Battle of the Bands

[Otohiko]

The next person who saves/kills someone to the hall of fame/shame, put in "Novembre" as the band.

So we have another good band in there?

I vote for Sum 41 or Blink 182 as next band.

I vote for William Hung

[Fall_Child42]

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 18
Dog Fashion Disco - 26
Buckethead - 22 KILL
Equilibrium - 10
Boris - 20 SAVE
Mastodon - 28


I know and like Buckethead, but compared to the others, he's the weakest imo.

Fix'd (note the error I originally made in my second vote today, which I "fix'd" in the quoted post above)

Ehh.... Buckethead >>> Boris, in my view.

At the risk of being politically incorrect and generalizing too much, I find that Japan produces a lot of sterile instrumentalists. It might be a cultural thing - and actually, I find that Japanese instrumentalists have good discipline and combine very well with European and American musicians, but on their own have a real deficiency in terms of chops and intensity. They do make up for it in one way - they have a good sense of subtlety and texture. Which is why genres like shoegaze and post-[whatever] are very popular in Japan, I find - and I dislike both; a more appropriate term for them would be navelgaze and post-intelligent, attempting to find depth in mind-numbing monotony and cliched dynamics, which in my view are just ways to mask a lack of chops and a restricted compositional mindset. The alternative to this in Japanese music is assaulting the listener with fuck-your-mom's-ears wall of noise and banging, which is again reflected in two popular streams in Japan - noise music and Japanese varieties of extreme metal. Again, masks lack of chops and a restricted compositional mindset.

Boris (and several other Japanese bands I know, like my brother's favorite 'post-hardcore' band Envy) do both texturist navelgazing and wall-of-noise banging - and are thoroughly underwhelming in either one. They have interesting ideas but are relatively poor instrumentalists. And they also have completely horrid sound design. If Steve Wilson ran a bootcamp for sound design/production, I'd send them there pronto, they need it bad.

Buckethead, meanwhile, has 4x more chops, compositional talent and 'soul' than the two guitar players (if you count the wacky 2-neck bassist) in Boris combined. Nay, I'll even say that Buckethead has more chops, compositional talent and 'soul' than all guitarists in the current lineup combined! and I'm not even that much of a Buckethead fan. He's just a solid instrumentalist, a very good composer, and has a thoroughly refined taste for electric guitar sound.

I also must disagree, Merzbow, Japan's most prolific noise musician has exceedingly complex soundscapes. Especially in his later albums like merzbuddha or merzbear the layering has a heavy jazz influence, and although it may not seem like it takes a lot of technical skill, the though and planning that went into these works is intense. It is not simply a random cacophony.

[Fall_Child42]

The next person who saves/kills someone to the hall of fame/shame, put in "Novembre" as the band.

So we have another good band in there?

I vote for Sum 41 or Blink 182 as next band.

I vote for William Hung

William Hung is a genius.

[Otohiko]

1) This is why I said "at the risk of generalizing" - although I'm not completely sold on noise yet either. On that of course, I'm open about my structural bias toward music and art in general; I may be open-minded but I do have a lot of pre-dispositions which in my case are almost innate (I was exposed to complex, highly structured music from a specific set of traditions - both composed and improvised - pretty much from birth).

2) Yup. Why'd you think I voted for him?

[Fall_Child42]

1) This is why I said "at the risk of generalizing" - although I'm not completely sold on noise yet either. On that of course, I'm open about my structural bias toward music and art in general; I may be open-minded but I do have a lot of pre-dispositions which in my case are almost innate (I was exposed to complex, highly structured music from a specific set of traditions - both composed and improvised - pretty much from birth).

2) Yup. Why'd you think I voted for him?

Merzbow cited a wide range of influences from various progressive rock artists such as Frank Zappa and King Crimson to Japanese bondage.

Now you gotta like him! :O

and apparently his named stemmed from a work from a well know German Dada artist. (he is a fan of dadaism)


This is the Merzbau by Kurt Schwitters
Apparently this was built in 6 rooms of his parents house.


also I suppose I should do this

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 16
Dog Fashion Disco - 32
Buckethead - 20 (save)
Equilibrium - 12
Boris - 22(kill)
Mastodon - 22

[LeapofFate]

The next person who saves/kills someone to the hall of fame/shame, put in "Novembre" as the band.

So we have another good band in there?

I vote for Sum 41 or Blink 182 as next band.

I vote for William Hung

Screw that

All American Rejects XD

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14 KILL
Dog Fashion Disco - 32
Buckethead - 22 (save)
Equilibrium - 12
Boris - 22
Mastodon - 22

[xexyzl]

Screw that

All American Rejects XD

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14 KILL
Dog Fashion Disco - 32
Buckethead - 22 (save)
Equilibrium - 12
Boris - 22
Mastodon - 22

This thread made me rage so much.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14
Dog Fashion Disco - 32
Buckethead - 22
Equilibrium - 14 SAVE
Boris - 20 KILL
Mastodon - 22

[Orwell]

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14
Dog Fashion Disco - 34 save
Buckethead - 20 Kill
Equilibrium - 14
Boris - 20
Mastodon - 22

[Otohiko]

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14
Dog Fashion Disco - 34 save
Buckethead - 20 Kill
Equilibrium - 14
Boris - 20
Mastodon - 22

You're making it very hard for me to love you.

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14
Dog Fashion Disco - 34
Buckethead - 22 SAVE
Equilibrium - 14
Boris - 18 KILL
Mastodon - 22

[Vivaldi]

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - 14
Dog Fashion Disco - 34
Buckethead - 24 SAVE
Equilibrium - 14
Boris - 18
Mastodon - 20 KILL