It’s become something of a common conceit in certain strains of metal: slow = doom. For the most part, I agree. Slow does indeed equal doom, and the slower and more sludgier the music, the more doom is conjured.
Still, it’s worth considering that maybe, just maybe, tempo isn’t related to some sort of a sense of approaching evil, or ever-present evil, or even a past evil lurking in the recesses of our collective memory. Maybe the slow and sludgy pace of doom metal can simply be an attempt to draw aural attention to the space between notes, the dynamics of a snare drum and bass drum, the hiss of a cymbal hit with ferocity. Or maybe I should shut up and put on a black t-shirt (sure, I have plenty) and get evil.
Salome’s self-titled LP opens with the sound of a TV, or a radio, or some other form of media white-noise (black-noise?), and a decidedly un-metal riff being played. Maybe we’re hearing the sound of Salome guitarist Rob Moore noodling on his guitar as he watches TV. Within :30 he moves to the jam room and the opening riff of “The Vivification of Ker” starts playing, completely obliterating everything in it’s path. Enter Aaron Deal on drums, taking his sweet fucking time, letting us hear every open hi-hat hit and every ride bell ding ding ding. And then Kat starts singing.
To call Kat a vocalist is to completely undermine her ability to make yr blood simultaneously boil and turn to ice. She manages to be guttural without sounding like it’s put on, like so many other metal vocalists. Her vocals are anger, fear, dread, and yes, doom, all in one. What is she singing about? With no lyrics to guide me, it’s hard to tell, but I think if I was pressed I could make some educated guesses.
With all of these pieces in place, Side A of the LP is a must for fans of Black Sabbath, early-to-mid era Melvins, and 16th century woodcuts of torture scenes. Things go from slow, to double time, to slow, to SLOW. Side B of the record, the 22-minute monster track “Onward Destroyer” begins with a slow (!) and swampy riff that unfolds and mutates over the course of the first eight minutes, and then returns to its original form. Kat’s vocals here are especially terrifying. This song, too, contains my favourite two moments on the record. At about 13min and 17min, the song’s main riffs disintegrate into a squall of controlled and sickly harmonic feedback, some of the best I’ve heard. Ever.
All in all, an amazing record. And I think it’s worth saying again that I don’t think slow necessarily equals doom, especially here. There’s a horrific and hideous aspect to these songs, sure, and that’s part of the aesthetic. Still, I think it’s worth saying that maybe it isn’t so much that these songs are slow and therefore doom-laden, as they are unhurried and therefore meditative. I won’t go so far as to say this is trance metal, but there is a deliberate and measured approach to the performance of these songs that makes them far more vital than other doom that I’ve heard.
[these camera-guys were there from a couple of the major news stations. when they noticed me taking pictures, they struck some poses, which i said looked nice. "don't worry," i told them, "you'll be on the cover of the star tomorrow." they laughed and said they didn't believe me. then the one on the right piped up and said "yeah, more like the communist star." nice one, buddy.]
[as the dozen-or-so police realize that this protest isn't going to stay put, or stay on the sidewalk, they scramble to figure out what to do. on their bikes, they attempt to box us in at college and elizabeth.]
[just when things seem to be dying down, we find a hole in the armor and spill out and down elizabeth, heading towards yonge and gerrard.]
[protestors spilling everywhere. cops confused as all hell.]
[a cop carved out of wood. another temporary blockade of police bikes. click to enlarge.]
[we arrive at yonge and gerrard to see that the protest is having an effect. there are about 50-75 police, on bikes and in cars, blocking yonge and gerrard going south. to the north, yonge street is empty and people line the streets as the torch makes it's way down.]
[standoff at yonge and gerrard. click to enlarge.]
[the improvised police "blockade" at yonge and gerrard. click to enlarge.]
[we determine the location of the torch and head north to yonge and college. the police are unable to catch up and retain us, so the intersection turns into a complete clusterfuck and blocks the torch's path. at this point, the torch is up around yonge and wellesley, and has to be "split in two" and diverted. apologies for the lack of focus. most of the time, i'm barely even looking through the viewfinder.]
[it's a weird scene at yonge and college. some people boo us, other people join us, and others just whip out their camera phones and start snapping photos. in a weird way, we've become just another aspect of the olympic spectacle for these people. a strange feeling to say the least. click to enlarge.]
[reinforcements arrive in the form of cars and horses. the spectators there to see the torch seem bewildered by the whole thing. click to enlarge.]
[the mounted police always piss me off most. i think if the horses knew that the work they were being forced to do was so unjust, they would be pissed too. click to enlarge.]
[some people there to see the torch are indeed quite... charming, as jeanette put it. in this bad photo, a man in a cowboy hat gives me the finger and calls me an asshole. off-camera: i return his sentiment.]
[we make our way up towards college and wellesley, even closer to the torch, and the mainstream media is swarming at this point. unfortunately, they aren't terribly interested in talking to the protestors. instead, this reporter asks dozens of spectators what they think of the protest ("it's ridiculous! these bums should go home!"), a nice "balanced" view.]
[somewhere around yonge and maitland, the cops bring in serious reinforcements and start being more serious about pushing people around. the intersection fills with somewhere between 150-200 cops, some of them looking like they just rolled out of bed and still putting on their uniforms. they fall into various formations and split the protest up on either side of yonge street. two minutes after this photo was taken, one of the apparent "leaders" of the squad said quietly to the cop in this photo "that guy over there (referring to one of the aboriginal protestors in a bandana), if something happens, take him out first." i ask loudly "who are you going to take out." the cop who said it says "we're not going to take out anybody" loudly. i ask her to repeat what she said to the other officer. she refuses.]
