I'm Not Dead Yet...

... I feel happy! I feel-*thunk*

Yes, I know that updates have been few and far between over here. What can I say? The economy is rotten, and my budget has been in the toilet since long before this blog was ever created.

In the spirit of the holiday, I trust you are all picking out your favorite creepy-gothic-whatsits off the shelf and playing them loud and proud.

Here's to hoping for an improvement in my finances in the near future, because there is tons of stuff that I want to review but just haven't had the scratch for.

In the meantime, here's a little something from NYC's post-punk cult favorites, The Hunt. They put on a hell of a show, so definitely check them out.



Okay, that video is a little cheesy, but shut up, they're an awesome band. See how many independent NYC band members you can count that made guest appearances in that video.



[The Hunt at myspace]

A Quick Retrospective: Swans, The Great Annihilator

First, I would like to state that this entry is late because of computer difficulties due to people in the world being scumbags that do terrible things to other people's computers. Things are sorted out on the hardware end, but unfortunately the budget end is still a tad out-of-whack, so we're going to reach back to the bygone 1995 for today's quick n' dirty coverage.

Swans. I know nothing about the band. A friend loaned me The Great Annihilator, and I am now hooked. I am wishing I had found out about this band back in 1995, when this album was released, so as to have many years and cherished memories. Had I listened to this over a decade ago, I might have been inspired to take up a guitar in my teens instead of now; this is the sort of music I want to make.

Trying to pigeonhole this album is a pain. It varies between outright disturbing art-rock to something industrial to amazingly bright-sounding guitar blasts and so on. Despite it's variety, it works amazingly well as a whole. If anything is wrong with this album, it's the length; The Great Annihilator is too damn long. But in any event, I recommend it highly. It has become one of my new favorites and never stops being a mind-bending experience.

Some favorite tracks: "I Am The Sun," "Mind/Body/Light/Sound," "My Buried Child"


Official Swans website

Okay, I fess up...

... I have nothing for today. Sue me; I'm broke and don't like bootlegging stuff just so I can review it.

Watch this video instead. It's my friend Frank's band Revel Hotel.





Revel Hotel's myspace page.
Frank's music blog, in case you've missed the million other links I've posted to it.