Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

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Day 45: Not Even Once by Approaching Nirvana (Album Choice: .:A-MAN:.)

Not grunge music. Originally, my plan was to do 69 Love Songs on the plane ride back to Boston, but I ended up listening to a few songs rendering that null. And besides the noise level was way too high. This album could easily qualify as marathon length as well with 34 tracks, and this has half as many tracks (though it isn't too different in total length). This is the third electronic album in a row (streak?) so I fear I may be a bit burnt out. This is made worse by the fact that around 40% of the tracks are extended cuts and instrumentals, which sound unnecessary and are what bring this album into triple album length.. This will NOT be the most comprehensive review of this album, I'm fairly sure of that.

Also it's around 8:45 here in Houston, which means I barely have enough time for this album. Thank god for time zones or I'd have .:A-MAN:. begging for this review another few days. Well, he actually stopped.

Start with piano in the first track and female vocals. And overall there seems to be a big emphasis on synthesizers. Jesus Christ what am I supposed to write? When getting into an artist, I rarely think a double album is the best starting point, let alone a triple album is a good starting point even if it is their best work (case in point: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Husker Du). I definitely will be burnt out after today and I'm gonna need a different kind of album tomorrow. But yeah, there's a lot of trance and prog house here. And by a lot, I mean 2.7 hours. There's also some DnB and bass-heavy electro (I refuse to say dubstep), along with tracks based around soundscapes and piano and such. And when they add vocals, it turns into electro pop (which is often not to my tastes but oh well). I'm obliged to comment on the last (non-reprise) track, it sounds kinda Japanese. That's it. I'm not commenting on these extended cuts and instrumentals I'm just gonna let these play for a bit of time.

Well, I have no time left. This wasn't a very substantial review either (despite being the longest album yet). I like the music here, but a triple album won't hold most people's focus very easily. I think I should've went with a shorter album today. Regardless, this is a good collection of tracks, I just wish it was a bit more concise.

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recommending:

- Castle Talk by Screaming Females
- Introducing by Foxy Shazam
- Surfing the Void by Klaxons

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

More recommendations?

Hiromi's Sonicbloom - Time Control
The Flashbulb - Soundtrack to a Vacant Life
65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math
Atomhead - Spiral Field Velocity 1.0
Fabrizio Paterlini - Autumn Stories

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Tryshasla, yisss

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Day 46: Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy by The Refreshments (Album Choice: Mobias)

At some point, I was planning to review America's Funnyman by Neil Hamburger, but there were two problems with that. One, that's a very bizarre style of humor which would make reviewing it awkward. And two, it's not really music. Comedy ROCK, on the other way, is still music, which gives me a bit more leeway here. Apparently, these guys had one hit single from this album with Banditos but I've never listened to it. Instead, I know The Refreshments solely from the theme song to King of the Hill, and I'm not sure that's a good example of these guys since they're described as post-grunge/jangle pop whereas I always thought of that theme song as southern rock or something (maybe it was a bit jangly?). Comedy rock (or at least satirical/goofy music) is often awesome stuff, like Ween, Dead Milkmen (jangle punk! Right?) and They Might Be Giants. On the other hand, I don't really like post-grunge. But since it's comedy that means less whiny crap! And here we go.

