Desert Island VIII Master List, Part One

[Reggo]

I just finished Reggo's list. Let me just say that this one felt apocalyptic. I definitely heard the ominous undercurrents that others have commented upon, which suggests that this playlist has been highly successful in creating and sustaining a certain mood.

Here are a few highlights:

The stretch from "Revolution 9" to "Lullaby" was almost disturbingly cohesive, and I loved the inclusion of "Subway Song."

On some days, "Please" is among my top three U2 songs, and its inclusion here did an example job of highlighting a somber element to U2's music that is too often forgotten.

The Sunn O))) track developed in a hypnotic manner; I remained thoroughly interested throughout the entire sixteen minutes.

I was unfamiliar with most of the artists included here, so I was forced from my comfort zone; the experience, however, was rewarding.

Thanks, iYup. Honestly, I'm not sure what inspired me to do such a dark list. It just sort of came together in a very strange way.

I'm listening to yours now. Loving it. I've yet to listen to collapse's list, but you and Screwtape are neck-and-neck for my top vote at the moment.

 

[bono_212]

Please report on what you think of it. I have been meaning to hear that album for a long time.

I wouldn't say it's Robert's best work or anything, but it's definitely worth your time. Had I known that I'd be reporting back on what I thought of the album, I would've paid a pit more attention, but as it was I listened to it at about 2 AM so I can't quite remember everything . But it definitely had a vibe to it and a few excellent tracks. I think Screw and I were in agreement on what the best was, however.

EDIT: Nope, just checked, my favorite track was "This Green City". But obviously I liked the track Screw included as well or I never would've bothered lol.

Thanks. I am glad you are checking out Blue Sunshine. It is definitely a lost gem of the 80's.

Thank you for including the song, that's what I love most about DI. Discoveries *ooooh*

 

[Reggo]

Awesome, iYup. Just awesome.

Highlight: The jazz was great, but my favourite part was Veil Veil Vanish through The National. That part really clicked for me.

Like I said in my previous post, it's going to be very hard to do the rankings.

 

[IWasBored]

finally getting around to loading everything properly onto my ipod, because listening while playing video games wasn't happening like i thought it was. too many interruptions would have made for truncated listening in parts, and that simply will not do. i was almost afraid phanan might have posted another batch, and i'd have an assload of catching up to do, but i'm glad that's not the case.

going to start with collapse's because while i haven't read through a track listing that i'm not interested in hearing (in other words, i read through everyone's playlists and everything looks interesting), the promise of some metal made me most happy. and i see that there is indeed metal to be heard. opeth, in flames, dimmu borgir, oh my. but more about that once i get my ass off here and go listen.

i feel kind of like a putz because while i was loading things into itunes, i realized i actually had that underworld song (that being the only underworld song i apparently had), but don't even remember who they are, what it sounds like, or where it might have come from. for shame.

 

[iron yuppie]

And the twofer of Fleet Foxes and Floyd was great - and you get bonus points for the Cirrus Minor selection...
In the end, it's probably obvious that I enjoyed listening to this. Great job.

Awesome, iYup. Just awesome.

Many thanks to both of you. Phanan, I'm glad that you enjoyed and appear to be very familiar with "Cirrus Minor." It is one my favorite Pink Floyd songs, which is really saying something because Floyd is my favorite band ever. Its mood is so perfectly sustained, and, if the organ solo at the end is how it feels to be on a hallucinogenic drug, I can certainly understand why so many people partake in them.

 

[Reggo]

Let the listening commence...


Reggo

1. My Chemica Romance - “Romance” - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (1:05)

Total runtime: 137:40 or 2:37:40

...

Apparently, I can't spell OR add... and it took me a week to notice this.

 

[phanan]

Don't feel bad, I didn't even notice the error when cutting and pasting.

