Local musician Jeremy Messersmith will be discussing and performing this Thursday, the 27^th, at Coffman Union’s Whole Music Club as part of the Making Music Series. If you’ve been reading these Wake blogs then you know I’m a fan of Messersmith’s latest album The Reluctant Graveyard. Recently I had the privilege of seeing Messersmith in concert at 89.3 the Current’s Birthday Party at First Ave and can vouch for his live shows. It starts at 8:00 and is free as far as I can tell, definitely worth your Thursday night.

Now that 2010 has officially ended it is time to reflect on the music of the last year (you’re bound to have seen other lists prior to the new year, but they’re jumping the gun). As always “best” is pretty flimsy word and is often used as a substitute for “popular” or “favorite.” Instead, this will be a list of the albums I was most impressed by in 2010. I gotta admit that there are others on a higher level of musicphile than I am, so please bear with me even though my iTunes library is 7,000 < your library and my vinyl collection has remained static for the last few years (been at 0 for some time now). In alphabetic order:

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

The Black Keys, Brothers

Jeremy Messersmith, The Reluctant Graveyard

Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Vampire Weekend, Contra

Hate Win Butler’s Haircut? Think Kanye’s a megalomaniac and VW’s lead singer’s actual name is Preppy Prepperson IV? By all means post your five and let the discussion stretch well into 2011.

These reviews had to get cut down to fit into the spread. Here’s the uncut versions!

Kevin Tully

Ocrilim’s Purging Trilogy is something I can appreciate for what it is.

There’s not really much going on in the whole damn thing except guitar track over guitar track over guitar track times infinite. It’s basically 2 hours and 12 minutes of one dude playing guitar. Now, I have to say I’m totally in awe of anyone that can see a project of that magnitude to completion. Especially considering the fact that all 24 tracks sound different from one another. That’s fucking impressive, I don’t care what you’re into.

But is appreciating this behemoth of a trilogy the same as enjoying it? No. It’s not. Though I certainly found some enjoyment out of a couple tracks on this three-part epic (Namely Ixoltion Part III and “Annothrith Hymn 5″), they were few and far between. I understand why people like heavy-handed experimental musicians like Ocrilim. And shit, if this sort of music is your thing then you’re totally gonna love The Purging Trilogy. It’s just not MY thing.

I’m not asking for the two hours of my life I spent listening to it back, I’m just saying that I probably wouldn’t do it again.

Angela Sanders

For an album that is over two hours long, not a whole lot happens.

The Purging Trilogy is a huge undertaking for the listener, and while I can appreciate Barr’s technical skills as a guitarist, I cannot help but be dissatisfied with the product as a whole. Part 1, Ixoltion, has a constant drone in the background and not much layered on top of it. The potential for an epic album to match its epic name was there. So, I waited. And waited. And waited.

Nothing.

The same phenomenon occurred in part 2, Sacreth: the drone and the minor layering, but nothing that caught me off guard.

At least part three, Hymns, had some variety. But the technical aspect had lost its intrigue and I felt like I was listening to my life just hum by. Music should be more engaging than that.

Basically, The Purging Trilogy is a two-hour guitar solo: great for the guitarist, but a musical drone for listeners.

Peter Starkebaum

It all starts with a pain bearing, angst-spiked guitar with an accordion-like drawl during Purging Trilogy I: Ixoltion. That leads to an annoying buzzing bass draped in static infused white noise. However, in this horror there is an attraction; the notes feel sensitive and bare, the guitar alone gives me the feeling of an open nerve being sliced. But the noise cuts not so sharp as serrated, and it makes my ears wince. The longer I listen, the more my mind circulates with annoyance and frustration. As I write this I am listening to Part II of Ixoltion, and all I really want to do is punch a spinning fan.

Actually, a spinning fan might be a good image for the first part of the album, in which repetitive rifts further urged on my frustrated attitude. However, as the album revolves toward Purging Trilogy II: Sacreth, it becomes clear that the progression of the album will reflect human life: a mingling of pleasure and pain.

