|
|
| Skateboards - the new fashion accessory? |
| Roy Starin |
So there's this new fashion trend that I feel compelled to write about. I have noticed a disturbingly large number of kids walking around holding skateboards. I see them all the time here in Long Beach, walking down the street holding perfectly rideable skateboards. These kids are easy to spot, just look for the decks with the totally unmarked graphics, ungrinded trucks, and pearly white wheels. It really appears that the cool fashion accessory for the moment is the goddamn skateboard. Oh shit, I just came up with a genius idea! Skateboard manufactures can totally profit on this trend, just like Rocco did by making kids focus their skateboards back in the 90's. Alright, so all you gotta do is make skateboards as cheaply as possible, like in China or something, with no regard for durability. I mean, the kids aren't actually riding them or anything, so strength isn't a big deal. Then, make a whole bunch of "limited edition" graphics that change every month or so. That way the cool fashion accessory kids have to keep spending money in order to stay current. Maybe you can make it so that whatever pro you are currently pimping is on MTV at least once an hour, just to ensure full market saturation. Got all that? Alright, now go make yourselves some money. Oh, wait...
Does that sound bitter? Maybe I should stick to reviewing albums. Alright, well this time around I gotta couple of things that are on complete opposite ends of the rock and roll spectrum, and they are a couple of my personal favorites. So here are two more Albums You Should Already Own.
1) Death - Human
When Human was released in 1991, it was different than most of the metal albums that were coming out at that time. Most metal records were either on the grindcore side (which was noisy and imprecise), or the speed metal side (which featured cleaner musicianship, but unintelligible growly vocals). Death was like speed metal for metal nerds, very cleanly mixed with a growler whose lyrics you could actually understand without reading along. These guys knew how to play lightning fast and not miss a note, and that makes Human a really good listen. The drumming is dead on and features the relentless double bass approach that was popular back in '91. The guitar solos are hair metal scales and arpeggios which complement the songs without being a distraction. I just thought of a phrase that may sum up this whole deal. Ready? Metronome metal. That sounds super dorky, but I'm sticking with it. Just give it a listen if you haven't already.
2) Miracle Chosuke - The 7/8 Wonders of the World
This one is a trip. I used to work with this guy named Jason. He was obviously a creative dude, and was in a few different bands in the time that I knew him. One of the bands was Miracle Chosuke, and they managed to put out one hell of a debut. This is a nine track exercise in creative weirdness and crazy time signatures that is a whole bunch of fun. It clocks in at under 15 minutes, so it's perfect for the ADD crowd. Other reviewers have compared Miracle Chosuke to Television, and I can see that, but I don't know if I can get behind it fully. The album is kinda hard to define, but I guess that electro pop with punky/new wavey elements may sort of sum it up. Anyway, these dudes only managed to stay together long enough to record this album and not a second longer, so the world will never know what may have become of this band. I'll tell you what though, they got off to a great start.
Looks like a shorter column this time around, thank goodness I don't have any sort of minimum word requirement or anything. I really am out of things to bitch and/or crow about, so I suppose that this is where we part ways for now. Go skate or something.
Send me stuff!
rstarin74@yahoo.com
Roy Starin
|
Friday 22nd 2006f September 2006 12:58
Print this Page
|
|
|
