The Mars Volta @ Rock Werchter 2009

Apparently Lady Linn is more important than The Mars Volta, which I find rather disturbing, so it's only the first half hour of their set. But it's in a decent quality so here it is... The Mars Volta @ Werchter '09.



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An open letter to Baliset

3.5/10

Dear Baliset,

In all honesty, from the most boring to the most laughable albums I have reviewed at The Silent Ballet, I've never struggled so hard to get through a CD as I did with A Time For Rust. It took me a long time just to push myself to listen to the entire album in one sitting, an action an ordinary listener would not do if she wasn't into the particular sound or genre you've created on this album. Even though I had to succumb to my prejudice of my brief initial listens, I knew from the start that there was something to this album that would make the effort worthwhile, even if it were only to better myself as critical listener. Eventually I got through it once, and in the days to come I made the effort to listen attentively to your album - in different places, using different devices, even considering my own state of mind at the time and its impact on the listening session.

What I first noticed was that there were often shifts in the form of the music; at the base is undoubtedly an avant prog-rock structure - something I can appreciate - but in combination with the slabs of folk-like power ballads and ambient as imposing as something pseudo-kraut or psychedelic, it made my skin crawl. The problem with dropping in touches of folk into progressive rock with flares of ambient is that you can only do this every so often, since most tracks that fall from the one into the other without any justification are very hard to digest. This is the threshold that few people are likely to step over, unless the listener is one of the happy few that totally fall for this sub-genre. If there would be some sort of audible gradient stretching between the contrasting passages, it might have worked, but it's all very abrupt and irrational for the common listener. I already hear you thinking "What is he on about? Plenty of bands' trademark is to combine genres." That's very true; the critically-acclaimed Silencio is one of the best examples in that field, but they pull this off because their music actually lends itself towards genre juggling rather than forcing itself to do so.

It is obvious that Baliset's main band members - covering the guitar, bass and drums - are talented musicians and have the experience to master their instrument and it's sound to it's fullest, a gift that should be treasured and mined when writing the music. By cutting out the extraneous ambient and drone interludes, you can get to the essence of your skill and let that seed grow into a coherent album. I'm not pleading for an album that is one guitar solo after yet another power-riffed chorus, but A Time Of Rust is filled with intermezzos of mellotrons, awkwardly-panned drone and spaced-out pieces that just do not help your album flow in a consistent manner. In that regard, there's also no reason in the iPod era for a so-called hidden track, especially after a few minutes of (once again) drone boredom - but at least it was panned to the middle this time.

What weakens the almost enjoyable progressive rock is the vocal element of the album; I must admit that I'm not a big fan of vocals as such, but the sounds of the male and female vocals just don't work together with the rest of the production for 90% of the listening span. Again, this is not a matter of skill. It's partially a matter of the lyrics: there are some pieces that have a nice ring to it but most of them don't make any sense, even taking a huge amount of poetic freedom in account. A band that has taken it's name from a fictional instrument in Frank Herbert's Dune science fiction novel series - a writer and work that is regarded as the best in it's genre - does not do any justice to it's name by failing to deliver enticing lyrics.

There is also the matter of knowing when and how to use vocals, and what their place is in the music. Most of the time they tend to follow the leading aspect of the instrumentation (mostly being the guitar), but this demeans the power of that instrument rather than supporting or strengthening it. It's also apparent that the female vocalist is forcing herself to sound like she is instructed rather than exploring her capabilities to find something that would be an add value to the release. If she should stick to more mellow music or, if she does have interest in the harder music, she should have a listen to what Kerstin Haigh of Senser achieves with her (perhaps limited, but always confident) vocals, she'll be more at ease and comfortable with what she's contributing. I could almost as easily apply this theory to the male vocals. There is no grunt; no fire coming from the belly that sturs the listener's inner being and isn't the vocalist the foremost part of a band where the audience relates to?

