What's playing on the stereo?
 

Taking a cue from the "In The Crowd" section, I thought I'd start a topic dedicated to listening preferences. I figure it to be a good conversation and educational experience.

So, I bought not one, but two new CDs today. Since relocating to the East Coast 2 years ago, I haven't been as much of a CD collector as I used to be. I believe these are the 7th and 8th CDs I've bought this year, which doubles the amount I bought in 2000.

Now then...a review of each:

Ozomatli-"Embrace the Chaos": Ozomatli burst out of Los Angeles in 1998 as a 10-piece band mixing funk, hip-hop, Latin, and rock music together along with the English and Spanish languages and activism. 2001 brings them back on wax as a 7-piece collective, but still pumping out the jams. On the first record, Chali 2na provided English raps while Raul Pacheco and Asdru Sierra provided Spanish lead vocals. Chali has since left (as the Jurassic 5 project blew up) leaving Kanetic Source (essentially the 8th member) to provide the rhymes. While not bad, Chali had a deep booming voice that was unmistakable. The hip-hop element, while still prevalent, is not as deep as it was on the first record. The band uses more sound bites on this record as well as guest artists, like Common. This record doesn't seem to gel together as well as the first one, nor does it seem to have as many feel-good songs. However, it is titled "Embrace the Chaos," and is a worthwhile CD.

Although the title of the CD has been known by fans for some time now, it is ironic that the record was released on September 11th.

Jamiroquai-"A Funk Odyssey": It is my opinion that Jay Kay is the white Stevie Wonder, because he DOES sound so much like the legend. And this record sounds like it might have been made by Stevie Wonder in the 70s. Unlike their earlier releases, this album seems to have a bit of an edge, as noticed in the hard guitars on a handful of songs. This album also seems to be more negative than their previous albums. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps it is a more realistic attitude of sorts. Jamiroquai's albums have always had some sort of social message though. And it cannot be denied that Jamiroquai make great videos ("Virtual Insanity," "Canned Heat"), including the new single, "Little L." I cannot stop myself from hitting the repeat button for this song. Great record...

Alanis Morisette - Jagged little pill
Found this again a couple of weeks ago, damn, it still rocks!! Powerful stuff.


Radiohead - All. THese ppl rock, its tends to be my music i can work with, nothing liek passing an evening owrking on flash/photoshop listening to Packed like sardines into a can.

Radiohead is just the consummate band. I don't know what it is about them, but they simply make great records. I don't have the 2 newest albums, but I loved "OK Computer." Thom Yorke is a freak though...heh.

Alanis...I think her last album was rather underrated. (How the hell can you top "Jagged Little Pill"?) But "SFIJ" had some great songs on it...I think I like that one better than "Jagged Little Pill."

Man oh man, I cannot get enough of this new Jamiroquai CD. There is a song called "Corner of the Earth" that is simply fantastic. It's a shame they don't get more airplay here in the States (other than MTV). They're kind of hard to categorize, which makes them unfriendly to radio. They're not quite alternative, but not quite top 40ish either.

<i>OK Computer</i> is definitely the best album ever. The fact that it's a commercial success knocks me over.

"Pablo Honey" was a good album. Unfortunately, it came out during the middle of the grunge era (1993). Rather than fade into obscurity, they made "The Bends," which may have very well been the best album put out in 1995.

I've heard some of "Kid A" and "Amnesiac," and quite frankly, I'm ashamed I don't own either of them.

But "OK Computer"...that album just makes me go "Wow!" It just shows how talented they are as musicians. And Thom Yorke has that mumbling, tortured kind of voice. There are certain vocalists that are just immediately distinguishable: Peter Garrett (of Midnight Oil), Dave Matthews, Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), and Thom Yorke come directly to mind.

Jagged little pill was by far the best, particuary i love the first and last tracks..

I have the latest two, not the ones before. Was intoduced by a friend of mine(same person who introduced me to snog) too late, must lay hands on it some time.

KidA really gave them limelight and Amnesiac i went to great lengths to get months before its release.

Last album I bought was for my friend's birthday: Tenacious D's self-title. I haven't heard it yet, but I've been told of some things. He's going to burn me a copy, will report later.

