stormchasar's Last.fm Journal

Noise equipment

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:33:08 +0000

So for furthering my quest, here's the stuff I currently want in order of how soon I'd like it. (I should have a job soon so I'll actually be able to get them) Does anyone have anything to add or take away from this list? Ideas, whateva?

More freaking cables/adapters/miscellaneous bullshit

Shaker box

Multi-effects pedal (one of those fancy ones, where every effect has its own stomp-button)

Higher quality microphone, plus stand (wireless)

More contact mics

Some corrugated iron or something similar

The most basic possible oscillator synthesizer I can find (I can't fnid any for under like 1000 dollars, although I haven't looked that hard. Can anyone make it easier by pointing me to the cheapest possible oscillator synth?)

High-powered megaphone

Wireless headset

Mixing board

Merzbow Masonna Prurient etc. etc. etc.

So how do CD stores choose what to stock anyway

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:36:49 +0000

Just a few minutes ago, I walked into the local independent CD store to see if I could find some Swans or Otto Dix, since they have a good selection of hipster music and EBM/darkwave. I didn't find either, oddly enough. They had Panic Lift and din_fiv, but no Otto Dix. They had Akron/Family and Sunn O))), but no Swans. You know what they did have?
Motherfucking Bodychoke.
Maybe it's because the rerelease of Cold River Songs was done through Relapse, and they have to have their grindcore for the Calgary metalheads. But they also had some of Das Ich's albums released through Danse Macabre, and not Otto Dix's released through the same label. I didn't even see any Pig Destroyer. But no, they had Bodychoke.
Needless to say I snapped it up and now have a CD copy of Cold River Songs with three bonus tracks, lyrics, and illustrations that I can't listen to until I get back to my stereo. I consider myself a lucky man.

First Sorry Robin live action (pics and video)

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:41:16 +0000

All pictures and videos by Ingrid Carlson.

Oh my god I was so nervous >_<
But I was actually quite popular as most of you have probably heard.

This act was sweet, too (Hatebomb) even though I look nerdy and nervous in the audience

Merzbow Masonna Sorry Robin The Gerogerigegege Incapacitants Earhate Bomber Swans C.C.C.C.Whitehouse Sutcliffe Jugend

Musicians I have dreamed about

Fri, 15 May 2009 03:21:58 +0000

I'll update this list as more come in.

灰野敬二
Hanging out with him in a mall, when some random person shot himself. Keiji got worried that he'd somehow be implicated, so I walked around downtown with him while he disposed of all his ID.

Masonna
I'm pretty sure I was exploring a haunted house or something with him, but I can't quite remember.

Piana
She and this Korean guy I know decided to try to beat me up. I beat her soundly, then kept trying to apologize. "I'm so sorry, really. You're so pretty, and you have such a nice voice..." said I. "Go away," said Piana.

Michael Gira
I've dreamed about Gira twice. The first time I was carpooling with him. "Mr. Gira, you're my favourite musician ever. Sometimes I go days at a time without listening to anything except Swans and The Angels of Light," I said. He responded with, "Oh, I hate Swans. All that material sucked, never listen to it again."

In the second dream, I went to a Swans concert. Judging by the way he looked it was around Children of God era. The concert was held in a volleyball court, and the entire concert consisted of he and Jarboe playing volleyball. (With a football, for some reason.)

Fuck, The Retarded Girl
I met the F,TRG guy (think his name's Kyle, I know him better as AppleKabukiSuri) next to the Mystery Machine. I started trash-talking Fuck, The Retarded Girl, then he got all depressed and started flipping his little emo flop around.

Why can't Japanese people master albums

Sat, 2 May 2009 02:52:17 +0000

Democratic Violence - 2 Bullet
The guitar is waaaay too loud in the mix, and the drums are much too quiet. In a couple of the tracks, especially "Tell Me Something", the guitars and vocals sound like they're... really quickly pulsing, or something. I can only imagine they boosted one particular bass frequency high enough that it interfered with other frequencies or something.
It's really an excellent album, but some of the tracks are hard to listen to the mastering is so bad. (Their newest album Assassi-Nation is mastered much better.)

Atheos - GPKISM
This album is mastered so fucking loud that everything clips. Everything. Even when there is nothing going but a single string part or one drum beat, it is friggin clipping like crazy. Why do they think we need it this loud? Is it more exciting that way?

