Posted: April 29, 2010

High-end audio a calling for Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson

BY BRIAN McCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER

Steven Wilson isn't the first musician to lament the age of the MP3. But he's certainly one of its fiercest critics.

He's also among those most willing to put money where mouth is: Wilson's band, Porcupine Tree, is on the vanguard of high-end audio and packaging, dedicated to the proposition that art should be treated like art.



"How would you rather see a great painting -- in a gallery where the textures and light come off the canvas to convey the subtlety of the work, or a thumbnail JPEG on a cell phone?" says Wilson, the band's founder, guitarist and lead songwriter. "It's a no-brainer to me, and yet so few people seem to think that way about music now. Music should be presented as art, not as software and content. Convenience has triumphed over quality and experience."

Where other rock acts are content to tally streaming Web hits and iTunes sales, Porcupine Tree has earned a reputation for releases that go above and beyond. The band's albums are typically accompanied by high-def surround versions and handsomely crafted vinyl packages; last fall's "The Incident" was released on DVD-Audio and a $100 vinyl edition that included two books of photography and illustrations.

Wilson, who founded the English band in the early '90s, is increasingly recognized as a go-to expert in the field: The 42-year-old is a regular contributor to audiophile magazines such as Sound & Vision, earned a Grammy nomination for his 5.1 surround production of Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" album and was recently handpicked by Robert Fripp to create 5.1 mixes of the vaunted King Crimson catalog.

 

"I grew up loving music and fantastic-sounding records," says Wilson. "So I've always aspired to making fantastic sonic experiences that people can immerse themselves in."

In that sense, Wilson and Porcupine Tree harken back to heroes such as Pink Floyd, whose decades-old albums still serve as fine-tuning reference discs for audiophiles and studio technicians.

"That's still the golden era," he says of the decade that followed the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" -- a period when "every album was inspired by the idea that it could be more than 10 pop songs thrown together."

So it's more than the high-end sonics: Porcupine Tree's imaginative, cerebral art-rock is conceived with an old-school approach to the album as a thematic statement.

"There are still some people committed to the album as a kind of musical journey, very much the antithesis of the iPod shuffle mentality. Bands like Porcupine Tree, Mars Volta, Radiohead, Opeth, Muse -- in addition to specializing in an artful form of rock music, we're committed to the idea of the album. That's the other side of the MP3 coin: You're not only listening to (crappy) sound -- you're not hearing albums the way the artist intended."

Wilson's war on the iPod isn't just rhetoric. He's drawn thousands of views for a YouTube video series that shows him gleefully destroying the MP3 devices with all manner of weaponry: a rifle, a blowtorch, a sledgehammer. The clips have produced an inevitable pushback from some young viewers and Apple aficionados, but Wilson has also been heartened by the response.

"What was also encouraging was seeing the news that sales of vinyl are on the rise again, including kids who appreciate that tactile experience," he says. "People are happy to feel they have something they can treasure and cherish."

With "The Incident" having peaked at No. 25 to become the band's top-charting U.S. release, Porcupine Tree will arrive Sunday at the Fillmore Detroit with a new burst of momentum. It's been a long, steady upward trajectory for the band since its 1991 debut, largely driven by word of mouth among music connoisseurs.

The group is often tagged with the "progressive rock" label, and indeed, its audience is heavily composed of fans from the prog-rock and metal worlds, where Wilson says listeners "are instilled with an appreciation for people who can play their instruments."

"I don't think you come to a Porcupine Tree show expecting a party," he says. "You come ready for something a little more intense, ready to engage more than you would with an AC/DC concert."

Still, there's a softer, more pristine edge to much of Porcupine Tree's music, and Wilson says the band strives to craft songs that are as accessible on the surface as they are deep underneath.

"I've never been one to be obscure for the sake of being obscure, or complex for the sake of it," he says. "I think there's a way to strike a balance between classic songwriting and a performance that has many levels to it, so you can immerse yourself in the musical landscape on many different levels. Those are the records I loved when I was a kid -- sometimes you'd just sing along, and sometimes you'd immerse yourself in the whole of a beautifully produced musical experience."


Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM: 313-223-4450 or mccollum@freepress.com

Posted via web from FZDolfan's Posterous

I got your entitlement right here!

So I'm sitting in a Shop Rite parking lot checking Twitter instead of getting anything done, and I notice this woman with a young child trying to get her cart over the "island" between parking sections and having little success. She must have called out to the guy collecting carts to help her because by the time I saw this he was already running over to help.
As soon as he grabs the front of the cart and lifts it, she let go and took her child over to her mini-van which was about 75 feet away. She gets in and opens the automatic side door as if this guy is going to bring her cart all the way over there for her. He obviously assumed she just wanted help getting the cart "over the hump," because that's all he did and then went back to rounding up carts. She finally realized he wasn't coming and closed the door and drove over to the cart. It gave me a nice little chuckle to see someone "expect" someone to provide tailored service and end up having to do it themselves.
Could he have been more helpful? Sure, but considering her apparent sense of entitlement, it was almost like he said, "Come get it yourself stupid! I did the hard part! It's not my fault you forgot where you parked! I have work to do!"

I almost got out and yelled to him, "Atta boy Spider! Don't take shit from anyone!"

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It pays to pre-order

So Porcupine Tree will be releasing a Blu-ray/DVD package of a concert filmed towards the end of their amazing Fear of a Blank Planet tour. It is called "Anesthetize" (also the title of an epic track off of the album Fear of a Blank Planet) and will be released in June. A financially draining limited special edition, which includes audio CDs of the video as well as a hard cover "book style" package can be purchased from the band's online store. Anyway, I decided to take the more frugal approach and I pre-ordered just the standard BD/DVD package from Amazon. Well, at the time I placed my order, it was showing that it was Blu-ray only for $17.49, and also available was DVD only for $19.99. As it turns out, these were wrong, as it is ONLY being released as a BD/DVD set. I just checked, and they seem to have fixed the issue, and now it is listed at $22.49 (as of this blog post...it could still change). So thanks to Amazon's low price pre-order guarantee, I'm still only paying $17.49!
It pays to pre-order. :-)





I should note that Amazon STILL has a listing for just the standard DVD, but Kscope records (the label the DVD is on) insists it will NOT be released this way (unless they meant just the Blu-ray won't be standalone).

Real Time excerpt

 Here's a short clip from Real Time with Bill Maher. Funny and sad at the same time.
I took the video with my phone pointed at the TV, so give me a break on the quality.

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NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh : This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men.. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man... That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever : Is a woman's way of saying F-- YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

(10) I'm Sorry: You will never hear this come out of a woman's mouth. Didn't you read the subject line?

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Bachelor much?

New couches. Dark chocolate brown (may look black in photo). 4 recliners, 2 cup holders, and a storage compartment. They rule!
As a finishing touch, "The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands" as a coffee table book. :-)

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