EDIT: If you're looking for the Christmas stuff, then start here.

Welcome, one and all, to a parallel universe whose landscape of popular music is almost completely alien to you. You are now listening to The Twilight Zone my iPod.

I'm doing this to jibber-jabber about music I like, not to show off how great my taste in music is. I have taste, lots of it, but I can't promise that any of it is good taste. My interests are a thousand miles wide and three inches deep; I've got a little bit of everything, and I mean everything. (Okay, maybe no post-rock.) I've found that this has its advantages and its disadvantages: no matter who I talk to, I'm almost guaranteed to have a few musical interests in common with the other person; but at the same time, I'm guaranteed to never have more than a few interests in common, either.

All my music is organized into playlists, and the majority of these are just albums. So for this thing, I'll be working through the albums on my iPod—and the occasional mixtape—in the mindless way iTunes alphabetizes playlists. Except when it comes to multiple albums by the same artist, in which case I'll be tackling those in chronological order.

With each entry, I'll post a link to somewhere, usually Grooveshark, where you can listen to the album for yourself or—if the band released it for free—download it.

To kick things off:

A Hawk and a Hacksaw: Délivrance

Click on the link above to listen. So, back in November or December last year, I was browsing the used music section of the local independent music shop, and I saw a CD in a cardboard package with an intriguing cover◊. I opened it, and looked at the musicians listed, and HOLY CARP—I'd always been a sucker for any instruments beyond the standard rock band set, but it looked like I had just hit the mother lode. I went over to the listening station and liked what I heard: a glorious mishmash of East European folk styles.

There's awe-inspiring brass music on "Foni Tu Argile", "The Man Who Sold His Beard", and "Turkiye"; cimbalom (a type of hammered dulcimer) craziness on "Kertesz" and "Hummingbirds"; and accordions and violins (Stroh violin, even) throughout.

Speaking of Stroh violins, I wonder how many other instruments could be "improved" by sticking a brass amplifier on them. There are already resonator guitars, which is basically the same thing. Pianos? Accordions? Trumpets? Yo dawg, I heard you liked brass...

Only two tracks, "Kertesz" and "I am Not a Gambling Man", have any singing, and I'm glad for that. I don't dislike J. Barnes' voice, but I don't particularly like it either. The lyrics are pretty word-salady, so that's a plus.

Riiiiiight.

And track 9 is named "Vasilisa Carries a Flaming Skull Through the Forest" which is objectively awesome. Though the song itself is quite funereal for something with such a Heavy Metal name. ...Wait a second. Oh, it's Vasilisa the Beautiful! The Russian fairy tale girl who rescued Hellboy from the Baba Yaga in Darkness Calls! It all makes sense now.

Anyway, wikipedia tells me that these guys have been making this music since 2002, and that J. Barnes—the Face Of The Band—used to play drums for Neutral Milk Hotel. If I have any indie or hipster cred, I'd like to take this opportunity to kill it: I have yet to listen to anything by NMH. I mean to do so, eventually.

Wikipedia also says that they got the band name from Don Quixote. Huh. I could have sworn that Hamlet was the first to declare that he knew the difference between a hawk and a handsaw.

If you only listen to one song from this album, listen to: Foni Tu Argile. I assume it's the album's first single for a reason.

edited 25th Nov '10 7:10:40 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

The real question is, what's the difference between a raven and a writing-desk? =P

Silliness aside, this sounds pretty good... the minute or so that I've listened to so far, that is.

I like all but the vocals. And dangit. Well....That's a letdown.

edited 14th Jun '10 6:51:33 PM by BlackDove

The only way I know of to get this free is piracy, which is evil. I paid for my copy of this album. Amazon carries it.

Oh look they have a blog. AND A BROKEN CAPS LOCK KEY.

One of them has inky black quills, and the other is a former member of the Teen Titans?

edited 14th Jun '10 6:56:44 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

This is some pretty catchy stuff.

The mayo-lution will not be televised.

Gah, this is bloody amazing.

*WISHLIST*

^^Well played.

edited 14th Jun '10 6:58:32 PM by Zudak

Yeah I'm not crazy about the singing either, but man, Eastern European music is the stuff.

The mayo-lution will not be televised.

The vocals are okay. Not fantastic, but not nearly bad enough to ruin it.

Indeed. I do have a few other albums of East European stuff, which I'll be getting to... eventually.

I didn't write any of that.

I really need to get more of it other than Beirut.

Oh, Xera. There's them. Well, they're Mexican Folk, not European. But still. Awesome stuff.

Hey, do them next! Their album is free and everything.

edited 14th Jun '10 7:13:07 PM by Zudak

Well, I really don't like the singing, but it almost got me out of the songs, but I got used to it and like it to some degree. Even if you're going through it in alphebatized ways, could we still reccomend genre/bands we wanna hear?

Spanish folk (specifically, Asturian) actually.

Sure, Why Not?. But money's tight at the moment, so I can't buy any new music for a few weeks.

For reference, here is the list of artists by whom I have at least two songs on my music device. A bunch are artists that I have only two songs by, on a mixtape list.

I've already got my next entry mostly written up, so that's not going to change.

I didn't write any of that.

After Chiropt could you do some slow European Instrumentals? I luv de instrumentals.

Chiropt?

I didn't write any of that.

Afro Celts: Seed

AKA the Afro Celt Sound System. Exactly What It Says on the Tin: ten songs about different kinds of seeds. Wait, no. I mean it's a mix of West African music, Celtic music, and electronica.

Apparently their roster has been very fluid over the years, and for a while there wasn't much distinction between "band member" and "guest musician".

Not much to say about individual tracks. There's a few fast parts, but most of the album is pretty chill.

