metaghostin' Vol. XVIII — Misunderstood Onomatopoeia

Misunderstood Onomatopoeia - 31'37"

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1. Tom, cruise the sea back to the Himalayas / See you in Sherwood / Picnic (2012)
2. Grim Collections / Kidcrash / Snacks (2010)
3. h / Kawri's Whisper / S/T EP (2012)
4. Or So He Sphinx / The Speed of Sound in Seawater / Underwater... (2011)
5. Desert Cathedral / The Root and the Basilisk / EFG (2013)
6. Patches / Hikes / Friends (2013)
7. The Thinking Man / The Jezebel Spirit / I Hate It Here (2011)
8. Looming / Toasted Plastic / June Highs (2013)

///
 

—    It was a gruesome war, very graphic. None of that ambiguous bullshit like, “did he die, did he die?” “Dude fuckin’ died, man, didn’t you see his gaping headhole like a goddamn blood fountain? Brains all over the place; the dunes and temple walls; the clouds; the moon; the sun and stars; like fuckin’: ba-blow, kaplooey, splat, pish, no they fuckin’ didn’t!”—very masculine.

metaghostin' Vol. XVII — Iniquitous Uniquity

Iniquitous Uniquity - 40'53"

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1. Cnestorial / Krallice / Krallice (2008)
2. Jim Jones / Taking Meds / Demo (2013)
3. Summer Devon / Piles and Piles / Premonitions (2013)
4. Out of Reach / Lydia's Sleep / Wires (2012)
5. Harmonize It / Vasquez / EP426 (2013)
6. Fish pt. 2-3 (Actual Fish) / The Slaughterhouse 5 / Alban B. Clay (2013 - Unreleased)
7. Interlude#1 > Pirol / The Season Standard / Caudle Cameo (2006)
8. Effervescent / inside//outside / inside//outside (2013)

///

Name your favorite Borges villain here:

metaghostin' Vol. XV - All the Engineers are Dead

All the Engineers are Dead - 40'56"

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1. You Set the Scene / Love / Forever Changes (1967)
2. time machine / LITE / Past, Present, Future (2012)
3. Vanity Fair / Mr. Bungle / California (1999)
4. This Must be Love / Phil Collins / Face Value (1981)
5. T-800 prefer Tech Noir / Riding the Diplodoc / Crystal Fuxx (2012)
6. This Will Be Our Year / The Zombies / Odessey & Oracle (1968)
7. What if / Boyfrndz / Boyfrndz (2011)
8. Ocean and Sky (And Questions Why?) / Julie Tippets / Sunset Glow (1975)
9. Sick Chatter / The Soft Greens / Ceiling (2011)

///

Monaural drums in a stereo recording
Fade outs because the song never ends
Fade outs because the song needs to end
Fade outs just because
Gated reverb as a myth
Gated reverb as applied today
Vocal harmonies by a group
Vocal harmonies by an individual to create the illusion of a group
Vocal performance by an individual to create the illusion of an instrument
Non-linear editing to create the illusion of a vocal performance
Digital artifacts because you mastered your record like an asshole
Digital artifacts because your song is made out of digital artifacts

metaghostin' Vol. XIV - Citrus Seltzer in Yr Snifter

Citrus Seltzer in Yr Snifter - 32'08"

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1. Black Hoodie / Extra Life / Made Flesh (2010)
2. Zil / Three Trapped Tigers / Route One or Die (2012)
3. In Your Light / Bruce Peninsula / Open Flames (2009)
4. Derek's Journey / Renaissance Sound / Renaissance Sound (2012)
5. Strong Like Bull / Jerseyband / Beast-Wedding (2009)
6. Gibbon / This Town Needs Guns / Animals (2008)
7. Hiya Higher Hire / You Slut! / Medium Bastard (2012)
8. Nunca Me Gusto Salinas / Macho Muchacho / Macho Muchachos (2012)

///

Worse abuse of facial hair:

Hide yr jowls / pretend you got a jawline

vs.

