Black Midi’s Impotent Masterwork: “Hellfire Review”
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- Come to hell with me as I talk about Faulkner, Céline, Spike Lee, Rabelais and eventually even Black Midi themselves. Instrumentation, vocals and a gloriously fractured narrative.
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📢The review is about to begin, the review is about to begin
Cool pfp love me some jockstrap
@@gruntilda2 Jockstrap is so good, can't wait for their debut. I just realized Skye has never reviewed them (I think?) and he likely does not know their connection to bcnr. Professor if you're reading this you gotta listen to Jockstrap.
For me not only did it check every box, it FAR exceeded my wildest expectations, from the opener, to still, to the race is about to begin….
For me it’s a masterpiece. SO much growth in a year.
Same. I feel like this album was made for me. It’s everything I love about black midi put together and turned up to 100.
its the energey of album one with the sound pallet of album number 2. basicly everything i ever wanted
The riff on Dangerous Liasions is so fricking crazy, especially after Geordie screams “MURDERRR”. Such a good album
that scream changed my brain chemistry
marcus_ascends_forth here - absolutely amazing to hear you talking about my page and so great to hear that you got enough out of it to reference it in this review!! Thank you, and thanks as well to everyone who’s followed :)
I find your thoughts on the title track super interesting - I had something different written than what I put into my post, but then I thought of the devil idea and scrapped it. Here’s that:
“It’s unclear what our friend is describing here - it could just as much be the music itself as the literal setting where these stories take place. Either way, he commands us to enter. To enter hell itself, a war-torn past, the album on which you have just pressed play. You’re in his world now.”
I especially like your theory that it’s Mr. Bongo’s train of thought as he meets with the prostitute. My innocent mind thought that verse 3 was about an injured arm or something.
I'm in the "scene" and go to the windmill and all that stuff yada yada and I'm a huge fan of both BC,NR and Black Midi. Tbh I have never met someone who listens to one band and not the other. I'm not saying that this competition doesn't exist but to me I have found both communities accepting of the other.
I love Black Midi and am really not into BCNR. I find their stuff pretty monotonous, bleh and overrated. But I get that I am the odd one out with this opinion
I’m in that area where I appreciate BCNR but theyve never connected with and excited me like Black Midi, but i also haven’t honestly given BCNR my full attention for an album. but i do gots the ADHDs
@@DrowningUpsideDown I like a lot of music that's in a similar vein so I thought I would like BCNR but it just doesn't do much for me. I don't have ADHD but I also got bored about 2/3rds of the way through. But maybe it's one of those bands that I'll connect with a few years from now after revisiting
Someone has probably told you, but the bassist, Cameron (I forgot his last name), actually provides vocals on a couple tracks, and has been since Schlagenheim. Some examples are Speedway, Slow, Eat Men Eat, basically any song that doesn’t have Greep’s unique inflection. Also, another fun fact, Years Ago was actually sung by their former second guitarist, who’s name was Matt. He left the band for whatever reason during Cavalcade’s production, and I’m actually not sure what he’s up to now, but I hope he’s doing good. Great video, by the way :)
Edit: after a single google search, I found out that Matt had taken time off from the band due to mental health struggles, and is still taking a break as far as I know. I hope he gets better soon, because I really liked his vocals on Years Ago, and it’s one of my favorites off of Schlagenheim.
Edit 2: I probably should have watched the whole video before commenting.
Hey man not sure if you'll see this comment! Just wanna say I'm really glad you make these videos, you put the time in to understanding these albums and it greatly enhances my own enjoyment and experience of the albums you talk about, thank you:)
I read everything, and thanks!
38:43 "The themes of impotence rise..." may be the funniest thing I have ever heard. In all seriousness though, great review and amazing insight! I will definitely be checking out some Faulkner after this.
It came to me whilst listening to this review, that this is a very "20's" album. Not just 2020's, but also in a weird hellish sense, the 1920's, as well as the 20th century in general. This album is like a jarring, nightmarish retrospective on the common spirit of the people, deceived, deluded, damned. It is like the band playing on the Titanic as it sinks, but sinking into a lake of fire.
