No. He'll be an engineer.

Date night?

· 03/25/2009 04:07 PM by Steve Gigl

Assuming we can arrange babysitting, we’re hoping to be there:

We are having a benefit for our niece, Halley Anderson, who received a life-saving liver transplant in November. Halley lived in the hospital from August through November, and the financial difficulties due to Halley’s condition have been very hard on her family. She has an account set up at TCF called the Halley Anderson Benefit Fund. We will be doing a concert at the VFW on Osborne Road in Fridley to raise money for this fund. Please come help us and enjoy an evening of fun and music!! Tickets $20.00 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Silent auction starts at 6, show is from 7-9PM.

Category: Music
Scope: Local

Rantback

German earworm

· 04/16/2008 12:06 PM by Steve Gigl

Uh oh, my brain is stuck on this song again (ignore the animation, that’s the only way I can listen to this song until I buy the CD^*).

^* Yeah, I’m so old-fashioned that I pay for music. A dying breed, I am…

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback [1]

What I meant

· 02/02/2008 07:11 AM by Steve Gigl

LearnedFoot and Mitch are thinking about entering the world of death metal, using a truly horrible inspiration: Susan Lenfestey’s writing

I left a comment at Mitch’s saying that that could be grimmer than anything Carcass ever wrote. But what does that really mean? First, the kick-ass evidence (and yeah, I really can tune out the vocals and listen to the music, because they were that good):

I’d tell you to listen to the lyrics, but I know that’s not actually possible. (Great music, though, right? Right? RIGHT?!). So here’s a sample from the above song:

Works of art, painted black
Magniloquent, bleeding dark
Monotonous palate, murky spectrum, grimly unlimited
Food for thought, so prolific
In contrasting shades, forcely fed
Abstraction, so choking, so provocative

A canvas to paint, to degenerate
Dark reflections – degeneration
A canvas to paint, to denigrate
Dark reflections, of dark foul light

And believe it or not, this is after they got out of their “really horrible-sounding medical terms crammed together” lyrical phase (or, as “true fan” morons would say, after they sold out).

Category: Music
Scope: Local

Rantback

Why are these guys not on the radio?

· 10/17/2007 02:17 PM by Steve Gigl

Seriously, Ra is one of the best not-really-new-but-new-to-me bands I’ve run into in quite a while. “Do You Call My Name” is an unbelievably catchy song; heavy, melodic, funky, rhythmically intriguing… just about perfect.

Go to the Myspace page I linked and listen to “Do You Call My Name” and explain to me why they aren’t famous. [Oh, right, they play hard rock. I keep forgetting that’s a disqualifier nowadays.]

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Korn jumps the shark?

· 02/12/2007 12:16 AM by Steve Gigl

OK, I need to get something off my chest: if there’s one band I listen to that I would have advised not to do an MTV unplugged album… it would be Korn.

Or maybe GWAR. No wait, that would probably be pretty good. And damned funny: I’m imagining them sitting down in their gigantic costumes acting all soulful and singing cheesy lounge versions of songs like “Gor-Gor” and “Saddam a Go-Go.”

Anyway. I guess Fear Factory would have been a worse band to go unplugged. But only by a little. Rob Zombie and/or White Zombie would probably be as bad a fit, but not necessarily worse.

OK, I obviously heard the unplugged “Freak on a Leash” on the radio, and it doesn’t entirely suck, but it doesn’t make me want to buy the CD. At all. Korn’s musicians are pretty talented, and they write decent songs, but let’s face it, even Kurt Cobain’s vocals fit the unplugged idea better than that goofy-looking kilt-wearing—not that there’s anything wrong with that—Davis guy.

So let’s get this straight: appearing on South Park like the guest stars in a bad Scooby Doo (but I repeat myself) episode? Good career move. Showing off your lead singer’s inability to actually sing, particularly in contrast with Amy Lee? Maybe not so much.

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Date night?

· 03/25/2009 04:07 PM by Steve Gigl

Assuming we can arrange babysitting, we’re hoping to be there:

We are having a benefit for our niece, Halley Anderson, who received a life-saving liver transplant in November. Halley lived in the hospital from August through November, and the financial difficulties due to Halley’s condition have been very hard on her family. She has an account set up at TCF called the Halley Anderson Benefit Fund. We will be doing a concert at the VFW on Osborne Road in Fridley to raise money for this fund. Please come help us and enjoy an evening of fun and music!! Tickets $20.00 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Silent auction starts at 6, show is from 7-9PM.

Category: Music
Scope: Local

Rantback

German earworm

· 04/16/2008 12:06 PM by Steve Gigl

Uh oh, my brain is stuck on this song again (ignore the animation, that’s the only way I can listen to this song until I buy the CD^*).

