scår søünd

I have been remiss in my music listening duties. I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos, and for some reason reading without musical accompaniment. I've also had a horrible bout of insomnia, which makes me less motivated to do anything than I would be if I had a good night's sleep behind me.

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Droid - Droid

Droid are an L.A. metal band who are signed to Korn's guitarist's vanity imprint record label. Their bass player is the former lead singer/rhythm guitarist of The Deadlights, who were one of my favourite one-off bands of the Nü-Metal era. The problem with Droid is that they don't seem to have any of the variety, melody, or intelligence of the former band. If You are down with forty-six minutes of homogeneous screamy metal then by all means listen to Droid. But if you prefer a more dynamic sound in your heavy music this might not be quite the thing for you.



KMFDM / My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - Naïve/The Days of Swine & Roses (single)

Back in the day there was a magical record label named WAX TRAX!. The WAX TRAX! artist were a tight knit group of Chicago-based industrial artists. There was a strong thread of performance art, and collaboration among the WAX TRAX! family. The side project between TKK and KMFDM was Excessive Force. In 1991 the album Conquer Your World was released. The Work that Sascha Konietzko did with Buzz McCoy on that album spawned this split remix single. The TKK remix of "Naïve" isn't that great. It sounds like a funkier, swankier, dirtier version of "Naïve", but it wasn't a great song to begin with, so I think it is more a mater of source material than ineptitude in remixing. "The Days of Swine & Roses" is a great song, and Sascha came in to KMFDM it up. The guitars are a lot harsher, the bass isn't as prevalent, and the song sound a bit more muted than the original, but it is still a good remix, just not as good as the original. Both songs are extended from their original length to 10:00 opuses.



Prince & The Revolution - Purple Rain (soundtrack)

The 80s were great, weren't they? At least the nostalgia of the 80s is great. In the 80s Prince was great, but he didn't really stand up over time, much like this album. "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" still hold up remarkably well, but the rest of the album is very dated. There was a very distinctive sound to New Wave music in 1984, and while the band is tight, and the musicianship is strong this album sounds like 1984. I have never seen the movie Purple Rain, but I'm sure it's a fin picture. At this point, however it is stuck in time, and not timeless like good art really should be.




Portishead - Dummy

Portishead are the second best trip-hop band after Massive Attack. Fortunately both bands are friendly, and they don't even really take up the same market-share. Massive Attack tend to be very outwardly political, and Portishead have a tendency to be introspective and emotional. Back in 1994 it was hard to find a copy of Dummy in the stores, but in the past 14 years Portishead have become a cultural phenomenon. With their new album (Third) debuting at no. 7 on the US billboard chart, and no. 2 in the UK album charts. Aside from having a very strong start Portishead had to travel a long and winding road to get public notice. After being away from the band for ten years the public was finally ready to accept Portishead, which seems like the epitome of ahead of their time to me. The Critical press has already lauded Dummy, and I don't know what I can add. This is a fantastic album, and probably the second best trip-hop album ever released. Again after Mezzanine by Massive Attack. It is down-tempo, and sad, and compelling. The samples come from music from old spy movie soundtracks, and blues and soul records. This is what it sounded like when you let English kids that lived by the sea get ahold of hip-hop music and do their thing.



Marilyn Manson - Eat Me, Drink Me

I got into Marilyn Manson back in 1994 around the first time I heard "Lunchbox". I am always excited when a new MM record is announced. Which means that I am kind of excited about the new MM album that he is going to be recording with Twiggy later this year, even if Steven Baird isn't going to be involved this time. Manson was always best when he was angry about something, and screaming about individuality. When he got depressed and lost his will to live and create that made his music a lot harder to listen to. There is a track on Eat Me, Drink Me that hearkens back to lunchbox by using a very similar guitar riff, and there is a song or two that are loud rockers, but this album suffers like its creator. The music is not the industrial-metal that most of the rest of Manson's back catalog is. The song structures are a lot more traditional, and I blame this mostly on Tim Skold not really wanting to reach into Manson's depressed headspace. The allusions to Alice in Wonderland aren't very helpful to the theme either. This is not a bad album, but it is Manson's worst.

