Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

"Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes" Would be an interesting one for you to do.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Is this a deliberately bad request or do you actually like it? I've gotten plenty of deliberately bad requests on Facebook (fuck BOTDF) but this is a unique one.


Day 7: God Bless 'Murica! Multiple Reviews by Multiple Artists

It's Independence Day in the US, and for that reason I decided to do more than one review today.

The Beach Boys are often called "America's Band" so I chose them as my first review for the 4th of July. The only album anybody cares about by them is Pet Sounds, which I have yet to listen to (again, I'm out of it) and is of seriously legendary status (being in almost every top albums list). I don't feel the need to write much about these guys, though an interesting fact is that despite writing 532 songs about surfing only one actually surfed. I've also read several reviews where albums I like (OK Computer, Loveless, The Soft Bulletin) are called the "Pet Sounds of the 90s". Time to catch up.

This is very different from all the surfy Chuck Berry derivative songs the Beach Boys made early in their career, but that's to be expected. The layered sound adds texture and the different array of instruments shows the painstaking effort that went into making this record. That's what every freaking review says. I'll say that the singles still stand as some of the best baroque pop ever made, with good usage of instruments like harpsichords, glockenspiel, bells, mandolin, and dogs. Many non-single tracks like Don't Talk and the 2 instrumentals also stand as great psychedelic tracks. If I have any complaints about this album, it would be that VERY RARELY the orchestra sounds a bit dated and the lyrical content drones on and on about Brian Wilson's love/lost love, but that's alleviated with some tracks not about said lost love (or at least very cryptically about lost love) like Sloop John B and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.

This was a fairly pointless review, as every reviewer ever known to man has already reviewed this album and given it a 10. I'm kinda scared that I'll be shot just for having any complaints at all. So my final note is, I can definitely see the comparisons to The Soft Bulletin and maybe OK Computer, but how the hell does this strike a comparison to My Bloody Valentine? Layered sound means nothing when it's this different.

Alright, next review.

For Segregationists Only by Johnny Rebel (Album Choice: Abu)

I know of Johnny Rebel mainly through an episode of The Boondocks. Ah, Uncle Ruckus never ceases to amuse me. Basically, this guy sings racist country songs. And what represents the USA better than racism and slavery?

This seems like your basic country, with a nasal singer, marching band-esque percussion and generic, walking guitar. The lyrical content is slightly amusing at how bigoted it is, but the shtick gets old far too quickly. Unadulterated racism no longer retains any shock value thanks to the media, so this is just generic C/W music with juvenile racist lyrics.

I wasn't able to listen to this whole album. Not because of the subject matter, but because it's so BLAND in terms of music. Dave Chappelle pulled this joke off better in a third of the time, and he's not white. If this music is to be taken seriously... Well, I'm not a white supremacist (or even white for that matter) so that's an impossible task. And if you were to change the lyrical matter to what every other country song sings about (ie; tractors, love, rural life, actual patriotism, cousin love) then this music would have less flavor than tofu extract. This is why I'm not vegan.

MISSION ABORTED. AND DELETED FROM MY PHONE IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO KEEP THIS ON YOUR PHONE.

For the last thing I'll do to velebrate the 4th of July, I went on Wikipedia and looked up to see how many albums there were that contained a song titled "4th of July". Now I shall review them all (with number ratings!) very briefly, based on only a couple of songs each.

1. There's a band named "Fourth of July" but I couldn't find their albums anywhere except YouTube, and I'm not listening to albums on YouTube at the moment. X/10

2. Amy MacDonald - Life In A Beautiful Light: This is a Scottish folk-pop singer. This is too much on the pop side for my liking. For a folk album, there's an odd electronic feel to this album. Meh, it's inoffensive. The Fourth of July track is especially boring. 6/10

3. I skipped the Beach Boys. I just reviewed them, and I'm not rummaging through a whole box set to hear a Fourth of July song. No rating/10

