Cult of Rapture

2007-01-22T03:33:00.000+05:30

A few days back a new website was put up by 2k Games, called Cult of Rapture. It seems to be a more community-oriented site, and there will definitely be things to look forward to like podcasts and development related info.

Light Grenades goes Gold

2007-01-18T20:16:00.000+05:30

This is old news but I thought it was worth posting because it's GREAT news. Hopefully it will continue to do well and reach platinum status like the previous albums. It is now #38 on the Billboard 200, climbing very slowly now. Anna Molly has dropped from the #1 spot on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and has stabilised at the #4 spot on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

The band is well into it's tour now, playing some interesting sets. I'm quite disappointed in the lack of good quality bootlegs, but maybe it's just a matter of time before a good recording pops up. Meanwhile youtube suffices just barely.

The Dig fan video competition has officially come to a close, and most of the submitted videos are up on YouTube. I've not seen all, I've not even seen half, but there sure are some very interesting ones out there, especially those that have tried integrating CGI with the band footage. As far as I know it's the band that judges, and they also want to do something about those videos that didn't win but were good enough for a special mention.

Speaking of vidoes, Ben has put up a video of a performance of Pistola in the studio. It looks like it was filmed recently, though there's no real way of knowing that other than Brandon's hair cut (which is funny if you think about it).

It's a great vid indeed, I wish they did more of this stuff.

The band will be performing on Jimmy Kimmel on the 15th of February, free tickets are available to fans in the area.

Back in this

2007-01-18T20:14:00.000+05:30

I've not been posting anything in ages, mainly because I only just got back to college and I've been a little lazy to post all the things that have been happening music/games-wise. I guess I'll post a few things in no particular order.

Incubus starts 2007 tour

2007-01-06T17:29:00.000+05:30

The band kicked off their '07 tour with a show yesterday in Vancouver.

Setlist:
Quicksand
A Kiss to Send Us Off
Stellar
Nowhere Fast
Anna Molly
Wish You Were Here
Out From Under
New Skin
Drive
Earth to Bella Pt. 1
Redefine
SSLW
Talk Shows on Mute
Rogues
Dig
Megalomaniac
-------------------
Echo
Blood on the Ground
Earth to Bella Pt. 2

It would be too good to be true if a bootleg exists, but if it's out there I'll find it eventually. They seemed to have started off with a great show, with a good mix of old and new. While I would have preferred that they played Pendulous Threads, they managed to come up with some surprises, like an acoustic version of New Skin, and playing Redefine and Out From Under.

[Update]
New Skin Acoustic

BioShock preview in PCZone

2007-01-06T17:05:00.000+05:30

The February issue of PCZone has a preview of the game and an interview with Ken Levine. A new bit of concept art makes the cover, and there are new screenshots in the mag. Nothing significantly new is revealed, but there are a few interesting things, like this quote:

"Why can't I just run that way and get out of here? Because that car is in the way? The sad truth is games are a bit of a fib. I want to make games that minimise the fib."

I'm sure the screenshots will eventually appear on the official site or in an online preview, now that they've been exclusively shown by the mag. Meanwhile, I'm looking out for scans.

Introversion's new game

2006-12-31T18:46:00.000+05:30

Apparantly called Subversion. The guys apparantly intend to reveal parts of the development process as they work on the game, which is especially interesting as they aren't going to say exactly what kind of game it is until a much later stage. I'm a big fan of the company's first two titles, Uplink and Darwinia (still not quite put much time into the third, Defcon), though I haven't completed them. I'm really looking forward to learning more about Subversion.

Ouch!

2006-12-16T17:04:00.000+05:30

Last week's chart-topper, Incubus' "Light Grenades," sets an undesirable record on The Billboard by dropping to No. 37, the biggest position drop ever from No. 1. Previously, Marilyn Manson's 2003 album "The Golden Age of Grotesque" held the record after sliding to No. 21 in its second week.

That is seriously a bummer. The album managed to grab the number #1 slot last week because it was a relatively slow week, but it was still a way for the name to get thrown out for people to see. The album is at #10 on the iTunes album chart, I'm told, which isn't bad at all. Now it'll probably not move up or down as rapidly on the charts, and will need to rely on it's singles. Speaking of which, Anna Molly managed to reach the number #1 spot on the Modern Rock tracks chart, and moved up to #7 on the Mainstream Rock tracks chart. That's great news, and solid positions for the album release period.

BioShock marketing campaign begins

2006-12-14T15:22:00.000+05:30

Of course, interesting things would start happening while I am completely unable to benefit from them. A day or so ago someone over at TTLG, presumably from Take Two, posted in a BioShock thread that she'd be getting the marketing of the game started up until spring, when it's supposed to be released. So, the new site has been put up, and a new trailer has been debuted which as of right now is only on the Spike TV site.

I won't be able to see the trailer, unfortunately, but I am able to check out the new site and the various new material that's been put up. There are a few new screenshots, showing mainly new weapons like the flamethrower and some kind of machine gun. There's an interesting new section called "Rapture", which seems like it'll show different places in the city, with a little information and some pictures; currently there are only two places available.

I'm pretty excited now that things will start moving for the game, they must be quite certain about the Spring release date which really isn't that far off.

