City Swine

So where do you go when you look for new music that sounds interesting? What direction can you go that doesn't sound like it's been done before? That is really what I struggle with these days. So much music sound like rehashes - and often in styles I am tired of (or genres where there are some bands that simply are so good that anyone else sound like pale immitations). As music stores became less important, I started trawling the internet for sources - and year end lists of music have been a great inspiration - although sometimes I even look at "top ten..." genre lists to find new music.

So what does it take for me to find music interesting? That is a good question. Sometimes I am a sucker for a good melody, a good pop song. Now, granted, what I consider a good pop song is rarely found on the top 40 charts, and my definition of what a pop song is might deviate from the norms, but a melody and a hook without too much ornamentation can be very good. And sometimes, the arrangement has to be changed for me to realize it (or maybe I simply am a music snob - how else can I explain how I detested Britney Spears' Oops I Did It Again while I love Richard Thompson's acoustic version of it - oh, that's right, I will stick to the arrangement argument). 

But what I love the most is when a song is unpredictably moving forward in a way that makes sense when you look back at it. I like dissonance giving way to a harmonic resolution. I like odd time signatures that roll along in a way that they sound "normal". I like chaos that have splashes of order. I like the push and pull between extremes. I like tension. I think this is why I am drawn to bands with strong opposing personalities: The Beatles with John Lennon's edge and Paul McCartney's pop polish. Pink Floyd with Roger Waters' edge and David Gilmours pop polish. The tension inherent in these two bands really brought out the best in everyone involved. Even solo artists like Nick Cave, who has foils in his Bad Seeds (Blixa Bargeld for a long time, then Warren Ellis), and David Bowie with his Mike Garson on keyboards or Reeves Gabrels on guitar - the different strong personalities push and pull and creates tension. 

And this tension is really apparent in Imperial Triumphant, a New York trio that claims to play rock music. The most commonly seen category - or genre - I have seen is avant garde black metal. They do use some of the black metal tropes: blastbeats and cookie monster vocals are very prominent. But then there is everything else... The clear jazz elements, the very angular riffs, the occasional freewheeling bass runs... I don't care what anyone wants to call it, I simply call it great music. Their latest album, Alphaville, was released on July 31, and it is a masterpiece. This is not music for everybody - sometimes it takes time to cut through the dense layers of sound to find the nuances that truly makes Imperial Triumphant worth listening to. Today's track has a drum section with Japanese Taiko drums where they got Thomas Haake from Meshuggah to help out. It was recorded in a dojo in New York City, and it provides another contrast in a great song. City Swine is it for today. And Imperial Triumphant is really a band worth checking out...