BULLSHIT (Blogs Are For Depressed People)

Summer '09.

SMUTS BAND

Photo by Ellen

Here's a picture of our new band from our second show at midnight on New Years and some video from our first show at the Hummingbird of Death Record Release Party!:




We have a 9 song demo tape we'll be selling at our next show in Boise on the 19th. Or you could send an email if you wanna buy one.
There's a couple tracks from it here: smuts.bandcamp.com

NEW YEAR POST

Favorite New-to-Me Music of 2012:

1. Steve Roach - Mostly 'Structures From Silence' and 'The Magnificent Void'. As soon as I got internet at home again I got serious about getting into New Age and Ambient music. Steve Roach is my favorite so far. This is the most recent fave but it's on my mind the most.
2. Disclose - I've known about them for years but really started listening to them all the time this year. Every release is great but I listened to 'Nightmare or Reality' the most.
3. Enya - I found some Enya cassettes at a thrift store which reminded me that I liked New Age. When I was an early teen Enya was the only non secular music my dad would play on Sunday.
4. Darkthrone - I didn't really get Darkthrone till this year. I don't know why I didn't try earlier.
5. Death Metal - I continued listening to lots of Death Metal as usual. My favorites that I got into this year were Grave, Dismember and Bloodbath.
6. Billy Bragg - This was my walking around music for the first half of the year. I only listened to 'Back to Basics'.
7. King Diamond - Also from earlier in the year. I don't think I could have appreciated it any earlier in my life. I listened to 'Conspiracy' the most. 

I listened to way less Pop/Rock 'n Roll music than the year before. Also I feel like I didn't spend as much time listening to music as past years but that's probably cause I broke my mp3 player in a car door halfway through. 

Music Goals:

• Record at least two Smuts releases
• Record at least two solo releases
• Practice guitar more
• Listen to more Jazz and Classical music

Personal Goals:

• Read as many novels as comics (read less comics!)
• Write more (letters, journal, lyrics, etc.)
• Start School
• Be less negative
• Take care of myself more.

My Year in Reading, Again

Since 2007 I have kept track of every book I read.  Here is this year’s list.  By far this is the most I’ve read in a single year.  Not being in school is good for something, I guess.  Also, I read really, really good books this year.   

“Middlesex” – Jeffrey Eugenides

“We Have Never Been Modern” – Bruno Latour

“Slouching Towards Bethlehem” – Joan Didion

“The White Album” – Joan Didion

“Revolutionary Road” – Richard Yates

“All-American Poem” – Matthew Dickman

“A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat” – Arthur Rimbaud

“The End of The West” – Michael Dickman

“Eros And Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud” – Herbert Marcuse

“Wise Blood” – Flannery O’Connor

“The Age of Innocence” - Edith Wharton

“The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge” - Rainer Maria Rilke

“Wuthering Heights” - Emily Bronte

“Iceland’s Bell” - Haldor Laxness

“Letters From People Who Hate Me” - Steve Almond

“Open City” - Teju Cole

“Field Work” - Seamus Heaney

“The Trial” – Franz Kafka

“The Sorrows of an American” - Siri Hustvedt

“How Fiction Works” - James Wood

“The Liberal Imagination” - Lionel Trilling

“The Morning of the Poem” – James Schuyler

“Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” – John Ashbery

“The Tennis Court Oath” – John Ashbery

“Selected Poems” – Frank O’Hara

“Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy

“The Sheltering Sky” – Paul Bowles

“2666” – Roberto Bolano

“A Man in Full” – Tom Wolfe

“My Struggle” – Karl Ove Knausgaard

“Ficciones” – Jorge Luis Borges

“Sincerity & Authenticity” – Lionel Trilling

“The Dwarf” – Par Lagerkvist

“Disturbing The Peace” – Richard Yates

“The Varieties of Religious Experience” – William James

“For The Sleepwalkers” – Edward Hirsch

“Aeschylus II: The Suppliant Maidens, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, and Prometheus Bound” – Aeschylus

