1st Interference Album Roundtable

[Salome]

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I got worry

Now this is one high energy, rocking affair.
The Blues Explosion won over the critics with Orange, but this album will always remain my favourite by a landslide.
I guess this can be considered a bluesrock album with some injections of funk, hiphop (though less than Orange, which is probably why critics did't run away with this one) and general madness.
Cracker of an album.

1. Skunk
Starting the album of with a wail that seems to be coming from somewhere so deep inside Mr. Spencer that it can't help but to grab your attention. Sets the tone for the album.
very neat little guitar solo in there too

2. Identify
Clocks in at 1.07. It's main point seems to be to up the energy levels even more after Skunk. Though that already seemed hardly possible.

3. Wail
Now this is what it's all about. The most perfect dirty bluesy rocker you're likely to ever find. Very funky drum break in there, but nothing could steal the highlight from that voice "Sock it to me!!" Though the guitars do their best.

4. Fuck Shit Up
A contribution by Beck. Adds a nice bit of variety to the album. Also introduces an organ sound (here courtesy of Mark Ramos Nishita) that will return a couple of times on the album. Does its job well, but in the end it serves more like a wee break before the next 2 tracks.

5. 2Kindsa Love
The riff kicks it off, the drums kick in and The Blues Explosion is on a roll again. You've got to hear it to believe it. One of the definite highlights together with Wail and .......

6. Love All Of Me
Another enormous rocker with great guitars and drums, but again Mr. Spencer's voice is hogging the spotlight. Terrific.

7. Chicken Dog
Featuring blues man R.L. Burnside. The Blues Explosion would assist Mr. Burnside in making the excellent album "A Ass Pocket of Whiskey". Chicken Dog adds a bit of extra funk and even more attitude to this corker of an album.

8. Rocketship
Closest the band gets to a radio friendly song (I believe this was the album's single), while not that different to the rest what is on offer here. We could do with dropping the energy levels for a moment to catch a breather (not that this even resembles a ballad in any way) and this song just hits the spot.

9. Dynamite Lover
Just another great rocking song you'd almost be tempted to say. Great, great rhythm guitar. Dynamite!

10. Hot Shot
Another high energy burst. Relentless drumming.

11. Can't Stop
And another soul injection. Mostly instrumental, but with a spoken piece of Jon to add to the fun. And great fun this is!

12. Firefly Child
The Blues Explosion almost going psychedelic on us while still hardly changing anything of their sound. Another highlight.

13. Eyeballin
Though there are some vocals/lyrics here to me it still feels like an instrumental somehow. Nice surprise with the drumcomputer break!

14. R.L. Got Soul
A nodd to R.L. Burnside on this instrumental ditty. More rock than blues I would say. The Blues Explosion's way we're nearing the end of the ride.

15. Get over here
One last high energy burst.
Reminds us of the first 2 tracks that kicked off this masterpiece.

16. Sticky
Stuck on the end. Hard to say much about this track. Seems to serve as a cooldown and - again- it works, even though it defies any sort of logic that it does work.


salomeshakesit@hotmail.com

 

[MrBrau1]

Excellent participation. Good job guys.

We've got a good list of albums going:

Might Joe Moon- Grant Lee Buffalo
Another Green World- Brian Eno
New Radicals- New Radicals
Velvet Underground- Velvet Underground
Never Loved Elvis- The Wonder Stuff
Kid A- Radiohead
Elastica- Elastica
The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips
The Dark Third- Pure Reason Revolution
RA- Utopia
Fading American Dream- Street Dogs
Now I got worry- Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Animals- Pink Floyd
Live- Our Lady Peace

Everyone get me links tomorrow and I'll forward it on to everyone Friday evening.

 

[VertigoGal]

I'm really excited for this too.
I'll upload/rant tomorrow.

 

[onebloodonelife]

All right, well, I attempted to split Our Lady Peace into separate tracks, but no go, so it's all one big file in MP3 format instead. I'm working on uploading right now.

 

[Screwtape2]

I'm posting this because the thread is the almost off the first page. So in the case that anyone else is interested or just about finished and doesn't want to go searching for it, here you go.

