The Bob Dylan Song Meanings Post

For whatever reason, I've recently become focused on "Black Diamond Bay" from Bob Dylan's 1976 album Desire.



Black Diamond Bay - Bob Dylan on Vimeo.

Which has eventually lead me back to the comment section of its SongMeanings.com page. I wanted to highlight just a few of them.

The kind of meaningful commentary that isn't the norm:

Basically, this song is about irony. The Greek hangs himself even though everyone is about to die anyway, the loser wins in gambling right before he is about to die, the big "tough" soldier wants to have "forbidden love" with a tiny man, and the woman does find love but it's too late because they are about to die so she "sheds a tear and begins to pray." And finally, the ultimate irony is that the speaker saw all this on the 7 o'clock news and just shuts it off. It doesn't even matter to him... -StallionintheRift12

I think this is where I'm coming from:

Forget the symbolism. Dylan paints images and characters. This story feels like Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle." We watch the wild characters, laugh, and ultimately feel detached enough to switch it all off, while other peoples' lives go down. -manumoka

Hmmmmm, okay.

The "Bay" is the "Bay of Pigs", She is Jackie Kennedy and " the greek" is that Onassis guy! As watched in a delirium, Old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news. -MGAlpha

Oooooookay then...

Black Diamond Bay has long been my favorite Bob Dylan song. It is a song of the detachment that mankind feels for his fellow man and a warning for the consequences of that detachment and the consequences of simple sins of ommission and self-indulgence.
The woman in the song represents the individual who will ascend to heaven. Thus she is on the white veranda while everyone else in the song is consumed by the boiler in the basement, i.e hell
The lava from the mountain high above is symbolic of God's hand in the end of the world. [... more] -gkhd11a

One more cup of coffee, I think we could tie this into Apocalypse Now (1979) and the ill-fated 1987 Dylan & The Dead tour!

The specific reference of Black Diamond Bay is to the Conrad novel called "Victory". In the novel, Black Diamond Bay is a disused coal port/depot on an island in the far east (Indonesia/Borneo area). There are elements in the novel that reappear in the song (a hotel, a volcano, gambling, a somewhat enigmatic woman, BDB itself of course) but the song is not a 'song of the book' by any means. In some ways its a bit like a dream version of the book with everything mixed up and in the wrong places. -jtg76

Which are all much better than the most common interpretation by far: "I think this song is about being on drugs." But it's still just a popularity contest. What Bob Dylan song you think has the most (not necessarily best) user comments?



Like a rolling stone - Bob Dylan on Vimeo.

Yep, that one. Currently with 211, vs. 17 for "Black Diamond Bay." Did you see the recent interactive video for it? Pretty cool.

I wish the search function was more robust. Like, is there a thriving commentary community for Killdozer songs? Unfortunately not, but they do have the lyrics. You can access a most popular artists list, which I think is purely aggregate post-count.

As of now (artist / most commented on YouTube)...

1. Radiohead ("Creep"?! 665 comments)
2. Brand New ("Seventy Times 7", 651)
3. Bright Eyes ("Lua", 331)
4. Modest Mouse ("Float On", 540)
5. Coldplay ("Viva la Vida", 916?!?!)
6. Bon Iver ("Skinny Love", 249)
7. Death Cab for Cutie ("I Will Follow You into the Dark", 369)
8. Kings of Leon ("Sex on Fire", 214)
9. Mumford & Sons ("Little Lion Man", 224)
10. The Beatles ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",
459 comments: "This song is about being on drugs.")

Maybe not 100% ranked by total posts - The Beatles looks like a hefty chunk.

A lot to untangle here, but the first point is that I had literally never heard of Brand New (#2!) before now. Just based on overall popularity & visibility, I won't re-hash Radiohead, Mumford & Sons, and The Beatles... maybe Coldplay too? But the rest of those point to a specific audience being very active on the site.

Yeah, it would be weird if late-'80s Touch & Go fans were more active on a lyric site than the early-'00s indie-pop of Bright Eyes-Modest Mouse-Death Cab. There's 128 comments for Butthole Surfers' "Pepper," but not too much else. I was trying to find anything somewhat comparable, but ridiculous - best I could do was Pearl Jam's "Black" (with 503).

Okay, that was weird - I'm done now.

Lilacs & Champagne (#6, 2012)

Well, yeah. Take two of the guys from Grails (#1, 2011), and continue delving into backbeat library music collage - pretty dang sweet.

Warning: All videos probably have some level of NSFW-ishness.

EVERYWHERE, EVERYONE from The Fact Facer on Vimeo.

And Emil continues to make the appropriate-styled official videos too. The album cover also features some swank art with a 2-texture embossed treatment.

L&C opened for Grails most recent mini-tour, and you can watch their Brooklyn show at this link (and the Grails set here.)

LILACS! from The Fact Facer on Vimeo.

Semi-title track, almost. Themesong?

And guess what... The 2nd Lilacs & Champagne record is already out! I do like it too.



"Sensations" from Lilacs & Champagne (2012)

Since I'm blowing through these pretty fast. There's one last official video, and something else to read. Ta!