This album on first listen caught me off guard with the dualities of hectic, frenetic chaos, and melancholy, sometimes spiritual even, serenity. This has been a theme and motif within all three of their albums so far, but I think they handle it much more effectively on Hellfire than Cavalcade.
The overall tone of this album reminds me slightly of Carl Jung's Red Book, wherein he travels to Hell. He provides a quote I'll thusly paraphrase:
"Nature is both cheerful play and cold horror."
It very much is an active listening album, appreciated it 5x more when I was at home with headphones in than listening to the livestream while in a crappy work van
Quelle Chris says they're going to tour together! Sounds so amazing
Insanity 😂
when you said "if black midi is Faulkner, then viagra boys is hemmingway" i emitted a very large smile and silly giggle, i get what you mean
Welcome To Hell is possibly my favorite Black MIDI song.
Did you reference the show “I Think You Should Leave” when you said “kind of like a cosmic gumbo”? Or is this an actual saying? Either way thank you as always for the awesome analytical, insightful and passionate dissection and reviews! You’re the best :) congrats on your new future child.
I always quote itysl whenever it fits . Totally fit there. 😀
@@professorskye your're not getting anything for Christmas this year. Santa doesn't care if you quote ITYSL, but its not good behavior
THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT THAT PART IN STILL it's probably my favorite little moment on the whole album
Missing this to watch my younger brother's first drum corp competition. Darn you, family values!!!
Absolutely the right decision!
Which corp does he play for? Would kill to be at DCI today
@@CaesarSalads honestly. I hate I couldn’t get into spirit before I aged out :(
@@CaesarSalads He's a mallet player for The White Sabers, a DCA corp out of New York State. He's aiming for Carolina Crown before he ages out!
Hey Prof,
I often walk or cycle around, with my phone in my pocket, listening to your videos in headphones, but it uses my mobile data very fast to stream a video.
My question is this: would you consider uploading the audio from your videos as podcasts on Spotify/streaming platforms?
this would make sense considering his love for unedited, stream of consciousness reviews.
That would be huge, head this man professor
This may be coming from a point of privilege(I apologize if so) but TH-cam premium is well worth the price tag. You can 'close' the phone and use audio only
AVAA , bump
Idk if you know this but Geordie greep is neither singer nor songwriter on eat men eat or still, the bassist Cameron Picton was
I was waiting on this one. amazing record!
This was not only a review, but a fantastic listen as well! Cheers
Good god, man. This was incredible.
Thank you!
I've never heard anyone express the "inverted groove" thing. Absolutely love the term, and as a drummer for 16 years, I can definitely relate to the different feeling of it. Very nice
Awesome review. I love this album. You should do a Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems review! It came out a few months ago and I was surprised to see you have’t covered it. Amazing punk album with hip-hop elements too.
Finding your channel has been a blessing for me. In the same place, similar age, similar thoughts, similar search. I appreciate what you do so much.
I am only 30 minutes in, but the section on Faulkner made me laugh.
So, two weeks ago I was talking to with a coworker about their favorite novels, and they recommended the genre of surrealist literature, and they said Sound and the Fury was their favorite from the genre. The next day I bought it at my local bookstore and I started reading it, and I had that exact feeling of confusion that you described. I did not continue reading after I completed the first chapter however, even though I thought it elicited an interesting reading experience, but at this point in my life it's not really my thing... (I'm more into Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky)
Also, the new Black Midi is phenomenal. Definitely waaayyyy stronger than the first record (which I am not incredibly partial to), and is an amazing logical progression from the insanity of Cavalcade. This currently is a 9/10 for me, and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually becomes a 10/10 for me.
Everyone’s more into Dostoyevsky
tolstoy and dostoyevsky W but schlagenheim is by far their best
Your passion makes these videos so watchable, it’s great!
Fantastic review as usual. This album is sensational but I just can't get over Diamond Stuff and Ascending Forths. As an album, I prefer this one but their previous album had such raw and creative songs
Your videos are really great. You always give a good perspective. I watch your videos when I am drawing and the kind of free flowing way you go through your videos. I didn't know anything about the black midi and black country new road argument. I love them both and they both slap.
