What song are you listening to?

[HarleyQuinn]

Alanis Morissette - Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Certainly not Jagged Little Pill but as an album in its own right, it's really really strong. A lot of solid songs, even if they aren't quite as catchy instrument wise, although part of what hurts the album is the sheer volume of songs (17), which could've been pared down to 12 or 13 maybe instead. The first half seems stronger as a whole than the second half, IMO.

Songs Worth Checking Out: Track 1 - Front Row, Track 2 - Baba, Track 10 - I Was Hoping, Track 12 - Would Not Come

 

[Kinetic]

That's such a horrible album title. So clunky, so awkward. People can only handle so many syllables! If she'd instead called it something like Vaginasaurus Rex, it might have been massive.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Crystal Stilts - Alight of Night

I wouldn't usually quote Pitchfork, but Rebecca Raber is pretty otm here:

These Brooklynites highlight the difference between being derivative and having good taste. With record collections clearly crammed with Phil Spector-produced singles, Jesus and Mary Chain albums, Black Tambourine rarities, Velvet Underground boxed sets, and every version of Unknown Pleasures ever released, Crystal Stilts synthesize a sound that owes obvious debts but works on its own terms. It's not all doom and gloom, either: Despite all the ghostly reverb, there are bouncy melodies lurking amidst the murk, as shimmering tambourines, hints of surf guitar, and Wall of Sound orchestrations provide hints of innocence and levity. Sure, their band is hard to keep straight thanks to the current onslaught of similarly titled groups (in 2008, "crystal" was the new "wolf"). But with tracks as good as "Prismatic Room" and "Shattered Shine", Crystal Stilts is a name worth remembering. --Rebecca Raber

At least part of 'Graveyard Orbit' is blatantly stolen from 'Stand By Me', but it's a good record.

 

[Kinetic]

Is that Crystal Shit? I hear they do a pretty good Doors show down by the shore.

 

[Incandenza]

I liked the few Crystal Stilts songs I've heard, but I haven't been bothered to go any further. New music!

 

[King Cucaracha]

I don't know where to put this, but I just watched Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and two things that popped into my mind.

1.) The director and editor made good use of not showing how hideous Lady Gaga is but showing only the face only. Anytime the head tilt to a certain angle, they changed the scene.

2.) Either Byron is trying to emulate Lady Gaga style or Lady Gaga is trying to emulate Byron's style. I don't know yet.

Time to put away the booze now.

I said this elsewhere, the shots where she's lying down next to a dalmation were so cheesy and so reminiscent of an Electric Six video it was like a parody that didn't realise it was a parody.

 

[Incandenza]

I’m listening to Scott Walker’s Scott 3. Pretty weak stuff. Most of the album feels like a collection of half-formed ideas rather than full-fledged songs. It’s like if Walker had just run through a few more drafts of each number, he’d probably have a solid album. The record has “30 Century Man” at least; the lyrics are Walker at his dopiest, but the combination of his voice and the song’s melody are so irresistible that I wish it were longer than its slight 90-second running time. By the way, I only just now realized, after all these years, that it is “30” not “30th.” Hm.

Yeah, I like that one too, but I don't think the album is as weak as you seem to think. However, I admit that I take kind of a zoomed-out approach to Scott Walker: I could split hairs, but the arrangements and voice are so good to me that I don't really break it down on a level that I might break other stuff down. Easily pleased. When you talk about songs that are "half-formed," are you referring to the <2:00 songs? I think those certainly could have been fleshed out, yes, but the arrangements and lyrics are just as good as any others; they just feel unfinished, lengthwise. Most of Scott's best songs from these albums were covers of Jacques Brel et al., so it's not as if his once-flowing songwriter's well had run bone-dry.

I only now noticed this, so here's a response:

It's less the length of the songs and more that I think he didn't latch onto anything interesting with the songs he had. Working through a few more drafts and producing better songs as a result is just conjecture on my part; maybe most of what ended up on Scott 3 was doomed to be inconsequential. (This includes the album's longer material.) By all accounts, Walker was tired of the string-heavy sound he had forged on this and his previous albums, which is why Scott 3 feels as if it's the product of man going through the motions. Listen to either of his first two albums or Scott 4 and then listen to Scott 3. You can't notice just how dull it feels in comparison?

