The end is nearing.  Graduation comes up in four days and I'm sitting in a bare-walled dorm room with papers and various odds and ends strewn about as they await my final packing and departure.  There is an amazing lightness the summer air, as i stayed up last night to finish my very last assignment, which is due tomorrow.  Surprisingly, I am stress free, for the first time all semester. 

And in 1 week...Hawaii. 

Ten days after I get back...Moving to San Diego. 

Life is moving so fast I might just miss it if I blink. 

 

Well it doesn't mean I don't have enough time to listen to some music.  So here are some reactions.

 

 

 

Like a monster out of the gates, Audioslave has finally come crashing back into the music world with their much-awaited sophomore album. 

 

They have returned to prove yet again that the sum is, impossibly so, greater than its parts.  The supergroup enjoyed a self-titled debut in 2003 that skyrocketed up the charts with radio favorites "Cochise," "Like a Stone," and "Show Me How to Live," though by the end of that summer, nearly the entire album had been played out on rock radio stations. 

 

Ex-Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell has returned at the helm, bringing his original lineup of guitar wizard Tom Morello, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford, all formerly of Rage Against the Machine.  And the effort here is much more solidified, the group identity has been realized to a much fuller extent.  While 2003's self titled was an immensely successful effort, and a hard rocker in its own right, it had points of sounding like what it really was at the time, Soundgarden singing over Rage Against the Machine instrumentals.   

 

After a year on the road, the supergroup seems to have cast off the chains of their former groups, and Audioslave is now an entity of its own stylistic ventures.  Upon first listen, Rubin's production has brought the group together to create a wall of harmonic hard-rock sound, of group energy and unity.  And as Cornell's vocals have ventured beyond the croon-scream song structures of the debut album, Tom Morello's chops have worked to weld themselves more deeply to the musical foundations of Audioslave. 

 

It is in this sense that we see an expansion of range, and upon second and third listens it is apparent that the sound has become more heavily blues-tinged, while still hanging on to the hard edge and whammy solos that popularized the first album.  Cornell steps forward even more as a modern day Robert Plant, playing off Morello's Robert Plant, and the result is dynamic.  Wilk and Commerford, equally, have become a truly muscular rhythm section.

 

The first single, "Be Yourself," has garnered much criticism on fan forums and sites for being too "formulaic" in the vein of the previous hit "Like a Stone."  While it is true that the skeletal aspects of this work, with the hypnotic rhythm section and mystical guitar leads mirroring Cornell's tenor crooning, reflect that particular hit, it is an original in its own right.  Within the context of "Out of Exile" the song thrives wonderfully, nestled between two great rockers.  Hard rock ballads like "Doesn't Remind Me" and "Heaven's Dead" would bring tears to the eye of any GNR or Zeppelin fan, and yet the songs contain so much more modernity that one could never consider this work dated.  Fringe rockers like "The Worm" and "Man and Animal" are remniscent of recent supergroup Velvet Revolver in their fearless melding of punk and metal with sheer pop sensiblity. 

 

This album is truly a recommendation for anyone, pop music and metal fan alike.  It contains just the right balance of hard rock, shredding, and ear-candy vocals to satisfy even the most critical of tastes. 

 

 

 

This album came out about a year ago originally, but it took me awhile to finally get to it.  Much of this time was spent immersing myself in metal and thrash.  Namely, re-educating myself with industrial Nine Inch Nails metal, jumping headfirst into some early Metallica hits, enjoying Shadows Fall's recent hit The War Within, rehashing my past with Linkin Park and the Deftones, and rediscovering the magic on my Coal Chamber Chamber Music CD.  Now for the Slipknot. 

I never was really into these guys...with early hits like Iowa, it always sounded like Ministry jumping into a meat grinder and coming out through a distorted amplifier.  It also bothered me that it seemed to take nine guys (masked, as well) to create that particular brand of metal.  Maybe it just bothered me that they were so downright scary looking.  I suppose that was it. 

 

Yet when i saw the video for "Before I Forget" on Launch.com, I grew a little more interested.  They didnt seem to be hiding behind disfigured masks anymore, and the music was more than tolerable: i enjoyed it. 

 

Now I've bought the cd, and I have to confess a certain affinity towards it.  Compared to their previous work, Slipknot have entered more prog-metal territory.  The guitar-shredding is more complex than before, and the throat-shredding is more bearable this time around.  The drum work here is astounding.  On songs like "The Blister Exists," Slipknot enters progressive passages of deranged military-esque percussion work.  Equally, the guitars are riff-heavy, hypnotic, and seductive in their energy. 

 

Corey Taylor's vocals are more of a standout on this album than ever before, and his work on surprisingly slower ballads like "Circle" is genuinely profound.  He seems to be willing to remove the zipper-mouthed mask more often than ever these days. 

