Still Walking - Throbbing Gristle (20 Jazz Funk Greats)

well... Let me first say that I am a bit into ambient and also industrial (but more the "rocky" industrial stuff mainly) but this... phew.. hard to call it music in a any form (imo). Static "noise" with a thin pulsing beat and some occassional bleeps with some mudded female spoken voice in the background later. I know that tastes differ and there is much stuff others enjoy which I don't but this? Man, do you really listen to this with pleasure? Anyway - each to thier own.

Okay - I stay electronic but a bit more, hmm, accessible

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

Is my track going to be forgotten?

oh... I just took the last link I could found and that was the link posted by Scorntyrant. But now that I look at it I see that you were earlier and Scorntyrant kind of overran you.... However I only noticed it now. :/

Sorry - Thread Ninja-d! 2 for 1 sale then:


Tears for fears - "mad world".

Tears for Fears were always kinda riding on the coat-tails of the more experimental members of the post-punk/New-wave scene in my opinion. In that sense I tend to think of them in the same sense as Spaundau Ballet and Orchestral manoeuvre's in the dark - they "stood on the shoulders of giants" as they say. Unlike, say, New Order or Gary Numan, their sense of having developed from the punk scene was kinda questionable. But that said, I always liked their lyrics. "Mad world" and "Shout", their 2 most well-known songs, demonstrate a certain desperation and pathos very much in line with their Thatcher-ear British background.

Maethelvin - Delight

Also pretty cool. Major flashbacks to Detroit techno circa 88-89, Italian disco, and early-90's pop-house crossover like black box etc (but minus vocals). I'm a really big fan of that 4/4 driving "Motorik" beat that you saw cross over from Krautrock to Disco in the 70's, and while this is a bit self-conscious in a way it nails that beat pretty well.

Keeping with the 80's theme:

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

If you're interested in more of that "modern nostalgia 80s electronic music", you could try out these two quite decent compilations. I spin them quite constantly and enjoy them a lot:
http://www.amazon.de/Futurecop-presents ... 124&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.de/Valerie-and-Friend ... 6&sr=301-1

gonna skip your song's review for now as it was my turn just recently...

Skinny Puppy - Smothered Hope

Despite hearing about these guys many, many times, I've never bothered to check them out. I'm really not sure what to make of this. There is a dirty dance beat that persists throughout. The main thing I dislike is the vocals, especially at the beginning of the song. The kind of sneering dirty vocals - just rubs me the wrong way. They get a bit better as the song goes on, especially when they go towards a more anthemic style. In the end, I don't think I'd ever really listen to this, but I don't think it's bad and I understand the appeal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS0Vde0tBOA

Steve Von Till - Running Dry

Not a bad Neil Young cover but when you cover a legend you are going to be compared to the legend (and all the nostalgia and rose colored glasses that entails). I think if I had never heard the original I would have had a better reaction to the song. Von Till has a pleasant enough voice (maybe too pleasant for my preferences when it comes to this type of music). It's strong and considerably lower than Young's on the original. He uses a similar shimmery chorused out guitar tone to the original but adds a clean acoustic that I feel is a nice addition. My main problem with the recording (again completely due to having listened to the original more than a few times) is that it has a completely different feel to it. Von Till's clean, low tones, the clean production and the reduced violin part give the song a much more solid feel than the original. For me, part of the beauty of Young's version comes from the thin production, his higher pitched quavering voice and that sad spindly violin throughout the song. Along with the self loathing lyrics the effect is one of a hollow desperate man who despite trying to move on could crumble at any moment. Von Till's version is much stronger and seems less vulnerable to me but I'm probably overthinking things due to my fondness for the original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH9MhovIY9g

Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam

Hey, that was great. Musically it reminded me of Dylan and a bit of old Springsteen stuff however it got some kind of odd- and eerieness due to the lyrics.



