^^^^^^
Michael,
I purposely left off their cassette only release...
^^^^^^
Michael,
I purposely left off their cassette only release...
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
The D.C. gig was great (albeit tightly jammed into a little room with a inadequate PA) but ultimately I think the music came through.
ALSO:
We have a limited quantity of vinyl of their new release, Putting Off Death, which was made for the band to sell on tour, but which we snabbed some of off the top.
Unless you go see them, this is one of the few ways to buy it.
Here!
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Amazing, yet not unique or outstanding at all - in fact, rather typical and symptomatic for reviewers trying their hand at products somehow breaching their own frame of reference. Which is essentially ALL this is. Poor Todd appears to know as little about receiving music as he does about communicating perceptions of it, which should be telling but instead comes across as simply predictable.
Would you argue against a movie by Werner Herzog or Theo Angelopoulos that there are too few fistfights or car-chases - and then expect to be taken seriously?
Yupz, those mid-sections of the beginning and ending 20-minute tunes on Introducing Lemon are excessive in duration. They're also just very... Strange. What could be the reason for this, the intent, the possible message - or the lack of such? Does it matter? If it doesn't then how explain one's own perception of specific "boredom" on listening?
You suspend disbelief, as this only goes to expose eventual limitations through prejudice; the work at hand is what you're supposed to discern - that is, your varying levels of experience in its immersion. As such, Introducing Lemon is frustrating as hell - but almost to the degree of a certain catharsis. Job well done.
Last edited by Scrotum Scissor; 06-27-2017 at 06:56 AM.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
^ ^ ^ ^
I like the way you made it look like *I* had originally said all that!
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
^ Yes, ol' uncle Steve ain't know no shit!
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
The show Saturday was really really great, despite the totally-fried PA system. Super intimate, and the material from Putting Off Death came off really well. Not 100% sure but I might've even caught a tribute to 4'33" at one point
Bonus: of the two openers, one was really rather fun. A one-woman act with heavy guitar, flute and some vocals. She called herself Floom (Flute + Doom). Very entertaining, shades of Chelsea Wolfe and Swans among other things.
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
^ But John, did they have mellotrons and fat analog synths? I think it's very important that a band has mellotrons and fat analog synths, 'cause that's what I'm used to having myself - and for me to like something it'd better oblige my customs and established habitus so that things fit in with what I'm used to from before. So, what mellotrons and analog synths did they have?
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
The mid-section of Autumn Wind is a Pirate is simply astounding, and exactly because of its duration. It appears initially like an involuntary memory, in the midst of madness, like a beautiful snapshot of childhood, but it doesn't settle right in. Even when it does settle, there is always the impression that it might disappear, there's a menacing guitar chord that suggests all hell could break loose at any time. But no, the band seems to cling to it for as long as they are allowed to, until the melody fades, reappears, and finally admits defeat to previous demons. Sorry if I am being too poetic for some, but the way this is concieved and executed is just uniquely beautiful.
Oh, it was nothing but!!!
See...it wasn't obvious until I went upstairs to use the restroom, but due to the cramped quarters the band had to put all seven mellotrons and the Emerson Tribute Big Moog in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and had CV cables running upstairs so they could trigger them from the stage area downstairs (I asked the drummer if they'd considered using MIDI instead of CV and he said to get off his lawn, and get a haircut).
I'm pretty sure the reason the PA was so badly fried was because they were trying to run all those top-shelf vintage nuggets of aural perfection on the same circuit as their 17 fog machines and vari-lights. That's probably also why they disappointed us by playing their original material, rather than doing a Genesis tribute set as was expected...if you can't keep that Watchers intro in tune, just give it up man
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
That's waaaay too poetic, man.
No, seriously; I like it myself as well. But my point was that the frustration of duration (See? I too can poetisize ) has a given point of being just that - so as to figure out that very point. This is something C-A are rather well known for; prompting questions as to "why/what du hell...?"
As for the other lengthy track, "Find", the middle section of that one bears the mark of Thymme J.'s acquaintance with the Gastr del Sol folks and his (then) recent collab in Brise-Glace. It's a whim, not in execution but concept - to contemplate on a tiny idea for nearly ten minutes. And the age of post-rock actually allows for it; let the listener and his/her merits judge its valor in the end. I tend to enjoy it on hearing.
For something as epic but all the more opposite in substance still, one could check out the title track from Salad Days!, which was the first C-A I bought back in 2000 (by Steve F.); that thing moves in so many layers and quarters of thematic syntaz and dissonance you'd hardly believe it - like a bastardian Soft Machine-meets-Krimso-joining-kraut. Extraordinary, but a highly challenging listen.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Just by all means don't forget how Mr. J. Bender went laughing from Magma's support slot for Porky Tree and later designated Tatsuya Yoshida an "obscure drummer worse than the one in the Muppet Show" while proceeding to contemplate highbrow originality while enjoying gigs by The Musical Box and IQ. I mean, primal logics don't have to meet coherence at all; it's simply up to what you make of it yourself.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
https://battema.bandcamp.com/
Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com
First of all, thanks for the suggestion of Salad Days, it sure comes handy since I am very new to the band and they do have a giant discography behind (I have it on my earphones right now...)
Also the relation with the post-rock age explains a lot, the middle section we're talking about reminded me instantly of stuff like Tortoise, Sea & Cake etc.
