AMP Magazine Interview: Most under-rated album and current favorite album.[views:3412][posts:2]_______________________________________ [Jul 7,2007 3:25pm - NippleViolater ""] The following is an interview I did for an upcoming Aug./Sept. "Back to School" Issue of AMP magazine. What would you have said?? (I'm sure they'll only publish a sentence or two, if anything.):NEWHORNS::middlefinger: 1.)What do you think is the most over-looked, or under-appreciated record in punk-rock�s past, and why�? To me, Dissolve�s �Dismantle� album has been highly under-appreciated and over-looked. I believe it came out in 1995 or 1996 on Elevator Music Records but I could be wrong. Dissolve was from upstate New York and on their album, �Dismantle,� they combined metal, hardcore, and punk elements unlike anyone before or after them. The music is undoubtedly rooted in metal with its tuned-down, sludgy guitar sound and its excellent use of double bass. Yet, the experimentation Dissolve uses in its songwriting draws a great deal from many avant-garde hardcore bands of the nineties such as Bloodlet and Deadguy. The album�s also full of breakdowns that any hardcore kid would have to be lobotomized not to whip a spin kick to. The vocals were the most surprising aspect of the disc when I first heard the CD. They�re completely punk in sound and lyrical content. The vocalist�s screams twist and wreath throughout the music, nasally and angry as hell. At the time �Dismantle� came out, I was steeped in straight-edge hardcore and almost all early Victory record releases so wasn�t used to hearing such intelligent, enraged, high-pitched vocals and lyrics about life as we know it, the status quo, supposed social norms, 9-5 jobs, lying governments, etc. I was blessed to see them live once sometime around �97 or �98 and they blew me away. The singer looked like Charles Manson and the rest of the band looked liked they�d be more comfortable playing in Malevolent Creation or Cannibal Corpse so, needless to say, their stage presence left a huge impression on me. I loved it. I still listen to the CD regularly and, when writing for the_network., I�m not ashamed to say I�ve tried to rip-off a part or two. Nowadays, its only old timers like myself (27 yrs old is Grandpa status in this scene) and serious music snobs that remember Dissolve�s �Dismantle,� which is unfortunate because that album paved the way for all the best heavy music around today. Do yourself a favor, track down Dissolve�s �Dismantle� or kneel down to the heavenly body that now decides the fates of so many musical efforts; myspace.com. www.myspace.com/dissolveusa A wise man once said that any popular music serves to attract the lowest common denominator, and is thusly dumbed-down, an idea that may be applicable to Dissolve�s musical career. Dissolve had the balls to sound different than their peers, and they may have paid the price for it in a form of exclusion. To tell you the truth, I�m beginning to feel that my band may be headed in the same direction, but some smart ass will write about the_network ten years from now and hopefully have similar kind words to share. 2.) If there is a record that really is doing it for you right now, write a review of it, or just a little paragraph about why you like it so much, or why it impresses you. Be it a brand new record that hasn�t even come out yet, or just rediscovering JAWBREAKER�s first album after years of forgetting how great it is. I love nothing better than getting a record that I can listen to from start to finish, over and over, an album that unmercifully keeps my attention, and one that reveals new secrets to me every time I listen to it. Right now, El-P�s �I�ll Sleep When You�re Dead,� is that album. El-P�s a New Yorker and that fact is evident in every second of the record, (here I go using the stale, tired adjectives every hack reviewer has in his or her template) it�s gritty, honest, heavy, intelligent, original, and ground-breaking. �I�ll Sleep When You�re Dead,� has all the ridiculous �boom-bap� shit that helped guerilla hip-hop into the minds of mainstream America in the early eighties as well as all the fancy new school bells and whistles that makes every hipster in glasses and a backpack hail it as a masterpiece. Those two elements aren�t enough though. It�s not the fact that ISWYD has the right ingredients, but that they�re cooked by a master chef. There�s nothing on the record that�s there just for the sake of being there. Whether El-P meant to or not, every sound on the CD belongs where it is, which is so rare these days (especially in hip-hop). When I hop in my piece of shit car, I just push play with the knowledge that ISWYD is in the deck. There�s also a bunch of hip featured artists on the album including Trent Reznor, The Mars Volta, label mates Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Cage, and more. The CD�s just pissed! Get your mind right and get it. Don�t download it, get off your right-clickin� ass, go to a record store, and trade currency for goods. |
| _____________________________________________ [Jul 7,2007 11:40pm - the_network_booking ""] Well played! |
| _____________________________________________ [Jul 7,2007 11:41pm - the_network_booking ""] 7/7/07 |