Post by Fatal Rewind on Jan 13, 2024 21:48:06 GMT -5
Voivod was almost always unusual due to mixing genres, although their first two albums were really heavy, being a mix of heavy metal and punk. However, by their third album of Killing Technology, they evolved into one of the earliest industrial metal bands. And usually the term "industrial metal" means "heavy metal with a drum machine", which I don't think they ever used one, it's just that they started throwing in a mechanical sound with the metal.
I'll go with a later video first from that time period for the non-metalheads since this is a good Pink Floyd cover, although you can still hear their unusual guitar delivery nonetheless.
From their previous album of Dimension Hatross. The odd guitar sound starts at 1:10, along with 1:58, 2:49 and the brief psychedelic part at 3:48. (And on another note, I've always really liked this video. They did a good job with such a low budget.)
The odd guitar sound, this time around, is right off the bat once this video starts. But another thing to note in the video is the artwork. At about the :36 mark where drummer Away is in a straitjacket watching tv (along with the badass-looking skull at about 2:58), that's his artwork. He did it for all the album covers and included booklets. (The whole concept of the Voivod is that it's a post-nuclear creature.) He even had his artwork featured in a museum for a bit in their native country of Canada. Let's see of how many other heavy metal bands could boast that! If you go here and click on the arrows below the band photo you can see a montage of his favorite, unusual but very cool artworks. Note the Negatron entry where there's a picture representation of every song on that album. He did something similar with their Nothingface album where the liner notes unfolded into a poster and every square of the cd insert was a pictorial representation of a song on there. That was a nice surprise to come back from a music expo and finding that out when I bought that cd back in the day and didn't know about it!
Voivod's earliest video, I do believe. The heaviness and Snake's vocal delivery of being a cross between growling and yelling is how they sounded on their first three albums. There is also more of Away's drawings on here again, although the part with the ambulance juxtaposed over an image of an actual scrolling, real street doesn't really work (along with Snake's overacting when he thinks he's being a badass).
Primus was actually a bit strange for a bit but I know they changed their sound for a while. No idea what they sound like nowadays.
Back when they started out they had an unusual metal sound, but Les Claypool sounded like he was doing his vocals through his nose, although he is one GODLY bass player.
This was the first thing I saw and heard from them:
Although I couldn't *quite* process what the hell they were, at least Les's weird but funny antics and bass playing got me to like them after a while. This resulted in the friend of mine who showed me a late night tv show he recorded with them on it (might've been Night Flight) in getting their Sailing the Seas of Cheese tape and I got the one before it on cd (Frizzle Fry).
Just what the heck was in John's mom's mouth that made it that color?!
Another odd one my friend showed me. Yes, Les CAN repeat the rapid-fire vocal delivery live like he did at the :43 mark, I saw him do it once on the Dennis Miller Show (which, probably quite a few people in his audience were going "what the hell is THIS?"). And check out the brief, but utterly whacked-out bass solo at 3:06!
Les’s vocals needed to be more up front in the mix and they took on an industrial, rather than metal route here. Weird
Interesting animation as usual, but they're getting weaker. I don't hear any bass either, which is a crime against humanity as far as Primus goes
Last cd single of theirs I ever got. Don't know what they sound like nowadays but you gotta love those costumes though!
Harry Partch, however, is THE strangest artist I have ever heard.
He'd *almost* be the often-heard tale of being so out in left field that he released his own albums and had nothing to do with major music labels.
Except that he released his first album in 1931.
Being experimental was not only monstrously ahead of his time–decades before you'd probably call other artists that–but what else was there back then? There was classical, big band, jazz and blues, and that was pretty much it (I'd say swing as well but I don’t think that arrived until 10 years later). If he was born a couple of hundred years earlier he'd have to keep his bizarre music to himself or risk being burned at the stake for being accused of being a witch.
Partch invented and built several of his own instruments, which a lot of his Vol. 4 album is a bit percussion-based. However, along with those instruments, he also employed bells, some orchestration, wind instruments, and with his "U.S. Highball -- A Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip" piece, he included four different vocal styles, being the popular cabaret at the time, operatic, a female singer and spoken vocals. Some of his stuff sounds like it's out of tune, played wrong or just very strangely with his homemade instruments. It also seems to me he was very visual, as his "Hobo" piece is peppered with spoken dialog, plus he made soundtracks for several films.
