January 5, 2008

Liveblogging (finally) The Giant Head’s LIstening Time Mix

Okay, so, this is 1 of three… gotta geeeeeeet this dooooooone. So here I go. Looking at the inclusion of TMBG and Freezepop on this list, I have a good feeling. Let’s see what happens.

The Giant Head’s Mix

1. Hey Sandy by Polaris Jupiter or Thor, eh? Some talking and stuff, I see… Hmm, okay, so it’s… yeah, got a guy singing with lots of echo-y-ness. AI Yai Yai Yai… Mmm, it’s nice enough, I suppose. Not like… mind-blastingly awesome or anything. That Duh da dut da duhhh thing with the guitar is kinda neat. It’s kinda… light-feeling… Also seems to have a lot of instrumental interludes, apparently. Huh. And it just kinda ended.

2. Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants Ahhh, classic Giants. TMBG was the band that got me to listen to music, actually. Flood was one of the first CDs I ever bought… if not the first, it’s been a long time. But oh, how I love them. Their new stuff is… it’s still pretty great compared to like… “Rock Song” as me and my friends call it, but it’s not quite as wonderful as some of the older things… they’re pretty great in concert, though I do wish they’d actually STOP playing this song in concert. I get that not everyone at these things goes to EVERY SINGLE CONCERT they have like I do, but… you know. They could play something unexpected and neat. Like Number Three. I dunno. Anyway, TMBG = Thumbs up. I don’t have much to say about Birdhouse other than that. Heh.

3. Big Day by Tahiti 80 Mmm, I’m liking that base line… come and get it, eh? All falsetto action, I see… mm, this is quite catchy, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. It’s not rocking me, perse, but it’s infectious. I like it. This would make bad-ass background music to something… I dunno what. Some sort of really neat montage in something or something. Such a Big Day! Or like the opening credits to some movie or something. Just to get a little closer to you, I see… yeah, I really like this song. It doesn’t sound like there’s 80 of them, though.

4. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1 by The Flaming Lips I have heard about the Flaming Lips time and time again but I have never heard one of their songs. So I guess I can hear this one, eh? Not… off to a good start in my opinion. It’s slower-paced. The song has the word “battles” in it, it should be peppier, shouldn’t it? I mean, I’m glad she won’t let those robots defeat me, but… mm, yeah, it’s really kinda losing me. The lyrics aren’t like… witty enough for me to get over my irrational hatred of slow songs. There’s some sort of little vocal instrument-style part in the background, I hear… oh, I realize I think I heard a Ben Folds cover of a Flaming Lips song before, but I suppose that doesn’t count. Yeah, probably not.

5. Riverbank by Pelle Carlberg Doo doot, apparently. There’s a xylophone in the background, I think? It’s all… it’s nothing that’s catching me. It does have a lot of Doo Doots, though, doesn’t it? It’s very light. A lot of this CD has been light. What the fuck do I mean by Light, anyway? I dunno. Dut, and it’s done.

6. Spanish Bombs by The Clash at Demonhe… no, wait. Heh. There’s some strumming there. And some singing in an accent, apparently. It’s got that constant duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh underneath it. And the brush-y high hat thingamajig too. What are they even saying? My brain isn’t like… grabbing any lyrics besides “Spanish Bombs, blah bleh blah blah blee blah blah…”
 
7. Stellas Was a Diver and She Was Always Down by Interpol Nice of them to tell me the title before they started, in cause I got distracted more. There’s some drums and droning over and over guitars… and he’s like… talking, barely singing… Yeah, people are easily distracting me from this song. There’s no energy behind it. It’s just kinda… floating there, you know? Well, I guess this drum soloish part has a little more energy… but yeah… floating, that’s a good word. There’s just floating sound over him talk-singing… that’s not very exciting to me. Hmmm, it keeps going… and going… and going…

8. The Ghost of Genova Heights by Stars These people seem to be famous, or made of burning gases, so that could be promising… there’s like little keyboardy stuff in the background… hmm, this isn’t too bad, but I’m gonna hope for a “Break It Down” coming up here in a second… come on… come on… aww, all they did was add some cymbal action. And now we’re singing all falsetto style. I notice a lot of talk about neighborhoods. Yeah, this isn’t bad, but I’m not tapping my foot with the beat, so it’s not like… a full winner… but I can listen to this, most definitely.

