September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
September 2008 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
REVIEWSMUSIC<br />
COFFINS<br />
BURIED DEATH<br />
(20 BUCK SPIN)<br />
Like a lot of heavy music,<br />
death metal is enjoying<br />
a surge of popularity in<br />
Japan. Coffins is a Japanese<br />
three-piece that makes<br />
some of the grimiest, heaviest metal on the planet. Lost<br />
somewhere in the vile stew where thrash metal begat<br />
death, Coffins’ sound is rooted in simplistic, though<br />
memorable, riffs. Not unlike early Cannibal Corpse,<br />
there’s a groove to be found in the heavy thrashing—a<br />
song like “Altars In Gore” comes off more like a brutal<br />
retelling of The Stooges than the increasingly technical<br />
playing of modern death metal or grindcore. Coffins’<br />
production also belies some of their other influences.<br />
The guitars are so laden with amp shaking feedback<br />
that they sound like a static wall. The drums are also<br />
recorded strangely for metal record, eschewing the<br />
large, full stadium sound many current bands use for a<br />
chewy, almost “over produced” smack that calls to mind<br />
the avant-garde bands of the ’70s and ’80s, (Eno, Can,<br />
Faust, etc). The title track “Buried Death” is based so<br />
heavily on a drum rolling groove that you can’t help but<br />
notice the flat drums and the unusual tone they add to<br />
the music. Coffins is being distributed in North America<br />
by Southern Lord Records, so as you’d expect the band<br />
also displays a propensity for monolithic chugging at<br />
times. “Cadaver Blood” is two-thirds a creeping metal<br />
dirge with whining feedback and crawling guitars,<br />
while “Mortification To Run” is a full-blown old school<br />
doom track, complete with a most kingly Sabbathian<br />
riff. Koreeda’s deep, deathly growl is nothing to write<br />
home about—it serves its purpose, even occasionally<br />
punctuating its guttural growls with ghoulish screams,<br />
(another connection to early Cannibal Corpse), but<br />
he’s not bringing anything challenging to the vocals<br />
department. Buried Death is a mighty record, a churning,<br />
old school death metal record that favors brutish power<br />
and catchy riffing over technicality. —Mike Rodgers<br />
CSS<br />
DONKEY<br />
(SUB POP)<br />
Great, here we go again.<br />
Another week, another<br />
upbeat, dancey, post-punk<br />
band. Cansei der Ser Sexy,<br />
aka CSS, is yet one more<br />
band in the litany of electro rock and, though in their<br />
face they’re not a bad band, I have to ask, “What are<br />
you doing that makes me interested?” Donkey is a more<br />
polished record, dropping some of the Brazillian funk<br />
of previous releases for a smoother sound. The result<br />
is an album of well crafted, radio ready dance tracks<br />
that keeps just a few hits of that party vibe. Unlike their<br />
early work, which retained some of the garishness and<br />
sharp edges of low-fi electro, CSS’ new sound is, to put<br />
it mildly, boring. Party music should be unhinged, a<br />
celebration of hedonism that forces the listener to move,<br />
but the best Donkey can muster is mild amusement.<br />
Consider me off the dance punk bandwagon if this is<br />
what’s passing for progress. Most of Donkey is cobbled<br />
together from soft guitars, squeaking analog synths<br />
and mid-tempo Kiss FM drumming. The whole thing<br />
sounds so neutered it’s like listening to your parents’<br />
music. CSS are at there “best” when they drop the<br />
rocking and focus more on their obvious ’80s electro<br />
influences—even in this regard all they can muster is<br />
the catchy synthesizer balladry in “Believe Achieve,”<br />
which pales in comparison of the batshit crazy dance<br />
music currently being exported from Brazil, (Bonde Do<br />
Role’s With Lasers, for example). I can’t lob only vitriol<br />
though. The music, weak though it may be, is well<br />
played and written. I’m sure some Apple commercial or<br />
Bacardi advertisement will do well with “Jager Yoga”<br />
playing in the background, but should that really be the<br />
pinnacle of your musical aspirations? —Mike Rodgers<br />
EINSTURZENDE<br />
NEUBAUTEN<br />
JEWELS<br />