 

[VertigoGal]

The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground (1969)

One of my favorite albums. the perfect mix of pop, rock, experimentation, and ballads. Overlooked after their first two I think...maybe for it's "simplicity" but I dunno if that's a bad thing.

1. Candy Says
The album starts with one of the most delicate, mesmerizing songs I've heard. Yule's voice is sexual and beautiful and sad at the same time.

2. What Goes On
Rock- cool guitars, great vocal harmonies, not over produced or anything. Will get stuck in your head for days.

3. Some Kinda Love
More vague sexual lyrics- Lou Reed's voice is just so cool, and the guitars are quirky, almost country.

4. Pale Blues Eyes
Gorgeous gorgeous ballad, in a similar style to Candy Says but possibly even better. "Skip a life completely, stuff it in a cup, she said money is like us in time, it lies but won't stand up"

5. Jesus
The song is about...Jesus. Another calmer more introspective song with soft vocals and great harmonies. Builds nicely then drops back down effortlessly.

6. Beginning to See the Light
Pure rock song with great raw vocals and some improvisation at the end. Incredibly catchy and fun- what rock should sound like in my opinion.

7. I'm Set Free
This song grew on me more than any song on this album. It continues with the same guitar styles as the first part of the album and builds over a simple drumbeat with great vocals harmonies as always. It's fucking epic

8. That's the Story of My Life
A cute little pop song about having fun. Simple and a perfect transition into Murder Mystery.

9. Murder Mystery
The craziest/noisiest/most experimental song on the album. On the one hand it's pretty long...but if you just put this album on and listen, it's completely captivating. It combines urgent guitar, cymbals, and all four band members singing and talking with seemingly unrelated phrases and lines that create an incredible song. It's not noise for the purpose of noise, the Velvet Underground are just good at this shit.

10. After Hours
After nearly nine minutes of insanity, the album drops down to nearly a whisper for the short closing the song. Maureen Tucker sings in an almost childlike voice over sparse instrumentation. It's similar to the opener Candy Says, so ends the album in a way that makes it seem complete and perfectly arranged and satisfying. "But if you close the door, the night could last forever. Leave the sunshine out, and say hello to never."



swimmerchikpdq@hotmail.com

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Elastica - Elastica (1994)
Personnel:
Justine Frischmann: Vocals, Guitar
Donna Matthews: Vocals, Guitar
Annie Holland: Bass
Justin Welch: Drums

Let's get a few things straight. Firstly, this is not a perfect album. It does not musically re-invent the wheel (which I suppose is of paramount importance, especially if you think 'progressive' is a term that implies, well, progression). And I suppose a case can be made by any cynics that the album is pretty calculated - singer Justine Frischmann's oh-look-how-cool-I-am British accent being a prime example. But where the album's strength lies is in the sheer catchiness of its hooks and choruses (more on that later).

Secondly. If you like Blur (or Suede) then you're more than likely to have heard of Justine Frischmann, she of course being the paramour of first Brett Anderson and later Damon Albarn (and consequently the inspiration for 13). This being a music thing and not a tabloid thing, I'm not going to write any more about this, except when relevant.

Alright so down to the album itself. It seems to be a forgotten album, I think; it went straight to #1 when it was released (and I think, but don't quote me on this, it was a faster selling debut than Definitely Maybe), had a Mercury Music nomination, and the band had moderate success Stateside (including a Lollapalooza slot in place of Sinead O'Connor). No one talks about it much now, partly because the era of Britpop is more or less over, but that's a real pity, because the songs are quality. If I could find an analog for the album, I'd nominate the Buzzcocks' compilation Singles Going Steady - the album is full of quality, hooky pop songs, although the hooks in question have produced more than one court case.

