Towards the bottom of my blog page, and to the left, is a music player playing my latest electronic music cd by Sitari, called 'The Last Few Years...'. Sequenced and brainstormed over the years 2006 - 2008, the cd has some of Sitari's most mellow and downtempo as well as most experimental music to date. Inspired by the wealth of Chicago's culture both in music and artwork coming from the different neighborhoods of the city, it also even has a song started on a Greyhound bus while traveling near St. Louis that turned out to be one of the strongest tracks on the album. I actually think this is by far my most consistent work to date however, and I think each track stands on its own (that's why I plan on putting it on iTunes and a bunch of other mp3 stores for sale). One of the main differences between this and my other albums is that there's a lot of organ and keyboard sounds, perhaps making it both more atmospheric and accessible... as it has a lot of melody compared to some of the noisier stuff I've done in the past. Which isn't to say this is not noisy; it still has a lot of dissonance and experimentation, I just think that it's a little bit more of a good vibe. Have a listen and let me know what you think.
...so I just calculated the American League teams' overall stats by Offensive Ability Rating... here's how they rank:
1. Boston Red Sox - 93.7
2. Texas Rangers - 93.52
3. Tampa Bay Rays - 90.04
4. Cleveland Indians - 88.54
5. Detroit Tigers - 88.16
6. NY Yankees - 87.14
7. Chicago White Sox - 86.99
8. Baltimore Orioles - 86.4
9. Minnesota Twins - 84.91
10. Toronto Blue Jays - 83.33
11. California Angels - 82.96
12. Oakland A's - 81.5
13. KC Royals - 77.99
14. Seattle Mariners - 77.76
So we have the 3 of the 4 playoff teams in the top half of the league... With the Angels thriving in a weak division despite their low offensive rating.
So I didn't get to hear this album before I wrote the best of 2008 post a couple of weeks ago, but it surely would have been on there if I did. Fennesz continues his brilliant work with his new album, 'Black Sea'. It's full of his usual ambient noise from the future, featuring treated guitar, laptop processes, lots of synth washes and textural noise. The album plays with your sense of time and memory, and is quite a trip.
Here we see the most successful teams in offense for 2008 by Offensive Ability Rating:
#1 Chicago Cubs - 91.77
#2 Philadelphia Phillies - 90.04
#3 New York Mets - 88.53
#4 Florida Marlins - 88.49
#5 Colorado Rockies - 87.48
#6 St. Louis Cardinals - 87.42
#7 Arizona Diamondbacks - 87.36
#8 Atlanta Braves - 85.94
#9 Milwaukee Brewers - 84.73
#10 Cincinnati Reds - 84.12
#11 Los Angeles Dodgers - 83.24
#12 Houston Astros - 82.67
#13 Pittsburgh Pirates - 82.33
#14 San Diego Padres - 81.3
#15 Washington D.C. - 79.77
#16 San Francisco - 78.82
The Cubs being the most well-rounded on offense, and also being in a tiny stadium improves their abilities greatly, making it easier to hit home runs... The Phillies became World Champions in '08 with the second highest OAR in the NL, which included bashers like Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell, and the best second baseman in the game in Chase Utley (usually one of the worst offensive positions)... The Marlins also were ranked rather highly with a waaaaaaaaay above average middle infield offense in Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla... the Rockies barely eeked it out over the Cardinals due to the perrennially batter-friendly confines of Coors Field... The Braves were bolstered by a great season by Chipper Jones... The Brewers despite their exceedingly above average power hitting landed in the middle of the pack due to their bad plate discipline... and the Reds rounded out the top 10 again due to being in a hitter's ballpark more than anything else. As expected, the SF Giants were last in offense, with the Padres somehow being better than the Nationals despite being in the most hitter neutralizing ballpark in the majors.
Next I'll publish the American League's top teams in OAR, and then next week I'll post the big one, with the top 100 hitters in baseball.
I was sort of disappointed that I could not taste more of the rye, since it's not the most common beer or ale flavor. To be clear, the initial taste is pretty well balanced, not overpowering. But the aftertaste is pretty overwhelming.
Perhaps I was forewarned by some of the label descriptions: it's described as a monster ale, turbo charged alcohol burnin' dual hop injection dragster. It backs this up with being called "hop rod" and it even has a hot rod on the label. To be honest, this stuff reminds me of a better version of Sierra Nevada, so if you like that, you'll probably like this even more.
