Monday, November 16, 2015
back on the colours tour, i dragged a friend of mine to see this band because he was really into them but was too shy/shallow to go see a show by himself. he ended up calling me a fag, and claiming i embarrassed him in front of the metal guys. i actually found this hilarious at the time, although today it strikes me as bluntly pathetic.
it was not my thing at all, although i ended up drunk enough that i bought two of their records. i was, however, able to hear enough independent thinking to conclude it was worth keeping an eye on them from a distance.
i actually legitimately liked a great deal of the record after that. toning down the metal a little actually brought out some pretty solid songwriting, in a quirky and often pattonesque sort of way. their follow-up to that record did not impress me at all.
and, now they're back in town, so i have to check this out...
i don't know enough about metal to know if it's metal or not, although my first impression is that it isn't what i'd classify it as. but, this isn't prog, either. progressive rock implies something....progressive. forward-thinking. creative. abstract. novel. it's about out-of-the-box thinking. there's none of that here.
i'd say it sounds like what mcr would sound like if gerard way hired a bunch of session musicians. i mean that in two ways. first, it's fundamentally pop music. second, there's not the slightest bit of immediacy or grit or passion in the playing - it sounds like session musicians reading notes off of a page. it's just dry & formulaic & timid. dead, really. this is and always has been the primary criticism of technical rock music: that it sounds like it was played by a soundcard, or, if it's really good, like it was done by robots. combining the worst aspects of technical rock with sappy pop structures is maybe putting them in the contemporary space that in the past was occupied by bands like foreigner and journey.
that is, what this is is what you call corporate rock.
in his defense though, he did pull me out of the pit a second away from me losing my teeth. i'm an experienced punk pit dweller, but punks tend to keep their elbows down and i almost got knocked due to not expecting the elbows.
it was not my thing at all, although i ended up drunk enough that i bought two of their records. i was, however, able to hear enough independent thinking to conclude it was worth keeping an eye on them from a distance.
i actually legitimately liked a great deal of the record after that. toning down the metal a little actually brought out some pretty solid songwriting, in a quirky and often pattonesque sort of way. their follow-up to that record did not impress me at all.
and, now they're back in town, so i have to check this out...
i don't know enough about metal to know if it's metal or not, although my first impression is that it isn't what i'd classify it as. but, this isn't prog, either. progressive rock implies something....progressive. forward-thinking. creative. abstract. novel. it's about out-of-the-box thinking. there's none of that here.
i'd say it sounds like what mcr would sound like if gerard way hired a bunch of session musicians. i mean that in two ways. first, it's fundamentally pop music. second, there's not the slightest bit of immediacy or grit or passion in the playing - it sounds like session musicians reading notes off of a page. it's just dry & formulaic & timid. dead, really. this is and always has been the primary criticism of technical rock music: that it sounds like it was played by a soundcard, or, if it's really good, like it was done by robots. combining the worst aspects of technical rock with sappy pop structures is maybe putting them in the contemporary space that in the past was occupied by bands like foreigner and journey.
that is, what this is is what you call corporate rock.
in his defense though, he did pull me out of the pit a second away from me losing my teeth. i'm an experienced punk pit dweller, but punks tend to keep their elbows down and i almost got knocked due to not expecting the elbows.
at
22:59
Location:
Windsor, ON, Canada
it sounds reasonable. but, if he thinks it's that simple, he's not fully briefed. and, why would anyone think he would be? who would be briefing him?
who is buying this oil? who is selling them weapons? what are their aims? does taking away the oil actually get to the root of any of that?
any kind of surface approach to the problem is going to have the same fundamental problem of leaving in place people who continue to think the way they think. what the region really needs to seriously resolve the underlying crisis is nation building, wealth generation - it's an economic problem, at it's very absolute core. but, to get there requires an occupation by ground troops. and, those ground troops need to be at least muslim and probably arab.
but, it's hard because it's all cyclical in terms of consequences.
if they cannot get the right kind of ground force to occupy the region, and cannot convince the population to work with that force to build an integrated society, then the war will never end. you can't bomb them into submission. you have to convince them. it's a propaganda war.
i'm not sure what trump thinks he can accomplish through bombing the oil fields that he can't accomplish better through sanctions and trade policy. but, why are these economic screws not being tightened?
"if he wins", that's something he's going to learn on his first day on the job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtsJ-5_Xz-Q
who is buying this oil? who is selling them weapons? what are their aims? does taking away the oil actually get to the root of any of that?
any kind of surface approach to the problem is going to have the same fundamental problem of leaving in place people who continue to think the way they think. what the region really needs to seriously resolve the underlying crisis is nation building, wealth generation - it's an economic problem, at it's very absolute core. but, to get there requires an occupation by ground troops. and, those ground troops need to be at least muslim and probably arab.
but, it's hard because it's all cyclical in terms of consequences.
if they cannot get the right kind of ground force to occupy the region, and cannot convince the population to work with that force to build an integrated society, then the war will never end. you can't bomb them into submission. you have to convince them. it's a propaganda war.
i'm not sure what trump thinks he can accomplish through bombing the oil fields that he can't accomplish better through sanctions and trade policy. but, why are these economic screws not being tightened?
"if he wins", that's something he's going to learn on his first day on the job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtsJ-5_Xz-Q
at
16:48
Location:
Windsor, ON, Canada
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