Crack the Skye

Here is yet another one of my music reviews.

Crack the Skye by Mastodon was released in March of 2009. The First time I heard of Mastodon was on a video game review for the most recent Guitar Hero. At the time I thought nothing of it. As I started working this summer I happened to hear a song on a local radio station. The music was nothing terribly new, at first I just passed it off as another Black Sabbath type metal band. As the song continued I was completely sucked into the story and I had to know who this band was. After a few minutes of searching the web, I found that the song was Oblivion.

I quickly acquired the album and have listened to it at least once every couple of days since. ITS AMAZING!

As a drummer I appreciated the percussion in this album because the guy never stops. Even though the drumming isn't really flashy, it's very interesting to listen to. I am also a person who is very emotionally connected to music, for example: some music can make me cry.* Along that vein of thought, this cd has an amazing urgency to it, even though it sounds/feels very ethereal it is always forward moving.

The real hitter on this album is its lyrical content. This was very different from the band's 3 previous ones. All seven tracks fit together to tell a three tired story. The use of metaphor is hugely important, the album it self is dedicated to the lead singer's sister Skye, who committed suicide a few years ago. The 7 tracks demonstrate the seven stages of grief that people go through after the loss of a loved one.

The most obvious plot line in the album is a story of a paraplegic boy who travels around in a state disconnected from his body. He accidentally looses his connection to his body and gets sucked into a wormhole. He ends up meeting Rasputin and together they attempt to get the boy back to his body along the way they run into various obstacles. I'm not going to spoil the story and say if they are successful at this or not.

The final plot aspect in this CD is a artistic look at the fall of the last Czar of Russia and the rise of Communism. All of these metaphors run through the entire album making it a very interesting listening experience.

Pick it up, enjoy it!



*If you can find out one of the songs that makes me cry I'll give you something. (might be money, might be a hug, might be a punch in the stomach depends on my mood) It's not a song from this cd or band by the way. If it was that would be strange

Grrrrr.

I can't believe this little piece of advertising I saw yesterday that my school just put out. It's terrible! I was appalled when I saw it. The lighting is so-so and the camera movement! The camera movement its terrible has the maker of this clip not heard of cutting? Those are just some of the issues I have, an advertisement should not be more than 2 minutes in length. This feels more like unsolved mysteries than an ad for the school. OH AND LETS NOT FORGET THE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS! The song at the end is on a CD that has not even been released yet. I doubt they asked the artist for the use of the song. DENNIS! You like your reading the whole time, DO A VOICE OVER!

I'm not going to go into what I think the Sociology course at this school does to the students enrolled in it but from the ones that I have witnessed I don't believe there will be any 'better helping' coming from them. These systems that they want to be fixed generally can't be fix by us 'western folk' unless we go and invade the country, and well we all know what happens then. Honestly it saddens me to know that the guy who made this thing is one of the senior film buffs in the communications program here. But that's what we get for not specializing I guess.

Tiny Pictures

Its about time. Ian Thornley has come out with a new album from his self titled band. The album is called Tiny Pictures as you would have guessed from the title of this entry. This album consists of 12 tracks with 1 extra if you acquired the special version.

This album in some cases, reverts back to the sound of Big Wreck. Ian has seemed to abandoned the sound that Tornley initially used in their first album, Come again. It has been traded for a combination of softer Big Wreck-esque songs along with a few pieces that sound a little to much like Nickle Back. I guess that it was doomed to happen seeing as Chad Kroeger is their producer and most of the gigs Kroeger has his fingers in sound like... his own.

Overall Tiny Pictures is a decent album. It is an easy listen compared to Come Again, but considering its been six years since their first release their original enthusiasm seems to have dissipated.

A funny rendition of one of my favorite songs.

It's terrible I know but I laughed so hard when I saw this.

Famous people geez. (WARNING RANDOM)

Now it has been said by a few that I enjoy Tool every now and then. This would include Maynard Keenan's solo work Puscifer. It just came to my attention a few days ago that one of his back up singers would include the likes of model/actress and now singer Milla Jovovich. Now I don't claim to know much about the Hollywood circle but why do actors/actresses seem to think that, because they are in one form of media they then are compatible with all forms? This is by no means a new trend as actors of the past were almost required to be able to dance and sing and do a plethora of things. But we are in a different time when the political views of the uninformed seem to to be what is most important to us. Should we keep to the same standards of the past when training and brains seem to be rather lacking? I am not in anyway trying to insult Ms. Jovovich's intelligence, I'm just using her as an example for the industry as a whole.

