Outer Music Diary

Mugen - The Princess of Kingdom Gone

If you read on the bottle, Mugen apparently may cause anxiety and other symptoms. OK, that’s not really true, or it may not be for you anyway. But it is the progressive rock equivalent of a Danielle Steele-penned Dragonlance novel. It’s the moment in a musical where the lovers finally come together and break into song. Sleeping Beauty after the kiss. Brought to the big screen by Pixar.

The Shiver - Walpurgis

You have to wonder how something this bad ever gets released (well I did until the internet age). It sounds more or less like a bunch of amateurs got together to make music like what they were listening to, the Eric Burdon influence is huge even outside “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” The playing is all-first-team atrocious, the vocalist almost unbearable and I’m thinking right now why I ever would have rewarded this with an 8. Instant replay says the basket did NOT count.

St. Elmo’s Fire - Studio Tracks

I can’t even remember the source of this cassette, some of it could have come out later on CD, although given that one song is here 3 or 4 times, and a really bad song at that, I can’t imagine this fits neatly with anything. I guess this probably fits next to a band like Ethos or one of various third or fourth tier American progressive rock bands, but I wouldn’t say it’s probably representative of their better material either. Overall, I really need to stop trauma seeking, it’s not healthy.

Motor Totemist Guild - Omaggio Futi (EP)
Motor Totemist Guild - Shapuno Zoo

Here’s an example of individuals performing interesting, unique and complex compositions … for another audience. It’s interesting to listen to the emotional content of these avant gardists, as there is a starkly beautiful, yet typically dissonant and angular bent to the melody lines that my mind refuses to follow. I might have called something like this academic once, but it just seems like a different paradigm now.

Widespread Panic - Warfield, San Francisco 3/29/97

Panic toe the line between the insipidly commercial and out-of-left-field inspiration. It’s a funny mix because it’s got a certain sense of romanticism that I find maybe a bit Hollywood, it sucks you in but you know it’s not good for you, so it feels like going to war with the music. Then they jam and you know they’re actually pretty good at times. It all adds up to something that says easily digestible. So having this as a second listen and then putting it on the shelf for a while might keep it fresh over the long run. *turns taps off*

Edge - Sarcastic Fringeheads
Citizen Cain - Somewhere but Yesterday

I think I must be years away from any sort of affinity with this kind of music. I mean in the past. Citizen Cain come out the gate with Cyrus who goes “cha-cha!” in grand Fugazi style. They’re a pretty professional band, although they do fall prey to one of the great problems with neo-progressive music, that some of the chord progressions are extremely unimaginative, so that earnest repetition hammers in the dreadful factor. OK, I can handle the bits where the third gen keyboard player recycles Tony Banks via Mark Kelly with the “moog in a vacuum” 80s synth sound, but the wall to wall high drama is exhausting. No matter how you look at it, this is the hobbits going after the Dark Lord over and over again. Did I talk about Edge? Do I need to? I would have if it was Suction 8.

The Meters - Fire on the Bayou

Someone here said this was the best of the Meters albums a while back. I’ve heard three and I’d have to say it’s the best of those anyway (and the other two are great), but this one is another album where the title says it all. It burns and grooves and if you don’t like it, you have no soul. Or maybe not much.

Fela Kuti - Monkey Banana
Fela Kuti - Excuse O

Hey, you ever hear the one about all the Fela Kuti albums sounding alike? *rim shot*

Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue

It’s sad when a band puts more creativity into their album title than their album. OK that was harsh, but so is potential gone south. And given how much I dug Maudlin of the Well, I don’t say this lightly, but what happened? OK, maybe I couldn’t keep up with their leap into the avant garde, but that doesn’t make me a bad person does it? It’s kind of a weird career arc because even in their move away from convention and songform and all that wonderful stuff, I still sense them moving closer to paths Esoteric and Tiamat already paved, and they’re a major influence in the first place. Big, slow, crunchy guitar chords and loud screams. The more tender moments. Abstract with noise. And this almost nagging need to keep away from the tonic like the plague. Anyway I’ll switch from sounding betrayed and wave the good ship Kayo Dot on their way out the harbor onto a new land. My (wow, nice it’s a cut out) buck stops here.