4. Galaxie 500 - This Is Our Music: I read about this band before, they're described as dream pop and slowcore. There are a few bands I like that are described as dream pop, like Yo La Tengo and the aforementioned MBV. This is not nearly as slow as I expected, with a mixture of spoken word and poor singing. This is much softer then every other dream pop/shoegaze band I've listened to, and I'm not fond of the singing. Still, I'm gonna give this one a bit of a recommendation. It's better than Amy Macdonald. 8/10

5. Kelis - Flesh Tone: The cover art scares me. But the music isn't scary, it's bland electro-pop music. Screw this. 3/10

6. Shooter Jennings - Put The "O" Back in Country: Guess what kind of music this is! It's considerably better then Johnny Rebel's crap (probably because there's more rock and less white supremacy), but doesn't feel special in any way at all. Busted in Baylor County (Sweet Leaf Version) is probably my choice for stand-out, but Butthole Surfers with Sweat Loaf beat this in terms of Black Sabbath derivatives. 5.5/10

7. Soundgarden - Superunknown: This is the only album on here I've listened to the entirety of. I love Soundgarden (Not Chris Cornell's solo work) but I'm one of the few who doesn't think this is their best work (Down on the Upside is better). The 4th of July track here is murky and about acid. It's a definite standout track. 9/10

8. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire: Wait, aren't these guys from Ireland? Why should I review this? I don't wanna listen to U2. Yes I realize I've already reviewed a Scottish Folk singer but I don't care. Screw You/10

9. X - See How We Are: This is a classic punk rock band that I've never listened to. At this point I'm too lazy to give this a full review or even a serious rating. If you like punk rock, 7/10. If you don't like Punk Rock, you suck.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Lmfao, BOTDF

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

I actually like it. ive listened to the album from beginning to end four times since i came across it and every time it brings chills down my spine. its a really intense album

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 8: Bundle of Joy by Land of the Loops (Album Choice: Lord of Sushi) WITH A BONUS REVIEW

Land of the Loops is the alias of recording artist Alan Sutherland. He makes music for commercials as well as loop-heavy indierock-influenced electronica. I know very little about this guy, I specifically chose this request because it was listed as obscure. I've been saying how often my predictions were right or wrong, so I'll say my prediction before listening: Negativland meets The Flashbulb (they listed him as breaks, I don't know many breakbeat artists so I just used an IDM example)

Turns out I was about 70% right. There is an overall similarity to Negativland, but many key differences. There's less overall sampling, more respect for musical elements (such as heavy drum usage, actual singing, actual melodies), and no social commentary whatsoever. There still is humor to be found in the samples however, with tracks like Multi-Family Garage Sale using vintage movie samples for dadaist humor. That other half of my guess though, it was WRONG. I don't see how this is classified as breaks. Nothing here reminds me much of Aphex Twin, The Flashbulb, Venetian Snares or anyone else who makes drum-heavy electronic music.

So what should it be classified as? That varies. A few tracks like I Dream Of Ghosts and Mass. Ave. And Beyond are basically downtempo with some samples on top. (Imagine Boards Of Canada's cousin that recieves welfare.)Some songs are pop/twee pop with hip-hop drums, like Cruisin' For Sentient Beings and Heidi Cakes. The rest are Negativland-esque sound collages with... You know what I'll say it because I don't have a better term, breaks (hypocrite!) and some other instruments.

At 58:58, Bundle Of Joy seems to be another electronic album that goes on longer than it needs to. Many tracks like Mathematical Park go on for more time than they need to, and at times the album seems unfocused. Considering some of my favorite artists RELY on being unfocused like Mr. Bungle and Beck I don't really have the right to complain but I don't give a damn. All these complaints are more petty then I make them seem, this is still a pretty decent album. And I'm going to end this in a very half-butted manner because I have 45 minutes left after my computer deleted my review (A SECOND TIME! IN LESS THEN A WEEK!). Also, I looked it up and turns out breakbeat is a much more versatile term then I expected. Hooray for being wrong!

Bonus review time!

