The Batlord

Well, as much as I love my other journal it is just a bit restrictive, so I'm starting a new one. Basically like the title says I'm just gonna listen to random music and give my impressions. I'm not gonna do any in depth reviews, cause that would take far too much effort and get real boring for me real quick. I think I'm just gonna pick some theme based on a genre or a music scene and review a bunch of stuff in a series. For the most part this is gonna be stuff that I haven't listened to cause otherwise I'd get bored. So this is basically just me reporting on my continuing musical education. So...

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The Batlord

Adrift On the Sea of No Wave: Part I

Alright, I'm bored so I think I'm gonna take you all on a trippy journey through no wave. *waves hands and fingers in a spooky fashion* If you don't know what no wave is, then basically what death metal is to thrash, no wave is to post-punk. If you want a better explanation then go away. I'm too lazy to make an in depth thing here. I'm not even really gonna tell you about the bands unless I feel like it. On that note, this isn't a subject I'm all that well versed in. I am familiar with a few of these bands, sorta kinda familiar with a few others, and have never listened to some of them. This is just me giving impressions on bands that I feel like listening to over the next few days or weeks or whatever. So if this comes across as some jackass who doesn't know what he's talking about, it's because he doesn't.

P.S. I am led to understand that these are some arty ass bands. I am not arty. Andy Warhol can chug on my cock while Emily Dickinson lovingly fondles my balls. So yeah, it is what it is.

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks: The Pink EP

First of all, before I even listen to this, I'd like to say that Teenage Jesus and the Jerks is a terrible name. For a band that hated punk and wanted to destroy it along with the rest of rock'n'roll they sure picked a generic punk rock name. It doesn't even seem to be ironically mocking punk rock. It just sounds like Lydia Lunch sucks at naming things. Imagine, someone named Lydia fucking Lunch who sucked at naming things. Thank god I'm not her cat. So, without further ado I'm gonna listen to their debut EP...




...Alright, if I were more confident in my musical knowledge I'd say that this definitely had an industrial vibe to it with it's repetitiveness and the sort of monotone nature of the music. The way the guitars sort of sound like metal hitting metal at times doesn't hurt either. I get a vaguely creepy Throbbing Gristle vibe at times, and the drum beat that kicks in on "Baby Doll" reminds me of Einstürzende Neubauten, which is weird cause I checked and this album was released in '79 and EN didn't release their first album 'til '80. Whatevs. I don't really know much about industrial either, so take that with a grain of salt.

Lydia Lunch's vocals sorta sound like some pretentious art chick who does unfortunate performance art after hours at coffee shops and makes sculptures of Reagan out of toothopaste, but they are nihilistic enough that I can't complain. I can take pretentious, so long as it isn't boring.

The music on here seems to have been simplified to the point where the personal element of the musicians' playing has been removed, and all you're left with is pure sound. It's emotionless, monotonous, relentless and conjures up images of a dark, bleak New York street where you will likely end up when your heroin addiction finally gets the better of you. The band has tried hard to take any of the charisma or melody of rock'n'roll out of the music, but there is still catchiness to be had, and after a few spins I find myself not getting bored. The standout song for me would have to be "Orphans". It has this relentless, harrowing cadence that never lets up or changes and you can't help but be swept up in it while Lydia Lunch repetitively shouts along to the beat. Not bad. I like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks more than I thought I would.

So, I guess I'm gonna quit while I'm a head (huhuhuh) and leave you for now.

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Unknown Soldier

If you need some album recommendations, I'd be happy to oblige to get you started.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Nah. At least not right now. I've got more ideas than I have any use for, but thanks anyway.

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The Batlord

Adrift On the Sea of No Wave: Part II

Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth EP

Alright, this is a band that I'm relatively familiar with, but an album that I've never heard before. I love their debut LP so I have high hopes for this one. I've just heard the first song, and my hopes are being fulfilled, so I'm gonna leave you for a moment while I take the rest of it in...




...Alright, I probably could have started after hearing the first song, but I love that picture and will use it whenever I can. If you don't like it, then suck my balls.

Well, I kinda dug it at first, but after a while I started to tune out. The songs were repetitive and just kind of dragged on for way too long, so I went back to listening to Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Good thing too, cause I went from being sort of indifferent to them at first, to thinking they were actually pretty cool, and by the end I thought they were fucking fantastic. Well, out of respect for Sonic Youth I'm gonna give this album a second chance tomorrow...




...Good thing I gave this another chance, I haven't given this another full spin yet, but I'm already digging this a lot more than yesterday. Maybe I was just burned out on artiness or something. The atmosphere is definitely different than on their first full length. That one had a dark and reverb ridden production, while this one has an almost normal production. Instead of dark and creepy, this album has a sort of laid back, eerie, dreamlike quality that is intriguing.

I wasn't wrong on my original take. This album definitely likes repetition. Of course, that seems to be par for the course for these no wave bands. Much of the rhythms on this album are either funky bass lines or African folk drumming that seem to be pretty simple and are repeated over and over again. Or at least the stereotype of African folk drumming that I have in my head. Must be a Talking Heads influence. The guitars sound pretty different. Sometimes they even sound like bells. Cool. I'm sure there's a lot more weirdness that I'm missing though since my attention span isn't so great.