I was going to update this Friday night, but I got drunk. Then I was going to update it Saturday, but I was both drunk and lazy, and I spent all day watching YouTube videos of Marilyn Manson and Henry Rollins. I think I got all of them. So I've decided to finally update it today. I didn't really listen to any music the past two days, so nothing there, but I did listen to a bit on Friday.

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Rammstein - Du riechst so gut '98 (single)

Rammstein got famous because they had a couple of tracks on the Lost Highway soundtrack then they released "Du Hast" as a single. They sing exclusively in Deutsch, and they don't give a fuck what they think about them. They also love fire, and homoerotic imagery. After they got famous they decided to re-release their first single with a lot of remixes, and new artwork. There are three KMFDM remixes on this single, all of which are good, one by Rammstein's longtime studio collaborator Jacob Hellner, which is impressive, and good for the dance floor, the best by Olav Bruhn is a scathing industrial version of a good heavy metal song. The first remix is a Mike Patton (of Faith No More) minimal mix. Patton's remix strips away all of the instrumentation and leaves us with something that sounds like Deutsche opera, which is a pretty powerful effect with Till Lindemann's voice. If you don't like the song the single is obviously not going to be your thing, but if you do it is well worth the effort.



We Are Scientists - Crap Attack

We are scientists broke through my boring indie rock barrier by being good at what they do. Their music sounds similar to that of their contemporaries, but their guitar tone is different, and the words are more interesting. Crap Attack is a collection of b-sides, covers, and remixes complied from their very early career. There really isn't a bad song on this collection, and I always have to commend a band that's willing to cover a Sigur Rós track. (Thursday is the only other band that comes to mind that has also done so). The remixes are good, and not overly electronic. It is indie rock for people who like music, and not just elitist assholes.



Gescom - A & B (EP)

Gescom might as well be Autechre except for the fact that their music is more structured and almost melodic. This was the first EP Gescom ever released and it is incredibly hard to come by, and it isn't necessarily representative of the later glitchy output from them. There are four tracks of well structured ambient electronica on this EP. It is downtempo, but not dark or even chillout. It is complex enough for active listening, but also suited to background music, because it is not as abrasive as some of the group's later output.


AFI - A Fire Inside (EP)

1998 was the year that AFI let their fans know what those three letters stood for. It was also nearly the end of their tenure as a Hardcore punk band. They went out with a bang. This is fast-tempo punk-rock with obvious goth overtones. The last two tracks are covers; "The Hanging Garden" by The Cure and "Demonomania" by Misfits. AFI were letting their goth flag truly unfurl for the first time, and this was an indicator of their new direction.



Error - Error (EP)

I probably listen to this EP more than anything else in my collection. There are two reasons for this: The EP is Seventeen minutes long making it easy to consume quickly, and two it is some of the best electroclash/industrial I've ever heard. It is an absolutely brutal five song collection. "Nothing is Working" opens up the record with swirling synth line that starts repeating quickly then becomes a bass and microbeats combo until the drums, guitars, and hard synths set in. It is rip your face off electroclash. "Homicide" is a cover of a 999 Song, which is pretty good. "Burn in Hell" is a thumping bass-driven track that is incredibly heavy. "Jack the ripper" has an awesome ambient intro that terminates with the sound of knives sliding blade against blade then breaks into the murderous meat of the song. "Brains Out" is an altered version of "Nothing is Working"; It is almost a remix, but different enough that it is another song in the same vein. The lyrics "Let's just fuck our brains out motherfucker" is repeated ad nauseam. I was attracted to Error because they're comprised of Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, Atticus Ross of 12 Rounds, his brother Leapold Ross, and Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan on Vocals. An absolutely bone crushing combination.



