The Cold Doesn't Bother You When You Are Already Dead On the Inside...

(Depression...)

Depression, suicide, anxiety, uncertainty, self-loathing, hopelessness are all afflictions found quite rampant in our modern society. It seems mind-blowing how present these things have come to be, and how aware we are of these individual struggles that happen every day. It always makes me wonder why has there been such a rise in these mental health issues. Is it because our population has expanded, are we just overall more aware, or has our modern society affected and groomed us as people to take on more of these traits. Whatever the reason, it is easy to see how many chose to use art forms as expressions and emotional releases for these difficult thoughts.

Looking back over the past several hundred years we have seen music and art as a sanctuary for those overwhelmed by the processes of their brains. We had Van Gogh cut off his ear, we have had to dark poets such as Edgar Allen Poe, and many composers were sad to be a little mad in their heyday. There is something to be said about music that is fueled by these intense feelings. The power of the words, the darkness of a lot of the melody and just the overall agony can appear and feel so real to the listener, and that is what I know sucks me in. I think that is what sucks in most people and that is because most can relate to that head space, others live in it every day, and some pretend as if it’s not there. What is so appealing about the music for me is that here are some people who are open and honest enough to express this, and don’t give a shit how they may be judged. It takes a lot of courage to look at, discuss and fight depression or suicide or low self-image, and these people are opening up a pathway at least for understanding. 

(Trapped...)

Now you also get those who sing about similar topics and just seem insincere about it, or the lyrics are overly cheesy and feel forced. Not so much into that. I don’t know if any of you reading this blog have ever pondered suicide, or struggled with thought-debilitating depression, but there is really know way to describe it. The idea and the illusion of power that comes with ending one’s own life is one of the biggest appeals I feel. When the whole world around you seems to be shitting on you, when nothing that you do eases the day to day pain, when even getting out of bed is so agonizing that it takes a mental battle, ending one’s life doesn’t seem so bad. Especially because it is the only thing that one seems to have control over, it is the one step you can take that will end this pain and take away these horrible things we feel, the counter to that is that it takes away the good things too, and they do eventually come back.

(Vincent Crane of Atomic Rooster)

When a song can bring you to tears, it is one of the most cathartic processes that I experience. As people we are taught to hold in all of our negative emotions, and really for the most part when people ask, “how was your day?”, they are not looking to hear, “it has been horrible, I barely got out of bed and every other thought I have is how to make this pain end”. It’s not really a conversation starter, so a lot of us are forced to bear this burden that we can barely understand ourselves. That is where this style of music really appeals to me. I can listen and hear the pain in an artist’s voice, the somber melody they create perfectly reflects the mood that has already overpowered me. What it does is bring out to a point that I am able to start to recognize and release it, and I no longer have to carry this load around with me all the time. Sure it builds back up, but that is why we call it a coping skill. Coping skills help us out in those moments of despair, frustration, hopelessness, and so on and music is probably one of the great coping skills ever created. 

There are also a lot of songs out there with melancholic instrument composition, but have a more optimistic or hopeful point of view. I call these fake-sad songs. They are able to draw out a kind of sadness, but also a kind of relief. You never feel at the end of the line, and it illustrates the struggle and eventual weight that can be lifted when your luck starts to turn. 

On the list I didn’t really include any “depressive” metal songs, there are some metal bands that do it well (Metallica’s “fade to black” as a prime example), but most just don’t hit me like a good country or piano based song. You have a lot of cheesy nu-metal songs about depression, and most read more like a high school student’s diary than anything else. I guess that is how they connect to all those youth in agony, and metal for me was always an outlet for other emotions. I left the depression fix for other’s to fill.

I think another difference that needs to be pointed out is depression vs. heart ache. While I have included a few heartache songs because they really make me sad, and bring out some of that intense agony, for the most part heart ache is temporary. Heart ache is a situational case that has a distinct cause, and a more identifiable solution. It is not to say the pain felt in the midst is any less than that of someone who suffers from depression, but it is not as consistent in one’s life. Heart ache has always been a popular topic in music, and probably deserves its own entry, so we won’t delve too much into it today. 

(Suicide...)

Suicide is a specific topic I find really interesting to see in music. It was made even more interesting by the 80’s and the PMRC and Tipper Gore’s blaming of heavy metal artists influencing children and teenagers to kill themselves. You had bands like Judas Priest and Ozzy Osborne being thrown into the spotlight, and in a sense gaining more press due to these events. All I can speak to is my own experiences, and if I really was planning on killing myself, it wouldn’t be a band talking about it that would push me that final step. I would have already been struggling with it for months probably, there would have been signs way before, and I would have been calling out for help. If anything, it is picking a song that can communicate to those who come and find you what you were experiencing. It is unfortunate when any individual chose to take their own life and it is the responsibility of their loved ones to notice those signs. To put blame on musicians is just wrong, and it is a grief stricken blame-shifting mentality that happens when you lose someone close to you, and it is hard to look inward at your own choices. Musicians do make easy fall people.

(Despair...)

