Back!

Hi guys! I know I haven't been on here in like a year, but a lot of things have been going on in my personal life. Most notably, I graduated last week with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature. So that's been kind of cool. Now I'm just hanging out in Santa Cruz for a bit before heading back home to LA. My ideal goal would be to land some sort of librarian job in San Jose, but that's quite a long shot.

But enough about my personal life. Several things have happened in the prog world during my hiatus. I think most notably I went to see Steven Wilson in concert in his Grace for Drowning tour promoting his 2012 solo album Grace for Drowning as a follow up to his superb 2008 debut solo album Insurgentes. Both of which are amazing and beautiful. The cool thing is, though, I managed to meet Steven! I got him to sign my copy of Cenotaph, and got a picture with him.

That's me on the far left, with my two friends in the middle. Directly next to me is Mason, current bassist to local Santa Cruz band Old Arc. To the right of him is my Tumblr buddy Adam, a great aspiring musician who has several interesting projects going at the moment. The dialogue between Steven and I went as follows:

Me: "I love Bass Communion, great stuff."
Steven: "Thanks."

I'll admit, I was in that nervous stupor of meeting an idol for the first time, or I would have thought of something more to say. Great night that was, though, great night. The show was great as well, as a lot of the songs were different than the album version. An added solo, more flair, more power.

Anyway, the other noteworthy release I was anticipating was Steven Wilson and Mikael Akerfeldt's collaboration Storm Corrosion. Also released earlier this year, self titled album Storm Corrosion did not disappoint. Incorporating experimental post-rock elements, what we get is hauntingly beautiful pieces. These songs evoke a strange though not unpleasant sadness in me, a bittersweet melancholy that I have not felt before. Though because of this I still don't have a concrete grasp on my standing toward the album, I would still hands down recommend it. Great stuff.

That's all I can think of for now. Now that I'm not occupied with school, I hope to post a lot more on here, as well as devote more time to my various projects I've been contemplating over the years. Exciting times.

Dislocated Day - Porcupine Tree

Finally, my first song post. Took me a while, as things kept coming up. But finally, here it is.

Dislocated Day, the second track from Porcupine Tree's third studio album (not including Voyage 34), released in 1995. And a very interesting track it is. It begins with a phone ringing, then suddenly leaps into a very psychedelic sort of riff. We hear a distorted Floydish guitar note dancing wildly; an appropriate introduction to the song. We hear a simple yet fitting bass riff that is to repeat through most of the song; it evokes a sort of trance almost. Most noticeable, however subtle, is the percussion (aside from the usual drumset of course) in the background, one that makes me think of a ritual. Its distance from the foreground of the instruments suggests some muted urgency of sorts, characteristic of psychedelic and maybe space rock. The fast pace of the percussion contrasts nicely with the slow daunting Floydish keyboard chords when they enter a few seconds into the song.

In the chorus we find ourselves gradually descending down those keyboard chords in synchronization with the lines of lyrics. When we reach the bottom, we are struck with a strange very psychedelic riff consisting of what sounds like two strangely harmonized guitars; one of which is fairly clean in tone, and the second an reiteration of the wild overzealous note which greeted us when the song began. These two guitars follow a sort of arpegio, upon which the second measure brings with it those Floyd chords.

After the second chorus we get the solo. The clean guitar flies into a fancy while the wild one seems to take after the bass pattern. About three fourths into the solo, a third guitar joins in, higher in pitch, sort of gliding above the first. After the solo, the percussion is no longer audible, and we enter into one last verse. The song ends with a man leaving a voice mail, finishing what the ringing phone began. From what I can make out "let me know what you think and I'll speak to you soon. Bye!"

Lyrics suggest some kind of drug trip. The way Wilson sings this is very haunting, somewhat whispered, definitely not fully sung out, suggesting that the protagonist is at least partially incapacitated, furthering the drug trip theory. From what I collect from the title of the song and the musical composition, it is about a day that simply feels odd (due to narcotics or otherwise). It "peers into the ether". We have very beautiful, however cryptic, lyrics here. "Dislocated Day, I will find a way to make you say the name of your forgiver" is what is said in the chorus. The word 'forgiver' here makes me think of a priest or a church like setting, perhaps. Who knows?

This song clearly has no concrete interpretation. But there are many different interpretations that are definitely plausible. And so, readers, I ask that you leave a comment, telling me of your own interpretations, or to simply point out a flaw in my logic or analysis.

If you have not heard the song, or have not heard of Porcupine Tree, I highly suggest you check them out. Quality stuff, without a doubt. And with that, good night!

Recent Happenings

Greetings readers.

I read some news today which made me very happy. Firstly, Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree front man, is in the process of recording his second solo album. His first, Insurgentes, was superb, and quite possibly one of the most beautiful album's I've heard. The lush soundscapes he creates carry me off to another world with each listen. Also Wilson related (you will hear a great deal of him, as he is one of my idols) is that his new Bass Communion album is complete. Entitled Cenotaph, will be a sequel to Ghosts on Magnetic Tape.

A little on Bass Communion: this is one of Wilson's many (No-Man, Blackfield, IEM, to name a few) side projects. Bass Communion is an ambient/drone/instrumental band. Their songs are usually upwards of 10 minutes, carefully and beautifully painting a scene with serene and otherworldy sounds. They have ten albums out already, of which I am ashamed to say I own only one. But in my defense, they are extremely difficult to come across (a copy on amazon is going for $50, last I checked) and I am but a poor humble college student. I would definitely recommend them to anyone into that sort of music.

Also, Mikael Akerfeldt's band Opeth (the best metal band in recent times) announced that their tenth album is coming along. This pleased me immensely, as I haven't heard new material from them since the song Throat of Winter for the recent God of War soundtrack. Their last album, Watershed, came out in 2008; its about time for some new Opeth.

I will discuss these people/bands/songs in much more detail in upcoming posts. But this is the general heads up for now.

...But Not Here

Hello my as of yet non existent readers! I am a college student, a Literature Major (aka Basket Weaving Major), with a strong interest in some somewhat obscure and  lesser known musical bands and genres. I plan to create this blog as a casual place to discuss my these topics and the general going-on's of this specific music scene.

To loosely describe the genres, I would call them Experimental Rock, Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, a bit of good Death Metal (trust me, it exists), a bit of everything in between, and perhaps a few bands outside of these genres completely.  I will discuss some giants in these categories (Metallica, Dream Theater, Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd), as well as some (tragically) lesser known bands (Spock's Beard, Porcupine Tree, 3, Pure Reason Revolution). My plan is to discuss a band/song very periodically, but we shall see how this goes.

I shall express my opinions here, and that is all they are: opinions. Not right or wrong. And I by no means am an expert in these genres, or in music, for that matter. There are many many bands I don't know or haven't heard that I should have, and many facts about the bands I do discuss that I do not know. That being said, this is a discussion board, and I am open to comments (not trolling).