Blarobbarg's Thread For Insane Blatherings (Also, Music)

[Blarobbarg]

So. Title says it all. Moving on.

I have the misfortune to be the owner of a totally crapped out computer. I have no idea what's wrong with it, some hardware problem of sorts. But as a result, I can't get into my music library at all... which is a pain considering I have 80 gigs of music on there, probably about 10 gigs that I have never listened to, sitting in a list, CRYING OUT to be heard. Alas, their cries will ring forever more. Hopefully I can pull out the hard drive and hook it up to another computer, and MAYBE it won't be totally destroyed so I can get my music and important documents out... I could care less about the rest of it.

And here's the first random song that comes into my head. It's a good 'un.

[Trollheart]

Hey Blab, I'm not too bad with computers, maybe I could help? Let me know some details and maybe we can mount a rescue effort to save your music...

[Blarobbarg]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Hey Blab, I'm not too bad with computers, maybe I could help? Let me know some details and maybe we can mount a rescue effort to save your music...

Hey man (or wooman) I appreciate that! If this next step I'm taking doesn't work out, I may take up that offer.

[Trollheart]

All man.
Well, half-man, half-biscuit...

[Blarobbarg]

Random Musing On... will be my thoughts on a particular band, which I will not think about before I write a review. Completely stream-of-consciousness. If it seems a little disjointed, that is why. Ye hath been warned.

Random Musings On...




Tourniquet is a 90's Christian progressive thrash band. I'll say it again. They are a 90's Christian progressive thrash band. How is that even possible? I'm not sure, but it happened. And believe it or not, they don't suck!

...Usually.

Their problem, like most Christian metal acts from the time period, is that they can be quite preachy on some songs, and in a way that is incredibly annoying. Mind you, I am a Christian, and it can bug even me. Thankfully, they don't stoop to this on all of their work, and quite honestly, I think that the group jumped to this when they could no longer think up creative lyrics for otherwise fantastic songs.

Speaking of the singing, they have two. Singers, that is. The two men (whatever their names are), have very different voices. One sings in a deep growl, the other in a strange, higher pitched, somewhat insane screachy voice. His singing can be grating on some songs, which is why I prefer the songs that the other guy is leading.

Which brings me to the next point. The music itself. It is essentially a mixture of thrash metal and classical music, with some jazz influences every once in awhile.. The primary music writer (and drummer), Ted Kirkpatrick, is classically trained and really shows it. The guitar solos he writes would sound more at home to a symphony than a four piece metal band.

Then again, the best of the traditional thrash solos are simply fantastic as well. Some serious head banding material.

A good example of both their weird prog stuff and their ripping thrash is on this track, "The Skeezix Dilemma." A good portion of the song is devoted to bizarre, off-kilter carnival music, as well as quite a bit of acoustic guitar noodling. And to top it off, the whole song is about some sort of science fiction board game, which is ITSELF a metaphor for childhood sexual abuse. Pretty good stuff.



But they can also rip out the pure thrash. On this song, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance," they start off sounding like Testament, and then without warning turn into Saint Vitus, and then back to Testament. I was completely obsessed with this song for a few weeks back in February.



If you like these two tracks, I highly suggest grabbing the album that they are both from, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance." Although it is not perfect, it's worth grabbing. Unfortunately, the only other album worth getting is "Psycho Surgery." Aside from these two gems, their work is a mess of good songs in just okay/bad/awful albums.

Essentially, Tourniquet, as a band can either be spectacular, or awful. At their best they are a genius thrash band with creative riffs, random time signature changes, beastly guitar solos, and absolutely insane drumming. At their worst they are a good band with uncreative

[Blarobbarg]

Also, here's something I laughed at.

[Blarobbarg]

And a sequel to the previous strip!

[Trollheart]

Hey Blab!
Just one small semi-criticism: incomplete information is never great, but never moreso when you point to it ("The two singers (whatever their names are") -- makes the review/piece look a little amateurish and not serious. I usually head to Wikipedia for any information I need to fill in the blanks: it's a real useful resource.

The guys are Guy Ritter and Gary Lenaire, as it happens.

I just believe going that few extra steps to try to get the information you need always adds to your entries, and gives people more a sense that you know your subject (even if, as sometimes happens with me, you don't!)

Wiki is your friend...

(Of course, there have been occasions where I can't find the info I want, but usually I mark this by saying that I've looked for the information but can't find it. Just saying "whoever they are" etc makes it look like you couldn't be bothered trying, which I'm sure is not the case with you.)

Originally Posted by Blarobbarg

Random Musing On... will be my thoughts on a particular band, which I will not think about before I write a review. Completely stream-of-consciousness. If it seems a little disjointed, that is why. Ye hath been warned.

Random Musings On...




