Supermachiner...This Week Keeps Getting Better

...just a short bit about Supermachiner whose latest album, Rust (actually a compiling of the first album Rise of the Great Machine and some unreleased material), was put up for order today at Deathwish Inc. 

Supermachiner was a side project of one, Jacob Bannon, the vocalist of Converge, a while back and this record has been a long time coming. Rise of the Great Machine was an underrated release when it first came out and continues to be mentioned mostly as just a side project with little other mention of its quality. Though, as much as I may enjoy Converge, I find myself listening to Supermachiner much more often and more religiously. 

Rust's release is exciting to me and a few others I know. Check it out if you get the chance.

Grad School

So, my first week of this latest Grad school barrage is complete. To be honest, it was a cakewalk; we'll see what the future holds for this class. My learning team seems eager, but I am not getting my hopes up for them yet. The 2nd week has the first real Team project so I will know after that if they will be adequate people to work with this time. 

Thus far my soundtrack for the school work has been pretty typical for while I am in grad school with lots of instrumental and ambient work:

Mamiffer- Hirror Eniffer

Everlovely Lightningheart- Cusp

Everlovely Lightningheart- split with Oakeater

Everlovely Lightningheart- Particles and Fields

House of Low Culture- Gettin' Sentimental

House of Low Culture- Submarine Immersion Techniques

Jesu- Sun Down/ Sun Rise

Nine Inch Nails- Ghosts I-IV

Nine Inch Nails- the Slip

Old Man Gloom- Seminar III: Zozobra

All great for working to so far.

Coalesce...DAMN RIGHT

So the new Coalesce was announced today or whatever. It is going to be called Ox. Today, with the snow outside...is now officially awesome.

I love Coalesce... LOVE THEM.

Hearing that Ox is coming out is like a kick in the ass. At 14 songs and 35 minutes or so, it is sure to be a blistering record.

COALESCE.

Cars, Vehicles, and Pains in the Ass

Cars suck. I hate them. If I lived in a big city I would not have to worry about having one, but I live in the burbs so it is a necessary evil. In truth, cars are nothing more than money pits that we constantly dump money into to keep them running or running efficiently or running well. $30- $50 to fill the car with gas, roughly $25- $40 every 3,000 miles for an oil change, $20 or so for tire rotation every 6,000 miles, $1500 for car insurance a year, etc etc, forget it if something like an accident occurs. So much of our yearly income simply goes towards maintaining our mode of transportation.

I hate cars.

Finding New Music

So, my friend Dave had been bugging me for weeks to listen to this new record called Hirror Eniffer by Mamiffer; and it continually got pushed to the backburner until I received the record to review. When I initially popped their debut EP in, the subtlety of the Hirror Eniffer was lost to me; but something compelled me to play it again...and again...and again. While listening to it repeatedly, unbeknownst to myself, Mamiffer had sunk in to my thick skull; I realized how much I actually enjoyed the album and immediately understood my friend's proselytizing enthusiasm for Mamiffer (to which I also began to do the same as my wife and brother can attest).

After some minimal snooping on the internet, I found that Faith Coloccia (the person which Mamiffer revolves around) also was involved with the recently ending project, Everlovely Lightningheart. Now, I had heard some of their work on the Pyramids remix record and did highly enjoy those remixes that they did, so intrigue began to set in for the band. Also, around the time that I found myself subconsciously indoctrinated into Mamiffer's goodness, Hydra Head announced that they would be finally releasing the last Everlovely Lightningheart recordings. So naturally, I did everything I could to acquire the Everlovely Lightningheart discography. Thus far, I believe I need two releases, the upcoming Sein Weal Tallion Rue 2xLP on Hydra Head and a super limited record the band self released.

I must say that I have not been disappointed in anyway by Mamiffer or Everlovely Lightningheart. It would definitely be worth anyone's while to check out both bands. It is really funny the path which people find new music.

Another Graduate Class

Yes, another intellectual hurdle to conquer is just getting started. During my last class, I suffered a pretty serious nervous breakdown which combined with severe anxiety attacks almost destroyed my life. Now, I am continuing to pick up the pieces and mending. So, it is with some trepidation, much determination, and the end in sight that I tackle the one of the final four classed which I need to complete to obtain my Masters of Information Systems.

We'll see how I hold up this time around, but I do think that my mental health is in better shape to handle the stress and work. Combine all of this with my terrible overachieving academic career (a 3.93 GPA currently in grad school), and my main emotion is one of excitement. The end is in sight...at least for now. I have not decided what, when, where, or how I am going to do my Ph D; but first things first.

Radio and Playing on It

Gholas was able to play on the radio, 91.7 in Philadelphia (Drexel Radio) on Sunday. It was a real good time. All of us enjoyed it, and I hope Adam (the host/engineer) did as well. Adam rules. We played a decent batch of songs; here is the setlist (with pertinent and anecdotal details):

1. And the Lives Come Flooding (this song is almost a year old to the band; we think it came out well)

2. the Witch (working title, this seems to be a band favorite, possibly the beginning of something new)

3. 9000 Reasons (Us playing really damn heavy and discordant; again it sounds pretty good)

4. Untitled (This was not broadcast due to some issues; I can't wait to hear it though)

5. Her Trainwreck (Off Here I Am, Here Is Infinity, a decent version)

6. Do We Dream (Another off the record, and another decent version)

7. The Void (A really old song that is affectionately called the room clearer; we hope to record this the right way some time soon)

8. Walk Without Rhythm (Working title, not broadcasted...we just played this to lay down a demo)

We also attempted to play our newest work. It was a mess haha. But the rest of the set was pretty awesome. During "Walk Without Rhythm" a weird whistle like someone trying to get us to stop playing happened. Adam, Chris (our guitarist), and myself heard it. None of us knew where it came from or how it happened, but it was very distinct and very real.

Once Adam gets the session all together for us, we will be releasing it in a very limited quantity on cassettes and maybe a small CD run. We will see.