That said, stealing from others has always been a habit of pop music, and while the Stranglers' 'No More Heroes' is a great song, the way it's keyboard line has been metamorphosed into the spiky, angular guitar riff of 'Waking Up' (that, lyrically, features some lovely moments of self-awareness), with a certain 'Dan Abnormal' playing keyboard on the track. Wire's 'Three Girl Rhumba' becomes 'Connection', now better known as the theme to Trigger Happy TV. And then there's the mighty roar of debut single 'Stutter', cheekily introduced by Frischmann onstage as about a 'physical impediment' - it's about two-minutes-and-twenty-odd-seconds of pure punk-pop joy.

Those, of course, were the big singles from the album, although many of the album tracks could have easily become singles as well. 'Annie' is a short romp via 'Clash City Rockers' that's nothing more than the title repeated over and over again (see also 'Man Who Would Be King' on the Libertines' final album). 'Hold Me Now' is proto-Garbage. 'See That Animal' is an old Suede song (from Justine's days in Suede, before they hit it big) that, to be fair, isn't that great, but rocks out anyway. '2:1' appeared on the Trainspotting soundtrack, again nothing really more than an exercise in a bit of rhythm but immensely catchy anyway. The album's one moment of introspection, 'Never Here' (possibly about Anderson) showcases some lovely drumming and is one of the album's best songs.

Will you like Elastica? I hope so. What happened to them after this album? There was a crap load of personnel changes, and then they took the Stone Roses route of waiting five years to make their second album. Justine Frischmann presents some architecture programme on the BBC, and I think co-wrote some songs for MIA. I have no idea about the others.

theatrefullofsadness@gmail.com

 

[MrBrau1]

I need a write up & links for

Kid A
The New Radicals

And links for:

Jon Spencer
Elastica
Flaming Lips

I'm sending what I have so far to everyone who's submitted.

 

[Jack In The Box]

I wish a had better English to write an essay about my all-time favorite album

 

[HolyMeximofoJoe]

can someone help me out with uploading?
send space only allows me to upload 5 files and (it seems) it can't just send an entire folder... what did everyone else do to upload?

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I put mine in a .rar file and uploaded the one file.

 

[HolyMeximofoJoe]

wha? lol sorry can u tell me how to do that?... ain't too good with my computer

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Um google 'winrar' and download the winrar programme.

Then when it's done and installed select all the files you want in my computer or something, right-click and choose 'add to archive' or 'create winrar archive' or something along those lines (can't remember).

That will create a compressed archive of the files you need, and you can send that along.

Alternatively just head to s a v e f i l e and upload all the files individually.

 

[Screwtape2]

The roundtable has its first success.

So I listened to Axver's choice of The Dark Third by Pure Reason Revolution and it is pretty good. You can clearly hear the Pink Floyd influence. Parts of the album really reminded me of Meddle. I really liked the opening track Aeropause. The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning is very well done. Very well constructed. I'm liking this album more and more with each listen.
I'm really glad I found this album. Thanks, Axver!

I have two questions Axver,
1. How did you come across this album?
2. Which of their albums should I pick up next?

 

[Salome]

I sent my links this morning.

 

[MrBrau1]

I'm tying up a few loose ends.

Another round of emails will go this afternoon.

 

[xaviMF22]

sorry I could send my links.....final exams


I'm I too late? and can I change my pick?

 

[MrBrau1]

sorry I could send my links.....final exams


I'm I too late? and can I change my pick?

Not too late. Send them on over.

 

[xaviMF22]

I know I was supposed to do Kid A...
but I change my mind and though I'll do something less unknown .....

I chose Pinkback’s “Blue Screen life” and it is one of my favorite albums. This is an album filled with good melodies, and amazing vocal harmonies. Anyway if you like melodic pop songs, with catchy choruses, then this is the album for you.


Offline P.K

A song about online gaming, this song has everything you’d want in a song.
Good lyrics and awesome music to back that up.

Concrete Seconds

One of my favorite songs on the album that deals with boredom and trying to be at peace with yourself and realizing that things haven’t turned out the way
you've always planned. It is also about relationships and the ongoing battles couples have with one another.

Boo

Without a doubt one of my favorite Pinback songs, and one of the best on the entire album. The songs begins with Orson Wells radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, very odd but its fits with the rest of the songs. To me this song conveys the feeling of loneliness and being trapped and just wanting to find release. One of the most beautiful and sad songs on the album, if you listen to any song on the album it is this one.

