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Listen: Meshuggah – I

Now, I’ve heard some heavy songs.

The first time I heard Metallica’s ‘One’ on headphones as a kid, I felt I was literally inVietnam, frenzied and overwhelmed.

In my first experience with The Beatles’ ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy),’ I was nearly comatose in the absorption of apocalyptic drone and the fuzzed out march of death (though the brownies might have aided in that).

But as this decade comes to a close, I’ve got to say that Meshuggah’s track (and EP of the same name) ‘I’ takes the cake as not only the heaviest song ever recorded, but perhaps the heaviest song that can be recorded. If you haven’t heard it yet, throw on your headphones, hit the LaLa button above, and sit back. You’re in for a ride.

‘I’ is the sound of everything going haywire. It is a journey through the forthcoming era of machine dominance, when man transcends his own biology and merges with technology. And ‘I’ is when it all goes wrong.

Not only that, but the song is practically self-aware. Just when you think a section within it’s 21 minutes are getting slightly dull, it blindsides you over the head with a drop deeper into the chasm. The floor falls out from under you, and the 8 string guitar pummels you into a bouncing pit. ‘I’ knows your thoughts, and how to fuck directly with them.

The song is unquestionably a studio piece. There was never any intention of performing this behemoth live, and it likely wouldn’t even be possible. The sheer force of this thing lies in the production itself.

Now there are certainly other kinds of heavy. High on Fire, Electric Wizard, and Ufomammut come from a completely different world of heaviness, and are totally badass for doing so. But for my pick of heaviest song possible, I’m the technology of production in mind. Meshuggah know how to produce modern metal (few do, it seems…), created for the listener.

And for the observant listener, they stuck little easter eggs in the track too.

The intro is exactly 1:32 of pummeling drums and chugging riffs. Not 1:30. Not even 1:31. But 1:32. That’s the nature of the Swedish sense of ironic and absurd humor.
Look at your music players little ball to see that they placed the very heaviest riff at exactly halfway through the song.
The song is 21 minutes long. 20 would be too easy. 22 is right out.
Have a listen.

But just know that if you can’t make it all the way through, Meshuggah wins.

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Maybe I’ve been to too many death metal shows.

Maybe I’ve been too funked by to much funk.

But when I see a band completely killing it, throwing their all into their music, the sound actually moving, I need to move myself.

More salsa!

That’s why I was completely flummoxed to see the four guys in Baroness exude more energy than the entire crowd at last night’s Clutch / Baroness show at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco.

Granted, Baroness’ brand of progressive stoner metal (a bit of an oxymoron, yes) isn’t geared toward the uninitiated. Their syncopated grooves, shifting hits of time signature, and hoarse bellows from the more scenic areas of the underworld aren’t exactly crafted for your average rock and roll booze hound.

But it was still a shock to barely see any movement in the crowd for John Dyer Baizley’s poppy scented rock band, considering that Clutch’s terminally obsessed fans came out that night for big guitars, loud drums, and big balled howling.

Which, to be sure, Clutch later brought in spades. From the two vintage Marshall half stacks on the guitar side, to the giant kick drums and massive groove of Jean-Paul Gaster’s drum kit, Clutch screamed rock and roll, and the crowd adored their no nonsense jam.

I, on the other hand, need a bit of nonsense to keep my attention, which Clutch soon didn’t. I couldn’t help but thinking that if I owned my own bar, Clutch would be my perfect Saturday night house band. Or at least a good chunk of my jukebox would slosh in the beer soaked grooves they were throwing at the crowd.

But I’ve always had trouble sitting down to listen to a Clutch album. As good a singer as Neil Fallon is (and he most certainly is a fantastic wordsmith and howler), very rarely does he actually sing a real melody. And as good as a riff monster Tim Sult is (and he most certainly is a riff monster), he rarely plays anything that really piques my interest. He’s not a Tony or a Jimmy; he lays down a fat groove, but he doesn’t do it with the soul burning fire that a rock band this capable, this potent, should be secreting from every pore.

The mighty Baroness however, perhaps with that essential intensity of a young, talented upstart, threw out their all and probably won some new fans. But it’s going to take a little dulling of their musical razor if they want to really win over Clutch’s sycophantic obsessives.

Hopefully there’ll be an open bar at the next Clutch show.

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Yes, I’ve already written a little dP blast about the Ozric Tentacles, and for good measure.  They’ve been consistently swirly for over 25 years now, and eternally fueled by hallucinogenic globs of mind stuff, will probably keep up their long trip for years to come.

Last night was their second show of their newest tour in support of The Yum Yum Tree, and while the crowd was notably sparser than their last stays in San Francisco, it was nonetheless a joyful one.  An encore was demanded by the crowd with a furor I haven’t heard in years.

