Boris: Wandering through Plato's cave

Boris is something of a chameleon in the drone doom community. Indeed, they might well object to any label being put on their creative output. While they do have songs in which single notes are drawn out until it seems they must snap and percussion is dispensed with as an unnecessary adulterant of pure tones and feedback, they also frequently display distinctly punk sensibilities, and are comfortable within the psychedelic rock idiom. Their vocals in particular display an intensity which seems rooted in political or personal concerns, rather than the existential terror or universal hatred which drip from the ragged edges of most black metal rasps. Being a drone doom aficionado myself, I think Boris reaches their peak when they veer towards the abstract and leave out the more quotidian vocals.

Their collaborations with Merzbow deserve particular mention. Merzbow seems to provide a textured but emotionally neutral backdrop against which Boris' pure tones can shine out like jewels. I've sometimes compared Ulver's Nattens Madrigal to being awoken late at night by a ringing telephone and picking up the receiver only to find God Himself on the line. The connection is poor and the line full of static, but it is abundantly clear that this is not the all forgiving God of the new testament, nor even the vengeful but rationally-minded God of the old testament. Rather, this is a being of wrath divorced from mortal notions of reason. Lovecraft's idiot flutist Azathoth blares into the line, barely constrained by the medium's bandpass filter, calling down an apocalypse which represents not moral judgment but the inevitable triumph of entropy. Just as Ulver conjures a deranged deity thrust into the modern world through the most banal tool of communication, Boris and Merzbow bring us into Plato's cave. The rough-hewn walls are solid, but devoid of intellectual or emotional presence. Against their mindless physicality dance pure ideas, freed from their earthly trappings by the stabilizing matrix of rock surrounding them. While the mental and the physical are inextricably wed, Boris and Merzbow draw the connection into a thin thread. The abstract and corporeal move independently, throwing each other into deeper contrast.

In their independent efforts, Boris provides this tension with the abstract through alternative routes. Mental and physical intertwine more tightly, but the result is a dance between yin and yang, rather than a uniform composite. Soaring notes reach out, only to be drawn under by the crash of cymbals and feedback. Their music often has an agitated energy which feels almost carnal, like the buzz of amphetamines, limbs vibrating and twitching of their own accord while the mind wanders elsewhere, only loosely coupled to the pumping pistons of the body. Other times, the music retreats into a contemplative fugue, acoustically fleshing out quiet corners of the world, speaking to lost moments spent alone, almost divorced from the self. In all cases, the result screams craftsmanship and quality.

For the love of god and all that is holy, Earth's Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method is utterly sublime

For one reason or another, it's been a month or two since I've listened to any later-day Earth. Sunn O))) has found its way onto my playlist regularly. I've experienced A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge (Parts 1 and 2) within the past week. But Pentastar and Hex have been the subject of an unconsidered neglect.

Friends, please allow me to warn you against such a thoughtless and ultimately self-destructive course of action. Listening to Hex as I type, I am all but overcome by the sumptuous textures layered one on top of another in this album. Earth is a group of traditionalists, and Hex is constructed using only the standard guitars and drums, but through a miracle of ingenious recording techniques, they coax lyrical and organic voices out of these commonplace tools. As their name would suggest, Earth eschews the ethereal; their instrumentation is not evocative of the angelic or the demonic. Rather, you can almost feel the dusty soil sliding through your fingers as the guitars peal, resonate, and sing. The mundane is the sublime. Earth elevates the coarsest, most visceral elements of physical reality to an exalted stature. Even a simple stone takes on the epic proportions of a grand monument to the shocking presence, the undeniable reality, of physical existence. These songs are hymns to the world at dawn, while the intentionality of the small scurrying creatures still sleeps, but the earth sits with open eyes, ever watchful.

