Android Replica wrote:

jvcc wrote:Oh, Iggy Pop and Nico from the Velvet Underground went out for a month. Is that well known? I thought it was interesting.

According to Iggy's book, it was she who got him hooked on heroin.

He also says that she taught him cunnilingus. It must have been a busy month.

Android Replica wrote:

Jek wrote:Did she also write TVU's "Heroin"? I know she was put on the album with them due to Andy Warhol.

Nah, Lou Reed wrote Heroin...Nico didn't start writing her own songs until well after she was kicke--, um, persuaded to launch a solo career.

They weren't happy to have her there in the first place, to my understanding, because Warhol sort of forced her on them. Their resentment in understandable, but I like the music that resulted, so tough, Lou Reed, John Cale, et al.

Android Replica wrote:How would that work with classical music? If I chose "new music only" and I've already heard Colin Davis' version of Symphonie Fantastique, could I listen to another conductor's version or would that violate the rules? The same might be asked of jazz.

You could listen to versions of a song you'd already heard by a different artist, as long as you had never heard that version before. I'm not sure I'd if allow alternate versions of the same song by the same artist, though. If you've only heard the studio version you couldn't also listen to any live version, for example.

I've slowly become the dictator of this hypothetical scenario and I'm not altogether comfortable with it.

jvcc wrote:I've never had that ability. The only reason that I'm listening to bands which are unfamiliar to me now is because I've lucked upon liking David Bowie and Iggy Pop, and so my anxiety about listening to new music is overridden by my desire to have comprehensive knowledge about my areas of interest; I'm mainly just trying to learn about their influences or any bands that they mention.

For me it's not a matter of anxiety, but one of fatigue. It's not just having more time to spend listening to music; it's that the whole thing is less familiar, so there's less of a feeling of having heard it all before. That said, I think I'm much more tolerant of things not precisely aligned to my tastes than I was: I generally find it quite irritating when somebody goes of on a big rant about some music that they dislike, because frankly it strikes me as absurd and pointless. But perhaps I feel that way because my reaction to music in general has dulled somewhat – perhaps both peaks and troughs have been diminished. I don't think that's entirely true, though; I am still occasionally quite moved by music.

jvcc wrote:You could listen to versions of a song you'd already heard by a different artist, as long as you had never heard that version before.

I think that's way too lenient. Follow through on the spirit of the thing: if you're familiar with the piece, you will never hear it again. You're starting again with an entirely clean slate (disregarding the massive importance of influence, of course).

James wrote:That said, I think I'm much more tolerant of things not precisely aligned to my tastes than I was: I generally find it quite irritating when somebody goes of on a big rant about some music that they dislike, because frankly it strikes me as absurd and pointless.

I generally agree that giving too much attention to music you dislike is dumb and counterproductive, but there are always exceptions.

jvcc wrote:

Android Replica wrote:

Jek wrote:Did she also write TVU's "Heroin"? I know she was put on the album with them due to Andy Warhol.

Nah, Lou Reed wrote Heroin...Nico didn't start writing her own songs until well after she was kicke--, um, persuaded to launch a solo career.

They weren't happy to have her there in the first place, to my understanding, because Warhol sort of forced her on them. Their resentment in understandable, but I like the music that resulted, so tough, Lou Reed, John Cale, et al.

I think they were a bit lol whut at first (Reed sang "Sunday Morning" as prettily as he could just to show they didn't need her), but they eventually did seem to like her, at least outside the VU. Reed, Cale and Sterling Morrison all backed her when she started doing solo gigs, and they contributed songs to "Chelsea Girl." Reed, Cale and Nico also reunited for a concert in the early 70's.

I didn't assume that they disliked her necessarily, merely that they disliked Warhol forcing her on them. I don't know much about Warhol, but he seems like he was a bit of a tool.

As co-dictator, James has decreed that you may not listen to covers or alternate versions by different artists of songs you have already heard.

My first instinct is new music, because there's always going to be way more things I've never heard than things I have, and more music is better music.

I guess I'm going to be the one up the inevitable topic of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys passing. I'm not gonna claim I'm a huge fan, but I've always liked them and I've listened to those first few albums a lot. I ended up listening to Check Your Head twice today, although it was not my intention to - the first time was on my own and it felt a little weird that an album that always kinda made me happy was making me a little sad. The second was as house music in the club I intern at, and for some reason that felt more positive - maybe just because they're a band I think more of as good background music for a laidback social setting anyway.

