Back to Back Albums: Violet Cold - Desperate Dreams

Euphoric black metal from Azerbaijan?

Seriously, what kind of a fucked up description is that? Black metal shouldn't be euphoric, should it? It should be grim and cold. Which is the opposite of what Azerbaijan is like.

And you know what's even more fucked up? The fact that Desperate Dreams is actually a really good album. This type of thing should not work, not on paper and not in practice, but somehow the whole “euphoric” element of this album not only succeeds, but establishes Violet Cold as a unique musical entity that can get international acclaim, a metallic entity which Azerbaijan has hitherto failed to produce.

I'm not the biggest fan of jolly music; I typically like mine with loads of aggression or dripping with despair. But the thing is, I don't always feel like running through the streets, shoulder checking the slow moving people who block the metro entrance, nor do I always want to sink into the bowels of an introspective nightmare. And that's where Violet Cold comes into play.

Black Sheep Albums: Neil Young's Trans

"Where did you get it?

"From some guy."

"How much did you pay for it?"

"Just a few dollars."

"Why did you ever decide you wanted it?"

"It sounded interesting!"

The kava was flowing in my veins. The camp fire danced before my eyes. Robots barked and chirped from some puny sound system to the beat of programmed drums. And that series of indignant, accusative questions and honest, yet inadequete replies continued.

This exchange was not between a mother and her wayward teenage child, chiding him/her for purchasing the newest, hippest street drug. This was my friend being grilled by his girlfriend about purchasing Neil Young's Trans. I had seen few albums evoke such a visceral response from anyone. It reminded me a lot of when I'd visit the Exclusive Company as a 6th grader and try to keep such offenisve items as Megadeth's So Far, So Good...So What! from my parents' prying eyes, until I could get past the register.

How could the humble Canadian folk/rock/country musician cause such disharmony? It could have had something to do with the cyborgs trying to speak through the iPhone. The display said it was a Neil Young album, but there was precious little evidence to confirm this.

Nate JacobsAugust 7, 2015black sheep albums, nate jacobs, neil young, tunes, robots, transComment

Back to Back Albums: The Outfield's Play Deep

Summer songs are to be despised. This is my position and I'm sticking to it.

Now, summer albums are a different matter. Play Deep is, for me and many like me, a testament to all that is good and wholesome about the hot months of the year. Each song is an ode to beaches, sun, and fleeting romance. In fact, if you're feeling cold in the bitch months of a freezing Wisconsin winter, Play Deep will raise the relative temperature of your domicile by at least 5 degrees Farenheit.

Nate JacobsJuly 3, 2015back to back albums, nate jacobs, the outfield, play deep, summer, matingComment

(Almost) Back to Back Albums: Genesis - Invisible Touch

Few things are as synonymous with the 1980's for me than Genesis and Phil Collins. I remember hearing many of the hits from this album plyaed from the garage at my uncle's house as my cousins and I ran around in the orchards surrouding it, or heading out to the Donegal Bay beach.

In my college years I checked out Genesis' early stuff, when they were still fronted by Peter Gabriel, and found it fascinating for the most part, and at times mindnumbingly bizarre. Though they were never as far out there as Syd Barret-era Pink Floyed, even well structured masterpieces as Foxtrot and Nusery Crime had moments that were simply beyond comprehension. Apart from the debut album, Trespass, the power trio of drummer Phil Collins, guitarist/bassist Michael Rutherford, and keyboardist Tony Banks had remained the sole constant to this point in Genesis' history. Following the departure of Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins stepped out from behind the kit and took up the mic.

While the change from avant-garde rock group to the space age pop present on Invisible Touch was by no means an overnight process, it was evident by the time of their 1980 album, Duke, that they were destined for radio glory. Abacab and the self-titled 1983 album furthered this tradition, but kept the prog rock firmly in place, with odd keyboard flourishes and complex drumming. Invisible Touch is where the process is fully streamlined to the extent that the songs flow like poppy shit from a duck's ass...at least for the first half of the album.

N.P. YuggothApril 22, 2015n.p. yuggoth, genesis, phil collins, invisible touch, back to back albums, in too deepComment

Black Sheep Albums: Kiss' The Elder

Kiss mildly scared me as a child. Their evil Kabuki warrior make-up and devil music was a recipe for disaster, as I already hated clowns. By chance I saw their film, Kiss Meets the Phantom, which is a modern remake of The Phantom of the Opera, with a bunch of changes, most importantly Kiss running around an amusement park which is being terrorized by an evil scientist. That was another thing that scared me: amusement parks, and fairs. From a very early age, I had an innate, visceral hatred of carnies and circus people, always imagining that behind the facade of sawdust and elephant piss there were dirty miscreants spiraling down to new depths of decadence, like that "Rectum" bar at the end of the French movie Irreversible.

Nate JacobsApril 5, 2015KISS, black sheep albums, nate jacobs, the elderComment

How Sir Mix-a-Lot Changed My Paradigm (Life Changing Epiphanies and Redemption Through "Baby Got Back")

With all the talk about butts on this site, I figured it was time to throw in my two cents. Hell, if Maloney, Jacobs, and Zambezi can do it, than so shall I. Maybe some day we can change the name to Food and Booty.

