Depending on where you live, Friday the 13th is either over or nearly over! And, if you’re reading this, you survived!!!!!
Obviously, you listened to Crazy Ralph and you did not have sex, smoke weed, skinny dip, go out at night, take a boat trip to Manhattan, go into space, go to sleep, go out for firewood, ask any strange people if they needed help, go looking for your friends, strip down to your underwear so you could go run around in the rain, or have any fun whatsoever!
In other words, today was a boring day for you! But you survived!
In honor of your survival, here’s the end theme from Friday the 13th. This was composed by Harry Manfredini and, believe it or not, it’s actually a rather beautiful piece of music. So, celebrate your survival by listening.
And be prepared to make up for lost time on Saturday the 14th! Be bad…be very bad….
Well, actually, that’s only true for some of our readers. I’m very proud to say that we have readers spread across the world. We even have a bureau in Brazil, which is headed up by Alexandre Rothier.
So, it’s not Loyalty Day for everyone. In fact, a lot of the world’s citizens are celebrating May Day today. However, here in the United States, it’s Loyalty Day. Even if you are an American, it’s possible that you’ve never heard of Loyalty Day. It was first celebrated in 1921 and it was intended to provide a non-Communist alternative to International Workers Day. It wasn’t until 1955 that Loyalty Day was officially recognized by Congress.
Loyalty Day is defined as follows in 36 U.S.C. § 115:
(a) Designation.— May 1 is Loyalty Day.
(b) Purpose.— Loyalty Day is a special day for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.
(c) Proclamation.— The President is requested to issue a proclamation—
(1) calling on United States Government officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on Loyalty Day; and
(2) inviting the people of the United States to observe Loyalty Day with appropriate ceremonies in schools and other suitable places.
In honor of this day, my sister and I woke up this morning and the first thing we did was sing the most pro-American song that we could think of.
Which song was that?
This one!
America — FUCK YEAH! Happy Loyalty Day, American readers!
This morning, I learned both Chyna and Guy Hamilton had died. These weren’t exactly unexpected deaths. Chyna, the former wrestler and porn star, had struggled with substance abuse issues for many years. Hamilton, director of such James Bond films as GOLDFINGER, LIVE AND LET DIE, and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, was age 93.
But Prince? That caught me completely off guard.
The iconic rocker was 57, and had just recently performed in Atlanta. He burst on the scene with a hybrid of psychedelic funk rock that was uniquely Prince. Hit albums like DIRTY MIND, CONTROVERSY, 1999, AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY, and SIGN “O” THE TIMES became classics as Prince crossed musical, racial, and gender borders to create his own distinct artistic vision. He was one of the first black artist to be featured in heavy rotation on MTV, back when they actually were about music, and his visual style…
Believe it or not, I have a song of the day blog. It’s imaginatively entitled Lisa Marie’s Song of The Day and, ever since last summer, I have used to share, on a daily basis, my appreciation of EDM and Britney Spears. Yesterday, I shared something from The Chemical Brothers and, later today, I’ll be sharing a song from Fitz and The Tantrums.
But you know what? I’m in a musical mood today. Perhaps it’s because it’s Ash Wednesday and I’ve promised to give up excessive negativity for Lent. For that reason, I’ve decided to share two songs of the day, one on Lisa Marie’s Song of the Day and one here at the Shattered Lens.
And the song that I’m sharing here is the Sarabande from Handel’s Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437). Why am I sharing it? Well, I caught the end credits of Barry Lyndon last night on TCM and I was reminded of how much I love this piece of music. Thank you, TCM!
As for me, I’m just going to share two videos. One is the trailer for the German film, Christiane F.This trailer — which I consider one of the best trailers ever made — is scored to David Bowie’s Heroes. (Both Bowie and the song also play a large and important in the film itself.) Secondly, I want to share a scene that I love, this one from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and featuring Bowie’s Theme From Cat People reimagined as an anthem of the French Resistance.
Whenever we have visitors here at Shattered Lens HQ, the first thing that they always seem to notice is the wide variety of music being played. Considering the number of contributors that we have working here on any given day, it makes sense. After all, we all have our own individual tastes in music and we’re not afraid to play it loud.
(Occasionally, if I’m lucky, I can convince Valerie Troutman to come to my office and sing the Degrassi theme song with me. Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through….)
