The Best Of The Decade: Halloween Special!

Greetings boys and ghouls to the dark side of the year, the only night where fiendish goings on are greeted with contented cackles and frivolous ritualism... tonight of course is Halloween!

Throughout the decades the morbid and occult have played a very important part in the alternative music scene. All kinds of bands have been accused of being in league with the devil, and it has become a cliché for metal bands to use dark and occult inspired imagery in their art work and stage personas. Hey, my band does it all the time!

In the 80's rock and metal dominated the American music scene and was the perfect score for the cheap and nasty Horror films of the day, their merger the nightmare of every overly worried parent across the states. Heavy metal seemed to go underground during the 90's, twisting and contorting into various off-shoots in the darkness, writhing in metamorphosis out of public sight. This decade (despite being famed for it's grunge, indie rock and euro-dance music) actually saw the genesis of modern alternative/metal music as it is today.

Doom Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Extreme Metal, Viking Metal! All these sub-genres came from the underground experimentation of the 1990's and at the start of this century it was time for it to break on through to the other side. America had a key role in this with (horrendous) bands like $lipknot and Marilyn Man$on bringing alternative rock music into the 2000's with it's abrasive and over produced distorted guitars, dubbed by disgusted music fans as “Nu-Metal”.

Despite only singing about the usual whiny “boo-hoo, it's so hard being a teenager and no one understands me” tripe, these “Nu-Metal” bands often used occult and horror inspired imagery in their MTV music videos and album artwork, posters, thongs etc.... oh yeah, this music had hit the mainstream and was selling like hotcakes! The more vulgar the merchandise the more it would inevitably sell and even more inevitably get protested against by angry parents, schools and churches which in turn made a big splash in the media and finally helped the music reach an even wider audience!

Alongside this deafening musical explosion has been the world of Hollywood film soundtracks where previously metal and alternative music would only really get aired on Horror movies, nowadays you can find those distorted guitar tones and pulsing drums on all kinds of action/adventure/sci-fi and even fantasy movie scores!

You can even hear a harder edge in pop music these days, for instance Rhianna uses the same over-produced soulless distortion in the backing track of her hit “Umbrella” as the likes of Mr. Money-Bags Marilyn Man$on and co. Lady Gaga is rarely seen without her male models dressed up as a metal band, as witnessed at this years Glastonbury festival, and Katy Perry's live sound is much less electronic than on record with yet again a typical hard rock/metal sounding backing band.

With all that said, lets take a look at some of the more interesting and fittingly Halloween style bands that are either on the brim of breaking through or may still be clawing away beneath the murky underground in my “Best Of The Decade” Halloween special!

1. Arcturus – Sideshow Symphonies (2005)

This Norwegian band merges all kinds of avant-garde elements into their twisted metal sound. This album sounds like the theme tune for a demented Halloween circus! Aside from the metal aspect the band incorporates string sections, harpsichords and other more “trippy” sci-fi elements. Vocalist Simen “ICS Vortex” Hestnæs uses an array of operatic yoddling styles (and even a very random burp at one point!) to make it an even more surreal experience!

2. Satyricon – The Age Of Nero (2008)

Satyricon twisted the traditional Black Metal style into their own so called “Black n' Roll”, sort of like a REALLY angry Motorhead! The band consists of 2 members: Satyr (Vocals, guitars etc...) and Frost (drums), although they employ a band to flesh out their live performances. This album was released on Roadrunner Records, a HUGE American record label that has seen the potential of the extreme metal scene and brought it to the masses over the years (as well as Nickelback unfortunately...). The single from this album "Black Crow On A Tombstone" is incredible catchy in a terribly cheesy way!