Zebrahead - Playmate of the Year

Zebrahead are a kind of under-rated band. You might have heard of them back in 1999 when they had the hit single "Get Back". The video aired on MTV, and "alternative radio" glombed onto it for a few weeks as well. About a year after their second album Zebrahead released their third album Playmate of the Year Which is probably their best album. They play a Pop-Punk hip-hop hybrid, but it is good. Their lyrics are witty, and the music is catchy. They sound a lot like Goldfinger with a lot more funk.



Eels - Electro-Shock Blues

I really like Eels; they are one of my favourite bands. I started listening to them in 1996 when Beautiful Freak was released, and I liked "Novocaine for the Soul" but I didn't really get into them until around the time that Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was released. Then I got sort of obsessed and acquired their entire back catalog. Electro-Shock Blues is Eels darkest, most touching and best album. The album was recorded after Mark Oliver Everett spent a stint in a mental institution after his mother's death from a long battle with cancer and his sister's suicide after years of battling with schizophrenia, and Mark finding his father dead in his bed when he was 19. The album starts out with a song about finding a corpse in the bathroom and winds through songs about childhood, depression, desperation, and works its way To a song about falling in love at a funeral. It never quite makes it to the light of day, but it does terminate on a positive note. In the sea of music that I have to listen to this album pops up a lot.



MuDvAyNe - L.D. 50

Mudvayne's debut album is also their best. I like Mudvayne, I really do, I have all of their albums and DVDs and one of their singles on 10" blood-red vinyl. The problem with Mudvayne is that they never matched the quality of their first release. L.D. 50 is an album about human consciousness being an ape with a symbiotic relationship to a mushroom. The band watched 2001 A Space Odyssey every day that they were in the studio recording this album. There is a spacey feel to some of the songs, and there is definitely a sterile clinical feel to the entire record. Even the song about Ed Gein feels clean even through the grit of the subject matter. L.D. 50 is a prog-funk-metal album with a definite point of view. It is smart, it is heavy, it is complex and interesting, and it makes you want to get into the pit. If you are into metal, and I mean real metal and not that Glam shit, there isn't much not to like about this album. The Bass sound is unique, the guitars are awesome, but not too fast, the vocals are good, and the drumming is polyrhythmic.



White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000 Songs of Love, Destruction, and Other Synthetic Delutions of the Electric Head

I sometimes forget that I like White Zombie. This usually happens when I haven't listened to them for a while. I'll look at the CD on the shelf and say, eh, well I like "More Human than Human" but what else is worth a shit? The answer is that almost every song on this album is really good. It all sounds basically the same, but it is good. Rob Zombie et. al found a formula for making cool horror movie inspired industrial-metal and they stuck to it. It is probably a good thing that this was the last White Zombie album though. I don't know where else they were going to go with the band. Except that Rob Zombie's solo career never strayed too far from the themes in White Zombie.



Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

I am a really bad judge of indie rock. This shit is just not dynamic enough for me. You could play me songs from fifteen different bands on those pacific northwest labels and I'd think they were all the same fucking band. Great, you've got acoustic guitars and a sincere attitude toward your art, I can respect that. I am just not on the same page you're on. Listen your songs show that you have an obvious talent with your instrument, and you probably write decent lyrics, but I'm not listening to them because you're not putting them into a context that makes me care. All the critics seem to rage about Iron and Wine, whatever.



War of Ages - Fire from the Tomb

Christian metalcore is a totally acceptable genre classification. Hey, I love Jesus Christ too. I mean, not really, I'm an atheist, but I can feel your determination to help save the souls of everyone who hears your music. Fire from the Tomb is a re-recording of War of Ages debut self-titled album, and it is really heavy. I read the lyrics sheet and I was put off, but the music is pretty heavy, and the words seem to fit well. So, as long as you don't take too much to the message, or if you also think that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the savior of the world this is probably a record for you.