Hey Mr. Skye! I loved this video, thank you so much for your continued service of digging deep in all these important modern albums.
I was wondering if you could release your videos in podcast format as well. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts while doing chores and whatnot, and I think it's a great format.
Anyway, thank you again for the videos!
Your Faulkner/Black Midi - Hemingway/Viagra Boys joke was really good Skye, it made me laugh :)
Thanks for showing us your grotesque bodily reality professor. Had my first day of grad school today and was feeling like an imposter since I’ve jumped across disciplines. Huge black midi fan, your analysis chock full of insights and humor lifted my spirits. Definitely an album I’ll be spinning for a long time to come. Technical, silly, evocative, emotional but funny
This album reminds me of Pynchon more than any other author. The mix of complexity and absurdity, the silly character names and the song within a song, it's the most Pynchonian album I've ever heard.
Yes! I couldn't agree more.
Black midi and Faulkner in the thumbnail? I knew I was gonna love this video
I saw the band in atlanta and spent the end of the concert waiting for three guys to stop asking questions and stopping others from saying hi. It was one of my first concerts and the moment I realized what you mean about the fandom taking them more seriously than they wanted to be. The concert was FUN, they are goof balls and I loved it!
Now we need a black midi interview!
Hi Skye it’s super interesting to hear what you said at around the 5;40 mark and onwards about the fandoms of these bands as it’s completely true- I’d be lying to say i didn’t do it at times! Also you completely hit the nail on the head on what it was like to go to the two bands concerts- as (unwillingly and not due to the band at all) the black midi atmosphere was certainly much more rowdy and vitriolic in its sense of pride towards being there. It is strange as many people love both the bands yet still add a competition element… maybe this is just an infinite occurrence. Ultimately I am just glad we are getting so much great music in such close proximity, seeing both bands evolve in ways which suit their expertise while also enhancing their emotive expression. Either way both bands are super lovely people- both coming and chatting to their fans and getting photos before and after the show
One little reference that was made that you didn’t pick up on: there are a couple of lines in The Race that references Laura Nyro’s “Sweet Blindness” from 1968 (an artist I think you would definitely love):
A little laughter, a little silence
A little magic, a little kindness
A little all over me, yes me
I’m awful at analyzing poetry and making connections (which is why I need your channel), so if you can decipher the purpose behind this strange allusion, I would greatly appreciate it.
Nice catch ! I didn’t even pick up on it till you said it- so many little things hidden, but then again it is 100mph
Probably just an ironic fun link to the song but in both cases both songs are about blindness. In that the narrators know they are blocking their perception of life- through gambling in race or booze in sweet blindness- but choose to live this way.
I think your theory regarding post 2010s disillusionment coming out in 2020’s post punk is spot on, and it’s nice to have someone put words to what I’ve been feeling for quite awhile now!
Your comparison of Greep to Faulkner really opened my eyes. Like you said, it's possible he isn't even aware of him or his work, but the overall ethos of this record and its stories of impotence, and eventual consequence for said impotence, seems pretty on the nose.
I agree! Even if he doesn’t know his work Greep seems to be rather culturally and artistically educated but never in an obnoxiously obvious way- one of my favourite aspects of his diverse storytelling in his writing
@@mrmogford8117 agreed
They've really hit their stride. A masterpiece.
This all sounds right, from the perspective of a person who fed homeless addicts; there is divine in the filthy, filthy in the divine. And, there are those just evil enough to exploit the people they forced into stupidity.
The real truth (one of them) is that no one can live long without the heart and mind engaged. Another is that people awake enough to see this have, at the very least, a drive to care for others. Evil has no room for community.
I learn and understand so much of reality through music and the music community. Really the perfect form of media for my type of mind. Also dangerous. Sometimes I think I could be completely brainwashed if music was pretty enough. Gotta stay on my toes.
