April 19, 2016

DIALOGUE: JOHN CARPENTER’S LOST THEMES II IS GOOD, BUT GOOD ENOUGH TO FLIP?

drybanana1016 ay-hole, dialogue, General, junkhead, reviews 0 Comments

	Windows Movie Maker used to be good. It’s terrible now. I use iSkysoft movie editor or something.
	Could I get an older Windows movie Maker?
	I don’t think so, what Windows does he have?
	Windows 7. When can you do the dialogue?
	Now.
	Okay, lemme get ready.
	Hold on, I gotta do something.
	I’m just going to sit here then.
	Alright, I’m ready.
	So, featured above is the standard issue Lost Themes II “die-cut jacket with printed inner sleeve.” There is a bonus track available for download and on the CD release. It’s called “Real Xeno” and is a rockin march.
	Alright, let’s start this.
	You there, Josh?
	You go ahead.
	The introduction of the album is excellent, almost a four minute build
	So that’s how we’re starting it? We should be like…we’ve been waiting months.
	I dunno. I already started with the bonus track.
	Or talk about your Record Store Day experience getting it.
	There I was, after work. I was like, “where is the record store day stuff?” And the man behind the counter pointed straight down at the cardboard box in front of me. “That’s what’s left.”
	And the only thing in there was John Carpenter’s Lost Themes II.
	That and one thousand copies of “Cavern of Anti-Matter.”
	What is that? If I made an album of rubber band noises I’d probably call it that.
	It was a 12″ clear vinyl in a clear plastic bag. It looked a lot like wall art from Pier One.
	I’m glad you got Lost Themes II. Ay-hole had me come over the next day and listen to the whole thing. Then we had a bonfire and burned all his mail.
	Honestly, the real reason I went to record store day was to get the Lush box set. I was lucky to nab Lost Themes II as well. It did officially come out on Friday, the day before, but I apparently get a bonus download track, which I assume comes with every purchase. I was super excited to listen to it, really. The whole album, that is.
	I thought it would be better than Lost Themes I. The sample tracks online were really rockin’, so I figured the whole album would have a new vibe.
	It is slightly more rocky at times and most of the tracks seem to be more divided than the first. There are lots of little themes.
	A lot of the tracks are broken up into different little bits. Most borrow liberally from John Carpenter’s large body of work, but there’s definitely some fresh variations on the old motifs. One thing that I sort of liked about the album was how the first and second side had different feels.
	If by “different feels,” you mean, the second side was a remix of last years album and Escape From New York, yes. I think the second side had one track that stood out, other than the guitar solo on “Dark Blues,” and that stand out track would be the final track, “Utopian Facade.”
	Well, the first side has a lot of rockers. The synth bubbles in “Distant Dream”, “Angels Asylum”, and “Windy Death” have all the pounding snares and stoic guitar work. Side two is a little more bland. “Bela Lugosi” has to be the most vanilla synthscape ever made.
	That is the most adequate description. I think I’ve spent 15-30 minutes thinking about that track alone, trying to describe it. I think it’s quite an accomplishment, when you put it that way. Perhaps he intended the second half to be more experimental. Let’s talk about the rockin first half some more. “White Pulse” is the bee’s knees. It has this repetitive synth pulse melody and some excellently mixed background strings. For exploratory music, this one can be used in almost any atmosphere, and short of two minutes in we have an post industrial breakdown.
	It sets the tone for the whole first side. Songs are broken up into multiple movements, fluctuating from slow and brooding to mid-tempo and pounding. “Angel’s Asylum” has got to be the single though. It’s not far off from a slick electroclash except for the awesome acoustic guitar breakdown at the end.
	It is one of the two available tracks on bandcamp. It does just about everything right. It’d make a good clubbin’ song, if it was acceptable to put real music on at the club. Actually, I think now I have a new touchtones favorite. I wonder what Cody and Daniel Davies influenced.
	Cody probably plays guitar. Cody’s a guitarist name. Daniel probably wrote “Bela Lugosi”. That sounds like a Daniel thing to do.
	I was not aware Daniel and John had such an intimate relationship. Apparently, John thinks of him as his godson.
	It’s best to do that when you share creative endeavors. I like to think of you as my son, Ay-hole.
	And I think of you as my distant father from a washed up rock band.
	Or a washed up film career.
	What do you think of the bonus track?
	I felt like it was left off the LP with good reason. The pieces don’t really mesh, and it doesn’t really start cooking until the third section.
	… which ends approximately immediately.
	Yeah, I don’t get why that was thrown in. Two and a half minutes of random leftovers.
	I still think the whole album is better than most, but the difference in quality between the first and second sides seems like too great a chasm to cross.
	The crossing isn’t so bad. The second side clicks occasionally, but the whole collective goes into cruise control. It felt like Lost Themes 17, where they totally run out of any new ideas. If Lost Themes II is already half hackneyed, I hope they end it on the next one.
	Maybe Daniel will make an entire concept album, John and Cody will steal it and an crazy chase scene will ensue.
	Maybe that’s already what’s happening. The kids are capitalizing off daddy’s big name with all their Escape from New York copies.
	John is in a wheelchair, locked in a room with nothing except a catheter and a food tube. In an effort to break free, he uses his own excrement as a corrosive and melts the hinges off the door. Crazy chase scene ensues.
	I’m guessing John Carpenter’s vegetarian. I wonder how much tofu and spinach you’d have to eat for your poop to corrode solid steel. Or titanium.
	Vegetarian poop is brutal. The smell alone could gas a WWI trench.
	So the real question is, are you going to buy the Lost Themes II remix LP.
	I’m guessing it will come out for Halloween, like the last one. Probably not, unless there’s some cool demos. The first Lost Themes was better on the whole.
	Yeah, at least between the two of us, we have one and a half good albums.
	Between the two of us, like you do not want that comment to appear in the dialogue, or the first half of LTII is good, so our combined LT interest is only the one and one half?
	Definitely the latter. That bonfire was pretty sweet though.
	It was. We burned all of my mail. Polica is playing tonight, probably right now, at the Blind Pig. I’d go if Mothxr wasn’t.
	I wish I could afford to go to that John Carpenter concert. I mean, I could, but then I couldn’t buy dozens of records better than LTII.
	Too bad I didn’t get a free ticket with my purchase. It would have been awesome. Wrapping it up, there are a variety of flavors to purchase the first side of Lost Theme II. You can find them for half the price of a brick and mortar store at http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/