Besides his duties as frontman for Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, Maynard James Keenan is a wine maker and like everything else he does, Maynard’s wine rebels from the norm and pioneers its own region. The story behind Maynard and his vineyard was just too intriguing to ignore and luckily for us MJK fans, that story is coming to a screen near you. Curious yet? Read more here.

The other day, an unexpected message came in over the wire. I was invited by a friend to attend a Puscifer show in Dallas, as Neil Hamburger was opening and this friend knew I’d want to see Neil again. So, whereas many of my friends would have loved to go to this event, I got to enjoy it on a whim for free.

Speaking of free, on the way out of the show, I was given a free copy of Puscifer’s debut CD, V Is For Vagina, so I figured what the hell:

First off, if you haven’t heard of this band before, congratulations, you somehow know less about popular music than I do. By definition, Puscifer is Maynard James Keenan’s solo project. As the lead singer of Tool, Keenan is passive-aggressively resentful of his fans. I can only imagine that he might have tried to start A Perfect Circle (his one-time “other band”) to try and get away from the crazy black-clad obsessed fans who attest that he totally gets them, man. Either way, A Perfect Circle didn’t lose him any fans (I have yet to run into someone who will love one and not also love the other), so I am thinking he figured this Puscifer thing would get him as far away from those fans as possible. Really, I would say it worked, because I saw a few empty seats at the venue I went to, most people in the center section where I sat stayed seated, and oh yeah the sound of the music was different than Tool.

I say “different”, but the old saying is true: you can take the Maynard out of the Tool, but you can never take the Tool out of the Maynard (probably why he’s so grumpy all the time). I went into the show fully expecting something stupid and gross that would at least make a passing shot at humor. Indeed, all of those elements were there, and in fact it was a really fun show for reasons I’ll get into in a minute, but the actual sound is “Tool meets hip hop”.

This summary of the sound really mostly applies to the album. As I listen to it, I am hearing these stale, programmed/processed drums, sludgy bassy instruments, and Maynard singing an octave lower than he should. At the actual show, he not only had a fine drummer who was throwing out some “sick beats”, as they call it, but Tim Alexander (the drummer for Primus for their more successful years) pounding on other, larger drums on the other side of the stage. That, and he was singing in his normal register, which worked a lot better for the songs, and had lots more instrumental assistance. That was a really great sound, and should have really gone on the album that way.

As a side note, I should mention that Maynard figured out a very clever way to get around that whole “having to face the audience” issue that he wrestles with every time he has to look out over that sea of black Tool t-shirts: he stands behind a flat-panel television that is level with his head, and then sings into a microphone with a camera behind the television facing him which is connected to said television, thus his face is being shown on the TV he’s standing behind as he sings. It was an awesome effect, actually, and his backup singing lady did the same thing. I don’t know, I liked it, and it was better than just turning your back on the audience (Johnny Cash he ain’t).

So yeah, the album that I was handed at the end of the concert was a bit of a disappointment after such a good show. Interestingly, I could not tell what Maynard was singing about at the show, and the album is even worse about that. When he’s not singing in an all-too-low register, he’s singing at an all-too-low volume, barely whispering the words out, and sometimes effects are mixed in that make things even more confusing. I would probably search for the lyrics online to make some comment on the themes therein, but really it’s mainly a lot of singing about guns and a lot of singing about sex.

Seriously, the gun thing was a huge part of the show, and I’m not knowledgeable enough about Maynard to know if he’s just being ironic about rap’s obsession with firearms or if he’s genuinely enthusiastic about them. In fact, the “Guns and sex” thing is pretty well wrapped up in the main hook line from “Dozo”: “Show you the difference between my gun and my pistol”. That line is repeated about 800 times.

Of course, since this still the Tool guy we’re talking about, themes of religion and the supernatural are visited, albeit in weirder ways than usual. The song “Indigo Children” is one of the catchiest tracks on the album, and has to do with a believe in the New Age movement about psychic kids. I’d say it’s fascinating, but actually there are about maybe 12 words in the whole song.

