Free crap!

This took way too long to finish and now I just want it out of my site. Not a lot to read or look at so don't get your hopes up.
Contact me if you want a copy.

Holy shit! Look how much fun we had!

Here are the photographs from four friends vacation to America to witness live music and buy vinyl records.

The beginning.

Woops. Wonder if I'll need my purse?

An American breakfast.

Followed by an American nap.

Life is full of choices. A meal with friends...

...or a meal alone.

Makes sense.

Lex led us in the direction of fun falafels.

But after the gig.

24 hours later on the way home.

Look I'm just like him!

A grown man chooses to spend his money wisely.

Top 6 Horror Movies

Halloween is my favourite holiday so I intended to post a lot of spooky shit all October long here. Unfortunately, a deadly combination of school and laziness got the better of me and now I'm playing catch up. Not all of these are Halloween themed movies but I like them just the same.


1) Suspiria
This is not really the most frightening movie on the list and at times the voice overs can be a bit much but the whole look and feel of the movie is totally fucked. I'm by no means a movie expert but you've got to admit that Argento really went the extra mile on this one. The use of technicolour makes everything so colourful and disorienting. The soundtrack really makes the movie for me as it fits perfectly and is so memorable. Lastly, all of the hidden bits (ie. the witch in blood) put the whole thing over the top. I hope that the Suspiria remake rumours are just that as I'd hate to see something tarnish the legacy of this underrated classic.











2) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This is the best horror movie ever and anyone who disagrees is wrong. The genre is "horror" after all and not "spooky action" or "scary comedy." No matter how many times I watch it, the impact has yet to wear off. By the time it's over I feel like I need to take a shower because the whole thing just feels gross.

3) Nosferatu
Remember how scary The Blair Witch Project seemed when the film makers tried to play it off as a true story? Even if common sense or a shitty friend ruined it for you and told you it was fake you still wanted to believe it was true because it made it that much more scary and exciting. Now imagine that what you wanted to believe in wasn't some wimpy backwoods witch but a real fucking vampire. What's more impressive? A witch you never get to see or a vampire that plays the starring role in a movie? The answer is obvious. Whether anyone believe Max Schreck to be a real vampire is debatable but it certainly adds to the feel of the movie. In a genre based largely on aesthetic, Nosferatu is in my eyes far and away the best. An added bonus is that the Herzog remake and Shadow of the Vampire are both really good. If it wasn't for that shitty version with Type O Negative songs this could be one of the few horror franchises left untarnished.











4) The Shining
I have fond memories of spending Saturday or Sunday winter afternoons watching this on A&E. I think that some of the scarier moments resonate particularly well because I can relate to the feelings of stir craziness and isolation that comes in the dead of winter. Plus those fucking twins still haunt me.

5) The Exorcist
For The Exorcist to have the right effect you need to have seen it before you enter high school. After you've reach grade 10 or so you should have matured enough to believe that you're probably not a prime target for Satan and tinkering with a ouija board won't fuck your life up. Plus as kids start to get desensitized at younger and younger ages all of the blasphemous imagery and sound bytes start to lose their effect when you get older. Even if you didn't see it at your friends house when their parents were out of town or sneak downstairs to watch it I'd still argue for this to be one of the scariest movies ever.

6) Night of the Living Dead
Zombie movies get way too much credit. They're almost never scary and are usually way too fun for my liking. All criticism aside, for decades Night of the Living Dead has continued to live up to it's hype. It's a shame that a good portion of movies to come out after Romero birthed the sub-genre missed the undertones that make this movie the classic that it is. The overacting by the actress who played Barbara still pisses me off but that's only a minor complaint for a movie that was obviously way ahead of it's time.














Honourable Mention: Session 9
Fuck The Blair Witch Project, this takes the crown for scariest movie of the last 10 or so years. Like The Shining, a lot of the spookiest parts stem from the movies setting. But unlike The Shining, Session 9 was actually filmed at an abandoned mental hospital. The mental hospital is gone now so this is the only chance you'll get to piss your pants at how scary it seemed. Do yourself a favour and check this out if you haven't already.