All of these aspects made me suspect that there has been put way too much time in crafting (or over-producing, if you will) this album. It has taken over five years by your own source, giving you time to doubt, revise and revise over again until most of the natural flow had disappeared. I also couldn't help but notice that the album was inspired (and I choose this word carefully) by notable bands in the broad prog scene. I'd even take on the challenge - if I had a day or two to spare - to dig into my own music library and collect bits and pieces from tracks to build the blueprint of A Time For Rust; I have heard most of it before by the hand of other bands. Don't get me wrong, being inspired by other artists is a good thing, but there's is only so far you can go in mimicking before it starts to sound like a collage of 'that sounds great, we should do that' and 'things people are going to like'. In any case, the timespan for the album's gestation has been too long, as having your attention spread over other projects, pulling in a handful of guest musicians, and not being able to go fully for the release as a homogeneous band has put its stamp on the album. Sadly enough, not in a positive manner.


Promo-video for Baliset - A Time For Rust.


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written for and published by The Silent Ballet
Baliset website
Baliset Myspace

Larvae - Loss Leader

6.5/10

Loss Leader consists of two parts with several years in between composing and recording, but the sound of Larvae is etched in a monolith - concrete and defined as mathematics, yet organic and intelligent, soothing and at the same time uplifting, with enticing dramatic builds. Upon listening to the music, the references that could be heard range from epic instrumental post-rock bands to sampling legends, and brought in a fashion that has very few criticisms in terms of sheer "listenability."

Opening the proceedings is Larvae's more contemporary work, offering four pieces of dark and moody ambient entwined with the warmth of a Fender Rhodes, an awkwardly obscured melodica, and a drummer that sounds like he could just be Josh Davis himself laying down some loops. Although having a breathtakingly shaded atmosphere and a lazy rolling vibe, there's a distinctly upbeat quality to this first half of the presented feature. The combination of the bass that seems to be playing a stoner's lullaby, the drummer who is exploring trip-hop drumlines from over a decade ago, mathematically challenged drum-computers, and vibrant ambience all work together on the Turning Around EP chapter of this release.

"Attention everyone, this is an emergency broadcast. The unpleasant noise you're about to hear coming from your radio is not a mistake, please do not turn off your radio but turn up the volume on your receiver is high as it can go. So you can make the sounds we broadcast as loud as possible"

Although this would be the logical (both sonic and chronological) choice of an opening, the second chapter of the album, the Monster Music 2 EP foursome, starts with this sampled instruction. I urge you to comply anyway. The closing half of the album takes the listener back (as this is in fact also the extension of the 2003 Monster Music EP) with breaks and bass lines hailing from an age where trip-hop was digging its grave and dubstep was safely guarded in the womb of drum and bass. The protagonists of the last four tracks include clear rhythm patterns and self-destructing, almost industrial-sounding, beats only guided by a submerging synth on the low end of its chords - but always with that spine-tingling new layer on the right moment. These organic IDM tracks remind of obscure, smoke-filled chill-out rooms where those who seek more than fast crowd-pleasing thrills roam around and lose themselves in the music until dawn.

It's a shame that the good people of the Ad Noiseam label and Larvae opted for an environmentally-friendly release by cramming two EPs on a single non-decomposing disc. Don't get me wrong, it's not my fantasy to see humanity drown in its own filth, but if that's the reason to molest two sufficiently-structured pieces of enjoyable post-rock meets electronica, you didn't think it through. A simple brainstorm session could've ended with a more creatively appealing solution without giving the impression that there's a label cleaning stock or a void in artist activity to be filled. Loss Leader is, nevertheless, one to have if you're for introspective post-rock with a dash of IDM or if pre-dubstep breaks with a hint of droning guitars sounds appealing. It would've been an added value if the concept had matched the music of the release, but it was not to be.


written for and published by The Silent Ballet
stream the album @ Last.fm
Larvae website

Prime Kut Sunday I

Sunday's, and especially the morning, is the ideal moment to spend some, ahum, quality time with the vinyl. Thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to mold my weekly picks in a list and who knows maybe you'll get introduced to something you've been missing out on, maybe you feel like recommending something... it's all good.

so, this morning's prime kuts...


artist - album SPECIFICS [remix/version] (kick-ass tracks)

1. B-52's - Love Shack SIN
2. Senser - Asylum LP (Weatherman!)
3. Senser - Age of Panic EP - A-side [Git-O-Rama mix]
4. Santana - Santana LP (Soul Sacrifice!)
5. Isis + Aereogramme - In The Fishtank 14 LP (Delial!)
6. Opeth - Orchid printdisc 2LP - D-side (The Apostel in Triumph + Into The Frost Of Winter!)