What are you listening to?

I'm watching my nephew on the other side of the world doing his final music degree performance..... and he plays it! 

Which instrument does your nephew play? I’m guessing trumpet, or trombone? 

Trumpet’s a weird one for me, usually it doesn’t do anything for me, but occasionally it’s just the perfect instrument.

Which instrument does your nephew play? I’m guessing trumpet, or trombone? 

Trumpet’s a weird one for me, usually it doesn’t do anything for me, but occasionally it’s just the perfect instrument.

He's a drummer, actually.   But had to play band leader on this occasion.

I'm partial to a bit of trumpet at times.... it can be very emotive. Saxophone, too. C'mon, give it a blow.

We barely remember
Who or what came before this precious moment
We are choosing to be here, right now
Hold on, stay inside
This holy reality
This holy experience
Choosing to be here in...
This body, this body holding me
Be my reminder here that I am not alone in...
This body, this body holding me
Feeling eternal, this pain is an illusion
Alive!
In this holy reality
In this holy experience
Choosing to be here in...
This body, this body holding me
Be my reminder here that I am not alone in...
This body, this body holding me
Feeling eternal, all this pain is an illusion
Twirling 'round with this familiar parabola
Spinning, weaving 'round each new experience
Recognize this as a holy gift and
Celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing
A chance to be alive and breathing
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment, remember
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion

[Laird]

Hadn't seen the video to that before, Hurm. Very curious, and, for me, as with all Tool video clips, kind of disturbing.

Which leads me to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

...a powerful interpretation of the classic Simon and Garfunkel song by - well, you'll see how I was led there.

[Laird]

Just randomly discovered these guys in this video via YouTube's play next feature. It's a long vid, but you'll soon enough know whether you like it enough to watch it to the end - the quality doesn't change.

toe @ SAKURAZA IN KOFU, YAMANASHI OCT 8, 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Dk-RdsPoI

Hadn't seen the video to that before, Hurm. Very curious, and, for me, as with all Tool video clips, kind of disturbing.

Which leads me to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

...a powerful interpretation of the classic Simon and Garfunkel song by - well, you'll see how I was led there.

Yeah I prefer just the Tool song without the video... a little grotesque... I think I kinda get the symbolism, but not visually pleasing to look at, but thats kind of part of the genre is to shake you out of your trance by disturbing you a little bit.

I had heard some Tool before and had heard the structure of their music was supposed to incorporate stuff from sacred geometry, but I didn't much care for it... only recently it came up on my music app while I was working and I found the long slow builds were good work music and then realized how spiritual and symbolic their lyrics are.... then I started liking them quite a bit.

[Laird]

Yeah I prefer just the Tool song without the video... a little grotesque... I think I kinda get the symbolism, but not visually pleasing to look at, but thats kind of part of the genre is to shake you out of your trance by disturbing you a little bit.

I had heard some Tool before and had heard the structure of their music was supposed to incorporate stuff from sacred geometry, but I didn't much care for it... only recently it came up on my music app while I was working and I found the long slow builds were good work music and then realized how spiritual and symbolic their lyrics are.... then I started liking them quite a bit.

I've been listening to Tool since 1996, when my uni mate introduced me to them via their recent (at the time) album Ænima. Wow. What an experience. It blew my mind, especially given my personal state of consciousness/growth at the time.

Then, he shared their earlier album Undertow with me. With the exception of one song, (Prison Sex, which was just brilliant to me from the get-to) I wasn't very impressed. Slowly, though, as seems to have been your experience, it grew on me. Henry Rollins's spoken-word cameo in that album (on Bottom) is now for me a treat, as is the song in which he appears.

We also listened a little together to their initial EP, Opiate, and, with the exception of one song (the title track, which I don't much care for), I was an immediate fan of that earliest of their releases. When I feel the need to get in touch with my rage, as well as various Rage Against the Machine songs (obviously), Jerk-Off from that album is my go-to track.

I bought their Lateralus CD (remember CDs? I know you do) when it came out in 2001. By that point, my uni mate had stopped following them. I hadn't. That album didn't have the same immediate and intense appeal to me that Opiate and Ænima even more so had for me, but I still appreciated it, and it grew on me even more over time, and I now rate it pretty highly. I think the title track of that album is the one you're referring to as incorporating sacred geometry: as far as I understand, it's that some of the lyrics are phrased according to the Fibonacci sequence (I've confirmed for myself that they do; it's pretty recognisable when you listen for it). By the way, I really, really like this solo piano cover of that song, and I think you will too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGCDc34m-4

It took me a while to realise that they'd released their album 10,000 Days quite a few years later, and while it remains my least favourite album of theirs, The Pot is for me its stand-out track which very much is a personal favourite.

When Fear Innoculum came out a couple of years back I again wasn't immediately fond of it, but it very quickly grew on me and now I rate it as a latter-day masterpiece. In particular, the drumming of Danny Carey - probably my favourite rock drummer of all time - really, really shines in this album.

Yes, Maynard's lyrics are very thoughtful and impregnated with spiritual meaning and allusions to evolutionary personal growth, speaking to a deeper dimension of life and reality. I don't often understand them, at least not fully, but they always in some way speak to me. The man is also a very impressive vocalist.

As for grotesque, yes, I fully agree. I attended one of their concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre early in this century, and they had visuals showing in the background, which I pretty much had to cover my eyes from as they were too gory for me to watch.