If I understand correctly your argument (it hasn't been that easy...) the middle section does not necessarily stand for something else except itself. And I agree with that. I am also not averse to that, in terms of taste. In fact I like it.
Other readings are also possible of course. And I am not using the word "readings" in vain. There are people that suggested that the songs in their latest record work stronger in the context of the LP than on their own. Titles can also be very important. "Language Is" ends on pure noise. Maybe noise for itself, maybe not. Whimsical, self-referential or not, this music resembles a literary text in more than one ways. In my humble opinion of course, and with fewer listens/reads or knowledge of the history of the band that could give my opinion more confidence.
^ ^ ^
FYI - I find "Salad Days" to be one of their most inaccessible to me albums; it's one of my personal least favorites.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Precisely. It's neither ambitious nor pretentious - hell, it isn't even pure Zen. Well, maybe just a tad mindfulness involved...
But I'd agree with Steve about Salad Days!, though; it's altogether one of their least forgiving albums. Which of course makes it perfect how I actually started with that one. I then got the (internally) infamous Neat Meat-release of Dumb Ask, their second CD, which is essentially a post-hardcore/noise/math-rock tour-de-force and very hard on the ear - yet still I was sufficiently intrigued to continue on the band. When I got Enduring the American Dream (their first double album) from '97, I was completely sold; it's got the goofy spoofs (such as the 8-minute opening track with Alex Perkolup stepping on/off a vacuum cleaner for rhythmic drone), the piano pop ballads, the grand "prog-scope" songs, some silly tunes and arrangements etc. I think I've must have listened it half to death in the summer of 2005, during some intense holiday weeks in which I basically lived on beer while accomodating on my best bud's houseboat; the summer ended with my kidney bursting due to a fall on the seaside rocks, btw.
I got hold of everything I could find by them after that. I'm not insane about Not a Food or Salad Days!, and I never heard either Trading Balloons or Vasectomy (both CD-Rs, I believe), and I'm still missing the second volume of the Goddamn Old Man series as well as their cartoon-album for the Skin Graft label, Gumballhead the Cat. I'll probably be picking those up if I ever find them, though.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I recently bought Gumballhead The Cat. Played it once, don't remember anything about it except I have not yet heard it a second time....
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"the masses have spoken, and this has appropriately vanished into the great Prog boner pile in the sky."
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
That middle section of Autumn Wind is the perfect length. There. Now you also have my opinion on the matter.
- Matt
Keyboards/Guitar/Bass/etc. - http://www.lebofsky.com
Lunar Mistake | Secret Chiefs 3 | miRthkon | MoeTar | Bodies Floating Ashore | Solo Stuff
I saw them last Saturday along with Yowie and Pat Sajak Assassins, fantastic night with all 3 bands.
This was my 4th time to see CA and i think it was the best so far, absolutely riveting from start to finish. Like Michael said earlier you don't know what to expect and this was surely the case.
I did grab Putting Off Death on vinyl, curious to know if there is a digital download available. The album is not packaged in cellophane which Thymme says it's ready to go right on the turntable this way, i appreciate the convenience.
I should also mention Yowie - they are a force to reckon with. It's pretty mind blowing to see 3 guys with instruments plugged straight into amps, no electronic gizmos or fluffery just destroy for duration of their set at breakneck speed and telepathic accuracy. I have a feeling if any one of these guys decided to leave the band then it's all over because there is no way anyone could jump in fill the spot. Something tells me these guys are on the rise.
Last edited by progholio; 07-31-2017 at 12:26 PM.
The wife and I saw Cheer-Accident with Free Salamander Exhibit last night in Kansas City. Both bands were phenomenal and a lot of fun!
Been listening to Putting off Death for a few weeks.
Like all Cheer-Accident recordings, it's deeply eccentric, sometimes has the air of a musical collage (although one made entirely from the collage artist's own drawings and paintings), uses brass where other bands would use synthesizers, and doesn't really sound like anyone else. Or try very hard to. While Jeff and Thymme can play their instruments fairly well, I suspect they have little or no training on them - either formally, or through the informal process of learning many covers. Instead, they sound as if from the beginning, Jeff and particularly Thymme concentrated on bringing the sounds they heard in their heads to life, and that's much of what they know how to play. The music that results has an unusual home-made quality.
Which last description I can't really explain very well. It is certainly not primitive music, although it has primitive qualities and is the antithesis of slick. It has something in common with what is often called "outsider music", but that doesn't really describe it either - usually "outsider music" either sounds like an idiosyncratic take on roots music (as in Beefheart's version of the blues), or appallingly incompetent but with a few odd redeeming qualities, or like nothing else at all. In contrast to those, Cheer-Accident don't have much interest in conventionalized "roots", play quite decently, and you can sometimes hear similarities from them: For example, the first track on Putting off Death, "Language Is", starts with something resembling a Todd Rundgren piano ballad, then abruptly cuts to something completely different and a bit like ELP's "Three Fates". However, I suspect that it wasn't directly influenced by the music I likened it to, so much as being an unintentional parallel - Thymme Jones sat down, started playing his old upright piano, and that was what came out.
Perhaps that's it: They do what they do; what comes out is what comes out; and whether it resembles anything else is of little importance - even if they might sometimes be trying to play their own interpretation of a particular style.
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 08-01-2017 at 03:20 PM.
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