The Monthly Music Trading Post

dankrsta · 08-21-2010, 07:16 PM

^I'm glad you found it interesting. I agree, the post-rock tag can be applied to this only very broadly, mainly as a time frame. It's interesting to me that you felt an industrial vibe there. That metallic feel of 'Underdog' (which is probably my favorite) and other tracks, I usually associate with that weird tunings one can find in early Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca, that hollow sound. But, yeah, metallic, industrial...I can see the connection, except, that vibe is gained with traditional rock instruments (guitars mainly). And, yeah, the best tracks are those where that improvisation is utilized in concrete structures and 'Snowy' is truly epic. It's really sad that they haven't recorded anything else.

Sure, I'll check out Manafon by David Sylvian. I've heard very little by him, but he was always one of those musicians I've been meaning to explore. Thanks.

CanwllCorfe · 08-22-2010, 12:35 AM

Bannister sent me:

Agent Orange - Living in Darkness

Considering I know pretty much nothing about Punk at all, I had not a clue what to expect. I knew a little bit of hardcore like The Casualties (because some kid I went to school with crazy hair always had their patch on his back). But when I'd finally got it and saw song names like Bloodstains, Too Young to Die, and Everything Turns Grey.. I was pretty excited.

The opening song Bloodstains really floored me. Dark lyrics, a hell of a lot of energy, and an old charm which I kind of lack. I mean, Bathory - Bathory is from 84' but that's about the oldest thing I have. From song to song it really varies and they're bringing other stuff to the table. More than just Punk. What are the other influences? Damned if I know. At some points it almost reminds me of Surf music, at some points I wonder if maybe I have heard some Punk before back when I was very young, and then at some points I get blindsided by screaming like in Bloodstains (note: I did not go in order.. like usual). Being the big "dark music" face that I am, I had no idea "surf rock" (is that what it's called?) would ever get even close to what I'd enjoy, but this is coming from the guy who at once said he hated Folk.. but now has a Folk artist as one of his most played. But I really am surprised on how this sounds for being almost 10 years older than I am. I really wish I could have been there to see the parent's faces when they heard stuff like this. Must've been great.

Well, I'd like to say more but I can't. I was hoping to make comparisons but since I know **** about the genre, that makes it impossible. Well.. I do hear some Hardcore influence which is nice. Or maybe, this influenced Hardcore

See what I did there? I'm not used to listening to albums like this that really come from the beginning of a genre's creation. Except for what I already listen to. Overall I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I thought I would, especially the darker and faster songs. I think that comes from me going to what I know. But yes. I'd suggest this to pretty much anyone. Especially YOU. Thanks Bananister!

Bulldog · 08-22-2010, 04:41 PM

^ Good to see another review. That makes it only 2 more to come in. If whoever's still due to type something about their album up here could do so, it'd be awesome if we could feedback on every album before starting the new trade.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankrsta

^I'm glad you found it interesting. I agree, the post-rock tag can be applied to this only very broadly, mainly as a time frame. It's interesting to me that you felt an industrial vibe there. That metallic feel of 'Underdog' (which is probably my favorite) and other tracks, I usually associate with that weird tunings one can find in early Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca, that hollow sound. But, yeah, metallic, industrial...I can see the connection, except, that vibe is gained with traditional rock instruments (guitars mainly). And, yeah, the best tracks are those where that improvisation is utilized in concrete structures and 'Snowy' is truly epic. It's really sad that they haven't recorded anything else.

Sure, I'll check out Manafon by David Sylvian. I've heard very little by him, but he was always one of those musicians I've been meaning to explore. Thanks.

Well, industrial in the sense that the album reminde me of Einsturzende Neubauten who, incidentally, I haven't listened to in waaaaay too long. The whole album sounded like some industrial form of jazzy post-rock to me...or at least the longer cuts did.

Also, I doubt you'll have much trouble finding a link, but I'm here if you need one. If all you've heard of David Sylvian is his work with Japan or Secrets Of the Beehive, be prepared for something hella different - Manafon has that same industrial/jazzy vibe I talked about in the review to it, so it's something you might quite dig.

CanwllCorfe · 08-22-2010, 04:47 PM

I'm in for the next one! Will it be themed?

Bulldog · 08-22-2010, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe

I'm in for the next one! Will it be themed?

Maybe. I'm thinking about another dose of the old 'broaden your swap partner's musical horizons' theme again, but if anyone's got a better idea, feel free to say so here and I'll think about it

To recap, here's the list for the next trade;

Abdullah424
Bob
Bulldog
Canwllcorfe
Dankrsta
DayvanCowboy
DrSeussicide
James
JTWilliams
NumberNineDream
OctaneHugo
Zarko

Dayvan Cowboy · 08-23-2010, 09:16 AM

I got my name changed, BTW.

just saying'

duga · 08-23-2010, 09:36 AM

OctaneHugo, you must have quite a few reviews building up there. *Cough* you didn't review mine *cough*.