The song “Sour Grapes” is a bit of a puzzle. Basically, in the middle of the usual slow-going echoey minor-chord stuff that covers the entire album and the entirety of Maynard’s career, is a goofy impression of a Southern black preacher, talking about being saved and the holy mother and Jesus against a chorus of “Hallelujah” being sung in the background. Of course, one should probably dismiss this one as being intentionally ironic har har he’s really talking about penises or something, but really, the entire song is 7 minutes and roughly 18 stanzas of gospel preaching, word for word. If this wasn’t the Tool guy I would be completely convinced that, except for the stupid voice, there is actually no joke here. Of course, it could be that, like in many, many moments during the show, it is comedy but really poorly executed by a guy who isn’t that good at telling jokes. I don’t know, the song is about as catchy as a Gregorian chant so I’m not going to revisit it any time soon to give an alternative view.

So yeah, go and see Puscifer if you’ve got the means and time (or if you get invited by someone awesome to attend for free), and get this album for free, otherwise I don’t really recommend listening to this one. If you’re a Tool fan, this album seems to be engineered to make you hate it, and if you’re not a Tool fan, well what are you doing reading this blog entry anyway.

I will say that you should definitely purchase any and all Neil Hamburger material you can get your hands on. Though the crowd didn’t hate him all that much (not even when he came out and interrupted the band during a song to tell one more joke), the boos at this show were definitely fuel to his comedy fire. If you want to hear him at his crowd-controlling best, check out the album Hot February Night to hear him tell amazing(ly bad) jokes to 10,000’s of impatient and humorless Tenacious D fans. Until then!

Aboot time puscifer and all the team members had an iPhone app for on the go puscifing eh?

Puscifer 2009-11-04

Fox Theatre, Oakland CA

Schoeps cmc34->aeta psp3->r-09 (24bit48khz)->usb reader->cool edit pro 2.1 (fades, downsample)->cdwav->flac->U my friend!

Disc I

01 Video/Intro
02 Sour Grapes
03 Rev 22:20
04 Video Break 1
05 Dozo
06 Undertaker
07 Drunk With Power
08 Video Break 2
09 Momma Sed
10 Indigo Children
11 Vagina Mine
12 Potions
13 Video Break 3

Disc II

01 Polar Bear
02 Trekka
03 Queen Bee
04 The Mission
05 Humbling River
06 Video Break 4

Review 4 the show: http://spinningplatters.com/2009/11/05/show-review-puscifer-with-uncle-scratchs-gospel-revival-at-the-fox-oakland-1142009/

Original FLAC Upload/Torrent: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=277001 courtesy of ‘rainingvodka’

Direct FLAC Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DO9UYGHD

Samples: via SoundCloud:

06.Undertaker :

12.Potions:

To simplesmente viciado neste treco…

Puscifer – The Mission

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM

Maynard’s voice shines on Night 2…

Saturday’s Puscifer show (review link) was fantastic, and I happened to be up in Portland for a work training session; so, what the hell… let’s do this again!  I heart Maynard!

No wine tasting (for me) this time… in fact, for a more detailed review, definitely check out Saturday’s show review.  Monday, I showed up around 8pm and got situated near the front of the general admission section.

Sweethead opened the show again.  I switched up where I took in their music this time… I could definitely hear the guitars better, but the vocals were a little muddy until midway through their set.  I liked them.  Troy’s a good guitarist, and Serrina has some nice energy (ok, and nice legs, too).

This was their last night as support for Puscifer, and Troy took a dive into the drum set at the end… crash! buzz!