[Update]
I managed to see the trailer thanks to a YouTube rip. It seems standard fare for a TV trailer, silly narration over a montage of quick all-action moments. Some of said moments, though, are pretty frickin cool. I was floored to learn that the planecrash scene was completely real-time. That water is just beautiful, beyond my conservative-realistic hopes. Some other interesting things in the trailer are the flamethrower which isn't even being weilded by the player, it's being used by one enemy on another. Very cool. There is visual confirmation of the report that you could catch a grenade thrown at you by an enemy with a telekinesis power, and with the same power project it at another enemy.

The marketing manager, '2K Elizabeth', also let slip that the game was headed for a June '07 release, which sounds about right.

Incubus at KROQ Almost Acoustic X-Mas

2006-12-11T18:24:00.000+05:30

Setlist:
A Kiss to Send Us Off
Wish You Were Here
Anna Molly
Nice to Know You
Warning
Sick Sad Little World
Megalomaniac
Drive
Dig
Rogues
Pardon Me

Audio (.MP3, ~50MB)
Video (.ASF, ~119 MB)

If I was able to download the audio I'd be able to say something about it, but I'll have to wait til after I get back to college before I can do so. I've been hearing some good things about the performance, though.

Light Grenades: #1 on The Billboard 200

2006-12-08T17:31:00.000+05:30

Incubus earns its first No. 1 album on The Billboard 200 this week with the Epic set "Light Grenades," which moved 165,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. The rock outfit's last set, 2004's "A Crow Left of the Murder," debuted at No. 2, though with a 332,000 start.

This is utterly awesome news, I'm glad that the band is finally getting some real recognition, and what better time than with a solid, accessible record. The singles should do well too, though I admit I was hoping that Anna Molly would do better (currently stuck at #2 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks and curving off at #11 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks). The next single, Dig should do a lot better - speaking of which, the fan video competition for Dig officially started earlier this week. This should prove to be a very interesting competition indeed, I can't wait to see what people come up with.

Ken Levine interview at Evil Avatar

2006-12-08T17:13:00.000+05:30

Part 1, and part 2. Nothing really new revealed, and I think the interviewer was trying to be a little too intellectual for his own good.

BioShock article in PC Gamer

2006-12-02T02:33:00.000+05:30

There is a one-page preview of BioShock in the January issue of PC Gamer US. There's nothing really new, it describes the demo shown at X06, but the two screenshots used are new. Plus, there is one little point about the plasmids that I have not seen mentioned anywhere that I think is really interesting :

"... They are also stackable (meaning you can combine the effects of multiple plasmids), and in Bioshock's submerged ruined city of Rapture, their creative implementation will be essential to your character's survival."

The number of plasmids and their variety keep changing with each mention of them, but we've known the basic idea behind them for ages; however I think this small detail changes the whole aspect of the game quite a bit, if it's true. It will definitely help to introduce emergent gameplay and some very interesting situations indeed. I'm quite intrigued by this bit of news and I'm looking forward to seeing this in action.

Incubus at Nissan Live Sets show 20/11/06

2006-12-02T02:13:00.000+05:30

Incubus performed in San Francisco on Monday for the Nissan Live Sets promotional show. There's video up of the set and some pictures and fan impressions. I can't see the show because of my unique combination of POS computer and slow connection, but apparently it's pretty good.

Set list:
A Kiss to Send Us Off
Wish You Were Here
Anna Molly
Hello (Lionel Richie cover) / Q&A
11 AM
Megalomaniac
Rogues
Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover) / Q&A
Paper Shoes
Sick Sad Little World
A Crow Left of the Murder

[Update]
Well, someone managed to rip and sendspace the show ( .RAR, 280MB ), for all those who can't stream it.

Incubus on Love Line 29/11/06

2006-12-01T22:48:00.000+05:30

Brandon, Mike and Jose were guests on the 29th November episode of Love Lines, a radio show in which people call in to ask for advice on matters of relationships, sex and drugs. The show was hilarious, it was as much about the band as it was about the callers, and there were a lot of very interesting things discussed throughout.

Incubus - Anna Molly acoustic on iTunes

2006-11-28T16:03:00.000+05:30

An acoustic version of Anna Molly is available on iTunes. I'd say that even without listening to the song that it's not one of those tracks that necessarily needs an acoustic translation, though that's not to say it won't be a successful one, of course. There have been times before where it doesn't seem possible to make a worthy acoustic song and they've done it, like with A Certain Shade of Green and Pardon Me. The main issue is that the guitar not only needs to retain it's original music but has to compensate for the other instruments that will be absent, taking control of the rhythm as well as the lead. With something like Pardon Me it was very drum and bass heavy, and the guitar really wasn't doing anything at all during the verses other than adding ambience. Mike managed to transform the song into something that didn't need the bass at all during the verse, and that was an excellent effort. With Anna Molly, while the bass isn't doing something that carries the whole song it's doing something on it's own that compliments the guitar rather than follow it. Mike hasn't done anything particularly different with the acoustic version so it feels like it's missing a lot rather than being able to stand up on it's own. That'd be ok if it were already a song that was slow and laid back, but the album version is an energetic, paced song and so I don't really feel the acoustic song is anything special. Brandon does fine, but he doesn't really do anything to pull it out of it's mediocrity. All in all an ok track.

