You Must Learn to Shine

I love music. So does Dash. We love music a whoooooole bunch. When I hear a song or an album that I really like, I'll listen to it over and over and over again. I bet a lot of you out there do the same. Whenever I go to a local or smaller show (concert), I try to get there when doors open because you never know when a band you don't know might blow you away.

I went to a local NJ show a few years ago that my friends set up that had a bunch of bands with friends of mine in them. There was also a band I had never heard/seen before. People have told me I saw them once before, but I think I was outside of the venue when they played. The band played and I was completely blown away. That doesn't happen too often to any of I think, so right away I bought a cd and talked to one of the guitarists and the keyboardist.

That band was The Green Evening Requiem. That cd I bought was two demos and quickly became one of my all time favorites. Now, years later, the drummer is one of my best friends and the band has gone through a billion changes. Until recently, the line-up was, to put it simply, wack-a-doo. A guitarist left, one of the founding members left, another guitarist joined, and then the keyboardist, who became the lead guitarist, left as well. Now the line-up is solid. It's made up of the brothers Evan (drums) and Shane Madden (bass) and Woe mastermind Chris Grigg (guitar).

And on the 14th of March, they released their first "real" album. This is in no way disparaging to their first release, all I mean is that this is an ALBUM. Not two amazing demos put together. It was a long road to get it finished, with tons of obstacles and bumps along the way. But it is finally available.

I'm biased about TGER. Evan, Shane and Chris have all been awesome to me. And the inner circle consists of awesome people as well. I've felt nothing but love coming from them to their fans. However, listening to the album objectively, I can honestly say it's great. I think the way I knew it was when I was trying to compare a song to another metal band, and I couldn't. I mean, they have influences definitely: Katatonia, Agalloch, Enslaved, Pink Floyd, Neurosis, etc. But they have a very unique sound and they deserve all the praise they get.

The album is available online as a "Pay what you want" digital download. It has two reworked songs from the original demos cd and 5 others. I really recommend it. If you want great, heavy, melodic, and all together original metal, pick up the new album.

It's called "Bastards of Atlas" and is available HERE.

Chris Grigg, Shane Madden and Evan Madden

-James

Now playing: British Sea Power - No Lucifer

PS They're also streaming the album on Last.fm, so if you want to listen before buying it, here you go. Click here.

Nice things are nice.

I really like flower arrangement.

It's a fascinating art-form to me. Blending nature's majesty with human creativity. Recently I was turned on to Ikebana, which is the Japanese "version" of flower arrangement. I'm consistently blown away by this style of minimalist expression.

So, yeah, flowers have some awesome colors, and I find it interesting how people who know how to use color blend them into specific patterns. With Ikebana, the arrangement is as much about color as it is the stems, leaves and form. That LOW album cover is a traditional flower arrangement, and while the spectrum of pink is cool, it's a bit lacking. Now, go back to those first two pictures. THAT is Ikebana. Fuck yes. Look at how the positioning creates a landscape, and the colors bring about certain emotions. How everything bends very carefully and specifically to form a movement, guiding your eyes in a CERTAIN manner.

I am way down with flowers.

When Forgetfulness Brings Death

There are certain things that could happen to us which are almost unimaginable. Our houses burning down, family members being kidnapped, someone we love being raped. But for most people, parents specifically, the worst thing that could possibly happen is having your child die. But then there is something worse. Something undeniably more horrendous.

And that is accidentally killing your own child.

We've all heard the story, someone leaves their kid in the car on a hot day while they go and run errands. Maybe they get caught up in what they're doing, maybe they forgot the kid was in the car. Maybe they thought that they already dropped off the child where they were supposed to.

And then they come back and realize that the worst thing possible has just happened.

I know our podcast and blog is usually pretty light and funny (hopefully), but this phenomenon is very interesting and so extreme that I wanted to link a very well-done article on it in the Washington Post.

Click here.

(Thanks to Morgan for showing this to me!)

-James

Now playing: Clint Mansell - Finish It

Special Edition Podcast #2

NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST NEW PODCAST

This is a short one folks! And it's all about...WATCHMEN. So there are tons of spoilers and whatnot. We talk about the graphic novel and the movie and all the stuff in between!

"Click here. Listen to podcast. Discuss it later. Hurm."

Music:

Eef Barzelay: "Apocalyptic Friend"



...awwwww.

Angled Bench Sins

CHANGE BLINDNESS is this crazy thing that your brain does, where it forgets everything that has just happened to it in an instant, because change has occurred, and, rather than inform you of what has happened, your brain lies and tells you that nothing has changed at all.

The two links above go to videos. Unfortunately the embed code had been removed, but please, so you can get a better idea of how faulty your brain is, check out both videos.

Webcomics: Part 3

So the other day I did something very awesome. Hopefully you all read and remember THIS post where I talked about the webcomic Wondermark. Well, thanks to the joy of Twitter/internet, I had a chance to talk on the phone with the creator Mr. David Malki! It was very nice. So, why not do another spotlight on a webcomic!

This post is going to be about Horribleville by K.C. Green.

Link.

A sample:

CLICK THE IMAGE TO MAKE IT BIGGER.

Horribleville is a webcomic whose main protagonist is the author/artist himself! Mr. Green is very self-deprecating and his jokes show this. Luckily for us it's hilarious instead of just sad. Also, K.C.'s pacing is UNBELIEVABLE. Possiby the best in all the webcomics I read.

The comic teeters between super realistic and all out craziness. Green is a very unique artist who can't really be put into any sort of box regarding style. He does whatever the comic calls for, which is nice since most webcomics stick to one particular style.

This comic does have some sort of continuity. There are regular characters, such as The Editor, Writer's Block and Doosty the cat who wants to kill K.C. Recently the comic has centered around Green's struggle with the comic itself, which makes my brain want to melt with how meta that is.

The coolest thing (to me) about this comic isn't the fact it makes laugh out loud more often than not, or the weird art or the killer kittie. No, it's the fact that it's like looking into someone's brain. This comic is partially a diary and instead of just descriptions of thought, we get art to go along with it! Not only do we get his thoughts on his life, but also his crazy ideas or silly daydreams. This comic is definitely not for everyone, but I bet it's one more people can relate to than most others.

-James

Now playing: Tombs - The Great Silence

Objectisexuality?

A form of sexuality for people who are in love with inanimate objects, like the Golden Gate Bridge, an archery bow and the Eiffel Tower.

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-James

Now playing: Gojira - Toxic Garbage Island