After Troy and Serrina got up, they left the stage – guitar still buzzing.  As the crew pulled Sweethead’s gear and monitors off the stage, they lifted up a large black sheet to hide the stage (something new compared to Saturday night)…

I had seen on setlist.fm that the two nights in the same city had differing set lists, and Portland was no exception.  Where Saturday was more of the blasphemy day to kick things off, Monday was… well… at 9pm, then the sheet came down, it looked like it was a camping theme (complete with fake fire).  Maynard was inside the tent, and they had him projected on the screen behind him.  After some bullshitting, he finally came out to start the show properly…

The stage seemed darker, but at least Maynard was out there for the two songs of which I was allowed to take photos.  Both he and Carina were obfuscated again behind the video boxes, which is an oddity fitting of Maynard’s persona.  Overall, I think Monday night’s show featured Maynard’s voice better – though the song selection wasn’t much different (other than order).  The video breaks were completely different… comedic pitchmen trying to sell reality television concepts to Maynard – who wasn’t paying too well of attention and always got the concept wrong.  Hilarity ensued, of course.

Here’s what they played among the campfire and sleeping bags…

Setlist: 90 minutes or so [compare sets with Night #1]

• Rev 22:20
  
• Drunk With Power
• (Video Break 1)
• Indigo Children
• Trekka
• Potions
• (Video Break 2)
• Momma Sed (with Tim Alexander as a Portland stripper)
  
• Vagina Mine
  
• Dozo
• The Undertaker
• (Video Break 3)
• Polar Bear
• Sour Grapes
  
• Queen B
  
• The Mission (featuring Carina Round)
• The Humbling River
• No Encore

Maynard’s voice sounded especially great on Indigo Children, Potions, Momma Sed (seemed slower/mellower than Saturday), Polar Bear, and The Humbling River.  I’m really digging the new EP’s material… and I’m looking forward to more digital EPs, physical CDs, whatever Maynard wants to throw at us!

more pictures at the bottom

You can get Puscifer’s music via the pictures below:

You can grab some of Maynard’s wines (if you are lucky to be in the shipping area) via this:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Puscifer’s Site
• Maynard / Puscifer on MySpace
• Caduceus Wine
• Carina Round’s Site
• Carina Round on MySpace
  
• Tool on MySpace
  
• Sweethead’s Site
  
• Sweethead on MySpace
• Spin’s San Diego Review (Oct 31st)
• My review of Portland Night #1
  
• Roseland Theater
  

Check out the Puscifer tour dates below.

~Dan – np: The Swell Season – Strict Joy

PUSCIFER & SWEETHEAD PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (9 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (43 pics)

Tour Dates

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
  
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Enquanto uns perdem tempo noticiando que Tico Santa Cruz (Detonautas) tá implorando para disse que gostaria de assumir os vocais nos Raimundos e ganhar um troco extra fazer uma turnê com eles, chiveta mostra rock — rock de verdade, sabe, nada que o Rick Bonadio produziria ou tocaria um pianinho vagabundo.

Esse ano nasceu uma banda que mesmo que dure pouco tempo já entrou pra história. Seu nome, Them Crooked Vultures, seus membros?

No baixo/teclado/piano/voz Sir John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), na bateria/voz Dave Grohl (Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Probot etc) e na guitarra/voz Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal).

Ao vivo o Them Crooked Vultures ganha ainda o multi-instrumentista Alain Johannes (que entre tocar e produzir já trabalhou com Chris Cornell, No Doubt, Mark Lanegan, Jack Irons, Puscifer, Spinnerette etc).

Amanhã, dia 17 de novembro, o primeiro e autointitulado disco sairá nos EUA e Canadá, e seu single, New Fang, a gente confere abaixo…

É, como é possível perceber, é apenas hard rock, mas gostamos!

One of the things on my list of “to-do’s” was to do some research (imagine that) on Maynard’s wine and find out how the progress was coming along. I figured I would share the wealth. Here is a link to the site, Caduceus, where you can find out more, including a journal and photographs that follow the process. Maynard is also posting quite often to his blog where they have also written an article on him and his love for the the grape.

Caduceus is defined as:

noun – an ancient Greek or Roman herald’s wand, typically one with two serpents twined around it, carried by the messenger god Hermes or Mercury.

caduceus
• a representation of this, traditionally associated with healing. ORIGIN Latin, from Doric Greek karukeion, from Greek k–rux ‘herald.

