Oh, I guess I'm just saying, I don't see the point in making the same record twice. I've already made that statement, why repeat it? Also, if you really think any of my albums sound anything alike, I don't think you've listened to my stuff. Compare HOLE IN THE HEAD OF GOD to SHRINE TO SALVAGED JUNK to SYNYONYM FOR THE WORD DECAY -- all released within a few months of each other. COMPLETELY different albums. It's not something I even thought of initially, it wasn't me consciously going "TIME TO CHANGE MY SOUND 100%!" It was more that I wanted to challenge myself, and I noticed reviews always commenting/criticizing/being bewildered about how different an album is, and then I decided.. "well, that's cool. I guess I do do that. Why don't I keep trying to do some different stuff then?" Bercause I just do the things I do, I neer really think of them, though some reviews have made me think aboutmy stuf stuff in a different way. A good one is fishbasket's at
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Scissor+Shock ...
"Okay, Adam Cooley has got to be the least predictable musician I have ever heard. I quite highly doubt that, without any prior knowledge, I would know that any two albums bearing his name were actually by the same guy. He and (whenever applicable) his band are capable of a wide range of styles and sounds, from Kid606 contracting the Rage virus to Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band and Volvox having a stand-off. Even in the course of a recording itself, Cooley's not afraid to whip the listener about on the end of the rope before pulling them up to safety, just to push 'em off so he can do it again later on. But he will not drop you, don't worry.
Scissor Shock is capable of conjuring up all kinds of moods, from lunatic catharsis to unsteady calm, but they have only one steadily followed modus operandi: Each album should differ markedly from the next. There is no clear-cut "sound" to describe them. You would have to hear this audio Calvinball for yourself and draw your own conclusions, and there in itself lies the fun."
I also really like kitty magic's from
http://www.discogs.com/Scissor-Shock...elease/2449033
how do you introduce an act that changes so much on every single album? i didn't understand scissor shock for a long time, as they really require the new listener puts in some serious research. their past records have varied from insanely sped-up bursts of pure one million BPM insanity all the way to a beefheart-tinged deconstruction of music that you could attempt to categorise, and fail miserably - this is not punk, noise, jazz, or musique concrete, and it's definitely not 'midigrind' either - the name given to the so-called scene that this act emerged from, but have always had very little to do with stylistically. what this is, at least to me, is the sound of music destroying itself. there are real songs here, but they are heavily filtered through all out ugliness and constantly disorientated by apparently random bursts of chance dissonance. for fans of early mothers of invention and secret chiefs 3, this on occasion sounds like those equally bizarre projects, but easily ten thousand times more intense than anything they've ever done... this makes its logical predecessors look like easy listening. all i can really categorise this as is... pure dada. --Weary Indie Hannah, I'M ONE OF AN ODD FAMILY
Basically, what I do is, I try to "master" a certain type of sound (not master as in be the best at it -- I don't thinK i HAVE much musical talent at all -- but I want to know I can make a certain type of sound, even in my sleep); the aesthetic I'm going for. I want to keep "moving on". Like I said, it was initially an unconscious thing, just for fun, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought... I can really do something with it.
Basically, I am always trying to challenge myself. THat's important to me.
I write songs I can't even play, on guitar or whatever, because I am trying to eventually be good enough to play that.
Basically, Beefheart is my god, and the way he changed from album to album has been a big influence on me, though I didn't start listening to him until I'd already done about 40 albums. It's actually comedic to me, I'm not trying to be a chinstroker, not trying to do some ridiculous thing here, I find it funny like, "oh, last album, I had a 3 minute spoken word thing with ukulele that was the worst recording ever and the simplest thing ever, why don't I write a 9 minute song with 500 riffs for this album?" Basically, eerything I do, musically or in my movies or whatever, is all about absurdity. I get a kick out of it.
Glice, I highly reccomend you check out my album RANGER RACCOON -- THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE TRADE, it's a dark pop album I did when I was 14. I actually think you'd get a kick out of it. It's got video game samples, digital hardcore stuff, rapping, weird spoken word shit.. my voice cracks a lot cuz I was going through puberty. At the time of making it, I didn't really have any influences, so it comes off as an energetic and singular statement. It's pretty bizarre too I guess. Just randomly play a few songs..
http://www.last.fm/music/Ranger+Racc...can+Race+Trade
Anyway, I think you'd really have to see some live sets to understand what is going on. One show had 17 people on stage with me, other shows are a bit more composed. Some are just straight-up electronic, but they've all been really different.
Basically, the band is an explosion of my consciousness, and whatever I'm interested in at the time is what comes out. But even though I find the band absurd and humorous, I do take it seriously, hence why one album took 2years to write, 1 (mars travolta) took 1 year to recrd since every nanosecond was edited. On the other hand, SHRINE TO SALVAGED JUNK was all done in about 3 hours, mostly instant songs, on the spot.
Oh, and before I discovered Beefheart, my biggest influenced was DEFINITELY Wire, especially those first 3 albums.. damn.
I think change is important. I mean, if a band still feels like they have a lot to say by saying it the same way for 3 or 4 more albums, that's nice. But, personally, I'm not someone ever satisfied, and rarely proud ,of what I've done, because the sound in my head never matches the sound I'm trying to creative. I just tend to like when artists try to think forward. That's admirable -- it doesn't always work but it's beter than another retread, which can often be embarassing. Look at all those punk bands who have released 20 albums that sound identical for example.
I have "Felt" the most creative when... well.. creating. As far as inspirations, mainly depression, boredom, drugs. I thought I had run out of things to say musicaly, that's why I focused on movies and music and painting for a little over a year. After getting burnt out on that, I'm back to writing songs, and it feel really good. I think sometimes people just need a break. The SS stuff I'm doing now is really really slow and atmospheric, acoustic based, with detuned pianos, dual female/male vocals, and lots and lots of organ. The songs are being built around kitchen sink percussion and homemade instruments. It's pretty wild stuff so far, I guess. But it's very difficult to get the sound I want, which forever delays the process.