Devo - Love Without Anger

I'm not terribly familiar with this seminal pop-post-punk (that's a thing, right?) troupe outside of the ridiculously overplayed but infectiously catchy "Whip It," which I enjoy but feel guilty about every. fucking. time. This track is definitely a step above the pretty but hollow framework of Whip It, but it doesn't stray too far from the established radio-ready formula either. Warm, gooey major key synths rest just beneath punctuated, almost staccato singing somewhat reminiscent of The Klank's "My Sharona"... only not utter rubbish, of course. I really enjoy the computer-manipulated a cappella-style pre-chorus and chorus--I imagine this was a pretty novel technique for the extremely early 80's. Another major plus is the short runtime--there isn't much to the song, and Mark Mothersbaugh knew that. A good man can make a catchy tune; a great man knows when to cut it off. Overall curt, catchy, layered. What more could you ask for out of pop tune? Also, sweet video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnT_0pI7sXg

Amanda Jenssen - Open The Lid

very minimal and soulful at the beginning, but then breaking into something I can best describe as sitting somewhere between rockabilly and Klezmer music. The shadow of P.J. Harvey looms pretty large over this track I think. Beyond that observation, it's not something that made a massive impression. Nice enough, good production, but somehow a bit pastiche, a bit predictable. Like a female Chris Isaac or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnfJU7w9ohQ

Einstürzende Neubauten - NNNAAAMMM

A little varied here. Starts as a catchy beat with vocal loops, and then goes into a bit of an ambient break, followed by more vocal loops and hand clap beats. I almost want to call it techno, but that just doesn't seem high-energy enough, and I want to called it ambient, but it's just not that...ambient, if that makes any sense. Not something I minded hearing, but far from something I'd seek out again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dpHiOT1ck

Skate Afrikaana - "Ungh!"

Title's not giving me much hope, but let's check it out anyway. Well, it starts out with this kind of electronic beat with cowbells and some quick drum fills, and I gotta say, that bassline is awesome. There some gang vocals, and then a clean guitar riff comes in. I have no idea what I would call this type of music, but it's certainly unique. Unfortunately, the kind of semi-rapped vocals with dumb lyrics about skating with the same gang shouts in the background don't do much for me. Also, that guitar bridge is kinda lame, but about 2:00, there's a... cowbell solo??? Never heard that before, but it's kinda cool to hear. The end section with the bassline and guitar riff is probably the best part... oh, but then it goes back to the rapping. The rhythm section is definitely solid, the funky bassline that goes throughout the song is very catchy and the drums have a lot of creative percussion accompaniments, but overall, this song doesn't quite add up for me. I honestly have no idea if I like this or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lSqI4zrIhQ

EDIT: Apparently, the band is called Ungh! and the song is called "Skate Afrikaana". Either way, it's a pretty goofy name.

This certainly opens with an absolute ball-tearing rock (and rock solid) riff. Straight into it, this pulls no punches, then it morphs into the oh so smooth'n'silky vocals - women prepare to swoon!! At least to me this is the goal here, full of wind-machine swept hair and smoky, smouldering looks, deeeep into the camera. Now camera two! Get a close-up of the keyboardist before cutting to the drummer... I'm goofing around here though, as the song is actually pretty damn good, it just gives off that feeling of mainstream rock star pretensions. The song itself is purposely hook laden, designed to have that chorus lodged in one's brain until you need to buy the single, then phone all your friends. The actual first riff is indeed the backbone of the track, and doesn't dare deviate too far from it, except to fit the verses in between it of course. The wah pedal abuse is fairly prevalent throughout the entirety of this number, and builds to impassioned crescendo towards the close, swelling with multi-vocal lines from the sultry singer, repeating the main phrase of the rather catchy chorus. The production values are without fault too I might add. I may be slightly cynical, as this is quite good, just not really my cup of tea.

Something less organic, and maybe a little... unfriendlier?

Destroid - Soul Asylum

It's really ambient and quite haunting at times. It does, however, sound like two blenders reproducing. There's so much static involved in the production of the music, it's quite difficult to listen to (coming from a black metaller!). It lacks melody and it's not something I enjoy. Yes, it is a lot less organic and unfriendlier! They're probably great for the style they play though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3adFWKE9JE

Jeff Buckley - Grace

This was decent. Not really anything I'd usually listen to, but pretty good for what it is. It's singer/songwriter type stuff. I'm usually not into the type of high vocals used here, but he pulls it off well. There's not really much to say about the instrumentation, it forms a nice backdrop, but the vocals are the main attraction. In all the song is pretty good, but I'm not sure I would revisit it. But then again this type of music generally isn't my thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrp_wEy4VFs

Six Gun Radio - Bitter End

Wow. This was amazing. It's fast, it's loud, it's exactly want you want from a punk song. The band exuberates youthful energy. I really want to listen to more from the band. It reminds me of Rise Against's first few albums, Bad Religion's Suffer and a whole host of other melodic hardcore stuff. Really, really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Huvym4GZp1k (don't kill me for this, I actually enjoy it for some reason. The song actually grows on you the more you listen to it.)

