Phrenia - "signal"

I'm fairly sure I heard this in the titty bar in patpong the night I caught that unfortunate social disease. the fact that I cant understand a word just reinforces the fact that this could just as easily be advertising washing powder as be the theme song to an 80's childrens cartoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8cXSqB5j0M

Lee Scratch Perry - Panic In Babylon

Lee Scratch Perry Is awesome, I was actually thinking of posting "Zion's Blood" in this thread. I saw him twice live, once in Ottawa and once in Toronto. This is some awesome classic dub. A nice reverb drenched reggae beat, some awesome keyboards. Basslines are great and the drums get the job done. The trumpet part is cool. His voice is what really makes this special, its really laid back and perfectly suited to this type of music. Although a bit long, this is great the whole way through. Its not my favourite song by him, but still great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5iF5lj_It0

He is the Upsetter!

Ozric Tentacles - Magick Valley

This is awesome psychedelic rock with ace guitar sound and playing. The song just got me in a great mood and the first thing which caught my attention was the tasteful use of synthesizers throughout the song and their interplay between the guitars and them to create outstanding melodies. The drumming reminds me of tribal drumming for some reason and the song is really groovy during the middle section wile at other times it's soothing like after the 4 minute mark where it submerges into a hypnotizing trance. The lead which starts before the 5 minute mark is also remarkable and combined with the spacey synths it just sounds excellent. The song finishes off with the guitar and drums stopping and the spacey sounds playing for a bit on their own and then just giving place to a silence which is soon interrupted since I want to listen to this song again and again and again. The thing also feels kinda jazzy and of course it works just as it is: instrumental The Yum Yum Tree surely sounds interesting and this song is excellent; too bad I haven't listened to anything by the Ozrics released in the last 10 years.

Some old foreign rock.

Oh boy, sorry mate but this was pretty terrible (for my tastes anyway ). The music is what sounds like some standard fair elevator music in a Greek hotel somewhere, with some really bland guitar and some of the softest drumming I've ever heard. Now upon reading that, you probably assume that it was done terribly, but in fact it's not, it's just really cheesy. Everyone in this can play, and play well, but something about that bass tone is a little off putting, it's just so... rubbery and listless, and as for his voice, well I'm sure he could make fifty-something women go weak at the knees (or something), but his wobbly, powerless vibrato sounds god awful - like he's too bloody nervous to actually sing. Can't say I'm a big fan of that kind of keyboard tone either, I don't think it needed it's own solo, could have done without that, and it just set my teeth on edge bringing back vivid memories of some truly atrocious seventies TV shows. Not something I could remotely enjoy, as I found no emotive power behind this, though I'm sure that's what he was after, and the badly aged cheesiness of it didn't help.

This is a little old now but I still love it.

CrushedRevelation

This failed to raise much emotions in me, I didn't find anything catchy, atmospheric or memorable about it and it could have just as well been six minutes of silence for all intents and purposes. Tedious vocals, unremarkable electronics and an overall feeling of boredom was all I got from this, nothing noteworthy. Nothing struck me as impressive and nothing really annoyed me either. I guess I could see some value in this as a background music at night for some reading or just lying down and relaxing, but on it's own it doesn't have much to impress with and completely fails at grabbing the listener's attention (or well, mine anyhow). Dull.

I've been enjoying this song today.

Gerilja - Lightning Death

So the guitar in this is pretty sick. A lot of it is really exotic sounding. Kinda Egypitian/Middle East sounding. Really heavy too, kind of metal actually. The little ambient part at the start made the guitars kicking in even more awesome. The songwriting is most definitely rock, though. The drums are cool too, really powerful. Not sure how I feel about the singing. Not bad, but doesn't really excite me that much. The best part about this is definitely the exotic feel some sections have. A good song for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oCPNMZuWwI

Dead Kennedys - M.T.V. − Get off the Air

I've never really listened to much Dead Kennedys beyond Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (which I love) so I was interested in hearing what this had to offer. The song starts with an oddly bouncy and annoying bit that took me a few seconds to realize it was a parody of mid 80's popular music. I'm glad that wasn't the whole song. Jello Biafra's parody of an MTV vj speaking over the music actually reminds me a lot of Zappa for some reason.