To sum up: what I like about this ale is that it packs a lot of wallop. For $5 you get a brew that is 8% alcohol, and the alcohol is totally overshadowed by the different flavors this hop rodder has going on. Also, it has a pretty unique taste. What I don't like is that this beer has an overpowering aftertaste, and tastes rather bitter. Here's an alternative viewpoint.
So for a few months I've been working on a new stat for baseball titled Offensive Ability Rating. This stat measures a player's overall offensive worth, encompassing stats including Total Bases, Stolen Bases, Caught Stealing, Hits, Batting Average, BABIP (or batting average on balls batted into play), Ground into Double Plays, Sacrifice Flies, Hit By Pitch, and to a lesser extent pitches per plate appearance (P/PA). So instead of looking at who's the best in one area of the game (or at bulk stats like RBI or HR), I'm attempting to wrap all of facets of the offensive part of the game of baseball into one tidy little package.
Basically, the stat sort of reads like a quarter back rating stat... it shows who are the players with not only the most power, but the players who combine power with speed and baserunning, their eye for the ball and plate discipline, and even how hard they hit the ball or wear a pitcher down.
This new stat has several components, or other stats that focus on certain areas, mainly Base Efficiency Factor, which is sort of like Power Factor (which just measures how many bases a player generates with one hit) but with stolen bases and caught stealing thrown into the equation. BEF is the most straightforward part of OAR; it is total bases + .8 times the number of stolen bases divided by hits plus number of times caught stealing. The formula being TB +.8*SB divided by H+CS. This component of offensive ability rating both tells you how powerful and how good at stealing a hitter is (so running speed is involved), measuring the efficiency in number of bases a hitter generates when getting a hit as well as if they can steal or not.
Related to BEF is Base Efficiency Average (or BEA), which is simply batting average multiplied by BEF... showing how often a player can pull off those total bases when actually getting a hit... players like Ryan Howard gets penalized here since they don't hit for average.
The next part of OAR is called RELF, or Raw Eye Luck Factor for lack of a better term. This part of the stat is a little more convoluted, measuring the amount of walks, hit by pitch, and to an extent sacrifice flies, which are penalized statistically speaking by the amount of ground into double plays the player generates as well as how often they strike out and do not at least put the ball into play (perhaps causing an error)...
This raw version of the component (RELF) is then averaged into the next component, called Eye Luck Factor, or ELF for short which is also factored in with BABIP... which measures how often a player gets on base because they hit the ball really really hard, are really fast, how lucky the player is, etc. This is usually higher than the player's batting average, and is another way of determining how good a player is at getting onto base. Players with good plate discipline, hitters that are feared or hit tons of line drives, and hitters that just get on base a lot in general and play smart baseball are good at this stat... two good examples would be Albert Pujols and Adam Dunn.
So once I do the calculations, Offensive Ability Rating is Base Efficiency Average plus Eye Luck Factor plus pitches per plate appearance divided by 30, then multiplied by 100 (BEA + ELF + P/PA/30 * 100).
In the next few weeks I'll be doing posts showing how individuals as well as teams did in 2008 offensively, using this stat to illustrate. Tomorrow I'll be doing a rundown of the National League and which teams were the best at hitting.
I would even go so far to say that this is delicious. First of all, the bottle has printed in small print "life is uncertain. don't sip". Not sipping actually changes the flavor somewhat, making it even more smooth and rich. Sipping gives a slightly different taste, and I think this shows the subtlety of this ale. The bottom of the bottle is decorated with pictures of hops, but it's not too hoppy. Instead, we get a nice, caramel malt flavor extravaganza. To put it simply, Censored Copper is slightly sweet, slightly bitter, but not too bittersweet. This stuff is sort of a paradox, because it is smooth but is full of flavors. Honestly, this is my current favorite beer.
Oddly enough, there's a weird little face on the bottle near the right hop illustration at the bottom of the label. Again, I'd say this has a pretty subtle taste... the first one really hits the spot, perhaps this stuff is just too easy to drink (couple beers later). I say try it! Contains malt, hops, yeast, and water + 5.9% alcohol. Mmm, I like malt.
P.S. the night I got the free beer the guy from Lagunitas was playing guitar at Kuma's Corner... that guy is a good guitarist and a generous man.
