Oh man, I watched a Jane's Addiction vid from Italian TV in 1990, it was amazing. I've literally never seen or heard anything live from that tour. & since it was on Italian TV, Perry could say MF as much as he wanted. Which was often. Similarly for the Red Hot Chili Peppers 1988 Europe documentary. Apart from seeing them at the Newport in 1987, I've never seen or heard any live stuff from that year. That was easily my favorite Chili Peppers era. Uplift Mofo Party Plan. The live stuff is incredible. Especially the soundcheck - Jack Irons does this marching band drum cadence thing that is literally unbelievable. I never knew anything about him as a drummer. I guess I still don't, apart from the fact that he's a MONSTER! And poor Hillel, who died right after that tour of a heroin overdose. They all look pretty coked-out (except Irons) too. Oh well. No chump love sucka! No chump love sucka! etc.
Rounded out the evening with Faith No More at Rock In Rio II, 1991. Very very nice nice. Apart from the endless & endlessly dull version of The Real Thing. Fuck that. They started off so strong too, with From Out Of Nowhere. What a great song that is. Still is. And I watched half of the Black Sabbath Paris 1970 video. Oh my. Oh my oh my. So dark. So menacing. Effortlessly brutal. & y'all can keep yer John Bonham, Bill Ward was the MAN.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
PARTIAL
utorrent is good except it hijacks the system pretty much. And everything else runs like an afterthought.
VENOM
METAL BLACK
New Venom sounds a lot like old old Venom. I actually liked the updated sound of Resurrection, the last studio album. The new one is a tiny bit retro in spots. But it still rules, obviously. & Mykusssessses's guitar playing sounds like Zakk Wylde or Dimebag. Lots of pulled harmonics & whammy pedal abuse. I approve.
Old school Venom all the way. Big riffs, double-bass drumming, screamalong choruses. And hailing Satanus. Venom has a high profile now that they're on Sanctuary & all the dudes my age in the early generations of extreme metal still wear Venom shirts. I'd wear one. "Assassin" is kind of a different strain of metal song. The lyrics sound like the brief to a rubbish first person shooter for the Playstation. Still, you gotta love Venom. & there's not a trace of black metal on this album, if that's what you're looking for.
TWISTED SYSTEM
CORE
"Stark Raver" might be all Star Wars samples, I don't know. ...Ah, yep. Well, Star Wars themed anyway. There's the Death Star theme? Techno style. Light sabers in the airrrrrahhh!! "Razor" is probably a similar pisstake, but to me it just sounds like straight trance. The whole album is four on the floor dance music. So there ya go. & "Beautiful People" is indeed a Marilyn Manson cover. I can say I saw that one coming. Because I did.
THE FOLD
THIS TOO SHALL PASS
Um, back when we had MTV most recently - six months ago? - this kind of crap was everywhere. Overproduced dude-singer pop rock with hard metal undertones. Which, that description just sounds like Poison. That's not this. "Going For My Lungs" has nice big chords but what they do with them is just vile. I can't listen to this crap, it makes me want to go to the mall.
David Fiuczynski/Dennis Chambers/Jeff Berlin/T. Lavitz
BOSTON T PARTY
Unabashed fusion. Fiuczynski is the only name I don't know out of this laundry list of fusionists. The first track, "D'funk'd" has kind of a jokey melody played on synth & guitar. The solos are of course where all the action is. With that synth, this could be some early 70s Moog shit happening. But it's snot. I don't know if it's good or bad but it didn't send me running out of the room. Even though many aspects are just downright cheesy.
VENOM
METAL BLACK
New Venom sounds a lot like old old Venom. I actually liked the updated sound of Resurrection, the last studio album. The new one is a tiny bit retro in spots. But it still rules, obviously. & Mykusssessses's guitar playing sounds like Zakk Wylde or Dimebag. Lots of pulled harmonics & whammy pedal abuse. I approve.
Old school Venom all the way. Big riffs, double-bass drumming, screamalong choruses. And hailing Satanus. Venom has a high profile now that they're on Sanctuary & all the dudes my age in the early generations of extreme metal still wear Venom shirts. I'd wear one. "Assassin" is kind of a different strain of metal song. The lyrics sound like the brief to a rubbish first person shooter for the Playstation. Still, you gotta love Venom. & there's not a trace of black metal on this album, if that's what you're looking for.
TWISTED SYSTEM
CORE
"Stark Raver" might be all Star Wars samples, I don't know. ...Ah, yep. Well, Star Wars themed anyway. There's the Death Star theme? Techno style. Light sabers in the airrrrrahhh!! "Razor" is probably a similar pisstake, but to me it just sounds like straight trance. The whole album is four on the floor dance music. So there ya go. & "Beautiful People" is indeed a Marilyn Manson cover. I can say I saw that one coming. Because I did.
THE FOLD
THIS TOO SHALL PASS
Um, back when we had MTV most recently - six months ago? - this kind of crap was everywhere. Overproduced dude-singer pop rock with hard metal undertones. Which, that description just sounds like Poison. That's not this. "Going For My Lungs" has nice big chords but what they do with them is just vile. I can't listen to this crap, it makes me want to go to the mall.
David Fiuczynski/Dennis Chambers/Jeff Berlin/T. Lavitz
BOSTON T PARTY
Unabashed fusion. Fiuczynski is the only name I don't know out of this laundry list of fusionists. The first track, "D'funk'd" has kind of a jokey melody played on synth & guitar. The solos are of course where all the action is. With that synth, this could be some early 70s Moog shit happening. But it's snot. I don't know if it's good or bad but it didn't send me running out of the room. Even though many aspects are just downright cheesy.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
ANECDOTAL
fifty first impressions
PSYCROPTIC
Symbols of Failure
wcchchchchhcwoooogooaargghhheweeeaglauughghhghhehhehehhghgh!
wcchchchchhcwoooogooaargghhheweeeaglauughghhghhehhehehhghgh!!!
woooooooghahahhghghghghghhhh! death death die kill. "Alpha Breed" is ultra pinchcore death. The vocalist is indecipherable, which is at least amusing. The music is like Lamb Of God, but somehow more. It's just, jeesh. Violent but pretty. "Missionaries of a Future to Come" too. It's like a future mutant breed of death metal. The production is great, you can hear every single note. And every single vocal utterance, none of which is apparently in English? You could headbang to this, sure, but you'd never recover. HUGHAHAHHHH!!!!!!!! Death. Grind.
SUBTRACTIVELAD
Suture
Well, "Petals" is a gorgeous way to open an album. I feel refreshed now. The gorgeousness gives way to some laptop aphexiness with a fuggled bigbeat and superwoob synth pads & lines. Downright funkeh in spots. "Safety In Numbers" is back betwixt the pretties & the DSP freakage. "Twinge" = COOL. Full on u-ziq fakeout action. "Your Tattoo" is song title of the day so far. Ooh, "Embryonic Again" = even more gorgeous than the first one. So there.
GUNS N ROSES
Leaked Chinese Democracy demos
Might as well get this out of the way now. Look, I'm not a fan now & I never have been, though I was poised to ride their particular wave from the onset. I was there when they arose & a few of my stupider friends latched on. Like lice. Since then, what have they done that didn't suck? I can't think of anything. He hired Buckethead & Brain, that was cool. But will it make a difference? Buckethead was out as fast as he got hired too. Okay, here goes. "Better Demo Extended". Starts with lo-fi guitar & drum loop that...wow, could've come from a Buckethead record. The distorted guitars, drums & vox kick in at the same time. It's not the worst thing I've ever heard. The chords are actually kind of cool. It's a midtempo modern rocker. I'm surprised, frankly. But, again, what did I expect exactly. The sweep picking solo COULD be Buckethead. Like I fuckin' know. The track is only 2:06 but I didn't gouge my eyes out once. Next... "I.R.S. Demo". Acoustic & slide guitars, I did see that coming. But the lo-fi breakbeat, no. The beginning is like Cinderella with a beatbox. Haw. And that fuckface's signature voice singing over it. I guess this is more like what I guessed they'd sound like. Bleah. Slow midtempo hard rock. Bluesy. Whatever. "There Was a Time" starts with more mid-fi beats & piano. Oop, bit of backward guitar there. Uh-oh, is this the 'summer jam'? I applaud the use of beats, too bad it took so fucking long. No point in bleahing anymore, pretty soon you'll know more about this than me. The first one was okay but the others munch cack. Meaning that y'all will be going apeshit in a matter of weeks.