I look forward to the day when I proclaim one or more of his cds as to being the strangest ones in my music collection.
*A Portrait
*The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 4
(Only two tracks from the latter can be heard on that Bandcamp page. All others are here.)
I'll go with a later video first from that time period for the non-metalheads since this is a good Pink Floyd cover, although you can still hear their unusual guitar delivery nonetheless.
From their previous album of Dimension Hatross. The odd guitar sound starts at 1:10, along with 1:58, 2:49 and the brief psychedelic part at 3:48. (And on another note, I've always really liked this video. They did a good job with such a low budget.)
The odd guitar sound, this time around, is right off the bat once this video starts. But another thing to note in the video is the artwork. At about the :36 mark where drummer Away is in a straitjacket watching tv (along with the badass-looking skull at about 2:58), that's his artwork. He did it for all the album covers and included booklets. (The whole concept of the Voivod is that it's a post-nuclear creature.) He even had his artwork featured in a museum for a bit in their native country of Canada. Let's see of how many other heavy metal bands could boast that! If you go here and click on the arrows below the band photo you can see a montage of his favorite, unusual but very cool artworks. Note the Negatron entry where there's a picture representation of every song on that album. He did something similar with their Nothingface album where the liner notes unfolded into a poster and every square of the cd insert was a pictorial representation of a song on there. That was a nice surprise to come back from a music expo and finding that out when I bought that cd back in the day and didn't know about it!
Voivod's earliest video, I do believe. The heaviness and Snake's vocal delivery of being a cross between growling and yelling is how they sounded on their first three albums. There is also more of Away's drawings on here again, although the part with the ambulance juxtaposed over an image of an actual scrolling, real street doesn't really work (along with Snake's overacting when he thinks he's being a badass).
Back when they started out they had an unusual metal sound, but Les Claypool sounded like he was doing his vocals through his nose, although he is one GODLY bass player.
This was the first thing I saw and heard from them:
Although I couldn't *quite* process what the hell they were, at least Les's weird but funny antics and bass playing got me to like them after a while. This resulted in the friend of mine who showed me a late night tv show he recorded with them on it (might've been Night Flight) in getting their Sailing the Seas of Cheese tape and I got the one before it on cd (Frizzle Fry).
Just what the heck was in John's mom's mouth that made it that color?!
Another odd one my friend showed me. Yes, Les CAN repeat the rapid-fire vocal delivery live like he did at the :43 mark, I saw him do it once on the Dennis Miller Show (which, probably quite a few people in his audience were going "what the hell is THIS?"). And check out the brief, but utterly whacked-out bass solo at 3:06!
Les’s vocals needed to be more up front in the mix and they took on an industrial, rather than metal route here. Weird
Interesting animation as usual, but they're getting weaker. I don't hear any bass either, which is a crime against humanity as far as Primus goes
Last cd single of theirs I ever got. Don't know what they sound like nowadays but you gotta love those costumes though!
Harry Partch, however, is THE strangest artist I have ever heard.
He'd *almost* be the often-heard tale of being so out in left field that he released his own albums and had nothing to do with major music labels.
Except that he released his first album in 1931.
Being experimental was not only monstrously ahead of his time–decades before you'd probably call other artists that–but what else was there back then? There was classical, big band, jazz and blues, and that was pretty much it (I'd say swing as well but I don’t think that arrived until 10 years later). If he was born a couple of hundred years earlier he'd have to keep his bizarre music to himself or risk being burned at the stake for being accused of being a witch.
Partch invented and built several of his own instruments, which a lot of his Vol. 4 album is a bit percussion-based. However, along with those instruments, he also employed bells, some orchestration, wind instruments, and with his "U.S. Highball -- A Musical Account of a Transcontinental Hobo Trip" piece, he included four different vocal styles, being the popular cabaret at the time, operatic, a female singer and spoken vocals. Some of his stuff sounds like it's out of tune, played wrong or just very strangely with his homemade instruments. It also seems to me he was very visual, as his "Hobo" piece is peppered with spoken dialog, plus he made soundtracks for several films.
I look forward to the day when I proclaim one or more of his cds as to being the strangest ones in my music collection.
*A Portrait
*The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 4
(Only two tracks from the latter can be heard on that Bandcamp page. All others are here.)
