................

[zah]

Ooooooh, what a fucking surprise - Amy needs to go back to get a filling in a couple of weeks. Grrrrrrrr. I'm done taking care of these fucking teeth. Seems that regardless of what I do, something's always wrong. Who needs teeth anyway? Suckers, that's who.

Added after 4 minutes:

Hey, do you cats remember Seb(astian)?



Also, I deleted my LastFM page a while back, so yeah. And I also think Wayne LOVES M.B.

[halcyon712]

How could you NOT love that thinning mullet? Just so sexy!

[Gnomad]

Seb still has a date with a meat cleaver...

[zah]

re: ................

Remember this?:

dredg - Catch Without Arms
Aside from their early rap-metal roots, dredg have been a band able to consistently raise the bar with each successive release. But while their ascension and diehard fan base has continued to grow as a result of the their persistent touring and word of mouth buzz, mainstream success has routinely managed to elude them. Unfortunately, much of the material found on "Catch Without Arms" almost seems like a response to that.

While the band still sound as dreamy and wistful as ever, the progressive majesty that once permeated their angular brand of indie rock is largely missing in action here. Instead, the band seem to have compacted much of their wide-eyed experimentalism and engrossing instrumentation in favor of simpler arrangements and more traditional song structures.

This in turn creates a paradox for the band that makes "Catch Without Arms" sound more like it was dumbed-down as the result of label pressure or over-analyzing more than anything else. When the band channel the spirit of their earlier releases on tracks like "Ode To The Sun" and the surprisingly bouncy "Sang Real", they thoroughly engage and invigorate the listener.

However, most of the album is instead quite tame, lacking the grandiose vision and freedom the band once exercised. While this isn't essentially a bad thing, at its worst it can cause some of the songs to come off sounding like the adult contemporary radio ballads present day U2 would crank out. At this point in their career, with labels run solely by the bean counters and not much ground for dredg to stand on, it's not surprising to see that they would choose to head into a more commercial direction. But that's not to say much of this album isn't a casualty of that decision either.

While they do take the time to experiment with bombastic drums and crisp layers of instrumentation, driving riffs and rhythms are pretty much the chief components of this album. When paired with the straight-forward structuring that takes shape with a few hook-laden, albeit gimmicky tracks, "Catch Without Arms" fails to live up to the bands legacy. On the whole it's a solid listen and is surely better than the bulk of what's out there. But on the negative side it can also be a bit too self-involved and stripped down to really capture the imagination like their work in the past.

(3.5 / 5)

I've always thought The PRP crew is pretty right on about reviews.

And you LOVE Seb, Gnomad. We've been through this sooooooo many times.

[zah]

So, I had a dream involving Dino. Let me explain since it also involved unreleased dredg materials (and because I need to get it sorted out in writing, so if you don't feel like reading it, please, skip along).

It starts off as I come back to my computer and see someone has IMed me a few messages. It turns out to be Dino [no, I don't remember his screen name], and his first message was, "Hey, sweetie. How are ya?" [Note: not that this really adds to the dream, but even though we were chatting on-line, my dream did a split-screen sort of thing where I could actually see him sitting there]. Then he said some stuff about how "not much is going on with me. Just been laying down some beats and keys." I typed a couple of things and then asked him something about driving cross-country. And he said something like, "Well, it can be a really big hassle driving a van full of drum equipment all over the place." And then I said something (lame) like, "Too bad I don't live in California. We could road trip. It would be cool." And he said, "Yeah, it would be a lot better."

Then all of a sudden we're in person at some sort of restaurant-type stand, though at this point I don't physically see Dino. I walk away to get something, and when I come back, I see 3 unreleased dredg items on the counter but I still haven't seen Dino. I go to look at the items, and all I remember is 2 vinyl records and 1 book. 1 of the vinyls said something like, "Grasshopper Version of Ode to the Sun" and I don't remember what the other one said. Don't remember any details about the book either. The covers of all 3 items sort of reminded me of dredg's website design except the only 2 colors were green and black.

So, then Dino finally shows up [sporting a green shirt and his usual baseball cap - damn him] and he hasn't seen me standing there yet and he's kind of got this serious look on his face. Anyway, I said something like, "Dino! Why is it I walk away and come back to see all of these things on the counter? You don't have to do this at all. I feel bad." And he just smiled/laughed and said, "Nah, don't feel bad. I want you to have these. Here, I'll even sign them for you." So, he gets this bottle of ink and a pen, and he uses the pen to dab some ink on a piece of paper. But when he started to sign his name, the ink got all gooey and clay-like. So, he eventually fixes it, and stands there with a goofy look holding a small piece of paper with his initials on it. He hands it to me and says, "Hey. I'll be right back. Gonna grab a couple more things I just remembered." At this point he was all of a sudden shirtless, not that I'm complaining.

Meaning of the dream: Dino and me are soulmates. No, actually, I think I had it because I was reminiscing about how lame I was when I actually met them last October. OR it means awesome dredg-related materials are in the works.

[BentTwig]

you have pretty good dream recall. Thats the first step to lucidity. I'm getting close to lucidity, and I read about things that trigger lucidity when your sleeping, aka things like a light on the outside world or sounds, and you'l be in your dream and be like "hey thats not right" then you realize you are dreaming and you then become lucid. Now what I'm trying to do is fall asleep with headphones on, figure out a way to have music start like 1 1/2 hours after I go to bed so I could hopefully realize it and become lucid. I couldn't imagine dreaming then hearing El Cielo start and realize I'm dreaming, become lucid, then have a freaking amazing journey while listening to my fav album.

Hey so I was listening to Men Women and Children, and I really like what I hear. WHat album should I get first?

[zah]

you have pretty good dream recall. Thats the first step to lucidity. [...]
Hey so I was listening to Men Women and Children, and I really like what I hear. WHat album should I get first?

Yeah, I think I've had partial dream lucidity where I realize I'm dreaming and can change certain things, but I don't have FULL control.

And as far as MW&C, they only have 1 CD out, so get that. I listened to it yesterday. Pretty fun.

[BentTwig]

Man there are so many c.d's I want to buy. I wish I could just have like a $500 gift certificate to amazon. That would make my like

[zah]

Hahaha. I hear ya, Twiggy. Way too many CDs and movies to buy. I always say things like, "Can't I just win a fucking shopping spree at _________? Or why can't I just stop time and steal everything my heart desires?"

[BentTwig]

oh and I have been having a reacurring dream where I wake up in this island in the middle of a lake. Then I get chased by a different animal everydream. I have to go through so much to get away from them, but it always ends in with me talking to a cameraman for a newstation and then the animal eats me. Thing is their all animals that don't attack humans. Most recently it was a Mallard

Added after 2 minutes:

Music costs way to much in my mind. I don't think c.d's should break the $10 mark. Don't record companies realize that if all c.d's were made cheaper then more people would buy them instead of burning them or downloading them.

[zah]

Hmmm. Is there a certain issue/situation going on in your life right now that you've failed to properly and permanently resolve?

[BentTwig]

Theres a lot of shit going on in my life right now. Lots of really big life changing decisions, and I deal with them the way I deal with most things I don't like. I just put it off and procrastinate. But man those dreams suck.

[zah]

There you go. That's why you keep having those dreams. Instead of dealing with those issues head-on, you run away from 'em. Eventually, it's all gonna catch up to you . . .

[BuddyGoodness]

..... and shit on your head.

[Gnomad]

What is lucidity?