Self-described as sounding like Black Flag Tambourine, or as I prefer to call it, Jesus and Mary and Johnny and Joey and Tommy and Dee Dee Chain, the San Francisco trio Terry Malts, a band equal parts punk and pop, but not punk-pop,  have put together a chainsaw of an album in Killing Time quite unlike anything in recent memory.  Sure, many have used a similar formula in the past — Stomp on the pedals until ears start to bleed and then hit ‘em with a likable melody, but few have written songs so effortless and memorable; Few have been so in tune in that perfectly out of tune, crunched, mashed and blasted to oblivion way as Phil Benson (bass/lead vocals), Corey Cunningham (guitar, backing vocals), and Nathan Sweatt (drums/backing vocals) are on their debut album for Slumberland Records.

And the lyrics, while certainly clever, never leave anyone out of the joke.  You don’t have to have the right books on your bookshelf.  You don’t have to have the right records in your record collection to enjoy these 14 songs.  A soul might help, but even that one is optional.  For in “Not a Christian,” Terry Malts have written the ultimate punk rock anthem for all of the atheists, agnostics, and humanists of the earth, a track which culminates in a wash of piercing guitars and whirl of words that read like a humanist manifesto: “If there’s no power over me/I take responsibility/All prayer is empty air when no one’s listening/There’s no god and there’s no master/There is no happy ever after/There is life, there is death/I live my life and do my best/To cherish all experience ’til I lay down to rest.”

On the subject of love, Benson, Cunningham, and Sweatt are equally as endearing.  “I’m Neurotic,” consists of a single stanza, “I’m neurotic/That’s what she says/I won’t let it go to my head/Maybe she’s right,” repeated, and twisted to the point where its hard to tell whether instability is a badge of honor or a cause for concern.  While “Waiting Room,” not the Fugazi song, and “Tumble Down,” not the Jesus and Mary Chain Song, both take down the tempo a notch without losing any intensity or immediacy.  The guitars are still delightfully shrill and the sing-a-longs are still there, waiting for your extra backing vocals, and the rhythm section still has that thumping, pogo beat.

With a frightening pattern emerging of the most hyped artists being the least ready for the spotlight (Hello, Sleigh Bells and Hello, Ms. Lana Del Rey), Terry Malts provide an alternative to the unhealthy cycle of buzz and disappointment with an album that is proof positive that pop music doesn’t have to be finely polished and doesn’t have to sound modern to be successful in the 21st Century.  More important than having the right look, the right connections, or the right influences is simply having songs that people will want to hear time and again. I can think of 14 songs off the top of my head that fit the bill.   10 out of 10 on The Rockometer.

MP3: Terry Malts – Tumble Down
MP3: Terry Malts – Nauseous

I Rock Cleveland

Initial Treatment

This admission is essential for treatment and rehabilitation to work successfully. Counseling will likewise be an advantage to the alcoholic’s family because they will learn how to handle and support their loved one through a very tough rehab process. Eliminating alcohol from the abuser’s life will be the main focus of rehab. Many programs will encourage complete abstinence from drinking and deal with the withdrawal symptoms safely.

Facilities

Rehab centers can be either private or public facilities. They can offer rehab to individual patients or to a group. Families are encouraged to join in to support their alcoholic relative. Counselors are available at these centers to give advice to patients and family members alike. There are also community rehab centers that involve residents in the neighborhood. Mentoring is provided from these communities to help the addict stay away from alcohol.

Facility Types

Many rehabilitation centers for alcoholics also deal with drug abuse. Those who want more privacy may want to seek treatment in a private facility which also provides more comfort. Many facilitates will implement pharmaceutical medication in their programs to deal with withdrawal symptoms. Aside from this technique, some rehab centers will also integrate therapy sessions. This additional guidance will make the program more successful for a recovering addict.

Benefits

There are many advantages of going to a rehabilitation facility instead of trying to quit drinking individually. At a center, a patient is given professional treatment that is proven to be effective. Once rehab is successful, a patient can continue on to a better future. Rehab will help an alcoholic stop drinking and start to live a normal lifestyle once again.

Aftercare

Once cured of alcoholism, a person will discover that it’s easier to find a job. They start to enjoy life once again. They will be able to think more clearly and do a more efficient job at work. Getting up in the morning will no longer be so difficult. Their eating and sleeping habits will improve and so will their general well-being. Participating in sports and other healthy pastimes will also benefit former alcoholics.

Encouragement

Family members of the alcoholic are likewise encouraged to seek activities that include the former alcoholic in the family. This not only encourages healthier hobbies, but also creates a closer bond with the rehabilitated drinker. Guidance and family support should also be continued well after the physical portion of rehab is done. This is a good way to ensure that the patient will be able to resist any temptation to drink later on.

Before they became the second New York buzz band of 2012 to put in a shit performance for Saturday Night Live, Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells were already a divisive group in the underground. For while there’s little doubt their sound is a modern one — Heavy metal guitar riffs lifted from the Mullet Rock compilation, cheery vocals and scattershot, electric beats — There’s always been the counter argument, “Is this really the sound of now we want?”

You see, subtlety, is not Sleigh Bells thing. The title to Reign of Terror’s lead track, “True Shred Guitar,” explains all you need to know about guitarist Derek Miller’s infatuation with ’80s metal.  Every sound out of his guitar is of the one-foot-on-the-amp, explosions-in-the-background-of-the-video-shoot, sexed-up-female-model-rolling-around-on-the-hood-of-a-red-convertible variety.  While Alexis Krauss sings every line, be it during a rocker or a ballad, in her best cheerleader voice.  In moderation, in the middle of an iTunes mix, let’s say, there’s a real chance you’ll find yourself cranking up a jam like “Comeback Kid.”

As an album experience, however, the Sleigh Bells trick gets grating right quick.  Remember kids, there’s a reason Nirvana made hair metal obsolete overnight, and it wasn’t due to collusion of the record companies, record stations, and MTV.  No, once the public were reminded that rock music could do more than communicate strip club scenes and hot teacher fantasies; That rock music wasn’t just for drop-outs and jocks and muscle cars, and those wanting to relieve their drugged out, drop-out days in the high school parking lot, the music stuck in that mold was revealed to be every bit as cheesy as it always was.  The facade, and thrill, was gone.    5 out of 10 on The Rockometer.

VIDEO: Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid

I Rock Cleveland

Maybe you missed Dave Grohl’s speech after the Foo Fighters won a Grammy for Best Rock Album.  It went a little something like this:

This is a great honor, because this record was a special record for our band. Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood and rather than use all of the fanciest computers that money can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine…

To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do.

It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].

Apparently, some in the dance music community, read between the lines, exaggerated what wasn’t said, and took Grohl’s statement as an attack on electronic music.

What I read was the statement of a man who was proud of the hard work he and his band put into their latest album, Wasting Light, an album they recorded old-school in a garage studio.

What I read was the thoughts of someone who fears technology is removing the human element from music.

Did I miss something? Did Grohl punctuate his speech with calls of “Death to Disco!” and “Death to Dubstep!” Did he burn effigies of Skrillex and Deadmau5 as he and his band exited the stage.

It’s not surprising dance music fans chose to read between the lines instead of reading the actual lines. Their culture is often marginalized in the mainstream music press, only grabbing headlines when someone overdoes at a large outdoor rave. But in this case, was there really an insult to be had? Was there really an ulterior motive on the part of Grohl?

A similar game is often played in the world of American politics. President Obama will send out a holiday card and instead of having a picture of a sweet baby Jesus, the card may have a tree or a fireplace. Right on cue, someone on the right will claim Obama is a Muslim because the card didn’t have Jesus and the card didn’t say Christmas. Or, maybe Obama gives a speech on the budget. The same thing will happen. “Obama didn’t say ‘Jesus’ during his speech on the budget. He must be a Muslim!”

Dave Grohl bashed technology! He must hate dance music!

And just like American politics, others picked up on this line of attack and amplified it, few voices of reason spoke up, because, really, they was nothing to speak up about, and Grohl ended up issuing an apology for something he didn’t say (The full text of which is below).

To be fair, there has been some decent writing on this non-controversy. The Village Voice’s Michael Tedder rightfully reminded people that Grohl has worked with electronic and rap types like Trent Reznor, Alec Empire, and Puff Daddy, and he even performed with Deadmau5 during the very same Grammy broadcast. He went on to speculate that Grohl could just as well have been commenting on the soullessness of mainstream rock.

The truth of the matter is human interaction with technology and what technology can and cannot replicate when it comes to human interaction is a real topic of concern in our society. Many researchers and tech types, when speaking about facebook, twitter, youtube will quickly point out how modern communication, with all of its benefits, is still a poor substitution for real face time with a real person. Consequently, how we can make these technologies more closely resemble real human encounters is an important area of research.

Similarly, as technology becomes a more prevalent element in music of all genres — Rock, rap, pop, and dance, we will have to have the real conversation about how we can use this technology and still make our music sound like it was made by humans using machines and not as if it was made by a machine without the aid of a human.

As all of us, musicians and fans, are working these issues out, some truths are already becoming clear. Making your voice sound like a robot with auto-tune is not the answer. Neither is stuffing a song with an incomprehensible number of tracks, artificially boosting sound levels on your recordings, or tweaking your career statement into perfection because you can. To reduce Grohl’s comments to an attack on a group of people who weren’t explicitly attacked ignores this larger problem and stifles any significant progress on this front.

“To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of music is what’s important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do… It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head].”

Not the Gettysburg Address, but hey……I’m a drummer, remember?

Well, me and my big mouth. Never has a 33 second acceptance rant evoked such caps-lock postboard rage as my lil’ ode to analog recording has. OK….maybe Kanye has me on this one, but….Imma let you finish….just wanted to clarify something…

I love music. I love ALL kinds of music. From Kyuss to Kraftwerk, Pinetop Perkins to Prodigy, Dead Kennedys to Deadmau5…..I love music. Electronic or acoustic, it doesn’t matter to me. The simple act of creating music is a beautiful gift that ALL human beings are blessed with. And the diversity of one musician’s personality to the next is what makes music so exciting and…..human.

That’s exactly what I was referring to. The “human element”. That thing that happens when a song speeds up slightly, or a vocal goes a little sharp. That thing that makes people sound like PEOPLE. Somewhere along the line those things became “bad” things, and with the great advances in digital recording technology over the years they became easily “fixed”. The end result? I my humble opinion…..a lot of music that sounds perfect, but lacks personality. The one thing that makes music so exciting in the first place.

And, unfortunately, some of these great advances have taken the focus off of the actual craft of performance. Look, I am not Yngwie Malmsteen. I am not John Bonham. Hell…I’m not even Josh Groban, for that matter. But I try really fucking hard so that I don’t have to rely on anything but my hands and my heart to play a song. I do the best that I possibly can within my limitations, and accept that it sounds like me. Because that’s what I think is most important. It should be real, right? Everybody wants something real.

I don’t know how to do what Skrillex does (though I fucking love it) but I do know that the reason he is so loved is because he sounds like Skrillex, and that’s badass. We have a different process and a different set of tools, but the “craft” is equally as important, I’m sure. I mean…..if it were that easy, anyone could do it, right? (See what I did there?)

So, don’t give me two Crown Royals and then ask me to make a speech at your wedding, because I might just bust into the advantages of recording to 2 inch tape.

Now, I think I have to go scream at some kids to get off my lawn.

Stay frosty.

Davemau5

I Rock Cleveland

Consultants.

It is very beneficial to understand exactly how roof consultants are unique from architects and engineers. Roofing consultants have specialized knowledge and experience in roofing issues that architects and engineers may not possess. Also, because they do not have any alliance with specific roof manufacturers, good roofing consultants are usually unbiased, third-party resources. Also, reputable roofing consultants will have a thorough knowledge of many various types of roofing systems.

Designs For Roofs.

Commercial roofing consultants can conceptualize custom roofing designs and specifications for your building. The cost of design is relatively small compared to the cost of the entire roof, but a properly designed roofing system can have a significant impact on the long-term performance of the roofing system. Roofing consultants do much more than design roofing systems, however. One important task a consultant has is figuring if a roof needs to be completely replaced or if it can be salvaged through repairs.

Installation Process.

Another unlimited service prearranged by commercial roofing consultants is quality control assurance during the installation process. They will have someone on the roof during every phase of the installation process to make sure proper specifications are being followed. Once the work is finalized, the roofing consultant can draw up a roof maintenance program and do annual inspections to make sure it stays in good working order.

Roofing Assets.

Some roofing consultants offer roof asset management programs. These proprietary programs, which are generally computer generated, can help building owners manage all the information of their roofing assets. Owners can track when maintenance is scheduled and performed, maintain roofing files, keep file photos of the roof, and anticipate roofing improvements. Since a roof is a major expenditure it is advisable to make certain the asset is being carefully managed.

Since there are no restrictions on who can label themselves as roofing consultants, owners should be careful when they select a commercial roofing Miami company. Inquire about the company’s previous projects and why you should consider hire them. Customer references are very important when selecting a roofing company as well. Consider finding examples of their previous roofing work. Another thing to think about is whether the consultant belongs to the Roofing Consultants Institute (RCI). They are an international, non-profit organization located in Raleigh, North Carolina that does regular quality checks on all commercial roofers. With a quality roofing consultant by your side you will ensure your roofing in miami project goes smoothly from beginning to end.

So be ready – the Melody Bar Classic Era Reunion for 2012 (lovingly dubbed by Ed Wong as the “Melody Reflux”) is ready to roll next Saturday night, February 25, 2012. It starts at 7pm, wraps up at midnight, and will feature many of the stalwarts who’ve held forth on the (real and virtual) wheels of steel over the past reunions: Pat, Lisa, Ed, Pete and myself (and we hear Matt is on the way.)  Stiffy Biceptz will be warning you to keep back, as always, Big John will be at the door – yeah. it’ll be good. Get there early.

Altrok 90.5 HD2 – Blog

Origins Of German

Over 95 million people in Europe speak German as their primary language. This has allowed German to become the third most commonly taught language in the world behind Spanish and French. Until the 1800s standard German was only seen in written form. This was due to the wide variety of pronunciations that were used in different regions of Europe. The German language remained divided this way until 1901 when they adopted a recognized, uniform pronunciation standard by which to go by.

Commonly Spoken

The German language is closely related and very similar to both the Dutch and English languages. German is also used daily by people living all over Europe as a way to communicate with both one another and travelers. For example, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium all have vast populations of German speaking residents. Studies show that in Austria alone 89% of the population speaks German as their first language. In the America, research says 5% of the population uses German on a daily basis. That translates to about 1.4 million German speaking Americans.

European Recognition

With so many people on the planet speaking German on a daily basis it would surely make sense that it was the official language of its home country, Germany. However, the sole location in Germany that recognizes it as the official language of the people is Liechtenstein. The German language is one of only 23 languages officially recognized by the European Union. It is also the second most commonly used language in Europe behind only English.

German In American History

After America’s Revolutionary War the new Continental Congress got together in Philadelphia to decide on the official language of the newly formed country. English beat German by only one vote to become the language of the United States. Traveling to Germany can be a very exciting experience for those looking to explore the German language further. It would certainly be helpful before you go to learn a few common phrases, however.

There are many colleges and universities that require a student to take a German for certain majors. Some of these majors include chemistry, international business, anatomy, and even mathematics. Learning to speak German will give a person a better vocabulary and understanding of many other languages. It also has been shown that studying German increases a person’s literacy. The Rocket German program is a fantastic way to begin your immersion into the German language. Or, if you need to learn Italian there is also a Rocket Italian review program.

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