This blog shall serve as a collaborative effort between myself (Nathan) and Matt to advertise, analyze, and critique music, especially in the fields of extreme metal, electronica, and classical. Most posts will be individual and pertaining to our respective individual preferences, but we hope to unveil various musical trends through collaborative posts.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Samples From Electronic Compilation Available On Soundcloud
I have made excerpts of my electronic works available on soundcloud. These works (mostly remixes of works done a few months prior) represent my first attempt at genuine songwriting in any genre of music. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Lost Gems Of '90s Black Metal Unearthed
A comprehensive list of '90s black metal that is virtually unknown to this day despite high quality and integrity. Besides the obvious criteria of quality to make this list, all albums were required to have fewer than 100 ratings on rateyourmusic.com.
The Abyss - The Other Side
An unknown side '90s side project of the now-commercialized melodic Swedish death metal band Hypocrisy. This album is essentially a memorable Swedish interpretation of Pentagram-era Gorgoroth.
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The Abyss - The Other Side
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Aeternus - Dark Sorcery
Imagine a shortened demo version of the underground legend Beyond The Wandering Moon, basically. Thick, droning guitars with more of a low-end presence than those of traditional Norwegian black metal, playing folk-tinged grandiose melodies under a gutteral roar from the abyss.
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Avzhia - Dark Emperors
Somehow this piece of pagan '90s Graveland-style black metal came out of Mexico of all places yet still managed to capture that mystical eastern European atmosphere of Thousand Swords.
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Belial - Wisdom Of Darkness
Belial is a tough band to pin down. They play a kind of "ambient death" along the lines of Beherit, Blasphemy, and Profanatica, but Belial's overtly melodic tendencies allow them to sound entirely unique from their blasphemous brethren.
Belial - Wisdom Of Darkness
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Fallen Christ - Abduction Ritual
Up until 1996, the only music classified as death/black/grind was merely primitive black metal with a severe death metal aesthetic and grindcore-esque drumming, but here we have Fallen Christ combining Blasphemy's aesthetic, Immolation's dark riffcraft, and a more traditional grindcore album structure.
Fallen Christ - Abduction Ritual
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Mystifier - Goetia
Mystifier is another band that doesn't quite sound like any other. They obviously draw from the vicious and bestial Brazilian bands of the '80s and from the occult chaos of Beherit's debut full-length, but the occult elements are taken a step further in their more subdued, eerie, and doom-laden songs.
Mystifier - Goetia
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Niden Div. 187 - Impergium
Niden Div. 187 is a side project of the Swedish melodic black metal band Dawn that still sounds distinctly Swedish in melody but strays from the saccharine Gothenburg sound in favor of a more thick, grinding sound.
Niden Div. 187 - Impergium
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Order From Chaos - An Ending In Fire
An early project of underground legends Pete Helmkamp and Chuck Keller, Order From Chaos knows how to use repetition correctly by the classical standard, building on simple themes with slight variations to craft what is actually an album of three long and filthy songs.
Order From Chaos - An Ending In Fire
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Sacramentary Abolishment - River Of Corticone
Later called Axis Of Advance, Sacramentary Abolishment were one of the first and finest bands to expand the war metal sound of Blasphemy beyond its primitive and minimalist nature, constructing grandiose songs from primitive origins.
Sacramentary Abolishment - River Of Corticone
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Sorcier Des Glaces - Snowland
Sorcier Des Glaces demonstrates that Canadian black metallers are every bit as enchanted by their own glacial forest landscapes as the Norwegian scene before them. Great band that defies tradition to create a refreshing and inventive "winter" album.
Sorcier Des Glaces - Snowland
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Throne Of Ahaz - Nifelheim
While it wouldn't be farfetched to call this another extremely well-done Swedish take on Gorgoroth, make no mistake, it's nothing like The Abyss' ballsy Pentagram worship, but rather a cold, melodic, Norwegian-sounding album with a more ambient nature, possibly closer to the Antichrist EP.
Throne Of Ahaz - Nifelheim
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Xibalba - Ah Dzam Poop Ek
Ok class, let's get it out. Poop. Anywho, Xibalba basically play a thick, hypnotic style of black metal in the vein of Darkthrone's Panzerfaust (the more ambient portions of that album, that is). However, a distinct mystical undertone throughout the album makes it apparent that Xibalba is neither Norwegian or another petty Darkthrone rip-off.