Helmet - Betty

Somehow this album got funky when I wasn't looking. I'm used to helmet being very riff-heavy and something between hardcore and metal, but not metalcomre. But I put Betty on the other day and I was astounded by how fucking cool the bass work was and how funky the sound was. It sounded like groove metal to me. I guess I don't listen to Betty very often, and that's my fault. I usually listen to Meantime, and Size Matters which are both more straight up rock. Betty is also the only Helmet release to sort of show off Page Hammilton's Jazzy chops. Good record. I also noticed that the N*E*R*D song "Lap Dance" uses it's main sample from the song "The Silver Hawaiian". Which is kind of interesting given the divergent styles of both groups.



Bloc Party - Intimacy

The new Bloc Party album isn't available in any physical format yet. It's a us$10.00 fee for the download and a pre-order of the CD, which is basically the right price. I always think that anything more than about us$12.00 for a CD is way too much. As to the content of the new album, it is good. It isn't Silent Alarm, but that album was that time and that place. It is five times better than A Weekend in the City though. The music is a lot more electronic in nature. There are a lot of keyboards and samples scattered about on this album, and they're used to great effect. The change in instrumental inclusion does not change the essential Bloc Party Sound. Kele Okereke has said that this is his break-up album. So get ready for songs about ex-lovers, but I think we all need a few of those records on our shelves.



KMFDM - Ruck Zuck (EP)

Check it out, KMFDM released another remix album. The first track "Free Your Hate (Käptn's Krunch mix)" is fucking great, but only because the initial sample is "The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves" the other six remixes are fine, but they're nothing special. The cover of "Der Mussolini" is okay, and the b-side "Ansage" is boring. This is probably the least inspiring KMFDM release since they "re-formed" int 2002.



The Cops - Free Electricity

I go to my local public library about once a week. While I'm there I scan through the CD rack and see if there's anything I don't have, and I occasionally come across something I've never even heard of before. The Cops are a punk band from Seattle. They're pretty good. I couldn't find much information about them anywhere, which makes this a little bit harder. They seem to be an anarcho-punk band. They're socialists. The music reflects this. They have occasional reggae influences. It is decent stuff.



Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris

I can't bring myself to really like Queens of the Stone Age, and it's my own biases that prevent me from doing so. See, Queens... were formed from the Ashes of Kyuss, who were also a stoner-rock band. That's the thing I have a problem with, the Stone part of the rock. Bands that actively advocate drug use really turn me off. Josh Homme makes these "desert sessions" albums, where he and a bunch of his friends go out to the Arizona desert, get really fucking wasted, and jam. He will often bring ideas for QoTSA songs back from those sessions, making the band a "drug band." I really can't get behind that message. Blame Nancy Reagan. Era Vulgaris is totally listenable, but Rated R is still their best album. There are a couple of pretty good rockers on this album, they are the tracks with two commas apiece. "Run, Pig, Run", and "Sick, Sick, Sick". The rest of the songs are decent, but those are the standouts.



Band of Horses - Everything All the Time

That thing I said about how I don't really pay attention to a lot of the indie rock I listen to, well it is still true, but I liked Band of Horses debut effort. They stand slightly to one side of the indie-rock horde because they use steel guitars. They have a slight alt-country vibe, and it makes all of the difference. Really all your band needs is some little fucking gimmick. If you write country songs for a rock band you are automatically going to be different from, and therefore more interesting than 96% of the other shit out there.



Puscifer - Cuntry Boner (single)

Puscifer are another side project of Maynard James Keenan. It is his humorous side-project. No holds barred, nothing is off the table, and he is willing to work with anyone in any genre. "Cuntry Boner" is my favorite Puscifer song by a long shot. There is this walking bass thing and a country rhythm. Then Maynard starts singing about all of the country stars he's fucked. Included are Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley's Little girl, The Judds, and Johnny Cash. The b-side is another country song titled "World Up My Ass." I think Maynard has a joking streak in him. Especially since he thinks that Tool is actually his funniest band.



