Ruinednation

Recently I’ve been looking to add a Firewire audio interface to my studio, so that I can make the transition to Mac at some point and also because I would like an interface with built-in preamps. Historically I have always gone with M-Audio but after a little digging around it seems to me that after they were acquired by Avid the quality of a lot of their products have been less than stellar. That’s when I came across T.C. Electronic’s Konnect 8 (the smaller brother of their Konnect 24D interface) and read a lot of good things about it. SoundOnSound gave a pretty decent review and there were many forum postings along the same lines. So while I was looking at both the M-Audio Firewire 410 and the Konnect 8 (both priced the same) at my local music shop , the staff member I was talking to quickly pointed to Konnect 8 and said the preamps were unbelievable and I would not reget it.
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*Edit – This post was written last year during the elections*

So now that we’re knee deep in this year’s election and after countless debates with a multitude of choice phrases from all candidates, I’ve been thinking that what we need is EBN a performance group that was ten years too early.

EBN or Emergency Broadcast Network was one of the most unique bands I have ever listened to and seen in concert. The first time I ever heard of them, some friends and I went to a now defunct night club in downtown DC called The State of the Union and EBN was performing there for it’s Halloween party. There was a massive video wall on stage with a mock presidential podium which had arms attached to the sides and when the show started a man in a suit and a megaphone (EBN ringleader Josh Pearson) stepped up to the podium and their started set.
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UPDATE: The trial against the girl ended in a mistrial again and prosocuters are not going to seek another trial, not that it should of gone to trial in the first place. You know I think elections are coming up really soon so anybody who lives in Galveston County don’t re-elect Veronique Cantrell-Avloes, Ella Anderson and Joel Bennett, DA’s responsible for this debacle.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/galveston/stories/khou090210_tnt_prostitute-cop-case.eda927.html

So while the country is in rapture over Anne (the Praying Mantis) Curry (Tony Kornheiser’s words not mine) interview of some freakin’ retard who had 8 eight kids while down in Galveston we have the Galveston (short bus) Police not only mistakenly arrest a 12 year old girl for being a hooker, they beat her, hospitalize her and now are trying her for assault. The story states that the 4 that’s FOUR officers reported that they were assaulted by the 12 year old while she was calling out for her father when they were arresting her and that beating and hospitalizing her was following proper protocol.

You are you god damn kidding me?!?!?

Oh, wait I forgot the news only talks about Galveston when it gets hit by a hurricane, some idiot stands in 90 – 120 mph winds telling us viewers “it’s really windy here”, cover the damage, and then move on.

But when just another suburbia freaka-mom pops out 8 kids cause she just wanted more and now wants to get her masters degree (I guessing Strayer or DeVrey – if she’s going to a real school that’s some balls – oh wait, do test tubes count) then we have to talk it about weeks – I bet you a month from now the news will still be talking about her.

So as it stands right now, the trial against the girl is in it’s final arguments and here’s kicker……IT”S THE SECOND TRIAL…..that’s right. The first ended in a mistrial….(hmmmm….one twelve year old versus 4 cops equals I guess mistrial). But the cops actually convinced another judge to try her again. I may be out on a limb but if you beat a child unconscious, chances are there wasn’t a lot of assault coming from the child….could be me…I don’t know.

Anyway here’s a bunch links about the story. I’m not sure what can be done other than to write to representatives and what not.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/09/final-arguments-in-t.html

http://boingboing.hexten.net/2008/12/18/plainclothes-police.html

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/02/final_arguments_expected_in_tr.php

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou090207_mp_police-thought-girl-was-a-hooker.2bbb0691.html

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/12/18/another-isolated-incident-26/

You know I have yet to visit Galveston and I’m no hurry to go…

Artist: Schlong

Album: Tumours

Label: Very Small Records

Year: 1995?

This week I present you with the hard find and quite excellent Tumours 7″ by Schlong, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours in it’s entirety. It was released around 1995 on the long defunct Very Small Records.