I can remember that cold ass winter really well. It was the winter I discovered girls and music. Most specifically, Guns N' Roses and Metallica, mostly because I had seen how girls reacted to their slow songs, but the heavy stuff really got me hoooked. It was like trying Mike's Hard Lemonade at some party, and having that lead to drinking vodka and absinthe, which is about what happened to me (another story). I was about to get schooled in rap and the secrets of female anatomy.

N.P. YuggothMarch 31, 2015n.p. yuggoth, sir mix-a-lot, hip hop, butts, booty, ass, rear end Comment

Black Sheep Albums: Judas Priest's Turbo

ay, way back in the day, before I really started to get into Judas Priest, Turbo was probably the most infamous metal album I had ever heard of. Various scary words were tossed about to describe it:

DRUM MACHINES

SYNTHESIZERS

POP MELODIES

DISCO BEATS

Shit, any metal band throwing those things on an album was pretty much suicide, I thought.

Nate JacobsMarch 30, 2015black sheep albums, judas priest, turbo, nate jacobs, metalComment

Black Sleep Albums: Black Sabbath's Never Say Die

Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine once said that Never Say Die was his favourite Black Sabbath album. Dave's pretty nutty, and Never Say Die! is arguably the weakest of the seminal Black Sabbath output (with Ozzy, that is), but that's not to say this album is without merit.

I remember hearing the title track on an Ozzy's Speak of the Devil live album. My high school bud, Sam, had sold it to me for $5, and I just remember thinking, "this doesn't sound like Sabbath at all." Apart from the compelling chorus, the rest of the track sounds like an upbeat Thin Lizzy song, most particularly "the Boys are Back in Town," which never did much for me. So I bought almost all the other Sabbath albums but this, leaving my other friend, Max, to buy every single goddamn Sabbath album. I asked him about this one, and he said it wasn't too good. I stayed away. Let sleeping dogs lie, right?

Nate JacobsMarch 28, 2015black sheep albums, black sabbath, never say die, nate jacobs, metalComment

Scorpions: Savage Amusement (Or Let's Fuck)

Admittedly, I'm not the biggest Scorpions fan there is, especially when compared to the denizens of various Eastern European countries, I've got a small space in my black heart where they live and breathe. In my youth, I remember hearing "Rock You Like a Hurricane" on the rock radio my dad always used to listen to, and of course "Wind of Change" juxtaposed over images of the Berlin Wall coming down. Still, they didn't really appeal to me; their cheesy sexual innuendos, delivered in slightly less than perfect English by a Black Forest dwarf seemed ridiculous, in that creepy German way that gave us the Church of Fudge and other classics of the scheiße genre. I associated sexy girls with Guns N' Roses' "November Rain," and fun with Megadeth and Metallica. Then, when some of my favourite guitarists cited Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth as major influences, I thought that I should give the Scorpions a try. I was pleasantly surprised to find a discography filled with bitchin' riffs.

The real kicker came in April my sophomore year, when I lost my virginity to my Swedish girlfriend. I had incidentally purchased their best hits compilation Deadly Sting: the Mercury Years around that time, which became the soundtrack to my adventures in poontang. Afterall, I couldn't blast Prodigy or Slayer to keep the delicate sounds of muffslamming reaching the tender ears of my younger siblings, for they were too hard for the Swedish girl. And besides, girls shouldn't like Prodigy or Slayer, anyway. Not girfriend material ones, at least, and I stand by my convictions to this day.

Anyway, the Scorpions are, in my humble opinion, the consistently best band to fuck to.

N.P. YuggothMarch 17, 2015n.p. yuggoth, scorpions, sex music, sex, savage amusementComment

Back to Back Records: Afterburner by ZZ Top

I've got very strong feelings about ZZ Top's Eliminator. Along with Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms, I heard it played constantly at Digger's and the Bayside way back in the day. Just opening bars of "Legs" or "Sharp Dressed Man" can bring back the taste of those kick ass turkey sandwiches, or the seafood chowder. Eliminator is also bar none the perfect music for getting jiggy with it: it's never too fast, heavy, or sappy. The ladies can really shake it to the computerized beats, and the guys aren't forced to embrace their feminine side as the riffs reek of stale beer and exhaust. It is my firm conviction that Eliminator has been responsible for many, many pregnancies, and I'm absolutely sure that one of my friends back home was conceived to it.

Having said that, I prefer the 1985 follow-up album, Afterburner. While it is true that the Texan trio stepped further away from their blues roots and incorporated more drum machines and synthesizers into their formula, I find Afterburner to be the superior album. As a child of the 80's, I'm always going to be drawn to cheesy, overproduced music, as long as it's got big drums, vintage 80's space age technology, and at least one mandatory slow song, so this should come as no surprise.

This album is like a gritty Texas strip club dropped into Mad Max and Maximum Overdrive. Machines are threatening to take over, and humanity hangs in the balance, but then along comes the bearded posse that is ZZ Top to impregnate as many remaining females as possible. Not surprisingly, you'll find a lot of not-so-thinly-veiled sexual innuendos and a song that would have been perfect for a middle school dance all mixed with driving beats and killer riffs.