Anyway, my point is that every writer at the Shattered Lens is an individual with her or his own taste in music, movies, and … well, everything. So, when you look at my list of my 10 favorite songs of 2015, you should keep in mind that these are my ten favorite songs and they do not necessarily reflect the musical opinions or tastes of anyone here at the Shattered Lens but me! And, in fact, if you want to see just how eclectic a group we here at the Shattered Lens, be sure to check out Necromoonyeti’s list of his favorite metal albums of 2015!
Anyway, here are my favorite songs of 2015. Notice that I didn’t say “best.” Instead, these are some of the songs that I spent the previous 12 months obsessively listening to. When I make my autobiographical movie about my life in 2015, these are the songs that will appear on the soundtrack!
Honorable Mention: Elle King — Ex’s and Oh’s
Ex’s and Oh’s has pretty much been my song all through 2015. However, the song itself was originally released in 2014 and this is a list of the best songs released in 2015. That said, hardly a day in 2015 went by without my listening to and singing along with this song and there’s no way I can’t include it.
Special Bonus Track Included Because Otherwise There Would Be 11 Songs Listed And Lisa Has A Phobia About Odd Numbers: Ellie Goulding — Love Me Like You Do
And now the list:
10) Adele — When We Were Young
9) Icona Pop — Emergency
8) Kelly Clarkson — Take You High
7) The Chemical Brothers — Sometimes I Feel So Deserted
6) Public Service Broadcasting — Go!
5) Taylor Swift (featuring Kendrick Lamar) — Bad Blood
4) Purity Ring — Bodyache
3) Big Data (featuring Jamie Liddell) — Clean
2) Public Service Broadcasting — Gagarin
1) The Chemical Brothers (featuring St. Vincent) — Under Neon Lights
Fourteen years posting a year-end list somewhere, and the rule never changes: odd-numbered years produce more good music. Thankfully, we just concluded 2015. 🙂
15. Deafheaven – New Bermuda
14. Peste Noire – La Chaise-Dyable
13. Mgła – Exercises in Futility
12. Veilburner – Noumenon
11. Botanist – Hammer of Botany
10. Enslaved – In Times (track: Building With Fire)
It’s amazing that after 24 years and 13 studio albums, Enslaved still routinely make it into my year-end top 10. They have continually evolved without letting go of their black metal roots, and the consequence lately has been a long stretch of memorable, prog-rock infused releases that keep up with the times and never grow stale no matter how often I resurrect them. If In Times won’t stick with me quite so permanently as Vertebrae in 2008, it still achieves everything I’ve come to expect of them lately and has managed to entertain me more than the vast majority of other albums I have heard this year. I think I have a bit of a subconscious inclination to prioritize newer bands, but #10 was as low as I could justify dropping this one.
9. Krallice – Ygg Huur (track: Wastes of Ocean)
Like any Krallice album, Ygg Huur takes dozens of listens to ingest. What struck me at first as a rather disappointing, spastic blathering of sound comes together much more coherently if you give it its due time. That being said, it is still a sharp break from their previous four albums, and it lacks that element of progression and overarching vision that has traditionally made this band, for me at least, infinitely repeatable. (I have listened to Krallice more than any other band in my life by a large margin, and they only came into existence in 2008.) Ygg Huur is a brief an meandering mood piece that does not, perhaps, maximize the band’s song-writing talents, but I’ve enjoyed it plenty never the less. More avant-garde than post-black metal, am I allowed to love it and still hope it was just a one-time experiment?
8. Ghost Bath – Moonlover (track: Golden Number)
This is a pretty gorgeous post-black metal album that I’m surprised more sites haven’t picked up on for their year-end summaries. It lacks a touch of refinement that might have earned it higher standing, but the song writing is fabulous. Moonlover delivers a well-rounded package of post-rock infused metal that seems to pay a good deal of respect to Alcest and Amesoeurs, but their undertone is bleak and depressing. It’s a sad album in a way that makes me think of Harakiri for the Sky’s Aokigahara last year, but peppered with little bursts of joy that will bring a smile to your face.
Oh yeah, metal’s not supposed to make me smile. Check.
