Cian's Blog » Music

Semi-Proficient Guitarist Seeks Semi-Proficient Bandmates

Cian — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:25:55 +0000

Title says it all. Influences include Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil, and Alkaline Trio. Plenty of other stuff too, but that’s the general idea.

…

Reading this back, that band sounds pretty terrible. So let’s expand the range of influences to include the industrial-lite stomp of Nine Inch Nails, the alt-rock stylings of mid-90′s Smashing Pumpkins and the discordant and chaotic riffage of Every Time I Die.

…

There’s probably no way that anyone could make a combination of these styles sounds good, but maybe things will just blend together nicely resulting in a pleasing post-hardcore mush that sounds a little like Rival Schools. I could certainly live with that, and in this spirit I’m naming the band Mako Reactor (“Rival Schools” is also a video game reference).

The band is based in Cork, Ireland. Leave a comment if you’re interested.

New Alkaline Trio Song

Cian — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:37:16 +0000

‘This Addiction’. I love this band so much

(Yes, that’s right, Alkaline Trio get a smiley from me for being so goddamn awesome.)

Top Five Records

Cian — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:58:38 +0000

I saw High Fidelity earlier on, so inspired by that here are my top five albums:

1. Your Favourite Weapon (Brand New)
2. Dear You (Jawbreaker)
3. From Here To Infirmary (Alkaline Trio)
4. The Downward Spiral (Nine Inch Nails)
5. Perfecting Loneliness (Jets To Brazil)

Honourable mention awards for Sing The Sorrow (AFI), Good Mourning (Alkaline Trio), United By Fate (Rival Schools), and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (The Smashing Pumpkins). Feel free to leave your own list in the comments.

Om Nom Nom Nom

Cian — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:24:21 +0000

“Braineaters”

OI! OI! OI!

Brains for dinner
Brains for lunch
Brains for breakfast
Brains for brunch
Brains at every single meal,
Why can’t we have some guts?

OI! OI! OI!

Brains are all we ever get at this rotten fucking place,
brains are all we ever get, why can’t we have a change of pace!

Brains for dinner
Brains for lunch
Brains for breakfast
Brains for brunch
Brains at every single meal,
Why can’t we have some guts?
Why can’t we have some guts?

Why can’t we have some fucking rotten guts?

Raditude Cover Variations

Cian — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:46:53 +0000

This made me smile.

Last Ever NIN Show

Cian — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:35:34 +0000

I joked about this in the pub earlier, but it’s not so funny now. NIN shall never perform live again after tonight, and I find that quite upsetting. Like, almost crying onto my keyboard upsetting. I wish I was there, in The Wiltern in LA, but more than that I wish that this wasn’t the end, and that I knew I could see them again on their next tour, after the next album in a few years’ time. I hate myself right now for being so fucked up in Amsterdam that I don’t remember well over half the set, and I wish they had played for longer at Oxegen. And I wish that they had a gotten a longer slot when they supported the Foo Fighters in Marley Park way back when. I wish I had so much money that I could have followed their Wave Goodbye tour across the world, seeing every single show. More than anything, however, I wish I could properly express to Trent how appreciative I am. Ever since I heard Broken I’ve been addicted to NIN, and every time I feel awful The Downward Spiral is there to… well, not exactly cheer me up, but it’s helpful at any rate.

So thank you, Trent, for 20 years of music. Thank you so much. You are the best thing I have ever heard.

New Weezer Song

Cian — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:11:01 +0000

Prepare to grin like an idiot.

Eircom Set To Block Access To Pirate Bay

Cian — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:55:53 +0000

Thanks to Damien Mulley I’ve learned that Eircom plans to block its subscribers from accessing The Pirate Bay from September 1st 2009. However, other Irish ISPs have indicated that they have no intention of caving into pressure from the large music publishers, with Chorus even bullishly claiming that they’ll take the matter to court if they must. There’s a full post on the matter here. I don’t really have a lot to say on this business myself besides ‘boo Eircom’. This isn’t going to stop people downloading music and films, and it’s certainly not going to force music fans with an internet connection and an ounce of smarts into buying CDs again. The music industry’s money would be better spent investing in gold or something.