Stuff like that really appeals to a side in me and the sole, calm acoustic guitar music seems more fitted than any other style of music to underline it. Have to look more into Mr. Ritter's music, I guess.

here's another one for you guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spBzB5P5n-U

Vanilla Muffins - Mike Tyson

This release is from the year 2000? That is actually a kind of surprise, because from the mere sounds it could have been considerably older. Quite cool stuff actually... and according to Wikipedia 'pop-punk'. Nice drive, nice rhythms, a lot of characteristic punk elements and it is basically what you get when you buy a punk album. Well crafted and balanced. I am not too much interested in punk, but I can enjoy it now and then.

my contribution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImA-uXu5Vhg

ghostandthesong - "ou inme"

Nice, I like this. Shades of "kiss me, kiss me, kiss me" era Cure coming through in that early part.Then morphs into some semi funky basslines along the lines of Jesus Jones or EMF, but keeping the slightly odd (Japanese?)vocals. Remind me of when I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8uniITqqB8

Christian Death - Romeo's Distress

This isn't bad but I wouldn't know how to classify it though. I find the production to be a bit weak but I guess it suits the purpose this kind of music has. I haven't made any reading on the band but they sound British to me. A bit happy.

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

The World/Inferno Friendship Society - I'm Sick of People Being Sick of My Shit

Yess, I love this band. They're kind of like a punk band with orchestral/swing influences, although that description doesn't give them justice. I first became aware of them when I was 14 through their collaboration with Leftover Crack (which is great, by the way). This probably isn't the song I'd choose by them if I were to post one of their songs, but it's still great. It features old timey influences very prominently (I want to say swing, but I don't really know what I'm talking about with these kind of genres.) Anyway, the songwriting is good, the piano backbeat is catchy, almost sounding a bit like ska or reggae. Both the female and male vocals are very well done. The occasional guitar leads and organ appearances are a nice touch. The horns are awesome. Good band, good song.

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

hehe, you'd probably be the first person ever to describe Christian Death as "a bit happy" considering their sagas of drug addiction and suicide. U.S Deathrock/Goth from 1982, which explains the thin productions somewhat. Interesting band, although I only really like the first 3 albums - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Death

Star Fucking Hipsters : "Snitch To The Suture"

I like the blittle "good time" riff that starts the song and recurrs in the middle and again toward the end of the piece. Most of the song has a bouncy ska-punk feel to it, reminding me a little of a band like Less than jake or something, but a bit less exciting. They seem to share LTJ's occasional affinity for heavier stuff, as suddenly in the last twenty seconds this tune goes into a slower, distorted section with screaming and a flurry of tremolo lead that turns into a bit of a wild solo. Not much else to say...I didn't much care for the vocals, and the last few seconds seemed to actually be the beginning of a completely different tune. I tapped my feet to the rhythm though, so it wasn't all bad...just nothing I'd return to, I think.

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

Seasons Of The Wolf - Interstellar

up until the vocals came in, I was thinking I heard this on a porno once. Once they did come in, I realised it was during the "introspective" scene in an 80's action movie. You know, the bit where the hero thinks he's failed and is drowning his sorrows, and then the love interest comes in and shows him there is still hope by showing some pg-13 sideboob or back-nudity during the soft-focus lovemaking scene. I guess its like a kind of Hard Rock, if you removed the elements that could be described as "hard" or "rock".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6umd14j52w4

Sol Invictus - Do and Say

Such a bleak and haunting piece. I am new to this sort of music, neofolk it's called, but this has a dark yet subtle appeal that possibly anyone could easily enjoy. He sings "love is here to stay" with such a heavy tongue of doom making it sound more like an eerie presage than a genial declaration.
The music isn't too cluttered but drones on incessantly, giving it a sort of unique "heaviness" and the melodies are distant but constant and repeating in a well dressed folky manner.
Happy to have found this one! Great stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbMKPdq5Aw

Robert Plant - Song to the Siren

Well, what can you say about Mr Plant's vocals. I'm sure that there are many of us who grew up listening to his voice as one of the first experiences of the power rock music has to take us out of our suburban wasteland existence and show us something OTHER. something that lifts you out of yourself. In this piece its somewhat strange, being so much later than the glory years of Led Zeppelin. there is more of a restrained and somewhat age-wearied tone to the song, but still infused with poignancy and yearning. A very nice song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=karRE54L ... re=related

Dead Can Dance- Xavier

The kind of song that takes your breath away because of is sheer delicacy and wounded beauty. The lyricism is fraught with religious imagery and yet kept open enough to all manner of interpretation. The music is as fitting as you can get. It works mostly because it has such depths of evocation yet comes off as a complete picture that didn't have to strive so hard to make its elements fit. This is pure genius. A brilliant work of art worth revisiting over and over again. Dead Can Dance is severely underrated but maybe should remain so because as precious as this is, I'm not too keen on sharing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB6C_zj2g5I

The Smashing Pumpkins - Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

Oh, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. A friend of mine gave me the album as an mp3 a few years ago, but i did not like it at first. I only knew Bullet on Butterfly Wings and thought the whole album would consist only of "annoying grunge-rock". However, it has grown on me since then.

