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

Magazine - Secondhand Daylight

Is their debut, Real Life was mostly straightforward in regards to most of its songs (both lyrically and musically), their follow-up was certainly more abstract and closed off in nature. It felt impenetrable at times, but future listens will probably make me appreciate this album more. Because it's a pretty good album. From the unusual opener ("Feed The Enemy") towards a really dark closer ("Permafrost", with its infamous chorus - if one can call it a chorus - line "I will drug you and fuck you / Under permafrost"), there is a blinding sound pervading it throughout. I think that it's... the kind of blinding guitar and keyboard sounds that the 80's would later on ruin completely by removing any of the edge, innovation and alienation contained within.

It's a great album for these times of insecurity. Chiefly because it shows it through in all its ambiguity, a need for something better ("Back To Nature"), or the difficulty in establishing emotional connections during sex ("Believe That I Understand").

And, as such, it will take time (and future listening sessions) for me (and anyone who listens it the first time) to really digest it.

Green Day-Shenanigans. It's a b-side album, but it's one of the better ones out there as it flows like an actual album and not just a compilation. Songs like Suffocate, Sick of Me, and Do Da Da are up there with some of their best songs. If you're one of those GD fans who didnt like the direction they took with American Idiot, this album is for you.

I got to see a local group a few months ago. Finns Motel is a pretty good group.

First song I heard of theirs is called Sons of Saturn, and I have to say, it's one of my favorite songs now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1pGGCnBVKM

I like the guitar work in the opening, and the song itself is pretty catchy, but not really like anything I have heard recently. Almost has kind of a 90s sound to it. They almost remind me of Marcy Playground (not Sex and Candy, but other songs on that first album of theirs.) This song is from 2017. I like the bridge, too.

Dark Horse Comic: http://www.crystallotuschronicles.com/comic/prophecy/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Ashleen

Somewhat delving into Christmas (or at least "winter") themed music:

Andrew Huang - Winter. The Youtuber and Songs to Wear Pants To guy is mostly known for humorous music, but that's just one side of him. In 2014, he made a quartet of albums meant to go with the four seasons, both in terms of themes and overall sound. Winter focuses on the more melancholy emotions associated with the season, but it's not overwhelmingly dark or anything. Certain songs make me think of The Shins, Radiohead, or Arcade Fire, all fairly "winter-y" artists I guess.

They Might Be Giants - Holidayland EP. A compilation of loosely holiday-themed songs the band have done over the years, with the earliest song dating from 1988 and the most recent from 2001. Because it's a compilation, there's not a lot of cohesion - heck, "Careless Santa" isn't even technically by TMBG, but by John Flansburgh's side project Mono Puff. Still, these are all pretty good songs, most of which aren't available on their proper albums, so it's a good buy for diehard fans.

Weezer - Christmas With Weezer. Weezer rearrange six traditional Christmas carols in their usual Power Pop style. The results are fine, but almost too predictable... But it turns out these recordings were originally made for a mobile rhythm game, so I guess they were going for something that was 1) instantly recognizable as the "Weezer" sound, and 2) easy to base a rhythm game chart around. The album this most reminds me of is The Green Album, I guess because of the simple arrangements and singalongable melodies. Green has always been a "summer" kind of album for me, so I guess I see myself giving this an occasional replay if I want to listen to something "basic" by Weezer, but it's December.

Edited by MikeK on Dec 7th 2018 at 10:03:44 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

The Raincoats by The Raincoats - A highly chaotic (with coherent bits and bases buried underneath) post-punk (but with a lot of punk, and a slightly dispassionate cover of The Kinks' "Lola" in it) album - understandbly so, in that gloriously/infamously chaotic year of 1979, music/politics-wise. "Fairytale in the Supermarket" is a solid opener, brimming with energy and satire in equal measure, while "The Void" is a black hole of musical sounds in permanent maelstrom. They would get better, such as in...

