What music are you listening to?

[SRN]

I have been going through the new Crippled Black Phoenix LP "(Mankind) The Crafty Ape" a few times over the last couple of days and I have to say... other bands might as well pack up and wait to release something until 2013 because this could very well be the album of the year. I was gobsmacked by what an amazing effort has been put into this LP; it is like they snatched David Gilmour from his best period in Pink Floyd, gave him some anarchistic themes to jam over and then followed it all up in a heavy yet experimental post-rock environment.

[Evis]

Been getting into Passion Pit lately.

[hot rod]

Been getting into Passion Pit lately.

I'd definitely recommend listening to this one, if you haven't heard it already. Probably my favorite by Passion Pit.

Edited March 19, 2012 by hot rod

[RPS]

Saw Passion Pit live. Wasn't a massive fan, but after I saw them live, I kinda got the whole appeal. Not my cup of tea, but definitely fun and interest. Excited to see what they've got planned for a follow up.

[New Damage]

I'm really liking this and have been playing it almost non-stop the last week, good to drive to.

[SRN]

The new Meshuggah album leaked and I am halfway through it. These are my thoughts, represented in emoticons.

^_^

And then times a million.

Rmember when I said Crippled Black Phoenix made album of the year? I think I might need to take back that statement.

[The DBZemon King]

Went out with this chick a bit ago and she turned me onto this band, Death From Above 1979. Since then I've been listening to them a bunch.They put out an album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, back in 2004, then broke up not long after. They just recently got back together and a riot broke out outside when they played SXSW. Here's a clip of them playing their song Little Girl...

[The DBZemon King]

I hate my internet connection.

[Evis]

Been getting into Passion Pit lately.

I'd definitely recommend listening to this one, if you haven't heard it already. Probably my favorite by Passion Pit.

Sleepyhead was the first song I heard from them actually. Well, I head the Borgore remix of it, which led me to the Passion Pit version. I like the original better, but the remix is good imo.

Edited March 22, 2012 by Evis

[Naitch]

I've been listening to an insane amount of eurodance recently, just to find out the name of a song I recognised on the Benelux episode of Hairy Bikers. I'm almost certain that it falls under the eurodance category, and I'm pretty sure that its by a Belgian artist, based on the use of A-Ha and Peer Gynt in the Norway episode. If anyone has the time, could they please click on the link below, listen to the music at 41.07 and tell me what the hell the song is?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dpxwh/Hairy_Bikers_Bakeation_Low_Countries/

[METALMAN]

tracked down Love You by the Beach Boys because it sounded like a crazy experiment gone awry. Like Neil Young's synth pop or something. But I actually really love it so far.

[VerbalPuke]

I've been watching Fraggle Rock lately with my son. The music is fucking fantastic in that show, this might be one of my favorites along with the traveling minstrels music. What a great show it was.

[METALMAN]

I assume you all probably know the Johnny Cash versions of Delia's Gone. They are nice. This is better!

[Evis]

Odd Future's new mixtape came out recently, and this is easily my favorite on the album.

[KONGO]

Insanity.

[SRN]

Listening to the new The Mars Volta album. It is really rather... boring, honestly. Certainly not what I expected.

[METALMAN]

See the stop-time riff of Mannish Boy, Hoochie Coochie Man, I'm A Man and bloody Riot in Cell Block Number 9? It's boring. it should only have been used in one of these songs.

Oh and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggBdXt8zRlE

[Skummy]

Bought a shit-ton of new CDs lately.

Robyn Hitchcock's I Often Dream Of Trains, which I've been regularly kicking myself for not owning sooner. It's kind of Syd Barrett-y, without feeling like he's ripping him off, and reminds me of the kind of thing Darren Hayman does nowadays. All good.

Loads of new Les Rallizes Denudes re-releases, the best of which being a 6-CD (!) set of live recordings between 1980-82. I know there's probably only one other person on here who even remotely gives a shit about LRD, but if you're even remotely interested in drone-y, doom-y or stoned out hard rock, I implore you to check out these recordings. They're heavier and slower and just more fucking awesome than almost anything I've heard from LRD before and, best of all, they're by far the best quality recordings of their stuff I have ever heard. There's no tape hiss, no crowd noise, and aside from the usual muffled vocals, it actually sounds like a decent quality studio recording, rather than a live album, and it gives a real good impression of how mindblowingly heavy and ahead of their time Rallizes were. One of the most under-rated bands ever, easy.

Lee Ranaldo's solo album is disappointing. It's got a couple of nice songs, but most of it just sounds like the fucking Killers or something, just very inoffensive radio rock. Not what I'd hoped.

The new Popes album is what it is - solid pub-rock, but nothing too exciting. Get back with Shane MacGowan, you fools!

I can't think who else I've been listening to...still have Mark Stewart, Angel Witch and Sigh's new albums to listen to, amongst a ton of other stuff.

[thatshortguy]

I just listened to Creed's "My Sacrifice." I hate my store's radio.

