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Send submissions (music, visuals, text, whatever) to anuncontrollableurge [at] gmail [dot] com. Some day, I will look at it. Address things to "David" because that's what my name is.
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Friendship Bracelet
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Music is a Sin
The Mythical Good Part
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Omodaka, “Yosawya San”
I follow WTF Japan, Seriously!?, and frequently it’s full of absolutely batshit videos of things happening in Japan that make no sense (which I guess you could figure out from the name). But then they’ll post something like the above video, which is maybe a bit odd, but I don’t think it would ever make anyone go “WTF” or “seriously!?” There’s maybe five seconds towards the end that are a bit bizarre, sure, but mostly it’s just like a cooler version of basically every video game released before 1996.
Or am I just too into weird shit and this seems normal? No, this isn’t weird goddamn it.
Well, the Omodaka video they posted right before the above is a different story…
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Live From Tokyo is Good.
A while back I tried to hip you to a film that had its world premiere last Friday in the Upper East Side’s Asia Society Museum: Live From Tokyo. The trailer looks way cool, and, having seen the film, I can tell you that it does live up to the trailer. Mostly.
Despite the fact that the film contains music from roughly a billion artists of all sorts of underground, experimental sensibilities, it manages to keep a continuous theme through its use of bright sounds and bright colors. The word to describe the sensory experience of Live From Tokyo is “vivid.”
When you look at the film as a documentary, it might not be a particularly informative piece of video; the interviews, while often entertaining, and I’m sure well-informed, weren’t always incredibly interesting. They touched on the music industry in Japan, which is going through much of the same stuff the American music industry has been going through for a while. So, nothing mind-blowing. There were some stand-out moments, however; the Muzenji Monk, owner of an experimental music venue called Muryoku Muzenji, was bizarre, funny, and, if you ask me, a lot smarter than the audience at the Asia Society Museum seemed to pick up on. And experimental musician and instrument maker Makoto Oshiro explained the science behind a creation of his that, basically, was just a way cool feedback machine. But other than those, unfortunately many of the interviews, while enthusiastic and worth hearing, were a bit dull.
When you look at the film as a collection of music videos, it fares better. As I said before, the film keeps colorful and energetic visuals throughout, and manages to match up different looks to different musical styles, while still keeping its own feel. Maybe the coolest part was d.v.d., a combo featuring two drummers and a visual artist. They performed a musical game of pong in the film that was absolutely fantastic, so check them out (though most of the artists featured in the movie were interesting in some way or another):
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Interview with Math the Band
Check it out! I got in touch with Justine from Providence’s Math the Band and asked questions about … Math the Band! Here’s a video, then read some words.
I don’t know what phrases like “post-rock” or “nerd-core” mean. Make up your own genre! How would you describe your music to an alien?
8-bit pop punk, electro-pop with a sense of humor, beep boop music (for an alien)
What got you guys into what you’re doing? What keeps you into it?
Kevin started this project when he was about 13 or 14. He was playing in a pop punk band that kicked him out. Rather than be a singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar like every other teenager on the planet (during our high school years), he did this. It’s a way to make really full sounding music without other people. It’s such a vast and open way of making music. So many people are doing it, but it can still sound so unique and different.
What would you say was the biggest creative influence on you guys?
Oh geesh, well, both of us grew up in northeastern Massachusetts. There have been so many good independent bands coming out of Boston and its suburbs for decades and we were really lucky to grow up seeing Piebald and Apollo Sunshine and all these other awesome bands at “hall shows”. This really got us into the all ages/DIY music scene. That means a lot to us. We are also inspired by DEVO, Andrew WK, Atom & his Package. We like intensity - sometimes to the point of oversaturation.
What are some of your favorite records of all time?
Freedom of Choice / DEVO
I Get Wet / Andrew WK
We are the Only Friends That We Have / Piebald
Blue Album (Kevin) & Pinkerton (Justine) / Weezer
Almost Live from Eli’s Live Room / Why?
