Briefly review something you heard recently (or are listening to now)

To start off, I'm mostly through listening to Jellyfish's first album for the first time now, and I gotta say, I'm underwhelmed. Perhaps this is more hype backlash than anything, but the music isn't nearly as catchy or full-of-life as I'd been told before. Most of it is just dull, bland, and uninteresting. There are a few gems later in the album—"Now She Knows She's Wrong" actually got me a little bit excited, "She Still Loves Him" sounds like it could've been a latter-day Electric Light Orchestra song (for better or worse), and the single "Baby's Coming Back" is pretty strong, even if the music seems a bit too folksy for the mood it's trying to establish, though I love the song's bridge. However, most of the album, especially its first half, is way too mellow (in a bad way) to keep me interested at all. It just doesn't have a good amount of energy, which is a bit disappointing considering their influences have made some of the most energetic pop-rock music of all time. I see potential in them, but the songs aren't quite there. *shrug* Maybe their second album is better.

I've also relatively recently started listening to the Pokemon 2.B.A. Master album a bit lately, which is jolly good nostalgic fun, but I realize now that most of it is really cheesy.

YOUR TURN!

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Haha. Do you know something funny? I just listened to Rebecca Black's "Saturday" minutes ago. I was watching Youtubers React and it was a part for the React Series. A bunch of Youtubers, including Rebecca Black herself (!), were told to watch the music video of "Saturday" and tell their opinions. Most of them thought it's fine but not something they would listen for a long time. Duh! Me too!

She's Rebecca Black. Her songs are not meant to be taken seriously. "Saturday" is a decent song. Definitely not as atrocious as "Friday" musically and vocally. The only thing that stands out is the beat in the chorus. Dave Days was featured and his rap verses do nothing for the song. I wonder why people detest the song so much. I think it's more pleasing to the ears than the latest songs by Katy Perry and Selena Gomez.

I give it a 6/10. Yes, my standards for mainstream Top 40 radio fluff are so low, it makes Todd in the Shadows cringe.

edited 20th Feb '14 10:15:21 PM by tropeslave

There's this Irish Noise Rock band called Girl Band that I've recently encountered. Awesome, harsh, actually pretty heavy big beat techno influenced stuff. Their song Lawman is outstanding, as is their cover of Blawan's Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage.

edited 21st Feb '14 1:31:49 AM by porschelemans

I'm so sorry that my avatar doesn't appear fully in the shot, but the cat was threatening the photographer.

Been listening to Gorillaz' Plastic Beach on the way to and from work.

There's a lot to like about it, but it has some faults that stand out to someone accustomed to more cohesive concept albums. While I enjoy pretty much every track, with my standouts being Rhinestone Eyes, Empire Ants and Glitter Freeze, and they do link back to the idea of the 'Plastic Beach', I feel it's nowhere near as focused as it should be as a concept album based upon a world.

A good comparison to draw is Queens Of The Stone Age and their album Songs For The Deaf, something else I've also been listening to recently. It is a loose concept album, simply based upon the idea of listening to different music stations during a trip interstate (as far as I can tell it's interstate America - could be different county stations, I have no clue). It makes sense to have erratic tracks and it can get away with it.

Plastic Beach, however, doesn't seem quite so well done in building this world up. It may be a misconception of mine in the listening of it - the second track Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach gives me the feeling this was supposed to be a world building exercise in musical form but it's not clicking with me in that way. In all fairness, I may just not be getting the original idea behind it.

Despite all this, I like the album. There's a track for most occasions to be found and it's fun.

YUUGI WANTS YOU FOR DRINKING BUDDY

I've been trying to get into Gorillaz, starting with "Feel Good Inc." since I often use bands' most famous hits as the starting point, but the convoluted lyrics are a sticking point for me. I like the feel of the music and the whole virtual band concept, but what's all this stuff about ponies at the track, windmills for the land, killing the Inc., getting it and shitting it, and so on? What are you trying to say, songwriters?!?

The lyrics symbolise the fact that The Walrus Was Paul.

If you like Gorillaz, personally I'd recommend the album '13' by Damon Albarn's first band music/blur. It's an excellent combination of noise rock, country, and ambient techno. Or something.

edited 21st Feb '14 10:25:36 AM by porschelemans

I'm so sorry that my avatar doesn't appear fully in the shot, but the cat was threatening the photographer.

I've been listening a lot to Wasting Light by Foo Fighters since I picked it up for only €4 at a thrift shop, and I like it a lot. Every song is fun to listen to and they all have absolutely brilliant choruses, but what really surprises me is how much it actually rocks. For someone who only knew songs of them like "Learn To Fly", "My Hero" and "Best Of You" things like "Bridge Burning" and "White Limo" are quite surprising.

edited 21st Feb '14 10:18:27 AM by Rvdz

Sing the song of sixpence that goes burn the witch, we know where you live

I recommend the self-titled Foo Fighters album, which has some of their heaviest songs. In particular, "White Limo" is pretty much a throwback to stuff like "Weenie Beenie".