I gotta tell ya, I’m intrigued. Oh! And before I forget, he has another project going on in addition to APC, TOOL, and Caduceus. It’s called Puscifer. The album, V is for Vagina was released on Oct., 30th, 2007 and is currently 1 on the Billboard INDIE chart and 25th on the Billboard top 200. The artwork was deemed “questionable” so it was pulled from the shelves at Target. Hilarious. Anyway, subscribe to their blog and you can catch up.

Ok, so there. I did my Maynard homework and I can’t tell you how much better I feel. I’m serious. He is one productive individual.

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Wine followed by Maynard’s blasphemous vaudeville show… Wow.

So, I’ve been a fan of Maynard James Keenan’s vocal since the first utterances I heard from his “main band” TOOL.  I loved his work with his first side-project, A Perfect Circle, especially the first album Mer de Noms.  I was aware of Puscifer a while ago, as it started out as a “joke band” that debuted on a skit on Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s Mr. Show on HBO (Maynard and Tool’s Adam Jones show up in a short clip).  Never did I think that joke band name would turn into a real alter ego for Maynard himself, he’d release an album and a batch of remix EPs, and then hit the road!

So, for this 1st Portland show, I bought the VIP ticket which included a meet & greet and wine tasting (I didn’t do that for Portland show #2 as I didn’t know I was going to be able to go until a few days ago).  For those not in the know, Maynard has gotten into wine making the past few years.  Back in Ohio, I could order the wine to be shipped to me, and I still have a couple bottles of the 2005 Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra sitting in my utility closet… um… I mean in my “wine cellar.”  I haven’t been able to taste any of Maynard’s recent Caduceus wines, as unfortunately, they don’t have the ability to ship to Oregon (argh, free the grapes!).

The meet & greet and wine tasting started a little after 5pm.  We got shuffled into the back room of Roseland’s downstairs bar.  Todd (I didn’t catch his last name) is Maynard’s wine guy, or at least he’s a touring member of Maynard’s crew who knows a lot about the wine.  He mentioned several times about being involved in the last A Perfect Circle tour – right around the time Maynard was getting started with vineyard purchases / development.  Todd talked for about an hour and fifteen about the various wines, including the one we were tasting – the 2006 Merkin Vineyards Chupacabra (limited to 5,000 cases).  The Chupacabra vintages are designed to be different, similar to the folk legend of the chupacabra.  The 2006 is a blend of 36% cabernet sauvignon, 13% petite verdot, 22% syrah, 14% petite sirah (all sourced from Paso Robles), and 15% of an unknown grape (yeah, I’m an accountant and noticed the missing % on their info sheet).

(click for larger picture with autograph)

The Chupacabra is Maynard’s most “mass produced” wine, and current batches are in the 10,000 case range.  We obviously didn’t get to try any of Maynard’s 20 case batch of very special Judith wines (grown at 5,000+ feet altitude with land spread with his mother’s ashes).  Todd also spoke a little bit about current discussions with Whole Foods to get the wines distributed into Portland.  He also mentioned a documentary, Blood Into Wine, about Arizona wines with a little bit of Maynard, Fairuza Balk, Milla Jovavich, Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, and others in the footage.  It is expected to hit the Sundance Festival and some select theatres in Feb 2010.

After Todd’s info and Q&A session, he went to go get Maynard, who had just finished sound check.  Maynard came down and walked around the room and individually handed each one of us a signed copy of the Puscifer debut album (V is for Vagina).  He only very briefly chatted with folks.  He asked me if I learned anything from the wine talk, to which I replied “yes, thank you.”  That’s about the extent of my interaction with Maynard, but I thought it was wicked cool to receive a signed copy of the album directly from his hands.   Since he’s a busy guy, he took off shortly after making his tour around the room.

I had to leave after the meet & greet to get some grub; so I walked over to my favorite, close-by vegan restaurant (represent!) until show time.