Yeah, it's a little like that

While the band is led by the “man, the myth,” Ed Wynne, it is really Ed’s wife Brandi Wynne who, in managing the low end and sound spirals, is the head honcho (in poncho).  Her exuberant grins when the music spirals into infinity, and her jubilant jumping when drummer Ollie Seagle is on a roll (which he was at many times last night), fuel the fire and keep the music beaming.

Though it is still Ed that keeps the music ablaze.  With his unlabeled Marshall stack pointed directly at him, and his litany of keythings to his side, he is an unabashed musical control center, guiding his band through colors unimaginable, into worlds unknown.  The bits between the bits, indeed.

This is psychedelic, hallucinogenic music.  While the experience is certainly enhanced by the consumption of leafy greens, smelly fruits, or a chemical supplement, the music essentially provides this itself.  A great deal of audience members had their eyes closed and their heads tilted back while the Ozric Tentacles shredded their heads away.

dope

Many bands combine dub, electronic, techno, trance and psych (Younger Brother, EOTO, Shpongle, to name a few), but the Ozrics have always had the wild card of Ed Wynne’s complete mastery over the electric guitar.  Had Frank Zappa actually done drugs, he would have very likely come up with something like the Ozric Tentacles.  You can see the same smile of Ed’s face when everything is going to plan as Zappa had when his band was on a roll and it was time to take a blast into solo land.

I do need to point out one hilarious moment of the gig.  After snapping a string on his Ibanez JEM, he had to replace it for his trusty Artist at one point in the night.  However, later in the set, he went to pick up his guitar for the next song, and grabbing the JEM, forgetting what had happened.  It took about 20 seconds and a knowing glance from his wife before he noticed the guitar was crippled.  It was a hilarious moment for all, but just goes to show you that a quarter decade of living in the ether can take it’s toll.

This current group of the family Wynne and friends is certainly a psychdelic squad of the swirly, and, even after 26 albums, has no end in sight.  I raise a glass of soma, and toast the 25 anniversary of the Ozrics!

The Ozric Tentacles new album, The Yum Yum Tree, is now available.

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Gojira have come a long way to be here.  They hopped the Atlantic Ocean, breaded their bus, and are smoking across our country, leaving thick wafts of death metal perfume wherever they go.

Fortunately for us, drummer Mario Duplantier and guitarist Christian Andreu surrendered an interview with downPICK before their first headlining tour Thursday night at Slim’s!  We discussed food, the French, why European metal fans are boring, and Gojira’s plans for world domination.

J’aime San Francisco au mois de Mai…

Cucumbers!

Enjoy!

Well first off, welcome to San Francisco!

Christian – We went to a very nice place today, the hippie place.

Haight Ashbury?

C – Yeah I think so, I don’t know.

Did you make it to Amoeba, the big record store?

C – No, just to take coffee, to stay in the sun, and walk around.

Mario – We took a coffee and came back.  We don’t have enough time to visit.   It’s very frustrating for us each time on tour.  We just have one day and the day afterwards is another city.  San Francisco is an amazing city.  We know from France, everybody talks of San Francisco.  It’s very famous.

We were upstairs and looking at your merch table, and you had lots of pamphlets for PETA, the whales, and vegetarianism.  Are you Vegetarians?

C – Joe is vegetarian.  The rest of the band is not, but we just eat meat sometimes.  It’s very important to be careful, but we are not Vegi.

M – We feel concerned.   Christian is very concerned.  He has garden, and works on his own vegetables.

What do you grow?

C – Everything, tomato, eggplant, squash, and, uhhh… concombre?  How do you say…

Cucumber?

C- Cucumber!

Who’s looking after your garden on tour?

C – Mum! (laughs) and my brother too.

Is it hard though, when you’re on the road?  It’s a lot of fast food, especially in the United States.

(continue reading…)

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This year’s Bay to Breakers event was an experiment. We didn’t quite know if floats were legit; we didn’t quit know if drinking in public was legit; we didn’t know if general good times were legit.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the party was legit, and we all raged like Paul Baloff would have wanted.

Mushrooms make you see things

The song that was blasting throughout my brain throughout was Ozric Tentacles’ trance masterpiece, ‘Waterfall Cities’. Goddamn, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face listening to this one, blasting through town on my bike on my way up to the Panhandle to party.

The Ozric Tentacles are a unique band – they go from the most minimal ambient swirly psychedelic jams to the highest grade slammin dub blast party bombs you’ve ever wanted to hear, all in a live band. Forget vocals, the Ozrics don’t waste their time in providing exactly what your dome needs to hear. Waterfall Cities is one of the best comps they’ve brought to us in their 29 album career (and yes, they’re all good).