“Birds of America” – Lorrie Moore

“Mythologies” – Roland Barthes

“Illuminations” – Walter Benjamin

“Alfred and Guinevere” – James Schuyler

“Nine Stories” – J.D. Salinger

“The Lacuna” – Barbara Kingsolver

“The Opposing Self” – Lionel Trilling

“Anna Karenina” – Leo Tolstoy

“Antwerp” – Roberto Bolano

“Barabbas” – Par Lagerkvist

“Play It As It Lays” – Joan Didion

“Gisli Sursson’s Saga” – Anonymous

“Full Tilt: A Memoir” – Paul Santoro

“The End of The Affair” – Graham Greene

Fiction: 29

            Novels: 24

            Short Stories: 4

            Plays: 1

Poetry: 9

Nonfiction: 13

            Essays: 2

            Memoirs: 2

            Pilosophy/Literary Criticism/Etc: 9

American: 31

Irish: 1

English: 2

Icelandic: 2

Swedish: 2

Norwegian: 1

Russian: 1

Chilean: 2

Argentinean: 1

Greek: 1

French:  3

German: 4 (I included Rilke and Kafka here because they wrote in German even though they were Austrian and Czech, respectively)

Total: 51

Favorites in no order: The End of the Affair, 2666, Anna Karenina, My Struggle, Barrabas, The Liberal Imagination, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Age of Innocence.

CTRL Force Best of 2012

Kentaro...

1.  King Elephant - Exhaust (Tour Edition)

http://kingelephantband.bandcamp.com/album/exhaust

Made in Missoula!  Catchy, riffin' punk with a lot heart and great playing.  When music this good is made in the Inland Northwest, you *flip your wig* every time you listen to it. 

2.  Black Bananas - Rad Times Xpress IV

http://blackbananasband.bandcamp.com/

A phantasmagoric bricolage of fun pop music from the 1970's onward.  

3.  Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend

4.  Dunes – Noctiluca
http://duneslala.bandcamp.com/track/vertical-walk

Majestic, austere, intoxicating West Coast dream pop. 

5.  Terry Malts - Killing Time

Joey Ramone steals the Spits van and does doughnuts in my front yard.  Which is totally cool, since I live in a rental.   

6.  Tamaryn - Tender New Signs
7.  Black Breath - Sentenced to LIfe
8.  X-TG - Desertshore/ Final Report
9.  Radar Eyes - s/t
10. Hunx - Hairdresser Blues
11. My Bloody Valentine - EPs -1988-1991
12. Plateaus - s/t
13. KING BROTHERS - Mach Club
14. Art Fad - Banditos
15. Is/Is - III
16. Chrome Cranks - Ain't No Lies in Blood
17. Crocodiles - Endless Flowers
18. Fuxa - Electric Sound of Summer
19. Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse
20. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO - Son of a Bitches’ Brew

Top Trax

1.  
2.  Boy Friend – Lazy Hunter3.  Riff Raff – Obtuse Angle
4.  Ty Segall Band – Tell Me What’s Inside Your Heart
5.  Brian Jonestown Massacre – I Wann To Hold Your Other Hand
6.  Shonen Knife – All You Can Eat
7.  Bare Mutants – Without You
8.  Mind Spiders – Fall In Line
9.  Heavy Hawaii – Super Bowl XXVII
10.  Gayze – East Coast Dying

Next is Keith...

 

I hardly listened to anything that came out this year, but here's my...

TOP 5 RELEASES OF 2012 (free downloads in parentheses):

5. Zmajevdah/Emotion Of Loss -- Split ( http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/split-release )

I haven't gotten through the Emotion Of Loss side yet but I've listened to the Zmajevdah songs a few times. It's kind of grindy, kind of melodic. Everything I've heard from this guy has been interesting (especially this: http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/zmajevdah-v-0 and this: http://cephalochromoscope.blogspot.com/2010/12/kikurachiyo-canadacroatia-sketchgrind.html ). I started wondering while listening to this how his songs would sound in a full band with a slicker recording. Either way I'm a fan and I'm curious what he'll do next.

