The Shape of Chicago Rock to Come

Merlin Wall is a band about a medical student fantasizing about death via the music of Hall & Oates, Prince and a whole bunch of obscure power pop bands that I've never heard of. Hopefully, Pitchfork gets wise to this freaky dreamy pop music, then some Heaven's Gate type ish goes down.

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Pagan Youth is a band where I steal ideas from artists such as The Zombies, Motown and Hall & Oates while Brandon just wails on the bass guitar. We are more into self-improvement projects than cosmic suicide cults, but really anything that involves the destruction of civilization is cool.

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POSTSCRIPT:

Pink Torpedo is a freaky zeeky psych band with a free demo featuring Pagan Donahue on drums.

Spells are what it sounds like to be a ghost.

"On 1/29, Pagan Youth, The Merlin Wall & Spells will be performing live music at Pancho's in Logan Square due to increasing entropy in the universe. Please join me in attendance." -Douglas Pearce aka Douglas P

Don Cherry - Mu (1969)

Various jazz musicians such as Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell just absolutely freak out on this freak show. Cherry is wailing on that trumpet and that piano while Ed Blackwell switches between legit player nonsense and subdued polyrhythmic games. This whole album reminds me of Sun Ra, in that it's really fucking weird, but in a way that seems like it probably makes perfect sense to someone. However, that someone is not me. I am but a mere white man who cannot jump.

This rip is divided up into several tracks, which is nice because having 40 minutes songs is annoying.

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Quicksilver Messenger Service - Quicksilver Messenger Service (1968)

Oh god, the pride of man, broken in the dust again.

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The Egyptian Lover - On the Nile (1984)

My friend Bria found this video of cool guys dancing to The Egyptian Lover's "My House (On the Nile)":

She asked me to find the song for her, and, rather than deal with the hell of social interaction, I decided to post the full album on my blog rather than meeting up with her or even sending her an e-mail. In the past, I've expressed love for the bizarre effects and minimalist song structures of 80s electro & hip-hop; The Egyptian Lover is the Holy Grail of this sound. These songs are slow and slightly unsettling, much like The Egyptian Lover's rapping. He whispers about sex with an unnerving tenacity, and this is something that I can really relate to. Why don't you come over to my house? Why don't you come over to my house? Brett Favre could use some lessons from this guy.

And man I can't believe how materialistic and shallow hip-hop is nowadays. I wish things would go back to how they were in the 80s when hip-hop actually had meaning and substance.

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Vader - Necrolust Demo (1989)

I went to go see Immolation and Vader a few days ago, and the metal was quite true. Immolation is one of my favorite bands of all time, but I was surprisingly impressed with Vader. If you were to ask my opinion about Vader, I would say something along the lines of "yeah the demos were good, everything else is kind of boring." That's just the kind of elitist that I am. I'm gonna have to reevaluate this opinion, though, because I really liked almost every song they played.

That said, here is Vader's Necrolust demo, which exists in that late 80s extreme metal stew that I'm so obsessed with. This is really, really fast thrash metal with stupid production. I'm almost reminded of Massacra in the way that these hyper-speed riffs flirt with major tonalities and smoothly metamorphose into new themes. I have a fetish for this stuff.

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Sonny Rollins - Newk's Time (1957)

I have a hard time associating heroin with the super vibrant godhead improvisational genius of all of those bop dudes. Instead, all I can think of is a few stressful experiences with addicts in high school and the muck and filth of Trainspotting. This record seems to be just outside of the Rollins canon, but for anyone interested in this period of this man's genius, it is essential. Rollins is famous for the way that he uses rhythm in his solos, and many of the statements that he makes here work almost entirely because of the rhythm. Although capable of the type of rapid, melodic flurries the term "hard bop" calls to mind, Rollins's most memorable moments come when he introduces a catchy rhythmic line, then plays within the framework he establishes for himself. This one goes out to all my bloggers with token appreciation of "various jazz musicians."

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Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Sonata No. 6 (1940)

I've had a three disc Prokofiev piano sonatas collection riding in my car with me for a few months now, and it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. See, driving for me is unavoidably stressful. I'm a guy who is pretty turned off to the world around me, but something about driving in a car flips every "fight or flight" switch in me and it is awful. Now, normally, I don't even understand what people are talking about when they discuss things like "being in the mood" for a specific song or "I can only listen to that when I'm in a certain mood." The fuck? It's just music, you emotionally obsessive twat. Anyway, this Prokofiev stuff is really engaging and beautiful and it turns a truly hellish experience for me into something that I really don't even mind at all. So, when I am driving, I am "in the mood" for Prokofiev.

This sonata starts with some fucking heavy piano riffing, the idea behind which I plan on ripping off for a Like Rats song sometime soon. You heard it here first. This piece is also unbelievably melodically rich with dissonant, rapidfire statements that somehow still make intuitive sense and are completely engaging. Transcend your boring, stressful reality with Prokofiev's melodic mindfuck piano experience number six.

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*I started reviewing new metal releases every week for ALARM. Here's a thing I wrote on the new Autopsy, which is really good.

