Thrice: Beggars

Taking a cue from a similarly music-based blog (as this one seems to be shaping up to be), i am going to review Thrice's new album Beggars as I listen to it, so as to best give my first impression of the album. Here goes!

Track 1. All The World Is Mad

Cool intro. The Breckenridge brothers are tight and solid. Dustin Kensrue's voice has a nice, smooth vibrato to it that seemed to be lacking in the previous EPs for the respective elements. Haunting sort of melody, with a busy, Telecaster-laden riffage happening behind it. Drummer's kit is kinda noisy, but it lends energy to the song. "Something's gone terribly wrong, everywhere... all the world is mad..." Excellent songwriting once again, Dustin. Props. And this arpeggiation Teppei is putting out is HOT. Fast, tasteful, and driving. Overall song rating: 4.5 stars.

Track 2. The Weight

Lightly fuzzy, acoustic-y sounding intro. Kensrue's famous "bathroom stall" echoes in intro as well. Little bit of a math-rock vibe to this one. It's in an even signature, but you can count on breckenridge, Inc. to make you think twice about that. Chorus is a powerful kind of slow-slamdance one, a la' "The Earth Will Shake" from Vheissu. (Did Teppei put away the Les Paul for good on this record? I think i hear another 70's Tele). Another noisy kind of drum kit vibe, must be a theme for the record. Oo... clever interlude happening here. Drummer's classic kick-and-rimshot beat. Theme for the song seems to be standing up under opression, a great weight etc. Overall song rating: 4 stars

Track 3. Circles

Acoustic intro. Slow and contemplative. Tricky melody by Kensrue. True slowdance material for indie-rock kids. Once again, the Breckenridge brothers mess with my sense of rythmn and such. Seems to be a sort of "where do we go from here" kind of mood going on here. whether this is based on a relationship or a dry season of spirituality, it isn't clear.

Clever but simple guitar solo from Teppei. Maybe playing a Strat? I really should know but it's kind of effects-laden. Overall song rating: 3.8 stars

Track 4. Doublespeak

Math-rocky intro. I think the first time there's a dominant piano part. "Ends justify the means" kind of mindset. Another slow-slamdance song. I think this is what people mean when they say "groove-based rock". It doesn't sound fast, mostly just really locked in tight. Make no mistake, though, not any hack could play this. Half-time feel to the chorus, with a slowed-down kind of "Artist In The Ambulance" vibe to it. Bridge is laced with feedback and whammy-bar type harmonics. Overall feel seems to be reaching for "epic", but landing around "huge".

Song rating: 4 stars

Track 5. In Exile

Another slower intro, but fairly simple beat. Drummer's using fans, or similar soft, jazzy kind of "sticks". Allusions to C.S. Lewis and the Apostle Paul, a la "through a glass darkly". Seems to be a "not of this world" vibe. Aaand there Dustin said it himself. "I am not of this world, i'm just passing through". hehe. Reminds me of the drawing Jude made in "Across the Universe". If i could get a print of that, that would be amazing. I would put that up in every room i ever stayed in. but i digress. Solid, simple-for-Thrice kind of song. Ethereal sort of ending, which i really dig.

Overall rating: 4.8 stars

Track 6. At the Last

ooh. Fast. but groovy, like they said. Cool shuffle effect with the snare and kick drum. Seriously detuned bass (i thought they got rid of that after "Ambulance"?) or maybe it's a 5-string. That would make more sense. Kind of minimal approach for guitars, but it works for this song. Bass continues to drive, almost incessantly. Ugh... Breckenridge's doing that annoying "crash-cymbal-on-every-beat" riff. Not a fan. Oh well it's over. Oh. OH. Teppei, what is UP man? You been taking lessons from BB King? That lick was BLUESY. Overall rating: 4 stars

Track 7. Wood and Wire

Ethereal, lightly fuzzy guitar intro. Reminds me of the Air EP from The Alchemy Index. Another shuffle beat that makes me happy. And thickly-layered Kensrue-on-Kensrue harmonies. Really makes me happy. Although this isn't exactly a feelgood kind of song. Mellow, rainy-day-in-seattle kind of vibe. I want coffee... *pauses song and brews a pot* Back! Still digging the harmonies Kensrue is coming up with. Longish instrumental outtro, trippy kind of end. Overall song rating: 3.5 stars

