Everything Old Is New-Old
...with all of my posts about board games lately, I have somewhat neglected talking about music. While I readily admit that I am not as enthused about music as I once was, I still find myself on a consistent hunt for new or old that feels new. When it comes to new bands, it is becoming slim pickings for me. For every band like Whores or Black Cowgirl that crosses my path, there is a constant stream of forgettable death metal, indie rock and more. My best bet is to find something new from a band that I already liked.
Or there is also going back to something acquired a few years earlier and see what crops up. After years of beating the first three albums and E.P. to death, I finally became better acquainted with Fugazi's later albums and they found me well. I get as filled with inspiration from Instrument as I do from Repeater. It is a matter of what is old is now new again. Such has been the case with what ended up being the final album from Isis entitled Wavering Radiant.
Wavering Radiant came on the heels of the absolutely brilliant In The Absence Of Truth. Isis lost me for a short while with Celestial, an album I still have trouble getting into. Once they returned with Oceanic, they added layers that weren't previously there and got me back into the fold quickly. Panopticon followed and the layers and atmosphere that pulled me back in were deepened and far richer in texture. In The Absence Of Truth, for my money, was the full realization of what Isis had been building to thematically. It has the trademark crushing heaviness juxtaposed with airy passages, swirling dual melodies and added progressive tinkering.
Naturally, I was waiting anxiously for Wavering Radiant, fully expecting to be impressed to the point of pants coming off. However, as high expectations are want to do, I felt as if the album didn't match up to its predecessor. The elements were all present and accounted for, but there was a feeling that they did not link together in such a seamless manner. Then again, knowing myself as I do, the response could be presumed as typical.
Last week, for no discernible reason known to man, I felt like giving Wavering Radiant another spin. Then, I gave it another. Then another. And another. Same exact album that I felt so luke warm on back in 2009 when I bought it. Everything sounds as it did the first few run throughs, but it feels very different. The epic scale that I felt powered the engine of Panopticon and In The Absence Of Truth burns as bright here as the prior albums. The only added ingredient the changed the mix was the element of time.
As I stated in the beginning, it is becoming more and more rare that I get as enthralled by new music as I once did. The art of record shopping is essentially lost to the annals of the digital age. Even amidst the indie record store that populate small pockets of the universe today, the digital component looms ever present, stripping the adventure of discovery from the record buying experience. When one can sample a new album on their smartphone while lying in the pajamas, the thrill is gone.
Now, when I dig out a record that I've owned for a few years and it suddenly finds me differently, it retains a bit of that glow of discovery for me. The music itself is static as an entity, but our bodies, out minds and our lives are ever changing. Time repurposes our human mold and sometimes, it allows us to go back and develop appreciation for things once forgotten.
Read: Flow My Tears The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Listen: Isis Wavering Radiant
Watch: Christian Finnegan The Fun Part
Wavering Radiant came on the heels of the absolutely brilliant In The Absence Of Truth. Isis lost me for a short while with Celestial, an album I still have trouble getting into. Once they returned with Oceanic, they added layers that weren't previously there and got me back into the fold quickly. Panopticon followed and the layers and atmosphere that pulled me back in were deepened and far richer in texture. In The Absence Of Truth, for my money, was the full realization of what Isis had been building to thematically. It has the trademark crushing heaviness juxtaposed with airy passages, swirling dual melodies and added progressive tinkering.
Naturally, I was waiting anxiously for Wavering Radiant, fully expecting to be impressed to the point of pants coming off. However, as high expectations are want to do, I felt as if the album didn't match up to its predecessor. The elements were all present and accounted for, but there was a feeling that they did not link together in such a seamless manner. Then again, knowing myself as I do, the response could be presumed as typical.
Last week, for no discernible reason known to man, I felt like giving Wavering Radiant another spin. Then, I gave it another. Then another. And another. Same exact album that I felt so luke warm on back in 2009 when I bought it. Everything sounds as it did the first few run throughs, but it feels very different. The epic scale that I felt powered the engine of Panopticon and In The Absence Of Truth burns as bright here as the prior albums. The only added ingredient the changed the mix was the element of time.
As I stated in the beginning, it is becoming more and more rare that I get as enthralled by new music as I once did. The art of record shopping is essentially lost to the annals of the digital age. Even amidst the indie record store that populate small pockets of the universe today, the digital component looms ever present, stripping the adventure of discovery from the record buying experience. When one can sample a new album on their smartphone while lying in the pajamas, the thrill is gone.
Now, when I dig out a record that I've owned for a few years and it suddenly finds me differently, it retains a bit of that glow of discovery for me. The music itself is static as an entity, but our bodies, out minds and our lives are ever changing. Time repurposes our human mold and sometimes, it allows us to go back and develop appreciation for things once forgotten.
Read: Flow My Tears The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Listen: Isis Wavering Radiant
Watch: Christian Finnegan The Fun Part
Comments
Post a Comment