Definitely the old stuff, but hey, I'm old.

It has been said that everyone, at some point, has a moment when they realize just how dang good the Beatles were (which I know is not true because they aren't anyone's cup of tea in the first place; but if you already like them, so the saying goes, it should hit you at some point all at once just how great they really were.) So anyway, that moment's come and gone for me, but I am having another one with the Doors right now. As the offspring of hippies, I got my dose of the Doors and other bands in my childhood, and of course their hits light up the classic rock radio stations all the time* but I only recently started paying serious attention to them (and other artists, but Bonnie Raitt's another post).

Like, seriously, where have you been all my life, The Crystal Ship? And I am more than slightly envious that women have Twentieth Century Fox to make them feel Like A Boss on demand.

I think I like their earlier stuff best (what a hipster thing to say, right?), but Morrison Hotel is pretty darn good too.

*fork classic rock stations, by the way. buy more than two "Time Warner hits of the 70s" compilation CDs to play on the air, you cheap fucks.

A reasonable example of why this guy is the best live act I've ever seen. I saw him live in 2003 or 2004, but it feels like last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wifuOMcQF0&feature=plcp

I'm really loving Patti Smith's Horses, in particular "Free Money" and "Gloria."

I also like that album! Haven't listened to it since about when Charlemagne died, though. That was a very long time ago.

jvcc wrote:I'm really loving Patti Smith's Horses, in particular "Free Money" and "Gloria."

I love Patti Smith! I have several of her albums (some are on vinyl ).

I’m trying to catch up on the many 2012 musics I have missed, so I figured it’d be fun to start blatantly ripping off Evil Jekyll for a few posts while I'm at it. Some of this is stuff I've been meaning to check out for a while, some of it is various things people recommended me when I said I was doing this.


2012 part 1:

Green=Good --> Black=Average --> Red=Not Good



Melvins Lite – Freak Puke. After three relatively straight stoner metal albums featuring two drummers, the Melvins go back to one drummer and recruit Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn on stand-up bass. In theory I appreciate that you still never know what you’re going to get from this band, but I’m not really digging this one much. At best you get kind of a jazzier variation on the normal Melvins sound, but usually it’s sort of an ugly, slow-moving mess. Maybe it’ll be a grower though. Sample via youtube

Black Moth Super Rainbow – Cobra Juicy. This may be their danciest album yet, though unlike the last one, their trademark lo-fi skuzzy production style is back. If you’ve never listened to this band before, I’d consider this album a decent place to start – the arrangements, production, and constant use of vocoder may take some getting used to, but it’s basically a mix of synth pop and psychedelia. Sample via youtube

Deftones - Koi No Yokan. Stylistically I find this pretty similar to the last one – the main focus is on melody and atmosphere, but there’s almost always at least an undercurrent of heaviness. Sample via youtube

Soundgarden – King Animal. Nothing special, but if you’re particularly a fan, it’s just kinda nice to hear new songs that sound like Soundgarden (as opposed to “Live To Rise”, which sounded like Audioslave with Kim Thayil doing a brief guest appearance). Overall it sounds like the album they would have put out a couple years after Down On The Upside if they hadn’t broken up. Sample via youtube

Dinosaur Jr – I Bet On Sky. This strikes me as the poppiest and most mellow of their reunion albums – It’s still full of J Mascis’ trademark noisy guitars, but the melodies are pretty folk/60’s pop influenced. Even Lou Barlow’s “Rude” is basically country-rock except loud. Sample via youtube

Fergus & Geronimo – Funky Was The State Of Affairs. Weird, fun little album. The Frank Zappa-inspired sound collage interludes can get annoying, but for the most part this is full of catchy garage rock/new wave pastiches with tongue-n-cheek lyrics. Sample via youtube

Pomplamoose - Hey It's Pomplamoose. Pomplamoose are a duo who are primarily popular on ze youtubes. However, I have pretty much never heard them until now. Going by this very short album, they mix indie, lounge, and dance music in a way that sort of makes me think of the first couple Cardigans albums. Sample via youtube

badplantmommy wrote:

jvcc wrote:I'm really loving Patti Smith's Horses, in particular "Free Money" and "Gloria."

