That is all that needs to be said
Thursday 6 December 2007
Saturday 1 December 2007
Mirrored, Tonto, Battles
Since I've been at University I've been going through a complete music dead zone. I don't have a computer, and the CD player in my Hi-Fi broke long ago.
However, I do have three CDs that I took with me (literally, five minutes before I was set to go, I realised I didn't have any music to take with me, so I grabbed the first CDs I could find). Two of these have since gone missing, and I don't listen to the remaining one I have. But, before it sprouted little chromatic-reflecting silicone legs and sauntered off down the hall, Mirrored by Battles was my favorite.
Tonto, the fourth track. It is a prime example of why Battles are such a special band at the moment; the slow start and wavey parralels with the seperate instruments that don't quite slot in around each other, with a innocent tambourine pretending to keep time in the background. Then, forty-odd seconds in, the drums start, and it dovetails into music, and not just noise.
The percussion on Mirrored is probably the most important contribution to the album. Battles should be one of the most important bands at the moment, for their complete tangent to the majority of the music that's on the shelves, notably for three things: the drums' synergy with the rest of the instruments, the use of vocals as an instrument and not as a lyrical-delivery device, and lastly, the sheer force of Battles' music.
Mirrored is worth a listen, because it's approaching something very new, when there's so little that is.
However, I do have three CDs that I took with me (literally, five minutes before I was set to go, I realised I didn't have any music to take with me, so I grabbed the first CDs I could find). Two of these have since gone missing, and I don't listen to the remaining one I have. But, before it sprouted little chromatic-reflecting silicone legs and sauntered off down the hall, Mirrored by Battles was my favorite.
Tonto, the fourth track. It is a prime example of why Battles are such a special band at the moment; the slow start and wavey parralels with the seperate instruments that don't quite slot in around each other, with a innocent tambourine pretending to keep time in the background. Then, forty-odd seconds in, the drums start, and it dovetails into music, and not just noise.
The percussion on Mirrored is probably the most important contribution to the album. Battles should be one of the most important bands at the moment, for their complete tangent to the majority of the music that's on the shelves, notably for three things: the drums' synergy with the rest of the instruments, the use of vocals as an instrument and not as a lyrical-delivery device, and lastly, the sheer force of Battles' music.
Mirrored is worth a listen, because it's approaching something very new, when there's so little that is.
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Full Circle
I like Bungie because they make you work for the plot. Halo 3 hides the groundwork of the unanswered questions throughout the game, in the terminals that are so reminicient of Bungie's other opus, Marathon.
It's very Marathon, is Halo. The level "Cortana" is designed such to trap the Marathonite into thinking that the eponymous character has gone down that same hole Durandal went down. The first segment is named "Rampancy", the utterances in the interludes between the violence illustrate verbatim those three stages. However, to know that, you'd have had to have played Marathon, and paid attention to the Terminals in that, too. Which I'm not so sure many people did.
You can't appreciate Halo without Marathon. Marathon was the forerunner (heh) to the modern videogaming tradition, under the guise of the shooter. Doom was there first, but Marathon brought so much more. Existentialism through emotionally expanding AI, the tripartite division of the soul, and other high culture.
Halo is Marathon for the console generation. This doesn't mean it's "bad", just not as good.
S/Cooke
It's very Marathon, is Halo. The level "Cortana" is designed such to trap the Marathonite into thinking that the eponymous character has gone down that same hole Durandal went down. The first segment is named "Rampancy", the utterances in the interludes between the violence illustrate verbatim those three stages. However, to know that, you'd have had to have played Marathon, and paid attention to the Terminals in that, too. Which I'm not so sure many people did.
You can't appreciate Halo without Marathon. Marathon was the forerunner (heh) to the modern videogaming tradition, under the guise of the shooter. Doom was there first, but Marathon brought so much more. Existentialism through emotionally expanding AI, the tripartite division of the soul, and other high culture.
Halo is Marathon for the console generation. This doesn't mean it's "bad", just not as good.
S/Cooke
Introductions
This will be the new log. I will write in it, regularly. Since the other was compromised, this one will serve as a new hub of my thoughts.
S/Cooke
S/Cooke
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)