Genre - Soft-Prog Mash-Up Edit
Facebook - facebook.com/Lilacs-Champagne/
Location - Portland, OR

Review - Pitchfork
Purchase/Download - Mexican Summer
Download - Amazon, iTunes

The Return of Guapo

Went to a record store over the weekend, and saw a new CD from "Guapo." Was it that same #2 of 2006 Guapo?



"The Pilman Radiant" [edit] from History of the Visitation (2013)

Why, yes it was!

No longer the full 'classic' line-up (with Miracle/Ulver/Æthenor's Daniel O'Sullivan) - but it sounds fairly similar still... Jazzy, proggy art-Rock In Opposition.



History of the Visitation trailer (2012)

I was wondering why it cost so much, and apparently it comes with a live DVD with shows from 2006 and 2007.

Here are my two home-brewed videos from the 2006 single:

"The Heliotrope"
"The Selenotrope"

Probably still need to get that Elixirs collection (2008) too.

Benevolent Yule Tidings

I've done these for Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving, but totally forgot that I'd done one last Christmas!



"White Christmas (live)" by The Flaming Lips, from The Soft Bulletin tour (1999)

I caught this tour in Houston the following April 7th. I don't recall any special Tax Day covers, but a strong show all around (especially as a trio). O yeah, and it was in some small metal club in South Houston.

Obviously, with the Lips I could have picked any number of holiday cheer options: "Christmas at the Zoo," "Little Drummer Boy," a whole secret Christmas album (2007), "A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So)," "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (w/ Sean Ono Lennon), "Silent Night," "It's Christmas Time Again" (really anything at all from the Christmas on Mars film, 2008), "What A Wonderful World," "Miracle on 42nd Street," et cetera... And that's not even touching on the many random Jesus songs.

[Edit: HA! Immediately after posting, I see on the Flaming Lips Facebook feed: "Here's the newly discovered Imagene Peise track, Christmas Kindness Song. Love." ... posted 15 mins ago.]



"Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" by John Denver, from Rocky Mountain Christmas (1975)

Project Grimm played this song on Friday, wearing these creepy Christmas luchador masks. It was a bit more rockin' version...

The opening act covered Mariah Carey for some reason. Irony, I'm thinkin'.



"Troika/Romance" by Sergei Prokofiev, from the score for Lieutenant Kijé (1934)

Here's some 20th-century classical music from Prokofiev. You can watch the Soviet film at Archive.org.

I know that piece has been used in tons of winter movies, but I just read about Free Design's song "Kije's Ouija." Groovy! It's Love and Death (1975) I was thinking of - hilarious film.

The Story So Far: Leyland "The Caretaker" Kirby #10

This will be cursory, if not brief. Going back at least to his days as V/Vm, James Leyland Kirby has been extremely prolific, in a variety of modes, continuously, for a long time (since mid-'90s at least). The Caretaker &c. have also been fairly well documented on the web, with one notable exception.

V/Vm caused quite the hullabaloo in England over his "Pig" single (1999), when feeding sounds were mistook for a slaughterhouse soundscape. Despite this auspiciously scandalous ground-zero, I cannot find any streaming evidence of this prankster art collage.

The V/Vm Test label released mostly his own stuff, and weird theme compilations (curious about that Falco Tribute 2x7"). And he also gave Kid606 an early platform (then / now).



"Lady in Red" from 7" single (2000)

But he really broke through with uglified & distorted reprocessings of pop hits, like that NME single-of-the-week, or like "Take My Beef Away" or John Lennon. With "White Christmas" (2000) kinda pointing the way more towards The Caretaker. On the other hand, I missed all of that the first go-round.

At one time, huge amounts of The Caretaker discography were available for free download - which was the inspiration for the original post with the Free Music tag. But all of those archives disappeared a long, long time ago...

For about a decade, most everything from The Caretaker took a somewhat similar approach: loop melodic portions of old ballroom 78's (with attendant clicks and scratches), add some echo or reverb or distortions, and either let roll or compose from those modular sections. The results are linked (before or after) with an ongoing theme of the nature, tricks & travails, and cruelties of memory. The Caretaker name is in reference to Jack Torrance in Kubrick's The Shining (1980), who is haunted by the memories and tragedies of the Overlook Hotel - with chilling results.

One final note before we fly through the years: album-title links go to The Caretaker Bandcamp. All digital full-album downloads seem to cost around ₤5 or so ($8) - try something out, you'll love it!



"Thanks" from Selected Memories From The Haunted Ballroom (1999)

Good place to start on the first album, but not everything is that straightforward. Wouldn't be near as interesting that way. The opening track "The Haunted Ballroom" seeps up through the floorboards, darker than shadows.



"We Cannot Escape the Past" from A Stairway To The Stars (2001)

Now that's a great unofficial video. (Remember album titles link to full-record Bandcamp pages.) Drakulady has some good taste with a few videos like "Emptiness." But here is why I do all this blogging - discovering gems like "Cloudy Since You Went Away" (live?!). Yeah, live Caretaker... maybe. (original.) The blue-filtered photography videos, like the first one above and the title track here, are from Kirby himself.