Odyshape. A highly complex construction of sounds in a way that is very feminine (the virtue of the Raincoats was that they were one of the first female-led groups - alongside other notorious post-punk groups such as the Slits or Au Pairs - to build a sound and/or a message that was the total opposite of both pretty conventional female singers and leather-wearing valkyries (e.g. Chrissie Hynde) in that time period. Vicky Aspinall's violin became more prominent here, while Ana da Silva comes forth with her vocals on some tracks (think of, say, Judy Collins, but without any typical folk stylings). They've noticeably improved in this album compared to their homonymous debut (in spite of the closing track, "Go Away", being a clear call-back, sound-wise, to that album), but they would be on the move a little bit later, by, essentially...

Moving... towards a more clear-cut sound (in spite of the group begining to fall apart a bit), a noticeable amount of playfulness ("Dance of Hopping Mad", my current big favourite Raincoats track, and "Animal Rhapsody"), and bits of refined elegance here ("Overheard", my second big favourite Raincoats track at the moment, with Ana Da Silva's voice being equal parts sexy - in an unusual way - and comforting here). Aspinall's violin sounds a bit more conventional in this album, while still exploring musical forms that might be reminiscent of, say, Slavic folk music. The Raincoats showed a talent when it came to building musics out of disparate sounds. This could be the better gateway album towards their overall catalogue.

Edited by Quag15 on Dec 7th 2018 at 7:21:56 PM

I've only heard the first Raincoats album, but I enjoyed it. I'll have to check out the rest sometime.

So, as I mentioned in the Grammy thread, I'm trying to listen to every album nominated in the rock category - I might do this for a few other categories too (I'm considering "album of the year", "alternative", maybe "electronic and/or "hip hop"). Right now I've gotten to everything nominated for "best rock album" but Fallout Boy's Mania:

Ghost - Prequelle. So, this band turns out to be a little less heavy than their image suggests, but I enjoyed this. In spirit, if not overall sound, this album reminds me a lot of Welcome To My Nightmare and other Bob Ezrin-produced Alice Cooper.

Weezer - Pacific Daydream. I hated this when it first came out - now I feel like it's never going to be among my favorite of their albums, but it's grown on me. The production and arrangements took some getting used to for me because they are very 2017 "alternative" as opposed to the 90's alternative the band originally came out of - guitars are always there but not usually the focus (and nothing that would qualify as a solo), even when there's live drums, they're mixed to sound like a drum machine, and in general it never feels like four guys playing in a room together. The melodies are often very good though.

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog. Though there's a certain "bite" to Layne Staley's vocals that's always going to be missing now, this is still a pretty good set of songs that stay true to their signature sound without feeling like a rehash.

Greta Van Fleet - From The Fires. This one's eligibility sort of confused me - Wikipedia calls it a "double EP", whatever that is, and most review sites are treating Anthem of the Peaceful Army as the debut (the latter came out in October, which I guess was too late for nomination). The main criticism I've seen against these guys is essentially they copied Led Zeppelin so they suck, and it's not exactly untrue - their main influence seems to be 70's hard rock/metal in general, some songs could even be considered Suspiciously Similar Songs to specific Zep songs ("Highway Song" is basically "The Rover" played faster), and Josh Kiszka has a similar vocal style to Robert Plant and even uses some of the same lyrical tics (e.g. "baby", "oh mama"). I'm still inclined to like this album because I like Led Zeppelin and they put in energetic performances, but at the same time I see things getting old if they don't expand things a bit and find their own style.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Death - Human (1991)

This was my first Death Metal record. It's decent. Not amazing but a decent record. The guitar playing is pretty good and I like the bass playing. The guitar solos are pretty nice and Chuck's vocals are good and his lyrics are interesting. The flaws I can find on this album are that it's a little too short(it's 34 minutes long.) I feel like it could've been longer. Also, I felt that the production on this album is a little dated. Overall, it's not a bad record. I'll check out some more of Death's stuff.

Favorite tracks: Suicide Machine, Together as One, Lack of Comprehension, See Through Dreams, Cosmic Sea, Secret Face.

