I’ve been listening to all the songs, and figuring I’ll jump in for ones I really like or really dislike. This is right in my wheelhouse. I’ll take it.
Sounds like droning, black-metal-inflected trip-hop. Willfully weird, but not just for weirdness’ sake. Like Massive Attack and Celtic Frost locked in a small room together…with a slightly drunk Nick Cave (my wife’s words, as she walked by) throwing in a few guest vocals. I happily devoured all eight minutes, and it’s spinning for a second time as I type. I’ll be checking out more Yakuza for sure. Thank you!
Next up: one of my favorite covers of all time. Heavy metal renditions of folk songs don’t usually tend to be respectful or sensitive, but this one is reverent and beautiful. And Rob Halford is one of the best singers of all time in any genre. Judas Priest, “Diamonds and Rust.” For comparison, it would be easy to find the (Joan Baez) original on YouTube.
I really enjoyed this one, more than I expected to really, since I remember not being a fan of Judas Priest back in the day. I think that was back when I spent more time worrying about how cool a song was, rather than how good it was.
For the next one, how about another cover. The White Stripes cover Jolene.
The White Stripes are one of those bands where I can totally understand why people like them and their music is good, but it just leaves me cold for some reason. It’s a good song, but it just doesn’t work for me.
Here’s Opeth with Dirge for November. They got lumped in with the progressive death metal scene after their early work, but I don’t know that that was ever accurate.
Found the Opeth interesting. I was really enjoying the light guitar work then, wham! I found it a little monotonous in the middle where he’s singing with the 40-fathom low grinding voice, but then it changed again, and had a nice, clean finish. I appreciate a group w/ these dynamic changes when they can pull it off like Opeth did here. My assumption is that this is but one tune off of a story/concept album.
Which reminds me of another story/concept album, the current effort from San Fermin. These musicians have been around a little while, but this is their first effort together. TBH, I’ve not had the patience or desire to listen to, or understand, the entire piece of work, but I found this linked song, Sonsick (and a couple of others), catchy. Warning, there is a “fuck” or two in this tune (though difficult to pick out), so I’ll break the link (below). I’m not sure what value the video brings to the tune.
Well, SnowboarderBo, that’s about the best compliment you can give a brother… a shared appreciation of his taste in music. I too, was blown-away the first time I heard it. Next time I see them, I’ll let the Beast guys know that I sold an album for them you bought one of their albums.
I was intrigued by your selection from Yakuza; I liked the smoky, mysterious feel to it, but was looking for it to develop into more. In contrast to the Opeth, it did not have the milky-smooth finish, but did wrap things up well, ha! I should hear more from the group before really settling my mind.
Wow Shunpiker… another hit. I especially liked the heavy oboe and high-hat work throughout the coda. I hope you can keep the good tunes coming our way.
On a serious note, I had reservations that the San Fermin might not be a stellar selection, but didn’t think it was a thread-killer. Perhaps this one will hang here for a month, too (what have i got to lose?). It’s Saint Motel’s, Puzzle Pieces. I was relieved that the video did not follow the “story” told in the song, because I think the lyrics tarnish an otherwise original and fun piece of music. Your thoughts?
This song was indeed a lot of fun. It seems to fit right alongside a lot of the upbeat radio pop of the last few years, with its surprising sophistication beneath the fluffy/shiny exterior. I was unsurprised to hear these guys are touring with Arctic Monkeys; they’d do equally well on a bill with someone like fun. or Fitz and the Tantrums. The suspenders, glasses, and mustaches may be ironic, but the music is earnest, and it’s nice to hear sweet, pretty music being done with heart.
This one got my wife, who’s more into this style of music than I am, to crane her head around my laptop to see who it was. That’s a stamp of approval.
Next up: Animals as Leaders, “CAFO.” All I will offer up by way of introduction is that 99% of people in attendance at any given AAL show are musicians themselves.
This is nice. These guys have some pretty serious technical chops, but they’ve got the songwriting skills as well, which is something that’s too often missing in this genre.
I have a bunch of things I could choose from, but I think I’m going to go with some Knorkator, who really need some more love in the English-speaking world. You could kinda describe them as Rammstein if Rammstein were silly, but I think that doesn’t quite describe the range of their work. Have a listen to Alter Mann and see what you think.
I first saw them on Adult Swim’s Off The Air - Dance, where they were wearing, umm, shag carpet? It disturbed me a little then, and “Alter Mann” does more of the same, with a little more humor. It’s a pity I don’t understand German. They’re somehow menacingly silly, with console organ!
Snowboarder Bo, you seem to know exactly what I want to throw down in the quarry, but I’m not familiar with any of the Japanese bands you mention. I will have to spend an afternoon checking them out.
My submission this time is relaxing and comfy. Leon Redbone performing Irving Berlin’s Marie.
Why? I love every bit of the performance. To me, each instrument’s part is a gem in and of itself, and their ebb and flow is wonderful. On top of that, the production is great. The violin parts sound tinny enough to have come from a 78, but the other parts have a nice, lush bass to them. Somehow, the whole thing comes together and sounds like it’s all being done in a nice living room somewhere.
He’s an outsider to and a revivalist of his chosen roots music, but never sounds as though he’s being arch or ironic. He’s a Cypriot by way of Canada, but you would never know it from his records. And his voice is like the high-end whiskey I only treat myself to a bonus time at work: smoky, dark, sweet, rich, effortlessly complex.
I had not heard this particular song, and appreciate you throwing it out.
Next up: In Flames, “Cloud Connected.” Maybe the best-known song by one of the most influential heavy metal acts of the last 20 years. The apotheosis of the “Gothenburg sound.” An early landmark by a band that would go on to influence not only their own scene, but most of the “verb the noun”-named metalcore bands in the US and UK 10-15 years later.
