bôa ‎- Tall Snake EP

Serial Experiments Lain was the first anime show that I watched from a source that wasn't the TV and I was stunned that Japanese can draw something else than big eyes and explosions! It still had schoolgirls though! Aside from being an excellent show the opening is something that really stuck with me over the years. I still listen to it today and it is one of few select opening/closing songs from anime shows that I, every now and then, listen (Bonnie Pink's Last Kiss being close second, of all things). First and foremost the song is incredibly catchy but more importantly it's not hyperactive pop or a charade of edgy rock inspired pop. It's a well made, fittingly melancholic, song by a British band that didn't really catch on as time went on. Now that I think of it, I never really bothered with anything else they've made.

Tall Snake EP contains this song in its original form (uncut) and two other versions. One is a Cyberia remix which sounds pretty much like any late 90s electronic-pop garbage and an acoustic version which is great if not even better than the original. The EP also contains two other songs (I don't remember if they were featured in the anime, probably not) that are fun to listen but different from the main showcase.

Get the EP.

There's a video of the song here.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

 
I've read and watched a lot stuff that came from Japan over the years. Certainly not as much as diehard fans but I think I have (or I had) a relatively good grasp of the manga universe. The journey through it changed a lot of assumptions that I had about Japanese comics, their tropes and such. Truth be told though I rarely revisit comics. Sure I'll read a volume or two prior to reading a new one just to remember what the hell is going on or I'll breeze through a Maruo comic just to look at the art but I rarely come back to read something again wholly. Of course as with everything else there are exceptions to this rule.

The first exception to this rule is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I'll assume the setting is familiar to most of you but in case you haven't watched the movie here's the jist of it: the world was blown up by colossal mythic robot-like dudes (Shinji wasn't around) and now the planet is a barren desert with pockets of human civilization. The twist is that the world is regenerating itself but it decided to kick the humans out of the equation so you have these vast "corruptions" throughout the desert of huge fungi and similar plant life filled with gigantic insects that thrive but are super-deadly to humans.

When I first saw the movie I was completely captivated by it. I absolutely adored the atmosphere of it, the soothing and somewhat Buddhist nature of the movie and the Greek mythos vibe which is deeply ingrained in me since most "fairy tales" that were read to me as a little kid were Greek myths. The Vangelis-like soundtrack also helped a lot to make me fall in love with the movie as well and I really liked how the world isn't really post-apocalyptic but more something like some story or legend from dawn of an era theme.

Naturally after finding out that there's a manga version of the story I immediately sought it out and it turns out that the manga version is pretty much an improvement over the movie in every way (except for the animation, voice acting and music due to obvious reasons). It is so much more fleshed out, there is so much more politicking and so much more mystery that it's always fun to come back to it again and again. The central character is still Nausicaa who has a much more apparent messianic figure but often times the story can go for pages without her even being mentioned. The setting offers much diversity in cultures, settings and characters (despite being a desert world!) and they all feel distinct to me. It plays on the themes of desert and antic worlds which is something that's often absent these days in stories that I come across. The gripes that I have with this manga is that the drawings can be often too cluttered, Miyazaki sure liked to draw a shitload of things into one frame. This can distract from the enjoyment because I sometimes don't exactly get what's going on from all the shit that's...going on. And yeah the story suffers from some common tropes but the overall felling and my personal affection to the setting makes me not bother about it very much.

So yeah. Big favorite. Check it out. You might like it. Or not.

Vol: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Katharsis - 666

This and past decade has seen a lot of shifts and new movements in black metal. If this is good or bad only time will tell but for now the future is kind of shrouded in mist (or not, if you don't listen to anything past 1995). It's essentially what happened to jazz when fusion came around, it split the musicians between the traditionalists and the progressives. Should black metal incorporate elements from other genres? I've no idea and I'm not really in a position to make any claims or predictions. What I can say is that I've always leaned towards the traditionalist side, despite all the weird avant garde shit that I listen.