Album: Heavier Than A Death in the Family

Artist/Band/Collective: Les Rallizes Dénudés

Genre: Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Somehow, someway this has become one of my favorite albums by one of my (now) favorite bands. The album opens up with ((Strung Out) Deeper Than the Night) what sounds like the ending of a psychedelic folk song before the drums come in. Steady and unnerving, they lead you into the increasing dissonance of the guitars foreshadowing a searing Wall of Noise coaxed by the ethereal, worn vocals of Takashi Mizutani. The song then begins to mutate from a Wall of Noise to a valley of sensory abuse going Up to, and past eleven. Creating a cacophony so grand, it is surprising that the while performing the song the speakers did not explode.^note This album was not recorded it was compiled from the band's live performances. Apparently, any attempts to record an album had went undone

Eventually, the track calms down, as if it were a feral animal that had just been tranquilized after tearing off both of your ears. That is the first track of this album. The second track (The Night Collectors) appears to be the band's answer to Punk Rock as they trade their Post-Rock-esque build up for a much faster take on their uproarious sound. The speed of the track does absolutely nothing to contain the beast that is the wall of noise that I dubbed it earlier. Instead, it seems as though the speed of the track makes it more rambunctious as the aural screeching of the guitars reach a fever pitch over and over again. Sounding much less like guitars and more like a plane crash. Wings breaking and tearing off, Rotors jamming and imploding, with the sound of wind flying through your ears as the very roof of your seat on the plane seems to have been blown off as the result of a suicide bomber.

The song ends as expected with it "crashing" just like last track leaving you at the brink of deafness (if you have been listening at full volume). Only for you, the dear listener, to realize no, it is not yet over. With only four tracks remaining on this album.The next track (Night of the Assassins) appears to be a a Pastiche of some sort. What with the quite blantant lifting of the bassline from the classic Rhythm and Blues stantard Stand By Me by Ben E. King. It sounds just as you would expect from a band so closely alligned with the Avant-garde, but with a almost carefree tone. You see, the vocals and guitars on this album have (up until this point) been morose, haunting, and burdensome. With the heavy fog of tumult created by the combined moans of the Yamaguchi's guitar and Mizutani's vocals, You will be very much surprised by the careless, worry-free nature of the song.

This worry-free tone would later be inundated with a much more somber one as we Enter the Mirror. This track is in-of-itself a masterpiece. If the band was not restricted by it's politics or national origin. I believe this song it particular would land them a Proto-Shoegaze label. As the track, although mired in noise, retreads that Psychedelic folk path hinted at at the very beginning of the album. It is lush, serene even, the way Mizutani sings and plays on this song. With him, performing decibel-grinding solos while moaning completely unintelligibly. Singing a wordless melancholy to indifferent void.

However, if you notice the pattern with this album you will realize that the ephemeral sentiments that you experience are noticed and segregated from you once the track ends. Although none of the tracks end abruptly, after spending so much time with them it feels like you have just watched a flower die. It's life not brief, but feeling as though it were a will-o'-wisp. Always far, already fleeting.

The next track (People Can Choose) almost punishes you for this feeling. Starting off like a continuation of the second track (The Night Collectors) it is just as frenetic and punky. With the guitarist making Sonic Youth seem like Dinosaur Jr. in comparison. This track knaws at you distortion and vocals screaming, shrieking, howling at the microphone and through the speaker. Reaffirming the voracity shown on the first two tracks and leading up to the last.

The final track (Ice Fire) is exactly what its name suggests. Sounding like being burned alive during a blizzard, this song amalgamates the heaving avalanche of noise that was Strung Out, the punky raggedness of The Night Collectors and People Can Choose and the jumpy, swaggering persona of Night of the Assassins. Ice Fire is the only track I believe could ever close an album of such moth-eaten reverie. The song out way blasts you with nothing but noise and a beat. Tearing away from any sentimental you may have had from any other song on this album. Effects are scattered all throughout the track, while that wall of noise I mentiond earlier becomes a bulwark. That is seemingly bent on drowning the vocalist in noise and static. The track ends in what sounds like a car crash, sans the crash. As if the track had collapsed on itself. Dying not like a flower, but like a colossus.

Bringing it all home, I hope this album stays with me for a long time submerging me in the of chaotic melancholy of Les Rallizes Dénudés.