Goatee (any variety)

metaghostin' Vol. XI - In Fidelity

In Fidelity - 43'07"

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1. Caçada / Chico Buarque / Quando o Carnaval Chegar (1972)
2. She's Too Much for my Mirror / Captain Beefheart / Trout Mask Replica (1970)
3. Emily Sagée's Secret / Giraffes? Giraffes! / More Skin With Milk-Mouth (2007)
4. Invention 1 / Vismal / Inventions (2004)
5. Double Bind / mouse on keys / An Anxious Object (2009)
6. Little Bird / Troop of Echoes / Days in Automation (2010)
7. Signals / The Appleseed Cast / Low Level Owl Vol. 1 (2001)
8. Colorado / Grizzly Bear / Yellow House (2006)
9. Life in the Hair-Salon-Themed Bar on the Island / Owls / Owls (2001)
10. New Grass / Talk Talk / Laughingstock (1991)

///

Have you ever noticed that the phrase "beat around the bush" serves as an easily understood sexual entendre that as an act (masturbating in proximity to a hairy vagina)  happens to be something that could be construed as "beating around the bush"?

Linguists, please tell me there is a term for this phenomenon.

metaghostin' Vol. X - Any Color You Want

Any Color You Want - 38'35"
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1. The Juggaknots - "Jivetalk" / Clear Blue Skies (1996)
2. Souls of Mischief - "What a Way to Go Out" / '93 'til Infinity (1993)
3. Pharoahe Monch - "Hell" / Internal Affairs (1999)
4. J Dilla - "The $" / Ruff Draft EP (2007)
5. Lootpack - "Weededed" / Soundpieces: Da Antidote (1999)
6. Raekwon the Chef - "Glaciers of Ice" / Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995)
7. Dr. Octagon - "Girl Let Me Touch You" / Dr. Octagonecologist (1996)
8. Count Bass D - "Ohio Playas" / Dwight Spitz (2002)
9. El-P - "Truancy" / Fantastic Damage (2002)
10. Goodie Mob - "I Didn't Ask to Come" / Soul Food (1995)

---

NO MESSAGE

metaghostin' Vol. IX - If I saw double once, then again.

If I saw double once, then again. - 43' 26"
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Side A - What's cooler:

1. The Microphones - "Here With Summer" / Don't Wake Me Up (1999)
2. The Weeknd - "The Birds (Pt. 1)" / Thursday (2011)
3. RX Bandits - "White Lies" / Mandala (2009)
4. Penpal - "Bed Bugs" / Postscript EP (2011)
5. Genesis - "Chamber of 32 Doors" / The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)

 Side B - An Eclipse or a Syzygy?

1. TV on the Radio - "Playhouses" / Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
2. Stateless - "Visions" / Matilda (2011)
3. Gavin Castleton - "Swim Good (Frank Ocean x Portishead Mashup/Cover)
4. Mister Metaphor - "The Sunset Song" / This Is How the Day Goes (20XX)
5. noumenon - "Pimpin' Zenith (Pt. 2)" / Split 7" with Rooftops (2009)

---
Don't you guys hate when albums are shoddily sequenced? I know people mostly just be listening to their tunes with complete disregard to context, but goddamn do I get salty when I put on a record and things just be arbitrarily jammed together like a motherfucker ain't never eaten a PB & J sandwich. I used to buy Mars Volta LPs, and the first thing I would do is rip it and re-sequence, because those dudes are basically retarded and put their ballads next to their helicopter sound effects.

metaghostin' Vol. VIII - Don't Be Such a Dissonancy

Don't Be Such a Dissonancy - 50'34"
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Ornette Coleman : "Skies of America" :: US Congress : ?
---

1. Sonic Youth - "'Cross the Breeze" / Daydream Nation (1988)
2. Zvoov - "How Dare You How Dare Me" / Everbrown EP (2011)
3. Brontide - "Limestone Ink" / Sans Souci (2011)
4. Soft Machine - "As If" / Fifth (1972)
5. Natsumen - "Septemujima" / Endless Summer (2005)
6. Blue Cranes - "Here Is You, Here Is Me" (Ethan Rose remix) / Oversea Orbits (2010)
7. Massacre - "Carrying" / Killing Time (1981)
8. Zevious - "The Noose" / After the Air Raid (2009) 
9. Kayo Dot - "The Awkward Wind Wheel" / Blue Lambency Downward (2008)
10. Dysrhythmia - "Will the Spirit Prevail?" / Barriers and Passages (2006)

---

P.S. - Natsumen got a new record coming out next month, ready to cure all your impotence issues.

metaghostin' Vol. VI - Doxylamine Daze

Doxylamine Daze - ~30'00"
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For the past two weeks I've had this goddamn cold that just won't go away, feeling like a plague-ridden toddler, spreading disease everywhere I go.

Thankfully, we got legal drugs that get you high as shit to help you sleep when your brain is corrupted with mucus and your lungs are just freaking out all the time.

