Album Review: Aaron Semer – Love Amidst Collapse

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Love Amidst CollapseAaron Semer – Love Amidst Collapse
(2015, Knick Knack Records)

Seattle songwriter Aaron Semer describes his debut Love Amidst Collapse as “a campfire at the end of time.” The songs on Love Amidst Collapse are both familiarly rustic and oddly unnerving, a strange brew of acoustic jams and vaguely hippie-flavored visions of hellfire and damnation. Opener “Son of the Morning Star” sounds like an occult Crosby, Stills & Nash, all acoustic guitar and soaring folk melodies laced with a general air of otherworldly dread. “Marriage” opens with the line “They got married on a dare / so they still had sex with other people” and wanders off from there, wavering between parable, broken narrative and weird visions (as with the first part of Gravity’s Rainbow, an octopus plays a minor part). “Bored is the King of Israel” asserts “Job would be ashamed to hear you complain that there’s nothing on TV” and “Bathsheba would to tell you to make love / like it was your last day on Earth.”

“Pasts Like Circles” sounds like polished alt country – something early-Son Volt-ish complete with handclaps, a brief harmonica solo and a rock-solid melody. Despite grim lyrics like “We send our kids to die / long before their time / the cause is lost, families torn / and bodies sent home to mourn,” it’s bouncy and catchy, probably the most immediately satisfying song on the record.

Featuring the dazzling guitar work of Michael Wohl and recorded at Colin J Nelson’s Her Car studio, Love Amidst Collapse is a warm, accomplished folk record steeped in a strain of apocalyptic fever traceable in America at least back to the first Great Awakening. Semer’s critiques of commercialism and other trappings of modern civilization work better as lyrical allusions than sermons, though the focus on End Times provides a useful thematic anchor for the record. Semer definitely has ideas and some well-honed musical sensibilities, making him an artist to watch around Seattle.

Love Amidst Collapse is out on Knick Knack Records and Semer is playing a release show at Conor Byrne on December 10th with Coyote and Michael Wohl.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: 3844 – The Meaning of Life

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Jon Rooney

3844 is, in fact, Mr. Christopher Hydinger, whose songs as the Music of Grayface have appeared on Ball of Waxes going back years. As I’ve written elsewhere, the Music of Grayface’s “Averybriefstory” was the highlight of an extremely strong Volume 5 for me, which was the first volume I both contributed to and heard in its entirety. Hydinger’s musical persona is pretty obscure and his contributions are far too few, which made the appearance of his 3844 project (why 3844? maybe it’s a reference to a certain Lego set? or the Greek number in Strong’s Concordance which refers to the word para – meaning from, besides or near? maybe, like many people view life, a random, insignificant occurrence?) a welcome surprise this round. Which brings us to Hydinger’s contribution to Volume 42 – his “meaning of life” is 42 seconds of silence.

 

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: LEGEND OF SKELL – The Meaning of Life

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Jon Rooney

LEGEND OF SKELL’s take on the meaning of life is the most metal thing I can remember hearing on any Ball of Wax; it’s eight-plus minutes of thundering awesomeness – a welcome breath of molten air. First, who – or what – is LEGEND OF SKELL? LEGEND OF SKELL is yet another music project of Seattle-based guitar hero (seriously, he’s amazing) Jason Goessl, one that shows off his prowess in very righteous, epic ways. Goessl’s a tremendously versatile musician, able to deftly go from Jazz standards with Sundae and Mr. Goessl to stylized rock noir with Prom Queen to brain-melting prog in Trimtab. As for Skell’s “The Meaning of Life”? Imagine the tritone opening to Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” (from Black Sabbath) stretched over 8 minutes like a Kyuss mushroom trip. No vocals, no lyrics, no melody – just the tectonic shifting of a massive riff overlaid with insane, Steve Vai-esque lead guitar.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Invasion Boys – The Meaning of Life

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Longtime Ball of Wax listeners should be familiar with the work of Mr. Kelly Minnis, formerly of Seattle but now well established in College Station, Texas. Kelly first showed up way back on Volume 1 with his long-running solo electronic project Great Unwashed Luminaries, and has shared music from a variety of projects with us over the years (most recently his punk/shoegaze band Ex-Optimists, whose “Let’s Go to Sleep and Dream” appeared on last year’s Love Songs edition).

For “The Meaning of Life,” Kelly comes to us under the Invasion Boys moniker, which usually includes his brother, but here is just Kelly. Anyway, this is another entry in the “dad song” category for this volume, and it’s a very sweet bit of guitar-driven college rock addressed to his sons. Having recently experienced the conversion of dadhood myself, it’s nice to see that the wonder of being with a person for whom you’re completely responsible, yet who is his own self with his own perceptions and feelings, never really wears off. It occurs to me in listening to this song that the idea of finding “the meaning of life” is actually pretty childlike, but seeing the world and imagining meanings through the eyes of a child can be a pretty rewarding experience.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: KAPtN AtAK, Strong Like Woman – The Meaning of Life

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Lest you fear Ball of Wax 42 had surrendered entirely to the introspective and the mellow after its rump-shaking kickoff, KAPtN AtAK (aka Kelly Dale of Strong Like Woman) is here to bring the party back – the Meaning of Life party. While not, strictly speaking, an instrumental, the only words sung here are “Meaning of Life,” the rest of the song being given over to a totally bumpin’ party jam reminiscent of some of the best ’80s dance rock, full of scattershot electronic drums and some super sweet guitar hooks. Why worry about the meaning of life when you can dance your ass off – or better yet, do both at the same time?

