2011: The Year that Was

2011 was full of great music, wasn't it?  Let have a look at some of the great albums and bottles of booze that made this year so special.

Pallbearer - Demo.  Big thanks to DSFCB for introducing me to my new favorite doom metal band.  These kids are from somewhere in the deep south but damn if they don't sound like they are from England circa 1972.  The lead singer sounds like a young Ozzy so much it is crazy.



And he knew there's no hope of redemption!  Don't you want to cut your wrists listening to that?  Amazing.

Last spring I listened to Pallbearer constantly and drank Canadian whisky.  I enjoyed the 10 year version of Canadian Club.  Delightful stuff, really.  That was the spring, but moving on to the summer new jams were needed.  And what a hot summer it was.

Jan Hammer - Crockett's theme.  Felt hot like Miami this summer.



Just put it on repeat for a few hours.  Maybe open a bottle of Soberano brandy.  That was summer.

Summer was also a time of drinking bourbon and listening to Motorhead.  The classic album March or Die was my soundtrack.  For some reason it just fit.



In the thunder and heat!  Makes me think of the 90s and being young and full of vim and wanting so bad to taste the sweeter things in life like booze and women.  Sigh...good times.  Speaking of bourbon, I found an old bottle of Ten High 10 and it was pretty good whiskey.  Pretty cheap too.  If I make it back to the ghetto anytime soon I'll stock up for sure.

Moving on, this next gem is probably the only album released in 2011 that I actually bought.


Mithras - Time Never Lasts EP



Solid Mithras.  Enough said.

This was a good year for doom, wasn't it?  I can't remember who introduced me to this gem, but thanks for hooking me up with Lycus!

Lycus - Demo.  Another American doom demo?  We must be on the cusp of a great American doom metal awakening.



Reminds me of Ahab in many ways.

And finally, this was another great year for Bach.

The Emerson String Quartet - The Art of the Fugue.  This classic recording of Bach's 24 fugues from the Art of the Fugue is deft and wonderful.  I prefer the previous album of Bach fugues simply titled Fugues, but this is still solid work.



Starting this summer I had this set of Gymnopedie by Satie on repeat for hours.  Still do.  For those quiet moments.



That's kind of the year in music for me.  I didn't say it was the year in new music, because I am old and hate new things and there was very little new music worth hearing this year.

It was a good year for booze, particularly whiskey.  I'm not one of those whiskey snobs, we keep it real around here.  Real cheap.  In fact I am working diligently on a formula and a philosophy for making beer as good and cheap as possible.  Emphasis on cheap.  The sort of thing you could do in your dorm room if you had a sink, a hot plate, and a mini fridge.  Just don't forget to invite me to your next college party; I will show up with a fifth of whiskey and sit in the corner and drink and call people peasants and try to get in a fistfight with someone bigger than me.  Cheers.

Talking about music

If you audited my iPod you'd find it is a crappy mix of music.  There's some off items like my Frank Sinatra collection or Patsy Cline or Johnny Cash, but not a whole lot of top 40 fare.  Well not 21st century top 40.  Hell, not even second half of the 20th century top 40.  Depending on things a lot of heavy metal but also a lot of "classical music".  Lately Shostakovitch, but over the summer a heavy Villa-Lobos rotation.  I have a hard time calling 20th century composers "classical".  I really hate discussing music with new people because most people don't like heavy metal and assume that if you listen to it you are dumb white trash.  I just found out who Lady Gaga was a few months ago because of that funny Andy Rehfeldt video, and I had no idea who Amy Winehouse was when she died.  So many awkward conversations there.  I thought she was some American Idol contestant or something.  I've never actually seen that show, except the funny youtube clips.  So when I meet new people conversations usually go like this:

Random stranger:  So what do you do?
Me:  I drink.
Random stranger:  Haha, no what do you do for a living?
Me:  I sit in a cubicle and do boring uninteresting stuff all day.
Random stranger:  Well what kind of music do you like?
Me:  Classical music.

Boom conversation over!  So if you ever find yourself talking to some random jerk and want to shut down the conversation in the most painless way possible just tell them you listen to classical music.  They will think you are the most boring person alive and practically run away.  This works great, I have never had this conversation and said "classical music" and had a further question or comment about music.  If you are like me and hate 99% of all humans you should add this to your conversation repertoire.

Also, make sure you have this on your iPod at all times because 1. it is awesome music and 2. if anyone ever asks you can bust this out to make sure no one ever pries into your music world again.


ZOMG so boring amirite!

Bachfest

On the 250th anniversary of the death of J.S. Bach the University of Michigan school of music performed 24 hours of Bach without interruption. I went to a party that night and, after a heavy dose of binge drinking, wandered my way to Hill Auditorium and listened for several hours. I wanted to hear the fugues. I remember my excitement as the staff wheeled the organ onto the middle of the stage and plugged it into the pipes.



The Frieze Memorial Organ, built for 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition with over 4,000 pipes.

Did I mention that it is a beautiful building with perfect acoustics? No seriously I have never heard better acoustics in any venue. Though I must say not the most comfortable seats for passing out at 4 AM. Sadly I woke up the next morning with a wicked hangover and missed the rest of Bachfest. I had not yet discovered the healing power of ramen noodles.

And now said University of Michigan is allowing you dear readers to download all of Bach's organ pieces for free. Click HERE

Shred the Bach: crank the gain!

Another fusion of Bach and Rock comes from guitarist Ilan Guetta on the disc Ilan Guetta Plays Bach Electric. Here Ilan teams up with the Israeli String Quartet and plays through some classics by J.S. So how does it sound?

To start I should mention that Ilan doesn't crank the gain up as high as Yngwie. For me personally, this is a bit of a bummer because when the gain is turned to 11 that Strat would sing like a violin. Another criticism is that he tends to pluck every single note. Now I'm familiar with many of these pieces and they could use more legato. I think he has to pluck because he doesn't have the gain turned up high enough, which would cause the notes to sing out longer and feedback nicely. Take it from the master. But these critiques aside, it is played very well, much better than I ever could. The guitar marries the string quartet well, and it is a delightful experiment.

Check out samples and purchase Here.

Shred the Bach

Many years ago I spent long hours listening to J.S. Bach. I had the idea of playing one of his inventions on the guitar. One guitar would play the left hand, and another would play the right. It would be electrified. I searched online to see if someone else had beat me to the punch. They had.

I found an obscure CD called Shimmyo - Metamorphosis that had Invention #8 and #13 just as I imagined.

I also discovered that Alejandro Silva had performed such an arrangement on his live CD/DVD, which is quite excellent.



The video quality on the DVD is much better than this rip, and is quite good.

As far as performances go, I think I prefer the Shimmyo version because the guitars have the gain cranked up higher, whereas Alejandro rolls it back a bit. Anyways enjoy them both.