Ironically, this has been the week where the stereo hasn't been going. My brother came in from the city last week, and I left my player and CDs in his car. School bus trips, study halls, coding, all with no music except for the few MP3s I could scrounge from the recesses of my HD.

I've been busy downloading though. The company that controls most of the radio stations on the East Coast (ClearChannel I think it's called, or MediaChannel, I gotta remember it one of these days) put out a BIG list of songs that they were considering pulling because of "questionable lyrics". Here's some of the songs, guess what the question was:

Tom Petty - "Free Fallin"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
The Bangles - "Walk Like An Egyptian"
The Clash - "Rock The Casbah"
Frank Sinatra - "New York, New York"

So, as such, I took the ones I like (the above are some), and am making a "Questionable Lyrics" mix. I'd be done already if my brother hadn't shanghaied my burner for going on 3 weeks. Bastard...

~Mike

What's on the stereo?
 

I'm at work at the moment. I've got the radio playing on a cheap little radio/tape player I've got sitting on top of my computer. I'm listening to Triple J, which for everyone other than Jaguar, is the national youth station, run by the ABC, which is government funded. After 9am I'll probably put a tape on, because once the breakfast team is off, the station becomes pretty boring. They have a small (but increasing) selection of songs that get played about 10 times a day and none of them are good. It gets pretty frustrationg after a while.

There's always Triple M, though, which is a bit of a joke in Melbourne. For years they've been the yobbo rock station, playing mostly AC/DC, Van Halen, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and Led Zeppelin. They'd also play quite a bit of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, just to keep up with modern rock. Now, they've realised that their target market of 28-40 year old males is just too small, so they've started playing a lot of other stuff. They now play a whole heap of modern, new, alternative rock stuff like American Hi Fi, Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, (who all suck, IMO) and heaps more new stuff including a lot of Creed. They even play Fat Boy Slim now.

Anyway, I listen to a lot of Tool these days. Lateralus spends very little time in it's case, as does Aenima. They're the main things I've been listening to for the past 6 months or so. Those two, plus White Pony and Mer De Noms are probably the CDs I've listened to the most for, well, more than a year, really.

I also put RATM's Evil Empire back in the stereo for a while. It's a good album, although it took me a while to get into when I first bought it.

I gave Metallica's Reload a little spin last week. Well, two songs (Memory Remains and Devil's Dance).

OK Computer is definitely an amazing album. It spends a lot of time in the CD player. Kid A is awesome too, but I haven't gotten into it like I did OK Computer.

I'm planning on buying System Of A Down's new album soon. They are one of the most creative bands around and I just wish they'd come to Australia.

System of a Down are alright. I was watching MTV2 a few weekends ago and saw their new video. It wasn't bad, but the song threw me for a loop. It was really intense, then got all melodic...I thought something was wrong with me. Then I saw the new Slipknot video, and that threw me for a loop as well...

Right now... EELS -Beautiful Freak. freeby a few years ago for being able to read the call letters off the side of the van when the DJ asked, "Whats the best rock station in town?"

I still can't listen to Alanis M. She was on high rotation with Pill for a good two years. The neat thing about her is that this was her second or third makeover. Apparently, back home in Canada she started as one of those awful teeney bopper mall acts. But you never know eventually...

In the peekup truck soundtrack, O Brother where ar't thou? How you city boys like dat der ting?

What was the deal with all the singles of Pill? There were, like, seven singles off a 12-track album. That's bloody ridiculous. They were mostly good songs, but it got a bit tiring. I might have bought the album if I hadn't heard the whole thing on the radio.

The Eels rock, though.

Sycamore:
I haven't seen the clip for either of those two songs. In Australia, if you haven't got Pay TV (which is too crap to be worth it, IMO) you have to watch Rage to see video clips. Rage is great, but it starts at midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, and who the hell is watching TV at that time? It's great to put on when you get home at 3:00 in the morning, but otherwise, I rarely get to see it.

