Barophicks / Other Fears

I have thought often on such Subjects as the Nature of all Fears & Pleasures, & of Pains both Physickal & Mental. And scouring Archaic Texts for a constant source, a River without Division as such that were it a Rod it would not Divine, from which I could create a Tool of harm against both Gods & Daemons, of which I do not doubt you both belong. You might ask your Self a Question for every Minute of every Hour of each remaining undying Day to be had, & you would never think or imagine the Answer to My Prayer. And Tears of unbounded Distress will flow through the aggregate Crags of your Visage, & those Crags, those Valleys, will fill as the World once did, to drown the Sin carried in all your Flesh when I have wrought this Havoc I design. There will be no Noah to rescue two of every Molecule within your Blood to wait this Crying out. For what is True Fear but to know your End? And what is the Knowledge of your End but the End in itself? Such will be our Understanding when we meet again.

⁄ ⁄ ⁄

I haven't been sleeping well. At night I lie restlessly, the incessant itch of thought manifesting on the surface of my recently shaved head as an incessant itch of itch.

My eyes burn from the strain of scouring the fabled internets for more destinations to launch my hapless credentials and hope they land in the lap[top] of someone willing to give me a job. (So if you meet me, understand that I don't have conjunctivitis—honest.)

The scouring has not worked. "Susan" called to ask if I'd like to join the sales team over at "Probable Mafia-Front for Affordable Money-Laundering". Monster has inundated my "business" e-mail with offers for a bigger dick, but no way to fill my wallet so I can afford that Monster-cock I always dreamed of. (Oh, Monstercock, I'll have you yet!)

I am afraid.

New Music: Dirty Projectors, "Rise Above" (9/11/07)

Band: Dirty Projectors
Album: Rise Above
Rel. Date: 9/11/07
Available on CD and LP from Dead Oceans

Rise Above, the new album from Omnivoracious Dave Longstreth and his band, Dirty Projectors, has a creative genesis that seemingly obscures the more important qualities of the record; however, just like with The Getty Address and its tale of a fictionalized Don Henley journeying through time to serenade Pocahontas (I kid, but honestly), it doesn't benefit the listener to approach Rise Above with conceptual artifice lingering in the back of their mind. Because while what it is (an imaginative reinterpretation of Black Flag's Damaged, meaning not covers, but something else) is arguably what it is, it is more importantly an album of original music written by Mr. Longstreth and executed with the help of a number of fine musicians.

"What I See" opens the album with the refrain "I wanna live, I wanna live, I was dead" sung over a huge groove, ably introducing their organic power, developed/evolved from continuous exploration as a live unit constrained to a traditional "rock band" format. The rhythm builds, the guitars squirm between the beats, and then it evaporates into amorphous cooing for a brief interlude before jumping right back into the main groove. The song has almost concluded before acceding to a verse proper and only after a second dispersal of the kinetic forces in favor of pastoral woodwinds, all atmosphere and no Earth. This structure of drastic dynamic shifts (on "Room 13", hearkening back to Robert Fripp's Zeus-thrown power chords ripping through the haze of Jamie Muir's miscellany at the start of Lark's Tongue in Aspic or, more recently, any song by ex-Tzadik avant-metal outfit Kayo Dot), plays a large role in the latest mode of Longstreth's songwriting and never does it feel out of place or used simply to attack the listener (but it can, and will, attack).

In the past, when I've tried to sneak the Dirty Projectors into the auditory diet of those around me, I found that people either asked me to "turn that weird shit off" or they've silently sat and waited until a conclusion, then asked me that I "never play that weird shit again". A real fuckin' dichotomy, you know? Now, with Rise Above released for public consumption, I find subjects can invariably tolerate the first half (a marked improvement), asking a polite question here or there concerning this or that (thoroughly enjoying "Thirsty and Miserable"), but as soon as "Police Story" comes on, they've had enough.

Appreciation for Longstreth's vocal iniquities has always been the ledge that one's ability to cope with his music rested upon. Some may find themselves conditioned to enjoy his overwrought melisma and Gothic harmonies since his last release, but when confronted with aggressive intervalic shifts and a harsh, brittle timbre, their will shall be tested. Which is perhaps its purpose, that if you can let yourself go and grok his run through the squalor, empathize with his expression even if you doubt his authenticity as a "fuck the police" rebel-type, you will be rewarded for your struggle with the best end-of-album sequence since Return to Cookie Mountain (although I still think "Wash the Day" is shit).