Dirk Lance and Willie's Nerve Clinic at Paladino's Club 25/11/06

2006-11-27T21:36:00.000+05:30

Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, former bassist of Incubus performed with some friends of his comprising the band Willie's Nerve Clinic at some place called Paladino's Club a few days back, and there are some videos up on someone's mySpace.

If you're not affected, you're not paying attention

2006-11-26T19:15:00.000+05:30

Well I can finally give my first impressions of Light Grenades. It's pretty much the longest thing I've posted here, and is probably more rambling that I wanted it to be, but I'm glad to have the freedom to write whatever the hell I want to here. Like I said before, this is my 'review' of the album, but my opinion of each song will change numerous times over, so from this point onwards I'll be enjoying the album as a fan rather than as a critic.

One of the first things I noticed about Light Grenades, and what probably pleased me the most initially, was that the production was a step up from A Crow Left of The Murder. There were a number of production-related issues that particularly irked me about a few of the songs in ACLOTM, especially considering how sublime Morning View was in that respect. As highly as the band would praise Brendan O'Brian, his decisions on various aspects of ACLOTM left a little to be desired. For example, the leveling of the instruments were sometimes quite strange. One of my favourite songs on the record, Agoraphobia, had some great guitar riffs, and Mike ran it under some cool pedals as well; however the guitar was really low in the mix as to take away from some of the impact. The song to follow that, Talk Shows on Mute similarly kept Mike pushed back a bit, and brought the drums to the forefront which I found quite jarring and made it a lot more pop-sounding than it needed to be. The guitar wasn't the only thing that suffered, DJ Kilmore probably had the worst treatment out of the three records he had been in, his presence on ACLOTM could easily be mistaken to be non-existent despite some of the cool sounds he brought. The problem was you had to listen really carefully to find him at all on some of the songs. On Pistola during the bridge there is a part where Brandon's djembe comes in, but it's almost impossible to hear, not only is it really low but it's right behind the guitar and follows the exact same rhythm so it's pretty much completely useless in the song. On the whole I found ACLOTM a great record despite the shortcomings brought on by O'Brien in a few songs. Coming back to LG, I noticed quite a difference in the production, ie. it was markedly better. Not only does it bring Mike back up front but it balances the instruments really well, even Kilmore's contributions - resulting in something that sounds a lot more full and truer to the band's live sound.

Another thing that was quite evident from the start was that every song sounded great to me; there weren't tracks that that sounded ok or not so good and which needed some time to get used to before I would take to them, which was the case with ACLOTM. The whole of LG was listenable and enjoyable. I don't know what that means about the long term, whether it will have lasting appeal or not but it seems like it will. I think as far as structure and pacing goes it is excellent, the songs follow a general heavy/fast song then mellow/slow song pacing, but on top of that there is a sense of deliberate structure which can be seen in how the album starts with starts with Quicksand, and how Earth to Bella is split up and placed in the record. That, to me, means a lot because as of recent I've really started to appreciate the concept of music albums as a whole rather than as a collection of individual songs. My very favourite albums are all very good examples of that, and even if a particular album that I'm listening to has some awesome tracks on it, if they don't all work together as a record my enjoyment wanes quite a bit.

Well that's the general aspects of LG covered, I'll go into more of a blow-by-blow of it now. As a starting track, Quicksand is brilliant. I have a thing about album intros. I don't know what other people think about them, maybe they are considered corny or something but with me they really strike a chord because it ties into what I was just saying about albums as a whole; I love to be eased into an album, or at least given the impression that the first track wasn't just tossed in that spot without a thought. I think out of all of Incubus' previous albums, MV was the only other one that really began like it was taking you on some kind of musical journey. I personally though MY could have been re-arranged better, and while Privilege is a great track I felt it could have started off with one of the other ones, like When it Comes. So I was pleased about Quicksand and don't mind at all that it's so short; in fact I think it works for the better. The strange electronic, trippy feel of it is something that's reminiscent of the band's recent experimentation in The Odyssey, and it's good to hear them continue to experiment in that vein. I suppose the lyrics being about the nature of love and relationships is quite fitting, as a lot of the songs on LG follow that theme as well. I quite like that the song segues into the next track, it gives a good sense of how the album flows and the next song, A Kiss to Send Us Off, kind of continues the non-conventional and interesting ideas.

