The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I’m almost there, dammit… I can do this one now, and then I’m almost there! Here’s ringworm’s mix.

Listening Time Volume 17 – ringworm’s mix

1. Indie Rockin’ by Common Rotation: I think these guys opened for a TMBG concert I went to once… I remember the name… I don’t remember really liking them or anything, though? This isn’t too bad, though? It’s got a bit of energy to it. Yeah, it’s pretty nice. It’s not going to become my favorite song or anything anytime soon, but it’s nice. It’s like… a song I wouldn’t skip if I was listening to the whole CD, but wouldn’t pick out on its own? Does that even make sense? It’s also a song I’d buy for Rock Band just because, you know, it’s alright, and more Rock Band content is always good. Anyway, it’s a decent start to the CD, but it’s over now.

2. North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem: Some woodblock? Rockin’ the woodblock? Fuck yeah? Uh huh huh huh? Maybe that’s like… a keyboard woodblock… yeah, I don’t know about this singer…? But I’m not sure. Like, he’s not making me angry or annoying me, but I just don’t know about his speaky half-singy style… okay, now that it sort of broke in the background, that’s a little better. Yeah… yeah, I think I can dig it. Yeah, it’s about the same overall reaction to the last track… it’s nice enough, it’s getting me going a little, but it’s not going to become my favorite song anytime soon. I have a feeling I might love something else by this band, though, if I heard it. Ooh, what is that, some scatting there? I’m all for that sort of some. NORTH AH MERI KA! That’s what this song is like. Heh.

3. Party For the Fight to Write by Atmosphere: Okay, this is sounding like a rap song here at the start… yep, I’m right. They just have a sound, you know? Mmm, not bad, though… yeah… “Bring your own agenda and embrace your flaws” I’m down with that. Thumbs up for that. It is just sort of another rap song about rap songs… they’re so self-referential… but yeah, this is pretty fun, I suppose… no worries… I do wonder why, though… I was so against rap yesterday… I wonder how my mood is different today, or if this song really is just more friendly to my sensibilities… who knows. Okay, we’re just going to repeat this part a couple ten times or something as an ending? Well, alrighty then.

4. Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) by Incubus: Heh, well, that’s an appealing little riff… some drums… okay, yeah… yeah… okay… still building… more and more… and now there’s a lot of tambourine and singing… huh… yeah, I think I like this… the guitar is just fun stuff, you know? Maybe? Maybe you know? It’s… yeah… maybe I’m just like super-agreeable this morning, I have no idea… or maybe I just like this mix so far, four songs into it. Heh. I guess I shouldn’t be so negative, it’s not like that isn’t an option. Oooh, saxophone. Yeah, nice! Very nice! Ant. E. Grav. Ah. Tee. Awwwww yeaaaaaaaaaaah.

5. Games You Play by Splashdown: Launch conditions? I’m glad all of them are pretty good… I was worried about that launch… okay, that’s a rapping kinda beat… but that’s just singing… and female vocals, too! I wasn’t expecting that! Oh yeah, that’s… yeahyeah… that’s really pleasant, too… again, I feel like I’d really like a different track by this artist, but this one is pretty good too. Yeah, see, this “EveRY OPoSItion” part is a lot of fun. I like that. Oh, it’s went in a different direction for the bridge. Then again, I guess that’s sort of the definition of a bridge, huh? Oh, it was short and it went back to it. Okay. Set you free from the games you play it’s over!

6. Footsteps by Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam? Doesn’t sound very delicious on toast or an English muffin. Oh man, no, this is… no. The slow acoustic and that vocalist… with the odd something to his voice… that’s not really what I’m wanting. Is it going to pick up? I really doubt it. Yeah, this is just like… one of those slow songs I just hate because they’re slow… Man, the disc was batting a thousand before that. Or something. Yeah, this song makes me not want to listen and want to focus on the fact that I am crazy hungry at the moment… maybe I should get some breakfalunch or something. But no, I’m doing CD now. After CD. Oh, hey, there’s the song title. Pictures on my desk, it was you, so… let’s finish the song then. It has been established. Alright. There we go.

7. The Flag by Barenaked Ladies: Barenaked Ladies continues to have not impressed me. Will this song do differently? The opening says that no, I will feel the same about it as other songs by them. Yeah, this is trying to be slow and important and emotionalish and it’s… just not doing it for me. That doesn’t do anything for me. My prejudices kick in and tell me NOOO! But that’s just me, I guess… nobody has won the war, though, so that’s kinda sad, I guess. But just, you know, don’t go to war. That’d be a good idea or a good plan. But then again, it isn’t a war, it’s a relationship thing. Like war? Shocking. Well, here’s the bridge… and it’s about birdies and angles, I guess. Or angels. Angles or Angels. One of those. If it’s an angle, I hope it’s an 180 degree angle. Those are fun. Of the flag of the flag of the flag… and over.

8. Fake Empire by The National: Piano… sort of upbeat piano… Yeah, not really upbeat piano… it’s a piano and singing song… oh, there’s the title! But yeah, another slow song. Sometimes I feel like I am missing a lot with my pointless prejudices, but eh, it’s just what I like. I like what I like. That’s how it is. Hmm, that drum seems to be building towards something… oh yeah! That’s better! Much more exciting. A lot more fun. I don’t know if it saves it overall, or if I like it overall, but that makes it a little better to listen to the rest… then again, maybe it’s going to go back down after this instrumental part to how it was before…? I don’t know, that seems like a normal musical move… but man, we got horns and all sorts of stuff. Neat. And we’re done, I suppose.

9. That’s Just What You Are by Aimee Mann: Aimee Mann is a gender confusing name… but oh, it’s a female. Neat. But yeah, we got the sort of… standard acoustic guitar rhythm back there… and there’s some piano… is it going to break it down… after this refrain-y part…? Nah, it’s not. Yeah, it just kinda is, isn’t it? There’s some vocals in the background, though, so that’s nice, I guess. There’s the title repeated twice… yeah, it’s okay, but oh man, it’s going to go on forever, isn’t it? It’s not even halfway done. Mann, Aimee Mann. What are you up to? Instrumental break… and now we’re back to the song, and it’s the same stuff… and there’s the title twice… three times! Yeah, I wonder if the rest of the mix will keep going down this road or go back to where it started… I liked where it started, I’m not really digging this part so much. Although I guess i can see, at least a little, the similarities between the two halves. Sort of halves. Whatever. Okay, this one’s over.

10. Electricity, Electricity by Goodness: Female whispers… oh… huh… this is… this is potential… this is a cover, isn’t it? I feel like I’ve heard this song by someone else. Or at least that repeated title part is based on something else… but eh, I don’t know enough to tell you. And now they’re explaining how a generator works. Yeah, this is like… school house rock stuff, isn’t it? Heh. Rock on then, this gets my seal of approval. It’s not necessarily the most fun song to listen to, though, but I can be fully behind it WOAH screaming! Well, um, okay. Hope nobody got shocked. Too badly. And we’re doing a lot of guitar noodling (is that the technical term) to the end, here. Yeah, again, glad this song exists, but it wasn’t really all that whatever for me.

11. No Regrets by Aesop Rock: Uh oh, a lot of talking about Lucy. What did Lucy ever do? Okay, so that’s rapping there. Yeah, it… no, it’s not just my morning mood, I don’t like this one too much, I don’t think. Man, I wish I understood my sort of… rules for enjoying rappy stuff, cause I really don’t have anything I can clearly say… there’s a refrain there… with some counting… yeah, I dunno… I don’t really feel the want to keep listening to this… oh man, it keeps going… it’s like only half done… there’s a lot of talk about dreams, I hear… and there’s someone dying… that Lucy person… yeah, I just… not for me. This isn’t a song for me.

12. Jacksonville by Sufjan Stevens: Sufjan Stevens is an Essner band… my friend Essner… which means I can probably listen to this but very likely won’t like… “love” it. Some banjo stuff there? I like banjo stuff. Then again, doesn’t all his songs have that? Maybe? I could be insane. Insaneish.  Well, it’s good to know he’s not afraid… and doesn’t care about the captain… yeah, again, I don’t think this is a song for me… it’s too slow. I just hate slow songs, don’t you know… but it is kinda catchy, which I can appreciate. It’s not catchy.midi, but.. (sorry, inside joke.) Yeah, there’s some horns… horns are nice… it’s a nice song! It’s definitely a nice song. It’s just not a song I can get behind and really get into a groove with, you know? Oh Sufjan, you have at least enough song to give it, oh, two more tries at least. You don’t have to just give it one more. But, you know, if the spirit doesn’t change, maybe it’s not worth it. I dunno. Yeah, and here’s an instrumental part and then we have a little repetition at the end? Oh, no, it’s something else, only it’s got like… backup singers. And fast tambourineing. Is that how you spell that? Oh well, it’s a made up word, who cares.

13. Paper Bag by Fiona Apple: Okay, we got drumming. Got a drum beat down. Got some female vocals going. Got that down. It’s slow and lazy feeling… the singing is kinda fun… she’s got some energy, but the song itself doesn’t have energy, perse… her singing is definitely the focus, and I can dig that, but I don’t know about the song as a whole… there’s some piano… the piano helps a bit. Yeah, it’s catchy and enjoyable… it’s a good song. Yeah. Yeah. I can. Yeah. Not bad.

14. Avatar by Universal Hall Pass: Last song. Universal Hall Pass is a pretty good name. Uh oh, quiet creepy-ish piano… female vocals… who are divining my future… any way the cards fall… I can dig that… cards are good… oh, wait, it’s speeding up a little… like going down a hill… is it… is it going to break it down? Is it going to? No? No. Doesn’t seem that way. Okay, it’s doing this same downhill building thing again… oh man, this is a long song, I just noticed… and now we’re into some sort of piano thingamajig here… and now there’s talk about flying off to nowhere… man, I will do my best to sit this one out, but I really want to stop… Ooh, it’s building… and building… and building… faster… stronger… more… building… adding some nice drums… more… building more…! Just keep on building! Or just stop completely. Oh, now we got some synth stuff going on… well, okay… it’s building more… it’s louder… her voice is more upfront… man, what’s gong on, mann? I don’t know where the tragic chorus is! I’d like to know! And now there’s quiet… or some wind noise… lots of quiet… are we doing secret track shenanigans? Lots of quiet…. not even halfway through this track yet, and lots of quiet… Yep… quiet… yep… silence… yep… should I fast-forward to see if there’s something else? I’ll listen to the quiet, I guess… Okay, here’s a guitar. Man, hidden tracks are so lame.

14. Hidden Song: Okay, so there’s acoustic guitar and the singing similar to the last song… Oh, there’s some  male backup vocals this time… the song seems to keep referring to the number 18, so maybe that’s the title of the song… 18 a life to go? Is that what they’re saying? Fuck, I dunno. Courtship with a gun, huh? Eh… yeah, these lyrics are doing nothing for me, and the music is doing little for me… was this worth sitting through the silence? I would say not. 18 in life to go? In? Is that it? I dunno. Blew that child away… and yet, if I had left the “away” off of there, it would have been an extra horrible thing to sing about, now wouldn’t it? Think about that for awhile. Or don’t. Because it’s disturbing. Why am I writing about this? I guess because I don’t like this song and so I’m distracting myself since I’m easily distracted. Distractions! Oh, the song is about over. Good, then I can get some food. I HUNGER.

All in all, this CD started really strong, and then went into stuff I didn’t like there at the end… also, hidden tracks are lame and artists should stop doing them.
Only Brickroad’s left to go! Maybe I’ll do two in one day! You never know! But probably not.

Well, I’m probably not going to get all of them done this break like I had hoped, but I’ll get the majority done, at least, dammit! Here’s Stephen’s mix.

Punctuality
A Very Poorly Titled Mix

1. Steve Biko (Stir it Up) by A Tribe Called Quest: Okay, we got some… off horns starting this out… and some rapping, I see… okay, here’s a more normal beat here… well, normal for rappy stuffs, anyway. Well, as far as I know about rap stuff. It doesn’t really seem to be doing anything, though? Just forward and the same and forward. The weird horns had potential. They should have done more stuff with weird horns. What are they saying, though, I wonder… my mind isn’t catching it… oh, here’s those horns again… for a bridge of some sort, I suppose. Hey, I heard the band name… “So much going on, people laughin’ people dyin’…” is that right? I don’t know, I like rap when it does things, I think. But there’s so much rap whose whole point is “I am rapping.” and that’s all they say and that’s all the point… and it’s just thing… oh, it’s over.

2. Forlani by Burnt By the Sun: Well, there’s definately some guitar… just in one ear… oh, now we have both and some drums… huh. Well, at least it’s nice and upbeat. But what is it going to do with it? Just keep doing this thing the whole time? Oh, it’s going to slow down and growl and scream at me, huh? Well, that’s disappointing. The guitar part itself has potential, but it could use some break it down and then into something based on it that’s more fun instead of just kinda slowing it down and having the guy all screamy and stuff. Yeah, those vocals aren’t doing anything for me, and it seems to me to be kind of a waste of what started as an interesting guitar part but now is just kinda… nothing. Well, at least it’s over.

3. Crystal Mountain by Death: Oooh, that’s kinda video-game-y in it’s sound there… oh, and there’s some more of that kind of singing, huh? Well, at least they’re being a little more interesting with the guitars I suppose. There really is something about how the guitar sounds that reminds me of classic video game soundtrack and stuff, although I can’t really tell you why. Huh. But yeah, I bet the singer is saying something, but I have a hard time caring when he’s singing like that… sometimes it works for me? But often it’s sort of as a counterpoint to something else, not as everything. Yeah, it keeps sorta changing it up and then going back to before with the screamy growly… And yeah, that one guitar… something about the sound of it must remind me of something from my youth… whatever voice… is that what they call it with guitars? whatever voice they put on it. Eh, whatevers. It’s… it’s okay. I would prefer the vocals not being like that, and when I zoom in on the lyrics, it’s kinda lame. But I could listen to this in the background and not really pay attention to it and not be angry? So that’s nice, I guess.