It is interesting though to listen to the amounts of music influenced by mental breakdowns, and the styles and approaches that are taken. “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag (not included) embodies the frantic feeling of losing your wits in, Keith Morris’s howls at the end are mind wrenching and I can envision myself just ripping my hair out by the clumps. You then have Billie Holiday’s version of “Gloomy Sunday” which could be said to be the most depressing song of all time, and is known as the Hungarian suicide song. The mid-century jazz arrangement enhanced by Billie’s daunting vocals was too much for many countries, and it was banned from the airwaves for being too depressing. “Going to Georgia” by the Mountain Goats may be one of my all-time favorite songs, and is one that really captures that feel of being on the brink of suicide and being saved, and the emotional embattlement of the conflict that one must be feeling. The simple lo-fi guitar tone augments the mood, and the vocals are just laden with the choice you were almost about to see through. All take a different approach musically, and each does an excellent job in capturing the exact feeling the artist is wishing to communicate to the listener.

I know there are plenty of depressing songs out there that may fit on this list. There are probably some that fit better than the ones I chose, but this is what you get. I encourage you to find your own artists and songs that allow you to feel safe to sulk and embrace those more difficult moments in your life and I hope you can enjoy sitting and listening to this all the way through and bask in despair that each song brings.

SFMTC Vol 3 - The Cold Doesnt Bother You When You Are Already Dead On The Inside

SFMTC Vol 3 - The Cold Doesnt Bother You When You Are Already Dead On The Inside.

01. Pantera - Suicide Note pt. 1 -'The Great Southern Trendkill'

02. Dust - "I've Been Thinkin" - 'Hard Attack'

03. Lucinda Williams - "Nothin"  - 'Poet: A tribute to Townes Van Zandt'

04. Low - "Lord Can You Hear Me?" - 'Tribute to Spacemen 3'

05. The Mountain Goats - "Going to Georgia" - 'The Zopilote Machine'

06. Jean Wells - "I'll Drown In My Own Tears" - 'Soul on Soul'

07. The Lonesome Sisters w/ Rayna Gellert - "Babylon" - 'Follow Me Down'

08. Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" - 'Grace '

09. Violent Femmes - "Confessions" - 'Violent Femmes '

10. Johnny Cash - "Hurt" - 'American Recordings: vol 4'

11. Azure Ray - "Displaced" - 'Azure Ray '

12. Lemonheads - "Fade to Black" - 'Best of the Lemonheads '

13. William Elliot Whitmore - "Everyday" - 'Song of the Blackbird '

14. Atomic Rooster - "Winter" - 'Atomic Rooster'

15. Elliot Smith - "Needle in the Hay" - 'Elliot Smith '

16. Kimya Dawson - "Talking Ernest" - 'Im Sorry that Sometimes Im Mean '

17. Norman Blake - "You are My Sunshine" - ' O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack'

18. Billie Holiday - "Gloomy Sunday" - 'Ken Burns Jazz Series: Billie Holiday '

19. Black Sabbath - "Changes" - 'Vol. 4'

20. Pat Haney - "Waitin' Round to Die" - 'Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt'

The Jesus Chronicles Cont'd

Chapter 3: Jesus, He could've baked the most delicious cake in the world

So as we come into the final chapter of the Jesus Chronicles, we get to explore the other side of Jesus music (in talk, not in the mix). While Jesus has inspired a lot of great music, unfortunately today we have been saturated with massive amounts of crap trying to pass itself off as music.  We have seen Jesus be adopted by the right wing as a mascot for injustice, and we have seen the evolution of Christian rock and metal. “Jesus was a good guy, and he didn’t need this shit” was said very nicely by Mr. John Prine. Jesus definitely represented a much more leftist figure. “When did Jesus become a Republican” by Cindy Lee Berryhill and “Jesus was a Communist” by Reagan Youth are two songs that take much different musical approaches, and captured the idea of Jesus being misrepresented very well. I think I remember him once saying, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

This shift in image has lead us to having a lot of “Christian” music stars that aren’t very Christian like. Tolerance, being accepting, empathy for others, and working for a greater good rather than solely individual prosperity has been lost on a lot (but not all) of these folks. It has also crept it’s way into sports, and pretty much most dominating public figure-type profession. I think a lot of them take on a Joel Osteen prosperity gospel style of Christian, were the wealth is god’s reward for pious Christians. And maybe that it is true, but not Jesus’s god. So that is what has me confused.

 Secular music itself definitely embraces a christian image for a lot of artists. You see so many times people thanking God or Jesus at award shows, or stating how they wouldn’t be able to do what they are doing without the blessing of Jesus. I am glad they have faith and it helps them out (I just hope their personal lives reflect their beliefs as well), the main thing that upsets me though is people discounting the work they have done. People would tell me when something great happens that I should thank god about what had happened, and I would think, “so all the effort that I put into this doesn’t mean anything”. People work to achieve talents, foster abilities, and improve themselves and that is due to personal perseverance and the credit needs to go to the individuals involved. Maybe it is their faith in god or Jesus that inspires them, and that is ok to state, but don’t give credit to god when you have put in all the work. Anyways, these groups aren’t always singing outright Christian tunes either, so lets look at Christian rock.

 

When I think about Christian rock I kind of want to vomit. I think of those cheesy concerts that you see on infomercials that advertise the latest in the movement. I can’t judge too much, I have been involved in music movements in a hardcore fashion and get stoked on whats going on. I just can’t get behind the cheesiness, and maybe that is because I am missing that key element of Faith. Either way, most Christian rock musically just really does not do the trick for me. Looking back, you can blame hippies for that creation of Jesus music scene. The 1960’s and 70’s in California had a lot of people playing minimalistic folk and rock music, doing heroin and having lots of free love, and then they decided to be born again and keep playing tunes but about how god is awesome. I am all for some Jesus inspired tunes, but the candy coated sugary Christian musical festival garbage that is being fed to kids at Jesus camps across the Midwest is an utter waste of audio space, and most would be better off taking an electric sander and grinding it in their ears. Anyone remember DC Talk, Jars of Clay, Stryper, P.O.D.,  or OC Supertones? If you do, you are probably trying to forget it. These bands in particular opened to door for an uglier creation: Christian punk and metal.