Xibalba - Ah Dzam Poop Ek
Saturday, January 12, 2013
RE: "Theodor Adorno on Gustav Mahler"
"In Mahler's music, 'the expression of suffering, his own and of those who have to bear the burdens, no longer knuckles under at the behest of the sovereign subject that things must be so and not otherwise.' (p.96) It was precisely Mahler's lack of virtuosity that allowed him to follow the music where it wanted to go, rather than 'commanding the notes to go where they belonged.' (ibid) Mahler's music can be disturbing, unbalanced, even ugly at times, but it is only so in an attempt to remain at the level of a true humanity."
This segment of Matt's latest post piqued my interest immediately. While the young innovators of metal were likely completely oblivious to Mahler and his music, could his music perhaps have helped to introduce a principle of composition that essentially governs extreme metal composition today? Of course metal is not unique in this style, with genres such as industrial music also defying the suggestions of musical theory to resolve melodies and compositions in a certain manner, to utilize certain intervals most pleasant to the ear, etc. However, in my experience, this principle set forth by Mahler's music is extremely prevalent and successful in extreme metal post-1986.
A guitar teacher once told me "Nathan, in heaven, we will only need the chromatic scale" - a fancy, musically literate way of saying music will one day no longer require scales or theory at all. Once Sepultura released Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions, it became apparent that metal could actually thrive by ignoring musical trends and simply crafting melodies based on aligning notes where they simply sound good. Likewise, when Quorthon released Bathory's self-titled album in 1984, legendary more for its lo-fi nature and inhuman vocal style than for its blatant dismissal of musicianship, it became apparent that music could actually gain underground fame for utterly ignoring the notion that a guitarist needs to acquire virtuoso-like capabilities and learn the conventions of mainstream riffcraft.
These early recordings were, of course, sloppy, but early '90s extreme metal demonstrated that such music could be refined in terms of production and composition without scrapping this "true humanity" and succumbing to past-musical conventions to create melodies acceptable to the least common denominator. Quorthon could barely play his guitar with any degree of proficiency, but nevertheless created some of the most influential albums in the realm of extreme metal; perhaps this is Mahler's message: that conventions may be scrapped because "if it sounds good, it is good." While some may argue that his music, along with the majority of heavy metal, is ugly, but then again, did metal, and Mahler before it, not always revolve around the beautification of the ugly?
This segment of Matt's latest post piqued my interest immediately. While the young innovators of metal were likely completely oblivious to Mahler and his music, could his music perhaps have helped to introduce a principle of composition that essentially governs extreme metal composition today? Of course metal is not unique in this style, with genres such as industrial music also defying the suggestions of musical theory to resolve melodies and compositions in a certain manner, to utilize certain intervals most pleasant to the ear, etc. However, in my experience, this principle set forth by Mahler's music is extremely prevalent and successful in extreme metal post-1986.
A guitar teacher once told me "Nathan, in heaven, we will only need the chromatic scale" - a fancy, musically literate way of saying music will one day no longer require scales or theory at all. Once Sepultura released Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions, it became apparent that metal could actually thrive by ignoring musical trends and simply crafting melodies based on aligning notes where they simply sound good. Likewise, when Quorthon released Bathory's self-titled album in 1984, legendary more for its lo-fi nature and inhuman vocal style than for its blatant dismissal of musicianship, it became apparent that music could actually gain underground fame for utterly ignoring the notion that a guitarist needs to acquire virtuoso-like capabilities and learn the conventions of mainstream riffcraft.
These early recordings were, of course, sloppy, but early '90s extreme metal demonstrated that such music could be refined in terms of production and composition without scrapping this "true humanity" and succumbing to past-musical conventions to create melodies acceptable to the least common denominator. Quorthon could barely play his guitar with any degree of proficiency, but nevertheless created some of the most influential albums in the realm of extreme metal; perhaps this is Mahler's message: that conventions may be scrapped because "if it sounds good, it is good." While some may argue that his music, along with the majority of heavy metal, is ugly, but then again, did metal, and Mahler before it, not always revolve around the beautification of the ugly?
