An Old Fashioned Post
One things I’ve enjoyed about being up here in Auckland is actually having some spare money at times. Yes I’ve a hefty speeding fine still waiting to be paid off, but I’ve been able to put a little aside and also to buy myself lunches and even some treats.
The first of those treats was the new Deftones album, Saturday Night Wrist.
It’s not bad. It definitely has more of the atmospheric feel that was so great in white Pony but its also a lot softer and wilting, which White Pony managed to avoid while still being really melodic. I think they’re self-titled previous album has better songs on it overall.
Track by Track:
Hole In The Earth
A song that’s hard to figure out lyrically (not unusual for the Deftones…). I think its about having enough of the people you know, sort of… It moves quite smoothly along and then adds a heavy groove near the end. But Chino is really sounding whiny as he sings now…
"I hate all of my friends
they all lack taste sometimes
there’s a hole in the earth, I’m out"
Rapture
A heavy track that has Chino sounding like he’s just channelling some obscure ranting maniac. Not bad really. This just keeps rolling ahead, its got punch. The lyrics seem to talk about the two ways someone acts and how they basically lie all the time. It’s not happy about them.
"You said "I won't again, I swear to god!"
You said "I swear to god, I won't again!"
Instead, you just waste
Waste
Waste my time
Instead you just waste
Waste
Waste my time
Two different types
The same kind of thread
Just different needles
A whole world, hey!
It's a rapture
But it's a different style
It's a rapture
Same kind of thread"
Beware
This is about my favourite song on the album thus far. It’s slow and mellow and the groove takes time but by the end of the 6 minutes its just pounding along. Its about distrust, when you look at it simply.
"do you like the way the water tastes
like gunfire
you knew but it was never safe
take one more cuz its coming round
round the water
beware the water
beware the water
teeth are dry
The wind blows
fill cup, drink it
there you go"
Cherry Waves
Another sort of slow build track, this one has a slightly more engaging melody to the lyrics. This ones about trust as well, but where Beware is telling someone to not trust the speaker, this ones about how they’d sacrifice for another but would it be reciprocated.
"If the waves suck you in, and you drown
If like you should sink down beneath
I'll swim down. Would you? Would You?
You hang anchors over my neck
I liked it at first
But the more you you laughed, the crazier I came"
Mein
This one Chino got help for the lyrics from Serj of System of a Down. Both of them tend to write really random stuff, but you can pick the way Serj goes for assonance without meaning sometimes. The tunes got a fun bounce to it, without being really heavy.
"I’ve looked outside
But I never wandered out
That way, I'll always stay away from you
That way, I'll always stay away from you
I've looked inside
But I never wandered in"
U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, L, R, A, B, Select, Start
An instrumental that reminds me very much of the track Eternity on P.O.D.s self-titled. Reallow mellow chill out style music.
Xerces
A fairly standard Deftones. It’s got that beauty, its got punch, the lyrics are a bit strange and swoop around the song. But it doesn’t really catch in the mind. The chorus is where it really ramps up. Its about saying goodbye, either to others leaving or those who remain.
"I don't know I could stay or leave
Either way
Cause the comet can take us all the way through
Goodbye
Safe, heaven, new
I'll be waving, goodbye"
Rats!Rats!Rats!
Another very fast and punchy heavy song. Again Chino just screams his way through with that slightly high scream he pulls off so well. It seems to be about figuring out women, always a tricky task.
"I wont say nothing, nothing,
Not a fucking thing!
I just wanna say something, Something!
SOMETHINGG!!!!
And I wish one thing, one thing
Just one fucking thing!
I heard her say something,
Something, Something!"
Pink Cellphone
This is, like, trip-hop or something, with a woman’s voice saying really really weird things over the top. I can listen to it, but it seems out of place with the Deftones.
"Slowly your troubles continue to multiply and to grow as a direct result of your being misguided,
Decieved, misdirected or fooled.
All of these are variations of the basic ego-gloried-live them in which you follow the gospel truth.
Ahhhh...
Oohhh...
Persuing the wrong ideals and goals that lead you into sickness, into (god),
And from this sickness comes the belief in the one true power"
Combat
Another standard, like Xerces, but just a bit heavier, a bit more screamy. About choosing sides.
"This time i think you pointed right at you
Whose side are you on
Whose side are you on
I ask you what side, you pointed it out
What side are you on
What side are you on
A waste of time
If you don't believe
Can't decide till you've
Hit the ground
Make your mind
Or you dont believe
Can't decide till you
Hit the ground"
Kimdracula
This one is more like Hole in the Earth, not screamy but a little whiny and the atmospherics drown out any groove or hooks. I have no idea what its about.
