[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=102004204[/myspace]
This video is not good. It’s not good at all. But the song is such wonderful death metal goodness that I couldn’t resist posting.
Posts published in “Music”
I don’t know who these guys are or what they’re about except kicking out hot Reggae jams from their home planet of Oregon, but my wonderful, old friend Deegan produced and mixed this record for them. Check them out.
Aside from spending a few days three years in a row at Reggae on the River in youth, this is not exactly my scene or the type of music I prefer to blast when I need to work or write or relax or get pumped up. But, some people really like it and who am I to begrudge them that? Like what you like, I think, just don’t ever make me listen to Dave Matthews Band or that one song by the Kings of Leon. Ugh.
Apparently these gentlemen also have some sort of deal Dutch Brothers, the drive through coffee chain in the Pacific Northwest. Isa hyped them up super hardcore when I was up there this summer, but I was sadly disappointed to discover that their coffee was extremely forgettable. At best. But it’s cool that these guys have the hook up, low quality coffee or not; you’ve got to promote yourself however you can these days.
Go checkout their music and buy a cd or something. Awesome.
This is a fascinating look at the prehistory of electronic music (1959!) and early production methods before computers were smaller than large rooms. Neat! Back then, basically a million years ago, electronic music was not the heavily rhythmic, structured style it came to be known as, but an ethereal, spacey, abstract thing, filled with bloops and bleeps and pulses and saws. That’s, of course, because there wasn’t yet any MIDI, drum machines, sequencers, samplers, or any of the modern implements of electronic music production. You can clearly see them actually splicing bits of reel to reel tape to create new sounds, taking a sample in the most literal sense and then manipulating it. Pretty awesome. It all predates even Kraftwerk, the clear grandfathers of the modern electronic music scene, whose breakthrough, genre-defining record, Die Mensch Maschine, wasn’t released until 1978. These Dutch guys in the late 50s were exploring the wild frontier with no rules, no definitions, and no expectations. Everything new and exciting, fresh. The world had never heard sounds like this before.
If this is interesting to you—and it had better be—then I recommend Popular Electronics – Early Dutch Electronic Music From Philips Research Laboratories 1956-1963, a compilation of very early electronic experiments from the Philips lab, obviously. It features music by both of the men in the video, Dick Raaijmakers and Tom Dissevelt, as well as some other folks. It’s not exactly the most listenable thing, especially by modern standards, but it’s fascinating as a historical document. Check it out.
See this? This is exactly the style of thing I envisioned while discussing building a body of work. This video is super awesome. Let’s look at what you’d need to spend money on to recreate this.
- Squirt guns
- Smoke bomb
- Lunch
- Driving all these people out to a field
I was going to put “Costumes” on the list, but I know plenty of people who own clothes like this in real life, so there’d be no reason to dress them at all. Everything else is know-how. Of course, you could spend a fortune on something like this, but there’s no need to.
I’m willing to bet that it was shot on the 5DII or RedCam, more likely Red since the slow motion stuff is so silky smooth and there’s no rolling shutter on the flag. The super shallow depth of field is awesome. The grade is awesome. The cut is awesome. The concept is awesome. All in all, it’s fucking awesome. Totally inspiring.
And, indeed, probably one of the heaviest bands on earth including those with drummers. I’m not exaggerating. Here, have some sample tracks.
[audio:anb-living_lolita_blowjob.mp3|titles=Living Lolita Blowjob|artists=Agoraphobic Nosebleed]
[audio:anb-opening_to_personals_ad.mp3|titles=Opening to Personals Ad by Richard Johnson|artists=Agoraphobic Nosebleed]
[audio:anb-shotgun_funeral.mp3|titles=Shotgun Funeral|artists=Agoraphobic Nosebleed]
[audio:anb-tough_guy_bullshit.mp3|titles=Tough Guy Bullshit|artists=Agoraphobic Nosebleed]
See? These guys are fucking nutso, in the most adorable, heart-warming way possible. Shit, I don’t even have anything all that clever to say. Just listen to the music. Scott Hull kicks fucking ass. Is there anything that dude makes that isn’t awesome?
So, I’m just sitting here at work on a Sunday night and it occurs to me that, by gum, I would really like to get a new record from The Sword. Really, it’s about damned time. Seriously. Anyway, a quick check of their Myspace page reveals that not only are they currently writing the new record, but IT’S GOING TO BE A CONCEPT ALBUM CENTERED AROUND A SCIENCE FICTION NARRATIVE.
Holy fucking fuck. It’s like that news was made specifically for me.
Here’s the video that sold me on The Sword in the first place.