Again, how is this grunge? Clean(er) guitars, clean vocals, not enough teenage angst as far as I can tell and the dynamics are quite flat (I guess the "fuzzy" part of the name was just a name after all! Ha ha my jokes suck). But that may as well be a good thing in this case, the Dead Milkmen is what I sort of think of, only because they were described as comedy (I'm not focusing enough on the lyrics to tell) and I get a bit of a cowpunk/desert rock sound from here. I'm still failing to see the comedy bit after 3 tracks, a good amount of these tracks sound kinda like loser love anthems, or at least "your basic alternative band". There's a bit of wit in the lyrics but nothing is quite laugh out loud funny. Supposedly European Swallow was supposed to be one of the funnier tracks but I guess I wasn't paying attention because I didn't laugh once, the song itself wasn't bad though, a bit of a classic rock sound with the high amounts of wah and distortion. Songs like Don't Wanna Know sound sad and contemplative, and the lyrics don't seem to have any jokes whatsoever. It doesn't sound whiny though, which I was expecting with the post-grunge tag. Girly is a country rock song about domestic abuse, and Down Together sounds very pop-rock with a non-abusive love song. The main single? Reminds me of a punkier Meat Puppets (excluding their debut of course), like a combo of Huevos and Up On The Sun. The guitar sounds like several other rock bands, you have the chugging chords of the rhythm guitar and a ringing lead guitar with some pretty good solos and a dash of country here and there. Not bad by any means, just nothing that makes me think of anything special. My own personal highlight would be Mexico, which bears no similarities to the Beck song, or the Jefferson Airplane track, or anything the Butthole Surfers ever made. This is what I view as closest to comedy rock, only because some instrumental parts sounded so "stereotypically Mexican" they made me snicker (lol Political Correctness), as well as the somewhat sophomoric lyrics of "found a hooker and lost my erection" and "drink warm beer". Maybe that's not funny in some countries but it is in America. The country really comes out on the last track, Nada, along with a strong blues influence. Or at least the intro, I wrote that prematurely. Nope, there's still a very bluesy influence to this track (and again, I don't see the comedy). And wow, look at this wall of text! I'm glad I had access to a computer for once (which I will lose soon).

Man, that comedy tag was really misleading. There was some wit to the lyrics but nothing else really humorous (except Mexico), so if it is "comedy rock" it's very understated. I mean the majority of the songs were about girls or Mexico, and while both could be used for comedy neither really were (again, except for one song). I find more humor in several artists that aren't described as comedy rock like Beck, and Mr. Bungle, and My Bloody Valentine. Regardless of that though, this album wasn't bad at all. I'll continue with that punkier Meat Puppets idea but with a bit more jangle and college rock and less marijuana/acid. Truthfully, at the end, I did get a bit of that dreaded post-grunge sound but the lyrics weren't whiny and the song structures weren't quite as predictable. That gives it a boost in my book. Since it didn't really feel like it was dragging on after 54 minutes, I'll give this a thumbs up. I kinda picture this as drinking music but I'm not entirely sure since I don't exactly drink (What? You think I'm gonna incriminate myself on the internet? Hell to the no.)

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Day 47: Classical Mushroom by Infected Mushroom (Album Choice: Coolboyrulez0 with a +1 from Ohaider)

After reviewing a fairly traditional rock album I'm hoping that I'm no longer burnt out on electronic music. What we have here is two Israeli dudes making psychedelic trance music with various different ingredients to the music. Guess from the title what special aspect this album adds? That's right! Black metal! I got another extra long album here (with dated CGI on the album cover), 9 tracks totaling 74 minutes, but since I'm gonna be stuck in a car for over 4 hours maybe I'll be able to listen to this album twice. Or maybe I'll just listen to some Melvins instead. We'll see in a bit.

Also I couldn't find any information about the legality of psilocybin mushrooms in Israel. But considering weed is (weakly enforced but still) illegal there I assume it's not exactly smiled upon by their society.

After listening to The Pod and Geogaddi (but no Melvins) I've decided to give this a listen, and ultimately I've chosen to give this one two listens. Mainly because I think I have the time, I may be wrong though. In order to conserve battery, I won't write much the first time around. Then if I listen to it twice I'll write more that time. If not I'll just go off of what I heard.

First listen, and halfway into the second song we've driven past 5 different old white men on the highway with assloud motorcycles, making listening not as easy. Tracks one and three put a smile to my face (and in my brain) with the very dance-y beats as well as the guitar in the first track. The classical/black metal music aspect does show up at times (particularly in None Of This Is Real and The Missed Symphony) but not as much as I thought and I don't remember the names of any of the pieces I recognize. Having just reached the fifth track, these songs aren't dragging on at all yet I'm surprised I'm only at the midpoint. I have no idea what to make of that. Said fifth track, Disco Mushroom, is probably the darkest track yet. Ironic name since nothing grooves here. The vocals in Dracul are freaking awesome as well as the intro to Nothing Comes Easy. And 74 minutes have passed.