Christian metal has become popular in the past 10 years or so, and some bands have some alright tunes. I remember in the early 2000’s half of the Houston hardcore punk scene was into the Christian metalcore, and would mosh hard for Jesus. Jesus himself definitely moshed hard, we don’t doubt that, and there is no reason for a bunch of bandanna wearing Zao loving Tooth and Nail fans to flex their machoness in a pit. You had pop punk bands on tooth an nail (slick shoes, mxpx,, ect.) and then too many to list metalcore-tough guy hardcore hybrids (disciple, figure four, zao, living sacrifice, strongarm) and at that time, it seemed like every other band of that style was writing breakdowns for Christ. There was a time I think the main thing that was interesting to see was there were two factions of Christian punk kids. There was the group who were hardcore -punk rock kids, and happened to be Christian, and got behind all sides of the scene. The other half was just a group of Christian kids who just showed up for bands on Christian labels and got aggro, and then never stuck around for others. Fortunately that has been dying out, and the kids just in the scene to mosh for Christ have jumped onto whatever the next Jesus train is.The other aspect was the straight edge for Christ bit. Jesus fuckin drank wine and does not give a shit if you are edge. If you are straight edge, you should be because that it is important to you to take care of your body and it's not someone else making a decision for you. Fortunately Christianity and Straight Edge have distance themselves again, at least from what I have noticed.

It was really interesting for me to look at that and see how easily I can laugh off Christian metal, and then fully accept a gospel album by country and western artists or praise songs by old blues men. If you have ever seen the South Park Christian music episode, then that kind of sums up my feelings. You have this group of dudes who want to show that they are just as cool, hip and extreme as their counterparts, but they also love God and Jesus. It’s not that you can’t be extreme, and part of the counterculture and love Jesus, but bringing Jesus and God into the counterculture just does not work. 

People can then argue that straight edge, vegetarianism, hare Krishna, PC-ness are all things that have invaded the scene and should not be allowed as well. The main thing that I have to say to that is those are the countercultures of our day, and definitely have more of a place than Christianity.  As stated earlier, Jesus was the counterculture for his time, but due to what it has come to represent in our modern culture, he is no longer applicable to certain underground segments. You could argue that it’s time to take back the image of Jesus, and I just don’t have too much investment on that side. Once again, this all just my opinion too, and I am kind of a jaded aging man. Anyways, that’s the end, enjoy the final mix and decide for yourself whether or not Jesus was good or bad for our musical history.

Download link: SFMTC Vol 2c - Jesus Could've Baked the Most Delicious Cake in the World

SFMTC Vol. 2c – Jesus, He Could've Baked the Most Delicious Cake in the World

    01.   The Supersuckers – “Sweet n Sour Jesus” – ‘The Smoke of Hell’

    02.   Ramases – “Jesus Come Back” – ‘Space Hymns’

    03.   Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper – “Jesus at McDonalds” – ‘Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper’

    04.   Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama – “Picture of Jesus” – ‘There Will be a Light’

    05.   The Locust – “Anything Jesus Does I Can Do Better” – ‘Plague Soundscapes’

    06.   The Charlatans – “Jesus Hairdo” – ‘Melting Pot’

    07.    JD Crowe & the New South – “I Shall Be at Home with Jesus” – ‘The Model Church’

    08.    Blood for Blood - "My Jesus Mercy" - 'Serenity'

    09. Merle Haggard & Bonnie Owens – “Wait a Little Longer Please, Jesus” – ‘Just Between the Two of Us’

    10.   Roberta Flack – “I Told Jesus” – ‘First Take’

    11.   Swan’s Silvertone Singers – “Jesus is God’s Atomic Bomb” – ‘Atomic Platters’

    12.   The Birthday Party – “Big Jesus Trash Can” – ‘Junkyard’

    13.   Funeral Mist – “Jesus Saves” – ‘Maranatha’

    14.   The Bates Family – “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” – ‘ Kentucky Roots’

    15.   My Revenge – “Jesus was Black” – ‘Less Plot, More Blood’

    16.   Guster – “Jesus on the Radio” – ‘Keep it Together’

    17.   Impossible Shapes – “Jesus and Squares” – ‘Laughter Fills Our Hollow Dome’

    18.   The Gourds – “Jesus Christ (With Signs Following) – ‘Bolsa de Agua’

    19.   Jeff Tweedy – “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” – ‘Chelsea Walls’

    20.   Alisson Krauss & Union Station – “Jesus Help Me to Stand” – ‘Every Time you Say Goodbye’

    21.   XfilesX – “Real Edgemen Hate Jesus” – ‘7 inch’

    22.   Big Joe Williams – “Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed” – ‘Big Joe Williams’

    23.   Ben Folds – “Jesusland” – ‘Songs for Silverman’

    24.   Marshall Tucker Band – “Jesus Never Had a Motorcycle” – ‘The Next Adventure’

    25.   B.J. Thomas – “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” – ‘Peace in the Valley”

The Jesus Chronicles Cont'd

CHAPTER 2: Jesus Made Wine, and So Do I!

