Some new soundtrack music from The Room of Rock in Wicklow.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
My First Memories Volume 6 - Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree - Opeth...
Opeth - Porcupine Tree...
This is a kinda 2-for-1 deal as I see it. I discovered both bands around the same time, via the same initial source and there are some obvious connections between the bands beyond the purely musical. As such either band could occupy the number 5 slot. At the time of writing, I'd say Opeth just edge it for me...but there you go: that's the beauty of these lists!
Going back to 2005, many contributors to the Rush forum T-N-M-S.com had been championing PT as the true front runners in the Prog race for a couple of years. At that time, Rush had recently (Autumn 2004) made a long awaited and triumphant return to British shores with their R30 extravaganza. I was adamant that no band would be able to get anywhere near Canada's finest, but still I was curious. What was so good about this oddly named band that had Rush fans so fired up?
My first actual listening came late one Friday night in the rehearsal studios I frequented when I was part of the Dublin band, One More Outnumbered. Not unnaturally we would fraternise with the other bands that shared the space - trading beers and new music. Typically, the room next door was home to some very extreme metal: where the likes of Pantera and Machinehead were considered lightweight. Excellent bands...but lightweight! However on this particular night I heard an acoustic guitar riff (in 5/4) that made me want to sit up and listen more closely. Turns out this was a song called 'The Sound of Musak' by PT.
Now I knew what all the Rush fans were talking about with such heightened enthusiasm. This was definitely something I wanted to explore further. Thankfully, a very nice man called Dave Lack (fellow English Gent, Fellow Rush fan) offered to put together a CD sampler - these used to be called mixtapes, I think! - for my initiation. This was littered with PT standards such as 'Blackest Eyes', 'Trains', 'Russia on Ice', 'Lazarus' and 'Arriving Somewhere but not Here' and compounded my thoughts that this was a band to be reckoned with.
Right now, PT is on a break of indeterminate length (shame) but be assured I will be right there with them again when 'the time is now again'.
Opeth - Porcupine Tree...
This is a kinda 2-for-1 deal as I see it. I discovered both bands around the same time, via the same initial source and there are some obvious connections between the bands beyond the purely musical. As such either band could occupy the number 5 slot. At the time of writing, I'd say Opeth just edge it for me...but there you go: that's the beauty of these lists!
Going back to 2005, many contributors to the Rush forum T-N-M-S.com had been championing PT as the true front runners in the Prog race for a couple of years. At that time, Rush had recently (Autumn 2004) made a long awaited and triumphant return to British shores with their R30 extravaganza. I was adamant that no band would be able to get anywhere near Canada's finest, but still I was curious. What was so good about this oddly named band that had Rush fans so fired up?
My first actual listening came late one Friday night in the rehearsal studios I frequented when I was part of the Dublin band, One More Outnumbered. Not unnaturally we would fraternise with the other bands that shared the space - trading beers and new music. Typically, the room next door was home to some very extreme metal: where the likes of Pantera and Machinehead were considered lightweight. Excellent bands...but lightweight! However on this particular night I heard an acoustic guitar riff (in 5/4) that made me want to sit up and listen more closely. Turns out this was a song called 'The Sound of Musak' by PT.
Now I knew what all the Rush fans were talking about with such heightened enthusiasm. This was definitely something I wanted to explore further. Thankfully, a very nice man called Dave Lack (fellow English Gent, Fellow Rush fan) offered to put together a CD sampler - these used to be called mixtapes, I think! - for my initiation. This was littered with PT standards such as 'Blackest Eyes', 'Trains', 'Russia on Ice', 'Lazarus' and 'Arriving Somewhere but not Here' and compounded my thoughts that this was a band to be reckoned with.
Right now, PT is on a break of indeterminate length (shame) but be assured I will be right there with them again when 'the time is now again'.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
My First Memories Volume 5 - Opeth
This is not a sign that I am coming out of retirement, but I have wanted to revisit this series for some weeks so here is the next chapter.
Thinking about it now, this represents that last time I truly took a punt on a band without having heard a single note. My introduction to Opeth came in the latter part of 2005 - when I bought 'Ghost Reveries' on a whim (HMV, Grafton Street). I was aware of the Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) connection, and the band's merits were well celebrated on the Rush forum site The National Midday Sun. This certainly seemed qualification enough that they deserved my attention.
