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What if I tried to listen to all my music-in order? Every song, on every album, by every artist (alphabetically)- in chronological order. ...

Monday, July 24, 2017

Acheron

I'm assuming these guys got their name from the Greek underworld's "River of Woe," and not from Outer Planes in D&D or from the land of dark wizards that predated Hyborea in the Conan stories of Robert E. Howard. Sadly, they never toured with Styx.

This is a death/black metal band from Florida, then Pittsburgh. I don't use that slash lightly. I understand that death and black metal are two different things, and I think I've got a good grasp on the differences: death metal refers to the musical style (super fast and brutal with CookieMonster-style vocals), but black metal refers to the subject matter (usually Satanic, or chaotic evil at best). This band gives us both in varying degrees. 

The main guy from this band was originally in a Florida death metal band called Nocotumus. He has steered Acheron through many, many line-up changes, and he's also in the proliferate American death metal band, Incantatio. He's really a member of the Church of Satan, although he maybe actually broken up with them to do his own thing. He once said, "My hatred for religion and my Satanic lifestyle is[sic] the main influence of Acheron. The demented deeds of many religions are poisoning the world we live in." Hard to argue with that! So this guy's not fooling around, as his song lyrics and general imagery indicate. If you want to see them fight with a televangelist on the radio check out these 55 mins.  Trying to find out what "The Enochian Key" referred to sent me down a google-rabbit-hole of 16th-century spiritualists and magic. They seems to have a millennialist, apocalyptic bent too, particularly on 2009's The Final Conflict: Last Days of God. Their imagery is simultaneously horrifying and cartoonish. The cover of Those Who Have Risen, for example, manages to be both absurdly amateurish and the stuff of nightmares:


Only four of their dozen or so album were available streaming online, but they seem to offer an appropriate sampling. At least their compilation of early demos that they put out in 2001 was available to give an idea of how the band started off sounding like. Can it be called a demo if the recording is so rough that it's impossible to understand the words or discern the different parts? I mean, I've put some raw stuff out into the word, but this stuff is ridiculously under-produced and messy. Then again maybe it sounds best like that. Although all dark and brutal, the early demos vary some in terms of both quality and style. Only very occasionally does the Satanic mask slip a little, and it seems like kids who really liked the first Nirvana album thrashing around in the garage...but they actually predate that, so whoever influenced Nirvana: like an evil Pixies? Maybe The Melvins? Such later-day influences seem to be confirmed when later in their long career the band ventures into sounds and styles reminiscent of Pantera or Hatebreed, although in actuality they probably eat bands like that for breakfast. Every now and then they drop in some organ or synths, maybe a gong or bells. They are occasional spoken word interludes too. All that helps break-up what might otherwise be unendurable brutality.  

After a brief split-up they return in 2014 with Kult des Hasses. It's not less brutal, but somehow a bit more mainstream - or at least mainstream for underground metal. They remain consistently dark and aggressive. In some ways, the beefed up production makes it an even heavier album. Some call it their best, but undoubtedly others appreciated the rawer earlier stuff more. It still gets crazy fast at points. 

While I can usually get into seeing any band like this live, I'm not really familiar with this particular niche of the diverse metal scene and can't identify any of the "Related Artists" associated with this band. The only song I knew before listening to their discography here and now was the great song "Evil Dead," which appears on the death and black metal compilation A Tribute To Hell: Satanic Rites.  Despite the slow opening and lengthy guitar solo, this number chugs along at an excellent fast pace. Without the guttural grunting for vocals it probably could have appealed to a broader metal audience, but whatever - it works great. Turns out that's a Death cover song. Yea, they do sound like Death sometimes! Plus: Florida; that's apparently where this stuff comes from.  

This pretty much sums it up:


It would appear they know what they are doing- and do it well. Recommended for any fans of extreme music. Explicitly anti-Christians to the front of the line. 


