Discover the Loaf: July 2010

Saturday, 24 July 2010

More Grunge

Proto grunge

Harvey Milk vids

Death Goes To The Winner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIZbQlyQMvg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B1sNCQPYYo
A Maelstrom Of Bad Decisions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srYNt2eyo8

75. Harvey Milk - Life ...The Best Game In Town (2009)

Harvey Milk are a rock/metal/noise/grunge group formed in Athens, Georgia in the early 90's. Named after California's first openly gay politician who was murdered in 1978. Sonically speaking Harvey Milk combine slow heavy downtuned riffing with boogie and pop nous alternately, plus a touch of loud/quiet grunge form.

Vocalist Wharton Tiers has a phenomenal range of howls, whispers and soul craziness, whilst never appearing more than psychotically depressed. All this despite a grim satirical and self-deprecating humor similar to other grungers (see Nirvana's piss taking In Bloom, in which the targets of the piss taking remained oblivious and took the single to No.1), also Tiers has called this record 'the bands worst album' and the liner notes contain apathetic notes such as to the track Barn Burner 'Creston wrote this shit couldn't sing on it due to lack of interest' and After All I've Done 'another mighty turd I contributed, It's about nothing, fuck this jam'.

Joe Preston, traveller of Thrones, Earth, Melvins, High on Fire and Sunn o))) joined for this record adding further dirge, scuzz, metal and Bi-Polar disorder. The opening track Death goes to the winner, twists lyrics from Waiting for the man and Day in the Life 'Woke up got out of bed, raised a gun up to my head'.

Despite the obvious influences, Black Sabbath, Metal, Led Zep, ZZ Top, the group also profess a love of Leonard Cohen, Hank Williams, Swans and REM.

The cover is also worth mentioning, as one of my personal favorites containing a sombrero and an Iron Maiden patch pinned to a wall, the gatefold them reveals a filthy bedroom strewn with records, beer cans and other unidentified detritus, kinda appropriate.

Friday, 16 July 2010

Anthony Braxton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o0AYFRFX7g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq23Jj7lW_E

The Legends of Alto Sax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLaoR4r7tfU

Wolf Eyes Vids

Wolf Eyes & Anthony Braxton - Black Vomit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUzctEOvsh4

76. Wolf Eyes & Anthony Braxton - Black Vomit (2006)

I'll investigate Wolf Eyes in greater detail in future posts, but for now an investigation of this noise meets free jazz toe-tapper.

Anthony Braxton is a post Coltrane/Dolphy free jazz musician who plays most types of saxophone, he stands apart from other jazz players by being a improviser, composer, and philosopher who has released well over 100 records, including the first ever solo sax record 'For Alto' in 1968. He is influenced not only by jazz, but by classical, musique concrete and conceptual artists. He has invented his own concept of music called 'Ghost Trance Music' which no one seems to understand, he is a professor of music at Wesleyan University in Conneticut, and his son is Tyondai Braxton of Battles!

Braxton was brave collaborating with Wolf Eyes, and he just about holds his own amidst the maelstrom, with well placed drones and blowing prior to the white noise climaxes.

This live meeting starts tentatively with echoed and delayed gongs, cymbals and ominous scrapings, before Braxton releases a demon drone and a torrent of squibbles. Contact miked heavy breathing surrounded by Rattlesnakes, analogue squelch and oscillating electric crackles. Test tone sax drones then introduce a robotic cow receiving deep root dental surgery without anaesthetic, this leads to the pay off shit storm, sounding like what it must be like behind a jet engine in full flight, then a stop into one of their trademark low freq boom boom noise assaults 'Stabbed in the Face' with added sax!

The next and final track is listed as Rationed Rot, although Braxton is given the choice onstage between several titles and without hesitation chooses Black Vomit (what happens when you have a partially digested blood in your stomach, most likely from a gastric ulcer), The tension in this track is unbearable, starting with a stalkers creep and inpatient bin lid banging, the merciful release seems to involve a mad villain screaming whilst his face is melted with hot oil, amidst a swarm of bees, Braxton may have left the building halfway through this song, it is unclear.

Ladies and gentleman, the fucking Wolf Eyes.

Friday, 2 July 2010

77. Hip-Hop Singles

A bit different this entry. Basically Hip-Hop albums during the 00's became overlong, bloated and in most cases difficult to listen to in one sitting. As the decade wore on, they were eclipsed by single tracks, mixtapes, MP3, not to mention being the genre most hit by illegal free downloads.
Therefore a list of the best hip-hop albums of the decade would look paltry compared to the 80's and 90's. However there were many great hip-hop singles throughout the decade and this entry will attempt to show many of the tracks not already included in album entries.

2000
The Beatnuts - No Escaping This (rappers who smile)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQC6l5t8Bik
Common - The Light (J Dilla produced)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_-qRcHAhzk
Ludacris - Southern Hospitality (Funny guy, in small doses)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QWQVm9J5DM
Mystical - Shake Ya Ass (post DMX shouty rap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTcPb8sQnZs
Lil Jon - Bia Bia (The advent of Crunk)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czpZvVyQN5o
Three 6 Mafia - Sipping on some Syrup (Dirty south codeine influenced constipation rap)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De_PT1bKYNI

2001
Nas - Ether (great Jay-Z dis that was undermined by a shit album)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tub7EoRBwO0
Z-Ro - Real Niggaz (Chopped & Screwed Texan psychedelia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TNMt69FFFE
Ludacris - Area Codes (Really no different to Benny Hill)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAEvB5Htwtk
Dilated Peoples - Worst comes to worst (True School)

2002
Cam'ron - Oh Boy (the Dipset effect, how fortunes change)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GvB9ySUJ3A
Scarface - Guess who's back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Q1H8CE4-A
Lil Wayne - Way of life (the birth of Wayne, cash money enterprises)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F2s5GoE0z0
Baby & Clipse - What happened to that boy (cold hearted Clipse, The Wire in audio)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX6rC1krGp0
Busta Rhymes - Pass the Courvoisier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAYXRtNxsGA

Nelly - Hot in here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-qN6TCY85c

R Kelly - Ignition remix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bCuYQmzgfE

Ludacris - Saturday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9c5abCyZE

Noreaga - Nothing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wREDQfv8KOI

Snoop Dogg - Beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FE194VN6c4

From da chuuuch to the palace