Edited by KeironCioran on Dec 15th 2018 at 6:59:42 AM

tool - Lateralus

The song's title comes from the concept of lateral thinking - the intuitive ability for unconventional problem solving. This theme of transcending the borders of existing human experience is the song's Central Theme expressed through every available mean in the band's vast tool-set. The oft-quoted usage of the Fibonacci sequence in the songwriting is the main such tool, and is present not only in the arrangement of the lyrics and time signature, but in the very musical structure of the song itself, as the way it unfolds before you resembles how two-looped Fibonacci spiral unfolds out.

For the transcendence to happen, there must exist the borders to begin with, and "Lateralus's" first half, the first loop of the spiral, is all about getting the feel of the boundaries. The song starts with the repetition of the same subdued riff over Danny Carey's drumming building up the outward momentum that will permeate the whole song. After that, the music becomes more expressive, but the guitar work is still repetitive and predictable and Maynard James Keenan's vocal performance is timid, barely emotive and almost robotic in its delivery. We want to break free, but we keep hitting the walls and the ceiling when we spread our wings. We try thinking our way out, but, as the lyrics say -

- all it does is to accumulate tension, to compress the spring, and, indeed, the first loop ends with the lyrics -

- being almost screamed out in frustration, as if the tension became unbearable.

The second half of the song mirrors the first, it starts with the same subdued riff being repeated over and over, but the vocals are a lot more thoughtful and relaxed. Yes, we're treading the familiar grounds here, but familiar means boring, it's time we've used our newfound understanding of the rules, exercise our lateral thinking, go beyond what is established and draw different conclusions from the situation we've found ourselves in.

What happens right after the spring is let loose is a wild, unadulterated guitar solo that abandons form completely, yet, at the same time, feels organic and cathartic within the established musical narrative. When Keenan's vocals kick back in, they are filled with raw emotion that always comes with the freedom of expression, and the song keeps getting more and more bombastic, indicating that the Fibonacci spiral of our existence is unfolding, and nothing can stop it.

Tool do the last bit a bit too well: the string of climaxes of the finale overtopping themselves with each iteration can get overwhelming. But that's the whole point of the song, the Central Theme of transcendence: you always go beyond what is imaginable:

The Loudwire online magazine has put "Lateralus" at the top of their heavy metal song list of the century. The very existence of such lists is questionable at best, especially when the century isn't over yet and with tool's music own ambiguous genre identity. Is it the best metal song we've had so far? Definitely not. Is it the best song tool had ever written? Probably, at least the guys themselves say so. What it unambiguously is is a profound hymn for rising above the everyday struggles by finding inspiration within them, a celebration of a myriad ways the human beings' collective life experience can manifest itself, keep going no matter what, and spiral out into the alluring infinity of the unknown.

Edited by Millership on Dec 27th 2018 at 3:13:51 PM

Spiral out, keep going.

Greta Van Fleet-From the Fires (EP) and Anthem of the Peaceful Army (Full-length). The EP is pretty good 70s style rock, catchy at times and altogether enjoyable. Sadly, the full length is a bit too overblown, and while there are interesting parts of songs, the only song that I found to have any real hook was "When the Curtain Falls", which is what sold me on the band to begin with, ironically enough. Also, while they definitely are influenced by Zeppelin, it seems like they take more of their cues from the more hippie, folkish side of Zep as opposed to the more hard rocking side (there's nothing like Communication Breakdown or Rock and Roll here).

Big Audio Dynamite - No. 10, Upping Steet. It took Wikipedia explaining it to me to get that this album title is a fairly lame pun - the headquarters of the Government of the United Kingdom is Number 10 Downing Street, get it? Anyway, this is the Alternative Dance project of The Clash's Mick Jones - Joe Strummer was also involved with this particular album, producing a few songs, playing some additional guitar and co-writing with Mick a few times. It feels fairly of-its-time in terms of production and arrangements - some of the synth-bass and drum machine sounds feel like something you'd get out of a toy keyboard nowadays. It's still a pretty interesting album - kind of a continuation of the dancier/more experimental bits of Combat Rock and Sandinista!, and I can see it influencing other artists associated with "alternative dance" and related genres, like Gorillaz (especially the early stuff) or Odelay-era Beck.

