I've heard the Gong comparisons too; Zappa, yes, Residents, kind of (they're about as "left field" as them but musically there's no real comparison). In reality I don't think anybody really sounds like them. They're influenced mostly by Coltrane and play a wild blend of jazz/fusion/prog that's hard to describe (they even invented their own genre name, "Zuehl"). Their most famous album is Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh, which is truly a ridiculous one; lots of crazy vocal passages, breakneck instrumental parts, and quite an unparalleled intensity; on my first listen I knew this would be one of my new favorite groups. Bandleader Christian Vander apparently was interested in the "spirituality" behind music, making music that could elevate all of mankind to blah blah blah, and you know, I kind of think he succeeded. Also, they sing in a totally made up language. Ultimately the music is very complex, but also very listenable. Melodically, this stuff is ace. That said, I don't think your "listen until you like it" strategy would work for them. You kind of figure it out right away :)
Another group I was wondering if you've heard is Swans. I don't remember if you were one of the guys who really liked Downward Spiral but I feel like if you were, Swans is everything you're looking for and then some. Their early albums (like Cop) are very primal and run on raw emotion (usually bad emotions). They just have a thick, industrial sound and often explore just one chord at a time. Just pure catharsis. Their later albums appeal to me more but I know you dig emotion and really intense vocal performances, in which case you have to hear Michael Gira. I have no idea how he's been in the business for 30 years, given the punishment his vocal chords must take night after night when doing this stuff live. Scaruffi (basically) likes them too!
Alright. I updated it to say "nearly everything". I had forgotten about "Mother". As far as "Synchronicity I" goes - I've never heard of 3/2, maybe that one is in 3/4? The weird thing is that Stewart is playing in 4/4 there (at least, it sounds that way to me). "Spirits in the Material World" is in either 3/4 or 4/4, I find that one hard to tell as well. The point is that the songs had strange underlying structures due to Copeland's rather unique drumming, but outside of "Mother" most of it at least has some illusion of sounding like it's done in 4/4.
Sorry it took me a while to respond - if there's one track I've been turned on to since relistening to that album, it's "Good Morning Cockrel". I never thought "Faxed" left much of an impression but I noticed a lot of people speak very highly of it. You might be right though. I wrote that before Barking came out and I lot of my disappointment with the album (though I still rated it well) came from the songs that weren't on it - I still think "Parc" beats anything on OWB.
Howe definitely seems to be getting worse year to year. The real question is, what was the best looking prog group? It couldn't be Yes, with Howe and Wakeman. Genesis sans Peter Gabriel is not really a good looking bunch of guys. Maybe King Crimson; definitely not the Belew group, but the Giles brothers were fairly dapper in their day. And a young Greg Lake... But then you got ELP, with a horse-faced keyboardist and the ever-expanding Lake...but hey, Palmer was a good looking dude. This is a tough one.
I'm pretty sure it'll be Snivilisation; I'm going back and re-listening to everything right now, much of which I haven't heard in a good while, so my opinions might change; I didn't think of the Brown album so highly until I gave it a few more spins last week. But Sniv is probably going to be it.
I dont think you are reading these comments anymore but I had to respond to this:
"This is a comedy that (1) is rated PG, so no sex jokes, (2) despite the PG rating, is not a kids' movie, (3) does not rely on gross-out humor, and (4) is consistently hilarious. Think of another movie that meets all these criteria. Just try to."
Just saw your review for Bad Lieutenant - it was my favorite movie of the year. Just wanted to point out a couple of things: one, the 1992 Keitel movie was NOT forgettable...I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it, two, this isn't really a remake (I heard that Herzog really just wanted to title it Port of Call: New Orleans), as even though the plots are similar, the story is different in a few significant ways, and three, Nic Cage's "performance" is totally intentional and IMO one of his absolute best. Cage really knows his stuff when it comes to playing a drug addict, I'll tell you that. The scene where he's driving with Xzibit and the other drug dealers was legitimately scary and surreal, as Cage was so unhinged at that point you really didn't know what he was going to do next.