Today's bonus review is another obscure one, Mixed Melodies EP by SourceForm (also known as Connconn7), requested by Sourceform/Connconn7. For further notice, if people want me to review their music, I'd like them to remember this Mark Prindle quote:

"I can't promise a POSITIVE review, but I can promise that I won't give you a grade lower than a 1."

With that quote in mind, I'm gonna give this a number rating since it's a mini-review. So here we go.

An important (but subjective) part of track order. DO NOT put a remix right after the original track. This is especially important in electronic music, where things can get repetitive quickly. Do a reprise instead, prevents possible burnout/track skip. It worked for The Beatles, it worked for Frank Zappa, it should work for you. I will say, a simple BPM change made the remix a lot more engaging.

Intro (Half) is my track of choice. Good build-up and short but not too brief overall. Unless it's actually a half track. Other then that, this is basically your average acid techno. So I don't know what number to give it. Whatever.

/10

I finished this with a half-hour to go. TAKE THAT, CRAPPY CRASHING COMPUTER!

Here's a free download to the bonus review EP: http://soundcloud.com/sourceform/set...d-melodies-ep/

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

^^ Also a legit request, although again, I don't know your current musical taste. What do you listen to normally?

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

I have eclectic enough tastes, though most of the metal I listen to is avant-garde (Mr. Bungle, Dog Fashion Disco, Tub Ring) or stoner shit (Kyuss, Sleep). The only bands that come to mind for metalcore (what your request is described as on Wikipedia) are Avenged Sevenfold (meh) and Bullet For My Valentine (fuck no, why do people mix MBV up with this?). Which is it closer to?

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Well, between those two, Avenged. These are the guys who did Internal Cannon and Carol of the Bells on FFR. They're influenced a lot by Between the Buried and Me (White Walls).

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

August burns red is fucking awesome

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 9: The Director's Cut by Fantomas (Album Choice: Me)

Today I'm going to see a movie, so I decided to listen to this album as a huge Bungle and somewhat Melvins fan. Fantomas is a supergroup consisting of Mike Patton from Faith No More/Mr. Bungle on vocals, Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle on bass, King Buzzo of the Melvins on guitar and Dave Lombardo of Slayer on drums. According to some sources, metal fans "were in heaven" when they heard of this supergroup. ...What exactly were they expecting? I don't listen to much Slayer, but both the Melvins and Mr. Bungle are (or in the case of Mr. Bungle, were sadly) some of the weirdest groups in metal. This album in particular is a whole album of movie theme covers, mostly horror. I'm guessing (always guessing) that this will be closer to Disco Volante, the most experimental (and my least favorite) Bungle album than anything Slayer has done. Ever.

So, because this is often cited as a "challenging release" and because I haven't seen a single one of these movies (not even The Godfather) I've decided that I'll give this a special style of review. 3 steps!

1. Listen to album and review.
2. After going to see a movie, listen to the original movie themes (compiling these was not fun, and I missed Der Golem and Night of the Hunter. This better be worth it)
3. Listen to album again, re-review.

What started as a melodica quickly turned to thrash metal, and then scat singing. And back to metal. This is definitely a Mike Patton project. I don't think that listening to The Godfather theme will change my opinion much. Next few tracks and there is a definite thrash metal feeling, even between the softer singing/crooning/falsettoing (IDGAF if that isn't a word) in Experiment in Terror and Night of the Hunter. My guess was mostly wrong, but there were a few Death/Thrash Metal tracks on DV, and this is mostly Thrash Metal. I've never been a fan of songs using "la-la"'s as lyrics, partially due to Strong Bad, and this album freaking violates that concept. These are covers so I have yet to find out if that's accurate or Patton being a jackass. Spider Baby reminds me of Dog Fashion Disco, which is funny because everyone calls them a Mr. Bungle rip-off, something I never sympathized with. The Omen proves I didn't pay attention in Latin class, and it reminds me of Violenza Domestica except much heavier, not in Italian and ten times more awesome. Funny how the actual movie theme doesn't sound like a movie theme. The last song is somewhat reminiscent of California, particularly Goodbye Sober Day. I only say that because the song structure changes in a similar way. I'm going to assume this is closest to Slayer without listening to them, it's too heavy to feel like Mr. Bungle and not sludgy enough to sound like Melvins. Maybe if Mike Patton replaced Tom Araya Slayer would sound like this. I don't know I still haven't heard a full Slayer album.