New Brand New Song

Cian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:37:46 +0000

There’s a new Brand New song on the band’s MySpace page. It’s called ‘At The Bottom’ and it’s really quite something.

Night Reconnaissance

Cian — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:07:08 +0000

Dresden Dolls- Night Reconnaissance- UNCENSORED

I’ve posted this before and I’ll no doubt post it again because it’s a great song and I love the video.

Correction

Cian — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:10:52 +0000

Ahem. I may have previously given the indication that I do not think very much of the Oxegen festival, and I may even have rattled out a few angry paragraphs before about how Trent’s decision to play at it is a slap in the face to all Irish NIN fans. However, I now fully recognise that this is probably the last chance I will ever have to see my favourite band, and that after this it really is the end, and that I never knew until sometime in the last few days how much this music really means to me on some sort of ethereal personal level.

Therefore, I’m going to see Nine Inch Nails one last time, and I don’t care if it rains piss and razor hail, I’m going to stand as close as I can possibly get to the stage and I’m going to scream, shout and sing along with every song. Weather, crowds, mud, logistics and my prejudice against Oxegen be damned, there’s no room for such considerations at a time like this. If Trent Reznor thinks he’s heard the last of me shouting that I love him then he’s very wrong indeed.

Nine Inch Nails Live In Amsterdam On 9/7/09

Cian — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:54:25 +0000

It is going to take something very special for me to ever feel happier than I did on Wednesday night. Nine Inch Nails played for a full two hours, and they ran through some excellent old material that I wasn’t expecting. I only wish that I drank a bit less as my memory is a little fuzzy around the edges. Thank god for YouTube.

The song in the video is ‘Sin’ (from Pretty Hate Machine).

Thank you, Trent Reznor.

Jokes About Dead People

Cian — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:34:32 +0000

I was going to post an old YouTube video of Chris Rock making fun of Michael Jackson, and I’d written a few paragraphs justifying the idea that it’s okay to make jokes about well-known people who’ve recently died, but in the course of writing it I changed my mind about the matter. My shift in opinion had more to do with the death of Steve Irwin and my reaction to it than anything related to Jackson. Initially, I lapped up all the dumb internet jokes about him and stingrays and so on, but then a few months later I saw him on TV again and instantly felt ashamed of myself. Irwin did a lot of great work to promote public appreciation for some of the world’s least popular animals, and he also seemed like a genuinely nice person. I had watched hours and hours of his television show, and then after he died I somehow sat my computer guffawing like an idiot as I read tasteless joke after tasteless joke.

I’d like to think that I’m a better person now, that I’ve matured somewhat, and that my sense of humour is a little more refined and wholesome. When you’re young it’s quite easy to fall into the trap of thinking that cynical and cruel jokes about helpless figures are somehow funny, and that other people only disagree with you because they lack your ‘dark’ sense of humour. I’m glad I don’t think like that anymore and I’m a little embarrassed that I ever did.

Michael Jackson was not the most sympathetic of public figures, and I’m not seeking to defend him from slurs against his character. However, I very much doubt that Michael Jackson sat around cracking jokes about other people when they died, and it would be pretty damn ungrateful of me, someone who loved his Moonwalker game on the Sega Mega Drive as a kid, to do that to him now that he’s dead.

So if you were looking for dead Michael Jackson jokes, I’m sorry, go indulge your worst instincts elsewhere.

The Return of the King

Cian — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:23:36 +0000

Trent Reznor is tweeting again. I’m so happy right now.

The Post-Danzig Misfits on ECW

Cian — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:12:00 +0000

This makes Glenn Danzig’s solo career looks like a roaring success.