Aphex Twin

I felt certain that I'd strung together some shit words about this funny looking bastard already.  Never mind, now's as good a time as any.

Except that I really don't have much to say about this weird fractured drum 'n' bass 'n' ambience 'n' contempt, other than I like the contrasting mix of fractured drum 'n' bass, ambience and contempt.  I like that everything by Aphex Twin sounds like Aphex Twin without being formulaic or predictable.   I like that Mr Aphex Twin (Richard D James) is either a funny looking bastard possessed of sublime musical genius that transcends all mortal comprehension; or a funny looking bastard possessed of that special kind of genius that compels people to handcraft aluminium foil headwear, shout at clouds and collect toenail clippings.

And I like Chris Cunningham's disturbing video accompaniments.

Get startled, yeah?







Website: http://warp.net/records/aphex-twin
Myspace: nope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aphextwinafx
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphex_Twin

Animals As Leaders

I met Animals As Leaders frontchap Tosin Abasi a few years ago, when he was manning the merch stand at a gig in Aldershot's glamorous West End Centre - the knackered urinal of the UK toilet circuit.  At the time Tosin was playing lead guitar for the very fine but short lived metalcore outfit Reflux, playing support for the very fine but short lived metal outfit Eden Maine.  I mainly remember it for the weird stand-off we shared, where I was pretty sure but not certain that he was the guitarist for Reflux, and he seemed pretty sure that I might know he was the guitarist for Reflux but wasn't certain that I knew that.

According to the great bastion of truth and enlightenment that is Wikipedia, it would have been around this time that his band's record label approached him with the idea of a solo record - an idea that he dismissed at the time as "egotistical and unnecessary".

Fast forward to earlier this year; Reflux went kaput some years ago, Tosin has taken up his label's offer and released two albums under the moniker Animals As Leaders, and I am in the crowd to see them play support to the mighty Meshuggah.  I mainly remember this gig for the three stitches I needed in my eyebrow after colliding violently with some other chap in the pit; but also for the Animals As Leaders set, which was one of the finest displays of virtuoso fretboard wankery I have seen since... well, since Reflux played the West End Centre in Aldershot.

Its taken me until a few weeks ago to get around to picking up anything by them; but now that I have (their self-titled debut), I'll be damned if I can stop listening to it.  It's a little self indulgent in places, sure; but the twiddlyness never detracts from the overall groove of the record.  As such it manages to be one of those most rare things; a guitar-based instrumental record with some fucking soul.

Seriously, these guys are the best 8-string progressive jazz metal band you'll ever hear.  And I appreciate that it's not an especially crowded genre, but you should check them out anyway.







Website: http://prostheticrecords.com/?p=499
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/animalsasleaders
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/animalsasleaders
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_as_Leaders

Sikth

I've been listening to these guys a lot this week, for no readily discernible reason.  But that's fine, because I don't have to explain myself to you or your foul internets.

They were a mighty powerful band.  I got to see them just the once, on what transpired to be their farewell tour some five years ago; and it was astonishing to witness the frantic technicality of their records performed live with such precision.  Probably.  It was a while back, and I got a few good knocks on the head.  It was awesome.  Probably.

A great many bands are described (by me, mostly) as sounding "schizophrenic", and Sikth would be no exception.  But in their case it really does ring true; partly because of the breakneck switches in style and crazed time signatures, but mainly because of the dual vocals that sound like warring aspects of a fractured personality.

Mental.







Website: nope
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sikth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sikthofficial
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikth

Chronicles of Adam West

Actually, this was the greatest band in the world last week. For a variety of reasons, life outside of the interwebs has been somewhat shambolic, frantic and prone to exploding a bit of late.

Hence Chronicles of Adam West, who were shambolic, frantic and prone to exploding a bit - right up until the point that they exploded a bit. As far as I can tell they only recorded one short EP before calling it quits for reasons that I can't be bothered to research. The bio on their myspace page reads simply "WE'RE DEAD".

Just for your information, the following live performance is almost exactly how they sound on record. Which probably goes some way to explaining way the cast of Glee haven't quite around to raping it yet.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/coaw

Wikipedia: nope

Shapes

As much as I claim to rely on music journalism for the purposes of forming opinions about what I am supposed to like, I don't generally pay that much attention. Until you hit the (occasionally vitriolic) album review pages the tone of the writing tends towards foaming-at-the-mouth enthusiasm. Every band is the best band in the world ever, in spite of any a-symmetrical fringes/sleeveless denim jackets/corpse paint/Pete Wentz that may suggest otherwise.

