27.11.04

Post Turkey Stress Disorder

Yes, still here and plenty left to say for the big fishes in small minds...

Good and bad notes to post from the Hypefactor camp. The drum editing, thanks to Brandt (with a Melodyne tutorial from Ash), is finally finished and ready to be placed for mixing. The problem is that our song files for mixing are HUGE, and we, not being millionaires or having friends at Digidesign or Cubase, must learn to work with our limited resources (when I say "limited" I need to state for the record that we as a unit are quite fortunate in the amount of stuff we DO have). This has led to much discussion as to how to approach the mixing process using what we have. I think the approach Brandt has come up with, despite many revisions, is a solid one...IF the computer co-operates. Thus lies the big problem. I spent an entire day at the Birdcage yesterday (more on what I was doing there in a second), and B seemed in total control of the situation and the second I left, his computer and, in particular, Cubase itself, decided to crap out, of course always right when we need it most. Ladies and Gentlemen, technology at it's finest. My immediate concern were for the actual sound files and their possible corruption due to the computer's problems, but Brandt points out that they are kept on a separate hard drive and are secure. Where I last left off with B, he was running scans and all that shit while putting a call into Ash (who is usually quite dependable in these situations). I think our devoting the holiday weekend to getting the album ready to mix is in semi-jeopardy now, sadly. I'm trying to be as NOT frustrated as possible by trying NOT to let this series of unfortunate events crawl under my skin and make me mental....too late!

While this was all going on, yours truly has been chained to his own computer, this time for the purposes of remixing a band called Impant, who some of you might know. Jared set this up, as they will be doing a Chemlab remix in return. I'm pleased with the way it's coming out and it's allowing me to get back into the computer music groove. It's been awhile and it's been fun thus far. Hopefully, I won't jinx it.

And now for some advertisements:

FINDING NEVERLAND might be the best movie of 2004. I have to go back and look at what else came out this year, but this movie rocked my ass. They might give Depp his Oscar for this one, simply cause he doesn't do anything crazy other than give a beautiful and thoughtful performance that is unlike his usual fare. And Kate Winslet can act more with her eyes than most actors can do with their entire persons. Great film.

Thanks to Dorg of internationalpoontang.com and her singnificant other, Mr. H of St, D's, Irene and I have been able to relive our UK trip by purchasing bags and bags of crisps, digestives and good UK candy at Myers of Keswick on Hudson Street here in the big city. Huge props for this.

Now, eat your leftovers, bitch!

F

23.11.04

Regarding this Blog

When one person, for whatever reason,
has a chance to lead an exceptional
life, he has no right to keep it to
himself.
-Jacques Cousteau

(Thanks, Wes)

19.11.04

GIG OF THE YEAR: REVEALED!

Kasabian at Bowery for their first ever (and currently only) US gig. There's nothing better (and extremely rare) than seeing a highly anticipated band show up and be lightyears better than the (already amazing) record and be better than anything you could have ever hoped. Also, not only do they play like it's their last day on earth, they're nice guys as well (well done Brandt).

The future of British rock music is secure at last. Without a doubt they are the only band worthy of the title "The new Roses" and the only band who could possibly be "The new Oasis". The potential for massiveness is, well, massive.

Gig of the Year. Band of the Year.

F

17.11.04

Delay of Game

After much deliberation culminating in a band discussion last night, In Loving Memory have decided against playing at the The Tank on 12/11. The majority vote is that although the songs are strong as instrumentals, they are tailored for a vocalist and therefore will be best represented with strong vocals.

A thousand thanks you's to all who provided advice and insight.


We'll see you soon.


Ash.
ILM

13.11.04

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: REVEALED

Despite very tough competiton from Kasabian (who are already "Best New Band Since Oasis" and might also end up being gig of the year next week), and now having heard 3/4 of the new U2 album (which is great), The Official Album of The Year without any hesitation (at this moment) is the new MANIC STREET PREACHERS album LIFEBLOOD.