Finally the song comes to a stop and a voice comes in "MTV, get off the air" and the song breaks into what I expected when I saw this was a DK song. Pure west coast hardcore punk with Jello spitting venom on the evils of the cable TV channel that once ruled the world of music. At this point I wonder if many of the younger kids on this board realize just what an influence MTV had on music culture throughout the '80s and '90s. Does the song even make sense anymore to them? But I digress. The production is mostly fine throughout. The guitar is bright and nicely distorted on those jangly chords. I dig the bass tone, it really picks the song up for me and shines when it takes front stage at around 2:05. My lone complaint production wise is the kick kind of disappears in the noisier moments. It could be a bit more audible. But its a punk record. Why harp on production, right? My only other complaint would be that I find the trumpet unnecessary. I don't think that little mariachi sounding bit adds much of value to the song. I don't mind a little reggae being thrown into my punk at times but mariachi?

All in all, an enjoyable listen that presses my nostalgia button despite never having listened to the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dVRN-0MVhk

Whiskeytown - Lo Fi Tennessee Mountain Angel

I never heard of this band before but from the sounds of it they seemed to be influenced by Peter, Paul and Mary. Nice folk song to listen occasional but it won't be something I would chase down the street to tell the guy playing to raise the volume up. It's just another song that you may want to listen when you're driving down the road, back in the country.

The lyric doesn't actually makes sense to me. Is this about a former lover who was in a punk rock band who wants to play country or a country purist trying to tell a punk rocker to fuck off? Maybe it's the band's history of being former punks trying to play country? I just don't know and it sounds pretty ridiculous. Maybe I just don't know the band's history. While I find the song decent, it gets too repetitive for quite a long time. It just the repeats the same line over and over again. If I want better country or folk music, I'd rather listen to 16 Horsepower. I wouldn't buy the record but I don't mind listening.

Now something exotic from Borneo Island:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zL5lpgwG0Q

Lun Bawang Song "Gospel" - Ui Merepet Nemu

Well this certainly interesting. Really peaceful instrumentals that's for sure, but not something I could listen to for a long time; way to soft for me. She really does have a beautiful voice though. Put with the right music, I could listen to her for hours. The song really doesn't seem to go anywhere though. You could skip to anywhere in the song, and it could work as the intro. I was really disappointed with the ending, it seemed to abrupt, just like this review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnIxO0LBXI

Harm's way "breeding ground"

This is a pretty fun song at first, Sound's like Entombed meets hardcore. Cool riff throughout, though the song begins to wear a little thin at around the 3 minute mark. Not something I could listen to on a regular basis, but I'm sure it would translate quite well into a quite violent live setting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGBW18g4sOE

@ FlaPack, re: The CUlt



Leftover Crack: "Atheist Anthem"

I began by thinking right away that I'd heard of this band somewhere before. The introduction left me clueless, and I really didn't expect the song to erupt into fun hardcore after a minute. That intro wasn't too great...slow and wandering, albeit with some uh, quirky basswork. however, once the song jumps into full punkish gear it's rather endearing. Love the enthusiasm on display...some caustic vocals, nice gang shouts...overall reminds me a bit of Suicidal Tendencies in their less metallic moments. Not much more to say really, but I would like to hear more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UUKREIK8yg

Regarding the Leftover Crack song:

Screaming Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You

Quite obviously a classic. This has been covered countless times and the main beat has been sampled for rap songs. The bouncy (in the least silly way possible) instrumental section which backs the song is classic, simple yet memorable in every way. The sax solo is great as well. As amazing as the instrumental components are, the vocals are the main attraction. He didn't get 'Screaming' added to his name for nothing, the dude can really wail. Deep, rough, gritty and charismatic, his vocals shine through as a force to be reckoned with. Great songwriting, great music, great vocals - this is undisputedly a classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtbAgynP8iY

@ Dystopia:



Death Grips: "Known for It"

Christ...sorry man, but...

I rather hated this. I believe the term "douche chills" would be appropriate. There's a terrible disconnect between the vocals and the rest of the music: the former sounds like a loud, obnoxious guy from the bronx spitting in your face while coke-imbued snot drips copiously from his nostrils, and the latter sounds as though it were made by some wide-eyed kid in a basement playing with sound editing software. Why do they keep coming back to that silly sample of the one prolonged guitar chord or whatever fed through a phase shifter? Surely nobody wanted to hear that more than two or three times? Why does the drum machine sound so feeble? Why do I get the feeling that the ugly seams are showing in the skein of the music? Is this supposed to be professional? I really don't get it. I have no idea what they're on about, either; just seems like a bunch of mindless babble to me. I'm a pretty tolerant guy, especially after i've had a few in me, but if this were playing at a club or something I'd want to take my girl outside.

