My journal. The things I hear and what I think about them.

[Here4theBeer]

Bonjour to all. As a new member to the site I figured I would start a journal as a way of people to get to know me.

My tastes, my moods, my personality.

In this thread i'll be focusing on music with some background information on where I am and what mood i'm in. Music is a very large part of my life so this should be a pretty full thread.

The aim is this : to be totally honest and blunt about the things I listen to.

So here we go.

This is me.

I began today listening into The Stone Roses self titled album from '89. I was on the bus on the way to work and put it on quite absent mindedly. I had heard it for the first time last night and wanted to give it a second listen in earphones. OK, so i'm on the bus, reading the Metro with the Stone Roses on, and basically I wasn't paying any attention to the album itself. I had only heard it the once and my only opinion thus far was that I liked it, 'Waterfall' especially.

Right so I decide I don't have the brain capacity to concentrate on something new and I don't want to waste my precious music time on the bus this morning so I look to switch it up. I'm looking for something I enjoy and come across the rap group UGK. The only song I have by UGK on my iPod is 'International Players Anthem' (this has to change), so I put it on and it set me off into an obsession with OutKast's 'ATLiens'.

Now, 'ATLiens' for those unfamiliar is a very special album. It was released in 1996 before OutKast became 'Ms Jackson' famous. The thing I like most is that it's concise and all sounds like it belongs (think similar to how RZA used to produce whole Wu-Tang albums). So i'm listening though (and pick up some similarities in song layout to CunninLynugists' 'A Piece of Strange') and I remember why I love it so much, so I spent the rest of the day analysing this album.

If there's one thing I can take from this session it is that I never truely appriciated Andre 3000's lyricism on this LP. He is absolutely immense. Well that was today in a nut shell, i'm listening to alot of new music at the moment so i'm sure i'll be back in here tomorrow with something to say about whatever i'm going to listen to. Until then however, i'm happy to discuss any thing that i've touched upon.

Oh, and sorry for the unholy grammar. I prefer to write like I would talk for this type of thing.


EDIT:

I think i'll give a rating for each album I listen to in whole. These rating are based on how I feel about the album at the present time, i.e. ratings may not reflect how I currently feel about the album.

OutKast - 'ATLiens' 9/10 - Absolute masterpiece in the mid-90's Southern rap expansion. It loses one point as it gets bogged down a little in the middle when they have a few guest rappers stop by (most, if not all from the Dungeon Family). However, the first guy on 'Decatur Psalm' rips it.

The Stone Roses - 'The Stone Roses' - Couldn't possibly give a rating on this as I wasn't paying attention and don't know the album well yet.

Late addition :

Sigur Ros - 'Ágætus Byrjun' - 8/10 - I've been listening to this album during writing the journal and tidying the house and I remember why I love it. Beautiful build ups and gorgeous crecendos. However, it cannot rank higher than an 8 right now as alot of the time the song drags on a little too long. I love the build up and the peak is beautiful but there is sometimes a little too much. Not every song can build like 'Exit Music' by Radiohead and that's what this album is. I love it, but over the entirety of an album, it can be a little overwhelming.

Anyway, I think that's enough of my jabbering for one day!

[Bulldog]

Although I can't stand Sigur Ros, I'm liking your taste so far (Waterfall is, indeed, a terrific song). Nice write-ups all-round, hope you keep this going - it's always great to see good new journals pop up around here. Keep up the good work eh.

[Here4theBeer]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

Although I can't stand Sigur Ros, I'm liking your taste so far (Waterfall is, indeed, a terrific song). Nice write-ups all-round, hope you keep this going - it's always great to see good new journals pop up around here. Keep up the good work eh.

Thank you for reading. I'll definately try. I understand why someone wouldn't enjoy Sigur Ros. I can only enjoy them in some capacities. I cannot sit on the bus and listen to them as, while nice, it gets very tedious. However, as background music to some other activity, I enjoy their work.

