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CANCER OF THE SKULL
i wanted to talk briefly about one of my favourite songs on heavy metal: cancer of the skull. i've always liked this song, but somewhat recently i read some writeup or interview or something that mentioned the "songs are a hundered ugly babies i can't feed" lyric and connected it with cameron's possible experience of being a creative. this sense of having so many ideas that you can't tend to and allow to grow, that you have more going on than you can ever keep up with. this altered the way i viewed the song and connected me so deeply to it as a creative who struggles to make things and struggles to feel like anything they make is worthwhile. to me the "cancer of the skull" is creativity in and of itself.
i thought i'd highlight some lyrics that really stick out in relation to this:
"cancer of the fingers/on the hands of a beginner" - this cancer is a physical urge to create but it has been given to beginner's hands, so you're never really able to satiate it and it continues to fester
(UNFINISHED)
i wanted to talk briefly about one of my favourite songs on heavy metal: cancer of the skull. i've always liked this song, but somewhat recently i read some writeup or interview or something that mentioned the "songs are a hundered ugly babies i can't feed" lyric and connected it with cameron's possible experience of being a creative. this sense of having so many ideas that you can't tend to and allow to grow, that you have more going on than you can ever keep up with. this altered the way i viewed the song and connected me so deeply to it as a creative who struggles to make things and struggles to feel like anything they make is worthwhile. to me the "cancer of the skull" is creativity in and of itself.
i thought i'd highlight some lyrics that really stick out in relation to this:
"cancer of the fingers/on the hands of a beginner" - this cancer is a physical urge to create but it has been given to beginner's hands, so you're never really able to satiate it and it continues to fester
(UNFINISHED)
ALBUMS THAT GREW ON ME
in honour of olivia rodrigo's "you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love" going from a 'meh' album to one of my go to's recently, i thought i'd talk a bit about a few albums that really took their time to grow on me. i really believe that an album that has to convince me to like it will always end up being more important and more liked by me than one i enjoy immediately. something about coming back to it and finding something new you like every time that makes it so rewarding. there are of course exceptions to this rule (maybe i will talk about them another time), but for the sake of this i'm making a generalisation.
starting off strong with my most recent example. in a blog post i said i found this album underwhelming on a first listen considering the critical reception, but i ended up adding it to a large playlist for work anyway and had found that certain songs slowly started to grow on me as they were sprinkled in amongst other stuff. the first of which was maggots for brains which is still probably my favourite on the album. i ended up buying the cd and that's where i really fell in love. i found it already feeling so comfy to listen to despite being relatively new and constantly reached for it when i drove somewhere (i find how i respond to music massively depends on my mental state and i can react really strongly to stuff, especially if it's unfamiliar or evokes certain memories). i really enjoy this whole album now, with my way being the only consistent skip. lately drop dead and purple have been standouts, but they standout amongst a bunch of other bangers.
i have a couple friends who have been super into westside cowboy for a while, with one of them continuing to recommend them to me, but i only started listening for myself in february just after their tour (i'm so mad). anyway i managed to see them live when they opened for geese and listened to their ep so much country 'til we get there in preparation. they were super good live, but at the time i still wasn't a proper fan, and decicded against approaching the merch table and getting a t shirt because of this (though if the drummer was there i may have done, i was desperate to sing his praises). this ep didn't become something i truly loved until, once again, i bought the cd. it's such a short ep but i take it in my car constantly. i love their sound so much, it feels so familiar yet distinct. very hard to pick a favourite but i think it's either can't see or in the morning. i'm so excited for their new album so i can finally have more of their stuff to listen to as unfortunately i haven't managed to get into their older stuff. i've loved both singles they've released so i can really see it becoming a favourite.
god heavy metal took a lot of convincing for me. i first listened to love takes miles around the start of last year and actually hated cameron winter's voice so much i refused to give it another chance. it was only when i got into au pays du cocaine and read an interview with cameron winter that i thought that maybe he was someone worth listening to. my first listen i only really picked out nina and field of cops which continues to be a favourite on the album, but still struggled with sometimes finding it too much to listen to. however, by the time my endless christmas shifts rolled around i was listening to heavy metal and getting killed consecutively and on repeat. really don't remember what happened inbetween these two states but i must've just awoken to how amazing this album really is. i got it for cd for christmas and to this day it continues to be a go to despite admittedly becoming a little overlistened. i need a new album now.