 

[Zorin Industries]

Fockewulf 190 - Gitano

 

[KOAB]

Twisted - Tech N9ne & Roger Troutman

 

[bigolsmitty]

Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

brandy

Easily the best '70s soft rock one hit wonder. Anybody who will argue can GTFO!

 

[Positively Kanyon]

La Roux - Quicksand

Quite the catchy song!

 

[OG]

Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)

Great track.

 

[KOAB]

Heartbreaker - Skatterman Snug Brim ft. Tech N9ne & Kaliko

Great beat

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Stereo to Mono mix down of "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" by The Dickies. A small feel of more power and I like the increase in vocals (both the intro with laughter and overall).

 

[Kinetic]

Listened to Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream of Trains for the first time in a few months. I really adore this album, but I think in some ways I ruined it for myself by listening to it endlessly during a really depressing period of my life. Some of the songs make me want to cut myself.

A few of Neil Young's mid-70s albums do that to me, too.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

Shanice - I Love Your Smile - Free MP3 Stream on IMEEM Music

 

[KOAB]

Queen - Don't Stop Me Now

 

[DMann1979]

I also got this album:

from the library the other day. I don't think much of it so far, although I've admittedly only listened to it a couple of times.

Arcadian Driftwood and It Makes No Difference haven't left an impression on you yet?

And I put Stage Fright right up with the 1st two albums.

 

[Gary]

Tom Verlaine-"Souvenir From A Dream"

 

[Byron The Bulb]

Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)

Great track.

Not really. The writing might be okayish and the beat is pretty great, but that doesn't change the fact that he's not even really trying to flow well anymore. It sounds totally half-assed. That "Go Hard" remix from last year had me thinking/hoping that he was actually going to start putting effort into his raps again, but it looks like Blueprint 3 is just going to be more of the same tired, lazy bullshit that we've been getting from him for the last three years. Bleh.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

I've been listening to Robyn Hitchcock and The Cars recently. Am I doomed to love every punk inspired band that was active from 1977 - 1984 and mostly recorded short songs?

 

[CBright7831]

Eminem - Underground

I enjoy hearing Eminem rap like he did on SSLP/MMLP.

 

[KOAB]

Gary Numan - Are 'Friends' Electric? (Live '81)

 

[The Coat Is My Father]

more of the same tired, lazy bullshit that we've been getting from him for the last three years.

I must be the only one who really liked American Gangster.

 

[Gary]

more of the same tired, lazy bullshit that we've been getting from him for the last three years.

I must be the only one who really liked American Gangster.

I love that album.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

Gary Numan - Are 'Friends' Electric? (Live '81)

Pffft. Gary Numan Robyn Hitchcock Tubeway Army Are Friends Electric

Now there's the only version of that song you'll ever need.

 

[KOAB]

...no

 

[Byron The Bulb]

more of the same tired, lazy bullshit that we've been getting from him for the last three years.

I must be the only one who really liked American Gangster.

I love that album.

It's an okay album and the writing is at times inspired, but he still relies way to heavily on that dull "whisper flow" he's been kicking since at least Kingdom Come. Far too often he resorts to adding unnecessary inflections and emphasis to the last word/syllable of lines in order to obscure the fact that he can't string his bars together in any kind of crisp, interesting way anymore. This isn't as much of a problem on the tracks where he speeds his tempo up (eg "Fallin,'" "American Gangster"), but tracks like "Say Hello" and "American Dreamin" and "I Know" are just kinda painful to listen to. The problem with post-retirement Hov isn't that he's completely run out of interesting things to say (though that's certainly part of it), it's that he's lost the ability to make uninteresting things sound interesting. Compare stuff like "Snoopy Track" or "So Ghetto," where he makes rote "slangin' and fuckin'" cliches sound totally fresh and exciting, with something like "Hello Brooklyn," where he just sounds old and tired.

 

[still fly]

post retirement Jay-Z is simply a corporate , watered-down shell of his former self. I guess my standards are too high now, but whatever happened to just laying down 40 bars to a beat? Too many stupid gimmicks in rap these days.