Weezer - The Teal Album. A surprise-release cover album, probably at least partially done to capitalize on the unexpected success of their version of "Africa" (also the first track here). The main weakness this album has is a tendency to just mimic the original arrangements to the point of sounding like Rivers Cuomo karaoke, something that was true of "Africa" itself. It's a pretty fun, low-key kind of release though, and regardless of overexposed some of these songs are, they're all undeniably good ones. Most surprising cover choices: "No Scrubs" by TLC and "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. I believe "Paranoid" is sung by guitarist Brian Bell but I'm not sure (it definitely isn't Rivers Cuomo) - whoever it is he actually manages to sound somewhat like 70's-era Ozzy.

Edited by MikeK on Jan 30th 2019 at 3:39:25 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Out Kast - Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik (1994)

Now, I've been an Out Kast fan for many years now. I personally think that they're one of the best Hip-Hop duos of all time and have created some really good music. However, even though I've listened to their other albums, I didn't listen to their first album until today. Well, having listened through it, I can say that it's a good album and a great debut. The beats are really good and I really love the influence of funk and soul in them. I also think that the production still sounds pretty good for a album released in the mid 90's. Organized Noize did a really good on this. Last but not least, Dre and Big Boi are great on this album. It's hard to believe that they were teenagers when they made this album. The duo's flows are nice and smooth and show incredible skill. The lyrics are also pretty vivid in showing life growing up in the south surrounded by drugs, gangs, pimps, prostitutes, racism, and poverty. I found the lyrics to be pretty good and well written.

While I could heap some more praise on the album, I would like to talk more about the flaws. This album is pretty long. It's around 17 tracks and a few of those tracks are interludes. I feel like the album should've been shortened a bit by getting rid of the interludes. Also, a few of the tracks didn't really fit the album. Funky Ride, while a good song, feels a little out of place to me.

Despite the flaws I talked about, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is a good album from a great Hip-Hop group. The duo would continue to get better from here.

Favorite Tracks: Ain't No Thang, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, Call of da Wild, Player's Ball, Claimin' True, Git Up Git Out, Crumblin' Erb, Hootie Hoo, D.E.E.P, Player's Ball (Reprise)

Edited by pointless233 on Jan 26th 2019 at 2:16:23 PM

Weezer - The Black Album. I've listened a couple times and I still don't quite know what to think - this was initially hyped by the band as a Darker and Edgier album for them, but I don't really see it other than more casual swearing and maybe some trippy psych pop moments. It kinda feels like a slightly more "experimental" version of the last album. There's some interesting sounds and production but the songs feel kinda half-baked. I do think High As A Kite is one of their best recent songs, and Byzantine is pretty catchy.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Avril Lavigne-Head Above Water. This is a very mellow, ballad-driven album (with the exception of Dumb Blonde). It still works well, and her voice is better than ever.

I heard the title track on the radio sometime ago and was surprised it was her - more "mature" than most of her other singles I'm familiar with and a good demonstration of her singing ability. I'd kinda be interested in trying out the album based on this.

I picked a year out of a hat again and it's 1979:

Elvis Costello And The Attractions - Armed Forces. This was my first Elvis Costello album (years ago) and I still vaguely associate it with an old relationship. The most keyboard/synth-oriented of his first few albums, and it really showcases the talents of Steve Nieve, the group's keyboardist.

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp. I definitely picked this to follow the "vibe" of Armed Forces - at the time I guess he was kind of criticized as a Costello wannabe, and "Fools In Love" is dangerously close to a Suspisciously Similiar Song to "Watching The Detectives". Still, the songs are good and I'd say he had his own "lyrical" voice at this point even if the music builds upon that of another artist.

The Clash - London Calling. My first Clash album (also years ago). Initially I thought the first half was better than the first; the first record does have most of the "classics" - title track, Lost In The Supermarket, Rudy Can't Fail, etc), but the second has "Train In Vain" and a few should-be classics (e.g. Death Or Glory, The Card Cheat).

Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady. I try not to do compilations when I do this, but this is considered an iconic one and it's probably their most famous album. The version Spotify has includes additional singles and b-sides from the same era and it kind of bugs me; usually this sort of thing would be a plus on a compilation, but a few of these songs are dropped into the middle of the original tracklisting and wreck the flow a bit.

