First of all, you can watch "The Space in Between" in 1080p here.
Okay, let's discuss!
Okay, video is starting in a poorly lit hotel...kind of sounds like a slowed-down "Burn" so far, but I can go with it.
Someone has left the TV on, the water running, a cigarette burning...there's life with Mr. Maise right there.
HOLY SHIT...what has happened to our happy couple?!!!!
(click for larger size)
More monotone "singing." So I've figured out why I'm not really into HDA. It is the singing...NOT the fact that it's her and not really her voice, although no one is going to mistake her for Jennifer Hudson or anything. It's the fact that she's essentially singing Nine Inch Nails songs in a dull monotone. It might work if she were in Ladytron or something, but Trent's music is very strum und drang, emotional, cathartic. In one song, he can range from a whisper to a sexy growl to a rage-filled roar. I mean, let's face it...lyrics are not Trent's strong suit. Half the time, he's recycling lyrics from other songs. It's the WAY he sings it that draws me in. So that's why the monotone is not doing it for me at. all. Don't get me wrong--it's not a *bad* song. It's just kind of boring.
Anyhoo.
Meanwhile, Trent's not up to much in this video. "Don't pay me any mind...I'm just a corpse here...had nothing to do with the making of this song..."
And Mariqueen tries her best to be the SEXXXIEST possible dead person. Yuck.
Atticus does a good job at being sort of vaguely sinister:
But who the hell is this chatty blonde? Seriously? Who is this??
Well, it probably doesn't matter, since it's meant to be all David Lynch and mysterious, I guess. It's kind of a cool video, but it also sort of feels like something Marilyn Manson would do now that he's back together with Evan Rachel Wood. "We love each other so much we are BLOODY CORPSES!" Maybe this is all some allegory about Trent and MQ's feelings when they got into all those fights on Twitter.
About two minutes in, this production turns into an overserious remake of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"
But I have to admit that the effects are pretty cool.
But they should have done some movie magic on the gross feet in this video:
This band hasn't released their first EP, and there are clearly already some serious tensions within the group:
I would like to point out that when CSI Miami arrives, they're going to get the phone logs for this room, and Chatty Cathy's fingerprints are clearly on it. Horatio Caine would know just what to say.
So there you have it. Kinda cool video. Boring song. Thoughts?
So we've got a lot of cobwebs to clear out and a lot of spam comments to delete, but what the hell? Trent never stops working, even when he puts himself on hiatus, so I guess we shouldn't throw in the towel either!
This is usually where I make apologies for playing FarmVille instead of writing more frequently and covering all the concerts I see, but we don't have time. There is a lot happening, and it is HILARIOUS.
First of all, there's this great new band out...have you heard of them? How to Destroy Angels--there's this really pretty lady named Mariqueen. She's the lead singer. We've got Atticus Ross; he...um, does all the things he normally does. And then there's this other guy...well, he's way off in the back and kind of blurry. He's probably not that important.
They've released a single. It's called "A Drowning," and is available on Amazon and Itunes and inside your favorite breakfast cereals. This is the cover of the single. Isn't that a nice-looking lady?
Hmmm. You know...it sounds awfully familiar. And this logo...it kind of reminds me of this one band I listened to a lot not too long ago...like when they did some album called "The Trip" or "The Fall" or whatnot.
Hm.
Oh, for Christ's sake--JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE TURNED YOUR BACK TO THE CAMERA DOESN'T MEAN WE DON'T KNOW IT'S YOU, DUMB ASS!
Everything about this project just SCREAMS NIN--in CAPS LOCK, even; as dedicated NIN fans, we can't help but feel a little...cranky about it all. He closes up shop on Nine Inch Nails, and THIS is what he comes up with next? Something that looks and sounds EXACTLY like what he has been already doing for the past 20 years? What on earth is the point?
Look at the nice lady! Look at her! Love the nice lady! Love her now!!!!
Sigh.
Look, I've stuck with Trent through thick and thin, and I've stuck up for Mariqueen daring to marry the man, even though I really couldn't give a shit, and I have taken a LOT of verbal abuse for this from the haters. That's why I feel fully qualified to say "meh" to this entire project. If Trent is not going to give Mariqueen and Atticus their own voice (although hers is kind of bland and not so compelling...in "A Drowning" she seems to be doing a sort of Trent impression), I seriously do not see the point. This means that either he is afraid that his fans will be hostile to anything that sounds remotely new and different (which may be true, given the general idiocy of his fanbase). Or maybe he's so much of a control freak that he simply can't collaborate. Or maybe this is stuff that he was working on for NIN and shelved for whatever reason and decided to resurrect it now. (Hell, even Niggy Tardust featured some discarded music from The Fragile.) I don't know. What I do know is that for a NIN ripoff, it's not even particularly good NIN. There. I said it.