Track 8. Talking Through Glass / We Move Like Swing Sets

Heavy kind of groove drum intro... cool. AND DUSTIN KENSRUE IN YOUR FACE! REAAAAHFREARARRRRGARG!! cool. I'm sold. The title has me confused though... Meh. It's not as important as I think it is, i bet. Cool vocal bends that Dustin's trying out. Nothing extravagant, but it gets your attention. *sips coffee* i think this french roast is the best thing that's happened to me as far as coffee is concerned in a long time. Like since espresso. Ooh. And now we've gone all acoustic, Earth-EP-esque. Hmm. Cool humming in BG, I dig. The swing sets part of the song seems to be kicking in, but these are not happy swing sets, they're sad and wistful. Overall song rating; 4.9 stars

Track 9. The Great Exchange

Interesting sort of guitar intro. I like the drumroll kind of beat Breckenridge is putting out. Kensrue is consistently creating some memorable-yet-original melodies too. Very haunting. I think that if i could pick one word for this album, it would be haunting. Or ethereal. Lots of oohs and hums and such. The Great Exchange seems to be referring to Christ's willingness to trade his life for ours. "Your body is a bridge across an endless sea..." Cool. Overall song rating: 5 Stars

Track 10. Beggars.

Ok. This is it. The summation of this album. Intro reminds me of "Miserable Visu" from Anberlin's latest record, but it sounds a little smaller, scale-wise. It seems to be very restrained, like they're afraid their audience will run away if they play too loud, but they also seem to have an urgency to say what they need to. Kensrue's melody is very inventive, again. Bends. They're new to his repertoie, but they are sweet.

ooh. bigger. More distortion, more passion to vocals. Gritty. mm. mm.. goood. Desperate. And then back to tender and quiet. Almost crack-ily quiet, for the vocals. Ooh, i sense an epic guitar solo coming! Hmm... Maybe not what i was expecting, but it's still pretty good. Longer than many of Teppei's other efforts. Kinda repetitive, but i guess it's becoming more of a riff than a solo. Almost atonal, very Tele-like tone. Overall song rating: 5 Stars

And that's it! I was kinda surprised at the end. Expecting more, perhaps. A more epic end, like Red Sky did for "Vheissu". It's the shortest Thrice album that I own, anyway, not counting the Alchemy EPs. It almost seems unfinished, in that it ends very noisily. Ah well. It's a good album, and I would recommend it to any long-time Thrice lover, for certain. For a new recruit, i think i would have them listen to at least their 3 previous albums, to get a feel for where they're coming from. The transformation that occurs from "The Artist In the Ambulance" to "Beggars" is simply astounding.

Sigh...

Prepare yourself, those of you who don't care much for quasi-depressing blog posts. i'm in a bit of a hum-drum mood, as i seem to be at a dead end as far as options are concerned. i'm enlisting into the Active Duty portion of the army, adn i can't say that currently i'm all that excited about it. Granted, there are a lot of benefits that come with SERVING YOUR COUNTRY but i'm in such terrible shape... It doesn't seem like i'll be in good enough condition to make it through basic. I went running this morning with one of my recruiters from the Bozeman office, and i nearly died. at least, i thought i had. the last couple hundred yards were absolute hell, and i wanted to drop dead, drink a gallon or two of water, and take a massive dump all at the same time. And this was with semi-supportive people running with me, prior to basic. How I'll make it through the real Basic Training, I don't know. I hear success stories like this guy Sean who lost like 35 pounds in one month, and i think to myself, "That's really nice and all, but i just don't think that i could do that without massive amounts of willpower and not a lot of "fun foods". I like to eat. I like eating unhealthy foods. I'm not exactly a fan of running.

I've been a musician for well over half my life. I'm not a warrior. Granted, I'm not in a combat MOS, but I don't much care for the warrior mentality. It all seems so destructive and reckless. I'd rather create and build and invent and so on, than destroy. Destroying is easy. It comes naturally. It's part of fallen human nature. It's not something God has commanded us to do as followers of his Son, Jesus Christ. How can I justify serving a portion of our government that has largely been responsible for a good deal of human suffering and death for the past 200 or so years? Even if I'm helping the individuals who have participated in this destruction to recover and lead healthy, productive lives, I'm not sure that it's really worth it.