Doolittle / The Pixies
In Case We Die / Architecture in Helsinki
What about your favorite records of this year so far?
Shame, Shame / Dr. Dog
BROTHERSISTER / Lima
Demonstration 2010 / Good Luck
Cool Dream / iji
Who are the most under-rated musicians/groups?
The ones listed above. And Graves, Envelopes, Why?, James Rabbit, Fishboy, Uncle Monsterface….all of our friends. Amazing.
If you could play with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be? Why?
Beethoven.
Your performance last month at Shea Stadium BK was friggin’ ridiculous. Are there any shows that stand out in your memory as being particularly crazy?
Pretty much every show we’ve played at Death by Audio has been insane. Once we played on the second story of the crappiest old barn, outside you could see the building swaying. The Hanger in SC was awesome - FRIDGE DIVING! Campus Chaos at ODU was just as chaotic as it sounds. Every show we play in Santa Barbara CA….we love playing shows.
When you’re not writing or playing music, what do you do?
We both have regular jobs - restaurant & working with students with special needs. We go to shows at AS220. We explore our amazing home city. I sew and make movies. Kevin like videogames and making stuff for the band. We make awesome ice cream. I’m a pretty fantastic pizza chef.
What’s up next for yous guyses?
Kevin’s been really busy writing the new album. We’ve been arranging where we’re going to record and with whom we will be recording it. We can’t wait to finish it! Lots of great songs to be excited about. We’re also REALLY anxious to be on the road again.
Is there anything you want out there that we haven’t talked about?
Best wishes. Michael J Fox.
Thanks!
Don’t forget to check out Math the Band when they come around yer area. Speaking of which, if you’re around my old alma mater, or I guess just Western Massachusetts in general, they’re playing a coupla shows in Amherst and Northampton, so hit ‘em up! Myspace for more details.
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After seeing Quintron’s DrumBuddy operating in real life, I needed a better idea of what the thing was actually doing. I got it now (more or less).
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Tobacco featuring Beck - Fresh Hex
Maniac Meat (Anticon)
New Tobacco! Yes! To recap: Tobacco is in a group called Black Moth Super Rainbow that makes awesome pop/rock music with sweet analog synthesizers and vocoders all over the place. His last solo record, Fucked Up Friends, was the coolest hip-hop record of 2008 that featured exactly one song with someone rapping. (That someone, by the way, was Aesop Rock, and that song, Dirt, was excellent).
Now, I was a bit bummed with the latest Black Moth Super Rainbow record. I’d hoped they’d be moving in a dirtier direction, and they pretty much continued doing what they’d been doing for the last few records. I guess that’s still cool and everything, but after hearing Fucked Up Friends, I think that seems like the way they should be going. The record is all about groove and grit, and somehow, using all electronic instruments, dude managed to make one of the most raw-sounding records out there. After that, returning to the crisper sound of Black Moth Super Rainbow felt like Husker Du deciding to go back and do another hardcore-punk record after Everything Falls Apart. They’re both great, but there’s still work to be done in this newly-tapped area.
Alright, now we’re caught up. The new record, Maniac Meat, continues in the dirtier, crunchier, slightly sleazier path Fucked Up Friends started down. But where Fucked Up Friends was basically a hip-hop record without the rhymes, Maniac Meat is something else. The press blurb sent out with the record mentions Daft Punk, and I’m not really in a position to evaluate that, but I will say it sounds more like what I might have thought the music of the future would sound like while I was listening to the soundtrack of Streets of Rage 2. Is that what Daft Punk is going for? I don’t know, but the point is, this record is right-the-fuck-on.
The record drops May 25th on Anticon, and, while there’s no Aesop on this one, I think they broke even by having two songs featuring Beck.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Keys and Laser Teeth - Wizard
Keys and Laser Teeth EP (self-released)
Keys and Laser Teeth casts prismatic spray. Seven shimmering, intertwined, multicolored beams of light to spray from his hand. You take 40 points of acid damage and are sent to another plane.
