Gumbo72203

Ample opportunity to go sledding and post pictures on Facebook!
 
Remember, you need stories.  Your life needs to be one to be told to other people.  When you are the one who has "things going on", people want to be a part of those things.  They want to feel included.  The great people are the ones who make things happen on their own because they have that creative engine inside them that makes them want to DO.  Everybody wants to be a part of something that's going on.  So, one of the greatest ways to attract females is to be a dude who has awesome shit going on. 
 
So, go sledding.  Invite friends!  Make an event!  Then it becomes a great story to recount, and that is an attractive quality.  Someone who sits home and watches Netflix all night and doesn't go out and do things has no stories.  What are you going to tell a girl, "Yeah I watched Blacklist last night again."  No, that's fucking boring.  You don't talk about Netflix. 

You go sledding when there is 8 inches of snow.  You go snowboarding.  You have your friend slowly pull you behind a car on a tube on a deserted road.  Something, anything! 
 
The trick is to make girls want to weasel their way into your awesome life.  You don't want to be the one clawing and scheming to try to weasel your way into THEIR life, because you've just given them all the power because you've said "Hey, you are way more interesting than me and I'm desperate to be a part of your life."  Make them be desperate to be a part of YOUR life.  Flip the power.  Become desirable. 
 
 
This is all about attraction, man.  I met my current girlfriend at a concert.  I went to Dark Tranquility/Sonata Arctica on Election Day with my best friend and my brother.  Ended up meeting a girl from an hour south of here, she gave me her number.  We date now.  You don't make life happen by sitting inside your house.  You have to get out in the world, and do things.  Insert yourself into society.  That's how you meet people, and get things happening. 
 
But it all starts with today.  Don't let today pass without doing something!

So, apparently Lights & Motion came out with a new album today!  I had no idea Chris was working on more music.  This dude is a god-damn genius.  I'd have no qualms labeling Lights & Motion as the best post-rock band out of sheer musical prowess.  Dude is just incredible, I have no idea how he makes all this stuff just by himself. 

The new one can be found on Bandcamp on Deep Elm's page.... it is called "Dear Avalanche"
http://deepelmdigital.com/

Really?  That's very curious, because Napalm's website says that it was re-mastered specifically for vinyl too.  That's a bummer, but I guess good for my wallet.... I'll just try to pick the CD up eventually. 
 
 
Speaking of NEW music, though.....  you guys HAVE to hear the new Appalaches track.  http://arcticdrones.com/exclusives/appalaches-milsai/

No fucking way, you ought to re-visit this album with a more open mind.  This is one of their better releases.  The production is fantastic, and the stuff all kills.  I usually haaaaate Phish studio albums, but I play this ALL the time.  The horns in Breath and Burning, the percussion in Blaze On, everything about Home, everything about Always Wanted It This Way, EVERYTHING about Friends.... god that song rules so much.  Miss You has poignant lyrics, Tide Turns has that swanky groove and the shaker masking the hi-hat plus Mike's bass...   and then Petrichor.  Waking Up Dead also with those fucking vocal harmonies.  Yes. 
 
I thought this album was going to suck so hard based on the tracklist, but man... this thing is a  home-run in my book.  Not sure if it bests Fuego, because that album slays as well. 
 
Seeing the stuff with horns and percussion on Saturday was a treat as well. 

I mean, it sounds fine, just not quite what I was personally hoping.  I was ready for this to be HUGE, but I'm not too big of a fan of how the drums sound; they're not as 3-dimensional or spatial as I anticipated, at least for the few couple songs so far.  The vocals sound great over top everything, for sure.  Those are mixed very well.  The parts that sound much better are like the solo sections, when the guitars are higher up on the neck.  The solo section for "Up and Atom" for instance sounds fucking great, there is finally some breathing room to the music and you get a sense of space and separation between the instruments.  Everything else kind of feels mushed together, if that makes sense. 


So this is weird for me; some of the songs have sections where everything feels mushed together and it's all squished tightly, and then some sections explode and there's tons of space between everybody.  Very strange!
 
This could also just be a taste thing, as the production style is a large reason why I don't listen to much metal anymore.  Everything is too clean and triggered and you lose all the balls and warmth of real instrumentation. 
 
My blue vinyl is also a bit warped, haha, it looks goofy as it spins around my table.  Some sides are squished, and the needle does a bit of a rollercoaster. 

Sometimes I imagine the photo of Gumbo in his avatar is "normal" Gumbo before years of careless head banging caught up to him.  Or perhaps one particular show is all it took, and gave one lucky venue the incentive to create and hang a "no stage diving allowed" sign.  In the blink of an eye; concert enthusiast to hospitalized potato in an undersized death metal T.  Years of determination and physical therapy have more or less allowed him to regain basic motor skills and a grasp on vocabulary, but the portions of his brain that calibrate music and excitement are completely shot.  But at least it's music and not food – if Gumbo lost his shit over chicken'n'waffles or pudding pops in every other thread, I'd resign from VC.

I would strongly urge you to write them with a complaint.  They relented and are shipping me a new jacket. 
 
She told me that you can always request additional padding in the notes section of an order.  Which.... yeah, okay, makes sense... but you shouldn't have to fucking ask "Hey, label.... make sure you ship this properly."  
 
She said she's just trying to uphold their policy.  Which, okay... I get that, but if your people did their job correctly the first time, these issues wouldn't happen.  How hard is it to take an extra 2 minutes and wedge the thing between 2 cardboard squares so that there's enough pressure holding it in place? 
 
This is a silly, petty thing.... but I think it's absolutely unacceptable that we, as customers, are expected to just take this sitting down.  You shouldn't buy a new thing and have it come with damage. 