 

[IWasBored]

i really enjoyed collapse's playlist.

a major highlight was the agalloch tune. nothing more to say than wicked cool song, even if it was a little too long. as awesome as that was, finntroll was even more awesome. the entire "call to arms" segment was exactly what i'd been looking forward to hearing. i don't want to say what axver said as far as you coming at the genre of metal from a different place than i would, because i'm a lot less well-versed in it. metal is such a vague term because it encompasses so many sub-genres, a metalhead could be some simpleton who only likes slayer and motorhead to this guy i used to know from the university radio station who did a solely european metal show with more diversity than i ever thought was possible. i always had a hard time listening to it regularly because it all tended to blend together, and i could never seem to keep track of what i liked and didn't like. pretty much all i can tell here is i greatly enjoy this stuff, and had totally forgotten dimmu borgir existed. and being reminded? not a bad thing at all.

have to admit i was taken aback a bit because i initially thought that kylesa song was going to be a smashing pumpkins cover, which would have sucked immensely. instead, it made me want to check out more of their stuff.

i enjoyed the way the playlist morphed into more of the computer-infused, post-rock-ish, chill, more instrumental than lyric-based stuff that a lot of the metal kids i knew morphed into over time. although you did it without getting experimental for the sake of being weird, pretending to be art, and just being annoying sound passed off as music (like what's that guy's name who puts out the 100+ cd sets of just static and beeps? fuck that shit). the twin panda through animals as leaders part was particularly cool. jaydiohead kind of ruined things there for me, but it did fit nicely in the sense that it broke up a couple instrumental, meandering tracks and kept them from blending together (not saying they sounded the same, just saying that having never heard either of them before, they might melt into one lump in my mind before i learn to distinguish and identify them).

and then the last part is a pretty nice conclusion to the whole thing. on the whole, pretty solid list.

 

[cobl04]

started on your list lemel, and i will firstly say that i haven't been a fan of one or two of the transitions, blasphemic as it is to say that to you i know

great start and i really love a bit of Motown, it's so much fun to listen to. i wanted to use The Righteous Brothers on my list but i don't have any other music like it so it couldn't fit.

Floyd is my favorite band ever.

i didn't know this, though i should have guessed given your comments on some of their albums (Animals in particular). Dark Side is my favourite album of all time, and i must be one of about 0.00000000000000001% of humanity who believes it richly deserves all the praise it gets.

 

[iron yuppie]

Dark Side is my favourite album of all time, and i must be one of about 0.00000000000000001% of humanity who believes it richly deserves all the praise it gets.

Ha, you can count me among that peculiar demographic as well. On some days, it is my favorite Floyd album. Contending with Wish You Were Here and Animals is no easy task, however.

 

[cobl04]

Ha, you can count me among that peculiar demographic as well. On some days, it is my favorite Floyd album. Contending with Wish You Were Here and Animals is no easy task, however.

you are certainly correct though! Wish You Were Here is nearly flawless and Animals is just incredible.

 

[Reggo]

halfway through collapse's list. Enjoying it so far. Full report when it's finished.

 

[Joey788]

Listened to the Day half of ironyuppie's playlist.

- For the most part, this half is all over the map but in a good way. I like the variety.
- I like the way the M83 song builds up throughout its three minutes. Haven’t heard much from them, but I’d love to hear more.
- Sorry, but I’m definitely not a fan of Fleet Foxes. I think the transition here doesn’t work well either, since M83 builds up but this track takes the energy back down.
- That being said, the transition into “Cirrus Minor” was perfect. I couldn’t even tell that the tracks changes over until the vocals came in. Absolutely marvelous job there. : )
- “Breathe” is one of my favorite NLOTH tracks. I think the transition from Pink Floyd was a little rough but it was still a great choice.
- Nice blues rock section in the middle, with Robert Plant, Rolling Stones, and White Stripes.
- This side started to lose me from “Deluge” through “Swanlights.” The minimalist nature of some of the songs didn’t keep me into it and I felt it lost the momentum it had going for it.
- Radiohead is one of my favorite artists so it’s always difficult for me to listen to covers without bias. “Let Down” wasn’t bad and had some creative elements with the piano. But it lost a lot of the layers that makes the song great in the first place. I can definitely see the sun setting while listening to this though, readying us for the night half.

Going to start the second half now!

 

[Reggo]

collapse's list:

This was certainly an eclectic mix. Some of the transitions were a bit dodgy, but a lot of them worked. Metal isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I enjoyed listening to this list. I have to say, all in all, not bad for a first outing into DI. Certainly better than my first shot at it.