Today, I gave the Stone Roses another go, and i'm really starting to get into the swing of things with this album. 'Waterfall' still stands out and 'I Wanna Be Adored' is fantastic. I also noticed 'Don't Stop' had a 'Revolver'-esque feel about it....which, well, can't be a bad thing. I still can't fully comment on this album in many ways other than;

1) I enjoy it, and see it becoming an album that gets repeated spins. It has the potential for top 20 on Last.FM right now.

2) I don't get these Oasis comparisons? I'm a big fan of early Oasis and the only comparisons I see are that they're both from Manchester and both play guitar based Beatles influenced rock. OK, maybe that is a fairly large comparison.

I've listened to a couple more little nuggets today. Most notably, Olivia Tremor Controls' 'Peel Sessions'. If you like 'Dust at Cubist Castle', you're going to enjoy this. It consists of a short song ('I'm not feeling human') and two suites of music from 'Cubist'. The highlight here is the condensed version of 'Green Typewriters', which is just ridiculous on the studio album. Also, lets be honest, John Peel got the best out of artists. In a nutshell, spectacular.

I've also given Of Montreal's 'Hissing Fauna' another attempt, but seriously, i'm not getting this album yet. Expect to see it crop up in an update soon because me and this album have alot of unfinished business.

I also listened to a few songs from the Strokes 'Is this it' simply for the fact that I like to close my eyes and pretend i'm in the band. Just too cool.

I'm still not happy with giving 'The Stone Roses' a rating, but since these ratings are flexible, there's no harm in it. I'll give it a 8 right now. The reasoning behind that is that I make a 9 or a 10 exceeding hard to come by (two 10's I can think of right now are Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea' and Radiohead's 'The Bends'...THAT good). This album is impressing me right now though, make no mistake about that.

'The Peel Sessions' gets an 8. Olivia Tremor Control are a pretty special band and this is a pretty special session but the suites take some of the edge and poppy glisten away from a few cuts, but it's a very nice, casual listen. Definately two thumbs up.

'Is this it' stays around an 8 or a 9 and is a fixture in my catalogue. I only mentioned it here because I wanted to mention that I like to pretend that i'm in the band.

As for Of Montreal...i've barely even started cracking that case. There'll be more to come.


By the way, comments and suggestions are both welcomed and encouraged

[Exeggcute :3]

I love the Stroke's so much! Is this it is an amazing song, as are Soma, New York City Cops and Last Nite. Hell, the whole album is awesome :p

Have you got Room on Fire, the album. It's amazing, still classic strokes, Reptilia, Automatic Stop, 12:51 and The End has no End are all huge tunes!

[Here4theBeer]

Originally Posted by Exeggcute :3

I love the Stroke's so much! Is this it is an amazing song, as are Soma, New York City Cops and Last Nite. Hell, the whole album is awesome :p

Have you got Room on Fire, the album. It's amazing, still classic strokes, Reptilia, Automatic Stop, 12:51 and The End has no End are all huge tunes!

It's on my iPod. I'm giving it a spin now on your recommendation.

This journal will have a mega update in the next day or so. I'm just trying to get a bigger spread of music listened to before I start rambling about it.

[Exeggcute :3]

Originally Posted by Here4theBeer

It's on my iPod. I'm giving it a spin now on your recommendation.

This journal will have a mega update in the next day or so. I'm just trying to get a bigger spread of music listened to before I start rambling about it.

How did you find it? Better or worse than the first album? I found it strange to start with, though Is This It was much better for ages, but it grew on me and now I think it probably is better.

[Here4theBeer]

Originally Posted by Exeggcute :3

How did you find it? Better or worse than the first album? I found it strange to start with, though Is This It was much better for ages, but it grew on me and now I think it probably is better.

To be totally honest, it all sound a bit 'the same' to me. I probabily need more listens to it yet (5 plays through) but it all seems to blend together.

Now, don't get me wrong, that isn't a bad thing to me, in fact I like an album when it is cohesive but nothing really WOW's at the moment. I'll be giving it some more plays though.