The title track on Waterfall Cities kicked my ass on my way to Bay to Breakers and kept my bouncing all day. It was an epic event this year for me, and I can imagine it was for you too. In fact, if it’s Sunday and you’re reading this, then you haven’t quite broken the bay yourself, haven’t you?

Check Ozric Tentacles new album “The Yum Yum Tree” out now, but really catch them at ‘The Independent’ in San Francisco on May 27th.

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Sleepytime Gorilla Museum have a penchant for the otherwise.  No two records – or tours for that matter – have ever fallen to uniformity, and that’s just the way they like it.  Their roisterous show last night at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall featured a rambling mustached Italian, apocalyptic dances, and a 20-piece marching band bazaar.   And did it ever rock.

Boo!

It’s been just under two years since SGM’s last record, In Glorious Times was released, and the band has just wrapped up their latest spring tour, finishing up with this hometown show.  For a band whose live show can only be described as a ’spectacle,’ this show was truly an extravaganza amongst spectacles, pulling out all the stops and playing at the top of their game.

Fortunately for the 6 and a half billion not in attendance, the evening was documented on film as the first official video evidence of the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum live experience.  But as the Museum regularly updates it’s collection, the next tour will likely be an entirely different exhibition of natural history.

Museum curators Michael Mellender [guitar, percussion, stuff], Dan Rathburn [bass, slide piano log, things], and Carla Kihlstedt [violin, stroh horn, trappings] gave up some of their precious pre-show preparation to chat with me about their musical philosophies, songwriting processes, listening habits, and plans for the next record and forthcoming film.

dP: You guys are really great at bringing out artists that most people haven’t really heard.  Last time here you brought along accordion extraordinaire Jason Webley and bass clarinet quartet Edmund Welles.

Michael: Ah Edmund Welles, we played with them on this tour.  Occasionally we’ll do an entire tour with one band, but that is not the norm.

How do you find these guys?

The goal ultimately is to play with bands we know and love and want to be on the road with.  There was one tour where we did a string of shows with Cheer-Accident from Chicago, our favorite band in the whole world.  And also we went out with Secret Chiefs 3, they’re incredible.  This time we went out with Dub Trio, we did a week of shows with them.  We try to line it up when we can, but it’s usually at the discretion of the venue or the promoter.  They really know what’s going on locally; we don’t really know the bands in Doylestown, PA.

I’m excited to see Fred Frith.  I was talking to Nils earlier, he used to the term mentor.

Yeah, mentor, influence, man about town.

(continue reading…)

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lol

In the biggest lineup deflection in black metal since Gorgoroth cracked, Negură Bunget, the cosmic-folk-dark-ambient and totally badass band of Romanian mystics has all but imploded and left dust in the skies.

Official statement as released by the band:

“This has to be one of the most difficult messages to be written. We are sorry to announce that Hupogrammos [guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, archaic instruments] and Sol Faur [guitar] have ended their journey along Negură Bunget. Our paths are now apart. We wish them all the best on their new endeavors (their new project will be announced at a later time). Meanwhile, a new Negură Bunget lineup is assembled, which will continue the path started almost 15 years ago. Rest assured, we are keen to prove there is more to be said by this band, and we will work to fulfill our spiritual endeavor relentlessly.

[guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, archaic instruments] and

“All Negură Bunget scheduled plans (concerts, festivals, contracts with Aural Music/Code666 Records and Prophecy Productions/Lupus Lounge) will be completed in the new formula. New web site and MySpace page are developed and will soon be online.”

Hupogrammos and Sol Faur have released the following statement regarding their departure from Negură Bunget: “We would like to thank everybody who supported and believed in Negură Bunget and invite you to follow our further musical activities.”

This is especially sad, as it was Hupogrammos who provided much of the psychedelically blackened antediluvian sounds that made the band so unique (2006’s Om is one of my very favorite records).  The band is going to go on with a whole new lineup, but it obviously wont be the same.

We know that these guys are all geniuses in their own right so we’re not worried that we’re going to see a lack of killer music from any of the ex-Negură Bungets, but it is still sad to see such a talented and forward thinking band implode.

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Here’s some morning mash for your ears!

Nathan ’Flutebox’ Lee, the UK’s preeminent ‘fluteboxer’, has been flowing his hip hop and ragga infused styles all across the country as of late, and recently hit up the Google camp down in London.

Check this video, which also features fellow lip slapper, the refreshingly unbearded Beardyman, who’ll slam you with a killer drum n’bass beatbox and Nina Simone mouthmix, if that’s your sort of thing.