The Roches - The Roches. A contemporary folk trio who were also a band of sisters. I really like the mix of poignancy and quirky humor in the lyrics, and how intimate the production is (other than an electric guitar solo by Robert Fripp on "Hammond Song", the focus is mainly on their vocals and a single acoustic guitar. I was trying to figure out why opening track "We" sounded familiar and came to find out they appeared in a one-off Tiny Toon Adventures sketch, as a trio of surprisingly cute singing cockroaches ("roaches", get it?) in Hampton's kitchen. I never thought I'd get to namedrop both Tiny Toons and King Crimson reviewing the same album, but there you go.

Sparks - No. 1 In Heaven. The Mael brothers bring their unique sense of humor and melody-writing to the world of "disco", ending up influencing a lot of future synthpop in the process. I love imagining that they were asked to write a sexy, "I Feel Love"-style dance floor number and came out with "Tryouts For The Human Race", which definitely fits the bill musically, but lyrically, well, is from the point of view of human sperm.

The Cure - Three Imagninary Boys. Kind of their Early-Installment Weirdness album - at the time they were a Post-Punk band, which is a related genre to Goth Rock, but not quite the same. A few of these tracks are probably the closest thing you'd come to hearing The Cure playing straight up Punk Rock. Add to this an unrecognizable Jimi Hendrix cover sung by Michael Dempsey and a fillery one-minute closing track ("The Weedy Burton") and you've got a pretty atypical Cure album.

Edited by MikeK on Apr 15th 2019 at 10:04:26 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

That's because the original concept of the compilation, back when it was released on vinyl, was that side 1 would be all the A-sides from the singles, in chronological order, and side 2 would be all their corresponding B-sides. And the CD reissue kept that general theme, even though it didn't have "sides" anymore. So the added singles for the extended version had to go at the end of the A-sides section, or that would have broken the theme.

The real problem is the added songs themselves. The production sounds noticeably different from the earlier singles, so they stick out like a sore thumb, and I honestly think the songs just aren't as good. Except for "What Do You Know", because I'm a sucker for saxophone bits like that.

I didn't write any of that.

I didn't know where those extra songs came from- kinda makes sense they'd do that but still sort of a frustrating listen if you're used to the original version.

Julia Nunes - "No Sudden Moves". I sense a New Sound Album coming - really interested in where she's going here. Almost all her previous work was ukulele-based folk pop; This song includes unconventional percussion (could be someone rhythmically banging on a desk), synthesizers and heavily processed sounds, and no ukes to be heard. It works because the more experimental sounds are held together by a melancholy folk melody and some pretty harmonies.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Radiohead – MINIDISCS (HACKED). “Not v[ery] interesting” – Thom Yorke.

Okay, so the short version of the backstory here: About 18 hours of pre-Ok Computer demos/live performances leaked (in the form of copies of Thom’s old minidiscs). The band responded by officially releasing them on bandcamp and giving the proceeds to a climate change activist group. I bought it and am gradually listening to it on one hour sessions to prevent burn out. Anyway, that quote is from Thom’s description of the album on the bandcamp site: It’s accurate in that these are sort of audio notebooks and thus not really designed for sitting down and listening to: fidelity varies wildly, songs will cut off abruptly because that’s all Thom had written at that point, other songs will reprise themselves like five times over the course of a disc in slightly different variations, etc. It is pretty cool if you’re a huge fan of this era of Radiohead, because you get to hear the album gradually take shape, along with lyrics/music that got reused in later albums and ideas that never got used at all (so far anyway). One of my favorite revelations from this so far: “Exit Music (For A Film)” and “Life In A Glass House” were different sections of the same song at one point; the second half of "Exit Music" as we know it ("and you can laugh a spineless laugh" etc) was taken from another song entirely.