every single geese album has been a grower for me, especially in context of each other as they are all very different vibes and sounds. as mentioned before, i got into 3d country as an album before getting killed and found its general sound more approachable, but it still took a while for me to like every song. getting killed though i bounced off initially, and only managed to slowly reapproach it once i was convinced of geese themselves. both of these albums i really felt like i got more and more out of with each listen, while continuing to enjoy the songs i liked from the start. projector was probably the hardest for me to get into and i still feel that it's their weakest album, but it's still one i really like. my initial issue with projector is i wanted more of what getting killed and 3d country were giving me, and in comparison it just felt like a blended jumbled blob with not much distinct to it. i'm glad i gave it another go though much further into my obsession with the band, as disco is now one of my favourite songs of theirs. it scratches a similar itch to early black country new road and i now reach for it as much as the other two. i can't wait to see what geese does next as all of these albums feel so distinct and interesting in their own ways, and i'm sure i will eventually be convinced of whatever their new sound is going to be.
as a fan of earlier black country new road and isaac wood, i wasn't overly convinced of forever howlong when it first came out. i liked happy birthday and kind of liked besties, but found the rest of the album somewhat strange and grating. however, i had a friend who had this as their first introduction to bcnr and loved it, and they convinced me to buy the cd. again, this definitely kickstarted me continuing to listen to the album despite my reservations, and i found it growing on me more and more until i was basically listening to it on repeat for a period. nowadays i tend to drift more towards old bcnr, but i still love every song on this album, and have a bunch of favourites including happy birthday, besties, for the cold country, and nancy tries to take the night.
in the aeroplane over the sea is an album i've loved for many years, and i first found it during lockdown when i'd often struggle to get into new music. i think i bounced off it initially but enjoyed holland 1945 (now one of my most listened to songs on spotify), then came back to it later and slowly got into it in bits and pieces. it genuinely took me years to start liking two headed boy part 2, which was always a song i skipped in the past (especially as it was right at the end), but is now one of my favourites. it's an album i still listen to regularly now, mostly on cd, and i find it special with how long it's stayed with me. i think i credit its longevity partially to how long it took for me to come around to the entire thing.
in honour of olivia rodrigo's "you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love" going from a 'meh' album to one of my go to's recently, i thought i'd talk a bit about a few albums that really took their time to grow on me. i really believe that an album that has to convince me to like it will always end up being more important and more liked by me than one i enjoy immediately. something about coming back to it and finding something new you like every time that makes it so rewarding. there are of course exceptions to this rule (maybe i will talk about them another time), but for the sake of this i'm making a generalisation.
starting off strong with my most recent example. in a blog post i said i found this album underwhelming on a first listen considering the critical reception, but i ended up adding it to a large playlist for work anyway and had found that certain songs slowly started to grow on me as they were sprinkled in amongst other stuff. the first of which was maggots for brains which is still probably my favourite on the album. i ended up buying the cd and that's where i really fell in love. i found it already feeling so comfy to listen to despite being relatively new and constantly reached for it when i drove somewhere (i find how i respond to music massively depends on my mental state and i can react really strongly to stuff, especially if it's unfamiliar or evokes certain memories). i really enjoy this whole album now, with my way being the only consistent skip. lately drop dead and purple have been standouts, but they standout amongst a bunch of other bangers.
i have a couple friends who have been super into westside cowboy for a while, with one of them continuing to recommend them to me, but i only started listening for myself in february just after their tour (i'm so mad). anyway i managed to see them live when they opened for geese and listened to their ep so much country 'til we get there in preparation. they were super good live, but at the time i still wasn't a proper fan, and decicded against approaching the merch table and getting a t shirt because of this (though if the drummer was there i may have done, i was desperate to sing his praises). this ep didn't become something i truly loved until, once again, i bought the cd. it's such a short ep but i take it in my car constantly. i love their sound so much, it feels so familiar yet distinct. very hard to pick a favourite but i think it's either can't see or in the morning. i'm so excited for their new album so i can finally have more of their stuff to listen to as unfortunately i haven't managed to get into their older stuff. i've loved both singles they've released so i can really see it becoming a favourite.
god heavy metal took a lot of convincing for me. i first listened to love takes miles around the start of last year and actually hated cameron winter's voice so much i refused to give it another chance. it was only when i got into au pays du cocaine and read an interview with cameron winter that i thought that maybe he was someone worth listening to. my first listen i only really picked out nina and field of cops which continues to be a favourite on the album, but still struggled with sometimes finding it too much to listen to. however, by the time my endless christmas shifts rolled around i was listening to heavy metal and getting killed consecutively and on repeat. really don't remember what happened inbetween these two states but i must've just awoken to how amazing this album really is. i got it for cd for christmas and to this day it continues to be a go to despite admittedly becoming a little overlistened. i need a new album now.
