Bulldog

Just so I can stave off getting off my arse and doing something constructive a little longer...

Artist: Slayer
Tuneage: Seasons In the Abyss

Gather round kids - it's time for some self-indulgent back story!

I've been hoarding music for about half my life as I type this, perhaps even a little longer, and I can say that I'm in the third phase of it. That phase, ladies and gents, boys and girls, is noticing that there are craploads of free albums you can get hold of if you know where to find them, and taking advantage of that before the long arm of the law finds a way stopping you from doing so. The phase I went through before that came about just after I got my first job, when I just blew as much of my hard-earned as poss on buying CDs as opposed to waiting for Christmas, birthdays, pocket money or whatever to get them. I doubt I'll get into a fourth phase anytime soon, unless someone pioneers a kind of technology that can drip-feed you music or whatever.

And the first phase came before I was old enough to get a job. That phase was using Kazaa to get individual songs I liked the sound of - p2p networks in other words. Still makes me smile that perfectly web-savvy people around my age still use p2p networks believing that they're the sole way to get hold of new music for free.

This was one of the many songs I downloaded way back when, having seen (I believe) on MTV2. I listen to pretty much no metal of any kind these days, but this song is just so badass you can't not like it really. Certainly one of the best openings to a song ever. Although admittedly my attention does wonder from about 2:15 onwards, this song still rules all the same.

Artist: Johnny Cash
Tuneage: When the Man Comes Around

And behind curtain number 2 is a song I'm sure a lot of you have heard before. If not, watch the Dawn Of the Dead remake fer crissakes

For me, this song goes to show that if you want a song to be dark, fairly creepy and pretty badass, you don't necessarily need to resort to a load of tape-loops, synths, heavy guitars, orchestration and all that. This 'ere tune ticks all the right boxes like that for me, and all it is is Cash basically singing the Book Of Revelations with just his guitar and a very distant-sounding organ. It's just pure awesome, and reason enough to get yourself into Cash's American series.

I'll tell you what else is awesome, and that's the first 4 Silent Hill games, hence the video. Enjoy!

Here's something that'll test your patience as a musiclover;


Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you Arve Henriksen!

Henriksen was actually one of the first names I thought of to review back when I (re)started this thread. For some reason I never got round to reviewing the album of his that I have, so I should probably fix that sometime soon. Who is he you ask? He's a Norweigan trumpeter who has a very distinct, flute-like sound to his playing as his kinda claim to fame. He's one of the leading lights of Scandinavian nu-jazz, and an example of a very rich yet so overlooked area of modern music.

And, as you can see, he's worked with David Sylvian many times before, particularly on his more ambient-leaning pieces like the above. I won't lie, it all depends how much patience you have for ambient music - it'll either be boring, pretentious drivel or one of the most amazing things you've ever heard. I think it's obvious which category I fall into