So quite why I sat up and listened when Shapes were touted as one of Rock Sound's "100 ones to watch for 2011" is beyond me. Perhaps it was the suggestion that they might fill the These Arms Are Snakes shaped hole in my life...

Which they don't.

They are bloody good, though. To my ears, they sound like a slightly more shambolic and frantic We Are Knuckle Dragger, all choppy guitars and sudden timing changes, occasionally drifting off into swirling instrumental delirium (as on Retreat, Attack).

It's good shit, get it in you.

Probably also worth noting that you can listen to everything they've ever done at their website (link below). Enjoy.

Website: http://weareshapes.tumblr.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/weareshapes

Wikipedia: nope

Botch

The first I heard of Botch was when they decided to quit being a band. A number of people seemed very upset about this; but having never heard anything by them, I found it hard to understand why...

Still, they seemed to be held in high enough regard to be worth checking out at some point; so when I found a copy of Unifying Themes Redux lurking in the murky depths of a second hand record shop, I grabbed it.

It turned out to be a collection of early releases and a few live tracks, and it was (and still is) quite splendid. Phrases like "jagged" and "angular" get thrown around quite a lot when discussing this kind of jagged and angular hardcore, but I don't like to use them because a) it's derivative and predictable, and b) those words don't really mean anything when applied to music. That said, Botch's jagged and angular hardcore is both jagged and angular. And pleasingly unpredictable.

And noisy.

Website: http://americannervoso.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/botch

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botch_(band)

Knut

Switzerland is renowned for many things; delicious confectionery, fancy timepieces, tricksy pocket knives, secret bank accounts, a heart full of neutrality. Not so well known for progressive mathcore.

Which is a shame, because that's exactly what Knut do. The mathcore bit, not any of the other stuff.

Earlier records were very mathcore - at times sounding like a hardcore band in a metallic drum clattering down some steps. Third album Terraformer saw them get a bit more groove on; all the insane timing changes, atomic drum fills and fretboard gymnastics were still present, but measured out with more thick slabs of dense riffing and atmospheric electronica, with vocals taking more of a back seat - almost a third of the record was completely instrumental. It was like Knut had become masters of their rage, controlling rather than being controlled by it.

Fuck cuckoo clocks. This is the best thing to ever come out of Switzerland.

Closely followed by Toblerones.

Website: http://www.hydrahead.com/knut/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/unknut

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(band)

Meshuggah

It is by fairly indirect means that these guys became the greatest band in the world ever this week. It started with the most recent issue of Rocksound, my periodical of choice for when I need to be told what to think. The cover CD had a track on it by Canadian deathcore types Ion Dissonance, called "We Like To Call This One... Fuck Off." Here it is.

I quite liked it, but the review of the album in the magazine was more disparaging. "It's hard to see why this is necessary while Meshuggah are still a going concern" it said. Or at least, something like that.

A tad harsh, perhaps, but quite fair. Why bother with a band that sounds a bit like Meshuggah, when there's Meshuggah? Who, let's face it, sound exactly like Meshuggah (if not more so)?

Meshuggah are a progmathcyberjazzdeathmetal band from Sweden, whose earliest albums were a bit bonk.

They now sound as though a bunch of insane scientists decided to create the most brutal and technical metal band in the world; starting with The Dillinger Escape Plan and precisely one quarter of Converge, they first stripped them of all their catchy melodies and pop sensibilities before rebuilding them as flame-spitting atomic robots with deathvalves turned up to eleven and guitars tuned down to frequencies below the human range of hearing. But it still wasn't brutal and technical enough, so they just got the guys from Meshuggah instead.

Website: http://www.meshuggah.net/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/meshuggah

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meshuggah

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Once you exclude all of the "Dillinger who?" and "What is that, some kind of plan?" people (which is admittedly the vast majority of people), you're left with two distinct emperor's new clothes-esque groups.

There are those for whom The Dillinger Escape Plan are inspired and genre-smashing virtuosos draped in robes of the finest silk.

And then there are those for whom they are a bunch of naked shouting jackasses that can't agree on what tune they should be playing; or even if they should be playing a tune at all.

This week I have been listening to their most recent effort Option Paralysis, and find myself firmly in the "hey, those guys are pretty snappy dressers" group. It's just fantastic; like being beaten around the skull by a screaming brick shithouse of a man with LOVE written on one set of knuckles and JAZZ on the other in a grimy trance club, only with weirder time signatures. But in a good way.

Website: nope

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dillingerescapeplan

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dillinger_Escape_Plan