When I got back to the venue, I went over to get my photo pass.  I had free reign for the opener’s set, but only allowed to snap photos for the first two songs of Puscifer’s set (more on that later)…

Sweethead was the opener.  Sweethead is guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure, A Perfect Circle) and lead vocalist Serrina Sims with Norm Block and Eddie Nappi from the Mark Lanegan Band.  They were a good rock group and played about a half of an hour.  I was in a place in the venue (front / center) where the sound usually isn’t the best.  My spot will be likely different for Monday’s show.

I think every time I’ve seen a Maynard band (three times for Tool and A Perfect Circle each), the opener has either been a Mike Patton-related band (Tomahawk, or on his label Ipecac – Isis & The Melvins) or a Ken Andrews-related band (Year of the Rabbit and now Sweethead is connected to Ken via one step with Troy and Failure).  I’m not complaining, as I love Patton and Failure-related projects.  I dug Sweethead… hopefully I’ll get a better feel for their sound on Monday.

Puscifer’s set started with a video Maynard’s Major Douché character barking orders at us.  Shortly thereafter, with band in place, Maynard wheeled out on a Segway in his horrible comb-overed, bedazzled sweat pants wearing preacher and kicked into “Sour Grapes.”  This kick-off was a not-so-subtle hint that it was going to be a crude, blasphemous vaudeville experience – not your typical rock show.

As I only had photo privileges for the first two songs, I snapped away.  Unfortunately, Maynard was off changing during the second song, “Rev 22:20″ – so I resorted to snapping away at the band.  I’m hoping Monday’s set, I get some more non-be-sweatpants‘ed Maynard.  The security guards were quite adamant and nabbing people’s cellphones; so I’m definitely grateful to Monica, Maynard’s publicist, for getting me the hook-up for these Portland shows.

Thanks again, Monica!

I didn’t catch all of the band members’ names… but I do know that Carina Round covered the female vocals, and did a smash up job on “The Mission,” which model/actress Milla Jovavich sang on the studio version.  Primus drummer Tim Alexander handled drums.  Also in the band were two guitarists, an electronic & keyboards guy, and a percussionist.  During the songs, if any individual band members wasn’t performing, they’d sit on the sofas or wander around and drink wine (which was laid out all over the stage) and munch on fruit, cheese and crackers.  Also roaming around the stage was a cameraman dressed up as a ninja – which was later announced to be the one and only Meats Meier, Puscifer’s official CGI music video madman.

Here’s what they played…

Setlist: 90 minutes or so [compare sets with Night #2]

• Sour Grapes
• Rev 22:20
• (Video Break 1)
• Dozo
• The Undertaker
• Drunk With Power
• (Video Break 2)
• Momma Sed
• Indigo Children
• Vagina Mine
• (Video Break 3)
• Potions
• Polar Bear
• Trekka
• Queen B
• The Mission (featuring Carina Round)
• The Humbling River
• No Encore
  

I had heard some rumblings of people being disappointed in the past Puscifer shows.  I think if you go in thinking it’s going to be a rock show (or a Tool show), you’re in it for the wrong reasons.  I got to hear an hour and half of fun music and crazy ramblings, and I was thoroughly entertained.  Monday promises to be different… I expect some country hee-haw may be on order…

more live photos at the bottom

You can get Puscifer’s music via the pictures below:

You can grab some of Maynard’s wines (if you are lucky to be in the shipping area) via this:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Puscifer’s Site
• Maynard / Puscifer on MySpace
• Caduceus Wine
• Carina Round’s Site
• Carina Round on MySpace
  
• Tool on MySpace
  
• Sweethead’s Site
  
• Sweethead on MySpace
• Spin’s San Diego Review (Oct 31st)
• My review of Portland Night #2 (Nov 16th)
  
• Roseland Theater
  

Check out the Puscifer tour dates below.

~Dan – np: The Swell Season – Once

PUSCIFER & SWEETHEAD PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (10 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (49 pics)

Tour Dates

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
  
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

There aren’t any CMAs left.

