Genesis : Mama

Peter Gabriel left Genesis in 1975, leaving Phil Collins to captain the ship. As time went by, even with Phil embarking on a solo career in 1981 (not to mention Mike + the Mechanics stepping out in '85), he still managed to keep the band together, selling albums and getting them into the charts. They released their self-titled album in '83, right as MTV was really catching on.

"Mama" is an example of a style which I think Phil borrowed heavily from Peter's 1980 "melting face" album*. You can see Phil's first experiment with it in the intro to the classic "In the Air Tonight" in 1981. He followed it up by producing Frida's "I Know There's Something Going On" and then his own "I Don't Care Anymore" in 1982.  All of these songs are propelled by an incessant, heavy, electronic groove and layered with brooding moody synths, building slowly to a crescendo as the song progresses. The lyrical content is generally dark as well, further adding to the atmosphere.

"Mama" is no exception.  It starts slow and heavy, slowly building up as the band adds layers of sound to the beat, including Phil's own drumming, and his vocals become more and more ragged and insistent. The lyrics are all about 'pain', 'heat' and 'steam', which lend to the general creepiness, as do the weird little laughs and moans Phil drops in.  Of course, the fact that throughout the entire song the singer is begging someone named 'Mama' not to leave him, only further ups the Norman Bates feel.  Apparently, the song's about a young man's fixation with a prostitute.  News to me, but it's still plenty creepy without knowing that.

"Mama" can be found on Genesis' 1983 self-titled release.  This album has the distinction of being one of the first physical CDs I ever owned, along with Hot Rocks by The Rolling Stones and Abbey Road by The Beatles.  My dad bought them for me, along with a little CD boombox, as a going-off-to-college gift, except he liked Abbey Road so much, he kept it for himself.  It's okay, don't worry, I've since bought my own copy.

*Trivia: He made the melting face by taking a Polaroid snapshot of himself and smooshing the goop around inside it with an eraser before it developed. Try it at home kids!

[You can listen to Genesis' "Mama" by navigating to the post "Song097" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Big Business : Shields

So, we talked about the Melvins a couple of weeks ago and how they drafted the entire band Big Business into their fold. This happened in 2006, I believe, and here we have a track from Big Business from 2007. You can hear the similarities. In fact, if you had told me this was the new Melvins release, I probably would have believed you.

They've got the same metal-influenced, bottom-heavy, hard rock style, which I dearly love. Intense, sturdy drum work and thick, detailed bass riffing underscore the urgency of the screaming almost-metal vocals. This is coupled with a great sense of dynamics and pacing and even a nice melody with what sounds like harmonies, but could just be the overtones generated from his shouting. It's tough to tell.

"Shields", from their 2007 release, Here Come the Waterworks, hits on all cylinders and is a perfect example of their sound at its perfection.  There's not a duff track on the entire disc. A great album.

[You can listen to Big Business' "Shields" by navigating to the post "Song069" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Uzeda : Surrounded

Uzeda is a heavy proggish rock band, along the lines of Helmet, Dazzling Killmen or Jesus Lizard.  Some call it 'math rock' which is probably appropriate, as it's concerned with rhythms, particularly non-standard ones.  Some call it 'post rock' which totally doesn't make sense, because that implies that they aren't rock, which implies that they don't rock, which makes no sense at all, because they totally fucking rock.  So, yeah, that's stupid.

Formed in 1987, Uzeda hails from Sicily (yes, in Italy).  The band is fronted by a nondescript Italian woman, Giovanna Cacciola, who screams the lyrics in slightly broken English.  Their music is loud, coarse, angular, with a great sense of dynamics and a mastery of tension and release.  It's nearly atonal, but it still completely rocks.

They released a Steve Albini-produced EP in 1995 on the excellent Touch & Go label that is four songs and ten short minutes of awesome.  I almost chose a song called "Sleep Deeper", mostly because with Giovanna's accent, it sounds like she's shouting about a "Sleepy Bird", but I went instead with the lead song, "Surrounded".  The song starts with a stutter, introducing its circular riff interlaced with open vocals.  Then the band goes at it in earnest, hammering away on the riff until it can barely take the weight anymore.  Listen for the break where they drop to a completely different, far thinner guitar sound for a few measures of respite, before launching back into the full-fledge frontal assault.  It's a vicious pounding of a song. Play it loud.

