REACT TO: Velocities in Music POST ROCK *Deep Dive*

Podcast Link including a download

Spotify Playlist they made about Post Rock

As I've posted in the past, I really am enjoying Velocities in Music's podcasts, and some of these special Deep Dive episodes. So this is their deep dive into the history of Post Rock and a little bit on Post Metal.

Now, they said a few times how this while it was a deep-dive, there was a lot of ground they weren't going to be able to cover, so I took that with a grain of salt.

I guess I enjoyed most of it, including them talking about Godspeed and Sigur Ros, and a little bit about Russian Circles.

But a few points to bring up.

-The term or name "Post Rock" probably being the biggest thing, just when using that term. When you say it, namely to someone whose never heard the term, they ask "Is Rock Dead?" which of course isn't really true. And while the term still really doesn't make much sense, at least it seems it has become an accepted and somewhat understood name, even if the literal use still makes next to no sense.

-The similarities, origins, influences. Sure Talk Talk, Tortoise, and that nauseating band that every hipster seems to kiss the ass of, Swans, deserve some mention. But the thing is, what the style, at least the large majority when it came into vogue, really drew from, were a couple of things.

1) New Age music.
the nature-like ambient, atmospheric, drawn out soundscapes, are very similar to what dozens and dozens of New Age artists did long before any of this kind of music ever was created.

2) Soundtracks. The use of samples, music that creates atmosphere and has big climaxes, is pretty much the same format and style of, like New Age music, not dozens, but hundreds if not thousands of soundtracks to both films and television among other things.

Why I have rarely if ever seen anyone mention these 2 references with Post Rock, still baffles me.

That being said, I have over the last decade or more enjoy a good amount of it. Just for the sake of lists, here's a list I made 6 or 7 years ago, there are some names missing of course like Nordic Giants, etc..it does include a good portion of the artists who I still enjoy here on this list I made on rateyourmusic.com.

-They didn't mention much about the bands who use samples, or piano like God is an Astronaut. Or even some of the Western kind of stuff like Clann Zu, Crippled  Black Phoenix, or the early Murder by Death.

-Long Distance Calling, East of the Wall, Shelter Red also not mentioned, although they are Post Metal, and they even mentioned how they could do a whole Deep Dive separately, about it.

-I honestly found Caspian derivative of the 1-trick pony/nature music of Explosions in the Sky. Although I never listened to a ton of their music, but they were 1 of literally a couple of dozen artists I came across that sounded so formulaic to me. That honestly, at 1 point I didn't think I'd ever care for any of it. And Russian Circles actually since their 2nd album, have done that exact same style more or less to my ears.

-They didn't mention bands like 65daysofstatic who use keys/electronics. The Samuel Jackson 5 as well? .or actually I was thinking of bands who use electronic and trance music like Shpongle to point as well..

-They kept mentioning Don Caballero (I've always said their name like the former skate-boarder, Cab-ah-lare-oh), but from memory, that band was really a MATH ROCK band, at least their later stuff.

Now I know some people lump Mathrock in with Post Rock, but my feeling is the 2 are very distinct. Actually Mathrock is almost like Djent, in that it's really just the sound from that 80's King Crimson style of guitar tone/riff/rhythms ("Three of a Perfect Pair" largely). But if they are going to include a Mathrock band, they may as well open it up to the dozens and dozens of Mathrock and Mathmetal bands, lol.

I mean are Battles PostRock? They're rock, and they did mention the guitarist previous band. But I have never associated them with Post Rock.

-I would say bands like dredg, Oceansize, The Appleseed Cast are very much Post-Rock, even though they use vocals and prominent vocal melodies at times. But there's not debating their use of guitars and textures, along with influences come from much of it. dredg and Oceansize have both cited Mogwai as 1 certainly.

-The comparison they gave to Do Make Say Think with Explosions in the Sky, was frankly, kind of baffling. I am a Do Make Say Think fan, and why that is, is largely due to the varied use of INSTRUMENTATION. They use Chamber instruments, just like Broken Social Scene actually. Have Explosions in the Sky EVER used cello, or harp, etc? If they have, it certainly has never stood out in their music.

