"Mikael, you know that crazy fucker Jim Raggi?"

[shivering corpse]

this happened Sunday, May 11 in New Orleans

guy getting still life digipack signed by mikael and peter: "Mikael, you know that crazy fucker Jim Raggi?"

mikael: yeah, yeah

guy getting still life digipack signed by mikael and peter: "i work for him"

mikael: "ah, oh you work for Lamentations?"

guy getting still life digipack signed by mikael and peter: "yeah"

i know this is a bizarre question, but I was thinking this guy is probably a member of this forum, and I was just trying to figure out who it is.

 

[Belial]

Jim Raggi? Yeah, he frequents these forums. His nick is Jim_LotFP.

 

[Demonspell]

His magazine's official forum is hosted here, and he has frequently championed some of the most avant-garde bands in metal...

 

[shivering corpse]

yes yes, i know who jim raggi is
i was wondering about the "guy who was getting his still life digipack signed by mikael and peter"

 

[Belial]

Be more specific next time.

 

[shivering corpse]

the opeth interviews on the lotfp site are my favorite interviews i've read of mikael, i seriously laughed out loud when they talked about that band Custard, and he's like "isn't that a civil war general", and raggi is like "well, that's custer..."

 

[Belial]

His magazine's official forum is hosted here, and he has frequently championed some of the most avant-garde bands in metal...

What is with the term "avant-garde?" Did some group of jack-offs sit around and put their heads (and their "heads") together to come up with the single most pretentious term to describe their music?

Two words pop into my head when a band described their music as avant-garde: PRETENTIOUS COCKSUCKERS!

 

[Obyeybyeogone]

Belial, I've got a better one.

In the "Jax music scene" there are bands that describe themselves as "Eclectic intellectual"

What does that band sound like, what genre? "O.. it's eclectic intellectual..."

NO JOKE *cry*

 

[Belial]

Belial, I've got a better one.

In the "Jax music scene" there are bands that describe themselves as "Eclectic intellectual"

What does that band sound like, what genre? "O.. it's eclectic intellectual..."

NO JOKE *cry*

eclectic intellectual? WTF?

 

[shivering corpse]

i only think it's pretentious if the band themselves call their music "avant garde"
but it's a pretty common term

 

[Heliologue]

it's a fencing term. how it came to describe a genre(?) of music is beyond me.

 

[Jim LotFP]

yes yes, i know who jim raggi is
i was wondering about the "guy who was getting his still life digipack signed by mikael and peter"

Me too, since he said he works for me.

 

[Jim LotFP]

What is with the term "avant-garde?" Did some group of jack-offs sit around and put their heads (and their "heads") together to come up with the single most pretentious term to describe their music?

Two words pop into my head when a band described their music as avant-garde: PRETENTIOUS COCKSUCKERS!

What would you call a band like Forgotten Silence then, that would be both concise and convey just... how... weird... they are in comparison to most metal bands?

 

[Demonspell]

I agree that the term is overused, but it remains useful because it avoids some of the negative connotations of the term progressive and implies a radical approach...and it transcends genres.

 

[Jim LotFP]

this happened Sunday, May 11 in New Orleans

Oh wait, New Orleans?

Is this something you personally witnessed?

Was it the third guy down on this page?
http://www.mindspring.com/~raggije/STAFF.htm

 

[ggggggu]

Avant-Garde is taken from the French for "vanguard," which is the part of the armed forces that always stands at the front of the rest of the army. In the case of music, the avant-garde are those individuals who take music to the next step in development or at least take music on a divergent path. The term was first applied only after World War II. In popular idioms it is a term used to describe or refer to free jazz movements but the meaning remains the same: techniques of expression that are new, innovative and radically different from the tradition or the mainstream. Wagner and Debussy can easily be classified as avant-garde relevant to their time but the term did not enter familiar usage until the advent of Stockhausen.

 

[Belial]

What would you call a band like Forgotten Silence then, that would be both concise and convey just... how... weird... they are in comparison to most metal bands?

Right when I had a nice ego-buzz going, you had to make a point like that.

 

[shivering corpse]

Oh wait, New Orleans?

Is this something you personally witnessed?

Was it the third guy down on this page?
http://www.mindspring.com/~raggije/STAFF.htm

yeah, i think it is that guy, i was standing right there getting stuff signed when he said it.

 

[shivering corpse]

for some reason i'll just never forget that guy

 

[Spike]

You people DON'T know what the actual definition of avent garde is... minus the 'metal connotations'?



Let me simplify it for you, 'avant garde' boils down to 'new', or 'new wave' at least as it applies to metal. Musically speaking, the term 'avante garde' was first used in relation to a subgenre of jazz music where stuff was significantly 'different' and 'offbeat' that it became rather difficult to classify them into individual genres.

While I don't particularily agree with the use of the tem 'avant garde metal' as a genre (they should stick with 'progressive', cos this is just getting rediculous) it serves it's purpose in that as new bands come out and while they are trying to find their 'style', AND while they are significantly different from the majority of other genres out at any given time (Can you say 'Opeth'? ), they can easily be heaped into the 'avant garde metal' genre until such a time as they either change their style to be more in line with a preexisting genre, or if they become popular enough to spawn a series of 'copycat' bands, by that time they usually have defined a new genre by themselves... *COUGH*Opeth*GOUGH*

Whatever you do, don't get me started on 'pure' avant garde music though (Loosely related to ambient/dark ambient)