I also don't think I was wrong in saying that some of the songs on here go on for too long. Only three of the songs on here really sound particularly good at the moment and I don't know if there's anything truly great on here, though "Burning Spear" and "I Dreamed I Dream" come close. The rest are certainly entertaining, but only for a little while, then they start to get old. As a whole it's sort of unfocused, which isn't really all that surprising given that this was a band based around improvised live performances. Still, all in all it's a good first step and I'm glad I gave this a try.

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Unknown Soldier

The point was, that if it's a random review of music, it would also be good from time to time for members to send you stuff that they think you might like and then we can see if you like it or not. Hell I've got a whole load of Styx albums to give you..

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Adrift On the Sea of No Wave: Part III

DNA: A Taste of DNA EP

I clearly remember listening to this a while back and wondering what the fuck I'd just listened to. I sort of remember it as sounding like Michael J. Fox had taken the Delorean back to 1980 and recorded an art rock album. Bam. That's two jokes for the price of one. Having listened to a bit of it for the last few minutes, I don't think I was wrong. It's definitely spastic and random sounding. It actually sorta sounds like the missing link between art rock and grindcore. Except far more random. I find it intriguing, but I really have no idea whether or not I like this. I need to give this a deeper listen....




...I actually dig the vocals. They're as deranged and spastic as the music, but they don't sound as nihilistic as one might imagine. They're actually rather fun. Of course, he could be "singing" about eviscerating puppies for all I know since it's pretty much impossible to hear what he's actually saying. After a while I still don't know whether or not I like this. I'm gonna give this a day as well, but I think that I'm gonna be sort of meh on this album...




Ah screw it. I don't feel like giving this another day, so I'm just gonna do it now. There's some good parts to the one to two minute songs, but much of it just sounds like random noise thrown together just for the sake of being obtuse. Fun for a few minutes until it all devolves into noise, but other than that I could care less. Maybe if I really liked grindcore it would be different. If you're an arty farty fuck who likes his/her arty fartyness as unlistenable as possible then this might be up your alley. Me, I might give this a try some other day, but for now I'm gonna steer clear.

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The Batlord

The fuck? I'm guessing that's supposed to be a joke...

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The Batlord

Adrift On the Sea of No Wave: Part IV

Mars: 78+

Finally a band that I've never listened to. Or at least I have no memory whatsoever of what they sounded like off the No New York compilation. Who desperately tries to convince people that they are ignorant of a band? Me apparently. Well whatever. Unfortunately, I post off a library computer and I'm stuck with Youtube and much of the album isn't on there. I'm even having to make do with some of the versions off No New Wave. So that's balls, but a loser's gotta do what a loser's gotta do. Anyways, if you'll excuse me...




Finally, a band I don't have to sit and wait to see if I dig. They are almost straight forward and accessible as far as no wave is concerned. Not that far away from punk or garage rock at times. Though the farther I go on this album the more weird noise songs I hear. I actually sort of like those though, since while they are certainly arty and farty they aren't self-consciously unlistenable. I'm gonna have to give this a few more spins before I really talk any more about them.

I saw this band compared to the Velvet Underground on a Youtube comment. Not a bad comparison I guess. Although I might call them a more deranged Pere Ubu. They're not always totally avant garde with their songs, but the aesthetics of their musical style are always out there in the stratosphere. The vocals have this "mental-patient-on-cocaine-and-having-the-time-of-his-life" quality that is bags of fun. When the songs are more straight forward, they are quite catchy, and the bits of noise and sound effects thrown over them make them sound delightfully bizarre. When they do go oddball though, they go for the gusto. I'm listening to a song called "The Immediate Stages of the Erotic" that is a fucking trip. It has this repetitive drum beat that sounds like conga drums. Then they have this noise that sounds like electricity (I'm guessing it's some kind of feedback) that goes in and out while the vocalist just tortures his throat and screams here there and everywhere, not wholly unlike Diamanda Galas. Then there's the random dude shouting random syllables in the background every so often. It pretty much sets the standard for any song that wants to explicitly sound like some dude being tortured by electrocution.

Not everything on here is necessarily essential, but there's enough truly good stuff on here that I definitely recommend this.

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The Batlord

CLEVELAND ROCKS!!!: Proto-Punk and Art Rock In the Land of Drew Carey - Part I

Since I enjoyed the no wave doohickey so much I've decided to do another series. So, back in the days of the first wave of CBGB's bands and when the London punk scene was just getting started there was a group of bands using much the same playbook as them in Cleveland. Unfortunately they didn't have a pub circuit or a dedicated venue like CBGB's to get more notice so most of these bands faded into obscurity. For no apparent reason I have decided to chizeck this shiznit out. Here we go...

Tin Huey: Tin Huey EP

This is the band that made me wanna do this. I have no idea why. I remember listening to their debut EP a while back and thinking that it was dull, pretentious crap. Then the other day I just had a random urge to give them another try. Here's hoping they suck less this time around...


Moderator cut: image removed


Aw crap. Goofy vocals and self consciously silly music that sounds like art school students without any quality control. This is gonna suck. I don't really know how to describe them. Sorta jazzy at times. Sorta proggy at times, although I know fuck all about prog rock so ignore that if I'm full of shit. It does give me that silly, overblown vibe that some prog does though. I guess it's kinda poppy too, but it sounds too random to really be catchy. None of these songs really sound all that much alike either. It all sounds like unfocused, experimental what-the-fuck-ness. Sounds like this band wasn't really ready to record yet. I'd try to understand this better, but I'm bored out of my skull and don't wanna.

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