The question posed in the last post was whether or not Jesus would be into the music that he has inspired over the years since his existence. The difficult part of looking at this is Jesus has inspired so much. As we talked about, he has those who love and revere him, those who look at him and his creation with spite, those who take a more satirical approach to his existence, and even those who don’t think his existed at all. You look at his musical resume and he has quite the repertoire of genres under his belt. So pretty much what I am saying is that Jesus is everywhere man, everywhere in musical history.  For him to like it all equally may be a stretch, but I imagine that Jesus can find an appreciation in all the styles and approaches that are taken to carry on his name.

Starting in the early part of last century, we saw early blues and  jazz  from the southern United States and old-timey gospel tunes from the back country of Appalachia being sung about Jesus.  Of course we do have the previous 1800 years or so and the roots of these initial American styles as well, but we will just look at our more modern history. I definitely think that Jesus would have been appreciated of these early styles and the songs sung in his name.

The Blues in particular is an interesting genre to look at. It has an interesting balance of Jesus and Devil imagery early on. You see many praise songs for Jesus, and inspirational themed ballads sung to motivate the downtrodden. These songs can find their origins in old slave spirituals, African American folk tunes, work songs, and the hymns found throughout the gospels, as well as Scottish and Irish traditional music. This is counterbalanced quite well through the blues mythology and legends of deals with Devil, selling ones soul for guitar prowess, and sweet duels. I can imagine Jesus kickin’ back on a porch pulling out an old dusty 45 of some Blind Willie Johnson album and soaking in that early 20^th century Texas slide guitar style while rockin’ back and forth in his chair. Even more so I can picture Jesus strolling down a lonesome Mississippi back road with guitar case in hand and the devil appears at the crossroads to make him an offer. They are swept into a seedy satanic blues club where Jesus proceeds to do some massive guitar shredding. Pretty much I imagine Ralph Macchio in Crossroads being substituted for Jesus, and he gets to battle Steve Vai playing a pretentious Douche, so just himself.

Just as much as hanging out in rural Mississippi, I can also see Jesus out in the backwoods of Kentucky sitting in a rocking chair playing a jug with 12 other country hillbillies jamming out on their respective instrument and recording their folk tunes with Alan Lomax or Cecil Sharp as one of them tours the US recording the undocumented music  history of our country. The Old-time, Appalachia, early folk music of country has its roots in the British Isles style, with some African touch as well. The influence of Gospel, Religious Music, and Race Recording can be found this style as it grew and was adapted by newer artists over the years.  It would be these tunes that go on to inspire Porter Wagoner, George Jones, and Hank Williams sing their country ballads praising their Lord Jesus Christ.  Country and Western, Texas Swing, Appalachia, Old Time, Folk, and modern Country all have their roots in Jesus’s musical repertoire.

This music is the roots to what we listen to today, it  is what has helped us develop rock n’ roll, Nashville country, metal, punk rock, prog rock, indie, Britpop, ect .I think what makes Jesus one of the biggest influences is musical history is he not only inspired praise songs, but also inspired many artists who revile him, artists who think Christ imagery is funny and those just indifferent. Jesus is not just captured in the gospel ballads of the early 20^th century, or the folk tunes of mountain people, but in the death metal of Florida, hardcore punk of NYC, neo-psychedelia of Spacemen 3, and in some goofy country by Mr. Nixon. As music progressed from the 1920’s all the way through the 2000’s, we have seen so many new genres and styles, and throughout all of those you can probably find an artist who references back to the gospel music and folk tunes of Jesus.

As the 1980’s and 90’s came songs about Jesus definitely started to take a different approach, and I think he would have found a lot of humor in it. There are definitely a few scenes that I bet we could’ve found Jesus floating around in. There is not much Jesus praise in the crust punk, PC-emo, abc rio, ebullition scene of the late 80’s and 90’s, and yet I can imagine Jesus fitting right in with that crowd if he dropped the religious aspect of his teaching. “Neo-Hippie” punk rockers seems right up Jesus’ allies of people he’d be looking after. Jesus, as a historical figure head, is pretty punk rock. He was a rebel for his time, and in fact he was the counterculture in battle with the Pharisees, Romans and other Jewish leaders at the time. Jesus did things DIY,

, traveled across the land, getting dirty and smelly. Jesus was fighting one of the biggest corporations for his time, and did not back down even in the face of the law. You would probably find him today sporting a Capitalist Casualities shirt, a sleeveless denim jacket with a Heresy back patch while rolling up some drum tobacco with his mixed-breed pit tied to his side with a rope and bandana around its neck.

Jesus is found in the post-punk madness of Big Black. Jesus is found in the southern hard rock of Nashville Pussy. Jesus is found in the brutal death metal of Deicide. He is found in much much more, but I have to say Mojo Nixon is my favorite modern Jesus balladeer by far. “Are You Drinkin' with me Jesus” is my favorite alternative reality Jesus songs. I could definitely imagine going into a bar and seeing Jesus hanging out and buying a couple of rounds. Before you know it, I bet we would be best friends and telling random stories of our travels. We would shoot the shit for a while, and then stumble out to see what trouble we would get into and eventually have to run from the cops. Thank you Jesus for the good times, and the massive amounts of good music. 

While there are a great amount of great songs inspired by Jesus, I feel regretful to mention there is a bad side too: Jesus has influenced just as much of an amount of crap as well. I could start going on a rant right now, but I will let that wait for Chapter 3, where you will also find a final Jesus mix. Enjoy!

