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Tomahawk - Tomahawk
Ah yes, Tomahawk, one of Patton’s more sane creations. This is a great album about a serial killer. Compared to some of Patton’s other projects, this really isn’t anything shocking, on the contrary, it sounds normal, but, not normal enough that it gets skipped. Believe it or not, there aren’t too many avant-garde concept albums around. Gotta make do with what we’ve got. Anyways, onto the music, but first, a link.
1. Flashback - Starts off with a nice little introduction, lots of harmonics. Anyways, this is about a flashback. It sounds perfectly fine until you listen to some of the lyrics, “Did they make you wear a dress, did they/… Put on a mask and dance for daddy/… They wish they had a little girlie” So those are some nice lyrics about rape. So, messed up childhood is the jist of it.
2. 101 North - Starts off pretty gentle and calm. From what I’ve been able to gather this is about the killer picking up victims in a car “Hitch a ride” and killing them “Eagles swirl around as they pick up the bones” and maybe car jacking “I’ll squeeze if you don’t steer and follow the line straighter” just general serial killer stuff I suppose.
3. Point and Click - This is pretty low key as well, from what I’ve read it’s about the killers point of view which is similar of that to Travis Bickle’s in Taxi Driver. So he sees scumbags and faghags and decides he should kill them.
4. God Hates a Coward - No idea. Won’t even lie. Some seriously fucked up lyrics though. “Make a meal of your asshole”, “droppin’ your heart in my vinegar”, “Cum on the brat”, anyways you decipher it. Maybe talking to victim. Sometimes I just don’t know…
5. Pop 1 - Uhhh, he’s walking… “Cars give me the right away” …with a dead body! That must be it! And then he talks about winning a grammy…
6. Sweet Smell of Success - One of the more catchier tunes on the album. Apparently it’s about a hooker. He fucks the hooker then kills her (him?). “Your hate crime wasn’t loving me” Boom, right there. it was a hooker. He then says You’re dead over and over, so I think it’s safe to assume she’s dead. That’s my reading of the song.
7. Sir, yes sir - SIR YES SIR YES SIR YES SIR, I love this song. I’m guessing he had military experience, maybe post-traumatic stress or something. I think Dream Theater made a song about that actually. Sorry I’m doing such a shitty review tonight, I’m ridiculously tired, anyways, next song.
8. Jockstrap - It may or may not be a song about an erotic dancer. He mentions G-Strings, who wears G-Strings? Sluts. Maybe the hooker he killed in Sweet Smell Of Success makes a reappearance.
9. Cul De Sac - Alright, this is all speculation now. All of it. Here’s what I am first reminded of listening at this state. 50s. Killer wants an Apacalypse. Why? I don’t know this is what I immediately think.
10. Malocchio - It’s about the killer eating his victims. Fuck you.
11. Honeymoon - He has sex with the dead bodies. Fuck you.
12. Laredo - Wikipedia says he was caught.
13. it’s instrumental, it doesn’t mater.
I’m sorry that was so bad. I really am, but it’s criptic as shit. Have a better thought on it? Comment!
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Dog Fashion Disco - Adultery
Alright, first album for concept albums. I’ll be going more in depth with these then previous albums to try to get the story across. Okay, first the music itself. To me, the vocals on this album really stand out as being superb, the whole production value of this album is pretty good actually. So there’s a mix of Noir Music, Metal, Jazz, Elavator Music, Porno sounding funk, Circus music played backwards? Western Music, the list goes on (Ha!). I hear a lot of Mr. Bungle influences in this album, so you know it must be good. It’s a great listen, as well as a story, which I will now get into. Oh, and here’s a link, listen along?
1. The Uninvited Guest - A short piano oriented song that talks about, well, an uninvited guest. The Killer perhaps?
2. The Sacrafice of Miss Rose Covington - Starts off with a nice drum introduction then leads off to some metal then, I don’t even know what, then back to some metal. I’m just gonna guess that this is about a publicized kill by the killer hence the “Hanging from the cross so high.”
3. Slient Film - Another moderately metal stylized song. This song may be about the killer stalking some one/someone (presumably the sacrifice from the last song) being operated on.
4. Sweet Insanity - I won’t lie, it’s a pretty catchy song when the chorus hits, rock/electronic oriented I suppose. I’m guessing this is like the part of the story where the media starts to tune in and there’s a huge frenzy of people freaking out and junk.
5. Dessert Grave - A nice western style song, banjo, trumpet, it’s a nice change of pace. Well, it’s about the killer digging a dessert grave.
6. Moonlight City Drive - Starts off with a pretty cool guitar riff, then some, I don’t even know what that is. Anyways, the song is about, Moonlight City Drive the sleaziest place around with druggies, hookers, pimps, pushers, faggots, addicts, and him. He then proceeds to shoot up some junk, or maybe insulin? Most likely heroin though. Apparently no one will get out there alive.
7. Private Eye - The Noir styled track. it’s about well, a private eye stalking the killer. He proceeds to do some monologue about betrayal. At 11:18 the killer checks into a hotel with a hooker. They have some typical banter that goes on between them. He kills her, then super happy music with a cat.
8. The Darkest Days - One of my favorite songs on the album. Metal oriented. I don’t think this song has anything to do with the story, but for filler, it’s fucking great.
