The Tonic Tone

Rock Extravaganza, part II

2008-02-20T08:01:00.002-05:00

Last week I brought you the varied and, for lack of a better word, strange tones of Electric Six. This week your dose of rock is much more focused, though perhaps equally odd. Bang Camaro is an incredibly large Rock/Metal group from the Boston area that has been melting faces since 2005. I discovered them through Guitar Hero 2 with their bonus track entitled "Push Push (Lady Lightning)". While a pleasure to play on a 5-fret, 1-string plastic guitar, sometimes it's best simply to just listen. And such is the case with Bang Camaro. With somewhere around 15 people in the band (and often more), the sound is never subtle. In fact they are quite the opposite. It doesn't get much more in-your-face than 1 drummer, 1 bassist, 3 guitars and somewhere between 10 and 15 singers. Shortly after arriving in Boston I went to a free show featuring Bang Camaro which set the love affair in motion.

Bang Camaro's self titled debut album runs the spectrum of essential hard rock sounds: ranging from shit-your-pants-rock, to crush-your-skull-metal, to slower-ballads-that-will-still-shit-on-your-soul. Utilitarian drumming and minimal bass work really allow the guitars to steal the show. Serving as the focal point for Camaro's sound, the 3 guitars unique layered sound draws your attention immediately. That or the fact that every song sounds as if it was built around a guitar solo foundation. Supplementing the technical guitar work, an entire host of singers delivers the simplistic lyrics in a manner that could not possibly fit better. It's almost as if Bang Camaro has created music in reverse when compared with most music today. The lyrics exist almost exclusively for the chorus, whereas the guitar work does all the talking that is needed. These 'backwards' style songs are incredibly easy to listen to (and to admire as well!). But perhaps Bang Camaro's greatest asset exists in its honesty: They're not trying to redefine a genre or issue their thoughts on politics/social realities/whatever-is-hip-and-cool, they just want to rock out. Hard. And that goal is easily achieved. Here are a few poor-quality vids of my favorite Bang Camaro songs: Nightlife Commando (kicks in around 22 seconds in), Swallow the Razor (in modded GH2 format!), and of course Pleasure. Watch, imagine what a live concert in a tiny venue would be like, then feel extreme envy for me.

The best part about Bang Camaro is: You can join! While they originated in Boston, they are now touring across the country and need choir members to sing along with them in various cities. See this video for more details.

As the Guitar Hero 2 loading screen put it (and oh-so-eloquently I might add): "Bang Camaro is half man, half machine, and all dude."

Next up: DRIST

Rock Extraveganza, Part 1

2008-02-15T17:24:00.014-05:00

First off, thanks to Mufi and Yutaro for the comments, I'll oblige your respective requests and get back to you on a soon-to-come post. Everyone who's reading this should look to them as a shining example of humanity. This site works both ways, I educate you, you educate me, everybody wins. Feel free to comment with thoughts on the article and the music contained in it, as well as related bands or just something I should check out. However, if all you can come up with to post is "yutaro is gay", well, that's just not helping anyone. That's it for the intro, let's jump right in.

Freeland too much for you? Lupe not your style? Let's get back to the roots. My roots, America's roots: Rock. Headbanging, distorted, loud, sweaty, freedom-loving rock. Music started with rock for me. My first album was Aerosmith's Get A Grip, and it was love at first sound. So I'm here to further your rock education with three bands you probably haven't heard of. Well, alright, you've probably heard one of them, but not two. On second though, two is very possible, but I'll be damned if I'm not the only human being in existence that knows of all three of these bands. They are, in order of discovery: Electric Six, Bang Camaro, and Drist. Two of which were discovered via that most noble of American icons: Guitar Hero.

Electric Six is a band I discovered via an internet cartoon. Namely, this internet cartoon, featuring Electric Six's fan favorite track, Gay Bar (~~slightly ridiculous video warning,~~ ~~Probably offensive~~ Bat-shit-insane, over-the-top-slightly-treasonous-and-containing-numerous-references-to-gay-sex video warning). E6 is hard to define musically. While firmly grounded in over the top rock riffs, creamily blended with a kinky disco/punk/metal vibe, it's the lyrics that defy description. With such enticing songs names as Naked Pictures, Gay Bar, and Chocolate Pope you can only expect so much in terms of meaningful content. Admittedly the lyrics are often hard to take seriously, however they are hilarious and work surprisingly well with the solid rock sound that the six-piece Detroit-based band puts out. Their first album, Fire!, is the only one I have listened to at length, only hearing a few tracks from other albums. Earlier this year I was awarded the pleasure of seeing them play live at The Middle East in Cambridge, Mass, and since then I've been acquiring and listening to their newer works. The electronic aspect of their music that was condensed to a few tracks in Fire! seems to have permeated their sound, becoming an integral part of several tracks of the more recent albums. The newer albums carry more meaning than earlier works, with such scathing social commentary as the song "Down at McDonnellzzz" off E6's most recent album "I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master". Also prevalent in E6's newer works is a slightly more pop sound, resonating especially hard off their 3rd album Switzerland, featuring such catchy tunes as I Buy The Drugs. While a nightmare to describe, they are an dream to listen to. If you enjoyed those shining examples of E6's fantastic work, I urge you to go out and obtain a copy of Fire! at the very least. For those of you that aren't quite convinced, here are a few more examples to try and convert you: Dance Commander, Danger! High Voltage (quite disturbing), and last but certainly not least, Synthesizer (unofficial, yet slightly intriguing video).