GOTHIC LOLITA PROPAGANDA - Yousei Teikoku
Pretty much the same as the previous album only not quite as bad. Every time there's a cymbal crash , GZZZHH, everything distorts.

Ilya - Mutyumu
The drums are far too quiet, and the hi-hat is mixed inexplicably much louder than any other drum. On some tracks, unless you listen carefully, it's the only drum you can pick out. Also, it's not mastered so loud that there's distortion, but the dynamic range is really limited. A lone piano at the beginning is pretty much as loud as all the crashing guitars in the middle. Every new instrument just pushes another aside.

Note, all these albums are actually really good aside from the mastering.

Recent purchases

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:04:10 +0000

Bunch of stuff came in the mail the past couple of days, if not quite in AppleKabukiSuri-like numbers.

farewell kingdom - World's End Girlfriend
The whole thing is pretty much worth if for Fifteen White, but the whole album is great. Contrast with my last WEG album (Dream's End Come True) - Singing Under The Rainbow was an amazing orgasm but the rest went between boring and grating.

Assassi-nation - 2 Bullet
The production and mastering are leagues better than on Democratic Violence. Also the guitars are less prominent and the sound seems more focused on aggression, which are both good things. The English lyrics can be pretty hilarious, though:

We don't want this border line
It's only for rich and politician
The world is not only for VIP
We don't trust the government

Sleepless combat and blast of bomb
It let me numb

I find this pretty odd because the lyrics on You're Downloading Anarchism kicked ass:

They sold their history.
They sold their pride to enemies.
They sold their misery.
They sold but they lost liberty.

We Are Him - The Angels of Light
Much better than How I Loved You in my opinion. Even though some songs have what could easily be called a country groove, it feels distinctly Gira. It wouldn't quite fit as a Swans album, but it's surprisingly close at times. It's also signed by Gira (the package even had "Thanks Kieran!" written on the back in Sharpie) which makes it worth having no matter what.

And, a contact mic!
I've already figured out how to make some seriously brutal stuff using it, a saw, and a couple of pedals. Not to mention that carrying a saw around on stage would look pretty badass (it's a cool-looking saw, trust me.) I hope to figure out how to do a bunch of cool stuff with it, especially since pretty much every noise type seems to use them. Aren't they staples of Fuck, The Retarded Girl's setup? How exciting.

Now we have to pay for last.fm radio/I am paying

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:24:32 +0000

Last.fm recently announced that soon, people in countries outside of US, UK and DE will have to subscribe to listen to online radio. Predictably, this launched a massive shitstorm. Personally, I think it's worth it. People don't realize just how good last.fm radio really is. Type in a tag or an artist, and it will give you a continuous, round-the-clock, high-quality stream. That's probably even worth more than the 5 CDN a month it now costs.

The only beef I have is exempting US, UK and DE. I guess they're the biggest markets and give a lot of ad revenue or something, but that's just not fair. Especially considering that those rich countries can probably afford to pay a lot more easily than some of the third-world countries that also have users on last.fm.

I'm also worried that this will cost last.fm a significant amount of users. This site is only really worth using because it's populated with millions of people who tag artists, allow similar artists to be generated, and populate the forums and shoutboxes. A lot of people might be so turned-off that they just leave entirely. Now, a lot of people threatened to leave when last.fm changed to new last.fm, but nothing significant seemed to happen, so we're probably safe. But the risk is there, I suppose. After all, new last.fm is ugly, but it doesn't make you pay.

Anyway, I think it's worth it, so I shelled out my hard-earned money from my mom's credit card, and now I get the other nifty subscriber benefits as well. It's pretty good.

Stuff I should listen to more / Albums I need to buy

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:32:28 +0000

Spring break is coming up, guys. Meaning, I will spend the next week watching anime, skiing, and above all, listening to music. There's a lot of music in my library that I still haven't properly listened to yet, or should listen to more considering how much I like it, and I'm going to make use of spring break to do so.
Stuff I still need to listen to more carefully:
Limited Express (has gone?)
VAST
Fire in the Head
Sickness
Hijokaidan
Lacrimas Profundere
Bark Psychosis
Ride

Stuff I need to listen to more:
Melt-Banana (Speak Squeak Creak)
World's End Girlfriend
Labradford
Alien Sex Fiend
Beati Mortui
bleeding nature