4. That Right Ain’t Shit by The Books: Independent? Independent? Okay… There’s some piano and some weird guitar so far… don’t know what it’s going to do… oh, that’s a weird noise… is that done by guitar? I like it, though… and the little interesting percussions… yeah, it’s building to something… don’t let me down, song! Oh, it stopped building… just more instrumental… I guess it being instrumental would be fine. It’s kinda cute and fun. Of course, the title suggests otherwise, I suppose, but that’s how it sounds to me. Yeah, this is pretty nice, unless it screws something up right at the end or something, which I doubt… yeah, that’s nice mood music. Oh, here’s somebody talking… but not in a bad way, I guess… I didn’t catch what she said… oh well, song over. That was nice.

5. Squeeze Me Macaroni by Mr. Bungle: Woah woah woah woah. That’s quick. That’s… woah. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Yeah! That’s awesome! Heh. Silly and awesome! Oh, it got slower there for a second… oh, it’s being very random. I can appreciate random, but I would prefer less complete stopping of the music… but man, that’s fun. That’s fun! Yes yes! Man, I think I need to check this band out. I’ve heard of them before from other people on the board… Man, that’s just fun shit! Heh heh heh… and now there’s a lot of grunting and stuff going on… and some whispering… but yeah, I could get behind more random shit like this. Heh, get me something stupid like this for Rock Band, too. I’d buy it. I’d download it. Well, it’s nice to know they came to party. Cause, you know, they are definitely doing that. Man, that was fun shit.

6. Dearg Doom by The Lord Weird Slough Feg: Okay, we got some drums… and some guitars… ticka ticka ticka ticka… what? What kind of lyrics are these…? Oh my goodness. That’s… no. No no no. Well, they’re not getting screamed at me, but… hm… These lyrics are taking themselves too seriously, I think… well, for such lyrics to be accepted by me, they almost need to be ironic or laughing at themselves… well, okay “100 heads are so much better than 1,” that could be a good path to go, but I don’t think they’re going there. The music itself isn’t really drawing me in either… it’s the same little guitar riff over and over… and it’s a very short sort of pattern… I don’t know. Eh, it was really mediocre to me…

7. Meat Grinder by Madvillian (MF Doom + Mad Lib): This is a rap song, right? Okay, listening to it already it tells me it probably is. Something is under the bed… oh, and then it just disappeared and started another song, apparently. Okay, there’s the rapping… and there’s the meat grinding that was talked about. See, at least this one has lyrics that’s trying to be something else… I’m not catching them all, though… it’s sort of that quick pace that makes me jealous that I can’t do that… I mean, I probably could if I practiced, I guess… this is obviously pretty practiced, I’d think. I don’t know. See, I don’t know… you almost have to use the voice as the percussion sorta thing and then build a song around that rhythm or something… oh, it’s over quick.

8. Diana by Comus: That’s… that’s starting really weird… okay, so weird little vocals… and a repeating thing in a background… I doubt this song is going to change, either… they’re doing some sort of like… sheep baaaaaah thing as they sing. It’s weird. Odd. Strange. One of those. Yeah, this… well, this certainly is a different unique sort of sound. So that’s always nice to have, I guess… but it’s not really a sound I want anything to do with. I can agree with its existence, I suppose. Oh, it’s picked up the pace, I see… huh… huh huh… I like these quick bongo drummy things here… those are nice… a nice quick pace, yeahyeah… and we’re back to normal singing… yeah, I just don’t know, you know? It keeps going and going… it’s getting close to outstaying its welcome in my book, but it is about over with. Yeah, and now we’re just into weird instrumentals until the end, then? Ah, a fade out. Okay.

9. Blue in Green by Miles Davis: Some piano… light piano… slow piano… and there’s some horn… trumpet? Trombone? Now I wish I knew more about Miles Davis so I could pick that out. Cornet? I bet it’s a Cornet. Those are weird. Sousaphone? No, those are big… anyway, yeah, this song is trying for a slow depressing kind of feeling which automatically makes me sort of hate it on principal… exciting upbeat music, mann! That’s what I want! But I suppose it’s pleasant enough, and is succeeding at what it’s wanting to be… a little piano sorta drum horn… thing… see, now that sounds more like a saxaphone… was I just crazy in the beginning? I could have been. I am known to be crazy in the beginning as well as in the middle and at the end, from time to time… Yeah, it just keeps on going and I keep on not liking it on principal… keeps on going… yep… keeps and keeps on going…

10. Hip Hop by Mos Def: Okay, here’s some more rapping… I can actually picture Mos Def because of trailers for that one movie… and that’s definitely his voice… huh… yeah, lots of talking about himself… I just don’t know why that’s appealing to anyone but the guy singing it, you know? You could so easily apply this sort of style to something more… interesting? It just sort of flips a switch that says “this song is about nothing but self-congratulation” even if it isn’t… but I’m weird. I don’t know. Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock… Rock. Rock. Or something. Yeah, it just keeps going, doesn’t it? I mean, I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, it’s not that long a song. it’s just… I don’t know. Man, I have such trouble connecting to so much of this.

11. The Mercury Craze by Subtle: That’s like… oh woah… that’s… yeah… heh… “Oh no!” Oh, I’m liking this so far… don’t let me down, song! Keep this shit up! Come on, build, build, build… make the refrain something awesome when you break into it… that’s all I need… come on come on come on…! Oh… well, that wasn’t what I wanting at all. “Be. El. Be. El.” Eh. Yeah, now it’s doing weird in a stupid way here in the middle… and now it’s back to where it was when I was digging it… man, this song is fairly good, but it was so close… it’s going to break into more of that weird shit before it’s done, I know. See, it’s built up a little more at this point, and it’s a lot of fun, but I know soon it’s just going to be all stupid again and cut out all the fun I’m having with this part. See? See. There it is. Or not… maybe it’s just weird slow instrumental part… or… slow instrumental part to the end of the song…? It faded out and faded back into something else that’s… what? Well, um… okay…

12. Apparitions by Matthew Good Band: Uh oh… acoustic guitar and soft male vocalist… this isn’t looking good for my own personal enjoyment… Then again, stuff like “Matthew Good Band” is kind of a giveaway of sorts, isn’t it? So yeah, it’s just another one of these songs, which are never like… bad? It’s not going to make me angry or want to hurt myself or something. But it’s so… standard. So… common… so… not at all what I would listen to. Perhaps what Essner would listen to, but not what I would listen to… well, you know, outside of this sort of thing where the point is to try and listen to everything… oh man, it’s not even halfway over… oh man. Okay, so let’s see what the lyrics are about, I guess… lose the world from the comfort of your living room tell me are we leaving soon… um, well, okay… that’s not like… bad? That could be something good… and now he’s just going to say “Apparitions” like four times. Or three times, sorry, miscounted. Now here’s the bridge… some more powerful guitar than the rest of the song… Yeah, this song isn’t for me… but it’s slowing to a stop… and it’s back to just the lone guitar… and… Nah nah nah… over. Okay.

13. Gaia by Devin Townsend: Starting off with a little energy… like that… like that… but will it go somewhere with it? That’s always the problem. Okay, male vocalist, singing about a woman… guitars sort of eating his voice… his voice treated somehow to sound different… yeah, I can barely make out what he’s saying… Yeah, it’s got some energy, but it’s not infecting me with it… wait, was that some screamy I heard there for a second…? I suppose we’ll see if it comes back… I mean, it’s got some keyboards and stuff, which I always like, but it’s just… I don’t know. I don’t want to sing along with this song or anything, you know? I guess that’s a key part of liking a song for me, wanting to sing along with it… oh, there’s definitely a screamy part there… and we’re into a bridge or something… instrumental part… the song is only half over… his could be bad… the  song could be like… all guitar solo… yeah, it’s looking like it… more and more instrumental stuff… and more… and more and more… oh, wait, his voice is kinda coming back… but it’s more just kinda background noise… and one sustained note….! And now we’re back into the song, I guess. Maybe. We’re thinking about getting back to the song. Okay, now we’re back to the song, but I can hear the vocalist even less clearly over the guitar now… obviously, he is not important to this song, which makes me wonder why the vocals are there to begin with. Okay, we’re building towards and end maybe… and… and… and… end. Okay.

14. Where the Wild Roses Grow by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Some violins and strings, I see… female vocalist? Okay, so we’re talking slow song here, aren’t we… yeah… oh, here’s a sorta deep male voice… is this the legendary Nick Cave? Or not really legendary. I don’t know. I’ll just throw a master ball anyway… and yeah, so here’s a slow violin-y love song, I guess… I suppose it’s fine enough… it’s got the deep singing, which is… it is. I don’t feel like I’m buying the romance though… it’s just a story, which is fine, I suppose, but there’s no actual romance in it. I guess we have at least one more verse left, huh? But yeah, this is all… ballad-y…? Is that the right word? I think so. There’s nothing bad with that, I suppose. Oh, okay, so there’s murder now? Well, alright then. That makes the tone make more sense, I suppose. Uh oh! Switched to past tense! And the end.

15. Primordial by The Coffin Ships: The Coffin Ships, eh? That’s an interesting band name. This guitar part isn’t interesting me yet, though. Here’s some energetic drums here… more and more… and let’s just keep repeating this over and over for awhile longer… wonder how long we can keep that up… okay, and now we got some more guitar and then we’re going to repeat that for at least that long aren’t we? Oh, okay, a little less, I guess. Switching it up a little more… is there even going to be singing in this? We’re sort of passing the point where the vocalist should come in… I suppose it would work a little better as an instrumental, actually… though man, it’s all long and shit, isn’t it? Yeah, I guess we have these different verse parts… I don’t know, it’s not… it would be okay if something else was happening, but nothing else is happening. What? There is singing? After all that shite? I wouldn’t have believed it. These vocals don’t seem like anything to wait through all of that other stuff for, though… and now they’re gone again… man… and back again… I’m sorry, but the idea that there is another half of this song I still have to listen to is breaking my spirits. I’m moving on.

16. Body of an American by The Pogues: Okay, we got the flute-y Irish-y stuff here… and it’s building to be more like that… and it is like that. It’s all slow marching-style, huh? Something like that. Oh… oh, now it’s picking up a little more… okay, so it’s a goodbye farewell… thing… isn’t all of these songs like this sort of? It certainly seems that way, in any case… Anyway, it’s built up kinda nicely and fun. It’s a song like this… what else can I say about it? I don’t know anything else to say about it. And now it’s all slowing down… but there’s still a lot of song left to go… so I assume it’s going to pick up and do the refrain again at the end… or… maybe it is going to be like this all the way to the end… yeah, now it’s fading out… I guess it is. Well, huh.

Yeah, so, there was a lot of this CD I didn’t like, but Squeeze Me Macaroni was neat, at the very least, and will be added to my collection.

Okay, so let’s keep this sort of thing sort of going, eh? Eh?
Oh no, there’s french words I’m too lazy to type with the correct accents… sorry, french people!
Oh, and MCBanjoMike put additional information about these songs… here. So I dunno, if you’re actually interested enough to read this liveblog, you might be interested enough to actually know something about these songs, and then you would click that link, you see?
Maybe?
Well, here we go, then.

Listening Time Volume 16: Trad 101

1. Nil ‘na La by Solas: Yeah, there’s definitely Irish…ness… there. I didn’t look at the supplemental materials before I started. Is that bad? Oh well, that’s not normally how I roll. It’s supplemental, I should look at it after if I feel the need to. Anyway, yeah, this is like… if someone made an Indie movie set in Ireland, this is the sort of music that would be playing in the background during the credits or something as the main characters… I dunno… bike through a town in the opening sequence or something. It’s pleasant enough to the ear, certainly. The girl singer has a really pretty voice, certainly. It doesn’t really get me into it… oh, and it’s over.

2. Temisti-Me by Ni sarpe, ni branche: Some fiddlin’… some more of the similar type of stuff, huh? Or maybe it’s not and I’m an idiot, who knows… there’s percussion that sounds like dance-stomping stuff, but I bet it isn’t… I don’t know offhand how you’d make that sort of… slapping on your legs, that’s how you’d do it. Man, I’m dense sometimes. Well, I’m guessing at this point this is an instrumental piece, which is kinda sad because, like I said, the girl in the last one had a nice voice. Oh, what? A guitar of some sort? Are we, dare I say it, about to break it down here in this folk song? …no, no it doesn’t seem like we are. It’s just more of the same with that new rhythm underneath it. Heh, that guitar does add something, though… yeah, it’s all kind of fun. Would never picture me ever listening to it? But it’s fun. Stuff like this, as I’m sure I’ll keep saying if this disc gives me more music like this, is perfect to put in the background of something… a game, a movie… and make me appreciate it like that to clearly set a mood, but I’m just not going to seek it out otherwise. Yeah, it keeps going and going with the same thing… oh, okay, now it’s done.

3. The Sporting Pitchfork/The Diplodocus/Charlie Mulvihill’s by Alan & John Kelly: Okay, what instrument is that playing. I mean, I guess a flute? I don’t know, it sounds different. I mean, I don’t have a lot of idea. Yeah, this is more and more of the same, I suppose, although like… the first one was like the beginning of the second one, and the end of the second one was like the guitar in this first part… and now we went into a different part with a different instrument again. Man, I suck at naming instruments today. I swear sometimes I’m kinda okay at it. I wonder when it changed was when the song name changed, since I’ve been given 3 song names. But the base stuff seems pretty much the exact same, doesn’t it? I dunno. Yeah, I guess that was probably the change, cause there’s a very obvious change and we’re a little shy of 2/3rds done with the song… It’s all cute nice little stuff, but nothing with some meat on it, you know? It’s all kinda light. Lightish? Lightesque? Maybe sort of light? Twilight? Eh, who knows. Song OVAR.