First a bit of backstory on my history with this band: I tried to get into them early on when they were new (thanks as always to the NME). At the time (early 90's) they wanted to be as big as Guns N Roses and went so far as to try to be a UK version of them, though their fashion sense was a bit spotty. However, they made good press, as they had a thoughful singer (who often reminded me of a young Tom Whitfleet), an intellectual douche bassist with a big mouth and stupid political views, a drummer who never spoke, and a guitar player/lyricist who was handsome, eccentric, possibly gay or bi, and extremely tortured to the point where he was scary (just seek out his infamous NME interview where he took a razor and carved "4 REAL" into his forearm in response to the interviewer calling them posers. Not pretty). His name was Richey and like the douche junkie Peter in the Libertines today, he was the star of the band (though Richey never was kicked out). I largely ignored their initial albums, even after Richey fucked off and left not only the band, but seemingly the world. Literally. Long rumoured to be a suicide yet occasional "sightings" hit the papers every few years, always without merit. Not a joke, not a publicity thing.

Anyhow, something weird happened after Richey disappeared: the Manics suddently became huger thanks to two excellent rock albums, EVERYTHING MUST GO and THIS IS MY TRUTH TELL ME YOURS. These are two must have albums that deal with serious adult issues ranging from womens rights, to politics, to everything in between. Their sound changed to a more lush pop sound, but their messages were clear. They also got smarter in how they got their views across, making them more personalized and easy for a listener to relate to. People "got" songs like A DESIGN FOR LIFE and YOU STOLE THE SUN FROM MY HEART. With this change, they hit the upper echelon of British Rock music. Megastars. Arenas. I mean, Ian Brown was opening for them! Come on...And guess what? I missed all of this. I read about it, but never got the albums. Thus, and for the record credit has to go to Dan Hamill, who was the original Manics fan and during our our adventures at Gold Street I got to hear THIS IS MY TRUTH and was hooked. I then bought a used copy of EVERYTHING MUST GO and I was a confirmed fan. I was ready for more and eagerly awaited the next release...

Anyhow, after this amazing run of hit records, they, meaning the douche bassist Nicky Wire, who I can't stand, became more outspoken, more political and surprisingly anti-american in the press. To the point of annoyance. Total turn off. He never even spoke about music anymore it seemed like! They even did a song called MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES, which was pushing it, and then went to Cuba to play for Castro (now even considered by the band to have been a bit over the top). They also became way too conscious of the fact that their original fanbase, now tiny compared to the legions who got into them with EVERYTHING and TRUTH, considered them sell-outs and no longer punk. So in a rare feat where a large band listens to the diehards, the band decided to "got back to their roots" (which never really works unless you're U2) and did a "punk" album called KNOW YOUR ENEMY, which was sonically the opposite of the two previous lush, angelic albums and it fucking backfired. There are two great songs on it, OCEAN SPRAY (a very touching song about a parent with cancer) and BABY ELIAN (about that little Cuban kid, you know that story), and the rest of it is just a huge mistake. I think Dan Hamill liked it. I hated it and so did the masses. To me, it was over.

The album flopped and I feel pretty much killed them to a serious degree worldwide. Thus comes the subsequent hits package, called FOREVER DELAYED, which is actually excellent and shows that even the early period that I didn't like had some amazing moments. It also had a new song, called THERE BY THE GRACE OF GOD, which was, guess what, a "return to form" to the excellent production and musical style of the two hit albums. Suddenly I became excited again, especially when I heard that they were working on songs in New York with Bowie's producer Tony Visconti. That just made sense.

And thus here they are with LIFEBLOOD, a beautiful, romantic, and angelic pop album that sees the trio comfortable with making adult music that is moving and full of, well, life. It also shows them expanding their sound to fit a nice 80's influence as well; there are beautiful keyboard parts, nice piano's etc. It's very warm, very well produced and unlike THIS IS MY TRUTH, exists on a less grandiose level, thus making it easier to feel. And guitarist/singer James Dean Bradfield lets loose on this album with some amazing guitar work and his vocals are amazing.

My biggest problems with this band, they lyrical content, seems to have been addressed as well. Yes it has its political songs (I.e. THE LOVE OF RICHARD NIXON and GLASNOST) but instead of being forced down your throat, they go back to telling history lessons and examining the world we live in. It's done with taste and class and is well written. The album is balanced with wonderful personal songs, in particular the lead off track, 1985, which examines the world in that year and how it compared to the visions of Orwell and Nietzsche. The exclamation point of this whole song is what is mine (and possibly Brandt's) favourite lyric this year: "Morrissey and Marr gave me choice...in 1985". It's brilliant. After being so anti-American for so long, and I know they still are, they do a wonderful song about the victims of 9/11 called EMPTY SOULS which is very well done, and not cheesey and not a ballad. This song, third on the album, is where you realize this album is very very very special. I don't want to get too much further into the album, but it encompasses everything I love about this band. It's touching, the musicianship is excellent, and is everything this band should be doing at this point. Best of all, the closing song, CARDIFF AFTERLIFE, finally addresses Richey head on in an attempt to give some closure to such a a sad loss. Again touching, again without any pretention and truly "4 Real".

