Oneironaut

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[eddieriviello]

Endings

I rediscovered the band Cougar the night I arrived back home in Manila. Dressed in clothes too heavy for the weather, that fit better just a short time ago, I had a weird sort of aural flashback while weaving in and out of passengers on their way to baggage claim. Something about being in transit, and being in NAIA 3 conjured up the song ‘Endings’ off Cougar’s 2009 album Patriot. I couldn’t for the life of me tell you where I was headed 6 years ago, where I was going or where I hoped to be, but the good thing about the inconsistencies of time is that it morphs along with the changing shapes of your dreamscape and perspectives.

But...what is time?

I have a friend who would wax philosophical, and launch the question to the cosmos “...but what is time?” into conversation whenever the slippery substance was brought up.

Now, the thing is, I hate talking about time, even though I’ve fooled people into believing I’m pretty patient. That’s complete horseshit - time is no friend of mine! My beef with it is there’s either never enough of it, or you have it in abundance, but it moves at glacial speeds. The pacing is always off, and you can never get a solid grip on it!

What is time?

A human construct to reaffirm our brief, fleeting existence on this planet? A way for walking apes to explain the ageing of seasons (and each other), predict, and plan agriculture and other methods of subsistence? A sense of linear order, to attempt to make sense about how we came about, and what exists around us? An investigation as to why a great ball of fire in the sky reappears with alarming consistence? To explain the break down of bodies and the wrinkles dredging across once youthful flesh?

If I knew the answer, I’d gladly share the secret with you. What I can do is hook up the song that spurned on this weird existential awareness of the curiousity and finite nature of us hairless (well...not all of us), bipedal apes.  Cougar is a 5 piece instrumental/rock band who blend busy guitar parts and glitchy drum beats/electronics, that up until now, has stood the test of time...whatever that means!

[eddieriviello]

Dirty Confession

 - I always skip 'Pachuca Sunrise' when it comes up on Menos el Oso. 'Michuio's Death Drive' is just so much better! I feel like I've written an identical post somewhere in time, but so it goes. The best part is that snare roll rifled off at 1:45!

[eddieriviello]

Write it, write it, write it down!

I'm taking a class where 'lecturer' is a misnomer - because we actually aren't taught a single thing. I've been using this time to write down whatever thoughts flit around my conscience - I'm always trying to be deep, searching for the profound and trying to pluck it out of thin air and be insightful and meaningful. Instead, I end up writing the most asinine things, like "Wow this green apple is really delicious," or other unpolished gems like "Social media is the weirdest way human beings try and combat their impending mortality, by leaving the laziest legacy via quotodian status updates." Really, it doesn't get to Challenger deep levels of wisdom, but all the same, there's something so satisfying about scratching pencil to paper - it's my own way of combating technology's maddening grip on all of us (I say as I type on a PC...you can't win every battle!) I honestly believe that if I ever uncover the secret to happiness, it'll be hunched over my notebook with my chicken scratch handwriting, writing furiously to try and convert lightning thought into legible script. That'll be the day.

I've been really into writing in my little blue notebook lately, but what's been stopping me this evening from describing how delicious these grapefruits are that I've just bought (...), is the fact that I'm also really into the new album from the Rentals. Lost in Alphaville is the first cut of original material in 15 years, and these dudes have absolutely zero ring rust. Actually, I wouldn't even know, because this is the first material of theirs I've had the pleasure of listening to - but without any prior experience with their back catalogue, I can comfortably say this is the best album of theirs I've ever listened to! 

Seriously though, former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp's lazy vocal approach contrasts beautifully with Lauren Chipman's gorgeous interjections, as they lead the line on their brand of alternative rock. Sonically, it's a cocktail of the Flaming Lips, and (I guess) Weezer, but with less weird and  more traditional alternative rock thrown in the cloudy mix - like the bartender listened to you order your Appletini, but gave you (with plenty of stink eye) some gnarly IPA from the local brewery that you loved immediately and won't shut up about to your friends like you discovered it on your own.

[eddieriviello]

I don't take selfies...

..but if I did it would be of one with my jaw firmly on the floor! I like to mess around with tapping when I play guitar, but this level of clean technique in a jazz/funk number is in an entirely new stratosphere of musical talent. Oh Stanley! 