In this case, that powerful collision occurs with mercy when the percussion breaks in as a grounding force to the relentless shredding. Finally, the album’s chaotic mood seems to have found relieving stability.

And then the Annothrith Hymns begin. They seem like a ghostly reflection of I and II, and I feel an oddness of opposites while listening to them, like a steady heartbeat after two cups of coffee. In reflection, the Hymn’s felt like a romantic after thought to the Sacreth’s Industrial Revolution, where the rhythm attempted to tame the raw wild guitar chords. Ultimately, the Hymns ended the album in a complete way and left a clear impression that the album had a distinct direction.

Overall, the experience was heavy and epic; it provoked perspective and true emotion. But if someone asked me if I enjoyed the new album, I would have to say it was like picking a scab: it took some cold shivers and necessary pain to get in to the warm, sensitive and bloody.

Sage Dahlen

Ocrilim’s The Purging Trilogy is more than an album. All told, it clocks in at just over two hours and twelve minutes. Seeing as so much music consumption is measured in seconds, listening to this project is sort of a commitment.

What fills that time could be described as a soundtrack to a torrential rainstorm, or a migraine headache. It’s long, self-indulgent, unremarkable noodling with some badass grunge and metal riffs interspersed (I’ll save you some time – the best track is Part 3 of Part II, Sacreth).

Trilogy, however, is not long in a “I-want-my-life-back” way, because it never fully holds your attention. You can troll around on the Internet, or make dinner while Mick Barr twiddles his fingers over guitar strings.

But how much can you really ask for from a solo guitar project?

Zach McCormick

My journey into Ocrilim’s uniquely daunting Trilogies was not one I willingly gave my full attention to. I’ve never been much of a fan of experimental classically-influenced metal. I’ve never been much of a fan of either classical music or metal, for that matter. This process was, at some times, akin to aural invasion by tiny alien buzzsaw. It was not fun.

But, I, ladies and gentlemen, am a Journalist. And that means something goddamnit. So I’ll listen to all two and a half fucking hours of this thing if it kills me, because ethics are the only fucking thing that matters these days anyway.

Look, I’m not going to say that the album’s final screetching, feedbacking decent into silence wasn’t the best thing to happen to me all night. I basically did everything I could to hold back the sweet tears of joy. But this is a legitimate work of music here people, and we have to treat it as such. Ocrilim may be the Public Enemy Number One within my auditory cortex, but he deserves a fair shake like everyone else, and I’ll be the man to give it to him.

This is actually a trilogy of Albums by the virtuousic solo guitarist Mick Barr. The first album being Part I: Ioxoltion and the second being Part II: Sacreth and you can see where this is going. Sacreth has a drum machine (the other two are solo guitar) and contains the album’s only highlight: “Part 4”. The rest of these songs, while all virtuosic and technical and lofty, really aren’t all that engaging. Great playing simply does not equal great album, and this record will really only appeal to diehard genre fans, who will probably love it because it’s a masterpiece. Everyone else is going to run in horror away from the mental sandpaper that is layer upon layer of buzzing, treble heavy guitar constantly switching tempo and time. If Rachmaninov had been raised in a stoner metal band, this is probably what he would have come up with.

So if you enjoy this sort of posturingly virtuosic playing from a fellow who probably spent many long hours pouring the midnight oil over at the music school, by all means, Trilogies is probably album of the year for you. For the rest of us however, it’s a droning torturous mess of buzz and pretense.

Tom Waits fans rejoice; Heath Ledger fans pay your respects. Both, for sure, should head to the theater to see director Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Yes, it is rated PG-13, but here Gilliam has successfully created a reflective, mature, and narratively sophisticated movie that didn’t need to tone itself down to garner the box office boosting rating from the MPAA. It is only showing at the Lagoon Theatre in Uptown, and you had better get there quickly because it probably will not run much longer—and it’s surely a film best seen on the big screen: the standout aspect of the film is its visual appeal. This is an imaginarium we are buying into, after all. The actual imaginarium is quite beautifully imagined and depicted, and The Imaginarium is worth seeing for these creative and, yes, imaginative special effects alone. Or you could go see Avatar for the second (or third) time, but in that world will be felt a staggering lack of Tom Waits.