So that's the end of my first listen through. I'm gonna let my brain absorb everything for a few minutes, then listen to something different. I'll go back to the album after we make a stop. I should charge my phone and I need to pee.

Second listening, and my opinion on the first track hasn't changed much, even without old bikers in the background. It seems a bit darker and a bit more melancholy, but the bassy sound is what captures most of my attention and the darker sound may just be the altered atmosphere (it's raining now). None Of This Is Real, on the other hand, is way different from what I remember, and I'm convinced that I mixed it up with Bust A Move as there's far less classical (though not none) and more rock music, with several guitar parts used in the track. Sailing In The Sea Of Mushroom is every bit as danceable as before, but also a tad bit more repetitious. Still not bad by any means though! The Shen reminds me of spy film music for a moment, then later just sounds like dark trance with a lot of samples and cool effects and such. And is it me or is Disco Mushroom a much more aquatic track than the third one? Or at least the beginning is, then we get some dark chant then I don't know what with bells, synths and creepy behind a syncopated beat before we get a speed-up and lots of ideas are cleanly meshed together, the whole thing remaining dark throughout. Disco my ass... Wait, I'm supposed to avoid track by track, right? Let me stop myself.

And again we have reached the end of 74 or so minutes of psytrance. New observations is I actually focused a bit more on the status and guitars and such, and I noticed a slightly darker sound overall and a lot more acid. It was still dark the first listen through, just even moreso the second time. My personal highlight would be Bust A Move and my main nitpicky problem with the album is the ordering of the tracks, as nothing reached the same magic as the first track or two (though Disco Mushroom and The Missed Symphony both come pretty close). Regardless of said nitpicking, this is a pretty great album, with nine long tracks each loaded with ideas that blend perfectly and very little dragging on during the (long) album. I just realized that thumbs up is a rating in and out of itself so I'm gonna avoid saying that. But from this paragraph you can easily see my opinion of this album (and the fact that I just admit to avoiding using thumbs up).

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

+1 for all of them. Especially Hiromi's Sonicbloom <3

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

Day 49: Good and Evil by Tally Hall (Album Choice: Silvuh)

More pop music. Tally Hall is a power pop band that went from some indie label to Atlantic for ONE REISSUE back to some indie label. Their music is described as wonky, uplifting, upbeat and all that crap. Pop with those descriptors can range from bubblegummy and smile-inducing (like most good power pop) to bubblegummy and sickening (like The Archies and I feel someone will get mad at me for saying that). It all depends on how much you chew. For all I know this may not even be bubblegum but it sure sounds like it. I have one hour to review 48 minutes of music. That means this is all written in real time and rushed.

And this isn't quite bubblegum. I'd liken this more to psychedelic pop than bubblegum. The layering instruments and slightly echoed vocals in the first track harken back to all those 60s psychedelic pop classics like later Beatles, when they started taking acid (hell, their picture on Wikipedia has them all wearing matching clothing and moustaches. Can someone say "RIPOFF!"? Or is that me just being an idiot.) And the way Ampersand cuts off at the end screams psychedelia. I had to type out Ampersand because some websites screw up when I use the actual character. Not everything makes me think of drug music, for example Cannibal reminds me quite a bit of New Pornographers solely because they're probably the only damned power pop band on my phone at the moment. Then right after we have Who Are You and HOLY CRAP THOSE ACOUSTICS ARE TRIPPY. *By the time we're at tracks seven to nine I have the urge to lay on the carpet of my hotel room because I played too much Supernova at the crappy arcade in this casino hotel and psychedelic music makes me want to sprawl on the ground and go off into tangents. But I have to finish this review so I have to type out these tangents. And besides, once I'm done with this tangent we hit the rocker Turn The Lights Off so I no longer feel like sprawling on the ground. The remainder of the album is more psychedelic power pop with a hint of space rock here and there and one piano-based song. The last track is especially spacey, as it builds up in layers then goes bare again, and it starts out SLOW AS HELL. It's also the longest track at around 7 minutes.

