Matt Henshaw’s Unfurled, finally!

Matt Henshaw brings the noise with his release Unfurled, a 75-minute long sprawl of oscillating industrial drones and metallic clanks and blips that remind one of underwater submarine life on a sub doomed to a life of hell. In fact, this is one of Henshaw’s darker, harsher forays, one that literally furls and unfurls into minimalist, extended low notes and high pitched squawls.

It’s the softer minimalist aspect of the track that draws this listener in, what with the ever-underlying hum and the quick clanks and patters that suck the listener into a dark lull. The subtle, rolling drip-drips coupled with the low notes are calming and pleasant to the ears, designed to put on in a trance. After a while, squealing feedback works its way over the drone, penetrating that trance in an homage to the track’s title, unfurling what was glacially built up. The feedback of the track is harsh and unsettling, and although it’s a nice jar from the quiet solitude of the minimalism, they sometimes proceed a little bit too long.

This listener enjoys, however, the subtleties that Henshaw plays with, an experimentation within lower and higher volumes. Though repetitive, the track mimics its title, slowly pulsing its way towards dark oblivion. It’s slightly creepy, too, and a good listen for late-night spooks. The industrial tones of the piece are more reminiscent of Henshaw’s 320 than his previous works, and a lot more inaccessible to those not familiar with harsher noise. But Henshaw’s ability to lull the listener and then snap them out of the gentle hands of the drone is captivating, even if the feedback does make for a very difficult 70 minutes.

This is not easy listening, nor is it a track meant to be taken in pieces. To get the full experience out of Henshaw’s album, one must take in the entire track, which is no easy task considering its length. If one can get past these hurdles, though, there’s a harrowing experience underneath that Henshaw has provided. The hum of the radiator will never sound the same again.

And again, Henshaw has dedicated a lot of time and energy to the presentation of his work, wrapping the album’s case with a nice tie to again emphasize the importance of unfurling.

Buy it here

Wm. Paul Young’s The Shack spiritual but not life-changing

I’ve read a lot of blurbs and reviews about Wm. Paul Young’s The Shack – how it will make one religious or spiritual even if one isn’t a church-goer going into the novel, how it will give those who read it a new outlook on life – and I had dismissed them as fanatics trying to promote a book about religion just to get press coverage. But I decided to check it out anyway, because a good read is a good read no matter the subject matter or the hype that it gets.

After having a trek through the woods with The Shack’s main character, Mack, I’ve come to the conclusion that the book really is an overly hyped religious controversy. While it’s a good read, all of the praise about the novel’s ability to change opinions and viewpoints of religion are quite exaggerated and, I feel, are giving the book a more negative connotation than it deserves.

Young’s novel is very much a philosophical dialogue on religion and the current state of beliefs – it resembles some of Plato’s dialogues without taking on overly sophisticated speech or diction. In fact, The Shack reads like a common-man’s philosophy.

In the book, a man named Mack gets a letter from God, supposedly, to come to a shack out in the middle of the wilderness where his daughter had been taken a murdered a year or two before. Mack has still not come to grips with the emotional turmoil inside of him, and has been taken over by a Great Sadness, one which does not allow him to forgive or understand God’s actions. As Mack stays at the shack for a weekend, he is transported to a new world, one in which God, Jesus, and a deity named Sarayu are all helping Mack to understand his pain and to forgive those who have caused it, while also accepting God into his heart.

The first part of the novel is dedicated to meeting Mack and his haunting experience of his daughter’s kidnapping and subsequent death at the hands of a child killer. It’s a harrowing, visceral and taut sequence, rife with psychological drama from Mack which makes this part of the novel intense, if not exactly original.

But then we get to the sequences with God, Jesus, and Sarayu. The characters are likable enough, as they should be – they are, after all, the almighty God broken into three pieces to guide Mack. As Mack struggles through conversations with God about his ways and Mack’s own beliefs, there’s a lot of explanations about religious teachings that are quite interesting. One that stuck out was the fact that God doesn’t exactly like organized religion. This is where a lot of the religious criticism comes into play, as Young characterizes God as someone who doesn’t want to punish the sinners and he also doesn’t care if you pray to him. He plays a waiting game of letting the people of the world choose whether they want to let God into their hearts, which is more of what I think of when I imagine God.