Ok, here we go....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAOFDI83OwE

Roxy Music - "Beauty Queen'

Roxy Music is one of those bands I've always liked the idea of more than the actual execution. Always heard so much Bowie coming through that it almost bordered on plagarism, and this is no real exception. It has its moments, but it's a bit too smooth for me I guess. the template is mid-late 70's glam infused with some more arty sensibilities, and Bryan Ferry crooning away over the top. Not really my thing I guess, and that's a shame as they come so close (sometimes) to hitting the ration between interesting and annoying sufficiently for me to enjoy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsKh4jp-SS4

Andrew King - "Dives and Lazarus"

Or, should I say "Dives and Lazawus"? In a track that hinges so much on the vocals, it is really annoying that the singer has a speech problem. Basically, this is a folk song. Violin and keyboard, with the vocals very much at the forefront. It has a very organic sound to it all, which I do like, especially in the short instrumental section. The violin is not completely in time, which sounds like the musician cares about the passion of the piece. Unfortunately, I can't say I like the song all that much, because of those vocals. It's not just the substituting "r"s for "w"s, but just the singing in general does not float my boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjvtx3HMUks

Karnivool - Simple Boy

This is alternative-tinged prog rock. Musically I have no problems with it. The riffing is pretty melodic and not all that bad. Theres some interesting stuff going on for sure, at one point everything drops out and we are left with (what I think is) a lone xylophone which is soon met with a pretty rad processed drum sound. The tone on the lead guitar is pretty incredible; totally organic and otherworldly sounding. My problem with this is the vocals. They are the bad high-pitched alternative rock type that often plagues modern rock radio, especially the stations that play heavier stuff (by rock radio standards, of course.) I find his vocals to be very annoying and verging on obnoxious at times. Too bad, otherwise an interesting enough song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUiEAVjmnTU

heh, yeah Mr.King is an aquired taste. I dont think he has a speech impediment though - he's pretty well renowned for his work on traditional british folk music, and the delivery, while slightly affected, is intended to mimic the way the lyrics would have been pronounced a few hundred years ago (rolling RRRRRR's and all). He's in Sol Invictus these days as well - interesting guy.

@ Scorntyrnat, re: ROxy



Nick Cave: "People Ain't no Good"

I like Nick Cave, but it seems that Murder Ballads is the only one I spin regularly, and I'm pretty sure I haven't heard this song before. It's quiet, melancholy and plaintive. The instrumentation is very minimal, and the complete opposite of bombast. Nick laments away, singing of the loss of a perfect dream and such things. SOme strings and perhaps an oboe quietly play along, but mostly it's just Nick's voice and a piano. Nick has a good voice for this sort of stuff...it may not be terribly versatile but he sure conveys that sort of stupefying depression in songs like this one very distinctively. Not much else to say, really...

http://youtu.be/Lq10Z1oa5K0

Renaissance - Black Flame

With this track we are taken back into the mid-seventies and to a band, whose concept and style seems to be worth remembering. It sounds English ... of course it does. The atmosphere, the production, the vibe ... all this is so typical for the progressive rock music from this era and this place. The vocals are really sweet and also the lyrics are intriguing. I miss the bass a bit though ... or at least have it a bit more dominant. A really sweet piece of music, which you should turn to now and then ... and maybe check the numerous other releases of the band as well.

I hope this works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJlI5HdSvUE
(Thanks to the German GEMA ... I cannot watch it)

Well it worked. This is... certainly, umm, somewhat interesting I guess. It's quite long, which is fine as it gives it plenty of room to set up a mini epic tale starting rather sedately with a lengthy acoustic, and spoken word prelude invoking the tale of the Lord of the Ages and heralding his birth. Not sure if it's based on anything already of note, and to be honest I didn't search either, but it doesn't matter. This is a soothing piece, and would be much better on a large, full-sounding stereo (preferably one from the seventies eh?), due to it's spacious, lush and full sound, as it gradually swells up to it's crescendo, which does not necessarily rock out, but rather plant it's feet firmly and keep on giving it's story with more emphasis and stately manner. The whole thing is regally done, having some truly marvelous choral work, fleshing out the undertone of this tale beautifully. The male vocals are rather high pitched, almost feminine, but work well, perhaps enhancing the whimsical nature further before returning again to the acoustic coda to close out the story of our beloved Lord of the Ages, and how his people fared, after he banished the darkness with his calm soothing ways. This was intriguing, charming and gorgeously rendered musical tale.

Apologies for this, I wanted to post the entire song but it's 14 minutes long.

Fields of the Nephilim - Wail of Sumer

Not my absolute favourite by them, but this is still really good. Amazing atmosphere, really hypnotic. The deep, echoey vocals are great, they don't disrupt the atmosphere or flow, but they still aren't lingering in the background. The leads are cool, really psychedelic. This whole thing just has this crazy otherworldly atmosphere, ethereal, but not passive. You still get quality songwriting. Not much to say but great song with a great atmosphere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srvHOu75vM

Nas - The World Is Yours.

