The conversation ends quickly with the words ‘Great! Have a good day as well!’ which were not spoken by me. My information is walking away from me. ‘Excuse me’ I say, while gathering my words of request. Suddenly dark and serious, I bludgeoned the momentum. If you do not believe ‘Excuse me’ could be as bad as ‘Go Fuck Yourselves!’ you are quite mistaken.

A dirty look, a turn, a continued pace. I follow.

‘Wait! Please tell me…’ The conversation axe is ready. At the word ‘please’ their look is grim. Am I begging them for something? Could I have transformed into Larry David? Where did everything go wrong? This was not your usual conversation, this seem fated to fail. Everything was not in the right place. It was over. I left it as that and decided to re-approach the situation later.

The next day I ask the question directly, no ‘Hello’ or ‘How are you’, straight into the business end. Success.

These simple conversation mannerisms have ruined the direction of my conversation, made me lie, created an atmosphere of avoidance, and destroy my expression.

I will try not to lie again about how I am feeling, excuse myself, or beg for attention with that horrible word ‘please’.

Go Fuck Yourselves!

Damn the Big Brother.

I have yet to complete the final track-listing as some tracks need names, so heres a bastardization:

1. Track 1

2. Track 2

3. Track 3

4. Track 4

5. Track 5

6. Track 6

7. Track 7

8. Track 8

ps. This project does contain The Tower’s Heartbeat.

Mirror

01 – Reflection II        2:00
02 – Explosion I    5:00
03 – Explosion II    6:00
04 – Violence        5:00
05 – Blood        7:00
06 – Witness        6:00
07 – Reflection III    8:00
08 – Freedom        10:00

Track times are estimated before recording.

After giving this album a lot of thought, I realize this has taken quite a lot more time than my usual. Here are the dates of previous albums (or collections) in comparison.

One (instrumentals) – 1992

Two (instrumentals) – 1993

Three (instrumentals) – 1994 (scrapped)

-note : all instrumentals eventually became songs

Trilogy – 1994

-note: what I would call songwriters diarrhea tossed into three mood piece collections, eventually fleshed out more, and many became completely different beasts

Vaccine – 1995 (scrapped, most songs went to Lifeless and Shattered)

Chameleon – 1997 (scrapped, most songs forgotten, some went to Lifeless)

Green – 1998 (scrapped, songs went to Lifeless, Titan)

Ivory – 1998 (scrapped, songs went to Frozen and The Trial)

-Note: These four never felt right, I had to start over as I was forgetting songs. One song I called ‘untitled’ I humorously use to reference this mistake as I remember it being so good, but it remains forgotten.

The Trial – 1998 – First concept album.

Lifeless – 1999 – A typical collection of songs, no central concept.

Shattered – 2000 – Incredibly intense industrial (III) album written after hearing Nine Inch Nails. Ends with one of my favorites.

Controlled – 2000 – Beat versions and mixes of Shattered songs.

Frozen – 2000 – My favorite piece, finally found out how to write atmospheric songs the way I want them.

Red – 2001 – Mostly instrumental, incredibly evil sounding.

Titan – 2001 – Anti War album, everybody writes these right?

Colour Emotion – 2001 – Experiment on emotion, every track feels completely different but feels good on a whole.

Black Room Stereo – 2002 – Somewhat Shattered sequel, dark ambient industrial.

Lines – 2002 – My big breakdown album, everybody writes these right?

Changed – 2003 – Second part of breakdown album.

Metal – 2003 – Frozen done backwards, industrial style

The Pendant – 2005 – First full concept album (done on purpose) since The Trial.

I Breathe Blue Smoke – 2007 – A 7 track masterpiece (yes I love it) based on city life.

Effigy – 2007 – Black Room Stereo sequel of sorts, far more metal sounding, written before I really got into metal. No seriously.

Glass / Mirror – 2009 – Concept album about lies.

Well.. that wasn’t so bad.

Muse ‘The Resistance’ – This album sounds exactly as I expected. Upon seeing the track-listing (multiple part songs, common theme), I thought of the earlier Muse back in 2004 and imagined how they would put together their first concept piece – Anthemic beginnings, pop middle, queen inspired emotional ending. This is exactly what it is, except for the surprising use of 80s electronic beats throughout. Fans of the whole Black Hole era Muse may be put off by the switch in style. Gone are songs like Starlight and Knights of Cydonia, and in its place a thrashing of Take A Bow and Hoodoo. Definitely a great album for fans of their older and less accessible material. Still great stuff.

Editors ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ – This was a big surprise. The last release from Editors, An End Has A Start, took the band from the studio to stage with their more poppy guitar laden collection of singles packed into an album that did not succeed too well. This was a disappointment because their first album, The Back Room, had a more personal and unique sound. In This Light And On This Evening is a bit of a combination of The Back Room, Peter Gabriel Security era disquieting beauty, and late 70s (Ultravox anybody?) electronica. One listen to their latest single, Papillon, will remind you of that era. Because of my love for Ultravox, I found this enjoyable and easy to get into, and again for the Peter Gabriel-like songs. The album may not be for you if you absolutely hate that era, but some songs are a must listen for Editors fans.

Matthew Good ‘Vancouver’ – Remember Avalanche? No? If you enjoy good emotional rock (not emo by the way), you need to check it out, as it is a masterpiece. Since Avalanche, Matthew Good had written two somewhat experimental albums and now we have a proper followup to Avalanche. This is not to say his last two albums are not good, White Light Rock and Roll Review and Hospital Music are fantastic, but they just were not quite up there with the flawless Avalanche album. What makes this album so different from his last few is the lack of quiet acoustic or atmospheric pieces – every track ends up rocking at some point. This was a disappointment upon first listen, knowing how good he is at writing atmospheric pieces, but the tracks are all such a high quality I was surprised to enjoy it so much. Also, the orchestrations from Avalanche are back as well, if you like that kind of thing.

Alice In Chains ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ – I had this feeling all along that Alice In Chains would get back together and come out with something, and here it is. There are some quality songs here, and some fantastic acoustic pieces, but it feels so quickly tossed together and a bit too long. This seems to be related to the song types and track-listing. To many lows than highs, acoustic interlude here and there, complete chaos. The final track was worth the wait though, too bad it took so many beers to get there.

Antimatter ‘Live @ An Club’ – For those who do not know what or who Antimatter is, Duncan Patterson, formerly of Anathema (a progressive rock/metal band) and Mick Moss formed the band in the late 90s. They write atmospheric rock with mostly guest vocals. After Duncan left the band lately, Mick Moss has continued on with the band with the release of a fantastic progessive album, Leaving Eden, released in 2007. This live album captures a performance from Athens, Greece, in late 2007, with Danny Cavanagh (also from Anathema) guesting on guitar. Some people have described Antimatter as the most depressing music they have ever heard, and a co-worker compared it to Leonard Cohen, which I find quite humorous. It really depends on how you take quiet atmospheric and emotional music, do you take it as a downer or do you feel uplifted by it? I am of the latter and I found this album to be quite beautiful and relaxing, even with beer. The quality of the recording is very good, and the crowd is quiet all throughout except between songs, probably hypnotized by the beauty. This is Sunday afternoon acoustic music at its best.

Hey Rosetta! ‘Into Your Lungs’ – I picked this up because it was produced by Hawksley Workman, I am a big fan of his work. After listening to the album completely it felt like a more folkish Hawksley combined with 54-40 (without the love!) and some atmospheric prog shoved in for modern sake. The problem with this kind of album is how the tracks do not stand out from each other, but they are decent rock songs. This band could very much be on their way to full on progressive rock.

Next update, METAL, as this has been one fucking crazy month.

Today I will reveal the tracklisting for Glass, and I will reveal information about each track in the coming days and weeks.

Glass

01 – Glass — 8:00
02 – Intro – 2:00
03 – Hangmen – 7:00
04 – Warmth – 2:00
05 – Threw – 6:00
06 – Winter – 9:00
07 – Reflection I – 3:00
08 – Mourn – 10:00

Track time is estimated. After recording, it may shrink or expand a bit.

Fantastic and funny article on video-game stories:

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/103/1034395p1.html

This is definitely something I would enjoy playing live. It is all an act, I would have grey hair and wear torn clothing.

Genre – HERMIT METAL!!!!!

Valis – Fantastic stoner / hard rock band. They are about to release a new album called Dark Matter soon. (and by the time you read this, it will have released a year ago) For now you can check out their excellent debut Vast Active Living Intelligence System, or their easier to find Head Full of Pills or Champions of Magic. Or… you can just check their myspace page – http://www.myspace.com/valis

Dozer – From Sweden, these stoner rockers have gone from Kyuss imitators (in a very good way) to a more psychedelic and original sound. Their new album Beyond Colossal reminds me a bit of Soundgarden in intensity and creativity. http://www.myspace.com/dozerrock

Sig:Ar:Tyr – Canadian folk metal with whispered-like vocals and excellent guitar work. Their debut, Sailing the Seas of Fate, is far more acoustic than their later more eastern sounding Beyond the North Winds. http://www.myspace.com/sigartyr

Let me know what you think.

What I could do without it – buy a car, shower myself in hundred dollar bills, have a life. Oh wow. But..

There are some things that feel out of society, little secrets, places that can only be found through sound. These places I visit each day and feel the warmth of heaven upon me. As much as I would love to stop collecting, listening, writing, I feel that these past discoveries, selfish they are, are immensely important. Writing a song like Darkened House, hearing Hurt by Nine Inch Nails for the first time, writing a song like Shattered or its emotional counterpart – Lost to the Good, or hearing something fantastic in a Steve Kilbey song that I feel nobody else may feel. I do not know who I would have become if I had not heard these songs.. these obsessions.

Have a listen to some of these and you may hae an idea where my music is heading. These are songs which allowed me to see something new in music.

A Perfect Circle – Magdelena
A Storm of Light – Vast and Endless
Adrian Belew – Ampersand
Aereogramme – In Gratitude
Agalloch – She Painted Fire Across the Skyline
Amon Amarth – The Hero
Anael – Devil’s Tongues
Aphex Twin – Come To Daddy
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2
Atavist II Ruined – II
Audioslave – Cochise
Barenaked Ladies – The Old Apartment
Big Wreck – Overemphasizing
Bjork – Unravel
Blind Melon – Paper Scratcher
Bloc Party – Plans
Blood of the Black Owl – Crippling of Age
Bloodbath – Hades Rising
Bloodhound Gang – Mope
Blur – Ambulance
Brian Welch – Home
Broken Social Scene – Cause=Time
Buddy Guy – Baby Please Don’t Leave Me
Burst – We Watched the Silver Rain
The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun
The Church – Two Places at Once
Collective Soul – Crown
Dave Matthews – So Damn Lucky
The Dears – Lost in the Plot
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
The Decemberists – The Tain
Deftones – Digital Bath
Derek ad the Dominos – Little Wing
Destroyer – Destroyer’s Rubies
DJ Shadow – Napalm Brain – Scatter Brain
The Doors – People are Strange
Dozer – From Fire Fell
Econoline Crush – Sparkle and Shine
Editors – All Sparks
Edwin – Hang Ten
Envy – The Unknown Glow
The Eyes of a Traitor – With Different Eyes
Filter – Hey Man Nice Shot
Final Fantasy – That’s When the Audience Died
Finger Eleven – Above
Foo Fighters – Everlong
Frog Eyes – Silence but for the Gentle Tinkling of the Flowing Creek
Genesis – The Musical Box
Genghis Tron – Board up the House
Gojira – The Way of All Flesh
Grizzly Bear – Lullabye
Handsome Furs – Snakes on the Ladder
Hawksley Workman – Anger as Beauty
Hednoize – Drain
Hypocrisy – Roswell 47
I Mother Earth – Earth, Sky, & C
Isidore – Sanskrit
Islands – Ones
Jack Frost – Providence
Johnny Clegg – Work For All
Kasabian – Shoot the Runner
Khanate – Pieces of Quiet
King Crimson – Coda Marine 475
Korn – My Gift To You
Kula Shaker – SOS
Liars – Drum and the Uncomfortable Can
Live – Selling the Drama
Lunatic Soul – The Final Truth
Marilyn Manson – The Reflecting God
Marty Willson-Piper – How Come They Don’t Touch The Ground
Mastodon – Hearts Alive
Matthew Good – Primetime Deliverance
The Melvins – Civilized Worm
Meshuggah – Bleed
Metallica – One
Midge Ure – The Gift
Moist – Resurrection
My Dying Bride – The Dreadful Hours
Neurosis – Times of Grace
Neverending White Lights – I Hope Your Heart Runs Empty
Nine Inch Nails – Burn
No-Man – Truenorth
Opeth – The Lotus Eater
Our Lady Peace – Naveed
Paradise Lost – Gothic
Peter Gabriel – Intruder
Phil Collins – Survivors
The Philosopher Kings – Can’t Get My Mind Around You
Pink Floyd – Echoes
Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
Primordial – The Coffin Ships
Psykosonik – I am God
Queensryche – Anybody Listening
Radiohead – Let Down
The Refo-mation – Traitor
Reverend Bizarre – Cirith Ungol
Roger Waters – It’s A Miracle
Rosetta – Red in Tooth and Claw
Rush – Freeze
Ryan Adams – Hotel Chelsea Nights
Satyricon – Black Lava
Sigur Ros – Untitled 4
Skepticism – Nothing
Soundgarden – The Day I Tried To Live
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mayonaise
Spirit of the West – Just Another Day
Steve Kilbey – Space
Strapping Young Lad – Devour
Sunset Rubdown – Snakes Got a Leg
Swan Lake – City Calls
System of a Down – Chop Suey
The Tea Party – A Certain Slant of Light
Tool – Third Eye
The Tragically Hip – Stay
Treble Charger – Red
Unearthly Trance – Permanent Ice
Unkle – Rabbit in Your Headlights
The Verve – A New Decade
Wilco – Misunderstood
Wolf Parade – I’ll Believe in Anything