A shot of the whole of Crooked Colours.
I took this shot as I thought it would make for a good photo.
Not sure if it does, but I do think that it turned out well.
The band are framed by both the audience and the ceiling, and there’s a bit of ambiguity to them which helps give a sense of distance.
This was taken for Culture Eaters.
You can find the gallery here.
The review of the show is here.
Our Patreon is here.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s been a long day and I don’t feel much like writing, so here’s another review from Cool Try.
This one is a bit more together than some of the other earlier Cool Try reviews, but I can’t help but feel that it needed a lot of work.
Oh well.
My colleague and I are working on growing Culture Eater so we can have more things covered whilst taking the pressure of continually putting out content off of ourselves. Hence our going onto Patreon.
We’re looking at what we can give to supporters as we don’t want to set up a one way relationship, so suggestions are welcome. Please consider supporting, or at least sharing the Patreon page with others.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
—
Is it Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses or is it The Dark Horses?
Whilst it’s not the most important question in the world, I feel it needs to be answered in some capacity.
Anyway, with that being said, the group has released a new album.
From the slow, western imagery-invoking opener “Oh Lucky Me” to the driving closer of “Last Words”, Tunnel At The End Of The Light is kept fairly quiet and feels like a continuous song broken up into different parts.
At times the songs flirt with rock but it is fairly subtle and doesn’t overtake the fairly low-key sound of the album.
Penultimate track “Un Sound” and “Slide On By”, a song that feels far shorter than its length suggests, is as overt as it gets. However, they still sit well with the rest of the album as they don’t sound out of place.
Much of the playing is deliberate, simple, gentle, and minimalistic, creating a sparse sound.
Everyone sounds like they’re building on each other and no one journeys into excess, instead preferring to work as a group.
When a solo does appear, it feels more as though it is due to a collaborative effort rather than someone breaking away from the others.
Tex Perkins sounds surprisingly fragile, delicate, and at times quite mournful.
He sings with great purposes and intent that is underscored by occasional vocal harmonies.
The lyrics he uses sound as though he is thinking about subjects in a different manner than he would have twenty or more years ago and end up sounding well-developed, direct, and inviting.
He sounds much like a person who has been searching and has found at least some of the answers they seek.
This goes well with the rest of the music and gives the songs a feeling of vulnerability and comfort.
I’m unsure as to how it measures up to the rest of their catalogue, but I can say with confidence that Tunnel At The End Of The Light is an excellent album.
It carries the listener away and washes over them.
It’s easy to talk about the strength of the musicianship or vocals.
However, it doesn’t provide an entirely accurate description of the album.
The best way to sum up Tunnel… is by saying that it’s a band sounding like adults being adults without coming off as a lesser version of themselves.
This was taken a few weeks ago when I took a meandering route to get home.
I think there’s a good colour balance in this shot. Nothing too faded, nothing too vibrant.
The shadows cast on the platform don’t quite represent what they are shadows of, but that’s mostly due to how they fall in relation to other objects around them.
This is a quiet, small scene. It’s a scene of waiting.
This is my submission into The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
The theme this week is “Favorite Things”.
Rail systems are one of my favourite things.
Part of it is due to obvious metaphors.
Part of it is due to having spent a lot of time on them.
I’m sure there are other reasons.
The challenge is hosted by four people and cycles weekly:
Week 1 – Patti
Week 2 – Ann-Christine aka Leya
Week 3 – Amy
Week 4 – Tina
This week is hosted by Patti and next week’s will be hosted by Leya.
Please check out the challenges and consider submitting and seeing how other people interpret them.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
Taken a number of weeks ago.
I like the drastic colour shift in the sky the clouds signify.
It’s not quite sudden, but it’s not exactly subtle.
I also like how much of the sky is being engulfed by the cloud cover.
This is my submission into Leanne Cole‘s photo challenge for this week.
The theme for this one is “Clouds”.
I suggest checking out Leanne’s photography, as well as checking out what other people submit into the challenge.
You can find the challenges here.
I hope you enjoy.
One of my subjects this trimester is “Reviewing the Arts”.