Theodor Adorno on Gustav Mahler
"To interpret language means: to understand language. To interpret music means: to make music."
-T.W. Adorno, "Music and Langage: A Fragment", Quasi Una Fantasia
With Mahler, not only does the old music come to an end, but the new music also begins. Without Mahler, the atonal music of Schoenberg and the work of the Second Viennese School would not have been possible. Given the influence of Schoenberg and his pupils, such as Stockhausen, on the development of modern electronic music, it might even be possible to say that Mahler is integral to this development. In a brilliant essay on Mahler, Adorno shows how Mahler, working within a fairly traditional framework and without a particularly sophisticated knowledge of composition, was able to create some of the most advanced and influential music ever written. Adorno wrote his essay more than fifteen years after World War II, but it is clear that the experience of the war (Adorno, as a German Jew, had been forced into exile in the United States) has influenced his perception of Mahler's music. He extols Mahler's music as the music of an "untrammeled subjectivity" which refuses to participate in the domination of others, and which represents an attempt at a new polyvocality (through the incorporation of folk elements, musical banalities, and other "detritus", for which Mahler is often criticized). In Mahler's music, "the expression of suffering, his own and of those who have to bear the burdens, no longer knuckles under at the behest of the sovereign subject that things must be so and not otherwise." (p.96) It was precisely Mahler's lack of virtuosity that allowed him to follow the music where it wanted to go, rather than "commanding the notes to go where they belonged." (ibid) Mahler's music can be disturbing, unbalanced, even ugly at times, but it is only so in an attempt to remain at the level of a true humanity.
Adorno's essay on Mahler can be found in the recently republished collection "Quasi Una Fantasia: Essays on Modern Music". For those interested in hearing Mahler's music, I would recommend beginning with the Fifth Symphony or the Kindertotenlieder; more adventurous listeners might begin with the Ninth Symphony. The recordings with John Barbirolli conducting available from EMI in the Great Recordings of the Century series are among the best readily available.
God, Lucifer, And Heavy Metal
It's no secret that religious groups have taken issue with metal music for decades now, but is metal truly nothing more in relation to religion than a hateful, destructive force as popular culture is lead to believe? As a member of the incredibly miniscule minority of Christians that can appreciate the works of Incantation, Sarcofago, or Profanatica, I would argue that religious (and anti-religious) sentiments in heavy metal have proved more beneficial than an overly-rigid society is willing to admit.
Given the dark nature of metal, both musically and lyrically, fans of metal are surely required to answer for their unorthodox interests more than any other musical fan-base. Although these fans are rarely able to adequately convey the meaningful nature of metal to uneducated inquisitors, these questions, along with the nature of metal itself, actually prove beneficial. Although concrete data on the topic is still scarce, the trend seems to be that metal fans are more prepared to hold individual stances on their musical interests, their religious and moral beliefs, and the links between the two. Thus, in addition to the independent thinking required to write such dissonant or offensive music, one could conclude that fans of this genre are actually more encouraged to embrace individualism. For instance, one need never explain in our modern-day society why one would listen to Mumford & Sons, but an avid Deicide fan often is required to defend his or her interests and thus to reflect on these interests as well as the associated beliefs and standards. Therefore, one might conclude that listeners of anti-religious music are more often pushed to develop their own thoughts on any given subject rather than to embrace an accepted societal standard.
Secondly, regardless of whether or not the fan base benefits from the grim nature of extreme metal, when the goal of music is to create a higher form of art, the music itself arguably benefits from various lyrical themes. While lyrics do not define musical content itself, lyrical themes often reflect an artist's beliefs, passions, and visions, and of course the passion in this case is not the Satanism it is often made out to be but rather a hatred of conformity and the corruption that has often been rooted deep in various sectors of organized religion. In actuality, metal's dark themes are not so different from punk music, merely focusing on a different establishment than punk's typical targets. Anyhow, the fact is that the extremity of metal supplies the genre with a passion and an artistic vision, qualities that are often more likely to yield sincere quality music than a group of guys mindlessly jamming in their garage. This is not to say that satanic lyrics yield quality, but that, like the christian hymns of old, they are often driven by a unique vision, giving the music deeper purpose and meaning.
