Whilst the Didact has been posting more epic Manowar (seriously, my cousin was listening to it back in the 80's or 90's but somehow I completely missed it even as I got into Yngwie, Maiden, etc. and ended up listening to lots of Dragonforce alongside my Sabaton and Nightwish habits...) I was on the road for the weekend. Good and bad stuff, but on the way back the rental had XM, and I had it tuned to the 90's channel.
OK. There's a LOT of good, and popular stuff from the 90's, how much fucking salt-n-peppa or N'Sync or whatever do we have to listen to to get a drab of something cool?
I'd mentioned my tastes are eclectic. Well....
Late 80's into early 90's:
Yeah, pop, but some very slick and well done pop. Didn't hurt that the lead singer looked like this:
OK, pixie cuts were in.
Anyway.
If there was ever a song fitting for the obsessive so-called "romantic" story of Romeo and Juliet, even if it was in a stupid "modernized" adaptation...
A little KMFDM never hurts, especially if it's on the soundtrack for Mortal Kombat:
On the more pretentious side (no, not Skinny Puppy)...
Then I took a few detours with the Cherry Poppin Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (better band, IMO), and such, and always found this song immensely fun.
While we're at it:
and
And we'd be remiss without a little punk. I wish I'd gotten red-pilled by these guys earlier, but...
Next up, as I started digging into the Cruxshadows - and no, not all sources were originally legit, though iTunes already existed so I started buying the albums once I was satisfied with a few songs - "Seraphs" caught my eye. Especially the Revox Lost Souls mix.
My body's made of fire
black and deep and cold
burning for the choice i made
so many years ago
And love will keep me tethered
for my wings are stripped of flight
but into my mad deluded world
they cross the battle lines
into their end
One dream of God
One dream of less
one dream of strength and cowardice
with the rage of the seraphs at my side
One dream of man
one dream of hate
one dream of love
one dream of hate
with the rage of the seraphs at my side
The punishments I carry now
are of my own design
for once I brought the hand of God
and now this gift is mine
A fallen angel who once stood among the holy host and now is cast out, in punishment.
She cries, children often do
When they're cold, and hungry too,
Come closer, look deeply in her eyes
So delicate, quite unlike her smile
Life clinging backwards,
In the fall of dread confusion,
Still this silence gnaws upon your fingertips,
All-yielding prayer, for instant isolation,
Far more sinister than the price of doubt,
Yet you remain,
Still you remain,
And she says:
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception,
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception...
Life clinging backwards,
In the fall of dread confusion,
Still this silence gnaws upon your fingertips,
All-yielding prayer, for instant isolation,
Far more sinister than the price of doubt,
Yet you remain,
Still you remain,
And she says:
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception,
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception...
(Violin solo)
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception,
Pray for daylight,
Pray for morning,
Pray for an end to our deception...
(X3)
This one actually has a fair bit to unpack - but it's an interestingly creepy song about a girl vampire on the hunt.
Last up, "Marilyn, My Bitterness." Yeah, it's your typical breakup song, but it's still got cool music.
I first heard of this song shortly before it became popular in the states when someone said the song title refers to how he thinks of a borderline/narcissist they'd flushed out of their lives. "Just someone I used to know."
Leo's cover is fun.
Just because - the original - some nifty use of paint/etc. for effect.
OK. So Eric Raymond posted on a document on rogue waves on youtube, then followed up with a posting at his blog referencing that documentary and the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
First, the BBC special. Being reporters I think they got some of the math terms wrong, but... there's enough here to make you go hmmm....
Vox recently posted that "rap" inherently leads to a dead end.
Seriously, is there a bigger pop music abomination than the massive steaming dump that Jay-Z inexplicably slathers all over Alphaville's "Forever Young"?
But when I got to thinking about it, I realized that this musical dead end was inevitable. It was always going to be the case. Most of the early "rap is crap" critics were committing a category error when they complained about "rap music". Their instincts were right, but their sneering arguments were mostly off base and therefore unconvincing. The fact is that rap is not, technically speaking, music at all. To call it music is akin to describing "scatting" or "falsetto" or "rhythm" or "electric guitar" as music. It is, rather, a non-melodic vocal styling; it is an element of music, or if you prefer, a musical tool, rather than a form of music in itself.
And while that vocal styling can be utilized in a broad variety of music, from metal to ambient, it is not music in itself. What is often known as "rap music" is a degraded, primitive form of music created mostly by non-musicians, which is necessarily going to be either sample-based (Public Enemy), childishly simple (Dr. Dre), or an additional vocal track added to existing music (Puff Daddy, Jay-Z).
First - I had never heard of that Jay-Z track, and what in the holy fuck possessed someone to kill an awesome song like Forever Young?
Yeah, it suffers from the usual 80's issues, but still.