Sunday, July 16, 2017

Ace of Base

I was surprised (and a little embarrassed) by how much I enjoyed listening to this 90s pop band! Comparisons to ABBA are inevitable, since they are both Swedish pop-rock bands with quirky song writing and pairs of blonde boys and girls. If having a song called "Angel Eyes" doesn't tip the hand a little then consider also "C'est la vie," for example. With their international success you might even think that Ace of Base is the second greatest selling Swedish band of all time; if you think that, however, you forgot about Roxette. These guys are #3. It's a sleazy producer guy and his two sisters, plus some other vaguely douchey guy. As always seems to be the case with such bands, when the guys sing a line it is usually unfortunate but somehow required; it's best when they stick to pure vocoder, but even then it occasionally drifts into some disturbing demon voice. Sometimes their songs sound like we got to play happy hardcore on the radio. Sometimes it's like they're playing a club song on the radio, except it was never actually played in the club, except now it is because it was on the radio. At least there is occasional keytar. The keyboards are great throughout. Of course they influenced fellow Swedish pop artist Robyn, but there are spoken highly of by American pop stars like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, going for that pre-9/11 90s fun feel. Indie synth rockers Yeasayer have also cited them as an influence, which makes me feel a little better.


The first thing they ever really did was try to push this song and ridiculous video, featuring fake trumpet playing and the lead singer's signature expressive hand moves. Their debut album from 1993, actually an amalgamation of their earlier work repackaged for the non-European market, is one of the greatest selling debuts of all time; in America it's called The Sign, but at home it was Happy Nation. Despite being hastily recorded in response to the success of "Wheel of Fortune" and their other pre-album single, "All That She Wants," apparently it is the first debut album to produce three #1 hit songs. So it was pretty huge at the time, although they haven't really demonstrated the staying power that such mammoth success might indicate. I'm not sure about that ridiculous, honking saxophone sample, but otherwise their opening track and first single "All That She Wants (Is Another Baby)," besides raising everyone's eyebrows thinking she was talking about breeding rather than coupling (a little bit lost in translation there, depending on who you ask), contains all their signature elements that they would continue to mine effectively over the course of four albums: interesting transitions between minor and major chords, clear and catchy melodies, great keyboards lines, and--somehow--a reggae beat. In re-listening to the album, I was struck by how many of these Swedish pop songs are built over a breezy islands rhythm. According to an interview,  this came about simply because a reggae band practiced in the rehearsal studio next to theirs, and ideas (and sounds) would bleed over due to everybody practicing at high volumes. But, dammit it works! (The same interview reveals their name comes from Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" sounding cool and being easing to pronounce; they blame their hometown's predilection for heavy metal over techno on their early inability to break through.). Their whole first album is pop solid gold. I knew going into this that super-hit "The Sign" is one of my favorite pop songs ever, but I was impressed by how good the lesser known tracks are here. If you love the hits, also "Don't Turn Around" (originally recorded by Tina Turner), the rest of the album will not disappoint. I don't recall fourth single "Living in Danger" getting much airplay, but it's not any worse or better than the big hits. Despite never having heard most of these not-on-the-radio songs before (my younger brother owned the CD back in the day, but I never did), the album is virtually free of fluff and filler. That's confirmed by the fact that the last thing they put out in 2015 is a b-sides and demos collection that conveniently collects all the lesser tracks that were wisely kept off the original albums, keeping those brief four albums all consistently tight and solid. The hints of primitive early techno give it an air of authenticity, but things get cleaned up significantly by the later albums, which shimmer and shine with crystalline production, perhaps reflecting rave culture's move out of the warehouses and into swanky clubs. I like to think of these guys as influenced by underground music rather than exploiting it, even as they dominate the pop charts, although that might be wishful thinking. It is reminiscent of when Madonna first starting to get deep into electronic music on Ray of Light: trendy and opportunistic, yes, but satisfyingly executed.

