Like Rats - Like Rats (2009)

So, I have this platform on the internet where people are interested in my opinion on music. As such, I've got to take this opportunity to tell you to listen to my own recordings. Besides, I wouldn't post it if I didn't think you'd like it. Half-hearted apologies to all of my friends on Twitter/F-book who've already been informed of this a few times. You'll be fine.

This is basically an example of me writing music that I want to hear, and what I want to hear is chromatic riffs at mid-paced tempos, but sometimes fast and sometimes slow. I love Tom G Warrior's signature riff composition style, and I tried to write riffs that evoke similar feelings without actually copying his techniques. There are a few self-imposed stylistic restrictions in order to keep the overall aesthetic within certain boundaries: no palm-muting, no double bass drum. Special attention was paid to the way that two primitive riffs compliment each other and create a relationship that makes each one significantly more interesting than if it were to exist on its own.

With love from me to you:

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While I'm talking about heavy Chicago bands, I also have to mention The Muzzler (Voivod, Morbid Angel, etc.) and Hate (newer Converge, except higher, more metal, and more pissed), both of whom recently put out new releases. The thing about these bands is that I would like them and listen to them even if I didn't even know them as people.

Z-Ro - Look What You Did to Me (1998)

If you couldn't tell from the title, this record is fucking hostile. Dedicated Primitive Future readers will already have good feelings towards Z-Ro from my Guerilla Maab post, or maybe you're already into the Screwed Up Click and depressed, angry rappers. (Please download that Guerilla Maab album if you didn't the first time. It is important. Thank you.) So yeah, throw in my UGK post, and you've got a few of the finest cuts and slices that Texas has to offer. And you're already listening to the Geto Boys and Scarface, right? Right?

Just so you understand what kind of cool guys we're talking about here, check out this insane story about the lifestyle of the DJ Screw and affiliates from one of the best blogs on the internet, Twankle and Glisten: "Once we get to the ground the doors open and we were all asleep in the elevator standing up."

Z-Ro raps really, really fast about one of my favorite emotions: melancholy. Death is embraced as a starting point for existence, with a nod to Biggie: I'm ready to kill, and I'm ready to die. Even as a suburban white growing up in safety and affluence, this concept was crucial to my maturation. Human notions of purpose have no relevance outside of our own minds, but the impetus to act still exists and must be embraced with the same fervor with which we fear our own impending demise. Todd Niefzsche.

Nobody loves me, but I prefer to keep it like that:

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Merauder - Master Killer (1996)

My friend Friel has never heard Merauder, so I made a promise to send Master Killer to him. Then, I figured I'd just send it to the rest of the internet as well.

This is death metal recontextualized as syncopated rock music. Nu-metal showed the world how guys with braids can do this in the worst possible way; Merauder showed the world how guys with braids can do this in a way that I like so much.

Merauder understands that the best way to make their listeners frown uncontrollably is to play at a steady, mid-paced tempo. There is some sort of evolutionary short circuit about heavy guitars with a backbeat at ~150 bpm that causes a severe frown reflex. Major thirds are prevalent, texturing riffs with a distinct flavor: Merauder's most recognizable moment, the big mosher at 1:57 in "Master Killer," makes use of this sound.*

You know, it's interesting that I like this record as much as I do, as the evolution of death metal and hardcore into stoogish w's downtuning their guitars and putting the kick drum on the "and" bums me the fuck out. However, sometimes it's just done really, really well. I am an adult, and this record regularly makes me see red and mosh in my bedroom.

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*Please watch this whole video. Thank you have a nice day.

Christodoulos Halaris - Tropikos Tis Parthenou (1973)

This guy attempts to recreate the music of Ancient Greece, which is extremely interesting. However, the internet search boxes of my life don't really turn up with too much when I try to find out more. I thought we were past these days of not being able to find everything instantaneously with a little bit of basic search engine know-how - information wants to be syndicated.

I did find that people are listing this record as psych-folk on Bay, and also expecting to get several hundred dollars for it. Whoa! I guess the third track has some cacophonous violins that could call up images of Warholian bananas for all the weird-beards spending their paychecks on every fuzzed out guitar solo ever put to wax. The really important part of this record is the impossibly catchy verse of the first song, which exists over a minimally strumming guitar. The chorus of the first song is also really rad, as microtones are used as embellishment on the line. I'd write more, but I'm going camping in order to get in touch with my own primitive roots. See ya never!

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