Wha...?

My hero.

Blacklisted

Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God

Started listening to this again the other day and was reminded of how damn good it is. Coincidentally, at the same time I was listening to this I found a list of photos that changed the world, one of which was the very famous "burning monk". This is image has always affected me deeply and while I would hate to give something like this a sort of caption, I can't help but mention some of Blacklisted's lyrics (from the song titled "Burning Monk") at the same time.

Shackled by the weight of your emptiness

Please don't take my silence as passiveness

Hurt People

Shit is like violence, but with more power, ya dig?

Get hurt. And grinded.

Weekend Nachos - Unforgivable

Infest - No Man's Slave

Magrudergrind/Shitstorm - Split

Hatred Surge - Deconstruct

Been in a shitty mood and this is pretty much all I want to listen to.

Close to the Heart

Here's a few hipster albums that me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... and like a hipster.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary

Warm and fuzzy.

Great Jazz Pianists

Go ahead, try saying the title without laughing, I dare you.

As promised, here is a post about some of my favourite jazz pianists; some old, some new.

Let the monster post begin.

Bill Evans

Bill Evans was one of the most important jazz pianists of the 20th century, influencing many a great musicians. Unfortunately, he is mostly just known for being "that white dude" that played on the Miles Davis album, Kind Of Blue. However, his fantastic playing is showcased even better in his solo career. Add to that two duet albums he did with guitarist Jim Hall, and you have a winner.

Everybody Digs Bill Evans

Explorations

Undercurrent w/ Jim Hall

Intermodulation w/ Jim Hall

Thelonious Monk

If you don't know the name Thelonious Monk then you probably have never read anything about jazz before. Mr Monk is regarded as one of the greatest jazz musicians ever and is often credited as one of the founders of bebop. I think it's safe to say that he's kinda influential. His style is often dissonant and angular, with dramatic use of silence and pauses. Plus sometimes he would stop playing altogether and get up and dance. Hip cat.

Brilliant Corners

Underground

Monks Dream

*  *  *

McCoy Tyner

Andrew Hill

Get Depressed?

Yeah, get depressed.

Codeine - The White Birch

Japan and its Awesomeness... pt III

The Grand Finale!

OK, so I didn't take the photo above... but it has more to do with what I am writing than the other photos anyway.

Ahhhh, the Japanese woman. Cute, neat, polite, ridiculous hair, amazing piano skills... ok, maybe the last two only apply to the woman pictured above. And that woman is who now?

Hiromi

So what if her hair is crazy? She's awesome!

Hiromi Uehara is a Japanese pianist who plays quite an odd type of jazz with plenty of fusion influence. Some of it is pretty, some of it is crazy, but all of it is amazing. She would be one of my favourite artists, and possibly my favourite pianist (you know what, I've just decided that I will do a post about my favourite jazz pianists).

When Hiromi was 17, she met Chick Corea in Tokyo by chance, and actually had the chance to play with him. He asked her to come along to a show he was playing the next day, so she did. Then at the end of the show, he called her up on stage and they played together. She was 17. What.... the....

Two of my favourite videos ever:

I will marry her.

She just released a new solo album a couple of months ago, but it's only out in Japan so I have yet to get my hands on it. Here are the rest of her albums (they are all fantastic, especially the first three - which are the most recent)

Beyond Standard w/ Hiromi's Sonicbloom

Time Control w/ Hiromi's Sonicbloom

Spiral

Brain

Another Mind

Duet w/ Chick Corea

(Hiromi's Sonicbloom is comprised of her usual three-piece band (herself, Tony Grey on bass and Martin Valihora on drums), but with Dave "Fuze" Fiuczynski on guitar also)

...my friends say I have yellow fever. Whatever.

That is all for now from the magical land of Japan!

Japan and its Awesomeness... pt II

Holy shit, part II already? I know, I know... I'm starting to enjoy this too much.

Here with another happy snap, this time of possibly one of the most famous places in Japan, the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Oooooh, pretty reflections.

Anyways, I would like to talk a little about the food in Japan. My god, it is some good stuff... and no, it is not just sushi 24/7, you culinary hipsters... however I did go to an awesome sushi train restaurant and ate boat loads of sushi and sashimi. But whatever. Some of the highlights of Japanese cuisine were sukiyaki, onigiri (generic? who cares!), and last but not least, taiyaki. Mmmmm, taiyaki. Apparently taiyaki is a bit girly, but hey - it tastes amazing. Here, have some taiyaki...

How about some pudding in a balloon?
Ahahaha pudding in a balloon? Are you serious?
Yes, can't you tell? This is my serious face.

Mkay time for some tasty Japanese tunes to go with these tasty treats.

Envy

Envy are a pretty sweet hardcore/screamo band that incorporate the epic qualities of post-rock, especially in their latter work. Not much else to say, other than that having somebody scream stuff in Japanese at me with big major chords is awesome. Here's their three best albums (aka the albums I have).

All the Footprints You've Ever Left Behind and the Fear Expecting Ahead

A Dead Sinking Story

Insomniac Doze

myspace

Stay tuned for the third and final part...

Japan and its Awesomeness... pt I

Japan!