We’ve writing exercises during our tutorials.
This one involved writing as much as we could within an allotted time (fifteen minutes) based on a choice out of four pieces of art, as well as a choice of a few different styles.
I chose Alignigung. Not sure why, but I’m glad I did.
I did start slightly early, but I still got a fair bit written (I think).
Aside from spelling mistakes, the below is unedited.
I hope you enjoy.
—
All is still. There are two people wrapped into each other. Not around, but into. Their forms are distinct, but they form a greater body. It is more than the sum of its parts. Still, they remain distinct from each other. Perhaps this is meant to represent some sort of skewed form of Yin and Yang. Perhaps it is an honest representation.
Are they looking to show some sort of idea of us all being together, despite trying to set up ideas that separate us?
The camera pans around, then the scene changes. Still linked, but in different positions. As the camera pans away, it seems as though the two gentlemen are slowly unfurling away from each other. Limbs are separating and it appears as though they are waking up. Conversely, there is a sense of stillness within the two people.
The camera pans around, the scene suddenly changes once more. There is much that we don’t need to see. The forms are, again, once more changed. More separate this time. One of the gentlemen looks less human. He is distinctly human, but he does not look human. It is like seeing a warped sculpture of sorts.
A gentler shift this time around. Another different more. More untangling and more unfurling. It seems that with each shift there is more movement.
Scenes are shifting faster, but there are more fades now.
It is difficult to tell as to what I am feeling. There is definitely a togetherness in this performance. There is a form of beauty and grace, even if it is not necessarily in the flow of movement. There is also an “otherworldliness” to what is happening.
Again, these are people. That much is clear. There is definitely a humanity to his. However, in another way it is uncomfortable. Not in the sense of the uncanny valley, but… it is difficult to describe. I am seeing what is essentially human, but at the same time it seems to be of the idea of human.
Limbs mover over and around each other and whilst there is a separation, both people still remain firmly attached to each other. They move slowly and deliberately, almost in the same way some organisms of the abyssal layers of the ocean move.
The camera keeps on moving around, pulling away and getting close again. The area in which these two people exist is white, but it is not a void. As the camera moves, you get a sense of isolation for this. Better a uniformly-coloured / toned region than one that is full of detail. The performance sees the focus and any experience attached to what is going on can be better felt.
In parts it seems more that the footage is slowed down, perhaps to give an idea of the form and shift in form. The bodies are always bodies. That doesn’t change. What does change is the forms that they are expressing. The shape is the focus, and in that shape is interpretation.
Even though there is a sense of discomfort, or unnervingnes, there is a sense of calm and appreciation.
The performance is the focus and it expresses without being verbose in its action.
There is a sense of drama, but it’s subtle drama.
Probably the best thing about this is how much it’s open to interpretation. After all, a work of art is for generating interpretation and so this is something that this group has proverbially nailed on the metaphorical head.
Black Rheno were one of the supports for Bongzilla.
A lucky shot of their vocalist.
I don’t know if this is a powerful photo.
I think that in some ways it has an intensity.
The details are low, but you still get an idea of the singer’s power in both their form and voice.
You can find the gallery here.
The review of the show is here.
Culture Eater‘s Patreon is here.
I hope you enjoy.
A shot of one of Bongzilla’s guitars.
This was shot for Culture Eater.
I had an idea in mind when I shot this and it kind of worked out.
Not entirely in how I hoped, but I’m happy with the result.
I think that with this shot you understand as to what is going on outside of the frame.
I like how the photo has a combination of rough and smooth details.
I also like how the space draws attention to the guitar.
You can find the gallery here.
The review of the show is here.
Our Patreon is here.
I hope you enjoy.
Another Cool Try review.
Only fixed a spelling mistake and separated two paragraphs.
This one is rough. I don’t think I went into the details of the album enough.
It’s another review that reads more like a list than it does a review.
Even though it’s one of the ones I wrote in the first few months of writing for Cool Try, I think that there were better reviews I wrote than this one.
Oh well.
My colleague and I are working on growing Culture Eater so we can have more things covered whilst taking the pressure of continually putting out content off of ourselves. Hence our going onto Patreon.
