B’z new single released in August presented an interesting level of depth to support the dive its name suggests. The single, which boasts a decent serving of 3 songs: theme song to the TV drama starring heartthrob Yamashita Tomohisa, Buzzerbeat – Gakeppuchi no Hero: イチブトゼンブ[Ichibu to Zenbu], TV spot insert song Dive, and National Holiday. This is generous fare here, giving ’singularity’ as it were not to the quantity, but rather to the quality.

Ichibu to Zenbu/ DIVE, released August 5th 2009 is an interesting combination of going where we have not gone before, while keeping one foot on familiar land.

First of all, the PV quality for both title songs is perfect. Both Tak and Inaba are at their finest, musically and stylistically. Even the most determined nitpicker could not contest their classic, casual style– and come on, nobody ever sang like him, and nobody ever will. The PVs are smooth, grungy, and moody, with plenty of thick coloring, creating a very rich, real texture. They’ve veered from shots of Tak vested in ’90s glory tearing up Tokyo with his sickening riffs atop breezy buildings and Inaba knee-deep in water (ねがい　｛Negai]) which are, uh, ’90s, and abstract, to down-to-earth, flowing footage of them simply rocking out in as casual and disgusting awesomeness as only B’z can.

Secondly, the guitar on this single is so incredible it’s disgusting. Like, really. When one listens to a lot of bands these days, one feels, oh, you know, inspired. Motivated. Like, hey, cool, I want to be like him, and with enough practice, I can be! And then you happily devote yourself to callus-splitting hours of guitar practice. But, when you listen to Tak play– we hearken back to ‘92 comedy glory Waynes World prostrations before Alice Cooper and wails of We’re not worthy~! Any emotional damage you may suffer at the hands of Ichibu to Zenbu/DIVE is unfortunate– but in some states therapy is included in health-insurance. Let’s hope that if you’re taking the plunge and picking up this single, that you live in one of those states.

What I mean by ‘going where none have gone before’ and yet ‘keeping one foot on familiar ground’, is that the single opens with Ichibu to Zenbu. Ichibu to Zenbu, already noted as the theme song for the basketball-themed drama starring Yamashita Tomohisa of NEWS fame, Buzzerbeat, is a slick combination of classic B’z sound and a  new feel. The opening, electronicky loops, for example, have a hip, totally fresh feel that promises to wrap up our summer fun nicely. Those loops lead into some interesting, killer guitar riffs  that sustain themselves through the entire song, new and striking. The vocal melody, however, sounds somehow familiar. Not that it is in any way a copy or ’shortcut’ of a song, but IMPO Inaba hasn’t challenged himself in the composition of this piece. The melody is classic B’z fare– unpredictable, a little hard to follow at first, and yet bursting with their standard appeal and typical Inaba vocals.

If you’re looking for a whole new cup of tea, however, drift neatly into Dive– which is really, honestly, all you need. The PV is incredible– bizarre, but stylish and super-produced (I won’t give any spoilers). The opening sound is an instant hook, muffled lalalalalas that skip right on into the meat. The volume picks up, the muffle-effect zaps, and we’re ker-splash right into Dive– the true heart of the single.

Not only is Dive super catchy– it seems to be charting new waters for B’z. Where Ichibu to Zenbu was, shall we say again, classic, Dive is all nouveau. The melody is straightforward by B’z standards, and its repeat value seems nearly inexhaustible– try as I might, I can’t seem to get sick of it. It picks up with the same strangely polished yet grunge-appeal as its predecessor, but loses the “OP charm” and we’ve got a one-way ticket back to hardcore rock town.  Somehow the chorus route of lalalas into lyricsville is aloof, challenging, packed with attitude, and yet totally on the map with catchy accessibility.

The third song and B-side, National Holiday, feels, well, admittedly like a B-side. But in the case of B-sides, I hold to the old tolerate and accept formula of when in doubt, exceed low expectations rather than fall short of high ones. In any case, National Holiday is a gentle conclusion to the gum-chewing name-taking title songs. Enjoy it as the charming pop song it is– but really, Ichibu to Zenbu and DIVE are quite something to follow up, and by the time you’ve listened through, you’d win hardcore-of-the-month if you could handle anymore sheer awesomeness.  

It’s that time again, I have a few new albums on my plate at the moment and I’ll try to review as many as I can, firstly, Mars Volta.

This band’s always been a head trip, they quickly became one of my favourites back in the days of “De-Loused in the Comatorium” and continue to put out mind-bending pieces worthy of Psychadelic, Prog heaven (or hell).  Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s lyrics are still largely a mystery to me, he seems to string sentences together about the most abstract concepts and imagery fathomable, and there are plenty of songs from their back catalogue that I still struggle to compehend. Not that I can’t understand what he’s saying, just that I don’t understand what he means when he’s saying it.  I wanna ask him about that actually if I ever get the chance to meet the guy.  “Do your songs always have meanings or is it just whatever comes to mind when your laying it down?” Who knows.