A Kiss to Send Us Off is a great proper track to start the album with. It combines a lot of what the band has done in the past, like heavy riffs and trippy drum and bass sections. Like I mentioned in a previous post, something that struck me about the song was how heavy and solid the distorted intro riff was, because we'd not been hearing this sound since a couple of albums back. After MV, ACLOTM kind of left that heavy distortion and for the majority of the tracks Mike used a rather different tone that distinguished the record from the rest. It was kind of refreshing to hear the return of this guitar sound, because while I loved ACLOTM sometimes you just want to rock the hell out and I couldn't call any song on ACLOTM particularly explosively distorted enough save for say Made for TV Movie. I think AKTSUO balances the loud and heavy parts with the quieter, drum'n'bass parts really well, and the juxtaposition makes for a really moving song. I'd been hearing the live version of this song since ages back, so I pretty much knew what it was like, I didn't think I could be surprised by it. However, there's a lot to the song that just doesn't come out in low quality bootleg recordings, like the effects that accompany Brandon's voice in the chorus and bridge. I feel that the bridge in particular was masterfully done, with the effect that Brandon's voice is put through, and the closing of it just before the wall of guitars when he sings "Here I am/There you are/Could I ..." and the subsequent blast of riffs is my favourite part of the song and probably one of the most beautiful moments on the album. Speaking of Brandon's voice, this song is also a great introduction to the fact that he really outdoes himself on LG. His range and strength is just fantastic on this album and this song is a good demonstration of that. Lyrically the song is eloquent and powerful, reminding me of the vibe from MV rather than ACLOTM.

I've said a few words before about Dig, so I might just recycle a bit of it here. It's good to hear something that is really different from the band, Dig was quite a pleasant surprise. It's definitely a case of the band trying something they've not before. There's a nice 90's sound to it and I'm kind of getting a self-aware feel about it, like they know exactly how it sounds and don't care one bit. There's also a serene vibe that's reminiscent of Wish You Were Here. On the podcast Mike and Brandon spoke of how much work they did on the song, it being in fact "the most toiled-over" song on the record. That does come out in the song, it sounds like it has a lot of polish, a lot of care over what direction it takes them and how it sounds as a whole. I think that if this track had been on the previous album, it would have sounded really different, perhaps quite empty and raw - or a little minimalist like Southern Girl is - when this song really needed a warmth and depth to it. Which is the case, as it feels quite lush. I'm interested in seeing how this does as a single, how the public reacts to it.

I'd heard Anna Mollly quite a long time before the whole album, which I wish I hadn't but it couldn't be helped. I love the song; I think it will take some time for my opinion of it to normalise as I get used to the other songs. I think it was a good indication of the overall sound of the album, and not too bad a choice as a first single. It has a pace that I really like, a medium-fast tempo that not many of Incubus' songs have and it makes for a upbeat song.

I've also given a few words about Love Hurts in that previous post. I've since heard the studio acoustic version of it as well. I think it works very well as an acoustic song, and Mike plays the guitar expertly and with clarity as to keep the song very simple. However I missed the vocal harmonies that were present in the album version, I think that was one thing that was done really well and could have made the acoustic version better. I think the guitar filters and additional sounds from Kilmore add to the song so it's still great on the album. I'm expecting the band to choose this song as one of the singles, as it is pretty much 100% single material (and it would perform really well), but I really hope they don't as there are much more interesting and more worthy songs on the record.

The title track Light Grenades is well placed smack dab in the middle of the album. I guess the best word to describe is explosive. It was definitely a surprise to me, and a pleasant, refreshing one at that. It reminds me of the more chaotic moments of ACLOTM like during Priceless, but really the energy of this track harks back to the days of S.C.I.E.N.C.E. What's good is that while it seems unpredictable and random, it's actually going about in a very controlled and precise manner. I really like the concept behind the song, it was pretty much what I had imagined when I first heard the album title being announced, and think it's fitting as the title track of the album, just as much as ACLOTM was for ACLOTM. A very intense two minutes.

Though I'd heard Earth to Bella in acoustic form back in April, I knew at that time that I wasn't really getting the song, that there was much more to it that was happening that one couldn't hear. And I was right, the song is definitely deeper and more complex on the album. I was still a little disappointed in the song in that I didn't agree with the decision to split up the song in two. I'll talk more about it when I reach the second part, but basically I don't see there being enough difference in the two parts to warrant a split, and I feel it would have been more effective as a single track.
Oil and Water is pretty interesting, it's something that I wouldn't really expect from the band. It starts off quite mellow and beautiful, and just keeps going, spinning out like cotton candy. I do feel this record on the whole is quite more accessible than ACLOTM, and this song is one of the more pop-sounding songs. It's not something I mind too much if it's with something this good. Brandon brands this song as the best on the album, which I don't quite see myself. But it's still a solid number.

I think out of all the songs on the album, Diamonds and Coal could arguably be the weakest. That's not to say that it's a bad track, it's a nice song and quite straightforward, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't have been missed if it had made way for other pieces, like say Look Alive (and I'll come back to this later). Apparantly this is another song that Brandon wrote (the first being Earth to Bella), which is good news as it's a good development for the band. I think that musically it's solid and even both the vocal melody and the lyrics are pretty likable, it just doesn't as a whole stand up as well as the other songs do. It follows Oil and Water, which is similarly quite poppy, but that track manages to strike a chord with me in a way that this doesn't. I may completely change my mind about this at some point in the future, so I guess I will leave it at that.

There's something about Rogues that made it quite expected, in other words I felt like it was familiar the very first time I heard it - it made perfect sense. I think it is a true logical step forward for the band, like everything they've done before this point could predict this song. Which is a good thing; this songs screams pure energy, pure fun, pure Incubus. I've seen a couple of live vids of this song which I've linked to here in previous posts, and while the quality of the audio is rubbish what's crystal clear is how much the band is enjoying themselves on the stage. Melodically it's very catchy and it has a real upbeat pace. The drums in particular are just fantastic, I think Jose really rocks this song. Lyrically the song has an interesting concept that I'd never considered myself before, and the ideas really fit the song's feel. I think this could develop into one of my favourite songs by the band. This would be perfect as a single.