Download Link : SFMTC Vol 2b - Jesus Made Wine and So Do I

SFMTC Vol. 2b – Jesus Made Wine, and So Do I. Tracklist

    01.       Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon – “Are You Drinkin with Me Jesus?” – ‘ Prarie Home Invasion’

    02.       Deicide – “Death to Jesus” – ‘The Stench of Redemption’

    03.       Humble Pie – “Groovin with Jesus” – ‘Thunderbox’

    04.       John Prine – “Jesus the Missing Years” – ‘The Missing Years’

    05.       Skip James – “Jesus is a Mighty Good Leader” – ‘The Complete Early Recordings’

    06.       Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Jesus” – ‘Their Satanic Majesties Second Request’

    07.       Capitalist Casualities – “Jesus’ Whore” – ‘Capitalist Casualties’

    08.       Queen – “Jesus” – ‘Queen’

    09.      The Flaming Lips – “Shine on Sweet Jesus” – ‘In a Priest Driven Ambulance’

    10.   Billy Joe Shaver – “Jesus Christ, What a Man” – ‘Old Five and Dimers Like Me’

    11.   Wilco – “Jesus, Ect.” – ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’

    12.   Cake – “Jesus Wrote a Blank Check” – ‘Motorcade of Generosity’

    13.   Rest in Pieces – “Jesus” – ‘Rest in Pieces’

    14.   Violent Femmes – “Jesus Walking on the Water” – ‘Hallowed Ground’

    15.   Bruce Springsteen – “Jesus was an only Son” – ‘Devils and Dust’

    16.   Orange Goblin – “Jesus Beater” – ‘Coup de Grace’

    17.   Primal Scream – “Jesus cant Save Me” – ‘Primal Scream’

    18.   Agoraphobic Nosebleed – “Fuck your Soccer Jesus” – ‘ Altered States of America’

    19.   The Flying Burrito Brothers – “Jesus Broke the Wild Horses” – ‘Airborne’

    20.   Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – “Jesus Met the Woman at the Well” – ‘Kicking Against the Pricks’

    21.   King Missile – “Jesus was Way Cool” – ‘Mystic Shit’

    22.   George Jones – “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” – ‘The Gospel Collection’

    23.   Witches Hammer – “Alien Jesus” – ‘Stretching into Infinity’

    24.   Stonewall Jackson – “Jesus Took the Outlaw Out of Me” – ‘Bad Ass’

    25.   Bad Religion – “American Jesus” – ‘Recipe for Hat e’

The Jesus Chronicles

(Live By the Sword...)

      CHAPTER 1: Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo Stick!

      Jesus H. Christ! Love him, hate him? Believer, non- Believer? That is not what this post is about. This post is about musical influence that Jesus has had over the past 2011 years. It makes sense that possibly the most influential person on our modern society would have crept into the arts over the past couple of millennium and make his presence known. He has affected the lives of billions of individuals through his teachings, whether for the good or for the bad, and that in turn has helped to produce some of the greatest songs in music history.

Now I am not saying I am a believer in Jesus’s powers and what not, and that is why I feel it is important to do this list.  Whether you love Jesus or hate him, he has impacted your life. Whether you think he is real or fake, you are still forced to think about him in some context or debate with someone about what their idea of Jesus is. That’s right, no matter whether you are a Christian or not, you have thought about Jesus probably at some point over your life.

(Die By the Sword...)

What is it that made Jesus have such a huge impact over all these years, and what is it that has kept him relevant? At first glance what we see is peace loving hair bearded scraggly lookin' dude who loves performing tricks, practicing home medicine and healing, doing spoken word, and having some good friends to party with. You look a little bit further, and you see a humanitarian, socialist, and advocate for anyone who needed help, and everyone loves to see someone looking out for the little guys. The appeal of Jesus to me is that he is just a laid back bro who is just looking to inspire others to have some good times and not get caught up in hate, competition, comparisons, and so forth. He knew how to relax and enjoy the small things in life,and also took care of shit when it needed to happen. I can dig that and also how he is looking out for all his lil’ bros out there. So what I am saying is this ideas of Jesus and what he represents is definitely not a bad thing at all, and that it is not his fault that his image was co opted by those in control to help keep the lower-class down rather than helping them to elevate. 

(Metal as Fuck)

On an important note, Jesus was also metal as fuck. The dude wore a crown of thornz, and hung from a cross by nails out in the desert heat for days. He endorsed others eating his body and drinking his blood. Pretty much everything about the stages of the cross and Easter are metal. Jesus carried his cross down a path called Via  Dolorosa ( Latin for "Way of Suffering"), definitely metal. 3 hour eclipse, earthquakes, building destruction, and resurrection of dead saints all while on the cross, hard as nails metal. There is also no debating that rising from the dead is probably one of the most metal things you can do. Now whether it's true or not doesn't matter because the idea of Zombie Jesus spreading the gospel through some infectious bites is a pretty sweet idea. Pretty much the whole atmosphere surrounding this chapter of Jesus is perfect to setting to play doom metal in. I can just imagine huge fuzzed out, deathly slow pounding riffs being blasted through some Orange halfstacks being saturated with massive amounts of feedback between strums, and heavy symbols and ringing combined with a crushing amount of tom hits, and ear bursting loudness coming from the bass, and each time Jesus takes a heart-wrenching step with his cross, the note blasts out in perfect rhythm with his pace helping to exemplify the pain, agony and intensity of the struggle he is currently going through.  You can feel each step feeling like it weighs 300 lbs, and reverberating pain that penetrates the body.This would be followed by a droned out Sun O))) meets psychedelic Neurosis inspired tune while hanging on the cross. If this doesn't convince you of Jesus metal credibility maybe clips from this comic will help out. Jesus fighting Nazis? 