"TR: As stated above, this EP is a very early phase of this project. Yes, it sounds more NIN-ish than I believe it will as we progress. To me, HTDA frees me from some of the constraints I've begun to feel (primarily emotionally) in NIN.
NIN is not dead and I am about to work on some material that I believe will be quite different than previous NIN very soon."
What? Why?? Why make NIN-ish music for How to Destroy Angels and then create music that sounds completely different for NIN? This makes no. sense.
At any rate, I'm still curious to see what HDA comes up with next. Because I'm sure it will be hilarious. Like their new video...which we shall tackle in another post.
With vague photographic evidence of some sort of musical work taking place. The news has not only resurrected me, but it has also crashed nin.com, so I won't be able to steal said photos for this post. I can describe them as pictures of some sort of synth-looking equipment and wires...the posts are entitled "?", which pretty well describes my reaction to them. However, we all know that when Trent gets coy, he's about to unveil something new to his hungry disciples.
Fortunately for us at Places Parallel, we have the "inside track," so we can inform you all that Trent and his wife are working on a single AND a video...we can't wait to hear their gothed-up cover of Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract"!
Now, I know it seems a bit cheesy, but lyrically, I can understand why they relate so well to this song:
"I like it quiet And I love to shout But when we get together It just all works out...
I take it easy Baby I get obsessed...
Nothing in common but this trust I'm like a minus, she's like a plus One going up, one coming down But we seem to land on common ground When things go wrong we make corrections To keep things moving in the right direction Try to fight it but I'm telling you Jack It's useless, Opposites Attract..."
Maise: Oh barf, I think Aaron North signed this one.
Iris: Meh
Maise: It's kind of adorable how Trent draws the little NIN logo. Like, "Yeah, it's still an awesome logo."
Iris: lol. Can I just say I hate how he does it though.
I know you're in a rush TR, but would it kill you to make the box a proper rectangle? What's this rounded edges and random line shooting off?
Maise: LOL. It would be like if I tried to do it.
Iris: Well but after thousands and thousands of autographs I'd think he'd have it down by now.
Draw an L, draw another L. BAM! Rectangle.
But I suppose even that would be hard since he holds his autographing pens like he's got a monkey fist.
Maise: LOLOLOLOL! I didn't notice.
Iris: Did you ever see the video of him signing the first Ghosts package?
Maise: That's right. I'm really unobservant.
Iris: Not me man. I watched that a bunch of times. Like "aww...look at him signing MY copy!" ;)
Maise: LOLOLOLOL
Iris: I wish you had sound on your computer because that sigh he does as he reaches for the first book is just so loaded with meaning.
"-sigh- It's going to be a long fucking day."
Maise: Who taught him how to hold a pen?
He wasn't taught by nuns, I'll tell you that much. LOL
Iris: I'm telling you! MONKEY FIST!
Maise: What a weird way to hold a pen!
Iris: He holds it between his first finger and middle finger instead of first finger and thumb. Try writing anything like that. It feels so weird!
Maise: But vertically too.
Iris: And explains his penmanship so much.
Maise: I'm trying to recreate how he does this. He doesn't use his index finger at all. He writes with his thumb only. With the pen resting on the middle finger, I think.
That is WEIRD! The index finger curls around and doesn't do anything.It kind of does make you write like him a bit.
I don't know how he doesn't wind up with the marker all over his hand
Iris: lol. How many extra views did we just add to that video watching how he holds a pen?
Maise: No more than the girls who watch it in order to lick the screen.
First off, no, I'm not dead. Just took a bit of extended leave. A girl's allowed a break every now and then. Hopefully this is the start of making my way back on here more regularly. I know I've still got a TON of videos and pictures to edit and a show review to write up, but I will get to them. Eventually.
Anyhow, what brings me out of the woodwork this evening, believe it or not, is Marilyn Manson. It started out innocently enough when Maise and I started talking about MM's recent revelation that he is dating Evan Rachel Wood again. And well it went downhill from there to the recent music video he released, but it was kind of funny so we decided to "live blog" it for our always patient readers.
Maise: She was rumored to be dating fucking TRUE BLOOD ERIC! How the fuck do you fuck that up and wind up back with Marilyn Manson?????
Iris: Or! (dunt-dunt-dunt!) Is he lying?
Maise: Perhaps. He is totally fucked in the head with drugs. I'm sure he lies all the time.
Iris: If she is back with him then she was probably all "...but he needs me. I can fix him."
