Guided By Voices Concert at Intuition Ale House

On August 11th, 2018, I was very fortunate to be invited by a friend to see Guided By Voices at Intuition Ale House. I was very much so looking forward to this concert because Guided By Voices are one of the hallmarks of Indie Rock

and the Lo-Fi scene. One of their most notable records, Bee Thousand was recorded as a hobby project on band mate's home four tracks. Their sound is incredible and the stripped down, raw production compliments the band's nice britpop inspired lo fi indie rock. A lot of people like to refer to them as "the best incarnation of The Beatles", an ironic but endearing statement based on their Rubber Soul meets Dinosaur Jr-like sound. They are honestly one of the best, prolific indie rock acts, having about 25 albums and many more other releases. So with this vast discography, GBV has more than enough material to fit in their lengthy 3 hour show (and that's the average length of their concerts!). With this in mind, I honestly did not know what to expect when I heard the show would be 3 hours. I was honestly wondering if they could match the vim from their albums. However, when they stepped on to the stage, it feels like my fears were pretty much alleviated. The band's energy during the show completely matched the performance on their studio albums surprisingly sans the lo-fi production (which at that point would just impress me if they were able to make their show sound like a four track live). The performance from the band was incredible and was worth the slight wait during the door opening. The band was also incredibly friendly, interacting and joking around with the audience with some self-aware quips here and there (Robert Pollard, the band's lead singer, even joked in regards to their massive discography saying "our new albums are coming out regardless of if you guys buy them or not"). The atmosphere was very welcoming. At one point the band started passing around free tequila to the audience members, a tradition they are known to do at shows where they hand out free alcohol to the audience. It was a surprisingly solid performance, the only downside was the actual venue itself. I normally don't like to complain about venues, because usually they are what they are (hot and sweaty but still pleasant), but the venue was almost unnecessarily hot and the water tasted like shit to be completely honest. But other than that, the venue was pretty cool. It was neat seeing a band play in a beer brewery with all the factory machines and beer surrounding everywhere. The staff was pretty cool too, gave us some free water, which despite the taste, is pretty cool. They also had some bottle water too that a lot of the audience was throwing in the air to cool off everyone because it was the hottest venue I bet most people have been to. Overall, it was a great concert and I loved being part of it.

Double Review Update

This post will be covering two different music albums that I have listened to throughout the past few weeks. Because of this, it incorporates many different styles of music. I will try to explain as best as I can the differing styles to a newcomer to this music. For consistency's sake I will mostly be covering two bands that incorporate "shoegaze" or "noise rock" genre elements into their work. Unlike my previous blog posts, this will contain artists outside Jacksonville that I think need more exposure and inspire art I and other Jacksonville musicians I've worked with seek to put out one day.







1) Shinsei Kamattechan - Tsumanne
Honestly, this is probably one of the best finds I've found in the "noise rock" category. Noise rock is a genre stylized by it's heavy use of distortion effects. This band, hailing from Japan, is arguably one of the most angry sounding bands I ever found completely enjoyable. The dual male/female vocal leads is a really big bonus for me too, since I love when bands incorporate multiple differing vocal styles into their work (some further examples of this include Johnny Foreigner and Yo La Tengo, who also do a very nice job with this style). The vocals are chosen androgynous and I really love that and the boundary pushing harsh noise production that accompanies it. It is a really nice change of pace compared to the more male-dominated "harsh" vocal styles that seem to always occupy "angry" noise rock/punk rock albums. The production, while still layered in harsh noise, is beautifully layered and composed elegantly. The songs have a good mix of synthetic and authentic instrumentation, with synths and guitars blaring alongside pianos and chimes. The first track combines an almost shoegaze-like wall of noise with melodic vocals layered on top of each other, before becoming more detached and hazy into the second verse and then eventually ending into gang vocals. It is in this hazy yet sternly aggressive style that the band manages to capture and engage with the listener. However, their style isn't limited to an aggressive but melodic hardcore, the band experiments throughout the album with some IDM/EDM-inspired production which is especially apparent on track 5 "黒いたまご" (translated literally as "Black Egg"). The lyrical content is somber and anxiously hateful, with numerous references to suicide. The most realized lyrical track is track 3 "美ちなる方へ" (translated literally as "Towards the Beautiful Unknown"), which describes societal hypocrisy while moving on from the standard. Overall, I highly recommend this album as it is a stunningly beautiful hidden gem.