From the o-o-o-o-o-o choral arrangements of "Gimme Gimme Gimme" to the unacknowledged suite of "Spray Paint (The Walls)" and "Room 13", adorned with mourning string arrangements pulling every last bit of emotion from Longstreth's fragile upper register, as well as some of the finest bombast the band can muster, he would've already earned the dinosaur sticker for his notebook. Yet, in true dessert fashion, he saved the best for last, buttering me up for an A+, instructing me to "rise above" lest I become like the "jealous cowards" that just "try to control". Some may find it a trite conclusion, but those are the same fuckbags that can't stand happy endings.

Though it's undeniable that the idiosyncrasies which often define and shape his music still abound, Rise Above ultimately proves to be the album that best demonstrates Longstreth's (and his Dirty Projectors) unique songwriting talents (talents that can often come across as idiosyncracies), an irony when viewed from its conceptual heritage. Rise Above, overgrown with unchecked cross-pollination and tense, [near-]danceable polyrhythms, is an example of how you don't need to stick to a template to make good, honest, pop music. It just helps to focus your vision every once in a while.

⁄ ⁄ ⁄

For this recording, Dirty Projectors are:

Dave Longstreth
Nat Baldwin
Brian McOmber
Amber Coffman
Susanna Waiche
Charlie Looker

The Truth For Sure

Hyperbole for sure, Sir Swift’s face told.
For truth is never so strong or so bold,
But something on which one can rest a hat;
A thing as plain as night to a bat.

⁄ ⁄ ⁄

After my last entry, I took a trip up and to the left to commune with my band and record the semi-extant songs we performed at our previous gig. We had rusted like the garage we recorded in, but to some critical minds that makes everything charming. Sessions were paused to gorge ourselves on authentic diner treats, grilled blueberry muffins and the such, as well as nostalgic rounds of Mario Kart. A late night viewing of Stop Making Sense left an unmistakable impression on all our improvisations; regrettably, there were no lamps to seduce.

How long have we been playing together? The initial attempt at a band was, I think, May 2004. Had I figured out how to play any instruments yet? Not to any real degree. We made a fucking racket and it was raw.

Then we added two more players for a sum of three guitars, two drummers, keys and a bassist. We made a fucking racket and it was intergalactic.

With each rehearsal/recording session we move closer to more traditional structures. Our line-up is never assured for a gig or rehearsal, but still, quite traditional.

Download Arc O - Urn-Burial

This was the third song we approached. Song One, "Hunting the Tiger", was soon discovered to be forgotten. The loss of "Hunting the Tiger" was a hearty blow to our morale. Song Two, "Beefheart", may have been the victim of our dismay; seven takes, all devoid of aggression. "Urn-Burial", aka "Sir Thomas Browne", aka "Egyptian", was our reawakening.

Eric's opening solo has stayed essentially the same since he first played it to us, and it remains one of his better eastern-blues inspirations. If you listen closely, you can hear someone humming something akin to a "Dream Brother" homage. The rest of the song attempts to merge our stereotypical psychedelic interests with the light-hearted instincts of current indie-rock. With practice we hope to fine-tune the tempo shifts, develop the last third into a more complete section, and finally find an appropriate way to end it. An end is a good thing.

Download Arc O - Nashe

An ode to taking a good shit, and as such, it's all about catharsis. Structurally, Nashe is almost identical to Urn-Burial: opening "guitar solo", albeit quite brief; second guitar enters, followed by rhythm section; A-part abruptly dissolves into guitar-duel breakdown (albeit more abrupt); rhythm section reenters; cathartic B-part (here, merely an extension of the A-part). This is regrettable, although perhaps irrelevant to the average listener. We enjoy the tune for its use of simple elements (namely power chords) to create a song that still sounds like us, but it's in dire need of some direction.

Download Arc O - The New Jazz (For Don B.)

We're not trying to be ironic with the title here, just referential.

The original incarnation of this was more appropriately "Alien Videogame Blues", but, with the absence of Boss Rogan, we lack that vintage Alien Blues sound. Guest guitarist Sampson can sound like a parody of the 70's fusion shit we aspire to, but considering all he was told was to solo in Bb minor, he performed admirably. The bassline to the second half was cribbed from the brilliant mind of Hugh Hopper, much credit to The Soft Machine. Like the rest, this song demands much work. Hopefully we'll get the chance to do as such.