Is there a contradiction in this music? Of course...it's a rock show. It's not supposed to make sense. It reflects reality but it's not real. It's art. Yes my few and faithful blog readers, this is art.
So why do I like this band so much...
The Lyrics
They've got a message that rust-belt industrialists need to hear, condensed into "cause it's not home, just miles of road"
"You got held up, I got the afternoon."
"...just miiiiiiiiiles...." awesome hold over.
They're honest.
Broken Barns
the crooning. oooooooh the crooning.
"far...ooo, three days drive in a car and he's still what he used to be"
The Feel
S.O.L.I.D. yet organic and collaborative.
Song construction
The way it takes so long to get it...you have to listen to the whole song, i.e. it's not soundbite music. It takes time to say something important.
Non-cyclical: it goes somewhere. It's progress baby, like a good child of industry.
Subtle but uncontrived time changes: long 6/4 signatures inserted over 4/4 ([song])
Instrumentation
Pete Carmichael: voice, twelve-string guitar
Ian Jackson: guitar
Phoebe Lee: drums
Matt Rubba: organ, tambourine
Ian Worang: bass
But the number one reason I like The Diableros is that they create identity for me as a kid who grew up in the eastern GTA at the end of the 20th Century.
Here's a song by song break down of why I like this band so much I'd (almost) trade in my degree to be playing at this level in my late twenties.
Up In The Mountain Range
This song is a beautifully vivid, hard-hitting criticism of Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan. I'm not sure whether the political caricature is Harper or Bush; it's equally applicable.
Ever Changing
Nothing Down in Hogtown
strut keyboards
thick rock
drum thing sounds like Beetles Twist and Shout
Lyrics
"not ready for the country, high up above"
what is this, heaven? retirement? living having given up a dream?
"I've been pouring out energy into a vat and sipping it down"
"So I'll take this liberty, I'll wear an axe if you take a vow
And I don't want to sing that song, sounding hard core"
"to fuel the strong"
Any Other Time
stars, looking at the stars song
Torontoness
sentimentality
colours, yellows and oranges,
Lyrics
"Any other time I make like I've been a fool...
(pause) I've played a fool.
a fooooooooo.....00000000lllllll
I got the crush, that gives me that sanctity (so perseptive)
Is it enough when I'm left in solitude
sweeeping the dust, paying the propper dues
fool... [driving, bass drops and...] foooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,0000 oool
You got held up I go tthe afternoon
Is it enough to really give up on you.
Now we are lost"
patterns with chords changing underneath...signature NY
"we should take the time we get and give out
when it's gone and we're apart, i'll try to work without regret and carry a charge
work without regret and carry a chaaaaaaaarrrgge..."
guitar changes
rhythm guitar harmonic interference
added two beats and...lead goes up the 8ve, amazing
Turning Backwards
country feel, swagger
rolling triplets
such a story teller
Lyrics
"Regret the
trouble grasping good sounds
I find it hard to get by only once in a while
when I'm leaving my silence behind
Well you have gone insane and I see it in your eyes
well it's only dark in corners of your mind
rivers in your veins can carry thoughts downstream to valleys where branches can grow again"
restored nature, life! lifelike imagery
nature allusions...so beautiful
"Through hazy skies come golden rays of light, that can only take my mind
(it all plays out so slowly...drama!)
where trails of smoke unwind
I can hear the clocktowers
turning backwards
chiming to a time I was waiting there outdoors"
I dwelled out there (dwelled as the wrong emphasis... too Handelian)
bass sounds like its revving
crash...lead... crash
through the ashes emerges the plaintive guitar smoking through
keys, so much pathos
band bass fives
oh the soaring Ian's holds steady over, switches and band harmonies follow
crashes fall on the one
Mist
oh mist...
sweeps in guitar, perfect twang
thwang...
"The party died" (what is this style)
bass
"and then so did you"
change
"didn't say much together white mist overdue" (over dew?)
sexy...