^* Yeah, I’m so old-fashioned that I pay for music. A dying breed, I am…

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback [1]

What I meant

· 02/02/2008 07:11 AM by Steve Gigl

LearnedFoot and Mitch are thinking about entering the world of death metal, using a truly horrible inspiration: Susan Lenfestey’s writing

I left a comment at Mitch’s saying that that could be grimmer than anything Carcass ever wrote. But what does that really mean? First, the kick-ass evidence (and yeah, I really can tune out the vocals and listen to the music, because they were that good):

I’d tell you to listen to the lyrics, but I know that’s not actually possible. (Great music, though, right? Right? RIGHT?!). So here’s a sample from the above song:

Works of art, painted black
Magniloquent, bleeding dark
Monotonous palate, murky spectrum, grimly unlimited
Food for thought, so prolific
In contrasting shades, forcely fed
Abstraction, so choking, so provocative

A canvas to paint, to degenerate
Dark reflections – degeneration
A canvas to paint, to denigrate
Dark reflections, of dark foul light

And believe it or not, this is after they got out of their “really horrible-sounding medical terms crammed together” lyrical phase (or, as “true fan” morons would say, after they sold out).

Category: Music
Scope: Local

Rantback

Why are these guys not on the radio?

· 10/17/2007 02:17 PM by Steve Gigl

Seriously, Ra is one of the best not-really-new-but-new-to-me bands I’ve run into in quite a while. “Do You Call My Name” is an unbelievably catchy song; heavy, melodic, funky, rhythmically intriguing… just about perfect.

Go to the Myspace page I linked and listen to “Do You Call My Name” and explain to me why they aren’t famous. [Oh, right, they play hard rock. I keep forgetting that’s a disqualifier nowadays.]

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Korn jumps the shark?

· 02/12/2007 12:16 AM by Steve Gigl

OK, I need to get something off my chest: if there’s one band I listen to that I would have advised not to do an MTV unplugged album… it would be Korn.

Or maybe GWAR. No wait, that would probably be pretty good. And damned funny: I’m imagining them sitting down in their gigantic costumes acting all soulful and singing cheesy lounge versions of songs like “Gor-Gor” and “Saddam a Go-Go.”

Anyway. I guess Fear Factory would have been a worse band to go unplugged. But only by a little. Rob Zombie and/or White Zombie would probably be as bad a fit, but not necessarily worse.

OK, I obviously heard the unplugged “Freak on a Leash” on the radio, and it doesn’t entirely suck, but it doesn’t make me want to buy the CD. At all. Korn’s musicians are pretty talented, and they write decent songs, but let’s face it, even Kurt Cobain’s vocals fit the unplugged idea better than that goofy-looking kilt-wearing—not that there’s anything wrong with that—Davis guy.

So let’s get this straight: appearing on South Park like the guest stars in a bad Scooby Doo (but I repeat myself) episode? Good career move. Showing off your lead singer’s inability to actually sing, particularly in contrast with Amy Lee? Maybe not so much.

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Do "bad" politics make good music?

· 08/04/2006 11:46 AM by Steve Gigl

I got the new Stone Sour CD (on sale @ Target for < $10, which is my current requirement for a CD purchase) on a diaper run last night, and it seems pretty decent. [99% of Slipknot fans will hate it, naturally.]

But as usual there’s political content on a few songs that I completely disagree with, and it got me thinking: since artists always seem to lean to the left—or to be at the very least completely anti-war—does having a “right-wing” [scare quotes because he’s center-right at best on most things] or pro-war President make for better music? Or to put it a different way, do bands that are angry with the state of the country or world make better music?

Need examples? Pearl Jam fans are thrilled with their latest, which is pretty heavily political and anti-Bush. Same with Green Day. Within my range of music, Machine Head, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, and now Stone Sour are all making good music while angry on some level with the President. And in the 80s, Metallica, Slayer, and countless pop musicians put together some great music while they were angry at… well, the world, but particularly policies of the west embodied by Reagan and Thatcher.

I know it makes more sense that really heavy music would be better when the musicians are already angry, but I’m more curious about Pearl Jam, Green Day, Disturbed, and pop music in general. Some theories I’ve thought up so far:

1) It’s the sense of purpose—legitimate or not—generated by being anti-war in a time of war.
2) It’s a focus thing: instead of rambling on about various feelings in a vaguely angsty way (see: lots of 1990s music), there’s a clear “enemy” to write about.
3) It’s easier to write lyrics about external problems rather than internal ones, leaving the musicians time and bandwidth to work on the music itself.
4) You have to be a little nuts to write good music, and BDS is driving musicians just far enough in that direction to generate some good music.