666 is basically a love letter to the olden days. Before everything was finely polished and clean and before synths came into play. But it's not just a flimsy rip off of Transilvanian Hunger, there is a lot more here if you're willing to listen. There's attitude here and sheer anger that pours out of these songs. It's a ferocious and well composed black metal that does not follow the tradition of just stapling three good riffs and calling it a song. The songs have good structure, they're paced well and they're played well. What I'm trying to say is that these guys knew what they were doing when they were making this. A skill that will make them (relatively) famous later on with their next albums but this one I love the most so I've decided to start off 2014 with it.

Hail Satan!

End of the year!

Hello and welcome to the annual end of the year post!

Sadly this year was the worst yet for Flying Teapot due to almost complete lack of posting. This was unfortunately unavoidable due to troubles that unexpectedly arose in my private life around late march. The ensuing situation left me with little to no will to do anything so that's why everything slowed down to almost a halt. But not all was depressing since I managed to see Swans and Colin Stetson live. Both concerts were really, really impressive and I warmly recommend seeing them live if you have the opportunity. Aside from that, I spent 7 days of this summer on an island being completely drunk and remembering very little of it afterwards (so hardcore). That was really great and I'm not being ironic. It cleans you up in a way. So yeah, lots of things happened and a lot of changes occurred in the daily lives of me and my friends. Hopefully 2014 will be a much more calmer and milder year than 2013 was. Fingers crossed.

Aside from personal bullshit 2013 was really great for music. Plenty of good albums came out although very little jazz records piqued my interest this year but maybe I'll eventually find something that flew under my radar. Plenty of black metal tho so that's a plus also I heard some rumors that Noevdia will release something big in 2014 (not DsO related).

Here's a list of alphabetically sorted albums that made a positive impression on me:

Agents of Abhorrence - Relief
Agrypnie - Aetas Cineris
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Live at The Crescent Ballroom
Aoki Takamasa - RV8
Aosoth - IV: An Arrow In Heart
Ash Borer - Bloodlands
Autechre - Exai
Autopsy - The Headless Ritual
Balázs Pándi, Mats Gustafsson & Merzbow - Cuts
Blut Aus Nord - What Once Was... Liber III
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Bölzer - Aura
Boris - Praparat
Caladan Brood - Echoes Of Battle
Celeste - Animale(s)
CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
Clandestine Blaze - Harmony Of Struggle
Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol 3: To See More Light
Cult Of Fire - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Elffor - Heriotz Sustraiak
Endstille - Kapitulation 2013
Ensemble Pearl - Ensemble Pearl
Falkenbach - Asa
Fell Voices - Regnum Saturni
Fire! Orchestra - Exit!
Galdr - Ancient Lights from the Stars
Giles Corey - Hinterkaifeck
Gorguts - Colored Sands
Hatred Surge - Human Overdose
Inferno - Omniabsence Filled by His Greatness
Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse
Iron Lung - White Glove Test
James Blake - Overgrown
Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady
Joey Bada$$ - Summer Knights
Keaton Henson - Birthdays
Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, Oren Ambarchi - Now While It's Still Warm Let Us Pour in All the Mystery
Kid Rađa - Sve Šta Đaku Treba
Kiša Metaka - Kiša Metaka
Knokkelklang - Avgrunnens Klangverk
Krypts - Unending Degradation
Light Bearer - Silver Tonge
Little Women - Lung
Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
Mazzy Star - Seasons of Your Day
Melt Yourself Down - Melt Yourself Down
Melt-Banana - Fetch
Melvins - Tres Cabrones
Mephistopheles - Sounds Of The End
Mumakil - Flies Will Starve
Nails - Abandon All Life
Omar Souleyman - Wenu Wenu
Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu
P.L.F. - Devious Persecution And Wholesale Slaughter
Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor
Plaga - Magia Gwiezdnej Entropii
Portal - Vexovoid
Pro Era - PEEP: The aPROcalypse
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Gamak
Satan - Life Sentence
Sea Of Shit - Sea Of Shit
Sex Prisoner - State Property
Shlohmo - Laid Out
Sissy Spacek - Wreck
Suffocation - Pinnacle of Bedlam
Summoning - Old Mornings Dawn
Svart Crown - Profane
The Rita & Prurient - Women Pissing
Ulcerate - Vermis
Wayne Shorter - Without a Net
Whirr - Around
きのこ帝国 - eureka

Feel free to mention your favorites in the comments!