The Volta are back again, constipated with backed up albums, their latest effort is Octahedron. Apparently their “acoustic” album, it holds plenty of electricity.  It is, however, anchored on a couple ballady acoustic tracks “Since We’ve Been Wrong” and “With Twilight As My Guide”.  The former being my personal favourite cut from the record.  The opening track has a strong hook and the lyrics actually seem to make sense! Amazing! But I’m just poking fun.  The record ebbs and flows, after the opening track it picks up pace with “Teflon” and continues that momentum until “With Twilight As My Guide”, which brings the listener back down to the level of dynamic established by the opener.  Just as you’re about to dose off into slumberland, BAM! “Cotopaxi” kicks in, the lead single, with the same venom that “Wax Simulacra” had on their previous release “the Bedlam in Goliath”.  Another strong track follows in the form of “Desperate Graves”, this song has more of a traditional rock feel to it but still maintains Volta’s delicious mix of Waltzy grooves and Melodic breakdowns.  The album slowly descends from here, “Copernicus” is a slow-paced, delicate track which comes off very cerebral, and has a similar dynamic to the previous ballads.  The album then finishes up with “Luciforms”, containing an extended ambient intro going into a more upbeat but still slower-tempo’d waltz rhythm throughout the verses, a fitting end to the record.

All in all it’s a fairly typical Volta record, probably on par with Amputechture in my books.  It contains a few gems and is a journey not unlike any of their albums.  Those with patience will be able to get through this, whereas the casual listener will pick their favourites and be done with it.  Omar, Cedric and co. seem to have albums coming out of the Wazoo and I’m sure by this time next year (or maybe sooner) we’ll have another Mars Volta record to ponder over.  This one definitely has repeat value just based on the intricacy of the sounds and the technical playing alone, I don’t imagine this will reach the peaks of “De-Loused” but continues to make it’s mark on their legacy.

3/5

in what sounds to be a project forged in the murkiest of bongwaters, omar rodriguez-lopez has released another noodly solo album, but this time he has enlisted the help of some fellow voltas as well as hella’s zach hill and jon hischke; however, like most of the mars volta’s (and mars volta spin-offs) output since 2005, there are only a few songs on this release that are really worth investing time in.

the main problem here is that this group doesn’t do much to unseat the listener’s expectations of how a meeting between rodriguez-lopez and hill might sound. often chaotic, complex and overwhelming, there are only a select number of times where the band sounds like they’re playing together. hill is an incredible drummer, but does not make an excellent foil to rodriguez-lopez for the simple fact that they sound like they’re playing over top of one another. blaming hill for the lack of synchronicity on the record would be unfair though, after all, he’s more than proven his ability to compliment other performers’ styles as a frequent collaborator with the likes of marnie stern, and more recently, no age. even though cryptomnesia is a rodriguez-lopez solo effort, he rarely seems to be at the helm of things, nor are his contributions the most interesting. in fact, hill and hischke provide the most pivotal moments on cryptomnesia when they are left to their own hellish devices. the standout songs are few and far between here, but when they’re good, they’re very good, which makes it all the more upsetting to hear how terrible the rest of the album is.

I just got a chance to listen to Omar’s latest LP, which actually spent the better part of three years on the backburner. Part of three albums, El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez recorded this one in 2006 after Omar finished up the Mars Volta’s Amputechure.  He’s putting out records faster than I can really keep up with, and the amazing part is that his musical style and arrangements keep evolving—Omar is continually trying to raise the bar on himself.

This band’s sextet features Omar on guitar, Zach Hill on drums, Jonathan Hischke on synth bass, and Juan Alderete on bass guitar (Hill and Hischke are on both part of the band Hella).  Cedric Bixler-Zavala recorded the vocals for eight of the eleven tracks on the album in 2008.

This record brings in new flavors of a progressive genre only Omar knows about, blending some old school Deloused into the first track titled “Tuberculoids,” which starts off with a sound manipulation of some kid buzzing his lips and suddenly turns into a mash-up of guitar and drums, delivered in ridiculous time signatures.

Cedric’s vocals and Omar’s outrageous arrangements make this album sound like a Volta collaboration without a doubt, but at times you feel like you’re being removed from reality.  Omar and Cedric “dabbled” in psychedelics in the past and with this new LP, it’s likely their influences came from some substance—in “Cryptomnesia,” sound distortions play while a man explains how he gets high enough to enter and pray in the holiest mosque in Egypt, afraid that he’ll be discovered as Jewish.  “They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara” is a bizarre combination of guitar power, bass and drum pounding, along with clashing sounds from whatever is going through Omar’s head at the time.  It’s an utter mess, and I think that’s why I kind of enjoy it.

Other tracks to check out—“Shake is for 8th Graders” and the absolutely insane drumming on “Elderly Pair Beaten With Hammer” and “Warren Oates.” I’m not sure what Omar is thinking half the time, but I’m convinced that he’s good enough to surround himself with amazing musicians who come together to make a complete clusterfuck of an album—and therein lies its surreal beauty.

Cryptomnesia comes out on vinyl, CD, and digital download May 5th.