"I remember your honey, and ice pickles too
I remember your jewelery and merry cackles you made"
Guitar pulls us out of it...like a winch
thwangk, thwank
"So here's our goodbye. It's long overdue" (falters)
"Can't speak for forever. And I can't blame what's true. Just say that I'm sorry, for the pains that broke you.
And I'll just say I'm happy for all the things (emphasis amazing) that you gave.
Ian pulls us up...
Merry cackles you made...
swing, grhh
Telepathic Love
overtone hangs over....
"Would you send a message via a telepathic vibe
sen dit now because I'm feeling so deprived
Could you send a...
Telepathic affair.
Send a message via telepathic vibe
Give me something without giving a thing"
So this song is a cover. Shows respect for our collective musical heritage.
Kicking Rocks
Awesome.
in. tro.
bam boodu bam boodu bo....
"I've my bastion. You've got your shell.
You're always pushing ...on what you dwell"? what?
"So I've been thinkin, what's up with that
You say you're silent well get used to that
you open building doors for working class"
...somthing about cadillacs
"You're only kicking rocks from the East.
I see you hanging like a scarecrow when your fields are dry.
I get up and fill my hamo in the morning.
I hear the ..
I've got a move on and cut the slack
2.5 million won't hold me back"
...rocks forin
"and you aim to high" (2nd time slightly different, such sublty!)
"When will you light my soul?!!
When the nights are cold!
When will you light my soul.
dee dee dee dee dee dee dee
I don't care how punk rock you want to be. It just doesn't mean anything ..."
drumm... da datata. da datata. sets up
Incredible feel. OMGosh
Left From The Movies
"All of my friends are gone and I'm fire fighting
As I stand on your lawn, I remember slightly. How the sparks surprised me.
And it made a wonderful sound. I couldn't believe how loud. It felt like I had just left from the movies...
so I recorded..." (the sentence just goes on adding a piece to the story with each line)
"but not anymore"(so honest release)
"Now it's all coming through me."
music mirrors the process
then it comes
And I was led astray, far from your way
said a fool
don't think he's on holidays
beautiful story.
No One Wants To Drive
Oh man...this song is so amazing.
magical sonorous
Bass.
Do do do do "...the night we took the car without tellin your dad
thoughts of not comign back the best dreams we ever had
houses and amber spaced out like a waitresses teeth who served us coffee on the way to a useless speach
kids in the parking lot just barely gettin by
I want to leave this town, but no one wants to drive.
'cause it's not home. I'm goin back, not goin home.
Sometimes your looks at me remind me of your mom
back in my high..." etc. sugary sentimentality. a bit much
guitar...Ian that pattern fits
"Kids in the parking lot just barely gettin by
I want to leave this town, but no one wants to drive."
wtf is happening in the guitar. Ian we love you.
Broken Barns
Why The Diableros are so amazing cont.
sonically
narrative
song structure
Nothing Down in Hogtown
well they're wrong about that
the crooning. oooooooh the crooning.
"far...ooo, three days drive in a car and he's still what he used to be"
The Feel
S.O.L.I.D. yet organic and collaborative.
Song construction
The way it takes so long to get it...you have to listen to the whole song, i.e. it's not soundbite music. It takes time to say something important.
Non-cyclical: it goes somewhere. It's progress baby, like a good child of industry.
Subtle but uncontrived time changes: long 6/4 signatures inserted over 4/4 ([song])
Instrumentation
Pete Carmichael: voice, twelve-string guitar
Ian Jackson: guitar
Phoebe Lee: drums
Matt Rubba: organ, tambourine
Ian Worang: bass
But the number one reason I like The Diableros is that they create identity for me as a kid who grew up in the eastern GTA at the end of the 20th Century.
Here's a song by song break down of why I like this band so much I'd (almost) trade in my degree to be playing at this level in my late twenties.
Up In The Mountain Range
This song is a beautifully vivid, hard-hitting criticism of Canada's military involvement in Afghanistan. I'm not sure whether the political caricature is Harper or Bush; it's equally applicable.