Okay, gotta finish this quick. Did I like this album? Yes, these guys know good melody and psychedelic aspects of music. I have two problems with the album though. First off is occasionally, especially towards the first half, I felt a bit burnt out for some reason. Maybe it was too sugary, maybe it was dragging on, I don't know. The problems went away by track 7 though. I also felt as if many of the tracks were lacking something, many songs felt either too simplistic or weren't 100 percent memorable. But either way, I liked this album quite a bit. And the end holy shit gotta copy and paste and post.

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A notice for days 50-52

I won't have internet access on those days unless I pay some bullshit fee for internet slower than dial-up. Pass. Luckily, I convinced the person whom I made the original bet with to give me a pass as long as I write on each day with some sort of evidence for those days only.

In case you're wondering, the argument consisted of saying "bitch ass ***** I have better stuff to do on a cruise ship then write" on Facebook.

Re: Daily Music Reviews (Summer Challenge)

A notice for days 50-52

I won't have internet access on those days unless I pay some bullshit fee for internet slower than dial-up. Pass. Luckily, I convinced the person whom I made the original bet with to give me a pass as long as I write on each day with some sort of evidence for those days only.

In case you're wondering, the argument consisted of saying "bitch ass ***** I have better stuff to do on a cruise ship then write" on Facebook.

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Day 49: Commercial Album by The Residents (Album Choice: Victor Van Ed)

And into the avant-garde we go. This here is an art collective who make experimental works in several different types of multimedia. They usually dress like it's Halloween with eyeball helmets and formal clothing, and their music is either deconstruction of modern Western music or more experimental collage crap. This album is the former, consisting of 40 one-minute tracks based around commercial pop music, hence the title (or, according to other sources, ad jingles). Since it's recommended to loop a track 3 times to make it sound like a proper 3-minute pop song, I'm going to do that twice for random tracks. See how it works.

The experiment must have dated terribly because in 1980 this may have been pop but now it sounds like especially weird New Wave, or the brown sound Ween albums with a bit of prog. I'm probably a complete idiot for expecting it to sound similar to today's radio music but seriously, in what country does this sound like 70s pop music? It's too psychedelic, too abstract, and above all too cracked-out to be pop music. It's also kinda hard to choose the best song when they're all 60 seconds, you don't get time to focus. But as a whole the songs are typically noisy, often atonal and laced with synthesizers. I chose to loop Give It To Someone Else and... It still doesn't sound like pop music. I did notice just how effed up the lyrics are though, before I was just assuming these lyrics were effed up. And around 30 tracks in I want to fix my comparison. Don't compare this to Ween, compare this to The Beatles if they did bath salts. I've officially decided against looping a second track, I think I've gotten as good of an idea of looped tracks as I can with one listen.

And after 40 minutes... What the hell was that? Either I need to give this a second listen or just conclude that I don't get it for the day. And I have no time so we're going for the latter today. This is the weirdest pop music I've ever heard. Most tracks are skeletal with an emphasis on synthy weirdness. Others are noisy. Not feedback and guitar clang noisy, but just bizarre noisy. This kind of album definitely fits the way these guys dress. If I had more time I'd give this album more time as I love experimental shit but I don't. So I conclude with "It's fucking weird".

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Day 50: Surfer Rosa by Pixies (Album Choice: Victor Van Ed said Doolittle, this is close enough)

As I said, I have better shit to do than write music reviews these 3 days. So I'm deliberately choosing albums that are short. This band is from my hometown and they don't require too much of a description. Apparently, I should be a fan of this band because I like bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr but I've never bothered listening to them. I have no idea. This album was produced by Steve Albini and is known for bizarre lyrical subject matter. That's the two most important factors for a Jesus Lizard album, and I already know this sounds nothing like The Jesus Lizard. Also, boobs on the cover equals win (even though the picture looks pretty damn old).