I love Patti Smith! I have several of her albums (some are on vinyl ).

Huh I was actually listening to this yesterday. I thought to myself, 'This reminds me of Throwing Muses, and I remember that jvcc liked them so jvcc would probably like Patti Smith'. So I have the power to predict past statements?

ntw3001 wrote:

badplantmommy wrote:

jvcc wrote:I'm really loving Patti Smith's Horses, in particular "Free Money" and "Gloria."

I love Patti Smith! I have several of her albums (some are on vinyl ).

Huh I was actually listening to this yesterday. I thought to myself, 'This reminds me of Throwing Muses, and I remember that jvcc liked them so jvcc would probably like Patti Smith'. So I have the power to predict past statements?

I hadn't thought of Patti Smith and Throwing Muses in connection with each other before, but it sort of makes sense - Kristin Hersh has this low, husky voice that's sort of similar to Patti Smith.

2012 part 2:

Green=Good --> Black=Average --> Red=Not Good

Deerhoof – Breakup Song. I haven’t heard their last album, so I don’t know if the increased use of synthesizers and drum machines is a new development. I kind of like this as an addition to their sound – these elements are still used in that off-kilter Deerhoof way. Also, this seems like it’s sort of a concept album about relationships although, like a lot of their other albums, songs will frequently have just two or three sentences worth of lyrics (if that) and you have read between the lines. Sample via youtube. Bonus: Official upload of the whole dang album via youtube.

Exitmusic – Passage. Pleasantly hazy dream pop that seems like it would be perfect to listen to on a rainy day. Aleksa Palladino has this jazzy quality to her voice that can kind of make me think of Beth Gibbons from Portishead. Sample via youtube

High On Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis. I think I need to check out more of this band (and sludge metal as a genre in general) – I’m not usually a fan of unintelligible growled vocals, but the riffs and guitar tones are just so cool-sounding. sample via youtube

Tame Impala – Lonerism. I kept seeing their name brought up in conjunction with Dungen (who came first), and now I kind of see why. This didn't blow me away, but it's some nice, spacey psych-pop.

Future of the Left – the plot against common sense. I liked Mclusky, but this is my first listen to Andy Falkous’ other band. This album is a bit more melodic and post-punk influenced than Mclusky generally were, but it’s definitely still in the same noisy, cantankerous spirit. Sample via youtube

Big Dipper – Crashes On The Platinum Planet. Big Dipper were a late 80’s/early 90’s indie band – there was a compilation of (almost) all of their albums called Supercluster that got their name back out there a few years ago, but this is the first new album since 1990. I like it – there may not be anything up there with their greatest songs, and it seems they’ve mellowed a bit with age, but it’s a good collection of clever guitar pop. sample via youtube

Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. I feel like I need a while to digest the actual songs, but the minimalist approach to the arrangements is pretty cool: For the most part on any given song all you hear is Fiona’s piano and voice accompanied by acoustic bass and a little junkyard percussion. sample via youtube

The Spinto Band – Shy Pursuit. I feel like this album is where the current, “indie rock” version of this band has fully come into it’s own – that is, I used to be able to pick out when they were trying to do something that sounded like Pavement or Franz Ferdinand, but now they don’t really sound like anyone but themselves. That said, I’d still put this album in a certain category of summery, baroque pop-leaning indie bands like Vampire Weekend or Ra Ra Riot. sample via youtube

Jack White – Blunderbuss. It’s weird how I never picked up on Jack White sort of sounding like Robert Plant ‘til now – maybe it’s just because this album reminds me a little of Led Zeppelin III at times. sample via youtube

Trust – TRST. No, not the French metal band – instead this is electronic music that sort of makes me think of The Knife or a gothier Crystal Castles. The lead vocals definitely take some getting used to – I think that, were Bane to get a musical number in TheDarkKnightRises, this is what his singing voice would sound like (though Robert Alfons sometimes goes into falsetto, which I can’t imagine Tom Hardy doing). It does work with the moody, sleazy feel of the music though. This album eventually gets a bit monotonous to me, but they’re good at putting forth the queasy but danceable vibe they seem to aim for. Sample via youtube