While 2007 was a very prolific year in music, 2008 was all about quality. In 2007 there was a deluge of groundbreaking and memorable music from the likes of Jesu, Baroness, El-P, Dalek, Hella, Amon Tobin, Film School, Radiohead, Tomahawk, Today is the Day, Cephalic Carnage, Prong, Scorn, Behold... The Arctopus, and High On Fire. Not that there wasn't quality releases in '07, it was all a bit overwhelming. A year later I'd have to say that Film School's 'Hideout' was my favorite release of that year (although 'There's No 666 In Outer Space' by Hella is a fine alternative, and I loved Tomahawk's "Anonymous"), but it's all about what mood your in... 2007 had a lot of great metal too... but 2008 got way more introspective and in-depth overall.
So anyway, on to 2008, where we saw not quite as many interesting releases, but heard some amazing sounds nonetheless. Early in the year, we were treated to The Mars Volta's new album, 'The Bedlam in Goliath'. The MV enlisted a new drummer, Thomas Prigden, who had to fill the large shoes of drumming giant Jon Theodore, and he did not disappoint. The band saw newfound energy, and despite a few weaknesses, 'The Bedlam in Goliath' is an interesting amalgam of prog-rock and cyberpunk blended in with the usual Mars Volta stylistic excursions and inventiveness. The aforementioned weaknesses include a gimmick involving some type of ouija board (or is it a gimmick?) and some slightly iffy compositions here and there (perhaps due to the circumstances surrounding the creation of the album), as well as the worst song in the band's history ("Tourniquet Man")... not to mention some tinny production (probably the major label's fault), but who am I to complain? This thing smokes, and draws you back in despite its flaws. It's main characteristic is that it sounds like nothing else and is extraordinarily unique... and more importantly, it is crackling with energy. Also, there is little doubt that the musicians in this band are some of the best around, playing circles around most cats. One of the most consistently surprising and legendary bands of the first decade of the 21st century.
The next album I became obsessed with in '08 is Secret Chiefs 3 - 'Xaphan: Book of Angels'. It is an interpretation of some of John Zorn's work, a legendary New York City composer. Here we see SC3 mastermind Trey Spruance give 11 of John Zorn's Masada compositions a decidedly worldly, cinematic scope. This album is a bit less creepy and more laid back than other SC3 releases, so longtime Secret Chiefs fans might be in for a surprise. It still has a ton of character and nuance, and sees the band really stretching its musical muscle. The production and musicianship that can be heard is top notch, and I really can't recommend this highly enough. There's so much variety in every song on this disc it boggles the mind, and the compositions are every music school student's wet dream.
Another musically awe-inspiring release from 2008 is Squarepusher's 'Just a Souvenir'. The album is a bit of a departure for the genius that is Squarepusher (otherwise known as Tom Jenkinson, a multi-instrumentalist and programmer)... although he's hinted at this album musically during much of his career. Gone is the dark, brooding qualities of his late 20th century, groundbreaking work. In its place is virtuosic bass playing, a wider variety of styles in his meticulously programmed beats, and a new sense of wonder. For fans of jazz, rock music, and electronic music alike, this is probably his most fun to listen to album to date, yet it's still very challenging and "new".
Now for my favorite "pop" album of 2008, Deerhunter's 'Microcastle'. While I haven't heard the album's bonus disc (which was recorded in under a month to be added to the original release, since it was leaked to the public quite early), 'Microcastle' is full of memorable songs and strangely familiar melodies. The album sounds both contemporary and classic, and is a thrill to hear. This band really won me over with this album, and I would recommend it to fans of everything from Radiohead to 60's psychedelic pop to The Pixies, etc. Lyrical topics include the increasingly isolated and paradoxical nature of humankind, culture loss, and frustrations with life in general (see lyric, "nothing's easy, nothing's fair"); yet the songs exude an overall sense of hope and awareness. Good stuff... I really haven't got sick of this yet, and I think this album will age nicely. Favorite songs include "Agoraphobia", "Saved By Old Times", "These Hands", "Never Stops", and "Nothing Ever Happened".