I can't say I'm a fan of the new Slipknot song (or other new songs I've heard by them). It's just more of the same full-of-shit super-aggressive schlock that made them so popular. I went and saw them last year when they toured, and bought the first album, but I'm sick of them now. Metal has gone to shit just like the rest of the music world - too many bands that sound the same and act all aggressive, with stupid face paint or some shit like that.

just so you know, that list is bullshit :) and it isn't backed by clear channel. a single dj put together the list of things that he and a few other dj's might avoid in this time. but it never came to light, and it wasn't the whole company...

That's all right, though. There are plenty of other reasons to hate Clear Channel.

As for music... hell, I haven't bought music for a few months now, and I certainly can't find jack squat on the radio any more (my radio has four presets set; WYSP for Opie & Anthony, WIP for the twelve minutes per month where they actually talk sports like they're supposed to, WXPN for the Saturday night blues show when I'm in town, and KYW once in a blue moon for news).

jeff. I think my last purchase was a Tubes live compilation.

What's on?
 

The Raybeats' "Guitar Beat". On PVC Records. Going around at 33 1/3 rpm.

I think this is a 1981 release. If you buy the CD re-issue you get "Holiday Inn Spain" and a couple of other bonus tracks, all of which are top-shelf, but the LP sounds better.

alright. here's what's getting a huge amount of play over my speakers.

legend - bob marley and the wailers - *great* album. or compilation. whatever you want to call it. it doesn't have all the best songs on it, but all the songs that are on it are good. and some of the best are there. so i tend to listen to it a lot.

lateralus - tool - uhm, hooked on it since may. it doesn't even go in its case. i have 3 copies (2 of the "lateralis" and 1 of the "lateralus"), plus a burnt copy and jenni's copy, which stays in the car. so at any given time, i have 1 at work, 1 in the car and 1 at home. it's almost constantly playing.

down on the upside - soundgarden - can't stop listening to it. it's a great album to put on repeat 'cause it's not too long and it's not too short. and all the songs are good. the ones i don't like as much, i tend to tune out. it makes my work day go faster. well. not really. but it makes it SEEM to go faster.

I delayed joining this one until I actually had things playing. I have two things in rotation. One is Al Stewart, classy stuff recorded between 1973-93. His hits are pretty much representative of what it is: soft rock in a California mode, with folky sensibilities, sung by a Scot. I've bought it all twice, once on vinyl and once on CD, and the stuff I'm listening to is downloaded from Morpheus and re-burned to CD because I don't have the patience to build my own mix-CD the long-hand way. It's faster to download this stuff than it is to rip it, because if I wanted to rip it, I'd have to walk down the hall.

The other is the latest Weezer, because I heard that hit "Hash Pipe" and thought it was brilliant, in the tradition of all songs written in five minutes and played real loud. Fuzz guitar with pop sensibilities - I always fall for it.

I don't own any of their albums, but Weezer are great. A lot of people were worried about Rivers Cuomo for a while, b/c he didn't seem to be in his right mind. "Pinkerton" was an underrated CD. I'm glad to see him come out of his shell and put out another record.

I have "Undone" on a Spin magazine sampler I got back in '94. And it always make me think back to Labor Day weekend 1994. My roommate Jim and I were only a handful of people that had stayed on campus at SEMO that weekend. We cranked that song up really loud and hopped about our floor like a couple of morons. This was followed by playing soccer & rollerblading--big no-nos in the common areas. Ah, to be 18 again...

Now currently playing...
 

Earth, Wind, and Fire--Greatest Hits: I'm sorry, but I dig the hell out of old-school soul and funk. This CD was in heavy rotation at my job last summer, along with "Mer de Noms" by A Perfect Circle. EWF just kicks ass...and they write great songs.

Back in 1994, when I did my first tour of duty in retail, I was a customer service manager. One Sunday afternoon, one of my cashiers received a phone call:

syc: "I'm sorry but (cashier's name) is unavailable to take a call right now. Can I take a message?"

other person: "Sure. Would you just let (cashier's name) know that I got an extra ticket for the Barry White show tonight and I wanted to see if she wanted to go..."

syc: "Oh shit! Wait a minute..."

At first my cashier said she didn't know if she wanted to go. I was like, "Are you crazy? Barry White is the MAN! You have to go to that show!" At that point, she probably thought I was a lunatic, which is half-true. ;)

I might break out the P-Funk shortly...