Now that I'm done seeing an actual movie (The Lone Ranger wasn't as bad as reviews said, though it was overlong. IMDB is more accurate here.) it's time to listen to the original themes. Also let me fix step 3.

3. After listening to original themes, create a playlist so that the original themes and covers alternate.

That makes for easier comparison. Before I listened to these themes, I listened to a couple of Slayer songs. It is NOT closest to Slayer. It's way too schizophrenic to sound like Slayer. Then I finally listened to these themes... It's freaking movie music. Orchestras and background music galore. I'm now wondering if skipping step 2 was a good idea. Oh well.

Now, step 3. This is 80 minutes of relistening, but if some people are correct (knowing the movie themes make it better) then this is worth it. I organized a playlist in a 1-2 order going from original track to Fantomas cover. Let's see if my appreciation spikes.

The Godfather transitions very well into The Godfather (Theme), going straight from the smooth singing into the melodica, and then the screaming scat singing. They compliment each other well. They removed actual lyrics from The Godfather, and added lyrics (unless I have the wrong version) to Experiment in Terror! Why? Truth be told, some of the longer themes I skipped around in, but I made sure I got the point and fully relistened to The Director's Cut. Except I skipped 2 tracks. It was pointless I didn't have the original themes. Man, my attention span sucks. For one track I partly skipped (One Step Beyond), the re-imagining becomes a LOT better once you hear the original. As does another (Cape Fear). Some songs I feel aren't affected much by listening to the original, but that's more because I enjoyed the cover without listening to the original (Spider Baby is the best example of this). Overall, this 80 (well actually, reduced to about 65) minutes of relistening? Totally worth it. I was totally wrong with that bit about The Godfather, almost every track is enhanced when you know the original.

The Director's Cut is one strange concept for an album, but it's pulled off very well. Of the 4 bands mentioned, I feel like this is what Mr. Bungle would eventually sound like if they kept their early Death Metal ways, but I never listened to The Raging Wrath of The Easter Bunny, their first demo and only demo in that style. Maybe I should, but the 2 demos I did hear sucked complete balls. This album is loaded with about 4 songs of actual distinct lyrics and another 11 of scat singing and instrumentals, so this is definitely a challenging release as many have listed it as. Once you get into it, however, it shines like cubic zirconia. I'm not a fan of scat singing (except maybe Scatman John), but this album is still probably my highlight thus far (yes, more then the Beach Boys) after listening to the original themes. My final recommendation is this: If you like metal music at all, give this album a try. If you don't like it at first, do what I did and listen to the original themes then give it another try (or make an alternating playlist) and watch it make so much more sense. If you still don't like it, well, at least you tried.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

I'm sad that nobody commented on Fantomas. Seriously, such a good album.


Day 10: The Grey Album by Danger Mouse

Today it's Ringo Starr's birthday, and even though he was undeniably the worst Beatle I'm still using this as an excuse to celebrate. So today I'm listening to The Grey Album by Danger Mouse. It's a mashup album consisting of Beatles instrumentals underneath the Jay-Z album "The Black Album". This album was notorious for EMI's utter failure to halt distribution of this album despite Paul McCartney and Jay-Z both approving of the album. Danger Mouse is a great producer in my opinion, I was fond of his work with Beck even if I felt that album was a bit weak. I like the Beatles, I don't like Jay-Z's camel-looking ass. I don't need a prediction for this one. If I have time I'll keep to my word and do a double, probably of Nas as someone recommended.