Note carefully - we are distinguishing between the genre of "rap" which has some melody, etc., and the vocal tool. As Vox notes, "keyboard" is not music, it's an instrument. So is "voice". So, when I say "rap is music", I'm not just relying on the infogalactic entry, I'm talking about the genre, most often by black performers, heavily centered on rap vocals.
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses").[1] In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music.
I'd long ago thought about it and realized there was no way to define rap-based music as "not music" that would not eliminate things I considered good music. Lack of instruments? No problem. Lack of melodic singing? No problem.
So, yes, Rap - some would argue more properly, hip-hop and it's offshoots which are heavily rap-centered - is music. (look, people call both the music, and the vocal style "rap). That said, syllable for syllable, singing and holding a note requires more technical proficiency. And while some rap "songs" have complex and long sets of lyrics and a more rapid-fire delivery, many.... don't. The subjects of most are degraded as well - the subject of most being "I'm so big and bad, with all the women, the money, the and the guns, living a party life." One commenter at Vox's noted that "it's always the same three subjects."
Rap, the genre, is generally crap. We've gone from jazz, to, simple, degraded, dreck. Is simple bad? No, I love folk, some punk, and the Ramones managed to make a popular career out of an almost deliberate lack of sophistication. There's something to be said about lyrics and main melodic lines that are straightforward and catchy. As noted, again, the degradation isn't just the loss of intricacy and fineness, but a fall from uplifting to gutter vulgarity.
And if I ever hear another "uh... uh... uh.."
Seriously - what is supposed to be high-grade rap, the soundtrack to Hamilton, is just (PC misrepresentation of events and people aside), gunk. After hearing it I immediately put on the Pirates of Penzance because if I was going to hear the line "modern major general" I was going to hear it done right, and sung.
Is there good rap (genre) music?
Yeah. Vox mentions Beck, and Twentyone Pilots, and the influence the rapid rap delivery has had on them and other bands such as one of my favorites, Disturbed. I also like a fair bit of the Beastie Boys, and I always hear "Intergalactic" in my head whenever I log into Infogalactic. I also liked one album by Pop Will Eat Itself, especially the tracks "X, Y, and Zee", and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".
And yeah, vulgar as hell, but I'll almost always get a laugh out of Eminem's "Without Me". Yeah, it's an "I'm so badass" song, but more original than usual. Oh, and love the dig at Tipper Gore.
Covers can be awesome, most are crap. This one I'm torn on. Her voice and style are perfectly suited to the song in a completely different, yet still haunting way, but I really miss the instrumentals, especially the pianos, of the original. Most of the covers were crap, actually, but there are a couple other competent covers, though none I stumbled across had the impact that either the original vocals did, or hers.
Sisters of Mercy is a band I fell in love with as soon as I head the short version of this song at a club. Bought the album, and learned that the album cut was even more epic and awesome at 10 minutes.
I sometimes joke that every Sisters of Mercy album or Song is but a piece of the same damn song. That said, there really is some variety there, some incredible atmospherics, and some truly haunting work in their music. My eventual favorite on Floodland was "Lucretia", and my next favorite became "More."
In honor of a certain book that was just released:
Jim Fear elaborates a bit on his earlier post on hard SF. This paragraph caught my eye:
I view what we're trying to do here in military terms. Maybe I've been listening to Sabaton too much lately, which is entirely possible, but this is how I've been conceptualizing it. There is, as I said, a crumbling edifice that I'll dub Tradpub (yes I stole that from Brian Niemeier shaddap). Tradpub is a kingdom on the decline. It ruled with an iron fist for many years, but now there are many disparate forces that are looking at the jewels heaped inside and thinking, "I'll be damned, but those would look mighty spectacular in my coffers." There are also those that just want to burn the place to the ground to watch the light show. And so, not through any conspiracy but through sheer organic growth, armies formed and began to assail the kingdom of Tradpub. The two we're concerned with are the Superversive Army and the Forces of the Pulp Revolution. [emphasis mine]
Before I get on with any commentary - there is no such thing as too much Sabaton. Sure, it's nice to listen to Iron Maiden, Yngwie, Nightwish, I even Like Dragonforce, and of course prog rock, etc., but too much Sabaton?
One of the more interesting tracks I ran into while taking a weekend long detour through prog rock and prog metal was the following bit by a musician called Plini - "Selenium Forest".
Ok. My tastes - as noted elsewhere - are varied. I spent most of this last weekend listening to Eric Raymond's "Intricate Fire" Pandora list. It's self described as "I'm a long-time jazz fusion fan who has more recently gravitated to virtuoso guitarists and a harder, more metal-edged sound." and is rooted in bands like Liquid Tension Experiment, with odds and ends of Satriani and harder metal popping in. This also explains why my collection, even before Spotify and similar streaming services were readily available, included bands like the Cruxshadows that are kinda-sorta darkwave but incorporate violins, and Voltaire, who can be best described as "acoustic goth-punk" (though he has done country).