But as I included earlier, the Chamber/Baroque instrumentation is rather common now in bands who I would call at least use elements of "Post Rock." Forest Park for example, featured wonderful trumpet. So have *Shels and Nordic Giants...and even a lot of the chamber/baroque pop/rock/folk bands I've gotten into like Typhoon, Mother Falcon or The Family Crest, certainly are influenced by Post Rock.

Some even call Kayo Dot "Post Rock" which I can follow to a point, even though I have struggled to like them.

So when they concluded about where this genre is going, I would say the chamber/baroque instrumentation is as big a part of it as anything new in the last decade. Certainly as big as Post-Metal and the electronic elements.

But that all being said, I still really enjoyed this episode, and look forward to more of these genre deep dives. They may even do progressive rock at some point, although I imagine if they do, it'll be as long if not longer than the Radiohead deep dive, i.e. 2 or 3 episodes potentially.

Name Change? Retirement?

http://www.allmediareviews.com/

Well, it probably was inevitable. Actually, I'm sort of surprised to not having noticed this happening a long time ago.

But, I suppose given this site is pretty new, it may be worth keeping tabs on it for a little while (activity namely), depending on how active it becomes, I may consider making some changes.

I guess I didn't feel like making any announcement of some sort for awhile, but this may force my hand. My feeling has been for a decent amount of time, to stay with this blog as it is more or less until 1 or 2 milestones are reached at least (not incredibly far away from one, and another is just around the corner actually).

Once those milestones are reached, at that point I would try to re-assess some things with this blog. Namely, 1) to continue doing it or at least at the rate I currently contribute to it 2) make some changes such as a NAME CHANGE.

Just to go back in time, the fact is, this blog found its name from its founder, which in fact was not me. I.e. had I started a new blog of my own around that time, I very likely would not have chose this blog's name. I doubt I would have thought of it, anyway. The question is I suppose, WHY did I never change it? And for that matter, the David Hassehoff Avatar, etc.

The reason being, I guess because I didn't want to come up with another name, even when the original founder, a guy named Rob, had more or less ceased to using this blog. I had changed the password, etc. But I really wasn't up for coming up with a different name at that point.

And then it was really past the point of no return.

I also came to accept and actually like the name, even as ambiguous as it is. It avoided being pigeonholed to a point. I suppose for better or for worse in some ways, I could have changed it to associate with the word progressive or progrock obviously, or even just music, when I decided to almost eliminate everything except music from it (and setup the allmediareviewsnotmusic.blogspot.com )

As for The Hoff pic, again, it was odd, and sort of out of the blue. It didn't associate with a specific kind of music, etc. I guess it was funny and yet distinct. And I also don't see it often if ever on other sites, like this blog's name.

But with this site popping up now with such a similar name, I guess I will have to think about re-naming this blog's url at some point depending on how active that site becomes. Either that, or like I mentioned, re-assessing on what I will do. My blogging days may be taking a hiatus (perhaps indefinite), at the point of those milestones. I dunno, I may try and focus even more on YouTube, or try a Podcast again, maybe with ThatDrummerGuy and my friend John. I dunno. Or I may do nothing but use social medias and the forums, rateyourmusic, etc.

I may start a new blog focused on non-music even?

I guess the only other thing that comes to mind is, why exactly did the owners of this new site/blog not pick a different name? I mean I'm sure they found this blog before they chose it, and have found it since. I guess if it were me, I would have, and also wanted to choose something different. At least in this blog's case, it is active (unlike many urls that have last been updated many years ago).

My 40th Bday Music Listening History WAVE Project (KFAI)

http://kfai.org/wave-project/playlists/20160626

It's finally up to stream and/or download for the next 13 days.

Not enough time right now to add all the thoughts and details about it, and I actually haven't been able to listen to it yet (the upload didn't show up I think until sometime this morning).

