How do you say Happy Halloween in European?

I am getting far too antsy about these weekly playlists. I now spend my weeks doing little more than sifting through masses of albums in an attempt to find you the very best (metal) music has to offer. I can't take all of the credit for myself, so I should send out a very general thank you to anyone who has ever recommended a song over the internet. I'm not sure I have had a more fulfilling week for discovery of both the old and new than these past five or six days:

Beyond Embers & The Earth - Falloch (My week has been steeped in music from the UK. Few - if any - songs better than this. An elegant blend of folk and metal all wrapped up with a big ol' post rock bow. Fittingly named for the striking Falls of Falloch, their music exudes every fallen drop of water that inspired this album.)

Where We Believe - Falloch (Panflute. Enough said)

We Are Gathering Dust - Falloch (Just listen to Falloch...)

Earth: As a Womb - Altar of Plagues (The album that inspired one of my latest written endeavors, revisited finally after a few unexplained months on the back burner. The United Kingdom has, for now, fettered my heart.)

A Valley Thick With Oaks - Winterfylleth (How fitting it is to end October with a band whose name once denoted the years tenth month.)

Wayward Souls [Album] - Splinterskin (An alluring and masterfully written neofolk album. I feel much of the atmosphere is lost if not considered as a whole)

Infernal Sun - Septic Flesh (Unarguably the consummate Septic Flesh album. An album that flawlessly weaves a wall of death metal through a valley of well-orchestrated symphony. However, their most recent work, The Great Mass, might digest a little smoother.)
Trapped in the Closet - R. Kelly (Oh my god a rubber.)

Happy Halloween folks.


By the way, Mark's and my badass pumpkin:



-badass

Kaunis suru

I have a small few additions to this weeks playlist. I have been trying to keep these lists to a very select few songs in the hopes maybe one person perusing them will find a few spare minutes to lend an ear. However, earlier this evening, two songs came on shuffle back to back, both of which really struck a chord in me. I realize metal is not exactly the most aurally accessible form of music for most listeners, and I can entirely understand the majority of hesitation surrounding it. Black Metal especially not being by any means tied to a lesser form of skepticism. This being said, these two songs have really carried the last hour for me:


Далекий Крик Журавлів (Distant Cries of Cranes) - Drudkh (A beautiful cross-section of Drudkh's expansive musical career, following so well the hopes envisioned when first hearing an album entitled Microcosmos)
Sömnlösa Nätter - Apati (To recycle the words of a great music reviewer, autothrall, "with a guitar sequence so emotional that I can listen to it for hours on end and never stop feeling sad". The final two minutes of this song are two of the hardest hitting musical moments I have yet laid ears to.)

Goodnight folks.

Bedövning

Wow.

 I had the absolute pleasure of seeing Shane Koyczan's performance this evening alongside my brother and good friend Rich. Having been an avid listener for a few years now, getting the opportunity to witness him in the flesh was truly astounding. Everything I could have hoped for and beyond.

The show was held in a small lecture hall on the ground floor of the Glenbow Museum; the very place that had inspired each of the readings he showcased. Even before his entrance to the podium, as he was introduced by an In Residence representative, his humour rang through the hall, setting the first of many moods he would guide us through for the next hour and a half. The poetry itself (as anyone would expect) was stunning in its delivery. As my brother noted, his tempo shifts (as follows his poetic style) carried each word so fluently into the next. Every poem interlaced with both laughter and deep, overwhelming emotion. Flirting with every corner of the crowds heart, lightly strumming each string as he passed by, creating a resonance of emotion that echoed silently throughout the hall. Each poem was interluded by a brief introduction, carefully laying the foundation for the next work. I would love to recite a few lines from the show, but I feel with my shoddy memory I might end up twisting his words. The show, however, was recorded and will be posted on youtube, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, keep an eye open. 'Shane Koyczan Glenbow Museum' should eventually elicit a result or two.

By the way, midway through the show he played a small animated short he had collaborated on entitled Swiftly:



I suppose with youtube having been mentioned, you can find most of his works on there if you are interested in browsing through.

Also, he announced a new album will be released with The Short Story Long around March or April, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that.

Anyway, I had one hell of a night, and I hope you all did as well. Take care.