"Stardust" from We'll All Go Riding On A Rainbow (2003)

I couldn't decide between kinda-bleak ("Hoping for Some Kind of Recognition") and maybe-more-hopeful ("We'll All Go Riding On A Rainbow"). Comment on "The Weeping Dancefloor":

i was thinking about how all those people playing in the big band orchestra are probably dead but their music lives on inside the caretaker. - EvilEtiquette

"memory six" & "memory seven" from Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia (#1 Drone/Ambient, 2005)

Not too many unofficial from this one. You can check out the full album + bonus tracks (Additional Amnesiac Memories) either as a YouTube playlist, or at Bandcamp:


I think maybe I should say a bit more here, seeing as this was the release that first exposed me to The Caretaker scene. Going from memory (ha!), these 72 tracks were released free via internet over the course of a year-long project. Then collected into a 6xCD box-set, which is where I come in - courtesy of Boomkat front-page hype.

Wikipedia description of titular condition:

In cases of pure anterograde amnesia, patients have recollections of events prior to the injury, but cannot recall day-to-day information or new facts presented to them after the injury occurred.

Deleted Scenes/Forgotten Dreams (I always forget I'd listed this as #15 of 2007) - one track, or at least title, over 4 parts, double-LP.

For some reason, I associate this one with another JLK identity - The Stranger, through which he's released a self-titled (1997) and Bleaklow (2008). I'd downloaded the first way back when, but never even heard about the more recent one.



"Lacunar Amnesia" from Persistent Repetition Of Phrases (2008)

Terrific album, maybe the best place to begin if just starting out. But who knows? (Click title for all...) I still regret missing the vinyl edition, which sold out too quickly. If only hear for select tunes, randomly chosen: "Rosy Retrospection" and "Long Term (Remote)." This video for "Past Life Regression" might be work-appropriate, due to POV sexytimes via Swedish/Russian film.

That's about it, except for a few web-mixes, of a similar nature. "Recollected Memories from the Museum of Garden History" (2008) with previous Caretaker material, for an event at the Museum of Garden History in London. Here's pretty much the whole thing (on YouTube). Then came Recollections from Old London Town (2009), still available for free download from The Wire. This one includes passages from The Stranger's "Kirkbymoorside" (from Bleaklow), "Von Restorff Effect" and others.

Wow. Okay, we're closing in on the end... promise.

Leyland Kirby broke out under that name in 2009 with 1 track on The Caretaker collection Recollections from Old London Town, and that year's more piano-based trilogy of 2xLP's Sadly, The Future No Longer Is What It Was (#3 Drone/Ambient, 2009).



"And Nothing Comes Between The Sadness And The Scream" from Sadly, The Future No Longer Is What It Was (2009)

Check out the HUGE double-trilogy compare & contrast series (against OPN's), probably my biggest project outside of Top 10'ing the entire popular music era. Since it was six vinyl LP's, there's too much to go through here - so here's my video for "I've Hummed This Tune To All The Girls I've Known" then. I'm also very fond of the title "Not Even Nostalgia Is As Good As It Used To Be."

That first year, Kirby apparently released 2 MP3 collections under the title Lost Moments, Errors And Accidents (#001 & #002), but I can't find them anywhere anymore. Also un-locate-able: When It Rains, The Puddles Shine Black download, and "What A World, What A Life, What A Love" downloadable. You can still stream it at The Wire link, but I can't find a D/L there.

Both of The Caretaker and Leyland Kirby aliases combined for the final Top 10 of 2011 entry - wrapping it up just in time: soon.

Natural Drone Building Snow

Took me awhile to get this one out, after getting a heads-up from Ba Da Bing Records. I always feel like I need to be extra diligent when someone contacts me - as if I have some major ethical obligations on my silly blog. But here's some cool drone stuff...

That's from a different release, but I liked the art better.


Kadja Bosou (Abridged Version) by Ba Da Bing Records

Or you could delve into the full 18-minute piece... Natural Snow Buildings are a French duo who drone out at length & in a variety of ways. From what I can tell from the sample, this newest one Night Coercion into the Company of Witches (2012) brings in some Near East tranceations - whirling tones in ecstasy. Read a positive Tiny Mix Tapes review - you can buy the 3xLP ($17) or a 4xLP ($40) at the label store. The CD's also at Sound Exchange here in Houston, but I'll probably own that copy by weekend's... end.



"Beyond the Veil" from Beyond the Veil (2012)

That's another one out this year too.



"Our Man from Centauri" from The Centauri Agent (2010)

Hey, look! A free digital double-album...

That net-label has a bunch of free music, including 3 sampler EP downloadables: click here to explore. You can also follow them over on Tumblr.

So not only that, but new Nadja (co-#4 Drone of 2009, #16 Metalloid of 2009, and #20 of 2010), with added The Jesus Lizard drummer.


Nadja - Dagdrøm by BrokenSpineProds

You can stream (or purchase) the whole album on their Bandcamp.