I would strongly urge you to write them with a complaint.  They relented and are shipping me a new jacket. 
 
She told me that you can always request additional padding in the notes section of an order.  Which.... yeah, okay, makes sense... but you shouldn't have to fucking ask "Hey, label.... make sure you ship this properly."  
 
She said she's just trying to uphold their policy.  Which, okay... I get that, but if your people did their job correctly the first time, these issues wouldn't happen.  How hard is it to take an extra 2 minutes and wedge the thing between 2 cardboard squares so that there's enough pressure holding it in place? 
 
This is a silly, petty thing.... but I think it's absolutely unacceptable that we, as customers, are expected to just take this sitting down.  You shouldn't buy a new thing and have it come with damage. 

I would strongly urge you to write them with a complaint.  They relented and are shipping me a new jacket. 
 
She told me that you can always request additional padding in the notes section of an order.  Which.... yeah, okay, makes sense... but you shouldn't have to fucking ask "Hey, label.... make sure you ship this properly."  
 
She said she's just trying to uphold their policy.  Which, okay... I get that, but if your people did their job correctly the first time, these issues wouldn't happen.  How hard is it to take an extra 2 minutes and wedge the thing between 2 cardboard squares so that there's enough pressure holding it in place? 
 
This is a silly, petty thing.... but I think it's absolutely unacceptable that we, as customers, are expected to just take this sitting down.  You shouldn't buy a new thing and have it come with damage. 

Bastard. 

So I played in a death metal band for a while back when I was in high school, and right after.  We recorded some stuff, some of which I'm pretty proud of.  I think it's pretty cool, and I think some of you guys would be interested in hearing it too.  We were like, thrashy old school death metal.  Like old Morbid Angel, maybe some Possessed, crossed with some black metal maybe like late-era Immortal.  But lots of Morbid Angel   I basically wanted to be Trey Azagthoth, and didn't do a great job hiding it haha.  Those guitar solos mannnn. 

Anyway, we made 2 demos/EPs, a year apart.  The first one is from August 2003, when I was 17 and just about to enter high school.  The 2nd one is from August 2004, just after graduation when I was 18.  The first one is obviously lesser quality, as we recorded it in my garage rehearsal space with a very bootleg DIY setup.  I still love it though.
 
Both of these albums are on Youtube, but I think i'd like to highlight some individual songs first. 
 
 
 

Jumbo Gumbo™ from Gumbo's rating system officially rated this album:
 
— "Could be longer."

I'll never conform!  Caspian is a jam-band, and hosts high school proms!
Glad you made it over man!
 
I was just spinning my copy of the Ranges 7" this morning, such good songs.  Although I realllllllllly wish the ending section on Kingdom was let to go for another 30 seconds or more before the fadeout.  I love that riff; it could go on for 7 more minutes and I'd be happy haha.  The songs are fantastic, for such a cheap price it's a great piece to have. 

Let me know how your copy plays....   my /150 was very, very noisy when you put the needle down, before the music comes in.  But once the music hits, it quieted down.  I attributed this to some dust or something from packaging, where the record sticks out slightly above the top of the sleeve. 
 
But Elusive Sound has the most gnarly mailers.... wait til you get it.  They designed their own single-LP shipping package that is like a fucking tank.  It's crazy haha. 
 
This music is so good though!!!  Lights and Gone and Rakev are my 3 favorites, not sure if I can pick one over the other.  Maybe "Gone" would edge them out, but not by much. 
Excellent!!!  Glad it arrived safe and sound!  I know MrEwest and Omik's copies just arrived too.  They sound just as good as they look

Listen to it again, and watch the video.  The first time I played it, I was like "Yeah I guess it's okay".  It didn't strike me too much; the mix sounded flat, and the instruments weren't jumping out.  But on the 2nd listen, when I was paying more attention... oh man, that ending section!  It's so heavy, but it's so joyful and full of exuberance and just like, this bursting !!!!-feeling. 
 
I can't wait to see how that translates to the stage.  It's going to be humongous. 
I've only heard "Overhang" but that song is absolutely incredible.  I almost splurged and got all 3 physical releases from them via bandcamp, their older stuff is just as good. 

Haha they're playing it for me and my friend only. You fuck off.

EDIT:  nevermind, i'm retarded.
 
 

god damnit I missed the swirl by 20 minutes.  Faaaack.
 
Also, this $7.50 for media mail nonsense is a little hard to swallow....

ohhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyy godddddddddddd these records!!!!!!!
 
Took a minute quick before I get to bed here to open the box, holy fucking christ these things are absolutely stunning.  The packagine... the records...  god damn.  I almost don't even care there's music on it, these things are pieces of art. 
 
Will have some pics for you guys Friday night.  Gonna do a team picture for this, I think. 

They're here!!!  I picked up the package today.  It'll be a bit before I have time to get everybody's stuff out.... I'm going to try to start getting them all ready to go Friday night.  But it might not be until sometime next week that i get them in the mail.  School and work, man.  But they're here!  I haven't even opened them yet. 

They're here!!!  I picked up the package today.  It'll be a bit before I have time to get everybody's stuff out.... I'm going to try to start getting them all ready to go Friday night.  But it might not be until sometime next week that i get them in the mail.  School and work, man.  But they're here!  I haven't even opened them yet. 

You guys think maybe we should do a group buy for the new Seven Mile Journey from Dunk!?
 
This band never fails...  new album is great. 

Alright guys, the package is on it's way!  In case any of you want to keep tabs on it, here is the tracking information:  
CQ002567540CH
Enter at www.post.ch

"We All Fall Down" is pretty fucking awesome.  If they played that when you saw them, I bet that was damn incredible.  The slow rise to the climax intensity is very well done.