Music search technique

For many moons, my main strategy for finding new music has been to go prowling through the internets, looking for groups with interesting names and reading the reviews on the Metal Archives. Back in the day, I turned to such inconsistent sources as Satan Stole My Teddybear and shoutcast streams. The reviews on SSMT by John Chedsey are evocative, often humorous, and generally reflect good taste, but the other reviewers are not of equal quality. Moreover, the small number of non-professional reviewers on SSMT limits their ability to cover the full breadth of the relatively obscure black and doom metal scenes. I owe a karmic debt to the internet radio station on which I first heard Opeth, catapulting me headlong into the world of dark metal, but the streams that do play the heavier incarnations of metal are generally broader in their scope than my musical interests, and skew towards orthodox bands rather than progressive fair. The Metal Archives, for all the inconsistency in the literary quality of its user-generated content, is stunningly complete and generally accurate.

Investigating bands based upon their names is surprisingly effective. Consider the following list of black metal bands with names beginning with 'forest,' taken from The Metal Archives:
Forest (Cze) - Black Metal
Forest (Pol) - Black Metal
Forest (Rus) - Black Metal
Forest Nocturne - Melodic Black Metal
Forest of Castles - Black Metal
Forest of Demons - Black Metal
Forest of Doom - Black Metal
Forest of Evil - Black Metal
Forest of Fog - Black Metal
Forest of Impaled - Black/Death Metal
Forest of Souls - Black Doom Metal
Forest of Triglav - Black Metal
Forest of Witchery - Black Metal

Of course, a band like Forest of Shadows does not make this list, because the Metal Archives classifies it as doom metal rather than black metal, nor does it include bands whose names include but do not begin with 'forest.' And don't forget the 50 black metal bands whose names begin with 'funeral.' These names are more formulaic than whatever bubble-gum pop hit is currently contaminating the airwaves. As a testament to the predictability of metal band appellations, you can algorithmically generate the names of your next dozen musical enterprises at the Metal Band Name Generator.

Recently, though, I've stumbled on a much more efficient technique for finding new music. I call this strategy Southern Lord. Consider what I hope we can agree are the three best drone doom bands in existence (in alphabetical order): Boris, Earth, and Sunn O))). Further consider the quality black metal groups Wolves in the Throne Room, Xasthur, and Nortt. All are presently or have in the past been distributed by Southern Lord. My present project is thus to go through the entire Southern Lord roster and sample the wares. The giant record labels may have outlived their usefulness, but there is still a need to winnow the wheat from the chaff of the ever more prolific world music scene, and Southern Lord seems to be doing a pretty good job.

My amp goes to 11

I'm not a big fan of loud noise. For as long as I can remember, I've been a little phobic about hearing loss. When I go out clubbing or to a concert, I always wear earplugs (leaving a club and rejoining the world without ringing ears is a delightful experience). When listening to music by myself, I tend to keep the volume very low. During senior year of high school, with a license, a car, and a daily commute of at least half an hour, I would keep the music turned down so low that I was only able to follow the songs because I already knew the words and melody. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to realize that an album has ended; black metal at low volumes can sound surprisingly similar to the ambient hiss of an empty room. But recently, I've been experimenting with turning the volume up a bit higher. It's remarkable how much more detail you can hear with good headphones and adequate volume. Just now, listening to Wolves in the Throne Room (who are presently touring and, according to Metal Archives, have a new album coming out), I heard an absolutely fantastic drum fill I had never noticed before. If I'm going to burn my sensory acuity on something, I think this is a worthy cause. Look at me, the intrepid risk-taker!

Did I mention that Wolves in the Throne Room is touring? I think I did. If you live on the West Coast, they will probably be passing through a nearby city very soon, potentially with Sunn O))) and Earth in tow. This is clearly the music event of the year. I obviously can't go, so you will need to enjoy it in my stead.

Edge of Sanity

The danger of working hard on some blog posts is that it makes one reticent to post except when one has the time and energy to write something thoughtful and interesting. Unfortunately, creativity often comes from setting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) regularly, and waiting for inspiration to work its fickle magic. This is definitely the approach I take in science, but there I have the added impetus of other people's papers to prod me to think about new things.

