VILE VIDEO #1

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DO YOU WORSHIP SATAN ?

Alright, this is a long time coming. After numerous problems getting an .mp4 file to upload properly onto Ourmedia's network, blip.tv performs like a champ in two clicks. This is a small bit of a tenative compilation video I've wanted to do forever, currently titled Vile Video. I've been unearthing a goldmine of VHS treasures, including a wonderful 20-minute clip of four Iowa City freshman talking about FAC in an anti-binge drinking video that keeps me warm on cold winter nights.

Clips from #1 feature thrown-away promotional music videos from KRUI-TV, tv spots, Lost & Found Series, and an unexpected copy of Meatballs III that my eight year old brain was somehow smart enough to tape in between episodes of Monday Night Raw.

I'm not gonna go and pretend that I'm the expert on this new fangled genre called "dubstep," but it looks like, or maybe already is the next grime. I have no judgement or radar on what's the proverbial hot shit in the UK clubs or underground soundsystems or whatever they're called, but the stuff I've heard so far that gets tagged as dubstep sounds pretty silky smooth.

Based on the almighty Wikipedia's entry on the genre, it seems to share space with the tradition of reggae soundclashes, but doesn't yet have the kind of infamy grime possessed right out of the gate (i.e. Dizzee Rascal getting shot before his album dropped stateside). Musically, I'd go with saying that it sounds a tad like an instrumental version of grime, but I'll go one better (or worse?) and admit I couldn't help but think of trip-hop stalwarts like Massive Attack/Portishead/Coldcut, etc etc etc. Hopefully dubstep stays on the righteous path and doesn't succumb to the oversaturated blandness of trip-hop, like showing up on Starbucks mixes and Global Mega Chill boxsets.

Below is what I guess is a rather well known dubstep track called "Midnight Request Line" by Skream, whose like 19 and a big mover and shaker over there. Also, the track "Glass" by Kode9 + The Spaceape totally reminds me of that downtempo Rockers Hi-Fi song used in the Topher Grace freebase scene from Traffic, so therefore I still think it sounds really cool and futuristic.

Skream- "Midnight Request Line"

Kode9 + The Spaceape- "Glass"

HOTOTOGISU

Finally just started to get some homework done on this band. Most of my love of all things drone can be traced back to the Kranky label and in particular the dreamy atmospheres of Stars of the Lid, but once those VU meters start to hit red, I usually lump it into the noise pile. I guess you could call Hototogisu a concoction of amplified ambient drone, buzzed psychedelia, and doom-minded improv. If I were to belittle the music by breaking it down into film analogies (which happens a lot), it sounds like Ira Cohen directing a remake of some kind of Japanese cyber punk movie.

Hototogisu is a side project from Marcia Bassett of the Brooklyn-based outfit Double Leopards and the ever-prolific Matthew Bower. Named after a Japanese songbird that signals the approaching summer, it's not too hard to imagine the deep cuts from the group's first effort Floating Japanese Oof! Gardens of the 21st Century soundtracking the dog days of late August, reclining on sticky asphalt with sweaty eyebrows. Flousrishing in the deep blue end of the psych/drone pool, the first cut from side A offers gently-plucked tone guitar, distant radio transmissions creeping in and out, and chimming silver bells, all undercut by wandering feedback that threatens to takeover at a moment's notice.

Not that it's a bad thing, but Floating appears to be an anomaly when examining the entire Hototogisu discography. Albums like Prayer Rug Exorcism and Green are shrouded in heavy blankets of abstract guitar blasts, veering more into Sunn 0)))-type levels of low-end, gutteral noise, ultimately akin to turning a Double Leopards record up REALLY FUCKING LOUD.

Hototogisu's latest blast can be found on Important Records, a sizable East Coast label that will hopefully allow the group's notoriety to expand for those only moderately familiar with Bower and Bassett's day jobs.

Official Site

Hototogisu- Side A Track 1 (from Floating Gardens)

Hototogisu- Ascend on Blackened Wings (from Green)