I was digging in a box looking for AA batteries and found a copy of the soundtrack to Taal, a Bollywood movie I've never seen. I bought this at a local Indian grocery in 1999, on cassette ($4, I think), after seeing a commercial for it on this show that used to run on one of the cable channels - musical numbers from the movies, shown like music videos. Most of the female vocals are by Alka Yagnik (quickie research indicates she won some kind of award, and indeed the movie was a big award-magnet the year it came out), though there's one track featuring Asha Bhosle. The music is generally mellow and kinda dubby, heading almost into Wordsound territory on a couple of tracks. Very rhythmic throughout, with some unexpected bursts of melody that'll pop your ass right out of the chair if you're not paying attention - or even if you are. Plus, the J-card folds out with lots of very nice pictures of Aishwarya Rai, always a huge plus. I might have to dig this one up on CD; it's available from Amazon damn cheap.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
COOL THINGS I FORGOT I OWN, VOL. 573
I was digging in a box looking for AA batteries and found a copy of the soundtrack to Taal, a Bollywood movie I've never seen. I bought this at a local Indian grocery in 1999, on cassette ($4, I think), after seeing a commercial for it on this show that used to run on one of the cable channels - musical numbers from the movies, shown like music videos. Most of the female vocals are by Alka Yagnik (quickie research indicates she won some kind of award, and indeed the movie was a big award-magnet the year it came out), though there's one track featuring Asha Bhosle. The music is generally mellow and kinda dubby, heading almost into Wordsound territory on a couple of tracks. Very rhythmic throughout, with some unexpected bursts of melody that'll pop your ass right out of the chair if you're not paying attention - or even if you are. Plus, the J-card folds out with lots of very nice pictures of Aishwarya Rai, always a huge plus. I might have to dig this one up on CD; it's available from Amazon damn cheap.
DOOM IS THE NEW AMBIENT
...and that's why I don't like it.
I do most of my music listening a) through headphones and b) while working, or while striding purposefully or otherwise traveling from place to place. Doom doesn't help with either of these things. Try listening to Electric Wizard's "Supercoven," never mind something like Orthodox's Gran Poder (which arrived in the mail the other day, and which inspired this post), on the train - you'll fall dead asleep. As I type these words, "Geryon's Throne," the first track on Gran Poder, is finally ending, just shy of 28 minutes after I pressed Play. It's not bad stuff - the vocalist sounds a lot like Buzz Osborne, and the guitars are pretty great, even if the drummer is, like many of his doom brethren, way too cymbal-happy. (I hate cymbals, but I understand the impulse to hit 'em, especially when the beats are so slow and sparse - you gotta remind the listener, and maybe even your bandmates, that you're back there, right?) But it demands to be played through speakers, so it can properly fill the room. And if a song's 28 minutes long (or 75 minutes long, in the case of, say, the second disc of Corrupted's Llenandose De Gusanos), that demands a passivity from the listener, a willingness to surrender to the music, that frankly my lifestyle just doesn't permit. I'm a busy guy. I want short, fast, punchy. I want Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Or Ornette Coleman's Atlantic albums. Or anything else that's gonna keep me up, up, up. Perhaps I'll hang on to all these doom records I keep getting in the mail - and one day, when I've made enough money that I can loaf around all day and crank up the stereo, I'll slap some of 'em on and drift away for hours on a sea of booming downtuned riffage. But right now, I just don't have the time.
I do most of my music listening a) through headphones and b) while working, or while striding purposefully or otherwise traveling from place to place. Doom doesn't help with either of these things. Try listening to Electric Wizard's "Supercoven," never mind something like Orthodox's Gran Poder (which arrived in the mail the other day, and which inspired this post), on the train - you'll fall dead asleep. As I type these words, "Geryon's Throne," the first track on Gran Poder, is finally ending, just shy of 28 minutes after I pressed Play. It's not bad stuff - the vocalist sounds a lot like Buzz Osborne, and the guitars are pretty great, even if the drummer is, like many of his doom brethren, way too cymbal-happy. (I hate cymbals, but I understand the impulse to hit 'em, especially when the beats are so slow and sparse - you gotta remind the listener, and maybe even your bandmates, that you're back there, right?) But it demands to be played through speakers, so it can properly fill the room. And if a song's 28 minutes long (or 75 minutes long, in the case of, say, the second disc of Corrupted's Llenandose De Gusanos), that demands a passivity from the listener, a willingness to surrender to the music, that frankly my lifestyle just doesn't permit. I'm a busy guy. I want short, fast, punchy. I want Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Or Ornette Coleman's Atlantic albums. Or anything else that's gonna keep me up, up, up. Perhaps I'll hang on to all these doom records I keep getting in the mail - and one day, when I've made enough money that I can loaf around all day and crank up the stereo, I'll slap some of 'em on and drift away for hours on a sea of booming downtuned riffage. But right now, I just don't have the time.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
I GOTCHER CRAZY FROG(S) RIGHT HERE
Today at PTW:FAIRYLAND
"The Fall Of An Empire"
Who says the French are cowards? Even Rob Halford hasn’t got the kind of balls it takes to name a metal band Fairyland. Fortunately, these whacked-out Frenchies bring the rock—well, sort of. Their brand of keyboard-slathered power metal is so anthemic, it ought to be an anime soundtrack. [Read the rest here.]
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
THIS WEEK IN THE VOICE
VARIOUS ARTISTSHyphy Hitz
TVT
It's easy to guess why TVT would start pushing Oakland's hyphy style after the label's success with Southern crunk—both styles share big synth lines, thudding stripper-friendly beats, and a general ig'nance. But where crunk gets over on raw, balls-out energy, hyphy rappers frequently sound enervated, exhaling at the end of each line like rhyming really takes it out of 'em. [Read the rest here.]
Friday, January 12, 2007
FRIDAY MORNING 15
Blue Cheer, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"Napalm Death, "Messiah"
Three 6 Mafia, "Tear Da Club Up '97"
Iron Maiden, "Montsegur"
The Clash, "Clampdown"
Miles Davis, "Perfect Way (Live)"
Judas Priest, "Hot Rockin' (Live)"
Mariem Hassan, "La Tumchu Anni"
Agoraphobic Nosebleed, "Clawhammer And An Ether Rag (For Bill)"
ZZ Top, "Blue Jean Blues"
Trivium, "Suffocating Sight"
Bow Wow Wow, "I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)"
Yoko Kanno, "Spider Bites"
Wilson Pickett, "Engine Number 9"
KaitO, "Nobody Could Be Alone"
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