every single geese album has been a grower for me, especially in context of each other as they are all very different vibes and sounds. as mentioned before, i got into 3d country as an album before getting killed and found its general sound more approachable, but it still took a while for me to like every song. getting killed though i bounced off initially, and only managed to slowly reapproach it once i was convinced of geese themselves. both of these albums i really felt like i got more and more out of with each listen, while continuing to enjoy the songs i liked from the start. projector was probably the hardest for me to get into and i still feel that it's their weakest album, but it's still one i really like. my initial issue with projector is i wanted more of what getting killed and 3d country were giving me, and in comparison it just felt like a blended jumbled blob with not much distinct to it. i'm glad i gave it another go though much further into my obsession with the band, as disco is now one of my favourite songs of theirs. it scratches a similar itch to early black country new road and i now reach for it as much as the other two. i can't wait to see what geese does next as all of these albums feel so distinct and interesting in their own ways, and i'm sure i will eventually be convinced of whatever their new sound is going to be.
as a fan of earlier black country new road and isaac wood, i wasn't overly convinced of forever howlong when it first came out. i liked happy birthday and kind of liked besties, but found the rest of the album somewhat strange and grating. however, i had a friend who had this as their first introduction to bcnr and loved it, and they convinced me to buy the cd. again, this definitely kickstarted me continuing to listen to the album despite my reservations, and i found it growing on me more and more until i was basically listening to it on repeat for a period. nowadays i tend to drift more towards old bcnr, but i still love every song on this album, and have a bunch of favourites including happy birthday, besties, for the cold country, and nancy tries to take the night.
in the aeroplane over the sea is an album i've loved for many years, and i first found it during lockdown when i'd often struggle to get into new music. i think i bounced off it initially but enjoyed holland 1945 (now one of my most listened to songs on spotify), then came back to it later and slowly got into it in bits and pieces. it genuinely took me years to start liking two headed boy part 2, which was always a song i skipped in the past (especially as it was right at the end), but is now one of my favourites. it's an album i still listen to regularly now, mostly on cd, and i find it special with how long it's stayed with me. i think i credit its longevity partially to how long it took for me to come around to the entire thing.
GETTING KILLED & 3D COUNTRY = ABBEY ROAD & RUBBER SOUL
this has spawned purely from two different listening experiences i had while really high so it's likely completely incoherent and nonsensical but it makes sense to me.
first of all i want to immediately say that on the debate of getting killed vs 3d country i am firmly on the side of getting killed. 3d country was my first introduction to the band and it is definitely the more jammable and accessible album. i found getting killed took me longer to fully 'get', and while 3d country wasn't immediate either, i was more quickly taken by it.
3d country feels wild and fun, and while the songs do vary, it feels more like a consistent sounding jam akin to a king gizzard album. when initially getting into the album, i often struggled to keep interested past undoer, and found that the songs somewhat blended together. i mean i straight up didn't like undoer at first and only started to appreciate it when i tried to learn it on drums. while i know the album very well now and the songs all feel unique in their own way, i still struggle to remember what order they go after undoer, and exactly which song belongs to which title. i understand why people love this album so much and prefer it to getting killed. it has a sound that is addictive and cameron's voice is unlike anything else, especially as he's mellowed out following heavy metal, but nowadays i find myself reaching for getting killed far more often.
getting killed feels tight and mature. the sound varies in a far more noticable way, almost to the point of whiplash between trinidad and cobra. the only songs i would say feel too similar are getting killed and 100 horses, maybe bow down as well. all of which i used to sometimes skip but now have come to appreciate. this is similar to how i used to feel about the run from crusades to tomorrow's crusades in 3d country, though domoto and mysterious love do stand out within it. anyway, the flow and order of getting killed feels much more deliberate. they've moved past throwing everything at a song and put far clearer consideration into every small thing, especially within the instrumentation. they still at times sound strange and messy but they've honed it into laser focus. long island city feels like a triumph and something you could've never seen coming based on 3d country. it's clear that heavy metal opened up so many new possibilities for cameron when it comes to arrangement on all fronts, including that which is more minimilist like au pays or half real.
now with my general opinions on the geese albums out of the way i want to actually get to the point i'm making:
getting killed = abbey road
3d country = rubber soul
(as a basic point, the album covers have similar vibes. but that's more of a bonus.)
