Well, they were already clearly moving in that direction with or without Hannett. They had actually recorded early versions of about half of Unknown Pleasures during the same sessions as An Ideal for a Living, along with an early version of "Transmission" and a number of tracks that ended up on Still, but they ended up canning the album because they were dissatisfied with the production.
I admit that I haven't heard those early demos. It is interesting to know about them.
At any rate, I didn't mean to imply that Joy Division had nothing to do with their transformation. The comparison to The Beatles should've made that obvious.
It does seem to me that Hannett helped speed up the transformation by being such a taskmaster, though.
He definitely brought out aspects of their sound in the studio that were not immediately apparent in their early work, much like how Mike Thorne brought Wire into more experimental territory sonically when they were already testing themselves in their writing.
One advantage that the early recordings do have is that it captures how raw and intense Joy Division could be live, something that is mostly lost in favour of something more alien and atmospheric in their later studio work.
To me, the main drawback to their early singles is Curtis's punkish sneer. It's amelodic, and at least on "No Love Lost", somewhat at odds with the music.
His decision to switch to a baritone voice was one of the most important factors in Joy Division's transformation.
It's more that he was refining his vocal style overall. He outright howls on some of their later material, but he shows a very broad range of expression. That EP in particular is relatively limited, but that may be a conscious choice as much as an issue of development: They already had "Ice Age", "Shadowplay", "Interzone", "Transmission" and "Novelty" in their set, after all.
Actually, correction: An Ideal for a Living was recorded at an earlier session (December '77) than the abortive début session (May '78), although the latter did include re-recordings of the EP tracks along with early versions of a number of embryonic Unknown Pleasures numbers and rarities.
Also, "No Love Lost" is a strange, strange song. I rather like it.
"Weird Al" put a Pixies style parody on his latest album, and it may actually be a better Pixies song than anything on their recent EPs. Listen for yourself.
And now I'm trying to overthink "Love Me" by Lil' Wayne, in a "you sound incredibly bored for someone who essentially has a harem, dude. Do you do anything but stay in the house and bone?" kind of way.
"Dark Horse" is basically two songs stapled together.
In a risible manner, to whit. It's just a very oddly and poorly constructed song. I mean, the parts aren't even that bad in principle, but the way that they are thrown together is artless and a little gross.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q2poC56ycWA the video that everyone in Brooklyn is pretending is an inaccurate potrayal of life in Brooklyn (this is a terrible sentence)
He also seems to be one of those trve kvlt types insofar as his statements about other bands go.
Yeah, I looked him up after naney told me why he's a shithead and I noticed that, which I found kind of funny considering that Nachtmystium is listed as Psychedelic Black Metal on Wikipedia after him saying "as a fan of black metal, I'm offended by someone who calls their music black metal and incorporates outside elements".
Granted, I'm not sure if that's cognitive dissonance, out of context or a tacit admission that what his band does is not longer exactly black metal? Who the heck even knows.
Granted, I'm not sure if that's cognitive dissonance, out of context or a tacit admission that what his band does is not longer exactly black metal? Who the heck even knows.
Admittedly, he later said that his band left the black metal scene, but I still found it hypocritical regardless.
could have been from earlier in his career when Nachtmystium was one of those boring burzum/darkthrone amalgam bands, those sorts of bands are always very eager to make up for mediocrity/lack of funds to buy proper recording equipment with grand declarations of just how black metal they are.
meanwhile, Fenriz and Nocturno are making throwback punky speed metal and just having a ball
^^ This was in 2008, though, or so says Wikipedia.
But there is leavening some context to it: Judd has also stated that despite starting out as a black metal band, "What separates us from your average black metal band is that we're NOT a black metal band, we're a 'do-whatever-the-fuck-we-want' metal band and black metal happens to be what we build our foundation off of," going on to state that they'd sort of left the scene as a whole around 2004.
Fun Musical Fact: Ghost got signed to Rise Above due to Fenriz featuring them on his Band Of The Week blog
That's actually very cool.
I never really got into Ghost - the metal band, not the Japanese psych collective who I do enjoy quite a bit - but I respect them and I think that's pretty great.
Just heard an impressive band from my neck of the woods, Deafheaven... but they among most nowadays USBM owe John Gossard $$$$$... your plagiarism is... cute... but you're outed... and need soap, son.
Funny, the interview that's from cites another interview from No Clean Singing with, of all people, Nachtmystium, in which Blake Judd offers what might be the best (or just funniest?) double-edged one-line defence of another person that I have ever heard.
BW- Word has it you love Ministry’s Filth Pig as well.
BJ- That is my favorite record ever recorded. That and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. Tied.
BW- …That is Nachtmystium right there, you can hear it.
BJ- That’s why Charlie, our drummer, and I connected immediately. He hasn’t been on a record yet because he’s been on tour. We connected at my house doing drugs and I put Filth Pig on and he was all ‘oh! I love this one!’ There’s three of the ten people who’ve ever lived that like Filth Pig right here right now. ”Brick Windows” is the jam.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
although that doesn't explain why "Dark Horse" was a hit
like there are musicians who have said more hateful things, and ones who have committed more serious crimes
but still
meanwhile, Fenriz and Nocturno are making throwback punky speed metal and just having a ball
\m/
I have mixed feelings, myself.