4. Le bedeau de St-David by Les Charbonniers de l’enfer: Oh, there’s singing. A choir of sorts. Okay, so we got one leading voice and a choir behind him repeating what he says… whatever the hell he’s saying, of course. Man, you’d never believe I had two years of French by how so very little I know. Yeah, this isn’t very… musical? Not that it’s working against it, so much. It’s just got a beat… Like a march thing… or a… what’s it called… those March back and forth things… call and reponse things… Brer would know… if he reads this, I’m sure he’ll tell me… heh…

5.The Banks of the Sweet Vildee by Dervish: Okay, I’m digging that starting part. It’s got that folk-y feeling, but it had a more something for it… but now it’s back to business as usual. Still a chance they could break it down… no, past the point of breaking it down. Oh well. This girl, I don’t really dig her voice. Maybe it’s the heavy accent though. She just sounds weird. Man, I guess that’s bad to say about someone’s accent, huh? But it’s less singing and more like… super-accent. I’m only catching like the random words in it too… there was a “Green” there… I keep hearing some “my love”s… I dunno. “She wept more…” I give up. Oh, wait, there’s the title! I heard the title! I don’t know, it was certainly more upbeat and more… full…? But it didn’t do much for me at all.

6. Mornings at Bonny Doon/Palm Sunday by Andre Marchand & Grey Larson: Okay, just some guitar… quiet little guitar… sneaky guitar… Oh maaan, this is like… put me to sleep music… Do I have enough caffeine to make it through this song if this keeps up? Also, it’s not put me to sleep music in a bad way, it’s… lullaby kind of music, I mean. And there’s some soft sneaking woodwinds of some kind sneaking in there sneakily… Okay, so… we’re… maybe near the middle… so maybe it’ll change over… but with a name like Palm Sunday, I guess I’m not expecting much… or maybe it’ll be like Jesus Christ Superstar. HO SANNA HEY SANNA SANNA SANNA HO SANNA HEY SANNA HO SANNA! Oh, well, it is picking up a bit, isn’t it? Basically, the flutething and the guitar are switching places. Now the flute is in front and the guitar is in back. That’s neat, I suppose. This isn’t going to put me to sleep, but it’s still not really enthralling, though. It’s still very light and out there… wanting to hover over me or away from me instead of infect me and engage me. That’s what I like my music to do. Yeah.

7. Beehive by Flook: Flook is a pretty good name. Oooh, starting out fast… potential… Oh yeah, we got some drums… we might have a winner here… keep on building, thing… break out hard and really make it happen! Or… bring in another flute. I guess that’s just what this kind of music always uses, huh? Still, that guitar stuff is really kind of infectious. Makes you tap your foot along with it with it’s fast rhythm action. Now we got like dueling flutes or something. Oh woah, we switched it up and brought it to another level here! Yeah, that’s nice… yeah, this is getting close to music I would listen to. That’s energizing. I like that. Oh yeah, even more! Very, very nice. And now we brought it to just the guitars building… and building… and building…! What are you planning, guitars? Oh, just to have the flutes break it down a different way, I see. Yeah, this is folkish music I would listen to on occasion. I could see this being a favorite track on a video game soundtrack or something. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thumbs up for that one. I think I’ll probably make Brer listen to this one…

8. The Newport Lass/Frances Aucoin/Astro’s Rough Day by Kieran O’Hare: And coming off of that last one, we’re back to more normal fare. Ah well, I suppose it’s sort of… unavoidable? I would guess. I mean, obviously BanjoMike has a much, much better idea of what is out there. But yeah, this is just normal stuff. It’s upbeat and nice, and a bit fuller than other selections, but it doesn’t engage me like Beehive did. Maybe the other two song parts will? I don’t know. It seems to be building more but not changing at all… and the song is over halfway over… I guess the first and second sections are like… the same thing? Okay, so here’s definitely a different song… A better melody than the first one. It goes down lower and does things with itself… yeah… but still, not doing a whole lot for me.

9. Intro by Swap: I assume this and the next track are connectedish. Ooh, neato. Heh. Silly little blippy-ness. I wasn’t expecting blippy keyboards on this CD at all. And that’s it.

10. Robert by Swap: Hey! This isn’t blippy at all! But it’s the same rhythm, of course. It’s got that nice little beat to it… where it like skips a beat and then catches up real fast? I don’t know what to call it offhand. I suck like that. Oh, there’s like… scat vocals here. Zo Doodle dawdle dum… Yeah, I don’t know how much they’re adding, really. But at least it’s a little different, so I can respect that, I suppose. And now back to just the instruments… la dee da… Yeah, that… yeah. It’s over now. Huh.

11. Good Drying by Shooglenifty: If a band with a name as amazing as “Shooglenifty” lets me down, I’m going to be sad. Just telling you. We’re starting out fast, that’s a good sign… and that little “bump” shows promise… hm… hmmmmm… come on, song, break it down… do it…! Aww, I don’t think it’s going to… Wait…! No, it didn’t… wait… okay, we got some more gutiarish stuff and some drums now… okay, yeah, we’re getting there… building more and more… and more… and more… yeah, sure, let’s just keep on doing that, huh? More drums. Also a scratching noise. Build build build. I guess that’s all the song is going to do for the whole song. Okay, now the song has changed, but the energy level hasn’t, like I was hoping after all that building… this isn’t really what I was wanting. Boo! Be better, Shooglenifty! I mean, I guess you’re good at what you do, but do something I want! All well. Oh woah, there was some drums and now it’s upped the energy a little with some weird new thing here. That’s cool. Yeah, it’s alright. Yep yep. I can approve.

12. The Humours of Bally Manus/Gortnamona by Siobhan Peoples & Murty Ryan: And we’re back to more normal stuff again. Again, as I should expect. But man, “Siobhan Peoples” is quite a name, isn’t it? Or is it a band name? I guess it could be a band name. Yeah, this first part isn’t too humorous, really. It just is, mostly. Yeah, more and more… this stuff is really starting to all sort of blend together for me, I’m sorry to say… Yeah, if this changed in the middle, I didn’t even notice it… oops?

13. Home/Gray Spey/Lucy Campbell by Bohola: Oh, singing… male singing… slow male singing. Uh oh. And about love, too… oh my. Yeah, I… yeah… not… yeah. Okay, well, here’s some more people singing, I suppose. But this “Home” is pretty eh. And it keeps going and going… and going… another verse… Oh, okay, it’s speeding up or something… but I bet it’s probably fooling me… lulling me into a false sense of security… I guess this is Gray Spey. It’s just more of the same. Par for the course. But at least it’s not aiming to put me to sleep, which is nice. I guess this is different, so this is Lucy Campbell? I was expecting more vocals for the last part. But I guess they’re not doing that. Which is… kind of weird and silly to me, but I don’t know. I just have a thing about songs that do a little singing and then go into long instrumentals. I feel gypped. I like a good vocal track. Oh well, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It’s all basically over now. And now it is over.

14. Le coq d’Inde by Les chauffeurs a pieds: The Drivers of Walking…? Or something like that? My french sucks ass. Seriously, 2 years, remember jack shit. I’ve always been horrible at languages, I live so, so much in English. Okay, so we got some singing I can’t understand… and it’s very call and response with the choir, which I suppose is fairly standardish… well, okay, in parts… and now we got a fiddle solo. And back to singing. And… yeah, I don’t know. It’s very repetitive. Especially since I can’t perceive the lyrics to tell if they’re something different. The sound is pretty well exactly the same. Again, I guess a lot of songs are like that… but… I don’t know. The start of the verses are so, so exactly the same and kinda annoying. I don’t know. Oh well, it’s over now.

15. Gan Ainm/The Tap Room/The Yellow Cow by Enda Scahill: Okay, we got some fast guitar. That’s nice. Do we have singing? Oh no! We have banjo! Nice! Banjos are nice. That is a Banjo, right? I’m going to feel really stupid if that’s not a banjo. Yeah, that’s nice and upbeat. The guitar-y-ness is just keeping the beat all fast in the background while it’s all “look at how well I can play banjo, if this is truly a banjo!” I mean, I guess that’s a lot of it. But it’s a lot more musical than, say, most Rokkin’ guitar solos which are just ridiculous and stupid in my opinion. So I’m not going to compare this to that, really. Even though I’m sure some of those really fast sections of notes are probably fairly hard to play. That quick back and forth. I mean, I’d probably miss them in Guitar Hero, so I’m sure they’re tons harder in actuality. Oh, wait, this was three songs too. I didn’t really notice the change here either. Well, so it goes, I guess. The end. There’s… a lot of silence at the end. Oh well.

16. There’s the Day by Cathal McConnell: Cathal is a man’s name?!? Well, alrighty then! Just a capalla? I can dig it. Well, I could dig it. Except it isn’t very impressive or musical or cool. Just some talking vaguely in rhythm and going uuuuuuup and then doooown… which is… I don’t know. That’s not all that great to listen to, is it? I mean, I guess someone obviously likes it. BanjoMike obviously likes it to some extent to send it to me. I guess I should be listening to the lyrcis, eh? Since it’s like… all the song has? And yet, it doesn’t make me want to… so I’m not, really… I mean, the refrain is like “It’s not the day, it is the day, there’s a day maybe but it’s not a day I don’t think but it’s a day.” Yeah I don’t like this at all, really.

Well, that was definitely a new experience. Beehive gets Thumbs Up! The rest gets all kinda blurred together in my head for the most part. But so it goes!

So part of my plan for this week is to catch the fuck up on these, so let’s get started on 1 of 5, shall we?

Listening Time Vol. 15
Violent Vixen

1. Opening Act – Ugly Duckling: Some talking, I see… some frisking… frisky… There’s some nice piano all cutely… or… okay… and now it’s started and… I… no… yeah, I don’t know. There’s some xylophone, I see… but yeah, this singing is… yeah, what…? What should I even say about it. It’s trying to be playful, I suppose, but it’s not… very good…? I mean, I don’t know. It’s got this back and forth talksinging over the little cute stuff and I just. Yeah. Bleh. Oh, it’s got a lot more to go still, too… oh man. This is an inauspicious start.

2. Please Forgive Me – David Gray: Okay this… wait… Oh gods, this is a Kohl’s song… a song that plays at work that I hear over and over and over and over and over and over and over… oh no no no. Okay, so, yeah, I am going to hate this no matter what because of that, so all comments on this song are pretty moot. Sorry about that. Man, I know all the lyrics and everything… Bleh, I’m not doing very good on this mix so far.

3. Never There – Cake: Now okay, here’s a song I like. Cake is pretty good stuff, for the most part. Never There is a pretty good song overall, too, although I prefer things like… like… Carbon Monoxide… Neeeeeeeever there… you’re neeeeeever there! You’re never, ever, ever, ever there. Ever there. But yeah, I like Cake. They’re upbeat, and they got the brass stuff which is always fun. And the vibraslap! There was some right there! Nice!

4. Crutch – Matchbox Twenty: I’ve heard of these people, but I know like nothing about them, besides, I guess, they enjoy being lit on fire. Oh, that… that’s a weird sort of thing, isn’t it? Oh, it’s skipping… what… I guess the CD has a problem. But okay, it’s gone now… it’s got this weird sort of echo-y stuff in the background. I do kinda like the quick-talking stuff… but this refrain is not really… the vocalist is singing in a… well, reminding me of country sort of way. Couldn’t tell you exactly what makes me say that, though. Well, it’s how he says “I don’t wanna be the!” That’s what gives me that idea… but yeah, this is listen-able, but I’m not excited about it.

5. Cold As Ice – Foreigner: Like the belt, right? I’m willing to sacrifice our love? I don’t really love you, Foreigner. I never did. Hey, I take some advice… sometimes… so I guess it’s got that piano thing in the background unchanged for the whole song, huh? Those are some serious ooohs and aaaaahs there. And now we’re to the solo bridge thingamajig… I don’t know, I want to say the song doesn’t really reflect the lyrics. The lyrics would seem to suggest something that’s either angry of depressed, and this song is neither of those. But yeah, this song certainly has background singers, huh? And a slow fade… yeah… huh.

6. Pardon Me – Incubus: My ex-girlfriend really liked Incubus… I remember listening to their CDs while I drove her around. I can’t say I remember anything in particular, though. This song isn’t really ringing a bell, anyway. So if I had to take a guess at this part of the CD, Violentvixen has a thing for that kinda quick talk-singing over music, because a lot of these songs have things like that in it. It’s kinda fun at times. Oh, here come a bunch of scratching. Scratchscratch talkfast. But yeah… “Pardon Me While I Burst Into Flames.” Really? I don’t know, on one hand I can see that phrase being applied very effectively and neatly, but I don’t feel like this song is, because that refrain has an element of drama to it. It would have to be a sort of devoid of that. Much less dramatic sarcastic and much more… completely meaning it and it being more symbolic. I dunno. Anyway, I guess the song is ending with this reverb stuff.

7. You Make Me Completely Miserable – Filter: “You Make Me Come…” Way to start out dirty, song. This song is slower… I do hope it doesn’t keep up that sort of thing for the whole song… with the Dun Dun Duuun… Duhduhduhduhduhduhduhduh… well, okay, it’s sorta different in this refrain, I guess. Yeah, this song, sadly, is much cleaner than the beginning of the song would suggest. False advertising! But then again, I guess I did know the title beforehand, huh? Yeah, I dunno, this song is doing nothing for me. The little trick with the not the whole title singing thing is kinda… nothing to me. Oh, it ended abruptly.

8. The Drama King – Everclear: Everclear song number 1. I am already questionable on the vocalist… eh, nevermind, it’s not… yeah, it’ll be okay. So, okay, when I focus in on the lyrics, I kinda dislike the song? They aren’t doing much to me. They feel kinda generic. But when I just listen to the song song and try not to zero in on the lyrics like I normally do, it’s not too bad. It would work in the background without annoying me or anything, you know? I don’t know. There’s a strong possibility, I think, that I just dislike this song and will like other songs by this band. We will see if that holds when I get to the other one, huh?