3. Sunn0))) – White2 (2004)

This band are so underground their toes are almost dipping into Larva. They are a “Drone” band, utilising extremely low bass tones and screeching feedback for lengthy amounts of time. The band is even named after a paticular brand of amplifier which produces great bass frequencies! The Drone genre is an endurance test, legend has it that at some of their gigs audience members have passed out and vomited from the low frequencies! Many would argue it isn't even music, Sunn0)))'s songs having no particular patterns or structure... I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's artistic genius or horrible noise!

4. Cradle Of Filth – Midian (2001)

One of the most controversial British bands of the last 2 decades, Cradle Of Filth have been involved in offensive merchandising and so on, yet have broken into the mainstream with it's members appearing on BBC's Nevermind The Buzzcocks and even Big Brother's Big Mouth! They have been dubbed by some the new Iron Maiden, what with their love of horror, history and metal all rolled into one! This album has fantastic lyrics and atmosphere, it's grand tales and chilling passages proving that metal doesn't have to be poorly written and shallow and can actually be as engrossing as a film or novel.

5. My Dying Bride – For Lies I Sire (2009)

My Dying Bride helped create their Death/Doom style of metal back in the 90's, but this decade they have cemented themselves as underground legends with their utterly crushing and sorrowful music. This album is beautifully crafted, and despite the morose themes the sound of the band is full of a strange warmth. This album marks a return of the violin to the band, which had been a trademark of theirs in the 90's and was missing until now this decade. They recently covered the classic Scarborough Fair, which strangely fits their style perfectly!

That's all for now, until 2 weeks time when I'll continue the “Best Of The Decade” with some unique and hopefully entertaining underrated Pop music!

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -

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Playlist for Halloween 2009:
05. Spider Baby by Fantomas from the album “The Directors Cut”.
04. Halloween II by Cradle Of Filth from the album “Harder, Faster, Darker: Thornography Deluxe”.
03. Female Of The Species by Space from the album “Spiders”.
02. Halloween by Aqua remastered on their new album “Greatest Hits”.
01. Forsaker by Katatonia from the album “Night Is The New Day”.

Back To Buisness!

So I've been away for a couple weeks now but I would have to say with just cause...

There have been a lot of band related projects going on recently, which I needed to concentrate on 100(000+)% and thus everything else has taken the back seat slightly.

The most exciting thing about being in a band is the point just before recording when you know all the songs inside out, and can hear them perfectly the way you want them to sound but know it will never turn out that way once the record button is hit... and not always in a negative way!

There are so many things to be considered, as well as those pesky random things that spring on you from out of nowhere... busted cables... broken guitar strings... Windows Vista, ugh!

The experimentation and discovery of new techniques within recording is thrilling though, if slightly daunting! Once the bulk of recording has been completed, that is when I feel at home, tinkering away adding little effects and backing tracks, things that are barely audible but add so much to the general vibe of the music.

I've even re-painted the walls of the studio, fresh paint and a fresh sound... there is certainly something epic bubbling beneath the surface, and I can't wait to get it all out!! It's like an oncoming tidal wave of energy and creative force that is unshakeable, waking up at 4am to write some notes on a particular couple bars of a song that should sound like “a pagan camp-fire feast” or something, even if these scrawled notes seem meaningless when dawn approaches... well, that's not true actually since dawn is about 2pm these days isn't it?

Of course another important aspect of Vampyrouss is the “whole package” philosophy. We always try to put as much effort into the visuals as we do the music and lyrics, so I've been playing around with artwork and layouts as well as plotting schemes for a couple music video ideas (no doubt they will be shot in Bideford somewhere... forests are a usual haunting place for us it seems!).

Anyhow, I just thought I should write to say I am still here and very much in the music mindset, and on Friday 30th I will post my first “Best Of The Decade” piece, a rather Halloween themed “Dark-side of music” special!

Speaking of Halloween, lets get in the mood with some CLASSIC Misfits action!



- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -

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Playlist for early October:
05. Forever Autumn by The Moody Blues from the album “Collected”.
04. Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer by Arcturus from the album “Sideshow Symphonies”.
03. Retrovertigo by Mr. Bungle from the album “California”.
02. Pretty Amazing Grace by Neil Diamond from the album “Home Before Dark”.
01. Avenging Angels by Space from the album “Tin Planet”.

