Musicssss

My god...this blog entry has been in my PDA for 3 months. Time to get it out.

Back before I put myself in the poor house, I set aside about $100 a month to buy me some new tunes. I figure some of them have to be good and if I don't like what I hear, I can at least discern what I don't like about it and then home in on better CDs.

So taking it from the top:

Lovage - Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By
From the title of the album, you'd think this album was straight out of the Naked Music label, or expect it to be a bank of porn groove tracks, (which is probably why no one ever got it for me from my X-Mas wish list) but really, it's neither. It's just trip-hop, with some dirty-dirty talk in it. It was my most moistly anticipated album of this volley, because it had some of the first few songs that I was completely blown away by when I first started listening to LaunchCast in 2001 (well, that and it was on 6wk back-order). Hearing a few of the unheard songs kind of disappointed me a bit, but for every dumb "short" track, there is a fucking brilliant quintessential trip-hop song, and with 16 tracks, that ain't bad.

Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game
After hearing all of their previous albums, listening to their newest release, The Cosmic Game, one learns that these guys really like the words "__-national" and "Babylon." That and NPR loves Thievery. Like Outernational Sound in the previous order, Cosmic Game was my "Never heard any of it but can't go wrong with Thievery" purchase and I was right (which of course is always the case). Thievery embodies what I like most about Downbeat and Trip-Hop, and that is experimentation and collaboration with other artists to produce the next incredible groove. This album was no deviation working with artists from the trippy Flaming Lips to the much heralded David Byrne of Talking Heads fame, as well as many of the Thievery native vocalists from albums past. Regardless of the "never heard anything from it" situation, this album easily takes it's place as best album of this buying binge.

Miss Kitten - I Com
"You know Frank Sinatra?...he's dead....DEAD AHAHA!!" Ahh if only the FCC knew about our early morning public broadcasts. For most, this song is their only Ms. Kitten experience (actually, I'm in this class of listener...but Uno was fucking awesome), and I think if and when these people listen to her latest album, they might be a little disappointed. Where as Sinatra and Uno are Euro-Minimalist Techno (NOW ON SPROKETS WE DANCE) with little vocals, except when they are hilarious, I Com really shows off Kittens avant-garde (at least for America) style and let's her voice flow. People who like the previous songs for the comedic value will appreciate Requiem For A Hit; a song who's rhythm is derived completely from a guy saying "I'll Beat That Bitch With A Hit." There are some hard-hitting tracks like Meet Sue Be She and Soundtrack of Now but I think the album really shines with Kitten's vocal tracks Happy Violentine and Dub About Me.

Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
My immediate reaction to this album was "WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!" (as in WTF, STFU SNOW NOOB). Why the sudden fiery disdain for my love, Bebel? The first track is actually her singing along with Amon Tobin's Nova from his album Permutation. Then I looked and she coordinated with him on a few tracks, but this one was the only one pulled from Tobin's collection. The song is originally an instrumental fade out of his album Permutation; it opens this album to create a mixing of classical bassanova style with subtle electronic samples covered with a thick helping of hot/sultry smooth portugeuse vocals. Although this album doesn't have the immediate attention grabbing/listen for hours and hours value of her second self-entitled CD, Bebel Gilberto, it definitely is well worth the its value for tracks like Mais Feliz and Samba e Amor with Bebel's vocals in her native tongue taking center stage with jazz and downbeat samples.

Dzihan & Kamien - Gran Riserva
This was on of those "Hey, I've seen this album pop up on my LaunchCast station and in my Recommendations from Amazon.com" purchases. LaunchCast is incredible by the way. Anywho, since I rated the 4 songs I had heard from them positively, I thought I would take the plunge and get the album. But Alas poor urok, I knew my $10 well. There were some additional tracks I liked but for the most part, the rest of the album went a bit to far by gratingly distorting classic jazz instrumental tones (Ford Transit) and beat repetition (Sliding) by stirring in a few too many disco and house nuances you'd think came straight from a Ibiza club DJ trying out Jazz. Ok, so it was worth at least five of the 17 dollars it cost.

Previous Volley

Theivery Corporation - Outernational Sound
This may be a case of new music overload. With the purchase of Richest Man in Babylon, and its inherent quality, this album has gone relatively ignored after the first listen. It's like I hop in my car, say "Hey, how bout some Thievery" and automatically reach for the one I like better. But this album has got a lot of good stuff in it. I like how the one Porn Groove song on the album was aptly performed by group called "Crazy Penis". The best track in my mind is ReReturn of the Original Artform by Major Force. "SwEEeeeet-azzzz Funk". From this track, the album gently slides itself from the aforementioned sweetazz funk into East Asia suck, and closes on reggae with a decent remix of Richest Man In Babylon.