9. Title and Registration – Death Cab for Cutie: I’ve heard of these people, but I know nothing about them besides that their name sounds familiar. Okay, male vocalist… I was sort of thinking maybe female by the name, but cool, cool. He’s got a sort of distinctive sound in a good way, so that’s nice. Yeah, it’s… it’s nice, but it’s not got… it’s got some energy, but it doesn’t use it. The singer doesn’t have any, although he sounds nice… ooh, I like that xylophone or bells or whatever here in this bridge… yeah, I’m left conflicted. I’m enjoying the song, but my natural hate of slowness is pushing against it. Huh.

10. Hang On – Guster: I like Guster’s faster stuff, certainly. Uninteresting factoid: me and my friends have an inside joke about Guster’s Maracas Player and his great maraca solos. Yeah, okay, it’s this song. It’s very listen-able, and enjoyable, certainly. But it’s never a song I put into my own playlists. It’s more something one of my friends would put on and I would sort of nod in agreement to. So yeah, a fine piece of music, I suppose. Hang on… hang on… I think there’s… yes, there’s another song coming up… I think I’ll blog it.

11. Square One (Live) – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Don’t know much about them, besides the fact that I read a short story about them once and probably missed a lot. Whoo~! The Crowd! Whoo~! But yeah, goodness, this is like serious slow acoustic sort of stuff here, which is… not really my area… oh, here’s a backup singer. A Dark Victory, huh? That would be a good name for a Magic card… Dark Victory… 3BB, Sorcery, Destroy Target Creature, you lose 3 life. Or something. It would probably be cheaper than that. But yeah, this song isn’t much for me. I think I said that. I think one could tell that with my mind drifting. Yeah.

12. Devil’s Dance Floor – Flogging Molly: There’s some drum sticks going on there… and now some flute-y stuff… Yeah, it’s this band, right? Yeah, it’s this one. I suppose there’s definitely a call for this kinda music, huh? That… blend? Blending? It is kind of infectious, isn’t it? It’s almost like… all drums, though. I mean, I guess there’s other things going on, but the drums is what I’m taking out of it, mostly. Is that weird? It’s just obviously the most powerful part. Drums with that flue thing over it. Yeah. Yeah.

13. Feeling Good – Muse: This is that one band again with the song and the music video I’m supposed to think is awesome but I don’t think is awesome. Quiet keyboarding and singing… okay… new life for him… that’s nice… oh, okay, and now here come the guitars. But the tempo didn’t pick up at all like I was hoping. This is unfortunate. Yeah, I think I “get” this song, but I don’t really… I’m not really enjoying it. I approve of its existence in the world, though. It can continue to exist. Okay, so now he’s singing up high and going all Ooooooooooh! Ooo Ooooooooh! Or something. And I guess it’s going to do that until the end or something? Well, alright then, go ahead and do that, thing…

14. The Old Apartment – Barenaked Ladies: Okay, so… something about an Old Apartment… and they live there in the past time. Okay, so, he is asking why someone is making the place better in every way… which I guess I can understand in some things, but he’s not explaining things very well in this case. I mean, “Why did you plaster up the hole in the door?” Seriously? Anyone would do that. Changing the color of the walls, you have more of a case, I suppose. Changing the locks on the door is also a stupid thing to complain about… I don’t know, basically, I don’t like the vocalist because of all that weird stuff, and it feels like that is all the song has going for it. It’s “like this guy and listen to him.” And I don’t like him.

15. Insomniac – Straight No Chaser: Oh my, A Capella, huh? Intense. I can dig it. Although this doesn’t seem like a very… exciting song. More of a standard song instead of the fun of doing something a little more different and fun with it or whatever. I don’t know, love songs just seem so… that’s what A capella songs are about and stuff and things and stuff, you know? Then again, I suppose MOST music is about such things, so I guess I don’t have a very good case, huh? Also, the fact that the background people keep singing “Jim My Jim My Jimmy Jimmy” makes me wonder weird things. Certainly a more romantic song than the title suggests to me, though.

16. Do You Realize?? – The Flaming Lips: More Flaming Lips, eh? And they counted for me. And then started playing… I didn’t hear two question marks when they sang it. They need to make it more interrogative!  Realize realize realize… Well, that’s kind of a depressing thought. It thought this was going to be a romance song. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, it fooled me at the beginning. It’s a “make the most out of life” song. But yeah, it… yeah. Nothing for me here, really. It’s sweet enough, I suppose.

17. The Good Witch of the North – Everclear: Everclear song number two! Aww, it wasted it’s chance to “Break it down” there. The lyrics are sweet, though. Really sweet. I can support the lyrics. It’s never bad to have sappy overly emotional love songs that know they are. This one knows it is. It’s not like… trying to be deep. It’s just like “no, seriously, I love you, and I’m trying to tell you.” I am all about that. That’s the only way to write love poetry, at least, you know? Because others are in love, love is not like this… awesome rare awe-inspiring thing… and yet, at the same time, it is. So you have to admit your love isn’t special, but then say strongly that its there in your tone… and this one does it. Bravo.

18. The Mixed Tape by Jack’s Mannequin: The last song… the band name makes me think of Jack Mangan. Because it’s Jack Mmmmmmmmmm. Well, this one seems picked for last due to the name, huh? It’s a bit more upbeat than a lot of this CD, but it’s not doing anything for me. Also, I guess it is about a mix tape, isn’t it? But it’s… I don’t know. It’s not saying that to me? Even though I guess the lyrics are about that and I can’t deny it. It… I don’t know. I don’t buy this guy’s emotion. Unlike the last song, where I totally bought it. See, and there’s like some… ego there “I swear this mix could sink the sun.” also read as “I am so awesome and perfect for you.” The end.

And that’s it. Final thoughts: Most of the songs were listen-able. There was a lot of romantic attempts, most of them I didn’t buy except the second to last track, which got me. That was strong. Yes.

I’m bored and lost, and I should do something constructive. So I’ll knock another one of these out! Huzzah! Apparently I have Copy #1 of this signed and numbered series, so that’s exciting. also, Sarcasmorator put the track list online so I can just copy and paste, saving me valuable time.

Sarcasmorator’s Talking Time MEGAMIX

One: “I Only Want You” – Eagles of Death Metal: One Two, One Two Three Foarr. Okay, here’s some guitar… and some… weird vocals? Well, not weird, just… oddly falsetto…? Yeah, I don’t know about that singing, but the guitar is kinda catchy, isn’t it? Also, the refrain is also catchy. I only WANT YUUU! I only WANT YUUU! Heh, I dunno. Yeah, this is alright. I don’t see myself listening to it again, but this is alright. Woah, complete silence… and back! And again! Woah!

Two: “Trunk Fulla Amps” – Self: Okay, we got some guitar being all guitary… and what’s that kind of noise called… I don’t know… and some beeps… OH NOS, F-BOMBS! My poor virgin ears. But yeah, there isn’t much going on with the vocals just repeating the same thing over and over, and the music is only slightly changing, although again, it’s kinda catchy. But yeah, you’ve got basically most of what they say in the title there. Now we have this bridge here… and it’s… I wanna say tropical-sounding? Which is interesting. I don’t know why I think that, perse…there’s like some… sleighbell in there, too. Thrilling. Oh, it’s coming back… I wonder if he still has a trunk fulla amps… oh, no, still some… oh, okay, now he’s starting again. And I’m happy to report he still has a trunk full of amps. Also, FUCKA! Fucka! fucka! Alright!

Threep: “Plug In Baby” – Muse: Yes, there seems to be a typo, but I like the sound of “Threep.” So I’m not changing it. All kinda noisy here at the beginning… and now we have a guitar solo… kind of electric-y sounds, but not blippy… Oh, wait, Muse… they did that Knights of Cydonia song that apparently everyone but me likes, right? Am I crazy? I could be crazy. Anyway, I thought that song was pretty mediocre, either way… and this song is approaching Rock Song to me, although not quite, because the guitars are different… but… hmm… let’s see… yeah I’m… I’m not focusing on the song. That’s a bad sign. HOOOOO-OOOOH-OOOOOOOOOH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! And then guitars till the end, I guess? Oh, just one sustained note till the end. I see.

Four: “Prelude to War” – Battlestar Galactica Season 2: BSG, huh? Another thing my boyfriend would like me to watch with him but didn’t keep my interest. I take it this is just an instrumental track… although I admit I’d laugh if you’d get a guy in there going like… “A PRELUDE TO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR WAR IS COMING THEY’RE COMING THE CYLONS ARE COMING WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! A PRELUDE TO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!” But no, instead you have some nice strings here and there’s that kinda marching drum beat in the background, which I suppose is appropriate if you’re writing a musical piece to invoke the concept of war. In general, though, I find such music, even if completely awesome, to have little effect on me if I don’t already have some sort of emotional connection to the music. Case in point, the Smash Brothers Brawl Soundtrack. I’m sure there are lots better music out there than, say, this Kirby Boss Medley, but that music isn’t connected with all the fun I’ve had with all the Kirby games over the years, and that Medley just kicks ass, you know? And now we’re into marching band drum solo, I see… uh oh, and now here’s… oh, it went back to normal, I thought it was doing some like… mysterious spooky thing there for a second. But yeah, it keeps on going. It’s over halfway done… I think I’m just going to ramble about me and orchestral pieces more… like how I find them really useful for writing but I can’t listen to them much otherwise? It’s because normal music has lyrics and lyrics fill the word part of my brain while I’m trying to sing along, you see? What? That doesn’t make sense? Oh well. But yeah, this is a nice background piece, but especially at the length it just fades into the background for me. See, it was building there and I thought it was going to do something different, but it was just one big note and then it went back to normal. Oh well. And here’s a slow calm part for awhile with no drums… but I like the drums, that’s what gives it energy, you know? Okay, well, it’s adding more and more instruments and building back up now. Yeah, this is a nice little piece, certainly. Just, as I said, I only use this sort of thing in really specific situations, and even then, it needs to be energetic. Me and energetic music, we’re good friends. I think it’s almost over now…? Yeah, okay, there we go.

Five: “Big in Japan” – Tom Waits: Big in Japan, eh? How big are we talking, hm? Oh well, there’s some sort of sawing going on… and now we got some guitar. Woah, what’s up with that guy’s voice? Got some sort of effect on it, I think? But it’s weirdly kinda subtle. Man, that’s a weird voice. He’s got the truck, so he’s big in Japan…? Moves…? Cheese…? What? I think he’s just naming off random objects now. Or does Japan really like Cheese? I mean, I’m sure cheese is alright to them, but… Yeah, this guy’s voice is just annoying and weird, goodness… and the rest of the background stuff isn’t interesting enough to pull me into it anyway. I just realized, is Tom Waits a person or is it a sentence? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Also, is having a whole nation on their knees a sexual thing? Or is my brain just going there because my brain goes there? Then again, it is called “Big in Japan.” I don’t know. Man, I don’t like this guy’s voice. Did I say that? I think he’s done singing now, though.

Six: “15 Step” – Radiohead: Ooh, that’s not too bad… okay, now he’s singing… still not too bad… let’s see what happens… I don’t know Radiohead. Even when they put up their album for free I didn’t try it. I don’t know what that says about me. I just never had a reason to want to try them, I guess? I wasn’t expecting it to be so electronic… with the MIDI claps in the background and whatever, you know? I mean, I dunno what I was expecting, either. This is a nice song, though. Here’s some ooohs… and now back to the normal stuff… Etcetera, etcetera… some electric-y bridge here… oh, okay, they brought the bass back in… yeah… that’s nice. This song, I am enjoying. Maybe I have made a mistake not trying In Rainbows or whatever that one they put up was. Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty good. I’d like to see if they did something even more upbeat.

Seven: “Knives Out” – The Flaming Lips: More Flaming Lips, huh? You guys have certianly made me listen to more of them than ever before, and I see ViolentVixen’s CD has another track on it. They haven’t grabbed me so far, though. This is looking like slower paced piano piece, so it probably isn’t going to do much for me just on the basis of being slower. Oh man, yeah, any song telling me to slow down is probably not in sync with my normal music aesthetic. Not at all not at all. Yeah, this song just keeps going and going and going and going and I’m not interested, really… a lot of talk of catching the mouse, though. I’m pointlessly tempted to attempt to make that into some sort of euphemism. “I’m catching the mouse, if you know what I mean, wink wink, nudge nudge.” And now we’re into long instrumental portion that isn’t really changing it up from the rest of the song at all. Aaaaand it’s over.

Eight: “Lose Me” – Denali: Uh oh, this is sounding slow too. Doesn’t look good for me. There’s some cymbal… oh, female vocals… yeah, the chances of this picking up is pretty well nil, and the lyrics aren’t catching me enough… sometimes I feel bad at how I just hate slow songs for no real reason, but that is just how i am, I suppose. I could force an appreciation on myself, but that doesn’t sound like very much fun, does it? Well, it doesn’t to me. I’ve been trying to force an appreciation of older literature and poetry and stuff for years and years of college and haven’t succeeded at all. Oh, it ended.

Nine: “The Greatest” – Cat Power: Oh man, and I had such hope for a band named “Cat Power.” I’ll be honest, all these slower songs are not helping me stay awake… my body has been trying to force me to nap, and here I am trying to keep myself up by doing something constructive and here we go. But this has some nice harmony going with the vocals and the stuff… but yeah… more piano and slow music and singing that’s just sort of over this slow plotting piano… and I guess there’s some strings in there… violin? Or something. Well, that ended kind of abruptly.

Ten: “Strangers in the Night” – Cake: Okay, so all those things I’ve said up there about me not liking slow songs and stuff? For some reason it rarely applies to Cake. I like Cake. And I like this cover of Strangers in the Night. I don’t claim to be able to explain it. I’m sure the brass helps, though. Brass is nice. Also, the VIBRASLAP. I used to play the Vibraslap. It was GOOD STUFF. Anyway, I mean, granted, I wouldn’t listen to this like… a lot… like how I normally put songs on endless repeat? I couldn’t do that with this. But I like it.

