Jackhammer Stripped

jackhammer · 09-29-2009, 05:22 PM

Pig Destroyer

Grindcore is a genre of music that I grew up with and was directly involved with, knowing a few musicians from the bands that came out of the predominantly Birmingham U.K based scene but within a few short short years it almost became a parody of itself so the scene shifted focus to both South and North America. A few bands such as Brutal Truth and Agoraphobic Nosebleed have carried the torch well and remain faithful enough to the original scene whilst adding elements (Samples etc) that keep them interesting.

In the early 00's however; A 3 piece band called Pig Destroyer arrived with a ridiculously brutal sound that completely wowed me with their intensity and power-all without a bassist! A band that didn't fall into the cliche of distorting guturall vocals with terrible production and muddy non distinct riffs. Instead they have brought us a polished sound that still keeps within the Grindcore ethos whilst simultaneously having genuine song structures and lyrics that don't always fall into the cliched medical terminology adopted by many bands in the wake of the groundbreaking and influential UK band Carcass.

Adding a fourth member to provide samples (that don't impinge on the fercocity of the music) has given the band a fearsome live reputation and a band I would definitely love to see live.

If the mere word 'Grindcore' sets off allsort's of warning in your heads then it won't be your thing but if you like your music heavy and hard and want to hear some genuine brutality with actual structure then get your head around these fellas.

Try:
Prowler In The Yard
Terrifyer
Phantom Limb

storymilo · 09-29-2009, 05:41 PM

Great write-up as always. Also, what happened to those mixtapes you promised?

jackhammer · 09-29-2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by storymilo

Great write-up as always. Also, what happened to those mixtapes you promised?

I will be offline for a couple of days this week so I will compile them in that time and have them ready over the weekend. Promise!

~~CAPTAIN CAVEMAN~~ · 10-03-2009, 05:35 PM

i love loathsome but man that video blows

Kamikazi Kat · 10-07-2009, 04:09 PM

Anybody want to send me some PMs for John Martyn and Archive? Had no trouble finding a few Pig Destroyer albums, but I can't find a decent place to download Martyn or Archive. Great posts, Jackhammer, I'm going to continue to keep an eye on this and the rest of your threads.

jackhammer · 10-18-2009, 07:02 PM

Pink Floyd

Such a cliched choice I know but I will never dismiss the importance of this band on my musical education. I usually cite Floyd as my favourite band but in all honestly I don't listen to them as much as I used to and this is where the power of liking Floyd is both a help and a hindrance.

I was 17 and started my first full time job having moved towns due to my parents splitting which meant I had to abandon my first serious girlfriend, my college course and my P/T job I had had since the age of 14. However in terms of music is was fortuitous. As a noob to FT work in general and being in a new town, it's only natural to try and ingratiate yourself with new people and I became friends with a slightly older guy who had a fleeting but deep effect on my musical outlook. He liked a lot of Rock music but was never into the Thrash/heavy stuff I was listening to at the time and he loaned me his gatefold copy of Meddle (the days when vinyl was on it's last legs unfortunately). I took it home the same night, played it and admitted to being nonplussed. What were all those weird sounds on Echoes? (the whale calls etc) How the hell is this music? It completely went over my head. He told me to turn out the lights, lay down and play it again. This I did and it clicked immediately. I realised that music wasn't just there to satisfy you in a particular brief moment. It could be more than that. It could transport you somewhere else and become more than just a bunch of notes. Even though I couldn't fully grasp everything about that album I wanted to gorge myself on this music. A few days later Animals was thrust upon me. Music has never been quite the same since. It was heavy, abrasive but rich, layered and laced with genuine emotion that Metal couldn't quite satisfy at this time of upheaval. Sure Metal gave me scope to vent my obvious anger at this turbulent time of my life but the Floyd gave it a grounding in reality. A gravitas that I had rarely heard before. Maybe it was the melancholia that runs through their music that I attached myself too. Whatever it was at that time I was hooked.

This is where Floyd's music enters it's own special place in the musical scheme of things. Their greatest strength is the fact that it is not too outlandish to become ostracised from what they were trying to achieve but it was sufficiently off beat for you to begin to explore new music that may not have appealed to you before.

