by | May 21, 2012 · 12:05 am

Andrew Vs. “Wild Love” by Smog

TAG: Great
Released: March 1995

I’ve gone through more drafts of this review than I have of anything I’ve done, maybe even more than my professional calibers of editing. It’s not really because this album is super hard to talk about — it’s because there’s a lot to say and interpret. I’ve had many listening sessions of this record to the point of having several different and tiny memories for what the album feels like. It’s an actual diary by an emotionally disturbed and incomplete human being. It is the finality of Bill Callahan’s weirdness, its peak, his shaping into musical appropriation. Wild Love is just a bunch of things. Continue reading →

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by | May 4, 2012 · 11:36 am

In Your Area

Alright, so, it’s probably obvious at this point that I’m a minimalist. The site is sparse, our podcast is raw, the cover of my record is pretty plain, et cetera. Now, by some measure, this is a choice. There is elegance in simplicity that I find enjoyable to take in. Plus some half-hearted attachment to the idea that belongings get in the way of enlightenment, whatever that means. Here’s the heart of the matter: I’m a sensitive person. Continue reading →

Pages: 1 2 3

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by | April 29, 2012 · 2:33 pm

Metal Dan Vs. “Koloss” by Meshuggah.

Meshuggah is a behemoth. Their rhythms are jarring for most listeners due to their usage of poly meter rhythms, and their unbridled dedication to the atonal. For the longest time, I could not stand them.

But I was stricken by curiosity. In the metal world, Meshuggah are fairly popular. Influential even. But why? It is rare that I become so absorbed in the why rather than the simplicity of how I feel about something and then moving on to something more suited to my tastes. But I digress. Continue reading →

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by | April 13, 2012 · 12:01 pm

Bad Isn’t Good Enough

Five minutes before I started writing this, I had just listened to “Stupid Hoe” by Nicki Minaj for the first time ever. It was presented in a “worst song ever” thread on a music forum, by someone acting like nothing could ever be that bad.

I thought it was kind of fun.
Twenty minutes before than that, I was busy sculpting gum for fun.
Hours before that, I woke up screaming from a nightmare about a funeral for the still-alive.*
Now I’m preparing to write essentially a thesis on all modern music.
It’s been a weird day.

*the nightmare thing wont be covered in any greater detail, don’t worry about it

page:part
1. This page, right here.
2. John Vs. “Stupid Hoe” by Nicki Minaj
3. The Industrial Revolution and Music (radio edit)
4. John Vs. “New Slaves” by Zs
5. Bad Music

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

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by | March 15, 2012 · 10:45 am

Podcast? #13: Too White To Light (That’s The Lamest)

It’s our February and Early March podcast! Words about volume, Sharon Van Etten’s “Tramp,” The Men’s “Open Your Heart,” concerts and other stuff lies within this sweet sweet audio file.

Right click, save as.

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by | March 10, 2012 · 9:09 am

OH GOD OH NO OH #2

Ohhhhh what have we done. It is fun to do these, so there’s that, but it’s time and brain-space I’ll never get back. I will always know about Pitbull now. What a terrible world that is. Please, don’t let us feel like our time was spent in vain; enjoy this second episode of OGON.

Right click, save as, we are so sorry.

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by | February 28, 2012 · 12:51 am

Andrew Vs. “Julius Caesar” by Smog

TAG: Standard
Period: 1993, First Studio Recorded, Self Produced

I was born the year Julius Caesar released. I find this appropriate because this is where you can see him evolve. That probably means nothing, but it makes it easy to remember when the album came out. Anyway, it’s 1993, his Smog project has made it to the big-time. He has a studio now, more instruments and recording devices that aren’t consumer-grade 80s tape recorders. He must have changed everything! No. He actually still goes out of his way for experimentalism. Bill even made sure he was the one touching the boards and the album still has a fucking chair on it. Julius Caesar is very much his album. Continue reading →

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by | February 23, 2012 · 5:21 pm

Andrew Vs. “Visions” by Grimes

It turns out there are plenty of people who believe strongly in their voice, maybe too many, but they stem off into several varieties: protesters, politicians, auctioneers, your boss, disk jockeys, dentists while your mouth is occupied by the awful thing that scrapes particles between the gums and teeth, and the teacher in fifth grade that you believed treated you differently because they were sexist. These roles are infinite. With the present opportunities given to us to use our voices positively or for gain of a cause, movement, or ourselves, we must take advantage of the multiple mirrors to express it and not easily become these completely monotonous roosters. Claire Boucher may know what I am talking about. Continue reading →

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by | February 22, 2012 · 12:02 am

Haven’t The Word

When I first started writing music reviews for FOWR, I had basically no idea what I was doing. I was only listening to quality stuff every now and then so I saw it as my opportunity to broaden my sensibilities as both a writer and a music enthusiast. Through the first couple months, I was quick to judge and made verdicts based on immediate impressions. My perspective of The Suburbs was misguided, looking back, and my sentences were short, poorly vocalized, and overly concise, but around August of 2010, that began to change. The way I received this wind was an average “here you go” recommendation from John. These recommendations have gone back and forth ever since, but this one was special. Continue reading →

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by | February 21, 2012 · 10:07 pm

Only Salt Remains

Since January, we were toying with an idea. Andrew and I listen to Public Strain frequently, to a point where we were coming around to having something else to say about that record. The idea we had was that everyone on the site would write something about the album. Andrew would’ve covered his attatchment to the record. I would’ve written about the lyric decoding process (you can see the results of that here). Matt hasn’t heard the record since we called it the 2010 Album of the Year. Metal Dan hadn’t heard it at all.

The deadline we set for all of this was last week. No one wrote anything (me included), and it seemed like that’s the end for that idea. At the same time, I’ve still felt urgency behind writing something about Women, as it’s been over a year since their meltdown. The sadness from reading that turned to jealousy at a certain point- what an amazing thing to just throw away. At the same time, I’ve got no right to say something like that, since I wasn’t someone that actually dealt with the people in the band. All I have is my perspective. Continue reading →

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