Knowing most of these Beatles songs (though they are often heavily altered) and very few Jay-Z songs, I can't help but laugh at times solely due to the oddity of rap over the Beatles. That being said, it's often uncanny how well the two artists complement each other despite being two completely genres. This is very different from The Mouse and the Mask and Modern Guilt, the other 2 Danger Mouse produced albums I can remember. That's expected out of a mashup album, and the production (or mashing) is still top notch (my phone corrected notch as bitch, wow.) I'm going to assume the Beatles instrumentals sound LESS dated than Jay-Z's beats, but they could use a remaster, even if that's just raising everything by a few decibels. Also, it's of worthwhile note that this isn't simply putting instrumental underneath as I expected, there's a lot of mixing often doing some awesome stuff like turning John Lennon's voice into percussion. A key example of this (and one of my personal favorite tracks) would be the interludes. These feature lots of vocal reversing and added percussion, creating a sound unlike the rest of the album, which I liken more to DM's work on Modern Guilt, especially Replica.

This is what rap rock should be, not Lil Wayne's talentless guitar playing. Not any of those "nu-metal" atrocities like Limp Bizkit. Not rap metal bands that aren't nu-metal (though I do like a few Red Hot Chili Pepper tracks). And most definitely not any of those crunkcore bands, if that's considered rap at that point. THIS. IS. IT. Even as a non-Jay-Z fan I still think this is a prime example of rap rock. A shame it's not an actual original album because this should be a watermark of that genre.

I decided against doing a double because I'm almost outta time. To summarize briefly, this album is a huge highlight of mine, probably right below Fantomas as my favorite album thus far. Even though I consider Jay-Z one of the most overrated rappers ever, the mashup work here is so good it brings new life to it. This comes as highly recommended.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 11: Rescue and Restore by August Burns Red (with a bonus review)

August Burns Red is a band described as metalcore on Wikipedia. Two highly different bands come to mind for metalcore. First is Avenged Sevenfold, I used to like them, now I find them meh. The next is Bullet For My Valentine, which should be renamed The Equivalent of Bullets Going Through Your Ear As Someone Shouts "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY" And Plays Terrible Metal Instruments As Your Ear Bleeds. From what I've read, this band doesn't sound like those bands. They have extended breakdowns and odd-meter riffs, two thing I really like in metal. That sounds more like Progressive Metal though, and they're heavily influenced by Between The Buried And Me, a progressive metal band. My hopes are low for the metalcore, but high because of those two elements.

First song, and this reminds me of Protest the Hero, also prog metal. Except for the growls. The riff around 3:30 in Treatment is awesome, still not keen on vocals. Count It All As Lost contains some decent guitar work as well. The mini-solo around the beginning of Animals is also good. There is one aspect of this music I'm still not fond of, though. After listening I take back what I said about Protest The Hero, solely because there is no melodic singing to be found. The only track that contains any melodic singing is Echoes. This album could use more of that, but then again non-melodic screams aren't to my taste. If they are to yours then by all means try this.

So apparently this is a Christian band, and I like them more than Skillet. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume it's because the vocalist is a lot more... Challenging. I know I said I didn't like the vocals, but as far as I know this music isn't too preachy to give me a headache. Apparently, he doesn't want to shove Christianity down peoples throat, he just wants to let that speak through his lyrics. ...Is this guy a clown, a crackhead or just delusional? Who the hell is going to get a message out of these shrieks and growls? People with better lyric deciphering skills then me, I guess.

Another concise review, but I'm doing a bonus review of an EP to make up for that. I'll say this in 3 sentences: I don't like these vocals, but the guitar is pretty enjoyable, so the vocals should be remastered by Steve Albini. I'm actually kind of glad I can't understand the lyrics because I don't want another headache, and I'm actually kinda scared he lied about not wanting to sound preachy (thus I didn't look up the lyrics). This is the third sentence.

BONUS REVIEW TIME.

Today's bonus review is the Cult of Mictlan EP by Oral Fistfuck. This band is described as not only death metal, but "brutal" death metal. I bet this will be like a carnival ride.