 

But the spotlight here goes to Rick Rubin's stellar production.  This year the man is everywhere, and has produced the biggest hard rock acts of modern music.  System of a Down, Weezer, the new Audioslave album, and more.  Here the production is crystal-clear and truly makes the band shine in their element.  Added cellos and string arrangements mellow and age the band's sound, while eclectic texturings make hits like Duality stand out incredibly. 

 

My advice?  Buy an album that Rick Rubin has produced.  You will not be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now...some pop culture!

 

 

Trent Reznor never fails to surprise me with his delicate touches of instrumental fervor, stylistic maneuverability, and pure originality.  Pretty Hate Machine broke the ice with hits such as "Head Like  Hole" and made it possible for bands like Skinny Puppy to reach a greater following.  The Downward Spiral was a masterpiece that I still listen to even today.  Hands down, finding that place where metal meets Depeche Mode synth and taking it further yet.  And... The Fragile.  An overladen album, very ambitiously portrayed and magnificient in its own right, but heavily lauded by critics as a sellout.   Reznor left the scene for awhile, scoring soundtracks and such, and has returned with the much-awaited With Teeth.  It's got bite, but it's got beauty too.  Below-the-belt rockers like "You Know What You Are" and "The Hand That Feeds" are balanced out by more nuanced material: the hypnotic "All the Love in the World" and the piano ballad "Right Where It Belongs."  Truly worth a listen and shows that Reznor is worthy even in another decade at the age of 40. 

Wow this is a week of comebacks.  After a "short-time-for-them, long-time-for-us" hiatus of three years, Weezer has somehow found a way to top themselves.  Now I am a fan of these boys from back in the day, and while the self-titled "Green Album" and Maladroit are legit rockers and excellent albums in their own right (Maladroit going far beyond "Green" in nuance and quality), I often wondered if the band would ever return to that hallowed ground that marked their mythical self-titled debut or even Pinkerton.  The latter, my favorite, is an emotionally raw album based on Puccini's M. Butterfly and brimming with poignancy and cleverness.  With their most recent albums, it seemed that if Weezer returned to their previous ways, the sound would be old, disjointed, and tiresome.  Make Believe is everything that makes Weezer great, and it seems to take something from every album in their body of work and rework it into music that is well-defined, catchy, and effervescently Weezeresque.  I guess it must be the melding of pop sensibility with geeky uniqueness, while preserving some of the trigger-happy solos from Maladroit and the raw core of Pinkerton.  Songs like "Beverly Hills" and "We Are All On Drugs" reaffirm that good-ol American Rock that seems to be missing from the charts these days.  The emo-speak-sing of "Pefect Situation" reminds us that Weezer was the grandaddy of the trend that has been so badly marred in the past several years.  They pull it off with grace and ease.  The ballads, however, are the songs to live for.  Retro soft-rockers like "Hold Me," soft croons like "Freak Me Out" and the open wound closer "Haunt You Every Day" open a window into a soul that hasn't been bared since Pinkerton.  Truly the album of their career.

The author of The DaVinci Code.  Need I say more?  Haven't even read that one and it sounds like the novel of the decade.  This one is the prequel, and follows the same Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon, through a labyrinth-like adventure of intrigue and suspense.  Brown crafts his work through finely-tuned research, and is able to use his vast knowledge of art, artifact, and history to huge advantage in this work.  The shocking exposure of the Illuminati, a fabled cult that shaped the history of Europe for centuries, intermingled with the modern post-nuclear technology, adventure, and high-tech suspense would be enough.  But Brown has introduced the art-history puzzle in the center of the entire plot that leaves me as a reader hungry for more. 

Well its 1:24AM, about the timeframe I usually decide to update this section.  I'm tired.  Just thought I'd add some info.  Take care!

 

By the way, Picasso is over!  Production photos are available at http://steppenwolfdesigns.tripod.com/picasso/ *

*link will open in a new window

 

 

4_16_05

 

From Robert Dhery, 1958, "In London, theatregoers expect to laugh; in Paris, they wait grimly for proof that they should."

 

And another big tech day has come and gone...i found myself slouched and languishing a bit in the seats as lighting and sound folks sweated at the table. 

 

I've always loved that my job ends when its time for people to

criticise it, and that I don't have to compose quickly while someone's looking over my shoulder. 

 

Picasso is going to be quite a show.  Probably the first I've run that hasnt hit one of those "oh crap what are we going to do to get this effect" barriers. 

 

I suppose we owe it to Steve Martin for throwing in his random shtick to liven up the thing.  See any other plays that feature Picasso, Einstien, and Elvis in the same scene?  Didnt think so.