So, about the name: They used to be called the Afro Celt Sound System. They decided to shorten their name to just Afro Celts, but their album covers still have the old band name, apparently because they thought the name change would confuse fans. Or music stores. I don't know what universe these guys live in, but where I come from, a band having different names on the covers of different albums is a heck of a lot less confusing than a band putting a fake name on their album covers. What, are they afraid of their non-fans discovering their True Name? Does something bad happen if I write Afro Celts Afro Celts Afro Celts

I didn't write any of that.

Wikipedia says they went back to the old name on their subsequent albums, and they now regard the name change as a dumb idea.

You know what else is a dumb idea? Not including any lyrics in the liner notes! I know you're too cool to tell us what you're singing, and we're too dumb to understand whichever language you're speaking anyway, but do you really want people to mishear the lyrics of "The Otherside"? (Seriously, I can't be the only English-speaking person who hears them singing "fuck it" over and over.) Google doesn't reveal anything helpful.

And holy carp the strings on "All Remains". Did they suddenly turn into an adult contemporary pop band? Should the credits of a Disney film be scrolling up right now?

Hey Meta, when are we going to get to some music that isn't weirdo folk?

Crackin' walls inside my head.

Oh great. It looks like I accidentally freed my evil twin. Or rather, my annoying twin.

Speaking of "All Remains", some of the percussion reminds me of the sound that exploding badniks made in the Genesis Sonic The Hedgehog games.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: Two tracks, actually. "Rise" and "Rise Above It" are one 13-minute-long song, and the centerpiece of the album. Starts slow and builds up to epicness.

I didn't write any of that.

Oh! My mistake.

Chiropt = Zudak.

Whoops, slacked off listening to them. But I liked that quite alot. So far, your tastes are great.

edited 15th Jun '10 12:38:52 AM by BlackDove

By request...

Xera: Lliendes

These wonderful people believe that music should be free, so you can download the ogg vorbis files off this page on their old website, or mp3's off Jamendo.

They're from Asturias, Spain. Wikipedia tells me this region was historically influenced by the Celts, which explains why these guys' traditional Asturian folk influences sound so much like English Celtic music.

But I don't know what tribe Xera got all those synths from.

Are you listening to the first track yet? Are you wondering to yourself, "Am I seriously hearing a duel between bagpipes and synthesizers?" Because the answer is "A gaita, to be specific. But wait for the fiddle solo—that's the part that knocked my socks off."

The next few songs are not so frantic, and sound like folk songs that just happen to have an electronic rhythm section. These are then followed by some songs that showcase individual instruments: the violin on "Elexía", the gaita on "1934", and the guitar and/or bouzouki on "Ñubes".

"Inda" sounds to me like a soundtrack for Zimmy's Dark World from Gunnerkrigg Court: mounting unease exploding into panic, yet never losing sight of the fact that

"Still, still, you will be there." Just like Ico!

The last two tracks lean more toward the electronica side—I could see myself dancing to "Lloza" at a party. And "Transmerana" is just epic: singing, gaita and violin solos, a key change in the pentultimate verse, and I think I'm in love with the woman speaking over the breakdown.

This is admittedly shrill music—they don't even have a bass player—but there is a time and a place for everything, and this is the time for shrill.

Question for the ages: If I were to make a TV Tropes page about this band, which category on the Musicians index would they go under?

Check it out, they were featured on some TV show:

I don't speak a word of Spanish.

If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Lliendes". "Transmerana" is actually my favorite on the album, but I think it works much better as the final track of the album than when it's divorced from its context.

I didn't write any of that.

I didn't know this thread existed ;_;

I'm listening to the first song of the first installment you posted just now.

Also, biiiiiterrrrrrrr :P

I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....

You encouraged me to start this thread just so you could say that.

Xera: Tierra

Xera's second album. Came out last year, and it was my favorite album of 2009. As before you can listen to and download the album for free off their website or Jamendo.

Hahaha, I have the lossless versions of these files that Xera put on their site back when the album first dropped.

Compared to the first album, there's more singing this time around: Four (or five, if Singing Simlish counts) of the nine songs are vocal tracks (compared to two out of ten on the prior album), and a bunch of songs use some ethereal choral samples. There's also more keyboards on this album, with the piano taking the lead in several tracks.

For example, the first track. "L'Anduriña" starts off with an old guy monologuing, then a pleasant piano melody to reel the listener in. The song takes a full minute and 20 seconds before our old pal, the gaita, kicks in. Or rather, kicks you in the face.

Are you wondering about the old guy's monologue? According to the translated version of the music video, L'Anduriña was a ship that wrecked, and the guy is relating how he saved the captain's wife from nearly dying.

So, there's a music video (NSFW, naked people) for "Natura", and now I'm wondering what the heck instrument Flavia is playing. The album credits said she played violin, bandurria, and zanfona on this album, and none of those match what she's playing in the video. This really going to bug me now.

When I listen to "Xilguerín", I see in my mind a dude banging away on a grand piano, and there's sparks exploding out of it with every note.

"Zales" is this album's answer to "Lliendes" from the last album. This song is joy.

"Animes" is unfortunately the weakest track, but it's not a bad song. After the transcendental exhiliration of "Zales" we need something to bring us back to Earth, and this song does the job competently.

You said it, Vérval.

If you only listen to one song, listen to: "Zales", of course.

The spinning head of Rei Ayanami compels you!

That is it for Xera, and now I need a break from weird folk music, so I swear the next album I write about will be some different genre.

edited 16th Jun '10 8:03:10 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

I like this band. Great that there free too! Damn, Crobat.

From watching their interview on Pieces, I realized to my embarrassment that I've been pronouncing the band's name wrong all these years.

I didn't write any of that.

Finished the first album in your post by them. Onto the second now, and love it.

edited 16th Jun '10 9:23:48 PM by BlackDove