At first I thought Paper Shoes was pretty tame, and didn't think much of it as it started, but within that first play it grew on me. I think that it's a very simple song that's made better by the way it's executed. The guitar riff is repetitive but catchy and has an interesting time signature; the rhythm of the song could have been very straightforward but Jose interpreted it very well and instead gives it a cool drum beat. Even vocally it was pushed up a level. I don't quite yet get what the song is really about, and Brandon gave no clues in the podcast, so it may take me a while to fully get this song, which is yet another indication of the song's depth.

Pendulous Threads was pretty much the song that blew me away, and it's a song that I think people may not realise is a lot more genius that it sounds at first. Up til this point I was enjoying the record, and feeling happy that it turned out ok. But this song was what made me sit up in awe. I think this is the peak of the album and could be reasonably considered the song that defines what direction the band is headed into. Comparing it to what they've done before, I think they take elements from Priceless and more melodic songs from earlier albums and really push them forward into something that's a lot more of everything they've done. I am reminded of the bridges of Pistola and Leech as well. The song is more progressive sounding, maybe a bit like The Mars Volta who I have recently gotten into. I think the main reason this song really screamed out at me was because of how well Brandon managed to read the chaotic music and on top of that lay some amazing vocals. With a song like Priceless it might have been a similar situation, an offbeat, crazy song that didn't have a definite melody to it, and with that he chose to stray from straight out singing and instead went with a more chanting, beat-poetry kind of thing. But with Pendulous Threads he came out with something that perfectly complements the manic and intense energy of the other elements of the song. The whole band really works together brilliantly, each person playing off the other with the kind of tight musicianship I've not seen from them since their Enjoy Incubus and Fungus Amongus days. What's interesting is that this song also brought on one of my greatest disappointments of the album as well. If there was one song that could have benefited from more exploration of the likes of Sick Sad Little World, this was it. The song starts off with a fade-in of the crazy and noisy sounds, and symmetrically fades out at the end as well. Now, I in general quite hate fade-outs, I think that songs should have a definite end and should conclude themselves in a proper manner to bring closure. I think that with the last record, Leech, which also faded out, managed to stay my annoyance by doing it well and as it was the last song on the album it worked ok. But with Pendulous Threads I was just enjoying myself too much, and would have loved an extra minute or two of the chorus or ending moments. What makes it worse is the amazing stuff that's actually going on as the song fades out; Ben in his typical fashion changes up the bass line over and over, creating some awesome variations behind Mike's increasingly chaotic guitar and Jose also starts bringing in some creative fills and alterations. I truly hope that the band gives this track the kind of treatment they gave Vitamin and Sick Sad Little World on their recent tours, ie. inject a bit of improvisation and creative extension into the live song. This would be a most unlikely track for a single, but somehow I feel that it would an adventurous choice that is worth a try.

The album closes with part two of Earth to Bella. It starts off sounding just as the first part does, but slowly becomes more noisy and disentegrating as it spirals to a close. It reminds me of the end of The Odyssey, and is very much an asymmetrical response to the opening of the album in way. I still don't feel it was really worth splitting up the song. I think the song suffers from being divided as it isn't particularly clever or complicated. As a single song they could probably have explored further that transcendence and descent idea that Brandon was talking about in the podcast. However as it actually is, I think it's quite a powerful closer because of the lyrics and the aforementioned spiralling conclusion.

The two bonus tracks of the Japanese import of the album, Look Alive and Punch Drunk, are also worth a mention. I don't feel they would have been too significant an addition to the album, and are different enough in style to warrant their absence from the tracklist. However Look Alive is a great song, and I hope that people get to hear it somehow. It has a nice build up in the intro, and then starts off with reckless abandon. It's probably has the fastest tempo of all the songs they've ever done, and it's refreshing to hear them try this because it's very contagious in it's energy and movement. The bassline is incredibly catchy, as are the vocals, making for a really enjoyable song. I think it wouldn't have been too conspicuous on the album, but it really feels like a different song, almost like they were covering another band. I don't really take to Punch Drunk as much, though it's still a nice song. It's a slow song that reminds me of Monuments & Melodies. I think it's lyrics bring it up in my eyes, and musically it has a vibe that perfectly fits the song's theme. Thanks to these songs I am madly suspicious of the band and the remaining songs they did for the album which didn't make the cut (apparantly they did about 20 or so). While they may have not fit the album, they are probably pretty damn good in themselves, so I hope they release them in time.