Your input, dear reader, is of course, greatly appreciated. Am I over-analyzing my role in the American Armed Forces? Should I worry about the actions and misdeeds of people out of my control, even out of my sphere of influence?

The End of The Music Industry And the Return of Music as an Art Form

Sounds like doom and gloom eh? Not so much. No my friends, with the advent of p2p sharing sites like limewire and BitTorrent that allow you to get whatever artists and songs you want for free, the music industry as we know it is in for a change. I think we’re all aware of this, what I intend to establish is that this change will be for good.

How is this possible, you might ask? It's rather simple. Remember how rock stars used to get "money for nothing and their chicks for free"? (Apologies to Dire Straits). That was a huge draw to someone considering musicianship as a career. Make a record, get signed, play some shows, make a music video, BAM. Instant stardom. This is what the music industry was for the past 30 or so years. Music was brought to you by the radio, TV, and occasionally that friend you had at the record store. Yes, there actually was a time when Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and Pantera's "Psycho Holiday" were played on FM radio.

But all of this changed with the advent of computer popularity and the internet. For a while, the internet actually boosted album and single sales. Bands that would otherwise have gone unnoticed for lack of publicity, exposure, or a label to promote them could promote their music with their own Myspace page that allowed others to listen to samples of their music for free. It was great for a while. But then peer-to-peer, or P2P sharing programs like Limewire, Bittorrent, and Frostwire made it possible for others to share unprecedented amounts of media to anyone who agreed to the terms of service and had a high-speed internet connection. Granted, all of this is illegal by the passage of numerous Federal and State laws, but frankly you have to be downloading terabytes of media in order for your ISP to flag you for illegal downloading. It's practically impossible for the government to catch someone on an illegal downloads charge, which is why the penalties are so harsh and the fines so steep when someone is caught. There's quite a bit of media attention for it as well.

So, dear reader, you may be thinking to yourself, "ok, all of this makes sense, but what about the return of music as an art form? That I don't get." Well, I'm glad you asked.

This is my hope and aspiration for the music industry. I anticipate that, since it will become harder and harder to make a living as a musician, there will be fewer mediocre and poor musicians attempting to make music for a living, as it just wouldn't be feasible anymore. The ones that do try, will make the absolute best music that they can, maybe take some theory and composition classes at colleges, and, in short, make better music. Granted, this is a pretty optimistic hope, but I think it can happen.

One of the bands that is doing just this is a little group from Berklee School of Music in Boston, named Dream Theater. The level of musicianship, complexity of composition, and intensity of passion is simply unbelievable. A number of the band members have Bachelor's and even Master's degrees in Music Performance from Berklee, and frankly, it shows. While the setting of the music is clearly a progressive metal environment, the classical schooling they've received for their music is blatantly obvious. If more bands took the approach that Dream Theater has, I am confident that better, more accomplished music will be on the rise for popularity and music will return to an Art Form, rather than a Business or Industry.

Flyleaf and "Christian" Music

Part two of an unintentional series, I'd like to examine the effect the Christian music industry has on bands that would never have made it anywhere in the "real world" of music, but instead, in the warm, friendly incubator of "Christian" music, enjoy unwarranted success due to their participation in a niche market. Unless you completely ignored my title, you know that the band I intend to tear apart in this entry is Flyleaf.
It is my conviction that Flyleaf has only enjoyed the success that it has, because they have a unique niche in the "Christian" music industry. They are a moderate to heavy rock band with a female vocalist that, on rare occasion, screams her vocals. There is no other band, to my knowledge, that does this, if they have, they aren't doing very well in the music industry, Christian or not. The only other bands that come to mind in the secular industry are bands like Straight Line Stitch, Arch Enemy, and Lacuna Coil. These bands have female vocalists as well, but Arch Enemy is strictly screamed vocals, and Lacuna Coil is strictly sung vocals. Straight Line Stitch does mix screamed and sung vocals, but they aren't doing as well as the other two (although, if we were going by uniqueness, they should be at the very top. When was the last time you remember a heavy metal band being fronted by a black chick?)
That being said, uniqueness shouldn't be enough for the band to become famous. The musicians should be proficient at their instruments, have catchy enough riffs to remain in memory, and the singer's voice shouldn't make you want to surgically remove your inner ear with a rusty nail. Unfortunately, Flyleaf fails at all three of these checkpoints. The closest thing to proficiency that I have come across in listening to their music is the distorted bass riff at the beginning of "I'm So Sick", which is not only extremely difficult to pick out as a "tune", but is, at best, mirrored exactly by the electric guitars. This is music, at best, rudimentary. Usually, either the guitarist or the bassist will get tired of sounding like each other, and branch out into harmonic or intentionally discordant phrases so it doesn't sound like one person playing different instruments simultaneously.
Lyrics should be adequately written as well, which is probably Flyleaf's strongest points. What they lack in poetic phrasing, they nearly make up for with brutal honesty about the Columbine killings, etc.