The dialogues between God and Mack go on forever though, and there’s a lull in the middle of the book where there’s a lot of talking but not a lot of doing going on. It evens out towards the end, in a very transcendental moment where Mack finds his daughters body, but I felt that the middle portion of the novel was a tad flat.

And although the book is supposed to have an uplifting message (which it succeeds at), some parts feel a little too goody-goody for my tastes. Mack seems to like every person he comes in contact with, which is pretty unbelievable. All of the characters – well, minus the serial killer, of course – are instantly likable but they all feel really similar to each other.

But what about the spiritual nature of the book? It’s fascinating, it’s entertaining, but one has to remember that it’s still a fictional story about God, not a true biography of Him. It changed my stereotypical views of God and got me thinking in new directions about what Heaven and Hell and sin and sainthood mean in our man-made realities, but it didn’t change my spiritual beliefs or make me convert from my agnostic beliefs. I think that if one’s spiritual beliefs were swayed so easily by a fictional book, that person did not have very strong beliefs or opinions at all. The book is a great read, but it shouldn’t be so easily persuasive.

Don’t get my qualms about the book’s ability to bring about an epiphany wrong, though; it’s an emotional ride that’s at some points sad and at others absolutely mouth-crackingly happy, and its views of a higher being are insightful, well thought-out, and philosophical. But it’s not going to make the devoted worshipers happy because of its stand against religion, and it won’t make non-believers convert. But at least it’s not too preachy, and the religious aspect is not a turn-off like I expected it to be. No religious experience required here.

Coming soon

Will be back in a few days. I have a very late review to write of Matt Henshaw’s Unfurled (sorry Matt! I’ve been busy!), and a review of Wm. Paul Young’s The Shack.

Hopefully I’ll be back for good again. And just so you know, I’m compiling an extensive list of 2009 albums for a year-end best-of list, complete with a play count and everything! I’m looking ahead.

Bullet to Binary, Pt. Two, WHAT!?

PLEASE RELEASE NOW!

Roadside Memorial

Here’s a play I wrote for my playwriting class, titled Roadside Memorial. Remember, this is copywrited work. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think.

 

Roadside Memorial

 

 

(Lights. Sidewalk by the road. Daytime. Low sounds of cars driving past. SAM sits on a bench, contemplative and sad. The backdrop should be drab brick; the street does not feel out in the open, and it is not a busy street. It’s a quiet, barely traversed road. The bench is next to a roadside memorial that SAM has made, a wooden cross that bears the name “Lawrence” through the middle. It has a green ribbon tied to it. SAM holds flowers in his hands – a pot of azaleas. He wears a wrinkled suit, inexpensive. It looks like he didn’t sleep the night before, and he hasn’t shaved.

He murmurs to himself without words, audible enough for the audience to hear speech.
A teenage boy, LEROY, comes in stage right. He wears a button down shirt and khakis, and the shirt is not tucked in. It seems he has made the attempt to dress up. He acts rather disturbed.
SAM looks up to see the boy. LEROY does not see SAM, because he is looking at the ground. SAM does not seem surprised to see LEROY.)

SAM
Summin wrong, son?

LEROY
Hmm.

SAM
Son? Yello?

LEROY
(looks up)
Oh. Sorry, I must not have caught what you were… um, what you were saying. What was it that you were saying?

SAM
I asked if summin was wrong. Ya look a little bit off.

LEROY
If you don’t mind me saying, you look a bit tweaked too. If you don’t mind me saying. You look tired. Tweaked.

SAM
Ya’re rambling.

LEROY
I know.

SAM
Call me Sam.

LEROY
Okay Sam.

(Pause)

SAM
Normally, ya’d tell me yar’s.

LEROY
Leroy.

SAM
Leroy? Not a very popular name, is it?

LEROY
Not very, no sir. No sir.

SAM
I said call me Sam.

LEROY
Not very, Sam.