And if you’re hovering over the link, reluctant to click after all the impenetrable genre-splitting and use of the word “metal,” please give it a shot. You’ll find that it has elements of electronic music, a monster riff, a hummable melody, an epically huge chorus, yet is still undeniably heavy.
I’m not officially responding, but “Cloud Connected” was one of my favorite songs when I was first getting into metal about ten years ago. I hadn’t listened to it in forever, and it still sounds great. I think if they’d released it a few years earlier that it could’ve gotten some radio airplay in the US.
And for good classic power-pop, Belly “Star” came and went in a blink, but is packed solid with unstoppable riff-hooky power pop bouncy goodness. A great singer with perfectly punchy guitars.
Lemme pick up where we got offtrack and get this thread rocking and rolling again:
I liked the In Flames video but not the song. And that’s more a reflection of my tastes than of the song’s merits. I recognize the excellent chunky guitars and the sweet brutal riffage, but the Gothenburg sound is too dependent on keyboards and vocal melodies, IMO. It’s a style that is echoed in screamo, emocore, etc. and it’s not a style I really like. I admit that once in a while I hear a truly excellent song in those genres, and I think this song was better than most, but every time it started to float my boat with riffage it would start me sinking again by retreating to some bombastically onerous melody. (Okay, that was a horrible bunch of metaphors; I hope y’all get what I meant.)
Leon Redbone is awesome.
I didn’t care for the Knorkator. Too goofy for metal plus I didn’t get any of the jokes because I don’t speak German.
I’ve seen Animals As Leaders; they opened for Meshuggah last year I think it was. Anyway, AAL live sound pretty much exactly like they do on their recordings. They are very impressive and a lot of fun to watch; they actually incorporate a small multimedia/lighting show into their performance to add to the fun. If you like them you might also want to check out bands like Chimp Spanner and Scale The Summit. Maybe Blotted Science if you want something more distinctly metal.
OK, that wasn’t bad, as you said, it had a good bassline. Not really what I’m into and I fear I’d lose interest after a few songs if they didn’t mix it up a little… Actually, I just listened to Feed a Cat to Your Cobra, which was fun and Dark Circles but it faded just as it seemed to be getting going; was intrigued by the video although I had thought it was a brick the bloke was carrying! I’ve just clicked on a link called* Live in London part 1*, so I’ll see how it goes. Sounds more like heavy rock so far. AS you can tell, they’re growing on me a bit!
And now I’ll put my foot in this thread’s water for the first time and suggest a couple of Ole Lukkoye tracks - Charms and Melting. Both from their Crystal Crow-Bar cd, which a mate at a record shop sent me years ago out of the blue because he guessed I’d like it. And I did.
Thanks. I didn’t start the thread, but I am an avid participant and I think the ground rules laid down in the OP are good rules and help the thread keep moving.
And since you were polite about being contrite, I went ahead and listened to Ole Lukkøye’s Charms. Very good tune. I’ve been listening to a lot of music from Russia the last 2 years or so (lots of good metal being made in Russia and other former Eastern Bloc countries nowadays) and was surprised that I hadn’t heard of this band. The folk-ish elements almost threatened to overtake the song, but they always seemed to restrain it from actually happening.
After much thought, I’m gonna go with a pick that could be seen as sticking with a theme, but the truth is that I just bought this band’s latest album and while I like it a lot, I still like the very first song I heard by them best. This band started as a side project for 16 Horsepower’s frontman David Eugene Edwards but since the demise of 16 Horsepower it’s become his focus. Originally conceived as a way to celebrate and share his faith, DEE has kept true to that while subtly exploring new musical territories. The music he and his bandmates have been putting out is intense without being overbearing, focused without being blindered, and most of all it seems to feel joyous underneath, IMO. Check it out: Wovenhand - The Threshingfloor.
“The Threshingfloor” has a nice beat. The singer’s voice reminds me of David Bowie’s. The use of a sitar was kind of weird, but it did work well. Finally, the rhythm near the beginning of the song kind of reminded me of Dick Dale’s version of “Miserlou” (the stereotypical surfing song in Pulp Fiction).
Next: “Get Off This” by Cracker, David Lowery’s band. It did get some radio airplay in 1994, but not nearly as much as their hit “Low” from the same album (Kerosene Hat).
I remember this song from the 90’s. I like it, it has a catchy beat. I was a teenager then and the lyrics remind me a lot of people going on and on about their white people/first world existential problems without ever really doing anything about them fro some reason.
Here’s another song from the 90’s Stay together for the kids. It’s just a pop song by blink 182 so it should suck, but I actually find it to be kind of moving.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1BFHYtZlAU
I always have the same problem with any Blink 182 song: they have two singers and both of those singers suck.
I remember seeing Blink on Warped Tour in the late 90s - this would have been the Dude Ranch era. Before Travis Barker joined. They were a really fast, really catchy pop-punk band with two really awful snotty-sounding vocalists.
Ten years later, they were a fast-when-they-wanted-to-be, ultra-tight, surprisingly creative, catchy pop-punk machine…with two really awful snotty-sounding vocalists.
I don’t know why I have such a hard time with Mark and Tom. You’d think, as a fan of NOFX and Screeching Weasel, that I would have no problem stomaching them. Having said that, this is one of their very best compositions. And Blink 182’s later albums (including this one) have fantastic production.
Next up: The Replacements, “Bastards of Young.” For my money, Paul Westerberg belongs on the Mount Rushmore of American rock and roll songwriters along with people like Springsteen, Dylan, Wilson, and Fogerty.