That's right, Japan. 日本. The land of the rising sun. Basically the coolest place on earth. By now you might have guessed that I have a certain soft spot for the country... and its culture, cars, food, music, and women; though I will elaborate on this last one in pt III (that's right, there's three parts, baby). I went to Japan on a school trip, basically like a one-way exchange, just over a year ago. It was only for two weeks, and while I didn't get to see a lot of the country, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. That picture above, is of Mito, the larger city close to where I stayed. The Japanese think this is a very small city, pretty much just a town... what the...? And by now I bet you are wondering "did he really take that magnificent photo?", and the answer is yes, yes I did. And the banner at the top of the screen is a photo I took also, whilst I was having green tea in a stone garden. 

Anyway, enough masturbatory antics, let's get to some Japanese tunes.

Mono

Mono are of course one of the biggest post-rock bands out there at the moment, playing a fairly straight-forward brand of post-rock, though with strong classical influence. What makes them stand out above the rest of the bands playing this fairly standard style is that they execute it better than just about anyone out there. Their latest album, Hymn To The Immortal Wind, was recorded with a 28 piece orchestra too. Epic? I think that's an understatement. Also, I was lucky enough to see them live about a month ago, and it was quite an incredible performance; I would say they are one of the best bands I have seen live. So without further ado, here are some tasty tunes for your listening pleasure.

Hymn To The Immortal Wind

You Are There

Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined

One More Step And You Die

myspace

stay tuned for parts II and III...

And Now For Some Rambling...

As 2009 has finished, and along with it high school, I've been in quite a reflective mood. The last couple of months since I finished school, all I have thought about is getting on with my life, but at the same time it has forced me to think about what I am leaving behind. I've never been a fan of school, but the safety and ability to coast through the years with everything laid out for you is something that now I am starting to appreciate. While I'm not feeling like I'll miss this sort of environment, seeing as I'm entirely motivated when it comes to what I'll be studying over the next three years (music), it's just something that I guess I've never really paid much attention to over the years.

The main thing which has bugged me over the last six months really, is that I don't feel that bad about leaving my friends behind. I'll be studying with two of my friends these next few years, but other than that I won't see anyone, unless an effort is made. I know I will barely see anyone anymore, but I don't really mind. I'll be quite happy to be rid of a few people I've been at school with, and a very large portion of others I wouldn't mind either way if I ever saw them again. But what I have come to realise out of this is that I am not great friends with many people at all. That's not to say that I don't have friends, or close friends for that matter, but I have never really had a solid group of close friends. Over the years my circles have changed, and really I've alway just had a few really close friends that I have stuck with. Other than that it has been mainly the sort of friends that you're only friends with because, well, you have to see each other everyday. The sort of friends that you never see over the holidays, but then when you run into them at the movies are like "oh man I haven't seen you in ages, we should catch up", but then you don't hear from them. Basically the sort of friends that obviously don't mean a great deal anyway.

So really, these friends that don't mean much to me, I might only see them a couple of times here and there, but otherwise will not have anything to do with in a years time. So why worry? The only people I really care about, the people I would ever think about again, are people that I will make an effort to keep in touch with; people that I also expect would make an effort to keep in touch with me.

Why am I thinking about it all this much then? Well, I think the main reason is that for now, I'm in limbo. Finished school, but still haven't started at tafe yet, which means I've left my old friends, though haven't made any new ones yet. Adding to this, I have spent a large part of the holidays working full time, and not catching up with anyone. The only people I have seen are really just my closest friends anyway, so being out of the bigger-group environment has left me feeling quite isolated... not lonely, but alone enough to get me thinking about all of this shit. Quite obviously I haven't been one to thrive in a big group environment anyway, but being away from all that has just driven it all home.

Over the next few years, I'll be studying music at Box Hill Tafe, which means I'll be around a lot of (hopefully) like-minded people, so I think that my social life will become more and more driven by my interests, namely music, and the things I have in common with people. Therefore I should be a really popular guy in a years time right? Yeah... right. Well either way, it will be interesting.

I think what I can really surmise from all of these thoughts is that it means I'm ready to move on, ready to start fresh, and to start actually living my life.

Or that I don't care about anyone.

Either of those...

The Gaze/Lost In Translation

I realised I posted some shoegaze without posting the shoegaze album. So here it is.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

On a side note, I was watching Lost In Translation recently, and it just so happens to feature the song Sometimes, which is my favourite song from Loveless. I really enjoyed the movie, probably because of my love for Japan, but Scarlet Johansen helps too. So does Bill Murray... love that guy.
Anyways, I felt like it was a very good slow-burner type of movie. Good if you are feeling lonely too.

Let's Get The Ball Rolling, Shall We?

Time for some tunes to get this thing going.

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Atlas Sound - Logos

A double hit of one Mr. Bradford Cox for you, the latest full length from his band Deerhunter, and the latest from his solo project Atlas Sound. He's quite the looker, I know. Oh, and the tagline on the cover of Microcastle reads "A disturbing plea for erotic asphyxiation", so you know it's going to be good.
It's dreamy, ambient, whatever.

The Beginning...

So I guess this is the beginning of what is sure to be a blog which is nothing short of average, but I guess that's the point right? I'm not going to pigeon-hole myself too early on (because I'm a man of many talents, ya know), but seeing as music occupies 95% of my time and thoughts, I think it's safe to say there will be a fair bit of music on here, and probably a bit of music will go along with whatever pointless shit I post. Most probably some rants and overly cynical musings too.

Anyways, let the blogging begin.