But I think it came out  

edit: I was interrupted for something more timely here at work (hence the time limit).

Anyway, I thought it came out about as well as it could have for the most part, given what I was trying to do. That, and the 1-hour was reduced by 3 or 4 minutes incl spots and starting time being maybe a minute or 2 after the hour.

I may try one again when I turn 50, and if I have the time, try to include just tiny clips, I'll see.

or possibly just try something like that when I sub for Modern Kicks or another show, although at least with the WAVE project, I like the fact it is on DURING THE DAY, hence more listeners, etc.

Playlist:
Huey Lewis and the News - Back in Time
Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand
Rush - Natural Science
Marillion - The Great Escape
Toy Matinee - Last Plane Out

Background/Bed Music: Dream Theater - Erotomania + Scarred

+ a whole lot of anecdotes/narrative (i.e. Babbling/and Diarrhea of the mouth, dozens of bands nobody knows)

@Kevin Gilbert Fans - Kevin Live with John Goodsall (Brand X)

I and a number other fans have never heard this before. But apparently Kevin sat in with John Goodsall of Brand X (and Marscape + Peter and the Wolf adaptation), band Fire Merchants and they covered this Brand X tune "Don't Make Waves."

Very cool find! (from a user on Facebook).

Kevin sings and plays drums from the description on YouTube.

Random Artist Feature: Ours

This video, as a 2nd attempt, came out good in length (11 mins, relatively). It was a 2nd draft per say, largely because on the 1st attempt I gave more details about the backstory, etc.

That is kind of the issue or 1 of some issues with making these, as there's a lot to tell, details, anecdotes, etc.

Anyway, it did get me thinking of wanting to do just album feature videos at some point, which some might be rehash, some may not. I dunno. I often get the sense with doing just an album, I don't have a lot of specifics to talk about with each song, beyond 1 or 2 words, but that may all that is needed, even if it's an amazing, favorite song, etc.

But I do plan to continue to just make these for awhile now, and once I've sort of gotten through a lot of my favorites, I may then restart doing videos and try and do album reviews specifically. But not likely in series per say. I dunno, I guess I'll see.

Archive - The False Foundation (2015-2016)

I haven't checked this one out just yet, but with another calendar year, and another Archive album coming, there's no questioning how prolific they are. I checked an interview with Steven Wilson per YouTube the other day and he mentioned how up until the early 90's, artists would always release at least 1 album a year. So it's not that weird. Kevin Gilbert used to say the same thing. A professional musician should be able to spend 12 months writing/recording etc to release an album (10 songs I recall he mentioned).


That being the case, the best thing Archive has done in recent years, I think was Axiom and Controlling Crowds before that. I did enjoy Restriction from 2015 as well, although the whole electronic/industrial thing I think maybe is a work in progress for them, in that I am waiting for them to put out something better. Although CC is 1 of my favorite records of the last 5-10 years certainly.

The video below for "Driving in Nails" and the Preorder for the October 7th release is linked on their site.


1. Blue Faces
2. Driving In Nails
3. The Pull Out
4. The False Foundation
5. Bright Lights
6. A Thousand Thoughts
7. Splinters
8. Sell Out
9. Stay Tribal
10. The Weight Of The World

http://www.archiveofficial.uk/
Picadilly Records 

The Monkees - You Bring the Summer [Official Video]

Nice animation which Jason Nesmith I guess made, and I imagine required a lot of work to finish. The big thing beyond it is most of the Monkees aficionados have been dissecting this and spotting Easter eggs left and right.

-For one, just the styles of clothing, looks, are homages to different parts of episodes of the tv show. Even just the end of course with the four faces.

The color sequences blend together and segue into different eras.

-Daily Nightly newspaper
-Andy Partridge's name in the newspaper
-Love to Love in the newspaper
-a Keg/Case of Root Beer in the car (Root Beer in the lyrics)
-different nations flags in the background towards the end including Mexico and Japan.

it only has 9 thousand plays on YouTube, which it was shared a couple of days ago, but I'm still surprised by that number. More people should see this video, even if they don't spot a lot of the visual references.