I'm happy, yet listening to angry music...strange...
 

Pantera--Far Beyond Driven: Let's face it, Pantera kicks ass! Having said that, I would NEVER go see one of their shows...that would be a bit much.

ummm...Anthrax--Sound of White Noise: I kinda feel bad for the band right now, given what is going on in Florida. Apparently they were complaining about the bad publicity...but as Jay Leno noted last night, it's the most attention they've gotten in 5 years. This is a great CD though...it's a diversion from the goofier side of Anthrax.

Now it's <b>Dido</b> in my player - possibly the exact opposite of what Syc's listening to while still remaining on the side of all that is worthwhile and decent. I.e., no Celine Dion or Mariah.

*laughs*

But she DID collaborate with Eminem, which is on the opposite end of the mood radar.

(I don't mind Eminem, but the first time I saw him referred to as Feminem by ICP, I nearly fell out laughing.)

Dido cd rocks, definate regular on my mp3 list. At the same time i lsiten to RATM, Linkin Park and when i'm in a really shitty mood, NIN. Bah, levels out in the end =)

Try a band called schpongle people, great trippyish working music =) Like techno without rules and the heavy beat.

Joy Division- Substance

Turned up LOUD. If the neighbors don't complain, it's not loud enough. With the autorepeat set to play "Love Will Tear Us Apart" over... and over... and over... and over...

Great music for Perl hacking.


#!/usr/bin/perl -lw
use strict;
$_='';
s//#?=> :}\~>\\!;/;
substr($_,-1)= ' )!{ \:<_!';
y/#):</JPac/;
s/!/Y</g;
y(<=>?)(rstu);
y/Y\\_/ehk/;
y/{}~/lno/;
print;

Hubris, you mentioning that CD makes me want to go out and buy the new New Order CD now.

Finding new appreciation
 

Nine Inch Nails--The Fragile: For the longest time, I was a huge NIN fan. I bought this CD the week it came out. Unfortunately, at the time, I was in the middle of a move...and to be honest, I don't think I have ever listened to both CDs in their entirety. And what I heard originally was disappointing. However, I popped disc 1 into the CD player tonight...and it is a really good CD...better than I originally thought. I've always liked the way Trent can go from melancholy to full-blown rage. I'll probably pop disc 2 in tomorrow...but at this point, I am beat...

Radiohead, NIN, Bjork, Beck, Einsturzende Neubauten, Kraftwerk, and Aphex Twin would be my top bands that I think are really really really good. I've seen Radiohead, Neubauten, and NIN in concert, and I'll be seeing Bjork in about 4 days. I've heard something about an S.F. Aphex Twin show in January, and I just hope I get tickets on time...

I like some other 'lesser' stuff too, from Eminem to Chumbawumba (hey, they did a lot more than that one Tubthumber song, and they've got some inteligent things to say!). Right now I'm listening to Bloodhoundhang.

Lately, I've been getting into hip-hop stuff like DELTRON 3030 and other fine works featuring Dan the Automator and Del tha Funky Homosapien. And Squarepusher, too. Squarepusher is great.

Bareword found where operator expected at ./test.pl line 6, near "y/#): s/!/Y"

Dan the Automator kicks ass. I wish he and Kool Keith would do another Dr. Octagon CD. He also did a great remix of Depeche Mode's "Only When I Lose Myself."

I didn't know Richard James was still doing the Aphex Twin project. I have the "Richard D. James" album, which is really wild. Another group in that vein is Add n to (x), who do a lot of strange stuff with synthesizers. Check out their album "Avant Hard."

Buckethead
 

Right now, I've got CD's from one of the greatest avant-garde guitarists ever, Buckethead, in the player and by the stereo.

Here's the CD's I recommend:

Monsters and Robots. It features Les Claypool, Bootsy, and Brain, and a host of other musicians. Easily one of my favorite CD's of all time, especially for The Ballad Of Buckethead.

Giant Robot. Way cool.

Praxis - Transmutation. Incredibly good.

Colma- mellow, darn artistic, and very very good.

Somewhere Over The Slaughterhouse - Lots of Electronica in here, however still very good.

