Something 4 The Weekend # 236

Earth: Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II: "The Corascene Dog" [mp3]

For more than twenty years now, Dylan Carson has been doing his thing as the leader of Earth, and his/their thing is playing really fucking slow.

It's a simple enough idea, really, and Earth probably weren't the first to do it, but an argument could be made that they're the best at playing really fucking slow.

It's a tough trick, especially since the first decade of Earth was all about heavy, distorted guitars and bass, creating a sound critics call Doom or Drone, I believe. Heavy distorted guitars are always very cool, even if or especially when played really fucking slow, but the tricky part is keeping it interesting. The tricky part is finding melodies that work at such languid speeds, that not only keep the song moving forward, but keep the listener engaged for ten or more minutes per song. Carson and his band found a way to make yr balls tickle and yr mind blown at the same time, and that's no easy feat.

About 6-8 years ago Carson largely reinvented the band. They still played really fucking slow, but now the music had the sounds and tones of Countryfolkblues. If you want to affix a label to this new Earth sound, I'd suggest Country Doom or Doom Country.

I'd also suggest that it's more brilliant than the heavier Doom of Earth's first decade. And now, with their latest album, Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light, Earth appears to be taking their first steps towards Jazz, or something equally as beautiful.

Or maybe I'm just high.

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend # 133

Earth: The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull: "Engine Of Ruin" [mp3]

The passing of Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy this past week has heightened the already extreme polarity of American politics between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. While most liberals have been effusive in their praise for the man's many legislative accomplishments and his championing of those among us who are in need of the most championing (the poor, tired and huddled masses), many conservatives have approached the man's passing from an entirely different direction, honing in on the incident/crime at Chappaquiddick as the jumping off point for demonization of the man's entire life and career, and even much worse, celebrating his death, and wishing death upon others who share his political philosophy. They celebrate his death because of the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. They cheer his death because of his pro-abortion beliefs, but mostly they rejoice in his death merely because he doesn't share their same basic political worldview.

This is the America we live in today - largely devoid of empathy, sympathy, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, compromise, etc...We revel in the misfortune of others, we take great comfort and joy in the misery of those we do not like, or merely don't agree with. We demonize those we do not understand because it is far easier to do so than to try and simply understand.

And I say this not to necessarily demonize the conservative right, because you and I know damn well that when Dick Cheney dies, there will be far too many on the political left who will act and speak with the same kind of vitriol we are currently seeing directed at Kennedy. Hell, I'll likely be one of them...

And the saddest part of all this is - I believe this country hasn't been this divided since the Civil War era, and there is no easy way back to civility, respectful discourse, and the ideals upon which this country was supposedly founded. We are a country adrift. We are lost, and it remains to be seen whether or not we can find our way back.

Ever the cynic (I prefer pragmatic, but whatever), I fear we are beyond the point of no return.

But hey, have a fantastic weekend!

Hotcha! Hank

Belated Earth Sideways Maneuver

This is the current incarnation of EARTH, performing the song "A Plague Of Angels", from their Hibernaculum album...Circa last year...Dylan Carlson is the dude on the right playing guitar, the drummer is Adrienne Davies, and that's Don McGreevy on the left, manning the thunder broom...

This incarnation is probably the most stable lineup in the band's history, and this song and performance is indicative of the "Roots Drone" thing they've been doing since Carlson got past his drug and legal problems...As much as I admire Carlson's early music, the heavy Doom/Drone stuff that is hella lot more groundbreaking than most folks know, I gotta say, this thing he's got happening now is just as exciting and groundbreaking in a whole new way...

Of course, I'm suddenly reminded of Japancakes circa 1997, but whatever...

Hotcha! Hank

Something 4 The Weekend # 45

Dylan Carlson and Kurt Cobain were best friends right up to the end, and roommates, once upon a time, in those lean teenage years before the beginning of the end. Somewhere, in some shoe box in the back of some closet in the greater Sea-Tac area, or possibly locked up in a safety deposit box in Los Angeles, are tape recordings of the two of them making heavy abstract music together.

Then Grunge happened, and a few years later Kurt gave Dylan cash to buy a shotgun, cuz Dylan was the one "who likes to shoot his guns", and really, a guy as famous and famously unstable as Cobain just can't go around buying guns - not from licensed dealers or the trunk of a '74 Ford Torino. Not at a gun show or from some dude my cousin Chico knows...

The story kinda sorta ends, as you know, with Cobain and that gun, the slug that killed Grunge...

And it's poetic (or possibly ironic) that Carlson was the one who scored the gun, cuz in my own version of RAWK HISTORY, Carlson was the one who was actually creating and playing actual Grunge music. Soundgarden were cool, but they were more or less a Led Zeppelin tribute band, and Mudhoney were a drunken Garage Rock band, and Pearl Jam still think that they're The Who, and Nirvana, deep down in their sweatered hearts, were a Pop band, or possibly a very sloppy Boston tribute band...

Grunge, if it was anything, was the slow, droning heaviness of Carlson's band, Earth.

It was also, possibly, The Melvins, but for the sake of this post, Grunge was Earth, not Alice In Chains, another Zeppelin tribute band...

So anyways, I could have streamed one of those slow heavy drones that Carlson excelled at, but instead, I'm drinking coffee that's been "Irished up" cuz I'm greasing myself for a late night recording session, and those slow, heavy drones are half an hour long, and if you want that sort of thing, go check out this month's EVERYTHINGATHON!

Instead, here's a lean 5'29" slice of kinder, gentler Earth...Something from their 1996 album, Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons, which mostly explored conventional heavy music of the Pop/Rock variety. After this, Carlson's life became a distracting blur of drug and legal problems that he didn't emerge from until 2003...Nowadays Earth's music incorporates Blues, Country and other traditional styles, while still maintaining the slow, droning qualities that makes Carlson's music much more unique than most people realize or give him credit for...

And again, in my own version of RAWK HISTORY, Carlson has been as influential as Cobain...Without Carlson and his music, we might not have bands such as Mogwai, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Sunno))), Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, and Nirvana...

Earth: Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons: "Crooked Axis For String Quartet"

Hotcha! Hank