Sting sings "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" into Message

Too bad Peter Gabriel didn't come out for it, but still pretty surreal. I wish I could go to the Chicago show, but alas, time/money, etc.

Maybe Gabriel will return to Minnesota someday in the future.

The comments are kind of funny as many are saying "Selling England by the Pound" etc..that is fine, but it's not the name of the SONG he's singing, just the ALBUM it comes after. I imagine there are many in the crowd that don't know that track, but hopefully will.

Also the subject matter/lyrics fit what recently happened in England and Brelix marketing. Kind of foreshadowing I guess.

The Dear Hunter: http://hymnswiththedevil.com/ (6/22/16 1PM CST)

http://hymnswiththedevil.com/

Link to sample?

As a Lifetime Member, I along with Antone from the link above, had a Postcard sent per Equalvision Records and The Dear Hunter of course.

From Postcard:

"Consider. Observe yourself in the mirror. Are you particularly happy? Do you feel your hair graying? Are you the person you feel is found in the real world and by that I mean do you tell the truth? My friends I have found myself unconvinced some days, the Great War long gone, the very fabric of our society is at an impasse. Do we stumble out from the humdrum? Rise to the street as it meets us? Or are we singing hymns with the devil in confession? Believe me when I tell you, we are the makers of our own destinies. I look forward to seeing and speaking with you all on the streets of our beautiful city. Goodnight and God bless."

Wedneday afternoon at 1PM Central time, something is being launched/announced etc..perhaps Act V? a Pledgemusic or maybe something new/different, etc.

Guess we'll find out tomorrow afternoon.

Also a new song or 2 to share:

Marialena's Song

40

Yeah, I'm officially over the bloody hill now, lol.

I can use this just to announce I am doing a special WAVE Project on KFAI next Sunday as a retrospective on my life with music. Really just a microcosm as to cram in 40 or really 26-35 years of being a fan of music into 40 minutes (+20 minutes of babbling), of course is just scratching a tiny little surface.

What I hope to try and do, and I hope it doesn't cause a lot of talking-too-fast, is to tell the story/my story among all the music I got into in my life. The select few tracks I will be playing are obviously going to be favorites songs and artists. But sort of representing periods of time I guess in some ways.

I.e. I may only play 4-6 songs, but I hopefully will talk or at least mention dozens of musical artists within this limited 1-hour special.

Next Sunday June 26th at 11AM Central on KFAI, and archived for 2 weeks after to stream or download.

As for today?the usual mini-golf, music shopping, lunch deal sadly, but still enjoyable.

One of these years I will actually get back on the golf course and play actual golf, even at just an executive or par-3.

But 40 years, I can officially say I'm not that young anymore, at least numerically.

Oh and I just found this cool, somewhat rare item today at Know Name Records.

   

Trent Gardner Rest in Peace (Magellan)

https://www.gofundme.com/29ckrzbg

I'm not going to talk extensively about this, but Trent Gardner was the singer, keyboardist and one of the main songwriters in the progressive rock band Magellan, I thought I read on 1 of the forums he was ill, within the last year or 2, but I can't find anything really about it now,

Magellan were 1 of the bands I checked out in the mid 90's up to early 2000's really. Their album Test of Wills got a fair amount of attention among Dream Theater fans and people who enjoyed bands on the Magna Carta label beyond Liquid Tension Experiment.

Also there were a handful of tribute albums that MC issued, Yes, Genesis, Rush, ELP, etc, and Trent and Magellan played on some of them as well.

He also ended up collaborating with James LaBrie on maybe more than 1 project. Namely the Leonardo: the Absolute Man album. Along with John Petrucci and some others on Explorer's Club.

He really was all over the place if you enjoyed smaller, modern prog bands/albums for almost a decade.