Merry Friday the 13th. Big split this week, with an all-returning Top 5, and an all-new Bottom 5. Taylor Swift, who I learned from last week’s Saturday Night Live is very tall, remains atop the countdown, again by a handy margin. Following Miss Swift is the 2009 SEC Championship, which has garnered quite a bit of interest over the past couple weeks. That interest exploded last weekend as Alabama basically clenched their appearance. Both Florida and Alabama are considered locks at this point.

Miley remains secure at #3, while Bon Jovi climbs to 4 and the Big 12 Championship, which is a bit murkier even now, falls to 5. That ushers in the bottom 5, where an odd mix of seasonal shows, side projects, college football, and comedy turns up. On the musical side, Not So Silent Night is an alt rock / punk rock ensemble show featuring Muse, AFI, Vampire Weekend, and more. According to Wikipedia, Puscifer is a side project of noted winemaker Maynard James Keenan, who, in his spare time not making wine, fronts a band named Tool.

Rounding out the Top 10 is our first taste of bowl fever, as The Granddaddy of Them All fittingly posts the first appearance of a bowl on the countdown. TCU fans also brought their team some recognition. Finally, Dane Cook is on tour and posts the first showing of a comedian ever on the countdown.

Puscifer – C is for (Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) (6.9/10)

En este repaso fugaz a los últimos discos destacables que he escuchado arranco con el más reciente y el más corto. Maynard James Keenan rellena -o le rellenan- su vacío productivo con un EP de remezclas, inéditos y temas en directo que me ha dejado bastante satisfecho pese a su brevedad. Entre sus temas a destacar sobresalen Potions, co-compuesto junto a Trent Reznor en las sesiones de aquel proyecto Tapeworm que se fue al traste hace más de un lustro, y The Mission, junto a la actriz Milla Jovovich, que se defiende bastante bien. En resumen, una curiosidad interesante aunque todo el concepto Puscifer no me llegue a calar. PD: Maynard, prometiste algo nuevo de Tool para el 2010. No olvidamos.

Rammstein – Liebe ist für alle da (7.5/10)

Pese al susto que supuso la broma del tema Pussy al final el nuevo disco de los teutones me ha convencido. No es genial, pero es bueno. Tiene algunos temas muy conservadores pero otros son de una calidad altísima, me atrevería a decir que incluso de más calidad lírica que en lo que a producción se refiere, aunque no podemos olvidar la abundancia de coros e instrumentos perfectamente acoplados a los riffs repetitivos marca de la casa. Es un disco muy digno en mi oponión, no comparable al Mutter -eso es casi imposible- pero a la altura de Reisse Reisse. Y ya sé que el video de abajo no tiene nada que ver con el álbum, pero es demasiado molón como para no ponerlo.

The Hickey Underworld – The Hickey Underworld (8/10)

El estreno de estos belgas es sin duda uno de mis descubrimientos importantes del año. Con un sonido bastante original -dentro de lo que permite un ámbito tan saturado como el musical- lo que más me gusta es el toque macabro y sobrio que tienen, pero que sólo insinuan, sin exhibicionismo. Son lo que los Strokes querrían ser. Estridentes, imprevisibles y a su puta bola. El tema de abajo es uno de los más digeribles y tranquilos, pero puede servir como introducción junto al single que ya mostré en su momento.

The new digital only Puscifer EP is out now… get it on Amazon or iTunes.

The tour is underway and hits Portland’s Roseland Theater this coming weekend… woot!  I’ll be at the Saturday & Monday shows.

~Dan – np: Puscifer – C is For…

no free downloads, mp3, or torrents available here

It really is a beautiful day here in Nashville… about 70 degrees. It’s warmer than I expected. I just got back from a walk with my kitty Puscifer. I took some pix. It’s so sunny and bright outside. =) I had fun. We saw the neighbor. She has a new puppy. He was very excited to meet us. Puscifer just sat back while I pet the puppy. He seems like a good little pup. She said he’s a Yorkie-poo and that he’s six weeks old. I didn’t get any pix of the pup. He had his business to doo. 

Pusc posed for me a lot, cuz he’s a ham-bone.

I love my Puscifer!