SAM
Have a seat. (Motions to bench)

LEROY
(takes seat next to Sam)
What are you here for?

SAM
Thinking. Honoring.

LEROY
What do you mean honoring? It’s a sidewalk. What’s to honor?

SAM
More than just stone, son. Every place around here has a story, don’t ya think?

LEROY
I guess so. Not really sure how you mean that. You mean the buildings tell the city’s story?

SAM
Yeah, I mean, ya could think like that. All of these streets have seen more things than we have, ya know? They know who’s been here, who’s left. Accidents and such.

LEROY
It makes sense. (Pause. LEROY senses a coldness in SAM’s voice. He looks away from SAM) What’s that cross there for?

SAM
Well don’t ya see, boy? Says “Lawrence” on it. I’d sure as hell guess it’s a memorial of some sort.

LEROY
It says Lawrence? I wonder…

SAM
Why, ya know of ‘em?

LEROY
(Looks down)
Yeah. Yeah, I think I did. If it’s who I’m thinking of -

SAM
Really! Ya knew him! Well how? Let’s honor him with the memory.

LEROY
He wasn’t a friend. I know he went to a different school than me. He was the same age as me, sixteen. Maybe a few months older, I don’t know. I heard stories about him though.

SAM
Hum. Go on – I’m intrigued.

LEROY
I don’t know all that much about him. Good kid I guess. Smart, good in school. Probably would have gotten a scholarship if he had had the chance. People were looking up to him. He was in the paper this fall because of his high honors. He was the guy that everyone wanted to be better than.

SAM
(Frowns)
Yeah, he was in the paper. I remember it. How’d he die, do ya recall? Someone kill him out of jealousy?

LEROY
It wasn’t out of spite.

SAM
Accident then, was it?

LEROY
(Puts his head in his hands)
It’s painful to talk about. I – I don’t really want to.

SAM
Nothin’ to be pained about. He’s dead, right? He’s not feelin’ anymore, so why should you? Tell me what happened.

LEROY
I don’t know. He was drunk, driving in the middle of the night down this road. He was weaving all over the road, someone said. You know this road? It only gets light traffic, even in rush hour, so there weren’t many cars out. His lights weren’t even on, damn it! He went through a red light, didn’t even slow down! And then -

SAM
What, his car blew up? There’s gotta be more.

LEROY
(stands up, paces)
No! No! I hit him with my car! It’s always a deserted street, like it is today! I pulled out of the intersection, not seeing him coming down the street, and I smashed into the driver’s side! I heard this sickening crunch of metal and the breaking of bone. Everyone denies it could be true but I swear I could hear those bones snapping! It was as if car and man became one at that instant, a horrifying mutant hybrid. I didn’t see much, my head hit the steering wheel. And I was knocked out, but when I woke up I had been pulled out of the car.

SAM
Did ya think to check on Lawrence?

LEROY
There was nothing to think of. I knew he had to be dead. And they just kept asking me these questions while I was just waking up – I couldn’t handle it, I just answered with anything I could think of.

SAM
Ya didn’t even ask about him? The man that you killed?

LEROY
There was just so much happening! I couldn’t think at all. All my thoughts were stuck in my mind like a big ball of peanut butter, thoughts like whether I would be okay myself, whether or not my dad was told of what was happening. If I was going to get hit for wrecking Dad’s car. How much all of it was going to cost.

SAM
(His tone is no longer friendly and talkative. It has an edge, sharp and heavy. He wrings his hands together. He sets the azaleas down and stands up quickly. His throat is raspy as if it needs to be cleared, and his voice wavers.)

Do ya not understand yar actions! (Picking up speed) He was still alive he was still alive HE WAS STILL ALIVE. How do you think a father feels to be called to the side of his son’s hospital bed, no longer a man but just a pile of broken bones? Who were YOU to not even care about what you did!

LEROY
(Shrilly)
You’re Lawrence’s father?

