Sonics
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sonics
There are a couple of things I'd like to find out about my favorite celebrities, and bear in mind that I am not one of those tabloid-buying fans who wants to know the brand of underwear a famous actor is wearing. I have no interest in those trivial matters, the kind of things that belongs to their own private lives. What the paparazzi takes and sells is none of my business, but then the kind of information I'd like to know are things that even the best paparazzi with the most expensive cameras cannot capture. For some reason, I am intrigued by two things about my favorite artistes: who is in their cellphone contact list, and their iTunes music library. I don't know, it's just a thing that I'd like to find out for some reason, and John Mayer has very kindly shared a part of his iTunes music library over at his blog this morning. So here I am, inspired by what he did, sharing a little bit of what I have been listening to. I imagine posts like that to be like fillers in nature, to be posted in between posts when I haven't got anything better to say. Why not, since I am already posting movie reviews anyway?
Hello, Avalanche by The Octopus Project
I am rather new to Christopher Clark's materials, with Body Riddle being the first time I am being exposed to him. But his materials are superb, it is the kind of things electronica should be made of. Songs like "Herr Bar", "Frau Wav" and "Ted" reminds me of a heavy-duty version of Múm somehow. The same haunting elements are present here, but Clark has a smoother and more polished sound that is fitful for a runway or the intro music to a fashion show, something along the lines of that. It has a very futuristic sound, and what attracted me to this album was probably the progressive nature of every song. It progresses from one song to another, and the choice of electronic sounds somehow feels like an even more futuristic view of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, as if it cannot get any more futuristic. It feels like the theme song for a sequel to that movie, though it is not to say that I encouraging the execution of such an outrageous idea. Either way, this album is definitely one of the best electronica albums I have heard. Draws you in in a manner like no other.
That's the real title by the way, and this album by the Propellerheads is also their only album, and sadly so. This is quite an old album, released in 1998 and made famous by the soundtrack of The Matrix. Spybreak! was such a big hit that it became one of those songs used over and over again in every possible medium, but nobody knew who made it. Though the highlight of the album is on Spybreak!, I must say that the rest of the album is equally good, if not better than it. It totally kicks Paul Oakenfold out of the windows here, which is even more confusing why they only released this one album. The whole album is like a really cool soundtrack to a really cool and slick heist movie, where you root for the bad guys and not the good ones. You can just picture in your head a group of smartly dressed men robbing a casino here, probably where the makers of Ocean's Eleven got their inspiration to make the film in the first place. This is the album you'd want to listen to while walking through a mall, everybody else becomes so small all of a sudden.
Jaymay's album represents a return to my own roots, the part of myself that still loves a simple acoustic guitar and a nice crispy voice. Here, we have a beautiful album by a singer with an equally beautiful voice, leaving behind the kind of songs I have been indulged in these days which people would usually consider as being "weird" or "strange". It is much quieter, more peaceful, a part of a genre called "anti-folk" that I am not particularly familiar with. With a soothing voice, Jaymay's little voice breaks out from the rest of the sounds with her delicate lyrics that speaks of rawness and truth. People might find this album to be rather ordinary, but I guess that is where my heart lies at times, the kind of music that you listen to on a Friday afternoon while driving home from, well, wherever. It's just a very lazy album, a very enjoyable one to relax to. By the way, Jaymay should not be confused with JayMay, which is a horrible R&B/Hip-Hop group.
Even by my standards, this album is as weird as it gets. Coming out from nowhere, Battles' Mirrored became one of the highest rated albums of last year on every website. One of the reason, I suppose, is due to the fact that nobody has ever heard anything like the material you get to hear on this album. From the first note in "Race In", you are going to realize that this band is either from another world, or they have been fed with a different kind of food that we eat. The word "different" doesn't even begin to describe how outstanding they are as a band, and it makes you realize the places that music can go to with the same kind of instrumental arrangements. Songs like "Atlas" and "Tonto" are breathtaking, and literally takes you to the edge of your seat just by listening to it. Coupled with the awesome music videos, this band is truly a tour de force, a wake up call for those unoriginal and boring bands out there playing the same things over and over. This is how music can also be made, even if they may sound alien at first, it usually turns out to be brilliant at the very end.