9. Dead Virgins Don’t Sing - Noir type introduction which leaps to a cool part with drums and violin, then some occult bullshit. So this song is about a cult of some sort.
10. The Hitchhiker - Starts kind of… I don’t know, but it goes pretty low key, then back to metal, it’s about the killer picking up hitchhikers, because the long and windy road isn’t safe for anyone. Halfway through the song, Boom! Fucking elevator music. Technical difficulties, apparently this whole thing was all just a bad dream. I like this part, it’s nice. Then he’s standing over your dead body, smiling at’cha, staring at’cha. He then introduces himself as the killer, finally we get clarification.
11. 100 Suicides - The title reminds me off something Slayer would put out, starts off kind of sounding like Dream Theater almost. My guess, would be that he’s referring to the murders as suicides for, legal purposes? I dunno, references Star Wars a little.
12. Adultery - The only fucking Dog Fashion Disco song that Last.fm plays. Are you even trying, Last.fm? Anyways, Anyways, starts off with a game we all used to play in our adolescent years, well maybe not all of us, >tfw no girlfriend. From there it goes to a pseudo porno soundtrack, where the killer admits to falling in love with “the thrill of the kill” I’m guessing that much like The Darkest Days, this is mostly a musical filler, but still good nonetheless. Plus he mentions My Bloody Valentine.
13. Mature Audiences Only - This has a cool violin track to it. I presume that he’s talking to a Psychiatrist, admitting his sick killings, saying he blacks out, and when he wakes up people are dead, etc. bottom line being, he’s starting to enjoy it. Much like in American Psycho, he is not going to stop killing until he is killed or caught.
Serj Tankian - Harakiri
I’m not gonna lie, I eat up everything this guy does, ever since I first discovered System of a Down when I was 12, and thought they were oh so edgy. Yet, now that I have matured a little (Emphasis on little) I can still enjoy System for it’s music instead of their message. Anyways, this is the final installment onto week ones easily accessible section, so it’s time for an alternative album. This album is supposed to come out on July 10th, but of course it’s already been leaked, and I was one of the first to bounce on that. So, for the review itself, It’s Serj Tankian, what do I say? He fuses some Middle Eastern music into some heavy hitting rock with piano dabbed around, although he does it very well. Compared to his previous two releases, this is a huge step forward, it just sounds better, he almost has that System found back. Which, is impossible because Daron Malakian is the real genius behind that. Anyways, sorry for the lack of real review material, but I haven’t given it a good enough of a listen. My first thoughts on it though are mostly if not all positive. Here’s a link of course. Oh, and starting tomorrow it’ll be concept albums.
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Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History
This album man, this album. If you come at it with an open mind and don’t dismiss it solely on weirdness, it’s quite enjoyable. One thing Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is known for is homemade instruments. There’s a ton of them on this album (See: Cockroach). The first track “Hymn to the Morning Star” in my opinion has one of the coolest transitions ever, it starts with a man snoring (Which makes sense if you listen to the whole album and all the way through to “Untitled”) then eventually turns into the sound of a snarling dog. Similar to Choirs of the Eye, it is different than California as it is not super bipolar, but this album has a certain qu’est-ce se and is quite well done. The introduction to Phthisis is one of my favorites of all time. All of the band members are highly trained with numerous instruments. At a given time during a live show they said that they could have any 16 instruments on stage for one song. All in all, this is a great album, and if you don’t mind field recordings, you should enjoy it. Of course, here is a donwload link.
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Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye
This album is not quite as eccentric as California is in the respect of musical variety, but it is still quite the pleasurable listen. The album was produced by legendary composer John Zorn. It’s difficult to pin point the exact feel of this album, as I said earlier it’s not quite as high energy as California. It goes from slow acoustic melodies to pseudo death metal rises with a bit of spoken word thrown into the mix. There are five tracks all with a combined average of around 11 minutes each. This is a great album, but it seems like there’s just that “it” factor missing, not enough soul maybe? Anyways, the music is there, a great listen, enjoy it! And of course he is a download link.
Mr. Bungle - California
I have to say, this is one of my favorite all time albums. Here is a link for your listening pleasure, Download link . Anyways, onto the actual review itself, the way Mr. Bungle can so effortlessly switch genres mid song, and make it sound good too is just simply uncanny. Mike Patton’s vocal range is ridiculous, death growls, melodic whispering, Doo-Wops, and of course actually singing. In my opinion, this guy can be considered as the new Zappa. Not to cut anyone else short in the band, everyone does a wonderful job, what with going from Space Pop to Death Metal, etc. Even though I said that this album is easily accessible, it takes multiple listens. I myself have heard this album at least 50 times, and every time I hear it again I find something I missed previous times listening. I highly recommend this album as it won’t disappoint.
A Beginning
So essentially, This is going to be a music review blog. Not just any music review blog though, an Avant-Garde music review blog. First off, what is “Avant-Garde” music? Well, you see, Avant-Garde is the single most pretentious musical genre out there. If you can even classify it as a genre. It is highly experimental switching between actual genres even within songs. It is (Unfortunately) a pretty hidden genre, in the fact that not too many people know about it. Which, of course is a travesty because it’s so great. So, I’ll be doing 4 reviews per week. All falling into a mutual category. It’ll be three Avant-Garde albums, and then one that isn’t super weird, but still alternative. To start, I guess I’ll do Easily Accessible albums. Enjoy!