Best wishes to everyone in the coming year and have fun on NYE. Don't drink too much and if you do at least drink something good!

Oh and Terror Noise Audio is going to be up and running again in 2014.

Get in The Van (audio book)

The views and opinions on Henry Rollins are as varied as his life and travels are. I like the guy, yeah he has his flaws and yes he can be a douchebag at times but I still find him interesting and worth listening to. His solo musical career isn't really something that's very relevant to me nor do I pay much attention to it. Black Flag during his time sounded great (but Nervous Breakdown is still my favorite release by them) no matter the hate they got but I find his spoken word stuff to be the best of his work yet.

During his travels with the band he kept a journal or notes which he probably wrote during long hours of driving to wherever the band was playing next. What makes this an interesting "listen" is the stories and the bleak reality of being in a (work-serious) band. Not being American and not really knowing how it was in the US during the 80s to me this was quite revealing stuff and it helped me put a lot of things that I already (kinda-sorta) knew into a much more clearer perspective among all the new things that I've learned. Rollins details really well the atmosphere of concerts, after-parties and weird adventures the band had during the off hours. Probably the most nihilist and also the best part of the whole book are their tour(s) in Europe and how much punk there was in a sharp contrast with the punk in US. I would recommend this to anyone who ever toured or plans on touring or being in a band but also to anyone else who is interested in knowing the inner-workings and thinking of a band. A lot of the problems and situations in this book/audio book still hold to this day. Great stuff all in all.

Part 1 and 2.

The book is read by Henry Rollins.

Thantifaxath - Thantifaxath

Thantifaxath is a black metal band from Ontario that has, so far, released just this one EP back in 2011. The quality of the recording is actually really great. It does not sound necro or kvlt (as the cover with its murky colors suggest) but it's not really overproduced garbage either, it's right in the middle (the best middle possible!).

After a brief choral intro the EP plunges right into the jist of this 15 minute EP. The sound is a mainly in the style of US (or American if you will) black metal but there are touches of the old continent as well. The guitar work is a mixture of dissonant DsO-ish riffs and tremolo based riffs that mostly remind me of Krallice. Must be the high pitch that gives me this feeling. All this is stitched together with ambient/droning passages that, to me, tend to kinda kill the joy but not enough for me to dismiss the whole EP outright. All I'm saying is that those parts could be shorter but oh well. The vocals themselves are probably the most uninteresting that this EP can offer since its just standard screaming through some fx effect fare.

I found this EP by accident and it made a positive impression on me and hopefully it will do the same to you. It's a promising band and I look forward to hear more from them as they go along the path since they show a lot of potential.

Get.

Ichiko Aoba - うたびこ

Folk (or singer-songwriter "genre" to be more precise) is kind of a strange beast when I think about it. I mean, nothing much has changed over the years really. When it comes down to it it's still the same principle as it was decades ago. Yet it still intrigues us and there's always something interesting and new to hear.

This particular folk album is from Japan where this genre seems to have quite a holding underneath the surface of so many female pop groups. The cover, while bordering on minimalist ridicule, is actually very representative of its overall sound. There's really not that much dressing around this one. It's just one acoustic guitar and just one lovely female voice. With this the album manages to convey a very solitary feel in all of its songs. Luckily the album does not wear out its welcome and the songs are varied enough to guarantee at least a second listen. The vocals themselves are in the mid-range (similar to Shione Yukawa) and are very calm and soothing to the ears. The music as well maintains a very chill atmosphere throughout although sometimes it tends to drift off into more murkier tones and melodies.

