Mrigya

Have been listening to this band "Mrigya" quite a lot in the near past. Great contemporary music, a good fusion of Indian and western styles. For me this band represents the next step in evolution in the type of music that Indian Ocean was and is at the forefront of. Please do give a listen cause the songs are darn good.

P.S.: Posting all the videos i could find. For audio, you know where to look....:)

Aesthetics of Hate....R.I.P. Dimebag Darrell...

Well, for the metalheads out there, Dimebag Darrell, lead guitarist for Pantera/Damageplan was killed on 8th December 2004 in Ohio while playing on stage. While that was bad enough, this following article was just salt on wound and for no apparent reason.

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You've undoubtedly heard by now that a demented fan last week killed heavy metal guitarist Dimebag Abbott at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio . While I am extremely happy to hear that the assassin was shot to death by a brave Columbus policeman and I in no way want to engage in a blaming the victim scenario, I cannot deny that there much in Mr. Abbott's demise of one being hoisted on one's petard. The squalor, inhumanity, filth (both in the metaphorical and hygienic senses), depravity, ugliness and ignorance of everything that heavy metal represents (Like rap, I cannot use the noble term music in a description of heavy metal) creates a mindset among its devotees in which Mr. Abbott's assassination was an event that was all but waiting to happen.

It was highly amusing, and also terribly sad, to watch on television fans conducting a "vigil" for the slain Mr. Abbott outside of the Alrosa Villa. It was an assemblage of ignorant, semi-human barbarians who were filthy in attire and manner, intellectually incoherent and above all else, hideously ugly to the point of physical deformity. Here is a definite case in which the outer appearance of these "fans" accurately represented the hideousness of their souls. That the physical deformity of their ugliness was self-inflicted makes the spiritual tragedy of their misspent lives all the more tragic.

But one can see why the heavy metal fans so closely identified with Mr. Abbott. He was an ignorant, barbaric, untalented possessor of a guitar and large amplifier system. Freakish in appearance, more simian than human, he was the performer of a type of "entertainment" that can be likened only to a gorilla on PCP. Lacking subtlety, wit, style, emotional range and anything approaching even the smallest iota of intellectual or musical interest, Mr. Abbott was part of a generation that has confused sputum with art and involuntary reflex actions with emotion.

De gustibus non disputandem est. Matters of taste are not subject to argument. That has been a general principle of aesthetics for some time, and when we are talking about the visceral preference for Mozart or Haydn or Beethoven among civilized human beings we are on pretty safe ground. I do not understand exactly why I prefer Haydn to my good friend who prefers Beethoven. But we both agree (as do all civilized human beings) that both Messrs. Haydn and Beethoven are numerous steps further along the evolutionary trail than Dimebag Abbott.

Here is one area in which conservatives have failed and failed miserably. Whether it is out of a lack of interest or despair, conservatives for too long have ceded the entire field of aesthetics to the trust fund red babies of the blue states. And look at what this has brought us. So-called heavy metal music, so-called rap music, operas and stage plays in which modern "stagings" reduce Verdi and Shakespeare to the condition of a schizophrenic's finger paintings. Leftist domination in the visual arts has made a mockery of the aesthetic greatness of modernism and replaced it with the turd encased in Lucite. And the grammatically-challenged racist rantings of Amiri Baraka now pass for poetry.

However, we conservatives should not confuse family values with aesthetics. In the realm of art, our evangelical brethren have many crimes to answer for. When a church replaces Bach with Bacharach it has engaged in the aesthetic rape of the liturgy. Just because one has good intentions and approaches the numinous with "sincerity" and "authenticity" (the latter term ironically being a buzzword among the Marxist aestheticians of the Frankfurt School ), that does not absolve one from aesthetic responsibility.

As far as I am concerned, those who advocate a dumbed-down liturgy and schlocky pop music substitutes for Bach, Handel and the masses of the Renaissance, are as offensive as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and his perverse sexual politics.

Part of the hard work of civilization is teaching young to be able to distinguish between the good and the bad in all aspects of life. If we teach our young children to obey the 10 Commandments and to obey the laws of the land, but don't teach them to realize that Johann Sebastian Bach is superior to Dimebag Abbott, we have failed as parents and mentors. If a person has gone through 12 or 13 years of education and has not developed an appreciation for the greatest artistic achievements of mankind, that education has been an utter failure.

While laissez-faire is the correct approach to economics it has no place in the realm of aesthetics or morality. A confidant civilization imposes its morality and aesthetics on it young people. Yes, you heard it right. We impose. The Rousseauian noble savage is a myth. Left unchecked and untutored the savage will never attain nobility.