My favorite Cage-related work is actually the series of 5 Pachinko commercials he did in Japan...you can youtube them (they are quite popular there, and hilarious)...so take this all with a grain of salt.
another superlate response; you're totally right
I've heard the Gong comparisons too; Zappa, yes, Residents, kind of (they're about as "left field" as them but musically there's no real comparison). In reality I don't think anybody really sounds like them. They're influenced mostly by Coltrane and play a wild blend of jazz/fusion/prog that's hard to describe (they even invented their own genre name, "Zuehl"). Their most famous album is Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh, which is truly a ridiculous one; lots of crazy vocal passages, breakneck instrumental parts, and quite an unparalleled intensity; on my first listen I knew this would be one of my new favorite groups. Bandleader Christian Vander apparently was interested in the "spirituality" behind music, making music that could elevate all of mankind to blah blah blah, and you know, I kind of think he succeeded. Also, they sing in a totally made up language. Ultimately the music is very complex, but also very listenable. Melodically, this stuff is ace. That said, I don't think your "listen until you like it" strategy would work for them. You kind of figure it out right away :)
Another group I was wondering if you've heard is Swans. I don't remember if you were one of the guys who really liked Downward Spiral but I feel like if you were, Swans is everything you're looking for and then some. Their early albums (like Cop) are very primal and run on raw emotion (usually bad emotions). They just have a thick, industrial sound and often explore just one chord at a time. Just pure catharsis. Their later albums appeal to me more but I know you dig emotion and really intense vocal performances, in which case you have to hear Michael Gira. I have no idea how he's been in the business for 30 years, given the punishment his vocal chords must take night after night when doing this stuff live. Scaruffi (basically) likes them too!
Hey AH, I was just wondering, what do you think of Magma? Might be up your alley...
thanks, guys!
Alright. I updated it to say "nearly everything". I had forgotten about "Mother". As far as "Synchronicity I" goes - I've never heard of 3/2, maybe that one is in 3/4? The weird thing is that Stewart is playing in 4/4 there (at least, it sounds that way to me). "Spirits in the Material World" is in either 3/4 or 4/4, I find that one hard to tell as well. The point is that the songs had strange underlying structures due to Copeland's rather unique drumming, but outside of "Mother" most of it at least has some illusion of sounding like it's done in 4/4.
Sorry it took me a while to respond - if there's one track I've been turned on to since relistening to that album, it's "Good Morning Cockrel". I never thought "Faxed" left much of an impression but I noticed a lot of people speak very highly of it. You might be right though. I wrote that before Barking came out and I lot of my disappointment with the album (though I still rated it well) came from the songs that weren't on it - I still think "Parc" beats anything on OWB.
I actually have the single! I can't say I like it more than "Chime", "Belfast", or "Satan", but it's probably better than the rest.
Howe definitely seems to be getting worse year to year. The real question is, what was the best looking prog group? It couldn't be Yes, with Howe and Wakeman. Genesis sans Peter Gabriel is not really a good looking bunch of guys. Maybe King Crimson; definitely not the Belew group, but the Giles brothers were fairly dapper in their day. And a young Greg Lake... But then you got ELP, with a horse-faced keyboardist and the ever-expanding Lake...but hey, Palmer was a good looking dude. This is a tough one.
I'm pretty sure it'll be Snivilisation; I'm going back and re-listening to everything right now, much of which I haven't heard in a good while, so my opinions might change; I didn't think of the Brown album so highly until I gave it a few more spins last week. But Sniv is probably going to be it.
just in case you lose the links to those ratings:
1 = http://i.imgur.com/2azSP.gif
1.5 = http://imgur.com/17hgO.gif
2 = http://imgur.com/3CEGB.gif
2.5 = http://imgur.com/Qm0Vm.gif
3 = http://imgur.com/Q64Dl.gif
3.5 = http://imgur.com/YPSYp.gif
4 = http://imgur.com/Wwf8r.gif
4.5 = http://imgur.com/ADk0O.gif
5 = http://imgur.com/87HOM.gif
I'm not proud of it. This is pretty bad.
I dont think you are reading these comments anymore but I had to respond to this:
"This is a comedy that (1) is rated PG, so no sex jokes, (2) despite the PG rating, is not a kids' movie, (3) does not rely on gross-out humor, and (4) is consistently hilarious. Think of another movie that meets all these criteria. Just try to."
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?
Just saw your review for Bad Lieutenant - it was my favorite movie of the year. Just wanted to point out a couple of things: one, the 1992 Keitel movie was NOT forgettable...I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it, two, this isn't really a remake (I heard that Herzog really just wanted to title it Port of Call: New Orleans), as even though the plots are similar, the story is different in a few significant ways, and three, Nic Cage's "performance" is totally intentional and IMO one of his absolute best. Cage really knows his stuff when it comes to playing a drug addict, I'll tell you that. The scene where he's driving with Xzibit and the other drug dealers was legitimately scary and surreal, as Cage was so unhinged at that point you really didn't know what he was going to do next.
My favorite Cage-related work is actually the series of 5 Pachinko commercials he did in Japan...you can youtube them (they are quite popular there, and hilarious)...so take this all with a grain of salt.
I know this list is super old, but I honestly think the answer is Sgt. Pepper. Dunno if that's a good thing or not
Cool website! Feel free to take whatever you like from this, it's public domain as far as I'm concerned. Link would certainly be nice though ;)