A while back, I posted three music videos as a way of jump starting the blog. Musically, they had nothing in common. (Stylistically, they were all outlandish.) I like the idea of periodically posting videos. I also like alliteration. (Did you notice “periodically posting” is alliterative?) Therefore, I give to you Three for Thursday, my no-more-than-weekly installment of music video picks. MTV don’t show ‘em anymore, so we’ve got to educate the masses somehow.

For this inaugural Three for Thursday (the last post was maybe A Wee Bit Wednesday?), I give you soul, Snow, and skating cowboys. (More alliteration, see?)

Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean

This guy is a throwback to another time. The clothes in this movie are straight out of the eighties, but a couple of his songs are much more like Motown and the 1960s. (See for example Lady Luck.) I picked up a free EP of his (sadly for you, no longer free) and was hooked. I especially like the hipster-jab lines “I’m part of the scene/I’m part of the scene/Suit jacket and jeans./I got the right LPs/I got the right LP’s/I got the Lou Reed/And all the Blondie you’ll ever need.” This track is off the CD of the same name, The Atlantic Ocean.

Miike Snow – Black and Blue

I feel guilty for liking Miike Snow. I don’t exactly know why, but I do. The guys are Swedish. It’s electropop. None of the lyrics make any sense at all. (They have a song called “A Horse is Not a Home.” Really?) But it’s damn catchy, so I overcome the guilt and just enjoy. You should do the same. You can find “Black and Blue” on the group’s eponymous deput, Miike Snow.

Puscifer – The Mission

Puscifer is the newest band for Tool frontman (and A Perfect Circle frontman) Maynard James Keenan. It consists of a revolving set of contributing artists, cabaret-style concerts and genre-defying tunes. MJK even refuses to tie himself down to a single version of each song with remixes and studio tracks mixed together on their discs. “The Mission” is the first single off their new EP due out November 10 which is called C is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here). The song features vocals by Milla Jovovich – yes, the Milla Jovovich that was in The Fifth Element – and while I really dig the song, I’m not so sure about the video.

Embedding it didn’t work for me, so you’l have to click here instead to see it.

“The Mission,” from the forthcoming Puscifer digital EP…

I like Meats Meier, but I think this “little CGI Maynard” theme in his videos are getting a bit tiring to me.  Oh well… good song.  The C is For… -EP- comes out Nov 10th.  Check out tour dates below…

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom) *I’ll be at this one*
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom) *and this one*
  check back in mid-November for my reviews with photos
  
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Yay, I get to see Maynard up close at Roseland (for $20+ extra, I opted for the Caduceus wine meet & greet, too).  I’ve only seen him in a big arena for Tool or a big theater for A Perfect Circle.  Should be fun…

~Dan – np: Regina Spektor – Far

PS- I’m gonna pass 100,000 hits on the blog either today or tomorrow.  Yippie… thanks for all of you who visit and read frequently via the RSS feed.

Puscifer had a visit with the vet today. He has an abscess on his paw… which we already knew. It’s probably from a cat fight outdoors. His FELV/FIV/HW test came back negative. Aside from the abscess, he has a clean bill of health. He has to take his antibiotic Clavamox twice a day, and his boo-boo should heal up soon.

Still working on finding homes (temporary or not) for them all for when we move. B thinks one of his workmates is going to take Mr Fluff N’Stuff. That’s all the new’s I’ve got right now. We really need something to work out for them.

I am working on a potentially new site for The Gumshoe Grove, but in the meantime I figured I’d share the new Puscifer — nee Maynard James Keenan, of Tool — track with you. LISTEN TO IT HERE FREE. (listen to another Puscifer track, “Trekka,” there —>).

I was fairly skeptical of this band from the get-go, thinking it would be another Team Sleep-style monstrosity from a frontman who’s gotten too Big (like Chino Moreno from The Deftones, Serj Tankian from System Of A Down, etc.) to accept any quality-control duties.

I was wrong; “Polar Bear” isn’t exactly “Schism,” but its glacial, post-Portishead, future-trip-hop quality shows Keenan’s a little more keen on the come-up than his commercial-rock/metal peers. We’re talking spookhouse organs, samples, shimmering loops; the works.