KAPtN AtAK will be bringing the party to our Ball of Wax 42 release show THIS THURSDAY, December 3rd at Conor Byrne. Something tells me this will be a performance – and a night – to remember.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Ju. – El Sentido de la Vida

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Levi Fuller

Madrid’s Ju. (pronounced, I assume, like the English word ‘who,’ but I could be mistaken) is the newest international addition to the Ball of Wax coterie, and I couldn’t be more pleased to have them. The band first came to my attention because they mailed me a copy of their (both visually and sonically) gorgeous CD Poco adrede nunca, which has quickly become a favorite in our household.

Ju.’s two members took this 42/The Meaning of Life challenge very seriously, and went Bushwick Book Club on it, each of them reading the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and then generating musical rules and lyrics from it. (If only the Book Club had the budget to fly these guys in to play their Hitchhiker’s Guide show in January!) That probably sounds like a highly intellectualized process that could potentially make for awkward listening, but the piece they came up with is lush and textured, rich with sonic layers and gorgeous melodies sung in Barbara Bañuelos’s clear, unaffected voice. The lyrics are beautifully simple and evocative, but have – not surprisingly – a more poetic ring in the Spanish in which they were written (that last line, “platillo amarillo,” is so much more resonant than its translation, “yellow spaceship”). The meaning doesn’t come across if you’re not a Spanish speaker, but the words, sounds, and melody are enough to carry this piece whether you understand it all or not.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Levi Fuller – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Levi Fuller‘s “The Meaning of Life” bucks the Volume 42 trend of largely unintelligible vocals or abstract lyrics, presenting a straightforward narrative about finding books at Elliott Bay and movies at Scarecrow Video before stepping through the process of trying to sit down and write a song about this ambitious topic. Not surprisingly, there’s no straightforward explanation of the meaning of the life, but the song posits answers in two different directions. First, it becomes clear that Levi is addressing the lyrics to someone, that someone likely his infant son. Like the Foghorns’ paternal yearning, this song posits a meaning with the far-off invitation, “maybe someday you can explain it all to me.” Second, during the latter part of the song, the vocals drop out and Levi’s deft finger-style guitar playing shifts the song from mildly meandering storytelling to focused contemplation. In a “dancing about architecture” kind of way, maybe Levi makes his case with music. That works.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Virgin of the Birds – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Levi Fuller

In this season of thankfulness, I would like to take a moment to declare my gratitude for the existence of Jon Rooney/Virgin of the Birds. Since his first appearance way back on Volume 5, he’s been one of the most consistent musical contributors to this endeavor – and for the past couple years he’s been pretty much the only consistent written contributor to this here blog, apart from yours truly. (Oh, and he designed the poster for the BoW 42 show too – is there anything he can’t do?)

On the music side, I’m pretty sure Jon/Virgin of the Birds has answered the call for every themed volume since Volume 8 (instrumentals). (I could be wrong, but who has time for research?) He was part of both Harry Candy volumes, he shared some foul language on Volume 13, busted out a one minute single for Volume 18, brilliantly interpreted “Fatal Flower Garden” for our Harry Smith tribute, shared songs of love and protest last year . . . and on and on. Long story short: Jon Rooney is both gifted and game, which are my favorite attributes in a musician. His “The Meaning of Life” raises more questions than it answers, as seems appropriate, but it’s another fine entry in the VotB oeuvre. There’s no chorus per se: the closest thing is the C part, with the repeated line “it’s the same as jazz, it’s the same as the symphony,” but as catchy as it is, it never comes back. Not unlike Christopher Kelley’s track (and again, not unlike life), this song does one thing and then another and then another and then it ends. May all our lives be as rewarding and full of nuance and unexpected pleasures as this tune, and may we all aspire to be as good, giving, and game* as Jon Rooney.

*Yes, I stole the GGG concept from Dan Savage, but it is here meant in a human/musical context, with no references to the bedroom intended.
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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Eggshells – De Betekenis Van Het Leven

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Jon Rooney

Eggshells‘ take on the meaning of life comes to us in Dutch as “De Betekenis Van Het Leven.” Why Dutch? I don’t know – perhaps it’s a broad nod to masters like Rembrandt or Vermeer or the late century Noise Pop heroics of Bettie Serveert. “De Betekenis Van Het Leven” is glacial space pop, a moody soundtrack to cosmonauts adrift in the universe, complete with the cold beat of electronic drums, floating synth parts and vocals buried under layers of reverb. As with a number of the meaning of life songs on Volume 42, the lyrics are pretty difficult to make out, so not much is illuminated on that front.  The song is spacious, however, and takes its time developing. The entire second half of the song is a sort of extended outro that maintains the same drum beat but switches the chord changes to a contemplative cadence. More really good stuff from relative newcomers Eggshells.

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Ball of Wax 42 Songs: Mark Schlipper – The Meaning of Life

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Jon Rooney

The Luna Moth‘s Mark Schlipper returns to Ball of Wax as a solo artist with his take on “The Meaning of Life.” The song  is an exercise in somber minimalism, with a repeating minor key figure played on an acoustic guitar for the first two and half minutes accompanied only by ghostly, buried vocals. In the final minute of the song, guitar fuzz seeps in like a swarm of mesmerized bees, enveloping, but not derailing, the main guitar part. As the lyrics are indiscernible, I’m not sure exactly what meaning the song posits, but the sounds suggests the horizons of stillness and hypnotic dread also found in the music of Earth and La Monte Young.

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