Man Forever – Pansophical Cataract. Two 18 minute tracks of rumbling percussion and minimal bass and guitar drones. I liked this a little bit better than I thought I would - There comes a certain point where six drums playing the same constant tribal beat stop sounding like instruments and start sounding like some sort of natural occurrence – a boulder rapidly rolling down a very tall mountain perhaps. This is actually pretty cool sounding, but I don’t know if I’ll ever want to listen to it again unless I decide I want to take my clothes off and start a sacrificial bonfire in the backyard like I did last summer. sample via youtube

Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory. If there’s another album I would compare this to, it would be Seamonsters by The Wedding Present – it’s not even really that they sound similar (though both are very recognizably engineered by Steve Albini), it’s more this shared vibe of super-anthemic bitterness. sample via youtube

Oh, speaking of Patti Smith: While I was Christmas shopping I noticed a bunch of her albums on sale, so I finally have a physical copy of Easter now. Other recent non-new musical acquirements would be Perfect Pitch Black by Cave In, Songs For Singles by Torche and PCP Torpedo/ANBRX by Agoraphobic Nosebleed - as part of an effort to keep their label afloat, Hydrahead had an auction/sale a while ago including three randomly picked CDs from their catalog for 20 bucks and that's what I ended up with. I liked all three albums (well really only the PCP Torpedo part of the Agoraphobic Nosebleed one), but I mainly want to check out more Cave In now.

2012, Part 3

Aaron Freeman – Marvelous Clouds. Aaron Freeman is best known for having been half of Ween. His first solo effort is a cover album of songs written by poet/songwriter Rod McKuen. This mainly sounds like what Ween are like when they’re going for semi-tongue-in-cheek soft rock, like on much of White Pepper. Oh, and sometimes it also reminds me of The Folksmen from the movie A Mighty Wind. I haven’t heard any of the original songs here, but I think he kind of took the best possible approach to the material – there’s a playful tone to this that sort of acknowledges how corny it all is, but at the same time it’s played with too much affection to be any sort of mockery. sample via youtube

Math The Band – Get Real. Someone in another community recently compared this band to The Rentals, and I replied that they’re more like The Rentals on massive quantities of red bull and candy. I like them, but they’re the sort of group that doesn’t have a lot of variation in their sound (though there was that trilogy of acoustic EPs). That said, this might be the album that best replicates what their live shows are like – earlier albums generally emphasized the 8-bit style synths over the guitar; now the two are more on even footing. Sample via youtube, Full album stream via bandcamp

Japandroids – Celebration Rock. I feel like this is missing a bit of the looseness of the first album, but they’re still pretty good at crafting these seemingly effortless indie rock anthems. sample via youtube

The Flaming Lips – The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends. This is an album themed around collaborations – in fact, about half of the songs were already on a series of limited edition collaborative EPs they put out last year. So naturally, it’s a bit self-indulgent and non-cohesive… But you know what? So was their last “real” album, Embryonic, and I actually like this a bit better as an album: the collaborators generally either bring things in a more melodic direction or at least add to the weirdness in an intriguing way. The best example of the former is “Children Of The Moon” with Tame Impala – it’s also sort of the track that hearkens the most back to 90’s Flaming Lips, maybe because Tame Impala are the band who seem to have been most influenced by the Lips in the first place. sample via youtube

Kaki King – Glow. Kaki King is an acoustic guitarist who got attention through her instrumental albums, but eventually branched off into more singer-songwriter material. I haven’t heard these non-instrumental albums, but this is a return to the instrumentals. I really like the addition of strings, which tend to give things an epic feel while still keeping King’s guitar as the focus. Sample via youtube.

Mellow Bravo – self-titled. This feels more like a coherent album than their (still excellent) self-released debut, Strut. The overall sound is the same though – just good old fashioned rootsy hard rock, with the occasional detour into power-balladry or even alt-country. Sample via youtube, full album stream via bandcamp

Darling Pet Munkee – You Better Believe It! Darling Pet Munkee are a “concept band” in that all of their songs are about items sold in comic book ads. Their debut was mainly garage rock/punk, while this one sort of adds the slightest hint of new wave into the mix – in particular certain tracks sort of make me think of early B-52’s. Sample via youtube, full album stream via bandcamp

Chromatics – Kill For Love. There are a few tracks I don’t like due to excessive use of autotune, but this is mostly a nice moody, yet poppy album – sort of synth-pop filtered through a colder post-punk sensibility. sample via youtube

