{"id":7166,"date":"2014-07-12T23:34:32","date_gmt":"2014-07-12T16:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/?p=7166"},"modified":"2014-07-17T10:50:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T03:50:06","slug":"now-god-dammit-i-done-a-music-posting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2014\/07\/12\/now-god-dammit-i-done-a-music-posting\/","title":{"rendered":"Now, God Dammit, I Done A Music Posting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"justify\">Been a helluva long time since I wrote up a batch of mini-reviews. But here we go, I\u2019ve not <em>completely<\/em> fallen out of the loop.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Cloud Cult, <em>Unplug<\/em> &#8212; &#8220;You&#8217;ll become a baby cumulus; fly up to the firmament&#8221; &#8212; gawd, how I love this band. As some stellar songs from this tour were omitted to get the release down to a single disc, I think KEXP&#8217;s film from last year&#8217;s Arts In Nature festival (my bald head occasionally finds its way into the bottom-center of the screen)\u2026<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=loTe2ep0OQ4&#038;_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=loTe2ep0OQ4\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=loTe2ep0OQ4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00b7<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">\u2026is a better way to experience this set. Nevertheless, this release had me more less on the verge of elevating them to favourite-band status (I&#8217;ve only had two since 1988, so, kind of a big deal for me). But with the New Pornographers&#8217; street-date announcement, we&#8217;ll have to put the coronation on ice, at least for the time being. And now, the news of Arlen\u2019s departure has upset the apple-cart even further. This could well mark the end of the golden age of Cloud Cult &#8212; guy is an astounding drummer, and is perfectly suited to the band&#8217;s sonical dynamics. Huge bummer!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Kasai Allstars, <em>Beware The Fetish<\/em> &#8212; Will probably be my album of the year. (Though now that the New Pornos are officially on the clock, all bets are off&#8230;) If this record doesn&#8217;t make you want to get up and bump your ass, <em>nothing<\/em> will.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-2\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rod0kSInlgo&#038;_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rod0kSInlgo\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rod0kSInlgo<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p align=\"center\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The War On Drugs, <em>Lost In The Dream<\/em> &#8212; The hype is warranted.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The Felice Brothers, <em>Favorite Waitress<\/em> &#8212; C&#8217;est bon &#8212; a welcome return to their roots. Not that the detours were <em>unwelcome<\/em>, of course. I&#8217;ll allow that the first few songs don&#8217;t <em>quite<\/em> hold up their end of the bargain; but from &#8220;Constituents&#8221; on through to the finish, this is epic. A drop-everything-you&#8217;re-doing must-see live band for those who&#8217;ve not had the pleasure.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Judas Priest, <em>Redeemer Of Souls<\/em> &#8212; Priest&#8230;are&#8230;BACK! Their first great album since 1984. Believe it. One of those to-be-played-at-maximum-volume records. I have been utterly struck dumb by how much I love this.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">If you loved this band in the &#8217;70s\/&#8217;80s, this song &#8212; the closing number from the Deluxe version of the record &#8212; will send a chill down your spine and draw a tear from your eye. It&#8217;s a bit schmaltzy, sure &#8212; but considering the utterly glorious batch of songs preceding it, they earned the right. Don&#8217;t wanna <em>overstate <\/em>the album&#8217;s importance &#8212; they are, after all, still singing about the likes of Dragonauts and Metalizers. But for a band which hadn&#8217;t moved the needle in a good thirty years&#8217; time to deliver up such a powerful and vibrant Swan song &#8212; one that ranks among its very best recordings &#8212; is <em>most<\/em> impressive indeed.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">No idea why they chose to leave this song off the album proper; but here in the Bittorrent Century, I guess it doesn&#8217;t really matter.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-3\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ApFyTdpRv5M&#038;_=3\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ApFyTdpRv5M\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ApFyTdpRv5M<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Old Crow Medicine Show, <em>Remedy<\/em> &#8212; Love the music, hate the vocals\/lyrics. Next.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Protomartyr, <em>Under Cover Of Official Right<\/em> &#8212; My first exposure to this band; kinda sounds to me like a collision of The Jam and Art Brut. Maybe not ready to say that I <em>love<\/em> them (primarily because of the singer\u2019s voice), but I like them a LOT.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Against Me!, <em>Transgender Dysphoria Blues<\/em> &#8212; Like it much.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Archie Bronson Outfit, <em>Wild Crush<\/em> &#8212; Not up to <em>Derdang Derdang<\/em> standards, but a nice return to form.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><em>SuperUnknown<\/em> boxed set \u2013 One wouldn\u2019t necessarily suppose that being asked to listen to the same set of songs in four different incarnations \u2013 Studio, Live, Demo, Rehearsal \u2013 would be terrifically fulfilling. But in fact, they\u2019re different enough to each other that it doesn&#8217;t feel like overkill. The Demos disc is especially noteworthy, to my way of thinking. They sound more fully-fleshed than the term (to me, at least) has always implied. But whereas listening to the studio disc \u2013 especially in its remastered form here \u2013 calls to mind the iconic Memorex image from days gone by\u2026<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><a href=\"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Live-Or-Memorex.