Regurgitator: Don’t Stress / Light Me on Fire Review

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

This review can be read on Cool Try.
I recommend reading the other stuff that people are putting up there if you read this here.

Anyway, here’s the review.

—–

Closing in on five years of nothing “new” and Regurgitator have decided to release Don’t Stress / Light Me on Fire, a double A-side available for all to have their ears peruse and potentially appreciate.

“Don’t Stress” is a fairly spacey, breathing number. The lyrics are advising one to relax as there’s nothing to worry about but could also be taken as instructions to not panic and ignore some sort of societal ill rather than address any issues, pertinent or otherwise.

Following in the vein of the lyrics, the song itself is fairly relaxed with occasional “psychedelic” vocal flourishes and guitar playing weighed down by some light drumming and simple, repetitive and calm bass.

“Light Me on Fire” is a more direct, dense and aggressive track. Seemingly taking influence from noise rock and electronica, the track alternates between quiet and loud sections fairly smoothly and moves along at a fast pace. It’s repetitive, yet driven and like “Don’t Stress” it gets out before it overstays its welcome.

The lyrics of “Light Me on Fire” are as direct as the instrumentation. From a critical standpoint they seem to express interest in the desire for and acceptance through conformity whilst understanding the absurdity of such a pursuit.

The two songs feel like two different sides of the same coin. Whilst not immediately obvious, they compliment each other well and serve as a nice, brief way to give a taste of what Regurgitator are currently exploring. In some ways the two songs do sound different to what they Regurgitator have previously done, but they also sound similar to some of the stuff they’ve released prior. This is neither a good thing or a bad thing; it’s just a thing.

If these two songs end up part of an album, it’ll be interesting to see how they fit in to it, but for now they can be appreciated as two new slices of Regurgitator’s catalogue.

Don’t Stress / Light Me on Fire can be listened to here.

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First Light of The Harbour Bridge

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

On Sunday I went out to get pictures of The Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunrise.

It was mostly for practise.

I wasn’t expecting the sky to be as overcast as it was, but I think that it worked for this photo and the one or two that will follow.

I do like how the clouds cast the light around The Sydney Harbour Bridge and I like how the light is reflected in the water.

I think that this photo makes The Sydney Harbour Bridge look a little ominous which likely has a lot to do with the clouds and the lighting.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Sleep: The Sciences Review

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

This review can be read on Cool Try.
I recommend reading the other stuff that people are putting up there if you read this here.

Anyway, here’s the review.

—–

The Sciences is an album that is predominantly built around one particular note with a few variations away from that note. Its tone is warm and fuzzy and its groove is solid. Sometimes the sound is really thick and sometimes it is a little thinner. Overall, the sound is sparse and dry.

Some of the songs are longer than others. Some are slower than others.

Jason Roeder’s drumming is good and works well for the songs. The same can be said for Al Cisneros’ and Matt Pike’s playing. The band sound conversely loose and tight which gives the whole thing a certain kind of pull to its sound.

The lyrics reference pot, Black Sabbath, Dune and probably a number of other things that are more subtle than other things which may not be as subtle. The vocals vary very little which works for the kind of music they’re making. It’s not a dynamic performance and it doesn’t need to be. They just need to get the imagery across and for that they work.

Sleep have released an album that has some solid material. However, the biggest issue with The Sciences is that it’s tiring. The album comes out strong with the first two tracks, then dips until the final track which avoids much of what came before whilst remaining as weighty. After a few listens there’s not much desire to go back as the record begins to drag. Save for a few moments, the album doesn’t do enough with what potential there is and consequently it begins to drag on the same thing a little too much without the required punch to get through that issue.

Music doesn’t have to be going in multiple directions. There’s some excellent music out there that does very little. With that being said, on The Sciences it feels as though there’s a dearth of ideas.

To be fair to Sleep, they do some interesting stuff on The Sciences and they certainly know how to use a riff, but they let the high of the album peak a little too early.

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Corvus orru

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

The last time I was taking photos of corellas in Centennial Parklands there were some crows hanging around, so I also tried to get some photos of them.