Det stora språnget

As I sit in the corner of an overcrowded room donning headphones and a much-too-large hood, doing my best to look like I`m not actually mad at the world (or moreover the sliver of it that is currently drinking around me), I can`t help but notice just how amusing it is to watch eleven people sans-volume. Descriptions aside, its quite enjoyable. Also (unsurprisingly) its quite distracting. So beyond the last few sentences, and my now apparently weekly list of songs that you should listen to and love below, I have little else to say.


Nyktalgia - Nyktalgia (Another clear example of what a band should expect of their namesake track)
Natal Day - Tulus (Not exactly what I had expected when I was first told to give Tulus a go. Oddly pleasant)
Nirnaeth Arnoediad Part 1 - Aldaaron (A fitting war tune indeed. Somebody will get this reference, I just know it)
The Eclipse - Fractal Gates (The remainder of the album aside, this song is fucking great)
Coma - Lantlôs (I can't seem to step away from Neige's caustically beautiful vocals. Old Silver Key anyone?)
Самітність (Solitude) - Drudkh (A gaze to the past, albeit a relatively recent one. Old Silver Key anyone?)
Dawn of End - Nachtvorst (Black metal steeped in thick sludgy undertones. Oh, the Dutch)
Blood of the Hermit - Mortualia (Cold and unforgiving. Award goes to Mortualia for 'least corresponding album artwork of the decade')
From the Black Coffin Lair - Sargeist (Just for a second (brilliant) dose of Shatraug)
Und Pan spielt die Flöte (Desîhras Tagebuch Kapitel II) - Nocte Obducta (Somehow I always manage to let this song slip through the cracks. Finally fished from the fissures and set back in its rightful place as one of the best songs ever recorded)

Abschied.

Lumi

I'm not sure who else may have caught a glimpse, but this morning bore the seasons first fleeting flakes of snow. Scattered and short-lived as they may have been, they fell. Ahhh winter.

I guess first off, I would just like to send a thank you through the aether for the heads up on Shane Koyczan`s coming to Calgary. You would make excellent company for it, but that is neither here nor there. Speaking of Canadian poetry, I read an excellent collection (Emergency Codes) today by Ian Williams, currently a professor at Fitchburg State College. 

Anywho, I have little else to say, but it`s about time for the soon-to-be infamous 'songs I really like this week' portion of my suddenly somewhat frequent posting:

Into the Painted Grey - Agalloch (Whats a blog post without some Agalloch. Beyond that, 7:15 onward is all I really need say)

Out of the Wind - The Man-Eating Tree (I'm pretty sure this is Finland's version of a The Cranberries tribute band)

The Echo of Her Cracking Chest - Acranius (Unfortunate song title aside, this song is fucking aces)

Vortex Omnivium - Obscura (Rush meets a good version of Necrophagist. And by Rush I mean space and astronauts and stuff)

Stone to Wake a Serpent - Isis ( I'm pretty sure I don't listen to enough Isis)

Choose - Rotten Sound (I really don't like grindcore. I really like Rotten Sound's album, Cursed. Where does this leave me?)

And with that I bid you adieu. 

Chaps says it best:

Sarah Palin Cut out = 2 Chappell & Pat = 0

Not-so-normal Activity

I've hardly been as satisfyingly freaked out in my life more so than I am right now. Lets back this story up a little bit.

A few years ago, my now roommate Chappell and a good friend of mine Cory decided to check out Paranormal Activity in theaters. With little trepidation we gathered our necessities, purchased our tickets, found ourselves seats and plumped down to what would ultimately be the weirdest night of our lives. As the movie rolled on, I noticed each of our hoodies seemed to climb a little further over our faces. Somewhere along the way, we had convinced ourselves it was real footage, and this was terrifying. I'm one who loves the thrill of a good spooky movie, but it had been years (probably around seeing Jurassic Park or my first glimpse of The X-Files when I was no older than a toddler) since I had felt quite so jittery from a movie. In recent years, I have become more and more open to the idea of the supernatural and that movie really creeped a nerve. Even after the movie was over, the three of us went back to what is now my house, but the movie seemed to follow. All of my senses were running in overdrive, my hearing as acute as I could ever imagine it to be. Every creak, rustle, light waver, seemed to emanate with an energy beyond whitenoise. Cory and myself popped outside on the back deck for a smoke, while Chaps mulled around inside. After a few minutes, there was a small thump in the garage behind where we stood, followed by what sounded like a cupboard door shut inside. Chaps bolted to the back door asking us if we had heard the noise. The three of us stood silent for a few minutes before going back inside. Everything seemed to subside from there.