Waka Flocka Flame - Go Hard In Da Paint

Why did you do this to me? Seriously. Have I offended you in some way? Have I unknowingly done you some great injustice? Maybe I'm missing something but . . . no I'm not . . . this song has zero redeeming qualities. It is Mr. Flame's single minded attempt to rhyme the word "nigga" with the word "nigga" as many times as is possible in three minutes and fourteen seconds. In the process I believe he succeeds in reinforcing every negative stereotype imaginable in this type of music. There's the violence and the drugs, the misogyny and the money, the talking about yourself for the entirety of the song and don't forget glorifying criminal enterprise and even anti-education rhetoric (that was a new one for me). The bigotry machine is now full. It won't need feeding for a while.

Now this might not be so bad (yes it would be) if there was something worthwhile in the music, but there is not. There is nothing here that couldn't be produced by a 3rd grader with pro-tools. It's repetitive, poorly produced, rhythmically uninteresting with a rhyme scheme straight out of Mother goose. In summary, it's awful. Please don't do that to me again dude.

More talentless crap for your enjoyment

Beck - Painted Eyelids

Heh, I've always had a soft spot for Mr Hanson (You know the little kids from Hanson, not that they're little anymore, are his cousins?). These early albums always struck me as a blatant piss-take of overly-earnest folk music. It probably helped that when I used to listen to his stuff more I used to smoke a lot haha.

The music really isnt much,just some strummed chords, so it's all down to the lyrics. Which are really quite odd stream of conciousness ramblings about everyday events in his directionless slacker life at the time.

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

Boyd Rice and Giddle Partridge: "Bonnie and Clyde"

Haven't really listened to any "Uncle Boyd" in ages, and this cover wasn't familiar to me. Wow..they seem to be having so much fun! I'm pretty sure the strummed guitar and "gasping" sample is lifted straight from the original, but they sing it in English. Boyd goes from his usual comfortable and easy-going speaking voice to a lilting sing-song, but he can't match the sheer sex appeal of Giddle Partridge singing this tune! The whole thing reminds me of the movie/comic book adaptation Danger: Diabolik in its suave, cool depiction of crime with a legacy of passion! Also, this song works really well in English. It's a story set to music, and Boyd can make the most threatening sociopathic things sound so...well, normal, and even enjoyable. That poppy chorus put a huge grin on my face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrS5ztAJ5xw

Sorry, it's almost ten minutes long, but really worth every second, and I hope whoever is up next enjoys it...

Talk Talk - After the Flood

Well, this is certainly different from what I remember Talk Talk being like. I had it in my head they were much like the Human League, Duran Duran, Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark, Spandau ballet etc. But looking at the date on this, you could see it as being the missing link between solo Peter Gabriel and Massive Attack/Tricky/Portishead. That same almost jazz-noir sound, the slow-build ebb and flow of the track. I could really see myself coming back to that, thanks a lot!

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

Scorn - Night Tide

Never heard a song by these guys before, but this just piqued my interest. It starts off with samples of talking and a subtle backdrop of harsh static. After about a minute crawling ambiance works it's way into the mix. A distinctly dark and organic electronic song forms from there. Weird static-laced drums are added to the mix - they almost don't even seem like percussion. The strangeness to the song definitely comes as a benefit. The samples come and go, which not only maintain an atmosphere but also maintain interest. Although this is clearly rooted in electronic music, it doesn't have the sort of vibe you would think of if someone were to mention the genre's name. All in all, a very successful song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfTo_5164r0

In case you were not aware, Scorn is what original Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris went on to do after leaving the band. His collaborator here Is Robin Rimbaud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Rimbaud) aka Scanner. He is semi notorious for using a mobile phone scanner as a real-time instrument, hence the evesdropped conversations (where's the money going? what you doing searching around in my house when I'm not there?).

@ Scorntyrant, re: Talk Talk

Harvestman - D Rider (Hawkwind Cover)

This is one of the members of Neurosis doing a Hawkwind cover in an ambient/psychedelic kind of way.