The track I am reviewing here is one of the quieter ones on the album, although it has one hard rockish motif that returns several times throughout the song. I like this change of dynamics, but i can't quite get into the song as a whole. I wouldn't say it doesn't have a buildup into a climax, but this structure does not seem to be interconnected with the single parts. The quiet part is just going along quiet, the loud part is just going along heavy, and in the end there is a heavier part than before, but that's all that happens.

Conclusively, I must say i never got into Mellon Collie as a whole. There's a fair share of songs that i like, but also many ones I skip while listening to it. Perhaps the album is too long for the attention span of a guy in the 21st century. Perhaps it's just too long.

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

Schnuckenack Reinhardt - Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen

Alright, a bit out of my element here, but I'll give it a shot. This mixes a lot of genres together. The sorrowful violin in the beginning made me think this was going to be a straight up classical peice, but I was soon surprised to hear a bouncy (almost comical) bass line. However, there are elements of classical throughout.There were some bluesy elements in here, some jazz(ish) sort of stuff. One section had classical/jazz (not entirely sure which) guitar, and at the ending it has someone singing in Spanish (I'm pretty sure that's the language). This was a really weird matching of elements, but still somewhat interesting and well done. Pretty decent, not sure I'd go back to it, but I can definitely appreciate stuff like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njYf72fCOAA

Blaak Heat Shujaa - High On Altitude

I heard a couple tracks from these guys a year or so ago but never followed up. Glad you posted it. Psych rock from France if I remember correctly. Love the guitar licks near the beginning. It's got that Dick Dale thing going on for a bit with the the slow bass driven build up and then the guitar comes in all whahed out with these eastern sounds. Sweet. Really dig the intro. The remainder of the song is fairly run of the mill modern psych rock that gets a little heavier and fuzzed out near the end before that whahed out guitar comes back in for a solo. I thought they could have done more with that solo but not bad. I like the bass tone. The drums and vocalist don't stand out much. All in all, I dig. I'll have to look into them more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx8Q6hisODo

Frank Black - Freedom Rock

This song somehow gives me a really happy vibe, I didn't do any research on it, but if I'm not mistaken this is the singer in The Pixies. The lyrics are interesting and the production sounds really 90's. The drums have some nice fills and you can hear a piano here and there. The riff during the verse is really catchy and I can't seem to get it out of my head now.
It's a nice song overall.

Something from the 90's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b5dFLeB-qI

Well damn. This is SO much better than the their horrible single (No Rain), which admittedly is my only real exposure to Blind Melon. This is very classy, with what can only be described as a beautiful acoustic, and lengthy but welcomed introduction accompanied by wistful, yet somehow melancholic vocals. This sets the mood perfectly for this lush track to truly unfold at it's own pace, with accomplished grace and power. The way this swells slowly, but with strong purpose is amazing, and the addition of those angelic female vocals adds even more colour and depth. There is an edge of tragedy about this though, covered with the sheen of sunshine, but it is there none the less, as it cannot fully be hidden. Quite good stuff.

The title of this song has been miss spelled by the uploader, but that is only a minor worry.

Frontline Assembly - "Discention"

I'm not all that familiar with FLA's later work, but their earlier albums are some pretty class EBM. And so is this. It's a classic FLA-sounding track with a catchy bassline, pounding industrial drumbeats and uber-distorted vocals, but there's more of a techno element and a few glitchier, distorted sounds. It does add to the FLA sound, and the softer section around 2:20 serves really well to lead into the next section. There's always some great background atmosphere going on and a few passages of what sounds like a processed guitar, so this pulls of the excellent feat of being complex but still really memorable at the same time. The mastering isn't the best, because it sounds a bit too rough and overly distorted (yeah, I know it's industrial, but this is really clipping on my speakers), but I like it anyway. Hits the perfect sweet spot between aggression and melody. Will probably have to check out Artificial Soldier sometime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oh_r-n94uY

