The wine blog. Yeah, I know!

All right: since g.'s been back in the TO, we've been drinking wine (to be honest, we drank wine before we left the TO for a holiday, too). Drinking wine and writing about it in a little journal thing. Talking about wine, drinking wine, talking about it some more and then drinking a bunch. It's cyclical, really.

Anyway, we decided that the notes we wrote in the journal should be shared. For the good of all humankind, really.

We are not connoisseurs. We just really like drinking wine. And, since we talk about it to each other, we figured that we should bring our wisdom to a wider audience. So people can, in the future, buy their wine informedly. And have fun, of course. That's the main goal. Fun is foremost in this pursuit. Honest.

In the truest sense of the word, we are not oenophiles. But, in a loose interpretation, we most certainly are. With a bullet.

So, if you want to know what we have to say about wines——both tasty and otherwise——go here.

Possible Names for Future Cats:

Pairs:
Dave and David
Jackson and Triggs

Singles:
Egil
Njál
Grettir
Skarp-Hedin
Airplane
Spaceship
Carl
Rod Stewart
The
Prorogation of Parliament

That's it for now.

Oh, man.

Dear blog,

Yes, I am still kickin', and I'm sorry I don't talk to you more often; it's just that leaving for work at quarter to six in the morning and not getting home until around four thirty makes me tired and generally unwilling/unable to do Things. I know this isn't a very good excuse, but please forgive me: I'm doing the best I can.

Love,
Daniel

Khanate - Skin Coat

Alan Dubin has one of the crazier voices (and one of the more reasonably terrifying lyricists) on the market. But it's perfectly suited to the sonic assault that is Khanate. The plodding, ominous, depraved, intense assault that is Khanate.

Though I most enjoy their most recent album (Capture & Release), there are amazing moments on all their albums, of which "Skin Coat," taken from their eponymous debut, is one. Compared to later works, this song moves along at lightning speed, and its fullness is impressive. Listening over Khanate's catalogue, it's obvious how much importance they place on space, how interested they are in the idea. They're probably the best band that I've ever heard at manipulating space, knowing when to fill it, when to leave it empty. They are not afraid of silence (maybe not quite so unafraid as John Cage, but close).

"Skin Coat" is chilling, as much of Khanate's work is. Dubin's repeated "shhh" works to such an effect, certainly. And, again, the space issue is important here, imbuing the work with a claustrophobia-inducing feeling, leaving no stone unturned in the quest to create something truly sinister sounding. The rest of the band is just as intense, in a restrained way——pushing and pulling at their respective instruments, pushing and pulling at space and time within the song's structure. Building, tearing down. They mimic the sinister quality of Dubin's vocals almost perfectly; the section beginning at about 5:10 being the greatest example: a cohesion of vision, violence and malice seething just below the surface.

Intensely, violently beautiful.

Bobby Darin - Dream Lover

So, as I'm sure some people may know, I was raised on a steady musical diet of 720CHTN, from when I lived in Pictou until it finally died a nasty death, its death knell ringing loudly and clearly on July 5th, 2006, permitting the entrance of the weak Ocean 100 and signalling the end of decent (even passable) pop radio on PEI.

Obviously, I heard Bobby Darin many, many times throughout the 20-some years of listening to 720. I remember especially appreciating the convergence of my bathtime with "Splish Splash." And while that song may be one of those Golden Oldies, Bobby Darin's pinnacle for me is "Dream Lover."

His voice!: so smooth; the melodies!, the harmonies! The backing singers are pretty great. It's a perfect little pop nugget. The vaguely contrapuntal movements of Darin and his backers are, basically, magic. And they work so well at pushing the song forward and upward.

Also, it's used in Hot Shots. And who doesn't love Hot Shots?

It's also, in part, the inspiration for a story I'm slowly chipping away at, even affording me a wicked title.

Good News!

Wine is being drunk from a cat bottle, A New Hope will be watched in the near(ish) future (we started with The Phantom Menace on Wednesday and we're plowing right on through) and I'm starting work on Monday morning! 7 to 4, Monday to Friday (so cat wine = celebration, really, for my good news and Gabrielle's success; high fives to her, yup).

Man, when the staffing agency guy called me today and told me that I could start work on Monday, the stress just melted out of me. Good times.

And the commute will give me good amounts of time to read! I'm excited to no longer be just a cash drain!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Kill Theme for American Apeshit

Agoraphobic Nosebleed is one of my favourite bands (I'm really excited to get their split with Insect Warfare [another great band] when I have a few extra dollars kicking around).

Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope is an exceptional album and this tune is one of the stand-outs for me. LISTEN TO THE BREAKDOWN! The vocal style on this song is one of my favourites they use (and they mix it up quite a lot, from song to song, album to album). The sort of yelps that they use at the start: so good. The drum machine: I love it. They use it well, they don't try to mask that they're using a drum machine like some bands; they revel in it and push it to levels beyond (at least most) humans, pushing into the realm of gloriousness. And the guitars! So precise and cutting. AND THE BREAKDOWN!

Also: look at the album cover!:



SKULL EYE SOCKET LASERS!!!
Enjoy.