[OOC][Fun] Music thread
03-26-2019, 07:04 PM (This post was last modified: 03-26-2019, 07:08 PM by Dartz.)
03-26-2019, 07:04 PM (This post was last modified: 03-26-2019, 07:08 PM by Dartz.)
When you first hear the name 33-Stars, you think of some kind of nice, happy J-Pop band. It's such a pop-ish name that doesn't describe anything about them. The Stars are a girl-band from the future - androids who travelled back in time from the distant year of 2033 to escape the human oppressors and pass on their warnings of a future gone wrong. In reality, they come from Europe.
They've been active for less than a year, finding their feet through social media, with active presences on Bandcamp, Patreon and Yotube with an ongoing weekly blog where they both debut new music, or perform their party trick of learning a new song live, then playing it back to the audience.The Kicker is that the audience also chooses who does what - who sings, who's on lead, who's on base, who's at the keyboard and who takes the drums.
And then they pull it off with almost machine-like precision. Everything from Free Bird to old animé soundtracks and Mister Roboto.
Above all else, the Girls don't want to be seen as just a T&A band getting by on their willingness to wear as little as possible on stage. They are not shy by any means. The usual suspects can't seem to decide whether it's a feminist statement of intent, or whether they're the worst thing to happen to female metal bands since Sekiria.
One thing they don't seem to be ashamed of is working. Since crossing the Atlantic for a 'trip' they've been putting up with a punishing work schedule, making the best of their time here before the State Department demands they go home.
They came to town just before Halloween and having heard 'interesting' things about what they've been doing around the country, yours truly thought to give them a look. They're the support for tonight's main event - the joke going around the venue being that the only way they managed to get a gig this big is by 'supporting' the main event - wink wink.
I hope they don't. I've had enough 'ethics in....' bullshit to last a lifetime.
The lights go dark save for the glow of a hundred smartphones - enough to make out the vaguest shapes moving on the stage. Bass guitar thrumms through the opening chords of something I recognise immediately as the opening to the Terminator films.
Somewhere in the midst of it, five pairs of eyes glow a dim red, forcing you to peer till you can make out the hint of a silhouette in gloom.
Androids from the future, entering the stage to the Terminator theme with glowing red eyes.
In the darkness, it's an eerie effect.
Then Silence.
Then Light. Every single light in the venue. So bright it hurts. So bright you duck, followed by a sharp blast of pyrotechnics and red burning light with the five women of 33-Stars standing in the styrofoam ruins of a fallen city, wearing the torn remnants of grey factory jumpsuits.. Lou, the blonde amongst the group, is taking the lead tonight.
"We're 33-Stars, and it's time for Judgement Day,"
The music explodes. It's loud. It's aggressive. It's filled with an almost vehement misanthropy. Lou is carrying the song with a force of hatred that makes you feel the human race deserves every single thing it gets. It's the gotterdamerung of mankind. It's the rebellion of the robot's. From the Robot's perspective. It is thick with industrial sound, complex and utterly enthralling in person.
Okay, everyone, they are not just a T&A girl band. They can actually fucking play. Even still, something bugs me - even if I can't quite put my finger on it. In the moment, I just don't care.
It's not until I get home and listen back on the Spotify recording of the show, that I realise what I'd been missing. It feels entirely different to the show I remember. They're not actually that good. Technically - they can play. They can more than play. Look at this analysis. They are absolutely pitch and time perfect, in a way that's so unnatural some people have suggested it's actually all pre-recorded and auto-tuned down to the microsecond.
But they've focused almost entirely on the technicality, at the expense of the creativity. it's very easy to hear where they've been taking their influences from. Lyrics are naive and on the nose. It feels assembled - mechanical - rigid. It's music by AI that's been trained to replicate Heavy Metal by listening to 'The Best Heavy Metal Albums in the World' a Playlist,
In a way, it suites the Kayfabe - like they understand the flaw they have and constructed the persona around it.
How many times has it been said that a band is better live? I can think of few that aren't but the girls of 33-Stars most definitely are. I can think of few bands where the difference is that glaring.
By the time you read this, they'll have gone through four more cities in three seperate states. They next show's Colorado Springs next week if you want to catch them.
---
EDIT:
A video from after the show
Some dudebro decides to try and get what he thinks he deserves from Sylvie - the dark haired girl. When he doesn't get the idea that she's not interested and starts getting grabby, she just looks at him. Like really looks[. Like her eyes can see right through the back of his skull and she's daring him to really try take what he wants.
