A Tiny Light on the Horizon

Look here.
Seriously do it.

Not only is there a free demo of a song called "Bride" that apparently will never be actually released, but it contains these important words:
"Next album is nearly done but I wrote ["Bride"] today that won't really fit on it - why that's so will be clear when the next album comes out. (Sometime in the fall, we think.)"

SOMETIME IN THE FALL!!!!!

Seriously, everyday I am filled with even more joy over the fact that I am a fan of the Mountain Goats- I couldn't be more glad that I didn't decide to love a band like My Bloody Valentine or something because if that were the case I of course wouldn't have a constant flow of new material to look forward to.

Horray!

In Which Two Worlds Collide

With a relative degree of safety I think I can say that my two favorite artists that are still formally together are the Mountain Goats and The Hold Steady. Other bands or singers may float in and out of my life like so many one night stands, but I am in a committed relationship with these two bands.

I suppose it is not entirely surprising that I like both of these bands- when you think about it they aren't really all that different from one another. If we were to imagine a Venn diagram, a large portion of the two separate circles would overlap.

Therefore, no great stretch of imagination is required to conceive that I might find a combination of these two artists "thoroughly awesome," right?

Because of this I am somewhat perturbed by the fact that the closest things to these two artists working together have been nothing if not disappointing. I am referring first to the now historic cover by The Hold Steady of "Dance Music" which you can listen to here. A more recent addition to this milieu is another Hold Steady cover of a Mountain Goats song- this time its "Southwood Plantation Road" from Tallahassee. (Still worth hearing though... it is The Hold Steady after all).

I think the obvious reason as to why I am not particularly crazy about these covers comes out of those aspects of each artists style that are present only in the peripheral sides of the Venn diagram I mentioned earlier. The most important difference is the style of each singer's delivery. Darnielle employs a very regular if often oddly structured, phrasing style in most of his songs- it would be difficult to accuse him of "speaking" his songs. On the other hand Craig Finn is almost diametrically opposite because in all likelihood you could remove a large portion of his musical accompaniment it would just sound like he was talking to his friends at a party (let me make it clear that I am not hating on either Darnielle or Finn's delivery here, I love them both equally). Furthermore, Darnielle's lyrics are very much entrenched in his unique vocal style, as are Finn's, making it virtually impossible so it seems for them to reconcile the two.

I don't want to imply though that I think these sorts of things should stop happening, quite the contrary in fact. My complaints aren't really complaints you know; they basically amount to worthless fanboy nitpicking. I guess that statement undercuts the purpose of most of this post. Whatever.

What Goes around Comes Around or, How Karma Hates on Black Metal

I guess in this case if you burn down churches and kill your former friend, you get portrayed by a boy that is prettier than most girls in a film adaptation of your life. Karma, you are a fickle beast.
Yes, that is right ladies and gentleman, a movie of Varg Vikernes' life is in the works. Or rather, more specifically, a film adaptation of Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderland's excellent book "Lords of Chaos" is in the works.
And yes, Jackson Rathbone (don't worry I didn't know who he was either before this little tidbit) will be playing Varg Vikernes.
If Euronymous were still alive he would probably be rolling on the floor giggling at this. Then again, if Euronymous were alive, this wouldn't be quite so hilarious.

You can read the whole shebang here.

And Now For Something Completely Different

For those of you who have been of the opinion that this blog has consisted entirely too much of "silly" and not enough of "serious," this post is for you. I have substituted what I hope to be something that is relatively intelligent and cohesive for my typical milieu of absurdity.
It's still about black metal though. That isn't going anywhere.

Satanism and Heathenism in Norwegian Black Metal: The Authenticity Fallacy in Revivals
Heavy metal is a genre of music dating back as far as artists like Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer characterized by loud guitars and dark undertones. Over the years metal has spawned a multitude of subgenres as varied as pop metal artists like Guns N’ Roses to death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse. One such genre that is particularly interesting is that of Norwegian Black Metal. Forged out of an amalgamation of earlier black metal bands like Venom and Bathory and the intensity of hardcore punk rock bands like Minor Threat, it has been described as sounding like “Wagner mixed with punk rock, dressed up as Alice Cooper” (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey).

Norwegian black metal is a unique subset of heavy metal because it is among the only types to be directly related with both with a distinct musical style and a religious ideology. Musically, black metal typically consists of longer songs that are often as epic and beautiful as they are dark and heavy; a characteristic that contrasts with the almost monomaniacal brutality of death metal. Keyboards are quite frequently present and can play highly melodic parts. However the standard metal instrumentation of guitar, drums, and bass is usually maintained. The vocals are typically rather buried in the mix, and usually consist of higher pitched shrieks. This contrasts with the lower pitched “cookie monster” vocals prevalent in most other types of extreme metal...

To read the rest, you can download a PDF here. (It's longer than typical "blog format" if there is such a thing and I figured the reading experience might be made more pleasant if it were to be in a different venue).

Also, if you are curious you can download the list of the works I consulted here.

Oh The Places I've Been!!!

In truth, the title of this post is a thin attempt at rationalizing the fact that I have not posted in quite some time. I know that I my failure to post has been a cause of great concern to my myriad readers (chuckles quietly), but worry no more, I have valiantly returned to break the silence.

This post will be a summary of everything I would have posted about had I not been lazing about for the past few weeks.

Bill Callahan- "Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle"
Bill Callahan is apparently a man in possession of a bottomless well of inspiration and creativity. In my ongoing quest to own everything he has every committed to a physical medium I have yet to find anything of his that I do not love. What's more, his most recent release may well rank among my favorite things he has ever released. Mr. Callahan sir, please stop being so awesome, you are making the rest of us look bad.
Absu- s/t
Black metal with more than a hint of thrash? [Gobbles it up greedily and not-so-politely requests more]
Orphans and Vandals- "I Am Alive and You Are Dead"
This band wins the prize for the band that sounds most like The Velvet Underground since The Velvet Underground. If you are wondering, that is a compliment of the highest order. Seriously, this is undoubtedly one of the best albums that will come out this year. I am hedging no bets, I know its not even June yet. I stand by my contention- this is going to be in the top three best albums released all year. No. This is the best albums that will be released this year.


There were a few more things but they could not hold a candle to the awesomeness inherent in these three albums.

I promise I will eventually start writing about things other than records that I like, it is just all I have been thinking about lately.