Finally, somebody cast Tom Waits as the Devil. As in Lucifer, the son of perdition, the tempter. Here, he is called Mr. Nick, a No. 2-mustachioed, top-hatted, cigarette smoking villain. Waits’ lines take on the distinct, timeless quality of a man not of this world, and his performance drives the comedic playfulness of the film, providing it with its most memorable dialogue. He plagues the life of the powerful Dr. Parnassus, a former mage/monk turned alcoholic mobile sideshow street attraction proprietor and performer. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is tragically flawed: he likes to gamble, and his usual opponent accepts nothing but the juiciest of stakes. The great doctor’s past catches up with him and he and his sideshow crew, with the dubious aid of Heath Ledger and company, must out-magic the Devil while dealing with their own stressed relationships and dreams of life beyond the imaginarium circuit.

The film, due to the untimely death of the talented Heath Ledger, had to undergo plot alterations which at times convolute an already fantastical story. As a Gilliam film it was never going to be easy to follow or entirely preoccupied with plot resolution and clarity, but the extra layer added by a character whose face repeatedly changes—for the other characters as well as for the audience—cannot be said to be smooth, but despite the fact that it is clearly unplanned, this does not detract from the narrative too strongly, and the situation lends to the film the chance for Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law to play short parts, paying tribute as fill-ins for Ledger in the scenes he left unfinished.

It is not a movie for everyone, but for every Terry Gilliam, Heath Ledger, Tom Waits, or anything-but-the-same-crap-movie fan, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus should be a treat.

Finals week is coming and with the catchy acronyms comes the realization that many of us have fourteen plus weeks of learning to do before December 17th. Long hours in the library are tedious at best, but the deafening silence can make any extended stay at Walter downright unbearable. If you need a theme song to your finals study experience, look no further than the Kruder & Dorfmeister remix of “Useless” by Depeche Mode.

Finding its place in the first half of the stunning K & D Sessions, “Useless” is a slice of downtempo bliss that even those unfamiliar with the genre will appreciate. With a beat that deftly tiptoes the fine line between overwhelming and shallow and a bassline that is fluid beyond all words, “Useless” is a song that radiates calm focus. It is not dense and distracting but is engaging enough to keep you conscious during a marathon study session.

Like the best of Brian Eno’s work, “Useless” doubles as good background music and remains engaging when given a deeper listen. The mix is open, but where this can sometimes lead to monotony, “Useless” has enough subtlety that it remains entertaining. As is characteristic of trip-hop, “Useless” is a song of loops, but these loops are interesting, making them appear as more than parts on repeat.

If “Useless” proves anything it is that Kruder & Dorfmeister may very well be the most talented production team in the trip-hop scene. They are able to temper the wilder sides of their genre with more accessible elements without bastardizing their art. “Useless” is an incredible song, a true testament to the great things a couple of producers with a pile of studio equipment can do. For those looking to stave off the insanity that inevitably accompanies long hours in the library, “Useless” is the song for you.

let’s be honest…we have been spoiled with good weather. now, as winter is biting hard and finals are drawing near, any cause to smile is a good one. here is one i found…enjoy!

the muppets sing queen’s “bohemian rhapsody”

On Saturday night I went to the Wolfmother gig at the State Theater … and was pleasantly surprised by one of the opening acts – Heartless Bastards.

The quartet has an older, garage band sound with a hint of psychedelic (they are definitely channeling some sonic youth). Their heavy guitars fill the soundwaves with further vibrations from the drums to make a Southern/rock/blues combo that brought the audience to their feet.

Their new album entitled The Mountain is raw, powerful and passionate and entirely worth checking out.