28:10 hahaha it wasnt hard to predict but you absolutely nailed the logic behind the result
I admire you so much. Since this album has released my brain has been swirling with so many thoughts and emotions as I’ve tried to put to words and explain to people everything I love about this album. I have spent more time on the internet talking to internet people in the past few days then I have in my entire life, and you are the only person I’ve encountered eloquent enough to say what I’ve been trying to say. I mean I couldn’t even figure out how to refer to the narrative aspects of this album! LORE! OF COURSE! I’ve been theorizing and connecting the dots as much with Hellfire as I have with Game of Thrones or Dark Souls! Sometimes I feel like Joseph Grand from Albert Camu’s “The Plague” because i have trouble finding the “right words” to express my thoughts, but that’s why I love writing and content like yours because I become more eloquent myself. Not to be that troupe, but I genuinely feel like you think similarly to me and that’s why I’m so attracted to your content, even down to the struggling with reading but thriving with audible comprehension. Anyways, I’ve been really anticipating you reviewing this album because I truly think it may be one of my favorites of all time. Sorry for the cringe gentlemen. Hmu if you want to talk Hellfire lore ;)
It's quite interesting with references. Now after 2 days with Hellfire, Cavalcade appears as easy-to-listen/background music :). You just have to love people who go their own way and just do "what needs to be done", whatever it may cost and whatever the outcome will be. In a cruelly unfair world, it is still incredibly fair that bands like Black Midi get attention and praise. @Skye, what a fantastic decomposing of Hellfire, I have to come back and look clear at a later time
When you talked about a general sense of disillusionment now and in art a hundred years ago I had to come here and comment about how the same is observable here in Brazil - in 1922 we had the most transformative art movement called the Semana de Arte Moderna (modern art week) and now in 2022 we are living under a fascist inspired government with most of our personal liberties being put in check, and the same strategies of 'talking about it without talking about it' or the general sense of confusion in art is being observable here too. So yeah, I see it too! Thanks Professor, another great review!
Great video. In you piece on Welcome to Hell I mentioned Scott Walker and I feel a strong Scott Walker vibe in Geordie's crooning. As an added BM/BCNR junction Walker gets name dropped in Sunglasses. I'm 100% sure Geordie is aware of his work.
Listen to Cardiacs, John Zorn, Mr Bungle, etc etc....this is not new, its a good contemporary evolution of previous great albums
camera looks amazing!
I think the Faulkner comparison definitely has something to it. The Sound and The Fury is one of the choppiest books I've ever read. This album was quite James Joyce-esque to me too
To be fair I really don't think there is any "beef" between the fans. In my experience at least, the fanbases usually cross over and I think most people can enjoy both bands. It's not that strange to me seeing the different groups of "the windmill scene" being constantly compared. People writing in the comments "If you like BCNR you should listen to black midi" being perceived as toxic masculinity is a bit of a shallow interpretation in my opinion. But then again, that's just from my own experience. I don't honestly doubt that there exists toxic fans in the black midi community, however I personally don't believe it's anywere near as bad as you think it is.
the beef is funny because if you look at a Venn diagram of black midi fans and bcnr fans, the overlap would be so great it would basically be a circle.
Thanks for the insight. Maybe I have a warped view.
I actually don’t think you’re wrong, I think the beef is very real. It’s just funny because most like both bands so the beef is really “black midi is bussy, but Black Country New Road is GOATed” and vice versa. I think edgelord accurately describes the behavior happening in the comment sections.
@@professorskye professor, I would agree with OP as well. Black midi was my aoty last year, BCNR will win the year. No beef
I habitually, absent-mindedly, read comments on live performances and stuff and I swear I haven't seen any toxicity around this. Both bands seem to have young but mature - dare I say sophisticated? - fanbases that I would be surprised to that from.
If you wanna see pointless toxic rivalry just say Messi/Ronaldo is your favourite football player anywhere on the internet.
there are some times i’m convinced these bands made their albums for you
having a music scene so close to where i live makes me feel so lucky
hellfire reminds me a lot of interwar weimar new objectivity, like otto dix, george grosz and max beckmann
yoooo this is actually perfect, esp grosz. similarly, schlagenheim has heavy dada vibes to me. overall something very weirdly modernist yet still super contemporary about bm
Yeah for sure- also has links to the film cabaret which recreates many of Dix’s paintings, and funnily enough Greep (definitely in the 27q Freddie song bit) sounds like the master of ceremonies from the film. Love the environments this band can blend between old and new- hellfire definitely feels like it exists in the elevated yet seedy reality that musicals like cabaret also do.