Ever Changing
Nothing Down in Hogtown
strut keyboards
thick rock
drum thing sounds like Beetles Twist and Shout
Lyrics
"not ready for the country, high up above"
what is this, heaven? retirement? living having given up a dream?
"I've been pouring out energy into a vat and sipping it down"
"So I'll take this liberty, I'll wear an axe if you take a vow
And I don't want to sing that song, sounding hard core"
"to fuel the strong"
Any Other Time
stars, looking at the stars song
Torontoness
sentimentality
colours, yellows and oranges,
Lyrics
"Any other time I make like I've been a fool...
(pause) I've played a fool.
a fooooooooo.....00000000lllllll
I got the crush, that gives me that sanctity (so perseptive)
Is it enough when I'm left in solitude
sweeeping the dust, paying the propper dues
fool... [driving, bass drops and...] foooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,0000 oool
You got held up I go tthe afternoon
Is it enough to really give up on you.
Now we are lost"
patterns with chords changing underneath...signature NY
"we should take the time we get and give out
when it's gone and we're apart, i'll try to work without regret and carry a charge
work without regret and carry a chaaaaaaaarrrgge..."
guitar changes
rhythm guitar harmonic interference
added two beats and...lead goes up the 8ve, amazing
Turning Backwards
country feel, swagger
rolling triplets
such a story teller
Lyrics
"Regret the
trouble grasping good sounds
I find it hard to get by only once in a while
when I'm leaving my silence behind
Well you have gone insane and I see it in your eyes
well it's only dark in corners of your mind
rivers in your veins can carry thoughts downstream to valleys where branches can grow again"
restored nature, life! lifelike imagery
nature allusions...so beautiful
"Through hazy skies come golden rays of light, that can only take my mind
(it all plays out so slowly...drama!)
where trails of smoke unwind
I can hear the clocktowers
turning backwards
chiming to a time I was waiting there outdoors"
I dwelled out there (dwelled as the wrong emphasis... too Handelian)
bass sounds like its revving
crash...lead... crash
through the ashes emerges the plaintive guitar smoking through
keys, so much pathos
band bass fives
oh the soaring Ian's holds steady over, switches and band harmonies follow
crashes fall on the one
Mist
oh mist...
sweeps in guitar, perfect twang
thwang...
"The party died" (what is this style)
bass
"and then so did you"
change
"didn't say much together white mist overdue" (over dew?)
sexy...
"I remember your honey, and ice pickles too
I remember your jewelery and merry cackles you made"
Guitar pulls us out of it...like a winch
thwangk, thwank
"So here's our goodbye. It's long overdue" (falters)
"Can't speak for forever. And I can't blame what's true. Just say that I'm sorry, for the pains that broke you.
And I'll just say I'm happy for all the things (emphasis amazing) that you gave.
Ian pulls us up...
Merry cackles you made...
swing, grhh
Telepathic Love
overtone hangs over....
"Would you send a message via a telepathic vibe
sen dit now because I'm feeling so deprived
Could you send a...
Telepathic affair.
Send a message via telepathic vibe
Give me something without giving a thing"
So this song is a cover. Shows respect for our collective musical heritage.
Kicking Rocks
Awesome.
in. tro.
bam boodu bam boodu bo....
"I've my bastion. You've got your shell.
You're always pushing ...on what you dwell"? what?
"So I've been thinkin, what's up with that
You say you're silent well get used to that
you open building doors for working class"
...somthing about cadillacs
"You're only kicking rocks from the East.
I see you hanging like a scarecrow when your fields are dry.
I get up and fill my hamo in the morning.
I hear the ..
I've got a move on and cut the slack
2.5 million won't hold me back"
...rocks forin
"and you aim to high" (2nd time slightly different, such sublty!)
"When will you light my soul?!!
When the nights are cold!
When will you light my soul.
dee dee dee dee dee dee dee
I don't care how punk rock you want to be. It just doesn't mean anything ..."
drumm... da datata. da datata. sets up
Incredible feel. OMGosh
Left From The Movies
"All of my friends are gone and I'm fire fighting
As I stand on your lawn, I remember slightly. How the sparks surprised me.