Tourniquet is a 90's Christian progressive thrash band. I'll say it again. They are a 90's Christian progressive thrash band. How is that even possible? I'm not sure, but it happened. And believe it or not, they don't suck!

...Usually.

Their problem, like most Christian metal acts from the time period, is that they can be quite preachy on some songs, and in a way that is incredibly annoying. Mind you, I am a Christian, and it can bug even me. Thankfully, they don't stoop to this on all of their work, and quite honestly, I think that the group jumped to this when they could no longer think up creative lyrics for otherwise fantastic songs.

Speaking of the singing, they have two. Singers, that is. The two men (whatever their names are), have very different voices. One sings in a deep growl, the other in a strange, higher pitched, somewhat insane screachy voice. His singing can be grating on some songs, which is why I prefer the songs that the other guy is leading.

Which brings me to the next point. The music itself. It is essentially a mixture of thrash metal and classical music, with some jazz influences every once in awhile.. The primary music writer (and drummer), Ted Kirkpatrick, is classically trained and really shows it. The guitar solos he writes would sound more at home to a symphony than a four piece metal band.

Then again, the best of the traditional thrash solos are simply fantastic as well. Some serious head banding material.

A good example of both their weird prog stuff and their ripping thrash is on this track, "The Skeezix Dilemma." A good portion of the song is devoted to bizarre, off-kilter carnival music, as well as quite a bit of acoustic guitar noodling. And to top it off, the whole song is about some sort of science fiction board game, which is ITSELF a metaphor for childhood sexual abuse. Pretty good stuff.



But they can also rip out the pure thrash. On this song, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance," they start off sounding like Testament, and then without warning turn into Saint Vitus, and then back to Testament. I was completely obsessed with this song for a few weeks back in February.



If you like these two tracks, I highly suggest grabbing the album that they are both from, "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance." Although it is not perfect, it's worth grabbing. Unfortunately, the only other album worth getting is "Psycho Surgery." Aside from these two gems, their work is a mess of good songs in just okay/bad/awful albums.

Essentially, Tourniquet, as a band can either be spectacular, or awful. At their best they are a genius thrash band with creative riffs, random time signature changes, beastly guitar solos, and absolutely insane drumming. At their worst they are a good band with uncreative

[Blarobbarg]

Aaaaaaand I'm back!

I have to say, I feel really really out of touch with this community. Kind of feel like a stalker who just lurks around and reads a lot, but never posts, which is exactly what I am. I felt the need to contribute something, then I realized that I had this sitting here still. I guess I'll be trying to possibly put some more half assed reviews/blatherings up hear in the near future, maybe. If I feel like it.

By the way, my computer as it was never got fixed and it turned out to be impossible to retrieve my library of music off of it, which is pretty much all I cared about. Countless hours of searching and downloading, squandered! But all is not lost. I now use Grooveshark a ton, and am borrowing an iPod. II'll hopefully put a few things up about using someone else's iPod and listening to music that I may or may not be too fond of sometime later, when I have time and am not about to collapse from lack of sleep.

In conclusion: I'm a dork that can't touch electronics without them turning into rigor mortis, and I am stalking you as you read this very post. Here's the first song that popped in my head as I thought to put a song at the end of this post. It is Have A Nice Life's "Waiting For Black Metal To Come In The Mail." Liiiiive. This blows the album version out of the water, and is INTENSE. Enjoy!

[Blarobbarg]

Some Thoughts On Using Someone Else's iPod That Will Probably End Up Being Babbly And Unreadable

So as I said earlier, I am not using my own iPod. Mine was ruined mysteriously along with my computer several months ago. I got a new hard drive for the computer, but I wasn't able to save anything. I haven't even bothered to start a music "collection" as I did before. I'm mostly just using Grooveshark and CD's, which aint as bad as it sounds.

But that's not the point at all.

What IS the point, you may be asking? (I really don't know I'm just typing, hahahaha)

When you are forced to use an iPod that is not your own you become acutely aware of a few things. One, that you're not really going to be listening to much of anything you want to, and two, the person who is lending might just have more interesting musical tastes than you were aware of.

For instance. This is my mother's iPod (I know, I know) that she never even touches.

Along with the predictable wall of Van Morrison, Beatles, ZZ Top, and old gospel songs there were also some surprises.

Like this.


My mother? Listening to Ornette Coleman? Forsooth! I have found something great!

And there was more! Nina Simone! Ella Fitzgerald! Louis Armstrong! B.B. King! Muddy Waters! Howlin' Wolf! Why am I using exclamation points and not commas?! I don't know!

Honestly, if she wouldn't be terribly offended by all of you, she'd probably fit in awfully well around here. I always knew that she was super sarcastic all the time, I just didn't know she had the indie cred to back it up!

That said.

Does anyone have any suggestions for good Van Morrison albums? Cause it looks like I'll be listening to him for a looooong while.