In the cover art of their albums, the manics usually have a quote from some philosopher that sets the tone and mood of each album. I always thought of this as pretentious, but when I saw Descartes quote in the front of this album, it said everything about the mindset of this band: "Conquer yourself rather than the world". And they've done it.

Even though they are currently playing arenas in the UK this Christmas (with the excellent Razorlight opening), the album is getting largely ignored or panned by the UK press, mostly because everything is youth oriented and the manics have no direct connection to the current crop of musicians (i.e. the Stone Roses to Kasabian, The Clash to The Libertines etc). My gut tells me that their due will be coming in the years ahead. But these guys were never fashionable to begin with. They never fit in with baggy or with Britpop, and will always be the outsiders...at least until the bands they influenced come to the forefront years from now.

F

What goes around...

This came to the aggression band E-mail account this week:

"Hi.

I am not sure if this is properly aimed, but I am trying to get in touch with Thomas Whitfleet, and this seems to be the closest I can come to a functioning email address for him.

If it is, then I would really appreciate it if you could tell him that I say hello and pass along my contact information, as we tend to lose touch for long periods of time.

If it is not, then I apologize for taking up your time.

Thank you for your help, either way.

All best,

NAME WITHHELD FOR LEGAL REASONS"

Luckily, Tom has large cash sums on his person at all times, so I'm sure all the alimony shit can be handled. I full expect a similar Email in the future directed to the Kidd from a certain young lady from an internet cafe in Moscow introducing him to his son or daughter (or both).

F

Hypefactor Loves Vagina

I just stumbled across this quote by Mr. Louche in a recent Chemlab interview:

"FJ’s side project called Hypefactor is also delicious and cool in a very Euro-‘lectro way without being wimpy in the least like so many of those bands are…no dick sucking."

Sorry fellas, no head for you. It's called the Birdcage for a reason.

xoxo

F

11.11.04

Petition For Growth

I get nostalgic during this season.

I was looking through photos and came across some from the MOGTrips, in particular shots from our Russian adventure. And I realized something that I feel strongly about. I feel so strongly that I'd like to use this space for a petition:

Dan Hamill should grow his beard again.

It's a GREAT look for him. He looks like one of the guys from Sigur Ros or something. Very classic, yet very current.

Please add you name to this petition if you feel as strongly as I do.


Ash.
------

PS, rumor has it that In Loving Memory (fondly known as Ass Cobra on these pages) will be performing for the first time on 12/11 at a space called The Tank. It will most likely be a stripped down setup, with me on guits and electronics, Thom on additional guits, Charles on bass and Robin on drums. Our set will most likely be entirely instrumental, as we haven't finalized vocalist decisions and because of this haven't made a decision about adding a dedicated keyboardist/electronic percussionist (it's long story.) We feel very strongly about the album's worth of instrumental material that we have so far, and would like to present it at least once in this format.

The night is being curated by none other than Type recording artist, io-records founder, and bizarro counterpart of FJ, RJ Valeo. RJ will be performing live, as well as at least two other Type artists, one of them being a young guy named Khonnor. He's an elctronic-folk rock guy whose album has just been released and is getting great reviews. Fennesz and MBV come to mind when listening. Watch this space for details about the show.

10.11.04

Another day...

I know, I'm a TERRIBLE friend for not updating, so here's what the hell is up:

*THE INCREDIBLES is just that, incredible. What a great movie, I was surprised at how adult it was, not in that it was porno, no no no, I mean in that the characters were centered on the adult leads as opposed to the children. It's excellent filmmaking, one of the years best for sure. I can't believe how consistantly creative the guys at Pixar are and how they are able to make movies that really span age groups. It's why you'll remember this movie and SHARKS TALE will be just a memory in a 2 months. However, if the next Pixar movie, CARS, is as NOT funny as the trailer they showed, we could have the first crack in the Pixar armour. However, I would bet in their favour, they just have what it takes. No one can touch them.