SAM
(Shakes head)
Where was your mind that night, son! Don’t ya remember me? The man shaking his fists to the sky, raging at the police officers? Screaming for mercy, that was me! Yelling for someone to save my son! They loaded him up on a stretcher, and they took him speedin’ off. Got ‘em to the hospital in time for me and my wife to clasp his hand as the doctors pronounced him dead. And you couldn’t have cared less about him. While all this was happening, all of this that you caused, you were sitting there wondering if you’d be okay. Someone died at that accident. I guess you figure, (mocking) “At least it wasn’t me, right?”

LEROY
I did care! I couldn’t have known! I didn’t know and now he’s dead. What does it matter if I knew he was alive or not? How could I help him! How could I save him! He was a drunk, mangled carcass that not even the paramedics could save.

SAM
(Very severely and slowly)
He wasn’t drunk you piece of garbage. You liar.

LEROY
He was drunk and you know it, you just don’t believe it. Read the police report. He was drunk. Intoxicated. Trashed. It wasn’t my fault at all.

SAM
YOU crashed the car. Yar foot pushed the gas, yar body yar legs yar brain yar FUCKING CAR. You you you you you you!

LEROY
(Goes to the cross and kneels. He pats the ground.)
Is this enough worship and care for you? Should I weep here? You tell me how to mourn.

SAM
Get off the ground. (He walks to Leroy) Get up. You ruin his memory.

LEROY
You have had four weeks to remember him. I understand your suffering, but I’ve suffered too.

SAM
I’m sure. I know the type of kid you are.
LEROY
Do you? So you know how much my father beat me after that accident? Beat me with a belt so hard that I couldn’t get out of bed the next day, right? Yeah, you know all about that don’t you. And you know how little sleep I’ve been getting, dreaming of the accident that your son caused. I can’t drive a car anymore. It was so hard to come to this spot, to pay my respects, that I threw up down that alley. (Points behind him) You know all my secrets. Show me my wrongs, oh father.

SAM
No other father will show ya, it seems.

LEROY
(Stands up, steps away from SAM)
Yes, let’s talk about fathers, shall we? You can make fun of my father all that you want – I know who and what he is, I’ve grown up with him for sixteen years of my life, but you – (sarcastically) ohh, I want to know all about you. Tell me how much you care for Lawrence.

SAM
I put up that memorial for him. This sidewalk will always bear that cross.

LEROY
No. Look around. There have been many, many accidents on many different streets. How many crosses do you see? Hmm? How many memorials? Do you think this is the first time something like this has happened? (Pulls his eyes open) LOOK AROUND. The world is not stopping, this was not some cataclysm! It’s an everyday thing!

SAM
And so, because it happens to everyone, ya’ve just moved on? Have ya forgotten that experience? Should I drop it from my mind like I ne’re had a son? Should tell ma wife, I guess, to just suck it up! Tell her to forget about it, it’s not my fault, don’t leave me!

LEROY
Did you just hear yourself?

SAM
Hear what?

LEROY
What you just said: “It’s not my fault.”

SAM
Didn’t mean nothin’ by it.

LEROY
You’re not upset about your son’s death…

SAM
Fuck you I’m not. Don’t ya tell me what to be upset over.

LEROY
I don’t have to tell you because you already know. Your son is dead – but that’s not what keeps you up at night. That’s not what made you put the cross up. You want your life back. The way things were before. When you didn’t have to worry about your guilt.

SAM
My guilt! The boy talks about MY guilt like I killed Lawrence myself!

LEROY
I didn’t kill Lawrence. He killed himself. And I’m sorry that I helped him along the way, and I think about it (enunciated) ev-er-y day. But listen to yourself, man! You’re blaming everyone and everything! It’s time you let the fault go and get on with it. Remember Lawrence for who he was, not how he died.

SAM
(Voice escalating. He goes to LEROY)
I just don’t know what to do. I’m losing my wife. I’ve lost my friends. Everyone judges Lawrence now. At the funeral, no one would look at me! I could see judgment in their eyes, like they had the hand of God to pass it down on me! And I know that they turned their backs on the casket and before they were even out of the parlor, they said, “What kind of son was this! How tragic a mistake. A reflection of the father.” They know about the drunk driving; they blame me.