Perfect Albums: Ulver - Nattens Madrigal

ULVER - Nattens Madrigral
Choosing this record wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. A lot of people claim that the production is too "raw" or "harsh" and that's garbage. This is the way a Black Metal album should sound. My problem with this record was the rumours that it was recorded in a forest which is obviously garbage and the raw production that it was purposely given. Anyone that has heard that EXCLAIM record knows that trying to manufacture a raw sound can end in disaster. I hadn't spun Nattens Madrigal for some time but was relieved to find that the production holds up fine. Better than fine in fact. The guitar cutting out before the first track fully kicks in is one of those imperfections that can make something perfect.
Another problem I had with this record was that after it's release the band left Black Metal behind. It makes you wonder how serious they were all along. But again, the record being as good as it is makes one forget.
While DARKTHRONE is probably THE Norse Black Metal band this is probably the best representation of the Norse Black Metal sound. The guitar tone, the vocals, the riffs, the production, and the very sparse use of keys or acoustic guitar are all the best representation of this time period and this scene. This is a sound that a lot of bands try to achieve but just can't get. The strength of the album lies in the first four or five songs but the last few have enough of their own moments that this gets away with being "perfect" in my book. The riffs are so catchy that each track is distinctive although I'm not sure if every riff is entirely Black Metal but that's up for argument.
I'll admit that I've never delved very far into ULVER lyrics but the concept album aspect makes this record even more appealing. The artwork is some of my favourite, as is all artwork in the ULVER "trilogy."
I promise my next entry won't be a Black Metal one.

Perfect Albums: Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

BURZUM - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
I'm sure that not a lot of people familiar with Black Metal wouldn't disagree with this one. I downloaded this back in the glory days of Napster but waited until I found it used a few years ago to finally buy it. Depending on my mood this sometimes ranks pretty close to being my favourite album ever and the first song "Det Som Engang Var" is in my opinion probably the best metal song ever recorded. While Burzum's back catalogue is the strongest of any Black Metal band ever (excluding the last two synth albums), the first record is just a tad too unpolished or sloppy (elements which I have no problem with in most cases but they seem out of place here) and the second record has a few missteps with the synth work. It's too bad that Black Metal bands continued to use synths after this record (or Filosofem) because nothing has come even close to creating the effect that they have on this record. Nowadays a lot of bands use the heavily repetitive song structure that Varg mastered here but this is truly the epitome of that style. It's easier to criticize something than to write a paragraph full of praise. The quintessential desert island record for me. Those that let politics get in the way of giving this a chance are doing themselves a disservice.

Perfect Albums: Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon

perfect
• adjective /perfikt/ 1 having all the required elements, qualities, or characteristics. 2 free from any flaw; faultless. 3 complete; absolute: it made perfect sense.

I work at a job that requires very little thinking and a lot of sitting. Because of this I make a lot of lists to keep myself busy. "Classic" or "essential" albums can change and are always open to argument but "perfect" ones are purely subjective. This might not make sense to you but it does to me and that's what matters.

After a full shift of brainstorming I managed to come up with about 20 albums give or take that I deem to be flawless. I wouldn't change the artwork, I wouldn't make something quiter and something louder and I wouldn't take out a song or even a riff. In order to be considered for the list I worked out two rules for myself:

1) I can't have heard the album for the first time less than 2 years ago. This means that I can't look really cool by declaring something totally underground that I just downloaded from 7inchpunk or Soulseek "perfect."

2) The album can't have been released less than 5 years ago. 10 years ago is even better. Let's face it, people make a lot of claims to convince someone how good something is. Usually they're wrong. Plus music needs to age like a fine wine.

Writing about albums that I deem perfect is fun and easy which means that I can write about one every day or two. Get ready to party.

BEHERIT - Drawing Down the Moon
My mind is fuzzy when it comes to remember when and where I got this. I either ordered it from The End when I was in grade 11 or 12 or had CDplus special order it when I first moved to Winnipeg. Either way this took a lot of listens before I finally learned to appreciate it. Earlier BEHERIT had a lot in common with primitive the South American bands and of course BLASPHEMY. Drawing Down the Moon retains some of those influences but slows things down to a plodding pace that never really picks up. The ambient aspect and the use of many different vocal stylings are probably what gives this album a "hate it or love it" status. The atmosphere created is like a mix between the depths of Hell and a post-apocalyptic world. In this day and age almost every major Black Metal band from the early 90's must have at least a few copycats trying to replicate their sound and yet I've never heard any band try to come close to this album. I've read a couple of reviews that mention RIDE FOR REVENGE having something in common with this era of BEHERIT but I don't really believe. I haven't heard the album yet though so I could be wrong. Either way, this album to me is flawless.

I took the pictures from http://www.sadomator.com/beherit/ which is a really good resource for Beherit info.

Fake old-timey

It's a cloudy, rainy summer day. These are two records that seem to go along perfectly with this weather. It's my blog and I'll do what I want.

Every once in a while some hipster bullshit will surprise me by actually being good. This shit has been praised all over the place so I won't bother.






I'm way late on this one. For a few weeks straight I listened to this at least once a day. I'll give this a few years before I officially rank it up there as one of my favourite albums ever.