7. Sumac – The Deal (track: Thorn In The Lion’s Paw)
I never really got into Old Man Gloom. Make what you will of that. The Deal certainly wasn’t Aaron Turner’s most well-received album, but I personally enjoyed it more than anything he’s contributed to since Oceanic. A lot of that has to do with Nick Yacyshyn’s brilliant mastery of the drum set, but I also feel like Turner’s chugging out riffs that really sink into my head more than I’m used to. It’s like a doom metal reinterpretation of Isis, albeit with less progression, and I love the subtle stylistic diversity he brings to the field on this one. It has moments that remind me of everything from black metal to Converge. (And it probably wins this year’s ‘most listened to in my car’ award. <_<)
6. A Forest of Stars – Beware the Sword You Cannot See (track: Virtus Sola Invicta)
Beware the Sword You Cannot See is one of the most eclectic albums I have heard in a long time that I still managed to really enjoy. If I could begin to put a finger on how to describe it, I would have reviewed it ages ago. Black metal at its heart, it weaves a wild mix of strings and spoken word and avant-garde breaks around that core. I like it, quite a bit, and I think the vocals and lyrics (at least, what I can make of them) might be its strongest selling point. I really don’t know what to say about this album. Hear it for yourselves, and be prepared to give an attentive listen–possibly many–if you want to soak it all in.
5. Blind Guardian – Beyond the Red Mirror (track: Grand Parade)
It’s pretty hard to measure the worth of an epic power metal band on a list that is heavily dominated by innovative new styles of music. I don’t think I would have felt entirely comfortable with my positioning of this album no matter where I put it, but I tried to make the cutoff a sort of drifting point between albums that really made me reflect and albums that I just really enjoyed, because there’s never going to be a particularly deep hidden truth to a Blind Guardian track, but they’ve proven a dozen times over to be the ultimate kings of all fantasy-themed music. In the broad scheme of BG’s vast discography, I would probably place Beyond the Red Mirror fourth, after Nightfall in Middle-Earth, At the Edge of Time, and A Night at the Opera. That translates roughly to: it’s awesome.
4. Bosse-de-Nage – All Fours (track: A Subtle Change)
Am I a little biased since I got my initial rip of this direct from frontman Bryan Manning? Probably not, but in my weird little world that’s still a bragging point. 😉 Like Cara Neir’s Portals to a Better, Dead World in 2013, All Fours takes everything I love about screamo and turns it into post-black metal. This might be a coincidence. I’m pretty sure the band claims no direct screamo influence (don’t quote me on that), but the consequence is the same. These guys have worked their way into the top-tier of bands pushing metal in new directions today, and, more so than their previous albums, All Fours really strikes me as a well-rounded composition that possesses the maturity to fully deliver its vision. And Manning has a way with lyrics that’s… well… you just have to read them.
3. Obsequiae – Aria of Vernal Tombs (track: Orphic Rites Of The Mystic)
When I first heard Obsequiae, it was one of those rare moments where I went a-ha, you are that band that’s going to pioneer the style I have always desired but been too inept to create myself. I can guarantee you without much doubt that, of all of the albums of 2015, Aria of Vernal Tombs will find its way into my playlist the most for the longest period of time. Ten years from now, I will probably still be listening to this album when its competitors are all but distant memories. Like Summoning, they fit a unique mood for me that no other band has really begun to approach. (Perhaps Opeth’s Orchid crosses into this terrain, briefly and insufficiently.) A collection of captivating medieval melodies that press themselves upon you by-and-large through euphorically well-mixed guitar and bass (the bass on this album is absolutely gorgeous) rather than traditional instrumentation… my god, I’ve been waiting so long for a band that sounds like this, and they’re easily my favorite new discovery of the year.
2. Panopticon – Autumn Eternal (track: The Wind’s Farewell)
It’s amazing to think that, in the absence of one album this year that won my heart in a landslide, Panopticon could have taken my #1 slot in 3 out of the last 4 years. To put it bluntly, Autumn Eternal is Austin Lunn’s best album to date, and Austin Lunn is arguably the most accomplished metal artist of the 2010s. An incredibly versatile musician who can sample uninhibited from the melting-pot of styles that is post-black metal, Lunn’s newest offering is a mindblowing amalgamation of post-rock and black metal that leaves the more popular bands of this persuasion choking on his dust.
1. Liturgy – The Ark Work (track: Kel Valhaal)
What can I say…. it didn’t make Pitchfork’s top 25? I will probably look back on The Ark Work as one of the most underrated albums ever recorded, and I think its merits have more in common with Radiohead than with anything that has ever derived from heavy metal. It constantly threatens to collapse into a blundering mire of amateur garbage, from the excessive bell tones to Hunter’s marshmallow-mouthed rap vocals. This might be the turn-off for so many listeners, but it is necessary, and the key to this album is in how Liturgy always manage to somehow hold it together. It’s the musical equivalent of your kindergartener handing you a crayon scribble that, on second glance, turns out to be a Picasso.