Another fact about Jesus, dude knew how to party, and knew how to bring the good times. Who else do you know that provided some free food for thousands listening to his spoken word tour, who else shows up to a wedding and brews some fuckin' wine tastier than anything else. It’s Jesus H. Christ, and the H is not for hardcore, but for hugs. Whether the dude was spiritual, or practiced some wicked primitive medicine, I know that Jesus helped out those in need. He was looking out for the prostitutes, thieves, hobos, and just everyone who has had a bad hand dealt their way.  He would just go around healing people, curing the diseased, and playing the role of public defender for women about to get stoned by angry mobs. “Jesus was way Cool” by King Missile is a great description of how I feel towards Jesus. It is a song that tells his sweet story, and highlights the cool things he probably would’ve continued to do had he not died. It was for these reasons that Jesus is so well remembered, he inspires hope for those looking to him for guidance. He inspires disgust to those looking at what arose out of his teachings in the form of modern religion. He inspires the imagination in what-if scenarios of different settings, stories and opinions that would happen in an alternative Jesus dimension. It brings up the question for me if Jesus approves of how he is being portrayed in the music that brings his name.That answer shall be discussed in Chapter 2 with another Jesus endorsed mixtape!

Download Link: SFMTC Vol 2a - Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo Stick!   

SFMTC Vol. 2a – Jumpin' Jesus on a Pogo Stick! Track List

1.   01. The Velvet Underground – “Jesus” – ‘The Velvet Underground’

2.   02. Dir En Grey – “Jesus Christ R’n’R” – Wither to Death

3.   03. Cindy Lee Berryhill – “When Did Jesus Become a Republican” – ‘Beloved Stranger’

4.   04. Pilgrim Travelers – “Jesus Hits Like an Atomic Bomb” – Unknown

5.   05. Captains America – “Jesus Christ was the First Emoboy and Pornostar” – ‘Friends in Need’

6.   06. Nirvana – “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam” – ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’

7.   07. Porter Wagoner & Blackwood Bros. – “If Jesus Came to Your House” – ‘In Gospel Country’

8.   08. Tom Waits – “Jesus Gonna Be Here” – ‘Beautiful Maladies’

9.   09. Reagan Youth – “Jesus was a Communist” – ‘A Collection of Pop Classics’

    10.   Frank Verrill – “Jesus at Thy Command” – ‘My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean’

    11.   ZZ Top – “Jesus Just Left Chicago” – ‘Tres Hombres’

    12.   Minutemen – “Jesus and Tequila” – ‘Double Nickels on the Dime’

    13.   Ry Cooder – “Jesus on the Mainline” – ‘Paradise and Lunch’

    14.   Nashville Pussy – “Lazy Jesus” – ‘From Hell to Texas’

    15.   Ajudanti Di Papa Noel – “Rezarei Todas As Noites Ate Que Jesus…” – ‘unknown’

    16.   Johnny Cash – “Personal Jesus” – ‘American IV’

    17.   Kurt Vile – “Jesus Fever” – ‘Smoke Ring for my Halo’

    18.   Doobie Brothers – “Jesus is Just Alright” – ‘Greatest Hits’

    19.   Andrew Jackson Jihad – “Be Afraid of Jesus” – ‘Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns’

    20.   Rudimentary Peni – “Army of Jesus” – ‘Death Church’

    21.   Spacemen 3 – “Walking with Jesus” – ‘The Perfect Prescriptions’

    22.   Blind Willie Johnson – “Jesus is Coming Soon” – ‘The Complete Blind Willie Johnson Collection’

    23.   Hank Williams Sr. – “Jesus Remembered Me” – ‘I Saw the Light’

    24.   Slayer – “Jesus Saves” – ‘Reign in Blood’

    25.   Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon – “Plastic Jesus” – ‘Prairie Home Invasion

Women of DOOM!!!

If you didn’t guess, this entry is about the women of the Doom metal (and related) genre, and the impact that they have made. This was the idea that inspired  me to start doing my mixtapes, as it combines two things I love: women’s vocals and heavy doom-laden riffs. In this day of age, we are starting to see more metal (especially Doom metal) bands appear with female vocalists. The 90’s saw the gate start to open, and in the 2000’s it is becoming more and more embraced. You may say, “Foxy, there have been girls in metal since the 70’s, what do you have to say about that!”. I would say you are correct sir/madam, and it was rare in comparison to the high volume of males, a lot of the times under appreciated, or a number of other reasons. With Female front Doom today, sometimes people call it a gimmick, and brush it aside and discount the music because of this. I for one embrace the increase of the female presence on the mic, but this was not always the case.

The Idea that women are supposed to be observer's is definitely an attitude that is prominent in many musical scenes. I think that is why I feel it is important to do this mix. Women have always been the underdog in metal music ever since the first note on “Black Sabbath” was strummed by Mr. Iommi. It has usually pervaded a machismo attitude, portrayed women as objects, and felt that a female band couldn’t compete with the males. This was something I subscribed to for a long time until the fortunate day when I heard Acid King, and my eyes were opened to many bands I had chosen to overlook.

