What music are you listening to?

[Cactus Drags]

I'm not sure how Dead Swans passed me by when they first came out, but I've been listening to their album Sleepwalkers on Youtube today and it's quality.

[deli]

Wow. The new Deftones album is pretty good isn't it?

[KONGO]

The W. For a group I like as much as the Wu-Tang, it's surprising that most of their group albums are underwhelming. This one does have "I Can't Go to Sleep" on it, though, and that's one of my all-time favorite tracks. I love when the Wu-Tang sound stretched to desperation. Ghost and RZA are incredible at it.

[thatshortguy]

Just checked out the version of "Sympathy for the Devil" that Jane's Addiction did for the latest Sons of Anarchy soundtrack. Once again, a band tries too hard to make a different version of a cover tune. The Stones' version has a confident devil. He rattles off his accomplishments like a man drunk off wine that only he can afford. Jane's version sounds tired, as if he worked hard to earn that wine only to be struck down just before he can take a sip.

Which is ridiculous. Well, both my similes and the song, but alas. What a song like this needs (and what the Stones nailed) is cockiness. You're Vince McMahon Lucifer, goddamnit! Strut around, brag about Pilot washing his hands and Kennedy getting shot while your minions lay down some British swing. Don't just rattle them off, embellish it! "Yeah, I got China up in arms, and if I wanted it, every one of 'em would be dead!" You can't have a strong hero unless you have an equally (if not more) powerful villain, which Jane's ignored in the name of doing something "different".

Ah well...still better than GnR.

[KONGO]

Viktor Vaughn's Vaudeville Villain is seriously classic. Best DOOM persona bar none.

"Whooptiedoo

Flows do fifty like a hooptie-doo

Groupie crews try to figure out from what coop he flew"

How can you go wrong with that?

[SRN]

I finally decided to listen to Boredoms the other day. Took Skummy's suggestion and got a hold of Wow2 and good Thor, is that an amazing record. It packs to much power and insanity. I really had no idea what to expect from the band but that record really blew me away. I have als re-listened to all three of Truckfighters LPs; and despite Mania making a better impression than last time I listened to it, Gravity X is still my favorite, by virtue of it having "Desert Cruiser" which is the best Truckfighters song ever. I was then in the mood for some black metal and decided that the best Immortal worship band Inquisition would do the job; and they did. Dagon, their vocalist, literally sounds like Emperor Palpatine. Couple that with their over-the-top playing-riffs-on-mountaintops style and Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm is, besides having one of the most ridiculous album titles, such a brilliant record.

This morning I've been listening to some more somber stuff though. Started out with Talk Talk's Laughing Stock, which is a must for anyone interested in post-rock, and am now listening to EF's Mourning Golden Morning. So yeah.

[thatshortguy]

Finally got around to listening to the new Rival Sons. I think these songs will translate well enough live, but on tape it's just flat. If you want to check them out, go back and get "Pressure & Time". Solid album, one of my favorites from 2011.

Which brings me to this. I know we'll have a thread for it soon enough, but I just do not want to deal with that. My ten favorite albums of 2012 (as of 12/11/12), folks. I'll try to keep this going in 2013, as well.

10. Shinedown - Amaryllis

9. Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour

8. Van Halen - Different Kind of Truth

7. Deftones - Koi No Yokan

6. Devin Townsend - Epicloud

5. Jesca Hoop - The House Jack Built

4. The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter

3. Soundgarden - King Animal

2. Punch Brothers - Who's Feeling Young Now?

1. Pinback - Information Retrieved

[KONGO]

NoMeansNo's The People's Choice. Wish more NMN was on Spotify.

[Quom]

Early version of If I should Fall from Grace with God by the Pogues. I thought the final version was perfect but now I am confused.

[VerbalPuke]

NoMeansNo's The People's Choice. Wish more NMN was on Spotify.

They are fucking great, I've been a fan of them for a few years and love them. How much have you heard of them? Their best album is probably Wrong, but also One and Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy are fantastic albums as well. Also would recommend the album they recorded with Jello Biafra.

[KONGO]

NoMeansNo's The People's Choice. Wish more NMN was on Spotify.

They are fucking great, I've been a fan of them for a few years and love them. How much have you heard of them? Their best album is probably Wrong, but also One and Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy are fantastic albums as well. Also would recommend the album they recorded with Jello Biafra.

I've heard a good bit. Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy is probably my favorite, but their newest one All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt is really good, too. Don't think I have heard One, actually, or their Jello Biafra one. But Biafra's album with the Melvins is eeeeeexcellent. So fun.

[VerbalPuke]

If nothing else, find the songs Graveyard Shift and Our Town from the album One, two of their best. I haven't heard any of their new work, so I'll scope that out, probably One is the most recent of their albums I've heard, and that's from 2000.

[deli]

'Apocalypse Dreams' by Tame Impala has probably become my favorite song of the year. In fact all of Lonerism is amazing actually and you should all listen to it.

[gunnar hendershow]

Parov Stelar has been winning my heart as I study/write a memo for finals week at school. Great blend of 1930s Swing and modern downtempo sounds. For people into that stuff.

[SRN]

Electro-swing is amazing and I can't wait till it really catches on. Too bad there are basically on Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace at the moment that are really fleshing out the style.

[Nerf]

Busted out XTRMNTR for the first time in years and shit, this album is just as good as I remembered.

[gunnar hendershow]

Electro-swing is amazing and I can't wait till it really catches on. Too bad there are basically on Parov Stelar and Caravan Palace at the moment that are really fleshing out the style.

Parov Stelar kind of delves into some other styles as well from what I've been listening to, but I agree, it will catch on as more people work on perfecting the craft.

[SRN]

Since Scott Walker's new LP is coming out on Monday, and I had only heard The Drift before that, I decided to properly introduce myself to his more avant-garde and experimental background. I think I have already discussed The Drift here but just to reiterate; dark and scary (it even startled me at some points), one of the most haunting records I have heard outside of Current 93's I Have a Special Plan for This World but also incredibly crafted and extremely pleasing to listen to. Climate of Hunter was a different beast. It didn't hit me as much as The Drift did but it was on a completely different level; downplayed it seemed, still possessing a haunting beauty but more in the beauty department than the haunting department; it had an 80's vibe but still had distinctive Scott Walker touch. I really enjoyed "Track Three (Delayed)". I must say though that Tilt is my current favorite. It has some legitimately moving arrangements, almost evangelical and church-like at some point, and then just dives down into some sort of deep industrial sound, like you are sitting in a factory, right up against one of the most noisy and biggest machines. And with Walker's voice it just... amazing. Tilt could very well become one of my favorite albums ever, over time.

I can't wait to hear Bish Bosch, his new LP, now. I don't think I have been this hyped for an album release in, well, years. If Skummy reads this; are some of his earlier solo stuff, like the numbered Scott albums, worth checking out? I am fully aware that they are of a completely different genre than everything post-Nite Flights, but yeah.

[METALMAN]

His earlier albums are AMAZING. If you like that sort of thing. I do.

Have a listen to The Seventh Seal. If you like that, get the rest of the album.

Or get his Jacques Brel compilation.

[Skummy]

Scott 4 is the best of the numbered albums, and I'd definitely recommend it - it's one of my all-time favourite albums. You can definitely see a developing pattern that starts with Scott 4 and moves through to what he's doing now. Nite Flights is definitely worth it too, though there's only three tracks (I think, off the top of my head) that he wrote on there, they're all brilliant.

Basically, I'd go with Scott 4, and if you like that, move a little further back - try the Jacques Brel album, and Scott 1-3.