 

[Joey788]

Ironyuppie, part 2! First off, I think this playlist flowed much better than the first half did and just had better songs all together. Kept me listening from beginning to end, looking forward to what's next.

- I’ve always been a casual fan of Depeche Mode. Had their greatest hits and Sounds of the Universe. I saw them live in summer 2009 and they closed with this song, a beautiful way to end the show. Here though, it works wonderfully as a slow-building opener. I really, really need to listen to Violator as a whole.
- Loved the way “Anthem for a Doomed Team” exploded out of the slow conclusion of “Waiting for the Night.” Another band I need to check out more from.
- I liked the song selection for Fever Ray but the placement felt off. It didn’t flow well from Veil Veil Vanish. Still, a strong song choice for the night playlist.
- LCD Soundsystem has always been hit or miss for me. Count this in the hit column though. I love everything about this song, the melody, the keyboards, the lyrics. Perfect selection.
- Thinking about LCD followed the National doesn’t work on any level in my head. Yet you pulled it off wonderfully here. Plus, you did it with one of my favorite Alligator tracks.
- Big fan of the Portishead selection. Sounds like a jazzier James Bond theme with some really soulful vocals. Segued well into Miles Davis.
- I immensely loved the trilogy of songs from “Cymbal Rush” to “Trust Me.” They were all beautiful, almost ethereal choices that also conveyed a sense of darkness. The Smiths track was almost a pickup but still kept the same mood.
- I’ve never been a fan of Bjork at all but this was an excellent selection to close the album out. After the darker tracks, it felt much lighter but still fit with the general theme.

So all together, I think that the second half made a far stronger showing than the first. The Day playlist lost steam about halfway through for me and it never really recovered. The Night playlist was strong from beginning to end.

 

[IWasBored]

LM's list was up last night. the way everyone was expressing their interest in hearing it, i suspected i'd dislike it just as much as i had suspected i would like collapse's list. "fun," "a party," and all that makes for a description that i'd be less than psyched about hearing. putting aside that bias and being ready to be proven wrong was just as interesting as anything else, really. the weather was pretty shitty, but it was very quickly made tolerable because instead of the dance party record of the year that i'd been expecting, what i had playing was a collection of very light and chill, laid back, extremely peaceful winter driving music. the first 10 songs? truly wonderful, and while i didn't particularly enjoy every single one of them individually, i was all ready to praise you for 1) some serious fuckin' flow 2) a seemingly at first glance odd placement of a beastie boys song that ultimately worked amazingly in emphasizing not the beastie boys rap, but the samples included in it. something about how context is everything, and that the fact that this was established so early in the playlist really said something about the time and effort spent into compiling it...and a few other things that are actually irrelavent because i fucked up.

my goddamn ipod rearranged everything in alphabetical order. i'm glad i caught it before i made it all the way through, because as it stands now i'm a little afraid this error might have spoiled things to some degree. i don't get it, because i'm looking at itunes right now, and as it appears on my screen is how it's supposed to be, and i don't see how dragging and dropping it into the ipod would have screwed this up.

so i'll be fixing this, and then i will be listening to your playlist in its actual playlist form later when i wake up this afternoon.



although that means that you didn't actually put cut copy and daft punk back to back like i thought. that transition reeked of cheap obviousness, and i'm glad to see it only exists in my mind.

 

[IWasBored]

and i guess i did fuck up collapse's playlist when i listened to it, too. not nearly as badly, it seems like only 2 or 3 things got misplaced somehow. i still can't figure out how, but yeah, this pretty much just ruined my day.

 

[Joey788]

Just finished up Reggo's soundtrack. I really enjoyed it. Some thoughts:

- The first nine tracks were absolutely perfect. I’m not a fan of all of those artists but it didn’t matter. It flowed so well and created such a dark mood that I was easily dragged into it.
- I also loved your choice of the single mix for “Please.” Much more powerful than the album version. I also like how it’s almost like a momentary escape from the horror/insanity before Tool brings it back down.
- “Subway Song” through “Crucifixus” was also an incredible mix that created a similar dark mood to the start but one that felt different enough that it wasn’t repetitive.
- I enjoyed the somewhat looping themes that kept coming back, such as falling asleep/.not being able to sleep.
- I think one of my favorite things about this playlist is how peaceful some of it can be, such as “The Unforgettable Fire” and parts of “Doctor Finkelstein/In The Forest.”
- The only parts of this playlist that didn’t work for me was the Green Day and Muse songs. I felt like both broke the spell the rest of the soundtrack had been weaving throughout.
- Overall, this has been an incredible soundtrack to listen to, full of songs that I wouldn’t hear by themselves but absolutely loved as part of a whole.