THE JAZZINVADERS
Up and Out
Well. Jazz, eh. At least with a song called "Bonga Bonga Jazz" you know what you're in for. This is almost like samba. "Go Ahead" is almost like samba. Do grownups dance to jazz? They could get their asses moving to this, properly placed. The whole album seems to groove, even the minor-key choons. Well done. "Licks and Brains" - uh-oh, second good song title of the day. Ew, female vocals on "Black". Vocal jazz = NO. Otherwise you could shake your jazz bootay to this whole thing for an hour.
THE DINING ROOMS
Versioni Particolari 2
Um. 75 minutes of groovy remixes. "Ocean" is coolly jazzy. Not sure about the female vocals but the music is awwwww-ite-plus. The whole thing has kind of latin, samba-ish undertones. & jazzy chord stabs. I know nothing about The Dining Rooms. Ah, but truth in song-titling reveals this to be a series of "Experiments in Ambient Soul". & it is. So, yeah. Nice. Loungey dance music.
VITAL REMAINS
Horrors of Hell
Where have I heard of Vital Remains before? "Of Pure Unholyness" opens with severely warped keyboards & treated spoken vocal sounds. Then: poooodge, slow/midtempo thrash death metal. Bluuuuuagh. More traditional in its deathly metallic stylings than I've heard today. The production isn't great but the playing & songwriting might be. "Nocturnal Blasphemy" sounds like, hell, an old Sodom track or something. Old Kreator. Oh, wait - "Vital Remains" the song. This must be a compilation of demos 'n' shit. Can I start again? No?
SINJON SMITH
One More Night
What the fuck is this, Fleetwood Mac? Ew, no. More generic than that. The production & playing are okay...no, wait, is that Stevie Nicks on "I'm Telling You"? Oh my god. Kill me now. Grody. Get this if you suck.
VANDEN PLAS
Christ.0
What is this, Christian industrial metal? Or is it, like, NOT Christian? I don't give a shit either way, I guess. The first track is flippy changey prog rock with all the trimmings. Then a ghey little breakdown. Oh, wait, that's the verse. I guess it's modern progressive rock after all. Okay. Now I get it. Sort of. Dream Theater lickers get over here now.
TORTURE KILLER
SWARM!
This is more like it. Midtempo death metal or something. The incessant guitar hammer-ons in the intro of the first song are really fucking annoying. I guess that's the idea. "Forever Dead" is the first proper song. Ah, too bad you can understand the lyrics. The riffs are okay. The production isn't bad. But I'm just not getting into this. "I Killed You" = sweet title.
FIVE DEEZ
Kommunikator
"Fugg That" opens with atmos synths & eh........ I don't know. It's hiphop all right. I think you have to be 18 to get into this shit. The vocals are super super monotonous. I realize they're supposed to be, but this isn't deeply funky, it's not funny and I don't enjoy listening to this. I think I just aged 20 years. "BMW" doesn't make me suicidal. It's uptempo. This is probably the sell-out track. "From Sorrow" is okay. It sounds like the guy from Dub Pistols. Do I win a prize if it is him?
RAY DAVIES
Other Peoples' Lives
Y'know I don't think I've ever heard an entire album by Ray Davies OR the Kinks. Oops, I typed the Kinko's there by habit/accident. So is it unfair of me to say the first song sounds like something from Paul McCartney's last album? No, not unfair, just stupid and/or incorrect. I guess I just nod & agree when people say Davies is a genius. I wouldn't know, maybe he is. I'm obviously a fan of guitar-driven pop rock friendly music. Which is what this is. I can already tell I'll need to hear this 50 more times before I understand any of what's happening. So, check ya later.
COPY
Mobius Beard
Wow, this is cool. Dancey syntho pop stuff. "A Slight But Delicious Warble" opens. It's foonkey & melodic. & no crappy vocals to spoil the atmos. "Just Expect" is more of the same but moodier & a bit slower. "Like a Turtle" - lo-fi drum samples, peely synths and stabs. It's like a more sociable Mr. Oizo. "Afro Oven" ha. Nice.
DICTE
Dicte and the Sugarbones
Umb. Modern rock/guitar pop. The first track sounds like Foo Fighters with a female singer. After that, yeah, it just sounds like an up to the minute pop record. Which it probably is. Which means there are guitars, hacked beats, synths, layers of vocals. Uh, Goldfrapp goes c0ck-rock?
REDNOISE
A Subtle Defiance
Wow, more hacked-up guitar samples & drum beats. Maybe this is the bigbeat genre ten years on. All those acid synths...I'd have to say so. "Say It To My Face" takes the portamento function to outer space. That's when all the notes blur together. "Conform" is a slow synth doomer like Massive Attack useta make.
JOSH ROUSE
Subtitulo
Ew, sycophantic David Gray clone. But even more obvious & cloying.
IN-FLIGHT SAFETY
The Coast Is Clear
Kicks off like U2. But the singer sounds like Coldplay. Or, yes, David Gray. Har.
FLOWJOB
Support Normality
Ohhhhhhh SHIT! Epic epic techno. Just like Orbital. Hell yes. "Flangers in the Night" = SONG TITLE OF THE CENTURY!! So, it's, what... the shortest track is 7:45, the longest is 10:13. Beats, undulation, buried vocals like Underworld. I love this shit.
HAMMELL ON TRIAL
Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
My friend saw this dude a long time ago & became an instant convert. and you know how annoying those guys can be. And how long-lasting the effects of a well-intended but still-annoying convert can be. It's not awful but I doubt I'll listen again. "Coulter's Snatch".
JENNY LEWIS & THE WATSON TWINS
Rabbit Fur Coat
Oh sister where art thou?
JAMES BLUNT
Chasing Time
Sounds like it's live. I've never heard this guy. Does he suck? It sounds like he sucks. Oh yeah, that voice. Good god, it's like Jamiroquoi strangling himself. Oh christ, nice StarSearch version of "Fall at your Feet". Okay, fuck this. Points off for yodeling
FINK
Biscuits for Breakfast
Acoustic guitar-heavy singer songwriter dude stuff. No.
EVERGREY
Monday Morning Apocalypse
More modern euro pop death metal. This is the euro version of Disturbed, isn't it.
DYSLEXIC LOVE
Dyslexic Love
Oh my god. This is a sonic paint-by-numbers. And the worst snare sound this side of Metallica.
KITARO
Spiritual Garden
Ha. I've never heard the guy. I guess the music is exactly what I expected. Piano/synth-driven, melodic, mellow, reverby instrumentals with strategically placed nature sounds. It actually isn't bad. I've definitely heard much worse.
MAN MAN
Six Demon Bag
Okay. Oom-pah-pah piano. Chorus of dude. "Engwish Bwudd" is like an orgy between Rasputina & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Heavy on the oom-pah cheese & light but still present on the weird-out shit. "Van Helsing Boombox". Ha: "Push the Eagle's Stomach".
LADIES
They Mean Us
What the hell is this? Built To Spill with blastbeats? "Black Metal in the Hour of Starbucks". nice. It's like a jazzier, quieter, but still very fucking whacked-out (obviously) Fantomas. Or something. And with indie whiteboy singing. Um. And the 12:08 album closer is called....."Mandatory Psycho Freakout".
NATACHA ATLAS
Mish Ma'oul
You know she fucking rules. Straddling genres & cultures. Bit of Bollywood here. bit of, I don't know. But I like it. "Ghanwa Bossanova" = Latin American/Middle Eastern hybrid. Hell yes.
TOSCA
Souvenirs
"John Lee Huber (Burnt Friedman)" is the first thing I've heard from David Sylvian's new collaborator-bwah outside of their Nine Horses album. And it sounds pretty much just like that. So much texture, so much groove. Shit is deep, shit is nice. "Fuck ya brain" they sayeth. Niceth. I don't know any of the other remixers or the remixees for that matter. It grooves, that's all I know.
