Showing posts with label Noise rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Noise rock. Show all posts

Friday, August 3, 2012

TGIF! Let's Have Some DEATH: Prayer to God - Shellac

We're alive! Here's a song about dying!


Well, a song about killing. And praying!

Shellac are the heavy, metallic, noisy rock minimalists comprised of Steve Albini, Bob Weston and Todd Trainer. Albini's name alone should let you know what kind of ragged sonic experience you're in for. He's created a towering collection of hardest of hardcore albums, was the driving force behind Big Black, and produced amongst other bands Nirvana (In Utero), The Pixies (Surfer Rosa) and PJ Harvey (Rid of Me). Combo his already harsh tendencies with the raw production techniques of Weston and your ears will begin to sweat and bleed before you even press the play button.


And boy is this song bloody. Every guitar and bass chord slams home into your tendons like bundles of hot wires. The drums pop and explode and thump their way into flakes of dust, metal and drumsticks. There's a primal brutality to the sound which is mirrored perfectly by the black as pitch lyrics.

There's an unnerving elegance to how simply the rage runs. We have all wanted people to die. You don't do it because that would be bad. And maybe you don't really want to kill someone anyway. Seems hard. But thinking about it late it at night, praying to your own personal Hate for it- those are the moments which this song has captured in their entirety.

So. Remember you are mortal.

And TGIF!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Magic Mountain - Lightning Bolt

Everybody hang on, cuz this is going to be relentless.


Lightning Bolt – Magic Mountain


So here's the thing that I love about Magic Mountain:


The intro kicks you into the deep end from twenty feet up and holds you under while the water explodes around you. It's heavy and propulsive. Then just when you think you can't take anymore, the bass guitars kick in- wild eyed and snarling. They push into your ears further and further, crushed and mashed by wild cymbals. You begin to ask yourself- will the band provide a breakdown? Is there a quiet moment to hide in against the chaos? Then they return to the murderous drums of the opening to start the whole thing over again from even higher up and you realize- Oh my God, the intro was the quiet bit.


That experience summarizes listening to Lightning Bolt quit nicely.


Lightning Bolt are a two-piece noise rock band from Rhode Island comprised of Brian Chippendale (Drums/vocals) and Brian Gibson (Bass). They are known for playing in the middle of their audience instead of a stage, using telephone receivers instead of conventional microphones, and spent the first several years of their career touring without ever writing an actual song.