This mix is dedicated to Nyquil Liquigel capsules, giving me dem 9 hours I crave.
---

1. Bad Dudes - "Eat Drugs" / Eat Drugs

I wanna do drugs, I wanna do drugs, but I'm afraid of drugs. (Na nana naa naa)

2. Ebu Gogo - "Never Ending Hole" / Chase Scenes 1-13

We done an Ebu Gogo post yet? Y'all know I love deez dudes. Sometimes their awesomeness makes it hard to appreciate similar but less awesome bands. Like that time Acey tried to get me to listen to Adebisi Shank and I was all "FUCK DEEZ DUDES EBU GOGO BE SHITTIN IN DEY MOUF!"

True story.

3. Enslaved - "Giants" / Axioma Ethica Odini

I haven't been a legit metal-loving dude for very long, and metal in its various forms only takes up a marginal part of my library, but these guys were one of the first metal bands that I could really dig. They aren't especially mind-blowing from any perspective, but the production is super slick and they just got dat craft.

4. Jardín de la Croix - "Synaesthesia" / Pomeroy

Acey just dropped a slick post about their most recent jam, Ocean Cosmonauts, that brought these guys to my attention. I thought this was an interesting track because whether they would admit it or not, the King Crimson influence on math/progressive can be witnessed in full force here. Mega-heavy Discipline vibes.

5. Make Believe - "Television Cemetary" / Shock of Being

Kinda surprised we haven't had a Make Believe post yet, but I suppose they're one of the lesser Kinsella bands with a couple very uneven releases. But Sam Zurich was really showing his ass on these riffs and the rest of the band ain't no chumps.

6. Mastodon - "Aqua Dementia" / Leviathan

Acey and I once had a short talk about whether Mastodon is metal or just modern hard rock. Obviously classification doesn't really matter, even though we do it all the time, but sometimes I wonder if a big part of why someone might think Mastodon is "hard rock" is because of how so much of their sound is built from this crazy southern-fried blues framework that just gets hella sped up and crunchy.

7. sunn O))) + Boris - "Akuma no Kuma" / Altar

Sippin' on some sizzurp.

metaghostin' vol V - Deadly Duos

Deadly Duos - 34'26"
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What's better than rapping by yourself?

Rapping with your best friend, of course.
---

1. "The Science of the Two" - Edan (w/Insight) / Beauty & the Beat / 2005

EDAAAANNNNNNNN! Obviously it's his prerogative, but I really wish Edan would release some new rap material instead of the occasional mixtape blender thing. His beats are too dreamy. (Swoon)

2. "Bring it On" - Organized Konfusion / Stress: The Extinction Agenda / 1994

I wonder if it was sad to be Prince Po, an undeniable force on the mic, yet still getting upstaged on every track by Pharoahe Monch. Pharoahe's verse is probably about as vicious as an emcee ever got, going so far as to point out that he buttfucks other emcees. He also molds brains like pottery, apparently.

3. "What a N---- Know?" - KMD / Black Bastards / 1994

MF Doom in his earlier incarnation as Zevlov X still rapped hella drunk. I feel like if I keep typing "rapped", I'm eventually gonna type "raped".

4. "RE:DEFinition" - Black Star / Black Star / 1997

Mighty Mos and Talib Kweli, back before they were dudes whose albums you didn't care about.

5. "Wheelz of Steel" - Outkast / ATliens / 1996

Outkast got the best basslines in hip-hop.

6. "Survival of the Fittest" - Mobb Deep / The Infamous / 1995

I can't really listen to this album because I find it too damn depressing, but it's got an abundance of hot trackz. I wanted to pick a Big Noyd track, but then it wouldn't be much of a "Deadly Duo" thing, would it?

7. "Off (with) Their Heads (Be Prompt)" - Latyrx / The Album / 1997

Probably the least well-known group on here, being late 90's West Coast rap that didn't really fit the mold of any of the big names at the time and being way more chilled out than the East Coast underground of the era. Kinda funky, kinda stoned out.

8. "Lower da Boom" - The Artifacts / Between a Rock and a Hard Place / 1994

Every rap album needs a weed jam! So authentic.

9. "Scream Phoenix" - Cannibal Ox / Cold Vein / 2001

They made one LP and it's so good.

metaghostin' vol. 4 - Diabolica en Tensione

Diabolica en Tensione - 49'31"
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I had some words that were supposed to preface this, but I can't remember them.

Just let yr hair down.
---

1. "Everything's Ruined" - Faith No More / Angel Dust (1992)

I was digging up my FNM albums, trying to remember what Mike Patton sounded like before he got obsessed with making annoying noises.