Nate JacobsJanuary 18, 2015nate jacobs, zz top, back to back records, rock, afterburner Comment

Back to Back Records: Heartbeat City by The Cars

Recently reading another article on this site which mentioned the Cars, I knew I had to write about this great album. The Cars were, and are, a pretty weird band. Just look at frontman Ric Ocasek's gaunt, goofy image, the simple album covers, or the super cheesey synth provided by Greg Hawkes. While they are probably known best as a New Wave band and their eponymous debut, The Cars' 1984 album, Heartbeat City, is easily my favourite, and a quintessential 80's album.

On previous albums, the Cars' sound was rooted in simple rock and roll structures, sometimes borrowing from 50's and 60s bubblegum pop, and given a unique spin with Ocasek's trademark stuttering delivery and Hawke's goofy keyboards. Here, the Cars enter the pseudo-space age of the 80's, with a massive production courtesy of Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who also produced Def Leppard's smash album, Hysteria. You will find a lot of similiarities between the two albums, particularily in the programmed drums and synth.

Heartbeat City really shines with this seemingly bizarre combination. It's like I Love Lucy drinking milkshakes on a space station imagined by Andy Warhol--exactly what the future sounded like in 1984. Music videos from this masterpiece feature freaks, 1980's cutting edge technology and even input from Warhol himself. And let's not forget Ocasek's bizarre lyrics, which he never explained. Unlike output by fellow 80's groups like the Talking Heads and the Police, the Cars always knew how to balance the poetic and artistic with accessibility.

Nate JacobsJanuary 2, 2015back to back, back to back albums, nate jacobs, the cars, heartbeat cityComment

Back to Back Records: Elizium by Fields of Nephilim

Though being morbidly attracted to nearly anything bizarre and even creepy, I cannot call myself a goth by any stretch of the imagination. Nor can I say that I'm a big fan of "gothic" culture. It was for this very reason that I missed out on quite a bit of good music for a long time, and the two excellent bands which are Sisters of Mercy and the truely amazing Fields of the Nephilim. It took two of my favourite bands, Behemoth and Watain, to convince me to check out their work, namely their 1990 album, Elizium.

Enjoying the same production team and a similar to sound to Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason (an unusual, but wonderful Floyd album in its own right), Fields of the Nephilim's third album brings their atmospheric approach to rock to new heights, and I dare say to the heavens themselves. To call this "goth rock" would be a real misnomer; though there are echoey vocals and murky atmosphere's everywhere, there's more than enough light to go around. It's the equivalent of a foggy day where the sun is always just on the verge of breaking through. It really makes me yearn for the day when I can get a good turntable, nice speakers, and a free night all to myself (and possibly likeminded individuals) to properly savour this masterpiece.

Nate JacobsDecember 14, 2014elizium, fields of nephilim, goth, rock, tunes, nate jacobs, back to back recordsComment

Country Music Saved My Soul: A Man Must Carry On

It's easy and almost inviting to forget that life is an active undertaking, one that requires a bit of our attention to be properly, well, undertaken. Of course, life can be taken passively, one has every right to sit around and wait to die. But passivity is a choice, and a choice that is a fundamental contradiction of life itself. Living is forward motion, just ask anyone who has done it. We are born, and a wall starts pushing us towards another until we're smashed to bits and flung like trash back into the cosmos. So what to do if we only live to die? You go out there and you celebrate in the face of certain death, man!

Frank MaloneyNovember 7, 2014cmsms, jerry jeff walker, hondo crouch, a man must carry on, frank maloney, country, music, texasComment

5 Awesome Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Autumn Albums

There's this whole concept of the "summer song," to which I was introduced while performing my first tour of duty as a line cook. Basically, it's some douchey, happy go-lucky song, accompanied with lyrics about summer, parties, and swimming in the lake. While almost everyone can and should enjoy the fruits of summer, summer songs are decidely not my cup of tea. And I'm not alone, if to judge by the reactions of my other fellow cooks of yore. Maybe, I've just got a bunch of negative jackass friends, but summer songs can really grate on one's nerves after about first few measures.

And you can always hear those things coming a mile away. Even in the beginning of May, we'd have the summer song pegged, before the temperature had even breached 70. I can remember working frantically while some of those tunes played over and over that first summer. Luckily, we soon had iPods and Pandora to replace the rickety old stereo and summer songs were soon gone from our lives.

But there's a counterpoint to those saccharine sweet jingles: the fall album. It's the antithesis of a summer song: it's meant for slow enjoyment, relaxation, and reflection. You listen to an autumn album all the way through. There must be a slight touch of melancholy to it, but not hopelessness. No, that's better for winter. And if it features lyrics about autumn or fall themed artwork, then it's a winner.

I can't speak for all genres, and I'm not going to go into extreme metal, so here are my top 5 in the hard rock/heavy metal category.

Nate JacobsNovember 3, 2014autumn, albums, fall, metal, rock, nate, jacobs, nate jacobsComment

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