And look what else I found over there! A 2xCD collection of vinyl-only rarities?! Whoa... Also available from Important Records.

The Rules of the Game - Renoir (1939) Sight & Sound & September 2012

Inspired by the recent results of the British Film Institute's every-ten-years Sight & Sound poll of the greatest films of all time, I'm watching at least 1 film per day throughout September. And blogging it!

The logical place to start? Of course it's the only film to have appeared on every Sight & Sound Top 10 list since the 1952 original, now that Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) has fallen to #11 in 2012...



The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu)
dir. Jean Renoir. 1939, France.
Sight & Sound 2012: Critics' #4 / Directors' #22
Roger Ebert's Great Movies ... Criterion essay
DVD/Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection
Watch via Hulu-Plus / Amazon Instant / iTunes



The Rules of the Game trailer (2007 re-release)

My own personal history kind of explains why we're doing this. I got the Criterion dvd several years back, watched the movie once or twice around that time, enjoyed it... but have never gone back. So this is that chance to revisit films that I need to, or to finally watch those that I've always meant to, or to put down an official statement on ones that I am familiar enough with...



Banned by the Nazis!
Despised by the French!
What more could you want?

Cheyniest: Corneille! Put an end to this farce!

Le majordome: Which one, your lordship?

Standing in for Citizen Kane (1941)... I won't be watching either of the big-ticket films duking it out at the top of the S&S poll. So this might be the place to mention two interrelated technical points about The Rules of the Game: the deep-focus cinematography (two years before Kane) and the dense ensemble action (30 years before Altman). These two techniques spiral into a frenzy during the climactic party towards the dénouement, at which the upper-class twits can't even distinguish dangerous reality from entertainment provided solely for their amusement.

The famous hunting scene (carnage!) at the center of the movie has been interpreted multiple ways - foreshadowing violence within the film and across Europe. But what it made me think of was how many animals there were, flushed out and running around being shot. Maybe it could also be a metaphor for the extended cast being herded onto sets, and the crew that was "shooting" them? (I’m claiming that one as original.) I consider myself a pretty accomplished subtitle reader, but the combination of rapid-fire dialogue and much onscreen action strained my abilities. I really owe it to myself to become more comfortable with the movie, because I think there's plenty more to be absorbed and enjoyed.



But there was already so much enjoyed! The hilarious old coot (Le général), with terrific banter about not writing memoirs and accidental suicide. The local game poacher who gets hired alongside his arch-nemesis, then immediately starts poaching his wife! The sassy maidservant, a sad clown, the worst-driving star pilot in history... And I'm always up for a savage takedown of the aristocracy, as well as some timeless pre-PC ethnic observations.

The host is cool and detached throughout - dealing with his wife, mistress, rival, guests and employees. He'll take a shine to a no-good poacher, fire a trusted servant (for what?!), then forget it all when an "accident" suits his aims. Only his wind-up contraptions really trigger any passion - and like Octave in a bear suit, that seems to come with a strong hint of kink. Almost everyone seems like a painfully insipid nitwit - but fun ("It's not bridge, it's belote!")... or else a hollowed-out shell of a human - but suave.

Toujours le suave.

Bros with Jonas

Remember me talking about Zombi's tape label?



Well, they've got another new cassette. This time, instead of some random unknown Balkan retiree, it is Jonas Reinhardt (#9, 2011)... & Abyss of Fathomless Light... with Rusting Ciphers of a Forgotten Sky (2012)!




Being a cassette tape, it's divided into two sides (or programs): "Program 1: Beneath the Liquid District of Amalgamation" and "Program 2: White Kingdom of the Five Year Plan." There definitely seems to be multiple sub-divisions of disruptive abstract noise within each, but I don't know what they might be called. I was going to open up the actual physical copy, but it's sewn up tight in a cool little canvas packet - so I think I'll just leave it there.

Here's some very recent live videos of the duo at Jon's abyss party in Los Angeles. I'm not claiming to understand what's going on there, though.


Ooooh, look what else I just found.


***NSFW**** "Auto Grift" Teaser for Foam Fangs 12" (2012)

Upcoming from 100% Silk... unexpectedly dancy! You can order digitally at Boomkat until the vinyl comes out later this month.

Or stream/download the title track from Dublab.

Disintegration Street

Also courtesy of Pitchfork, also on Temporary Residence Ltd, and also out September 4th...

A 10th-anniversary 9xLP, 5xCD, book + DVD boxset of William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops (2002, 2003)! Includes a couple of bonus unreleased live performances.

[Edit #1, 8/9: TRL homepage actually says 9/11, or whenever it's physically ready.]



Although I never actually bought the set, I used to listen to these back when Lala existed.



"dlp 1.3" from The Disintegration Loops IV (2003)

You can download that loop & also pre-order here.

According to the Pitchfork news item, the album will be inducted into the National September 11 Memorial & Museum later this year. If you haven't heard the story already, here's a Wikipedia summary:

Loops is based on Basinski's attempts to salvage earlier recordings made on magnetic tape, by transferring them into digital format; however, the tape had physically deteriorated to the point that, as it passed by the read/write head, the ferrite detached from the plastic backing and fell off. Basinski has said that he finished the project the morning of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, and sat on the roof of his apartment building in Brooklyn with friends listening to the project as the WTC towers collapsed.