Maise: And MM just made a video where he beats an Evan lookalike to death. Charming!
(Be warned. The end of the video is NSFW.)
Iris: Up to that point it's the most boring. video. ever. I heard about it and thought I'd check it out. I watched the first few minutes and I was like "okay...when's it happening, when's it happening?"
Maise: Yeah, I'm waiting to watch it now. [Note: Maise's computer has no sound currently]
You mean, that doesn't even happen in the beginning?
Iris: No, he doesn't really start getting her until the end. I skipped part of the middle though so she might appear earlier too.
Maise: Awwww, at 00:16, he's a sad, sad clown.
Wow, this is a boring ass video.
It's like 00:51, and he's just standing there.
Iris: Trust me. Even with music, it isn't much better.
Maise: Shockingly, he's kind of not super ugly in this. I mean, he's not good-looking by any means, but the makeup is a little more understated.
God, if I paused this video, it would be the same as watching it. 2:fucking 30, and he's still moping with the curtain.
Iris: You'll have to listen to it tomorrow at work. I don't know why he's constantly gotta have his vocals on wah-wah synth pitch.
Maise: LOL. Probably because he has a shitty singing voice.
Iris: Well if he really wants to shock me then he should do an acoustic number.
Maise: With no makeup.
Iris: Whoa...baby steps, man, baby steps.
Maise: An acoustic number wherein he finds Jesus after all these years.
Iris: LOL
Maise: Okay...You weren't kidding about this being the most boring video ever.
Iris: And there's 6 minutes of it.
Maise: Must have been pretty cheap to make, at least.
Oh, now we're sort of getting to the ERW part.
Iris: I'll bet it was self-shot in his bathroom with his shower curtain and some black candles in the background ala Chris Crocker style.
Maise: LOLOLOL! OMG, he totally looks like Chris Crocker in his sad clown scenes.
Now we're in horror movie vision.
What's with the tie?
Actually, wardrobe wise, I think that's a good look.
Iris: Yeah, I like the leather glove when he signs his slam book.
Maise: Ugh, who would allow themselves to be beaten to death by that sad little mime?
Iris: "Dear diary, Evan Rachel Wood has RUINED my life."
Maise: LOL. Well, this video is both boring AND grody, but it wasn't quite as explicitly violent as I was expecting. Wouldn't have me running back to date him, though.
"I'm sorry, Alexander Skarsgaard, I must leave your HOT ass to return to Marilyn Manson who makes videos about murdering me."
Can you believe he's got both Twiggy AND Vrenna working with him?
OMG, this interview! Manson broke up with Interscope, isn't that a surprise?
Iris: “Yeah, I think it will be more badass , I think it’s going to be more romantic maybe. Self abusive.”
Gawd!
Maise: Okay, the only ones who think cutting is shocking any more are Manson and sixth-grade girls.
By means of comparison...
Now that is how you do the sexxxy violence.
Iris: Okay, GAWD DAMN!!! That grin! That is badass! Not "I'm a sad clown posing with my shower curtain and oh yeah, I beat up my ex girlfriend."
Maise: Exactly.
God I LOVE his character SO MUCH! There is this scene in the second series where he says "trust me" to Sookie, and it is the hottest thing EVER said on film.
From there it just digressed further into the hotness that is Alexander Skarsgaard as Eric Northman. I'll spare you for now but I can't guarantee the same for the comments section.
Hello, friends! Thanksgiving approaches for those of us in the US, and I've got to say, it's a pretty awesome holiday. The main point of this holiday is to eat rich, homemade, slow-cooked comfort food made from recipes handed down from generation to generation and to eat in sufficient quantities so that you are too sleepy and contented to want to maim or kill your dysfunctional family. This year, Mr. Maise and I are hosting for the first time and will be roasting a dead turkey of our very own. In some ways, it will be nice not to have to cross state lines in order to get some lunch this Thursday, but it is also very intimidating and daunting, especially since we have approximately 5,000 hours of cleaning to do in our home in addition to all the food preparation.
So I figured it was definitely worth a look back at the Saul Williams show that Ro and I caught at the Double Door in October, especially since it was one of the strangest concert experiences I have had recently. I've got no audio-visual goodies for you for this one because that's normally Iris's area of expertise, plus venue security was being REALLY vigilant about cameras, so I wouldn't have gotten away with it anyway.