Sigh... ok. I've been workin on this post for well over a month now, and i just can't get it to work without my sounding like a judgemental jerk/music snob. Maybe i should just drop it. But it's difficult to believe that Flyleaf's debut CD has gone platinum whereas great artists like Buckethead are by and large unheard of.

Poorly ended, but it needed to happen. I need something new to write about.

Thrice and "Christian" Music

So i've been thinking a lot about the idea of "christian"music and the christian music industry, and i havce to say that it's definitely time i wrote about it. It s a subject of controversy in a good deal of religious circles, that never seems to get resolved. Bands like Stryper, who have religious themes in their music, then go and let loose the f-bomb at concerts, often get blacklisted and shunned for the rest of their lives. Others, like Thrice, have cryptic messages that are imperceptible to many non-religious listeners, but more intuitive listeners can guess at their meanings. For instance, on "Vheissu", there are references to the Apostle Peter's denial of Christ ("Like Moths to Flame"), how humans are made in the likeness of God ("Image of the Invisible") and Peter's miraculous escape from jail ("The Earth Will Shake"). However, most people don't categorize Thrice as a "christian" band because their songs don't directly reference God, or they don't have typical "praise and worship" themes to their songs.

So what to do? Is Thrice "safe" for Christian radio? Granted, their post-hardcore stylings are hardly KTIS-friendly, but say softer songs like the ones on The Alchemy Index; Earth, Air, and Water. Surely thes are ok for Christian radio.

Frankly, I don't think it matters. I don't think we should have "Christian" radio or music or any of the above. Last I checked, it was humans that accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, not CDs, radio waves, or songs. There are musicians who happen to be Christians, and there are songs that are specifically written to praise and worship our Heavenly father, but there is no such thing as "Christian" music. To ask if a band is "Christian" is equally ridiculous as asking if a Ford Taurus is a "Christian" vehicle.

For far too long, the world has looked at Christianity as a "members-only" exclusive club, with it's own music, radio, MTV, gathering places, and so on. Outsiders are intimidated by this, it being entirely foreign to them, and it makes it that much more difficult for us to relate to non-Christians, and them to us. For me as a musician, i have found few better bridges than a common interest in music. My varied interests in multiple genres makes it easy to pick a subject of new music, and it's only a matter of time before either I or the other person begins to rave about the talents or skills of the musician we're talking about. This is an easy stepping stone for me to say something like "This is proof that there is a God, and he loves us and wants us to be happy, because he made _______ to make music for us." Granted, it comes off kinda stilted, but if you drive at that more often, that God is the ultimate author of all music, you can have a good discussion about eternity, God, and what Jesus did for us on the Cross.
I seem to have rambled from my original subject... hmm. Well, i suppose all i have to say in conclusion is, if you're a follower of Jesus' teachings, don't limit yourself to only-"christian" music. It narrows your horizon of understanding in the music world, removes a great way to relate to non-christians, and you miss out on a lot of good music. I remember a road trip i was on, and i thought i'd spice things up on the MP3 player and play some led zeppelin. Everything was going fine until the lyrics kicked in (the song was "Bring it on Home", for those of you who want to go search for lyrics) and they immediately asked me who the artist was, and whined, "can we listen to some christian music, please?" I not only felt like a heretic for being the only one in the car that wanted to listen to non-"christian" music, but it seemed like there was an air of "holier-than-thou" for the rest of the trip. I don't hold it against the guys, but the mood definitely hung around. Besides, Led Zeppelin has some really great tunes. Seriously. They don't know what they were missing out on.