Richard Hawley - Leave Your Body Behind You

Where to start? This song is pretty fucking good. I had never heard about this artist before so it's a good introduction, the atmosphere it creates is beautiful with some very nice melodies added to it, it can even sound frantic at times. The highlight of the song are definitely the vocals, though I wouldn't know how to describe them, I'd say it sounds like an old man. The voice kinda reminds me of Johnny Cash but not quite so. I will definitely check more into this band. This song just makes me want to light up, lie down, relax and just let it take me anywhere. Great, great song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45g4Yz4YfaQ

The Offspring - "All I Want"

Woohoo, Crazy Taxi! I used to be quite the Crazy Taxi master back in the day. Man, that takes me back. Anyway, this is a very short (under two minutes) speedy punk blast. I've never really liked Dexter Holland's vocals, and his usual tuneless yelp is in place here, stopping me from enjoying it as much as I could, and the monotonous drums also drag it down. There are some pretty catchy and good guitar riffs, fast but melodic. Nothing too technically special, but hey, it's punk. To be honest, this song is probably only saved by sheer energy and catchiness. Definitely gives off that "anthem" vibe of not giving a fuck and wanting to do your own thing, which I can never resist, especially with the backing vocals on "IT'S ALL I WAAAAAANT!". Good when I'm in the mood, and definitely good for ramping a taxi off a speed bump, but doesn't quite hold together when I'm not.

Here's something while I grapple with the question of which mini-review thread to post Ulver's post-black metal stuff in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L_z-Qaaero

P.S. YA YA YA YA YA! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Public Image Ltd. - Careering

Man, it's been a long ass time since I listened to PIL. I liked them a bit when I was younger, found out about them through the Sex Pistols connection, who I was obsessed with when I was 13/14. This is a cool song. The minimal electronic/ambient in the background really sets the atmosphere. The vocal lines are quirky, but very memorable. The way they linger over the minimal music really makes the track. The processed (or programmed) drumming is very interesting, the snare has a really good timbre. This is a good song for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UImc6kvYlpk

Morning Glory: "Poets Were My Heroes"

Well, this is a bit nutty. Starts off with a gentle piano and group-sung vocals, and I was expecting this tune to remain this way. i thought, "it sounds like england in the late 60s/early 70s". Then heavy guitars kicked in and we were introduced to a kind of lumbering hard rock song with progressive tendencies in the instrumentation. The vocalist reminded me of someone, but I can't really place him...it's as though I've heard him before in a different band. He has a pretty cool voice with a bit of a snarl to it and could be in any number of notable hard rock bands from the late 90s. That "duh duh--duh duh" riff gets a little boring after a couple of minutes, but after the second..chorus, I guess you could call it...they bring in a bizarre noisy solo that I rather liked. The last minute features a very bombastic symphonic climax that took me by surprise....even with the minimal keyboard backing throughout the tune I did not expect it to turn into something so grandiose. I kind of appreciate how this song's a bit all over the place yet seems rather seamlessly integrated. Pretty interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHWYi1_koyk

Jesus christ. If you ever read this Abom, thank you! This was fucking awesome. The slow build up was intense, because you knew good to great things were around the corner. It grows like a shadow crawling along a wall, softly but steadily, edging closer, and those vocals! He does remind me of Dio slightly, but really that is unimportant because these guys shine with a masterful ebb and flow of song craft. Tasteful bass and drum interplay take front and center stage, weaving beautifully about each other in a dance of rhythmic wonder, while those haunting, ghostly keys form a ethereal undercurrent of mystic enthrallment. There is a cyclic nature to this track, but it's so organic that you become lost in it's meandering nature, and truly absorb it. Seventies rock at it's most sublime, and captivating best. It's such a magnificently warm journey, swelling and fading into itself with ease and skill. Bloody fantastic.

This is much more modern, but I have become somewhat obsessed with it.

Alice In Chains - All Secrets Known

Black Gives Way to Blue was a decent album. This is one of the better songs on the album. It's filthy, it's heavy, but somehow it maintains a somewhat mellow atmosphere. I also love the wailing vocal effect in all of its glory, and the strange blues flavor that is hard to detect but certainly present. Good song. I liked Acid Bubble the best off of this album. Could be too dirgy for some, I suppose. Still miss Layne at the helm, though. Great fucking guitar tone. They always had that fat Les Paul sound, though.