I will go to great lengths to see Saul Williams live. And when I say "great lengths," I mean staying out WAY too late on a weekday. I used to be quite the insomniac before I hit 30. Now I require a full 7-8 hours of sleep in order to feel remotely human the following morning. Yet when Saul performs in Chicago (with the exception of Lollapalooza), he tends to not take the stage earlier than 11:30 p.m. or midnight. By the time the show ends and I make it back to the 'burbs, it's usually around 1:30 or 2 in the morning, which means that I have to mainline caffeine to stay awake at my desk the following morning. (And I usually feel even MORE exhausted the morning after that, as my body tries to adjust to the violation of my circadian rhythms.) But Saul Williams is worth it. With his high energy level and his clear love for the music and the audience, he creates performances that always exhilarating and powerful and thought-provoking.
But this wasn't my favorite show of his, however.
He was headlining the Afro-Punk tour, which was playing at the Double Door, a lovely, intimate venue. Their audience was composed of 98% annoying white hipsters, which is an occupational hazard of performing in Wicker Park. Hollywood Holt performed first...he was a very entertaining rapper from Chicago, and I wish that he had had the more prominent set just before Saul Williams, as I much preferred him to American Fangs, which had a sort of generic rap/punk sound and seemed to be onstage for years.
Saul Williams appeared on stage around 11:00 or so in his typical warpaint and a turquoise-colored feather headdress. He opened the show with the same recitation of inspirational/revolutionary figures as he did at his Martyr's show back in 2008. This performance had a bit of a "been there, done that" feel to it, especially since he's not promoting a new album at this time. He played a lot of my favorites but didn't have as much energy as before, I thought. Maybe this particular tour is burning him out or he's getting bored with his first two albums, but the highlight of the show was clearly "Grippo," which he performed with his daughter Saturn, who appeared absolutely ecstatic to be onstage and to be up past her bedtime. He sang some of my favorites like "Black Stacey" and "Surrender (A Second to Think)" and "WTF" and "Skin of a Drum," but all I could think about, greedily, was what I was missing. Like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Scared Money" and "NiggyTardust." He did play us a new song with much more intensity, and I was happy to hear that he's working on a new album.
I mean, don't get me wrong...even a "meh" Saul Williams performance is better than most other acts, but it's nothing compared to when he's at the top of his game. A perfect example is "Tr(n)igger," which was an absolute EXPLOSION at Martyr's but didn't have nearly the same urgency and joy at the Double Door.
Then the show just got bizarre. CX Kidtronik, Saul's DJ sidekick, took the stage with his solo rap act, Krak Attack, while Saul took an extended break. Krak Attack seems to be a very jovial act--playing with the irony of various cheesy hip-hop cliches. For example, Kidtronik and his bandmates brought the ladies up on stage to do some dancing during their set. I believe they had a song comparing the relative virtues of white girls and black girls...or was it skinny girls vs. big girls? I don't remember. The point is, while all this was going on for a good 20 minutes or so, all I could think was, "Et tu, Saul? What the hell is this opening act nonsense in the middle of the damn show?! It is midnight!!!" I probably would have more patience for Krak Attack if they had appeared after Hollywood Holt, but I did not have the patience for them at that point, as I pondered whether it would even be worth it to stick around for Saul's return. I was not the only one, as Krak Attack's impromptu performance caused a mass exodus. I decided to stick it out, thinking that perhaps Saul would make it up to us. When he finally did return, we got a lively rendition of "List of Demands." Then it appeared that there would be more...but there wasn't. Show over. Huh?
I must confess, therefore, that I was not the happiest of campers after this show ended. I felt a bit cheated--feeling that Saul hadn't been quite at 100 percent for whatever reason and then annoyed that he surrendered his stage to Kidtronik for an inordinate period of time. I would gladly lose more sleep over Saul Williams, but next time I hope he gives it his all.
All righty, moving along with our overdue reviews. I'm working on Iris to do the Indigenous review because she knows a lot more about that band than I do. Come back, Iris!
So if you're familiar with Dethklok and Mastodon as well as opening bands High on Fire and Converge, you might be thinking, gee, Maise, that doesn't seem like your musical genre. You're right; it's not. I drag Mr. Maise to so many concerts and social events that every now and then I choose to do something that he would actually enjoy doing. Sometimes this means that I sit through Ozzfest in 118-degree heat or endure an evening of Godsmack. And he's been kind of going through a country music phase lately, so in comparison to some of the things he could drag me to, a Dethklok show is a piece of cake because I do enjoy the show Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. It's kind of a hard show to describe, but it involves the exploits of Dethklok, a metal band with endearingly stupid members. Somehow a sinister group of world leaders and religious figures fears the power that Dethklok has over its fans, so they always have some sort of plot to take down the oblivious members of this band. And their concerts are always extravagant, resulting in the gruesome deaths of audience members...like I said, it's kind of hard to explain, but here's the theme song and a little clip, just to give you an idea, if you haven't seen it before:
In one of my favorite little scenes, bass player Murderface encounters the "rock and roll clown," Dr. Rockso:
So obviously since this is an animated band, I was expecting something along the line of the Gorillaz. Animation playing on the screen to a live accompaniment. Since death metal isn't really my thing, as I explained above, I figured that at least I would have something to look at. I wasn't expecting to enjoy the show as much as I did. However, there were some opening acts to endure first.
