EverReady (The Religion) - Tech N9ne

Upon gazing on the relatively cheaply made album cover through the clear polythene wrapping, a feeling of deep remorse overwhelmed me for the Kansas City MC, Tech N9ne. For about 20 years give or take, Tecca Nina has suffered from various potholes and barriers on his way to rap dominance. Quite simply, the guy has no luck. Sure, his latest album titled Everready (The Religion) has had a few minor hits and has been featured in some video games, however he still has yet to conquer or even get a foot on mainstream establishment the way T.I. did it. That's really a shame because of the sheer talent and originality of Tech N9nes style.

Lyrically, whats great about Tech N9ne is how eloquent he is. Sure, he raps about drinking, sexual fantasies, partying and other carnal or criminal facets of gangster life, perhaps subjects devoid of eloquence, you say. Yet N9ne has this great lyrical wit about him and a smooth, almost lackadaisical delivery. Whereas, Yough Jeezy or Young Dro deliver with a deep, sometimes raspy voice as if to convey some deep down grittiness, Tech N9ne feels more natural, like some party guy in college that will freely talk about their hedonistic experiences of yore. Furthermore he has an amazing bottomless bag of slang, most of which are inside jokes that are not always privy to the listeners (some slang--like his word "Bianca", a name to describe a certain kind of woman that is more liberal in her sexual ethics--are mentioned in his previous albums so new listeners might be at a loss if they have not studied Tech's earlier "lectures"). I hate to recycle a phrase from the last post, but he's like a people's partier. He's not trying to look tough in a club, he's just trying to have a good time.
While this may not shock the rap world, Tech N9ne however is brutally honest, personal and ventures into territory that most other rappers, especially Southern ones would hesitate to touch. If you listen to any one of his Cd's you'll find an MC carrying tons of emotional baggage from every direction. I know what you're thinking too, being emotional is nothing new in Gangsta rap. Even the most brutal gangsters drop their guard at times to show sad little boy on the inside. Yet for the most part, many of these standard heartbreak songs usually involve some girl that meant much to the rapper yet things never materialized. Case in point, take Young Dro's, We Lied off of last years, Best Thang Smoking. Almost the whole album, albeit great, contains club or gangster related songs except for that small cliched concession. Yet even these sad heartbreak songs are cleverly disguised boastings about relationships with the opposite gender. Tech N9ne laments about almost every little thing, from fans to family to even his hardships in finding success after 20 years in the business. The Rain is actually a story most working parents could empathize with as Tech N9ne bemoans about how his work usually comes in the way of his family, especially his children. Few gangsta rappers have the testicular fortitude to mention their marital status, least of all their dependents.
In his music, Tech N9ne attributes a majority of his failures to a lack of understanding. For example, many view his unorthodox appearance (red hair, scary clown costumes) as possible deterrent to Black audiences and a reason for why he's had so much trouble establishing himself alongside contemporaries, T.I. or Jeezy(Yet studies show that Caucasians make up the bulk of Hip Hops listeners). While this blogger's skin color offers little help in N9ne's defence, many audiences (despite their racial background) are missing out on Kansas City, Missouri's best kept secret. Tech N9ne's failure could be attributed to a possible lack of understanding about the music industry itself. Perhaps N9ne has little interest in the subject, yet he fails to discuss issues in music business on the same level as established rappers. While the aforementioned, T.I. will boast its importance (and his business savvy-ness) in the field of achieving dominance, Tech N9ne seems to have many bruises and much contempt for this political/corporate (and unavoidable) face of the music industry. N9ne isn't the first great musician that faltered in the murky waters of business. Whatever the case is, Everready, is a display of N9ne's sheer genius and strength to tread on despite his industry scars and scraps. Everready is really his tightest album (ok ok, its actually a "Collectors Item" officially) yet. Also, there are few (Southern) artists that can seriously compare with his sheer skill and originality as shown in this album. Few are so unique as Tech's approach to club music as displayed in Night and Day or Caribou Lou. I don't know any other rappers that actually have a duet with their own child as listened to in The Rain. Few artists such a perverted wit as in Flash, whereby Tech claims that the only solution to relieving the stress of touring is by asking his female audience to remove their tops during his concerts (also it may be a clever way of advertising his concerts to male audiences but who knows). Words seriously cannot do justice to Tech N9ne's abilities and I'm sure that you, fair reader, have better things to do than read on and on into oblivion about my thoughts about N9ne. Suffice to say, the Collector does a better job at giving you a taste of N9ne with this weeks samples. Enjoy.