QUEENSRYCHE
Operation Mindcrime 2
Okay, I liked Queensryche for about five minutes in 1986, after that "Gonna Get Close To You" video came out. I thought it was great. Maybe I was right. Dunno. Beyond that, see above remarks about Guns & Roses. I'm not down with the Ryche. What else can I tell you but that it sounds like fucking Queensryche? I'm sorry I just wasted your time and mine.
NIGHTMARES ON WAX
In A Space Outta Sound
"Passion" = slo jam. "The Sweetest" = synchro shuffle reassembled reggae parts. "Flip Ya Lid" too. "Pudpots" = teh JAMMMM!
Cool, mature-feeling dancey groove shiot, but not.
MISS CRAZY
Miss Crazy
Savatage lives! The singer sounds like Axl & the music is like 80s hard rock, with the bass line thudding quarter notes on an open string. Take yer pick. I don't know, it's really strange when the most derivative 80s hard rock metal thing I've heard in a long time is actually the breath of fresh air. Shit. Just don't tell anyone.
ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN
Ballad Of The Broken Seas
"honey child what can I do" is the fuckin' jam. Wouldn't know about the rest.
PSYCROPTIC
Symbols of Failure
wcchchchchhcwoooogooaargghhheweeeaglauughghhghhehhehehhghgh!
wcchchchchhcwoooogooaargghhheweeeaglauughghhghhehhehehhghgh!!!
woooooooghahahhghghghghghhhh! death death die kill. "Alpha Breed" is ultra pinchcore death. The vocalist is indecipherable, which is at least amusing. The music is like Lamb Of God, but somehow more. It's just, jeesh. Violent but pretty. "Missionaries of a Future to Come" too. It's like a future mutant breed of death metal. The production is great, you can hear every single note. And every single vocal utterance, none of which is apparently in English? You could headbang to this, sure, but you'd never recover. HUGHAHAHHHH!!!!!!!! Death. Grind.
SUBTRACTIVELAD
Suture
Well, "Petals" is a gorgeous way to open an album. I feel refreshed now. The gorgeousness gives way to some laptop aphexiness with a fuggled bigbeat and superwoob synth pads & lines. Downright funkeh in spots. "Safety In Numbers" is back betwixt the pretties & the DSP freakage. "Twinge" = COOL. Full on u-ziq fakeout action. "Your Tattoo" is song title of the day so far. Ooh, "Embryonic Again" = even more gorgeous than the first one. So there.
GUNS N ROSES
Leaked Chinese Democracy demos
Might as well get this out of the way now. Look, I'm not a fan now & I never have been, though I was poised to ride their particular wave from the onset. I was there when they arose & a few of my stupider friends latched on. Like lice. Since then, what have they done that didn't suck? I can't think of anything. He hired Buckethead & Brain, that was cool. But will it make a difference? Buckethead was out as fast as he got hired too. Okay, here goes. "Better Demo Extended". Starts with lo-fi guitar & drum loop that...wow, could've come from a Buckethead record. The distorted guitars, drums & vox kick in at the same time. It's not the worst thing I've ever heard. The chords are actually kind of cool. It's a midtempo modern rocker. I'm surprised, frankly. But, again, what did I expect exactly. The sweep picking solo COULD be Buckethead. Like I fuckin' know. The track is only 2:06 but I didn't gouge my eyes out once. Next... "I.R.S. Demo". Acoustic & slide guitars, I did see that coming. But the lo-fi breakbeat, no. The beginning is like Cinderella with a beatbox. Haw. And that fuckface's signature voice singing over it. I guess this is more like what I guessed they'd sound like. Bleah. Slow midtempo hard rock. Bluesy. Whatever. "There Was a Time" starts with more mid-fi beats & piano. Oop, bit of backward guitar there. Uh-oh, is this the 'summer jam'? I applaud the use of beats, too bad it took so fucking long. No point in bleahing anymore, pretty soon you'll know more about this than me. The first one was okay but the others munch cack. Meaning that y'all will be going apeshit in a matter of weeks.
THE JAZZINVADERS
Up and Out
Well. Jazz, eh. At least with a song called "Bonga Bonga Jazz" you know what you're in for. This is almost like samba. "Go Ahead" is almost like samba. Do grownups dance to jazz? They could get their asses moving to this, properly placed. The whole album seems to groove, even the minor-key choons. Well done. "Licks and Brains" - uh-oh, second good song title of the day. Ew, female vocals on "Black". Vocal jazz = NO. Otherwise you could shake your jazz bootay to this whole thing for an hour.
THE DINING ROOMS
Versioni Particolari 2
Um. 75 minutes of groovy remixes. "Ocean" is coolly jazzy. Not sure about the female vocals but the music is awwwww-ite-plus. The whole thing has kind of latin, samba-ish undertones. & jazzy chord stabs. I know nothing about The Dining Rooms. Ah, but truth in song-titling reveals this to be a series of "Experiments in Ambient Soul". & it is. So, yeah. Nice. Loungey dance music.
VITAL REMAINS
Horrors of Hell
Where have I heard of Vital Remains before? "Of Pure Unholyness" opens with severely warped keyboards & treated spoken vocal sounds. Then: poooodge, slow/midtempo thrash death metal. Bluuuuuagh. More traditional in its deathly metallic stylings than I've heard today. The production isn't great but the playing & songwriting might be. "Nocturnal Blasphemy" sounds like, hell, an old Sodom track or something. Old Kreator. Oh, wait - "Vital Remains" the song. This must be a compilation of demos 'n' shit. Can I start again? No?
SINJON SMITH
One More Night
What the fuck is this, Fleetwood Mac? Ew, no. More generic than that. The production & playing are okay...no, wait, is that Stevie Nicks on "I'm Telling You"? Oh my god. Kill me now. Grody. Get this if you suck.
VANDEN PLAS
Christ.0
What is this, Christian industrial metal? Or is it, like, NOT Christian? I don't give a shit either way, I guess. The first track is flippy changey prog rock with all the trimmings. Then a ghey little breakdown. Oh, wait, that's the verse. I guess it's modern progressive rock after all. Okay. Now I get it. Sort of. Dream Theater lickers get over here now.
TORTURE KILLER
SWARM!
This is more like it. Midtempo death metal or something. The incessant guitar hammer-ons in the intro of the first song are really fucking annoying. I guess that's the idea. "Forever Dead" is the first proper song. Ah, too bad you can understand the lyrics. The riffs are okay. The production isn't bad. But I'm just not getting into this. "I Killed You" = sweet title.
FIVE DEEZ
Kommunikator
"Fugg That" opens with atmos synths & eh........ I don't know. It's hiphop all right. I think you have to be 18 to get into this shit. The vocals are super super monotonous. I realize they're supposed to be, but this isn't deeply funky, it's not funny and I don't enjoy listening to this. I think I just aged 20 years. "BMW" doesn't make me suicidal. It's uptempo. This is probably the sell-out track. "From Sorrow" is okay. It sounds like the guy from Dub Pistols. Do I win a prize if it is him?
RAY DAVIES
Other Peoples' Lives
Y'know I don't think I've ever heard an entire album by Ray Davies OR the Kinks. Oops, I typed the Kinko's there by habit/accident. So is it unfair of me to say the first song sounds like something from Paul McCartney's last album? No, not unfair, just stupid and/or incorrect. I guess I just nod & agree when people say Davies is a genius. I wouldn't know, maybe he is. I'm obviously a fan of guitar-driven pop rock friendly music. Which is what this is. I can already tell I'll need to hear this 50 more times before I understand any of what's happening. So, check ya later.
COPY
Mobius Beard
Wow, this is cool. Dancey syntho pop stuff. "A Slight But Delicious Warble" opens. It's foonkey & melodic. & no crappy vocals to spoil the atmos. "Just Expect" is more of the same but moodier & a bit slower. "Like a Turtle" - lo-fi drum samples, peely synths and stabs. It's like a more sociable Mr. Oizo. "Afro Oven" ha. Nice.