And it made a wonderful sound. I couldn't believe how loud. It felt like I had just left from the movies...
so I recorded..." (the sentence just goes on adding a piece to the story with each line)
"but not anymore"(so honest release)
"Now it's all coming through me."
music mirrors the process
then it comes
And I was led astray, far from your way
said a fool
don't think he's on holidays
beautiful story.
No One Wants To Drive
Oh man...this song is so amazing.
magical sonorous
Bass.
Do do do do "...the night we took the car without tellin your dad
thoughts of not comign back the best dreams we ever had
houses and amber spaced out like a waitresses teeth who served us coffee on the way to a useless speach
kids in the parking lot just barely gettin by
I want to leave this town, but no one wants to drive.
'cause it's not home. I'm goin back, not goin home.
Sometimes your looks at me remind me of your mom
back in my high..." etc. sugary sentimentality. a bit much
guitar...Ian that pattern fits
"Kids in the parking lot just barely gettin by
I want to leave this town, but no one wants to drive."
wtf is happening in the guitar. Ian we love you.
Broken Barns
Why The Diableros are so amazing cont.
sonically
narrative
song structure
More on Up in the Mountain Range
Lyrics
"when the daylight gets drowned under the shadow of your second home
you're lost in the
what you've done wrong
our blood won't drip down if we don't get up
our position stays soft up in the mountain range
you can have a think about"
blaring sirenesque guitar clash, beauty
"when you're over making sense and the rhetoric's on your back
when the fire's buring smolders following another attack
we wait for the day that you fall down
our blood won't drip down, if don't get up
our position stays soft up in the mountain range"
lyrics work together so wonderfully
working class work ethic, like a father's authoritative advice, "you can have a think about it"
Ever-changing
squeeking distorted guitar,
"I got the minions" ... Pete exposes his views, slowly for those who care to listen or pay attention
"it's time we got along...(a long) way out...the connotation changes" brilliant
"it only takes hours, but we've been gone for days"
meaning one: friends who take longer than necessary to resolve their disputes
meaning two: creative process facilitated by a retreat
weather, West, East allusions, beauty
guitar singing with Pete (Ian and Pete)
to the west, the frontier's ever changing... like the sentiment. ever-changing
Work where I can be proud
but I am bound to the windbags
whiny organ...perfect
strutting sound
honest comments on the state of things. "it's not home, just miles of road" "nothing down in hogtown"
guitar solo at the end of Any Other Time
Up In The Mountain Range
Slow lyrical delivery gives listener options...to listen to words, or just the music
psychedelic sonorities (overtones)
Ever-Changing
"when the daylight gets drowned under the shadow of your second home
you're lost in the
what you've done wrong
our blood won't drip down if we don't get up
our position stays soft up in the mountain range
you can have a think about"
blaring sirenesque guitar clash, beauty
"when you're over making sense and the rhetoric's on your back
when the fire's buring smolders following another attack
we wait for the day that you fall down
our blood won't drip down, if don't get up
our position stays soft up in the mountain range"
lyrics work together so wonderfully
working class work ethic, like a father's authoritative advice, "you can have a think about it"
Ever-changing
squeeking distorted guitar,
"I got the minions" ... Pete exposes his views, slowly for those who care to listen or pay attention
"it's time we got along...(a long) way out...the connotation changes" brilliant
"it only takes hours, but we've been gone for days"
meaning one: friends who take longer than necessary to resolve their disputes
meaning two: creative process facilitated by a retreat
weather, West, East allusions, beauty
guitar singing with Pete (Ian and Pete)
to the west, the frontier's ever changing... like the sentiment. ever-changing
Work where I can be proud
but I am bound to the windbags
whiny organ...perfect
strutting sound
honest comments on the state of things. "it's not home, just miles of road" "nothing down in hogtown"
guitar solo at the end of Any Other Time
Up In The Mountain Range
Slow lyrical delivery gives listener options...to listen to words, or just the music
psychedelic sonorities (overtones)
Ever-Changing
Nothing Down in Hogtown
well they're wrong about that
