MetalSucks

Ever hear the phrase “<so and so person> could take a shit on a microphone and people would still fawn over it.”? I often hear it applied to Radiohead, and it’s kind of true… Thom Yorke could literally record himself leaving a stinking, putrid pile of diarrhea on a microphone and the press would laud it as absolute genius and hail it as groundbreaking [full disclosure: I love Radiohead]. Lately it seems like Mike Patton is approaching the “shit on a microphone” status of musical godliness… it doesn’t matter at all what the guy does and people drool like it’s revolutionary. And since the guy releases like 6 albums a year in styles that are all over the map, this happens quite often [full disclosure: I love Mike Patton].

Anyway, check out this video the lasses over at Reign in Blonde posted of Patton playing “a contraption called a intonarumori:  a noise making thing-a-ma-bobber from the WWII era that was used to mimic the sounds of machines.” Apparently there are shows scheduled in both San Francisco and New York at which “artists” will be playing this “instrument” live. Sounds like it’d be right up Gary Suarez’s alley.

-VN

I’m in my bunk. Everyone else is asleep. We’re riding through some windy dark mountain roads somewhere in Germany on the way to the next show. I’ve got “Ghost of Perdition” by Opeth blasting on my headphones. Figured that I would give that a spin. I haven’t really listened to them very much lately. I kinda burned out on them for a while. I never stopped loving their music, but I think I just had more than my brain could handle. When I got into after the release of Blackwater Park, all the way through the release of Ghost Reveries, I’d say that Opeth were on my iTunes at least once a day. They are a band that I’ve listened to, and listened to again, and again, and again. There’s always something new to find in their music. Not only did I listen my ass off but I went to their shows whenever possible. I saw them at least six times before I even met them. I ended up dating a member of their crew for a little while, so that meant more and more Opeth shows. Basically, I know my Opeth, and from the musicianship to the composition I think that they are one of the greatest bands of all time.

That said, I haven’t decided to listen to them in about a year before tonight. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Albums that I just absolutely love, I would consider and just be like, naaah. Maybe it’s the mental equivalent of a water-soluble vitamin like C. Once you have your dosage, the rest just gets released with your urine. Maybe your brain can only handle so much of one type of stimulus for so long before it shuts off to it. I mean that’s happened to me with other bands.

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Thrice are something of an enigma, a band that’s refused to ever stay the same. The Irvine, CA-based foursome started out as a metal-influenced heavy punk band that incorporated more and more progressive elements into their music with each album. 2005’s Vheissu took a complete left turn by adding indie and electronic elements, a path down which the band ventured even further on their 2007/2008 4-part album suite The Alchemy Index. Beggars, their latest offering, incorporates all of their prior influences and stretches their indie wings still wider, still experimenting with new sounds and expanding their fanbase.

A few weeks ago I spoke with drummer Riley Breckenridge about the band’s constantly evolving career arc, public and critical perception of this change, the new album Beggars and its super-early leak, consuming music in the digital age, and what the band hopes to accomplish in the near and distant future. Our chat follows.

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We can’t listen to metal all the time, but whatwith the massive amount of CDs and press packs we receive it’s hard to find time to get to anything else. Usually if I’m not listening to metal it’s ’70s soul/r&b/funk with some classic reggae or dub thrown in for the more “festive” occasions, but there were a few non-metal records releases in 2008 that snuck their way into my iPod rotation this year. (And if you missed it… check out all of the MetalSucks staffers’ picks for Best Metal Albums of 2008).

My picks, after the fold…

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This past spring, the opportunity presented itself for me to do a phoner with Steve Austin, mastermind for Today is the Day. Since I a) think Today is the Day is brilliant and b) knew that Austin had recently started his own label, Supernova Records, I jumped at the chance. And when I called him, I thought I was gonna get the usual ten to fifteen minute chat full of the usual B.S.

Boy was I wrong. Not only did Austin stay on the phone with me for close to an hour, but he answered every question with a level bridge-burning honesty not usually found by even the most hardcore of the most hardcore. It should go without saying that Steve’s opinions are his own and not necessarily those of MetalSucks, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find the dude fascinating. After the jump, read his thoughts on pretty much any and every topic under the sun.

And, uh, oh yeah: this is easily the longest interview we’ve ever done. Fair warning.

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Despite being the universally-heralded godfathers of the dreaded nu-metal movement, The Deftones have always been kind of left-of-center and have somehow manages to remain kind of cool. Throughout their now 15+ year career, the Deftones have evolved into some kind of quirky, alternative (in the true sense of the word) metal band that has somehow managed to straddle the line between art and commercial viability quite well.

That said, the band’s last two albums — 2003’s self-titled and 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist — have been solid but ultimately lacking in that intangible element that made the band’s earlier output special. The band has kind of drifted down an experimental path that they’ve dabbled in but not fully embraced, but these dabblings have hinted at something that I feel the band has yet to explore.

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In a recent post on his blog, Nine Inch Nails frontman/onlyman Trent Reznor revealed the sales figures of the recent Saul Williams album which he produced and then released to the public via the Radiohead “pay what you wish” model (sort of – it was either free for 192k mp3s or $5 for higher quality files). The results:

Saul’s previous record was released in 2004 and has sold 33,897 copies.

As of 1/2/08,
154,449 people chose to download Saul’s new record.
28,322 of those people chose to pay $5 for it, meaning:
18.3% chose to pay.

Of those paying,

3220 chose 192kbps MP3
19,764 chose 320kbps MP3
5338 chose FLAC

After the jump, Trent Reznor admits mild disappointment, but takes a very progressive outlook on the other benefits that may have been gleaned from the tactic. Plus, our analysis:

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