"Surrounded" comes from Uzeda's 1995 EP, 4.  I also have Stella, their most recent release (2006) after
a lengthy hiatus, but it's not nearly as good.  There are a couple of good songs, but they tend to drag on (none of the songs on 4 are over three minutes), and they lose their impetus and forget to rock.  I haven't heard any of their other stuff.

[You can listen to Uzeda's "Surrounded" by navigating to the post "Song065" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Melvins : A History of Bad Men

I love the Melvins. They are one of my favorite bands, and, unlike many of my other favorite bands, they've managed to both stay together and release good quality material consistently for over twenty years.


While their older stuff is classic, the stuff from their newest phase, starting with 2002's Hostile Ambient Takeover on Ipecac, is just as awesome. Somewhere along the way, (2006, if Wikipedia is to be believed) they lost yet another bass player, but this time they drafted an entire band to replace him, pulling in the power sludge duo Big Business. This gave them the bass player they needed, but also gave them an extra drummer, for super-heaviness.

Having two drummers is awesome. If you've never seen a band with two drummers (I saw the Boredoms with two drummers once), you're missing out. There's this naturally occurring choreography between them that occurs automatically (since they're playing the same rhythms) that is just amazing to watch. Plus, the Melvins' second drummer is left-handed, so Dale and he can pull off a mirror image thing as well. They've even melded part of their kits. So sweet!

There are several great songs off this album, but I chose "A History of Bad Men" for a couple of reasons. First, they do speed-punk quite nicely, but I wanted something that showcased the slow churning heaviness that the Melvins are known for. Second, you can really hear the two drummers on the track. Third, you can really hear the Big Business influence, which is funny in a way, considering you can really hear the Melvins influence in Big Business. But the vocals, while clearly following the Melvins grunge lineage, draw from BB's soaring, metal-based style.

As usual, I can't make heads or tails of what Buzzo is singing. In an interview with him once, I asked him whether the lyrics they printed for "Hooch" in the Houdini booklet were a joke, and he said, no, they were the actual lyrics. He doesn't really write lyrics, per se, he just writes sounds. I think this has changed a little, as you can actually hear him say "I got a head start running away" and "Not dead, just sleeping" in the song. But it's still anyone's guess as to what he's talking about.

You can hear "A History of Bad Men" on the Melvins' 2006 release, their first with the Big Business boys, A Senile Animal. The album is excellent (as is their most recent, Nude with Boots) and straddles the full range of the band, completely delivering exactly what you expect from them, yet somehow continuing to progress their sound. Excellent.

[You can listen to the Melvins' "A History of Bad Men" by navigating to the post "Song058" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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Jethro Tull : For a Thousand Mothers

I think Jethro Tull gets a bit of a bum rap in the rock world. Maybe it's because, while half their songs rock heavy ("Aqualung", "Hymn 43", "Cross-Eyed Mary"), the other half sounds like they were stolen from the local Renaissance Faire. Or, maybe it's because they stole the first Heavy Metal Grammy out from under Metallica's "One", even though Metallica had completely blown the song out live on-stage for the Grammy audience not more than fifteen minutes previous.

But Tull (as the fanboys call them) can throw down some serious licks. Say what you will, but their heavy songs are heavy, full of slightly broken proggy blues riffs and furious drumming. And of course, props to Ian Anderson for actually making the flute work as a rock instrument. He gets that thing howling as angrily as any sax or guitar out there. I once knew a flautist who hated Jethro Tull because Ian just played the flute wrong, to which I can only say, "Well, fuck you then" because you're missing the whole point of rock music in the first place.

Speaking of fuck-you's, even though the title sounds like a tribute, it's not exactly Mother's Day material. This piece is a bit of a kiss off to all the mothers and fathers out there who cast doubts on the dreams of their offspring. He's made it, and he's picking you up at eight in his limo to remind you just how seriously wrong you were.