4. Bone Sickness -- Unreleased

I saw them awhile ago and thought they were pretty good. Ian forwarded me some unmastered songs from some upcoming release and they're really sick. It's like death metal. I don't know if this counts for this year but I don't have anything else to put.

3. Naomi Punk -- The Feeling

I've only listened to this all the way through once but I've listened to a few songs a bunch. Also I saw them play a lot of these songs live and thought it was great. Really heavy and catchy. It's way more interesting sounding than the first album but still gets stuck in my head.

2. Slave Graves/Microbabies -- Split Cassette ( http://slavegraves.bandcamp.com/ )

My friends made this. I've listened to it a lot. The Slave Graves side is up for download if you wanna hear it and I know there's a few more tapes. Definitely worth it for the Microbabies stuff.

1. Column Of Heaven -- Mission From God ( http://survivalistdeathcult.bandcamp.com/album/mission-from-god )

This is my favorite release from this year, but like I said I didn't listen to that much. Either way it would still be in my top 5. It's like a good continuation of The Endless Blockade but the sound of it feels like more of an "experience", or something. I don't know, it's short, aggressive and very satisfying. I should listen to more new music.

Also:

Art Fad -- Banditos ( http://nikikinkirecords.bandcamp.com/album/banditos ) 

& 

Clyde Webb -- Get Bent ( http://clydewebb.bandcamp.com/album/get-bent )

I heard all these songs on tour so much so I never put these on. I didn't get sick of hearing them every night though.

Vaarallinen -- Demo

Ian showed me this. I dug it but haven't listened to the whole thing yet. I think they put out something else this year too. I liked everything I heard. Finnish style Hardcore from Singapore.

Napalm Death -- Utilitarian 

If I had heard this earlier it would be on the list. I like new most Napalm Death almost as much as old Napalm Death. Smear Campaign was one of the albums that got me into grind.

(edit by Keith: I forgot about that Terry Malts album, I heard it a bunch this year and loved it!)

 

And Tim...

 

Usually I try to listen to as much new music is possible because if something rad is going on I don’t want to miss out on it.  I don’t know if there wasn’t as much rad music this year as in years past, or if I just didn’t pay attention, but I feel like most of the best music I heard this year was from old albums/bands I hadn’t heard prior.  So this year end list is not a very good representation of what I spent my year listening to, but nonetheless here are my 10 favorite albums released in 2012 I listened to this year.

Tim B.’s albums of the year:

1.     Mind Spiders – Meltdown

              This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year and it didn’t disappoint.  The first Mind Spiders album was full of good songs, but did not really work as a cohesive album.  It sounded like a dude in his bedroom trying all kinds of different things.  This sounds like a solid album made by a solid band.  The first half of the album is killer garage rock a la Jay Reatard or every other Mark Ryan band.  The second half is a little bit weirder, Devo influenced rock and roll.

2.     Mean Jeans – On Mars

              This album is slower and longer than their last, but I think the songs are better.  A little bit more 90s power pop and a little bit less The Ramones.  There are a handful of downer songs on here, but they maintain a childish perspective that still makes them fun/charming. These guys what everyone to have a good time all of the time.

3.     Scott Walker – Bish Bosh

Scott Walker is fascinating.  This album is much more accessible than Walker’s 2006 ‘The Drift’.  A lot of the songs seem more straight forward.  He uses more guitar and synth on this album than on any previous. However this is still weird, hard to take in and unnerving to listen to.  Really listen to this one.

4.     Audacity – Mellow Cruisers

              This band went from being one of many noisy, reverb drenched, garage rock bands to being one of the catchiest punk bands around.  Party time fun punk rock for everyone.

5.     White Lung – Sorry

              I think this band is going to be huge.  Angry, riot grrrl inspired punk from Vancouver.  Really listen to this one.

6.     Sonic Avenues – Television Youth

              This is another album I was really looking forward to this year.  Sonic Avenues first full length was one of the best power pop albums to come out in years.  This one is a little bit more punk and a little less pop, which is a switch I’m not super stoked on.  Some of the songs and structures are really satisfying, but some fall flat.