I didn't realize that Basinski was born in Houston... Sorry that I don't remember a go-to article about all the info. Pitchfork linked to an earlier 9/11 article, but I'm sure there's lots of others.

[Edit #2, 8/9: my Lala post actually linked to this Stylus review - it's good.]



"dlp 4" [excerpt] from The Disintegration Loops III (2003)

Limited edition of 2,000 - apparently the only time the set will be released on vinyl, like ever. (We'll see...) Either way, seems well worth $225 to me!

But if you just wanted the standard CD's, they're $13 each over at Forced Exposure.

Kickstart the Devolution

Fundraising over at Kickstarter for an official Devo documentary, titled Are We Not Men? Once again, via BoingBoing...



They've met their goal, but don't you want the best possible Devo doc? Check it out so far:



I'd never before heard about the role that the Kent State shootings had on Devo's formation. I definitely want to get this made.

O yeah, here are some cool Devo vids.



"Through Being Cool" from New Traditionalists (1981)

Breakdancing!!



"Freedom Of Choice" from Freedom Of Choice (1980)

Skateboarding!

From the same album as major Mtv hit "Whip It" and "Girl U Want."



"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" from Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978)

Yup.

Caroliner Rainbow Pick-up Overdrive

I own only one Caroliner record, Rings on the Awkward Shadow (1994 2xLP, released under the name Caroliner Rainbow Grace Blocks Used in the Placement of the Personality).



But I just picked up 6 of their LP's, for what could only be called bargain-basement prices (most at $10). So low that I'm actually considering them as investments, but maybe this post will lead me to different conclusions. Let's find out!



"Staddalakasta Vein Loom" Hous-towne Tejas, 1800's

Couldn't find anything from Awkward Shadow, but that video clip is named after a song on it. Also it references the Astral HQ city: "live from the banks of the Buffalo Bayou, circa 1883." Caroliner was an experimental anachronist band from San Francisco, and you can read more over on Wikipedia - I'm no expert.



"Mud Cup Monocle" from Rear End Hernia Puppet Show (1985)

Since the artwork is very obscure, I had to do a little research to figure out what I'd got. First up looks like their debut album, Rear End Hernia Puppet Show (1985 box, under the name Caroliner Rainbow Hernia Milk Queen). Sounds kinda Beefheartian, huh? Currently listed on eBay for $75. If my research proves correct, this is probably the big find since it's the oldest of the bunch...



"Dusk" from I'm Armed with Quarts of Blood (1986)

I also picked up I'm Armed with Quarts of Blood (1986, as Caroliner Rainbow Stewed Angel Skins) - which is their 2nd album according to Discogs. I'd actually heard of this album back into the '90s. I guess along the lines of Horse Cock Phepner by Sun City Girls, with whom I'm sure Caroliner shares some kind of history (or at least philosophy).



"Fanged Hymen Flee In Terror" from The Sabre Waving Saracen Wall (1992)

Which brings us to the apparent 4th record, The Sabre Waving Saracen Wall (1992, as Caroliner Rainbow Fingers of the Underground & Their Breakable Bones). Hey, I'm starting to think I might just keep these... weirdo stuff, yeah!



"Huge Gunset" from The Cooking Stove Beast (1992)

Also in 1992 came The Cooking Stove Beast (by Caroliner Rainbow Susans and Bruisins). This one comes with a t-shirt that has two pieces of art - on paper - glued to it. Kinda doubt that I'll ever end up wearing it.



"The Superfluous Snap Pipes The Veteran Lung" from Seal Heal Holler (1995)

The last of the true LP's was Seal Heal Holler (1995, under guise of Caroliner Rainbow Customary Relaxation of the Shale). From what I can see, Caroliner is pretty generous with spelling out all of the lyrics on their homemade insert art. But I guess if you want to read along to the internet, that's something too.



"Gut" from 'Not an LP, a 50+ Minute 7" in 12" Form, including...' (1998)

And finally, as the insert explicitly says: "Not an LP..." So this is a 2-song single (7" in 12" form), that's longer than most full-length albums (50+ minutes). The A-side up there seems pretty Sun Cityesque to me, and the B-side is called "Lower Intestinal Clocks." I'm betting it's pretty weird as well. [Oops, forgot to mention the official release artist: Caroliner Rainbow Stand Still or Fight Beans and Sunstroke.]

I also got the previous owner's list of Caroliner albums as a "folk" insert with this maxi-mega-single. Bonus!!

What's Next in Adverts?

Back when VW used Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" in their much-hyped Cabrio ad (apparently 1999), I thought that was pretty cool that a multinational car company was doing so. Although I mainly knew the song through the cover by Sebadoh (#7, 1993)... that sure would have been interesting.



