“Atmosphere Levels” Explained
If you’re reading this page, you’re certainly wondering what those weird “Fat Level”, “Purple Haze Level” and “Temperature Level” mean on each review you read. Well, read on !
The “Genres” Question
Nowadays the Heavy Music scene is so large, tons of bands are coming from all over the world with awesome albums. More and more bands means more and more types of sounds. Thus it’s difficult to clearly say “Yes, this is a Stoner Rock band”. It’s more often like “Mmmmmh let’s say it’s a Bluesy-Trippy-Stoner band with some hints of Doom” !
In my daily reviews I could categorize each band in a particular genre (Stoner/Doom/Sludge/Psychedelic…). But sometimes it’s a bit tricky, a band could go into 2 different genres, how do I choose the correct one ? You see, this hurts my brain so badly, let’s just go beyond the boundaries and describe music in a more spiritual way !
I just prefer listening to the music and feel it through my ears to the brain, my body and ultimately my soul… Then I can decide if it’s good or bad. Because in the end there are just good and bad music.
Of course genres are great to tell “This is Blues, This is Metal, This is Jazz…”. But on More Fuzz ! I’ll mainly focus on all kind of Music that is FUCKIN’ HEAVY ! So in the end every band I’ll talk about in those emails could fit into the “FUCKIN HEAVY MUSIC” genre. Thus I won’t clearly have a line to tell the band’s genre.
Instead I’ll use an original and funny way to describe the music you’ll discover !
Introducing Atmosphere “Levels”
In order to describe an album atmosphere, I decided to add 3 “Levels” to have a way to measure the Heavy Music sound signatures. Let me explain to you one by one those levels. I do my best to be as objective as possible, but it’s completely possible you or someone else would choose other levels for a specific album.
These splendid icons were made by Jo Riou, a friend and a very talented graphic illustrator, please check his work if you need anything done (posters, cd/vinyl covers, t-shirts, logo…).
Fat Level
The higher the level, the greasier, the fuzzier, the thicker, the rawer is the music. You can feel the amps gain at maximum level, and it’s the same for the distortion and the fuzz pedal. Riffs are powerful, you’re feeling a strong punch into your stomach. Outch, you’re hardly trying to keep your greasy meal in your mouth !
Be aware that a music with a low Fat level does not sound like your 8 years old daughter’s music ! We’re talking about Heavy Rock Music, so this just means it’s less Heavy than the Heavier stuff, got it ?
Purple Haze Level
“Purple Haze all in my brain !” – This Jimi Hendrix lyrics sums up quite well the essence of this level. The more Purple Haze you have in your brain, the higher you are in the sky, among some silky clouds. Maybe you’re even touching warm stars in the space, be careful not to lost yourself into the cosmos, oh wait, you’re already there..!
So yes, basically this is the Psychedelic Level.
Temperature Level
Imagine you’re seeing the band live. Because some are playing more energetic and/or high-tempo music, the crowd is so HOT, and everybody is headbanging like hell ! You are just in front of the scene, and in a fraction of second you can be knocked out of the way to the rear of the room by some nasty bearded beasts ! Well that kind of music would have a very high Temperature level.
Have in in mind one thing : A music can have a low Temperature level, it doesn’t mean it sucks at all ! It just means you won’t turn into a crazy-shaking motherfucker listening to it. The insanity often happens from the inside in that case..!
Example
To help you understand, here are the different “Atmosphere Levels” I would attribute to one of my favorite album : Ode to Io from Lowrider
Fat Level
Purple Haze Level
Temperature Level
Got It ?
I hope you understand what each level represents. Yes I know you never seen something like this before, but this is what makes More Fuzz ! cool and unique !