Never really listened to Hawkwind or heard of this band so didn't know what to expect here. Not really into this kind of music normally but this is decent. Couple faults I find with it though...the first minute doesn't sound very interesting to me but I feel the song finally starts to move along shortly afterwards. Also, not really a fan of the vocal style used in the song. Another thing, I feel it runs a bit long for not really changing up that much. But other than that this is pretty good. Pretty good production too, although I feel like the drum volume could be pushed up just a bit. I actually really like how the guitar and bass complement each other well. Probably won't look any further into this band, it's good for what it is but again not exactly a big fan of this kind of music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuikmCqrwaY 0:00 to 0:50.

@Hellrisen

Poison Idea - Darby Crash Rides Again

Well this isn't hard, I fucking love Poison Idea. They're the perfect example of a real hardcore punk band and everything rich kid pretty boys dying to be punk hipsters fear. Which is honesty personified or their persona's honestly musicfied or whatever you want to call it, the music is fast, sweaty, burly, ugly, troubled and angry as fuck, just like the members of the band. I think every song on this is a minute long or under and the whole thing is over in barely 5 minutes, if you know early 80s hardcore then this is one of the best bands that did it. Sorta very similar to Jerry's Kids but not as... skinny. It seems easy to replicate this music but these guys pour so much of their souls into it you can mimic the movements on the instruments but never capture the essence.

suffer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gma5IUNMTn0

Klaus Nomi - Lightning Strikes

Hehe, Klaus Nomi. "You dont Nomi and you dont know my style". I really like completely surreal music, of which his stuff was a pretty good example. Although he did have a pretty amazing voice with a full on operatic range, I was always more intrigued by his 30's German expressionist look - I saw a picture of him looking like he just came our of the cabinet of Dr. Caliargi (or similar closet hehe) a few years ago and had an immediate "who the fuck is that" moment. You can certainly see that Split Enz ripped his aesthetic off wholesale later in the 70's. anyway, "Lightning striking" is an odd beast - Blondie-esque disco punk with his sprechsange vocals on top for the verses, interposed suddenly with his contra-tenor vocals in the chorus.

(also, he had a minor post-mortem moment of WTF fame as a villain on venture brothers along with Bowie and Iggy Pop).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFqhS_Lj ... re=related

Werkraum - "Legion"

Woohoo, more neofolk! I seem to get a lot of that in this thread. That layered, echoing vocal chant at the beginning is pretty amazing and sets you up for a dark atmosphere, and though it's obviously German in origin, I do detect a hint of Oriental influence in the 12-string (?) acoustic riff and echoing synths that open the start. The vocalist is decent - doesn't have the greatest range, but his low, semi-spoken vocals do work well for the trippy atmosphere. The song just builds and builds, with pounding marching drums and tympani and ominous, reverberated synth lines coming in and building on the basic acoustic section. It's repetitive, but ever-changing, and always has something else to offer within this basic arrangement. Whenever it goes back to unaccompanied acoustics, it always feels like a great release, eerie and uplifting at the same time. The trumpets that lead it to the end are just the icing on the cake. Fantastic stuff, managing to combine folk, electronic music and psychedelia perfectly. Probably the best thing I've got so far in this thread, in fact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2luMAcZOPno

Luna: "Black Postcards"

The first thing that occurs to me is that this features a great, very authentic guitar sound with a bit of fuzz in the lead track. Sounds quite 70s actually. Vocals are casual, conversational almost. I like the songwriting, and particularly enjoyed the last minute or so, with the nicely done solo followed by a climax in the song, where the drummer gets a little heavier, the guitar just a bit more insistent, the vocalist repeats "I'm tired" or something as a refrain and the quiet contemplation of the first two minutes is sort of broken by something a bit more frustrated. I would have preferred a final and decisive ending though rather than fading out during another brief solo. Yeah, a slightly short commentary, but I guess there's not a lot to say about this. IN this case though it's not a bad thing...a pleasant, rather personal-feeling tune; no frills or additives, just simple and honest music.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnmhBul6svk

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Blue Collar

This is some well done blues-inspired classic rock. I don't know what the technique their doing with the chords is, but it sounds pretty damn cool. Overall very nice song, the guitar is tasteful and well done, theres no complaints about the vocals, the songwriting is quality. My only complaint is that the jam section at the end might be a bit too long. Whatever, not a big problem. I'm surprised I didn't recognize the name, I looked them up on Wikipedia and it says they've sold quite a few million records and they had some pretty big hits with names I did recognize. Anyway, I liked this a lot, maybe I'll check out a bit more from the band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlHE9T1MXEw