No doubt about it, Opeth music is genuinely progressive when taken as a whole, but on first playback I was struck by what I dismissed as a straightforward cross between Dream Theater and Voivod...with decidedly gruff, death-metal styled vocals. Good. Well played. Modern production. But not amazing. Ok, well it was my own fault for not doing the research extensively...there really aren't any excuses in this overconnected age. However, I still liked to think of those days when you would go to record shops (!) and try something new based on a trivial connection: the album cover, the band name, the track titles, the producer that produced your favourite album by such and such a band...and so on. By 2005 those days really were ancient times but I am a music fan, a music collector, and I can still experience that hopeless (love?) optimism that you will be able to find new treasure in recorded music.
Eventually (read: a few weeks later - Ed), I did find the treasure. Not unnaturally, it was in the quieter, groovier moments that I first started to get to grips with this masterwork. However, it is in the grandiose title track and the epic 'Harlequin Forest' that I actually heard Opeth for the first time. 'Ghost Reveries' was an album that I found I could listen to on constant repeat and was ideal for the lengthy bus commute into Dublin. It is an album of tremendous complexity and texture and fully demonstrates the excellent vocal range of band leader, Mikael Akerfeldt. The man has at least 4 strong vocal personalities and he utilities them expertly as musical tones that weave in and out of the heavily orchestrated guitars.
I have since become a major fan of the band, travelling to see them if necessary. Subsequent albums have seen something of a stunning rise to the top of the Prog tree, and I am sure there are still several moments' of genius still to come.
Thinking about it now, this represents that last time I truly took a punt on a band without having heard a single note. My introduction to Opeth came in the latter part of 2005 - when I bought 'Ghost Reveries' on a whim (HMV, Grafton Street). I was aware of the Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) connection, and the band's merits were well celebrated on the Rush forum site The National Midday Sun. This certainly seemed qualification enough that they deserved my attention.
No doubt about it, Opeth music is genuinely progressive when taken as a whole, but on first playback I was struck by what I dismissed as a straightforward cross between Dream Theater and Voivod...with decidedly gruff, death-metal styled vocals. Good. Well played. Modern production. But not amazing. Ok, well it was my own fault for not doing the research extensively...there really aren't any excuses in this overconnected age. However, I still liked to think of those days when you would go to record shops (!) and try something new based on a trivial connection: the album cover, the band name, the track titles, the producer that produced your favourite album by such and such a band...and so on. By 2005 those days really were ancient times but I am a music fan, a music collector, and I can still experience that hopeless (love?) optimism that you will be able to find new treasure in recorded music.
Eventually (read: a few weeks later - Ed), I did find the treasure. Not unnaturally, it was in the quieter, groovier moments that I first started to get to grips with this masterwork. However, it is in the grandiose title track and the epic 'Harlequin Forest' that I actually heard Opeth for the first time. 'Ghost Reveries' was an album that I found I could listen to on constant repeat and was ideal for the lengthy bus commute into Dublin. It is an album of tremendous complexity and texture and fully demonstrates the excellent vocal range of band leader, Mikael Akerfeldt. The man has at least 4 strong vocal personalities and he utilities them expertly as musical tones that weave in and out of the heavily orchestrated guitars.
I have since become a major fan of the band, travelling to see them if necessary. Subsequent albums have seen something of a stunning rise to the top of the Prog tree, and I am sure there are still several moments' of genius still to come.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
A Farewell to Things
Following the release of 'Lab Rat and Lobster' (Maggy Simpson) and my next solo venture 'Vermin' I will be going into semi-retirement as I need to disconnect for an indefinite period. If you need to find me you will know how to. In the meantime, here are some images associated with the recorded works over the years, along with an extensive discography.