A while later, another movie seemingly in the same vein, Insidious, was in theaters. Again, we gathered our things, Chaps adding a large bag of popcorn to the fray this time 'round, purchased our tickets, found our seats and plopped down, this time with a little heightened anticipation. Once again, the movie did not disappoint, with Darth Maul even making a harrowing appearance. The afterhours however, were not quite so adventurous (perhaps beyond Chaps somehow driving a good stretch clean down the center of the sidewalk).

Fastforward to tonight. After an episode of the Files (and a bit of an eerie one at that), Chaps and myself decided it was about time we pulled up Netflix and finally got around to watching Paranormal Activity 2. Best worst idea we have ever had. Lights out, sound up, Robs door closed, we started. Going into it, I had some hesitation as to whether it would pack quite the punch the first one had. It packed and it punched. Another gem of a movie done in much the same fashion, but far from redundant or predictable. Just the smooth, gradual build up, and the believability of these movies chills my marrow. In the most warming fashion possible. So here we sit, wide awake at five am, gearing up to watch The Fourth Kind. Thank you October.

cheers.

Keine Hände

If there is one thing last night taught me, it’s that I certainly should not be a dream sequence geography teacher. From Bahrain’s island being centered by a large marble bust of Santa Claus towed on sleigh by his eight festive sheep, to Tehran’s true location laying beneath the basement of Your Father’s Moustache restaurant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to baba ghanoush’s ongoing battle to stop India from constructing the Middle East “I-way” through Iraq, Iran, India and Israel. Why I was standing in Blythe, California preaching to a small “class” for the entirety of my dream last night, I don’t know. Why I was outright lying to them, I don’t know. I think it’s safe to say I have had more exciting dreams in the past.

Hello.

So as I sit here at Purple Perk with my good pal Rich (currently deep in study for his midterms), I would like to take a moment to say, thank god for the casual buzz of coffeeshop conversation on a Wednesday evening. For the past while I have been holed up back at my parent`s house (who graciously took me back in for a few days of rest and healing), immobile and near catatonic. Last week sometime I struck ill with what has been narrowed down to a severe case of either Strep or Tonsillitis. Nothing too out of the ordinary for Calgary this time of year, but fuck… not fun. I wish I could sit here and proclaim a clean bill of health but that’s hardly the case folks. Just day one my aches have allowed me movement further than the garage for a ginger ale refill (which is one of the countless liquids I could not swallow and had to resort to swirling in my mouth by the sink and spitting out just to get a hint of flavour).

My woes aside for now, on Saturday I finally satisfied one of my greatest urges and saw Alcest and Enslaved play live, together, in the same night. This likely came at further detriment to my health, as I had already been quite ill for a few days prior to the show, and Sunday when I woke I might as well have slept on an operating torture rack, but it was beyond worth it. Neige put on a fantastically laid back set in so much the way I had imagined he would. He may just have been more lost in the music than I was. Every second of his enchanted lullabies drifted longingly through the crowd, warming the hearts of even the most stalwart black metal fan. As I (and I imagine any other Alcest fan in the venue) foresaw, Neige ended the set with the powerful Percèes de Lumière, really setting the stage for one hell of a night. A smoke and a few whiskey’s later, Enslaved climbed the stage and put on hands down the best performance I have ever seen from a single live act. Grutle just carried the crowd on his back for over two hours of pure, honest, emotionally driven black metal. Everything from his extended intermissions with the crowd to his (and the rest of the bands) energy while the music weaved a warm, twisted blanket of hard-hitting music. Grutle and Ivar have been doing this Enslaved gig for a long time (since they were 17 and 13 respectively), and you could see every second of it on stage; from the opening of Axioma Ethica Odini through Giants and As Fire Swept Clean the Earth, to the final shimmering notes of the always epic Isa. I was also shocked at just how big and awesome Ivar and his beard are. Shouldn’t come as a surprise from a man who had a hand in defining metal at the ripe age of thirteen, but still. He also might just have the daintiest voice I have yet heard from a man’s vocal chords; a voice he graced us with while asking for a plate of chicken wings. All of this bleeds awesomeness. Needless to say, this was inarguably the most amazing show I have had the pleasure of attending.