Crazy Penis - Music Is The Wicked. A facebook group I'm in decided to have an "album of the week" thing where a member will post a little about one of their favorite lesser-known albums and give a spotify/etc link. This turns out to be one of those funny/potentially frustrating cases where a group makes pretty inoffensive, accessible music under an intentionally awkward name... Though the member who suggested it said they ended up listening to the album because they were intrigued that a group tagged "jazz" on apple music were called "Crazy Penis". I wouldn't say they're properly a "jazz" band, but this album is sort of an eclectic mix of house, jazz, funk, and disco. Definitely recommended if you like dance music and can get past having something called Crazy Penis on your computer/last.fm charts/what have you.

Edited by MikeK on Jun 19th 2019 at 8:29:14 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Taylor Swift-Lover. Decided to check it out on Spotify. It's definitely an improvement over Reputation, but it's also much "mellower", more ballads than upbeat pop songs. Still, not bad, and I can see "Paper Rings" (one of the more upbeat tracks) be the next single

Currently listening to 1996 music. A few things that I have thoughts about:

Metallica - Load. At the time this was considered a "sellout" album - it is a little different from their usual sound, but to me it comes off more like Metallica trying to be 70s rock than Metallica trying to be "alternative". Honestly not a bad album, though they could have done better by combining the best songs from Load and Reload instead of putting out 2 70 minute albums in 2 years.

Prince - Chaos and Disorder. Prince put out a lot of music in 1996, pretty much just because he could - aside from this he had a triple album and a soundtrack and I'm going to try to listen to it all. The appeal of this one is it's the only Prince album I've heard that I could call "low-key": I associate him with elaborate production so it's kind of cool to hear an album where it sounds like he just wrote some songs and quickly bashed them out with his band. The songs aren't neccesarily his best but it almost feels like sitting in on a jam session, and it sounds like he's having fun and letting loose.

Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats. Speaking of New Sound Albums, this is Ween's country album. They'd done one off country songs but this is a full album in the style, with country session musicians playing most of the instruments to give it an old Nashville sound. I really like this one- despite song titles like "Piss Up A Rope" and "Mr Richard Smoker" they're paying tribute to the genre in their own off-center fashion.

Edited by MikeK on Oct 2nd 2019 at 10:40:38 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

10 out of 10.

Would recommend.

Currently listening to music from 1064:

The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go / A Bit Of Liverpool. I feel like they were a group where all you really need is a good greatest hits, but Where Did Our Love Go is as consistent of an album as you're going to get out of Motown. Liverpool is a bit more "contractual obligationy" but interesting historically::It's themed around covers of British Invasion groups (predominantly The Beatles), so it ends up emphasizing that 1) the early Beatles were kind of influenced by girl groups in terms of harmony to start with and 2) a lot of their contemporaries are now only known for one or two songs (other than "House Of The Rising Sun" these songs elicited a lot of "oh, I sorta know this, no idea who it's by"). My favorite cover is "You Can't Do That", which I don't even like that much as a Beatles track; maybe hearing those lyrics sung by women makes them seem "empowering" instead of "jealous and vaguely misogynistic".

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

So I've sort of been trying to identify this song off and on since I was maybe ten years old - at around that age my dad got a new radio/tape player for his workshop and gave me the old one, the first time I had any kind of personal music device. I started flipping through channels and heard this weird rock song with some guy with a raspy voice shouting about how "those boys were tough as nails" (the song is called "The Kids Were Tough As Nails", so I slightly misremembered the Title Drop I guess). Once I started getting into classic rock I convinced myself that it had to be some old AC/DC song and kept expecting it to turn up on one of their albums - It's kind of funny that my distorted memories made it out to be way more AC/DC-ish than it really was; there's a slightly similar vocal tone to Bon Scott at best, plus a vague blues rock influence but that's about it. Still a good sleazy Garage Rock track, I sorta wish someone would do a less lo-fi cover without cleaning it up too much.

Edited by MikeK on Dec 5th 2019 at 3:58:32 AM

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

Accept-Predator, their final album with Udo. Basically no frills metal with a few modern touches and some songs that sound somewhat different for Accept (Crossroads and Primitive). Still not as heavy as their later stuff or Udo's solo stuff for that matter, but some memorable choruses that are hard not to sing along to.

Simba's Howl

Bloody awesome electro-swing remix.

Very clever phrase-editing.

10/10, would recommend. Especially for those who like remixes.