BBTone

Simple and catchy pop song about doing something fun


Penelope

What many consider one of the best Pinback tunes, I will admit this song doesn’t do anything for me but it is quite catchy and touching song

Talby

One of my least favorite songs on the record, despite that it is still and ok song

X I Y

In terms of sound this song seems strangely out of place with the rest of the record, however like the rest of the record the song it is very melodic

Prog

Another song that sounds out of place, this is probably the heaviest rock song on the album and one of Pinback’s best

Your Sickness

Song that can be interpreted in a variety of ways, to me this is a song about life in the music industry


Seville

Very calm and peaceful song about a childhood tragedy, one of my favorites

B]West[[/B]

A sad song about a long distance relationship very melodic

Tres

Despite its weird title this is the perfect closer to one of my favorite albums. A very deep and beautiful song driven by simple piano melody

xsacta1 at iona.edu

Anyway I hope you like it
and first recommend first listening to:


Concrete Seconds
Boo
Bbtone

 

[Axver]

Originally posted by Screwtape2 I have two questions Axver,
1. How did you come across this album?
2. Which of their albums should I pick up next?

I'm really glad you're enjoying the album! I was hoping it would go down well.

To answer your questions:
1. A poster on another forum I visit was keen on this album, and as he seemed to like similar stuff to me, I figured I'd check out the album and see if it was any good. I'm very glad I did!
2. The Dark Third is their only album so far. I'm not sure if they plan to have a second one out next year or not. There is an EP though, Cautionary Tales For The Brave, which contains some different songs. I haven't heard the EP yet, so I'm not sure if the Dark Third songs on it are different mixes or not.

 

[MrBrau1]

xaviMF22, get me your link.

 

[xaviMF22]

xaviMF22, get me your link.

I sent it already

let me check

 

[MrBrau1]

I sent it already

let me check

Got it.

Cool.

Emails have been sent.

Everyone should have links to everything now.

Time to digest.

 

[Axver]

That album by Utopia is spectacular, especially the first song.

 

[GibsonGirl]

I really enjoyed The Dark Third. Still have to get to the rest of the albums.

 

[Screwtape2]

That album by Utopia is spectacular, especially the first song.

I'm really glad you liked it, Axver. I was kind of afraid that no would. Communion With The Sun (the first song) really is . If you want, I could send you some of their other prog rock stuff.

I think when I'm on the road for the holidays I'll listen to the thread's three prog rock albums straight through together as one single experience. The Dark Third, Animals and RA.
That's a beautiful combination.


But uh...does anyone have any thoughts on the albums that they have listened to yet?

 

[Screwtape2]

Mighty Joe Moon

I agree with everything you said about this album, Brau. The albums sounds of a nostalgic drone. I love this album. It seems to take all these great aspects of some of the artists of that time but at the same time make the sound its own.

Another album that I'm so glad to have discovered.

 

[IWasBored]

so far i've only listened to brau's contribution. i knew a couple songs off it, but hearing the whole thing = definitely better than just "happiness" and "honey don't think".

excellent

 

[U2Man]

i know im a douchebag, but could i pleeeeeease have the email with all the links?

u2man.number2@gmail.com

 

[HolyMeximofoJoe]

Never Loved Elvis...wow just wow... that is some kick ass music right there... very uplifting music... it's like the sound of a festival/parade/celebration...

Awesome use of the all those stringed instruments and such...
I started laughing halfway into "Welcome to the Cheap Seats" cause of how much i was enjoying the album and that was only 4 songs in... and "Here Come Everyone" ... awesome cd... for some reason the vocalist reminded me of thom yorke...

Blue Screen Life...Prog awesome awesome song...that chorus ... concrete seconds and then boo were two great back to back songs.... seville.... great cd just layed in bed and listened to it from front to back without stop....only gripe is that the vocalist didn't really use much range...

I'll listen to The Dark Third tonight and Might Joe Moon tomorrow...

2 CD's in, i'm very glad i joined this