Yeah, I feel like Gorillaz lyrics are written more to sound cool/interesting alongside the music than to actually express anything (except maybe in a very abstract way).

John Frusciante - Niandra Lades And Usually Just A T-Shirt. The youtube equivalent of a Wiki Walk led me from an old Red Hot Chili Peppers music video to a full upload of the solo debut of their most well-known guitarist. It's a really strange, experimental album, but I find it pretty intriguing and haunting - I'd compare it to Syd Barrett's solo albums, Captain Beefheart, or "What it would sound like if Tim Buckley recorded Starsailor entirely by himself using Guided by Voices' recording equipment". The standout for me is a softer and slower deconstruction of Bad Brains' "The Big Takeover". Aside from the production and meandering song structures, the main thing I can see turning someone away is John Frusciante's rough vocals and tendency to go into a quivering falsetto... But in that case you might still enjoy the mostly instrumental "Usually Just A T-Shirt" half, where the focus is mainly just short, ambient guitar pieces.

edited 21st Feb '14 10:10:10 PM by MikeK

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

At first, I dismissed Beyoncé's fifth album because I didn't know it was released, but I'm loving her songs "Drunk In Love" and "Blow." Yes, I do notice most of the songs in the album is about sex, but I still love the music!

edited 22nd Feb '14 7:53:30 PM by MsCC93

After giving it another good listening, I think I can safely say that Hot Space gets more hate than it deserves. Sure, Side 1 can leave you with the impression that the entire album is just dance music (not bad dance music either, it's actually pretty nice), but as soon as Side 2 starts up, it's Queen doing what Queen usually does. A hard rocker, two ballads that pose different feelings (one's more "yay love is nice" and the other is literally "life's a bitch"), a pretty relaxed rocker, a forgetful track, and then the track that everyone remembers.

Overall, while it isn't Queen at their finest, it's most certainly an enjoyable album through and through and I was quite pleased with both the more traditional numbers along with the funkier ones. I'd say my favourite track for each side is "Action This Day" and "Put Out The Fire", respectively.

Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill soundtrack. This is amazing at hitting that certain mysterious, dread-filled mood the game requires, and I like that there's the occasional bit of "eerie but melodic" to balance out the pure Hell Is That Noise. Naturally, this isn't for every mood and probably wouldn't be something you'd put on in the background while browsing facebook... Maybe do what I did and browse the Creepypasta wiki instead, or curl up with a good Horror novel (or short story collection)... Hell, maybe if you're truly daring, you could wait for an overcast, foggy night and take a walk alone around the block with this playing in your ear-buds.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Fantasy: Vivariatum

First off: that title screws me up every time. I never know if I spelled it right, even though I'm looking at it right now.

This is a barrel-scraping effort: pretty much split evenly between bad psychedelia with poor production values and dreadful singing (the 1970 acetate demos) and lame mid-70s pop-rock with tape dropouts (the 1976 demos). Plopped down in the middle of all that is "I Was Once Aware," a lovely 1973 single B-side, which really sticks out in such dismal company, and really belongs on the CD issue of Paint a Picture as a bonus track.

Well, there's also the original, extended version of "Afterthought," but that's, again, spoiled by the basement production and the hideous vocals. Besides, later issues of the archival second album Beyond the Beyond tacked on the 1970 Chapel Farm demos, so you really don't need this, unless you're super curious about the "easy-listening folk-rock" edition of the band from 1976.

edited 28th Feb '14 12:11:46 PM by Bananaquit

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

REM - Eponymous. A pretty good place to start with pre-major label R.E.M., even though as a Greatest Hits Album it's kind of been superseded twice over - once by And I Feel Fine and once by disc one of Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage. On the other hand, I have almost all of the albums this compilation covers, and I still bought it for cheap because there's some stuff that, so far as I know, you can only find on CD here: Namely, "Romance", the original single version of "Radio Free Europe", and the "Mutual Drum Horn Mix" of "Finest Worksong".

Dukes Of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot. The Dukes Of Stratosphear were essentially XTC's Affectionate Parody of 60's psychedelic pop. This album is a little bit less reliant on full-on style parodies than their other release, 25 O'Clock: There are definitely specific artists being homaged here ("Vanishing Girl" = The Hollies, "Braniac's Daughter" = The Beatles, and most blatantly "Pale And Precious" = The Beach Boys), but a lot of it just sounds like a psychedelic-ized XTC album. But the important part is it's an irresistibly catchy set of songs.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Within Temptation ft. Tarja- Paradise (What About Us?)

This song makes me happy as a singer. Tarja's operatic voice makes me feel like a tone deaf toad, but needless to say it keep listening. Mix it with Der Adel's also unbelievable voice and it's just amazing. Throw in the band's regular fare of heavy guitars and great rhythm and it makes you wonder who did something good enough for this. Was it just the collective fan base of both artists who pooled karma points or what?

Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines Of God. The last proper Smashing Pumpkins release to include the full original lineup ^note Machina II was recorded by most of the same lineup, but is technically unreleased, the band having leaked it online when the label wouldn't put it out... And also, D'arcy left the band in the middle of recording the album - she's credited in the liner notes but wikipedia says James Iha recorded at least some of the bass parts instead. It's kind of flawed - For me the most glaring fault is a pretty abrasive mix: The guitar and vocals are generally pumped up way louder than everything else, and the result is kind of wearying over the course of 70 minutes. The other issue is that it'd probably be a stronger album if chopped in half, but even as someone who likes the band I tend to have that problem in general with their albums. Still, there are some really good tracks, the best of which tend to feel like a more "alternative rock"-flavored version of Adore. A few favorites would be "Stand Inside Your Love", "Try Try Try" and "Wound".

Atmosphere - Godlovesugly. My first Atmosphere album and almost my first time hearing them in general (surprisingly, I remember a now defunct rock station near me playing "Trying To Find A Balance" from Seven's Travels). On first listen I mainly like this for the frequently jazzy production, which is not to say I don't like the rapping too. Also, I only just figured out that they probably picked the least flattering picture of Slug possible for the cover on purpose, just to go with the title. Favorite tracks include "Hair", "Breathing", and "Modern Man's Hustle".

edited 8th Mar '14 11:29:44 PM by MikeK

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

okay so i randomly acquired the ep "Keanu Reeves" by Heavy Skulls, mostly because it's called Keanu Reeves. it's a weird dark sort of industrialish ep with three tracks. it sort of pulls you into this weird dark noisey place that defies all ways to put it into a neat little box that you can enjoy. i'm not going to say that i fully "get" the ep or anything, it kind of just sounds like noise for the sake of noise. that being said, it's not terribly long and it is a really interesting alternative to, i dunno, whatever else people listen to now.

i dont know where to start secret movie club for cool ppl

Shoeshiners, friend. They listen to shoeshiners.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Is that like Shoegazing, but more polished?

Zwan - Mary Star Of The Sea. There was apparently both fan backlash and Creator Backlash towards this album ^note  The latter apparently has more to do with an acrimonious split-up than the actual music though, but I liked it at the time, and I find I still do. It sounds like The Smashing Pumpkins in the way that pretty much anything guitar-based that has both Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin would, but with much more emphasis on the Glam Rock and The Cure ^note and I'm mainly thinking of super-poppy Cure songs like "Just Like Heaven" influences.

edited 9th Mar '14 4:53:16 PM by MikeK

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Hobbs' Angel of Death (self-titled): No relation to the Slayer song, but the band does sound eerily similar. Basically Slayer from down unda, mate. Very much worth your time, if you can find it.

Okay, that made me laugh out loud in class

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Alphaville - Big In Japan. They're best known in America (and thus, by me) for "Big In Japan" and "Forever Young", both of which are on this album. On first listen, not all of it is catchy as those two songs, though there are moments - I think "Fallen Angel" could have been a good contender as a single. But I'd say it's recommendable for anyone already into Synth-Pop - these are some really elegantly produced, creatively arranged songs. Also, it can be a little surprising to learn they're German (aside from the fact that a few lyrical references make it plain) - Marian Gold often sounds a lot like Bryan Ferry.

edited 13th Mar '14 7:59:08 PM by MikeK

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Chicago II: One question—how the hell do you go from this to dreck like "You're the Inspiration"?

In all seriousness, though, this might just be one of the most original albums I've heard in a long time. Chicago seamlessly blends jazz, rock, pop, and even classical influences into a nice, downright funky package. Recommended for both those who love them blaring horn sections and for those who like a lilting symphony (as it has a suite or two on it that could certainly be classified as classical). Wonderful, highly original album that I feel like anyone and everyone should have to give a listen.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

ZZ Top - Eliminator

First time I listened to this a few years back, I didn't think much of it because I just wasn't into Rock at the time. Lately I've been on a music binge so I decided to give it another spin, and... Wow. This may just be one of my favorite albums. Every single track is a winner, and even the worst ones on here are just good as opposed to aw yeah this is awesome. "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," "I Got The Six" and "TV Dinners" stood out as the best of the bunch, and "Six" in particular made me want to press rewind and play it again. If the rest of ZZ Top's library is as great as this one, then I may have just found a new favorite artist.

So, do you like Chicago II more or less than Chicago Transit Authority? I think I prefer CTA, myself.

edited 14th Mar '14 8:24:22 AM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

Funny thing, I haven't actually listened to CTA aside from "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "I'm a Man". I'd thought I got both that and II, but I overlooked that I didn't. Ah well. I'll be sure to answer your question soon as I get to listening to CTA though

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.