So on an unrelated note, I'm utterly amazed, but unsurprised to discover the following. Check out the video. Yes, those are bagpipes. and a harp, and a lute, a... nevermind.
One of my favorite bands is the "power metal" band Sabaton, who theme most of their albums around war and warfare. The most recent album, The Last Stand, features desperate last stands. Some were indeed "last" - as in the stand of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, some were "merely" desperate.
History
This song, the title track for the album, concerns itself with the last stand of the papal Swiss guard in 1527, when the Duke of Bourbon attacked Rome in search of loot to distract mutinous troops who had not been paid.
As a result of his troops' attitudes, Bourbon decided to attack Rome, known to be filled with potential loot.[2] The city, considered to be the inviolable capital of Christendom,[2] was left almost defenseless, and, when the Pope anxiously ordered the citizens to take up arms, only 500 obeyed. Bourbon's troops quickly overwhelmed the defenders and began to plunder the ancient city. Near St. Peter's Basilica, the Swiss Guard, as the Pope's elite bodyguard unit, deployed. The captain, Kaspar Röist, intended to hold off the attackers long enough for Clement to escape across the Passetto di Borgo.
Joined by remnants of the Roman garrison, the Swiss made their stand in a cemetery well within the Vatican. Captain Röist was wounded and then killed by Spanish mercenaries, in full view of his wife.[3] The Swiss fought bitterly, but were heavily outnumbered and almost annihilated. Some survivors, accompanied by a band of refugees, retreated to the Basilica steps. Those who fled toward the Basilica were massacred, and just above forty survived. This group of forty, under the command of Hercules Goldli, managed to stave off the Habsburg troops pursuing the Pope's entourage as it made its way across the Passetto to the Castel Sant'Angelo.[3]
The Song
The song itself slows down again from the headlong rush of "Rorke's Drift" to a steady, driving, powerful march, with the song introduced by ringing bells.
Leaving aside how rare it is in popular culture to praise or glorify men standing up and fighting - something metal hardly lacks in (see, for example, Five Finger Death Punch), and something that Sabaton explicitly has made a career of with their war and hero themed music - it is fairly rare in metal, given the number of northern European bands, to be positive towards Christianity. This song is an utterly unironic anthem to men who stood their ground in the name of God.
In the heart of holy see
In the home of Christianity
The seat of power is in danger
There's a foe of a thousand swords
They've been abandoned by their lords
Their fall from grace will pave their path, to damnation
Then the 189
In the service of heaven
They're protecting the holy line
It was 1527
Gave their lives on the steps to heaven
Thy will be done!
For the grace, for the might of our lord
For the home of the holy
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Gave their lives so boldly
For the grace, for the might of our lord
In the name of his glory
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Come and tell their story again
Under guard of 42
Along a secret avenue
Castle saint Angelo is waiting
They're the guard of the holy see
They're the guards of Christianity
Their path to history is paved with salvation
Then the 189
In the service of heaven
They're protecting the holy line
It was 1527
Gave their lives on the steps to heaven
Thy will be done!
For the grace, for the might of our lord
For the home of the holy
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Gave their lives so boldly
For the grace, for the might of our lord
In the name of his glory
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Come and tell their story again
Dying for salvation with dedication
No capitulation, annihilation
Papal commendation, reincarnation
Heaven is your destination
Dying for salvation with dedication
No capitulation, annihilation
Papal commendation, reincarnation
Heaven is your destination
In the name of god
For the grace, for the might of our lord
For the home of the holy
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Gave their lives so boldly
For the grace, for the might of our lord
In the name of his glory
For the faith, for the way of the sword
Come and tell their story
Gave their lives so boldly
Come and tell the Swiss Guards' story again
Also, I had been told that for "The Lost Battalion", the drum sounds were actually created from sampled gunfire. Here's the interview I since found discussing that:
Having been introduced to the Darkwave/Goth band the Crüxshadows courtesy of John Ringo's books, it was now off to the races to find more of their stuff, and so I stumbled, not into Ethernaut, from which "Winterborn" and "Citadel" were pulled, but one of their remix albums Frozen Embers.
There are a few interesting retakes here, but my favorite in many ways is the only remix I like of Return - the Assemblage 23 remix. Since Ethernaut went with a Trojan War theme, and given their penchant to refer to myth and religion, I'm fairly sure the song refers to, or was inspired by, Odysseus.
