Hello everyone, and welcome back to this month's Emusic blog. I'm actually going to split this into two separate blogs, because I'm dedicating the first to a little fun I had today.
For this month, being completely aimless musically and getting a little tired of metal, I was wondering what, exactly, I'd spend my 100 downloads on. My first idea was to download 100 songs by 100 different artists, but I thought of how time consuming that would be (not to mention how hard it would be to *not* download a record if I liked a particular song). My second idea was to get some old EBM and goth tracks I haven't heard in a while, but I quickly nixed that idea when I realized I'm not exactly a 25 year old rivethead anymore. Finally, after some excremeditation, I came up with the plan.
I chose 25 different words using the random word generator at
http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomWord/RandomWord.aspx
Search in the track box using each word
No duplication of artists
No music I had ever heard
Nothing I was tremendously familiar with
I could choose which song containing the search term, but only by the preview
A new word can only be generated in the case of no (or extremely limited) selection.
So without further ado, here are the 25 songs I have selected, and my impression of each one.
(occasion)
The Flat Planets- Grand Occasion
My friend Chris used to compare everything to the band WASP. Mostly, he did it to piss me off, but on occasion, you could catch the glimmer of truth in his words. This band sounds nothing like WASP, but I'll be damned if they're not the musical kissing cousins of steely dan. Also, that's a bad thing. I fucking hate steely dan. They're a little less wussy, maybe more of a ben folds.
(revolt)
The Book Of Lists- Pacifist Revolt
There's a nice cool phaser on the guys vocals, which I like. It also has a 60's psychodelic pop feel to it, which i also like.
(washing)
Kid & Khan- Washing Machine (Kaos vocal rmx)
This one is interesting, it reminds me of detroit techno filtered through manchester house, with a more updated sound. I like the vox, they remind me of cybertron. sorta. I'd liken the singer more to van christie on a bad day, but in a good way.
(lag)
Dana Gillespie- Jet Lag From Paradise
LOL awesomely cheesy. It sort of sounds like a 60's tv star trying to make pop music in the 80's. Which, I actually think I'm not too far off.
(information)
Black Debbath- Practical Information
Another cheesy song. The song is basically a tour guide welcoming you to norway, only METAL! It sort of makes me wish I started that industrial band that sang in german, but all of the lyrics were different recipes for cake.
(chalk
The A Sides- Sidewalk Chalk
Remember how much I love the New Pornographers, the long blondes, and the 1900's, and understand why this is my next album download. Wonderful indie pop with sweet boy/girl harmonies, with a little bit of rockin'.
(sentence)
Kool Keith- Serve 'Em A Sentence (feat. Motion Man)
Someone I know, but I've never heard this track (and I was never a huge kool keith fan). Not a horrible song, but not my favorite. Keith's got an awesome flow, but these lyrics aren't exactly shakespeare.
(knee)
Monkey, Don't!- If I Die on My Knees
Quite funky, but I felt like something was missing. It made me feel like I *wanted* to listen to superfly, but didn't sound like superfly at all. It made me bounce, though.
(novelty)
Butterglory- Novelty in Two
I was looking for a joy division cover, but I remembered the rules. Oh, and this song is very cow-pop. Yet another genre I've invented today. (See below for the other)
(chose)
Mogwai- I Chose Horses
The other artist I'd heard of. Rather than talk about the music itself, i'm going to ask the group - is he speaking english with just a really thick scottish accent? Like that 500 miles song? or is he so into the cocteau twins thzt he wants to talk babytalk like liz frazier? In any case, I like this song.
(guideline)
Ass- Guidelines For Bespoke
Remember the one note song? This is that one note song. Not really, but JEEEZ it's boring. And Mogwai is on this list!
(nostalgia)
Vector Lovers- Nostalgia 4 The Future
What a stupid title, but the song is pretty cool. Lots of breaks and squelches and bleeps and blurps. Recommended to make your techno friends jealous.
(someone)
The Punch Line- Someone
If mid-90's local jacksonville, NC indie rock act "Rusty East" had a cover band, they would sound like this. Which is to say, they really wish they were playing the 50 watt club in Athens about 25 years ago. I would have loved this in college, but I've been out of college for a long time.
(signal)
Pharmacy Of Sound- Low radio signal
Hooked on note 1. this is what house music is all about. It's a little on the dark side, too.
(hospital)
Tyfoid Mary- Kitty Hospital
This song is hilarious. It's basically an angry punk song where the guy is pissed because his cat is sick. It's catchy, funny, and utterly disposable. Highly recommended.
(crack)
Desert Storm Sound System- Dawn Of Crack
I dunno, some hard trance or happy hardcore thingie that is kind of annoying. It bounces around too much. It's like the producer tried to cram all the music from a single rave into a 5 minute long song. I guess that makes it efficient, though.
(recursion)
Abraxas Projekt- Fragmentation/récursion
IDM. Keeps your interest, and there's actually a discernible beat. I suppose that puts it a few steps ahead of other IDM. It has some interesting sax work in it, which actually detracts from the song. I like it best when it's just the beat.
(inheritance)
The Beekeepers- Inheritance
If the Replacements had sex with the Smiths while the Gin Blossoms watched, this is what the baby would sound like. Kinda gay, a bit overthought, and way too dated.
(judgement)
Polymyth- Lust always clouds my judgement
Recommended. I might get the rest of the record. Soulful triphop - the vocals remind me of a less husky voiced Tracy Thorn.
(French)
Benny B- Oui c'est du rap français
A little bit of a cheat, since I actually searched for "Francais" instead of french. this is what I get - it's quite stupid. It has that early 90's CC music factory sound, with much worse production quality and a really stupid premise. It made me think of the retards who post in the Itunes Latino track of the week "Why is this song in spanish?" only in the reverse. "Hey, I'm rapping, and it's in french!" - no dude, it sucks. You're not making the french language better, you're making rap worse.
(protest)
Lori Chaffer- Make No Protest
This track wasn't bad. A perfectly fine piece of acoustic chick folk with a touch of electric instrumentation. Then again, it's not special. I'd only recommend buying it if you've worn out your regina spector records. It actually kind of reminds me of something off the last joni mitchell record, only worse.
(external)
Audioholics- External Key (Perry O'Neil Remix)
Mildly interesting trance. I really have no more I can say about it, it would be more interesting to me if I were in my early 20's, with a pacifier in my mouth, rolling hard on synthetic hallucinogens. But then again, so would a paper clip. Wow, this is a fucking amazing paperclip. I love it. I just want to eat it. I need it in me now.
(bearing)
Elsewhere- Bearings
:) blissful. File under slowdive fans for life. They're not as good as faunts or postmarks, but for neo-shoegazer, they're not bad at all. They actually sort of remind me of big electric cat, only not goth. I love the guitar tone, but the vocalist needs to shut up.
(prime)
Natarajxt- Prime Time
This was novel - traditional indian music over a trance beat, but it wasn't exactly breathtaking (or even worthy of more than a footnote in tethnic (HA I coined a new word!) music.
(finding)
BEN PARK DRIVE- Finding You
The song is actually very well written, I love the melody. Unfortunately, it's so god damned muddy. If they'd just fire the guitarist who thinks that distortion sounds best with the high end cut out then they'd be a lot better. Or at least get him to stop playing for a few seconds. That constant crunch really kills any dynamics the song might have had. There also seems to be a lot of unnecessary overdubs.
So in closing, this experiment was entertaining, and I did find at least one good artist to check out more of.
Oh, and in case anyone felt like they were jumping around in time while reading this, that's because I wrote each in order that I listened, but put them down in order of download. You're not watching Lost.
Black Debbath