My Blog Could Be Your Life

Man, I had this crazy dream yesterday. Basically, I joined the Marine Corps during the height of the Vietnam War. After basic training, I was stationed somewhere in Laos. Naturally, after trekking out of the army base, I got lost in some metropolis in Laos. Thankfully, I met some nice, young Americans who offered to drive me back to the base. The problem was, however, that I had no idea where the army base is located, what it's called or who my superior officers are because I slept through most of my Marine experience due to the vigor's of training. Somehow the American kids (about my age) had an idea of where I was stationed so we took a friends jeep and headed down a highway. As we neared the base however, the driver sped up and veered off of a cliff. Nearing certain death, I started to hear Shit From an Old Notebook by The Minutemen. And that's exactly how I'd like to go, hearing The Minutemen as I fall to my doom.


There is so much you could say about The Minutemen, San Pedro punk legends. They were like the peoples post-punk band; arty yet never pretentious. Perhaps the greatest thing about them was their quirky sense of humor. Few bands could really match them in sheer charm. Aesthetically they hit all sorts of funny-bones. Whilst their music was seriously and masterfully made, you could pick up a certain cheeky humor within their basic sound. George Hurley's spastic, jazzy, nimble drumming, Mike Watts pronounced bass, and D. Boons blues-y solos all contributed to a band that was Punk, but didn't take Punk too seriously. Perhaps The Minutemen's greatest formula were angular, Wire-like power chords being interrupted by nonchalant yet hyper-active blues-y solos.


Even their history had a quirky charm to it (although ending in tragedy with D.Boon's untimely death). Take the story behind their masterpiece, double-album, Double Nickles on the Dime (1984). Originally, the band intended their fourth full-length to be a normal LP. However, that all changed when word spread about Husker Du's upcoming double-album, Zen Arcade. Not to be outdone, The Minutemen regrouped, headed back to the studio and recorded more than 40 songs for the album. One has to feel a certain pity for the Du's who were often teased to and fro, such as the friendly diss found in the Double Nickles booklet which reads, "Take that Huskers!" The album title itself--a slang term for 55 mph--is a clever pun on Sammy Hagar's, I Can't Drive 55, off of 1984's VOA. While Hagar brags (or perhaps laments) about not obeying the speed limit (and a not-so-subtle reverence to the live fast rock ethic), the San Pedro trio claims that they're perfectly fine with going 55 miles per hour (as if to say that one can be a great rock band and break accepted rock ethics).



Recently, listening to Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat(1983) and What Makes a Man Start Fires?(1982) gave me a very different view about The Minutemen. Both albums display a band starting to hit their creative stride, blossoming and nearing their peak in Double Nickles. It's a odd thing for me to listen to both of these albums as Double Nickles was my only source of Minutemen material for quite some time. Although amazing and fun albums for what their worth, they seem somewhat trivial to the immensity of Double Nickles. Rather these albums show a band learning and gaining confidence in a time span of about 2 years. Man Start Fires? seems like the Minutemen finally discovered the formula for what would ultimately create Double Nickles. Buzz or Howl is more an expansion of that formula. Its really a great album, but being only 8 songs long, Buzz or Howl seems trite in comparison to the 43 track Double Nickles.

At first I found The Minutemen's older palate a bit more distasteful. It's a hard listen after having been acquainted with their 1984 Masterpiece for a long time. Yet, the albums are interesting if only because it displays growth and a blossoming confidence. Perhaps this is a gloomy outlook but would The Minutemen still be considered legends had they stopped in after Buzz or Howl? Perhaps so, Man Start Fires? and Buzz or Howl still are very unique albums and terrific works of art. If anyone like me has been acquainted with the Minutemen's Double Nickles only, here is a warning: brace yourselves, their previous albums are not on the same par as Doubles. If you don't know who The Minutemen are or where to start, I'd recommend listening at the beginning and seeing how they evolved in a short time. Go on, have a taste, click on The Selector.

UPDATE!

The Selector is now up and running. Locate it on the top right of Empathological Virulency and clicky-clicky. Currently featuring songs off of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank!

Album Review - Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

I received We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (the source will be kept a secret), Modest Mouse's latest production, recently. Initially I approached this album as a way to rebind ties with myself and indie rock (oxymoronically produced on the Sony BMG label). In the last two years I've lost much faith and attention with the rather vaguely named, all-encompassing field of Indie Rock. For the most part, I've just become interested in other music. Modest Mouse was a bad attempt at rekindling my interest in the genre. More so, I've never been particularly supportive of Modest Mouse, being unimpressed with The Moon & Antarctica.

While We Were Dead is a much more interesting album than The Moon & Antarctica, it doesn't really change my opinion about this band. Furthermore, I can actually tolerate the music on We Were Dead as a opposed to the former album. Maybe that's due to the addition of Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, but I doubt it. Likewise, I find the Smiths obscenely overrated, but if I had to choose, I'd pick Marr as the better quarter of the Manchester four-some.