Well, that's the album in a grossly overworded nutshell. I feel that the individual members of the band have really moved forward in their own way and helped make the album not be centered about any single member, and in particular Jose and Brandon have shone. Jose's drumming has always been quite excellent, but here I think it's a lot easier to realise that, thanks to the improved production. Brandon really surpasses himself, I go back and listen to the earlier records and think, he sounds like he's really pushing himself, but with the advent of LG those earlier songs would probably be effortless. I guess I'm exaggerating a little in my new-album-excitment, but vocals are a general weakness for me, if a song is sung in a way that gets me, it brings up the song in my eyes a lot. Brandon performs well throughout, which I didn't think in my first impressions of ACLOTM. It's been a hell of a long wait for this album, and it's a relief that it's finally here and that it doesn't disappoint. I think one of my biggest and only real beef with LG is that it is quite a short album. The average song length is sorely lacking and there are a few occasions where they really could have lengthened the song with something interesting, but they stuck to the usually song formula of ABABCBB which doesn't really allow for much creative freedom.

Alright, I think that's all I can really say at this point, and I guess it's more than enough. Light Grenades was the album I was waiting for all year, and it's pretty much the album of the year for me - and I did go through a heck of a lot of music this year, more so I think than any year in the recent past. Incubus managed to outperform all the other bands that came out with new releases this year. I hope like hell this gets noticed and they get a bit of success with it after the arguably lukewarm reaction to ACLOTM despite strong singles. I am really excited to hear these songs live, I hope that some decent videos are gotten of performances as I obviously cannot attend any of the shows. I'm still really sore about the VH1 performance of the two new songs which never surfaced, as I know that AKTSUO was performed amazingly. Anyway, there'll probably be more opportunities to get good live versions of the songs. Now I really have to end this bleeding thing, it's not a review, it just goes on and on and

2006 Music part 3

2006-11-26T17:28:00.000+05:30

I think this will be the last batch for now, there is more music that I have to to write about and I'll get to them some time later.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
I've known RHCP for a while, since around when Californication came out. I liked the album back then but I still never was a huge fan of theirs. Theoretically their setup is ideal for me – the sound mix is heavy on the bass and drums, with the guitar usually laid back and only coming up front at particular moments, all the while some clear and melodic vocals with choiced harmonies. In practice I just didn't really get into them despite loving the singles along the way. I guess it's just that they have such a large back catalogue I wasn't prepared to go and check it all out which I like to do for any band I want to know about, rather than just hear one single album without context. This year the band released a double-album which was a little overwhelming for me because the typical music attention span usually only goes album length. I thought it was great of them to release so much material if that was what they had in them, but I suspected it might mean some filler material packaging a few hits. As it turned out I was wrong. It took me a long time to get into the album because there were a lot of songs, and I at that time had not heard the previous album, By The Way so I wasn't that familiar with their current sound. SA is consistently a good album, with highlights all the way through. I think the guitarist John Frusciante must have really had a lot of fun because he comes out with some great work throughout the album. While it's not a record I absolutely love it's good listening that I can turn to at any time.

Audioslave - Revelations
I always thought Audioslave should have been something more than they were. I never really paid much attention to their previous two releases, mainly because I didn't think they fulfilled their potential as a supergroup. I really liked some of the singles but I still wasn't convinced enough to give them a go. When Revelations dropped, though, I heard that they were taking a slightly different route and had decided to try some new things. I was intrigued enough to give the album a listen, and I was really glad that I did, because I think their experimentation proved successful. Musically I don't think they've strayed much from their distinctive style, but Cornell has injected some freshness in his vocal style, giving a bit of funk to the mix. I am enjoying it quite a bit, and applaud the new sound, however slight a difference it may have.

The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta have three albums thus far, Deloused in the Crematorium, Frances de Mute and Amputecture, the last of which came out this year. I had heard a bit about them from various sources, and was interested in trying them out. They are a chaotic progressive rock band, definitely one that's hard to get into. Their music is in the majority very loud and abrasive, and their occasional moments of slow music they seem quite a different band. I still haven't listen to the latest album enough to know it well, but out of the three I think the first is their best. It manages to stay cohesive and engaging, which the second doesn't quite do with it's long periods of screwing around and noisiness. I think on the whole Amputechture is a less violent record and I think that's not that great of an advancement. They are best when they are at their most energetic, because within that chaos is music that is fresh and interesting. I do not know any other band like The Mars Volta.

2006 Music part 2

2006-11-26T16:42:00.000+05:30

Continuing with the music reviews:

Breaking Benjamin – Phobia
I've never been a huge fan of Breaking Benjamin, their albums have been ok overall, though I love a choice few of their songs, so I've always had an eye on what they're up to. They always come across as a bunch of fun loving guys that respect their influences and managed to get caught up in the mainstream spotlight and are riding the wave with confidence and competence. Like I said before, I didn't find their albums amazing, I liked a few songs off each record and those in particular were really good, but on the whole they didn't really hold for me. The new record, though, Phobia, managed to keep my attention the whole way through. I think that it doesn't really have any truly stand-out tracks other than the single, The Diary of Jane, but it has a consistency that I like, and is probably for me the best album out of the three because of that. I really like that it has an intro and outro, and while they may not be especially clever they do add to the overall mood of the album and I think they are well done.

Evanescence - The Open Door
Evanescence is another band I don't love, but I do like their approach to that nu-metal sound. Their first album Fallen is a solid record, and while it was played a lot everywhere I still think it has some good tracks and that it is a uniformly sound album. I didn't really know about The Open Door until just before it dropped, so it was nice to have a listen. I think the main problem with Fallen was that it was an album of hits, and that they pretty much went as far as they could with their sound in that album. Consequently their second album lacks much impact because it's a lot of the same, despite that in itself possibly being a good thing. I do like the single, Call Me When You're Sober, and a few other tracks like Snow White Queen and Weight of the World, but overall this album was nothing to write home about.