Not exactly the freshest idea out there, but at least this isn’t a sad retread of Keenan’s dayjob circa Stone Sour.

Whilst future Tool projects are unfortunately still “on hold”, Maynard James Keenan fans may or may not be pleased to know that a new Puscifer project is in the works.

Puscifer, Keenan’s “creative subconscious”, was unleashed onto the world several years back, as the debut album “V is for Vagina”, showed Keenan’s solo aspirations favoured more industrial “groove-oriented” sounds, as opposed to the progressive rock he became renowned for. Whilst failing to garner the same kind of attention as a Tool or Perfect Circle album, Keenan has taken it on himself to return from the vineyards in order to tour and continue his latest music project. With the release date set for November 10th, the new Puscifer CD titled, “C is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P”, will be the first dose of this promising return, serving a potential reminder that there is still a place for music amidst the wine/organic food ventures.

Dropping a taster of this new material today via his myspace page, Keenan’s Polar Bear – an ode to the dangers of climate change – represents a strong opening track of typical Keenan cryptic songwriting.

Taking into account the commercial failure of Ashes Divide, together with the rumoured new material being produced for a potential Tool album, the optimist within me still clings on to the hope that Keenan’s return to the music scene is on the scale of bigger things. With that said however, his previous sentiments on the music industry that included a reference to CDS as “plastic discs that no one cares about anymore”, doesn’t appear to have quite faded away just yet, as once again this new release boasts another very unconventional album sleeve.

Speculation aside, here’s the track listing for the new EP, together with an image of the “beautifully crafted” album sleeve.

01. Polar Bear
02. The Mission (Renholder Mix) (feat. Milla Jovovich)
03. Momma Sed (Alive @ Club Nokia)
04. Vagina Mine (Alive @ Club Nokia)
05. Potions (Deliverance Mix)
06. The Humbling River

Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer is set to release their first new music in two years with a six-song EP titled “C is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P.” on Nov. 10.

The track listing is:
1. Polar Bear
2. The Mission (Renholder Mix) featuring Milla Jovovich
3. Momma Sed “Alive @ Club Nokia”
4. Vagina Mine “Alive @ Club Nokia”
5. Potions (Deliverance Mix)
6. The Humbling River

Puscifer kick off their first tour with a swing through the Western U.S. on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas (a Midwest/East Coast run is in the works for 2010).

Tour dates: (please note the addition of a second Portland date)
October 29 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl (@ The Palms)
October 31 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre
November 1 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre
November 4 Oakland, CA Fox Theatre
November 5 Oakland, CA Fox Theatre
November 7 Stockton, CA Bob Hope Theatre
November 10 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
November 11 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
November 13 Vancouver, BC Centre for Performing Arts
November 14 Portland, OR Roseland Ballroom (SOLD OUT)
November 16 Portland, OR Roseland Ballroom
November 18 Salt Lake City, UT Capitol Theatre
November 20 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
November 21 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
November 24 Dallas, TX McFarlin Auditorium
November 25 Dallas, TX McFarlin Auditorium
November 27 Houston, TX Jones Hall
November 28 San Antonio, TX Majestic Theatre
December 1 El Paso, TX Plaza Theatre
December 3 Phoenix, AZ Orpheum Theatre
December 4 Phoenix, AZ Orpheum Theatre

We’ve been letting my tabby Puscifer start coming in and out as he pleases again. Since it started getting cold, we want him to be inside as much as he wants. He was outside earlier today, since we had a random warm day… and when he came home we noticed he had a really bad boo-boo. His front left paw is all swollen, and he’s having trouble walking. He even fell off his cat climber, scattering his food everywhere. That scared everyone. I set up an appointment to take him to the vet tomorrow so the doctor can check his paw for infection. Hopefully it won’t be anything too bad. It breaks my heart to see him limping around. He doesn’t cry or whine. He just looks up with a very sad face every now and again.