Off of one of my favorite albums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5-MCPaoHIE

Cypress Hill-Spark Another Owl

Rap and Hip-Hop have not been on my playlist for some time now, but I surely remember these guys and "Insane in the Brain" from when I was younger.

Very mellow and chill, and surely lends itself to toking. I felt like the opening, with all it's chimes and coughing, could have been the intro for a bizzare ambient track, and even though it's almost 4 minutes long, but I honestly felt like it sorta ended right as it got going. Definetely have me in the mood to revisit the urban section of my iTunes.

For my go, I present a gift i found on a distro. I couldn't find a video on Youtube where you could actually understand him over the guitar, so I linked to the BandCamp. (Track 2 is a favorite, but pick one that hits your fancy): thehomelessgospelchoir.bandcamp.com

@ Crushed Revelation:

The Homeless Gospel Choir track 2

This was hard to get through, I found the guys voice intensely annoying and I wanted to strangle him the whole time. I have come across roaming bands of young hobo traveling kids that play many different variations on folk music and this guy seems like he *boooo* pays rent and works at a pet store somewhere. I hate lyrics that are supposed to make you go "yeah man, I really know what he's talking about" or when some dumbass wino shit-liberal literature reading folk repeats the line about where he wants his girlfriends face to disappear, they'd laugh in a stupid voice then repeat the line ironically then laugh themselves. They got a connection, man. Whatever warbles he has in his voice is supposed to accentuated by the commercial jingle jolly nature of the music, as if it says "I know the world is horrible but I can just make fun of it and show my greater understanding through not caring". It is douchey. I hated this music horribly.

This isn't much better but I love it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3XiKfcPmaY

The Dots - Helen in Your Headphones

For me, this kind of music is the gold standard for bands that may have a couple of hits and then disappear off the face of the earth. It's the kind of song my mother would have "Grooved" to had she been 30. It's annoying, it's repetitive and weird. The vocals are bad - really bad. They don't do anything for the song. In addition, the keyboards sound like something that could have come out of a children's television show. I generally like 80s New Wave, but really, this crap is awful. (written after first listen).

After playing the song 3 times, it's annoyingly catchy. God I hate you Varth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuGzJVKtW6g

Black Veil Brides - Fallen Angels

Not as bad as I imagined upon reading the band moniker, but well, it's completely shallow music. Take a modernized Kiss outfit, an unremarkable singer, suger-coated dual guitar melodies and a chorus to shout along with and there you have Black Veil Brides. No wonder the song has 14 million views, everything about is streamlined to be enjoyed by everyone. I enjoyed it to some extent, too, but I wouldn't listen to it a second time, because it would already bore the hell out of me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmK-ukwTfUA

Colour Haze - Tempel

reaction on the first part was "no wonder you can hear so many people talking - this is boring as fuck". Then the Kyuss riffs start up and things improve. It's actually a pretty sweet jam and the location is awesome - looks like that would have been a nice way to spend an afternoon, playing/listening to some tunes up on the headland over the ocean, smoking joints and drinking a few brews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWW-XsIAoFc

Gary Numan and Ade Fenton: "Healing"

I'm quite familiar with a few Gary Numan albums now, but this is much more modern, I think, and definitely unknown to me. It's noisy, alienating, kind of danceable. I didn't really enjoy it as much as, say, The pleasure Principle or Replicas and so on, but i guess it was interesting. Luckily the song is short and doesn't overstay its welcome, because there isn't much going on. In fact, Numan seems to have gone further down into alienation than ever, doing away wit the catchy (if sometimes somewhat wrong-sounding) pop melodies of old and replacing them with a kind of thudding monotony. Vocals sound very detached, processed and make me think of some kind of robotic insect. This was a strangely ugly piece of music without being particularly harsh. It was interesting but I don't really imagine I'd return to this. I miss the melody of the old days, i guess.

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

@Scorntyrant: I thought that Gary Numan song was awesome. I have no experience with him, but that song was cool and weird as hell.

Yeah, I'm a massive Numanoid - I have every album on LP, seen him live 3 times and I have a bunch of live boots/concert DVD's. All his 90's and later stuff sounds quite a lot like early NIN, so nothing at all like Telekon or the Pleasure Principle. Still great though.