7.     Ty Segall – Twins
       Of the three albums Ty Segall released this year Twins is by far the most straight forward poppy album and also my favorite.  It’s probably my favorite Ty Segall album.  Sometimes Ty Segall reminds me of Jay Reatard even though they sound nothing alike.  Both way too prolific, both way too consistent and both long haired and very impressive.

8.     Terry Malts – Killing Time

              This is some noisy pop.  The singer sounds like he is trying to immitate Morrissey and Joey Ramone a lot.  Some songs have a guitar feeding back throughout the whole song.  Some of the lyrics are obnoxious, buy mostly this is catchy pop album well worth your time.

9.     The Babies – Our House On The Hill

              I’m a fan of anything Cassie Ramone does.  This album is a bit less garage and a bit more country than the first The Babies album and it’s a switch I’m pleased with.  Also, Cassie Ramone sings on “See the Country”, “I wanna see the rolling hills of Idaho.” Represent.

10.  Protomartyr – No Passion All Technique

I was very much looking forward to a new Tyvek album this year and when it came out I wasn’t too into it, so I was stoked when I found out about this band that shares a member.  This is a little bit more post punk than Tyvek, but it fucking rules.  At times the sloppy singing style reminds me of Pissed Jeans.  Really listen to this one.

Outtakes

Summer of Our Discontent Explicated

A long time ago I read liner notes that Blake Schwarzenbach wrote from Dear You where he told a little story for every song.  I always really liked stuff like that, so here is my version of it.  The main difference here is that people care about Blake Schwarzenbach’s band and he has insightful things to say.

1. South Dakota

                Bethany Leach wrote the lyrics to this song in about 4 minutes at one of the only band practices she attended. Very impressive.

2. The Moby Song

                After Bethany quit I wanted to write an album long narrative about a guy who lives in a town, gets totally fed up with it, moves away and has a huge party for like a day and then everything in his new home gets shitty too, so he moves to another new town and the same thing happens and at some point he may or may not come to the realization that life fucking sucks no matter what shitty city you live in.  I only wrote three songs.  This is the first.  The protagonist gets sick of his hometown and decides to leave.  It was also inspired by the cold, shitty apartment I used to live in on 1st Street.

3. Ian's Song Part Two

                This is the second song in the narrative.  The protagonist has a raging punk rock good time and gets arrested.  The title is an inside joke referencing a song I hope no one ever hears.

4. Jail

                This was the last song I ever wrote in my album long narrative.  There were several different drafts of lyrics, but I hated them all including the ones I ended up using.  After this I gave up trying to write an extended narrative through multiple songs.  As a result this was always my least favorite song to play live and/or listen to.

5. Trampoline

                One time a few winters ago everyone was watching a movie at Ashley's house in Pullman and for whatever reason I felt pretty crummy and didn't want to hang out with the crew and I didn't want to sit around and watch a movie, so I left and started walking home.  I cut through a field and came to a fence.  I climbed a tree, hung from one of the branches and dropped to the other side of the fence.  In the process I lost my phone and decided it was a bad idea to try to walk to Moscow at ten o'clock at night without a cell phone.  I went to Dismores to use a phone, but they didn't have a public phone or something, so I walked to campus and used one of the free phones they have around and called Molly.  She and Aaron picked me up.  The next day I didn't have a phone and I went over to Ryan's house and no one was home and that is where the first line of the song came from.  The rest of it is me imagining the protagonist of Knut Hamsun's Hunger living in the 21st century, bumming around, freezing and trying to be a writer and have a good time.  All people really need is a book, something to eat, and a little physical activity.

6. Orange

                All of the lyrics from this song are taken from different parts of the novel The Orange Eats Creeps by Grace Krilanovich.  The novel is about a bunch of young vampires scouring the Pacific Northwest for drugs, alcohol, and a good time.  We try to embrace our NW heritage and we also try to have a good time in a boring place.  In some ways the novel’s ethos aligns with our own.  Also I'm a lazy/bad lyricist and stealing is cool.

7. Monster

                The lyrics to this song are a poem that Bethany came across before she quit.  That is why they are so good.