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"Live Or Memorex\" src=\"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Live-Or-Memorex_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"Live Or Memorex\" width=\"644\" height=\"276\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">\u2026the demos sound more like an exposed nerve. It was already my favourite Soundgarden rekkid; and now I love it even more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Lily Allen, <em>Sheezus<\/em> &#8212; I like it okay. But the euphoric feeling induced by listening to the debut seems like such a long, long time ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Israel Nash, <em>Rain Plans<\/em> [2013] &#8212; Chalk up another home run for 2013. If I were to re-jig my top ten from last year, this&#8217;d be very close to meriting inclusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\"><div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-4\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fnOfzpBXOEI&#038;_=4\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fnOfzpBXOEI\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fnOfzpBXOEI<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Boris, <em>Noise<\/em> &#8212; I&#8217;m&#8230;not that into it. Don&#8217;t know when the last time was I said that about a Boris record? Maybe never. Not to say that it doesn&#8217;t have its moments &#8212; when Boris drop the hammer, few bands on this earth can touch them. And they MUST be experienced live by all human persons physically able to crawl to a music venue. But, this one doesn\u2019t quite cohere for me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Roman Remains, <em>Zeal<\/em> &#8212; I&#8217;d <em>much<\/em> rather have a new Duke Spirit album. But&#8230;not bad.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Ray LaMontagne, <em>Supernova<\/em> &#8212; I don&#8217;t get why his fans are so up-in-arms? This record is great! Not as good as <em>Gossip In The Grain<\/em>, sure. But <em>miles<\/em> better than <em>God Willin&#8217; And The Creek Don&#8217;t Rise<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Neil Young, <em>A Letter Home<\/em> \u2013 Well, what can you say? He\u2019s Neil Young, and the rest of us are just mortals. Even Neil\u2019s little toss-off front-porch experiments rise above most everything else one will hear in a given year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The Hold-Steady, <em>Teeth Dreams<\/em> &#8212; Doesn&#8217;t quite hit the peaks of <em>Boys And Girls<\/em> and <em>Stay Positive<\/em>, but certainly far superior to <em>Heaven Is Whenever<\/em>. These songs are going to <em>kill<\/em> it live; and &#8220;On With The Business&#8221; is in contention for song of the year: &#8220;Blood on the carpet\/Blood on the mattress\/Waking up with that American Sadness&#8221; &#8212; well, Craig certainly hasn&#8217;t lost his way with words, has he?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Zeppelin remasters &#8212; Holy&#8230;fucking&#8230;crap. The hype is warranted &#8212; in spades. More less everybody at my Junior High school was of the opinion that The Beatles and Zeppelin had the two greatest discographies in Rock; thirty years later, I&#8217;m inclined to think that it&#8217;s <em>still<\/em> the case. Listening to the live version of &#8220;Communication Breakdown&#8221;, one could almost argue that, as if their other accomplishments weren&#8217;t enough, Zeppelin invented Punk Rock as well. I would probably say that I think that the Stones remasters were more revelatory, simply for the value of the bonus tracks. But, still&#8230;holy fucking crap, mon.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Tony Molina, <em>Dissed And Dismissed<\/em> [2013] &#8212; 12 songs\/11 minutes of Pop-Punk deliciousness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Tinariwen, <em>Emmaar<\/em> &#8212; Yes, thumbs very high \u2013 and the story of how the album came to be is pretty <a href=\"http:\/\/thequietus.com\/articles\/14710-tinariwen-emmaar-review\">incredible<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-5\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gINDDDo3do8&#038;_=5\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gINDDDo3do8\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gINDDDo3do8<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Valerie June, <em>Pushin&#8217; Against A Stone<\/em> [2013] &#8212; Holy shit 2013! Just bullseye after bullseye last year. An amazing record (with a great cover, as well &#8212; some bands could take a clue).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">V\/A, <em>This Wheel&#8217;s On Fire<\/em> [2013] &#8212; Well, at almost every song, I felt compelled to check see whom was the artist. That&#8217;s a pretty good sign&#8230; Excellent comp!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Woods Of Desolation, <em>As The Stars<\/em> &#8212; Finally, the goofnut vocals sink it for me &#8212; even being relatively low in the mix as they are. Too bad, &#8217;cause the music&#8217;s really phenomenal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" align=\"justify\">\u2022<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">And in case you missed \u2018em from earlier in the year, Ed Harcourt\u2019s <em>Tme Of Dust<\/em> and Seun Kuti\u2019s <em>A Long Way To The Beginning<\/em> are two strong recording-of-the-year candidates. For <em>video<\/em> of the year, this one, from the latter, is so spectacular that, really, none others need apply.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-7166-6\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/youtube\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8fGcf3GODKE&#038;_=6\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8fGcf3GODKE\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8fGcf3GODKE<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00b7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Been a helluva long time since I wrote up a batch of mini-reviews. But here we go, I\u2019ve not completely fallen out of the loop. Cloud Cult, Unplug &#8212; &#8220;You&#8217;ll become a baby cumulus; fly up to the firmament&#8221; &#8212; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/2014\/07\/12\/now-god-dammit-i-done-a-music-posting\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}