This, for possibly the first time ever, actually turned out to sound blog-y. A true journal entry if you will. Its been about a week since my last, so I suppose another rendition of songs I like this week is in order:

Descending - Descending (Any artist's namesake track should be this good)

Age of Demons - The Sarcophagus (Niklas Kvarforth proving once again his vocals can make me giddy)

Misconception in a Devouring World - Purest of Pain (Dutch pseudo-core in the vein of Fuck Your Shadow From Behind. In the vein of, and better than)

Cry of the Blackbirds - Amon Amarth (Mmmmm. Amon Amarth)

Where Do My Bluebird Fly - Tallest Man on Earth (Mmmmm. Tallest Man on Earth)

Countless Skies - Be'lakor (Severely underrated. Ten minutes of doom laden, Australian bliss)

Percèes de Lumière - Alcest (Even prior to seeing this gem live, would sweeten any days playlist)
Isa (or the rest of Saturday's setlist) - Enslaved (Mmmmm. Enslaved)
Life is a Bad Joke - Sufferage (About solidifies my recent adoration of death metal)

"Farewell good fellows, your ways are not for me"

Deutsch-Titel sing süß

Hello again five followers,

Although I have been far too busy ignoring my other blogs to write anything of substance for you here, I feel two posts in one sitting might do something in the way of satiating the thirst you must by now have acquired for my have-you-hanging-on-to-every-word style of slapdash blogging.

First off, I am still reeling from the realization nearing 23,000 hits on a blog in under eight months is an astonishing personal feat (and no, the 12 hits a week on here aren't quite getting us there). One I continue to cast aside and forget on a daily basis. To have so many people already tuning into anything still so much in its infancy is astounding. So thank you, I suppose, for apparently enjoying our proliferation of everyday antagonism.

Secondly, I am sitting here stubbornly refusing to take my iPod off of shuffle even with its incessant refusal to play what I am hoping it will, disappointing me ceaselessly at every songs turn. This might seem a trivial matter, but herein lies my struggle: I have had my iPod on shuffle for nigh six days now in an ever-failing attempt at listening to its contents through, leaving freewill and volition behind. A feat it would truly be for a man as often impulsive as myself where music is concerned. On any other given day, if but the thought of another song trickled into my brain (sometimes before the previous song had even begun to ride its own momentum), with the skill and dexterity of a mongoose, I would strike forth for my iPod and dial myself up the auditory expedition I felt to embark upon. I should probably have stuck with my initial sentence (Music + Me = ADD), but that doesn't have nearly the confused, rambling touch to it. I keep rereading this paragraph and I'm not exactly sure I fully understand what it is I just said either.

//writersblock
should I have hashtagged that? #writersblock #hashtaginmyblog #writersblockwhenallIamdoingistryingtovoicemypureunadulteratedthoughttotheinternet

If Brand New comes on once more when I am writing on here I am going to claim conspiracy.

I've lost all train of thought.

I feel about as disconnected lately as the last few sentences of this post. And wouldn't you know it, Fantomas has made its disjointed appearance on my iPod.

Goodnight, with love.

Verzögerung Verzögerung Verzögerung

So, just to dive right in here, it has been far too long since I have posted anything worthwhile, and I'm sure it will be a longer while more. With that out of the way, I am bored, overtired, and in a mood for something mindless. So, without further ado, I present yet another list I expect you to no more than skim, if not ignore entirely.

Songs I really like this week:

To Find Solace... Where Security Stands - Winterfylleth (But ten minutes of this albums inspiring saga)
Teutonic Terror - Accept (How are they still making music this good?)
The Bald Cadaver - Cerebral Bore (I can't seem to find my face)
Bring Me Back - I Create (Simplicity at it's finest)
Eld - Skogen (Breathing atmospheric black metal with a folky touch)
Einhärjar - King of Asgard (Soldiers of Ragnarök born into song)
The Trees Part Two - The Morningside (Couldn't wish a better introduction to autumn)
Höstdepressioner - Lifelover (A band I have managed to overlook, regrettably)
Disposition - Tool (I had, until a few days ago, been avoiding this song vehemently)


For those of you who aren't Rich, a few of these have been somewhat self-plagiarized from my secondary Twitter alias.

For those of you who actually read through (and maybe even enjoyed) this post, tune in next week to find out this won`t be a weekly thing I do.