Thievery Corporation - Richest Man In Babylon
I really have no idea why I didn't get this CD sooner. Even after high ratings in my LaunchCast Station AND seeing them perform many of the songs live at the 9:30 club, I still hesitated. My only complaint (other than the annoying lyricist in From Creation) is that this album is much to short. It's runtime is something like 40 minutes. This is one of the google-plex reasons why I really think the music industry is such a racket. I always view CD purchases as price per minute, and when I can listen to an entire album during a commute home, I feel extremely short changed. All albums are NOT created equal. But I digress. Singer Emiliana Torrini leaves me continuously wanting more, especially in Heaven's Going to Burn Your Eyes, with her extremely cute singing style which makes me want to write Thievery and say "Keep her on Payroll or I'll come to the 18th Street Lounge with Hobo clothes under my metrosexual nipple bursting clothes and embarrass you pompous yuppie fucks. P.S. I love you."

Zero 7 - When It Falls
Thank god, their back. Zero 7 is one of those groups that always appears on those "ULTRA CHILLED TO THE MAX HARCORE STYLE AND IN YO FACE" compilations. These appearances are a few key tracks from their first album, Simple Things, which in all honesty, is one of the most soulful albums I have ever heard in my life. Their second album Another Late Night came up completely short, sucking most, if not all of my ass hair out, so I was a bit skeptical upon first hearing tracks from When It Falls. But Zero 7 pulled it off and came out with a return to my "groups I'm not going take a number 2 during one of their shows." It's still not up to code of Simple Things, but with tracks like Somersault and Passing By (to name a few) it is hard to say its anything less than "really good."

Waldeck - The Night Garden
Surprise! Another LaunchCast pick. I must say my taste for dark, brooding, trip-hop does not mean I have to like every group that sounds like Massive Attack. Waldeck is, after hearing this album, one of these artists, hiring a male vocalist that sounds a little too close to Massive's Horace Andy (ex. Slowly), and a female vocalist with equal sound abilities as Massive's Elizabeth Fraser. Let's see...Massive came out with a hit single called Angel, so let's make one called Fallen Angel (ok, I admit, this is a really money song). But shit, Waldeck even uses some of the same exact sound samples as Massive Attack. That being ranted, the latter half of the album is tasty trip-hop treat with Cat People Dub and Floater, but leaves little for aftertaste.

Less Than Jake - Losing Streak
This selection was purely for its nostalgic value in that I can remember a time when I had these tracks and they didn't skip. I initially ripped half of this album from an old hallmate of mine, Spencer, and since I had no idea what mp3s were at the time, I burned them and half of a Jimmie's Chicken Shack Live album to a piece of crap CD. There isn't a single CD in my collection that gets gentler treatment. So in a restoration effort, I added this to my monthly call for music out of the ether. If you aren't familiar, Less Than Jake was pretty big on the Ska/Ska-Punk scene, and this album was at their highest in creativity and quality. Anyone who sings a song about how Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts is good in my book. I think it goes along with my whole humor based in all that is absurd.

Fatboy Slim - On The Floor At The Boutique
Yes, the album that caused unstoppable shouting of "DISCO DANCING" through a FunMic in Mike's Prelude. I gotta say that I appreciate the sheer amount of sound samples Fatboy must have in his collection, because each song is chalk full of crazy shit. The album puts out some sweet beats in this way, but on the other hand, being assaulted with all these simultaneous sounds detracts from the overall experience in two ways. 1) It makes a lot of the songs sound similar making repetitive sounds (mostly voice samples...see "Disco Dancing") act as the distinguishing factor between songs and 2) It makes complete song recollection even more difficult (i.e. play the tune over in my head and still maintain all of the instruments in proper coordination). Other than that, Fatboy put together a pretty high energy album with nearly flawless track to track mixing. Or may be he wrote it to be just one big song.

Tenacious D - Tenacious D
I can't think of a time that a CD, such as this, has touched me so deeply and lovingly such that my poopchute is 4 times as big after hearing it. This album is goddamn bliss in CD form. Jack Black, of School of Rock, Saving Silverman, Orange County, etc. fame and his guitarist Kyle Gass are complete experts in all that is rock styling history and use it to deliver their genious/madness comic routine. I have to say this is one of my favorite albums of all-fucking-time. They hold to no social ettiquite, asking for listeners to take shits on their chests, ponder how many times they can lift themselves off the ground with just their boner, and pay homage to the greatest song in the world that they can't remember. All of this wrapped up in rock that actually fuckin rocks. It's like they studied every single aspect of rock history, took all the typical rock styles, rifs, effects, build-ups, releases, and my favorite-rock screams. (Try Tribute: 2:59 elapsed time, one of the best I've ever heard). So yea, I'd totally do Jack Black.