The Heavy

[Leo]

I've never been motivated to listen to Sunn O))), not sure why. Maybe they seem too Pitchfork-approved heavy, too knowing, O'Malley making art-drone albums for Mego on the side. You get the sense Sleep, Electric Wizard, etc. really are just dopesmoking burnout dirtbags.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I think I've sketched it before, the but history of guitar heavy basically goes

50s guys (Link Wray et al) -> the heavy psych end of garage rock -> Blue Cheer, Jimi -> Sabbath -> onward to the sonic limits

as Bobby Liebling always said Pentagram was more inspired by Blue Cheer than Sabbath

the lost lineage of American heavy that never was - we just copped Sabbath like everyone else

 

[shakahislop]

dissensus people mostly only like heavy if it's weird or nominally fwd or etc, not for its own sake

possibly in part bc heaviness isn't really the point of dance music

deepness certainly can be but it's not quite the same thing, even when serious bass weight is involved

you're trying to get people moving, not crush them into a sonic abyss

there's a kind of heaviness in bits of jungle. darkside i guess.

there's a crushing, trying to overwhelm, intense aspect to some techno as well i think. there's degrees of heaviness in techno for sure. although you're right, it still is trying to get people to move. it's not the point of it, it's just a part of the point.

 

[pattycakes_]

I've never been motivated to listen to Sunn O))), not sure why. Maybe they seem too Pitchfork-approved heavy, too knowing, O'Malley making art-drone albums for Mego on the side. You get the sense Sleep, Electric Wizard, etc. really are just dopesmoking burnout dirtbags.

nail on the head. a problem with so much music of the last 20 odd years

 

[Mr. Tea]

Bringing the heaviness from an electro-industrial angle, with plenty of white noise frequencies:

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

speaking of Electric Wizard, the main dude famously claims lineage from 70s hard rock rather than doom metal per se

i.e. (probably) their most famous song sounds quite like slowed-down Pentagram

 

[shakahislop]

I've never been motivated to listen to Sunn O))), not sure why. Maybe they seem too Pitchfork-approved heavy, too knowing, O'Malley making art-drone albums for Mego on the side. You get the sense Sleep, Electric Wizard, etc. really are just dopesmoking burnout dirtbags.

would like to see them live again - gutted i missed them at st vitus a few years ago - and at fabric a month ago because of the train strike - but one of those things where the media coverage has detracted from the tunes themselves. its a bit of a barrier to get over when its pitchfork and guardian approved. especially when you do kind of need to invest to get anything out of it. and again the aesthetic (dressing as monks) is offputting

 

[catalog]

Top thread

 

[Leo]

the live Sunn O))) experience can probably be an enjoyable night out, if you aren't surrounded by fanboys. and on the guest list. can't really get it on your home stereo or tiny computer speakers, I'd imagine.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

a very important thing to note is that heaviness != intensity, and vice versa

i.e. a great deal of metal is, in fact, not really heavy. 80s speed and thrash metal, black metal as a general rule.

for example, the canonical thrash metal song, Slayer at the very height of their powers in 1985, super intense, not really heavy

(nb Dave Lombardo in a D.R.I. shirt)

 

[linebaugh]

a very important thing to note is that heaviness != intensity, and vice versa

key component here. heaviness is not intensity, depth, atmosphere, darkness and so on. those are just often the side effects

 

[linebaugh]

its why sabbath is still pretty heavy despite sounding tame comparatively to all its successors

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

80s hardcore punk similarly is often very intense but the antithesis of heavy

all trebles, speed, teenage idiot energy, shrieking

there is a tradition of heaviness of course - the Flipper lineage

i.e. Flipper, post-My War Black Flag, Fang, etc - punks with hardcore mindset doing hardcore, but slow and heavy

 

[shakahislop]

the live Sunn O))) experience can probably be an enjoyable night out, if you aren't surrounded by fanboys. and on the guest list. can't really get it on your home stereo or tiny computer speakers, I'd imagine.

exactly leo. good night out for all. people from work. your boss and his wife. girls you've just met. friends visiting from out of town. anyone you need to catch up with.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

the almighty Flipper in all their glory


I once read an interview w/the guitar player where he discussed wringing everything possible from the dynamics of single chord or minimal chord changes

that brings a weight to it

like the shoegaze generation, tho in that case it is more the weight of endless of layering and overdubs

 

[shakahislop]

the first SG ep is still pretty great, even before they had any money to spend on heavy production.

this video has also been banned so i'm assuming that you mean Savage Garden. i do defer to your greater knowledge but i am finding it hard to see where the heaviness comes in (as we have learned heaviness does not equal intensity even this level of emotional intensity)

 

[Leo]

this video has also been banned so i'm assuming that you mean Savage Garden. i do defer to your greater knowledge but i am finding it hard to see where the heaviness comes in (as we have learned heaviness does not equal intensity even this level of emotional intensity)

no, I was following on woops' soundgrarden post

 

[Leo]

the almighty Flipper in all their glory


I once read an interview w/the guitar player where he discussed wringing everything possible from the dynamics of single chord or minimal chord changes

that brings a weight to it

like the shoegaze generation, tho in that case it is more the weight of endless of layering and overdubs

Could Laughing Hyena's count here?

 

[linebaugh]

the drawl of shoegaze is what delivers its weight for me. the lag between chord changes. feels like the instrumentalist is pushing a boulder over a line each time. drone can work via the same affect. I would love to go that church in europe playing the 400 year long cage peice when it changes chords, I imagine it would feel like someone ripping your heart out.

 

[version]

the drums turned way down in the electric wizard song,

The drums on this are funny - tiny little rolls and cymbals.



You can do heaviness with the emphasis on the drums too; Tea already posted a perfect example with 'When the Levee Breaks'.