Return (Coming Home)
I've seen the terrible hand of struggle
and felt the pain the hubris brings
I have tasted the wisdom of divinity
and the horror of its sting
And though they tell you i am lost
and their words report my death is come
the fates have left me breathing still
very much alive
And though my mind is cut by battles
fought so long ago
I return victorious
I am coming home
And if the paths that I have followed
have tread against the flow
there is no need for sorrow
I am coming home
For the distance I have traveled
upon an ocean of despair
have led me back into your arms once more
an answer to a little prayer
I don't know what it was about the 90's, but I can think offhand of several movies that tried to be edgy and hip that had far better soundtracks than they deserved (and the movies sucked). Most notable to me were Hackers (for having Angelina Jolie), Mortal Kombat, and Cool World. In the former case I still regularly cue up "Connected" by Stereo MC's, and "Voodoo People" by the Prodigy (incidentally, 2 Cellos has an interesting cover). Mortal Kombat wasn't as bad a movie as panned, but had an outstanding soundtrack that was damn near a Wax Trax showcase and has my absolute favorite mix of "Juke Joint Jezebel" by KMFDM.
In the latter - it's an interesting snapshot of the state of industrial and techno.
The opener is the fairly chill "Real Cool World", with David Bowie doing what he does best - skillfully invading yet another genre and putting his own stamp on it. It's danceable and laid back. It may not stand out for the ages, but it certainly aged well.
Next, "Play With Me." If you only remember them for songs like "Hold Me Now", this piece has a far more driving beat while still incorporating a fairly dreamy soundscape. It's a full on dance/club track and not a pop song.
"Disappointed," by Electronic comes across as yet another Pet Shop Boys song due to some very familiar voices.
"Papua New Guinea" is not a dance piece at all but an atmospheric, dreamy piece of electronica.
Then comes the change in tone. "N.W.O" by Ministry, which also appeared on Psalm 69 the same year. Full blown industrial, Ministry guitar and noises that will make any fan of "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (my favorite) or The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste happy.
"The Witch" by the Cult is more a groovy piece than flat out high-energy rock in the vein of "Fire Woman."
Up to this point "N.W.O." was the first truly driven piece as the rest fit the moniker "Cool" in being laid back. The next is my favorite track on the album, "Sex on Wheelz" by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - the band most easily described to most outside of the industrial scene as "that one playing in the Crow when he tore up a room full of gunmen". I love the baseline to this song.
"Ah-Ah" and "Next is the E" by Moby are far more in line with his earlier music, and other popular dance tracks of the era like "Cubik" by 808 state, than his later and far more popular Play and 18. Very heavy, very electronic, very driven beat.
Sandwiched between them is the very low-key electronic dance piece "Mindless"
Next, "Do That Thang", trying to be the anthemic club track. Not bad, but not a band I ever heard of at the local Orlando clubs circa 1992 unlike Ministry, Thrill Kill Cult, NIN, LL Cool J, Dee-Lite, or the DiVynils, and of course Depeche Mode.
"Her Sassy Kiss" shows some of the range of the Thrill Kill Cult, and good, but not my favorite track, if more on the "cool" side of the album.
"Greedy" by Pure is, along with N.W.O. is not a dance (you don't dance to Ministry, you mosh) piece. Guitar-based and very atmospheric.
"Under" by Brian Eno is also an atmospheric, haunting, non-dance piece that hearkens more back to a new-wave sensibility.
Finally, "Industry and Seduction". Also electronic, and also played for atmosphere than dancing, but more in the sound sample vein than new wave.
All in all the album lives up to "Cool" in tone more than the Moby and Ministry tracks, or "Sex on Wheelz", even on the majority of danceable music. It's a decent snapshot of the state of electronica and industrial at the time, with the former in transition.
Granted, the rest of the stuff by Blur I found unlistenable, and no, I can't forgive Starship Troopers for introducing me to Song2 via the trailers, but Song 2 simply rocks. When it comes to the sound of the guitars, I prefer the original.
That said, having the lyrics delivered in a aggressive, in your face manner rather than the whiny bitchiness of Blur.... epic.
Since I'm in a musical mood today, the Didact recently reminded me of a favorite song that I can chalk up to my "Damn You John Ringo" files.
While there are bits and pieces of Nightwish that sound vaguely like Celtic music turned rock, this acoustic Heather Alexander bit with bagpipes is one of the most epically bloody minded METAL songs you will ever hear, despite being a folk/filk piece, promising to the enemy nothing less than "how many of them can we make die?"
In light of the events at Berkeley the other day, it's feeling... appropriate.
Some covers work. Some don't. It's worse when changing genres and styles of instruments, as the arrangement needs to be redone with an ear to what made the original work in it's genre, the soul of the song itself, and how that works in the genre being moved to. Some do it better than others. Some songs just don't work across genres, or need some major revisions to "work" in the new genre.
One group that to my ear has more hits than misses in this translation is Postmodern Jukebox in selection of songs that will work and selection. Nevertheless, the ones that work certainly do.
This is a very interesting take on "Black Hole Sun" by Postmodern Jukebox.
And "Seven Nation Army"
Also, "Blurred Lines."
And "Clint Eastwood" - with the spoken refrains sung.