LEROY
And you just want things to be normal. You don’t want the guilt.

SAM
(desperate)
No. No. I miss my son.

(Takes out knife from one pocket, a gun from the other, discreetly, glancing around for people)

I miss my son.

LEROY
Sam. Sam – what are you doing?

SAM
I couldn’t decide which one. I had a knife that would do the trick. Then I thought maybe a gun would be better. Lawrence died of head trauma, and this gun can go boom right into your skull. Too much blood with knives. Too much of a personal feeling. With this gun, I don’t have to actually touch ya – I can just pull this itsy little trigger and it’s all done.

LEROY
(realization dawning)
You didn’t make that memorial for Lawrence! You sought me out! I would have to come here sooner or later. You had to know who I was from the accident!

SAM
That cross is for Lawrence.

LEROY
Don’t kid with me! It’s for yourself!

SAM
I sit here waiting every day.

LEROY
(frantic)
Today’s the day, my friend?
SAM
Today’s the day. No one to blame.

LEROY
No one will forget how he died, even if you do this. They’ll blame you more!

SAM
(sarcastically horrified)
Will they? Then what’s to lose? I’m already under fire! Suffering is sweeter when it is not you who is in pain.

LEROY
This is not redemption, it’s murder. You cannot make your life the way it was, it has been shaped by fate and you cannot mold it to your liking! You pretend you know regret. You think you know. But if you carry this out, you will only know what it is like to take a life.

SAM
And what’s so wrong with that?

LEROY
I guess the only way to know is to find out. Do it. (Holds arms up in surrender) I guess this is it. Lawrence, shield your eyes if you’re watching, man. Your father is the monster here.

SAM
(raises the gun)
Ya think my son is not proud of this vengeance?

LEROY
No, I don’t think he is at all. Do you want him to be proud? Is that the type of son you think he was? Is that who you want him to be?

SAM
No –

LEROY
Is that what you raised him to be?

SAM
No, it’s not –

LEROY
(interrupting again, feeling like he’s reaching SAM)
Maybe you need to talk to your son. Talk and he’ll listen. Understand! You just need some understanding.

SAM
(nodding and turning to the memorial)
Ya’re right. Talkin’ and understandin’. (He shuffles to the bench, takes the azaleas, sets them by the cross, and sits down in front of memorial. Murmers) I’m sorry, son.

LEROY (As LEROY says this,
(quietly turns and looks away) SAM lies in front of
It will all work out for the cross and puts them. They’ll be alright. gun to his temple.)

LEROY
(turns, looks horrified)
Think about the choices you have! I won’t stop you, if you feel you’ve made the right decision.

SAM
Ya think I look for pity? I’m looking for rest only. Sometimes it’s just better to take yourself out of the game. Quit before ya’re more behind. Things are only getting worse from here.

LEROY
(looks away)
If that’s how you feel, then do it.

(Gun shot. SAM’s hand falls from his head, knocks over azaleas. LEROY turns back and puts his hand to his mouth)

LEROY
(con’t)
I didn’t… think… you’d do it. But I hope you find Lawrence, and the way you want him to be. But I have a feeling what you’re looking for is lost now.

(LEROY holds position. Light slowly fades. Sirens can be heard just barely, before darkness.)

Ugh – no updates

I’ve been really bad about updating this blog, or doing any writing for that matter. Stick around, I’ll try to get some reviews or posts up sometime soon…

New leakage… starring Kylesa!

Some good releases are shaping up for 2009; I’ve already talked about some of Merzbow’s (Somei), Napalm Death’s (Time Waits for No Slave ), and Cattle Decapitation’s (The Harvest Floor). But wait; there’s still more.

The Appleseed Cast’s new album has recently leaked. Titled Sagarmatha, it takes us through TAC’s ever increasing fascination with post-rock, coupled with their 90’s emo undertones. Oh yeah, it also has some killer xylophone like the cover promises, and it jumps through moods like a pregnant woman. Might review this soon.