In short, this post is not meant to encourage Satanism, rebellion, or anything of the sort. The goal is merely to convey that, given that these lyrical themes are not as rooted in evil as society might claim and that they are merely critiques backed by steadfast passion, the music world should stop viewing metal's lyrical themes as such a social taboo and begin to appreciate that such themes can actually augment the musical quality in question.
Given the dark nature of metal, both musically and lyrically, fans of metal are surely required to answer for their unorthodox interests more than any other musical fan-base. Although these fans are rarely able to adequately convey the meaningful nature of metal to uneducated inquisitors, these questions, along with the nature of metal itself, actually prove beneficial. Although concrete data on the topic is still scarce, the trend seems to be that metal fans are more prepared to hold individual stances on their musical interests, their religious and moral beliefs, and the links between the two. Thus, in addition to the independent thinking required to write such dissonant or offensive music, one could conclude that fans of this genre are actually more encouraged to embrace individualism. For instance, one need never explain in our modern-day society why one would listen to Mumford & Sons, but an avid Deicide fan often is required to defend his or her interests and thus to reflect on these interests as well as the associated beliefs and standards. Therefore, one might conclude that listeners of anti-religious music are more often pushed to develop their own thoughts on any given subject rather than to embrace an accepted societal standard.
Secondly, regardless of whether or not the fan base benefits from the grim nature of extreme metal, when the goal of music is to create a higher form of art, the music itself arguably benefits from various lyrical themes. While lyrics do not define musical content itself, lyrical themes often reflect an artist's beliefs, passions, and visions, and of course the passion in this case is not the Satanism it is often made out to be but rather a hatred of conformity and the corruption that has often been rooted deep in various sectors of organized religion. In actuality, metal's dark themes are not so different from punk music, merely focusing on a different establishment than punk's typical targets. Anyhow, the fact is that the extremity of metal supplies the genre with a passion and an artistic vision, qualities that are often more likely to yield sincere quality music than a group of guys mindlessly jamming in their garage. This is not to say that satanic lyrics yield quality, but that, like the christian hymns of old, they are often driven by a unique vision, giving the music deeper purpose and meaning.
In short, this post is not meant to encourage Satanism, rebellion, or anything of the sort. The goal is merely to convey that, given that these lyrical themes are not as rooted in evil as society might claim and that they are merely critiques backed by steadfast passion, the music world should stop viewing metal's lyrical themes as such a social taboo and begin to appreciate that such themes can actually augment the musical quality in question.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Matt's Top Albums of 2012
(in alphabetical order)
Actress - R.I.P.
Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
Burial - Truant EP
Drexciya - Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller II (Compilation)
Lee Gamble - Diversions 1994-1996
Max Richter - Recomposed
By Max Richter: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Fetch
Mouse on Mars - Parastrophics
Mouse on Mars - Parastrophics
Ricardo Villalobos - Dependent and Happy
Voices from the Lake - Voices from the Lake
Other recommendations:
Burial - Kindred EP
Daphni - Jiaolong
Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes
Four Tet - Pink
Lee Gamble - Dutch Tvashtar Plumes
Liars - WIXIW
Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton
Mouse on Mars - WOW
Scott Walker - Bish Bosch
Swans - The Seer
Swans - The Seer
more lists upcoming...
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Nathan's Top Albums Of 2012
1. Beherit - Celebrate The Dead
2. Swans - The Seer
3. Lord Wind - Ales Stenar
4. Dead Can Dance - Anastasis
5. Demoncy - Enthroned Is The Night
6. Burial - Truant
7. Profanatica - Sickened By The Holy Host
8. Inverloch - Dusk | Subside
9. Chthe'ilist - Amechth'ntaas'm'rriachth
10. LaSanche - Death Magick
2. Swans - The Seer
3. Lord Wind - Ales Stenar
4. Dead Can Dance - Anastasis
5. Demoncy - Enthroned Is The Night
6. Burial - Truant
7. Profanatica - Sickened By The Holy Host
8. Inverloch - Dusk | Subside
9. Chthe'ilist - Amechth'ntaas'm'rriachth
10. LaSanche - Death Magick
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