*Out of seemingly nowhere (though mostly from Turkey), Mr. Peter Murphy arrives with a new CD called UNSHATTERED and he is just that as well. Reunited with his DEEP collaborator, Paul Statham, Mr. Murphy (he has earned the MISTER cause he survived that Bauhaus reunion unscathed), has created a wonderful album of romantic pop songs that are a natural progression from his previous albums. It's somewhere in the range of his album CASCADE and has a bit of LOVE HYSTERIA in there (mostly for it's positive vibe). While many feel he should go back to the darkness of DEEP, I think he's strongest doing this kind of material. He's no kid either and is successful in crafting mature and, ahem, deep album. And that VOICE, my god, is still just as good as ever. I thought with his previous escapades into middle eastern music, we wouldnt see him doing straight pop music, but here he is doing what he does best. A welcome return and a worthy addition to the best of 04.

*You might want to check out my previous comments elsewhere on this Blog regarding MUSE. We checked them out at Webster Hall last night and it literally was watching an arena show in a small venue. They are prog arena rock and again some of the sounds they create with three simple instruments is insane. 3 guys play with the power of 10. Brandt, who was curious, seemed impressed by the musicianship. As I mentioned to him, theyre not going to be your favourite band in the world (thats reserved for irene, as she is their biggest fan), but you walk out of the gig loving them. And I do.

*HMV was kind enough to not only send me a good copy of ALBUM OF THE YEAR (still coming up with the review) as well as THIS IS MUSIC, which is the singles compliation of The Verve. Man, I forgot how awesome they were and this nicely remastered collection, complete with two unreleased songs, is a great reminder of their awesomeness. The right songs are there, including LUCKY MAN and GRAVITY GRAVE and my personal fave, ON YOUR OWN. It makes me hate both principals of the band: Richard Ashcroft (for his solo career that now seems pale compared to this, even though I love it) and Nick McCabe (douche who broke the band up twice). A must own.

*B and I are trying to get sorted so we can finish the HF album. Things are slow while we work out some new software that is supposedly saving us time. Heading into the cage tonight for more. Lotta Chemlab static buzzing as well at the moment, but im a bit iffy on what I've been receiving and what I haven't been.

I still am checking the mailbox daily for my Cerati hits album and it has yet to show. Speaking of favourite people from Argentina, Leo is playing a gig soon in LA, so check that out. feel like I have more to tell you but I can't think at the moment. Album of the Year soon. SOON.

F

4.11.04

RISE!

The REVENGE OF THE SITH trailer debuted today online and what can I say...Vader, Yoda, Chewie, Padme, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, the droids are all there, they all look either pissed off or in heaps of trouble and that's what a fucking STAR WARS movie should look like! The sith looks like it's finally hitting the fan. Even the die hards can't complain with this one. Matt Gentile is quoting lines...a good sign. Goosebumps at the sight of Vader. Kudo's George, now don't screw the movie up.

Meanwhile, as pointed out at breakfast to my friend Chad, 4 more years of Bush means we get to remain a part of the maturing of the Bush Twins into young women. That could be tasty. Patty Davis anyone?

ANYHOW, we took a trip down the block last night to check out COLDER at Bowery Ballroom. As you may recall (and if you don't jump back to the May 04 section of this blog) Irene and I missed this gig as we were on the other coast and while Brandt and Ash and I'm sure many other douches packed Rothko to check this frenchness out, they were unimpressed. However, Brandt wasnt THAT unimpressed as he's the one who picked up the tickets for last night. Ash went back and forth and sadly didn't make it. It seemed a lot of people were of the same mindset as they barely filled half the place last night. However, there's little to no press for the album here in the states and no promo at all for the tour, which is silly. Anyhow, the addition of Warp Records newest signing Home Video (turned on to us by Ash himself) got us into the venue early.

Home Video have a lot of potential. They're a very young 3-piece which have an EP called, (and this I love) CITIZEN, and it's 5 tracks of exellent electronic rock. It reminds me of many things, which is good, and yet is original. I feel it. it's well produced and has a nice warmth and smooth feel to it. Live, they were a bit too Radiohead for me as the balance shifted a bit more to the rock side of things. It was a bit raw, which could be good if used right. I honestly think they just need some seasoning and a few extra band members. I love the EP and I liked the live show, I think I can love them soon, but they seem to be as old as my first grade going cousin. Watch this space for more on these guys. Oh and they seem to be nice blokes as well as we chatted them up a bit.

