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REVERB AND THE VERSE'S 10th & final album #BLACKWALL out NOW EVERYWHERE
#BLACKWALL: FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE On April 26th, we released our 10th, best, and final album BLACKWALL. "...AND MAKE GOOD TROUBLE" These songs contain equal parts joy, pain, rebellion, and truth. It has helped us survive. We sincerely hope that it makes you feel. WORDS TO LIVE BY /// BEATS TO DIE FOR thank you for the blood thank you for the sweat thank you for the tears thank you for the mud thank you for the ache thank you for the pains thank you for the love thank you for the broken bones thank you for the weight thank you for the no's thank you for the fights thank you for the ghosts thank you for the scars thank you for the words that you never even said 1_TRUTH:VERSE: I had read something a few years back that mentioned satire, poetry, music, etc. From recollection - which admittedly is poor - there was a sprinkling of, "these forms can be tools against the machine," i.e tools for the counterculture. In wanting to see if I could find what I had read, I happened upon a quote that seemed to fit my mood throughout the entire Blackwall album, perhaps even my entire career within Reverb And The Verse, and definitely on 'TRUTH.'
And the quote, "Challenging authority, no matter how entertaining, is never without its peril." (https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.
When did this notion of truth become such a dividing line? Probably always. And it is with that sobering theme that I dove into my challenge, through my form of entertainment: music. My lyrics began around those journalistic, 5 W's, I remembered from so long ago. I don't believe I need to magnify why journalism was a theme, right? Who, What, When, Where, Why - and How. You will see those throughout the first bars as a sort of introduction or a preamble. I ask the questions I think many of us have, from a distance, as if I'm observing but not interacting. Sometimes the swarm of madness can lead feelings of isolation. There is a sliver of hope in those opening bars, when I reference empathy. From there it is a push-pull of what could be versus what is. Leave it to us and we just might figure it out. Ignore us to our own peril.
REVERB: We get so caught up in shouting our TRUTH at each other that we forget that both sides probably cancel each other out. And it's ironic to me that the louder we scream, the less we're heard. When making this one, I stumbled onto the thought that R&TV had never made a song with a real intro and we have always just blasted off from the one. The rules have always been "...get to the chorus within 1 minute" and so we always tried to stay within those boundaries. So I was probably subconciously "seeking to destroy one's own patterns..." and the notion of having no chorus at all was interesting to me. It works great live, and I think it's a good introduction to BLACKWALL. GEAR: This is just 15 analog synths playing the same lines but recorded individually and panned randomly in the stereo field, washing over each other and then being distorted beyond recognition, filtered and manipulated into a giant crescendo (0.00 dB!) until the beat finally drops. Then, I let go and just do it all again. Truth can be naive
(And I) Wonder how you see? When your head is screwed around All your truth don't make a sound I was standing over there When things were happening then Why did it get so wholly clustered And how will it end Who's wearing shoes that don't belong to them Walking that path What did they bring to get the job done How long will it last Where did all everything go off the tracks We got set back I feel like I am drifting away But I can keep this silly act up, if you stay And we can drag the people back up, unafraid I wanna know if I can trust this, trust us A lot of power wants to hush this, crush us And I don't know if we can muster much fuss We know it takes some time to grow this, but we rush I'm disappointed by the dumbness, the crassness The circus boy theatrics, the tactics, the antics Designed to keep us all off balance Scared Diminish our talents Ill-prepared I'm gonna have to take the back routes to find truth Cut me loose and let this do what it do 2_BURN'R: VERSE: This feels like a 'classic' R&TV jam - whatever that means - high BPM, lots of energy, aggression, tension, a dash of menace, and an underlying theme of rebellion. That's what I felt when I heard it and endeavored to match the intensity of the track. The sing-song that opens is a take on a break-down, and if I may be bold, skillfully at that. That's a breakdown about someone breaking down - and yet, not quite. Like a familiar hero trope, there was an opening, and we took it. Journeying forward we take another hard look at what's out there, and it's not pretty. Round out verse one, a little machismo, some bravado, and a call back to the song's theme. Diving into verse two you'll find the line that is my favorite of the bars (not certain MCs should ever have a favorite line)..."you ain't living if you ain't livid." It's written almost as a repetitive phrase, but the joy I get in MC'ing is in finding major meaning in minor word changes. Take it wherever you like, and understand I meant, how can anyone not be angry, if they are paying attention? And the prior line, can you guess which finger is raised? Getting to the final verse - well that's one I'll leave encoded. It's not unbreakable, especially if you have walked, are walking, or will walk a similar path. REVERB: I wanted to make a song without any drums but kicks, exploding all over each other via the best drum machine ever: the Roland TR-8S. I was able to achieve this at first, but it was difficult getting the vocal timing just right with only kicks for a reference, so there were other percussion guns put into it later. I think I ended up keeping 5 different kicks by verse 2, as they began to interrupt each other. I was able to EQ them away from each other. The chorus (if it even IS one) musically is all "devil's notes" which I think is effective for the song. The "light" are all real samples I made lighting matches, lighters, and match sticks. For his vocals, I got multiple good takes-- sidenote: The_Verse is a fucking ROBOT when it comes to exacting vocal timing. I've never heard or seen anything like it. After recording, if I line up all the takes, they look like 1:1 copies of each other, and its hard to tell them apart. Anyways, I thought it might be cool to make multiple versions pan around in the stereo field like it was Quadraphonic sound from the 1970's; when one pans left, the other emerges from the right. These were recorded with a Neumann U67 into a Neve 1073lb into an LA-2A which is complete and total overkill. Topically, I thought I wanted to wrestle with the idea of YOU/I/THEY for the pre-Verses, said from an androids (or someone with no control) point of view. It might also be someone helplessly watching a fire burn down their lives, or expose them for who they are. In the end, I intentionally destroy the entire stereo mix by increasing the gain and distortion through the Thermionic Culture Vulture Super 15 and Overstayer Modular Channel Finally, I wanted to end with a shoutout to those people who take credit for our hard work, but only if it's a success. DID YOU BUILD THIS? OK, THEN LETS BURN IT DOWN AND REBUILD IT! LYRICS: All your new rules I watched you fall apart All the old moves They watched us fall apart All this bullshit |
BLACKWALL REVIEW AND INTERVIEW FROM DNVR'S BEST MUSIC JOURNALIST TOM MURPHY