Eleven: “Some Solex” – Solex: Accordion? Nice. Oh, and female vocals… and… that’s… weird noises… huh. See, I like the basic melody but it always ends with these noises and that light cymbal hit that my brain tells me sounds like a puff of steam…? And that bothers me. But the simple whatever is nice… yeah, you… you have a lot of this short thing repeated over and over under music, don’t you? Yeah, that’s something a lot of this CD has in common… I do kinda like those vocals too, although I’d like them applied to another song than this one, which I don’t think I like overall. It’s got these parts that are nice? It… It makes me think that I’d like other parts of their album or something. See, that “Some Girl EH eh…” part I think I’d like very much if it was over different music. It’s just so weird as to be distracting and not engaging.

Twelve: “She’s a Rejector” — Of Montreal: This is reminding me of something, but hell if I can remember what… woah, that’s… some interesting vocals there too. Not annoying, but unexpected. Come on, song, Break It Down after this. I think you have potential. Aww, not quite as much as I wanted. Still, I think I’m liking this song. This is a weird Bridge, though. Oh no, she’s a rejector. No no no… no no… yeah, this song isn’t bad. Yeah. Only halfway over, though? It feels most of the way over… I wonder what the song is going to do… or if it’s really going to fade out that slowly… songs need to know when to stop. if it would stop about here that would be nice, but it’s going to go on and on and stuff to make me feel like I need to invest more time than I should into the song… that always annoys me. Just keeps on going. Keeps on going. Bleh.

Thirteen: “Soft Velvety ‘Fer” – MC Honky: MC Honky… are we going to have a lot of bicycle horns in the song? Oh, okay, apparently a voicemail message. Some intense talk about dinner. Oh, and apparently it’s going to be remixed for the whole song…? Or just played over the song. I don’t think using them as the beat is really working. At least in my opinion. I mean, the voicemail messages are kinda cool in that weird sort of way. Oh, and there’s the name of the song. Aww, being very proud of the dog. See, that’s nice. Well, I guess except because she’s humiliated. Gotta be proud of your own. But yeah, this is surprisingly interesting. Weirdly interesting. Never going to listen to it again, but weirdly interesting.

Fourteen: “The Shape of Things to Come” – Battlestar Galactica Season 1: More BSG… this is from Season 1, so maybe I’ve heard it? I’ve watched like… 6, 7 episodes or something or other. But okay, yeah, it’s just an orchestral piece, right. It’s got that steady thing over and over behind it though, like I mentioned most of the CD having earlier. Yeah, again, there’s nothing wrong with this. It’s charming enough, but it’s not doing anything for me without… something for it to color. Does that make sense? Like without a scene for this to splash emotional feelings onto, it just feels kind of… wasted… kind of half done in my eyes. I guess that’s because that’s how I normally experience these orchestral works, while watching a movie or playing a game or something.

Fifteen: “Horse Tears” – Goldfrapp: Now I like Goldfrapp, quite a bit, actually, but I don’t recognize this title, which makes me think it’s on Felt Mountain, which is the only one of hers I don’t have. I don’t claim to know WHY I don’t have that one… then again, it could just be one I never liked and forgot the name of… yeah, it’s all slow and stuff… yeah, this is the other flavor of her stuff that I tend to be pretty mediocre on. I don’t know. It just doesn’t do much for me. Also, I prefer the more electronicish stuff. Heh. Anyway, it too has that piano bum Bah bum Bah over and over constantly like most of the songs have… does all that even make sense? It has this short like… 1 to 2 measure repeating pattern… yeah, it’s ending with a long instrumental, isn’t it. But hey, I think I hear some Theramin. Now there’s a cool instrument! If it’s not a theramin, it should be, dammit. I have decreed it to be so.

Well, alright, that CD definately had a few hits for me, but at least as many misses, if not more. But so it goes, I guess. It was supposedly over a wide range of musical tastes, or at least Sarcasmorator’s musical taste range, but I felt they all had a lot in common. Hm.

Once again, I am COMPLETELY BEHIND! Then again, people are behind in sending them out. But I’m behind. So I’m inspired to finally do one more. So I will! Sorry this too me so long, TheSL.

Heavy Metal Gear
Listening Time Volume 12 by TheSL

1. Bringing Back the Balls to Rock by Lordi Yay yay yay yay yay yay yay yaow!~ Oh, man… yeah… all… growly… I think the boyfriend likes this kind of music, but I don’t normally enjoy it. I think it has a lot to do with me not liking bringing my voice that low, even though I can, and growling like that for the whole song makes my throat hurt… I like to sing along with songs. That’s a good vector to me liking something. Anyway, ramble. It’s… I don’t know enough about this kind of music to find differences… I don’t know. It’s… it’s… well, it’s not Rock Song, because Rock Song doesn’t sound like this… but… maybe it’s Metal Song? I dunno. But Hail in the name of Rock and Roll, though, most definitely. A sort of nice little solo, though, but then they got back to the growly refrain. And it just… ended. Yeah.

2. Concrete Jungle by Black Label Society Woaaaaaowwwwww… well, that’s the sound the instrument is making… I mean, that’s a guitar, right? But it has some effect on it. And they have this effect on the guy’s voice too… that makes it all… muffled? I don’t know why that would be. And now it’s gone for the refrain. Huh… if there’s one thing I can say about this sort of musical thingamajig is that it certainly has an energy behind it, you know? It’s not one that tends to click with me, but… Apparently nobody gets out, and I should be ready to die. That’s kind of unfortunate, as I have a class to get to after this and being alive and not in my house would help with that.

3. Like Light to the Flies by Trivium And we’re right into the screaming. Man, I wouldn’t like to do something like that in Rock Band. Heh. I wouldn’t last several phrases before I starting singing in my light little falsetto stuff. Oh, okay, so here’s some other singing… Like Light to the Flies… I heard the title! Something about bleeding out the eyes? I don’t know? See, again, the screaming growling stuff has energy behind it, but I can’t like… tap into it because I’m not going to scream like that… I don’t know, I’m weird, I guess. Shame on me, I guess, for my head thinking all these so far are Metal Song. Well, I guess the second track was a little different. I don’t know. The non-screaming voice is like… weird… I don’t know how to describe it the way I’m thinking of it… it’s like it should be in another sort of song. And here’s a big solo… no tambourine, so I wouldn’t be entertained at this part in Rock Band. I’d be doing horrible dances to attempt to horribly distract people horribly. See, this solo is long. I’ve found that I really hate songs that just solo forever, no matter how interesting they may be. Put it into a neat Instrumental track, but leave the song alone so I can just have that “good stuff” when I want it, you know? I am rambling about nothing now, I think.

4. Washed-Out World by God Forbid And right back into it. Well, if there’s one thing about this kind of music, it’s that it wastes no time starting with silly fade in pianos or something, just straight to the ROKK!~ YEAAAAAAAAH! Or something. Is that inappropriate? I don’t know. Mm, this guy doesn’t have the… oh, wait, now he’s doing that growly scream. I was almost worried there for a second. It’s going back and forth and back and forth between the two vocal styles, and it’s just doing it’s thing in the background. See, I also like trying to catch lyrics most of the time. I can’t tell what the fuck they’re saying when they’re growling like that. Drum roll part with something about the future and telling it, I think… more and more of that… and more of that… oh, I think they added some guitar there… and more of that… future future… Ooh, now there’s some solid screams. What does the future hold? That’s a good question. I assume 10 more tracks of similar music? Will I like any of them? Who knows. I’m doing bad at blogging this, aren’t I?

5. Superbeast by Rob Zombie This is the Dragula guy. That’s all I know. Okay, it’s starting. There’s some space sounds in the back. Charging the laser… mmkay, got some guitar… yeah… yeah… okay… wee wee woaaaaah, wee wee woaaaaaah… and some whispery growling this time… yeah, I’m there… I’m there… my head is bobbing to the beat… the beast is super, yeah… okay… Hey, Yeah. I’m getting behind this one. Not something I’d go out of my way to listen to, but I’m liking it. I couldn’t begin to tell you what makes this song different from the first four tracks though, that’s making me click with it. Which is kind of bothering me. I should be better at explaining such things.

6. Light Discovering Darkness by Soilwork Okay, it’s all guitaring and stuff… okay okay… yeah… not letting it destroy me… you better shut it down, apparently… yeah, this is… calmer for a lot of the song than previous songs… it’s also got some sort of something over everything during the echo-y parts… mmm…. I better shut it, though… aww, he sounds kinda sad about feeling it… but now back to the growlyness. What kind of work would you do with soil anyway? Planting? Are they metal farmers? Tilling the fields? Oh, it’s over now.

7. Destroyer by Static-X This is softer. Well, as in there isn’t like this… wall of sound in the background. It’s just like one guitar… well, okay, now there’s some bass there too. Anyway, it’s calmer in the back, even if the voice singing is more whatever ever ever. Anyway, simple? Softer? What’s the word? Oh, okay, here’s like… a solo and it’s a little more… busy in the background like these songs sorta tend to be… You do it again, you do it again, Destroyer… taking it down with a hammer thing… and doing some something something… oh, wow, that ended extra abrupt.

8. More Time to Kill by Lamb of God Duut duut duut DAA DAA! And the guitar is going all up and down up and down in the background as he growls… oh, well, okay, I guess it changed at this point, now it’s more… one constant note. There’s some woooooooAAAAAAAAAH! God Damn! Oh, and here’s the bridge, I suppose… still more guitar guitar guitar guitar… and now this is like a screaming solo? Or something… and now we’re into the real guitar solo part. With just real fast notes and stuff as these things tend to be… and like machine gun sounds… Yeah, I don’t know. Also, I don’t know if this is really taking away the sins of the world or anything. Have mercy on us. Yeah. Yeah. Metal. Yeah. The end.

9. Driving Down the Darkness by DevilDriver Well, this one sounds a little more desperate, perhaps, than the other songs. Oh, I liked that Dah dah duh duuh… thing it did at the beginning. I’d like more of that and less of crazy electric guitar stuff. Oh, there it is again! I win! Okay, and now we got some growling, and he’s threatened to kill me apparently… yeah, okay. Okay, I guess this is the refrain, because I hear the title. That’s always a good sign. Yeah, I don’t know, these songs are just all the same to my ears. I’m a horrible music listener. And I mean, okay, they are different, but what they offer me, I feel, is exactly the same. There is no like… different feeling in there to make me listening to this song mean anything different from listening to any other song on this CD or even like Dethklok or something. Bleh, I’m sorry. I have no idea what I’m going to say for these last 5 tracks. I’ll pretend it’ll be interesting. Oh, they kicked up the pace that little bit towards the end. Double time! Man, all these songs just end, too. Bam. Done.

10. Halo by Machine Head If this isn’t a love ballad to Master Chief I’m going to be disappointed. Well, not really, but I’ll pretend to be disappointed. I suppose if it was, though, we’d be having some riffs playing off the Halo theme here, huh? This part is pretty nice, though. Intense but not overwhelming. Oh, okay, now I guess we’re out of the introduction and back to business as usual. Yeah, there’s the growling screamy vocals. Apparently it’s time to fight… the Covenant…? Maybe? No? I didn’t catch what they said at all in that refrain, so it very well could be. Okay, I think I can make it out this time. The Halo Over us… something something… well, that’s all I got. So, okay, that’ll have to do. Mm, less than halfway over, apparently. I don’t know what the rest of this song could be though. I mean, besides more of the same. Oh, okay, they’ve picked up the pace a bit… right… right… Okay, now w’ere in a big solo part… and there’s a lot of scales being played… up and down… and lots of little probably very hard to play flutters and stuff… And then we slow down and dramatically rock out for a second… yeah… and then it’s sort of… hmm… I don’t know how to describe that part… it reminds me of the Minibosses playing Mega Man music, but I have no reason to think that. What? Female vocalist singing something? Hey, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Fall, OOOOOOOOOOOO! And then I guess we do this slow stuff with extra screaming vocals over the top until the end? Oh, I think I heard Swallow in there. Oh, okay, they switched it up with those drums there building to the end… oh, I thought they were going to end there. But they went back to normal. And I though they were going to end there, but they didn’t… And then they ended there. Okay then.

11. Inhale by Stone Sour Stone Sour is an interesting band name, I think. Not as good as the recent band name some friends of mine came up with. Check this out: Extended White Chocolate Experience. Now there’s a band name. But okay, this is normal singing, and it’s a bit more restrained. That’s nice. But I bet he’s going to start screaming when we get to the refrain. There’s some base under building up to the… he’s not screaming. Oh, woah. Woah. That’s a nice change, to switch it up from earlier, but I can’t say the song is doing much for me other than that difference, you know? But there it goes again. Oh, okay, now he’s doing the screaming growling, but it’s over halfway through the song before he got there, and he’s going back to his normal voice. See, I can get more behind that, though… sort of… spot growling for emphasis. It’s sort of like… if you end every sentence with an exclamation point, then it’s not really adding any extra excitement or emphasis to the whole thing, you know? Oh, they seem to be having some technical problems… the tape is slowing down and stopping… need to get a guy on that, stat! Oh, too late! The song is over!

12. Senzafine by Lacuna Coil Oh, this sounds different and promising. Female vocals! Neat! And a guy coming in there… see I expected him to come in screaming around there. Okay, this is obviously in another language and I don’t know what it is. I want to say Spanish but I’m probably crazy. Some keyboard in there. Yeah, this is like just an overly dramatic-sounding song and not really what I would think of as Metal. But I mean, I guess it is? I don’t know? I would assume TheSL would know better than me. Hmm, okay, this AHHHHHHHHH! with singing over it part I’m not really too thrilled with… but it’s all winding to a close, so… okay then. Aww, some windchimes.