I just realized I have no access to lyrics. Damn. And this will definitely be a short review. This guys vocal style (not voice) reminds me of a southern D Boon. But the instruments and song structures are completely different. Less treble in the guitar, female backing vocals, bass is less awesome. And oh yes, the vocals are definitely produced by Albini. I can't consistently understand these vocals to be honest, but I hear a lot about bones in the first two tracks, which indicates either sex or skeletons. Song titles like Broken Face and Gigantic make me lean towards the former. River Euphrates sounds like Lady Gaga stole it, except not really. I change my vocalist comparison from D Boon to a cross with J Mascis. Both from bands I like, neither of which is known for their voice. Kim Deal on the other hand sounds vaguely valley girlish, but I don't mean that in a negative way. Seriously, listen to Tony's Theme and tell me I'm wrong. I'm still wrong? Oh well. Either way I'm completely lost on how her vocals are "breathy" or "sexy" (except maybe Gigantic) but again I'm trying to not be condescending. A few tracks later, goddammit I need to start paying attention in Spanish class. Off of the vocals, the instrumentation is exactly what I expected from descriptions I read. Psychedelic indie rock with bits of surf, lots of guitar noise and ass-kicking drums. All of which I'm a fan of and now I get the whole Sonic Jr. comparison. I'm not sure I agree though.

After coming down on the vocals like an asshole, I'm gonna say I like this album. The Albini production doesn't work the best on this album (I don't know, I'm used to it being used on more abrasive music) but otherwise I enjoyed the album. If I were to compare this to Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr I'd rank this third but I have yet to give this album multiple listens like I did for the other artists. And both of those definitely aren't one hundred percent appealing to most people first listen.

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Day 51: Opus Eponymous by Ghost (Album Choice: sonicman68)

So when you use a saved page on the default browser for Android (I typically use Dolphin) it basically acts as an image. I can't click anything on the mobile Wikipedia page. This is proving quite difficult when I could be doing something other than listen to music. So let's do this entire review starting from here in broken/partial sentences! Or at least the next paragraph.

Ghost. Swedish doom metal band. 6 band member names undisclosed. Dress up funny. Compared to other metal bands.
Debut album. Won Swedish Grammy. Got them major label signing. Bonus track Beatles cover. Not on American version. Prediction is positive. Stoner and Doom is good.

Song titles looks not Swedish. First two tracks Latin or Italian. Rest of tracks English. First track minute and a half of distorted piano(?). Con Clavi Con Dio vocals sound English.

Okay this gimmick sucks dick. But anyways, a few bands this was compared to were Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult and Kyuss. I can see the first and third, and I don't really listen to BOC so I don't know. And the vocals fade out to Latin or something. Oh, and I'm not listening to this in one piece. Everything before that last sentence was written in the morning, now it's 11 PM and I want to get this done with. The song Ritual is pretty cool, the chant is pretty damn cool in the middle. Through all songs up to track 5, the vocalist uses a soft singing style, almost like a croon. Which is in my opinion a good approach to singing over the heavy riffs, contrast is good. One thing I want to know is how goddamn hard are these guys trying to be satanic? The band logo, the album cover, the way the singer dresses, song titles like Satan Prayer and several lyrics, holy shit these guys are trying way too damn hard. Even if you find Satan cool you don't have to be so over-the-top (though truthfully the only reason I say that is because it isn't Black/Death Metal.) Back to the music, the instrumentation is good. It's not too different from what I'd expect from Doom Metal but nonetheless it's good overall. The production isn't wow-worthy but it's tolerable, and the use of synths and well-timed sounds like chimes are a plus. I have no good way to conclude this paragraph. The last track is pretty awesome. Easy way out.

These guys have a pretty cool sound but the whole Satan thing feels forced. It doesn't detract too much from the music but I don't wanna review this and I wanna complain. The instruments are good, the singer has a good voice (although my favorite track is the instrumental Genesis) and the production is perfectly passable. Not a bad album at all. And I have nothing good to write. Holy crap I don't want to write. I want to do something that isn't writing. I'm gonna shotgun the next review 4 hours from now.

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Day 52: Cure for Pain by Morphine (Album Choice: Gus V's Uncle)

Seriously, saved pages suck. It's 3 AM and I wrote the last review 4 hours ago, I kept to my word. Let's write this intro paragraph.

Morphine was an alternative rock band from my area of living (or close enough) that started in 1989. They were (according to this saved page) always signed to a major label despite never really reaching above the underground in the US though they were pretty popular overseas. They mixed blues, jazz, and rock song structures and were known for a low-key, minimalist sound. This was their sophmore album and several songs from it were used in movies and TV shows I don't really care about. 10 yeara after the band started the frontman died. The end.

And this is jazzy, at least based off of the first track. The second track reminds me of Colour Haze at first with less Stoner fuzz and more horns, but that doesn't really apply to later tracks though the vocal performance is similar enough (Here it's a bit more straightforward, no screams or falsetto or anything) and I get a bit of a jam band feeling from both. There's way too much background noise for me to say anything for sure (damn the casino and drunk people dancing), but if I'm hearing the bass it's really thick, while the drums match the horns with a big jazz influence. Guitars are present but they almost never take charge. In fact several tracks I can't hear any guitar. In Spite Of Me has no horns! Just shockingly beautiful strings and guitars along with whispered vocals. And with slightly less background noise, I can now say for sure the bass is thick, heavy and probably distorted, at least on the track Thursday. And I can understand the lyrics! Don't cheat except on some days of the week. The title track shows me that these guys know how to write great pop tunes (layered with jazz). And Mary Won't You Call My Name is an uptempo swing tune compared to all the not quite uptempo tracks on the album. The last track is more no horns, or are there horns? I can't tell with this goddamn background noise! But either way it's very quiet and relaxing, I guess a tribute to Miles Davis' Funeral.

And now it's almost 3:40. I want to get this done with so summarize quick. I liked this album. I say that a lot but I try not to hate on music. This is a very interesting sound, and as described it was definitely a bit more low-key then one would expect out of rock. The vocals in particular I thought were pretty nice and complimented the music very well. I would nitpick just so I can make this review longer but screw it I'm going to bed.

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Day 53: Surfing the Void by Klaxons

I don't want an LOLcat for an album cover. Ever.

And now that that's out of the way, let's write this. I have to start listening soon so I have time to write my concluding paragraph. This is indie/electronic/noise rock according to Wikipedia and I'M NO LONGER LIMITED TO SAVED PAGES THANK THE FREAKING LORD. The main thing this band is described as is Nu-Rave. What the hell is Nu-Rave? My assumption is that's a mixture of new wave and techno and it seems I was right! I'm definitely enjoying the liberty of being able to surf the web without paying heinous amounts of cash (though I'd prefer cruising still).

But yeah let's start already.

Like many albums throughout this challenge, they chose to start with deceptive lo-fi noise which turns into another genre. Here it sounds like spacy, lightly noisy pop, but it could just be these crappy headphones. That seems to continue on after the first song, then the next two tracks (which flow perfectly into each other, to the point where I think they split one track just so they could have a title track) gets progressively less poppy and noisier and rockier, the title track containing loads of guitar noise and shouted vocals. Extra Astronomical sounds like freaking industrial prog rock or something. Not nu-rave. I forgot about the whole nu-rave thing up till now but I still don't understand what that really means. There is an electronic vibe to the whole album as well as a slight progressive feeling. The two singles in particular, the first track and Twin Flames, are some of the more accessible tracks (probably why they were chosen as singles) and make me think of progressive pop music. Also I looked it up and they disowned the new rave term. Good enough for me. The last track seems to try to cram in a lot, like they want to get a bit of each genre they've gotten thus far (not Mr. Bungle style, something a bit less schizo than that).

Because I'm freaking sick of writing these concluding paragraphs, let me try something different. Let's list all the genres this has been described as.

Nu-Rave: The hell is Nu-Rave? They disowned it but whatever.
Indie Rock: Fairly broad term, they have a pretty unique sound.
Noise Rock: They use liberal amounts of noise but I'm not sure I'd call this noise rock.
Post-Punk: See indie rock. There is a bit of a punk sound here but not a whole lot.
Dance-Punk: See Post-Punk.
Electronic Rock: Meh, close enough.

My opinion is not important.