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Yet Another Theme Repository
18 Jul 2008 - 10:58
At long last, the formerly dead themes.wordpress.net repository is open-ish again. Disconnected and Dream in Infrared have been uploaded, and are awaiting approval. Promised Land, Walk in the Shadows, and The Thin Line may be uploaded later, if TEMPLATE: sandbox themes will work with the new system. Bus Full of Hippies will naturally be excluded, due to its GPL-incompatability.
NWOAHM
7 Jul 2008 - 8:16
- NWOAHM
- The New Wave of American Heavy Metal is a broken term. It's anachronistic, refering back to the NWOBHM, introduced by an author, who willfully ignored genre divisions, including punk-based bands, and diminishing his own term by including bands from the late 80's/early 90's metal heyday.
Wikipedia's article follows straight into the same failures, by depending more on the book, and record sales, than logicoriginal research, or on online articles from authors not trying to push more units, and actually interested in the groundswell.
I'm bringing this up, because I went to the Dethklok show last night. Dethklok's album, released last year, was the highest charting death metal album (#19) to date1 But after suffering through Chimaira's set, it's clear that unless we pay more attention to Pitchfork2 than wikipedia, NWOAHM is going to follow "new metal" right into the terrible rhythm-based non-music of nu-metal. Chimaira's songs actually include "choruses" (gang vocals/shouting) like "I HATE EVERYONE". It's godsmack/disturbed/mudvayne all over again.
That anyone could think of referring to them as "groove metal" having seen Soilent Green's death/grind performance 15 minutes beforehand, is absurd. Soilent Green has intense tempo shifts in their songs, that would actually make you shake your ass, if you weren't so busy throwing horns and/or invisible oranges. And they have the decency to not to take themselves so seriously. The singer referenced their 'old stuff', only to remind himself by polling the audience that very few in the audience had ever seen them before. It was a great show, although I do much prefer their latest album to their older stuff 
Dethklok was exactly as amazing as I imagined. The show did start with a commercial for the new battlefield game, which would have been pretty annoying, if we weren't about to watch a cartoon. The show leads off with a bit about turning fans into mutants in an attempt to subvert their economic influence. When the band took the stage, it was at first easy to pay attention to Mike Keneally and Brendan Small trading solos, and the live band just generally being awesome. After a few relatively narrative song-isodes on screen, the cartoon turned towards performance based, and it was easy to forget that there was a live band onstage. Mike Keneally did a fantastic job, despite having gone gray since the last time I saw him (Wood + Smoke tour, at Martyr's). I do wonder, though, if the animated interludes between every other song were as much for the band to rest as for the amusement of the audience. My only gripe with the show was that Austin Music Hall's A/C could not even come close to dealing with thr crowd. Despite being here for SXSW, and having seen a couple of outdoor shows here, this was the hottest show I've been to since Lollapalooza day 2.
- Since then, albums by Opeth and Children of Bodom have followed closely (#23 & #21 respectively), which speaks to a real groundswell for extreme metal. (back ↩)
- When I think of the recent upturn in metal, I think of bands like Mastodon, ISIS, Sunn O), who have garnered indie-rock followings right alongside metal followings. That following has spilled over into other metal bands, generally reviving the genre as worthy of mainstream attention. Metalcore bands like Chimaira, Trivium, et al, fail to attract anyone who's not interested in being part of "the scene". (back ↩)
First Shows in Austin
30 Jun 2008 - 9:34
We weren't in town for 3 days before we saw our first show in austin, Rilo Kiley at Stubb's. Jenny Lewis was amazing, both vocally, and on guitar (and hot). We were also hot, but Austin hot is not quite as sticky and sweaty as Chicago hot. It was a great show, and it reminded me of why I started liking Rilo Kiley. The first few songs were way more guitar-rock than recent albums.
Saturday was the first metal show I've been to here. The show was outside at Mohawk, which is great, I love being able to smoke at shows, especially metal shows that I can't convice the wifest to attend with me.
Clouds opened up, and they were actually the band that drew me to the show. I saw that at SXSW, and they were fantastic there. The new album (We Are Above You) just came out, and they just put on way too good a show to not go see them again. There's something about their swagger that very few of the "stoner metal" bands do well. I also really love the 3 lead vocalists. I wouldn't say any of them are exceptional in their own right, but it's fantastic hearing them play off each other, and trade leads and harmonies.
Clouds - Slow DayTorche's Meanderthal album is a strong contender for the best metal album this year, it's full of great pop hooks, catchy songs, all wrapped in a fuzzed out metal package. I'd been warned that their live show isn't so great, though. The first song, from one of their earlier EP's, was definitely worth a warning. The vocals were pretty much absent, and any sense of song was obliterated in a haze of badly mixed, overly loud wall of fuzz. As they moved on to songs from the new albums, I got a little more used to picking the vocals out of the mix, and the stronger songs punched through the din. I can certainly see why these guys don't make friends with their live show. The singer has a shit-eating grin on the entire time, almost like he's unaware of the fact that people can't tell how fun the songs are. It was a great set, though, and still worth seeing, if you like the album.
Boris came on last. I'll have to admit that I really only see Boris as an amusement. None of their songs grab me, and their noise is to up-front to just put on and immerse in, the way you can with, say, Sunn O))). They led off with songs from smile, which were enjoyable enough, but I got bored quickly.
Save Chicago Culture
13 May 2008 - 7:19
Tomorrow, the city council votes on an ordinance requiring anyone organizing a concert of any scale, at any (already) licensed venue, to be a licensed promoter. This is very dangerous to Chicago's rich music scene, and to the arts in Chicago in general.
The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a teenage kid trying to get his favorite band into town.
The “event promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 – $2000 depending on expected audience size.
To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
This proposed ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
These issues have been tirelessly highlighted by Jim DeRogatis at the Sun Times. There are two interviews that are very much worth reading: Alderman Shulter and the Department of Business Affairs. Please, if you're in Chicago, sign the "Stop the promoter’s ordinance petition" and contact your alderman. via CYSTSFTS
UPDATE: the ordinance has been put back into committee, to get more input from the community.