Nightfall Over Eden (solo)
Scream In Blue (1995)
Insomnia (1995)
Scream In Blue (with Justin Bell)
The Glasshouse Effect (1996)
Subterranean (1996)
Driven Out of Innocence (1997)
Scream In Blue (with Justin Bell, Rick Abbott & Fabio Finnochiaro)
Urban Tourists (1999)
Mr. Do (with Wayne Bussutil & Steve Barr)
That's Why Flamingos are Pink (2000)
Cubed (2000)
Cellardoor (solo)
Do What You Have to Do (2003)
Frames per Second (2004)
At The Third Stroke (2004)
The Random Event Factory Demos (2009)
Set Fire to the Snow (2011)
Sector 7G (with John Waldron)
Sector 7G (2012)
Solo
Man-At-Arms (2011)
Silence as Criticism (2011)
Unauthorised Soundtrack (2012)
Mountain Goat Misadventures in the Wicklow Wilderness (2012)
Mission (2012)
Vermin (2013)
Maggy Simpson (with Bat Kinane & Davy Ryan)
Lab Rat and Lobster (2013)
Monday, June 10, 2013
My First Memories Volume 4 - Alice In Chains
Dirt.
Videos for 'Would?' and 'Them Bones' had been on my radar for about a year, and I thought that I would like this band once I got around to it. I guess these were 'hits' of some sort. In honesty, I was slower than most to catch onto 'Grunge'. Maybe I was that little bit older, maybe I was too wrapped up in the world of PROG, but ultimately I still liked harder edged music a lot and there was some good noise emanating from a select group of bands that were lumped into that bracket. Whether Alice In Chains were Grunge or not, they were based in the Pacific Northwest. In those days that seemed to be enough to qualify.
It wasn't until the summer of 1993 that I picked up a copy of 'Dirt' on cassette for a mere £3...from a market stall in Derby Market Hall. If I remember rightly it was actually from a bookseller, too. This is when I first heard Alice In Chains at full tilt. The thing that struck me most was the hurt and the pain and the apparent honesty about drugs. The naive part of me was a little shocked that it was acceptable to even talk about these things so openly. Much in the same way that hearing Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against The Machine) denounce unjust governments so brazenly had shocked me out of innocence. Certainly, Layne Staley's soaring pain was a thing of beauty when set against such powerful music, and there were Classic and Progressive Rock elements that were hard to deny. This was definitely something I could get behind.
While Dirt is often considered the band's benchmark release, I don't know if it's my favourite these days (I'd probably opt for 'Jar of Flies'), but I do know that it hit me very hard back then and sent me in search of more sounds from Seattle. Twenty years on there appears to be some kind of a renaissance, though I feel it is probably middle-aged nostalgia at work. Either way, I still have great love for the Alice In Chains catalogue and I'm interested in hearing what they come up with next.
Videos for 'Would?' and 'Them Bones' had been on my radar for about a year, and I thought that I would like this band once I got around to it. I guess these were 'hits' of some sort. In honesty, I was slower than most to catch onto 'Grunge'. Maybe I was that little bit older, maybe I was too wrapped up in the world of PROG, but ultimately I still liked harder edged music a lot and there was some good noise emanating from a select group of bands that were lumped into that bracket. Whether Alice In Chains were Grunge or not, they were based in the Pacific Northwest. In those days that seemed to be enough to qualify.
It wasn't until the summer of 1993 that I picked up a copy of 'Dirt' on cassette for a mere £3...from a market stall in Derby Market Hall. If I remember rightly it was actually from a bookseller, too. This is when I first heard Alice In Chains at full tilt. The thing that struck me most was the hurt and the pain and the apparent honesty about drugs. The naive part of me was a little shocked that it was acceptable to even talk about these things so openly. Much in the same way that hearing Zack de la Rocha (Rage Against The Machine) denounce unjust governments so brazenly had shocked me out of innocence. Certainly, Layne Staley's soaring pain was a thing of beauty when set against such powerful music, and there were Classic and Progressive Rock elements that were hard to deny. This was definitely something I could get behind.
While Dirt is often considered the band's benchmark release, I don't know if it's my favourite these days (I'd probably opt for 'Jar of Flies'), but I do know that it hit me very hard back then and sent me in search of more sounds from Seattle. Twenty years on there appears to be some kind of a renaissance, though I feel it is probably middle-aged nostalgia at work. Either way, I still have great love for the Alice In Chains catalogue and I'm interested in hearing what they come up with next.
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