That last one gets a little too armchair psychologist for me, but does anyone else have any good theories?

Category: Music
Scope: National

Rantback [5]

Random question

· 07/28/2006 04:57 PM by Steve Gigl

Can anybody out there explain why, when I’m in a pretty good mood, loud—and often angry—music (like, say, this ) just seems to fit?

Anybody? Cullen?

Full of contradictions, I am. [And caffeine, although I’m sure that has nothing to do with it.]

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback [3]

New Metallica song

· 06/07/2006 08:01 AM by Steve Gigl

And so it begins… Blabbermouth posted links to a decent crowd recording of a new Metallica song they performed live in Germany this week. So I’m going to liveblog my first listen…

• Wow, clocks in at 9+ minutes with the intro
• Not so bad intro-wise, but it doesn’t seem entirely coherent
• James is still in his St. Anger-like yelling mode, which isn’t my favorite.
• The main guitar riff is the kind of simple squared-blues-metal riff that the lesser songs on Load/ReLoad had a lot of.
• Hey, there’s a guitar solo, and it isn’t relying totally on wah pedal
• Double bass is always good…
• Nice fast interlude section, and the return to the main theme is pretty melodic and interesting.

Overall? Not bad, but not overwhelmingly good either. Certainly not a Machine Head-like return to form (of course, there’s endless debate about which form of Metallica was the best, which was less prominent with Machine Head), but it showed some promise with the interlude and melodies (which were neutered in St. Anger).

And then again the last time that live songs were heard between albums (on the S&M CD), they sounded sort of like leftovers from the previous albums, so who knows if this is even stuff they’re writing in the studio (although the constant mentions of it being a “new song” might indicate that anyway).

So: nothing revolutionary, but with the way Metallica has tried revolutionary in the past, maybe it’s better that it’s not.

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Hellrocket a bigwig? That's unpossible!

· 02/25/2006 12:22 PM by Steve Gigl

It’s kind of jarring when you’re used to seeing—and thinking of—a person in one particular setting, then hearing about their lives outside that setting.

I’m talking here about a favorite local ska band of mine, Umbrella Bed, and particularly its lead singer (and trumpeter), Dave ‘Hellrocket’ Steglich:

Known on stage as “Hellrocket,” lawyer-musician-management consultant David M. Steglich will become chief operating officer at Walker Art Center starting March 27.

And he’s not a newly-minted bigwig, either:

Since 2000, Steglich, 38, has been an associate principal at McKinsey & Company, a Minneapolis-based management consulting firm that focuses on organizational strategy and operations. A 1995 graduate of Yale Law School, he practiced corporate law at Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis from 1997 to 2000.

I had heard he was a lawyer, but still: wow.

Now back to the stuff I knew about:

For the past decade he has also been a singer and trumpeter in the nine-piece ska band Umbrella Bed, which has released four CDs. In October the band launched a European tour to promote its latest CD, “One Small Skank for Man.”We did eight gigs in nine days in five countries,” Steglich said, explaining that “skanking is actually the term for the kind of dancing people do to ska.” The music, which originated in Jamaica, is a kind of reggae infused with punk, R&B and rock.

More about UB’s future:

As for the band, he expects it to continue but he does not plan to perform at the Walker. Nor does he anticipate that his new job will boost CD sales.

“I think we have now fully tapped out our friends and family, so unless that group gets larger, I don’t expect a lot more sales,” he said.

I think the Walker could use a house band, myself, and what better choice than a band that performs in semi-formal attire?

But I’d settle for a few local shows in the near future, guys!

(via my friend Jared)

Category: Music
Scope: Local

Rantback

Heavy metal philosophy

· 02/03/2006 09:28 AM by Steve Gigl

Some days you just need a little Pantera:

Can’t you see I’m easily bothered by persistence
One step from lashing out at you
You want in to get under my skin
and call yourself a friend.
I’ve got more friends like you…

(From “Walk,” on Vulgar Display of Power)

Or maybe some Mudvayne:

What’s my release? What sets me free?
Do you pull me up just to push me down again?
Peel me from the skin, tear me from the rind,
does it make you happy now?
Tear meat from the bone, tear me from myself,
are you feeling happy now?

(From “Happy?” on Lost and Found)

[No, it’s not an earthshaking problem—heck, it’s technically not even my problem—and yeah, the music is overdramatic for the situation. But that’s the fun of catharsis, isn’t it? And that’s something that metal is very good at. Which is handy, because I’m pretty sure anything I feel like doing in this situation will only make it worse…]

Category: Music
Scope: Personal

Rantback [4]