[eddieriviello]

This is a test

I'm a self-professed Luddite - technology almost scares me. But let's see if I can share a playlist I made with tunes I used to dig a lot. You see, I've JUST discovered how useful Spotify is. I had to get over my snobby tendencies (ads?! not even 320 kbps?! might as well just download the whole album and be done with it etc. repeat ad nauseum), but once I did, I saw the beauty in not having to always download a song you used to love 4 years ago - this whole internet/wireless thing is crazy, huh?

Holy shit it actually worked! Well I'll be damned. Technology is crazy.

[eddieriviello]

I'm just your satellite

Whoa...in a bid to put up one of my favorite tracks off the super solid new release from Spoon, I wanted to provide the one or two people who read this waste of internet space with the official music video for the excellent track 'Inside Out.' Boy is it weird! 

If you're Filipino like I am, you're definitely familiar with a spoon, cuz we don't get down with that fork and knife combo you westerners are all about (how is that efficient when you need to shovel mountains of kanin with your ulam balanced on top?!)

If you're familiar with Spoon the band and their classic veteran's approach to rock, then you're in for a tasty treat, because They Want My Soul is a great addition to their already exemplary discography. Damn! 2014 has been a smorgasbord of sick music - how am I meant to digest it all!? --o

[eddieriviello]

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

I. Can't. Stop. Listening. To. This. Song! It's kinda driving me crazy. I'm experimenting now - trying to see at what point, after how many times in one day, will I get over 'Columbus', a cut off Snowmine's 2014 LP Dialects. 

Honestly, I'm at like 381 plays in less than a week.

...Honestly, I'm overexaggerating as usual, but the point needs to be made that this is a muhfuckin' jam, and the whole album slays. When the five piece out of Brooklyn drop an instrumental in the form of 'Safety in an Open Mind' in the middle (!) of the album, out of nowhere (!!!), it cemented that the indie band are that special kind of weird that speaks volumes to me, and it's lead to me replaying Dialects as soon as the last track comes to a close. Over and over and over and over and over...

[eddieriviello]

I'm glad you found clarity

Who isn't talking about Prawn, and their 2014 release Kingfisher?

...

I guess me, since I'm a lazy sack of shit. I bought my self a crummy 4 dollar notebook with the intention of writing daily in it though, and when I get on a roll, I'm that annoying friend who won't shut the fuck up about something or other. That fucking guy.

You need to listen to this album though, because this is a band that's hitting their stride, with the result being an insanely well designed 10 track LP that is easily my front runner for album of the year. Just check out 'First as Tragedy, Second as Farce,' below for a taste of how this album is impeccably crafted - in this instance, with an asymmetrical guitar hook that when the song ends, leaves you hanging, ears begging for more! 

If you've been down with Prawn since their earlier material, you'll to be relieved to know there are still elements that blend their revitalized emo sound with their post rock meanderings - but everything here is so much more direct and focused that I find myself appreciating the straightforwardness of the majority of the record. Every band member plays out and Kingfisher has soaring vocal hooks with mind searing lines, melodic guitar shred and bumpin' bass - dude this album really is the bidness. 

[eddieriviello]

MC Jungtao

*a tumblr post will be the new poorman's trademark* So I had this fantastic idea, which nobody shares the same level of enthusiasm, but hear me out. 

I'm picturing a rap concept album (I'm accepting beat submissions, Flylo get at me) with only references from the Rush Hour series. It'll be like a 6 track EP, or a 21 epic, depending on how many references I could milk out of Rush Hour 1 and 2 (because lezbehonest, who even rates the 3rd installment?) I'm thinking of calling my life's crowning achievement, the pinnacle of anything I'll ever conceptualize, as 

"Wipe yourself off man, you dead!"

[eddieriviello]

Rosy tinted glasses

I'm not feeling particularly nostalgic, but old (anything pre-OMNI...) Minus the Bear gets me thinking about (oh God...brace for the cliche) better, simpler times. Ugh. Ok, had to get that out of my system. 