Praxis - Metatron - Awesome CD.

What's even funnier is that he's the lead guitarist now for one of my favorite bands of all time, Guns N Roses. His usual drummer, Brain, is now the GNR drummer. This guy kicks butt no matter what he plays. And, because of him, I'm startin to pick up a lot of electronica and jazz fusion you'd never catch me listening to :).

Mithc

I don't have Avant Hard, but I've got another Add n to (x) album called "Add insult to injury". It's quite good. It's got the very-catchy "Plug Me In" song whose music video made memepool not long ago...

Richard D. James, under the name Aphex Twin, has a new album coming out this month actually called "Drukqs". It's a two disc set, and the 15 or so tracks I've gotten off gnutella so far are really really excellent. Checkout http://www.aphextwin.nu/ for more info.

Yeah, that's their 3rd album...I heard it's good. "Avant Hard" is their second album. I have their 1st one, "On the Wires of Our Nerves," which is really good.

I think the last thing I heard from Aphex Twin was "Come to Daddy," which is one of the most bizarre videos I've ever seen.

I loved GNR back in the day...and I like Buckethead...but he's no Slash. I wonder if "Chinese Democracy" will ever see the light of day. Axl has gone through so many lineup changes in the past 10 years.

I was watching Conan a few weeks ago...and Slash was the guest musician with the Max Weinberg 7. They talked to Slash at the end of the show...and he looked and sounded great. Very coherent and animated...I guess laying off the smack can do that to you. ;)

<br>
Last summer I ripped all my cds (about 200) to mp3s and burnt them to about 20-25 cds. It's really nice, I have a small cd carrynig case the I can take with me on trips that contains my entire cd collection. The best part is that it doesn't matter if it gets stolen -- I have copies of everything. More and more music appliances are starting to play mp3-cds. I think it's great and I sure hope this trend continues. I had a look at my Spanish teacher's boombox today, and IT played mp3--cds! She said she got it for only $50.
<br>
Anyway, as far as cd's in rotation, I've been listening to 1 cd of about 18 Rush albums. It's either that one, or a cd I have of a bunch of Dream Theater and Yes albums.
<br>

juju, what brand was it? Where can I get one?!

I havn't found an mp3-cd-player for under $100, and that one was somehwat buggy and VERY slow (skipping tracks could take 10-20 seconds or more).

--

Anyway, I just wanted to mention since this thread started just about all thats been on my playlist at work is Jurassic 5. I've got "J5" and "EP" (don't know if these are the actual album names, just got the two directories of mp3s from a friend) and both are excellent. They've got great beats, and some harmonies that you wouldn't expect from a rap group. It's great stuff.

"EP" and "Quality Control" are the CD titles.

J5 are great...Chali 2na and Cut Chemist used to be in Ozomatli...that's how I heard about them. I like their sound.

I don't know what brand my teacher's boombox was... she told me where she bought it but I don't remember what she said. I practicly freaked out when I saw it and heard the price though. Everyone must've thought I was a complete nut. She even asked me, "What's an mp3-cd?". lol. She'll probably never use it to play mp3-cds. It just happened to be a cheap boombox that was on the shelf when she was looking.

I bought a portable cd player that I use in my car and on the bus to school. It plays mp3's, and I picked it up for $90. Works very well -- it doesn't take more than a fraction of a second to skip to the next track. It does take 30 seconds when you first fire it up, but that's acceptable considering the fact that it can play for 20 hours without stopping. :] It even scrolls the id3 artist and song text across the led while the song is playing.

Its brand is 'Classic', but there are lots of other better brands out there, i'm sure. This was just cheap.

At home I just hook my computer audio out to my stereo's auxiarlly in and fire up XMMS. But I recently bought a DVD player for $130 at Best Buy. I don't remember the model..it's a Samsung. But it plays mp3-cds as well.

I use a slightly different but equally effective system, MDs. Not sure how they've caught on over there but ehre they are all the rage. Sony MZ-900, i record the disks direct from the digital optical out on my stearo (which in turn is plugged into my computer), they are re-recordable and the unit is far smaller than a discman.
Fanbloodytastic mate.