70 out of 100

Track Listing

1. “Tuberculoids” – 4:27
2. “Half Kleptos” – 3:09
3. “Cryptomnesia” – 6:02
4. “They’re Coming to Get You, Barbara” – 4:08
5. “Puny Humans” – 2:31
6. “Shake Is for 8th Graders” – 2:12
7. “Noir” – 3:44
8. “Paper Cunts” – 2:51
9. “Elderly Pair Beaten with Hammer” – 2:03
10. “Warren Oates” – 4:55
11. “Fuck Your Mouth” – 0:23

“Elderly Pair Beaten With Hammer” –

“Warren Oates”

preorder Cryptomnesia here

The current line up of Racer X will be playong alongside Andy Timmons and a solo set by Paul Gilbert, it has been revealed…

I am happy to bring you some good news:

RACER X – LIVE!

Here are the details:

This coming January, Ibanez guitars is celebrating the 20th anniversary of my PGM guitar with a concert at the NAMM show.

Andy Timmons and his band will open the show, followed by a set from my solo band, followed by…

RACER X!!!

The venue is the Sheraton Park Ballroom. Tickets will not be sold to the general public, but must be obtained through Ibanez guitars.

It is very exciting for me to be the featured artist for Ibanez this year, so I am glad that I can do something special for this concert. I can’t think of anything better than a killer set of RACER X!

The RACER X line-up will be Jeff Martin, Juan Alderete, Scott Travis, and myself.

I can’t wait to play some killer heavy metal with my favorite metal band!

Thank you,

Paul

Anyone assotated with Ibanez who will be attending must film this – or a mauling is in order…

Från junuari, men jag hade då inte sett den förut i alla fall.

By Bill Muphy | January, 2008

Some things are just meant to happen, even in the face of adversity. When Juan Alderete and the Mars Volta convened to begin recording the band’s fourth studio album, they’d already been through a change of drummers. In the interim, guitarist and producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s studio flooded, and singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala needed foot surgery. Worse, when basic tracking for the new album was nearly complete, the band’s engineer temporarily flipped out and refused to give up the session tapes, claiming the product of their efforts was evil.

“It’s almost a blessing in disguise that all this has happened to us,” Alderete insists. “We’ve got a new drummer now, and it’s a new era of the band. We’re gonna have people who miss the old sound, but Omar’s never been about repeating himself. This is another stage in our evolution, because this record doesn’t sound like anything else we’ve done.” Pretty much immediately, The Bedlam in Goliath lives up to that assessment. The entire band crashes in on the first beat of “Aberinkula”—a menacing psych-rock onslaught with Alderete holding down his signature growly low end on a Lakland Darryl Jones bass, which he plays throughout the album.

Alderete’s roots in the Cali cult band Racer X have always informed his rapid-fire, hard-plucked technique—but in the Mars Volta, extreme signal processing plays an equally vital role in his sound. On the funk-flavored screamer “Ilyena,” he dials in a distortion-kissed tone that lies somewhere between the Jesus Lizard’s David Sims and Brit bass legend John Wetton (he acknowledges both as influences), while on the anthemic “Goliath,” he relies on a slew of stomp boxes—including a Dunlop Bass Wah and an Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synth—to achieve an alien, sawtooth-wave sonic texture. “That’s actually Omar manipulating the pedals on that,” Alderete reveals. “I’ve gotten to the point where I just let him pretty much go crazy in the studio, because a lot of times when we record, I don’t know what I’m about to play. He’ll show me a bass line, and while I’m trying to master the fingering of it, he wants to put sounds on it. So I’m just like, ‘Go for it,’ and he’ll freak it right there on the spot.”

To add to the constant learning curve, Alderete had to recalibrate his rhythm-section approach with incoming drummer Thomas Pridgen, who replaced longtime skinsman Jon Theodore. “I’ve always felt pretty competent that I could keep pace with a drummer,” Alderete says, “but I really had to practice for this tour because this dude is on another level. He’s just so fast and so quick, it’s like playing with Squarepusher programming the drums right there in the room. I’m just praying that I can ride with him live!”

CAN BE HEARD ON

The Mars Volta (all on Universal)
The Bedlam in Goliath [2008]
Amputechture [2006]
Frances the Mute [2005]

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet, The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange [Infrasonic Sound, 2007]

Big Sir, Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer [Gold Standard Labs, 2006]

Racer X, Second Heat [Shrapnel, 1988]

CURRENTLY SPINNING

Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Renaissance Man [Gramavision, 1983]
50 Cent, The Massacre [Aftermath, 2005]
The Geto Boys, The Geto Boys [Def American, 1990]
N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton [Ruthless, 1988]

GEAR

Basses Lakland Skyline Darryl Jones, Lakland Joe Osborn with Dark Star pickups, fretless ’71 Fender Precision, ’73 Fender Precision, ’77 Fender Jazz, all with Ernie Ball medium roundwounds

Rig Two Ampeg SVT-VR heads with two Ampeg SVT 810 cabs

Select effects Boss VB-2 Vibrato, Dunlop Crybaby Bass Wah, Electro-Harmonix Bass Micro Synthesizer, Maestro Ring Modulator, Musitronics Mu-Tron III, Sovtek Fuzz