There are those who will accuse me of elitism. And I admit it. I am a conservative elitist. I want the very best. The very best form of government, the very best of civilizations, the very best educational system, the very best literature and art, the very best music, the very best way of life. If I need open heart surgery I want to go to an elite heart surgeon.

Mediocrity is the goal of socialism. Americans should aspire to greatness.

In the past forty years, conservatives have won great victories in the political, economic and moral realms, but we stand to throw all our gains away if we do not reclaim ascendancy in the aesthetic realm as well.

And while the murder of even a semi-human barbarian like Mr. Abbott is tragic and to be lamented, it would be wrong to ignore Mr. Abbott's complicity in contributing to the soul-deadening culture of death, ugliness, depravity and inhumanity that spawned his killer.

Hugo von Hofmannsthal once remarked that "all powerful imaginations are conservative." It is time for conservatives to utilize their imaginations and reclaim the field of aesthetics from the left-that is, while there is still something left in the aesthetic realm worth reclaiming.

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Now, I do not need to say anything about this article other than - a load of bullshit. But here is the flip side. Machine Head guitar player and lead singer, Robb Flynn, is a great Dimebag fan and he was so incensed on reading this article, instead of slandering Mr. Grim, wrote a song, called "Aesthetics of Hate" which was released on their album "The Blackening". They had the last laugh, cause the song was nominated for the Grammy for "The Best Heavy Metal Song". Now thats rock 'n roll. 'Nuff said methinks. R.I.P. Dimebag and keep the gig alive up there!

P.S.: By the way, Dimebag is the lead guitarist of the greatest metal band there is in Heaven-land, if such a thing exists. The other members of the band are :

Lead singer : Ronnie James Dio (Ex - Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, Dio)

Lead/Rhythm Guitar : Randy Rhoads (Ex - Ozzy Osbourne)

Bass : Cliff Burton (Ex - Metallica )

Drums : John Bonham (Ex - Led Zeppelin)

Just wondering what kind of songs would they be churning out.................

Salvation

Dedicated to all who were maimed in the December 6th blast at Varanasi.

Travelled he has, the distances of a great land;
Orange robes and sacred ashes his only possessions.
Begged for food, craved he wisdom;
Knowledge eternal to survive the mortal shell.

Callused his feet, found solace at temples and shrines,
hunger, satiated by nourishment from kind strangers.
The rebukes and the sneers, he had smiled through ;
Days and night, warm and cold, seasons left him marked.

Many years on, the banks of the Ganges he sees,
His joy known no bounds, tears run down in streaks.
"jai Ma Gange" chants he, raises his arms in praise,
Ran like a little child to his mother.

Spends his hours, meditating on the banks,
Closed eyes, steadfast in thought.
the noise and the movement around do not bother him;
For the rustle of the Ganges meandering is the only sound he can hear.

The morning aarti, his start of the day,
his material offering to the holy flow.
He held the flame and whirled it round,
Obeisance to the Water flowing down.



And loud, Hell opened up,
Shards of clay sprayed around.
Pandemonium reared its head and laughed,
And scared legs scatter all around

Loses his balance, the flame, goes tumbling
Trampled under a rain of feet.
unable to raise his arm,
unable to finish his prayer.

When the anarchy silenced down
The ripple of the waves was the only voice heard
he was bleeding from the cuts and scars
a river of red originating from him

All his life, he had prayed for salvation
meditated for knowledge,to be one with ether.
Prayed to the Ganges to bless his final journey
And promise him eternal salvation.

Saw he, his blood, rolling down the stairs,
and be one with the crystal River.
Dissolve in what he held holiest,
and resolve his quandary.

Summoned all his will and strength,
and all his humility he could muster.
He said "O Mother, take me with you"
"And lead me to salvation".

Vande Mataram - Tarana

Sung by the uber-melodious Kaushiki Chakrabarty, do give a listen. Enjoy.
P.S. : If the embedded player does not materialise for some geeky reason just use the link given below. Let the stupidity not stop you from listening to some good music.

http://www.raaga.com/play/?id=98088

http://mio.to/album/127-Hindi_Patriotic/19097-Vande_Mataram_Vol_2/#/album/127-Hindi_Patriotic/19097-Vande_Mataram_Vol_2/

Vigil....

26th November ...... remembrance of the horrors perpetrated....... hoping that it never happens again. 

Pushing the envelope....the heavy metal way!

A casual conversation in the life of a little known metal band called "Meshuggah"......introducing the characters....

Fredrik Thordendal - Lead guitars - plays an Ibanez custom 8-string guitar.

Tomas Haake - Drummer - Plays a Sonor kit with Sabian cymbals

Fredrik : Hey Tomas, long time no beer. Ready for some new metal music?

Tomas : Fuck yeah man!....you got something?