13. Another Hero Lost by Shadows Fall Acoustic guitar? Okay, maybe he’s faded to something completely different in the end. Or is it going to Break it Down into Metal stuff later? I don’t know. Oh, okay, now it’s a duet with a female voice. Forever is waiting, apparently. I hate to leave Forever waiting, but I have a bunch of shit to do. Oh, okay, there’s some electric guitar. But it’s still slow and not what I think of these songs as. It’s nice that he’s going to have a nice day at the beach, though, getting buried in the sand or whatever. Okay, and now we’re to the solo instrumental part. And yeah, okay, it’s a slow sort of rocking out, but I guess I see the Metal-ness in there… oh, especially now with that quick scale sort of stuff… and his voice is getting more Metal as it goes on and on… or maybe not, now it’s back to normal… eh, who knows. Well, this fade-y ending is fairly nice.

14. Let the Bridges Burn by Killswitch Engage Okay, here we go… last track… and it’s making an annoying sustained note at me… okay, and now it’s into the guitar thing. Oh, alright… they got lots of people to scream in the background there for a second… oh, and they’re back… alright. And now the main guy is screaming too. Oh. Mm. Yeah, that… yeah. Am I ready? Willing? For what? I missed the for what. But I guess I’m ready enough. I mean, I dunno. Ready-ish? Okay, now it’s slowed down a bit… but he’s still screaming and screaming. A blast from a stones…? No, I must have heard that wrong… Misery… turned that away… that sounds like a sound plan… hm… oh, wait, maybe it’s BURNED away… since the song is Let the Bridges Burn. Oh, and here’s crazy drums and guitar all fast and he’s still screaming… and screaming… about Ashes now and dust and how he should dust, I guess. Going from dust to dust, making sure he gets it all… Let the Bridges Burn! Let the Bridg. Es. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuawwwrn… BROTHERINAJAR!

Yeah, this… yeah… this was completely not my music. At all. But I’m sure some enjoyed it, and, you know, it was worth a try, I suppose. But try as I might, my head threw most of these in the same box and called it a day. Oh well, so it goes.

What day is today? January what? And this is an all-Christmas mix? Man, I’m really behind. Oh well, here we go.

M. Nicholai’s Mix
The Silent Knight Returns

1. Santa Claus is gunning you down by Planet Express Oh, of course, the Futurama. Heh. What do I even have time to write, though? The track is already over.

2. Father Christmas by The Kinks Kinda a rocking start here… huh, that’s… I dunno about those vocals, they’ve got a weird quality. Oh, wait, now that we’re to the chorus, I think I’ve heard this before, actually… but at least it’s not a song I was hearing all season at work, so that’s nice, to be sure. Anyway, it’s kinda nice, but it’s not really… bringing about the season for me? Then again, it’s hard for something you’re not familiar with on some level to do that, isn’t it? I don’t know if that’s really the idea anyway. A kinda fun little bridge thingy here, very upbeat. Yeah, not bad.

3. What Christmans means to me by Hanson I don’t know if that’s a typo in the name, but I left it anyway, so there! Oh gods, this is a song I was hearing all season in Kohl’s. Oh gods, oh gods! Well, at least it’s interesting to learn that this is by Hanson, apparently. Yeah, this is a song I was singing to badly for over a month… I do nothing but sing badly to the songs at work very loudly. Did you know that? Probably not. I also do this thing where I just pick one pitch and sing every word at that pitch for the whole song. And when people ask me why the hell I’m doing it, I say “Kids today are spoiled, with so many pitches! Back in my day, we only had one pitch, and liked it!” This song is kinda happy, though, isn’t it?

4. Santa Claus is coming to town by Jackson 5 Ah, the Jackson 5. I actually haven’t heard a lot by them that I haven’t liked decently. It’s nice kinda stuff. Fun and easy. And this is definitely that same way. Little Jackson has a pretty hardcore voice, to be sure. Let us remember him this way, hm?

5. Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney Well, this seems like something my mom would like. I say before I listen. Oh, it’s this song! Dammit, they played this at Kohl’s too. Damn workplace, tainting all the songs it plays! (Exceptions: I Hear the Bells by Mike Doughty, You’re Really Growing On Me by The Darkness… those oddly have not been tainted by Kohl’s replaying them always while I work) There is some neat little blippy stuff in there, though, isn’t there?

6. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono Mmm, yeah, okay… so that’s Yoko Ono singing, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her before… I can’t say this song is doing a whole lot for me, though… it… it’s kinda got a depressing kinda vibe, actually… like… lost nostalgia kinda feeling… like… you can’t go back kinda feeling… if that makes any sense? Also there are a lot of kids singing, apparently. Happy Christmas to you too, slowly fading quieter children…

7. Xmas in the Arctic Pole by Drugstore I don’t know of this “Drugstore” of which you speak. There’s some weird vibrations in her… his…? The vocalist’s voice. It’s… weird… Yeah, I definitely haven’t heard this song before… A solid dose of nah nah nahs in there, I see… I don’t know why waver-y strained voiced person is going to the Arctic Pole, though… I guess I missed that. Or maybe that’s just where the Xmas happens, so you gotta go to the Arctic pole to have any of it… but then does the Arctic pole have a queen? I remember a queen being mentioned… and now the vocalist has pitched themselves lower and it sounds weird. Well, alright then.

8. This Time Every Year by Saturday Looks Good Jingle-y bells… and there’s some guitars there… and some bellish sounds there, too… but wow, that’s kinda… noisy in the background… is it my speakers or is there really all that static-y sound back there? Goodness… okay, there’s a guy singing about the middle of December… which I guess makes sense… but apparently there’s old girlfriends and things going wrong… at this time every year. Aww, poor vocalist. Try calling new girlfriends, maybe? And being less echo-y and having less constant cymbal in the background to annoy me. Seriously, it’s just like this wall of sound in the background for no apparent reason, I dunno what’s up with that… like… it’s drowning out this other guitar back there…? I dunno.

9. Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) by The Ramones Well, good, you shouldn’t fight on Christmas, because it’s all happy and shit… okay, but yeah, I get it… Christmas… no fighting… alright here’s some other lyrics… alright, children and faeries, and excitement… and love, that’s good, but it has to be that way, apparently, and you shouldn’t break up now… so I guess this is a song about wanting to wait until after Christmas to break up, I guess…?

10. Santa Claus and His Old Lady by Cheech and Chong Oh… kay… Cheech and Chong, huh? There’s some guy talking now, and some other guy digging something… huh… surely there is a band named Santa Claus though. Well, good! I get to learn who Santa is! Awesome! Brownies! Kickass! Tea! Communes! And there’s some stuff getting down behind him talking that’s not too bad. Chuy is a good reindeer name. That’s a great explanation about how he got everything done in time. “He took the freeway, man.” Oh maaaaan, Santa is getting strip searched now… Oooh, he’s underground now. Sneaky. Well, that was… interesting, certainly.

11. Santa Claus is a Black Man by Akim and Teddy Vann Oh gods, what is up with her voice? Oh gods, that’s annoying. I mean, I guess it’s a kid, but wow. Okay, gotta, you know, take it as cute. Be cool… well, it’s nice that all these oooohers were available to help out for the song. Oh, and now here’s someone else out of the oooooohers singing instead… and now you’ve got even more… okay… yeah… yeah… I get it… well, that wasn’t what I expected from that title, honestly.

12. Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown Oh, alright, it’s this one… actually, I don’t think this one got played in the workplace this year… it’s not flipping any of those flags, anyway… it’s kinda classic, though, huh? It’s never anything I’d listen to outside of something like this or like… my mom putting on a CD of Christmas music, though, but it kinda feels like Christmas, doesn’t it? Maybe?

13. Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie Bowie? Bowie?? Indeed it is. That’s really kinda nice, isn’t it? With Bowie up there higher and stuff… yeah, that’s not bad at all. Certainly something I wouldn’t have heard normally, though. I don’t claim to know enough about it to know if this is like… a remix that Bowie could have made with him singing over it, because it feels like it could have been very easily. Either way, kinda neat.

14. Christmas Time is Here by Vince Gauraldi Trio Don’t know this name… oh… oh, it’s this one… what is this one always making me think of… like… Peanuts Christmas, maybe…? Is that what it’s reminding me of? I have no idea. It’s very light and airy, of course… very… unobtrusive background style, I suppose. It’s got that sentimental feeling too, certainly… mm.

15. Fairytale in New York by The Pogues featuring Kristy MacColl Mmm, yeah, very… oh… oh! I think I heard a version of this sung by Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch awhile back… but I didn’t really recognize the song. I guess this is it, huh? The guy’s singing is kinda eh, isn’t it? He’s got a weird annoying quality to his voice… oh goodness, what in the world is happening now? It’s got like… bagpipes back there or something? Or at least the quality that makes me think of them, anyway. Oh my. Well, at least it picked up a bit, hm? Goodness, it used the word faggot. Wow. Um, yeah, didn’t expect that from the beginning. Huh… well… I guess it’s about Christmas…? I’m not really getting that from the whole thing though, but whatever. It’s not like it HAS to inspire that in me or whatever.

16. Twelve Days of Christmas by Bob and Doug McKenzie Very Canadian sounding, apparently. Perhaps I should be drinking a White Canadian while I listen. Oooh, mystery days of Christmas. I like that idea. Okay, I think I’ve heard this part now that they’re singing… kinda. But yeah, I’ve heard this part. Oh man, I like that choir singing “BEEEEEEEER!” Heh. Well, well sung, people. Merry Christmas and a good day to you, too, sirs! Now there’s all kinds of talking and electric noises… yeah… well, that was nice. Heh.

Well, certainly a Christmas mix filled with stuff I hadn’t heard before with a sprinkling of stuff I had… like… once before. It works! But probably would have worked better if I hadn’t listened today and had instead listened like… in December. But oh well. That’s another one down! Whoo!

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.

Well, um. I’m behind. Let’s get right to it. The tracklist makes me wonder if it’s all like… punk… but the inclusion of a Soul Coughing song is encouraging. Also, I know so little, don’t be insulted if I’m so far off, Valhalla! Anyway, here we go.

