Both excellent bands - I especially like the distinctive sound and "catchiness" of Sativa. However, they're generic as fuck and pretty much "pulling back" to the old-school type of metal that was huge in the early 90's. This is what I've noticed - bands "pulling back" to more purist and formulaic styles that used to be popular (check out garage rock). I've actually been to a few extreme-metal gigs lately just for the hell of it and have found that to be rather drab and set-in-its-ways. One band has stood out, however: Militia. Now they're doing something a bit different . . . Never heard Cripple Mr Onion, sorry, so can't comment.

Don't give me that "it's all been done before" crap. That's the plaintive cry of the lazy idealist. "I'm bored with everything there is," you say, "but not willing to get off my ass, put forth a little energy and change the way it's done." It's all been done before until someone proves you wrong and does it differently.

Look at someone like Tom Waits, for example (I know he's not from NZ, but as an american I have to have something to be proud of): that man has put out twenty-some albums, each one different from any other he's done or anyone else has done for that matter.

People have been sitting around picking their asses for years complaining, "there's nothing new out there" but every time a band like Einstuerzende Neubauten or The Skeptics comes along they say, "oh, I guess I was wrong. But there's nothing ELSE new out there."

Fucking naysayers and pundits ought to just keep their mouths shut and let the creative people do what they do best. They're out there somewhere, they're just not being encouraged.

I do have an entire collection, to the point of being completist, and I've seen him perform live twice (one of the benefits of living in america). What a phenomenal performer. You should be able to rent Big Time at any respectable video store, there's some live (kind of) footage there.

Personally, if the man wants to relax and spend time being reclusive with his family, I won't begrudge him that. I'll happily buy up anything he puts out, new or not.

// maybe its because its all been done before?

Bull shit. But I agree with some of the other shit you are saying, NonBreed. It seems people don't want to be challenged when they go to a gig and artists have picked up on this. I'm just wondering if this is a repercussion of the world seemingly "looking inwards" after Sept 11. I sure as hell have never seen so many right-wing-christian values spouted as I have over the last year . You must see a lot of this from where you are in the States, velocity.

Fuck yeah - Tom Waits, The Skeptics. However, Tom Waits has been around since the 70's and the Skeptics were over by the early 90's. I'm talking about functioning NEW bands. Maybe I'm blind or too jaded, I don't know.

nonbreed man, i dance to the music, don't know if its moshing i guess some times it is
but im pretty sure i wasn't moshing to the tuesdays or silly sausage at cusp
moshing or relaxing....
some situations don't require moshing, like the letterbox lambs gig, i was on the edge of my seat right at the back of bar bodega, totally captured by the music, i didn't get up or do anything, but i definatly wasn't relaxing!!!

//I'm talking about functioning NEW bands. Maybe I'm blind or too jaded, I don't know.

I can't honestly think of any. I've been really trying, but any of the artists that have really thrilled me and set me on the edge of my seat are all... old. I mean, god bless Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart, but they just don't seem to have any contemporaries in music today. Maybe we're doomed. Maybe the revolution is moving to a different medium. Maybe painters are doing some pretty fuck-with-your-head things these days. I don't know. We're probably doomed.

The horribly frightening thing about it (and THE reason it didn't pass until there was a republican majority in the senate) is that they don't have to prove a damn thing. I could be considered "unamerican" because I spend most of my time on a website devoted to NZ music, or because I've just stated publicly that the homeland security act is horribly frightening, or because I'm writing a work of fiction that has some unorthodox views of religion.

I'm sure it's not that hard to figure out . . .

// Define "Fuck with our heads"...

Mr Carter

i love outkast, truely brilliant, especially B.O.B

Got any mp3's or something I can have a listen to??

Or are you playing up in AK Town (beloved by ALL New Zealanders) any time soon??

where abouts man?

if you like mudvayne, i seriously suggest you get
nothing to gain
-1
and not falling

myself i feel nothing to gain is the best song but death blooms is close up there ah
and if you missed it mudvayne live was on mulch :D utter brilliance

it was yesterday morning on m2. it was good

thats nothing to gein

brilliant song

I dunno, maybe he's onto something . . .

Yuck. Actors should not be allowed to make music (whether they write it or perform it).

Listen to Tenacious D and anything by Russel Crowe and I'm sure you'll agree.

Ugh. I hate Tenacious D. They're like Ween, for people who don't huff glue. Then again, I've never been much for humor in music ...because it's usually not very funny. Wit is good, though.

that john cage piece is great. and it's caused a bit of a stir in the world of copyright lawyers: has john cage got dibs on recorded silence?

Check out Mike Batt who had to pay cage a 6-figure sum when he was accused plagiarising "4'33" for his own piece "A One Minute Silence"

[ external link ]

I don't think he was even ordered to pay up -- he did it of his own free will. Bit of a publicity stunt by the sounds of it.

There was, apparently, a simulataneous performance of the works while the court case was taking place to establish the level of copying. The result was, according to the legalminds website: "inconclusive".

[ external link ]