It's a rather dreary, rainy morning here in British Columbia. There are dishes to do, some packing remaining for the weekend trip to visit the in-laws on Vancouver Island, and I find myself completely distracted from doing chores.
So what better why to make the morning better than by having a Random Music Diary. I have a rather extensive musical library and right now my media player is set on random play. My plan is to listen to the next 10 tracks that come up - all quite randomly chosen - and give you my thoughts.
Oh boy! Then maybe you can do the same, thus exposing your Dkos friends to some new tunes
Before I start, I'll do a quick plug for my music review site, Satan Stole My Teddybear. I started it in early 1997 and have written over 2000 reviews since then. It mostly covers heavy metal, punk and rock music, so I think you get the idea what my playlist is about to look like. Links will lead you to the artist's wiki page and if possible, a youtube video featuring the song.
- The Fixx - "Secret Separation"
Well, that's embarrassing. The Fixx were a synth, new wave band from the 80s with a moderate number of hits, but very much dated in their sound. You will not be surprised to hear the cheesiest elements of the 80s in this song. I loved them when I was 13 or 14, and apparently not too embarrassed to remove this from my collection.
- Jaga Jazzist - "Real Racecars Have Doors"
Jaga Jazzist is an experiment band from Norway that mixes together jazz elements with electronics. They tend to have in common with Amon Tobin or Squarepusher than Miles Davis. I've grown to really this sort of mix between electronic music and other genres. There's some weirdness to this track, but it's got warmth to it.
- The Gathering - "Kevin's Telescope"
The Gathering, who hail from Holland, started out as an "atmospheric doom/death metal band". To the uninitiated, that means they grunted, played slow songs and had light keyboards lurking in the background. After their second album, which featured one of the worst vocalists ever to wreck an album, the band got wise and found Anneke Van Giersbergen to provide beautiful soaring vocals. At the time, heavy metal didn't quite have many of these sirens and The Gathering kicked down that door. The band moved into a softer, more accessible style as time went on, but this song still finds their unique mixture of heavy guitars, great singing and excellent songwriting. One of my favorite bands of all time.
- Ildjarn - "Northern Winds"
This is one of the more bizarre projects in Norwegian underground metal. Ildjarn is a one man project and most of the recordings are nothing but demo quality buzzsaw guitars, sandpaper vocals and simple drum machines. And often unlistenable. Then the guy released a couple of ambient albums that have nothing to do with heavy metal and are rather beautiful. Many of those metal musicians often sound goofy trying to create electronic/ambient stuff, but Ildjarn surprisingly pulls it off.
- Rotting Christ - "The First Field of Battle"
This Greek band features one of those heavy metal band names that was meant to offend. Is this the anti-soundtrack for Easter Weekend? The band actually had some pretty good twin guitar melodies, though I suspect a lot of people won't past the sore throat rasping that passes for vocals.
- Fear Factory - "Refinery"
I first head this band when they opened up for Iron Maiden in the 90s. They feature a rather impressive drummer and a vocalist who can either growl with the best of them or provide an off-key Ozzy wail. They also liked to cross over from metal into industrial music with lots of song remixes. In this case, "Refinery" sounds like the inside of a factory at night. Yes, that's right, there's actually tons of "music" like this out there. Almost pure ambience in the truest definition.
- Edge of Sanity - "Moonshine"
One of Sweden's finest death metal acts...but you wouldn't really know it from this track. It was included on an "odds'n'sods" release after they finished their career and is kind of like hardcore punk with barked vocals. Not something I'd recommend, but I have a feeling it'd make Glenn Beck cry if played at high volumes.
- Amon Tobin - "Always"
This Brazilian artist is just outstanding. And prolific. He's released a ton of records in the past decade plus, with his own style that mixes electronics, breakbeats and live sounding instruments. I'm not sure much sampling is involved, but he's able to create a very loose, warm sounding vibe. This is actually one of his better songs. Almost seems like it should be on a soundtrack to a good adventure movie.
- Controlled Bleeding - "Now Is the Time"
This long running experimental band from New York is one of my all time favorites. The band was started by Paul Lemos, who also happens to teach English to high schoolers when not terrorizing your eardrums with his sonic experiments. The band's earliest records were sheer walls of white noise and almost unlistenable. But they never stuck to one thing, going from somber gothic rock to electronic dub and dancefloor industrial, which this track happens to represent. There never has been any other band quite like Controlled Bleeding. And I wish Paul Lemos had been MY English teacher in high school. I've swapped emails with him over the years and he seems like a kind, gentle soul but with a bit of a rascal inside.
- Lycia - "Fate"
This Arizona outfit is considered "darkwave", sort of like goth, but without the silly makeup. This band has an expansive sound built on heavy use of reverb. I've loved listening to Lycia in headphones late at night. Soothing, yet somewhat pensive and unnerving at the same time.
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So what's on your playlist and what are you currently listening to? I suspect I might be a bit more into underground metal than the average Dkos member, but we shall see.
And since they say music takes over where language leaves off, I don't think it's possible to ever be exposed to too much music.
Feel free to put your iPod or media player on random and tell us the next song that comes up...even if it's embarrassing!