Scanner Darkly

A wonderful movie and an even better book! You have to try to get hold of this one.

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). 

Moozak

I'm just copy pasting this piece I posted to revive a really really dead music news group in my campus. I'm sure no one would read it there. So, I don't want to take any chances. There could be a repetition of things I already posted here/elsewhere on the web. Whatever, just read the damn thing..

Latest listenings!!!

I have rediscovered a lot of bands in the recent past. (read
Radiohead, King Crimson, Cream, Meshuggah etc etc)

Radiohead has been constantly growing on me. I'm waiting for their new
album (don't know when its going to be out). The BBC sessions concert
video is definitely one of the most gripping live perfomances I've seen.

King Crimson! This band never fails to surprise me. They are too damn
brilliant I must say. Been listening to the Thrak album for a
very long time now. Their earlier albums like "..Poseidon" and
"Starless.." are timeless classics, but Thrak takes their madness to
new heights. I'm eager to find out if their later album(s) are as
good. Can't seem to get hold of them.

Cream... the London Albert Hall videos completely blew me away.
Jack Bruce (bassie), the drummer (?) (and of course Clapton) manage to
create magic even when they are like 60 years old (or maybe older!?).
The jam on sunshine of your love is really amazing, its almost anthemic.

Meshuggah.. I've listened to their discography in the
last one month or so. They are just too Godly!

Tool.. A new album after a 5 year hiatus!!! I'd expected their latest
release (10,000 Days) to be in the same vein as Lateralus, but no!!!
They sound totally new this time and of course those crazy riffs, odd
time sigs, incredible breakdowns are still there. This is the
"spaciest" Tool release till date. Listen to Wings for Marie and
10,000 Days to see what I mean.

Mastodon.. Their latest album Blood Mountain is as breathtaking as
Lifesblood, Leviathan and Remission. (whoa! 4 super albums in a row)
Listen to Bladecatcher on BM, and tell me if it doesn't freak you out.
Its definitely the most bizarre Masotodon composition to date and also
one of my favs.

Today is the Day.. I don't know how to describe this band. They
started out as a stoner rock/metal act I think. I remember listening
to their 1994 release Supernova and going "wow! what are these guys
trying to do?!" As it turns out, they just got weirder and better with
every passing year. I've been listening to their 1999 release "In the
eyes of God" for a very long time now and I just love it. It has
elements of grind/hardcore/thrash/whatnot in it and ... Brann Dailor
of Mastodon has played drums on this one.. so... go figure

Primus.. Welcome to the land of Funk! This is the most
outrageous/wittiest/(throw in a few more adjectives) band I've
listened to in a while. Their live shows are explosive and their music
videos are out of this world. I've known of Les Claypool and Primus for a
very long time, but I've never listened to any of their stuff sparing
their really popular songs like Antipop and Tommy the Cat. I've really
started enjoying on their music this summer, and I've run
through most of Primus' catalogue got hold of the
numerous projects of Les. Its unbelievable how many bands Claypool has
played in. Just run through his bio and you'll be surprised to see how
many incredible musicians LC has played with.

Isis.. Their latest album "In the absence of Truth" is again extremely
good. But I miss the growls (the usual indecipherable vocal style of
Aaron Turner) that are so brilliant. Its mostly clean singing if I
remember correctly, but nevertheless a damn good album..

I will soon post a review of the assorted techno/ambient/trip-hop/post rock artists I've been exploring

GYBE! is worth checking out too

PS: can't wait until next time.. 

Of books and other things..

Finished reading "1984" a couple of weeks earlier. Its awesome! I'm trying to get hold of (i mean borrow) Animal Farm but with no success until now. "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri is an other book I read recently. Its a collection of really well written short stories. I'm halfway through "The Age of Kali" by William Darlymple. Will probably write about it here once I finish it.

PS: I'm going through an OST listening phase. I'm listening to OSTs of Koyaanisqatsi, Fargo, Requiem for a Dream and a few others. I've watched Koyaanisqatsi multiple times recently. Its a remarkable movie actually. Highly recommended for anyone who is.