Press "Enter" to skip to content

The Black Laser

My friend Chris

November 16, 2008 |

Thoughts

Let me introduce you to my friend Chris. Chris is a wildly talented cinematographer and maker of images. He’s also a wonderfully goofy son of a bitch and a good, old friend of mine. Coming from a social group of Luddites, neither of us knew we had Flickr accounts until he saw my (awesome) site and link to my Flickr account.

There are samples of his photography and his reel after the jump.

> Continue reading...My friend Chris

On singing in metal 2 – Intronaut’s “Australopithecus”

November 15, 2008 |

About Music, Music and Thoughts

This morning while avoiding sitting down to do actual real work, I was cruising the Deciblog and stumbled upon this new video by Intronaut. It’s stupidly awesome. The video echoes Jan Svankmajer’s Alice, but with a distinctly modern feel. The cut is sharp and punchy, and the cinematography conveys a palpable sense of dread. What more could you ask for from a metal video? That the song is appropriately killer? Taken care of. Harmonized growls, double bass, breakdowns, gnarly chorus; this song has it all.

So why is it in On singing in metal? I filed it there because of the musical shift at 2:14. I fully anticipated some truly awful singing destroying my initial impression of this song as pure slaughter. How delighted I was to make it through the calmer section to be greeted at the other end by the brutal crunch of the chorus! This is a perfect example of how to integrate melodic sections into your metal song without succumbing to the misguided need to throw in some contemptible “singing”. Intronaut, I salute you and your restraint and show of good taste. Well done.

The rest of you, pick up their record from Century Media here—Intronaut – Prehistoricisms. Only 10 bucks! That’s two beers WITHOUT tip. Do it.

> Continue reading...On singing in metal 2 – Intronaut’s “Australopithecus”

Some interesting facts about Barry

November 13, 2008 |

Thoughts

I was cruising Boing Boing today as I am prone to do during a bustling workday, and I read an article they’d posted from The Telegraph. It’s a list of facts about our next President that I, for one, had no clue about. There were some excellent tidbits in there. Here are a few of my favorite.

  • He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
  • As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
  • He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

Pretty awesome. Go Barry! Check out the rest of the article here: Barack Obama-The 50 facts you might not know

> Continue reading...Some interesting facts about Barry

On singing in metal songs

November 12, 2008 |

About Music, Music and Thoughts

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have a passionate, undying love for all things metal. Fist in the air, I throw the horns for the power of metal. It is catharsis on a primal level unmatched by anything else I do to blow off steam. I rock the fuck out and I don’t care who dislikes it. I am a relatively unpicky consumer of metal records. If it has a strong groove and some double bass, I’m into it. I try not to discriminate.

That said, there is one trend in metal over the last few years that I cannot tolerate. Have you guessed it yet? That’s right. I loathe singing in metal songs. But that is not wholly true. What I hate is bad singing in metal songs.

Let’s enjoy an object lesson, shall we?

> Continue reading...On singing in metal songs