Get.

Live footage.

Klapa Primošten - Primoštensko Plavo More

Uhh I don't really know how to compactly write all this so it might turn up disjointed. For those of you who didn't know: I come from a tiny country called Croatia. It can roughly be divided into two areas which is the coastal area and the inland area (but "we" don't like to divide ourselves like that). I come from the coastal area which is (depending on who you ask) either really beautiful and unique or just a cheaper and less crowded version of Greece. I often seek out ethnic or folklore music from distant countries/areas. They always fascinate me and it made me think how there are maybe/probably people who might consider my area exotic, distant or unknown in terms of music. So I thought I'd share one of the most popular traditional musical styles from my parts. It's called klape or klapsko pjevanje.

The basic premise of this music is: five to eight dudes singing as a choir but each dude has his own pitch and they all sing the same thing at the same time. This kind of style probably originated from church choirs in the south a long time ago but it spread all over the coast. Unlike church songs these songs usually are about boats, women, alcohol, food and the bright blue sea. Most groups that sing this also include one or two instruments (mainly guitars and mandolins) although the original style should only have vocals. This type of music is insanely popular here, each town has at least one or two groups like this (especially along the coastline but inland towns started to get in on the fun) and you can hear it everywhere throughout the summer. Especially in the south.

Klapa Primošten is one of such groups. They come from a little town called Primošten and they are a very classic example of this kind of music. I like this kind of stuff, it's really relaxing and not really demanding on the ears. The unison of voices are really soothing on the ears and the soft accompanying music fits seamlessly with the voices.

If you're curious, check this one out. You might like it but I can't guarantee it.

Get.

Ashra - New Age of Earth

Once upon a time there was a German band called Ash Ra Tempel and they were a part of the loose collective/movement known today as krautrock or cosmiche musik. Manuel Göttsching played in that band but later on he decided to focus on a more electronic and ambient style of music. Ashra was the name of this progression which also led, with time, some other previous band members to join up.

They never really made it big but they did release a couple of albums with this being my favorite one. There's nothing on here that's really inventive or "out there" but nevertheless this album certainly  is pleasant and enjoyable to listen. The music itself is synth+guitar based with very little else but each song has its own unique idea and approach to such style. Some are more upbeat and fast while some are really expansive with few overlapping melodies that flow in and out on the track. It's all very spacey, distant and meditative. It's a record that I often find myself playing while I'm reading something or just laying down and drifting away for a while.

Get.

Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Rehearsal Tapes

Here's something (potentially) interesting.

I know nothing about this release. I don't remember how I got it or where I got it and I don't see this passed around at all. I think I got this in some random sharethread on 4chan a year or so ago but I can't really remember. I also have no idea who was playing on these recordings but assuming that this was from 1954 (it was tagged like that) I'd venture a guess that Clifford Brown recorded this with the Max Roach quartet. When I got this the album title was simply labelled as "Rehearsal Tapes" but I doubt these are recordings from a rehearsal because it sounds like a live recording from some club or clubs. At one point you can hear someone clanging with platters so I'm pretty sure it was a live setting. This might also be a hint that this was an unofficial recording? A bootleg of some sorts?

But this is all just minute details, what is important is that it's more Clifford Brown material and what material it is! This is bebop in its purest form. There are only a few tracks on this, including an original unknown tune, yet most of them clock over 10+ minutes so in total you get about an hour of music. The longest track actually goes on for 21 minutes. Such long tunes give ample of space for every musician to explore and improvise solos. It may very well be a live rehearsal as these guys spare no time with improvising as a group or just soloing. The quality of these recordings is bad (for jazz standards) with a lot of tape hiss so I would recommend this only to Clifford Brown enthusiasts or if you're into jazz jam sessions.

Get. [the last track has unpleasant conversion scratching/skipping sound issues, the rest are fine]