The LP Returns?

Yes, it’s true, the “LP” is making a comeback re-branded as the “iTunes LP”. This new idea could revolutionize the music industry as far as I am concerned. It’s not just iTunes that are trying to prompt a new breath of life into the “digital album” either with EMI, Warner, Universal & Sony BMG bringing out their similar CMX digital music format in November.

I’ve just bought the “iTunes LP Edition” of the new Muse album “The Resistance” to give it a try. The download itself is (in this case) 215.8MB in size, not including the separate audio tracks which are a further 109MB. So, all in all we now have a 326.4MB album!

When the downloaded application is opened a splash page pops up, much like a DVD menu. To the left we can choose to play the album or click on the song list option below it, which gives you a track listing. When you hover the mouse over each track title there is a little summary written by vocalist/guitarist Matt Bellamy, and if you click on the song name you will find the lyrics page for it.

On the right side of the menu page is the bonus material, including photos (the photo slideshow is a bit dull and uninspired to be honest), videos and credits. The videos section contains 2 making of documentaries and a live performance of “Super Massive Black Hole”. There may be other content too… I’m hoping for DVD style hidden Easter Eggs, if not on this one on a future iTunes LP!

So what is the cost of all this extra material? It’s hard to tell at the moment, as this is the only version of the album I can find on the iTunes store to download, but compared to the “Amazon MP3” version of the album which is £6.95 (I think that is pretty cheap anyway!?) this extra enhanced version is only £7.99, pretty standard for any new album on iTunes regardless of bonus material!

My final thoughts after trying out this new format? Well, first of all it isn’t a new format. What we are getting is the same old iTunes digital album, a collection of AAC files downloaded to our music collection. Then we get a separate flashy extra application (which is HUGE) containing the album once again embedded into the file, and some nice extra content. So it’s not a revolutionary new product, more icing on the cake. But I do think it should become standard for all digital albums, whoever is selling them.

The consumer deserves more than a folder full of audio files and maybe a small thumbnail picture of an album cover and the "iTunes LP" shows us how we can get that full album experience on our computers exactly how the artist intends us to! It’s a pretty limitless idea too, but time will tell whether it will catch on and whether the artists and record companies will make the most of it!

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -

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Playlist for early to mid September:
05. I Belong to You by Muse from the album “The Resistance”.
04. Swede by King Hobo from the self-titled album “King Hobo”.
03. Nightmare Be Thy Name by Mercyful Fate from the album “Time”.
02. Fantasy Bar by Juliette Lewis from the album “Terra Incognita”.
01. Bonnie The Cat by Porcupine Tree from the album “The Incident”.

Synthesized Nostalgia = “Magic”.

I was going to stay away from writing reviews on this blog but sometimes you hear something and just feel the need to share it with others. So for this week and this week only I’m going to be self indulgent, after all, it is a bank holiday!

There has been an influx of modern Synthpop in the charts lately with the likes of “Little Boots” and “La Roux” quickly becoming household names, but not far behind is New Zealander Phillipa “Pip” Brown AKA “Ladyhawke” with her retro-synth-pop-rock sound which has manifested on her self titled debut album. I may be a little out of touch here, since it was released back in late 2008, so apologies in advance for repeating perhaps “old news” but I felt compelled to write about it nonetheless!

I’d previously seen a little piece on her on TV saying she liked retro sounds, and that the 80’s and 90’s were a big influence on her. This instantly made my ears prick up as that has always been my most prominent inspiration too, being a child of the 80’s and all… but does that translate into her music?

The answer… yeah, quite a bit. There are a few stand out songs on the album, including catchy singles “Paris Is Burning” and “My Delirium” which could almost be a quirky Billy Idol cover. However, the track that really sticks with me is opener “Magic” which is borderline fantastic actually!