Next up: Bang Camaro!

Back to Mine

2008-02-14T17:40:00.002-05:00

First off, Happy Valentines Day, you lovestruck consumer whores!

Alright, now that that's out of the way, we can continue. Post number two. So far, so good. A few updates, I added a hit counter to this site, just to see if people will actually visit. I also added what I have affectionately dubbed 'The Tonic Tone Trifecta' (It's over there, to the left). The name simply stems from the fact that I love alliteration, and the number three is involved. Anyways, it is my current top 3 artists, albums, and tracks, updated as frequently as my tastes change.

In response to Yutaro's comment on my last post, I gave Lupe's 'The Cool' a listen through, and was disappointed to find the arrogance that permeates rap music, yet Food and Liquor seemed to lack. For example, let us look at a few lines from the chorus of the ominously named 'Gold Watch':
'Got my gold watch
And my gold chain
With my fancy car
And my diamond ring'

Great, a rapper telling us how awesome and rich he is, how novel and inspiring. Some interesting sampling of some vocals tries to save the song, but it sounds like everything on the radio to me. Perhaps I will listen through again, and try and come up with some highpoints to tell you about as well. So I guess I will refine my request: Please comment with rap music that won't just tell me how awesome/famous/rich/smooth the rapper in question is. Hopefully that isn't asking too much.

With that bit of disappointment out of the way, I'm here to tell you of an album that won't let you down: Adam Freeland's 'Back to Mine.' For those of you that don't know, Back to Mine (clicky for even more info) is a series of albums by different DJ's and Electronic music composers indicating music that they might listen to on their own after a night out. Adam Freeland is a well known breakbeat DJ from the UK that my roommate introduced me to earlier this year. To get an idea of what Freeland is about, here is an interesting track of his, coupled with a quite strange music video. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Freeland's version of Back to Mine is, simply put, phenomenal. A sort of ambient rock mix, featuring what are now 2 of my top 3 tracks, as well as many other top notch songs. All mixed together in a continuous flow, it took me several listen throughs to realize the genius behind this album. Actaully, several consecutive listen throughs during my 5 hour stint at jury duty earlier this week. A few of my favorite tracks of the album are Jape's Floating, TV on the Radio's Staring at the Sun, and Funkadelic's Maggot Brain. Take a listen through those songs, and if you like what you hear there is plenty more like it on the album. I wish I could find better quality videos for all of these songs, but alas I cannot. Rest assured that these 3 examples are not the only highpoints of the album, and hearing them all as one continuous work is downright powerful. If you enjoyed those tracks I urge you to obtain a copy of this album.

After hearing Freeland's great success with Back to Mine I took it upon myself to try at least one other, and have a copy of Underworld's Back to Mine waiting to be listened to. I have also mused over the idea of creating my own 'Back to Mine' album, and will keep you posted if that materializes.

That's it for post #2, more to come!

Welcome to The Tonic Tone!

2008-02-14T00:12:00.001-05:00

You've stumbled upon The Tonic Tone, my latest attempt at a blog. The Tonic Tone will focus on music, some that you've heard before, some that you have not. This blog exists not only to inform you of music you may not have heard of, but to get your input as well. I am always looking for new bands, artists, or even whole new genres of music to delve into. First off, a little background on my personal musical tastes. The best word to describe my taste in music: Eclectic. A few of my numerous favorite bands and artists include Nine Inch Nails, Less Than Jake, Aerosmith, Burial, Tool, Weezer, Llorca, the list goes on and on. I will expand upon a few of my favorites later. Suffice to say, I like a little bit of everything. Not to say that I don't favor certain genres over others, but pretty much everything floats with two important exceptions: Rap/Hip-hop* and Country. Those are two kinds of music I could never listen to without cringing. So, that will be the topic of this first post. Help me find Rap/Hip-Hop* or Country I might like. Recently I have come across and been listening to Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor, and can honestly say I enjoy it. More music in that direction would be much appriciated. If you have any suggestions please comment with them, I'll investigate and report back in my next post.

That's it for this intro post, more to come later.

*Also, if anyone could explain the difference between Rap and Hip-hop, that would be great, and perhaps even help me appriciate the genres themselves.