Never would’ve expected hippo campus to be brought up in a black midi review haha
Black midi did go to the same music school together! (An arts school that Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Rex Orange county also went to.. obviously they took a different turn than those artists but. They studied music.
another literary comparison to be drawn is how pynchonesque a lot of the storytelling is, not only in its winding density but also the narrative absurdity of the record.
Hey! Geordie Greep just released a new solo single that leans into the storytelling aspect of Hellfire, and I think you would enjoy it. His new album releases in October.
I have hyperhidrosis. Thanks for lifting your arms up in that moment, it's good to remember it's just a thing some people have. AVAA.
Also, my one thing of note to add that I don't see many mentions of when people talk about BM, is the similarities to Dylan's storytelling style in terms of just stacking up verses
Great video super interesting insight such a great album imo
your camera is too high quality
I watched a bit of this review, went and listened to the album, and then caught myself nodding backwards while listening lol
This album is the majestic announcement of the end of Modernism.
This would be a good podcast, would probably work without even editing the audio
Loved this video!
26:05 I actually see this a lot in hip hop, in artists like yeat, destroy lonely or even carti to a lesser extent. They break down every limit put on the genre to the point of being no hook, not rapping on beat, and on dark trippy almost nauseating beats. It transmits to me a similar feeling of an absurd existence that black midi does
i totally agree with the backwards nodding.
I love how you noticed possible literary references in the album! Whenever Geordie says "The clown can be a martyr,
The whore can be an angel" it makes me think of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and "The Idiot". Also "Crime and Punishment" obv comes to mind during "Dangerous Liaisons".
As a Quebecer, I hope your daughter is enjoying her time in Quebec!
48:10 what you’re saying here is the exact story arc portrayed in cobra Kai where it shows the formative experiences of John Kreese in the military. There’s an particular scene when his captain/general guy recruits him gives him this big speech, essentially pushing him down a violent path through sheer bravado.
The video is 1h20min Prof!
at first glance, i thought Eat Men Eat was doing sort of an allegory comparing the expeditions of the great navigations period to modern mining sites. maybe it feels like a loose comparison, but to me, drunk capitans; mentions of Rio Tinto (a multinational mining company); single ingredients being the only food left; drying clothes in the sun; and this description of being in a place like hell, it all feels to me like the same thing: two awful places where men with no other chance left, work, suffer and die just to get almost nothing out of it. "almost something"
I honestly think that the album is about people existing in constant war of ideas that can't really stop because no answer fully fits questions that are eating at us and it's repercussions. Always love the vids tho
like the internet
The Prof once again proves his impeccable taste with the ITYSL reference
I try to shoehorn them in whenever I can. Sometimes it’s blatant like this, other times it’s a simple “I don’t know what to tell you, bud”
Without counting Half Time (the interlude in the middle), the album has 9 songs. And Dante’s Inferno is structured in 9 circles. So there’s perhaps a very slight nod to Dante 😅
king
Encore une très bonne analyse ! Le parallèle avec Rabelais est plus que pertinent. Par ailleurs je ne comprends jamais pourquoi personne ne parle de King Crimson car pour moi il est évident que l’album Lizard est l’œuvre dont Hellfire se rapproche le plus.
The live version of “Dethroned” is the best version of that song.
Seeing them at Paradise this week!
I feel like it’s probably outside of your wheelhouse but the new Imperial Triumphant, you should review that. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Good analysis of a great album. The sense of disillusionment with the current post punk movement clicks with me.
COSMIC GUMBO!!
Maybe 27 questions have something to do with the 27 club? This kind of cult-like glorification of the death of an artist
Should have known if I was to ever hear a reference to Bakhtin in a music review it would come from you!
Professor Skye, what breed is Toby?
He is the best kind of breed… a mut!