9. Pop Music is Not a Crime by Freezepop I like Freezepop. I just ordered the album this is on like… yesterday, because I didn’t realize it was out until yesterday. I… don’t think this one is going to be one of my favorite Freezepop songs, but it’s still fine. Favorite Freezepop songs? Chess King, Boys on Film, Freezepop Forever, Stakeout… yeah. It’s good to know it’s not a crime, though, for I do enjoy Pop Music from time to time, yesyes. I do enjoy the blippy too.

10. Once Around the Block by Badly Drawn Boy Oooh, okay, I’m liking that weird guitar… I’m hoping it keeps that up… oh yeah, kinda… swing-y there…? That’s kinda nice. Is there going to be vocals? There are! And the vocals aren’t even badly drawn! At the same time, for some reason I feel like an instrumental with that start might have been neater. Still, it’s kinda neat music, isn’t it? It does tend to repeat quite a bit back there, though, as it keeps going… Oh, a little scat there, I see. Shibbity bow woooow! Or something.

—One Shower and Rock Band Break Later—

11. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi by Radiohead Like those drums. Quick. And there’s some guitar, I see… hear…. and it goes and goes and goes… now Radiohead, they’re the intelligent fellows who gave away their latest album and accepted donations, didn’t they? Even at free, I didn’t check it out, though. Didn’t really know too much about them or care about them, but I saluted them. Hmm, okay, they added vocals, but it’s nothing strong. Everything is just basically the same thing repeating in the background. I’m also not hearing much description of weird fishes. Isn’t this supposed to inform me of the local fish population? It is kinda building more and more and more as the song goes on, though… and of course, as I point that out, everything cuts off… Hey! He said Weird Fishes! The background is fairly… water-y, too, so I guess that’s appropriate. And now it’s built back up for the bridge, I suppose. And it keeps going with some singing and nearing the ending aaaaaaaand… cuts off and it’s done with a cymbal thing! Alright, I suppose.

12. Jesusland by Ben Folds I’ve said what I thought of Ben Folds before, but people probably only read the ramblings for their CDs, so I’ll say it again. I like this faster, funnier stuff, but a lot of his music is very slow emotional, which probably fits the piano well, but I don’t care for. I like stuff like Underground, Jackson Cannery, and, my favorite, For Those Of Ya’ll Who Wear Fanny Packs. This is basically a song by Ben Folds that I wouldn’t listen to. It’s upbeat at least, but it’s not… his singing is light and arsty… oh, wait, here we are at the refrain with the people coming in behind him. That’s alright, I suppose. But yeah, it’s all rolling, walking forward with the little beat and piano… I don’t know, as per usual I fail at trying to explain why the music isn’t engaging me. I need to be engaged to really like something (although I have recently discovered a love of fun orchestral stuff, as I find listening to the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra while writing really helps me, as I’m not tempted to sing along with it, and I like the music) to really get behind it, you know? And when I have something to help me do that… say… Rock Band or Guitar Hero or any music game, really, I can get more into a song I wouldn’t like otherwise… anyway, the point is, this isn’t really getting me, although it is definitely a nice little song. The End.