10 Years - The Autumn Effect
Another nu-metal kind of band, I never knew about them until a friend of mine introduced me to them. I didn't think much of the album at first, it seemed like the same old thing, but it ended up staying on my hard drive and it took a few listens through to really get noticed. I think the appeal is the vocals that sound a bit like Maynard James Keenan from Tool. Overall this is an alright album, and I thought I'd mention it because it would fit alongside the other two mentioned above.

Flyleaf - Flyleaf
I'd never heard of this band either until this year. I think that musically they aren't really anything special, the band sounds a bit derivative and throughout the album they have opportunities to stretch a little but just don't stray from their basic sound. Another thing that's a little irritating is that the average song length is something like 2 minutes. This is an appallingly short album and it doesn't bode well for them if they can't step up a notch and try and insert a bit of complexity in their music. Simplicity can be a good thing, but not always, and I think that they could become a much better band if they decide to brave the waters a little. I guess the main reason I even listened to the band at all was the singer. She has a unique voice and singing style that fits the grungy music, and manages to keep me listening through the record. All in all though, it's alright.

2006 Music part 1

2006-11-26T16:09:00.000+05:30

This year has been a pretty big year in music for me, there have been a lot of new albums coming out throughout the year and I also got to a lot of older stuff that I came across. One of the most significant bands I was listening to was Porcupine Tree, whom I had heard before many years back, but only got really into them in the past couple of years. They quickly became one of my favourite bands, and I have been very anxiously waiting for their upcoming album. Other favourite bands like Lostprophets and Hoobastank released albums this year, so I was looking forward to them as well. Some bands who I knew but didn't particularly love them like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Breaking Benjamin, Audioslave, Evanescence released new albums this year. On top of that there were a lot of other bands whom I might have known or never heard of, but I discovered along the way and was very glad to. I'll post a bunch of little mini-reviews of some of the music I got into this year. First up are the two albums I was most looking forward to (before I heard official announcement of Light Grenades).

Hoobastank – Every Man for Himself
I'd gotten into Hoobastank relatively recently, so I had been still quite enjoying their first two albums for a while before I heard the new album was announced. I have to say that overall I was quite disappointed in EMFH, as it was at first a little strange-sounding. While the band is pretty popular in the mainstream demographic, and have always done well on the pop charts, I would always consider them a rock band; their singles were always the more accessible out of the albums and they were a different band when their whole catalogue was put into consideration. However with the latest album you might mistake them for the very kind of pop band their singles would suggest. Overall it's a good album, listenable and has some great tracks like First of Me, arguably one of the best they've ever done in my opinion, and Inside of You. I just think it's weird the kind of direction they've taken, and ultimately this album doesn't quite have the lasting appeal that the previous two have.

Lostprophets – Liberation Transmission
This is another band I got into around the same time as Hoobastank. I only really loved their second album, Start Something, which I thought was great. While I liked The Fake Sound of Progress, it was a little too offbeat for me, and I was a fan of their more refined sound. I was really looking forward to LT, and again was a little bit disappointed in it. Just like Hoobastank they seemed to embrace a more pop feel which was only suggested in SS. The difference, though, with Lostprophets, is that their blend of rock and pop is a lot more palatable because they've always been very clear fans of 80's pop and rock and it's come out in their music. This album is fun and catchy, and they managed to retain an edge in their sound that fits them, despite the direction they could have gone. There are some great tracks on the album, and I think they chose the best songs for the singles. I think what's interesting is how good the album demos are. On each of the singles they have put a few B-sides which are demos that didn't make the album, and they accordingly sound unpolished and different from the songs on the album. But they are really good, and sound a lot like stuff they'd write between the first two albums which makes for some good music.

Make Yourself an INCUBUS Video

2006-11-26T01:11:00.000+05:30

Platinum selling artists Incubus are looking for a few good ideas. Here’s your chance to direct your own music video. The winning video will become the ‘official’ video for the current single “Dig” and will be serviced to video and online outlets around the world including MTV. This is your chance to work with a top level band on your own terms.

Here’s what we are after. We are looking for a great video for “Dig”. The band is looking to do something outside the normal channels of music video making. The band has seen the explosion of user generated content on the web. They’ve seen how many of our fans are using their own resources and imagination to create their own videos and other digital media. The band is tired of playing the video game in the usual fashion and honestly believes that a great video can come from outside the box. We’re going to find out pretty quick if that’s a reality or a pie in the sky.

Sounds like an awesome idea, there will probably be some amazing submissions if they can generate interest in the right people. I wonder if I'll be able to get hold of the green screen footage without having to register as a director or sign anything - just for the sake of getting some high quality footage of the band performing the song ... however strange it looks.

Anna Molly, Making of

2006-11-23T17:43:00.000+05:30

There's a stream of a making-of vid of the Anna Molly music video up on MTV.de . Someone captured it as a .mp4 (38MB) for those 56kers (or Real Media haters). It's pretty cool as far as behind-the-scenes stuff goes. My opinion of the video hasn't changed much, and I really hope the band-only version of the video surfaces somewhere online sometime.