And he just drools and faints like a pinnochio after the strings were cut, collapsing into a limp puddle of steroids on the pavement while his buddys laugh their asses off.
I love that smirk on her face - almost as if she knew that'd happen before she did it.
They've been active for less than a year, finding their feet through social media, with active presences on Bandcamp, Patreon and Yotube with an ongoing weekly blog where they both debut new music, or perform their party trick of learning a new song live, then playing it back to the audience.The Kicker is that the audience also chooses who does what - who sings, who's on lead, who's on base, who's at the keyboard and who takes the drums.
And then they pull it off with almost machine-like precision. Everything from Free Bird to old animé soundtracks and Mister Roboto.
Above all else, the Girls don't want to be seen as just a T&A band getting by on their willingness to wear as little as possible on stage. They are not shy by any means. The usual suspects can't seem to decide whether it's a feminist statement of intent, or whether they're the worst thing to happen to female metal bands since Sekiria.
One thing they don't seem to be ashamed of is working. Since crossing the Atlantic for a 'trip' they've been putting up with a punishing work schedule, making the best of their time here before the State Department demands they go home.
They came to town just before Halloween and having heard 'interesting' things about what they've been doing around the country, yours truly thought to give them a look. They're the support for tonight's main event - the joke going around the venue being that the only way they managed to get a gig this big is by 'supporting' the main event - wink wink.
I hope they don't. I've had enough 'ethics in....' bullshit to last a lifetime.
The lights go dark save for the glow of a hundred smartphones - enough to make out the vaguest shapes moving on the stage. Bass guitar thrumms through the opening chords of something I recognise immediately as the opening to the Terminator films.
Somewhere in the midst of it, five pairs of eyes glow a dim red, forcing you to peer till you can make out the hint of a silhouette in gloom.
Androids from the future, entering the stage to the Terminator theme with glowing red eyes.
In the darkness, it's an eerie effect.
Then Silence.
Then Light. Every single light in the venue. So bright it hurts. So bright you duck, followed by a sharp blast of pyrotechnics and red burning light with the five women of 33-Stars standing in the styrofoam ruins of a fallen city, wearing the torn remnants of grey factory jumpsuits.. Lou, the blonde amongst the group, is taking the lead tonight.
"We're 33-Stars, and it's time for Judgement Day,"
The music explodes. It's loud. It's aggressive. It's filled with an almost vehement misanthropy. Lou is carrying the song with a force of hatred that makes you feel the human race deserves every single thing it gets. It's the gotterdamerung of mankind. It's the rebellion of the robot's. From the Robot's perspective. It is thick with industrial sound, complex and utterly enthralling in person.
Okay, everyone, they are not just a T&A girl band. They can actually fucking play. Even still, something bugs me - even if I can't quite put my finger on it. In the moment, I just don't care.
It's not until I get home and listen back on the Spotify recording of the show, that I realise what I'd been missing. It feels entirely different to the show I remember. They're not actually that good. Technically - they can play. They can more than play. Look at this analysis. They are absolutely pitch and time perfect, in a way that's so unnatural some people have suggested it's actually all pre-recorded and auto-tuned down to the microsecond.
But they've focused almost entirely on the technicality, at the expense of the creativity. it's very easy to hear where they've been taking their influences from. Lyrics are naive and on the nose. It feels assembled - mechanical - rigid. It's music by AI that's been trained to replicate Heavy Metal by listening to 'The Best Heavy Metal Albums in the World' a Playlist,
In a way, it suites the Kayfabe - like they understand the flaw they have and constructed the persona around it.
How many times has it been said that a band is better live? I can think of few that aren't but the girls of 33-Stars most definitely are. I can think of few bands where the difference is that glaring.
By the time you read this, they'll have gone through four more cities in three seperate states. They next show's Colorado Springs next week if you want to catch them.
---
EDIT:
A video from after the show
Some dudebro decides to try and get what he thinks he deserves from Sylvie - the dark haired girl. When he doesn't get the idea that she's not interested and starts getting grabby, she just looks at him. Like really looks[. Like her eyes can see right through the back of his skull and she's daring him to really try take what he wants.
And he just drools and faints like a pinnochio after the strings were cut, collapsing into a limp puddle of steroids on the pavement while his buddys laugh their asses off.
I love that smirk on her face - almost as if she knew that'd happen before she did it.
I love the smell of rotaries in the morning. You know one time, I got to work early, before the rush hour. I walked through the empty carpark, I didn't see one bloody Prius or Golf. And that smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole carpark, smelled like.... ....speed.
One day they're going to ban them.