Black Light Burns - Cover Your Heart

Black Light Burns are rapidly becoming my favorite band of the month. Cover Your Heart and the Anvil Pants Odyssey is a collection of covers, b-sides, and instrumental tracks, and a DVD containing the videos from Cruel Melody and a documentary about the current band. Any band willing to cover "Forkboy" by lard has my fucking vote. There are a few unexpected covers on this record. "On the Bound" by Fiona Apple is the standout. She has a unique vocal delivery, and Wes tries to emulate it to good effect. "Rid of Me" by PJ harvey is an even better version than the original. The instrumental tracks are well textured and interestingly structured. They are a bit more ambient than some rock fans like, but I'm a big fan of ambient music. If this is a template for the further direction of the band I am on board 100%

Probably because I just started this thing I'm going to do a daily wrap-up of the albums I listened to today. I don't expect this to last. Though I do expect that I'll continue with the mini-review thing I'm going to do for this.

The Future Sound of London - Accelerator

The First album I listened to this morning was The Future Sound of London's Accelerator. I haven't listened to this album for about two years, but I love FSOL. This was their first album and spawned their biggest "hit" "Papua New Guinea." Which is actually my least favourite song on the album. I really prefer Lifeforms, and especially Dead Cities, but all in all it is a good album for a debut effort. It was recorded at the height of the Acid House movement, but didn't quite have the wonderful soundscapes that FSOL later perfected.



KMFDM - Rules (single)

KMFDM are one of my favourite industrial bands. The Rules single is comprised of three tracks, one unaltered track off of XTORT and two remixes of songs from the same album. All in all it's decent, but if one weren't a huge fan of the band I'd leave it be. It is basically standard fare for 1996 KMFDM. Which is to say that it is pretty much straight up industrial-metal that's heavy on the sampling.



Collide - Chasing the Ghost

Collide's Chasing the Ghost is standard fare early 2000's dark electro. A lost of people categorize them as Industrial, but they are really just standard issue electronic rock with female vocals. It isn't bad, by any means, just not incredibly remarkable. The reason I listened to them was because Amazon put them high on my list of recommendations. There is a cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" on the album, but that is really its only stand-out feature.



Pixies - Bossanova

(see below)














Marilyn Manson - Coma White (promo)

I don't remember where I came about this, I probably downloaded it with a bunch of other MM singles. "Coma White" is a great fucking song. The disc itself has the album version of the song, and an acoustic version, that's it. The song is about both drug use, and the troubles of fame. Really the entirety of Mechanical Animals is an extended metaphor for the dangers of celebrity culture told through the guise of drug addiction. It is "Glam-Industrial" at it's best. I am actually more impressed with Apoptygma Berzerk's version of this song than I am with Manson's. I didn't really like this song when I first heard it ten years ago, but it has grown on me over time.



Current 93 - Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God

If you're a fan of neo-folk, or gothic music C93 is a group to get into. This is another of David Tibet's collaborations with the UK industrial underground. Members of Throbbing Gristle, HÖH, Coil et. al provide music, and lyrics to this outing. A lot of songs about rape and a disparaging god. Almost everything by Current 93 is very dark material, and certainly mood music. But I dig it. Then again, I'm really into ambient, shoegaze, post-rock, and experimental noise, which this isn't.



Fugazi - The Argument

Fugazi have always been a mainstay of indie rock, and for good reason. They are the product of the dissolution of several early 80's DC Hardcore bands. The band is known more for their stance on merchandise, and the cost of shows and albums. They are the epitome of indie attitude, literally. The Argument is their best album. It is also their last album. So, maybe I only like it best because it is more accessible than Red Medicine", but so fucking what. Sometimes you want to listen to music because it is well written and pleasant to listen to. I don't always want to listen to dense, or complex fucking sound. This is that album by Fugazi. Ian and Guy have different writing styles, and both of them are well represented on this album. They are a good point and counterpoint of the best aspects of Fugazi.