"Pink Moon" by Sebadoh, from Sebadoh vs. Helmet EP (1992)

Nowadays, similar scenarios are more likely make me wonder about what I have to look forward to in my declining years. Jackass using "Corona" probably kicked this off (c. 2000). I didn't ever watch the show, and initially I was happy for the band to be getting some recognition. But now I get the vibe that a great song has attached to kind of a dumb tv show, and overall it probably didn't expand the Minutemen's audience significantly.



"O Superman (For Massenet)" by Laurie Anderson, from Home of the Brave (1982)

Recently, I ran across this new T-mobile skydiving commercial, and was very surprised to hear "O Superman" played in the background. Never one of my favorites - a bit too artsy-fartsy & before-my-time together - but unique & memorable. It immediately made me want to check out the YouTube comments, to gauge the reaction.



That's how commercials work on me anymore. So like this... consecutive comments: "This has got to be the most annoying song of all time. I hope anyone that has an HTC breaks their phone", vs. "Thank you HTC for giving a new generation a chance to listen to this." Ladies and gentlemen, the internet!!



"Bees" by Caribou, from The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)

So there I was, during Thursday's Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers playoff game (that's pro basketball), when I went far beyond surprised - like hoping the DVR caught it, switching inputs, and rolling back to confirm what I heard... The Samsung Galaxy Note tabphone was soundtracked by Caribou (#4, 2007) - the song "Bees" from his dedicated Krautrock nod, definitely one of my tunes! Now this was simply bonkers, and I was more confused than anything else. What is going on??

And this Note ad uses a song by Air: "Alone in Kyoto." Although I have driven VW's for awhile (pre-'99), you're not getting me to buy your smartphone by licensing hip Canadian or French electronic acts for your adverts - but that's just me.



"Shit from an Old Notebook" by Minutemen, from Double Nickels On The Dime (1984)

In the future, tv advertisements will probably be customized for the audience, maybe cross-referencing your holo-music-library, like how internet commercials are calculated from Facebook or Google algorithms. I just hope there's a 'don't-piss-me-off' setting - where you can indicate you don't want your musical faves imported into YouMercials. Because interesting and novel or not, I absolutely want to continue auto-filing ads into my mental spam folder, without commercial breaks replicating a Shuffle-All mix on my own iPod.

Lyrics:

let the products sell themselves fuck advertising, commercial psychology psychological methods to sell should be destroyed because of their own blind involvement in their own conditioned minds the unit bonded together morals, ideals, awareness, progress let yourself be heard!

Smartphones... yeah.

777: Sect(s) and 777: The Desanctification - Blut Aus Nord (#4, 2011)

I'm going to break it down by parts, because that's what builds into the whole. At the macro level, these albums are the most recent parts in the Blut Aus Nord journey - from roots in early European Black Metal, through industrial electronics, through drone experiments, through back-to-roots cosmic psychedelia, to here.

Then, these two albums comprise the first parts in the 777 trilogy, of which each track (all titled "Epitome") are subcomponent parts. And many of the individual tracks are clearly assembled from distinct sections of music, often jarringly. And those sections of each track are made up of various musical parts - guitars, rhythms, vocals, etc... Down to the atomic particle level, and maybe beyond.

What you're getting here is some high-grade avant-experimental Black Metal, from France. (Might take some effort.)



Like some twisted, multi-part, disorienting palate-cleanser, Blut Aus Nord begins the trilogy with "Epitome I".



"Epitome I" from 777: Sect(s) (2011)

This track serves as a microcosm of the entire suite (so far), sort of like the early laying-out of themes in a classical piece. The themes are "do not let your expectations come to rest." What happens here: frenzied, howling, blast-beat and tremolo-riffing blow-out; doomy, dissonant creepy-crawl through an evil cathedral; spiraling psych guitar interlude with lurching rhythms; more frenzy, with lizard-demon chanting; drop out to an ambient trip-hop outro. Within each section, so many nooks & crannies have special little details. Like the way the blast-beat sections have different percussion effects incorporated, or how extended the riff pattern is during the second frenzied part. The guitar playing in the slower parts sounds really good, and just the fact of how the song goes out.



"Epitome II" from 777: Sect(s) (2011)

C'mon, let's start over... Definitely a favorite, in a more traditional mold. Good mid-tempo pace, droning guitar figure, dark ambience, majestic melody, moving beween the synths and guitar - very dramatic. Great composition, very nice production!



"Epitome III" from 777: Sect(s) (2011)

But a whole album of that would become boring. Part 3 seems to be deconstructing its opening riff while the song plays on, with a choir in hell bemoaning its fate. The breakdowns keep the listener on your toes. The false stop brings a major shift in tone, into space, where the bendy guitar lines roam.



"Epitome IV" from 777: Sect(s) (2011)

Here's the centerpiece of album 1, and it goes all over the place (again). The opening back-and-forth between asymmetric guitar with reverse-vocals and more structure works very effectively. In the spot where I'd expect a guitar solo breakout, only a background lead guitar line is incoporated - moving into a different (non-solo) section. The chugging middle part goes deep into Neurosis/Isis post-metal territory, but the spidery guitar interlude afterwards pulls way back into clear BAN airspace. I've definitely noticed the thrashier style takes me longer to apprecitate fully, but the other end of the spectrum (slower, groovier) is much easier. Beyond just being styles the band likes to write in, I can see how both sides function to illuminate each other. And I usually come around to enjoying most of the blasting eventually.