If not, then glaze on, slappy sailor!

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The internet has been a godsend to artists obscure and freaky.  Once relegated to the dustbins of the macabre music stores, they’ve been released and vindicated by the fans they’ve always potentially had, but have never been exposed to.

Your music smells like shit.

But there are downsides to this digital web we weave.  The luster of picking up the the newest or most interesting looking record from the shelf, flipping through the sprawling gate-fold sleeve, beholden to the artists whim as you’re guided upon an unexpected journey has been lost upon the download generation.

It’s too easy to p2p a leak, distracted as you skip around through tracks and playlists.  The original artistic ideal of the creator is lost upon many, if not most of today’s listeners.

This very sentiment has been expressed in numerous ways in the music and direction of Steven Wilson.  His monolithic releases though his flagship band Porcupine Tree, and through his numerous, more experimentally tinged side-projects like Bass Communion, No-Man, and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, have always been meant to be taken as one complete deluxe package.  He has written anti-isolationist concept records, blissful dream pop, and all-encompassing sonic assaults.  But it’s his newest record, Insurgentes, the first to be released under his own name, that finally encompasses everything Steven Wilson is.

Unfortunately for this adventure, Insurgentes starts off rather blandly.  Harmony Korine, a non-tribute to the abstract surrealist film director, isn’t quite as abstract or surrealist one would hope.  As the most Porcupine Tree-like song on the album, it does serve to draw in the casual listener or semi-fan, but other than that, it’s lack of dynamics and sonic interest don’t do much to whet the whistle.

Things get more interesting just as Steven decides to be.  Abandoner and Salvaging both start off rather meekly and open, drifting the listener on sonic worlds both unexpected and terrifying.  Venemo Para Las Hadas, in giving homage The Sky moves Sideways, a former release of Porcupine Tree, keeps to the ethereal in vocal loops and colorful textures.

The highlight of the record is easily the penultimate track, Get All You Deserve.  It’s harrowing buildup from heartless desolation to obscene breakdown is not for the faint of heart.  It makes me even wonder if Steven Wilson needs a hug.

These descents from beauty to madness characterize much of Insurgentes, which truly is Steven’s all-encompassing homage to the schizophrenic and ADD-addled generation of todays youth, who cannot and will not sit still and enjoy.  By varying the sonic palate of the record and then typically destroying it, Steven Wilson not only welcomes their arrival, but forces them to sit down, shut up, and listen to music again.

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Download: Rodriguez – “Heikki’s Suburbia Bus Tour” (mp3)

Resurrected 60’s icon Rodriguez has announced tour dates for his 2009 tour, and it’s not to be missed by anyone into classic psychedelic folk (and you do own Forever Changes, don’t you?).

Someone lost a shoe.

For those not in the know, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez put out his record Cold Fact in 1969 to complete commercial failure.  Imagine his surprise in 1998 finding out that Cold Fact had become a huge hit in South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe and in New Zealand.  Rodriguez had become an icon of psychedelic folk rock all over the world, and had unwittingly formed a loyal fan base that enacted an internet campaign, “The Great Rodriguez Hunt” to track him down in 1997.

Last year, Light In The Attic Records reissued Cold Fact to fan and critical acclaim (imagine that, critics changing their tune), and Rodriguez had returned.  Light In The Attic is now working on reissuing also ignored followup, Coming From Reality, and as such, a new tour has been announced.

Check it.

• Fri, Apr 10- High Noon Saloon- Madison, WI
• Fri, Apr 24- Beachland Ballroom- Cleveland, OH
• Fri, May 08- Schubas Tavern- Chicago, IL
• Sat, May 09- Magic Stick- Detroit, MI
• Wed, May 13- Rock and Roll Hote-l Washington, DC
• Thu, May 14- Johnny Brenda’s- Philadelphia, PA
• Fri, May 15- Bowery Ballroom- New York, NY
• Mon, Jun 22- Richard’s On Richards Cabaret- Vancouver, BC
• Tue, Jun 23- The Triple Door- Seattle, WA
• Wed, Jun 24- Doug Fir Lounge- Portland, OR
• Fri, Jun 26- Slim’s- San Francisco, CA
• Sat, Jun 27- El Rey Theatre- Los Angeles, CA
• Fri, May 29- Paradiso- Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Sat, May 30- Whelans- Dublin, Ireland
• Mon, Jun 1- Nouveau Casino- Paris, France
• Wed, Jun 3- Circolo Degli Artisti- Rome, Italy
• Sat, Jun 6- Barbican- London, UK
• Sun, Jul 12- Les Ardentes Festival- Liege, Belgium

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