The Music Tapes – Mary’s Voice. This band were part of the Elephant 6 Collective, and frontman Julian Koster played on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, and both of these things definitely show. There are moments where the combination of claustrophobic lo-fi production and Julian Koster’s singing voice can sort of grate on me, but at best this album has a haunting quality that makes me think of both NMH and Mercury Rev. Sample via youtube

Solange – True. Low-key yet colorful r & b. I sort of like hearing things that are “summery” like this in the middle of winter. sample via youtube

Redd Kross – Researching The Blues. This band’s been around since 1982, but this is kind of the first I’ve actually heard of them, and this album did convince me I should check out more. Power-pop with a touch of early grunge and some terrific harmonies. sample via youtube

Hahaha, Japandroids came on the radio after about 8 minutes where my wife and I were just listening to music in silence, and she broke the silence just to say "See, now THIS I do not like."

Bassnectar – Vava Voom. Yeah, I’m just not a big fan of that dubstep bass sound, which this album is full of. That said, I can appreciate that it’s being combined with other genres of electronic music in interesting ways, some creative things are being done in general, and there are some pretty “chill out” tracks like “Butterfly” and “Laughter Crescendo”. The most surprising genre combination is “Pennywise Tribute”, which mixes dubstep, jungle, and 90’s style skate-punk in a surprisingly better-than-it-sounds manner. Sample via youtube

The Evens – The Odds. The Evens are the duo of Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat) and Amy Farina. They’re sort of considered the least heavy Ian MacKaye project, but that’s sort of only because he almost never uses any guitar distortion – otherwise you can still hear a lot of latter-day Fugazi in their sound. Amy Farina does more lead vocals than I remember her doing on the other album I’ve heard – I think she sort of sounds like PJ Harvey. Sample via youtube

Ceremony – Zoo. Apparently Ceremony were originally more of a hardcore band, but on this album they never remotely reach any sort of hardcore punk tempo, and instead are closer to early punk rock with perhaps a bit of post-punk involved. They sort of remind me of The Wipers. Sample via youtube

The Beach Boys – That’s Why God Made The Radio. I probably wouldn’t recommend this if you’re not particularly a Beach Boys fan, but it’s better than I thought it would be – there’s a good amount of cheese here, but also some nice, well-crafted songs that could have fit in on their late-60’s albums. Sample via youtube

Big Boi – Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors. I guess I could say that this is an interesting attempt to fuse hip hop with “indie electronic” (Little Dragon and Phantogram show up on multiple tracks). However, it doesn’t always work – sometimes it feels like a trippier version of the dirty funk sound of Sir Lucious Left Foot, but more often the music is just too airy to fit with his vocal style. Sample via youtube

Dan Deacon – America. This is sort of a Dan Deacon album for people who don’t like Dan Deacon, and I mean that in a good sense – it seems like he’s been gradually dialing down the hyperactivity of his earlier stuff without losing any of the eccentricity that helped make it unique. There’s a lot of orchestral instrumentation and choral harmonies on this record, and it’s combined with his usual love for distorted synthesizers, strange vocal effects, and layered percussion in an interesting way. I never thought I’d be able describe a Dan Deacon song as “beautiful” until now. Sample via youtube

Scott Lucas & The Married Men – Blood Half Moon. A side project of that guy from Local H – as opposed to Local H’s alternative/post-grunge, this band has more of a roots-rock/power pop sound. There are lots of acoustic guitar, violin, harmonies, and the like, but it still feels pretty raw and stripped down.
Sample via youtube

Pinback – Information Retrieved. This doesn’t quite seem as memorable as Summer In Abadon, the other album of theirs I’ve heard, but maybe that’s just because I’m a bit more familiar with the Pinback “formula” now? Regardless, they’re still really good at coming up with pretty interlocking guitar lines, and this is a nice, melancholy rainy day kind of album. Sample via youtube

Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth. Produced by Tim Armstrong of Rancid, which I wouldn’t have really guessed if there weren’t covers of songs by Rancid and The Clash on the album (“Ruby Soho” and “Guns Of Brixton”, respectively). I guess I wouldn’t call myself a major reggae fan, but I’ve been gradually getting into the genre, and I like what I know of Jimmy Cliff because there’s often a soul/r and b influence in his melodies. This is a nicely “timeless” sounding album, and he’s still in great voice. Sample via youtube