I remember seeing these guys around that time in Albuquerque and the talent of these guys very impressive and a lot of fun as well. They also played a short set as their bluegrass punk alter ego 3 Finger Spread and did an awesome version of Slayer’s Epidemic complete with a ukulele and a bango.

What set this record a part from most cover albums is that even though they were slightly mocking Fleetwood Mac, it sounds like they painstakingly listened to the original album over and over to make sure they got it right and that every song was recognizable. There are way too bands who do sloppy covers because either they need a filler or they think with their egos and try to make it their own.

Sadly Schlong broke up many years ago and most of their catalog is now long out of print. Except for Punk Side Story, an awesome punk version of West Side Story.

Schlong – Tumours

I did a little mastering to the files because it’s from the 7″ and I played it a lot over the years, but I tried leave it as close to the original sound as possible.

**UPDATE** The guy that ran Very Small Records is posting all the records released including the 3 Finger Spread songs. Head over to http://k9pho.blogspot.com/ and enjoy!

History is brought to life in Jucifer’s new release L’Autrichienne. Instead sticking to same sound and concepts of their past two releases If Thine Enemy Hunger and I Name You Destroyer, Jucifer unveils their interpretation of the fall of Marie Antoinette. On top of this concept album, the duo Amber Valentine and Edgar Livengood also employ playing more instruments than their basic drum and guitar setup. In what would be enough instruments for 12 piece band to play, Guitarist/Bassist/Singer Valentine is credited with playing timpani, piano, Hammond, violin, cello, mellotron, and knife sharpener. While Drummer Livengood also played piano, trumpet, trombone, and flute. This also marks a release where instead of recording and sequencing with Pro Tools, they instead record drums, bass, guitar, banjo, and vocals live to 2″ tape. The result of this does seem to add a bit more spontaneity and warmth to the music. Finally in a brilliant move, in place of the lyrics Jucifer opts to describe the historical context about what each song is about.

L’Autrichienne tells the story of Marie Antoinette in first person interpretation and opens with “Gunpowder,” an strong indie rocker about the King and Queen’s attempt to escape capture and begins the Queen’s descent that would ultimately lead her to the guillotine. Genre-wise Jucifer is like no other band in defying the genre that’s always been labeled to them. Without effort they go from indie (Gunpowder, Behind Every Great Man, Window – Where the Sea Falls Forever), bone crushing sludge metal and hardcore (Deficit, The Mountain, Procession a la Guillotine, Traitors, Armada) to ballads of betrayal and innocence (To the End, L’Autrichienne, Noyade).

Performance wise this is probably Jucifer’s most brilliant record yet in their career dating back to 1994. Amber Valentine once again shows total command of the guitar and renews my belief that she is her own peer (I absolutely think there’s no contest that she is a much better player than the one trick pony guitar playing of Jack White). Vocally, Valentine’s ability to transform from the sweet, sugary innocence of a young girl who happens to be a Queen and not fully understanding her current surroundings to the angry, bitter and spiteful mob that in the end calls for her head is just as seamless as the music, to make these interpretation even more poignant a handful of these songs are sung in French. Edgar Livengood is I believe the live embodiment of John Bonham as I have not heard or seen any one hit the drums as hard as Bonham does until I got I Name You Destroyer and saw them later on that tour. Also I enjoy listening to the rhythm of Livengood’s drums as specifically on the slower song it reminds me of the classic Swans albums Cop/Young God and Greed/Holy Money.

The only downside to this record is the hardcore influenced songs and this really just my one over problem with their albums in general. I have never like Valentine’s voice when playing hardcore as it just seems like a little too forced to go that deep and also Livengood’s drums are so heavy that they tend to dominate the mix and it gives the illusion that the two are out of sync. But other that this absolutely the most original work they’ve done yet and also that I’ve listen to in years. It reminds of when I was in high school, I had to do a presentation on Samuel Taylor Coolridge and chose Rush’s Xanadu based off the same poem. So if your kid needs a presentation aid just get this CD and they’ll have both a great CD and something useful for history class. Now my interested in how they translate this to live performance as if you have not seen them live, you have not really seen Jucifer.