Anyway, today I'd like to share with you my appreciation for Dan Swano's band Edge of Sanity. I have physical CDs for Purgatory Afterglow and Crimson II (the second of which is really just Dan Swano, not the entirety of Edge of Sanity), and I've heard Crimson many a time. Today, though, I'm listening to Spectral Sorrows for perhaps the first time. I'm feeling a bit abstracted, and don't really want to re-read the paper which is the basis for this week's assignment in the class I'm TAing, but this album is making it go down smooth as melted butter (which is to say, it's a bit too thick and I want to gag a little, but at least it's smooth). Swano does a good job of infusing classic rock sensibilities into what remains very clearly death metal. Most of his melodies have a distinct groove to them, and his songs are rarely short on the sort of hooks that make pop music so infectious. Someday I'll work up the energy to give his Pan Thy Monium albums, which are a Frankensteinian combination of jazz and death metal, the careful consideration they deserve. Today though, I want something a bit simpler, and Spectral Sorrows is definitely hitting the spot.

Virgin Black - Elegant... And Dying

The Metal Archives features two very negative reviews of this album, and I can't understand why. Perhaps the reviewers were expecting Darkthrone. With their sophomore album, Virgin Black have moved beyond the strictures of metal. Rather, this album sounds like what goth music should be. Quiet, melancholy, brooding, and passionate, Virgin Black manages to combine operatic clean vocals, growling guitars, harsh screams, and soaring solos into a cohesive work that maintains a mood of contemplation without sacrificing emotionality. This album is like Pentacostal church music reworked for introspective atheists. Virgin Black seems to feel the need for God's love and forgiveness just as much as any member of a charismatic church, but inhabits a world where such a thing cannot exist. The resulting void is rendered into an hour and fifteen minutes of deeply personal music.

Fleurety - Min Tid Skal Komme

It's more than a little ironic that a genre as obsessed with orthodoxy as black metal would spawn a rebellious, bastard step-child as intent on breaking every single scene convention as it's progenitor was obsessed with conformity. Fleurety is a shining example of everything that is good about post-black/avant-garde metal. While retaining many of the signature elements of black metal, such as the rasped vocals, blast-beats, and tremolo, feedback-laden guitar, Fleurety turns the melodic standards of black metal on their head. Min Tid Skal Komme features key signatures and chord progressions which sound like they were devised by a species of giant, semi-sentient naked mole rats. These songs would be appropriate hymns to H.P. Lovecraft's blind, idiot flutist Azathoth: while hauntingly beautiful, the reek strongly of insanity. Soft, tender guitar passages meld into wild, desperate torrents of feedback and screams, only to be joined by delicate female vocals. The intoxicating excitement of Fleurety's mania is just as engaging as the poignancy of their depression, with an edge of delirium constantly bubbling beneath the surface. Watch out for the EP appended to the main album in the re-release. It contains vocals shrill enough permanently damage both your ears and the vocalist's throat.

Earth - HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method

Drone doom is a genre which probably requires some explanation for the uninitiated. Single notes can drag on for a minute or more. Feedback is used as a principle instrument. Drums (as well as rhythm, melody, and vocals) are optional. What remains is emotional texture. Earth has incorporated more and more elements of traditional rock music over the course of their career, and Hex does sound suspiciously like music as it is traditionally conceived. Yet they retain the ability to draw the listener into a an almost meditative state with their repeated motifs and carefully constructed auditory landscape. Earth sounds to me like desert music, barren and alone. I hear rocks, scrub brush, and the detritus of abandoned civilization. However, the stars shine brightest in these vast, empty expanses. This is contemplative, organic music, and it provides a perfect accompaniment to serious intellectual activity.

Wolves in the Throne Room - Diadem of Twelve Stars

When you think about the sources of great black metal, Olympia, Washington doesn't usually spring to mind. Moreover, Wolves in the Throne Room isn't particularly innovative. Obvious influences include Burzum and Throes of Dawn, with perhaps some Agalloch thrown in for good measure. Nevertheless, Wolves in the Throne room manages to make the well-trodden path they walk seem dewy-fresh. The melodies are repetitive, but hypnotic and addictive, with a surprising amount of variation thickly layered beneath the tremolo guitar surface. The clean female vocals contrast perfectly with the excellent raw rasp of the male vocalist. Both volume and pace change frequently, but the passages meld into a coherent whole, unlike the disjoint meanderings of early Opeth. With approximately fifteen minutes per song, there is plenty of room for development and exploration of each melodic theme. Highly recommended.