Bulldog · 08-23-2010, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayvan Cowboy

I got my name changed, BTW.

just saying'

Who the hell are you

I'll be out from Tuesday evening through to Thursday morning, so anyone yet to get their reviews in's gonna have a bit more time to do so.

OctaneHugo · 08-24-2010, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

OctaneHugo, you must have quite a few reviews building up there. *Cough* you didn't review mine *cough*.

You sent me Infected Mushroom, right? I reviewed that.

I'm going to get Antonio's album reviewed today, my headphones broke so I have to play sh‎it through my speakers. Have to wait till people bugger off for a while.

duga · 08-24-2010, 08:04 AM

My bad, I completely missed this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OctaneHugo

I know next to nothing about electronic music. Sure, I can pick out the influences in other music and recognize what it sounds like, but I don't differentiate between trance or techno. Thus, Duga sent me Infected Mushroom's Vicious Delicious, claiming it "has a ton of rock influence, so it is an easy transition." Wikipedia labels this as psychedelic trance (duga used this term as well), trip-hop and industrial (so, at least I know a little about one of those genres). Let's go.

"Becoming Insane" starts off the album with some crazy guitar that sounds pretty cool. Then it goes straight into electronic mode with a robotic voice and a total electronic beat. The voice was annoying but some cool stuff starts going on around that guitar. At this point it devolves into a clash between some dance elements and the electronic stuff going on. Then some Spanish (I guess) vocals start going down, starting off filtered and progressing to a "standard" style. These were pretty good and went over the beat prett nicely. Then they got more high pitched again which took an adjustment, but still fit well. This album was described to me as something that had elements of rock in it, and this is where you hear it. It takes the arrangements of rock music and just crams in the electronic. Then a guitar started that I wasn't all that fond of - didn't like the tone of it. Didn't fit. Goes back to full-on electronic mode with some dude shouting "INSANE INSANE INSANE" over it. Not bad but definitely not as good as earlier in the song. It closes out with that sweet guitar from earlier, which is much appreciated. Overall the song alternates on quality for me, though I can't say how good or bad it is at any one point in time.
"Artillery" follows up with an electronically drenched hip-hop beat and a guitar I'm still not quite sure of. Then some guy starts rapping, and he's decent, but the beat is kind of boring. A cool filtered guitar (it sounds like) kicks in and that's all well-and-good, but I think me and Mr. Bad Hype Man are going to have a problem (WHAT! WHAT! WHAT!). Then the guitar kicks in after some terrible whispering and then I start reconsidering listening to this song at all. What an awful event at 1:55, truly tragic. I hear his mother passed out when she heard the news. I stomach the next 30 seconds and wait for something good to happen, and the by-comparison-amazing rapper comes back, but the beat still isn't listening to me. That goddamn guitar. Stop it. Some more whispering and then it's Return of the Spanish Guy. Then the truly sh‎ty portion kicks in again and I had to turn it off.
"Heavyweight" opens sinisterly (though not without some mood-ruining tape recorder sounds!) and then kicks in with the electronic. Then a dying cat with a piece of food caught in it's throat starts wailing and I made a "What the fu‎‎ck is this sh‎‎it?" face. Straight up, hand to what god you pray to. Then it got less bad but was still boring and the FU‎CKING GUITAR I DON'T LIKE IT. Sort of faded into the background here, to be honest. This is always what electronic music has done to me. I gave up on "Heavyweight" and skipped the next 5 minutes of the song in the hopes that my interest could be held.
"In Front of Me" opens with a neat beat and is then promptly ruined by the vocals. Blegh. At this point I suddenly felt like playing Torchlight since I never finished it, but no, stop that. You're listening to music (possible. HAWHAW!). Around the 1:11 mark it started getting worse so I skipped it again.
"Special Place" has a good opening beat (notice a theme here?) and then bad vocals. They stop quickly, though, so I'm free to enjoy the fu‎ck out of this beat which is pretty decent. It soon degrades, though, but it's still the best part of the song. Some energetic stuff going down here. This goes on for a while and then they start singing again and I'm eeeeehhhhhhhhhh. I took one for the team and let the song finish. The goddamn vocals, man. The goddamn vocals.
"Suliman" opens with a clipping beat and then some dou‎chebag starts singing "Scooby dabba doo" over it or some sh‎it. Can you tell I'm fed up with the album yet? I'm indifferent to this entire bloody genre, and this album is no exception. The 4:15 mark was kind of neat, with a nice guitar.