I was just going to link to "Epitome V," but appropriately no-one's bothered to put it up. Definitely the least on Sect(s), although still passable.



"Epitome VI" from 777: Sect(s) (2011)

And Blut Aus Nord decided to leave us with another relatively trad post-rock-metal style tune. They do it well, "II" and "VI" are definitely the places to start for this - or Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars (#1 Metal Next 10, 2009). However, I also wouldn't want six straight 7-minute tunes like these all in a row. Dual guitars at the very end are still really haunting.



So April's 777: Sect(s) was pretty awesome. 777: The Desanctification came out in November, and it's better.



"Epitome VII" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

More drone-guitar, more backwards-vocals, more machine-drums, more synth-choir. But much more than the sum of its parts. The most Near East sounds that I've heard from BAN, then things go soaring, and then dive into weirdness. The last section swoops and swerves and does everything but crashland. The double-bass drum parts! The freak-out guitar trajectory!! I sometimes wonder if "Epitome" is supposed to portmanteau in something about "tome," like an ancient book of forgotten lore.



"Epitome VIII" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

This section has two main parts, with slight offset. I don't know why, but I really really dig the first half of "VIII" - reminds me of punk, noise rock, prog, metal obviously, horror soundtracks/sound effects, plus... more. Just relentless. Then parts change, and the guitar goes into a completely different mode. But lots of the structure continues for awhile, shaded differently by the guitar. Then everything else catches up, and it's all new over again. And again, the end provides something almost (but not exactly) distinct - I'm just now recognizing "the payoff" pattern with these late-game heroics.



"Epitome IX" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

Bet you weren't expecting that, huh? Blut Aus Psych'arabia.



"Epitome X" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

#10 ("X") starts off pretty standard, then quickly takes it up a big notch. Clean vocals? Laid-back riff? What?! It circles around a bit until the midpoint breakdown(s) throw a few more curveballs. (Somehow I don't think the trilogy is about baseball...) So much awesome stuff coming in such quick succession down the stretch. (... nor about horse racing.)



Seriously, I think the lyrics are all in French. I have no idea what's actually going on. But I'm going to say that 777, "Epitome," Sect(s), and Desanctification, lead me to intuit some kind of grand pattern resolving to ultimate perfection and/or debasement, orthodoxy and/or heresy. Sound good? Okay...



"Epitome XI" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

See below...



"Epitome XII" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

See above... #11 ("XI") and #12 ("XII") might be a little too similar to stand side-by-side - but perhaps not. "Epitome XII" gets the slight nod overall, with "XI" having the better end-of-times payoff.



"Epitome XIII" from 777: The Desanctification (2011)

Pretty heady ending to the first two parts. Kinda running out of stuff to say, but "XIII" is as good as you'd expect the 13th "Epitome" to be in a 777 trilogy of esoteric numberology.

According to the BAN Wikipedia page, part 3 will be called 777: Cosmosophy (2012). But according to Debemur Morti Productions, it won't be until after May - but maybe by the end of September.

Genre - Industrialized Black Metal
Official/Myspace - myspace.com/thehowlingofgod
Location - France

Review - Treble Zine
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Purchase - Eitrin Editions

The Story So Far - Blut Aus Nord #4

So, Blut Aus Nord are a long-standing, well-respected French Black Metal act - focused on main dude Vindsval. Throughout their nearly 20-years history, the band has incorporated electronical styles like ambient, drone, and especially industrial.

For the completely uninitiated, I'll also point out that BM can take some effort and repeated listening - preferably to really good albums in full. The trebly sonics, lo-fi production, and atypical structures can seem strange and off-putting at first. A background in punk or noise (or metal) helps, or just an open mind. Blut Aus Nord's genre-infusions might provide a bridge into this grim and frostbitten world.

If you prefer your Black Metal introduction more fun & thrashy than serious & experimental, stick around for #6.



Fair warning: I am not a true Black Metal fanatic. I'm arriving late to the party, and am only a dabbler. The upside is concentrating on the cream of the crop (and hopefully being a decent introducer). The downside is that I don't own any of these earlier BAN records. So this exploration was as much for me as for you, the hypothetical reader of this post.

And since I have only a general idea of Blut Aus Nord's overall progression, I'm going to mine user reviews over at Encyclopædia Metallum for key themes as we go along. Let's start in the ancient mists of time... 1995.



"The Plain of Ida" from Ultima Thulée (1995)

About Blut Aus Nord's debut (96% avg rating), one Metallum reviewer mentioned:

a grim, wintery landscape - the winter theme - more of a heathen flavor - rawer sounding black metal - quieter ambiance featuring keyboards - black metal screech - like some epic wintry journey ... across the rocky mountainside during a blizzard - scenic bleakness and majesty.