Albums I need to buy on CD:
Assassi-nation - 2 Bullet
Strain - Flesh Field
P O L A R I S - Exxasens
farewell kingdom - World's End Girlfriend
Kore Ga Mayaku Da - Afrirampo

There's also my list of bands to check out, most of which have gone un-checked out:
http://www.last.fm/user/stormchasar/library/tags?tag=bands+to+check+out

New Sorry Robin EP "Busting Some Fucking Heads"

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 01:01:32 +0000

http://www.rapidspread.com/file.jsp?id=8xbub8ub7n
http://www.mediaREMOVEMEfire.com/download.php?e4yygmtjeyy
I'm still waiting on As These Walls Fall to finish for the split, so in the meantime I did this EP. There's no particular "concept", but there's a looot of rhythm, and there are (usually violent) lyrics this time.
Thanks to TaikonL (Whorifik) for doing the logo.
Tracklist:
1. Graf
2. Try It You'll Like It
3. Anything They Get Will Be Better Than What They Deserve
4. Reflection
5. Why?
6. Fevered Pitch
7. Busting Some Fucking Heads
8. Untitled
9. Asphalt

Merzbow Masonna Whitehouse Sutcliffe Jugend Deathpile Government Alpha Torturing Nurse Killer Bug Guilty Connector Prurient Incapacitants MSBR Pain Jerk Sorry Robin Full Metal Jew AxemRangers Fuck, The Retarded Girl Intertwisting Opposition Volia

Swans fans are kind of dicks

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:29:08 +0000

Some of you might recall my earlier journal entry, relating to one particular Swans fan:
http://www.last.fm/user/stormchasar/journal/2009/01/26/2fk1sd_some_people_just_are_dicks%28or%2C_my_struggle_with_a_tiny_tiny_woman%29

However, as I discovered from posting on Swans' shoutbox, there's more.
Firstly, this guy:
Every time I see stormchasar in the shoutbox of a band I like, I die a little inside.
Okay, for one thing, I've never even seen him before. Secondly, I'm not really sure where I got this rep - maybe because I dare to like EBM and not like Throbbing Gristle? People round here don't take kindly to people with opinions different than theirs.

Then, this:
I bet that he does [hate anime], since he has good taste.
As soon as someone says that, you know they're ignorant. Anime is not a genre. It is a format. Two animes can have nothing in common with each other other than being drawn and being from Japan. That can be literally it. Hence, to hate anime is logically to hate something based on rootless prejudice. You can't get much more ignorant.

Pretty much from the time I said "swans are industrial and stormchasar never paid for his copy of white light from the mouth of infinity", a sarcastic rebuke to two outrageous made my lmplications, the abuse started. FOR SOME REASON.
I'm so glad I'm better than Stormchaser.
If you have to skip tracks on a release, it can't be a very good release. So, stormchasar, you don't actually even like Swans and you should go away from internet.
That last one especially is funny. For one, statistically I like Swans more than he does. Second, does anyone actually agree that a release isn't very good if you skip tracks? I consider a release good if it's 60% good tracks. Because most releases aren't that good.

I'm sorry that you like to look at pictures of anime girls, but you need to stop being wrong so much about things that actually matter, such as Swans.
Not really, you just have bad taste.
People got super pissed at me when I said that I consider only The Great Annihilator and Filth to be excellent releases by Swans. By the way, I've listened to more Swans than most of these people.

Wow, I've witnessed many great catastrophes in this shoutbox (I've even been an active part in some of them), but stormchasar is really pushing the limits.
Basically all my posts were just defending myself... I took a lot of shit apparently for no reason, then I said, "why am I taking this shit?", and then I took a lot more shit just for saying that.

Listen Stormchasar. Anime avatars and Lacuna Coil fanboyism might be acceptable in the MASONNA shoutbox, but this is the fucking big leagues, okay
Where he got the idea that I'm a Lacuna Coil fanboy, I'm not really sure. And, he's making fun of anime again. See above.

I don't want to be some bitter loser who picks on kids, you know? But damn this particular kid is so fucking annoying. It's like, what would you do if some little shit was all jumping up in your face saying stupid shit? You'd deck the fucker right?
It's more like I walked into the room, said "hey guys", people started yelling at me, and then I jumped around trying to get them to stop yelling, really. This guy's not helping.