Fredrik : yeah, yeahh. Wrote this song called "Bleed" and composed it on the PC.

Tomas : Sounds brutal!

Fredrik : Here, come listen to this cool drum part i wrote for this song...

Tomas puts the headphones on......starts listening to the track.

Tomas : Fuck...:O!

For people who's eyebrows have shot up and have no clue of what is going on around here, check out the song posted below. And especially listen to the drum parts which were watered down from the ones originally written for this track. Tomas reportedly spent 6 months practising the drums for this one track....:D

Second coming.....

The great redwood uprooted fell,
On terra firma lies peacefully.
Anger hath it not,
nor malice, in its heart.
For in its wake,
it knows it sheltered;
the growth of a new seed.

The demise of Linkin Park

Friends and family, we have gathered here, to mourn the sad demise of Linkin Park, one of the best and most successful alternative rock bands of our time. From the band that gave us the seminal "Hybrid Theory" and the fantastic "Meteora", who would have thought it would end like this?





With the ultra-awful bollocks album called "Minutes to Midnight" and its stupid bastard child, "A Thousand Suns"? From the band where Chester's screams and Mike's rapping had everybody pumping fists and banging heads, it has come to being Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake on steroids.


From personal experience, I will tell you that LP was the band that got me into heavy stuff. It was my first step. Reading the lyrics of "Papercut" and being scared of your own shadow was where the fun began. Rapping with Viren in the middle of the night on the verses of "Points of Authority", banging my head to "One Step Closer" and feeling awesome about "Crawling". And the screaming attitude of "Hit the Floor" and the melodic Shakuhachi flute piece of "Nobody's" Listening". Those are the moments this band gave me. And many more.



Then came apocalypse. "Minutes to Midnight" was the paralysis, since there was that one good song on that "What I've done" and "A Thousand Suns" was the full blown heart attack. Dead as a dodo. No signs of revitalisation. Lights out, curtain down.



So, good folks, who bothered to read this, listen to the first two albums and be sad that there are no more coming. And for fucks sake, do not listen to "A Thousand Suns". A bucketful of horse manure will give you more to cheer about than that album.


To the deceased,
Mike, Chester, Brad, Rob, Phoenix and Mr Hahn - Please wake the fuck up!


In Memoriam......the best of Linkin Park!

Faraway.....

Leaves green, fly away;
Melt into autumns charm.
Yellow laid they a carpet,
On the soil so calm.

Silent are the nooks from whence,
spoke beautifully the koel.
Sweeps on the deserted stems,
Diabolic the gushing gale.

Carried afar, all the colours,
You charmed the spring away.
Dress sparkling of slade emeralds,
Hands holding the lights of life.

You smile away from a picture far,
surrounded by what you hold most dear.
Your abode of proesperity and peace,
Kept safe from the shadow of a tear.

Promise to who in foreign land lives;
your return will be imminent.
In full splendor and glory resplendent;
For he counts every minute and moment,
for the welcome sound and scent.

Literati.....

Sonorous metal, blowing martial sounds;
At which the universal host upsent.

A shot that tore Hell's concave, and beyond,

Frighted that reign of Chaos and old Night
- Milton, Paradise Lost

Apart from listening to heavy metal, I seem to have picked up one more bad habit. No, not swearing, I picked that up in high school. No, its reading heavy metal literature. And heavy metal literature does not mean The Satanic Bible (which is a real document and can be found on the internet). Following is the crazy train of what I am reading now.....

1. "Black Sabbath and the rise of Heavy Metal Music" by Andrew Cope

Fantastic book to understand the basics of metal and the difference between hard rock and heavy metal. Very detailed technical musical explanations. Ability to read musical notations and and use Wikipedia effectively would come in handy. Also a very skinny book, so will not take months to be done with.

2. "Heavy Metal" by Deena Weinstein

I would call this book, "Heavy Metal 101". A beginners guide to this wonderful music with a very intense culturo - sociological angle. Lotsa pages in this one, but nothing technical in this, so you will skim through them faster.

3. "Damage Incorporated : Metallica and the production of musical identity" by Glen Pillsbury

A must read for Metallica fans. Again, a little technical, with the musical notations. But, indispensible.

4. "Extreme Metal - Music and culture on the edge" by Keith Kahn-Harris

Any death/black/math/speed metal fans out there? Even if not, this book is a good discussion on the birth and various aspects of extreme metal music.

I know that some people might find this fact that heavy metal can turn someone to literature a little over the top. But let me throw in one more fact. The lyrics in the albums, "A Farewell to Kings " and "Hemispheres" by the Canadian progressive rock/metal band "Rush" are heavily influenced by the writings of the novelist Ayn Rand. I rest my case.