Don't you have to burn minidisks at 1x speed? Doesn't that take forever?

Anything by Nine Inch Nails is always good.

Now playing...
 

Jamiroquai--Travelling Without Moving: I had heard of them before this record, but had never really given them much thought. Then I saw their video for "Virtual Insanity" and picked up the CD. It's a shame they don't get a lot of play here in the States...great band.

Nitzer Ebb--As Is: I didn't get into these guys until after their prime. Though I fondly remember Beavis and Butt-head making fun of their video for "Godhead." This here is just an EP--4 songs mixed by 4 different people: Jaz Coleman (of Killing Joke), Flood, Alan Wilder (of Recoil/Depeche Mode), and Barry Adamson (formerly of the Birthday Party). It was nice little one-off before the "Ebbhead" album came out. My particular fave on this one is "Come Alive." Given that Doug McCarthy may be one of the most sinister singers/songwriters out there, this song makes them sound rather personal.

My stereo:

Kottonmouth Kings - "Royal Highness": These guys have to be the best unknown band around. If you don't know them, picture RATM and Beastie Boys fused together, and hell-bent on legalization. RH was their debut album, and their second, "High Society" has them starting to branch into more Rage-ish anti-capitalism lyrics. Bottom line, if you're into RATM, Beastie Boys, or music that makes a statement in general, give Kottonmouth a shot.

~Mike

Damnit, I'm pissed!!!
 

You ever have one of those moments when you really want to hear something in particular...and then you can't find the damned CD? I cannot find my Perfect Circle CD anywhere!!! Grrr....

So, Mr. Bungle's self-titled debut will do for the moment...

For the most part, my CD collection is in alphabetical order. Last night, I added all my new CDs from this year into the collection. So far I am missing three. I fear they are being swallowed up by the mess that is my apartment. The missing are:

Revolting Cocks--"Linger Ficken Good"
A Perfect Circle--"Mer de Noms"
Depeche Mode--"Dream On" single

If you see them, please let me know. ;)

Currently playing:

Reverend Horton Heat--Spend a Night in the Box: Produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers. Gibby Haynes produced his "The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of..." album. Now he just needs King Coffey to produce his next record and he'll have utilized the whole band. This is my least favorite of his 6 albums. It just sounds rehashed...in the end, it's alright.

Local H--As Good as Dead: During the 1990s, I got into a lot of bands from Chicago (Ministry, Wax Trax! stuff, Stabbing Westward, Smashing Pumpkins, Wesley Willis), and this is another great one. I'm still a big grunge fan, and this album has some great riffs and a lot of "I'm pissed off and hate you"-type lyrics. Classic.

Keep in mind...
 

...that the stereo went out in my car about 4 weeks ago. So home is the only place where I get to listen to music anymore. Other goodies in the stereo over the past few days:

--Underworld: Beaucoup Fish
--Front 242: 06:21:03:11 Up Evil
--Judgment Night soundtrack
--Ministry: Box (a 3-CD German import featuring remixes and non-album tracks from 1985-92)

All different stuff
 

The cd's that I've been listening to lately include:

Slipknot - Iowa
Ozzy Osbourne - Ozzman Cometh
Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire
American Head Charge - The War Of Art

I picked up American Head Charge at a store when I saw it on the rack next to Slipknot. Looked interesting so I decided to get it. They turned out to be some really great death metal.

The nice section
 

Anthrax (the band, not the disease) has posted a message on their website, regarding the situation involving their name, and also posted some links for more info regarding the disease. I thought that was really cool of them to do.

Sad as this may be (and no disrespect meant to any victims), every time I heard the word Anthrax today, I immediately thought of an Anthrax song. A friend of mine said the same thing...she just kept thinking of "Bring tha Noize" (with Public Enemy). Strange...thank God I'm not the only one.

Cycling through the N0|z3b[]X
 

Hehehe....crackspeak is so quaint

right now, in and around my stereo

Kruder & Dorfmeister - the K&D Sessions: These guys are cheaper than acid, but roughly the same. Lots of organic sounding beatmixing with an almost jazzy feel, and breaking into a lot of smaples from songs we known and hate

Hopeless Records - Hopelessly Devoted to You vols. II and III: I <heart> punk rock. And the best part is, we've got a cool indie label around (these guys and sub-city are linked up, and worth a listen if you like punk rock).

