Saturday Night Wrist

note: this review is a work in progress.. I have listened to this album once and I'm in complete awe. There hasn't been a cd in a while that I have fallen in love with on first listen. I'm basically a deer in headlights ranting.....

It's strange to think that hear the Deftones I can easily pick them out because there is something so unique and diverse about their sound. When it comes to explaining it, on the other hand, I really can't pick out what it is. Vocally, I'm sure you could associate Chino Morino to a few other male singers that sound similar. I think it may be the way he executes his lyrics and the lustful way he slowly releases each word.
I'm on song five of the new album Saturday Night Wrist and I think since White Pony there has not been a Deftones album consistently this good. I haven't had the urge to either warn people or inform them on something I've found disappointed or just fucking amazing, but by song three I had to write something.
Out of the majority of their albums I find this one much more melodic and it even features I song sans-lyrics. Having a consistently mellow and steady flow until about mid way through where Chino really uses his vocal abilities to wail in Rats!rats!rats! eliminating that stoner feel to the album. Despite the raspy chorus the song is still fluid enough to keep the pace of the album as is slowly moves into more industrial tracks.
Again, I can't actually put into words why this album is unique and diverse and why it's so incredible. It just is. To me, that says a lot. When something can just be good and doesn't require a heap of explaining or words taken from a thesaurus to wow you. To previous Deftones fan, this is not a let down in no way. To new fans, this is an ideal album to introduce you to the genre and to the band.

songs to love: Beware, Rivere, Xerces, and Pink Cellphone (this song is pretty xrated.. and if your easily disgusted by simple vocals.. I'd skip the butt sex part. ahaha..)

Castles

As I enjoy posing, I will continue to pretend that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to music. I probably wouldn't take my opinion to heart because I'm not, in essence, 'qualified' to critique anything. Yet, I was born with ears, a mouth and a brain and therefore I am able to hear, process and speak my mind and that I do.
I know a lot of people around the globe think Coldplay is fantastic and so, as I make my first attempt to really review an album, I chose something everyone could appreciate.
Somehow I was able to stumble across a leaked copy (which I never usually download) of Castles. I am uneducated in Coldplay history so I was unsure as to when this album was released or was to be released but the tag said 2006 so I trusted the stranger.

I'll keep this very simple and blunt because I hardly have much to say about how boring this album is and how repetitive it seems. When I think of Coldplay what usually comes to my head is catchy piano rock riffs and originally catchy tracks (such as Yellow). In Castles there is hardly that. It starts off with a more mellow, piano rock-esque Coldplay but eventually dies down and fades into four live tracks. A couple of the tracks, especially No more keeping my feet on the ground, sound exactly like previously released Coldplay songs. Castles also features two songs from their first EP, Brothers and Sisters.
Fortunately, it's not all that bad. The songs are actually good and a clear display that Coldplay will indeed maintain their popularity. Obviously Coldplay has talent, and can write lyrics and play their instruments but where is the entertainment? Art can only take you so far boys. There is nothing unique or mind-blowing about their new CD. There are no songs that stand out to you or get stuck in your head. There are no songs that make you want to turn up the volume and sing along, or just even turn up the volume. It is a slow paced and mellow album that is perfect background music when you don't really want to listen, but need something playing.
When it comes out and is listened to or if you have also leaked it why not give me some feedback. Agree? Disagree? Let me hear it.

Snoop - a - Loop

Open: Kurrupt and Ice Cube
Headliner: Snoop Dogg
Where: Prospera Place, Kelowna
When: January 14, 2007

Normally, I probably wouldn't really think about spending money or time on Snoop Dogg but when free box seats come available I reconsidered. My boss decided to surprise the staff with a private box (which we shared with Okanagan Springs) to see the man himself Snoop with Ice Cube has the opening act. I'm mildly excited because I mean, even though I am not a Snoop Dogg fan… it's still Snoop. Enough said.
The staff meets at Andy's house and because everyone had gotten extremely wasted the night before, a riotous evening of alcohol wasn't looking promising. There were a few people though, who drank excessively but well, I'll leave that at that.
Once inside the building, we hustled around to find our box and missed bits of some random rap guy who opened for the openers opener. We took our seats, checked things out, and watched a thousand people all get baked and then Kurrupt came on.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't have high expectations for this show which was good because personally, as much fun as I had the sound was pretty terrible. You couldn't understand a single thing the guys were yelling and even when no music was jamming in the background they were still impossible to understand. That aside, Kurrupt put on a decent show and was wearing probably the largest shirt I have ever seen in my life. We had some good laughs at this and danced a little.

