Blog

So I listened to some new music recently, heres what I think:

God Is an Astronaut is an alright band, at least from their album All Is Violent, All Is Bright.

They have cycling riffs (piano, synth, guitar) with every inch of their music, but it is put together in such a manner as to be pleasing. It follows the "post-rock" method (I guess if there was anything really there called a method) of building up to some kind of heavier part from a softer part. I like that, others don't. Each song sounds samey and that's quite alright if you like how each song sounds. If you don't like one song from the album, you're probably not going to like any of the others.

Pat Martino is cool I guess. I have his album, Cream, which is jazz. The defining feature of the jazz is the guitar work, which is impressive. But maybe I don't like jazz a whole bunch, but it is kind of cold stuff. Not cold as in, emotionless, but it is kind of uninteresting to listen to at some points. All in all, I like it, but probably only because of the fancy guitar playing.

I used an iTunes music card to get two songs from Explosions in the Sky, which is also commonly labeled as post-rock. I'm starting to see a bit of a problem with labeling something as post-rock, which I will elaborate on in a bit.

But first, the two songs, which are Catastrophe And The Cure and First Breath After Coma.

Catastrophe is nice, in a sort of exciting ambient way. It isn't quiet to the point of being simply background music, as its drums and guitar are driving, but it doesn't reach the point of being extremely enthralling. I like it, but it probably wouldn't appeal to anyone who wasn't a fan of that kind of thing. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by that, but if you are a fan of it, you probably know what I mean. And that made even less sense.

Moving on...

First Breath is a track that I enjoy, because it grows a bit, and then halts. And then continues pretty much at a constant level for the last half or so. The song itself, built on a few twangy guitar riffs, is something that moves nicely by itself, but it is complimented by the rest of the song (the bass, the other guitar, etc...), to create something that really sounds akin to the song's title. It really conjures a feeling of "First Breath After Coma", I guess is what I'm saying. Whatever the true feeling is, I wouldn't be surprised if its not far from what this music achieves.

The entire reason I wrote a really long entry is because I got some mean spirited comments on how worthless my last entry was.

:(

I don't expect anyone to look at this, which is foolish. But still...

Video stream based on my last.fm profile and stuff on youtube.com.
http://lasttv.net/popupplayer.php?username=skonrokk


You might hear and see for instance:

Yellowjackets - Azure Moon (with WDR Big Band)
John Mayer - Bold as Love
Jaco Pastorius "Modern Electric Bass" - Part 1/10 (HQ)
Wayne Shorter - Sanctuary
Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters - Chameleon (Part 1 of 2)
Weather Report - Black Market :1978:
John Zorn / Masada String Trio - Meholalot
Bill Frisell on Night Music
Pat Martino & John Scofield - "Sunny"
Brad Mehldau
Richard Bona w/ Bobby McFerrin - Dina Lam
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Your Precious Love
The Bill Evans Trio - Re:Person I Knew (1979)
Peter Gabriel live 1983 Shock the Monkey
Lisa Ekdahl - Vem Vet
Sly & The Family Stone - Higher (Live - 1984)
Keith Jarrett & Chick Corea Plays MOZART(K.365:1.Allegro)