Finally, a stupid quote that has nothing to do with abusing me\:
Its pretty disappointing how Swans one of the most darkest honest bands ever is being enjoyed by pubescent boys and girls who are looking to expand their horizons by hopping on whatever the "what's cool" train has to offer. Its because of you why bands start to lose their original appeal. Swans and Joy Division are the new gateway bands for people to look diverse. (note) This does not apply to the true Swans fans.
What a douche. Don't most people get past the whole "you're not a TR00 FAN" thing at about age 13? Isn't it good enough just to listen to it and appreciate it? And since when is Swans on the cool train?

Then I started getting crap from people who apparently hopped on the "abuse stormchasar" bandwagon by browsing the Swans shoutbox.

go back to 4chan
You're a 15 year old with an animu avatar who thinks they know anything about music. I'd say you're from 4chan.
The above Porcupine Tree and Opeth fan apparently thinks:
a) All anime fans are from 4Chan.
b) Being from 4Chan is somehow bad.
c) Listening to Porcupine Tree, Opeth, and conspicuously no bands that are respected in post-industrial circles gives him the right to make fun of me.

Just because I don't listen to much noise doesn't mean I don't know anything about it. Besides I've only been on this damn site three weeks, I haven't exactly played through everything I have.
I'm not even really sure where that came from... He said something making fun of noise or something(can't really remember and can't find the original shout), then I pointed out that he didn't listen to any, and then he got all defensive about how he knows stuff about it despite not listening to any. Sorry, but playcounts mean more than just wholeheartedly assuring me that you know your stuff.

No, a 13 year old would be listening to Fall Out Boy and the like. But remember, it's a good excuse to say "I HAVENT LISTENED TO THOSE BANDS FOR LIKE A YEAR." See, if I were to use that argument on you, you'd be likened to that of a typical mallrat, which I wouldn't put far beyond you.

And then you got into shitty mediocre shoegaze and noise. A fair trade I suppose.
This is the guy with the hilariously immature taste again. This time, he somehow got the idea that I like shoegaze. Did I mention that I don't own a single shoegaze album, or like a single shoegaze band? Well, I don't.

it sounds like shit to turn away people who don't actually appreciate the genre. duh
Him again. Well... yeah.

That sure took you a long time to come up with, kiddo.
Him again. Maybe it's just this guy that's a douche? It's because I was getting another keyboard, because the one I was using crapped out on me. He also called Masonna "shite" in the next post, so, like...

lmfao. You sure have the mind of a 15 year old, that's certain now.
What I said to him was "Your music taste is just kind of terrible all round, so sorry I listen to bands you can't understand." Apparently I have the mind of a 15 year old because I listen to (sorry, hate to use the term, but I can't think of anything else) mature music. Seriously, is there anyone smart who would honestly say that the guy with Swans and Masonna in his top 5 is less musically mature than the guy with Porcupine Tree and Swallow The Sun?

While everybody's throwing their 2 cents on industrial directly into the styrofoam cup of your shoutbox: have you checked out early SPK yet? Far more, er, unwelcoming than TG.
be_quiet_peter. A man who knows his stuff. Probably better than any of these pretentious dicks who I've written this article about. He inquired in friendly tones, do I like SPK? Somewhat, I politely replied.
He's also one of the only people who isn't under the weird delusion that Swans are industrial. Seriously, aside from industrial-influenced sounds on Filth, there's hardly anything industrial about them. I can't pick out a single industrial element on The Great Annihilator, really. Ever hear of the term post-industrial? It's a good phrase. Useful for stuff like Current 93, which came out of industrial circles and still regularly experiments, but really can't be considered "industrial" due to all the, like, strummed acoustic guitars 'n'shit.

Before anyone comments: Yes, this journal entry is to make myself feel better. Yes, it is a little "butthurt". I'm pissed that people are abusing me for no reason, and that these guys on my shoutbox are making fun of me despite being the kind of kid that... well, I've already made my case above.
I take abuse on noise shoutboxes as well, but at least then it's when I actually did stupid stuff. I have said some pretty dumb stuff on, say, Guilty Connector's shoutbox, and I was reprimanded accordingly. But with Swans, it's just kind of, like, 12-year-old style cyberbullying.

Jesus, this was a long-ass journal entry.