I forgot that I did, so when I was recently going through photos to process I came across these two shots.

Not the greatest of photos, but I do like how they show the form of these crows as they move through the air.

I think that there’s an expression of both stillness and movement in these shots.

As always, I think that there’s a strong expression of grace and power represented by the birds which is likely due to them being birds. However, these crows also seem to express some sort of sleekness, I think.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 442: Form Assessment

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

Sitting down to sort through their papers, the person of this particular story felt some sort of amounting pressure that could not be ignored.

The pressure was bubbling up from behind the lid, but this was not a time for it to blow, for there was work to be done and done work would become.

Slowly through each sheet eyes scanned over words and signatures were placed where required.

Sheet after sheet, more words, more scanning, more signatures. At times answers provided, boxes ticked and crossed, but mostly signatures.

No hidden language. Everything was clear, but the pile felt insurmountable.

It kept on going for what felt like an eternity, and it may as well have been, for the pile came in large and remained large for the longest of time.

Whilst sheet after sheet was passed through, there was much small text that needed to be passed through in order to get to the end of each paper. Each document contained something that was different to the last, although by the end of the whole ordeal they may as well have all said the same thing.

The biggest issue was that, despite there not being any danger or misleading intent, everything had to be carefully read over in order to understand the full content just to make sure.

This was their job and whilst it was something that they were good at doing, there were far too many times when doing it as effectively as they did made them question as to why they stuck it out for as long as they had.

Of course it could have been much worse than it was then, but there had to be more to their ability to work than reading and signing forms all day.

Read over, signed, checked ticked, read over, words, words, paper, forms, read over, signed, on and on and repeating endlessly as the pile seemed to shrink only to grow back somewhere else and being in a position to be carried to some other location that would, in the end not matter as it all went through the shredder at some point. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually all this signing and reading would become shredded paper once it was irrelevant which is something that it may as well have been the moment it hit the person’s desk.

Piles upon piles appearing, disappearing, appearing all over again, though thankfully this day only had one.

So many approval requests to approve and assess and so many getting through with little to no issue, for in the person’s mind there was nothing to worry about. It was all simple stuff that needed to see approval and little chance of impact on the suburban communities.

Of course, at the end of the day it all drew to a close. The piles were finished and the person could then go home and rest. They needed to, for there was going to be a new pile appearing, waiting for more assessment.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:04:72

Not sure as to what happened with this one.
I thought that I was going to be a bit faster, but I wasn’t.

Oh well.

I think that I was trying to express some form of banality.
Not sure.

Written in Redfern

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Clovelly

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

Clovelly is interesting in that a good chunk of the area surrounding the main swimming zone is concrete.

I don’t know why.

You can see most of the concrete in this photo. It’s a bit of a clash with the surrounding landscape, but I’m sure that that’s the preference of some people.

There probably could have been more of Clovelly, but I think I’ve done a decent job with the framing of the scene.

There’s a few varying shapes and textures in the rocks that help give the more “natural” environment a stronger appearance.
I think the rocks also work well with the water that can be seen in this shot.

The clouds kind of add a hardness to the shot, but it’s not overbearing which is likely due to them not completely covering the sky.

I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 441: Racing Both Time and Cake

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

What a day.

When I say that, I mean that it was indeed a day, and a day it was, and now I am here getting that across to you, the reader, who just so also happens to be the people whom will read this after it has been written, unless there is someone who somehow reads this before it is written and then lets me know how it was written and the  effect that that writing has…

Now, where was I going with this?

Oh, yes. That’s right.

So it’s been a long day. There has been some cleaning and there has been some processing of the photos.

Now I am here, trying to think of things that can roll off the fingers, and yet nothing comes forward for nothing wants to fall victim to my loud, loud typing.

I guess that that is fair, or something.

I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know as to what I’m going on about these days.

I guess that that’s the way it goes when you decide to wait to near the end of the day to write.