Despite its potency, I am not so sure that I should be listening to this type of music. There is perhaps a dark ("heavy") side to it which I sense and worry about, but hey, maybe that worry is entirely misplaced. The band is in any case exceptionally talented, both as a group and as individuals in that group.

So, maybe, keep on exploring their back catalogue. There are some real treasures to be found. I recommend in particular giving with their 1996 album Ænima, and/or their 1992 EP Opiate a good listen. I'll leave you with this one, which is perhaps (although it's really, really hard to choose) my favourite from that album. Here is: Pushit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGm72iNBF8E

It's especially gripping and poignant for me from around 8:20 onwards. Here are the lyrics from there up until the end:

"If when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay
You minimise my movement anyway
I must persuade you another way.

Pushin' and shovin' and pushin' and shovin'; pushin' me.

There's no love in fear!

Yeah, staring down the hole again.
Hands are on my back again.
Survival is my only friend.
Terrified of what may come.

Remember I will always love you
As I blow your f***in' throat away.

It will end no other way.
It will end no other way."

I've been listening to Tool since 1996, when my uni mate introduced me to them via their recent (at the time) album Ænima. Wow. What an experience. It blew my mind, especially given my personal state of consciousness/growth at the time.

Then, he shared their earlier album Undertow with me. With the exception of one song, (Prison Sex, which was just brilliant to me from the get-to) I wasn't very impressed. Slowly, though, as seems to have been your experience, it grew on me. Henry Rollins's spoken-word cameo in that album (on Bottom) is now for me a treat, as is the song in which he appears.

We also listened a little together to their initial EP, Opiate, and, with the exception of one song (the title track, which I don't much care for), I was an immediate fan of that earliest of their releases. When I feel the need to get in touch with my rage, as well as various Rage Against the Machine songs (obviously), Jerk-Off from that album is my go-to track.

I bought their Lateralus CD (remember CDs? I know you do) when it came out in 2001. By that point, my uni mate had stopped following them. I hadn't. That album didn't have the same immediate and intense appeal to me that Opiate and Ænima even more so had for me, but I still appreciated it, and it grew on me even more over time, and I now rate it pretty highly. I think the title track of that album is the one you're referring to as incorporating sacred geometry: as far as I understand, it's that some of the lyrics are phrased according to the Fibonacci sequence (I've confirmed for myself that they do; it's pretty recognisable when you listen for it). By the way, I really, really like this solo piano cover of that song, and I think you will too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOGCDc34m-4

It took me a while to realise that they'd released their album 10,000 Days quite a few years later, and while it remains my least favourite album of theirs, The Pot is for me its stand-out track which very much is a personal favourite.

When Fear Innoculum came out a couple of years back I again wasn't immediately fond of it, but it very quickly grew on me and now I rate it as a latter-day masterpiece. In particular, the drumming of Danny Carey - probably my favourite rock drummer of all time - really, really shines in this album.

Yes, Maynard's lyrics are very thoughtful and impregnated with spiritual meaning and allusions to evolutionary personal growth, speaking to a deeper dimension of life and reality. I don't often understand them, at least not fully, but they always in some way speak to me. The man is also a very impressive vocalist.

As for grotesque, yes, I fully agree. I attended one of their concerts at the Sydney Entertainment Centre early in this century, and they had visuals showing in the background, which I pretty much had to cover my eyes from as they were too gory for me to watch.

Despite its potency, I am not so sure that I should be listening to this type of music. There is perhaps a dark ("heavy") side to it which I sense and worry about, but hey, maybe that worry is entirely misplaced. The band is in any case exceptionally talented, both as a group and as individuals in that group.

So, maybe, keep on exploring their back catalogue. There are some real treasures to be found. I recommend in particular giving with their 1996 album Ænima, and/or their 1992 EP Opiate a good listen. I'll leave you with this one, which is perhaps (although it's really, really hard to choose) my favourite from that album. Here is: Pushit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGm72iNBF8E

It's especially gripping and poignant for me from around 8:20 onwards. Here are the lyrics from there up until the end:

"If when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay
You minimise my movement anyway
I must persuade you another way.

Pushin' and shovin' and pushin' and shovin'; pushin' me.

There's no love in fear!

Yeah, staring down the hole again.
Hands are on my back again.
Survival is my only friend.
Terrified of what may come.

Remember I will always love you
As I blow your f***in' throat away.

It will end no other way.
It will end no other way."

Wow I didn't know you were a Tool aficionado! Their songs do take a little time to grow on you, but like an old hardwood versus a weed, they grow stronger.

Despite its potency, I am not so sure that I should be listening to this type of music. There is perhaps a dark ("heavy") side to it which I sense and worry about, but hey, maybe that worry is entirely misplaced.

I get what you're saying as my fundy Christian roots and parents' scolding planted some deep seated apprehensions about anything "dark" or "heavy". And maybe it took me this long to get over that so that I could appreciate it.

I think life is such that we cannot always dwell in the light because if we stay on our little patch under the street lamp the darkness will grow. We have to go into the darkness where the monsters hide and the dragon's guard treasure and confront them. When I encounter something that makes me feel uncomfortable or that makes me want to avoid thinking about it, I also have this impulse to lean into that and understand it and familiarize myself with it so that it no longer has the power to make me afraid of it. 

As long as you can appreciate both the light and the dark, I don't think you need to worry about what you "should" be listening to... So here's this for some balance.

And I did really enjoy the piano cover of Lateralus!