@ DYstopia

Mugison - "Jesus is a Good Name to Moan"

I'm glad I dug a bit into this Icelandic (band? man?) before reviewing this song. Purely on its own, "Jesus is a Good Name to Moan" comes off really pastiche and unambitious; after all, its most prominent features are the singer's Tom Waits-lite style blues vox and Jack White-heavy style nu-blues slide riffs. It certainly doesn't help matters that the lyrics are just barely shy of clinically retarded, but perhaps that's another "tribute" to its obvious blues rock origins (long a genre that carried the sort of lyrics that would make Soulja Boy blush). That said, after listening to more than half of the LP this song stems from, I not only appreciate Mugison more, I actually like this song quite a more. Mugison clearly runs the gamut when it comes to rock genres (from electro rock to blues rock to indie rock to gypsy rock) and even if it isn't always amazing, it's always listenable and almost always great. He also has the kind of voice poser blues rock bands like The Black Keys only wish they had. Are you familiar with Kaizers Orchestra? Both share more than a few similarities in style, even if Kaizers is perhaps a bit more stereotypically "indie." Anyway, cool song. Thanks for the introduction to this... uh... MANBAND.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGmM2l39LEs
(sorry if this rapes you with an ad, but you should be using AdBlock anyway )

@darkeningday

Charli XCX - "Nuclear Seasons"

I try to keep up with indie rock and pop music just so I can stay current, so I've been hearing about Charli XCX for a while, but have yet to actually hear any of her stuff. Well, this reminds me of Marina and the Diamonds vocally, but the music feels different. Pretty wintry and detached, especially with that keyboard line at the start. Charli herself has a few awkward vocal tics in the chorus ("OH-UH-OH-OH-UH-OH"... ugh), but she also sounds quite distant, which fits with the cold electro keyboards that make up most of this track. The background, I have to say, is excellent - well-produced, and doesn't ever get too repetitive, especially with some cool whip-crack effects in the verses. And yeah, it does remind me of the nuclear wasteland she evokes in the lyrics. Not what I would normally listen to, but it has a heck of a tune on it and it's well put-together. You'd have to have nerves of steel to listen to this and not have it sneak back into your head the next day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR7kVnh3PlI (If you want to skip to the song itself, it starts at 1:00)

Raekwon, etc. - House of Flying Daggers

Sort of a Wu-Tang showcase here. Not sure what is going on with these guys these days as it is hard to keep up with all the side projects and what have yous, but this is decent. The beat (RZA?) is trying a bit too hard for me. What I mean by that I'm not sure. It's just not sparse, eerie and funky like the beats on 36 Chambers - it's more condensed, fat sounding. Not as pleasant nor as atmospheric. The guys have decent enough flows. As usual, Method Man and Ghostface Killah steal the show for me - it's all predictable at this point, but still sounds great. I really don't like Raekwon, though, and GZA's verse was surprisingly lackluster if you consider Liquid Swords....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2lHi9alZPM

@TheMizwaOfMuzzyTah:

Tone Loc - Loc'ed After Dark

Haha, Tone Loc. I can honestly say that I have not listened to him since about 88-89 when "funky cold medina" was everywhere. It's interesting coming back to this given that I've developed a bit of a love for hip-hop these days. That Miami beat thing is closer to the west-coast sound than the East I guess. It's deliberately smooth and lacks the eerie, jagged beats of the Wu, Onyx etc. I'm giving credit for the fact this is a bit of a historical artifact, but I dont really think he had great flow. It's almost there, but the beats are so nondescript that it's hard to get that alliteration on the beat. Still, a blast from the past.

Now THIS is something that I've been thrashing. Lady's and gentlemen,I would like to take the time to indroduce to you a group of very talented young performers,Bloody and violent individuals ,People who are bound to eat your children in a fit of rage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWnenWB6-g

@ Jerk - Seems I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about these days re: GZA, etc. And I haven't heard the albums you mentioned, no.

@ Scorntyrant - Yeah, Tone couldn't flow for shit. But for me it is the way his voice sounds that makes it fucking classic. That smokey voice, the buttery beats, and the ridiculous fact that if you really truly honestly love the first Ace Ventura with all of your heart, you'll like anything Tone Loc raps on.

Now, for Scorntyrant's song.