Gradations of doom

Paradise Lost: (0.3) death-doom
Anathema, Katatonia: (0.9) doom-death
My Dying Bride: (1.4) Doom-death
Runemagick: (17) DOOOOOOM-(death)
Sunn O))): (2^127 - 1) DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!#@*&%!

Beware...

(Note: Scale may be nonlinear)

One of my great dreams in life is to create electronic music for which the baseline goes "dooooom dooooom dooooom dooooom." Boom is for the weak. Either that or death metal a capella.

In other news, I feel obliged to note that later-day Morbid Angel is so fantastic as to surpass the not insignificant expressive power of the English language. Heavy, precise, menacing, and pitiless; both lyrics and melodies capture and render concrete the abstract notions of insanity, suffering, and death. What Wicked and Grendel did for the antagonists of The Wizard of Oz and Beowulf, Morbid Angel does for the arch villains of more simplistic but thus more uncompromising and absolutist fare such as The Neverending Story. Morbid Angel writes music not about gods, but incarnations. While an angel of death is a fearsome thing, entropy and nothingness are considerably more frightening. One can bargain with the devil himself, but entropy answers to no man. This is truly the Music of Erich Zann.


I'm so tired! Switzerland has laws which prevent employers from compelling their employees to work late into the night (hence my inability to purchase anything after 8 or 9 pm). I think there should be similar laws against scheduling conferences that begin at 9 am on the weekend.

Album of the week

Amesoeurs - Ruines Humaines

God only knows what runs in French rivers, but I'm glad the Perrier is exported internationally. Perhaps some of the magic in albums like this and the work of Blut Aus Nord will rub off on the rest of the world. Although only three songs long, Ruines Humaines is an exemplary piece of music which pulsates with raw emotional intensity. Amesoeurs make this fervor seem completely natural; the music itself is often quiet and introspective, replete with clean female vocals and acoustic guitars. This calm surface hides a sleeping juggernaut. Amesoeurs doesn't seem to have any particular problem with the world. Whereas other bands wallow in suicidal despair or petty satanism, Amesoeurs' songs seem to communicate the intensity of the experience of life. I probably couldn't understand much of the lyrics even if I spoke French (three cheers for black metal!), but that never seems to matter with good metal. These songs could easily be about a grassy field covered with wildflowers on a sunny day. In the case of Ruines Humaines, it would simply be a grassy field seen through the lens of half a gram of cocaine and 25 mg of 2C-T-7.

Through the magic of free association (juggernaut -> X-men -> Saturday morning cartoons -> G.I. Joe), I strongly recommend you visit the following site of creatively editted G.I. Joe public service announcements. Number 15 is a classic, but in general the later episodes are better than the earlier ones. Start at the end and work backwards. Non. Sequitur.

GI Joe PSA

Sahg

I love Al Gore's Information Superhighway. Aside from his disturbing obsession with kinky pornography, former US vice president Albert Gore has created a wonderful, joyous place where bits can run about free, as God meant them to be. I recently intercepted some free bits comprising an album by the band Sahg, informatively titled "I". Presumably, the second album will be named either "II" (like the tracks of every Taake album) or "You." Fortunately, the content is much more amusing than the title. This is some pleasantly heavy and loose doom metal. If I listened to more classic doom, I'd probably be less impressed, but I fear that at least for tonight, I'm finding the grooves pretty infectious.

TIME TO TAKE OUT THE LAUNDRY!!!

Rediscovering love all over again

Morbid Angel is the sort of band I can go months without listening to once, and then rediscover a love for all over again. When I obtained my first Morbid Angel cd, I managed to listen to it for all of fifteen minutes before deciding that it was noise rather than music and remanding it to its case indefinitely. Sure enough, a few months later (and thanks in part to the influence of some HP Lovecraft stories), I was suddenly awakened to its brilliance. Well, this past weekend, I rediscovered Morbid Angel in a new context: cooking. That is some quality chopping music. Nothing beats taking out your rage on a helpless zucchini. Cut, cut, cut...