Hey hey my my rock and roll will never die

     Lately I've gone into a rock music mood. Gaming just seems boring right now. Its been this way for the past couple weeks. I'm taking a long hiatus from gaming and smash tournaments at the moment. When I make my return, its going to be like the Return of the King in The Lord of the Rings. Basically I'll be back with a vengeance and be a bad ass mother fucker. Tournaments need to take a back seat for the moment though for sure. Because I usually work nights I will probably never get to go to Fire and Dice tournaments on Thursday nights unless I request the day off. Requesting a day off just to go to a smash tournament doesn't sound wise financially or in general. Gaming just seems to have gotten boring to me for some reason. But music never gets old.
     I've been listening to a lot of rock, metal, and neo-classical guitar stuff. Right now I'm listening to an album by this guitarist named Vinnie Moore. He's an old 80s shredder dude but he has a ton of feel and swing. On this album he kinda goes overboard with the rock theatrics but it sounds so technical, fast, and good that I'm not bothered by the overwhelming gazoorpazorp of typical shred pentatonic licks. He's still around today and his playing has really taken a step further beyond.
     I've been listening to a lot of new stuff on YouTube. I listened to the entirety of the new Megadeth album called Dystopia and I gotta say that Megadeth sounds great with their new guitarist Kiko Louirea (guitar, Angra) and Chris Adler (drums, Lamb of God). Vocals-wise the band sounds very old, Mustaine's vocals are very grisly and at times when he tries to sing melodically he just doesn't pull it off. Some parts are downright cringe worthy with the vocals but because I like MegaDave so much I can forgive him for sucking at singing. The guitars and the drums are what sets this recording apart from other typical metal bands. The guitar playing is immaculate and the production quality is so well processed. I can listen to everything and it all sounds good, especially the guitar solos. I'm a sucker for guitar solos and I was surprised when Kiko joined Megadeth. Let me say that although Kiko plays stereotypical rock/shred guitar licks and uses a kind of standard 4/4 to the floor kind of phrasing, he is still a master guitarist. Between Chris Broderick (previous lead guitarist for Megadeth) and Kiko I think Kiko has the edge because of more knowledge of other styles like flemenco and jazz. However, let me not put Chris down because his new band called Act of Defiance is a powerful musical beast of its own even without his association with Megadeth.
     I guess you could say that I've been all speed metal and neo-classical guitar licks recently. Malmsteen has been a popular choice. I've always found his music to be thrilling because of the power of the drums, speed of the riffs, and the classical scalar runs. I saw a ton of videos from the Generation Axe tour, which features on guitars Steve Vai, Ywngie Malmsteen, Tosin Abasi, Nunu Bettencourt, and Zakk Wylde. Quite a wide array of guitarists with varying styles. It was cool to see them on YouTube. You can really get a sense of the live show if you're like me and can't afford to see these shows live or can't get to them. I gotta say that Malmsteen has gotten better at the guitar, if that's even possible. You can tell he's been practicing a lot, and not only that but he's lost a lot of weight. My favorite tune he plays is his version of Albioni's Adagio. That tune always gets me because of melody.
     Those other guys are all interesting players but Tosin and Nuno are overlooked in the guitar community. I think Steve Vai is overrated as a player but he's earned the rock star credibility in the 80s when he was playing with David Lee Roth and White Snake. His newer stuff is lightweight new age guitar music. Its interesting but not quite my cup of tea. But at the same time if he were to put out a new album I would probably still buy it! I think he's a cool guy and I've even seen him in concert. However, he probably won't develop or bring anything new to the table musically, which is what he desperately needs. He's hit a musical climax in the past and just can't get any higher with his song form or guitar playing.
     Malmsteen, like Vai plays a lot of guitar music and all his songs sound similar. However, when Vai plays stuff and it sounds the same it gets really boring. But when Malmsteen does it I'm not as bothered by it. Perhaps its the sheer intensity that Malmsteen puts into his guitar playing that differs from Vai. I like that momentary silence that happens after Malmsteen plays a bunch of super fast licks. Its very short and then he just barrages you with more insane classical licks. The guy is a musical gymnast. But I don't think he plays fast just to play fast I think that's just how he is. "More is more," like he says. Smart guy. I just finished his biography recently and its amazing how many times he's been fucked over by women. He had two horrible marriages before he married the right one. Yikes, it was scary just reading about it.
     So yeah......So rock never truly dies even when you're a jazz connoisseur. There's just something about the sound of an electric guitar in rock that you can't get in jazz. Jazz is a very clean cut style of music, almost designed for scholars, intellectuals, hipsters (beatniks), and of course musicians. I could see jazz being played in mansions of the rich and even on interstellar space stations.
     Rock, on the other hand is like the complete opposite. You could say that rock is almost for the john q public or plebs. Rock has become so gentrified to the point where its hard to say what exactly is rock music. To me rock music will always be the stuff from the 60s/70s that inspired all the metal and rock in the 80s, and for me that's really the extent of rock music. I don't think of like modern music like metal-core as rock really, its become another form of music where the blues based form of true rock and roll doesn't exist. In addition, I don't think of indie hipster bands like Arcade Fire or St.Vincent as rock music either, but let's save the indie hipster conversation for another post.
     As you can see I'm very passionate about music. I like to think that I'm not too arrogant about it but sometimes I do get comments about being too elitist and shit like that from my metal-core, emo, and pop-punk loving friends XD. I've tried to get them into jazz and they didn't not like it. I feel like if they opened their minds up more they would find the beauty in it, the true fire and magic. The mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open. -Frank Zappa
What are you listening to? Let me know in the comments section. I'm always looking to find new music! 

Music I've been listening to lately

     

     Been listening to a lot of cool stuff lately. I've been getting more and more into free-jazz. So I've been listening a lot to people like Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Peter Brotzman, Ken Vandermark, Albert Ayler, and this chick from Chicago named Matana Roberts. Those are all pretty heavy duty free-jazz artists. But I would say mainly Peter Brotzmann is the free-jazz guy I've been listening to the most. He really has a lot of personality to his playing. When he plays a note on the saxophone, you can really tell its him playing. Also, some of his playing nods to Coltrane when he's really feeling it. A great free-jazz composer I've been listening to is Wadada Leo Smith, a great trumpet player who plays in free contexts.
      Other things that have attracted my attention is video-game music. My favorite video game theme is the Brinstar theme from Super Metroid, an old super nintendo game. Also, I'm really into the music of the nintendo jrpg Xenoblade Chronicles. There's a lot of guitar in the music of that game, guitars with a lot of distortion, very progressive tracks with synthesizers, bass, and drums. The guitar riffs are very intricate and precise, very heavy-metal but more of a Japanese style of heavy metal rather than the death metal stuff of America. Also, I'm really into the music from the Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Brothers, and Final Fantasy 7. I got into the game music because it reminded me of playing these old games as a kid, and also you can't always just listen to jazz.
     Lastly, I've been listening to metal and death-metal stuff as well. In terms of death metal, I just picked up the new Faceless album, Autotheism. It's a pretty good effort from a band that keeps reforming with new members. There's a jazz vibe to the album, and there's clean vocals to add to the screaming. In addition I've been listening to Tosin Abasi's (guitarist of the instrumental metal band Animals as Leaders) sideproject T.R.A.M, a jazzy sort of rock band that has a guy that plays saxophone and flute. It's a great band and of all the music I've been listening to lately I would recommend T.R.A.M the most. Their first and only album is pretty darn good. Also, last week I picked up the new St.Vincent album and this CD by this band called Angra, a Brazilian metal band. So yeah, free-jazz, video-game music, and death-metal.