Another sort of pop release that I thoroughly enjoyed was the new Portishead album, called 'Third'. Talk about isolation... this cd probably drove away a lot of their fans, but I love them even more for it. 'Third' is at times a caustic, claustrophobic listen (sometimes reminding me of experimental or industrial music as much as triphop); at others it sounds almost like classic rock; all the while touching upon their past sound in new ways (especially on "Hunter"). The production is adventuresome and unique, and includes lots more instruments as opposed to samples. Probably one of the best comeback albums of all time. The first track, "Silence" has a weird sound art collage sense about it while still remaining a pop song; "Hunter" is a darkly beautiful, dream-like hallucinatory voyage with a wicked distortion cracking the horizon; "Plastic" has a weird, futuristic quality emanating from its haunted existence; "We Carry On" is just epic; "Deep Water" draws humor from the most unlikeliest of places (a ukelele on a Portishead album? a charming song about global warming? what is it?); "Small" builds itself up into a maelstrom of melancholy; and "Magic Doors" reminds us why we liked the band in the first place. And that's only the half of it!
Now to get even heavier, well, at least sonically. The Faceless surprised me with their second album, 'Planetary Duality'. Absolute technical mastery can be heard here, as well as an astonishing amount of variety for a grindcore/technical death metal group. I would even go so far to say it breathes new life into the genre with its unorthodox song structures and broad sonic palette. The band remind me of juggernauts Cephalic Carnage, Necrophagist, and Origin at times... but definitely have their own take on rocking your face off. I'm not so sure this isn't my favorite metal album of 2008... just listen to tracks like "The Ancient Covenant" and "Legions of the Serpent" and not be impressed with their dizzying guitar acrobatics, impossibly tight rhythm section, and overall creativity.
Gojira make it very hard to decide what my favorite metal cd is this year... aside from the production being a bit too polished, 'The Way of All Flesh' is very solid from start to finish. Expect to hear arguably the best metal vocals of the year, and a band that's at the top of its game. Lyrics are all pro-environment, and thoughtfully analyze the human condition. The vocal effects are very interesting and cool to hear, which really helps to differentiate them from other death metal bands. I really like the songs "The Art of Dying" and the title track (actually, all of them are pretty flawless), and this is great from start to finish. Again, there's a lot of variety on here yet it remains extremely heavy throughout. I really hope stuff like this is what the teenagers are listening to these days rather than cookie cutter mall-core and whiny, emo-metal crap (man I'm starting to feel a little bit old).
I'm not sure how to classify this band, but they certainly are heavy. Intronaut released the great 'Prehistoricisms' in 2008. Tracks such as "Australopithecus" give you an idea of the epic qualities lying within the band's collective creative ability. Expect superb, jazzy bass playing (kinda rare in metal bands), atmospheric guitars that sound way cooler than precursors Isis, and a very memorable instrumental track called "The Reptilian Brain" to close the album out. I'm not sure if avant-metal is the term to describe this, but they certainly have expounded upon the style that Neurosis started over a decade ago. And oh yeah, there's a song called "The Literal Black Cloud". This album is really growing on me.
Another hard to define album that I loved in 2008 is Marnie Stern's 'This Is It.......' (abbreviated). What I hear is dauntingly dexterous guitar runs with peppy, self-help vocals tied together with the nutty and knotty drumming of Zach Hill... and yet, this music still sounds like a singer/songwriter, making it rather paradoxical. Music like this is so inventive that you just have to hear it... you'll probably either love it or hate it, but I think it's heartwarming and indulgent. She's one of the best guitar players I've seen live, putting forth a giddily intense performance. Without trying to overanalyze things, I'll just say this is fun stuff full of positive energy. Get it!
To round out my top 10 albums of 2008 list, I must say that I really enjoyed Earth - 'The Bees Made Honey In They Lion's Skull'. Since it's instrumental, and I have few words to describe it, I'll just say that if you love Americana or Ennio Morricone, get it. They also put on an amazing live show; drumming slow ain't easy. And oh yeah, the great Bill Frisell plays on three out of seven tracks.
So there you have it, my top ten albums of 2008 (no particular order of course). Try to listen to them all... not at once though. That would drive even the sanest of the sane insane. Now, onto my Honorable Mentions of 2008:
Coffins - 'Buried Death' sounds like the tape they are recording onto is lit on fire and someone is barfing on it, all the while smashing you with some of the most intense riffs I've heard in a long time. What a weird drum sound... also, they are from Tokyo, Japan and have songs like "Deadly Sinners" and "Under the Stench". For headbangers only!