And I'll fully admit, while I enjoyed Test of Wills, I never got around to hearing any of the other Magellan albums, largely per not as favorable reviews. And then hearing some stuff on those collaborations, I kind of stopped pursuing his music. It seemed he used a lot of the same keyboard patches for long, extensive sections.

But in retrospect, and compared to many of the so-called "prog" bands since Magellan and his work left my radar, I would definitely favor his stuff and style over many.

Also not to forget the use of Trombone with Magellan's music, which was quite unusual for prog. I guess I kind of see it as pretty unique and forward-thinking now. I guess Chicago were a very big influence on him, and he eventually got to collaborate with them recently.

Anyway, Rest in Peace Trent, along with your brother and fellow Magellan bandmate Wayne.

Random Artist Feature: Kaddisfly (3 videos,new Vinyl)

So making a video or videos about Kaddisfly was in the works, but not necessarily on this week's Half-day, but so be it. When something comes in the mail, it can motivate or influence these decisions.

Another long video of course, but I wonder if by trying to cram them in to be so short, it kind of defeats the purpose. I dunno. If they end up 10-18 minutes? so be it. And when I get around to some of the longer dicographies, making 2-4 videos shouldn't be all that surprising, especially considering COLLECTION SIZE, etc..singles, imports, pictures discs, etc.

But at any case, this was quite a cool thing to show and talk about today...

Random Artist Feature: Pure Reason Revolution (16 mins)

Not exactly a perfect video, especially considering I chose them partially per the size of their discography.

And length-wise, 16 minutes was hardly ideal, but so be it.

I just thought, despite lower viewership, I still have been meaning to make a bunch more of these videos, even if people don't watch them initially.

And my Tuesday Half-days have gotten off to a bit of a slow start with these per last week I went to see The Lobster, and the week before I brought my car in to have the oil changed, etc. But if all goes well, I should have the chance to come home late in the morning and make more of these during that time, if not other times.

Lots of work and Wedding stuff has been taking up my time of late, but hopefully those 1/2-days especially will help.

As far as PRR, they're a favorite, and there's not much more to say. Ministry of Music recently mentioned he dropped some requests, including my request for a review of The Dark Third, so that kind of inspired me to go ahead and make a video about PRR.

Bend Sinister - Rock N Roll [1B]

Nice tune, and very Classic Rock-ish.

Energetic, passionate, with some chorus vocals. "We Won't Last Forever"
Good tune!

Exclaim.ca article

OT: Little umpdate (June 2nd 2016)

So my Laptop of 2 years and 5 months met its end on Tuesday afternoon. Why? I know it wasn't per not upgrading to Windows 10 (per the word of the store I bought it). Best guess was, hard drive space and too much flash media perhaps.

At any case, I purchased a new Laptop of course, smaller, faster, with Windows 7. And I thought I'd lost my whole HD, as I have been procrastinating and lazy about backing stuff up.

Turns out thought, the place who recycled my old Laptop, removed the Hard Drive, and gave it to me, did retain all the data. Twas a huge relief last night to learn. I had been unable to find the data, per it slipped my mind the folder to look into (Users -> User).

That and another CC issue. My Bank ends up limiting purchase amounts on the evenings of the last day of the month to $500. Something I had yet to learn in nearly a decade with them.

But on the media side, as I mentioned in that small update video I made last week, I will have Tuesdays 1/2 a day off. So I leave work at 10:30-11AM-ish.

-Nostalgia for Matinees (going back to 2005-2009-ish)
-Other much needed work.
-Blogging+YouTube
-Wedding work
-Looking for a new Car
-Looking for a new residence (will be in July of 2017 though now)

and any number of other things. I just hope the drain/tradeoff of 9+ hours 4 days week doesn't catchup to me and I regret this change in schedule. But it is only for the Summer too.

Lot of stuff coming on Yewtewb and the blog hopefully. New albums coming soon (Fates Warning, Dream the Electric Sleep and Pain of Salvation notably).

Also on June 26th, I'll be doing a 40th Birthday Wave Project on KFAI.