Reviewed by Jimmy “Explosive Diarrhea” B.
Late one night I was more or less randomly searching for
samples of progressive and/or psychedelic bands. I found Ancient Sky on the
Robotic Empire website – if you are into punk or metal and like independent
music, I recommend you check out Robotic Empire. Anyhow, I came across Ancient
Sky. I thought the name was cool – it has a postrock ring to it like Explosions
in the Sky. Also, I am a sucker for DIY projects. The packaging of this record,
yes my friends, an honest to goodness vinyl record, is sparse (the word sparse is
not sparse enough). The album sleeve is monochrome and looks like it was
stamped on during a very creative and perhaps stoned moment at a stamping
party. But, who the fuck cares about packaging, it is the music that matters.
Regular readers of this blog know that I not only take good
care of my taint, but I pay great attention to the physical sensations and
cues only a well, uh, oiled taint can provide. When I first listened to T.R.I.P.S., I did not have one of those moments where my taint needed immediate
tickling. It took a few listens to get a proper feel for what the
album was all about. Then my taint began to respond. Each song on the record is superb. Most of the tracks start
slow and build up speed before slowing again. Even in their faster moments, the
songs possess a depressing bleakness I love. The combination of keyboards,
effects, and the vocal style create a feeling or vibe of vastness, which makes
the listener feel hopeless and insignificant. I often get this sensation when I
listen to space rock, which I believe is the sub-genre that best defines T.R.I.P.S.
My favorite track on the album is “Towards the Light.” This
track is a good example of what I mentioned above – a feeling of vastness and
insignificance. The song is, for lack of a better word, foggy. We have all
heard a dense fog referred to as pea-soup. T.R.I.P.S.
is like pea-soup for your ears – if you
wait long enough a pea will rise to the top and become clear. The deeper you go
into the fog, the clearer the music becomes. The first thing you will notice
about “Towards the Light” is the slow and depressed vocals filling the huge
gaps between the bass and guitar. Then the drums kick in, and
we are launched into space. The guitar begins buzzing and circling looking for
someplace to land. Is that hope we feel? No. The drums fall away, and we are
once again left as we were found, empty.
I, like a lot of music junkies, often listen to music to
fill an artistic or intellectual void. There is no other reason to listen to
weird shit like Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum or The Mass. At other times, I
listen to music because I need a testosterone jolt. Then there are those
moments when I need a different type of stimulation, when I need to feel
something. These are the moments when I spin Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the
Reaper,” or REM’s “The Wrong Child.” T.R.I.P.S
doesn’t give me a testosterone jolt, doesn’t make me tear up, and doesn’t fill
an intellectual void. Ancient Sky on T.R.I.P.S
makes me feel insignificant, and that makes me fulfilled.
I tickled my taint for eight minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment