Album Review: Sean Malone – Cortlandt

Sean Malone – Cortlandt
Laser’s Edge – FES4007 – 2007

Originally released in limited quantities back in 1996, Cortlandt was Sean Malone’s first post-Cynic outing. Those of you acquanited with Cynic’s magnificent Focus – a rare and one-off gem of an album that paved the way for everything from Fear Factory’s cyber thrashings to a glut of tech-death bands – will understand that Sean Malone is a bassist of considerable ability. So much so, in fact, that he has spent much of his career as a musical academic, penning a multitude of theory-books, teaching, and lending his talents to a host of projects. Now that Cynic have reformed, and their first album in over a decade is nearly upon us, now is as apt a time as any for the resissue of this work.

For the hardened deah metal meathead, Cortlandt fails to offer any of the visceral flesh rendering of Cynic to whet their bovine-unfriendly appetites, since Malone was far more interested in conjuring a wide range of musical styles, textures and moods that were far removed from the metal realm. Instrumental jazz acts as the focal musical vista, but there are elements of progressive rock and world music also at play throughout. With his wandering yet smooth bass (as well as Chapman Stick) tones as the backbone, much of Cortlandt plays as a bass-heavy jazz album in the vein of, say, some of the late bass-maestro Jaco Pastorius’s work. That’s not to say that Malone has let his own talent run away from him, as he restrains himself enough to allow some excellent arrangements and compositions creep through. Even a cover of Bach’s ‘Sinfonia’ on stick isn’t overly wanky, and for the most part it’s obvious Malone was trying to simply have a go at numerous musical genres in one go. Cynic’s Sean Reinart provides drumming throughout (as he would on Malone’s subsequent Gordion Knot project), with numerous other musicians adding guitar; namely Bob Bunin, Geoff Caputo, and Trey Gunn.

Cortlandt sees Malone in an inquisitive musical modus, with each track offering a wide variety of styles, textures and moods but played under a similar jazzy umbrella. Occasional progressive rock stylings make themselves known through the lurching riffs of ‘Splinter’, whilst the extended soloing on ‘Big Sky Wanting’ recalls 80’s King Crimson with a world music twist. The aforementioned ‘Sinfonia’ may come across as somewhat pointless for all but those who understand just how perplexing the stick is to master, and as with all virtuoso solo albums, it can be hard to shake the feeling that there’s an air of showiness to proceedings, but since Cortlandt is just so damned listenable, it’s equally hard to be completely put off by them. An album that should put paid to the notion that death metal bassists are surplus to requirements, and one which will renew everyone’s expectations for Cynic’s imminent return.

Official Sean Malone Website
Official Laser’s Edge Website

Album Review: Bauhaus – Go Away White

Bauhaus – Go Away White
Bauhaus Music – BAU001 – 4 March 2008

Those of the batcave dwelling variety must have gone into spasms of epileptic delight when 80s goth stalwarts Bauhaus announced that they had recorded their first album of entirely new material in 25 years. Having kept up a habit of disbanding and reforming to rabid fan fervour on numerous occasions throughout the 90s, ‘06 apparently marked their final ever regrouping, with Go Away White acting as the epitaph to a fractured yet illustrious career. It may seem impossible to imagine Bauhaus being in a fit position to recreate the spark that spawned several gloriously dark epics in the ’80s, such as 1980’s masterpiece In the Flat Field or its equally excellent follow up, Mask, and that has partially come to pass; Go Away White has neither the murky, unhinged sub-Joy Division rumble of …Flat Field, nor can it match it for pure songwriting genius, but Go Away White is best appreciated as a singular work with its own considerable merits.

The surprisingly funky opener ‘Too Much 21st Century’ certainly raises an eyebrow upon first listen. Because Bauhaus’s last recorded material surfaced in the late 80s, it’s a little strange hearing Peter Murphy’s vocals with such clarity, and indeed it’s questionable whether the ’21st Century’ in question has birthed a production a little unsuited to a band with the cavernous liked of ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ in their repetoire. Yet a pleasing aspect of Go Away White is that the many facets that always made Bauhaus such a cult favourite are mostly present and correct; Murphy’s vocals haven’t suffered through the years, now exuding a rich baritone timbre, much like fellow ex-post-punker Nick Cave, and this serves to broaden his range rather than shit on it. Murphy still lets loose in a typically manic fashion at times, too, such as during the excellently visceral ‘Adrenaline’. Daniel Ash’s guitar playing has lost none of its post-punk raucousness, and on cuts such as ‘Endless Summer of the Damned’, he invokes a serious groove beneath the noisy, shrill string abuse that is very much his trademark. It’s heartening that Bauhaus in 2008 are anything but predictable, as just like their ’80s incarnation they refuse to adhere to a singular vision, preferring to run a wide gamut of styles – from stomping dancefloor goth to dub. Murphy wails a mournful, emotive vocal atop minimalist percussion and keyboards on ‘Saved’, the song eventually introducing drums, bass and ominous chuch bells to the mix. Their unusual habit of dabbling in dub is reprised too, as ‘Mirror Remains’ emits a brooding hip hop bassline as Murphy does a weirdly captivating reggae vocal. ‘Zikir’ works as fittingly bizarre finale, the lyrical mantra of ‘loves me/loves me not’ repeated amidst a string-led soundscape.