DICTE
Dicte and the Sugarbones
Umb. Modern rock/guitar pop. The first track sounds like Foo Fighters with a female singer. After that, yeah, it just sounds like an up to the minute pop record. Which it probably is. Which means there are guitars, hacked beats, synths, layers of vocals. Uh, Goldfrapp goes c0ck-rock?
REDNOISE
A Subtle Defiance
Wow, more hacked-up guitar samples & drum beats. Maybe this is the bigbeat genre ten years on. All those acid synths...I'd have to say so. "Say It To My Face" takes the portamento function to outer space. That's when all the notes blur together. "Conform" is a slow synth doomer like Massive Attack useta make.
JOSH ROUSE
Subtitulo
Ew, sycophantic David Gray clone. But even more obvious & cloying.
IN-FLIGHT SAFETY
The Coast Is Clear
Kicks off like U2. But the singer sounds like Coldplay. Or, yes, David Gray. Har.
FLOWJOB
Support Normality
Ohhhhhhh SHIT! Epic epic techno. Just like Orbital. Hell yes. "Flangers in the Night" = SONG TITLE OF THE CENTURY!! So, it's, what... the shortest track is 7:45, the longest is 10:13. Beats, undulation, buried vocals like Underworld. I love this shit.
HAMMELL ON TRIAL
Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
My friend saw this dude a long time ago & became an instant convert. and you know how annoying those guys can be. And how long-lasting the effects of a well-intended but still-annoying convert can be. It's not awful but I doubt I'll listen again. "Coulter's Snatch".
JENNY LEWIS & THE WATSON TWINS
Rabbit Fur Coat
Oh sister where art thou?
JAMES BLUNT
Chasing Time
Sounds like it's live. I've never heard this guy. Does he suck? It sounds like he sucks. Oh yeah, that voice. Good god, it's like Jamiroquoi strangling himself. Oh christ, nice StarSearch version of "Fall at your Feet". Okay, fuck this. Points off for yodeling
FINK
Biscuits for Breakfast
Acoustic guitar-heavy singer songwriter dude stuff. No.
EVERGREY
Monday Morning Apocalypse
More modern euro pop death metal. This is the euro version of Disturbed, isn't it.
DYSLEXIC LOVE
Dyslexic Love
Oh my god. This is a sonic paint-by-numbers. And the worst snare sound this side of Metallica.
KITARO
Spiritual Garden
Ha. I've never heard the guy. I guess the music is exactly what I expected. Piano/synth-driven, melodic, mellow, reverby instrumentals with strategically placed nature sounds. It actually isn't bad. I've definitely heard much worse.
MAN MAN
Six Demon Bag
Okay. Oom-pah-pah piano. Chorus of dude. "Engwish Bwudd" is like an orgy between Rasputina & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Heavy on the oom-pah cheese & light but still present on the weird-out shit. "Van Helsing Boombox". Ha: "Push the Eagle's Stomach".
LADIES
They Mean Us
What the hell is this? Built To Spill with blastbeats? "Black Metal in the Hour of Starbucks". nice. It's like a jazzier, quieter, but still very fucking whacked-out (obviously) Fantomas. Or something. And with indie whiteboy singing. Um. And the 12:08 album closer is called....."Mandatory Psycho Freakout".
NATACHA ATLAS
Mish Ma'oul
You know she fucking rules. Straddling genres & cultures. Bit of Bollywood here. bit of, I don't know. But I like it. "Ghanwa Bossanova" = Latin American/Middle Eastern hybrid. Hell yes.
TOSCA
Souvenirs
"John Lee Huber (Burnt Friedman)" is the first thing I've heard from David Sylvian's new collaborator-bwah outside of their Nine Horses album. And it sounds pretty much just like that. So much texture, so much groove. Shit is deep, shit is nice. "Fuck ya brain" they sayeth. Niceth. I don't know any of the other remixers or the remixees for that matter. It grooves, that's all I know.
QUEENSRYCHE
Operation Mindcrime 2
Okay, I liked Queensryche for about five minutes in 1986, after that "Gonna Get Close To You" video came out. I thought it was great. Maybe I was right. Dunno. Beyond that, see above remarks about Guns & Roses. I'm not down with the Ryche. What else can I tell you but that it sounds like fucking Queensryche? I'm sorry I just wasted your time and mine.
NIGHTMARES ON WAX
In A Space Outta Sound
"Passion" = slo jam. "The Sweetest" = synchro shuffle reassembled reggae parts. "Flip Ya Lid" too. "Pudpots" = teh JAMMMM!
Cool, mature-feeling dancey groove shiot, but not.
MISS CRAZY
Miss Crazy
Savatage lives! The singer sounds like Axl & the music is like 80s hard rock, with the bass line thudding quarter notes on an open string. Take yer pick. I don't know, it's really strange when the most derivative 80s hard rock metal thing I've heard in a long time is actually the breath of fresh air. Shit. Just don't tell anyone.
ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN
Ballad Of The Broken Seas
"honey child what can I do" is the fuckin' jam. Wouldn't know about the rest.
Friday, February 17, 2006
NO LIFE TILL
I dreamt that Robert Plant wanted me to be his boy toy for his summer tour. Those were his exact words: be my boy toy for the summer tour? I'd never really thought about Robert Plant that way - gayly - but concluded in the dream that he was pretty dreamy.
In real life, I fuckin' love bit torrents. Every few years there's another new downloady technology that comes along & blows everything else out of the water. Starting for me in 1999 with the original Napster. Concurrently I discovered usenet and began to prefer it for its completeness. Usenet was it for the longest time, then this torrent shit started for me about six months or so ago. Maybe nine months. I've downloaded so much incredible shit in that time. And I've also shared an insane amount of great stuff too. I love adding to the gene pool of DVDs.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
VADER
Art of War EP
Opens with a 90-sec orchestral thangamajig, just like they all do now. Only this one fades in all intense-like, with military snare drums. Then: "This is the Way" takes up the mantle from Metallica's "One". It's a deathly ghouly bang-your-head chugging open string riff. Tis fucking brutile but I'm guess you guessed that already. Yeah, the blastbeat kicks in and it's awesome. It's like ultra death metal but you can still hear keyboards. Fucking crap, the drums sound like a sprinkler. In a good way, obviously. Production is excellent & clear. All six trax run together, so you go on a nice little journey for a quarter of an hour. "Death in Silence" is FAST.
LAMPSHADE
Let's Get AWay
"Come Closer" is slow pokely jangly guitar indie rock with a young-sounding female vocalist, whose voice makes the chix in Mum sound like Marianne Faithfull did on that Metallica record. ie - high & twee & about five years old. The song = nice. Dude vox kick in on the chorus. "New Legs" starts with some noodly clean guitar riffing/chording, arrythmic drumming & the toddler-voiced chiock belting out the lyrics. I betcha she's about three foot one & holding a blankie. The last half of the song is jaunty & upbeat 80s retro fake disco bogus Joy Division action that everyone does now. Which is fine. "By and By I Come" starts off like the previous one. Tis mighty jaunty. "It's Okay" opens with furry fuzzy bass & drums and pokey delayed clean guitar. And that chix's voice. I'm not sure if I could get down with it for 48 minutes. But it's not assraping my ears either, so who knows. "Joy" is a bit uptempo, innit. File under listen again.
RICHARD JULIAN
Slow New York
What the fuck, did Leon Redbone come back as a young hipster? "Slow New York" = I hate to say it so soon, but: fake American Music Club. Right down to the all-over-the-place singing. It's almost kind of like Harry Connick covering Mark Eitzel. The good bits anyway. The bad bits remind me of Blues Traveller. I run away now. I forgot to mention Metallica.