Valhalladeath’s mix

Track 1: Let’s Take a Trip Together by Morphine Mmkay, is that some sax? Yeah, mmkay… hmm… Mm, some weird layered vocals… not like bad, though. This is a very laid back song, isn’t it? Apparently he wants to go the scenic route and we’ll get to know each other. The lyrics are sort of romantic, but the music doesn’t really inspire that in me. Hmm, what’s that percussion back there… it doesn’t sound like a normal drug… almost woodblock but not quite. Eh, I dunno. I think it’s how the guy sings that keeps it from feeling romantic to me. He’s got this unique sort of tone but I’m not getting anything behind it, you know? Hmm, fading ending…
Track 2: Super Bon Bon by Soul Coughing Ahh, a classic. Super Bon Bon. I am a Soul Coughing fan, if the inclusion of a Soul Coughing track on my own mix didn’t give it away. I like the Propellerhead remix of this a little more, I think, but the original is really good too. Now, see, as I listen to it, it has a similar quality to the last song… very laid back… but I like this one a whole lot more… is it the lots more percussion, or Doughty’s much more trippy lyrics that go along with it? Or is it where it kicks it up a notch during the refrain? I dunno. “And by! The Phone! I Live! In Fear! Sheer Chance! Will Draw! You In! To Hear!” Fuck yeah. Heh. I think there’s something about Soul Coughing in how Doughty’s voice is both vocal and like… instrument, you know? Maybe? His repetition gives it a much more rhythmic quality than just singing, and yet there are words there to… get. The end.
Track 3: Breaker by Low Ooooh, there’s some clapping. Clapping is exciting right… and some weird electric organ music… kinda piercing, actually… not all that pleasant to hear… hmm, I wonder if the song is gonna “break it down” anytime soon or if it’s just going to be all this… mmm, nope, just all this… but they added vocals… but man, I don’t like that electric organ sound… it’s not a pleasant listening experience with it’s minor and it’s high shrillness and shite… hmm, there’s a guy AND a girl singing now… Oh, here’s some guitar… are they going to break it down…? The song is like… 2/3rds over with by now, though… No, just… some more stuff in the background under the Ahhhs and the piercing noise… Apparently there’s got to be an end to that, though. So that’s nice.
Track 4: Crestfallen by (+/-) Interesting band name… ohh, weird vocal samples for percussion… and what is that stringed instrument… harpsicord…? That’s just a random guess… this isn’t too bad, though… I just hope it “breaks it down.” Does that make any sense, when I say that? Basically, I mean, make a huge change and… BAM! There it is! Breaking it down! Now we got all these drums and guitars! Yeah! That’s real nice… I like this song… I might like it better if it was less… instrumental and had some more vocals… more I listen to these CDs the more I realize I love a good set of vocals and lyrics in my songs… probably because I’m that person singing along with the songs in my car all the time. Aww, a nice ending.
Track 5: Solace of You by Living Colour Hmm, that opening reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on what… okay, here’s some singing… mmm, he’s all… what’s that I’m trying to say… I have no idea. Something about his voice… bleh, I dunno. It’s kinda repetitious so far… oh, okay, it’s changing. Here’s a verse, I suppose… oh and there’s some background vocals… Yeah, this is a nice enough song, but it’s not going to get into my regular listening schedule… but it’s nice. Wish I knew what it was reminding me of, though, so I could let you know… mmm… Ooh, I like this “gotta go back inside” thing at the end there… yeahyeah.
Track 6: Life in One Day by Howard Jones Oh, what? What? This song? I know this song… I never had a name or a title for it, though… they play this at my workplace, so I do have an automatic aversion to it, though I admit it is one of the BETTER songs they play at my workplace… not one of the best, though. (They sometimes play Gorillaz, The Darkness, and Guster, for example) Oh well, I guess I’ll play the flute and dance and sing my song until it gets over with… but yeah, instant bad feeling towards it because it’s a workplace song. Sorry.
Track 7: Sunday Bloody Sunday by Saul Williams I think I heard a version of this by Richard Cheese… I have a feeling I’ll keep thinking of that while I listen to this one. But okay, here are some drums… and some singing… Yeah, definitely have listened to a version of this by Richard Cheese. Certainly trying to be intense, isn’t it? With the little electric wacka wacka noises… Yeah, it’s acting all intense but the pace is very slow… well, okay, not VERY slow, but… slower than I would expect… it seems like it’s trying to pump me up, you know, and it’s not, because it’s moving too slow to do that… 2NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE! We can be as 1, baybee. Wow, what’s up with this bridge? Serious electric… stuff… overtaking the song! It’s eating it alive! Oh, and now it’s suddenly gone because of tears being wiped away. Was it all supposed to be tears? And now there’s a spoken part here about fact as fiction and crying and needing a drink and death… yeah… “trying to be intense” is my short impression of this song. And it ends abruptly.
Track 8: No More Love by God Lives Underwater Woah, I already love this song… this opening is great. I hope it does something good with it… mmm, not bad, though the music is eating the vocals and they’re like… doing something weird with multiple voices to make it hard to understand… Yeah, I love that guitar thing at the beginning, and now it’s repeating again… the singing isn’t carrying me along between them, though, as I’d like… it’s still pretty good, though. Mmm, only halfway through the song, eh? I guess this is the bridge? It has an Ahhhhhhhhhh going on over the guitars… and it keeps on Ahhhhhing and falling in pitch… and then back up… No Moooooooooooore! (love) is how they’re singing it… oooooh, now they’re breaking it down… with that guitar and some electric beats on top of it… yeahyeahyeah, I like this… man, I wish I liked the singing parts in the middle as much as I’m liking this part at the end. This is nice… and fade away ending…
Track 9: Chrome by VNV Nation Oh nos, some sort of aliens invading… all electric… oooh yeaaaaaaaah, I like that… some nice techno-y beats there… let’s bring it all together with some solid vocals… okay, here’s the singing… mmm, not bad… not bad… now break it down, make it more intense… no, didn’t… hm… still, some nice base behind it… awww, okay, here’s the refrain and it still doesn’t KICK IT UP A NOTCH, you know? Bring it back to the level of that opening with the refrain? It’s still more subdued… that’s not what I want… I want that energy through the whole thing… but it just goes away when the guy starts singing… he’s not excited with the music, he’s just singing and there’s music behind him… he’s gotta go with it, you know? Gotta… eh, it’s going to change the song. It’s alright, I’m just disappointed. They start with these strong beats and then get to these generic “let’s sing because this song has lyrics” part that doesn’t DO anything interesting… see, and here’s the bridge, and it’s back to those techno-y beats and it’s building up… and it’s going to build up to him singing again, which will go back down, I know… see, it’s not even building up to the level it was at the beginning… yeah… and an abrupt end…
Track 10: Get Your Body Beat by Combichrist Stutterful… hmm… and it’s got a building thing behind it… am I going to get my body beat by this song? I dunno… it’s thump-y… again, going for intensity, I think… it’s got these evil growl sorts of noises in the background there… hm… oh yeah, okay, intense singing… Well, at least my complain about the song not being in tune with the singing and the music not hitting the high it had at the beginning is moot on this song. The music builds with him. Ooh man, the song is dropping F-bombs! Oh nos! Go! Go! Pyew! Pyew! Let your blood flow! I don’t know what genre of music to call this, but it’s not really a genre I listen to. Still, it’s got energy and it know what’s its trying to do… okay, here’s the bridge, and it’s… just sort of sitting there with creepy stutter-y talking in the background… maybe sung through one of those things that make your voice come out like the guitar? If I could play instruments, I’d use one of those all the damn time, those things are cool. Anyway, I would stop to go get my body beat and let my blood flow, but I still have 12 tracks to go, so I guess I must disregard the song’s advice for the time being. Okay, for the end, the song sorta fell into the background… and runs for a little… and then stops.
Track 11: Speed by Atari Teenage Riot Well, definitely feels speedy so far. …huh… they seem to be having fun. But there’s just them singing over all this random noise… most of it at a really really fast pace… there’s a guy and a girl…. mostly the guy except on the refrain I guess? SPEED! SPEED! SPEEEEEEEEEED! I’m trying to think of how this is different from what Melt-Banana does on a lot of their songs, with her just sorta yelling over random stuff in the background? I really can’t find a good way to put it. It is different in my head, though, most definitely… SPEED! And it’s over.
Track 12: No “W” by Ministry A choir? Oh nos… sounds ominous… despicable acts of terror and evil? Damn! And now some heavy guitar over the choir sample. And now here’s some really fast guitars… dudddlaudddladuddla… and some really fast singing to go along with it. Very sorta… guttural? Is that the word? And here’s a sustained something… I dunno what he’s saying… Crash, maybe? Something. Well, it all certainly is up-tempo… this is like… like… Tony Hawk music. That’s what this makes me think of. Maybe that’s an insult? I dunno, playing Tony Hawk was the only place I heard stuff like this… I don’t get out much, musically. Heh. God Bless America, the end.
Track 13: Push It by Static-X Duddaduddaudda DOO duddaduddadudda DOO! Yeah, you’re whatever, yeah, you’re something else, yeah! Yeah! Listen to them grunt and try so hard to be HARDCORE. Apparently he sees it and needs it! Then stop pushing it, man! You’re just going to forget where you pushed it to! I dunno, this song isn’t doing much for me. Heh, oh, wow, that’s kinda different in the bridge here… with the little tinklies… but… yeah… forgettable in my book… it’s not really keeping my attention here.
Track 14: The Unthinking Majority by Serj Tankian See, yeah, this is the sort of music I was thinking about when I wrote the intro… these last few tracks… are these not punk? I mean, I have no clue. Oh, okay, this completely changed… and is singing about Antidepressants… awww, I don’t like those lyrics, seeing as my boyfriend just started taking antidepressants… These sort of thoughts were why it made me very uneasy when he told me, but I trust him and stuff… but that’s UNRELATED TO THE SONG! I guess that’s what you get when you liveblog, though… ooh, I kinda like this bridge here, though, with the quick guitars… but yeah, the song is kinda political, isn’t it? I don’t tend to get into such things… I guess the whole… back and forth between the antidepressiants part and the other part makes the point of the song pretty well. Fits the message, I mean.
Track 15: The Mob Goes Wild by Clutch Sure, adjust your pants all you want, guy… not gonna stop you… mm, that’s kinda fun, hmm? It’s got a nice beat and stuff to it… it carries me along with it, and I always like that… yeah, this is going to end up being forgettable, but I’m going to enjoy it the whole time it’s playing, I can tell. More political kinda lyrics though, isn’t it? I get the point of those sorts of lyrics… I mean, it’s probably all important in the big scheme of things for people to write such things and distribute such things… but I really don’t care for it… give me creativity and humor with some rocking music or something over making a statement any day… well, a political statement, at least… sometime I guess I’ll have to explain my apathy towards politics… I at least have a justification in place, even though I don’t know if that excuses me. But yeah, anyway, remember that statement about enjoying the song all the way through? I did. The music was simple but catchy and nice.
Track 16: Tom Sawyer by Mindless Self Indulgence Not one of my favorite MSI songs, in all honesty, but then again I only have one album by them that I like like 3 songs off of. It’s not the sort of music I tend to gravitate towards, but my ex-girlfriend in the past really liked them and, as I said, got me into several of their songs. I don’t think I like this song because it doesn’t inspire me to sing along with it… but maybe that’s just because I’ve never taken the time to figure out what the fuck it’s about and what he’s singing, I dunno. It’s not bad, though. The end.
Track 17: Ridicule by American Head Charge This is surprisingly slower and more acoustic than expected. There’s a lot of mumbling I can’t understand going on… and now there’s some guitar…? And more mumbling… and more guitar… and more mumbling… and now it’s more… whatever. He’s all scream-y and it’s got those sort of… hard guitars in the background… what the fuck is that sort of sound called… metal, maybe? Hell, I dunno, that assumption is made like completely off of watching Metalocalypse. And now it’s gotten all slow again… and then back to that thing… Oh, okay, here’s some serious guitar and screaming again… I will never see you agaaaaaain! Apparentleeeeeeee! And some sadder yelling… and then back to the slower acoustic-y stuff… till the end, maybe? It’s looking like it… yes… yes… and… yes, to the end! Setting up for another song on the album I don’t have.
Track 18: Circle by Slipknot Phone-calling noises…? What…? Okay, some acoustic guitar… You can have all the dust you’d like, guy. Time has flesh, apparently. Sounds delicious. Should cook it up and eat it! Or something. That was a stupid thought… he’s singing lightly with repeating guitar beats and now here it went to a refrain… is there some violin in the background? No, I think I’m crazy… He knows the way, that’s nice… Yeah, this song has no energy, so I don’t really like it much at all… Also, everything he sings has this echo for whatever reason… I don’t think I want to follow him, really… ooh, I do like all this drums and stuff at the end here with the weird noise of the top… but it’s the end of the song… see? Over.
Track 19: March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails Peppy… doot dee doot dee dootdoot dee! Aren’t these guys like big or something? I can’t remember ever hearing a song by them before. But he’ll let me come down, which is nice. Now there’s quiet whispering singing and suddenly piano…? And then it explodes again after silence… interesting, at least. Heh. And it seems to be repeating the pattern… yeah… except there’s more piano… and the piano is the end of the song…? Yep.
Track 20: Backstabber by Dresden Dolls More piano, but it seems to be a main instrument… oooh, female vocalist. Nice piano… I’m all for piano as a rock instrument… or something… heh… this is actually feeling like more of an Essner song to me… it’s pretty good, but it’s not really getting under my skin and making me rock out to it. But it’s fun. There’s some male vocals behind her voice…? I think. There’s some building list I’m not completely paying attention to. Damn me. It’s a nice background song, though, but like I said, it’s not taking me over and making me pay attention. It’s also very soft and happy-feeling for a song called “Backstabber.” Oh! Oh! Was that an F-bomb I hear near the end? And we’re going out with a lot of piano, it seems.
Track 21: I Got Lost by Dinosaur Jr. I want to like this band, because it’s name is Dinosaur Jr. which is a great band name. But it’s starting very slow and acoustic here, which is turning me off, thanks for my pointless dislike of most slow songs… oh, there’s some big drums building now… but we’re still intro-ing… still intro-ing… is there going to be singing? There is is… and… wow… yeah… not liking that… how to describe that… so… pointlessly falsetto… and it has some sort of filter over it… something softer and less annoying would have fit this song a little better, wouldn’t it? Maybe? I’d like it more, maybe… yeah, I really wanna turn this song off, but I shall persevere through the last half. Damn you, Dinosaur Jr.! You have such a cool name! There’s some strings in the background… something bigger, like a cello, maybe? I dunno why I always try to guess the instruments. I don’t know enough to be accurate at all, really. All the way, all the way, now… singing in an annoying way now… And it’s over.
Track 22: Cure for Pain by Morphine This is the same band as at the beginning, isn’t it? Yeah, it is, I’m not stupid. I can remember names. There’s a sax, front and center. Where is the taste? That’s a good question. I’d like to know that myself. Yeah, not a lot here for me to get excited about… but at least it’s not annoying me like the last song. It’s kinda soft and lazy… and he’s throwing his drugs away… and it’s going all sax solo, which is nice, certainly… someday, there will apparently be a cure for pain… I don’t like that idea, though. Pain is useful, even if… painful. You want to still be able to feel pain, you just want to be able to deal with it well… oh well, CD over.

So, yeah, I was mediocre to most of the songs, but it was alright. I could get into a few, and I love Soul Coughing… so… there you have it, I suppose.

Well, man, I’ve been slacking off on this (and a lot of things, honestly) but I’m finally getting to Shivam’s mix! He mentioned something about including tracks for me. Let’s see how that goes, eh, and get right into it. Everything in the bold and italics is what was on the little sheet that came with the CD.