Her Morning Elegance

Check this out its a fantastic use of stop motion by Oren Lavie.

Because the Music Do

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning - The Smashing Pumpkins

If you have seen the new watchmen trailer you probably have heard this song. It was originally written for Batman and Robin but was remixed.

Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate
With no more to hate

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a palace cracked
And now the kingdom comes
Crashing down undone
And I am a master of a nothing place
Of recoil and grace

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us
No one can separate us
For we are all that is left
The echo bounces off me
The shadow lost beside me
There's no more need to pretend
Cause now I can begin again

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain
Strange
Strange
Strange

What Makes Music Christian?

A question asked by many a listener. Terry Mattingly seems to think it sure isn't rock. How dare music show some semblance of talent or a back beat of any kind? Would this then rule out artists like Toby Mac? Strangely the Rock/Nu-Metal group Chevelle was considered to be a Christian band for many years. They were sold under the Squint Entertainment label for their first three albums. Squint is most famously known for the band Six Pence None the Richer. The lyrics of Chevelle sounded Christian, though strangely the never mentioned a deity other than El Diablo.

A sample from The Clincher:
Could we have known,
Never would I, Helped to nail down,
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher, This should be you!
Now saturate.

Sounds like it could be Christian. SURPRISE! When asked in an interview, the drummer, Sam Loeffler said, "It's something that's probably going to follow us around forever and that's fine. It's pretty simple. We originally signed with a record company that was backed by Word (known for artists such as Amy grant), so the record was in Christian bookstores. It was really an accidental thing. The Band promptly changed labels and lyrical quality the swearing abounded with titles like, Antisaint.

This is just one example. Another would be the band Evanescence. One of their first big hits Bring Me to Life was accompanied by the lead vocalist from the Christian band 12 stones. Stories shot through the roof that there was this hot new "christian" band called Evanescence. Those voices were silenced quickly.

Now we turn to the band Paramore, I have yet to actually listen to them. But they claim be Christians. WAIT! Pause for a second, these guys are signed under Fueled by Ramen. The same company that signed Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy. You don't see these guys being sold at your local Christian book store.

So really what makes music Christian? I'm going to agree with Bono on this one and say that, Christian music doesn't exist.

Save Me From My Self

In 2005 Brian "Head" Welch left his position of guitarist for the band KoЯn and pursued a new life as a Christian. He has since gone solo under his psudoname Head. His album was released a few weeks ago called: Save Me From My self.

This album is AMAZING! It has all the great aspects of the Nu-Metal genre and a very edgy, thought provoking message. Many of the songs on this CD show Welch dealing with his personal problems of drugs and abuse and his turn to God.

"I always loved that Korn's music helped kids let out aggression. But with my new music, I want kids to know that there's more out there. I want to show them there's a light at the end of the pain tunnel. That there's more out there than just aggression. I want to say to them, 'Hey kids, come over here. Let's bounce back and forth and have fun.'"
— Brian Welch

I recommend checking this album out. GO BUY IT!

(I'll post some lyrics when I have time to type them out. I can't find any on the net)

I'm Tired of Mr. Smith and His Alleluias.

As I delve into "Evangelical Media" I will first comment on the second chapter of the book. This is because I was so utterly confused and frazzled by the assumptions the first chapter brought forth that I couldn't think of words to describe it. Oh I think I'm going to enjoy this one.

*
Thankfully, as I looked through the second chapter of Schultze's book, I found less strange comments on what makes up American Evangelicalism and more about actual media. This fine chapter was about Evangelical radio. Now Christian radio and I have an interesting relationship. That is, we stay as far away from each other as we can as to not start an interstellar war.

I agreed with most of what Paul Creasman said in that Christians have not been using radio properly in the recent decades. In my opinion Christian radio has quite a narrow audience so the apparent failure of stations going, "mainstream" does not surprise me. As I have studied media and listened to "secular" radio I have come to realize that mainstream is also a failed use of the medium. Some could argue that it is as repetitive in its content as Christian propaganda. Unfortunately Creasman offered us no alternatives.

So how can radio be changed? Should we revert to formats used in the 30's-60's? Though some of that might liven up mainstream radio I do not believe it will work for Christian radio. A whole new format is necessary to attract the generation that no-longer wants the revival teachings spewed at them all day. I don't really have any Ideas as of yet on what this format could be but I'll be thinking on it.

*(Word Count Starts Here)