The Promise Ring: I put together a compilation from a friend of mine's CD and what I've downloaded, and it's just wonderful emo, fun to listen to, down to earth, relaxing, A Picture Postcard is one of my favorite songs ever

Weezer - The Teal Album and Pinkerton: I put Green and blue together on one CD to make the teal album. The Blue Album is quite possibly my favorite CD ever, definitely the only one that I've listened to constantly for years

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 Soundtrack - No, I didn't buy the soundtrack, I napped it together then burned it. Some cool stuff there, especially Milencolin. I remember when a foreign exchange student was staying with my logical brother, and he brought a milencolin video that we had to convert to VHS. I stole it for about a week, and it was absolutely great. They and greenday turned me on to punk rock.

Blues Legends 2 pack - Screamin' Jay, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, for $15, how can you go wrong? Speaking of, did anybody catch the concert for NYC with clapton and buddy guy (especially any <i>guitaristas</i>)? That was absolutely incredibly....mind-boggling.

The Who - Who's Next: Baba O'Riley (flashes back to Summer of Sam....RICHIE!!!), Behind Blue Eyes. 'Nuff. Then they add won't get fooled again, and it becomes too much.

And I'm on a counting crows kick on the computer

Steve

A Perfect Circle--Mer de Noms: I was so excited to find this CD on Friday! I've been wanting to listen to it for weeks. As I've said previously, I like this CD better than the new Tool CD. Particularly the song "Magdalena." I dunno what it is about that song and "Judith," but they have a sinister sound about them that is kinda spooky. I'm not sure what the song is really about, but "Judith" sounds like a rant against the Catholic Church, which works for me. I can picture myself reworking that song and making a video for it. Perhaps when I become famous. :)

Mer De Nom better that Lateralus? I don't know about that, but it is awesome.

The name "Magdalena" is a bibilcal reference to someone who lost their way, in a religious sense, someone who was once a person of God but is no longer (as in Mary Magdelene, i think).

Judith is more about the concept of blind faith, the idea of people believing something because they're told to, rather than any particular church. That's what I read on the APC website, anyway. Maynard's really into the whole "think for yourself" thing.

As for your video idea I think it's great, I'd like to do something similar with Tool's Eulogy. Get a whole bunch of Jesus movies out on video and put bits together to fit the music.

Yeah, that's another great song. I can picture a concept for that one too.

For some reason, the one song I want to make a video out of is Depeche Mode's "Behind the Wheel." I could REALLY do something with that song...

In the stereo...
 

Seal: Human Being and Seal (1994)

Seal is great. I love the way he balances the ballads and danceable tunes. And the lyrics are very introspective, yet allow you to take some meaning from them. It doesn't hurt that Trevor Horn has produced both of these CDs either. Human Being was a bit of a downer CD, but I appreciate it more now, 3 years after its release.

also in the stereo right now...
 

Juliana Hatfield Three: Become What You Are--Nothing like some decent 3 minute pop ditties.

King's X: King's X and Dogman--The best Christian rock band that you wouldn't know is Christian. Actually, from what I understand, they espoused their Christian views a few years back, and Doug Pinnick (bassist/lead singer) is now gay. I just thought it was cool as hell to see a black guy rocking out in the late 80s..and their lyrics were always so off-the-wall.

Gravity Kills: Gravity Kills --Guy from Missouri gets some friends together to form a band. Band gets someone from Dallas to sing for them. Band winds up on a compilation disc issued by St. Louis's alternative station. Band's song on compilation album, "Guilty," blows up huge. Band gets record deal. Band puts out great debut album. Songs from band wind up on soundtracks to "Mortal Kombat," "Seven," and "Escape from LA." Band gets their own nail polish named after their second record, "Perversion." Nothing like seeing some local folks do well.

Uh... Mary Magdelene was a "concubine" who became a woman of God.