DARKTHRONE
The Cult is Alive
What? I guess I assumed Darkthrone would sound like Dimmu Borgir, just like everyone else does. Fuck that shit, it sounds like the last album these guys listened to was Celtic Frost "Morbid Tales" in 1983/84. The riffs are brutile & ugly, and the vocals, oh the vocals are a bitchslap to the inner ear. The tempo of the first song is refreshingly middling. And then he says "come on you fuckers!!!" and they go into a thrashy bit. I think I'm in love. It's so raw and unpleasant sounding. Oh shit, and "Too Old Too Cold" is the greatest title ever. I almost don't care what it sounds like. But: it sounds like Venom. Old, great Venom. Sounds like they're calling out all the posers with this one. I heard him say "you call yourselves black". Ooh. "Atomic Coming" - Celtic Frost the song "Morbid Tales". They might've written down all the notes & just rearranged them, because. Yeah. "Graveyard Slut", damn, another great title. This is the gratest album eveur and I haven't even heard "Shut Up" yet! "Graveyard Slut" sounds like a different singer, who INSISTS on giving it the Tom G Warrior business. I can assure you, all this tribute-payment to the mighty Frost is not accidental. I think he just said something about a big rack. Metallica was never this cool. I mean, maybe for the first five minutes after the "Whiplash" EP came out.
BETH ORTON
Comfort of Strangers
Y'know, I think I got shnookered by her first album & the Chemical Bros tracks she did. I foolishly assumed she'd be interesting, unique, a solitary voice, an artist. Kind of thing. "She Cries Your Name" still gives me chills but everything she's done since then has been lackluster. At best. She's had time to accept the fact that the first album was a fluke. Damn it. So, no more electronix then, I assume. "Worms" immediately sounds like something from 1970s AM radio. In a bad way. Joni Mitchell or something. "Countenance" is the inevitable jab at alt-cuntree. Bleh. "Heartlandtruckstop", okay I've had enough. You proved your point.
DEATHSTARS
Termination Bliss
Oh, it's 1997 again and the burgeoning hybrid of heavy metal guitars & dance beats + synths hasn't played itself out yet. Or was it born played-out? Whatever. "Tongues", there's live drums + a loop, synths, downtuned metal guitar, and vocals that sound like Rammstein. Whatever you call that style. Kind of lower register almost speaking. But not rap. The songs would actually probably rock harder as simple synth pop. But, no. It's fucking 1997 innit. "Blitzkrieg" owes its existence to Ministry. Which is probably fine if you're into that sort of thing. "Motherzone" reminds me of Mortiis. Ghouly keys, biggish chorus. And a bunch more just like it.
BLOODTHORN
Genocide
"...for Those Whose Time Has Come" is the requisite intro track with the spoken-word action buried in the mix. Relatively slow, mournful meanderings for two minutes. Then "Blood and Iron", instant deathly dissection via heatfurnaceblastbeatcolonblow punctuated by more slow mournful meanderings. Back and forth, on and on. A bit prog too. "Forced Selfmutilation" = song title champ. I dunno, I think I blew my wad headbanging to Darkthrone.
BOO-YA TRIBE
Angry Samoans
Get it, because they're from Samoa? The same island as the old school wrestling stars The Samoans. And, you know those Girls Scout Cookies? They invented those too. Um. "No Free Ride (Intro)" just sounds like a metal band. "Skared for Lyfe" contineus the theme. I thought these guys were more hiphop than this. This shit is like Korn or Rage Against The Machine, which, who cares. I mean, I'm glad they can keep all the beats & tunes in-house to cut down on licensing samples and paying producers, but...heuughgh.
In real life, I fuckin' love bit torrents. Every few years there's another new downloady technology that comes along & blows everything else out of the water. Starting for me in 1999 with the original Napster. Concurrently I discovered usenet and began to prefer it for its completeness. Usenet was it for the longest time, then this torrent shit started for me about six months or so ago. Maybe nine months. I've downloaded so much incredible shit in that time. And I've also shared an insane amount of great stuff too. I love adding to the gene pool of DVDs.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
VADER
Art of War EP
Opens with a 90-sec orchestral thangamajig, just like they all do now. Only this one fades in all intense-like, with military snare drums. Then: "This is the Way" takes up the mantle from Metallica's "One". It's a deathly ghouly bang-your-head chugging open string riff. Tis fucking brutile but I'm guess you guessed that already. Yeah, the blastbeat kicks in and it's awesome. It's like ultra death metal but you can still hear keyboards. Fucking crap, the drums sound like a sprinkler. In a good way, obviously. Production is excellent & clear. All six trax run together, so you go on a nice little journey for a quarter of an hour. "Death in Silence" is FAST.
LAMPSHADE
Let's Get AWay
"Come Closer" is slow pokely jangly guitar indie rock with a young-sounding female vocalist, whose voice makes the chix in Mum sound like Marianne Faithfull did on that Metallica record. ie - high & twee & about five years old. The song = nice. Dude vox kick in on the chorus. "New Legs" starts with some noodly clean guitar riffing/chording, arrythmic drumming & the toddler-voiced chiock belting out the lyrics. I betcha she's about three foot one & holding a blankie. The last half of the song is jaunty & upbeat 80s retro fake disco bogus Joy Division action that everyone does now. Which is fine. "By and By I Come" starts off like the previous one. Tis mighty jaunty. "It's Okay" opens with furry fuzzy bass & drums and pokey delayed clean guitar. And that chix's voice. I'm not sure if I could get down with it for 48 minutes. But it's not assraping my ears either, so who knows. "Joy" is a bit uptempo, innit. File under listen again.
RICHARD JULIAN
Slow New York
What the fuck, did Leon Redbone come back as a young hipster? "Slow New York" = I hate to say it so soon, but: fake American Music Club. Right down to the all-over-the-place singing. It's almost kind of like Harry Connick covering Mark Eitzel. The good bits anyway. The bad bits remind me of Blues Traveller. I run away now. I forgot to mention Metallica.
DARKTHRONE
The Cult is Alive
What? I guess I assumed Darkthrone would sound like Dimmu Borgir, just like everyone else does. Fuck that shit, it sounds like the last album these guys listened to was Celtic Frost "Morbid Tales" in 1983/84. The riffs are brutile & ugly, and the vocals, oh the vocals are a bitchslap to the inner ear. The tempo of the first song is refreshingly middling. And then he says "come on you fuckers!!!" and they go into a thrashy bit. I think I'm in love. It's so raw and unpleasant sounding. Oh shit, and "Too Old Too Cold" is the greatest title ever. I almost don't care what it sounds like. But: it sounds like Venom. Old, great Venom. Sounds like they're calling out all the posers with this one. I heard him say "you call yourselves black". Ooh. "Atomic Coming" - Celtic Frost the song "Morbid Tales". They might've written down all the notes & just rearranged them, because. Yeah. "Graveyard Slut", damn, another great title. This is the gratest album eveur and I haven't even heard "Shut Up" yet! "Graveyard Slut" sounds like a different singer, who INSISTS on giving it the Tom G Warrior business. I can assure you, all this tribute-payment to the mighty Frost is not accidental. I think he just said something about a big rack. Metallica was never this cool. I mean, maybe for the first five minutes after the "Whiplash" EP came out.
BETH ORTON
Comfort of Strangers
Y'know, I think I got shnookered by her first album & the Chemical Bros tracks she did. I foolishly assumed she'd be interesting, unique, a solitary voice, an artist. Kind of thing. "She Cries Your Name" still gives me chills but everything she's done since then has been lackluster. At best. She's had time to accept the fact that the first album was a fluke. Damn it. So, no more electronix then, I assume. "Worms" immediately sounds like something from 1970s AM radio. In a bad way. Joni Mitchell or something. "Countenance" is the inevitable jab at alt-cuntree. Bleh. "Heartlandtruckstop", okay I've had enough. You proved your point.
DEATHSTARS
Termination Bliss
Oh, it's 1997 again and the burgeoning hybrid of heavy metal guitars & dance beats + synths hasn't played itself out yet. Or was it born played-out? Whatever. "Tongues", there's live drums + a loop, synths, downtuned metal guitar, and vocals that sound like Rammstein. Whatever you call that style. Kind of lower register almost speaking. But not rap. The songs would actually probably rock harder as simple synth pop. But, no. It's fucking 1997 innit. "Blitzkrieg" owes its existence to Ministry. Which is probably fine if you're into that sort of thing. "Motherzone" reminds me of Mortiis. Ghouly keys, biggish chorus. And a bunch more just like it.