Wait… is that not what this song is about? What’s it about then? Robots fucking? Probably.
I’m not sure what I’m talking about right now, but check this EP out. While listening, I was reminded of both Silk Flowers and I Am The Dot [look for something about him here later this week]. The whole thing’s available for download here, and I recommend it if you enjoy SYNTHESIZERRRS. Are you drunk right now? The way you’re reading this leads me to believe you’re drunk.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Magic Places - In the Conservatory…
The Time-Traveler’s Pocket Guidebook Demo
I don’t care what anyone else has to say on this matter, because I’m closing it right now. The Legend of Zelda has proven to be the most influential object on American indie music of the past two decades. Also, fuck Zelda II. That shit was garbage. Don’t even try to tell me that Ocarina of Time, A Link From the Past, and Link’s Awakening, in that order, are not the best things to happen to the world ever.
In conclusion, check this out.
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I’ve just returned from Gamelan Galak Tika & Ensemble Robot’s performance at Bowker Auditorium on the UMass campus, and, although I’ve had some odd luck with performances at the space, I was quite happy with tonight’s performance.
I’ve never seen gamelan in person before, and the performance seemed to take in to account that there would be many unfamiliar with the style in the audience. They began with two traditional pieces, providing an introduction to the music that was almost aggressively complex in rhythm and tempo. There were so many changes in meter and speed that I almost forgot to pay attention to the actual timbre of each instrument. For a drummer, I don’t think there could be a sight more exciting than a stage full of people wielding hammers, and they really went to town up there knocking the shit out of whatever those things were. I’m still not sure what most of those instruments were, although I’m pretty sure somebody was playing a turtle.
The second piece also made use of two traditional Balinese dancers. Once they were announced, I began to wonder how one would dance to music that made time it’s bitch like that. The answer was that they dance both fluidly, and at times robotically. The expressions on the dancers faces were creepily intense; the piece was about two bumblebees playing, but, to my ears, it sounded so much darker. With the expressions of the dancers so intensely statuesque, the whole thing was almost macabre. It ended up being the high point of the night, I thought, and it made me wish I had more than five dollars in my pocket, since CD’s were fifteen.
After that, they moved on to their original compositions, each of which involved contemporary western instrumentation, creating interesting textures in combination with the traditional gamelan. The star performer of the night was Heliphon, described by Ensemble Robot’s website as “a double-helix shaped robotic metallophone … it uses solenoids to hammer metal keys, and each key lights up as it plays.” The instrument sounds like a glockenspiel, and though I won’t say it’s the prettiest sounding thing I’ve ever heard, it meshed well with the rest of what was happening. Also used in these pieces were electric bass that ranged from droning to straight funk, electric guitar that was almost Quinian in style, as well as violin, accordion, an EWI, and an upright bass.
The original compositions, while interesting in the variety in timbre, did seem to lack the intensely complex rhythms of the traditional songs. Musicians were playing in multiple time signatures at once, but the changes arrived at a much less rapid pace, and though I think it may have been a bit much to continue like that the whole time, I do think they may have shot their wad by beginning the way they did. I think that, and the fact that the Heliphon was not actually just C-3PO playing the glockenspiel were my only complaints.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Claps - Fold
New Science (Guilt Ridden Pop)
I’m not a huge fan of the six-song-EP-featuring-three-remixes-of-the-same-song thing, but, as you might already be aware, I am a big fan of robot noises. And, I suppose it’s alright that there are only three songs on New Science, because they’re all kickin’. ”Folds,” the one they remixed three times, is dynamite, so I can see why they might try and milk that one for all it’s got. Check it out above.
Minimal-wave synthesizers, and electro-drum machines. What else do you need to know? Nothing. Nothing else.
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