Regardless... I think Magdelena is a girl's name, just like most of the songs on the album are names (hence "mer de noms" - "sea of names")... and I think Billy or Maynard wanted her pretty bad. That's what the song is to me, anyway. And that's what the lyrics seem to indicate. Unlike Judith or Eulogy (which is, incidentally, pretty widely accepted to be about L. Ron Hubbard), I see no biblical references in Magdelena.

Pretty fucking great song though.

Re: Judith - Maynard has said that it's about a girl named Judith who is so blinded by her religion that she won't even acknowledge that the song could be about her. Religion was limiting her life, and he saw it and wrote a song about it.

Another interesting song with religous connotations - Metallica's The God That Failed. They don't play this live very often because it's such an emotional song for James. It's about his mother, who was deeply religous. She became sick and refused medical treatment because she felt that God would heal her. Needless to say, she didn't make it. Hence the song. "The healing hand held back by the deepend nail"... it takes on a whole different life when you listen to it realizing what it's really about.

Syc - "Turn it up! Bring tha noize!" hehe. What a great album. But my favorite Anthrax song has gotta be "I'm the Man". Ha. What a great song.

Let's skip the quotes here...she was a hooker. :)

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Another interesting song with religous connotations - Metallica's The God That Failed. They don't play this live very often because it's such an emotional song for James. It's about his mother, who was deeply religous. She became sick and refused medical treatment because she felt that God would heal her. Needless to say, she didn't make it. Hence the song. "The healing hand held back by the deepend nail"... it takes on a whole different life when you listen to it realizing what it's really about.

Yeah, weren't his parents Christian Scientists? Speaking of him, I haven't followed the band lately. I hope his detox/treatment is going well.

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Syc - "Turn it up! Bring tha noize!" hehe. What a great album. But my favorite Anthrax song has gotta be "I'm the Man". Ha. What a great song.

"I'm on your case. I'm in your face. Kick you and your father back in place. Step off sucker! Understand? Don't you know? I'M THE MAN!" heh...

Club 8


Stereolab

Ladytron

and


Couch

Depeche Mode: Ultra--DM has one of the most rabid fan bases of any band out there. They put a new record out and it goes platinum. They sell out many of their tour dates (in 20,000 seat arenas), yet the only songs you'll hear by them on the radio are "People Are People" and their singles from the Violator album. They are only one of seven UK bands to debut at no. 1 on the US album chart (with 1993's Songs of Faith and Devotion). They are severely underrated, period. Ultra came out in 1997, a year or so after lead singer Dave Gahan nearly killed himself battling a heroin addiction. I've always liked the album, but I appreciate it more now. They've always been considered an electronic band, but this album (and their 2 previous albums) shows off more organic instrumentation. My personal fave off this album is "Useless," which I would consider one of those "perfect" rock songs.

Another DM gem...
 

Construction Time Again (1983): Their 3rd album, but first good one. Speak & Spell had too much Vince Clarke (Erasure) in it. A Broken Frame was a bit minimalist. DM takes on politics, corruption, and the environment. Adding Alan Wilder as a instrumentalist was brilliant. Catchy pop tunes ("The Landscape is Changing," "Told You So," "Everything Counts") with some meaning...well ahead of their time.

admit it, though... violator is the best dm album... sweetest perfection, halo, personal jesus, enjoy the silence (except for the AWFUL ending)... it's good stuff...

dm is good though, you're right... their best-of double cd is pretty tasty... i recommend it for a strong dose of depeche mode goodness...

Rammstein. Nebel. And loud. ;)

Pete

"Let's have a black celebration..."
 

It is no doubt a great album. However, I just don't think it is quite their best work. I'd have to go with Music for the Masses. My personal fave is Songs of Faith and Devotion.

The ending for "ETS" is okay, but not as bad as the ending for "Personal Jesus."

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dm is good though, you're right... their best-of double cd is pretty tasty... i recommend it for a strong dose of depeche mode goodness...

Indeed. Also, for a dose of their early quirkiness, "The Singles 81-85."

They also put on a hell of a live show. I saw them in Chicago in 1998 and here in Philadelphia in July. Well worth the $45 ticket.

Truth be told, I haven't paid much attention to Rammstein lately, but I dug Sehnsucht. And their cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped" on the "For the Masses" tribute CD was fucking funny as hell.