And this is where I stopped. Why? Because this has helped me come to the conclusion that I've been floating around in my head for a while. I can listen to individual electronic songs and think they're good or bad, but any more than that and I can't do it. Who knows why? I'll listen to the rest of these songs individually sometime and see what happens, yeh? I'd like to thank duga for helping me finally get a concrete opinion on electronic stuff in my mind. I don't hate this album, I just don't care about it.

Wow, man...you tore this album UP. I really didn't see that coming...this is seriously the one electronic artist that both my electronic loving friends and rock loving friends can agree is good. You must really not like electronic music. What is it about it? Does it just get to overwhelming for you? From the sound of it you like to have consistency in your music as well as familiarity. If you have never gotten into electronic music the familiarity is gone, but I can recommend you things that are a bit more even...that is, if you still want to try to get into electronic music.

One thing I've noticed about different genres of music is that each one requires its own unique approach, and each person has a different approach to each one. It's all about finding that "click" in the music and once that happens, you will probably be loving it. That's why I stick to genres I am not familiar with at all...I know at some point I'll just "get it".

Anyway, thanks for trying to put up with the album. Apologies for sending you something so horrendous to your ears.

08-21-2010, 07:16 PM	#1581 (permalink)
dankrsta ... Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,776	^I'm glad you found it interesting. I agree, the post-rock tag can be applied to this only very broadly, mainly as a time frame. It's interesting to me that you felt an industrial vibe there. That metallic feel of 'Underdog' (which is probably my favorite) and other tracks, I usually associate with that weird tunings one can find in early Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca, that hollow sound. But, yeah, metallic, industrial...I can see the connection, except, that vibe is gained with traditional rock instruments (guitars mainly). And, yeah, the best tracks are those where that improvisation is utilized in concrete structures and 'Snowy' is truly epic. It's really sad that they haven't recorded anything else. Sure, I'll check out Manafon by David Sylvian. I've heard very little by him, but he was always one of those musicians I've been meaning to explore. Thanks. __________________ Last.fm

08-22-2010, 12:35 AM	#1582 (permalink)
CanwllCorfe Quiet Man in the Corner Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Pocono Mountains Posts: 2,480	Bannister sent me: Agent Orange - Living in Darkness Considering I know pretty much nothing about Punk at all, I had not a clue what to expect. I knew a little bit of hardcore like The Casualties (because some kid I went to school with crazy hair always had their patch on his back). But when I'd finally got it and saw song names like Bloodstains, Too Young to Die, and Everything Turns Grey.. I was pretty excited. The opening song Bloodstains really floored me. Dark lyrics, a hell of a lot of energy, and an old charm which I kind of lack. I mean, Bathory - Bathory is from 84' but that's about the oldest thing I have. From song to song it really varies and they're bringing other stuff to the table. More than just Punk. What are the other influences? Damned if I know. At some points it almost reminds me of Surf music, at some points I wonder if maybe I have heard some Punk before back when I was very young, and then at some points I get blindsided by screaming like in Bloodstains (note: I did not go in order.. like usual). Being the big "dark music" face that I am, I had no idea "surf rock" (is that what it's called?) would ever get even close to what I'd enjoy, but this is coming from the guy who at once said he hated Folk.. but now has a Folk artist as one of his most played. But I really am surprised on how this sounds for being almost 10 years older than I am. I really wish I could have been there to see the parent's faces when they heard stuff like this. Must've been great. Well, I'd like to say more but I can't. I was hoping to make comparisons but since I know **** about the genre, that makes it impossible. Well.. I do hear some Hardcore influence which is nice. Or maybe, this influenced Hardcore See what I did there? I'm not used to listening to albums like this that really come from the beginning of a genre's creation. Except for what I already listen to. Overall I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I thought I would, especially the darker and faster songs. I think that comes from me going to what I know. But yes. I'd suggest this to pretty much anyone. Especially YOU. Thanks Bananister! __________________ Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

08-22-2010, 04:47 PM	#1584 (permalink)
CanwllCorfe Quiet Man in the Corner Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Pocono Mountains Posts: 2,480	I'm in for the next one! Will it be themed? __________________ Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

08-23-2010, 09:36 AM	#1587 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	OctaneHugo, you must have quite a few reviews building up there. Cough you didn't review mine cough. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...

08-23-2010, 09:16 AM	#1586 (permalink)
Dayvan Cowboy Basscadet Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Antarctica Posts: 1,258	I got my name changed, BTW. just saying'