2. "Knots" - Gentle Giant / Octopus (1974)

One of those mid-70's Prog groups, somewhat unique in their emphasis on clever vocal arrangements and loosely Medieval song structures, like an old-fashioned Extra Life for the Beach Boy in all of us. Peep that stereo-field Xylophone solo.

3. "Another Way Out" - Far / Water & Solutions (1998)

Late-90's Emo carelessly pushed aside amidst a deluge of shitty rap-metal. Very clean (almost sterile) production makes it a bit less endearing compared to similar acts of that era, but Jonah Matranga (spelling?) has always been a solid heart-on-my-sleeves lyricist.

4. "Brotherhood of the Harvest" - Comets on Fire / Blue Cathedral (2004)

Stoned-out shredding. Love the reverse-reverb slathered all over that lead.

5. "Hunters of the Sky" - Mastodon / Blood Mountain (2006)

Son of Stoned-Out Shredding.

6. "Moments Escape" - Convocation of... / Convocation of... (200X)

I don't know why I haven't talked more about these guys, but after Acey and Ninko were frothing about the Refused, I was trying to give Ninko a brief education in DC Hardcore which lead to a discussion of one our mutual guitar heroes, Tonie Joy. Tonie's been around for years and years, presumably a little crazy. Here supported by future Entrance, Guy Blakeslee, and goddamn George France, who kinda plays like toe's Takashi Kashikura but with obviously stronger desire to rock the fuck out. Just gnarly stuff and Tonie regularly spits the best rock aphorisms like:

"Crossed the road to find / only the other side"

7. "Providence" - King Crimson / The Great Deceiver (????)

Some may know this piece of improv from its appearance on the Crimson's much lauded Red (1975), but this is the full take pulled from the recently remastered live anthology The Great Deceiver. Bill Bruford and John Wetton are one of rock's sickest rhythm sections. So tight.

8. "In the Absence of Strong Evidence..." - Don Caballero / What Burns Never Returns (1998)

Math-Rock superheroes. I remember the first time I heard this record, some time in high school, and feeling like it was pulling my brain apart. Took me a good year to adjust to that sensation of polymetric focus.

9. "Satori (pt. 5) - Flower Traveling Band / Satori (1979)

These dudes really liked Black Sabbath. But they're Japanese. So, you know, something got a little fucked in Translation.

10. "Integral" - Cynic / Re-Traced (2010)

For a while, I avoided picking this up because I had read such terrible reviews, a million fans despairing over its refusal to abide by their expectations. Then I came to my senses and remembered I don't like Cynic because of how "metal" they are, but because I think they make ridiculously great music. All of these re-imaginings are impeccable.

metaghostin' Vol. 3 - Always Late, Then Never

Always Late, Then Never - 57:40
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So this mix is supposed to serve as counterpoint to a previous mix I posted on my other blog (Sold at the Sign of a Gun) that was dedicated to idea of the terrible break-up. Here we have a tale of enduring love, whether that's a love of God, love of Adventure, or just your everyday love, one that might move away and then return on a rainy day. Hopefully it brings some better vibes than the last one.
---

1. "Acknowledgment" - John Coltrane / A Love Supreme (1964)

Da-dum da-dum / da-dum da-dum

This record is responsible for really changing my perspective on Jazz music, the first time I really had my soul moved, instead of just passively boppin' along. And it's not just one master blowing his sax, that whole crew was buckwild, and even today I'd say McCoy Tyner defines what I consider to be the sound of "Jazz" chord, that sound of P4 triads.

2. "Hardwood Floors" - Facing New York / Get Hot (2008)

This record is one of these things that straddles so many intersections of styles without really committing to a tangible style, resulting in what is definitely a "grower", chock full of hooks and grooves and dope subtleties and random little one-liners. All of us here at Plenty of Swords are heavy into the whole steez of Eric Frederic, aka Wallpaper, so it should be no surprise to see us talk about FNY etc....

3. "P.Y.T." - Michael Jackson / Thriller ( 1982)

I know lawyers gonna jack this mix because of this track, so fuck yo face up and get it while you can.

4. "Warpaint" - Gavin Castleton / Home (2008)

I talked about dude's band Grüvis Malt in a previous mix, so I'mma try to keep this brief. Guy is so nasty that he can make crazy prog-pop records full of retarded zombie metaphors that are still ridiculous touching in a "yo, this is some true emotion I'm feeling but I thought I was a robot whaddupwitdat?" and then you hear his songs in a mall and it doesn't even confuse you even though it should.