Intermission.

The sound gets no better when Ice Cube rolls out but what is better is that its Ice Cube. I don't know any of his music, but one song I do know is Straight Outta Compton. Which is officially one of the songs that I count in my top songs heard live. Another song I knew was the overplayed put your ass into it (or whatever its called). His act was a little bit better, but not by much. One thing that was amazing, and I won't lie it was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen, was the only stage prop Ice decided to use. Before busting out a Westside Connections beat, a large inflatable hand representing the Westside rises from the far side of the stage. The actually size of this balloon, I'm not sure but it was definitely ridiculous and I loved it.

Another intermission.

To get everyone revved up on Snoop Dogg the stage crew begins raising this huge banner with a badass picture of the man, surrounded by script that says 'Tales from the Crip' and 'Rhythm Gangster'. Again, sound problems. I can't understand a word he says but at least I knew more Snoop songs that anyone else so it was easy to get into. I was stoked on the Fuck the Police and of course the singles like Drop it like it's hot, What's my name, Beautiful and that Dr. Dre song. The Snoop show was pretty damn funny. First he was wearing the weirdest outfit but I can't even put into words the size of the joint he was smoking. I was under the impression that it would be illegal for all these rap guys to tell everyone to get high and at one point even throw little blunts into the crowd but I guess no one cares because its Snoop.
A little tribute to Tupac happened, which was really stellar. Snoop got the whole audience involved on so many levels that he had everyone hot boxing Prospera by the time the show was over. And for his last song pretty much had the crowd singing him off stage.
So sound sucked, but the show was pretty fun. It was easy to get into and we danced a little. Random people dancing on the stage, inflatable hands, sooooooooo much weed and trampy K-town girls. I don't think I'd ever pay to go again, but I was definitely an experience and I'm glad I'm able to tell people I saw the man.

Brandon

Open: Albert Hammond Jr.
Headliner: Incubus!
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theater, Vancouver
When: January 5, 2007

It's been two months and five days since I started my countdown to what I knew would be the most amazing night of my life. It had been two months of stress, tears, pure agony and excitement but it all led up to a huge moment in my life. The Incubus concert. I was stressed because my parents didn't want me to drive and we going to try to force me to fly, which in turn made me cry because I couldn't afford to fly so the thought of missing the concert made me miserable. On top of that, the person I was supposed to go with couldn't and it wasn't until eight days before the show that I was able to get a partner. So, with two concert tickets and two greyhound tickets that my parents paid for (stellar!) we were on our way to stay in a dirty old hostel and rock our faces off while keeping a killer drunk buzz all day long.
Chanel and I role out of bed at the ass crack of dawn and prep ourselves for an 8am bus ride. We are running a little behind so our plan to have breakfast almost fell through but luckily another bus left at nine, so we enjoyed about five cups of coffee and an incredible breakfast. We get on the bus, and nothing really exciting happened except for the fact that we drank Pepsi and Ginger ale bottles full of bourbon and got pretty licked. Only, we passed out half way there and were totally sober when we woke up. We slept most of the ride but once Chanel's Ipod died I was forced to share and that led to a mini two-person rock show in our seats. Finally, we cool it on the music and talk a little.
Off the bus we go, and into the terminal. Starving I get my sixth cup of coffee from the day mow on some sushi. We head out and catch a cab. Our driver was probably one of the raddest people we met all trip. Just some old dude chatting to us about living life to fast and how everyone should slow down a little. I felt, it was totally relevant to our trip because Chanel and I were on a whim just living for the moment and doing something I have been dying to do for almost ten years. He yapped about the Himalayas a bit and meditation and then dropped us off leaving us more than amped for the evening.
We check in and for some reason I still feel drunk even though I'm not, but maybe I was. To remember our password, we related it to an old Emerica add we had seen before and shouted 'Stay Gold' all night hoping that even in a drunken stooper we wouldn't get locked out. Up to the room, which, delightfully happened to be across the way from the boy's washroom, which, delightfully, smelled like rotting ass when we got there. I have to unlock the door, while Chanel hides around the corner until I give her the go to hold her breath and run for it. Once safely inside, we investigate. Cum stain on the blanket, some random unidentifiable stains on the mattress and best of all, a bum digging for empties right beneath our window.
We dress, we drink what we referred to as Death Bombs (which were basically small pop bottles three quarters full of bourbon) and shot gunned some Pilsner and then made our way to Cambie Street for the show.
It was pouring rain so hard that my sweater was soaked through completely but I was to drunk and excited to care so we trucked along and got followed by a scary dude at one point. Once at the venue, we stealth maneuvered my digital camera into the building and probably only got away with it because the security guard was over searching us once they found a tampon in Chanel's pocket. Awesome.
We're in. I get some sick merch and we start boozing it again. Six dollars a beer didn't stop us. We are mad text messaging people and chatting with the second coolest person we met all trip, the bartender. We talk about Incubus, which gave me a chance to sound like a loser. Chanel and I moved over to the stairs where we talked to some people about Incubus tattoos and a start throwing out random high fives. We drank, had a deep existential conversation and then watched the opening act. Quick no substance review: Alberta Hammond Jr. (guitar player from the Strokes)I didn't really listen much, but he was pretty damn good. Just some good upbeat tunes and some pretty randomly hilarious lyrics (regarding picking up pigeon shit with your hands...) and just overall enjoyable. Good lights too.