As soon as it kicked in I had a grin from ear to ear and was reminded of my favourite album of all time “The Smell Of Rain” by Mortiis. From the gorgeous synth arpeggios to the varied electro-drums, and the driving force of the choir sitting atop a bed of crunchy rhythmic guitars… perfection! What a way to start an album!

The only thing I don’t really get so much is the lyrics, (which probably aren’t aimed at me anyway) however they do fit very well with Pip’s laid back vocal delivery. I can’t complain at all though as I thought “The Smell Of Rain” was a once in a lifetime kind of album and to hear something so closely resembling it (on a recent pop album no less!!!) is a very welcome surprise! It’s a shame the rest of the album isn’t quite as faultless.

Overall I’d say it’s worth checking out Ladyhawke if you haven’t already, especially if you’re as fed up with the obnoxious bores masquerading as “Contemporary R&B” (isn’t that supposed to stand for ‘rhythm and blues’?!) who seem to be cluttering up the top 5 spots in the UK charts this week (and every week it seems...).

So, if you happen to take the nostalgic trip down into Ladyhawke’s unique little world, why not stop off and check out the aforementioned album from Mortiis as well as “Sounds Of The Universe” the latest album from synth legends Depeche Mode whilst you are at it!

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -

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Playlist for the August bank holiday:

05. Fragile Dreams by Anathema from the album “Hindsight”.

04. In Dreams Of Mine by Faith And The Muse from the album “Vera Causa”.

03. Magic by Ladyhawke from the self-titled album “Ladyhawke”.

02. People Are Strange by The Doors from the album “Strange Days”.

01. The Campaign For Real Rock by Edwyn Collins from the album “Gorgeous George”.

Auto-Tune: Breaking The (vo)code

One whisper sweeping across internet-land recently has been discussion on a little known technique used in nearly all professional recording studios these days. It’s most used name is “Auto-tune” although it is basically a pitch-correction software. It can be heard throughout the world without us even being aware it is there in most cases, although it has become more obvious in recent singles by artists such as Eminem, Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias and so on.

This is mainly noticeable in the vocals, over processing the voice to be “pitch perfect”. This can be done to different degrees with the aforementioned artists using it as a production effect by pushing the pitch-correction so far that the vocal line starts to sound synthesised and robotic. Masses of modern R&B artists have been using it a lot too (Timbaland, Rhianna and Ne-Yo off the top of my head) although it has been pumped into our ears for over a decade, one prominent example being Cher’s massive 1998 hit “Believe”, so much so that it became known as the “Cher Effect”.

So what else can it be used for besides making vocalists sound like robots? From an artists point of view this technology is a godsend, allowing the vocalist to concentrate on their performance, pouring all their passion and creativity into the take without being 100% pitch perfect all the time. It’s easy to fix up any little discrepancies afterward, saving a lot of studio time (and thus a lot of money)!

Vocal harmonies can be made by duplicating an already recorded main vocal track and changing it’s pitch accordingly to save potentially hours of over-dubbing later on. It’s not just vocalists that can use it either, if the guitarist has been using the whammy bar a little too much and accidently gone out of tune the recording can easily be saved rather than recording another (perhaps inferior) take. In an extreme case you could even change the entire key of your song after it’s been recorded and mixed!

The question is, does this make the producers/engineers and artists lazy and unimaginative, or does it give them even more freedom to experiment?

In my opinion those little inconsistencies can give a song character and identity whereas this manipulated perfection can seem sterile and bland especially if over-used like nearly every song I hear on the radio these days! Once you notice you can never escape it!

If you’re still not sure whether you think this is a great innovation or an irritating trend I will leave you with this video demonstrating just how over the top you can go with Auto-Tune and I promise you’ll never hear Timbaland the same way again.

“Auto-Tune The News”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0OzxvClwoU

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -