![crosses ep 2 cover [mp3] ††† // Prurien†](http://tympanogram.com/files/crosses-ep-2-cover.jpg "crosses ep 2 cover")
I didn’t pay much attention to the EP from the particularly witch housed named ††† (pronounced Crosses) when it was released last year; that wasn’t for any good reason other than I just overlooked it; so if you’re at all like me, you might not know that the synth-heavy duo is fronted by Chino Moreno, more famously known as the raw-throated frontman of Deftones.
If you want to remember Deftones to be the fury of Adrenaline, then you may want to steer clear of Moreno’s new project. It lacks the guttural impact that his previous band was so adept at, and opts for a far more skittering, programmed sound. That’s not to say that it’s not good – far from it. ††† is so good, in fact, that I need to go back and get their first EP, which is still available for free on their website.
This particular track comes from the pair’s new EP, EP ††, which will be available tomorrow. It started its life as the basis to a metal track, but it sounds at home here. And Moreno is a hell of a vocalist, whether he’s screaming himself hoarse, or here in a much more mellow form.
Connect with ††† // Facebook | Twitter | web
††† // Prurien† [mp3] from the forthcoming EP ††
The familiar vocal stylings of Chino Moreno are always welcome to me – provided they’re focused on singing as opposed to screaming – regardless of whether or not it’s with his usual bandmates in the Deftones. So, despite mocking and general negativity from Pitchfork and snarky bloggers regarding word of a new project from Moreno named †††, I was excited to give things a chance. Part of the issue is that the project is being defined as witch house, and that the project’s name is just a symbol associated with the genre doesn’t help. Pitchfork just hasn’t yet gotten the seal of approval from the bigwigs to hype the genre yet (a la chillwave, et al), so the official company line is snark. In this case the company line is misguided.
[mp3] ††† // Op†ion
Released as a five track EP, the set of songs isn’t half bad. I’ve been a long time fan of Moreno’s work, so perhaps I’m biased, but nothing here screams anything other than chilled out Deftones to me – similar to another Moreno side project called Team Sleep. Reducing music to genres is bullshit in general, and in this case it’s dismissive. I can’t gather why a song such as “Op†ion” has gotten any tags other than moody and electronically textured. Moreno has always been a strong, very distinct vocalist, so who gives a shit what genre his music is defined as? Let the music do the talking, not some snarky a-holes who hide behind their misguided words.
You can grab the rest of the EP above for $email-address if you so choose.
All I tend to be doing with this project is rehashing the same bands and choosing different songs I tend to love. I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing and I’m not prepared to examine the issue further at this point. So, as always, go here if you are interested in finding what this project is all about and to see what I have used so far.
108. Deftones – Crenshaw (mp3) from B-Sides & Rarities
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I will forever be a Deftones fan. It is within my DNA to enjoy this band and the vast majority of their music. While their sound isn’t exactly what I prefer these days in terms of contemporaries, I still purchase what ever they produce. This song is actually a b-side off the “Change” single that I got by going to WBER while they were giving it away on some early Friday morning before school. The fact that I rank it in the top two songs from a band, whose catalog I nearly entirely enjoy, says something. Though of what it says exactly, I am still uncertain. Maybe it’s that this band, regardless of their genre, is so good that an extra track which didn’t fit on a record is still great. Great enough even to be a favorite of a guy who doesn’t exactly associate with that genre any longer.
109. My Morning Jacket – One Big Holiday (mp3) from It Still Moves
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I’ve told the story before, but the first time I heard My Morning Jacket was when they opened for Doves several years ago at a show here in Rochester. I saw these incredibly hairy men banging their heads intensely to the most melodic rock music I had heard. Perhaps it was the juxtaposition of the band’s look coupled with their music that was both bewildering and entrancing, nonetheless I greatly enjoyed the show and went out and found as much music by the band as I could. Obviously I still enjoy the band’s work today, and many more people have come to adore them in the subsequent years, perhaps also due to their live shows. The second time I saw them live was an outdoor show in Buffalo with Wilco. MMJ was inside the fences warming up to this particular favorite while the rest of us attendees were waiting to enter. I thought it a very sound idea to pump up the waiting spectators to say the least.
This may be the last 1000 Minutes entry where I do not have a crying baby in the background as I attempt to write. I have no idea what effect my pending fatherhood will have on my contributions to the blog, but I intend to make it minimal. But the kid isn’t here yet so I have to keep having small heart attacks each time I receive a call from my wife.
Go here if you don’t know what this whole thing is about.
69. Elvis Costello & The Attractions – (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding (mp3) from Armed Forces
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This song is older than I am, yet I have always had a great affinity for it. I don’t have any particular affinity for Elvis Costello and this is the only song he participates in that I have on my computer. I don’t recall when I first heard it and don’t attach it to any memory. But it has easily earned its rightful place in my 1K by being a great song, despite my having very little to say about it.
70. Deftones – Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (mp3) from Around The Fur
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Those that know me will advise you I used to be into really hard rock music when I was younger (but only if you were to ask them a very specific question about it I suppose). The Deftones were at the center of this phase, but my tastes expanded around them to not such great music from not so great bands. Luckily for my wife, at this point in my life the Deftones are really the only band whose music I still enjoy that could be lumped into a hard rock classification. I believe that is because they write deeper lyrics, have vastly more melodic and richer music, and in general were vastly superior musicians to the majority of the groups they may have been associated or toured with. Chino Moreno’s lyrics don’t bash you over the head with a lack of subtlety and in fact do quite the opposite. Purposefully obtuse a majority of the time, he also has a tendency – perhaps proclivity is a better word – to writing songs about driving. Escape to the mystery of the unknown is surely a common theme throughout the creative world, but it certainly is no worse for the wear in the Deftones’ hands. This is amongst my top one or two favorite Deftones songs and I love everything about it and never see myself sickening of it.
Written on
February 20, 2009 by
Dave in
Music
In doing our essential albums lists we are aiming to come up with different albums that qualify as such for us individually, though undoubtedly there will be albums the both of us have strong feelings for and own. In those instance we’ll either leave it up to the writer whose feelings are superiorly intense regarding the subject matter or collaborate. For example I love Songs for a Blue Guitar but since Andy is an old fart he had the means to go out and purchase the album when it was released. I was unable to drive at that time so I’ll give him this one.
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To start this feature off regarding my own essentials I’ll go somewhat chronologically with the first album my single disc boom-box spun silly. I could start with the Deftones’ debut Adrenaline, as it was the first album I owned from the band. And while in many ways that album could still be considered their strongest it is in my estimation that their sophomore effort Around the Fur is a greater achievement.
I have trouble relating exactly what made me like their music back as a young teenager. I have a fleeting memory of hearing their songs on the radio as a music neophyte. I had certainly listened to music before this time, but I would classify the music of the Deftones as my musical awakening because I hadn’t been exposed to anything quite like it. While similar to the feeling I received when first hearing the song Bored from Adrenaline, upon hearing new songs off this album I felt something altogether different. I recall sitting in my room listening to the radio when WBER must have leaked songs off Around the Fur. I will have to describe myself as intensely intrigued with what I was hearing. I was bewildered at what this music was and how I had never heard anything like it before. How it made me want to listen to it endlessly because of the way it made me feel. Somehow I just couldn’t properly grasp what I was listening to and that fueled the intrigue because prior to this I had never had trouble understanding music. I relate it to the feelings the television show Lost brings me. The show is so obtuse and layered that you need to put in a large effort to even attempt to understand it. Obviously you hope that effort should ultimately be rewarding but you search high and low to find out more. The difference with the music is that it was immediately rewarding but at the same time made me work. The ironic part of this intense feeling of having to know and understand what it was has forever been lost exactly because I found it and listened to it again and again.
The reason these memories and feelings are fleeting is that they have been diluted following hundreds of subsequent listens to the album. I still get similar feelings when hearing something brand new and knowing that I have to find it or else I will not rest. I don’t think that I have felt anything quite like that day however mostly because I was being exposed to something far more intense than I ever had before. Other music may have been just as intense to me but following this experience nothing would quite be the same as the feelings that day. First is the song I think they previewed on the radio and the second is my favorite.
Deftones – lhabia (mp3) from Around the Fur
Deftones – Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (mp3) from Around the Fur