Go Away White may not exude that overt creepiness that endeared Bauhaus to a generation of black-clad British youths during the burgeoning goth rock movement, and over the years they’ve been criminally overlooked compared to, say The Cure, but they have successfully struck a balance between their roots and a more polished, modern sound that in many ways pays homage to their classic works. The best option is probably to view this album as one views Depeche Mode’s post-Songs of Faith and Devotion work – unlikely to supply the timeless brilliance of its predecessors, yet no less essential because of this.

Official Bauhaus Website
Official Bauhaus MySpace

Live Review: Radiohead – 7 June 2008, Malahide Castle, Dublin

Radiohead

Malahide Castle, Dublin – 7 June 2008

It’s the morning before Radiohead’s 2nd of two appearances in Dublin, as part of a lengthy European tour. Rays of the early summer’s sun pierce the curtains of my apartment, promising perfect weather in a country where outdoor gigs are usually a pretty stupid idea. I switch on the television, and amidst the cookery programmes and cartoons am confronted with an ad for for a new double cd ‘Best Of’ compilation. Clips of ‘Just’, ‘Street Spirit’, ‘Karma Police’, and of course that timeless angstichrist anthem ‘Creep’ are aired to sell it, which is of course hardly surprising. Radiohead’s first 3 albums are bona-fide alternative rock classics, all swaggering hard rock crunch, intricate yet aggressive guitar work and heartfelt wailing from Britain’s signature gloom-meister, Thom Yorke. Only fools try to claim that Ok Computer didn’t mark their creative peak, or that Radiohead somehow became more interesting when they ditched the riffs for electronica (beginning with the admittedly enjoyable Kid A). Lies!

Radiohead in full-on, split-screen amazing technicolour blandness

With this in mind, it was with an air of nervousness that I stepped into the grassy expanse of Malahide Castle’s grounds, shadowed by a massive stage that itself was flanked by 2 huge screens. Since most of what I listen to these days would be lucky to draw a crowd of 300 in a dingy hovel in a red light district somewhere, the prospect of up to 40,000 punters pouring into 1 spot on the outskirts of Dublin was slightly unnerving, truth be told. Still, arena-rock can be a life-affirming experience when handled correctly; Nine Inch Nails and The Foo Fighters tore Marley Park a new arsehole between them last Autumn. Radiohead, I theorised, would need to pull some serious rock-shapes and keep the electronic noodling to a minimum if they were going to hold their own in such an unintimate setting. In other words, they had to either give the crowd exactly what they wanted by trotting out the hits of old, or beef up their newer material with some balls, which plenty of bands tend to do in such situations (See Smashing Pumpkins’s metalled-up version of ‘Ava Adore’ on their recent tour for a good example).

Radiohead open with 2 cuts from their newest offering, In Rainbows; the ponderous, trip-hop inflected ‘15 Steps’ and the muchy stronger, almost rocking ‘Bodysnatcher’. In Rainbows is quite an odd album because, despite the band’s obvious attempt to reclaim their testicles from the land of organs and keyboards, they haven’t yet cured themselves of what seems to be a pathological fear of the distortion pedal. This phenomenon had its roots on Ok Computer, but Kid A cemented this phobia. ‘Airbag’ is up next, tantalisingly nreminding us of just how powerful Radiohead were when they rocked. The next hour or so, however, proves an excercise in frustrating endurance, as Radiohead insist on trotting out song after song from their less stadium-friendly repetoire. This would have been fine – possibly even inspiring – in an enclosed, candle-lit aura, but in front of a boozed-up mob who really just want to punch the air with delight, cuts from the dreary likes of Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief just don’t cut it. These are joined by a liberal dose of In Rainbows material on offer, which whilst pleasing to the smattering of hardcore fans who occupy the front row, leave much of the audience cold and bewildered, despite the red bask of the dusk sun. At times it felt as though everyone around me were wound up like a tight coil, bursting with potential energy and just waiting for ‘Just’, ‘Creep’ or ‘The Bends’ to kick them into action, but alas it wasn’t to be. Thom Yorke wailed and howled with aplomb, and the band are tight and note perfect, yet remain unaware that they’re not playing a club but something more akin to a festival. Hell, i’d be the first to champion a band that refuses to capitulate to fan pressure to deliver a greatest hits set, believe me, but for fuck’s sake it’s an outdoor concert, you can tell the humans have come to rock, and surely no one just handed over 70Euro to be lulled to sleep, right?