We’re looking at what we can give to supporters as we don’t want to set up a one way relationship, so suggestions are welcome. Please consider supporting, or at least sharing the Patreon page with others.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
—
Artreyu have had a much-needed break.
Now that they’re releasing new music, has the rest paid off?
There’s a lot of interplay between melodic and intense sections in the first half.
A good part of it follows a mid-tempo pace, but it feels as though it is building up to something large and chaotic.
The progression of the songs sound natural and whilst there are times a little less screaming could have paid off, there’s nothing that can be described as being out of place.
Unfortunately much of the album loses it’s momentum from the bombastic “Revival” through to “Moments Before Dawn” before picking up again.
It goes far more into the melodic side and at one point almost veers entirely into straightforward hard rock.
As this breaks the ebb and flow that was in the first half, the songs in that section don’t fit as well as they should with the rest of the album.
Having “Do You Know Who You Are?” as a breather works, but the problem is that it’s followed by (“Heartbeats And Flatlines” aside) too many more after.
Had the songs been interspersed better, then the momentum of the first half probably would have kept building.
With that being said, they are well-written and well-performed.
It’s fair to say that the break Artreyu had has paid off.
Maybe it could have gained from having two or three less songs.
However, despite some songs feeling a bit off compared to the rest of the album, it’s hard to say if removing them would make the album better or not, as they could have worked in a slightly rearranged tracklist.
It definitely could use a little less polish.
Still, Long Live is a strong album that shows the band can still deliver.
Here’s a shot of the artist that goes by the moniker of Nyxen.
This is more of a moody shot, as far as I’m aware.
There’s a lot of space with low detail, but specific shape.
Nyxen is alone on stage, but holds the attention of a crowded audience.
This was shot for Culture Eater.
You can find the gallery here.
The review of the show is here.
Our Patreon is here.
I hope you enjoy.
It’s a cold, wet day. Rain has been falling for most of the night, as far as I’m aware.
I’m sure that there’s been some reprieve, but let’s just go with the idea of it raining all night.
There currently is a reprieve in the rain, but it is no less cold for it.
A large area of mostly constructed environment is where I am.
It is that place known as university. It is supposedly a rich location of education and learning, and I guess that really is what it is.
Don’t want to be here, blah blah blah. Nearly at the end, blah blah blah.
At least I currently have this lecture theatre to myself. Not for much longer, but right now I do and that is probably the best I can hope for, all things considered.
Well, I don’t know what all of the things that need to be considered are, but I do know that at the moment it is mine. Not for much longer as soon students will be pouring through the doors and into the seats. However, for now it is mine and mine along. I sit here, waiting, warming up slightly.
The cold bites this morning. However, it does not impeded the act of getting things done.
I certainly write a lot of crap.
Am I ready for learning? No. Are you ready for learning? Perhaps more than I am. However, right now I’d rather not. There are many other things that I’d rather tackle, but there is no time, for the act of study rules my life as much as it can and forces my to put aside those that I find genuinely productive in order to be stressed and under the pump by things that I no longer do.
I guess all that I’m doing at the moment is whinging. Being a bit dramatic, but it’s that time of the morning and the music is right for it. Got the right music for a little bit of pointless drama of the internal variety which leads to me spewing it all out here, of course.
Today it’s all about oceanography, followed by a healthy dose of trying to get to work as quickly as possible, followed by getting home to go to sleep so I can do it all again tomorrow.
Tomorrow it’s all about… the same thing, except no work after. That’s a plus, I guess.
Only a few more minutes remain before my no longer being alone in this room.
Or seconds, it seems. People have now begun to show up and as such it is time to put the things away.
Wait. There’s still a number of minutes before the first lecture of the second trimester beings.
I still have time to embrace in something. Maybe I should just leave the room. Get out and float about for a little while.
Maybe I should actually just prepare to knuckle down for a number of minutes and discover some new things.
The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:53:28
So I’m not looking forward to this semester, but I should be a bit more optimistic I guess.
More important, more productive things to take care of.
Written at UNSW.
Stupidity Hole 