Like Rats - Like Rats (2010)

So the new Like Rats record, released by Cosmic Debris Records,is available for order or download over at www.likerats.net. You can have the mp3s for free and just pretend that everything is working normally on this blog or you can internet us a few dollars and we will mailbox you a physical vinyl record with cool artwork featuring a photo by Noel Rod0-Vankeulen (one of Shea's photo buddies) and Regan did the layout and he has a gold record hanging prominently in his apt because he did the layout for Lupe Fiasco. I'm really happy with how this turned out, so join me in jubilation. This is more of that Celtic Frost worship, with some steps taken towards a more proto-death metal sound. Andy will record your band and do a really good job at Bricktop Recording in Chicago, so get into that. Love is love, everything is love, please like my band, one what? One love.

Like Rats

Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady

My rock band aka Pagan Youth aka Pagan Diaper is playing a Halloween show as the Buzzcocks, because the fucking Buzzcocks are one of my biggest songwriting influences. I'm doing double-duty with Like Rats is playing as Black Flag, so be on the lookout.

As a young youth*, I remember checking out the Buzzcocks and being sorely disappointed because they weren't that punk, you know? I was into The Broadways & Rancid & NOFX & assorted skacore bands and had started to dig into The Clash & The Ramones. I thought the Buzzcocks were stupid, but I was actually the one who was stupid. Why can't I ever do anything right please help meeeeeee.

Anyway, these are extremely, phenomenally catchy pop songs played with just a little bit of punk edge. What I care about are the little melodic tricks that elevate these hooks to transcendental status. The key change in the hook of "Ever Fallen in Love..." is the most obvious example, as is the major to minor chord change in "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" (total Beach Boys rip on that vocal melody; not just cuz it's falsetto although that makes it more obvious; I know because I also ripped off "Keep an Eye on Summer") as is the sharp five going into the chorus in "I Don't Mind." Another band known to always be doing cool stuff like that is THE BEATLES. So tite.

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*First time I've ever seen this video. Weird.

Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery (1987)

As you should know by now, Celtic Frost is my goddamn favorite band. This is a nice slab of Celtic Frost worship, complete with extended, chromatic doom passages, and lightning fast sliding power chords over d-beats.

This is a weird record that doesn't quite sound like anything else that I'm aware of from this time. It's quite a bit slower than other emerging death metal bands, and it mostly avoids the bluesy shuffles and overt Sabbath worship of other doom bands (except for the extended shuffle solo section in "The Elder Race"). The rhythmic emphasis typically lies on the beat, giving it a very methodical, plodding feel. If you are a frown-lover, this album will give you plenty of opportunity to frown. The drum performance is also impressive, which is important for a band with so much space in their songs.

Dan Polak, you know about this record, right? Because if you don't, I think it will be your favorite thing.

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Alkaline Trio - Alkaline Trio (2000)

Just got back from a stint on the fucking Warped Tour defending pop punk with my doggs in This Time Next Year. Surreal and exhausting experience as a whole. I grew as a person a bit, and also delved into modernist fiction. As such, here is a Warped Tour related post. I made an effort to watch Alkaline Trio as many times as I could because they didn't always play the same setlist, and they were one of my favorite bands growing up in the post-Slapstick Chicago punk scene. My life was made up of teenage depression and shows at the Fireside & The Metro featuring The Lawrence Arms, The Honor System & Alkaline Trio. I don't think I ever saw Tuesday, though.

Anyway, this is a fantastic collection of raw pop punk songs where dudes obviously like The Misfits. Skiba always fakes the chorus the first time through, either by singing it an octave low or doing it instrumental or by skipping it altogether. Also, resolving a sixth up a half step to a power chord on the tonic is super common. Kind of a black metal sound, which is interesting because I had a brief conversation with Skiba about black metal and his Until the Light Takes Us shirt. I wonder if his interest in this musical subculture came before or after he wrote these songs.

Remember that I got into US Maple because of the lyrics to "Goodbye Forever." When a man says ow...

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Death Strike - Fuckin Death (1985)

It should be obvious by now that I am a fan of primitive things. The absence of technicality reduces songs to an intuitive experience. "Does this work or not?" Although it is risky to strip things so bare, there is also potential for greatness in doing so. When it works, it really works. This is the zen meditation of proto-death metal. Let all riffs drift away until you're only left with power chords and Discharge-style drums. Acknowledge other thoughts, but let them pass into the abyss.

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Farid al-Atrash - Compilation

So, I don't know anything about Farid al-Atrash or about Arabian music in general, but this was left at my old apartment by the previous tenants, and it is fucking amazing. I'll post a few more things like this once I figure out how to rip a tape and once I find a computer that can read tricky CDs ("Big Pimpin" content forthcoming).

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Negative Approach - Total Recall

Another issue of Jettison Quarterly has hit the internet. Once again, I've written about cool records, and I also did an interview with former Punk Planet editor and current Cell Stories mastermind Dan Sinker. Check it out, ya dingus. Here's one of my reviews from a previous issue of Jettison.

Negative Approach is possibly the most pissed band I’ve ever heard. This is the musical tradition of The Stooges passed to the next decade: your lizard brain screaming disillusionment with civilization. What separates Negative Approach from other hardcore bands of the early 80s (besides their palpable ferocity) is their effective use of mid-paced rhythms and recursive phrases. Riffs morph sinuously from verse to chorus, referring back while always driving forward into crashing bursts of rhythmic intensity. While most of these songs ostensibly lack dynamics, tension and release are achieved through a manipulation of structure and managing expectations of how a phrase will terminate. As long as humans are crammed together in cities and neurotransmitters are thrown out of balance, this music will be relevant.

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