 

Ended up staying late with the guys as they tried to work changeover.  My part of the job included attempting to throw the fake plastic grape at Mike's head as he went up the elevator.  It also included hurling the fake plastic grap at Alex in the light booth.  Fake food abound. 

 

It was a strange day.  Some bees got into the theater and the actors freaked out.  Later we found out that they had all flown up into the lights and fried themselves to death.  I hope Ross managed to get all the dead bee corpses swept up before the dancers waltz in barefoot tomorrow.

 

And so for you, whoever might be reading this particular blurb of nonsensical jabber at 1AM, I've come up with my weekly pop culture favorites.  As an escape from all the stress, I've been reading like a maniac, listening to music like a maniac, and... well just kind of being out of it.  Here it goes.

 

Depeche Mode '86-'98 The Singles.

 

Picked this baby up yesterday at Backdoor Disc and Tape...they told me I was making off like a criminal. $9.98 for a clean used copy, two discs and 22 songs.  So maybe i don't strike you as a synth pop guy.  But DM was the industrial force that ultimately influenced bands like NIN, Stabbing Westward, and Linkin Park.  It's cheesy at times.  Mellow.  Groovy.  But for it's time, Depeche Mode is a groundbreaking band, capable of the most sonically amazing work.  I can't resist the stuff off "Ultra."  Barrel of a Gun has to be one of the best songs ever written. 

 

 

Black Label Society, Mafia 

 

So I heard Ozzy's latest trite crapfest, an awful rendition of The Beatles "In My Life."  The man can barely stay on-key, much less groan his way through a horribly botched version of anything.  But one good thing came out of his work, aside from the dearly departed Randy Rhoads.  And that is the virtuoso of Zakk Wylde, Ozzy's ex-guitarist and shredmeister senior.  Let me tell you, I dont know why he even gave the microphone over to the "prince of darkness."  Wylde's metal shines like a beacon in the neverending degradation of music America calls MTV.  Lewis Black once said "MTV is to music what KFC is to chicken."  This is a truth.  Wylde breaks the convention, bringing back the biker metal, the hair, and the shredding, oh lord the shredding.  Take a listen to "Suicide Messiah" and you won't be mistaken.  The vocals aren't bad either. Take some of Hetfield's chutzpah, and add in Cornell's high registers with Layne Staley's biker drawl and you get the voice behind BLS.  I don't know the point of the title "Mafia," or the skeleton with the tommygun case on the inside cover.  Guess its another desperate measure to defy the convention. 

 

 

Faith No More, Angel Dust 

 

Man it's a crying shame this band broke up.  Like Depeche Mode set the stage for the industrial revolution of the '90's, FNM lead singer Mike Patton is considered the first Nu-Metal vocalist.  For those unaware, the nu-metal umbrella has been known to cover far and wide bands like the Deftones, Bizkit, Incubus, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, and so on and so forth.  Essentially it's the meshing of urban music with metal structure and pop sentiment.  This is the formula we would all like to see Faith No More fit, as its children did.  Little do many know that the rap metal mesh is the tip of the iceberg.  In his other band Mr Bungle, Patton throws in as many random types of music together: disco, salsa, funk, you name it.  Faith No More does the same but is a bit more listener friendly about it, and thus the music becomes accessible without losing any progressive edge.  Angel Dust is an eclectic piece of work, marked by departures into funky territory, straight-ahead metal, drawling keyboard ballads, cheerleader chanting, and grunge rock at its finest.  Don't ask, just pick up the album.  It's all I can say. 

 

Stephen King, The Song of Susannah: Book VI and The Dark Tower: Book VII. 

 

These are the final books of the Dark Tower series.  I've been reading Stephen King's set ever since I finished freshman year at SSU, three years ago.  Can't believe its taken me three years to read these books.  But each one is upwards of 1,000 pages.  And it's taken Sai King nearly three decades to finish his swan song.  Obviously, with such strong conviction, you would expect me to recommend this.  And I do.  But take heed, once you start, you'll just want to keep going.  The story is irresistable sci-fi fantasy but easy to follow.  And if you DO start, don't be surprised if you find yourself three years older by the end of your journey.  I know I did. 

And I'll update another time when i'm a little less tired and my eyes can actually stay open without me having to pry them open constantly...  until then. 

Stay Eventual

S

 

 

 

 

See the animal in it's cage that you built
Are you sure what side you're on?
Better not look him too closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all
Right where it belongs

[Chorus:]
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you wanted to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks?
Would you find yourself?
Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the world's inside of your head?
Just creations of your own
Your devils and your gods
All the living and the dead
And you really are alone
You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the words
Are you hiding in the dreams?

[Chorus:]
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you wanted to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?
...