Yep, that describes a lot of early Black Metal to a tee - with the prominance of keyboard ambiance already being taken further. Read about the concept of (Ultima) Thule - which clearly nods to the genre's Norway/Viking roots, as well as more metaphysical destinations.



"Sons of Wisdom, Master of Elements" from Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age (1996)

The progression of the early phase continues (94% avg rating). Reviewing many fans' overall favorite, one Metallum user talked about:

soul crushing wall of noise - Endless oceans of melodies - the harrowing distortion that cloaks the record - a hidden beauty - more expansive, allowing sublime melodies to sweep - the bass still remains audible - highly melodic - reach a more progressive state - harmonious chanting - The production terrifically masks the instrumentation in surprise.

Audible bass? That's progress. A vinyl edition is finally being released by Debemur Morti. You can listen to the entire album in one YouTube video.



"The Fall, Part V" from The Mystical Beast of Rebellion (2001)

Here's where things get dicey for some fans (78% avg rating), as BAN takes a large step away from more trad Black Metal. Thus, you encounter even the good Metallum reviews discussing:

mostly instrumental riff-based ... minimalism / drone - unusual guitar chord progessions - considerable repetition and monotony - half the guitars lurching up and down - a deep buzzing drone - passages of subsonic throbbing hum or murky ambience - Constant changes of key - a certain sinister majesty befitting a fallen angel - drowned in the maelstrom of guitar noise - mind-bending (and maybe vomit-inducing) - the riffing vecomes drawn out and drone-like - Atmospheric interludes.

That's no way to turn on a hardcore Black Metal audience. The track embedded above is apparently the most oustanding and appealing. There's a quite recent re-release with bonus materials, which I think I saw at Sound Exchange.



"Axis" from The Work Which Transforms God (2003)

I'm pretty sure "Our Blessed Frozen Cells" was my first exposure to Blut Aus Nord. Their 4th album raises widely divergent opinions (84% avg rating), high quality or beyond-the-pale. From Metallum reviews:

constantly active, rhythmic and complex percussive structures - a transcendental depth - evokes a gloomy, almost post-apocalyptic dimension - the guitar sound maybe somewhat indebted to early Cocteau Twins - dissonant guitar chords ... reminded of 'Daydream Nation' by Sonic Youth - almost shamanistic, and somewhat 'Tibetan' sounding background voices - constantly spiralling guitar chords ... complex blastbeats ... quick double bass ... rather odd syncopated rhythms - textured and harmonized guitars ... distantly reminded of the German band Neu - it is atavistic yet it is complex - humanized, ethereal and mechanical at the same time.

You had me at shamanistic, Cocteau Twins-, Daydream Nation-, Neu!-reminding Black Metal.



"Chapter VIII" from MoRT (2006)

Whereas The Work polarized listeners, MoRT just made them angry (62% avg rating). Let's listen to a very negative reviewer:

a dull, industrial corpse - painfully monochromatic album - uneven industrial drum beats - herky-jerky dissonant guitar noodling - always heavily processed with electronic overtones galore - vocals sound sloppy and muddy - like being on shrooms inside automobile factory - when the actual music so robotic - more than a mere disappointment - a historic bust - intolerable.

ouch.

On the other hand, a generally positive review (85%) instructed that "The whole work is ugly, plodding, and mindbendingly weird... This is really fucking weird music. That cannot be understated." Hey! I like weird music.



"The Sounds of the Universe" from Odinist: The Destruction of Reason by Illumination (2007)

The tides start to turn back (78% avg rating), and Blut reassures the remaining fanbase with Odinist. Sayeth Metallum:

return to a more traditional songwriting - wicked antics of British occultist Aleister Crowley - a revalorizing arsenal of melodic and mesmerizing riffs - an almost Arabic texture - more melodic and somewhat harmonious - misses that devilish and industrial decay-like atmosphere - absence of the shock factor - a transition album though.

This is the one older BAN album that I almost never hear mentioned or opinionated upon. It's not a classic, or reviled... just transitional.



"The Cosmic Echoes of Non-Matter (Immaterial Voices of the Fathers)" from Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars (2009)

Now I appear on the scene, naming the sequel to Fathers of the Icy Age (1996) the #1 Metal Next 10, 2009. Although the previous album had backed away from the abyss of avant-electro-industrial "sonic miasma," MVII was widely hailed as a return to Blut Aus Nord's Black Metal roots (90% avg rating on Encyclopædia Metallum reviews).

Truly a massive, excellent double-album epic - ranging from really sweet quiet sections to explosive pummelling. Check out the whole thing!



"Chapter 1" from What Once Was... Liber I EP (2010)

This EP made it to my #16 overall for 2010. Vinyl-only, with no Liber II announced that I've heard of. The rawest BAN in a very long time - leaving EN reviewers to wonder at "filthy, furious death metal riff backed by thunderous, echoing drums" (74% avg rating).

Despite no follow-ups in that EP series, the first two parts of the 777 trilogy (???) came out in 2011. Unfortunately 777: Cosmosophy has been delayed beyond May 2012, but hopefully still this year.

In the next Top 10 installment, we'll talk about the #4 releases from Blut Aus Nord.