Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag

My first post. I think.

My life has been a reckoning. Working stuff out. I feel like I am in much the same boat as Daniel. Waking up every morning wondering where the hell I am going in this ocean of chaos. Seeing Isis with Daniel (which I will delve into more) really renewed my love of music and I really feel as though I would be wasting my life if not pursuing it. So that brings me to two things.

First, the isis show at the Blank Club.

(this is mostly for Nikko's eyes being that Dan was there)

That show was astounding. Pure astonishment with all the bands.

The opener, Mamiffer, was Aaron Turner (lead guitar/singer for isis) on guitar/effects, a dude with a microphone and various"stuff" type objects (eg. wind chime, rusted metal shiv, mason jars, what looked like brick laying tools, a hammer, and a pretty standard floor tom) and a girl sitting on the floor playing a keyboard. Turner built up feedback loops using high gain settings on his amp, a volume pedal and an ebow. These loops were pretty atmospheric, wavering (radiant?) between shrill highs and murmuring lows. On the first song, the "stuff" guy shook the wind chime in front of his mike for a nice, spooky chain-dragging-on-the-ground kinda feel. The keyboard girl played pretty delicate little scales over all of this. It was quite moving and beautiful, even if it was a little strange to watch them do it (on one song, the "stuff" guy was sliding his rusted metal shiv over the corner of what I think was a metal paint basin while it was sitting on top of a drum set). I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Next up, Helms Alee. These guys; a sasquatch looking mother fuck on guitar and howls, a little tiny girl on drums, and a rather curvy miss on bass and singing, were awesome. They play a brand of proto-grunge, psuedo-metal hard rock that definitely rocked my socks. Fuzzed out guitars, thumpin' Bonham-stomp drums and funky walkin' bass grooves for days. Check em.

Next, the main event. isis.

They came out, didnt say a word, and jumped right into Hall of the Dead. It was so amazingly loud.

They churned the heavy sludge and delicate deliciousness that is Isis' post metal mayhem for a good hour and half if not more, sliding through their catalog with ease and reinvigorating all of it. It was heavy, energetic and mind boggling. The way they weave three guitars, keys and a bass is like making waterproof native american baskets. It made me, as me and dan were talking about it, really realize how much a fulcrum the bassist is in almost every isis song. From his sludge riffs, to his submarine sonar cleans, he is really the glue that holds a lot of the guitar feedbacking all together.

Made me love them all over again.

And

My second music involvement.

I recently bought a "new" amp. I say "new" because it is a 1972 Ampeg VT-22.

This amp was popularized by the Rolling Stones in the late 60's. More recently it has been adopted by the Desert Rock and Stoner Rock scene, being played by many, but most notably by both Josh Homme and Takeshi. It is one hundred and twenty watts of crunch and, having no master volume, when played at anything higher then half volume has been known to kill babies and small animals. It has revitalized my guitar playing.

Mmm...Tubes...

Work is much of the same every day and yeah.

Audio:

QOTSA - Eponymous release

Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley

Melvins - (a) Senile Animal and Houdini

The Mars Volta - Octahedron

Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue (which oh man do i love, early beck feelin')

Isis - Wavering Radiant and Celestial(which is fucking incredible)

Gotan Project - Lunitico

Teargas and Plateglass - Black Triage

Zu - Carboniferous ( I can not get over this album and frankly I don't want to, it has its claws in me deep)

Words:

Mirakami - Kafka on the Shore

Edwin S. Shneidman - The Suicidal Mind

and just finished House of Leaves again.

Visual:

Finishing off BSG.

PEACE!