Possibly the worst news of the century... (not quite)

Today I shall bring you some painful non-harddrive news: Nine Inch Nails is not touring the US again.

This is especially painful for me because I've had two great chances to see them in the past year/year and a half, Lights in the Sky and the Wave Gooodbye tour (Hmmm, I should've got the memo). The first time they toured was on a weekend or something, basically school did not conflict. However, I just decided not to go because I didn't like them that much (True, they're not my favorite band but I've heard their live show is an experience). The second time they toured, just recently, was with Jane's Addiction who I hate so I decided not to go. Some excuse! I should've done what the other NIN fans did, leave during JA's set.

Inside, I'm weeping. I'm not going to travel to Europe anytime soon, but if I do...

-Ben

(Still no motivation to listen to the Stones)

An update

Okay, two posts ago (over a month ago) I had said that the Zune software messed up The Rolling Stones. I wasn't lying. But I sort of found the solution. The solution? Add each album one by one.

Sure, the albums are still partially screwed up. But if I add each album one by one, I can easily fix the errors made by the software.

So far I have listened to 12 x 5/England's Newest Hit Makers, The Rolling Stones, Now! Out of Our Heads, and December's Children (And Everybody's)

12 x 5 was an extreme bore. I don't remember if I listened to all of it. It's classic blues and there''s nothing more to it.

The Rolling Stones, Now! was an improvement. Amazingly, there were a couple of songs I even recognized. Much better than 12 x 5.

Out of Our Heads and December's Children I am indifferent on, most likely because I don't remember anything special about them.

I will try to listen to some more later. Ciao.

-Ben

Mastodon/Kylesa/Intronaut (May 15th, Center Stage)

This was probably my first "real" metal concert. Yeah, I've been to Slipknot before, but they're commercialized metal- they're on the borderline.

I arrived ten minutes before the doors opened- I don't know why. Intronaut didn't even start playing until 8:10. But Intronaut was great. They were heavy as shit, and the screaming helped- but randomly they would slow down and spew out some jazz riffs. They played for only 20 minutes, though. Much too short.

This place was much smaller than I had imagined- I had thought it would be the size of the Tabernacle. Boy, was I wrong. There was nothing wrong with that, though; it's just that it was by far the loudest concert I've ever been to. Even as I write this review the following morning, my ears are ringing (But I can't hear them now because my laptop is humming). Every seat was close to the stage. No, I didn't stand on the floor- I doubt I would've seen (even though I'm about 5' 9'').

Kylesa started playing about 20 minutes later. I had been really looking forward to Kylesa and I can't say that I was disappointed. I had thought they would open with "Scapegoat," the opening song of their latest album, Static Tensions. Instead they opened with "Where The Horizon Unfolds," an extremely heavy track. "Scapegoat" was their third song, and boy was it great. I only recognized one other song from the album, though. Whatever- it was still sick.

Mastodon came out a half hour later. In case you didn't know, they were to play their latest album, the 7-track, 50 minute Crack The Skye from start to finish. It was an experience not to be missed. Adding to that was the fact they would be playing clips from old Russian movies (I think) on the screen behind them. It was surreal.

"Oblivion" was perfect, and so was "Divinations," which encouraged a huge moshpit. "Quintessence" was next, a song I'm kinda indifferent on. It was slow, yeah, but during the heavier parts another moshpit formed.

Next was "The Czar." It was pretty good. It was at this time, though, that I noticed the horrible sound. During Part 1, I heard screeching like no other. I cringed, it was so bad. When they exploded into Part 2, the screeching got a little better- I guess the heavier they played, the better the sound. Or maybe the heaviness covered up the screeching, but I doubt it. However, they seemed to finish short.

The next track was "Ghost of Karelia," a song that until recently I didn't like. However, the screeching was back. I had read that Scott Kelly from Neurosis contributes the screaming vocals to "Crack the Skye," so I had wondered if Scott would do them on stage. he didn't. At first, I wondered whether Brent Hinds (Mastodon vocalist) was really screaming. I think he was. Nevertheless, the screaming parts were much heavier. What I liked about it was after the screaming, there were clean vocals (singing). However, if screamo comes to mind, then think again. The transition between the vocals is full of so much emotion, but it's not characteristic of screamo music.

The last song they played was "The Last Baron," a song my friend had told me was far better than "The Czar." Recently I realized he was right, but it was SO much better than "The Czar" live. This time I was sure they played the whole thing. With NO lack of a better word, this song was EPIC. It blew my mind away.

Now, I'm sure there were those who hadn't read online about the concerts, so many concertgoers may have been surprised that Mastodon played a second set. They played five songs from Blood Mountain- Bladecatcher, Colony of Birchmen, The Wolf is Loose, Crstal Skull, and Capilarian Crest.

"Bladecatcher" is so awesome because it's spazztastic. I mean, just listen to it. Like I expected, it ingited a massive moshpit. "Colony of Birchmen" was cool. "The Wolf is Loose" and "Crystal Skull" were my favorites of the night, though. They were heavy as shit, with lack of a better word. Those two ignited large moshpits, as well. I didn't really recognize "Capilarian Crest" but it wasn't bad.