The first act, High on Fire, was actually pretty good. I certainly didn't hate them. It's not necessarily something I'd listen to on my own, and it kind of felt like A Day in the Life of Dan Angel, but considering it was a metal opening band that I've never heard before, I felt pretty fortunate. Their songs had some melody, which is optional when you're dealing with the "cookie monster metal" bands. Here's a general example.
Next up was Converge. You probably wouldn't peg the members of this band as death metal types. They are short-haired and look a little like frat boys (except with more tattoos). The lead singer's vocal stylings sound EXACTLY like my male dog barking. EXACTLY. It's a lot of "WOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOF!!!!!" Needless to say, the lyrics of their songs are completely unintelligible, and I started to get bored with them very quickly.
Mastodon was up next, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. They sort of reminded me of Metallica, when Metallica was good. They played "Crack the Skye" for us, their concept album that is kind of about some guy in a coma and Rasputin. They had some cool imagery for us to look at...scenes that seemed to come out of an old B-movie, psychedelic pictures of Rasputin holding bears on leashes, interstellar travel, and other trippy stuff. But I could really only handle an hour of them. They played "Crack the Skye" all the way through, and then they started playing older stuff, I presume. But I needed to take a break in the lobby because I was starting to get antsy, and they were really LOUD. So loud. OMG. This concert had me feeling my age, that's for damn sure. I had forgotten ear plugs, which I normally don't have to wear at shows, but this was just way beyond my comfort level. I could have sworn that my ears were about to start bleeding at some point.
Here's a clip of Mastodon live, to give you the general idea:
With the surprisingly painless (well, except for my ears) opening bands out of the way, I was eagerly anticipating Dethklok. They opened, naturally, with the Dethklok theme. In this video, you can get a better look at the guys actually playing the music; they seem unlikely candidates for the creators of heavy metal:
Brendon Small, one of the series' creators, writes and performs all the music and does the voices for at least three of the Dethklok members. I have a hard time believing that the voice of Nathan Explosion, Dethklok's lead singer, comes out of his mouth. If you've ever seen Small's work on another animated series, "Home Movies," you'd probably find it even more surprising. He would occasionally banter with the crowd, using the different character voices. It always fascinates me to see a real live person talking in a famous cartoon voice...maybe that's just me.
They played a lot of songs from their first album, accompanied by videos, which were, like the show, grotesque and hilarious and kind of epic. I'll post a couple of my favorites here. These two had me laughing out loud while totally rocking out.
This one, in particular, is the perfect theme song for the health care debate. I'll post the lyrics below because I never have any idea what "Nathan" is saying:
Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug Pull the plug
I drove my truck into a moving van It was all filled up with jet fuel and I crashed right in and explosion Smash through the window and ripped off my hands
Medical team drove up and found me Bleeding in pieces picked up off the street Drove me into a filthy hospital Horror experienced financially
Woke up in pain in a gown in bed Internal hemorrhaging inside my head I really think that I should be dead I saw the bill and then I cry bled
To keep me alive it is costing me National deficit times three There is no way to avoid this fee Please pull the plug and kill me
It's costing too much
Pull the plug plug
Aneurysm Botulism Epilepsy Narcolepsy Pull the plug
Nearsighted Breath lighted Cataracts Heart attacks Pull the plug
Hepatitis Bronchitis Appendicitis Arthritis Pull the plug
Encephalitis Adenitus Mastoiditus Capsulitus
Pull the plug
Pay you my life instead of life support Harvest my plasma because it's worth more Take all my blood and my organs Sell them to buyers over in third worlds
Burn my cadaver for some energy Charge the patients in their misery Such a strong quarter for the industry Pharmaceutical fucking victory
Can't pay the price Pull the plug Pay with my life Pull the plug Say my farewell Pull the plug See you in hell Fucking pull the plug
So. Fucking. Brilliant.
So although this was an evening I originally thought that I was going to tolerate at best, I had a great time. Mr. Maise enjoyed himself too, and it was actually something that he wanted to do, for a change. I'd highly recommend checking out Dethklok, primarily for the experience of the animation + live music. Plus, if you don't already watch Metalocalypse and think that might be your absurdist cup of tea, I'd recommend that as well. I'm kind of hooked now, myself.