Brilliant job! This was great to listen to!

 

[Reggo]

Thanks, man. I'm glad everyone's enjoying it, dark and messed up as it is, lol.

 

[phanan]

Almost done with Reggo's entry - this is one fucked up playlist. And I mean that in a good way, even if I wouldn't listen to quite a bit of this stuff myself. It certainly goes well together.

I'll have specific thoughts when I finish.

 

[IWasBored]

decided to distance myself from the songs on LM's list before i give it a go in its proper order (give me a few days, i'll have completely forgotten them cos i only heard them once and my memory has been sketchy at best lately). i want to pay it its proper respect, as i'd like to treat everyone's lists, and still kind of think i committed some kind of unforgivable sin not scrutinizing the exact order things got spit onto my ipod in.

so...listening to iyup this morning. being broken between day and night, i figured i'd listen to the first part during the day while it is sunny and light outside.

while i didn't enjoy the m83/fleet foxes couple in the beginning like others did, pink floyd kicked my ass in gear and set things right.

i am a bad u2 fan, this has been established a number of times, and i hope it doesn't come as a surprise anymore when i say that this was the first time (or i'm pretty sure it was, anyway, because i can't remember if i ever did listen to no line once through, parts of it, or never any at all). but honestly, "breathe" was excellent. excellent in placement in your mix, and an excellent choice of a song in general. definitely counts as a highlight.

in that half, no other songs really jumped out at me. but i wouldn't say that's a bad thing. everything just flowed as one pretty peaceful entity. every transition seemed very even to me. i spaced out a bit during the whole can't you hear me knocking/elton john/deluge bit, but i also felt like i was supposed to space out there and just enjoy the music.

definitely enjoyable.

i'll get to part 2 once it's dark out...after i wake up.

 

[bono_212]

T-minus 5 minutes until Reggo's playlist happens.

 

[phanan]

Well Reggo, that had to be the darkest and most disturbing playlist in the history of DI.

Great use of the songs you chose, and they obviously went well together, creating an excellent mindfuck to the listener. I agree with Screw that the first portion of the playlist was probably my favorite part, and I also agree with Joey that Green Day didn't seem to fit in too well, although I thought ending with Muse was cool. And I can't think of a better use of Revolution 9 than in your playlist.

I didn't care for some of the song selections - bands like Type O Negative and Slipknot are just not my cup of tea, but again, they worked well for what you were going for here.

So thanks for that listening experience. I think.

 

[Reggo]

Thanks, phanan.

 

[phanan]

Listened to Screwtape's playlist this evening, and I think this is his best entry yet. And that's saying a lot considering how long he's been doing this, between DI and the minis.

This was a great piece of work from start to finish - well, close to the finish anyway. The ordering and transitions are top notch, as are most of the song selections, and you covered a wide range of music here. Towards the end, things get a bit out of whack - some songs unfortunately have bad edits that disturb the overall flow (Todd Rundgren's Living being one) and the last couple of songs were probably my least favorites on the whole thing.

And allow me to nitpick briefly here - the single version of Atomic is nowhere near as good as the original album version. I wish you had used that instead.

But damn, other than those minor quibbles, this was just fantastic. You even summoned a bit of Retro Island into this, with a great Gary Numan track and an excellent one-hit wonder from the 80's with The Passions. You've outdone yourself man...

 

[bono_212]

Retro Island

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

we need to have another one.

 

[bono_212]

Yesssssss. I feel like I have such a better grasp on the genre now.

 

[Reggo]

Which genre?

And did you get a chance to listen to my list yet, Ash?

 

[bono_212]

New Wave/post punk. And no, didn't get a chance, life and new pillows got in the way.