Then it was off to Leviathian. They played three songs from there- Megalodon, Seabeast, and Iron Tusk. These songs were very heavy as well and were accompanied with large moshpits.

Then it was their last song- "March of The Fire Ants" from Remission. This song was very sludgy and heavy and backed by screaming the whole way through. I had wondered whether this would be their last song- they had played 28 dates on this tour but only on a few had they played the 15-minute epic "Hearts Alive" from Leviathian. I didn't really care whether they did or not, as I wasn't a huge fan of the song, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did, as Atlanta is their hometown and I thought that they would maybe give their hometown fans a treat. I was wrong. I didn't care, though.

All in all, best concert I've been to. It beats Red Hot Chili Peppers by just an inch.

Another miss for Zune

Or, if you'd prefer looking at the big picture, then Microsoft.

A long time ago I ran this weird process to figure out the largest folders (artists) in my hard drive. Beatles were first (that made me very happy), followed closely by the 'Stones.

Well, today I decided to add the 'Stones to the Zune software. I noticed there were about 30 albums. When I added them, I noticed on the bottom of the software it said about 720 songs were added. I headed over to the 'Stones in the software, and what I saw surprised me.

There were 160 songs.

I don't remember how I ended up there, but I headed over to Unknown Artist. There were a TON of albums there, more than I had remembered. I clicked on some of them, noting the fact that each album had only one song. Hmmmm...

It was then I realized that those Unknown Albums were all sub-titled (5/6/09).

Oh. My. Gosh. The Zune software had separated 500 'Stones songs into 500 one-track albums.

Now, I don't know if the metadata is screwed up, and that it's not the software's fault at all. I really don't know. I don't know how to view metadata anyways. I don't know why it would be screwed up, though, because there are only about 30 albums in the 'Stones folder on the harddrive.

I could probably just sort the songs into their respective albums. It's be easy- so I thought. I had believed that the first ten songs would be from the first album, the next ten songs from the second album, and so on. Unfortunately, no. It's all random.

This really sucks, if you haven't realized it. (Honestly, I don't know who I'm talking to. Nobody visits this blog.) I think this is really gonna make my listening experience painful. Eh, I'll wait to listen to them until this gets all sorted out.

Until next time,

-Ben

A public service announcement

That Metal Show sucks.

I guess this is VH1's attempt to attract metalheads. Well, if I can be called up to speak for all the metalheads out there, I think they'd agree with me in that they're not attracted, not in the slightest. The obvious target audience is old farts- I mean, the host and two comedians (?) only talk about 80's hard rock and metal. Nothing later. Yes, it's true that the 80's are the Golden Age of Metal, but seriously, they need to get with the times. Modern metalheads like modern heavy metal in addition to 80's. If they don't cover modern stuff, then we will not come.

The jokes they make aren't funny. The "throwdowns" are non-legit. Old Metallica vs. New Metallica? You kidding me? How can that be debated? Did I hear correctly when one of the guys said Death Magnetic is the greatest Metallica release?

Okay, I rest my case. I recommend you watch an episode immediately so you don't have to ponder about the subject any more than you have to, and when someone goes up to you the next day and goes, "Hey, is That Metal Show any good?" you can fire back at 'em and retort, "It's shit!"

Have a good day.

-Ben

Riffmaster Flash

Who else but Jimi Hendrix? For those who got the joke, I assure you, no racism intended.

Anyways, I listened to his album South Saturn Delta. It is riff-mania, lemme tell ya, but essentially it's pretty boring. I do love the song "All Along the Watchtower," but I wouldn't die for the others (neither would I die for "Watchtower"... it's an expression).

I did listen to Van Halen I and part of Van Halen II in the car a couple of weeks ago. Of course it wasn't the greatest listening experience; thus, I can't tell you much about the albums. Strangely enough, though, I've had no motivation since then to re-listen to those albums or their following albums. Hmmm....

I listened to the Suicidal Tendencies albums Suicidal Tendencies and How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today. Lemme tell ya, their self-titled is damn good hardcore punk. They certainly like to say their own name in their songs. "Suicidal Failure" is a pretty funny song. How Will I Laugh is more of a thrash metal/hardcore hybrid (think D.R.I.), but none less awesome. Surprisingly, Prime Cuts (their best-of album) only collected two songs each from the above albums, so I only had to delete four tracks from the fourteen tracks on there. “Gotta Kill Captain Stupid” is a cool song; of course that’s the one I remember the most.

-Ben

Sugarment

Sugar Ray- Sugar Ray

I like this band. This album didn't do much for me, though. It's pretty poppy, having a punk-pop sound to it kinda sorta. There are a few good songs on it, but I guess it's not much for me.

Testament- Souls of Black

I first heard of Testament when they released their sick comeback album, The Formation of Damnation. So I was pretty excited to hear Souls. My input? It's freakin awesome. This is thrash metal, so often you hear Metallica. Yet, Souls is darker and a bit heavier than anything 'Talica's put out. The vocalist often sounds like Hetfield, but often does not. When he does not, he sounds br00tal. This is a definite buy.

I finally got a mp3 player so I can now listen to much more stuff. Therefore, you will be hearing from me more often. You hope I hope.