My Light Grenades review is pretty much done, but it's quite gushy and long so I'll sit on it for a while, in the meantime I'm thinking of putting up some other reviews of some of the music I've been listening to this year.

Nabeel interviews Flagship Studios

2006-11-20T20:03:00.000+05:30

Actually that's an exaggeration, it wasn't all of Flagship Studios, just a couple of guys in the team ... and I didn't interview them, just asked a question. But I'll start at the beginning.

Basically I've recently gotten back onto irc again, just a few channels in which I used to hang out years ago. A few days back on one of the networks I got an invite to the #hellgateguru channel, which is the irc channel for the site Hellgate Guru, which in turn is a fan site of the upcoming game Hellgate: London. They were due to have a chat session with Ivan Sulic, community manager at Flagship. I knew about the game and had read up quite a bit but I don't really have that much interest in it, but any kind of dev chat has my attention, so I joined the channel to wait for the chat session. The idea was that once Ivan arrived, the channel would be muted, ie. noone could say anything except for those select few who were voiced (in this case the moderators and Ivan), and questions that we wanted answered could be passed onto the moderators who would choose out out of those amongst themselves. I didn't have any real interest in the game, and I knew that the fans in the channel would end up asking the usual mundane questions about the game concerning stuff they would find out anyway once it came out, but were things they just had to know now. But this was an opportunity to interact with a game dev so I forwarded a few questions, more regarding the development side of things than the actual game, basically stuff which had little chance of getting chosen. As it happened, they did choose one of them, the most boring one admittedly but it was cool anyway. The chat log is here, but here is the relevant part:

<QBot> Question #2 [nabeel] What other games are you drawing inspiration from, other than Diablo and Deus Ex? Do you think Hellgate: London combines its basic gameplay ingredients (RPG, FPS, MMO) succesfully enough to make a unique new kind of single game genre?
<Ivan-Flagship> Other than Diablo, we draw inspiration from EVERYTHING. First-person shooters of all types, horror games, popular fiction... But honestly, it's all about our past. And our past is all about Diablo. The game is an action-RPG. Mechanically, it's Diablo with lots more stuff. Thematically, it's medieval sci-fi, if that makes any sense.
<Ivan-Flagship> Done
<Ivan-Flagship> Oh
<Ivan-Flagship> Not done
<SolInvictus> Ooh, do elaborate.
<Ivan-Flagship> Whether it's successful or not will be determined by whether you buy it or not. We sure think it's successful.
<Ivan-Flagship> Okay
<Ivan-Flagship> Now I'm done.

Not quite the answer I was hoping for, but Ivan isn't really part of the development team really, he's the in the PR side of things so I couldn't really expect him to give a definite subjective opinion about the game.

Light Grenades: leaked November 18th

2006-11-20T18:07:00.000+05:30

The last few days have been a bit crazy, a number of unrelated things happening to me over a short period so I've not really posted my thoughts on one of my most anticipated albums of the last two years. I'll put up some first impressions of a sort, it's the closest I'll get to ever writing a review of an Incubus album, since it will take me a long time - say months, years - to really assess the album; for a band like Incubus it's a lot more significant how my opinions change about songs or become more concrete and so I can never presume to write some definite critique of their music. With other bands it's a lot easier, and I will be writing a bunch of mini-reviews of the music I've been listening to this year while waiting for Light Grenades.

Light Grenade leak imminent

2006-11-18T10:49:00.000+05:30

The album being so close to release, it's inevitable that it'll leak. However, it's been strange that it hasn't already, I think it's quite interesting that it's taken so long to; a big album release is usually predated by a leak by a couple of weeks. I do know that some people have gotten hold of it though, so it could reach the p2p networks any time now.

Meanwhile, Anna Molly moves up to spot #2 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and to #16 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It will be interesting to see how it performs when it is actually released in lees than a week's time, and its promotion starts. Hopefully it'll appear on other singles charts as well and perhaps take the number 1 spot on the rock charts.

Yeah, I know I just linked to a video of the song, but there's another recording of Rogues played at the Berlin show a couple of days later up on YouTube. The song has been getting some good responses, so I'm looking forward to hearing it on the album.

More clips are popping up online, still. 60-second clips of Anna Molly, Dig and A Kiss to Send Us Off can be heard on some foreign language magazine site (page 8). Since I've heard A Kiss to Send Us Off in various live forms I didn't mind checking out the clip; I was glad that most of it was taken up by the long droning intro. What I like is that the intro riff that starts up the actual song has pretty heavily distorted guitar, reminiscent of Mike's sound in the Make Yourself and Morning View era - as opposed to the dirty overdrive sound in A Crow Left of the Murder. It fits the subsequent tripped-out part in the verses, a fitting transition that contrasts the two juxtaposing styles in the song. Brandon's voice is also on form in this song; he has been singing the song great live and the additional effect used in the background during the prechorus makes it sound a lot cooler now. I didn't even like the song as much as the others that I'd heard at that time when the first live clips of it came out, but now that I 'get' it I'm really looking forward to it.