Listening to the Floyd 1970 onwards it's obvious that their music is a lot more safer than their name and history suggests but they are probably the ultimate 'gateway' band to a broader range of music. They were musicially superior to many other bands but never to the detriment of the music. You learnt about individual instruments, layered composition and production values from the Floyd that lead you to discover a whole new world of music and I think that still rings true today. Despite their many faults, there are very few people who completely dislike Floyd in one form or another and that is one of their major strengths. They are an education onto themselves and although I have since heard many more groundbreaking artists I think that I could never have discovered them if it wasn't for the band.

It still boils down to a simple thing for me. Despite my love for many genres of music I would give all that up right now so long as I could keep my copy of Animals. It always has and always will be everything I want in music.

Recommended albums:
Animals
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Meddle

Recommended DVD'S:
Live At Pompeii.

Recommended Reading:
Inside Out: A history of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason.

From live at Pompeii:

Molecules · 10-18-2009, 07:33 PM

Man i like this, tales of fortitude and holy music from the archives of the big L. I will read on and dissect the Floyd, mark me words.

Alfred · 10-18-2009, 08:05 PM

I have never listened to Pig Destroyer before, but I really liked that song. Could I get some of this by any chance?

NSW · 10-19-2009, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Pink Floyd

That is an excellent piece of writing sir. It's always great to read about how and why people got into certain artists. As you said, most people like Pink Floyd in one way or another. I've always had a passing interest but will definitely check out your recommended albums more thoroughly. Thanks for sharing!

jackhammer · 10-19-2009, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nonsubmissivewife

That is an excellent piece of writing sir. It's always great to read about how and why people got into certain artists. As you said, most people like Pink Floyd in one way or another. I've always had a passing interest but will definitely check out your recommended albums more thoroughly. Thanks for sharing!

Piper may not be to everyone's tastes so maybe checkout Obscured by Clouds and see what you think!

As promised here is a comp and this one is for Archive. I won't do one for Pink Floyd or Iron Maiden as I think most people have probably got a vague idea of what they are about.

Archive. If you like the ambient side of Radiohead then you may get into them. I have simply chose one track per album and not included anything of theirs over 10 minutes of which there is a good few tracks. Expect tracks that begin slowly but hook you in. Many of their best tracks I have also omitted as it's better to start from the ground up!

Tracklisting:

1. Noise (from the album Noise)
2. Collapse/Collide (from the album Controlling Crowds)
3. Take My Head (from the album take My Head)
4. Fool (from the album You All Look The Same To Me)
5. Headlights (from the album Lights)
6. Headspace (from the album Londinium)
7. Bridge Scene (from the album Michel Vaillant)

It plays like this on my media player but seemed to RAR'd with a different sequence so apologies if it differs but every track is tagged correctly anyhow)

Get your lugholes around this

09-29-2009, 05:22 PM	#51 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Pig Destroyer Grindcore is a genre of music that I grew up with and was directly involved with, knowing a few musicians from the bands that came out of the predominantly Birmingham U.K based scene but within a few short short years it almost became a parody of itself so the scene shifted focus to both South and North America. A few bands such as Brutal Truth and Agoraphobic Nosebleed have carried the torch well and remain faithful enough to the original scene whilst adding elements (Samples etc) that keep them interesting. In the early 00's however; A 3 piece band called Pig Destroyer arrived with a ridiculously brutal sound that completely wowed me with their intensity and power-all without a bassist! A band that didn't fall into the cliche of distorting guturall vocals with terrible production and muddy non distinct riffs. Instead they have brought us a polished sound that still keeps within the Grindcore ethos whilst simultaneously having genuine song structures and lyrics that don't always fall into the cliched medical terminology adopted by many bands in the wake of the groundbreaking and influential UK band Carcass. Adding a fourth member to provide samples (that don't impinge on the fercocity of the music) has given the band a fearsome live reputation and a band I would definitely love to see live. If the mere word 'Grindcore' sets off allsort's of warning in your heads then it won't be your thing but if you like your music heavy and hard and want to hear some genuine brutality with actual structure then get your head around these fellas. Try: Prowler In The Yard Terrifyer Phantom Limb __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