There are a couple of things I'd like to find out about my favorite celebrities, and bear in mind that I am not one of those tabloid-buying fans who wants to know the brand of underwear a famous actor is wearing. I have no interest in those trivial matters, the kind of things that belongs to their own private lives. What the paparazzi takes and sells is none of my business, but then the kind of information I'd like to know are things that even the best paparazzi with the most expensive cameras cannot capture. For some reason, I am intrigued by two things about my favorite artistes: who is in their cellphone contact list, and their iTunes music library. I don't know, it's just a thing that I'd like to find out for some reason, and John Mayer has very kindly shared a part of his iTunes music library over at his blog this morning. So here I am, inspired by what he did, sharing a little bit of what I have been listening to. I imagine posts like that to be like fillers in nature, to be posted in between posts when I haven't got anything better to say. Why not, since I am already posting movie reviews anyway?
Hello, Avalanche by The Octopus Project
After listening to The Octopus Project for the very first time, it's not going to be difficult for one to understand why the critics created such a big fuss after the band swept the Austin Music Awards. Heavily based on electronic beats overlaid by a very distinct root in rock, this band is quite a breath of fresh air personally. They are the definition of what a fun music should sound like, and it is definitely not about drunken teenagers getting high while driving way over the speed limit on the highway. Tracks like "Trucks" is just the most enjoyable head-banging song available out there right now, with the rest of the album mainly dominated by songs with deep electronica roots. Amidst the chaos and the madness, it is not difficult to discover that this band is just out to have fun with music, experimenting with it and toying around with every different possibilities and avenues. I love this band for its creativity, its ingenuity, as well as its freshness. A very unique band that defines itself at the forefront of what I call "fun music".
Albums by the band:
1. Identification Parade (2002)
2. One Ten Hundred Thousand Million (2004)
3. The House of Apples and Eyeballs [Collaboration with Black Moth Super Rainbow] (2006)
4. Hello, Avalanche (2007)
Body Riddle by Clark
Albums by the band:
1. Clarence Park (2001)
2. Empty the Bones of You (2003)
3. Body Riddle (2006)
4. Turning Dragon (2008)
Decksandrumsandrockandroll by Propellerheads
That's the real title by the way, and this album by the Propellerheads is also their only album, and sadly so. This is quite an old album, released in 1998 and made famous by the soundtrack of The Matrix. Spybreak! was such a big hit that it became one of those songs used over and over again in every possible medium, but nobody knew who made it. Though the highlight of the album is on Spybreak!, I must say that the rest of the album is equally good, if not better than it. It totally kicks Paul Oakenfold out of the windows here, which is even more confusing why they only released this one album. The whole album is like a really cool soundtrack to a really cool and slick heist movie, where you root for the bad guys and not the good ones. You can just picture in your head a group of smartly dressed men robbing a casino here, probably where the makers of Ocean's Eleven got their inspiration to make the film in the first place. This is the album you'd want to listen to while walking through a mall, everybody else becomes so small all of a sudden. Albums by the band:
1.Decksandrumsandrockandroll (1998)
Autumn Fallin' by Jaymay
Jaymay's album represents a return to my own roots, the part of myself that still loves a simple acoustic guitar and a nice crispy voice. Here, we have a beautiful album by a singer with an equally beautiful voice, leaving behind the kind of songs I have been indulged in these days which people would usually consider as being "weird" or "strange". It is much quieter, more peaceful, a part of a genre called "anti-folk" that I am not particularly familiar with. With a soothing voice, Jaymay's little voice breaks out from the rest of the sounds with her delicate lyrics that speaks of rawness and truth. People might find this album to be rather ordinary, but I guess that is where my heart lies at times, the kind of music that you listen to on a Friday afternoon while driving home from, well, wherever. It's just a very lazy album, a very enjoyable one to relax to. By the way, Jaymay should not be confused with JayMay, which is a horrible R&B/Hip-Hop group. Albums by the band:
1. Autumn Fallin' (2007)
Mirrored by Battles
Even by my standards, this album is as weird as it gets. Coming out from nowhere, Battles' Mirrored became one of the highest rated albums of last year on every website. One of the reason, I suppose, is due to the fact that nobody has ever heard anything like the material you get to hear on this album. From the first note in "Race In", you are going to realize that this band is either from another world, or they have been fed with a different kind of food that we eat. The word "different" doesn't even begin to describe how outstanding they are as a band, and it makes you realize the places that music can go to with the same kind of instrumental arrangements. Songs like "Atlas" and "Tonto" are breathtaking, and literally takes you to the edge of your seat just by listening to it. Coupled with the awesome music videos, this band is truly a tour de force, a wake up call for those unoriginal and boring bands out there playing the same things over and over. This is how music can also be made, even if they may sound alien at first, it usually turns out to be brilliant at the very end. Albums by the band:
1. Battles self-titled album (2004)
2. Mirrored (2007)
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