i remember listening to abbey road on an edible and remembering the point that she's so heavy and here comes the sun are very deliberately placed in the tracklist with a mind to flipping the vinyl, which is why the tracks together can sound jarring in any other context. i found this reminded me of both trinidad into cobra, and au pays into bow down (as reverse). then this made me think that half real and au pays sort of split the album in half as a slower interlude, like because to sun king before the medely. obviously bow down, taxes and long island city are very separate songs and so don't really align with the medely, but long island city does kind of feel like it serves a similar purpose to golden slumber, carry that weight and the end: some sort of uncertain future. the context for the beatles is obvious with this, as they created abbey road knowing it was the end, but for geese it feels more interesting in hindsight, as this is the album that catapaulted them into the limelight. in both cases they have no idea where they're going.
more recently i felt a similar connection between rubber soul and 3d country but in a slightly more superficial way. both of them just feel like major stoner albums placed in the middle of a career. they are the exact point between both bands having fun and jamming and being critically revered. i remember george harrison said that rubber soul is his favourite album purely because it was the most fun to record, and 3d country feels similar, but obviously i'm not aware of geese's exact opinions. rubber soul has many distinct songs much like 3d country, but also like 3d country, it can fold in on itself as a consistent experience and repetitive feel. while i do consider them both stoner albums they are for different reasons. rubber soul is definitely more mellow and chill with occasional fun parts, while 3d country is an album to get up and groove to, to really lose yourself in physically.
this has spawned purely from two different listening experiences i had while really high so it's likely completely incoherent and nonsensical but it makes sense to me.
first of all i want to immediately say that on the debate of getting killed vs 3d country i am firmly on the side of getting killed. 3d country was my first introduction to the band and it is definitely the more jammable and accessible album. i found getting killed took me longer to fully 'get', and while 3d country wasn't immediate either, i was more quickly taken by it.
3d country feels wild and fun, and while the songs do vary, it feels more like a consistent sounding jam akin to a king gizzard album. when initially getting into the album, i often struggled to keep interested past undoer, and found that the songs somewhat blended together. i mean i straight up didn't like undoer at first and only started to appreciate it when i tried to learn it on drums. while i know the album very well now and the songs all feel unique in their own way, i still struggle to remember what order they go after undoer, and exactly which song belongs to which title. i understand why people love this album so much and prefer it to getting killed. it has a sound that is addictive and cameron's voice is unlike anything else, especially as he's mellowed out following heavy metal, but nowadays i find myself reaching for getting killed far more often.
getting killed feels tight and mature. the sound varies in a far more noticable way, almost to the point of whiplash between trinidad and cobra. the only songs i would say feel too similar are getting killed and 100 horses, maybe bow down as well. all of which i used to sometimes skip but now have come to appreciate. this is similar to how i used to feel about the run from crusades to tomorrow's crusades in 3d country, though domoto and mysterious love do stand out within it. anyway, the flow and order of getting killed feels much more deliberate. they've moved past throwing everything at a song and put far clearer consideration into every small thing, especially within the instrumentation. they still at times sound strange and messy but they've honed it into laser focus. long island city feels like a triumph and something you could've never seen coming based on 3d country. it's clear that heavy metal opened up so many new possibilities for cameron when it comes to arrangement on all fronts, including that which is more minimilist like au pays or half real.
now with my general opinions on the geese albums out of the way i want to actually get to the point i'm making:
getting killed = abbey road
3d country = rubber soul
(as a basic point, the album covers have similar vibes. but that's more of a bonus.)
i remember listening to abbey road on an edible and remembering the point that she's so heavy and here comes the sun are very deliberately placed in the tracklist with a mind to flipping the vinyl, which is why the tracks together can sound jarring in any other context. i found this reminded me of both trinidad into cobra, and au pays into bow down (as reverse). then this made me think that half real and au pays sort of split the album in half as a slower interlude, like because to sun king before the medely. obviously bow down, taxes and long island city are very separate songs and so don't really align with the medely, but long island city does kind of feel like it serves a similar purpose to golden slumber, carry that weight and the end: some sort of uncertain future. the context for the beatles is obvious with this, as they created abbey road knowing it was the end, but for geese it feels more interesting in hindsight, as this is the album that catapaulted them into the limelight. in both cases they have no idea where they're going.
more recently i felt a similar connection between rubber soul and 3d country but in a slightly more superficial way. both of them just feel like major stoner albums placed in the middle of a career. they are the exact point between both bands having fun and jamming and being critically revered. i remember george harrison said that rubber soul is his favourite album purely because it was the most fun to record, and 3d country feels similar, but obviously i'm not aware of geese's exact opinions. rubber soul has many distinct songs much like 3d country, but also like 3d country, it can fold in on itself as a consistent experience and repetitive feel. while i do consider them both stoner albums they are for different reasons. rubber soul is definitely more mellow and chill with occasional fun parts, while 3d country is an album to get up and groove to, to really lose yourself in physically.