What's that? You can't see shit? Well tough, because neither could I.

Annoyingly, the band do 2 encores (why they couldn’t have just extended the main set instead of such a pointless, patronising routine which smacks of a lame attempt to drum up a bit of excitement among a mostly comatose audience is beyond me), and begin it with ‘Exit Music’. ‘Exit Music’! So now that you’ve just been bored half to death by the last hour, here comes the encore to finish you off, as ‘Exit Music’ is one of Radiohead’s most depressing tunes. Maybe i’m missing something here, but I always thought the purpose of the encore was to give the audience a short, sharp shock of excitement by whipping them into a joyous frenzy via the most uplifting, stupendpous song they’d ever written, and thus implant a lasting memory of greatness and energy to make the experience memorable for eternity. Not so Radiohead, who merely limp ahead for a further 8 tracks (including Ok Computer’s most boring track in ‘Climbing Up the Walls’). It’s frankly bizarre that a band of Radiohead’s stature, with such a wealth of incredible material at their disposal, would choose this of all occasions to appease the anoraks (granted, there are more than a few in Radiohead’s case). They made the classic mistake of misjudging their audience, the setlist more likely to alienate than captivate. Thom Yorke, who’s never been the most sociable of rock stars, also failed to engage with the crowd in any meaningful way, and in front of an audience this size it’s nothing short of crucial to create a rapport.

So there you have it – the sound was great, the stage looked great, the weather was glorious, but Radiohead left all but the fanatics grasping for even a fleeting moment of rock’s omnipotent power, and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any left in Radiohead’s sizeable carbon footprint.

Album Review: Asesino – Cristo Satanico

Asesino – Cristo Satanico
Listenable – POSH0100 – 4 February 2008

Asesino is yet another project of Dino Cazares’ (ex-Fear Factory, Brujeria, Divine Heresy), also featuring Static-X bassist Tony Campos on erm, bass and vocals. Now there’s no need to frantically navigate away fom this page in horror because I mentioned those once nu-metal also-rans, because Asesino are very much in the death/grind spectrum. The lyrics are sung in Spanish, adding a slighly comedic element to proceedings which may or may not have been intentional, although song titles such as ‘Padre Pedofilo’ would certainly suggest the former.

Cristo Satanico is a relatively straightforward affair, and the emphasis on grooving, headbangable riffs works to its favour. Cazares has always been adept at creating memorable riffs above pointless fretboard masturbation, and this is no different. Well-timed breakdowns form the backbone of many of the 17 songs on offer, which make Cristo… a catchy and rather more listenable proposition than, say the 15 second grindcore brigade (not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind). ‘Puta Con Pito’ contains an almost Dimebag Darrell-esque riff, whilst ‘Adelitos’ emits a groove that Deicide would be proud of. ‘Regresende’ is a blistering opener, and indeed one of the album’s best tracks, with a surprising shoutalong finale; even if most of us won’t have a clue what the band are saying, not that that’s ever been a problem in the oft-inpenetrable world of the grind band.

Cazares is certainly proving himself as both a prolific and rather more versatile guitarist than he was possibly given credit for back in Fear Factory’s heyday. Asesino may act as another vehicle for the rotund one, but because it’s so well executed, and the material so damned catchy in places, like Fear Factory it’s simply impossible not to like, even if it doesn’t have the inimitable bludgeon of the likes of, say Discordance Axis. Cristo Satanico’s only real problem is an overly clinical production in places, which sometimes render the guitars a little thin, and the vocals (whilst pretty good for the most part) are slighly too upfront in the mix. Still, it’s a damn sight better than post-Cazares Fear Factory’s godawful Trangression, that’s for sure.

Official Asesino MySpace
Official Listenable Website