"My Own Prison" was such a solid debut given the time frame. With a shift towards happier music (and Stapp's increasingly erratic behavior) that band's quality truly did dip as their sales increased. I fear Shinedown is headed down the same road musically. It all just feels so...saccharine.

I can't stand Adele, and It's by no means for. want of hearing her music. Something about her rubs me up the wrong way and her music is so dull and joyless. I don't even rate her as a singer - she can hold a note but she has absolutely no dynamic range.

The ridiculous Alison Moyet comparisons make me laugh though.

Adele's a fantastic singer, but I don't care if it's Soundgarden teaming with the remaining members of Pink Floyd while The Mars Volta backs 'em, if I can't get away from it, my opinion of it decreases rapidly. I actually didn't mind Lady Gaga, but fer chrissakes it got to a point where I just did not care if it was the most amazing thing in the world. I quickly became - and remain - sick of Adele and other radio darlings.

LCD Soundsystem. I didn't love them so much when they were still actively making music, but hot damn, they've got some great songs.

"Sound of Silver" is the only album I've been able to really latch onto, and it's outstanding. It's the modern day Talking Heads, and I still wish they would not have called it quits so soon. Understand why Murphy did it, though.

The new Meshuggah album leaked and I am halfway through it. These are my thoughts, represented in emoticons.

^_^

And then times a million.

Rmember when I said Crippled Black Phoenix made album of the year? I think I might need to take back that statement.

Gotta jump on that one. Heard "Don't Look Down" and it fit like a comfortable shoe. A comfortable, robotic, menacing shoe that scares people. Bless you, Crazy Swedes With A Yiddish Name.

Sleepyhead was the first song I heard from them actually. Well, I head the Borgore remix of it, which led me to the Passion Pit version. I like the original better, but the remix is good imo.

I'm still not keen on a lot of their remixes, but the stripped down version of "Sleepyhead" is worth a listen (it's a bonus track on the "Manners" digital releases). They've not done wrong by me yet, and I'm looking forward to when the new album hits in June. It's just solid electronic pop that isn't condescending. Very little of that around, I think.

Listening to the new The Mars Volta album. It is really rather... boring, honestly. Certainly not what I expected.

It's actually my favorite album of theirs from a totality standpoint. It shows a more focused Volta without sacrificing their ability to establish mesmerizing soundscapes. It's probably my second favorite album of the year thus far, just behind the Punch Brothers' "Who's Feeling Young Now?". Both are excellent examples of technically proficient bands scaling things back and reinforcing ideas with other ideas.

Other quick thoughts:

-New All-American Rejects is fine for what it is. I didn't feel particularly insulted by it, but I will not be seeking it out again. There are some nice time signature changes, but nothing monumental. Nor does it need to be.

-Fun fact: I cannot hear the beginning of Pink Floyd's "Us & Them" without hearing The Barbarian sing it. "Huss...Huss...Huss...and THEM...."

[SRN]

words words words about Meshuggah and The Mars Volta

Concerning Meshuggah, the album just blew me away. At least most of it did. It built up this intensity and just gradually ousted itself until the end... where it was suddenly ended with an ambient track. That just punched all the air out of me; pretty much the only blemish I find on it, the sudden anonymous ending. It was like they were tearing up shit in not only one hotel room but the entire hotel but then, instead of simply paying the fine, tried patching everything up with gaffer tape and denied that they ever did anything.

I guess the reason I find Noctourniquet so boring is probably because I am a huge fan of the completely ballistic and chaotic songs they have on De-Loused, Frances the Mute and Bedlam. I haven't heard Octahedron because I've been told from everyone I know to stay away from that but I get the feeling that the same style present on the new album, is also present on Octahedron. Just in a more refined way or something. So yeah, color me not impressed but I can see why people are taking a liking to Noctourniquet. They just seem to have lost a lot of punch.

Now unto something more on-topic; after Skummy talked about that six CD boxset from Les Rallizes Dénúdes I immediately got a hold of it and have thus been using most of my day listening to it. And god damn, if I didn't know any better, I would say that almost all of the recordings were done in studio. It is some fucking crisp sound. I don't need to tell you that LRD is pretty amazing but "Double Heads" pretty much solidifed them as a definete keeper to me. Also got a hold of a band called Taj-Mahal Travellers; they did a split release with LRD back in the day, although the music seems to be completely different. I haven't heard much but it is supposedly some sort of situtional drone/electronic music mixed with psychedelic rock. On top of that, all their recordings have taken place outside so the weather effects the music and sounds; hence the situational drone sound.

And now for the most important musical happening of my day: a certain website had a certain thing that led me to get a whole bunch of records; stuff like Scott Walker, Ground Zero, Art Blakey, Nisl Frahm, Swans, Suuns, Current 93, Nurse with Wound, Philip Glass and a whole bunch of other stuff. I have no idea where to start but I'll report back later when I've catalogued the whole thing.