"The earth
Will see
Our lives go blank tonight
The earth will rot away
Well blink tonight
I really wish these snakes were your arm
I... I really wish you'd make up your mind"
Riviere
This is a really mellow one that just kind of drifts for awhile then picks up some decent heft for a chorus or two before drifting off again. It seems to be about him stopping some chick from getting the upper hand.
"She haunts the roads, she waits for a new face
The arms red and injured she wants to rise she cant till we have faced
I'll cut your armies down, and turn your heart!"
--
Another treat I got myself was the latest Neil Gaiman novel, Anansi Boys. It was pretty good, though not the laugh riot I had been expecting by various reviews. It was neat, and funny, and the plot was quite clever, but I finished feeling just a little unsatisfied. I think I’ll read it again to see if its one I want to reread like American Gods is.
Coolly, it comes bundled with an interview with the author and reader’s group discussion questions, special bonus features!
--
There are reasons the internet is a wonderful place. It would appear that this is one of them.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the Kiwi! Movie on youtube by now. Brilliant huh?
When you hear people talking about Creationism, please note there are also people like this out there. I don’t believe Science and Faith HAVE to be such enemies as they are often portrayed.
One of my old mates (acquaintance really) from school is an actress. You may have seen her? She’s in that gum ad where the checkout chick with heaps of freckles suddenly smiles at the end. Yup, that’s our Florence. My sister
Janelle said that she saw the saem ad in Hungary while she was there, they just changed the text but used the same ad! Go Flo!
--
I am so freaking late on all my assignments... It’s a good thing I’ve got plenty of time to resit and sort this out over the next while. I’ve got to do my next teaching placement at the beginning of the year which means I’ll still have to wait until 2008, which kind of sucks. But that also means I can take some time off and just work most of next year (probably do a few papers part time just to keep up to date and such).
Tonight is the last real free big night I have in Auckland. I have asked every one of my friends, regardless of what groups they are part of, to come into town and wander around until early in the morning. I’m going to go to dance bars and see if I can learn to dance. I’m going to find karaoke and sing. I’m going to drink and go to rock bars, play pool, see if I can find any bands playing and shout along.
I want to really let loose for a change. I’ve been at home or at work a lot even here in Auckland. But I’m shifting my behaviour, being someone more willing to get out and have fun.
The first of those treats was the new Deftones album, Saturday Night Wrist.
It’s not bad. It definitely has more of the atmospheric feel that was so great in white Pony but its also a lot softer and wilting, which White Pony managed to avoid while still being really melodic. I think they’re self-titled previous album has better songs on it overall.
Track by Track:
Hole In The Earth
A song that’s hard to figure out lyrically (not unusual for the Deftones…). I think its about having enough of the people you know, sort of… It moves quite smoothly along and then adds a heavy groove near the end. But Chino is really sounding whiny as he sings now…
"I hate all of my friends
they all lack taste sometimes
there’s a hole in the earth, I’m out"
Rapture
A heavy track that has Chino sounding like he’s just channelling some obscure ranting maniac. Not bad really. This just keeps rolling ahead, its got punch. The lyrics seem to talk about the two ways someone acts and how they basically lie all the time. It’s not happy about them.
"You said "I won't again, I swear to god!"
You said "I swear to god, I won't again!"
Instead, you just waste
Waste
Waste my time
Instead you just waste
Waste
Waste my time
Two different types
The same kind of thread
Just different needles
A whole world, hey!
It's a rapture
But it's a different style
It's a rapture
Same kind of thread"
Beware
This is about my favourite song on the album thus far. It’s slow and mellow and the groove takes time but by the end of the 6 minutes its just pounding along. Its about distrust, when you look at it simply.
"do you like the way the water tastes
like gunfire
you knew but it was never safe
take one more cuz its coming round
round the water
beware the water
beware the water
teeth are dry
The wind blows
fill cup, drink it
there you go"
Cherry Waves
Another sort of slow build track, this one has a slightly more engaging melody to the lyrics. This ones about trust as well, but where Beware is telling someone to not trust the speaker, this ones about how they’d sacrifice for another but would it be reciprocated.
"If the waves suck you in, and you drown
If like you should sink down beneath
I'll swim down. Would you? Would You?
You hang anchors over my neck
I liked it at first
But the more you you laughed, the crazier I came"
Mein
This one Chino got help for the lyrics from Serj of System of a Down. Both of them tend to write really random stuff, but you can pick the way Serj goes for assonance without meaning sometimes. The tunes got a fun bounce to it, without being really heavy.