Cat Power – Sun. This album introduces some more electronic elements into her sound, but in a subtle way that mostly meshes well with her voice. There are some missteps though, like the almost-rapped verses of “Peace And Love” and the overly long, somewhat corny “Nothin But Time” (the Iggy Pop guest appearance on the latter is so out of place that it made me laugh out loud a little bit). Sample via youtube

The Casket Girls – Sleepwalking. This band were the opening act when I saw Black Moth Super Rainbow this year – BMSR member Ryan Graveface wrote all of the music here (and plays everything except drums), with co-vocalists Elsa and Phaedra Greene writing the lyrics and vocal melodies. The result is somewhat eerie dreampop – overall this reminds me of bands like Azure Ray, but with a hint of that trademark BMSR queasiness. Sample via youtube

Space Balloons – Welcome To Balloononia. Two thirds of this band is also in Darling Pet Munkee, who I wrote about earlier in this thread. Like Darling Pet Munkee, this is a “concept” band, this time it’s ukulele-based children’s music with a sci-fi backdrop. Recurring themes include grapes, pirates, mustaches, and Kurt Vonnegut references. I’d avoid if you’re not in the market for something “cute”, but they’re good at coming up with simple, catchy melodies and the gentle humor keeps things from getting too syrupy. Sample via youtube, full album stream via bandcamp

Off! – Off! Speedy pissed-off hardcore punk from a band fronted by former Black Flag and Circle Jerks vocalist Keith Morris– actually, this “album” features 16 songs in barely less than 16 minutes. I appreciate the energy with which they faithfully reproduce 80’s hardcore and there are some nicely memorable riffs. However, if I want to hear this kind of thing, I feel like I’d rather listen to early Black Flag. Sample via youtube

Marina & The Diamonds – Electra Heart. If you like the sound of modern dance pop maybe you’d enjoy this more than I do. I do think she has a voice that imbues this material with much more personality than it might have had otherwise, and there are some nice hooks. Sample via youtube

Andrew Huang – Love & Desolation. One of four albums that Songs To Wear Pants To guy released this year, all in different genres – Dude is friggin’ busy. This one is the “eighties pop” album: I think of it as being equal parts synth pop and synth-heavy arena rock (in particular, “Defy” sort of sounds like a single by a forgotten band that would have opened for Journey in 1983, and I mean that in the best way). Basically the only hints that this is an album made today are 1) the oblique Say Anything nods of “Boombox” and 2) a sudden, very modern-sounding rap verse in “Desolation”. There’s a ton of affection for the era on display here, and it’s a nice display of his talents in terms of production, musicianship, and ability to write huge, bombastic hooks. It’s maybe too consistently upbeat to be for all moods, but if you want something to put on when you’re ready to go out, or just want to drive around listening to something that makes you feel like you’re listening to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, it’s perfect. Sample via youtube, Full album stream via bandcamp.

Andrew Huang - Console. Andrew Huang album #2 is chiptune. Instead of full 2-3 minute compositions in the chiptune style, these tracks are generally a minute or less. I think the idea is to make the album feel like the soundtrack to one non-existent NES game - relatively longer pieces would be looped level or boss themes, 30 second or shorter ones would be cut-scene music. Not something I'd listen to all the time, but a lot of fun. full album stream via bandcamp

You’ve put me in the sharing mood! Also, I am going to steal that rating format.

Dave Matthews Band – Away From the World. About what you would expect if you know him. A big, engaging voice, some brass instruments and deep, rich music to go with it. Nothing really surprising or new, but if you never get tired of feel-good sounds and complex-yet-simple, this is for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai-ma_rS9zY
Father John Misty – Fear Fun. I’ve heard this called album of the year, but I certainly won’t go that far. If you like City and Colour, but feel like the vocals could stand to be deemphasized a bit, this is about right. The songs are well-written, and the sound feels right, so it’s a good, mostly mellow listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtOToiIDNRA
MC Solaar – Chapitre 7. French hip-hop, really well produced and varied with lots of different sounds and styles. Really well-written too if you speak French, really catchy even if you don’t. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6DoWbcJqkg (samba-style) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT2ww4YcnPI (rock-style)
Amos the Transparent – Goodnight my dear, I’m falling apart. Good rock album. Sort of like if Sufjan Stevens fronted a band like REM (but not quite as good obviously) and were told he had to sing louder. Also, from my hometown. It’s free at their website, so you can’t lose. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgDrPtRDkd4 http://amosthetransparent.com/home.html
Dan Deacon – America. I see now that this has already been done... oops. Electronic music that is made to resemble classical music in some ways. You can tell this guy thinks of himself as a composer as much as a musician. It reminds me of those guys who name songs things like “Movement III” followed by something in Latin. Anyway apparently he is fabulous live, but as much as the album has listening value the live experience doesn’t translate. I can say it does make me totally want to be at one of his shows, but I’m left wanting that. This video is totally cool too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnXiXlF7olo