                                                        2) Kraus - End Tomorrow

Another hidden gem from the Noise Rock scene. I thoroughly believe Kraus deserves more exposure. He takes a bit more of a shoegaze approach to noise rock, which to differentiate between the two, shoegazes consists of more distortion and blare, often forged along melodically. Sometimes dubbed as "dream pop" for it's ethereal and hallucinatory nature. Kraus puts out an impressive debut with frantic drums, noisy guitars all distorted to an thoroughly impressive point that sounds almost like an album made underwater to the sound of sirens and wails. I definitely love the tone of this album, although I do think the vocals require a bit more fine tuning, often being far too high pitched. The standout track by far on this album is "Pitch Fucker", a song that has the perfect mix of low pitch vocals crescendo-ing into high pitch dreamy territory. It's here where Kraus truly shines. I have yet to listen to his second album, but if he can find that perfect balance that "Pitch Fucker" brings, he has a very good chance to be one of noise rock's greatest. By the way, this album is actually released for free on his personal bandcamp. I highly recommend it.

Review: Twelve Hour Turn - The Victory of Flight

Twelve Hour Turn - The Victory of Flight (1999)

 

Hailing from Jacksonville themselves, Twelve Hour Turn is one of the most criminally under-looked post-hardcore bands to emerge from the area. Their music shrieks with such an intensity and power, it not only rivals their contemporaries from the same time period such as Unwound, On the Might of Princes or At The Drive-In, but surprisingly can surpass them in moments of natural, inherent energy that seems to never runs limited throughout the albums 25 minute run time. The sound is characterized by constantly dispensing onslaughts of harnessed anger, often murky and tenebrous. This works incredibly in their favor, delivering something that feels missing in most post-hardcore/emo bands of similar structure. However, this band like any band around the time, isn't without faults. Sometimes they become comfortable in their post-hardcore contemporaries foot steps, sharing too many similarities with that distinctive post-hardcore and screamo sound without adding much new in songs like "I Get Lively...". Because of this, there is a bit of lack in musical variety throughout that their more critically acclaimed counterparts offered sometimes wholesale. You won't really see a Fugazi-like experimentation with this band and at times the band can really sound like Unwound 2.0, however that doesn't make the band uninteresting. There are several unique sounding songs on here, many of which benefit from the aforementioned bursts of energy that feel unparalleled, but they feel grounded to the scene they incorporate at times. However when the band finds their footing and can take their steps forward, they sound very much ahead of their time in unexpected ways, coming in just a year before At The Drive-In's audacious and innovative Relationship of Command, yet sounding like they had been briefed on the album's legacy well ahead of time to incorporate some of it's best, earth-shattering elements. This is shown on songs such as "New Rock" and "A Mouth of Suitable Size" which come in with the same characteristic energy and off kilter songwriting. However, Twelve Hour Turn isn't just taking notes from the post-hardcore playbook, they are very much entrenched in their emo roots. Songs like "For Want of a Real Whole" sheds a vibe similar to what a blended and distorted Hot Water Music and I Hate Myself mash up song would sound like, the latter of which is an unsurprising comparison since they released a split with I Hate Myself a year before. It's hard to see why the band is left in the critically unrecognized ashes with how much pure vigor and vitality they show within this album. Overall, I believe this band is heavily worth checking out. They showcase some of the best Jacksonville talent the hardcore scene had to offer and the music indicates a shining of hidden light in the city's late night skyscraper beacon.

Listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSoIRQxPyuM

My Words Poem

a word poem. done for poetry project.

Our culture

To showcase what it is that we feel we do best, I'd have to explain the culture surrounding us first. A lot of people in Jacksonville feel as if the city is without any sort of grandstanding cultural movement or achievement, but I feel this is false. I've personally met many people and friends who can speak for how talented our city is and showcase their own skills and art. I've met multiple musicians who blew me away just last year alone, and have collaborated with friends who are several times just as talented if not more so than anybody I can name off the top of my head. There's a lot to find here in Jacksonville, but it is very hidden, but visible and sometimes exists right in front of us unknowingly. It is unique too, I don't think there is really any other place like Jacksonville. Me and my friends alone have coined many unique cultural aspects of Jax that I feel only we could've have created. We find arts that interest us, whether it be from music that interests us to even simple things like video games or board games we play to pass the time. Our tastes develop in a sort of collective type way where we share things we found constantly and try to evolve our tastes overtime. We practice together, watch things together, and listen to each other's ideas. Working on music alone with my friends has taught me how to become a better musician and learn unique tips that only working with someone in person can bring. I have learn about many new bands, both local and not, from word of mouth and going to concerts with friends. Jacksonville really has an active and spirited community and culture that is all around us, you just need to dig through to find it. I hope with this blog, I can help accomplish that.