On Aesthethica, Liturgy explored a very explicit reinterpretation of black metal that found quite a bit of inspired company among bands who were beginning to recognize and explore the similarities between black metal and post-rock. That album helped to define a movement, but it only achieved the band’s vision in a very direct sort of way: through rhythm and melody and progression. The Ark Work nails Hunter’s vision home with an extremely more robust and precise pallet, bringing lyrics and glitch effects and atypical instrumentation and a totally unorthodox approach to metal vocals into the fray. If you listen to a track like “Vitriol” and can barely take it seriously, that’s part of the point, but barely is the key word. Every risk and gamble they take ultimately works, and I am unabashedly unashamed to blare Hunter’s trap beat ‘occult rap’ at max volume out my car stereo. 😀
You might listen to The Ark Work and hear some childish clusterfuck, but I hear absolutely brilliant attention to detail–a musician completely in control of the degree to which his work teeters on the brink of nonsense. Top 20 all-time contender? I could go there. Leave your fear of speaking too fondly of Hunter Hunt-Hendrix at the door and just embrace this album with the assumption that he knew exactly what he was doing. You won’t be disappointed.
The 2016 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced and classic rock wins the majority; with Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Chicago and Steve Miller. Getting a boost from ‘Straight Out of Compton‘, N.W.A. rounds out this years inductees.
Eligibility requirements:
“To be eligible for induction as an artist (as a performer, composer, or musician) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the artist must have released a record, in the generally accepted sense of that phrase, at least 25 years prior to the year of induction; and have demonstrated unquestionable musical excellence.” **
Deep Purple:
Waiting for more than 20 years, Deep Purple finally got the honor they deserved. Deep Purple has been listed as ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Hard Rock’ and ‘Progressive’. Having sold over 100 million albums, they are one of the most influential bands of all time. The band has gone thru many line-up changes thru the years, and it will be interesting to see which members show up on stage.
Chicago:
Formed in 1967 Chicago pulled a brazen move with their first release, Chicago Transit Authority being a double album, which went Multi-Platinum. Self-described as a “Rock and Roll band with Horns” Chicago has changed their sound thru the years, but remains one of the best selling and longest running bands of all time.
Cheap Trick:
Having preformed more than 5,000 shows, Cheap Trick is one of the most enduring bands of all times. Formed in 1973 they broke thru in Japan first, before the US, often referred to as the ‘American Beatles’. In 2007, the Illinois senate designated April 1st as Cheap Trick day as opposed to April fools day in honor of the band.
Steve Miller:
Although releasing his most notable hits with the ‘Steve Miller Band‘, Miller is being inducted alone. After a storied career, Miller may be ‘The Joker’ after all!
N.W.A.:
Pioneers and legends in the Rap and Hip-Hop genre, N.W.A.’s induction into the HOF is only the third Hip-Hop / Rap group to be let in. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren and the late Eazy-E were portrayed in this years Oscar nominated ‘Straight Outta Compton‘
Lyrics NSFW:
Snubs:
Among many left out this year were ‘The Cars‘, ‘Nine Inch Nails‘, ‘YES‘, ‘Janet Jackson‘ and ‘The Smiths‘.
The 31st Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at the Barclays’ Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 8, 2016 and be filmed by HBO for a later broadcast.
Today, the Academy announced the 74 songs that have been ruled eligible for a Best Original Song nomination! And you know what that means — it’s time for my to post the list! (Our longtime readers should know, by now, how much I love lists!)
The big news is that the 2nd song from the end credits of Love & Mercy — the one that everyone was expecting to be a front runner — has been ruled ineligible. Here’s what is eligible! Be sure to listen to all of these songs before the Oscar nominations are announced in January…
“Happy” from “Altered Minds”
“Home” from “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”
“Kaze Wo Atsumete” by Happy End (はっぴいえんど) appears twice in Lost in Translation: once outside a karaoke room at the end of a long night, and once at the end of the credits. Since that movie was so central to how I remember the late 90s and early 2000s, I thought I might end with it too.
Here are links to the previous entries in my series. They all clearly share :???: in common. (Well, I had fun, anyway):
Through the Shattered Lens 