What a great band!!!
Thank you!
Also wanted to say that I also thought that Half Time was a reference to Radio Raheem in Do The Right Thing. I believe it’s a reference to a real Boxing Journalist named Radio RAHIM.
th-cam.com/video/h30uTmahNFQ/w-d-xo.html
"Eventually found, I was sentenced to life
Spent reading the letters of a million wives
Sun Sugar came, wouldn't be shit without me
The youngest executioner in tabloid memory"
the pov of sugar/tzu is a child i think. thats why he is so short and why he is "The youngest executioner in tabloid memory"
AVAA
Freebirds in Goleta is great. Def a go to everytime I visit ucsb
WHat a review! Fitting to the artist.
hey, I think you misspoke when you talked about Eat Men Eat. you said "Picton is playing the bass", which is what he usually does. You probably meant to mention the fact that Picton is on the guitar for this one.
I had a theory that each song on this album represented a different layer of Dante’s Inferno based on the fact that Eat Men Eat is the third track, and in the Inferno, the third layer is reserved for the gluttonous. I threw it away pretty quickly though. This album is such a grotesque portrayal of hell, it’s hard to say any statement like, “Hellfire is this.”
I was also looking for some kind of Dante reference. There’s a lot with the number 7, like Freddy Frost only answers 20 questions leaving 7 unasked? Were they meant to be about layers of hell or the seven deadly sins or was it just an allusion to the number associated with Hell?
@@theoruehsen4900 The final layer of hell is also a giant frozen lake where Judas is frozen (Freddie Frost?). I know that the band has mentioned that this album was inspired by Dante’s Inferno, but I don’t think there is a direct parallel. I wouldn’t be suprised if they have read it and were using bits of the Inferno almost like a writing prompt. That’s interesting though, leaving 7 questions out.
19:29 at 2x speed for Skye's best Greep impression.
I feel like this band is to post-punk as Richard Dawson is to progressive folk. Check out the album Henki, a collaboration between Dawson and the band Circle. Its also a masterpiece in the same kind of way.
I have basically no idea what the album is about. I haven't watched your review and I've only listened to it twice. I just wanna declare that listening to it felt a lot like reading Blood Meridian, or if BM was an album this would be it.
[Later]
Damn, "Absalom, Absalom" is actually 3rd on my reading list right now. After "As I Lay Dying" and maybe "Mason & Dixon" if I get along with it. Gonna have to move it up!
Of course many will know the McCarthy's greatest single influence is probably Faulkner so not surprising I'm getting those vibes.
I also listened to "The Sound and The Fury". My god, I have never been more confused in my life than in that first section. The text uses italics to cue the reader that time is shifting, but on audio you don't have that. Seriously for the first 30 mins I didn't know if Benjy was 33 or 5. Certain lines would pop out regardless: "I heard the night coming" (close enough, try searching S and F in google and it's all Macbeth).
Black Midi, TV Priest, Viagra Boys, Idles, Squid, Crack Cloud, Protomartyr, Shame, Fontaines DC, Sleaford Mods,Ought. I love these bands Post punk these days on fire
no bcnr ),:
Iceage as well
La vidéo est beaucoup trop longue pour moi, mais j'aurais bien aimé entendre votre avis sur l'album:) Serait-il possible de sortir deux vidéos différentes, une longue et une autre d'une dizaine de minutes contenant les moments les plus marquants de la critique?
i do think there is a sense of being crushed by fame although not in the traditional Alex Turner Kurt Cobain type
however, Isaac did feel crushed in a certain way and you know what I think he did the right thing and wish him best
I'm a pretty big fan of all these bands, black midi, new road supremacy
ps I recommend topical dancer by Charlotte Adigery and bolis pupul, and everything everywhere all at once, last one is a film however I believe you will really like it
I'm trying to look further into this current post-punk movement you touch on. I've seen your other videos but it just feels like I can't learn enough. Where should I go to look into it further, what videos discuss this in detail? Could you make one exclusively dedicated to this?
Bro you even look like someone who would only listen to radiohead. Big drunkenly-singing-creep-at-a-festival type energy