"I’ve looked outside
But I never wandered out
That way, I'll always stay away from you
That way, I'll always stay away from you
I've looked inside
But I never wandered in"
U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, L, R, A, B, Select, Start
An instrumental that reminds me very much of the track Eternity on P.O.D.s self-titled. Reallow mellow chill out style music.
Xerces
A fairly standard Deftones. It’s got that beauty, its got punch, the lyrics are a bit strange and swoop around the song. But it doesn’t really catch in the mind. The chorus is where it really ramps up. Its about saying goodbye, either to others leaving or those who remain.
"I don't know I could stay or leave
Either way
Cause the comet can take us all the way through
Goodbye
Safe, heaven, new
I'll be waving, goodbye"
Rats!Rats!Rats!
Another very fast and punchy heavy song. Again Chino just screams his way through with that slightly high scream he pulls off so well. It seems to be about figuring out women, always a tricky task.
"I wont say nothing, nothing,
Not a fucking thing!
I just wanna say something, Something!
SOMETHINGG!!!!
And I wish one thing, one thing
Just one fucking thing!
I heard her say something,
Something, Something!"
Pink Cellphone
This is, like, trip-hop or something, with a woman’s voice saying really really weird things over the top. I can listen to it, but it seems out of place with the Deftones.
"Slowly your troubles continue to multiply and to grow as a direct result of your being misguided,
Decieved, misdirected or fooled.
All of these are variations of the basic ego-gloried-live them in which you follow the gospel truth.
Ahhhh...
Oohhh...
Persuing the wrong ideals and goals that lead you into sickness, into (god),
And from this sickness comes the belief in the one true power"
Combat
Another standard, like Xerces, but just a bit heavier, a bit more screamy. About choosing sides.
"This time i think you pointed right at you
Whose side are you on
Whose side are you on
I ask you what side, you pointed it out
What side are you on
What side are you on
A waste of time
If you don't believe
Can't decide till you've
Hit the ground
Make your mind
Or you dont believe
Can't decide till you
Hit the ground"
Kimdracula
This one is more like Hole in the Earth, not screamy but a little whiny and the atmospherics drown out any groove or hooks. I have no idea what its about.
"The earth
Will see
Our lives go blank tonight
The earth will rot away
Well blink tonight
I really wish these snakes were your arm
I... I really wish you'd make up your mind"
Riviere
This is a really mellow one that just kind of drifts for awhile then picks up some decent heft for a chorus or two before drifting off again. It seems to be about him stopping some chick from getting the upper hand.
"She haunts the roads, she waits for a new face
The arms red and injured she wants to rise she cant till we have faced
I'll cut your armies down, and turn your heart!"
--
Another treat I got myself was the latest Neil Gaiman novel, Anansi Boys. It was pretty good, though not the laugh riot I had been expecting by various reviews. It was neat, and funny, and the plot was quite clever, but I finished feeling just a little unsatisfied. I think I’ll read it again to see if its one I want to reread like American Gods is.
Coolly, it comes bundled with an interview with the author and reader’s group discussion questions, special bonus features!
--
There are reasons the internet is a wonderful place. It would appear that this is one of them.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the Kiwi! Movie on youtube by now. Brilliant huh?
When you hear people talking about Creationism, please note there are also people like this out there. I don’t believe Science and Faith HAVE to be such enemies as they are often portrayed.
One of my old mates (acquaintance really) from school is an actress. You may have seen her? She’s in that gum ad where the checkout chick with heaps of freckles suddenly smiles at the end. Yup, that’s our Florence. My sister
Janelle said that she saw the saem ad in Hungary while she was there, they just changed the text but used the same ad! Go Flo!
--
I am so freaking late on all my assignments... It’s a good thing I’ve got plenty of time to resit and sort this out over the next while. I’ve got to do my next teaching placement at the beginning of the year which means I’ll still have to wait until 2008, which kind of sucks. But that also means I can take some time off and just work most of next year (probably do a few papers part time just to keep up to date and such).
Tonight is the last real free big night I have in Auckland. I have asked every one of my friends, regardless of what groups they are part of, to come into town and wander around until early in the morning. I’m going to go to dance bars and see if I can learn to dance. I’m going to find karaoke and sing. I’m going to drink and go to rock bars, play pool, see if I can find any bands playing and shout along.
I want to really let loose for a change. I’ve been at home or at work a lot even here in Auckland. But I’m shifting my behaviour, being someone more willing to get out and have fun.