BLOODTHORN
Genocide
"...for Those Whose Time Has Come" is the requisite intro track with the spoken-word action buried in the mix. Relatively slow, mournful meanderings for two minutes. Then "Blood and Iron", instant deathly dissection via heatfurnaceblastbeatcolonblow punctuated by more slow mournful meanderings. Back and forth, on and on. A bit prog too. "Forced Selfmutilation" = song title champ. I dunno, I think I blew my wad headbanging to Darkthrone.
BOO-YA TRIBE
Angry Samoans
Get it, because they're from Samoa? The same island as the old school wrestling stars The Samoans. And, you know those Girls Scout Cookies? They invented those too. Um. "No Free Ride (Intro)" just sounds like a metal band. "Skared for Lyfe" contineus the theme. I thought these guys were more hiphop than this. This shit is like Korn or Rage Against The Machine, which, who cares. I mean, I'm glad they can keep all the beats & tunes in-house to cut down on licensing samples and paying producers, but...heuughgh.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
CIRCUMAMBIENT
CIRCUMAMBIENT ::: FUCKING ABOUT FOOD
I just downloaded iTunes to hear a 22 second preview of the newest XTC single, the digital-only "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?" This was one of Colin Moulding's better songs put forward for Nonsvch in 1990/91, out of a batch of at least ten complete stunners. This 2006 recording fits neatly between the two 'Apple Veni' - an uptempo rockerbopper with pizzicato strings. It sounds like a pastiche of Andy Partridge's latter-day songwriting style.
iTunes is a beast. I'm going to uninstall it now. Between WinAmp, Quicktime, RealPlayer and Windows Media, the last fucking thing my PC needs is one more system-hogging media player. My god.
CALEXICO
Garden Ruin
Modernish Americana acoustic twangy-voice almost country rock but not. "Cruel" gets down like a more self-aware American Music Club. Pedal steel. Horn section. "Yours and Mine" is acoustic guitar & singing. "Bisbee Blue" is moderately uptempo. I guess you guys who like Wilco and all that shit will already be lickin' this. Everyone else can join me in getting the hell away from it.
CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE
Etiquette
Damn, that dude's voice really sounded like Mark Eitzel at first. Shit freaked me out. Not so much now that I know it's snot him. What do you got here. You got lo fi drums, piano, maybe bass, maybe synths. And low-register mushmouth dude singing too many words, awkwardly. I guess I've heard worse, but I'm still glad the songs are short - 2-3 minutes each. "Young Shields" adds a tense but danceable drum groove & undulating bass bit to the sad synth chords & vocal mannerismae. "I Love Creedence" is more of the same & now I know what he's doing, he thinks he's Mark Kozelek - messy singing, highly personal lyrics, classic rock references. I get it now. "Love Connection" inserts similarly unsettled female vocals & lyrics to the mix, which is somehow preferable. "Holly Hobby" sounds like His Name Is Alive. Not horrible but still highly unlikely I'll listen again.
ENSIFERIUM
Dragonheads EP
Almost poppy death metal, if you can imagine that. The guitars sound like fifty million bucks, the drums sound great too & the wee little choon sounds like some fucking, I don't know, Scottish Highlander shit. Viking boat sea shanty 'sailing' 'together we fight' thing. The lead vocals are tuneless black metal. Weird. This is probably what passes for pop music in Europe now. It's not bang-your-head heavy. Or is it. Couple of progressive moments there with the time signature. Okay. The choral backing vocals are just weird. Oh shit, halfway through there's a keyboard-stab breakdown that sounds like vintage Yngwie or, heh, Europe. "Warrior's Quest" is like a Lord of the Rings ballad or some shit. Everyone slow-dance to the death metal now! "White Storm" adds a thrashy bit, almost a blastbeat but not quite. And yet, wow. Stunningly un-stunning. Take that, weird fake Euro poppy death metal.
MONO
You Are There
Six songs in an hour. The first track takes its time building up from cool ambience to spacy freak-out-rock. Sigur Ros minus the songs. It's kind of like Sonic Youth in reverse. Mono starts with a quiet, pretty riff-thing and adds or subtracts to the atmos from there. Slowly building. "Yearning" is 15.5 minutes of the same formula. Prettiness, starkness, minimalism, into full-bore rocking-out. Eh, it tickles my new Bark Psychosis bone. I like this a lot, hopefully I'll remember to listen to it again.
HARDKANDY
Last to Leave
Lo-fi/downtempo/chillout. American singer dude, not so sure. He's not bad but he's not exactly great either. His vocal style makes me think that he thinks he sounds like Jeff Buckley. I say that because of the falsetto action and the lyrics. "Triage" has a decent groove. "Advice" is like a dude version of Beth Orton. Meh. I mean, so many other artists do this sound so much better.
KELLEY STOLTZ
Below the Branches
Soaring piano-pop like Flaming Lips or an American hoping to sound like XTC. Layers of activity make the songs sound more interesting than they maybe really are. "Little Lords" starts with some sad alt-tuned acoustic guitar & singage, building up slowly & adding instruments as it goes. Beatley. So, what does that mean, Guided By Voices? Flaming Lips again? "Ever Thought of Coming Back" is a nice happy moper. "The Rabbit Hugged the Hound" is a happy happer. Not bad but not lifechanging either. Or maybe it is & I just need to hear it 50x in a row.
MESH
We Collide
All the generic band names today. We are Mono! We are Mesh! We are Feedback! We are Aether! This Mesh is dancey techno pop metal rock. Which means, "Open Up the Ground" has quarter-note bass drum pulses, Depeche Mode style synth treatments of basic chord patterns, distorted guitars on the chorus, and decent dude-vocals. These guys are definitely in Depeche mode. The production is very good. The vocals are compressed to hell. There are tunes. Couple of DM-style ballads. This is very well done for what it is. Unfortunately I also happen to have no use for what it is.
MATISYAHU
Youth
What the fuck is this shit? White college kids pretending to be from Kingston Jamaica? I don't fucking think so. It sounds like Snow fronting 311. Get this shit away from me now and let us never speak of it again.
THE FLAMING LIPS
At War with the Mystics
Speaking of Flaming Lips. Y'know, I've never been a fan, despite trying on several occasions to get into them. Whatever that means. The first song uses an old Casio patch that was also used by me. And later the Moonbabies. So, what can I say, this sounds like the fucking Flaming Lips to me. End of story. You don't need me to tell you what to think. There are more layers of meaning in every song than I'm prepared to deal with right now, frankly.
SHE WANTS REVENGE
She Wants Revenge
Oh shit, Interpol got a drum machine!
THE WONDER STUFF
Suspended by Stars
It's been a long time since the Stuffies troubled the British top 40. And even longer since they troubled the American top 40, ie never. Two true statements that have no bearing on anything. I've only gotten into the early Wonder Stuff albums recently. I was always more of a Neddies fan myself. And Poppies. The Stuff doesn't suck, nor does it rule. Old-timey guitar rock with nice choruses & choony verses. I mean, if I listened to this in the car every day for a month it would probably be my favorite. Or not. His lyrics are cheesedick quite a high proportion of the time. Not that Ned's lyrics weren't. Or the Poppies, at times. So, fair play to them, I guess.
I just downloaded iTunes to hear a 22 second preview of the newest XTC single, the digital-only "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?" This was one of Colin Moulding's better songs put forward for Nonsvch in 1990/91, out of a batch of at least ten complete stunners. This 2006 recording fits neatly between the two 'Apple Veni' - an uptempo rockerbopper with pizzicato strings. It sounds like a pastiche of Andy Partridge's latter-day songwriting style.
iTunes is a beast. I'm going to uninstall it now. Between WinAmp, Quicktime, RealPlayer and Windows Media, the last fucking thing my PC needs is one more system-hogging media player. My god.
CALEXICO
Garden Ruin
Modernish Americana acoustic twangy-voice almost country rock but not. "Cruel" gets down like a more self-aware American Music Club. Pedal steel. Horn section. "Yours and Mine" is acoustic guitar & singing. "Bisbee Blue" is moderately uptempo. I guess you guys who like Wilco and all that shit will already be lickin' this. Everyone else can join me in getting the hell away from it.
CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE
Etiquette
Damn, that dude's voice really sounded like Mark Eitzel at first. Shit freaked me out. Not so much now that I know it's snot him. What do you got here. You got lo fi drums, piano, maybe bass, maybe synths. And low-register mushmouth dude singing too many words, awkwardly. I guess I've heard worse, but I'm still glad the songs are short - 2-3 minutes each. "Young Shields" adds a tense but danceable drum groove & undulating bass bit to the sad synth chords & vocal mannerismae. "I Love Creedence" is more of the same & now I know what he's doing, he thinks he's Mark Kozelek - messy singing, highly personal lyrics, classic rock references. I get it now. "Love Connection" inserts similarly unsettled female vocals & lyrics to the mix, which is somehow preferable. "Holly Hobby" sounds like His Name Is Alive. Not horrible but still highly unlikely I'll listen again.
ENSIFERIUM
Dragonheads EP
Almost poppy death metal, if you can imagine that. The guitars sound like fifty million bucks, the drums sound great too & the wee little choon sounds like some fucking, I don't know, Scottish Highlander shit. Viking boat sea shanty 'sailing' 'together we fight' thing. The lead vocals are tuneless black metal. Weird. This is probably what passes for pop music in Europe now. It's not bang-your-head heavy. Or is it. Couple of progressive moments there with the time signature. Okay. The choral backing vocals are just weird. Oh shit, halfway through there's a keyboard-stab breakdown that sounds like vintage Yngwie or, heh, Europe. "Warrior's Quest" is like a Lord of the Rings ballad or some shit. Everyone slow-dance to the death metal now! "White Storm" adds a thrashy bit, almost a blastbeat but not quite. And yet, wow. Stunningly un-stunning. Take that, weird fake Euro poppy death metal.
MONO
You Are There
Six songs in an hour. The first track takes its time building up from cool ambience to spacy freak-out-rock. Sigur Ros minus the songs. It's kind of like Sonic Youth in reverse. Mono starts with a quiet, pretty riff-thing and adds or subtracts to the atmos from there. Slowly building. "Yearning" is 15.5 minutes of the same formula. Prettiness, starkness, minimalism, into full-bore rocking-out. Eh, it tickles my new Bark Psychosis bone. I like this a lot, hopefully I'll remember to listen to it again.
HARDKANDY
Last to Leave
Lo-fi/downtempo/chillout. American singer dude, not so sure. He's not bad but he's not exactly great either. His vocal style makes me think that he thinks he sounds like Jeff Buckley. I say that because of the falsetto action and the lyrics. "Triage" has a decent groove. "Advice" is like a dude version of Beth Orton. Meh. I mean, so many other artists do this sound so much better.
KELLEY STOLTZ
Below the Branches
Soaring piano-pop like Flaming Lips or an American hoping to sound like XTC. Layers of activity make the songs sound more interesting than they maybe really are. "Little Lords" starts with some sad alt-tuned acoustic guitar & singage, building up slowly & adding instruments as it goes. Beatley. So, what does that mean, Guided By Voices? Flaming Lips again? "Ever Thought of Coming Back" is a nice happy moper. "The Rabbit Hugged the Hound" is a happy happer. Not bad but not lifechanging either. Or maybe it is & I just need to hear it 50x in a row.
MESH
We Collide
All the generic band names today. We are Mono! We are Mesh! We are Feedback! We are Aether! This Mesh is dancey techno pop metal rock. Which means, "Open Up the Ground" has quarter-note bass drum pulses, Depeche Mode style synth treatments of basic chord patterns, distorted guitars on the chorus, and decent dude-vocals. These guys are definitely in Depeche mode. The production is very good. The vocals are compressed to hell. There are tunes. Couple of DM-style ballads. This is very well done for what it is. Unfortunately I also happen to have no use for what it is.
MATISYAHU
Youth
What the fuck is this shit? White college kids pretending to be from Kingston Jamaica? I don't fucking think so. It sounds like Snow fronting 311. Get this shit away from me now and let us never speak of it again.
THE FLAMING LIPS
At War with the Mystics
Speaking of Flaming Lips. Y'know, I've never been a fan, despite trying on several occasions to get into them. Whatever that means. The first song uses an old Casio patch that was also used by me. And later the Moonbabies. So, what can I say, this sounds like the fucking Flaming Lips to me. End of story. You don't need me to tell you what to think. There are more layers of meaning in every song than I'm prepared to deal with right now, frankly.
SHE WANTS REVENGE
She Wants Revenge
Oh shit, Interpol got a drum machine!
THE WONDER STUFF
Suspended by Stars
It's been a long time since the Stuffies troubled the British top 40. And even longer since they troubled the American top 40, ie never. Two true statements that have no bearing on anything. I've only gotten into the early Wonder Stuff albums recently. I was always more of a Neddies fan myself. And Poppies. The Stuff doesn't suck, nor does it rule. Old-timey guitar rock with nice choruses & choony verses. I mean, if I listened to this in the car every day for a month it would probably be my favorite. Or not. His lyrics are cheesedick quite a high proportion of the time. Not that Ned's lyrics weren't. Or the Poppies, at times. So, fair play to them, I guess.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
APPETITE
dammit, I got shnookered by this bogus 'lost 1998 album' by Dead Can Dance. It's...not them. Or is it? It sure as hell sounds like the music could be them. The singing definitely isn't them. So, what the hell. I thought I was onto something hotttt there, first thing. Now, nada.
DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND
Synchrestra
I guess this is what happens when a 'metal dude' wants to do something different. He alienates everyone. I dunno. It's not horrible, there are neat riffs 'n' shit in spots. And some of the clean/alternately-tuned guitar stuff is okayish. But in the end it sounds like a violent and pointless collision between the new age and death metal genres. Which, usually I'm all for violent and pointless collisions. Lots of pianos and strings. Uh-oh, "Babysong". The name alone should be enough of a clue. It sounds like either he just got married or he just had a kid and now he's trying to write heavy metal lullabies... or, I know, something 'pretty'. Eugh. Then "Vampolka" = 90 seconds of bogus oompah. Then "Vampira", more of the same, but with singing. I don't know.
MUSLIMGAUZE
Speaker of Turkish
Minimal electronic beats with effects and sampled native music instruments with names I can't spell let alone pronounce. I have to tread very carefully when describing things from cultures I'm not conversant with. There are a few sizzly samples fading in & out across the stereo spectrum. "Bedouin Tablet" is 16 minutes of calm abuse. Easy listening but not. "The Good Muslim (reprise)" is another almost ten minutes of the same.
NORFOLK & WESTERN
A Gilded Age
Well, I like the band name and the album title, so that's two points right off the bat. Track one, "Porch Destruction" - another good title, and a slow, quiet fade-in with strings and acoustic guitar. Ooh, light drums. This could be great. It could still all go pear-shaped too though. Violin. There's the singer's voice. Uh oh. Light upper ranged dude with harrrrd Amerrrrican accent. The music is nice, so nice. The chorus is okay, joined by a female vocalist. And then it rocks quietly with distorted guitar and the strings go all swoony. Heh, "Porch Destruction", that's funny. It's funny because it's irrelevant and unexpected. Blistered distorto guitar solo. "A Gilded Age" gets down with a wimpy but able groove and...is that a banjo? Are you fuckers taking the piss? BANJO? I think it is. But it's not bad. I'm shocked. I'm shocked that there's a banjo coming out of the speakers and I'm still listening to it. This track is way uptempo, still using strings and the eventual blistering distortated guitar solo. Offset by more fuckin' banjo. The drums and bass are off in disco-land. This is the track. Oh shit, steel guitar too. Wimpy disco rock with banjo and pedal steel guitar, you've got to be shitting me. Etc.
EDGUY
Rocket Ride
I think this may be a Euro pop-metal band. Bear in mind that pop-metal no longer means Winger. Nice pianos and analog synth line on the 8-min opener, "Sacrifice". Dynamics. The singer sounds like every other metal singer. Maybe it does mean Winger after all. And "Rocket Ride" isn't a KISS cover, which is the only thing I wanted to know. "Fucking With Fire (Hair Force One)" is a pure 80s throwback, not in a good way.