8. Summer School

                One day I was sitting in my cold apartment listening to The Briefs and they were singing a love song or something and I thought about love songs in general and I wondered if the person writing a love song always has a person in mind or if they just resolved to write a love song regardless of what they were feeling and whether or not they could relate to it.  I decided that not every love song ever could be about an actual person or actual love.  There is no way every love song ever is about an actual real life person.  Not even every good love song could be.  It’s impossible. There are too many, so I tried to write a love song about a person that didn't exist.  So this song is not about any person, or anything that actual took place in my life or in the life of anyone I know.  It's just a general boy likes girl song then gets arrested song.  I wanted to be like The Briefs

9. Blue Suitcase

                This is one of the only truly autobiographical Tim Blood songs and it was always my favorite to end on because I thought it was really intense and punk.  It's about feeling nervous about moving to Maine and also about this girl being back in Moscow after being gone for a while.  In the first verse uncertainty of the future makes me nervous, and in the second verse I find comfort in uncertainty because I see potential for things to start going my way.  Of course in the end neither Maine nor the girl went my way.

10. Summer Part two

                I wrote at least three different drafts of lyrics to this song.  One was about how the world was going to end in April 2029 when a meteor crashes into Earth and not being able to sleep at night because that idea is so freaky.  The other was about the girl mentioned in the last song.  Everything I came up with was stupid and/or embarrassing, so at the last minute instead of trying to write something personal or clever I tried to write lyrics I thought Keith would like.  It turned out really well.  I should have tried that more often.

11. I Hate My Friends

                The first part of this song is about the friendship between two kids in the book The Chosen by Chaim Potok.  The second is about a person I haven't talked to in like two years or something.  This is one of the few times I had an idea, sat down to write lyrics, wrote lyrics, and they turned out almost exactly how I wanted.  As a result ‘I Hate My Friends’ is one of my favorites.  I think Keith or Ryan came up with the title.  I don't really hate my friends.  I love them.

New Band

http://smuts.bandcamp.com/

9 song demo cassette coming in December.

Oh no, not again!

This blog has been really dead. That's cause music stuff has been going at an almost dead pace, at least compared to before. Also I haven't had the internet at home in over a year. Anyway, here's a release by a band that's too old.

http://controlforce.bandcamp.com/album/spring-break-in-hell-compilation-and-b-side-tracks

"Spring Break in Hell" is three leftover songs from recording "The Fall of Tim Blood" and three songs from two compilations. The first two songs are from the "What We've Done is Secret" cassette compilation  of Idaho bands put out by Headbones. I'm pretty sure it's all sold out but it's free to download (www.headbonesmerch.com/whatsecret.html).  It's definitely worth checking out. There's a couple unreleased Christwrong tracks, a couple covers by Vipe, and stuff by Pig Noose, Cat Massacre, Little Miss and the No Names, 1D, etc. "South Dakota Pt. 2" and "Dead in the Summer" just didn't feel enough like Tim Blood songs to fit on "Fall of Tim Blood" and "Final Resolution" didn't get finished in time. It's the last song we've recorded. "Pet Sematary" is from Ramone To The Bone's "They're Alive"  internet compilation (www.ramonetothebone.info/2012/06/ramone-to-bone-presents-theyre-alive.html). To be honest I haven't listened to the whole thing but their blog is definitely worth checking out if the name sounds like something you'd be into.


I meant to wait to post this till after I posted this Christwrong release that's been in the works forever but it's still not done. Anyway, I'm in Boise and have some other bands going now. I think things are looking up. Hopefully that Christwrong thing will get finished someday.

Wowee, a new Tim Blood release?

(by Joe?/Anonymous?

http://controlforce.bandcamp.com/album/the-fall-of-tim-blood-and-the-gutpanthers

This was gonna be the tour tape but here it is now! It's has been in the works for like 10 months or something. Almost every part was recorded months apart but I think all the songs came out pretty solid sounding.  ENJOY!

Also, there's a few more songs floating around that'll probably get released at some point, just so it will feel complete to me, but don't wait up for it!

why try?

(by ian c.)

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