Now female Doom metal did not start with Acid King, and I am even unsure of how much of an impact they had on the scene in general, I can only speak for myself.  If you want to start from the beginning, you may want to check out Mythic, the first all female doom/death metal band to commit their music to wax. Many artists of today can claim Mythic to be their starting point and inspiration. Mythic helped to open the door for women in an underground scene in an already non-traditional music genre. Following shortly after Mythic, Mystic Charm and 13 are two female fronted bands that came along to help pave the way. These groups along with other female underground groups, such as L7, Rude Girl, and Bikini Kill, helped to open up musical outlets for females in male-dominated genres.  These days it is a lot more common to see women taking part in metal. The symphonic and power metal scene in Europe has seen a massive increase of women involvement since Nightwish jumped onto the scene years back. Unfortunately most of what is commercialized as female metal is not very good. It makes me sad to see that Kittie, Evanescence, Lacuna Coil and Otep are the bands young females are being exposed to, and at least they are being represented and hopefully can dig a little bit deeper than just the crap that is being fed to them. My hope is that males and females alike are not turned away by this grouping of bands, fortunately for a lot of us, there was Acid King…

(Lori S of Acid King rockin' it out)

Acid King is a band based out of San Francisco which features the talented Lori S. on vocals and guitar. The band has been filled out by numerous bassists and their other consistent member Joey, on drums. Lori though is the focal point, the face and the voice of this band. Her vocal style has improved consistently over each album, helping to create heavy music with a psychedelic atmosphere. All of their albums are spectacular, and it is III that see’s all of the elements blend in perfect cohesion to take you on trip through time. Lori’s vocals have gone from gruffer to a smoother, more hypnotic style that is accented by the perfect amount of reverb. Acid King plays pretty minimalistic riffs, and it is the vocals that really tie them together to help the songs flow effortlessly. The song “Into the Ground” perfectly blends the heavy aspects of the music with a mellow touch of psychedelia, and if this catches your ear I highly recommend their entire catalog. After I finally embraced the woman vocalist in metal, I discovered that women’s vocals can have just as much variety as males. There are those with a clean, traditional styled singing (a la Ronny James Dio), there are the guttural-death growls (a la Floridian death metal), the chaotic noise banshee screech (a la Scott Kelly-Crust Punk), and the 70’s proto metal beer slamming vocals (a la Bobby Liebling).

(Alia O'brien of B.C.)

When people think of metal bands with traditionally trained vocals, I hope they think of Ronnie James Dio. He brought the classically trained vocal style to hard rock and metal, and while being sung over the heavy riffs of Sabbath and Rainbow, we were shown how well the two blended.  In our current day and age I hope people start to think of bands like Blood Ceremony (Alia O’Brien), Witch Mountain (Uta Plotkin) and Jex Hoth, formerly Totem (Jex Hoth). The pretty voices, accompanied by pretty faces, have laid some pretty awesome vocals over some doom-laden tunes. I would say the common influence amongst all of these is the heavy Pentagram styled riffs and the Ronnie James inspired vocals. Don’t get me wrong, just because they have nice clean accessible vocals does not mean that the music isn’t balls-to-the-ass Doom. Blood Ceremony rocks out in their own unique blend of the doom forerunners, 70’s styled organ and some pagan flute riffage. Ms. O’Brien isn’t only a lovely vocalist but also has the talent to hang with Ian Anderson in a flute battle.

(Uta Plotkin belting it out)

 Witch Mountain, a local Portland group, impresses with Uta’s powerful voice which brings a soulful touch to the music ala Janis Joplin or Sandy Denny. The group plays a proto-doom style which can throw you right back into the 70’s to a time when metal still seemed dangerous. Jex Hoth does well to mix the early doom influence, proto metal and the psychedelia of the 60’s. An incredibly beautiful women wielding an Axe who belts out medieval lyrics is a combination of sexy, and awesome.  

(The stunning Jex Hoth)

I was surprised by the sheer brutality of a few of these bands vocalists, and they are the ones that fall into the guttural-monster growl. A voice so frightening, deep and primal that it makes me almost shit my pants is hard to come by and the following easily fall into this category. Thorr’s Hammer is a good place to start. Singer Runhild Gammelsaeter teamed up with doom/drone connoisseur Greg Anderson to release one of the defining EP’s  of the 90’s, “ Doomedagsnatt” , and showed the metal community that girls can play just as hard, and sing as brutal as a male.

(The Banshee Runhild)

Baba Yaga/Grey then took off where Runhild had left the gate open with just that single EP. Baba Yaga, an all-female brutal doom band, released just a demo back in 1998 and seemingly disappeared from the Seattle metal scene. Until in the 2000’s when the group reunited under the name of Grey, and after a couple of lineup changes they had a solid group of metal musicians ready to release some terrifying extreme doom. There is a difference between Runhild, and Grey singer, Suzanne Haynes. Runhild’s vocals can easily be confused for a male or could be seen as non-gendered, while Haynes has some eerily strange femininity to them. When she sings/yells/growls, she becomes an ancient Gypsy-Witch-like sorceress who has discovered someone raiding her lair that is filled with dead babies who were killed by being stuffed full of kittens, and then stabbed multiple times to make sure the kittens died as well, and is so infuriated by the trespassers that she blasts out their souls with her devastating Banshee call. Hopefully that describes the power and awesomeness in this woman’s vocals (if that doesn’t sound awesome to you, then I don’t know what to say).