AFI - Black Sails in the Sunset

Black Sails in the Sunset is the first AFI record that Jade Puget played on. The band's sound became remarkably more sophisticated, and more interesting. This is also the last AFI record that can really be called Hardcore Punk. The Band's themes have always been dark, but this record took them to a different level. The album isn't anywhere near as good as decemberunderground, or Sing the Sorrow, but it is a far cry better than the three albums that came before it. It seemingly took a group of young punks four albums to hit their stride. I think Jade had A LOT to do with their improved sound.



The Daylight Curse - Black and White Memories

Standard-issue Metalcore. There is nothing remarkable about this album. It is listenable for a few tracks, but then you just want to skip the rest of it. It is technically proficient, and loud, and heavy, but who fucking cares, it gets grating after six minutes. I'd rather listen to an Evergreen Terrace album.




Nine Inch Nails - Fixed (EP)

Fixed is the remix record to NIN's best release. Every song on Broken was absolutely fucking brutal. The problem is that the remixes didn't keep with the spirit of the originals. Sure the remixes on this EP were created by Coil, and J.G. Thirwell (aka Foetus), but they're just not as heavy. That being said, I really like the canonical release of Fixed. The songs are industrial, they are dark, they are experimental, they are grating, and they are electronic. 1992 was several years before Trent Reznor signed Coil to Nothing records, but it was the first time he worked with them in an artistic fashion. With Songs like "Screaming Slave" (a remix of "last"), and "Fist Fuck" (a remix of "Wish") this is not for the feint of heart, but is a must-have for fans of industrial music. The remixes left off of the EP were left for good reason. Butch Vig remixed "Wish" and missed the entire point of the song, and Paul Kendall remixed "Happiness in Slavery" to slightly better effect.


Toad the Wet Sprocket - Acoustic Dance Party (EP)

Toad the Wet Sprocket were a pussy sort-of-rock band from the 90's. Glenn Phillips wrote songs that, I assume, were intended to make girls take their panties off. I suppose there's nothing wrong with writing songs to get pussy, but I'm not really into vag-rock. It's just... It is missing something essential. There is a certain heart that can be felt in music that comes from an artistic place. This is not that music.



Jay-Z - The Black Album

This is a great fucking album. There is a reason that there are hundreds of mash-ups of this record. The lyrics are smart and interesting, and the album goes from weaker songs to stronger songs. It only gets better until it finally ends. The samples and backing tracks are from interesting sources, and the words are meaningful and from the heart. Sure, the first few songs are full of thuggish braggadocio, but Sean Carter comes out a few songs later and becomes a man that you is easy to empathize with. Sure the statement of this being the last Jay-Z album was a lie, but that hardly detracts from the social impact of this album, and the fact that it is a great album despite all of the hype.


Hole - Celebrity Skin

Celebrity Skin is Hole's Worst album by far. Oh, it isn't a bad album. Celebrity skin is a totally listenable album, and it even has like two really good songs. The title track is an undeniably powerful pop song. What you might not know about this record is that it wasn't really written by Hole. None of Hole's records were actually written by the band. Courtney Love is not a musician, she is an opportunist. She dated Billy Corgan around the time that her band was recording Pretty on the Inside, and then later when Celebrity Skin was recorded. Corgan was the primary songwriter on the latter, and an important songwriter on the former. When Courtney married Kurt Cobain he became the primary songwriter on Live Through This. All of those allegation being made, Celebrity Skin is a Billy Corgan album. The album was Billy writing a pop album after he got over his Adore phase. He has always been a prolific songwriter, and has never taken issue with playing songs written by others or writing songs for other musicians to play. If Corgan had not been involved this record would have been absolute shit. His involvement saved Hole from Utter failure, but only by a slim margin.