GRANDADDY
Just Like the Fambly Cat
Hm,piano, lo-fi little-kid-voice at the beginning. "What Happened?" Then "Jeez Louise" rox like a regular rock band. Maybe it rox more than regular, what's the benchmark anymore? The excessive vocal harmonies get on my tits pretty quickly, but the rest isn't bad. I guess that's the deal.
INDEX AI
World Blade Center
Hm, neither dancey techno nor techno-pop. The singer dude kinda raps in a way, not unlike yer favorite early 1990s Wax Trax recs. Personally it gets on my nerves after the first song. The music has a lot of potential - dancefloor and otherwise - but it's compromised by the monotonous vocalage. But that's just me. You might hear this and be like it's the second coming of the second coming of the second coming of Bill Leeb and Gary Numans' gay fuck love child's second coming.
DEVIN TOWNSEND BAND
Synchrestra
I guess this is what happens when a 'metal dude' wants to do something different. He alienates everyone. I dunno. It's not horrible, there are neat riffs 'n' shit in spots. And some of the clean/alternately-tuned guitar stuff is okayish. But in the end it sounds like a violent and pointless collision between the new age and death metal genres. Which, usually I'm all for violent and pointless collisions. Lots of pianos and strings. Uh-oh, "Babysong". The name alone should be enough of a clue. It sounds like either he just got married or he just had a kid and now he's trying to write heavy metal lullabies... or, I know, something 'pretty'. Eugh. Then "Vampolka" = 90 seconds of bogus oompah. Then "Vampira", more of the same, but with singing. I don't know.
MUSLIMGAUZE
Speaker of Turkish
Minimal electronic beats with effects and sampled native music instruments with names I can't spell let alone pronounce. I have to tread very carefully when describing things from cultures I'm not conversant with. There are a few sizzly samples fading in & out across the stereo spectrum. "Bedouin Tablet" is 16 minutes of calm abuse. Easy listening but not. "The Good Muslim (reprise)" is another almost ten minutes of the same.
NORFOLK & WESTERN
A Gilded Age
Well, I like the band name and the album title, so that's two points right off the bat. Track one, "Porch Destruction" - another good title, and a slow, quiet fade-in with strings and acoustic guitar. Ooh, light drums. This could be great. It could still all go pear-shaped too though. Violin. There's the singer's voice. Uh oh. Light upper ranged dude with harrrrd Amerrrrican accent. The music is nice, so nice. The chorus is okay, joined by a female vocalist. And then it rocks quietly with distorted guitar and the strings go all swoony. Heh, "Porch Destruction", that's funny. It's funny because it's irrelevant and unexpected. Blistered distorto guitar solo. "A Gilded Age" gets down with a wimpy but able groove and...is that a banjo? Are you fuckers taking the piss? BANJO? I think it is. But it's not bad. I'm shocked. I'm shocked that there's a banjo coming out of the speakers and I'm still listening to it. This track is way uptempo, still using strings and the eventual blistering distortated guitar solo. Offset by more fuckin' banjo. The drums and bass are off in disco-land. This is the track. Oh shit, steel guitar too. Wimpy disco rock with banjo and pedal steel guitar, you've got to be shitting me. Etc.
EDGUY
Rocket Ride
I think this may be a Euro pop-metal band. Bear in mind that pop-metal no longer means Winger. Nice pianos and analog synth line on the 8-min opener, "Sacrifice". Dynamics. The singer sounds like every other metal singer. Maybe it does mean Winger after all. And "Rocket Ride" isn't a KISS cover, which is the only thing I wanted to know. "Fucking With Fire (Hair Force One)" is a pure 80s throwback, not in a good way.
GRANDADDY
Just Like the Fambly Cat
Hm,piano, lo-fi little-kid-voice at the beginning. "What Happened?" Then "Jeez Louise" rox like a regular rock band. Maybe it rox more than regular, what's the benchmark anymore? The excessive vocal harmonies get on my tits pretty quickly, but the rest isn't bad. I guess that's the deal.
INDEX AI
World Blade Center
Hm, neither dancey techno nor techno-pop. The singer dude kinda raps in a way, not unlike yer favorite early 1990s Wax Trax recs. Personally it gets on my nerves after the first song. The music has a lot of potential - dancefloor and otherwise - but it's compromised by the monotonous vocalage. But that's just me. You might hear this and be like it's the second coming of the second coming of the second coming of Bill Leeb and Gary Numans' gay fuck love child's second coming.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
HALF FAST
CENTRO-MATIC
Fort Recovery
Misra Records
Sounds like a more-fuzzed American Music Club. Doesn't everyone, though. (I just heard Poster Children "Tool of the Man" (1993) and that does the whole 'deep' yank guitar honkey thing just so much better across the board. Poster Children rocks more and is more melodic. And rocks less, you figure it out.) Oh, wait, Centro-matic uses kooky synth sounds. But, yeah, AMC did that too. Better. "Take a Rake" rounds out the decathlon and rocks, at least on the surface. And the surface is where all the action is, apparently.
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
The Life Pursuit
What the hell is this? You know I'm normally a fan of anything wussy and ghey in pop music. The only other time I tried listening to Belle and Sebastian, I had a violent reaction that could only be subdued by listening to Pantera and wearing a red bandana on my head. This time, it's not that severe. I mean, I've certainly heard worse. And this IS pretty wussy and ghey. Surprisingly very not bad. I'll have to hear it again sometime.
DELAYS
You See Colours
Effected female vocals and synth pokes open the first track. And then the drums come in and it's all upbeat. "You and Me". Maybe it's designed to trigger that Katrina & The Waves response because I'm ready to get up and bop my head around. That's a compliment. "Valentine" is the female-fronted variant on the nouveau Duran Duranine strain of the recent past. Updated their synth tones & dance beats along the way. But yeah. It's melodic and you can dance to it without even trying to be ironic. Whoa, "Sink Like a Stone" almost sounds like XTC. I definitely need to hear this again.
FURTHEST FROM THE STAR
This Waking Moment
Holy fuck I feel old. They should change their name to FOO-THEST FROM THE FIGHTERS. Because it's just so fucking blatant. My god. The problem with the kidz today is that they take the fun out of everything. It's all so contrived. The magic is all just CGI effects. If this band has a video, and I'm sure they do, it's surely a special-effects circle jerk. I can't listen to this, it gives me grey hairs.
GRAHAM COXON
Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
Lots of guitar. Floor tom. Big-boy chords. Euw, but that singing voice. Could I listen to that for an hour? Hm. Maybe. Hey Graham, got your Coxon? He were in Bluh, weren't he. And at least his british accent is real, I guess. It's less annoying than Blur ever were. But that was also, if Blur ever had appeal to me, which is certainly debatable, part of the draw. It's confusing but at least it doesn't suck shit, as far as I can tell.
THE KOOKS
Inside Out
Guess what. This could be any other brit-wank guitar band that's out at the moment. What do the Kooks bring to the party? Is what I wanna know. I mean, you know how the Strokes singer dude kinda sounds like he's singing with a British accent, kinda? This guy sounds like that too, only he is British. You understand my confusion. Regardless. The guitar-y music isn't bad at all. I just think it might get annoying pretty quickly.
TRESSPASSERS WILLIAM
Having
I've heard good things about this band. Apparently it's all deserved. You got yer sexy-soundin' breathy female singerist, yer late night sound effects, yer ambientish keys and chords. This is all the first track, "Safe Sound". It's nice, it sounds like Mojave Three plus Sigur Ros. And I only invoke the name of Sigur Ros due the scope of the songs, they have the same kind of filmic approach to songmaking. And they're slow & quiet too, which counts for a lot with me. DON'T FUCKIN' ROCK! Sexy. You go buy now. Get me one while you're there. Thankie hankie poo-poo.
THE STROKES
First Impressions of Earth
Do I have to? I mean, I thought their first album was, like, "The La's" of this decade. Y'know, a debut album with almost-all fucking killer songs that you just can't argue with. I mean, you can make all the faces you want, but in the end, the shit sticks with you. I don't know if this album is any good as a whole but it hasn't grabbed me like the first one did. And "Ask Me Anything" is actually annoying, so points off for that.
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