5. "Wayfarer" - Kayo Dot / Choirs of the Eye (2003)

Beautiful wandering sounds.

6. "Everything Must Go" - Foreign Exchange / Authenticity (2010)

The title track of this album is what inspired the initial break-up mix, as I just couldn't figure out how to fit it into any other style of mix. Though this track isn't especially indicative of the content of that record, it functions similarly within the context of the album and this mix, as palate-cleanser, slight pop-number, and emotional reset button.

7. "Ariel" - Stateless / Matilda (2011)

I was telling acerola about how addicted I was to this recent release, so I figure I should sneak a track in somewhere. I first heard of the band because some work they did with the previously mentioned Gavin Castleton. At the time, I didn't really think much of them, as that very British bippity-bop electro-pop type stuff indebted to Portishead or whoever just isn't what I was feeling and still don't. But here they've beefed up their sound, embracing all this super low-end club-fuzz and glitchy crackle and other production tweakage, while keeping things packaged into very concise pop structures highlighted by great vocals. Apparently they worked with a Bjork-affiliated producer, and it definitely has an aura of Vespertine to it.

8. "Watching You Watching Me" - Kate Bush / Hounds of Love (1985)

Sometimes this song is unspeakably creepy.

9. "Creature Fear / Team" - Bon Iver / For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)

Mumble mumble mumble.

10. "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" - Jeff Buckley / Grace (1994)

One of the best love songs ever.

11. "Cicada Sing the Galaxy" - Natsumen (2005)

metaghostin' Vol. 2 - In Reality Is Reality Reality?

In Reality Is Reality Reality? - 56'40''
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1 - "Start" (Mew / No More Stories... B-Side / 2009)

I didn't have an especially high opinion of Mew prior to No More Stories..., and much of their earlier material still grates on my nerves a good deal, but No More Stories... was definitely one of my favorite albums of 2009. (At least I think it was 2009.) This B-side is much less dense than most of that album, being mostly vocals and piano, but it does a great job of condensing the bizarre childlike melancholy that pervades No More Stories... into such a simple song.

2 - "October All Over" (Unwound / Leaves Turn Inside You / 2001)

There are a great many reasons to love this band, this album, this song, but I mostly just want to talk a little about the immaculate production. Entirely self-produced, they managed to really indulge in what a studio can offer without going overboard as many overwrought double-LP tend to be. It has a density to it, a great low-frequency heft, and yet never sacrifices clarity of each instrument carefully arranged within the stereo field. Even the cliché reverse guitar solo rips, searing the flesh off all your faces.

3 - "Visions" (Stevie Wonder / Innervisions / 1973)

Being mostly a dude who grew up on hard rock, cock rock, schlock rock, and other bullshit older brothers listen, I was never exposed to what Stevie Wonder was really about until college. Some times you feel dumb and sometimes you feel fucking retarded. Hearing Innervisions was one of those moments, but damn it felt good. In the words of MF Doom, "quite buttery".

4 - "Green Typewriters III" (Olivia Tremor Control / Dusk at Cubist Castle / 1996)

This album is just jammed with some of the dopest minute-long pop songs.

5 - "Lobster in Cleavage Probe (Suite)" (Hatfield & the North / S/T / 1974)

In local parlance, Hatfield & the North were the absolute sluttiest of the Canterbury bands. Yeah, yeah, dudes were instrumental beasts, but they were just laying down the most hilarious soft-jazz licks and singing about taking baths and eating candy bars. They have a choir to back up their Rhodes cheez and some guy going buckwild on the Big Muff bass. It's just thoroughly outrageous, Prog progenitors takin' the piss and having fun.

6 - "Don't Cry for Me" (The Zombies / Odessey & Oracle / 1968)

Sick harmonies, brah.

7 - "Heaven and Weak" (Maudlin of the Well / Bath / 2001)

What's the name of the story that's referenced in the lyrics? I feel like I knew it once, because there was a girl I knew who made a piece of claymation about it. Probably a Greek Myth or just a thing that doesn't exist.

8 - "The Great Below" (NIN / The Fragile (Left) / 1999)

Why is it that stoner kids are still getting high to Dark Side of the Moon when they could be getting all introspective and tripped out to this?

9 - "Virtually" (Soft Machine / Fourth / 1974)

Hugh Hopper (RIP) is easily one of my favorite bassists of all time and if you're into electric bass within a Jazz or Fusion context, you owe it yourself to go out and pickup this record.