The Berzerker played their songs faster then Oral Fistfuck did.

And that's the end of the review.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 12: The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy (Album Choice: Crazyjayde)

Before I start this review, I'll briefly tell you about two albums I listened to yesterday, neither of which qualify for reviews, Fresh Meat + Old Slabs by Beck and Sweden by The Mountain Goats. Both are extremely lo-fi tape recorded folk/anti-folk albums. FM + OS contains some experimental tracks on it and has a lot of entertaining tracks. Sweden will RIP YOUR GODDAMN HEART OUT. Well, only if you're a sap for simple 3-chord songs like me, I can't even attempt to play The Recognition Scene without stopping. If you like folk, you know what I'm going to say, since I'm a proclaimed fan of both these artists. Onto the actual review.

Grandaddy is a space rock band, and another band I know very little about. One of their listed influence is Bad Brains. How the hell does that influence space rock? This particular album is all recorded by one guy and is a concept album, so I should probably look out for that second part while listening. I must say, the title is pretty awesome.

I know this is a concept album, but why must the first track be the longest? It annoys me when albums do that, like Hairway to Steven by the Butthole Surfers, or Dopesmoker by Sleep except nobody gives a crap about the second track. Regardless of my disdain for such track orders, the first song is quite pretty with lush-sounding instrumentation. I hear a bit more in the next 2 tracks. The first comparison I get from this music is post-Zaireeka Flaming Lips. Had this come out a year earlier, I'm sure this would get another "Pet Sounds of the 90s" claim. Ugh.

Tracks 4 and 5 show a bit of difference, with more straightforward guitar-based rock, like early era Flaming Lips with a dash of later era. All my comparisons are to The Flaming Lips, down to the high pitched vocals (though a lot less scratchy here) and half the songs having jackass long titles and half not. I check What.CD and TasteKid and YES I WAS RIGHT. Track 6, Underneath The Weeping Willow does not remind me of Wayne Coyne. It's just a piano ballad. The rest seems to remind me of a much sadder, yes, Flaming Lips, either reminiscent of the early era guitar-based songs with a lot more layered orchestra (loose definition of orchestra), or the later era orchestra-based songs with a lot more guitar fuzz.

I didn't get an ounce of story from this album, besides Miner at the Dial-a-View and Jed The Humanoid, reason being Wikipedia told me. Perhaps I need to relisten to the album to understand the story, or maybe it's like those early 60s "concept albums" where there's no story, just a theme. Outside of that, the music is pretty good. All those comparisons to Flaming Lips but I'll give this the title of being ABOVE the Flaming Lips. It successfully combines both eras of that band (well, none of the post-punk noise rock in the early, early days) while having a voice of their own, along with superior vocals. It's also highly impressive that one dude recorded this. This gets a definite thumbs-up to anyone who likes spacy neo-psychedelia bands.

I wonder what this album would be like on LSD.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Glad you reviewed this album out of every others, as well as the Grey Album two days earlier. (Danger Mouse being a outstanding producer (i.e. Broken Bells/Madvillain)) Keep those coming, I'm not far from your mindset and I'm glad to share some of your perceptions on these tracks.

By the way, two questions:
- How good would you rate Fantômas compared to Mr. Bungle?
- Would it be possible to cite your preferences in music (genre inclinations, overall moods you search for in music, etc.) so I can define more your background and understand you views?

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

1. I prefer Mr. Bungle, because they're more experimental (although less heavy). California is one of my all-time favorite albums.

2. I don't think about moods when I choose what music to listen to, unless I do it unconciously.

In terms of genres, I'd like to say I have eclectic tastes, but mostly I listen to experimental rock/metal, noise rock, folk rock, house and IDM. I do have music that falls under other genres like alternative rock and stoner metal though.

I don't like a lot of hip-hop (this is not to say all), dubstep, post-grunge, country (some exceptions, for example Meat Puppets II if you count it as such) or whatever radio-friendly pop falls under.