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Well it’s that time of year again, back to school. Unfortunately it looks like it will be quite a challenging year as well. I’m still going to try and write as much as I did over the summer, but there’s no question that I’m going to get pretty stressed as the year goes, due to both academic and social reasons.

But thankfully fall also means a number of music releases that should be worth checking out. I plan to review Metallica’s “Death Magnetic”, Dream Theater’s “Chaos in Motion 2007/2008″, Between the Buried and Me’s “Colors Live”, Cynic’s “Traced in Air” and more! That’s a lot of great bands releasing stuff, let’s see what lives up to the expectations!

RELEASE: “Fading” by Static Light

It’s done! This is a seven track, 15 minute EP that I literally finished a few hours ago. Everything on this album has been recorded by me and I’ve had absolutely no outside influence. Every track is different, I could not think of one genre to describe it. The songs are short and most of them are instrumental, so please give it a listen. 

You can listen to the whole album and download it for free at the Last.fm here. I will also shortly upload the album to a torrent website for those who would prefer to download it that way. 

Track listing:

1. Control (1:56)

2. Underneath (2:12)

3. Departure Forever (3:25)

4. New Views (Three Months) (1:18)

5. Fading Light (1:49)

6. Solace in Your Eyes (2:35)

7. The Frail (Nine Inch Nails Cover) (1:15)

Enjoy! Please leave some comments either on this blog entry or on last.fm, I would love feedback!

Review: “Kid A” (Radiohead)

“Kid A” is a polarizing album. Radiohead had seemingly perfected their alternative rock formula with the highly successful and widely praised album “OK Computer”. Instead of attempting a similar follow up, they completely deconstructed their sound and created an album that sounded completely different yet was still Radiohead. They almost completely left behind the rock part of their sound to create an almost entirely electronic album. The end result is an incredible and breathtaking album and possibly the greatest change in the direction of a band, ever.

The confusion this album created is obvious. Reviews range from perfect scores hailing it as masterpiece and the greatest pop album ever, while others call it a piece of trash and give it terrible scores. 

The change of sound is evident from the very beginning. Synthesizers pile up as Thom Yorke’s voice fades in and out in an incoherent manner to begin the first song, “Everything in Its Right Place”. Yorke continues to sing over the electronic soundscape chillingly singing the odd line “yesterday I woke up sucking on a lemon”. Various sound effects pile up as the song gradually becomes more chaotic. The title is almost an oxymoron, giving the disjointed feel of the song. 

Eventually the first track calms down to give way to the second song of the album, the title track. An electronic beat dominates the song as various synths add texture. Yorke’s voice is once again not understandable, but the lyrics aren’t the focus of the song. The atmosphere of the album continues to grow as the song continues. By this point, most listeners will already be swept away by the abstract sound of “Kid A”. 

If the first two tracks didn’t grab you in, “The National Anthem” is here to sweep away all doubts. Out of nowhere, a catchy and strong bass line appears to start perhaps the most rocking song of the whole album. The drums come crashing in and all doubts are swept away, Radiohead has outdone themselves once again. Various horns fade in and out through the course of the song, keeping the abstract feel alive. 

Radiohead once again shifts the tone of the album with the next song, “How to Disappear Completely”. This song is the spiritual successor to the “OK Computer” song “Exit Music (For a Film)”. It’s a slow and sad ballad featuring mostly just Yorke’s singing and an acoustic guitar, with various electronic textures spread throughout. The lyrics are quite melancholy with lines such as “I’m not here/this isn’t happening”. 

Just as “How to Disappear Completely” starts to wear out its welcome, the album returns to its electronic sound for the instrumental “Treefingers”. The song is comprised of various soothing synths and is virtually rhthym-less. The song acts as a nice intermission and is a good way to break up the album into two halves. 

The next song, “Optimistic” starts with a bang as a driving electronic drum beat and bass opens up the song, with Yorke and a guitar joining quickly. “Optimistic” is one of the few songs on the album to have a standard chorus, and it’s certainly quite catchy and great way to start the second half of the album. Like most Radiohead songs, the song is actually quite melancholy despite the title. The album ends on an almost funk note, creating a very cool segue to the next song.

“In Limbo” starts right where “Optimistic” leaves off. While certainly not a bad song by any means, it’s also not anything exciting, and as the title humorously suggests, is more of a long transition between the two pieces on each side. That being said, it should never be skipped and does help build the mood.

“Idioteque” is probably the most popular song on the album and is a fan favorite. The song has a very catchy electronic beat and synthesizer lead and the sing along line “Ice age comin’”. It is certainly one of the album’s many highlights.

“Idioteque” flows right into the penultimate song “Morning Bell”, which is a softer song with rather impressive singing by Yorke (well, more impressive than normal that is). The song grows more and more abstract and dissonant as it leads into the breathtaking album closer “Motion Picture Soundtrack”.

The song begins with horns with Yorke shortly joining. The song is a complete surprise in that it’s actually…upbeat. After an incredibly yet slightly melancholy album, it decides to end on an up note. Yorke sings “I think your crazy/maybe” and a harp joins in to give the song an almost epic quality. The song sounds very…big to give the album a grand finish. 

Or not? After a minute of silence there is a short orchestral instrumental piece to finish off the album, followed by another couple minutes of silence to let the listener reflect on what they have just heard.

The atmosphere this album creates is unparalleled by anything else I have ever listened to. As soon as the album starts I get swept away by its abstract and unique soundscape and lose myself completely for 50 minutes. There is so much beneath the surface of this album that each listen is just more and more satisfying. It’s rather hard to explain the impact this album has.

One certainly won’t notice this at first either. While interesting, the first listen might not be great. For me it took at least a couple listens before the album really got to me. It is certainly one of those albums that needs to be listened to multiple times before its secrets start to reveal themselves. Give the album some time and it ultimately may be the most rewarding album you own.

Not everyone will like this album, for it is by far the most “far out” album Radiohead has made. After this album they kept the electronic sound but also brought in more of their rock influence as well. Despite hitting #1 in the US it did not produce any singles or videos, mostly because this album is meant to be listened together as one piece and not as separate songs. People who like catchy four minute songs and don’t have the patience to listen through a whole album will not appreciate this at all, but everyone else (regardless of their favorite type of music) should listen to this album for it is a truly genre-transcending masterpiece.

Rating: 5/5

Track listing:

1. Everything in Its Right Place   (4:11)

2. Kid A   (4:44)

3. The National Anthem   (5:50)

4. How to Disappear Completely   (5:55)

5. Treefingers   (3:42)

6. Optimistic   (5:16)

7. In Limbo   (3:31)

8. Idioteque   (5:09)

9. Morning Bell   (4:29)

10. Motion Picture Soundtrack   (6:59)

“Control”

Well I did a lot of stuff for my solo album today. I wrote and recorded a short song called “Control”. It’s focus is on catchy yet slightly dissonant bass line and the vocals. It also has some cool keyboard work near the end of the song.

I also recorded a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “The Frail”, and worked a lot on mixing tracks I had previously recorded. Altogether, a very productive day.

Refocused

I had a plan for the solo album I’m currently working on. It was going to have six hard rocking songs. I had it all planned out in my head, had the lyrics, and I when I sat down to start writing and recording it something happened. I realized the plan I had was not the album I wanted to make. The problem was the “plan” was too similar to what I do in Lifting Shadows, this project was supposed to be an outlet for my musical ideas that would not work in my band. 

So instead of six progressive hard rock songs I started recording piano ballads, clean guitar instrumentals, and other experiments that I never would think of doing with Lifting Shadows but are still works I’m proud of. I have many ideas for what else to record. I’ll probably be recording a cover of the Nine Inch Nails instrumental “The Frail”, and I have ideas for many more songs.

What’s this mean? This isn’t going to be released before school starts. Why? I feel the album needs a lot more work. I want to work on the songs I do have recorded so that they sound better, I want to record all of the ideas I have and not half ass this project.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to become a “Chinese Democracy” situation, I can’t see myself taking longer than until the end of the year to finish it up, so it still won’t be long until everyone can hear it. I’ll also probably release a few tracks prematurely for feedback, so check back often!

Review: “Ghosts I-IV” (Nine Inch Nails)

I suppose I should start this review off with describing the manor in which Trent Reznor released his 2008 instrumental album “Ghosts I-IV”. There was no marketing, no announcement of any sort (except for one cryptic blog post a few weeks prior). One morning, out of the blue, Ghosts I-IV was available on the Nine Inch Nails website.

The manor in which this album was released has been described as revolutionary, and I agree. I’m a strong critic of the music industry. I believe labels rip off consumers and make life hard for both fans and artists. Therefore I was very pleased when Trent announced that Nine Inch Nails was leaving its major label to be a completely independent artist. An album like “Ghosts” could not have been released when Nine Inch Nails was with Interscope. 

On the morning of March 2nd, 2008, Trent Reznor allowed this full 2CD 36 track album to be downloaded from his website for $5. He also uploaded the first volume of Ghosts (the first 9 tracks) to a torrent site, The Pirate Bay, himself (as well as offering it as a free download from his site). Radiohead may have started this revolution by allowing fans to pay as much as they wanted (or as little) for their latest album “In Rainbows”, but Nine Inch Nails has certainly moved this process forward. He offered a quarter of the album (22 minutes) for free and only charged $5 for the rest. $5 for two hours of music is a hard offer to turn down these days when labels rip off consumers by pricing a forty minute album $20. 

And what did Nine Inch Nails do after releasing “Ghosts I-IV” for $5? He released “The Slip”, another full length album, just two months later absolutely free. In my opinion, Trent Reznor is leading the way in the music business revolution by cutting out the middleman. Both the artist and fans are happy, and in the end, that’s how it should be.

But enough about business, this is a music review. “Ghosts I-IV” is unlike anything Trent has ever released before. He has become known for dark and angry, lyric driven concept albums like “Year Zero” and “The Downward Spiral”, enjoying a large amount of success in the process. However hidden in these records (and especially in “The Fragile”), he has always delved into instrumental music, almost always including at least one instrumental on his albums. These instrumentals have always been highly regarded by fans.

“Ghosts I-IV” is not industrial rock, like all of Trent’s other albums. Hell, “Ghosts I-IV” isn’t even rock. Most people would describe it as ambient, or dark ambient. Indeed many Nine Inch Nails fans may be turned off by this release. There is no single on this album. There is not one word uttered the whole time. The album is the complete opposite of “marketable”. It is merely a work of art, not meant to be popular but meant as an experiment. The result is quite breathtaking when listened to correctly.

The first mistake, and one I will not make in this review, is to try and separate the tracks and judge them separately.  ”Ghosts I-IV” is one piece that should be listened to straight through. Each track is meaningless on its own, but when each of these ideas is presented in context and flow into each other, it begins to make sense and starts to create a surreal atmosphere. Trent has described this album as a “soundtrack to daydreams”, and I can hardly argue. 

A unique feature of this album is that each track, regardless of where you downloaded it from, contains its own artwork in its ID3 tag. This means that when listening to it in a program such as iTunes, each song has its own album artwork. The artwork reflects the mood of the song, and the two complement each other. While at the very least I recommend listening to each volume (each set of nine songs without stopping, I feel the best way to listen to this album is to leave the artwork up on your computer, lay on your bed and just listen to the whole album while watching the artwork and reflecting on your own. When this is done, the album creates an experience like no other.

As I said you can’t judge the individual tracks on this album by themselves. However the album as a whole is a very reflective, atmospheric, and surreal journey that I feel to be incredible. I know this album has polarized fans, many regarding it as a masterpiece while others have screamed for the normal NIN, I feel that anyone who has a passing interest in ambient music or has enjoyed Trent’s previous instrumentals should like this album. I regard it very highly and hope that Trent follows up on his promise of more “Ghosts” volumes.

Rating: 4/5

A track listing is pointless since they are all untitled. Each song is just titled with its number in the album (1-36) and its volume number (1-4).

Transcribing

I’ve begun the long process of writing out all of the Lifting Shadows songs out on the computer, both in tab and standard notation. It takes a while but I already have “Pereptual Succession” done and will start on another song later. I’ve also recorded a piano instrumental that I’ve had laying around for a while that will be found on the Static Light album I’m working on.

Review: Images and Words (Dream Theater)

“Images and Words” is Dream Theater’s second album, but the one that launched them into the limelight and gained them the large following that has only grown larger over time. It is the band’s most successful album commercially to date, being certified gold, due to the success of the radio hit “Pull Me Under”. But progressive music has never been about commercial popularity, and neither is Images and Words. Despite the popularity of the album it has been hailed by many critics as a landmark of progressive metal and is almost universally acclaimed, gathering many perfect scores. It also had a huge impact on the progressive metal scene and inspired may bands. 

The album starts off with the previously mentioned hit “Pull Me Under”. The band themselves have expressed that they were in total disbelief when the video got a regular rotation on MTV and regular play on radio stations. The song is eight minutes long, features changing time signatures and a very abrupt ending; in other words it did not lend itself at all to being popular. The song itself is a great way to open the album. It’s a powerful mid-tempo metal song with quite a few catchy riffs and a fairly complex structure that helps the song keep a strong momentum throughout. Lyrically the song was written by keyboardist Kevin Moore and is based off the Shakespeare play MacBeth. It is also the first time that fans heard the singer James LaBrie, as the first album featured Charlie Dominici who Dream Theater fired since they felt he didn’t fit their style.

The next song, “Another Day”, is almost the complete opposite of “Pull Me Under”. It is a slow and soft ballad. Those who think that Dream Theater only writes fast songs designed to show off their virtuosity owe themselves to listen to this heartfelt song, which is written about guitarist Jon Petrucci’s father who was diagnosed with cancer. The song has guitar solos that are quite moving and features an absolutely beautiful sax solo at the end to put an end to this touching song.

“Take the Time”, the third song on the album throws the metal back into the equation and is a very upbeat song. It features some great keyboard leads. James LaBrie also puts on arguably one of the best vocal performances of his career hitting and sustaining some very high notes. Bassist John Myung also does a great job in this song with some very groovy bass lines. Every second of this eight minute song features very tight songwriting. 

The album slows down yet again for “Surrounded”. Like “Another Day” it is a very calming song. The lyrics are very good and have a great sing-along vibe to them. The song, like “Take the Time”, has a very upbeat feel to it and is a ‘feel good’ song. It’s mostly an average Dream Theater song but is still worth listening to.

With half of the songs so far being slow ballads, Dream Theater wisely picks up the pace with a song that most Dream Theater fans place as one of the best songs. The song is “Metropolis Pt.1: The Miracle and the Sleeper” and if any wants an example of progressive metal this is where to go. The music is purely phenomenal. These nine minutes are packed from beginning to end with incredible playing. The guitar solos would leave you to believe Petrucci was superhuman, while a bass tapping solo (you heard that right, a bass solo) in the middle of the song will literally leave your jaw hanging. I didn’t even know you could tap on bass before hearing this song. Mike Portnoy shows his talent throughout the song, and LaBrie delivers the lyrics  very well. This is without a doubt one of Dream Theater’s best songs and is a progressive metal classic.

How do you follow up Metropolis Pt. 1? Easy, you write another progressive metal classic, this one with the title of “Under a Glass Moon”. This is a heavy, fast paced song with great performances by every member of the band. The song also contains some breathtaking guitar work by Petrucci. There’s not much else to say about this song, it’s just an incredible song.

Dream Theater wisely gives the listener a break after the two classics with the reflective piano/vocal piece “Wait for Sleep” that acts as a prelude to the albums last song.  The piano is very nice here and the lyrics, written by Kevin Moore (who I always have felt to be the strongest DT lyricist) are quite sad. It was written about a friend of his. 

“Wait for Sleep” was just a prelude however, to perhaps the best song on the album, the epic eleven minute “Learning to Live”. The lyrics, written by John Myung are very poetic and flow with the song perfectly. As is the norm with Dream Theater songs, the instrumental work is incredible. The song goes through many different styles, including a reprise of “Wait for Sleep” and a very memorable ending that starts with just the bass and builds up to end the album on a high note.

Images and Words isn’t perfect. The production sounds too clean (especially the drums, which are off putting at times), and I would have preferred “Surrounded” to be replaced by the B-side “To Live Forever”. I also feel Dream Theater did even better on their follow up “Awake” (my personal favorite album). Because of that I can not give it a perfect score. However, besides these minor flaws which are really just nitpicking, Images and Words is classic album that breathed life into the progressive metal scene and stand today as landmark in Dream Theater’s career. If you’ve ever been interested in this band, this is the place to start.

Rating: 4.5/5

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I’m holding off on the “Awake” album review. As I said here, it is my favorite album of all time and I’m going to spend a long time writing it.

New Lifting Shadows Song, Mixing, and DT Review

I’m almost done writing the guitar and bass for a currently untitled song that Patrick wrote the lyrics for about a week or so ago. Like every song I write I’ve tried to make it sound much different than anything else I’ve written and have incorporated a lot of techniques I’ve never tried out before. I’m very happy with the end result, I personally think it kicks ass!

I’m working on the mixing of “Perpetual Succession” and it actually doesn’t sound half bad! The guitars sound a little muddy and the bass is a little loud but both of those problems can be easily fixed. There are also a few mistakes by both instruments that will need to be fixed, but nothing major.

I’m in a Dream Theater marathon right now. It started last night with The Majesty Demos and I plan to listen straight through in chronological order (by date of recording) to all the DT stuff I own! Right now I’m almost done with the Images and Words demos. Since I’ll be listening to “Images and Words” soon I will do a review for it.

To see a list of every Dream Theater album I own, the list is here.

Lifting Shadows Demo

Patrick and I started recording today what will (hopefully) become a Lifting Shadows demo. We started with the song that we felt was the most complete, “Perpetual Succession”. Both of us are extremely satisfied with it musically and lyrically, so we finished all 5 minutes of both the guitar and bass parts. We’ll probably need to make a few corrections to it later but for the most part both instruments are done. Tomorrow I’ll work on mixing it so that it sounds good (at least for a home studio demo).

I’ll also start working on a new Lifting Shadows song tomorrow.