Kylesa’s got a new one coming out that just leaked a couple days ago. It’s Static Tensions, 40 minutes of sludge/stoner rock at it’s best. There’s some good tribal drum beats going on, female vocals, and some of the heavy Kylesa riffs you know are modified to crunchy goodness. I just picked it up and am already a big fan, even when their older stuff was starting to wear on me.

Who else have I been listening to lately…

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead also released a new album, The Century of Self. I haven’t given the band too many listens, and all I know of their output is their last album, So Divided (which I wasn’t too huge a fan of), and this new album. I’m digging it a lot more, especially the early-to-mid portion of the disc, and it’s got some cool little ditties on there. Check it out.

Black Dice have made a good comeback in my book with their new album Repo. I was not an avid listener of 2007’s Load Blown, and while it was okay, it wasn’t anything spectacular, and certainly not as fascinating as some of the other noise rock that came out. It felt like they were doing Battles badly. But no… Black Dice have given us a new album full of rhythmic noise that, while returning to the same form as Load Blown, is executed a lot more successfully. I’ve been chomping on this one a little bit, though still not my favorite.

Also got some new Zombi, called Spirit Animal, that came out a little while ago. Dark synths, horror soundtrack-esque stuff coming out of the duo that comprise the band, and while I don’t feel this album is as good as their previous masterpiece Surface to Air, it’s still got some great synth sine waves going on. I really like it when Zombi’s pieces take on a darker vibe, but the lighter stuff is still working for them here.

I think that’s about it for right now. Cannibal Corpse released a new one as well (Evisceration Plague), and while it’s in the same form as other CC and it brings some heavy riffs to the table, it’s not varied enough for my tastes for me to give it more listens. Dude, give us some new drum beats too. The same old blasts for every song with barely any fills leaves a lot of us drummers wanting more.

In other news, Cursive will soon be releasing their highly anticipated new album (at least for me anyway) called Mama, I’m Swollen. I’ve heard a few songs off of it – two of them done live which I wasn’t that impressed with – but the other two that I’ve heard are promising mixes between Cursive and Tim Kasher’s other band, The Good Life. Some sweet, sweet sounds coming from Kasher’s mind that I can’t wait to implant into my brain.

Right now, I’ve got some noisy/free-jazzy Jazzfinger on. It’s my second listen, and I don’t know if I like it or not. It meanders and I can’t really grasp a direction. We’ll see…

Keep listening… Matt, I’m getting to your album, I swear! Going home this weekend to give it a listen on my stereo.

Merzbow’s Somei

So far, I’m impressed by what it’s bringing to the table. Part drum solo fest, part destruction, it has equal parts of both that make it interesting in two layers.

Interesting to note how Masami Akita leaves some of his static-y ambience out of the songs, focusing on more of the drums and less on the noise at some points. I think that’s what’s different here than in his recent releases; he’s trying different things here, rather than just layers upon layers of surging, squealing undertones.

In other news, I am working on reviewing Matt Henshaw’s album Unfurled. I meant to listen to it at home on my nice stereo this weekend, where it should be properly listened to, but I didn’t get a chance. I’m still holding out for that opportunity.

I’ve got some poems for ya.

Here’s a poem that’s currently a work-in-progress in my poetry class.
***

Towel Drying

As I step out of the shower,
mist collecting in curling columns,
I pick up my towel; its seams
puckering to kiss the cascades of water,
as if in the throes of thirst, or-

a reaction of repulsion from sour taste –

and I wonder if the towel
now thrown in the corner
is curled up in satisfaction-

or if it is doubled over
in an aching state of futility,
in search of and never finding
a means to stay dry.

***
Give it a look, give me suggestions. Tell me if you like it! Another one to come soon.

Send material?

As I am at a lull right now when it comes to material for this blog, I am accepting any submissions that you would like reviewed. It can be music, comics, video games, movies (although that will probably be re-routed and posted on my other blog, The Moon is a Dead World), or even if you want me to host your band’s music.

Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get in touch as to where you can send it.

Also, if anyone needs a guy to do some writing for your blog/website, preferably reviews, I’m in. Again, just leave a comment. I know this post will probably be ignored, but it’s worth a shot.