(POTOMAK)<br />
Einsturzende Neubauten<br />
have been pushing the<br />
limits of music for decades<br />
now, though not always with record label support. It’s<br />
only natural that the band would eventually find a way to<br />
circumvent that most tired of rock tropes, “The Label,”<br />
and find a better way to release their music. Thus the<br />
supporters album Jewels was born, released track by track<br />
to paid “supporters” of the band’s website. Both the<br />
scattered nature of the recording of these tracks, as well<br />
as Neubauten’s chaotic method of writing songs by card<br />
makes Jewels their least coherent or substantial record in<br />
many years, but it’s still a treasure. Six hundred cards<br />
were labeled with artifacts specific to the band’s idiom,<br />
cryptic items like zinc, sections of older songs, moods,<br />
etc. These cards were doled out and laid like tarot for<br />
each member to interpret and bring what they will to the<br />
session. The result is a Neubauten record where most<br />
songs never stretch beyond the three minute mark. Jewels<br />
feels more like a series of well-produced sketches, like<br />
peering into an artist’s unpublished folio. Sure, the works<br />
feel less complete than their published work, but the ideas<br />
are still invigorating. The music continues the band’s postmillennial<br />
sound, based more in subtle instrumentation<br />
and dignified presence, only punctuated by the occasional<br />
cacophony. Interestingly enough, Jewels, despite its<br />
strange nature, may be Einsturzende Neubauten’s most<br />
accessible point. Newcomers can get a taste of the bands<br />
current, precise and thoughtful sound without being<br />
overburdened by lengthy tracks. So for those who have<br />
tepidly thought of trying out the band, Jewels acts a sort<br />
of sampler, a taste of the bigger ideas that Einsturzende<br />
Neubauten deal in. —Mike Rodgers<br />
I, OCTOPUS &<br />
METRONOME THE<br />
CITY<br />
UNTITLED<br />
(INDEPENDENT)<br />
I<br />
’ve heard it so many<br />
times: a local band trying<br />
to capture a live sound in the<br />
studio. In the past I commiserated with them about their<br />
never-ending plight. Now, though, I’ve figured out why<br />
it’s so difficult—being a studio band and being a live band<br />
are two different talents. Sometimes great live bands that<br />
haven’t yet mastered the art of the studio should leave the<br />
live stuff on the floor. If local instrumental rock group I,<br />
Octopus’ new track, “Craig Has a Beard Now,” which<br />
appears on their split single with Metronome The City,<br />
is any indication, they’re one of these bands. “Craig”<br />
is an unedited twenty-five minute jam that’s misguided<br />
and tedious and should have been edited. There’s little<br />
diversity or melody, just a lot of progressions. It’d be<br />
good as background music but not for repeated listening.<br />
Metronome The City, a local instrumental group that<br />
possesses more of a schizophrenic, metal sound than I,<br />
Octopus, contributed an equally lengthy “Untitled” track<br />
that benefited from editing and splicing. The song begins<br />
with a creepy dissonance before progressing into a hiphop<br />
jam and later a dub excursion led by keyboardist<br />
Brad Theard. The bass line is big and repetitive, providing<br />
the anchor for the other musicians to experiment around.<br />
Thanks to Katrina and a revolving door of members, I,<br />
Octopus has had difficulty recording a proper full-length<br />
record, and “Craig” is a result of the band wanting to<br />
release music as they conceive it. I, Octopus is a great<br />
live group that turns out head-nodding noise excursions<br />
as well as prettier, more contemplative music. They’d<br />
do well to focus on shorter, more direct songs for future<br />
recordings. I have faith “Craig” is just a misstep. —Jason<br />
Songe<br />
Metronome the City and I, Octopus release their split album on<br />
<strong>September</strong> 20th at One Eyed Jacks with A Living Soundtrack.<br />
For more info, go to myspace.com/metronomethecity or<br />
myspace.com/ioctopus.<br />
MUSIC REVIEWS SPONSORED BY THE OFFICIAL RECORD STORE OF ANTIGRAVITY<br />
30_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative