Music Review - Apparat - The Devil's Walk

It seems the autumn music is upon us. And the upcoming album from Apparat, The Devil's Walk, makes for a great addition to any fall music collection or playlist.

This album is reflective, seemingly filled with songs of longing for instant nostalgia, like telling stories of a party you went just a few nights ago as if they were the childhood we've all lost somewhere along the way. These songs, "Escape" immediately comes to mind, have such a mix of melancholy and upheaving redemption, it makes it difficult to say this album is morose. It's really enjoyable as a roller coaster of surface emotions, the type that don't want to delve too deep and spill over into true feelings.

As far as instrumentation is concerned, it's all programmed. This might turn some people off, but the orchestration and the way a melange of sounds is pulled together to form melody and structure is pure genius. Then there are the voices: lilting, lazy, stretching themselves out to the point where it seems each breath is held standing on the edge of a 200 meter drop, but caught just in time for the next lyric. "Song of Los" and "Ash Black Veil" are great examples of taking that voice, slowly pulled from the throat, and stretching it over beats and tones that are moving at a frantic pace so that the two, juxtaposed, form a balance.

This album is a brilliant piece for your autumnal listening pleasures. It comes out next week and everyone should scoop it up as soon as possible.

Where to find it:

• Amazon pre-order (for regular or special edition)
• You can preorder on iTunes
• The Apparat Website

RIYL: Mogwai, Toe, Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Special thanks to CJR for the hook-up on this one!

Stepping Back

I listened to a cd the other day of a band I've liked since I first heard them. They kind of paved the way for so many other bands, but still to this day, I am blown away by the fire and drive of Sunny Day Real Estate.

It amazes me that more people never understood this band or enjoyed what they had to offer. Sadly, I think this happens a lot. People misunderstand the power music can bring.

I was never lucky enough to have the opportunity to see them live. Over the past few years, they have re-emerged as the Fire Theft, and the bass player, Nate Mendel is still with the Foo Fighters.

Maybe I'm nostalgic, but will the corporate bands of today ever try to gain the credibility SDRE had with their first full-length release? Perhaps the time will come (soon) when musical credibility will return to replace the RIAA guy telling the general public what they should like.

PS: The new Radiohead is awesome. Worth the $US10.00.

Brilliance

Radiohead is probably one of the most progressive bands around. I won't go on about how I am their biggest fan, but I've always liked their music and their ability to push the envelope of what people might call Modern or Alternative Rock.

I also won't go into a history of the band or a break down of their best songs.

I will go into their brilliance when it comes to the distribution of their new album. It is payment optional.

What does this mean?

Basically, they are releasing an album (called In Rainbows) without a label, or distribution deal of any kind. They have simply posted a virtual shopping cart on their site (follow the link above) where you can:

1. Order the discbox version for a small shipping fee


2. Sign-up for the download of the album


3. Decide how much you would like to pay for it

I'm sure the RIAA are going nuts over this. A free album, if you want it to be. I plan to pay about $10 (approx. 5 UK pounds), because they deserve it. Anyone willing to take that kind of a chance just to let their fans enjoy the music without paying a record company for all the bullshit is pure brilliance.

I recommend everyone go out and get it. If you aren't that into Radiohead, I'd say still send them a buck or two. Hopefully other bands will see how really paradigm breaking this idea is and we can finally shake all the bureaucratic imbeciles at the record companies who think they can pull $20 out our pockets for a CD when the bands only see about a dollar or two for their hard work.

Them thar good ole days

Nostalgia...does anything smell as good as the good old days.

Now, keeping in mind that I'm not that entirely old, there are still good old days to be had and discussed. About a week ago, a bunch of friends and I sat around not gaming (a rarity in itself) and talked about those carefree days of youth when all you needed was some beer and a half way decent band to be happy.

Simpler times for simpler folks, I guess. But what truly brought this extended family of friends together in the first place? I wonder if every large group of friends (few of which I know to endure quite as heartily as ours) come about for the same reasons. Here are some ideas:

1. Central Location - we had a Perkins where everyone would go after shows or just to hang out. There were two brothers that were herbs working there, I think one is a cop now


2. The Music - I wouldn't say that out of 20 or so people we all liked the same music, but after living together for a while we vicariously changed and introduced new things into each others' musical palettes. Jameel put it best when he said 'After I moved I realized how many songs I had "collected" from everyone else...and I missed them...' (I'm paraphrasing but it was something like that)


3. Books - same with the music, TSR fantasy novels and Sci-Fi were fixtures in nearly every house any one of us lived in. And if you needed something to read, anyone would lend you something.


4. Acceptance - just about anyone could be an associate, but very few made it to friend. To quote Polo this time, 'We were the 64 people, but then there were the 64 people that were just there...not friends so much...but they were there.' Add to that the fact that we used (and still do for the single folks that remain) run prospective dates past the group to let people know, 'These are my friends, dating me is like dating all of them too...and they aren't going anywhere'

I doubt many people will read this (few ever do), but feel free to weigh in on what makes such a large (and now intra-national) group of friends, stick together for nearly (and in some cases more than) 20 years.