I still can't tolerate Isaac Brooks' awful bellows on this album, however. Its like listening to a horrible, out of tune, drunken, over excited, microphone-hogger at a cheap karaoke bar. Furthermore, I really can't empathize with this general view that Modest Mouse keeps testing and pushing limits and musical boundaries (as stated by allmusic.com). A majority of the album seems like well done rehashes of sentimental, vulnerable acoustic guitar, typical three-chord Indie-Pop or Gang Of Four-inspired angular, dance-y riffs (Dashboard is an example). Its well done however, and quite catchy, but it feels as if Modest Mouse just wants to blend in with other Indie trends or they're too afraid to challenge their Caucasian, over dramatic, indie fans.

Lastly, I'll admit that I'm not a lyrics kind-a-guy. The aesthetics of songs appeal more to me and maybe, if it pricks my ears well enough, I'll listen to what a singer has to say. Modest Mouse has some of the worst lyrics ever, period. Between Isaac Brooks' drunken delivery and some awful attempts at lyrical abstraction and melodrama, I feel like burning my ear phones. Maybe its due to the fact that I do not read a book everyday or look up poetry for inspiration or am a resident of the East Coast but I really can't handle Modest Mouse's penmanship. Am I alone in thinking this is some stupid songwriting for the song, Spitting Venom?:

We were spitting venom at most everyone we know/
If the damned gave us a road map/
We'd know exactly where to go/
Let it all drop/

I know this is a harsh review but actually Modest Mouse's latest work was not so awful and quite tolerable which says a lot coming from a guy that loathes this band.

Pilot - Enslaved, Runn and whats going on in Metal?

I could be wrong, but the we're living in exciting times in regards to Death and Black Metal. For the most part, the future of the so-called Extreme Metal genre seems a tad uncertain. On Death's side, more bands seem to be shifting into more melodic/prog territory and new, vague genres (that do not do justice to most new metal band) like Metalcore or Nu-Metal seem to be popping up in order to put a label on recent trends.

Most of Black Metals old vanguards are dead (Quorthon, literally) and the sound has generally shifted in other directions. Sure, you can still find some Scandinavian/Norwegian Black Metal bands keeping the faith but for the most part the lo-fi, noisy, nigh-inaudible sound is old news. Immortal's last album, Sons of Northern Darkness, albeit amazing, was a far departure from their earlier, fiery, under produced output. Admittedly while I haven't listened to any of Mayhem's recent material, word is they've gone a more melodic/avant-garde route and I've heard that Emperor has come a long way from their debut, In The Nightside Eclipse, (which apparently, has disappeared from my iPod!). It seems like the Black Metal headlines are being dominated by Symphonic (the term makes me cringe for some reason) and Viking as of late

Anyway, without going too far into this theory of mine, I bought Enslaved's latest work Ruun a few weeks ago. Enslaved is by far one of my favorite bands and if I ever put time and effort into a Top Ten, they'd be somewhere in the mid-range. Although the band themselves claims that they are a Viking Metal band, their approach is much different from that of their peers. Other leaders of the Viking pack like, Finntroll employ a happy-go-lucky, Death-y, Humppa (a form of polka) influence and their more serious cousins, Moonsorrow specialize in grandiose folk-metal.

Despite claims, Enslaved do not even sound like a Viking Metal band. For the most part, the minimum requirement of earning your Viking Metal diploma is through talking about Vikings and folklore while having a strong Black Metal backbone (I'm sure that self-classification into the genre helps as well, as bands such as Immortal or Battlelore while fitting the criteria to some extent, aren't really considered part of the Viking genre). Mixing some European folk or having more intricate or anthemic songs help as well as seen by innovators, Bathory and the above mentioned Viking bands. Although Enslaved are included in the Viking catalogue they have a much different take on the aesthetics. Instead of folky, grandiose or anthemic riffs, they're sound feels much more dry and melodramatic. They're much more concerned with experimental melodies and sonic texture while retaining a Black Metal blue-print.

Ruun, is a great album and a great continuation of what magic Enslaved conjured on Below the Lights and Isa. Mood-wise, Ruun seems a bit more consistent and controlled than their earlier output. While songs like "Essence" test your patience as you wait for Enslaved to get to the point already, "Api-Vat" and "Entroper" are great displays of prog-punk inspired Black Metal. Even saying Enslaved are prog isn't an apt description. Progressive, implies that a band experiments melodically and while Enslaved are obviously classically trained they're equally concerned with noise and a certain amount of aesthetic depth in their work.

Anyway, Ruun is a great listen. You could probably group them more with bands such as Arcturus, but you still won't be able to get a good definition of what this quintet is really about. This album is a great listen because Enslaved really cut out a niche for themselves. They know when to make heavy, complex songs while at the same time can make simple rock-out tunes as well. The great thing is the bands bold penchant for experimentation while at the same time retaining a Black Metal backing. Ruun is complex, arty, relentless but never pretentious and a helluvalotta fun. Highly recommended.