\m/(^_^)\m/

Post-College "Depression"?

Well. It's been a year since I wrote last. So much has changed... and yet, many things remain the same. Where to begin? I suppose I could try to summarize my past year at Northwestern... Since The Manhattan Stories sync with my facebook notes, it seems like it might be redundant. That and not many people read The Manhattan Stories, if any at all. Oh well. Here goes.

Last year was a whirlwind of activity for me, what with it being my first year of college, first year being away from my family, and so on. I invested in many friendships, ones that I hope will endure in the year to come. I learned some lessons, was exposed to some, and, I hope, grew in God through it all. I wish I could say that I am eager to return next fall, but unfortunately this is impossible. Not having an adequate GPA for the fall semester, i have been placed on academic suspension until i can bring my grades up.

I would launch into a tirade in the vein of "why do i do this to myself?" or "I'm so stupid" or "if i really valued my time at northwestern, i would have..." but I would like to think that i'm more grown up than that. I'm 19 years old, turning twenty this year, and I'm too old to throw myself a pity party. I will certainly miss my friends, professors, and even the architecture at Northwestern, but pouting and wishing for what might have been will not bring them back to me. What WILL bring them back, is hard work and sacrifice on my part. I have the opportunity to take either distance education classes to bring up my GPA, or I can go to a community college (probably MSU) to get credit for some classes for cheap and show that I can study properly on my own, that I have what it takes to be a college student. I know I do. I just need to apply myself so that I can re-join my friends come fall 2010.

What with having all this "free" time, i've been keeping pretty busy. My dad is quite the disciplinarian (no, he didn't spank me), we've been working our tails off to get the basement all renovated in time for our former pastor, Steve Mathewson, and his family to come stay for his daughter's wedding here in MT. Hence, I get precious little time to spend on the computer or on my instruments of choice, which may be a problem when i join the bozeman city band for paying gigs. hopefully i can get my chops back in shape in time for my first rehearsal next week. i guess i'll find out. It's only a summer gig, playing concerts every week at Bogert park. Mostly marches and trash like that. Nothing against marches, really, but they aren't much fun on a trombone. Walking bass lines and playing on the "and" of the beat the entire time. Not my idea of fun. oh well.

I guess i've vented enough. Hopefully i will be a little more consistent about posts (i can't get much worse than I have been, a whole year between posts), and maybe i can look back on this as a learning experience, see how i've grown in the past year. If nothing else, it'll be fun to look back on this as a journal.

But it's time for bed. Getting up at 5:30 is no picknick, and that's exactly what i have to do tomorrow.

Until next time.

RLC

End Of Camp

So yesterday was the last day of camp as far as the summer is concerned... there'll be retreats and other events and such, but none that require the full staff that we had for the summer.
overall, i think my summer experience at CCR (Clydehurst Christian Ranch) was a good one; i didn't get fired, i gained a lot of new friends that i intend to keep for a long time via facebook and myspace, and i learned a lot about myself and God this summer.
Meanwhile, all this time i've been getting ready for leaving for college in Minnesota. I'm attending Northwestern College in St. Paul, and i just barely got in by the skin of my teeth. I'm really excited to go there too, but i had no idea what went into a college trip, i'm starting to understand the price tag on a college, a LOT goes into one.
anyways, i'm getting pretty psyched up for this trip, it'll be the first time i've been out of state for a long time at all, and i'm a little nervous, but mostly excited. i'll be leaving a fair amount of friends behind, but i'll be more than happy to have a complete fresh start on things. I'm pretty sure i will be the worst roomate ever, because i have horrible hygeine habits, i listen to really loud music all the time, and i love to stay up late doing retarded things, not to mention study habits that don't really exist.
but regardless, i'll be kinda sad to leave my family again, since i've only been home for 2 1/2 days and i'll be leaving in 2 or 3. not even a week home... this is gonna be intense.