I'm going to get my up sooooon. It's 95 releases and I haven't listened to all of the 835 tracks yet. I should probably break it up into smaller bits anyway...

Edit:
Part I

Key:
Green=Good --> Black=Average --> Red=Not Good

Albums

8 Bit Weapon - Bits with Byte
Chiptune electronica. Not too much new from 8BW, and it starts to drag after a while. (Sample via Youtube)

Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
This was actually pretty tame for them. Not much going on aside from their brand indie-electro. Th.re's nothing memorable like there was with Merriwether Post Pavilion. (Sample via Youtube)

Bassnectar - VAVA VOOM
Bassnectar puts out a lot of fresh ideas and some really good sound manipulation. "Ping Pong" is a testament to what can be accomplished with a basic sound sample that's been manipulated. He's been growing ever closer to the tops of my DJ favourite list, but the album never reaches the heights of Cozza Frenzy or the cohesiveness of Divergent Spectrum. It's also really awkward to end on 8.5 minutes of Chronological Outtakes. (Sample via Youtube)

Beats Antique - Contraption, Vol. II
After their last album was a bit of a disappointment, this is a big step up for them. There's fresh ideas here and the formula is just right for this dubstep-world music. (Sample via Youtube)

Big Gigantic - Nocturnal
More dubstep with saxophones from Big Gigantic. It's more of the same and is way too formulaic. (Sample via Youtube)

Bird to Prey - Saved by the Storm
This is an acoustic folk album. I saw her perform in NYC and was taken by her performance. The album is most of her recent songs, but the album fails to capture the intimacy and emotion of the live performance. (Bandcamp Link)

Black Dice - Mr. Impossible
This is probably their most accessible album, as their previous albums were noisy electronica. They tamed it down a lot here and the result is not much memorable. (Sample via Youtube)

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy
Probably my favourite album of the year. There's a lot of little clever things that add up here and there's a lot of new stuff going on here. There's vocals on every single track, which is unheard of before this album for them. For some backstory, Tobacco, the head of BMSR, had completed the entire album, then scrapped it because he thought it wasn't good enough. He reworked the album completely, and I'm glad he did. (Sample via Youtube)


Bob Dylan - Tempest
Bob Dylan can still write songs well. Unfortunately his voice has not held up over the years and most of the tracks sound like he's been gargling rocks. This isn't a bad thing, but can be distracting from the lyrics at times. (Sample via Bob Dylan's website)


Buckethead - Electric Sea
Buckethead plays some emotionally engaging acoustic electric tracks. (Sample via Youtube)

Buckethead - March of the Slunks
Buckethead plays some mostly metal riffs. There are some good tracks though. (Sample via Youtube)

Buckethead - The Shores of Molokai
Buckethead plays metal and experimental riffs. Somehow 30 seconds of dubstep gets on one of the tracks. (Sample via Youtube)

Caspian - Waking Season
Caspian has three previous albums that are very good post-rock oriented albums. This one lacked the creativity of the previous and was very formulaic. At one point, synth drums were added in an atmosphere where they didn't fit. (Sample via Youtube)

Ceremony - Zoo
I really enjoyed this album. It's punk rock that's catchy, energetic and well put together. I don't even like punk rock that much. (Sample via Youtube)

Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind) The Crafty Ape
Hello Pink Floyd. This is a decent album, but there's so many similarities to Pink Floyd that it's almost a tribute album at times. And this is from a band that has three previous releases that began as somewhat post-rock but got a little more prog rock along the way. Maybe too much on this release. (Sample via Youtube)