Maybe if I had struck out earlier, this wouldn’t be the conundrum that I am currently facing.

Well, there is not much (if any) of a conundrum, but I’m going to pretend that there is as it makes for something far more exciting than anything I could ever come up with.

Well, that’s what I have to tell myself at this point.

Now I’m racing both time and cake, as there is cake that must be consumed and in here I am not consuming said cake.

However, soon I will be and I shall enjoy its deliciousness.

I shall enjoy the wonderful cake and consume it in rapid succession.

Then I shall feel bad about the decision as I’m trying to stay away from the sugar.

It is a wonderfully vicious cycle of pain and hurting, but soon taste shall arrive and soon I shall embrace it in a most delectable manner.

Now, where was I going with all of this?

I think it was to somewhere out of my seat and outside into the dining area in order to consume some sort of caramel chocolate banana cake.

It sounds delicious and it also will likely taste delicious.

Of course, I have to find a way to get out of this seat in order to begin the consumption of said food. If this is not something that I do, then or course I will not be able to consume said delicious food.

I think that I’m feeling a little conflicted.

I think that I am.

I don’t know if I can keep going on with this conflict.

I need to get up and start eating, as my life depends on it, or something.

I think that I just need to stop what I am doing and get up and stop thinking about the situation.

I shall do so right after this sentence.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 06:17:07

I wrote this whilst a little too tired and I think it shows.

Length, empty rambling.

Written in Redfern.

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Man with a Plan

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

Here’s a photo of Ewe.

It was a lucky shot.

I like how there’s a sense determination and focus in his face, as well as confidence.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 440: Cold Mornings

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

Cold mornings, cold days, cold weather, cold experience, morning walk, warm brick, doing stuff, meeting stuff, needing stuff, stuffing stuff, things and so on and so forth and tearing off at a speed more acceptable than slow.

The land stretches forward as the hall of the road that I walk down presents itself in an untimely manner.

There are ways around but forward appears to be the least tedious in this situation.

That is to say, that it is much easier than the other options that present themselves to me.

I know that there will be one that I take, but perhaps at another time as the things do not do the things, there may be multiple other options in which I can choose from and more than one in which I can take, assuming that this is indeed the case that is presented to me and not actually the case that is not presented to me.

There are choices to choose and decisions to decide, but for now the stretch is the way to go. The only way is forward and the embrace that that will lead to is something familiar, yet far away from what can truly be told in this given moment of history.

I do need to consider the fact that so long as I stay warm on this walk of mine, that I will be able to remain warm, but this of course requires layers that I need to carry and with the excess weight and baggage on my being I will surely be slowed to a speed slower than I had originally anticipated, so I need to think carefully about how I am going to proceed toward the other side of the day, if indeed this stretch of road of which I am walking along the side of is going to lead to such a thing.

Who knows?

I do not know. I know not what it is that lies ahead of me in this very moment of time, but I do know that if I taker one step at a time, eventually I will be at home staying warm and possibly drinking some orange juice and therefore I will be refreshed in some form of refreshing manner.

That is what I need to believe in order to achieve some sort of goal.

This is of course assuming that there is a target that needs to be reached in order for all of this to tie itself into a neat little bow and then be some sort of self-contained passage.

Perhaps the walk shall lead to all the buildings leaning down to look at the tiny, insignificant being that is walking along. They will laugh in their steel-grinding way and it will be as comfortable as necessary.

I will merely keep on walking into the asphalt desert of which I am trying to seek in order to find the experiences that lead us all to realisations about our selves, but that may occur later.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 05:53:75

Venturing back into the fictional, although there is a little reality in this one.

A little speedier once more.

Written in Redfern.

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Geological Structure

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Stupidity Hole

Another photo from the Coogee to Bondi.

There’s a bit of bleached rock in this photo, but I think that works well to contrast with the grass, the sky and the minerals that can be seen.

I think that the strong light helps to accentuate much of the detail, but it does also seem to make the image a little more hard, so to speak.

I think that the earthy colours contrast well with the sky which is also softer in appearance.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

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