This is a classic from Nas. Probably the track that introduced me to Nas. I miss hip hop like this. A catchy hook, relaxing sampled pianos, energetic but not screaming, rapping. Too many hip hop groups try to act hard and ganster while botherline screaming/barking. This relaxed and energetic style of rapping needs to come back. Hard yet still motivating, often imitated but could never be repeated (I'm looking at you Lupe Fiasco). I feel like I could run up stairs and have a training montage ala Rocky with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF_C7BvAf_A

Well this was quite a relaxing tune given the lyrical nature of it. The standout is the brilliant vocals of Jack White, with a haunting counterpoint refrain in the chorus which was a beautiful addition of depth and character. Underscoring the whole affair is some extremely slick, polished music; this has a vast amount of intriguing layers to it's form as well, one that is deceivingly linear though, with just that extra something there to pull it out of mediocrity, adding sheen and shine. If that is the actual clip to it, then kudos, because it is an amazing triumph of morphing, rolling story telling in visual form, complimenting the music. Can't say I will look further into this, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Going back in time now...

@ScratchMyBack

Alice In Chains - Love, Hate, Love.

I love AIC and this is my favourite song by them. People dislike their first album for supposedly being ''glam influenced'' but when it has songs of pure darkness like this, what's the problem? This starts off with those dark clean arpegiatted sections they were known for with some menacing vocals and lyrics and slow, booming drumming. The bass is heard just fine as well. Then it slowly and logically moves to the very strong vocal part, a chorus of sorts. Layne's voice wore out with age and heroin but god damn he was amazing here. As the end of the song clearly demonstrates with his belting of love hate love. The solo is great, as expected by Jerry. This is just a top notch, suffocating song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1x7AeEogGM

Hugh Laurie - St James Infirmary

Judging from the first bit of the song I thought the whole thing would be a piano piece. Sure it had occasional lingering dark ambience in the background and a bit of subtle country-esque strings, but at heart it was all about the piano. After the extended intro is over, an old time blues swing sort of thing is added. The percussion reminds me of Tom Wait's Raindogs. The dude has a really good voice, and the instrumentation is great for the type of thing it is. All in all, cool track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcIC-V_N5RE

The Myrrors - Warpainting

Dead already, ey? A bit sad actually because this is some cool stuff. Psychedelic (and really surreal) atmosphere, some really cool vocals, a nice and steady pace with a surprisingly intense counterpoint towards the end. In some respect this is quite depressive stuff as well; there is no such thing as a positive vibe throughout the track. This piece could also have been from some obscure record of the seventies. A hammond plays vague melodies in the background, the production is a bit hollow and the melodies by the guitar are also pretty cool. Sad to see this band split-up already.

I am currently downloading their album. The band has made it available for free on their MySpace site; see the blog.

Some really basic stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhs55HEl-Gc

J Rabbit - Happy Things

Tin pan alley reborn in South Korea? I honestly fail to see how this is actually interesting to anyone posting on a metal board. Piano is tight, girl has a nice voice, but she could just as well be reading a mongolian bbq menu for all the sense I got out of it. Actually, that's not quite right.I like Mongolian bbq - not because its cute, or different, or exotic, but because it has a real appeal being comprised of flame kissed meat. I'm sure that in its own cultural context this is glorified elevator music, and I'm going to regard it as the same despite the girls being cute (can you tell I loathe Weaboo/Kawaii/Anime culture haha!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmvykvWnGA

Hmmm... not real big on gangster rap at all, doesn't do any thing for me. Into the breach eh? Most of this is extremely lyrically based, using the sampled, rather bruising beat as a backdrop to explicitly drive the violent ghetto fueled tone of this. It's actually quite dark - both musically and with the hostile lyrics. The beats used go hand in hand with the decidedly urban feel here, giving it a street light bathed griminess, resplendent with graffiti, broken bottles, used needles and the stench of urine. It's hardly glamorous, but that's not the intention here, it IS supposed to be gritty, a tale of violent struggle, keeping your mug out of the way of the flying bullets and multiple stab wounds. Good at what it does, most definitely.

Have at it!

heh, yeah, I've been on a big early 90's NYC hip-hop binge lately. Some of that shit is the most hostile, fucked up stuff, I love it. Pretty much anything the with RZA in the production chair pre 98-2000 is gold. Really murky sinister-sounding tracks made by cutting up and slowing down soul music, adding really heavy beats and mixing in a strong dose of noise.