"For a Thousand Mothers" is a serious rocker, with a prog bent. The guitar hammers the riffs hard and is matched in lockstep by the bass and drums, grooving on this 6/8 (maybe 12/8?) rhythm that shifts back and forth between twos and threes. Meanwhile, Ian shreds his flute, seriously pushing it to the limits with all sorts of nasty overtones crashing over the top. There's even a killer post-verse breakdown with just unaccompanied flute. And on top of all this, Ian delivers his parental kiss-off, which is thinly disguised by a rather nice melody. Very hummable.

Then, finally, after the song has been sung and the music fades, they go at it some more. It sounds like they looked at each other and decided, "Screw it, let's jam some more," and they kick it back into gear and jam for another sixty seconds or so, which unfortunately gets the fade out a second time.

You can find "For a Thousand Mothers" on Jethro Tull's 1968 release, Stand Up, which is a great LP, even with all the fay medieval stuff.

Actually, that's stuff's nice too. I just don't want you to think I'm a pansy.

[#38]

Testament : Riding the Snake

Let's kick the week off with a bang. I first heard this song on the metal channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and it blew me away. It was heavy without being too metally, like early Metallica or Helmet, and they've got Dave Lombardo drumming for them on this album.

Dave is a drumming machine. He started with Slayer and currently performs with Fantômas. His technique is perfect, while still being super-fast and phenomenally heavy. Every beat is perfectly in place, but he still manages to avoid sounding like a machine. Part of conveying "heaviness" in music is using what John Cage once called "grace". It's the ability to play around a note, to add just a little syncopation, to bring life to the music. In this case to drag it a little behind the rhythm, which builds the weight behind the beat. John Bonham was a master at this, which is why he is the best rock drummer to ever walk the earth. Neil Peart, while being a technical master, does not understand grace and does sound like a machine, which is why he is not the best rock drummer (Q.E.D.).

Dave is up there as far as drummers go. He would certainly give John a run for his money, but then Dave never drank himself to death by choking on his own vomit. So John's got him on that one.

Regardless, the entire album is just super-heavy & technically flawless and it rocks like nobody's business. Definitely one of my favorite finds in the past couple of years and it easily ranks in my top 100, although it probably tops the list for ugliest album covers of all time. From 1999, Testament's The Gathering.

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Mirrorkicks : Bleeding Love

Don't know much about Mirrorkicks, except they are from Britain (I think) and they have a website and a myspace page and a facebook page and a youtube channel and all the accoutrements of a new millennium band trying to make it these days. What they don't have is an album in the stores. I think they've released a single, but that's not this.

This is a cover of "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. It's from CokeMachineGlow's Fantasy Covers of 2008. Apparently this site rounds up a bunch of up-and-coming indie bands and gets them to cover popular songs from that year. Somehow Mirrorkick ended up with this one.

The song itself is interesting to parse. At first it sounds like a paean to the self-sacrifice sometimes necessary for true love: I'm so in love, it just bleeds out of me, I can't even help it. But on further reads, you notice the singer's friends are trying to pull these two lovers apart, and you realize that maybe the cuts and bleeding might not be metaphorical. There's definitely a "He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)" vibe going on here.

Did I mention it was co-written by Jesse McCartney? Weird.

Madam Leona's version is somewhat plaintive. It's got a nice modern soul vibe to it, but it's wrapped in a swath of modern production and it ends up being a little glisteny, a bitter pill, but sugar-coated.

Mirrorkicks grabs hold of the song though and bruises it up, dragging it back into the real-life grimy world we all live in. Their track is heavy, loaded down with thick guitar and a loping, tom-heavy 6/8 drum beat. The singer nails the vocal: ragged, raw, pleading, but hopeful. They do such an amazing job, they actually made me like the original more. Give it a listen.

It's not available on any album that I know of, but you can grab it from the CokeMachineGlow website, along with some other great covers. There's a good cover of MIA's "Paper Planes" up there too.

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