13. No Right Angles by Ben Lee Is this guy part of The Bens? I remember that from somewhere… and there was one guy who had this song that was like “Tell me all the rules, girl… I just wanna get along” that I liked… and I saw that guy on Conan and he was like… a midget compared to Conan… is that this guy? I don’t think it’s this guy. His voice is different. I just rambled about nothing there. Okay, so it’s slow like the last song but with no piano… it’s got that beat… and the same sort of light singing that doesn’t often engage me because I want to sing along with vocals and I want to fucking SING, you know? Bam. Anyway, do you know how hard it would be to have no right angles in your life? You’d have to like… build a special house and never leave it. It’d be annoying. Like… people would have to take things out of boxes for you before you put it into your house. Okay, you can tell with my random thoughts that I’m not enthused with this song, sorry. Oh, it just kinda… ends… with lots of silence.

14. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Oh my. Oh. Oh my. I… I might as well kick it. Man, his voice is kinda grating… low low HIGH HIGH low low HIGH HIGH low low HIGH HIGH low low HIGH HIGH. Also, DJ Jazzy Jeff, let’s been more Jazzy, perhaps? Jazz-licious? Man, it fades out for awhile, doesn’t it?

15. Hammering in My Head by Garbage Oooh, blippy fast. I’m sort of a fan of Garbage. I honestly haven’t heard a WHOLE lot of their stuff, but I haven’t heard a track of theirs in a game I haven’t liked. I think I have one album of theirs, too, Beautiful Garbage, and it’s pretty good. Man, that’s kinda dramatic sounds behind it… oh, now it got all light and oooooh all of the sudden… okay, back to the dramatic beats. Mmm okay, yeah, it’s a pretty good song, but I can’t say I’m completely won over by it? I’d listen to it again without hesitation? I might rip it when this is all done. But I’m not… I’m not sitting here rocking out… you know? Mmm, there’s some growly-ness at the end, here, I see. Fade away.

16. Kid A by John Mayer Oh, Guitars. Shocking. Or not. I dunno why I wanted to say they were shocking. Yeah, this is back to songs more like… like before the Fresh Prince songs… We’ve got some heads on stairs? Okay… yeah, he said it again, I didn’t hear it wrong… That little squeaky noise is kinda neat… I assume that’s being made on a guitar somehow… I guess kinda… sliding the pick up a string that isn’t vibrating, maybe…? Oh, that… hmm, it’s fading out now. Oh well. A lot of silence here… and… aaaaaand… done.

17. Sugar Water by Cibo Matto I know this person… I’ve heard songs by her before… they were pretty decent… I think… hmm… okay, Sugar Water… okay, here’s a rhythm… and some singing… it’s all kinda laid back, really… makes me sorta feel that way, too… hmm… La la laaaaaa… la la la la la la… yeah, my attention from it keeps fading. Whatever that means about the song.

18. Winter Spring Summer Fall by The Postmarks Duh daaaa dutdaaaa… hmm… ooh, female vocalist, I didn’t actually expect that… it’s still light… so light… whisper-y, now… and back to normal… light light floaty light. Hmmm, she seems to have been falling for you for several minutes now… man, I think my concentration is fairly shot, I’ve been interrupted so many times… Sorry… oh well, just one more, I’ll keep it together.

19. Lithium by The Polyphonic Spree Your head is a good place for friends to be… and they shouldn’t have broken their mirrors, that’s bad luck. Ooh yeah, they built it up for that yeah yeaaaaaah yeah part, I like that. I’m glad he’s not sad, though, that’s good. Yeah yea-a-ah yeaaaaaaah! I like that part very much so, cause it’s all intense. Ooh, here’s some bridge with the intensity still up… he’s not gonna… what? I can’t understand that word… what, he’s going to kill you? Dammit, singing guy! Murder is not the answer! Yeah yeaaaaaah yeah! Man, there’s still a lot of song left. Are they going to vamp for all of it? Oh, okay, go back to that part, that’s alright then! Oh, okay, and this little piano-y part until the end fade here… and… yeah.

Okay, that was a pretty decent CD. I could probably listen to all of it again without too much of a problem. I got distracted by people several times during the thing, but at this point, if I waited for when that wouldn’t happen, I’d never get the damn things done, you know? So I did it. I hope that’s okay.
1 down, 2 more to go. Goodness.

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