Cannibal Ox - Ox Out the Cage

Woah, this was sweet. It was rap, but it was cooler than most rap - it was like fucking iceberg computer hacker rap shit. I dunno. Cool flows going on, occasionally some of the rhymes and vocal timbres remind me of Nas. I have a hard time telling what is going on sometimes - the beat is really dense. To my ears, at least. Sometimes the 'blocky' sound of the beat makes it a bit difficult to groove to. It definitely sounds cold to me, hence the iceberg thingy. I dug it, but I wasn't crazy about it. I will be checking out more though. Thank you.

Next:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvjS2cShzwg

You've got to check that album out, it's nuts. The beats are by the dude from Company Flow, so if you like that you should check out Funcrusher Plus or Little Johnny from the hospital.

Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein is top fucking ten hip-hop albums of all time. Incredible, perfect, intense, fucking insane rapping. Glad to see others on the board dig it.

All Monsters Attack - a classic in post-pop Japanese music. Also, one of the best songs sampled in hip-hop. Definitive and monstrous soundtrack music that never quite escapes its time period, which is what makes it so damn charming. One listen and many of you would easily place this in a Bond movie, or in a movie spoofing 60s films. The instrumentation is incredible and really shows the lack of layering and musical theory applied to many poppy songs today, much in the same way that listening to Sinatra or early 50s Hollywood scores does. What else can I say? Unbearably fun, charming and cute, and yet, classy and complex. Great stuff and one of my favorite studio composers. Ahh, Miyauchi, may you rest in peace, in your organ and string filled heavens.

My contribution?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtKbRc23BrY

One of the greatest songs ever recorded.

Well, well, well eh? This contains soooo many elements during it's sweeping, swirling compositional magic, that work in perfect unison with each other. I'm reminded simultaneously of David Bowie, many, many eighties new wave artists as well as, to a lesser extent bands like Sweden's Covenant AND Julie Cruise/Angelo Badalamenti (that plucked, spacial bass/guitar in particular). This is quite glorious, both lyrically, but more imposingly, with it's adept musical completeness. Wonderful, wonderful keys deftly float in and around this track's theme creating space and light, but still keeping a shadow as a companion to help recall the rain and gloom accompanying life and it's meandering ways. The grace and elegance displayed here is beautiful, and the very masculine vocals add the extra gravitas to give brooding emotion, as well as the deep, punctuating reverb this is laden with. I could be waaay off with my comparisons I mentioned earlier, but it takes nothing away from the pleasure I got in listening to this, which was a few times. Thoroughly soothing.

At the risk of further alienating you lot, I would advise that if you are only using your computer/laptop speakers, this may lose 90% of it's impact. So I would recommend (decent ) headphones, or the like. That said, let's see how you do...

Soman - Divine

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't review stuff that I have so little context from which to draw insight but what the fuck, I'll go with it. It's quite repetitive but not entirely unpleasant. The song starts with some sampled dialogue from what I would guess is a horror movie of some sort and soon thereafter starts with the incessant beat that we hear throughout almost the entire song. Much of the song is just that repetitive beat with some phased electronic effects over top of it. Around the 1:30 mark there is a hint that the song might start to get more rhythmically interesting but instead their is an abrupt break from the beat to give us . . . well, I'm not sure if the voice reminds me more of the Elephant Man or the deformed dude from the Goonies but he's spouting off something nonsensical that adds nothing to the song for me. Luckily he is brief. Back to phased electronic sounds, this time with a little more structure building back to that same beat. I almost enjoy it but I think that may just be nostalgia. The whole time I'm listening to this I feel like I'm on the selection screen for a new Mortal Kombat game. Seriously, the whole thing (minus the "vocals") would sound right at home in a fighting game. I'll pick Raiden in his alternate costume. Scratch that, I feel like Tekken today, make it Lei in his cop duds. But I digress. The song continues on in much the same manner for it's entirety with a couple more instances of Goonies vocals. It's not awful I suppose but I think I would get more out of it if I were less sober. That's usually not a good sign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iy8pf42gC0

Southern Culture on the Skids: "Skullbucket"

What a lovely sound. Loud, rverberating guitar with that cool "wavy' amp effect that sounds like a ring modulator (can't remember what it's called now! damn!) and a trotting surf rock (tum ta, tum-tum ta!) beat, along the lines of the classic Ventures or Dick Dale. Mostly picking of single notes, but when he strums out a chord with that wicked sound, what you hear is a growl! This type of music is a lot of fun...usually quite simple and not too developed, but great to crank in the car, for instance. INdeed, I kind of thought this one was going somewhere, but it just "did its thing" and faded away, making it perhaps not as effective as some of Dick Dale's two-riff wonders (no sarcasm there at all)...I liked it though and will look more into this band!

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