“Nothing Seems the Same” video

I cannot fully describe how excited I was to read about Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) stepping out to make a solo album.

Under the alias of Rain Machine, Malone’s album “Rain Machine” dropped on September 22, 2009, and was met with high praise. While Rain Machine shows ties to TV on the Radio’s albums, “Rain Machine” is more than capable to stand on its own. The overall sound of the album is natural and strikingly experimental. While the two ideas seem ironic, the sound Malone creates is earthy and harmonic.

The album is introduced with isolated pieces of percussion and develops into the first single off the album, “Give Blood”. Malone’s falsetto carries through each song…you can finally hear his full range. It is well impressive. “Leave the Lights On” is one of my personal favorites; it is spacious and light and you can just drift away in the song.

“Rain Machine” has an extraordinary power of decompressing the anxieties of the day, which is perfect for me this week. And, to top it all off, Rain Machine will be in Minneapolis this Friday!!! I’m stoked, hope to see you there!

Rain Machine
7th Street Entry
16 October 2009
Doors: 8.00pm

Four of the first six short films screened at the festival have smoking in them. My film, A Living Contradiction, is the fifth being screened. The camera’s subject matter is a runner. I knew I should’ve had the runner smoke. Fuck.

I am going to predict the outcome of the film festival. The judge’s selection for best short film will be Liška. This film festival was no contest. Liška had plenty of room for improvement [to the filmmaker: The pauses at the end of the film were poorly placed and too frequent. The cigarette falling from the girl's mouth fell all wrong. Do this shot over. The acting by the filmmakers on the bus ride was atrocious] but no other film was composed well enough to compare.

I couldn’t force myself to sit through the long films. I watched one and convinced myself that watching these films was ruining my cinematic brain. Also, I won’t be making any reliable predictions for the audience’s favorite film since it’s dependent on how many persons each filmmaker can bring to see his or her film. I hadn’t a chance to survey the audience much during the films but perhaps the film with the largest number of actors will win (Equinox?)

Ideally, the next student film festival will have hundreds of entries instead of a handful. Perhaps then the University can opt to have a festival of some merit.

The awards presentation is tonight at 7PM at Coffman Union Theatre. I will update this entry with the winners afterwards.

Winners
Short Film, Judge’s Choice: Liška
Short Film, Audience’s Choice: Li
Long Film, Judge’s Choice: Hearing Murmurs
Long Film, Audience’s Choice: Off Campus

Everyone wants to write a book. It’s a glorified prospect – you write a book, you must be bright. And in the digital age it couldn’t be simpler (to be bright). At this very moment, if I wanted, I could upload a text document containing any of my own writings, submit it to a self-publishing company such as iUniverse, LuLu Enterprises, CreateSpace or Xlibris and hold a hardcopy of it – sans editing – in a few days time.

The attraction to publish through one of these companies is clear: it’s cheap and quick (like couscous). Little to no upfront costs and one can have copies made for friends and relatives by Tuesday. The author has a great deal of control over the process with no need to worry about storage space for unsold copies; many of self-publishing companies will print-on-demand and mail to customers. How does an author justify the arduous process of going to a publishing house? Consultation, editing, connection with an existing string of bookstores for distribution, upfront payment, marketing? Whether these aspects are worthwhile depends on the author’s goals and vision for their work but turnover in titles is showing that publishing houses are suffering while self-publishing companies are thriving.

So it would seem that people would rather hold what they have written than read what someone else has. In turn, traditional publishers are also forced to be more selective with their booklists; focusing on titles that will sell despite the economy rather than those that are substantial (with some overlap, I hope). For this reason, it’s comforting to know that self-publishing exists as an alternative to those who can’t afford or be afforded to be published by traditional means. Any comfort can turn to an unsettling feeling when one realizes any great work will likely be lost in the depths of common poetry and memoirs that should never have been written, much less published.

Short story: Don’t sleep with someone just because they’re published.