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (III)
This is a more mature and accessible album from Crystal Castles. It still has the dance root and the noise rock part has been dialed way back. That doesn't mean there isn't some noise on the album though. (Sample via Youtube)

Dan Deacon - America
Pretty standard electronic music. I think it's supposed to be a concept album, (I know I know) but it never quite feels that way. (Sample via Youtube)

Deftones - Koi No Yokan
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. There's a lot of new stuff going on here. If this were released 10 years ago, it would've made huge waves, unfortunately it didn't hold my attention for the whole album. (Sample via Youtube)

Dieselboy - Wake the Dead
A very good transformers (Yes, transformers) themed dubstep mix (album?) It's an hour and a half, which starts to feel it's length towards the end, but aside from that well done. (Sample via SoundCloud)

Dr. John - Locked Down
Dr. John teams up with Dan Auerbach, which is why this sounds more like a Black Keys album than a Dr. John album. Their sounds do blend well, and there's a lot going right here, but you can't shake that Black Keys feeling. (Sample via Youtube)

Dreamend - And the Tears Washed Me, Wave After Cowardly Wave
This is some pretty interesting indie-folk-pop from Ryan Graveface (man that guy gets around). (Sample via Youtube)

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II
After all the buzz and goodness of Part I, Part II never quite matches the quality of this first half. Not that it's bad, but it is much less memorable and the quality isn't quite there. (Sample via Youtube)

Singles, EPs, etc:
Bassnectar - Amorphous Music Mixtape Vol. 7
A really good mix that kicks off with Beastie Boy's "Intergalactic Planetary," and leaves you enjoying what follows for the next 30 minutes. This is probably my favourite mixtape of his after BBC 2010 Mixtape. (Sample via Soundcloud)

Bassnectar - Bassnectar's European Vacation Mixtape
It's a decent mix incorporating mostly songs from Vava Voom. (Sample via Soundcloud)

Bassnectar - Divergent Spectrum Remixes
Standard fair remixes from Divergent Spectrum. (Sample via Soundcloud)

Bassnectar - Freestyle EP
An EP that has a few remixes and songs from the album. Nothing too earth shattering here. (Sample via Soundcloud)

Bassnectar - Freestyle Mixtape
An okay mixtape, but only because it relies too heavily on the tracks from Vava Voom. It does flow well though. (Sample via Soundcloud)

The Black Keys - Tour Rehearsal Tapes
This sounds like it was recorded live in a studio and has obvious post-production on it. I'm confused as to why it's the Tour Rehearsal Tapes. There's nothing new and not much to be gained here. (Sample via Youtube)

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Psychic Love Damage
This is a few unreleased tracks put on an EP. It's easy to see why some of them were never released, as they sounded too unfinished or similar to tracks already on the albums. (Sample via Youtube)

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Windshield Smasher [Maxi Single]
This is one of those singles you enjoy because the remixes are so different from each other.(Sample via Soundcloud)

Bonobo - Black Sands Remixed
Some pretty cool remixes along with your standard fair remixes. (Sample via Youtube)

Electric Wizard - Legalise Drugs and Murder [Single]
Looking for some heavy stoner-doom metal? Check the first track Legalise Drugs and Murder, and stay for the chaotic aftermath in the second track. (Sample via Youtube)

I've figured out how to get free music, and now nothing will ever be the same again. I have obtained Bowie's Space Oddity and The Doors' The Doors. Space Oddity had quite a few misses, but The Doors' eponymous album is really good; it starts and finishes particularly strong. I'm waiting on The Jimi Hendrix Experience right now. So excited.

Alright, that Jimi Hendrix Experience album didn't pan out as I'd hoped. BUT I got Morrison Hotel instead. As a result I was inspired to make some of my own Jim Morrison memes: this and a-this.

jvcc wrote:I've figured out how to get free music, and now nothing will ever be the same again.

a) How have you been on the Internet this long and only just worked that one out?
b) Do you have any ethical qualms about this? I'm not going to get all puritanical and preachy or anything – I've dishonestly procured and consumed my share of stuff – but I do like to feel like I'm supporting the things I appreciate.

James wrote:a) How have you been on the Internet this long and only just worked that one out?

A vague, general fear of downloading things in case they contain viruses.

James wrote:b) Do you have any ethical qualms about this?

No.