Machines Of Loving Grace - Another Great Gem (90's Era)

Machines of Loving Grace, hailed out of Arizona during its limited run from 1989 to 1997. A great deal of their work comprised of mixing, and creating industrial textures on with their first record, whereas their last two reworked that style within a palatable industrial alternative aspect in the 90s.

Released January 1st 1991

Machines Of Loving Grace I think lays in the allegorical lyrics of front man Scott Benzel. I have found many of the words play upon classic news stories, books, a smattering of common phrase cliche, and torrid darkness lurking in the recesses of the human mind.

When a person is first introduced there is the very pronounce bass, and guitar work of Stuart Kupers. I think the his effect is simple, catchy, and memorable. Yet at the other spectrum is the mastery of keyboard of Mike Fisher's technique, which can place familiarity outside of context.

Drummer Brad Kemp kept the beat together, I likened his work as a patchwork no frills approach. Get in and get it done. Though it may work on a industrial part, I feel it loses some luster after a few listens i.e. it is a foundation nothing more.

The music is constructed around a funky beat, and polished off with keyboard touches. Many of the songs have an overdubbed vibe. To really experience the full gamut one has to use headphones. It is a very tight vacuum of controlled chaos, while lauding itself in a pond of ethereal.

A minor lineup change for the last album Gilt introduces me to ex-Stabbing Westward drummer David Suycott, and soon to be 2wo/Halford bassist Ray Riendeau. These guys showcase a live execution with Gilt rather than all the studio wizardry of Concentration. The overall sound on this record is a complete 180 switch of what Concentration was, and I had a harder time adjusting to that when it was released. Some of my thinking often wondered why the dramatic shift.

Released Sept 21st 1993

Of the three records my favorite lay between Concentration and Gilt. I felt the 1st record Machines Of Loving Grace was rushed out before it was completed. Part of it stems from trying to cash in quickly on the industrial craze of the late 80's early 90's from groups like Nine Inch Nails, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Pigface, Ministry, and KMFDM.

Don't get me wrong, these records have something going whereas their contemporaries were molding and shaping their own narratives without giving much thought to variance or cared enough about notoriety. 

I kind of felt those bands just did what they wanted, free of the constraints of exploitation, or expectation. Machines Of Loving Grace where their own thing entirely to a lessor degree. Another part is the philosophic tone of Frederick Nietzsche, and Gorgias. During the late 80's and early 90's industrial groups used these as themes and created Nihilistic expression.

Released Sept 19th 1995

Part of the allure for me was I was keenly aware of this construction. Many groups captured that intensity and channeled it into a creative outlet as a way to vent.

Some had great success, others did not fair so well. Machines Of Loving Grace is very distinguishable if one has a trained ear in seeking out the themes, tonality, lyrical concepts, and music created. Which brings me to clarify my thinking.

I personally believe Machines Of Loving Grace were a group lost in a decade of changing style, and a complete indifference to promotion from their label. I still feel Machines Of Loving Grace lay between obscurity, though they had a brief foray into motion picture exposure,  unfortunately they never could venturing out into wider recognition.

Finally, their entire body of work though short provides musicians the ability to evolve, and try their best to create something their fans can appreciate. Even with the dark themes still present on their final album, their 'supposed' next record would have been interesting. Alas I and other fans will not see this realized. I was one of those distant listeners whom really took to liking what they did. Thanks for reading.

B.

Mad Bull 34 - Review

http://www.discotekmedia.com/mad_bull_34.htm

Mad Bull 34 Release date: 02/26/2013

**/*****

Contains four episodes

Hit and Rape

Manhattan Connection

Charging Jackie
Good-By Sleepy

Enclosed in the DVD case is a single DVD, with no liner notes. A basic no frills set. On the DVD there are four episodes 45 minutes each totaling 180 minutes. There are no extras, just two spoken language tracks Japanese, English, with English subtitles.

Firstly I am not new to the anime experience, watching this set there are minor comparisons of the period title like: Ninja Scroll, Violence Jack, Wicked City, Fist Of The North Star, BAOH, Midnight Goku, and a few other titles I'm spacing on currently.

Specifically speaking about the theme of stereotypes and the uses as a narrative. I believe stereotypes are in every facet of film, show, and music. Stereotypes are typically used to accentuate a plot construction, to give an audience a way to understand each character motivation, and is used in creating friction with the audiences perception. If one masters this well you can have a convincing character in a situation that is remarkably great or be completely nonredeemable that you really want to assail it.

With Mad Bull 34 a couple things stand out, the use of the 'MacGuffin' (to me) is the over the top violence. The justification of the ends to must always justify the means. Secondary, the subplot is the male super ego, and the use of overused sexual tropes which end in horrific situations. This productions overall outlook about women comes across as easily taunted, battered, and abused. Third, the implied rape infuriates and makes the audience uncomfortable with that intended construction.

There isn't a lot of motivation beyond the violent aspect. I can tell with the main characters except 'Sleepy' John Estes and his barbaric sense of being philanthropic with street prostitutes. Essentially he steals their money to pay for a hospital for battered and abused woman. But somehow I am to take this as a redeemable quality, yet underneath I'm already fed up with it.

For the time this was created, interesting elements taking place in the U.S. with action films like Robocop, Total Recall, Terminator, Predator, Aliens, and many other b-grade action/sci-fi flicks I feel definitely influenced this production.

The director I think tried to create some aspect to jar the senses, but it fails so badly at the execution. You are given four distinct episodes, and you can predict where each aspect unfolds into. With director Satoshi Dezaki's interpretation of Kazo Koike's manga character Sleepy does whatever the hell he wants without any regard to any regulation or rule. Recent new hire Daizaburo is the most unparalleled pairing, as he is a much smaller weaker character being dominated by larger powerful stereotypical men. I should say here that the way the bad guy character plays on the rapers, pimps, pushers, and con men project a fear that isn't exactly true in any context we are seeing.

I want to point to a specific film that has all these elements. Director Yoshiaki Kawajiri  and the anime Ninja Scroll, We are introduced to Jubie, his unremarkable smartass expose immediately connects me to his motivations. Jubie has a very clear distinction of right and wrong. You know what he stands for, and why he is the traveling ninja for hire. With Sleepy I am to take at face value his presence, and motivations as a driving force in a way that I should care, I didn't feel this in any way.

The women in Mad Bull 34 are represented as objects, and I felt this was deliberate. To make it as shocking as possible, taking merits with justification and clear seated distinction of sexualized power, and interwoven psychological damage. It's as if the point is so what, people are bad, and everything will work out if you do the most twisted and sick things to justify the end result.

The dub though is hilarious, and that alone saves this title. Though the anime is pretty bad in story and plot, the dub takes the viewer into what I call "what the hell?" moments. A great deal of the episodes are like this in that the dialog is stiff, and the accents don't match the performances. Episode 2 Manhattan Connection is a great example of how to stay in character voice, as there is noticeable British accents cropping in and out in that episode.

Finally the animation is not very good. Many of the cells looked unfinished, that the production was not entirely focused. I could distinctly tell with the cells the background movements didn't gel. Colors and body parts don't match, skin tone will change, and fluid movement will often be choppy as to create a disorientating effect. 

Mad Bull 34 is bad, really, its that bad, but I come back to this title mainly in study, and background noise. Thanks for reading.

B.