(The girls from Grey looking witchy)

(Laura Pleasants of Kylesa)

Noise, crust punk, and grind have all had a huge influence in the doom and metal scenes in general. You combine those influences with some NOLA attitude, and sludge is the product that is emitted. A genre that has been championed by pioneers Crowbar, Grief and Eyehategod goes hand in hand with the doom and stoner metal of the day. That influence has not been overlooked by many of the women who have taken on the challenge of inserting themselves into this scene. 13 could be seen as the backbone of female fronted sludge. They never released a full length album, but had numerous demos and splits with their counterparts of the time, that they made an impact of the general metal scene at the time enough to take notice. They were said to have wanted to play music “that physically hurts you when you hear it”!

(Yoshiko Ohara)

Kylesa, Bloody Panda, Dark Castle and Salome could be seen as some of the successors in our modern time. You can definitely hear the Scott Kelly/Neurosis influence in a lot of the music and vocals for these bands, which is definitely a good thing. Kylesa grew out of Georgia’s staple crusty sludge act Damad, and in 2001 with the addition of guitarist and front woman, Laura Pleasants, the band officially transitioned into Kylesa. While the vocal duties are shared between three of the members in the group, Pleasants voice ranges between a psychedelic atmospheric tone to an emotional and soulful yell, bringing an eclectic mix to the trio of singers. Bloody Panda is based out of New York, and is fronted by Japanese visual artist, Yoshiko Ohara, and play a mixture of doom metal and droning Sunn 0))) influenced atmospheric music. The biggest surprise is that such a gnarly voice could come out of such a tiny Japanese woman, but it’s a good lesson in not judging a book by its cover.

(Stevie.. not Knix)

Dark Castle is a phenomenal duo from Florida that plays some heavy sludgy doom. Stevie Floyd is their lovely singer/guitarist who lends herself to the keys as well to help create some ethereal sounds. Definitely for fans of drone bands such as Sunn 0))), and combines that with a Noisey-Neurosis like sludginess.
 Salome was a sludge band from Virginia that plays music reminiscent of Mastodon and Kylesa. Unfortunately they broke up recently, as Vocalist Katherine "Kat" Katz returned to Agoraphobic Nosebleed (a seminal noise grind band who she also does vocals for). Salome put out a couple of phenomenal albums that I highly recommend. There is something about the southern states produces great sludge music. Somewhere it is stated that it’s due to a bunch of metal heads grew up listening to the Allman brothers, and this is what came of it and that does not sound too far off.

(Kat crooning)

As you can see, women are starting to make their mark in the metal scene and becoming a more present force. Today we have zines, websites, and labels dedicated to spreading and increasing the involvement of women in metal, punk, hardcore, and indie. The idea of a woman being a “coatrack” is being held on by some meatheads out there, and it is nice to see it slowly fading away. It is up to us to keep that progression moving, and the best way is to encourage and have women be active in our scenes and local communities.  I recommend all the bands talked about so far in this post, and recommend the rest that are on this mix tape. Some that are not represented in either area that don’t quite fall into the Doom category that are great are Grayceon, Black Mountain, Khlyst, and Agoraphobic nosebleed.

SFMTC Vol 1 - Women of Doom

Mixtape Tracklist
1.  Black Math Horseman - "Tyrant" - 'Wyllt' lp
2. Acid King - "Into the Ground" - 'III' lp
3. Baba Yaga - "Stoner Bitch" - 'Taker of Souls' demo
4. Dark Castle - "Heavy Eyes" - 'Surrender to all Life' lp
5. Blood Ceremony - "The Great God Pan" - 'Living with the Ancients' lp
6. Grey - "Taker of Souls" - 'Sister of the Wyrd' lp
7. Mourn - "Dreamless Sleep" - 'Mourn' lp
8. Bloody Panda - "Pusher" - 'Summon' lp
9. Witch Mountain - "South Sugar" - 'South of Salem' lp
10. Mystic Charm - "Crushed Virginity" - 'Shadows of the Underworld' lp
11. Serpentcult - "New World Order" - 'Weight of Light' lp
12. Kylesa - "Running Red" - 'Static Tensions' lp
13. Jex Thoth - "When the Raven Calls" - 'Jex Thoth' lp
14. Thorr's Hammer - "Troll" - 'Doomedagsnatt' ep
15. Witchburn - "Call to Arms" - 'This is How We Slay Our Demons' lp
16. Salome - "Terminal" - 'Terminal' lp

Welcome to the mixtape archives!

So after considering doing a music blog for a while, I finally found a little bit of inspiration. I have seen countless blogs which cover rare psych, folk, punk, metal, doom, prog rock, avant garde, ect. and they all do an excellent job at digging up little known artists and sharing a bountiful amount of knowledge with those who come across the entry. I figured I would leave that to them, and share artists (known or not) in the form of mixtapes (in reality a zipped file folder) based on themes that I particularly enjoy.

So after much deliberation, and awareness of my computer illiteracy I have created Summit Fox's Mixtape Collection blog. It will probably be random, awesome, and informational so I hope you all enjoy. My focus will be not on single artists or albums, but an expanse of idea's that bring them all together. I have started work on a couple of initial mix's, so here is a preview of a few upcoming entries...

1. Summit Fox's Mixtape Collection Vol. 1 - Women of Doom
2. Summit Fox's Mixtape Collection Vol. 2 - Jesus: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
3. Summit Fox's Mixtape Collection Vol. 3 - Which Witch?

  - Summit Fox