10-18-2009, 07:02 PM	#56 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Pink Floyd Such a cliched choice I know but I will never dismiss the importance of this band on my musical education. I usually cite Floyd as my favourite band but in all honestly I don't listen to them as much as I used to and this is where the power of liking Floyd is both a help and a hindrance. I was 17 and started my first full time job having moved towns due to my parents splitting which meant I had to abandon my first serious girlfriend, my college course and my P/T job I had had since the age of 14. However in terms of music is was fortuitous. As a noob to FT work in general and being in a new town, it's only natural to try and ingratiate yourself with new people and I became friends with a slightly older guy who had a fleeting but deep effect on my musical outlook. He liked a lot of Rock music but was never into the Thrash/heavy stuff I was listening to at the time and he loaned me his gatefold copy of Meddle (the days when vinyl was on it's last legs unfortunately). I took it home the same night, played it and admitted to being nonplussed. What were all those weird sounds on Echoes? (the whale calls etc) How the hell is this music? It completely went over my head. He told me to turn out the lights, lay down and play it again. This I did and it clicked immediately. I realised that music wasn't just there to satisfy you in a particular brief moment. It could be more than that. It could transport you somewhere else and become more than just a bunch of notes. Even though I couldn't fully grasp everything about that album I wanted to gorge myself on this music. A few days later Animals was thrust upon me. Music has never been quite the same since. It was heavy, abrasive but rich, layered and laced with genuine emotion that Metal couldn't quite satisfy at this time of upheaval. Sure Metal gave me scope to vent my obvious anger at this turbulent time of my life but the Floyd gave it a grounding in reality. A gravitas that I had rarely heard before. Maybe it was the melancholia that runs through their music that I attached myself too. Whatever it was at that time I was hooked. This is where Floyd's music enters it's own special place in the musical scheme of things. Their greatest strength is the fact that it is not too outlandish to become ostracised from what they were trying to achieve but it was sufficiently off beat for you to begin to explore new music that may not have appealed to you before. Listening to the Floyd 1970 onwards it's obvious that their music is a lot more safer than their name and history suggests but they are probably the ultimate 'gateway' band to a broader range of music. They were musicially superior to many other bands but never to the detriment of the music. You learnt about individual instruments, layered composition and production values from the Floyd that lead you to discover a whole new world of music and I think that still rings true today. Despite their many faults, there are very few people who completely dislike Floyd in one form or another and that is one of their major strengths. They are an education onto themselves and although I have since heard many more groundbreaking artists I think that I could never have discovered them if it wasn't for the band. It still boils down to a simple thing for me. Despite my love for many genres of music I would give all that up right now so long as I could keep my copy of Animals. It always has and always will be everything I want in music. Recommended albums: Animals Piper At The Gates Of Dawn Meddle Recommended DVD'S: Live At Pompeii. Recommended Reading: Inside Out: A history of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason. From live at Pompeii: __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

10-18-2009, 07:33 PM	#57 (permalink)
Molecules daddy don't Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: the Wastes Posts: 2,577	Man i like this, tales of fortitude and holy music from the archives of the big L. I will read on and dissect the Floyd, mark me words. __________________ [SIZE="1"]Eff em tumble her

10-18-2009, 08:05 PM	#58 (permalink)
Alfred one big soul Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 5,096	I have never listened to Pig Destroyer before, but I really liked that song. Could I get some of this by any chance? __________________ LAST.FM / VINYL COLLECTION / RYM

09-29-2009, 05:41 PM	#52 (permalink)
storymilo Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,845	Great write-up as always. Also, what happened to those mixtapes you promised?

10-03-2009, 05:35 PM	#54 (permalink)
~~CAPTAIN CAVEMAN~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: VAN Posts: 2,530	i love loathsome but man that video blows

10-07-2009, 04:09 PM	#55 (permalink)
Kamikazi Kat Music Addict Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 329	Anybody want to send me some PMs for John Martyn and Archive? Had no trouble finding a few Pig Destroyer albums, but I can't find a decent place to download Martyn or Archive. Great posts, Jackhammer, I'm going to continue to keep an eye on this and the rest of your threads.