COLDER then came on, much later than what we were hoping and I'll be Frank in that I was very pleased with the set. B informs me that they have added a keyboardist since he saw them in May which successfully balances the electronics to the rockness now. The band were quite good in that they all took the material from the album and took them to the next step with the live show. They expanded the arrangements and honestly I thought they improved the material to the point where the album seems like a step backwards to me. The bassist in particular was good. They played a few songs, which I liked quite a bit, which makes me hopeful that AGAIN wasn't a fluke of an album.

Of course this show does have its drawbacks, all of which can be found in the main dude, who created all this, wrote all this and supposedly played all this on the record. He's French, fey and looks like some architecht my dad hired. He has no presence whatsover and the cool emotionless thing wears thin quick. He also sings much higher than on the record. I think the best solution to this douche would be to run his films alongside the music. He's primarily a filmmaker I believe and the record comes with a DVD of his work based on the music. He should consider drawing the focus towards that, as it's a nice match.

I'll be very curious to see what direction Colder goes in next time on both album and on stage.

F

3.11.04

The Morning After...

In keeping with my policy of remaining politically vague, I will say the election results confirm every theory I have ever had about this country, in particular the states in between New York and California. And somewhere, Al Jourgensen secretly smiles.

As Batman has often proven, fear is a weapon, kids.


F

2.11.04

Tidbits

Yes, we've been quite busy here at MOG HQ. Here's a rough sketch of current events;

*Spent some time working with this new silly software Ash sent over for our drum editing. It's much faster than Live, and I think eventually it will rock hard, but we need to log in some hours with Melodyne. We're trying to get Ash in this week for a tutorial. We desparately need to get our momentum back and get to the mix stage of this record. We've been held up way too long for mine, or anyone's, liking. I'm starting to get the live itch. Watch it, bitch.

*Chemlab has become a recent topic of conversation as of late. I can't be a cocktease and hint something will happen when, in fact, nothing might be the case. Anyhow, I've been asked about some ideas that are floating in the ether and my eyes are peeled as to which of those ideas, or a combination of them will float down from the sky and land in your record stores. Some ideas are good, some are not, and I've made my opinion known. Per usual, Louche and I are on the same page. However, as always, and despite some people's extremely misguided opinion, the final responsibility isn't mine (and I like it that way). But I guess thats just me hogging credit like I always seem to do, right pally?

*Thanks to Ms. Bradish, Halloween was a smashing success that saw a revival of Cyndi Lauper's Rock N Wrestling starring Irene as Cyndi, G as Roddy Piper, Lurch as Andre the Giant and myself as Captain Lou Albano. Irene's makeup and costume skills for this endeavor was scary good and I enjoyed my anonymity for the evening, especially when no one in the pub recognized me. Photos will not be made public, sorry. I already scared Matt and and impressed Ash!

*I'm currently floating the idea of a DJ spot. It's been on my mind for awhile. Normally, I would be very anti cause beat matching and that kind of wackassness, but after seeing Peter Hook DJ and a few other heroes, I figure I can plug the powerbook into a sound system and just play awesome songs. What would be my DJ name be?

*Many are thinking about the election. I'm too scared to think of the outcome so my focus is on THURSDAY, which is when I will see the SITH trailer. Thank MOG that in this scary fucking world we live in that we can still see a STAR WARS movie. It's more than enough reason for me to want to live.

*Finally, I ordered Cerati's hits album/DVD as well as my new STAR WARS Kubricks. Where would I be without Ebay?

*Upcoming gigs see us at Colder (with a new band called Home Video opening. Ash slipped me their EP, out now on Warp, and it's super), Muse and Kasabian! The year can't get much better than that.

Album of the Year is coming up, sorry I'm slow. I'm thinking of waiting to reveal it until the u2 record is out to see if that wins out, but Album of the Year is getting destroyed in the British Press and just came out today there, so I'm gonna get this all on E-paper soon and commit it. Soon.

F

PS: You can blame a lot of the lack of progress on GRAND THEFT AUTO SAN ANDREAS. What can I tell you? I'm driving a low rider and pimpin' ho's. MEGA ACE