[at this point, it's impossible to move forward. but some of the protestors that have been split off make their way down to nathan phillips square and drop a banner to disrupt everyone's "good time."]
this blog post is pieced together from my recollection and documentation of the fast-moving events from last night. for a more articulate and complete retelling, check out the official torch block blog.
also, for an eyewitness report from someone who wasn’t actually a protestor, but who provides some good insight, check out nealj’s livejournal entry.
PLEASE NOTE: reposting of photos is welcome, but MUST be credited - “photos by karol orzechowski / decipherimages.com”
When I got an e-mail from Wax Records asking me to think about doing some giveaways for the new Cartel album, I replied very frankly: “i only review vinyl, and i only review stuff i like.”* They sent me four Cartel cds anyway.
I can’t review this record. Literally, I can’t review it, because I just can’t listen to it. I get about :30 into it, and I break out in hives and get a nosebleed. I think I’m physically allergic to it.
The reason I only want to review things I like is because, really, no one needs bad press, and I don’t have time to write about things I don’t like. I’m sure some people will think the Cartel album “rocks” or “rolls” or “doesn’t fuck yr ears with razor blades.” Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.
So I’m gonna leave this one to the experts. I am not an expert in pop-punk (?), and I don’t have the knowledge to place this record in its historical context. And hell, even if I could, I’m not sure that I would want to spend an hour of my time trying to do so. I’m busy like that.
So, to be honest and fair to Wax, I’m gonna do some giveaways. I’m doing a double giveaway! I’ve for four (4) copies of the new Cartel album / hi-tech plastic drink coaster “Cycles.” Whoever can write to me first and tell me why they love or hate Cartel, will get a copy / coaster. Trust me, this is an excellent album / coaster. If you love pop-punk, yr gonna shit yr pants over the slick awesomeness of this album (especially the first :30 of it). If you hate pop-punk, yr gonna love how awesomely this plastic disc works to keep yr coffee table drink-ring free.
write to me at everyoneisdoomed {AT} gmail {DOT} com
p.s. no links in this post. if you really care, you can find the links yrself.
*This was a bit of a dodge. I don’t actually review anything. But I’m starting today.
When you say “live rap” you might think of bands like The Roots, multi-piece funk / soul bands with emcees that play smooth and ride easy flows. But Themselves (Adam “Doseone” Drucker and Jeffrey “Jel” Logan) are perhaps one of the only live rap bands around these days. They use the original building blocks of rap - samplers and drum machines - but turn them into live instruments that they twist and turn into an unequivocal racket of groove, all right before your eyes and ears. They (ha) are currently on tour in support of their dizzying new album CrownsDown.
EID: What is “CrownsDown”? What does the title of the album mean?
Doseone: Crownsdown is our truism, a term to our language of rap, that encapsulates the arrow and edge of us at this point in time, like “Ready to Die.” Jeff and I gently set our worth down on the table of days before us. Not out of confidence but reverence and earnest.
EID: On the second track on the album, you give people your home address and tell to come and “get their careers over with already.” Has anyone yet come to either of your houses looking for a battle?
Doseone: Not yet, but I can’t wait. I hope I am in underwear with my toothbrush in one hand and a bill in the other while I kill a kid on my stoop.
EID: Why are there no lyrics included in the album?
Doseone: We put them in the digital booklet. It was a tough call, but the ten photos in the book are specifically set and shot to be theoretical 12″covers. So each song gets its own diorama of sorts. I enjoy the maturity and room for interperetation it leaves to the listening person.
EID: How were these new songs written? Did beats come first? Did words come first?
Doseone: A bit of both. Overall, Jeff and I sat with our concept of classic rap albums, and fostered our own astranged version of such a criteria. We then tried to discern what “type” of rap song motiffs still could hold true and reign potent in the 2000s. So we had a bootlegging song, a don’t-mess-with-the-dj song, a defend-rap-from-nogooders song and so on. And for some of these we had a very clear idea of what the production should be. For “Oversleeping,” we made that beat together, and I was like, oh this is the clean-out-the-closet skeleton crush jam, and I wrote the song in a single eve. “Back II Burn” was written as a long poem by Pedestrian and I, and Jeff and I then made a triumphant album begining beat to match and modify the mood of the poem.
EID: What is touring like for you guys? What is the weirdest thing you’ve seen on this tour?
Doseone: It’s pretty great for us right now. We are the fastest of friends, and really just beginning to open up as a two-man rap band. So it’s somehow, all new again a decade later and our people are very happy to have us right now. Things feel flush: we are giving our appreciators a meal that is shaped just like their hunger.
You know, we were in Denny’s, and they were selling a shirt that says “get your grave on.” I shit my pants! It’s like a dose shirt. It may not be the weirdest tale, but when corporations make something adorable and advertised in the language of death, one must shake their head, take note, and see things as new and oddly futuristic.
EID: How is playing support different from headlining?
Doseone: We are co headlining, which I like. Sometimes opening is great, cause crowds can get drunk and long day drowsy on you. And opening tends to be the sweet spot. Truthfully I live for my hour on stage, and will take it anyway I can. Jeff and I don’t need cake and pointy hats, to bring it birthday to the ageing.
EID: What’s the plan when the tour is over?
Doseone: We are finishing a remix record for CrownsDown, and Jeff will be sealing shut his new solo record. I am going to be finishing “unearthing” with Alan Moore and Andy Broder, and then its onto Nevermen with [TV On The Radio's] Tunde [Adebimpe] and mighty Mike Patton. The rest is blood, sweat, bills, and B-movie dreams.
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