Anyways…

More drinking and finally the moment I had waited for. Flashback: Ten years ago my step bro gave me an Incubus EP and since then, I've been hooked. Since I was friggen ten years old, I have been in love with this band. I'm twenty now, so when Incubus walked out on stage and started playing A Kiss to send of us I balled my eyes out. Like… actual sobbing.

The line up (and no in this order because I don't even remember and I'm probably missing songs) consisted of…
A Kiss to Send of us, Stellar, Sick Sad Little World, Talk show on Mute, Drive, Megalomaniac, Earth to Bella pt. 1, Earth to Bella pt. 2, Dig, Anna Molly, Out from Under, Quicksand, New Skin, Blood on the Ground, Wish you were here and Echo.


Basically, every song fucking ruled. We were not only in the greatest venue I've ever been in before but I was totally surrounded by madness. The small room, that seated only two hundred people made feeding off the energy so easy. EVERYONE in the room was on their feet and singing along to every word. This is probably why my tears were so intense. I screamed along to a kiss to send of us and I could hardly see straight when they started playing Stellar. The moment that familiar sound came on Chanel looked at me and knew what this meant. My vision was so blurry from crying so much during stellar and singing along that when it was done I couldn't breath. (Stellar is my favorite song of all time, just so you know.) But enough about me crying and more about the show. The line up was awesome. I love Light Grenades but hearing older Incubus songs instead of just the new ones made it even better. The light show was fantastic and the acoustics were sooo damn good. The tiny venue made it so nothing echoed in a bad way, nothing bumped in a bad way… the bass sounded so god damn good and Brandon Boyd wasn't over powered by any instrument. I don't even know what to say other than wow. I have been to many concerts and none of them have been this good. None of them have of course had any emotional attachment to them either but that's beside the point. The point is, if you are a non fan (just like Chanel was) you will be after seeing them.

*End Transmission.

Ok, so after the concert Chanel and I walked to this place called the Cellar, which was sleazy. I got my boobs grabbed twice, and we just got grinded up against by so many random guys that Chanel and I pretended we were married. Which was funny. We had to pay ten dollars cover each, fifteen dollars for two jager bombs, eleven dollars for two Kokanee and eight dollars for two waters. This place was so effin expensive and not entirely worth it but the music was good and the dancing was fun.
After the cellar we hiked back up three flights of stairs and into our room. Chanel proceeded to break the bed, which meant we had to sleep back to back because of the massive dip in the middle of the bed. We drank a little more, smoked a little bit and talked about insanely random things while looking out the window of our room. Finally we were beat. My technology and I curled up into bed and passed out only to wake up shortly after by text messages and alarm clocks.
Back to the bus station again we go, after waiting forty five minutes for a cab and having the grossest breakfast rotting in our stomachs. Chanel looses her ticket, has to by a new one and WE BARELY make it onto our bus. Which, missing it could have been good a thing because our driver had clearly been smoking rocks before hand and we had to watch the Lady Killers but the bus was bumping so much that the movie was flashing on and off the screen. But, missing it would have been bad because on the bus we met a random that was also at the show and wanted to swap pictures!
So now its over, and I sort of want to cry about it.