Listening Time Volume 5: Colors of Sound

1.  Unique – Feelin’ Fine (DJ Sy mix) She loves me, I love her, and we dance in the pale yellow lights. : Well, alright, this definitely is starting faster… a lot of scratching… man, I need to learn to spell definitely… ooh, vocals… male… I wonder if it’s just going to be touches or actual singing. I do like actual vocals with these kinds of songs… I’m weird, I guess. Yeah, it’s mostly just a beat with a lot of scratching over the top… not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course… okay, there’s some soft like… melody underneath it… ooh, some singing about smiles and faces… Feeling Fiiiiiiiiiiine, apparently! Dat dat doot doot dat datdat doot doot… Oh, man, already distraction… NarinaKitty, too… don’t much like her… but CD, yes… hmmm, yes, it does keep going and going, doesn’t it? Then again, I guess that’s what most remixes and stuff do. I dunno, I really like this kind of music, but I prefer them, in general, to be like… songs, you know? And not just catchy tunes to dance to. I guess because I never go dancing… hmmm, more vocals… this is the same stuff as before, isn’t it? Yeahyeah, it is. Changing to skin mode so I can see how much is left… woah, still a lot of song. And more singing… and now Jonathan comes in. Yay. Sigh. Getting out the headphones. Drumrolllllll and it’s over.
2. Franke Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes (Rob Searles Club Mix) But trouble is brewing in paradise under the green boughs. : Woah woah, that starts off strong… hmmm… there’s some singing, but it’s all echo-y remix style singing… more filters, more filters, more! Mmm, see, I want this to be the opening, and then the song to do something, You know? But I just have a feeling it won’t. Like I was saying, this sort of thing is great to dance to, I’m sure, but it gets so… repetitious just listening to it… this coming from someone who loves Soul Coughing, though… I guess they use repetition to make a point, and then things change, you know? Drum drum drum druuuuuuums, and now the same thing with another layer in there… See, that’s how they work. They start with a base, and then instead of switching it up, they just add another layer… and another… to the same thing… oh, goodness, it changed… sirens and slowness and piano… hm… talkings… old-tymey talkings… hm… and now it seems like it’s starting to build back up… OW OW OW! OW OWWWWWWWW! LET’S GO! Mmm, using the vocals to build of a bridge or whatever to build back up… that’s nice. Ecks is on… a more welcome distraction, certainly, but eh, I do want to get this done. I like how that now it seems more… vocals-based than it was before. There’s less echo-y-ness on the vocals than before. I guess I should ask, is this trouble brewing…? Not really…? I dunno. I do like it now that’s it’s more around the vocals and the song… although now it’s… oh, it’s a new track suddenly.
3. Armin Van Buren – Janerio We remember the times of initial joy and wonder, under a purple ocean sky. : That was… an abrupt change… A slightly different thingy than the last song, although not TOO different… oooh, female whispers…? Hey, there’s the name of the song. I totally heard it. Mmm, just down to the twangy-electrics bits… and… oh, all singing now with some Aaaahs… She loves to be there, apparently… on the beach, supposedly… smiling because I’m there, for some reason… and there’s nakedness…? I guess the lyrics lend itself to “purple ocean sky.” Oh, wait, naked soul? Bleh, I always have a hard time buying into anything like that. I’ve probably just been ruined by that song that plays at work that talks about “you and your beautiful soul” which sounds like the worse line ever and the singer is obviously just trying to get laid. But yeah, it’s got that happy beat in the background that these songs have that really get you going going going, but like… this song isn’t going to, say… be separate in my mind from the last two or whatever? That similar quality, makes them all flow together…
4. PPK – Resurection (video mix) Yet not even that can stave off the inevitable blackness. : And he seems to be working off of that, because these changes are abrupt and it takes me a second to go “wait, this is a new song.”  This one does seem to have a more… darker feeling to it. Little bleepy bit here without drums… okay, here’s some drums as it beeps on and on… building building… and now it’s another dance-y techno song. But something about how it’s made does make it feel more melancholy… if I knew more about music I could probably explain. Maybe it’s the key? I dunno, I’m just throwing stuff out there. Here’s a bridge of some sort, over the top… seems like a different person going against the rest of it… sort of… feeling… if this was a play or something. You know, in my head. That wasn’t worded well… and now we’re back to this melancholy drumless beeping. Oh, and a fade-away this time. I see.
5. Denki Groove – Niji (Potted gold remix) I leave, and rememebr my past lives, now fading into the green mist of memory. : Japanese girl singing… suppose I should have expected something like that with the name “Denki Groove.” Clapping… well, the synth clap noise. Mm, well, the singing is just being used as an instrument so far… you’ve got the girl singing “ah” that’s sorta being used like a drum track or something… and now she’s gone completely… well, now back… hm… what is there to say… is this a green mist of memory, I guess…? I dunno? I don’t claim to associate green with memory. Memory is so fuzzy… just this vague knowing… I guess that’s misty, but that suggests you move through it, whereas I just see it sort of passing you, and you manipulating the flow… maybe… yeah, her voice is really just an instrument, the more and more I hear. I really must be weird, liking vocals like that. Boom Boom Boom Boom over and over in the background… hm… although sometimes its hidden and sometimes it’s more… prominent. These songs always use those drumrolls before they break it down, don’t they? Or just as an ending… soft singing… but man, the songs almost done… abrupt fade.
6. The Lovemakers – Prepare for the Fight The struggle to move on begins, and the harsh orange glow of the streets assaults me. : This is more… guitar-y, although it’s still got that synth background… I’m liking this so far, yeahyeah… just come in with some good singing and I’ll be happy… Oh yeah! Yes, yes, yes, this is a good song! I’d like it to be maybe a little more… intense…? But I’m not going to complain. This is the song of song I like. Or something like that. Eh, whatever, you’ll see what I like when I send my CD out in a week or so. But yeah, this is pretty great. Yeah, it’s like, he goes up for the big belt, but then they do something to do to make it… significantly milder… I wonder what exactly that is… the FIIIIIIIIIIGHT! is stripped of something. I don’t know if that’s any orange glow on a street, though, but that’s nice.
7. Party Ben – Boulevard of Broken Songs I walk this lonely road. The colors all blend together. : Stutter stutter stutter stutter acoustic guitar…? Heh, I wasn’t expecting an acoustic guitar given what I’ve heard so far. This is a song song, male vocals… it feels like an Essner song with more… stuff in the background…? Well, maybe not this refrain part… this part is leaning towards “rock song.” Which I guess has a negative connotation with my friends, but I don’t mean it that way, just trying to describe it. Hey, the boyfriend is on. Yay! But no, I must be resolute, and not be distracted. Yeah, I like these verses pretty good, but the refrain leaves me a little flat… it feels kinda… generic, which is I guess why I called it like “rock song.” It just builds up for the refrain but I don’t think the building and adding the second voice and whatever adds anything, actually. They could do something more interesting with it, maybe. I dunno. Oooooh, this part at the end is kinda fun. But it’s just a little bit and then it’s done.
8. Joe Darwish – The Ken Song The red glow of the sun reminds me that life does go on. : Okay, guitars… ooh, fast guitars… Mega-man guitars…? Why does this remind me of Mega Man? Two guys singing… It’s got this full fullness in the background that all these songs seem to have in common… I don’t know what I want to call that… full fullness is kinda a silly way to describe something. The song is leaving me uninterested, though. Not bad, not horrible. It’s the sort of song I’d be happy to hear at work because it’s better than the majority of the crap they play, but I wouldn’t really remember much about it besides it being a welcome change of pace, you know? I see this description, though. The song would go along with… I dunno… a sunrise after like… a movie with midnight monster hunts at the end… sort of abrupt and fade…
9. Dir En Grey – Garden Try as I might, my green and black surroundings won’t allow me to forget you. : Mm, this one is quieter… once again, some sort of Mega Man vibe for no reason. It goes and goes and goes in the background. Not much change in the instruments besides something in my left ear that goes along with the singing… I can’t understand the singing…That’s not Japanese… I don’t recognize the language. Huh. Duggaduggaduggaduggadugga down there in the background during the refrain. I think if the volume was similar to the last few tracks this would feel as busy in the background as well, but because it’s down a notch it doesn’t, really. Oh, and it’s ending… but there’s half a track left… here’s some little blippy strums… and some choir… and it’s building and building up again… and now it’s back to where it was before, only the drums are a bit different. All of these songs have had much more energy than most of previous mixes, but I find it still not being exactly what I mean when I say energy… I mean, they’re energetic, and I do like them more because of that, but it’s not exactly what I’m talking about… I need to find a word… oh, the song’s over.
10. VAST – Touched The darkness returns, yet with a streak of clarity. : Mmm, quieter in the mood way, not in the volume way… acoustic guitar and soft singings… hmmm, what’s up with that background singing… it reminds me of something but I can’t really… I don’t know how to tell what it WOAH, guitars! And singing more powerfully. Yeah, I like this… and it fits with the little snippet of idea better, too. Definitely see “darkness with a streak of clarity” in this song. I honestly could do without some of the dramatic instrumental sections, but it’s pretty nice… now we have a slow break… eh… and now it gets back to it with a little more… and there’s that singing again. Man, I wish I could think of a good word to describe that background vocal… and… bagpipes…? No, that isn’t bagpipes, dammit, I dunno know that either. Oh well, it’s over.
11. Placebo – The Bitter End The stark white moonlight shines down on me as I realise how slime the chances of making it work are. We’re not meant to be. : Okay, this is starting strong… and he’s singing, sorta… what do I want to say about his singing… there’s a definite feeling there… he’s in his own little section and that’s what he’s singing in… that makes no sense, does it? Oh well. Oooh, I kinda like the beeping there… doda doda, doDa, doDA… that kinda thing. I think I know what it is about the vocals… it doesn’t seem connected to the music at all. He’s singing in his own channel and they’ve build the song around him without his knowledge maybe sort of feeling. Lots of guitar in my right ear… drums in my left now… hm… and vocals in the left… and now it’s mixing a bit better… it is weird how songs can feel so different when you’re wearing headphones and you can actually sense the difference between the two channels and whatnot… my two speakers on my computer are normally sitting right next to each other, so there’s not difference… and it’s build and building and drops suddenly!
12. Ripslyme vs Hotei – Funktastic Battle The sun shines brightly on me as I return to living a whole life again. : Scratch scratch… chanting scratch scratch. Oooh, kinda… funky… dare I say… funktastic? Heh. The volume level did drop, though. Rapping… in a language I don’t understand… there’s some english thrown in that. That could be Japanese. I do find that I enjoy lighthearted fun rap more and more the more I listen to it. It’s just that so much rap that gets mainstream is on those incredibly idiotic sorts of topics and it’s all annoying. The form itself, though, is kinda fun. This song is fun. Lots of brass in the background. I’m enjoying this one. Oooh, sorta breaking it down here with different brass in the background… and some electric guitar instrumental break… Woooo! Yeah. Huh huh huh huh. Hallelujah! Heh.
13. Keane – We Might as Well be Strangers (DJ Shadow remix) The prism distorts you in my mind, as I rewrite those sectors. : Stutterful… I don’t know if the stuttering serves any point, really. It’s not getting me. There’s singing, kinda light singing… and theres some building drums in the background… and now it’s going to break down into techno-ness… yeah, pretty well, though it’s kinda slow. Once again, I get that feeling I had earlier of the vocals having not much at all to do with the music, like he just sang into a mic and then handed it to someone else who put the song together… you can reach more of a… union between the two, can’t you? That’s possible, right? BEEP BEEP beep beep Beep Beep BEep BEep. And now it’s kinda fading away with sad piano noises over echo garbage… hm… yeah, I dunno about that one.
14. DJ Payroll – Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Luno (apollo 440 vs bloc party) Black and White, I know you now, and won’t be played the fool again. : Fastfast start here… hmm… Mmm, I’m diggin’ the guitar so far… and here’s some crazy techno drums coming in behind it… all the vocals are all… vocordered and messed with or whatever. I can barely understand them and hear what they’re saying… I guess the words aren’t really the point, but I’d like to be able to make them out if I wanted to… mostly because I enjoy singing along with songs… but yeah, this seems more… dance-y… like back to how it was in the beginning of the CD. Yo-oh! Or maybe Go-oh! I can’t figure it out, but they’re talking ’bout it, that’s for sure. Woah, a bit crazy here on the bridge… Hmmm, but yeah, I dunno… It’s really busy and exciting in the back, there, but there’s nothing on top of it that feels substantial. Is that a valid complaint? Hell, I have no idea. And it fades and then just an echo voice end.
15. Ellegarden – Salamander The rainbow diffuses through me; I’m purged of sad and happy. : Slow guitars… plink plink plink plink… and now it got going… Mm, his voice is getting eaten by the guitars… feels… very similar to previous songs… like the last one or the one before maybe… but yeah, okay, here’s a refrain where his singing feels more like a part of the song because his singing builds with the music, you know? He jumps up and the music jumps up. There ain’t no a lot of things, apparently. I can see the description on this one, too. Well, the diffusing part, anyway. He needs more time… he will somehow make it through… and it breaks down to just guitar… well, hey, it got back to normal quicker than I thought. I figured he’d do the first part of the refrain and then do it all again to bring it back… that’s kinda the formula… some busy guitar work here, leading to the end. And then one sustained note being annoying in my headphones and done.
16. Republica – Ready to Go ( US version) Why mope any longer? The world is screaming for me in reds and golds. : Light-feeling guitar… some cymbal… some female vocal… ooh, some big drums in the background, though they’re soft… they’re just… big… the drums used was big. Oh, goodness, some Rokkin’ guitars added… I was expecting it to stay kinda slow. Mmm, yeah, I’m liking this pretty well. Oh, it’s this song? I’ve heard that vocal before. But I couldn’t have heard this before, I don’t remember all the stuff around the vocals… maybe this is a remix? I guess it probably is. The title didn’t completely suggest it, though… the song is pretty decent with working with the vocals, though. They don’t feel pasted into a different song. Back to the light guitar… hm… and back to the rokkin’ guitar part at the beginning. Neat.  Yeah, this song gets my seal of approval, for what little that’s worth. I like this. It is kinda… slow in a weird way. Not really slow… the energy it gives me is not in the beat of the song, so I feel like I’m faster than the song itself… I think that’s the remix-stuff over the slower vocals that’s causing that, perhaps. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! End.
17. DJ Rap – It’s Good to be Alive Damn right it is. The world, in its myriad shades and spectra, is wide open for me, as long as I choose to live in it. : Strings… definitely slower… then again, it’s… woah, that’s… that’s weird vocals… what the hell is with those vocals… what kind of effects are those… the whole thing is a bit louder… the drums are making my head pound, actually… there’s some female and male voices mixed in there, I think… now the vocals are brought up more to the front… I dunno, I expect a title like “It’s Good to be Alive” to feel more like a celebration… this feels more like a… like a relief… like… “thank goodness we’re still alive” sort of feeling… which I suppose works with the title as well, of course. What kind of a name is DJ Rap, though? Seriously? Heh. Yeah, this song is pretty good, but it’s not the party I expected… more… looking into the horizon… which I guess fits with the description given, about the world being wide open and full of possibilities. Love to love you love to love you love to love you… and strings… sad strong little dramatic strings… echo echo… and that’s it.

Well, yeah, I enjoyed this CD. Brought up some of my weird dislikes about dancing music, but it was good. Definitely higher-energy than previous entries, even if I still didn’t quite get what I mean about energy… maybe like… getting me on the same wavelength and pumping me up… hell, I dunno. My CD will be full of songs that do that to me, so I suppose everyone else can tell me what it is I like… but yeah, neat to listen to. I’m going to rip that Funktastic track now.