The second album The Bridge is good, but just not as stellar as the first one. Like the debut, it is a rushed response to unexpected stardom, but that's fine. Even the most mundane deep cuts are made more listenable by interesting little electronic sounds peppered liberally throughout. The complete abandonment of the reggae sound was a bit of a disappointment. On this album they went for more of the ballads and bedroom rockers, though they might call it more sophisticated song-writing. I guess "Lucky Love" is a cute single, but a little too cute. The real killer track is "Beautiful Life." The batshit crazy video has just enough sexiness to keep everyone's attention, but the record label sure didn't like it. As with "The Sign," "Beautiful Life" is seriously one of my favorite songs ever. Instead of reggae they are throwing some gospel vocals at us. I had heard about how they wrote the song after a friend committed suicide, and I thought it was such a beautiful and effective response - and the mix of positive imagery and haunting chords is great, even as dance-club pop candy. The somewhat harrowing song "Ravine" speaks to the time a deranged fan broke into one of the singer's homes, holding her and her parents at knife-point; there's a happy ending. Despite the later singles failing to chart (some blame bad promoting), this is the one album of theirs on which all four members contribute song writing, so that's nice. I missed the reggae; it seems crazy to do a whole album without a single song in your own previous signature style.

They headlined with 2 Unlimited in Chile in 1996 because of course they did! Makes perfect sense.

Then, after finally taking a breather, their third album is practically an oldies pastiche through a pop prism. Their apt cover of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" gets them back on the pop charts again. "Always Have, Always Will" is delightful but jarring as it foreshadows The Pippettes almost a decade away. Somehow that's the (again, slightly ridiculous) video that feature some keytar action. It's also a bit weird that at this point one of the the sisters takes over lead vocals from the other sister, who literally has her face blurred out on the album cover as she takes on a more background role. There she is lurking in the shadows


De Capo (2002) represents a return to form, as the title suggests. Sadly, it didn't perform well on the charts, but I loved all these largely nameless, forgotten songs. The production is better than on the debut album, but the song writing was not strong enough to match its success, at least in terms of popular singles. The album is good overall though. "Wonderful Life" is a wonderful song - the airy space in the drawn-out vocal delivery on the chorus is dreamy. "The Juvenile" is a weird and awesome pseudo-epic with lush strings- originally it was going to be a James Bond movie theme.

Then they go on hiatus for awhile. They get to together as a trio to perform a full concert for the first time in 10 years in 2007. Then the other sister leaves too for a solo career and such. It admittedly looks unseemly, but then in 2010 the two guys re-launch the band with two new (ahem- younger) singing ladies. That band is different though; it is "Ace.of.Base." OK?


I wanted to hate the album they made, but it's so slick and good. The production is better than ever and the sounds are all good fun.  Another song I left this experience loving is "Vision in Blue." It's a true hidden gem - apparently so much so that it got its own sub-par fan-made video. I had to google the lyrics because although the title is "Vision in Blue" the refrain of the chorus is "My Koh Phangan x6," which I also had to google to discover is an island off the coast of Thailand renowned for its Full Moon Party. Why am I just learning about this now?! I guess it would be like saying, "You're my Coney Island." The song is great and helps carry an album with no real discernible highlights, but white people partying at exclusive resorts in Asia is the perfect image for the album's vibe. Lead single "All For You" is good enough, and the video does what it is supposed to do, though I'm not sure people care as much anymore.  The album reminds me a bit of Cher's foray into electronica, although this album came out 10 years later.  There are a bunch of random good songs on the album, but they abandon the whole revamp idea and instead settle for releasing Hidden Gems in 2012 as their swan song. To be honest, a lot of those songs are pretty good too. The band seemed to dissolve after that, while still teasing reunion possibilities.

But what a minute....blonde haired, blue eyed Europeans...singing about their Happy Nation....I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but....

Yep - (some of their interpretations are way off and take the source with a big grain of salt, but) they're probably actually freaking Nazis!
** EDIT ** OK, a lot of that stuff was crazy theories...except for the part where the one guy definitely really was in an actual Nazi hardcore band.

Damn it. Doesn't that make it two in a row?

I heard they suck live.