You know what's crazy? How you could play a song until the <| back button on your purple Panasonic discman didn't even have a tactile response from overuse, because you had to hear the same song 13 times in the span of 2 hours - and then completely forget about its existence seven years later! I blame marijuana and binge drinking, but I really suspect the culprit is inundating my ears with an endless sonic barrage of new artists I, for whatever reason, feel the need to unearth. But I digress - this track comes off the 2004 EP They Make Beer Commercials Like This,  and for whatever reason, a teenage me gravitated heavily towards this song and couldn't not hear it at least once a day. 

"We want no one, and no one comes. Every song, plays just for us."

[eddieriviello]

All the who's are there, but the why's are unclear

Honestly, I can't remember teen dreams, All my teenage feelings and their meanings.

[eddieriviello]

64 seconds

is all you need to get me excited about a new album, especially if its 64 seconds of Joyce Manor's latest track Catalina Fight Song. 

Never Hungover Again comes out July 22. Spend a minute of your day rocking out to this track below! 

[eddieriviello]

'Cuz if I had known that you were only here for the weekend...

I tried to describe Tokyo Police Club's sound to a classmate, and I believe I did them a disservice by labeling them as simply pop/rock. They prove they're so much more on Forcefield - it's just they add elements of prog/alternative so seamlessly into their upbeat rock tracks that it goes unnoticed. 

Argentina is the opening track of the Canadian quartet's 2014 album and what an opener it is! Clocking in at 8:32, it speaks volumes about how calling them a run of the mill indie rock band would be a severe miscalculation. Even louder is the fact that the 8 and a half minutes feels like 2 minutes, if that. That tail end of Argentina is the catchiest moment of 2014 in my opinion - you'll know it when you hear it!

[eddieriviello]

Leave me hanging in the lurch.

Gotta jolt to class, but had to throw this up!

Good start to the day either way!

<a href="http://antemasque.bandcamp.com/track/hangin-in-the-lurch" data-mce-href="http://antemasque.bandcamp.com/track/hangin-in-the-lurch">HANGIN IN THE LURCH by ANTEMASQUE</a>

[eddieriviello]

Here and Nowhere Else!

It might be premature, but I've got my second favorite album of 2014 locked in... :D 

Cloud Nothing's Attack on Memory was an album that had  songs I loved enough to make lame 'cryptic' Facebook updates about, and brace yourselves, friend list - it's about to get enigmatic up in that status box!...unless you have already realized how fucking awesome Cloud Nothing's latest album is. My only beef with Here and Nowhere Else is that it's short - straight up musical blue balls. I guess you can't always have too much of a good thing. Speaking of good things, (great segue, I'm good at this blogging thing!) here is a good thing - Now Hear In.

[eddieriviello]

The story of my life.

It might be premature, but I've got my favorite album of 2014 locked in. I didn't listen to the War on Drugs' latest album stream when it dropped. I waited, because my antediluvian paperweight of a laptop has stopped cooperating, and needs to be brought out behind the shed and put out of it's misery. So, listening to music isn't as streamlined of a process as it used to be. 

But when my ear holes finally beheld the glory that is Lost in the Dream, I couldn't NOT listen to the War on Drugs' latest album no matter how hard I tried. And believe me, I tried. I'd do some half-hearted scrolling through the Artists I had, knowing full well I'd just be playing the best alt.rock/shoegaze/whateverthefuck album that's been created in the better part of a century. Sorry, I spew hyperbole when I get really excited about something, and this album has had me pumped for easily a solid month now.  You could choose any song and love it (in my opinion) and since (of course) I'm listening to the album right now, I'll just put up the song that's playing - 'Eyes to the Wind.'

[eddieriviello]

4am

...is a time I rarely see - I'm a self-described old man - a creature of routine. I sleep early, wake up, eat my bowl of oatmeal, huff and puff through a jog, and am in bed at like 12:30. Rinse and repeat. Seriously, I'm probably the lamest person you know!  But Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala are the anti-lame, especially when they're getting along and making music together. Antemasque has crept onto the scene and eschew the prog meandering of the Mars Volta for a more succinct (wow I bet you don't see that adjective slapped on to these guys' musical output often) approach to their song writing. Pop Flea into the equation and the radness is off the charts! I've replayed this bad boy 10 times in a row, so get on it! I won't say it calls to mind a certain band that rhymes with Mat the Snide-Tin, because that's some loaded praise right there! It slays, we'll leave it at that.