Mindless Faith - "Bound"

This was certainly... interesting. Abrasive, harsh and unforgiving EBM/Industrial, but with a rhythmic flow, consistency and texture that gives it a nice club feeling at the same time. It starts off with a murky, looming and ominous ambient intro, tricking you into thinking you're about to have a dose of Lustmord style dark ambient or some darkwave delivered, before it really fires up and the pounding beat starts forcing your head to bob up and down, and the computerised vocals lash at your eardrums with a harsh tone that's almost... painful. I'm loving this. It's fairly repetitive, any changes in beat and... is it really right to call it melody? I suppose you can call it that... any melodies are fairly simple and catchy, despite the seething production, further helping to turn it into a nice blend of club-like doof-doof music and punishing, far more underground industrial. Despite my obvious enjoyment and fascination with harsher, "darker" genres of electronic music, it's not a genre I'm very well-versed in, so I'm having trouble comparing it to other industrial artists, but one person in the YT comments claims to hear similarities to Marilyn Manson and NIN among others, and those two in particular seem like obvious influences. Certainly something I could consider looking further into, if I'm ever in the mood for EBM.

Now, for something not quite as... evil. (If you don't care to watch the video, simply skip to 0:40)

Aqua - Cartoon Heroes

Well, this was a bit unexpected. This really isn’t a type of music I’m remotely familiar with, though it’s certainly some type of very upbeat pop. The most notable aspect of this song was definitely the prominent vocals which consisted of unusual and almost pouting female vocals contrasted with rougher vocals given by a male and with an occasional chorus as well. These are backed up by an orchestration of strings which never really step into the spot light, and in my opinion, just seemed to be there as a placeholder. Finally, a simple drum beat was laid on top of all of this which went on for most of the song. I wish I could think of more to say of this, but I’m not sure there’s anything I can add that wouldn’t be flat-out wrong. With that said, I really didn’t enjoy the song at all. It seemed like the type of music other people would enjoy, but not me. It came off as shallow, uninteresting, and as if it was supposed to be “fun”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOd9zWdH2dQ

@Scorntyrant


@NiceNightmare

Jónsi - Tornado

In the beginning of the track the backing is minimalist piano with some ambient. As the track goes on the instrumentation picks up, coming off like a drawn-out crescendo. By the end it feels a bit epic, in the same sort of way that shoegaze music can be epic. I didn't really have any problems with the instrumentation, even if I wasn't exactly enthralled. His normal vocals are not horrible, although not a style I like at all. They sound like your typical "sensitive guy" ballad type affair. Again, I don't really like them, but they are not bad at what they do. His higher vocals, however, did wear on my nerves. They are really, really annoying. They are a bit droney, which suits the atmosphere, but goddamn are they ever awful. I don't think this is horrible for what it is, but it seems like something that would typically be played at a cheesy soft rock radio station. Not really something I'd ever feel the need to listen to.

Now for a Canadian band I've been enjoying lately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdzPzR95Q-Y

Quest For Fire - Strange Waves

Great song. Never heard these guys before. Everything about it melded wonderfully. The distorted electric guitar, the bass prodding along, and especially the vocals. Perfect for the pschadelic sound the band is creating, reminiscent of Pink Floyd toward the end of the song. Loved around 2:35ish when the intro erupts, as well as the solo that closed the song out. From what I could pick out from the youtube quality, the production matched very well. Sort of wish I was baked out of my mind for this one. Still enjoyable none the less

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jftg-RsWTC4

The fist introductory lines had me fooled, I'll give 'em that, and as for that strange song title... well I'm in the dark as to what they're on about to be honest. Never mind that though, because when this woman really unleashes, with unbridled passion too I might add, this goes to a completely new level of intensity. This is a slow brooder, building like a good fire should, with increasing heat, intensity, and all out volume. Vocally it's as impressive as you'll get - full-blooded, yet with controlled talent, and some inspiring harmony lines. The simple, relatively unchanging folkish music, which is mostly, stringy, raw guitar is the perfect vehicle for the vocals to shine over the top. The addition of some even more bristly and course electric guitar furthers the whole show, giving more life to the awakening mistress and her wild abandon. Passionate and vivid.

Going back in time again with this one...

Big Blood - The Grove is Hotter Than an Ocean's Oven

Well, this is interesting. I have a huge thing for doom-laden, intense acoustic music, and this fits in nicely. Builds up steadily from the initial banjo/guitar riff with the female vocals becoming steadily more intense and demented as it goes along. The solo is suitably primitive and in keeping with the junkyard/hillbilly vibe of the track. I keep drifting in my attention and thinking its a Jarboe track, which can only be a good thing I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvHmxpfXg8

Well this is awkward...