Flying Lotus - 'Los Angeles' sounds like Prefuse 73 without the genius, but it still sounds really cool. Very analog and warm sounding, mostly instrumental hiphop. Can't wait to hear the next release from this guy... I especially liked the song 'Sleepy Dinosaur', and his website I linked to is really cool as well, listen to it for yourself.
Jucifer - 'Lautrichienne' might, with more listens, be more than just an honorable mention. 21 songs that span the gamut of rockness... sometimes heavy and plodding, sometimes extremely catchy and agile, sometimes just plain rawkin, all the while making you wonder how one woman and one man can make so much sound (I know this is what everyone says, but it's true!). This is the concept album the band has been promising for quite a few years, and certainly is a huge comeback from their disappointing last album ('If Thine Enemy Hunger'). Best band to ever live in an RV! Check it out if you like alt-rock or arty metal like the Melvins, or just like beautiful women with sweet voices.
Lich King - 'Toxic Zombie Onslaught' (yes, that's the title!) might even be a top album for 2008 contender, but the production is pretty quiet, so I'd have to remaster the album to listen to it more (maybe they're going to release it again for authenticity, just as many 80's metal bands did!). That said, this is some very funny thrash metal, oozing energy and attitude. It can get a little sloppy at times, but for the most part these dudes just flat out shred. The lyrics are friggin hillarious... although if you don't listen to thrash, play Dungeons and Dragons, or take black metal too seriously, I don't think you'll find it all that entertaining. Too bad for you.
Krallice - 'Krallice' is the debut album from two virtuoso underground musicians (Mick Barr of Crom-Tech and Orthrelm and Colin Marston of Behold... the Arctopus and Disrhythmia) putting together a black metal project... which both sounds like black metal and doesn't... let's just say that all you need to hear is a little "Wretched Wisdom" to be enthralled by this band's daunting powers. Probably the most dark and epic metal song of the year, I'll wager that their second album will be a masterpiece. "Energy Chasms" also is one of the best metal songs I've heard all year.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - 'The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange' and 'Calibration' were both very good instrumental guitar recordings, edits of studio and musical explorations by one of the best guitarists of our times (he's also in Mars Volta). They sound like snippets of some kind of greater, underlying soundscape that is just now surfacing, yet is rooted in the past. Great, great "background" music, since it sort of has a cinematic sound. Also, I just picked up another one called 'Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus' that's also from 2008... I'm about to give it a listen.
Septic Flesh - 'Communion' is on here because it reminds me of why I like metal: because it is disturbing and scary. Don't listen to this if you are easily frightened, perturbed, or are prone to nightmares. Heck, even I have hardly listened to this, and I'm used to fucked up shit.
Esoteric - 'The Maniacal Vale' is another one that is just darnright scary and disturbing... but in a more slow, atmospheric way with more subtle keyboards. It's the sound of a mind unraveling, of a world gone mad, of the most blood gargling vocals I've ever heard. This is a daunting, 2 cd album of heavy dementia and at times dark beauty... it sounds both natural and alien, and has songs that will pummel you with funereal doom, since they are often around 20 minutes long (yet don't really get boring).
Asva - 'What You Don't Know Is Frontier' is in much the same vein as Esoteric... Expect really long, heavy, even a little bit artsy 'metal' for lack of a better word. Very focused on texture, also like Esoteric's 'Maniacal Vale'... this one is maybe slightly less subtle, and has no vocals for the most part, but makes up for this by having a freakin Hammond B-3 organ and synthesizers on different songs. Steer away if you're claustrophobic or not into textural explorations.
The Melvins - 'Nude With Boots' if you don't know the Melvins, this is a good place to start
Origin - Antithesis is really really fricken fast. They get kudos just for that.
Zach Hill - Astrological Straits is really really weird. ditto
That about sums it up, 2008 was quite a year for music... again, here's my favorite albums (in no particular order):
- Portishead - 'Third'
- The Faceless - 'Planetary Duality'
- Marnie Stern - 'This Is It......'
- Deerhunter - 'Microcastle'
- The Mars Volta - 'The Bedlam in Goliath'
- Secret Chiefs 3 - 'Xaphan: Book of Angels'
- Intronaut - 'Prehistoricisms'
- Gojira - 'The Way of All Flesh'
- Squarepusher - 'Just A Souvenir'
- Earth - 'The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull'
