.biD

[B]Antimatter - The Art Of A Soft Landing[/B]

Well, it immediately reminds me of Anathema, which can only be a good thing.

An ambient style intro eventually gives way to a female vocal, that I'm pretty certain is backed up by a male, giving the song that SHODAN-effect on the melody.

The song doesn't really change much. There's occasional blips of change in the percussion. The male voice rises to become more prominent. Quite why he reminds me of Scott Stapp I don't know.

Ooh, a change. Some distortion comes in, with a heavily distorted guitar added sound effects over the top. After a while of this heavier section, the man screams, which gives way to a piano line. Not just any piano line, but the piano line from Resident Evil: Code Veronica. Whether that was intentional or not I don't know.

Overall it's a pretty perfect summation of the genre. There ain't a lot of innovation, but ther doesn't ned to be. A good specimin of gothic music, I'd say.

[B]7/10[/B]

I'll go and fetch some stuff for the next guy/gal to get.

Fetch it quickly.

[B]Asian Dub Foundation feat. Sinead O' Conner - 1000 Mirrors[/B]
(A song about domestic violence in the Asian community, dedicated to Zoorah Shah. Variety of genres.)
[B]McFly - That Girl[/B]
(50s rock'n'roll welded to 00's British pop.)
[B]Spice Girls - Viva Forever[/B]
(Some beautiful flamenco guitar. Listen without prejudice.)
[B]The Roots - Return To Innocence Lost [/B]
(hard-hitting socially-conscious beat poetry)
[B]Hector Berlioz - Marche Au Supplice (March To The Scaffold), from Symphonie Fantastique[/B]
(Early Romantic piece, where Berlioz tells the story of a dream of his own execution.)
[B]Richard Wagner - Ride Of The Valkyries, from Die Walkure[/B]
(One of those pieces of music everyone knows. About a tribe of Amazonian warrior women.)
[B]Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet[/B]
(Hip-hop. About the white community's fear of inter-gender relationships.)
[B]Genius/GZA - Duel Of The Iron Mic[/B]
(Early Wu-Tang hip-hop. Features the recently departed ODB, and Method Man.)
[B]Lauryn Hill - Ex Factor[/B]
(Gritty R&B. Great guitar solo.)
[B]Fleetwood Mac - Songbird[/B]
(Piano-led 70s pop-rock ballad.)
[B]Love - Alone Again Or[/B]
(60's proggy psychedelic folk.)

C'mon, ya bastards, you're spoiled for choice!!!

[QUOTE=Bartender]Fetch it quickly.[/QUOTE]
You're always doing that with my choices. :p

Love - Alone Again Or is such an amazing song. I can say to the least that your list is a little diverse. :lol:

[QUOTE=Iai]
You're always doing that with my choices. :p[/QUOTE]

Weird, isn't it.

Hey, that is a lot of choice. *reps*

Not a dibs for now, though, because I can't find any of the ones I haven't heard and would like to do.

Found one. Dibs.

My first Roots experience.
[b]The Roots - The Return to Innocence Lost[/b] - 11:55

I hope this is the right song, because it's twelve minutes long.

Starts off with a lilting, xylophone-type sound. The kind of thing that brings to mind nurseries and playschool.

And the lyrics start..this is where I falter in reviewing such music. It's hard to review it, without just repeating the lyrics. Iai is right, anyway, hard-hitting is definitely the phrase for it. It basically tells a story, from a third-person perspective, of a woman who is abused by an alcoholic husband, and then the (short) life of her first born son. I don't want to say too much in case others want to hear it; I imagine it's be much more effective without having had it spelled out to you beforehand.

I suppose I could go into rhyme schemes and things, but I don't really think I could do that either. One thing I will mention is that I like the gentle acoustic sample (I think) used for the majority of the song, after that nursery intro, and I really liked the final line, returning to the title phrase.

If I have any complaints, it's that I wasn't overly keen on her voice, though it wasn't terrible.

9/10

The song is actually only 5 minutes or so long. Then there's a few minutes of silence, and a hidden track. It starts off rather amusingly;

*beatboxing*
What?
*beatboxing*
Another one?!
*beatboxing*
You want me to do a hidden track?
*beatboxing*
It's four in the morning!

But yeah, I won't review that, because it's not The Return To Innocence Lost.

Songs;
Miocene - [i]State of Flux[/i] (er. alternative?)
Einsturzende Neubauten - [i]Ende Neu[/i] (live)
Frank Klepacki - [i]Just Do It Up[/i] or [i]C&C Thang[/i] (video game music)
Gordian Knot - [i]Reflections[/i] (progressive instrumental metal)
Sean Malone - [i]The Big Idea[/i] (instrumental jazz fusion. Largely bass/Stick oriented)

If you don't know how to contact me to get any of these..why are you doing an Other Forced Listening?

:lol: I totally forgot about that bonus track.

/leaves dibs for someone else.....for a while

Meh....dibs it is.

/has never played Command & Conquer

[B]Frank Klepacki - C&C Thang[/B]

Like most video game music, this is clearly indebted to minimalism. The problem with a lot of minimalism is that it gets very boring, but this manages not to.

The bass, which drives the song, drops out in parts, but otherwise underpins everything with 2 riffs it swaps between. The drums are fairly simple, but they do their job. The melody is taken by what sounds like a MIDI flute, and occasionally, vocals, guitars, and snyth instruments I don't recognize - probably some sort of brass.

This actually sounds bizzarely like a piece of coursework I did not so long ago. Hmm.

It's not the best piece of game music I've ever heard (it ain't Nobou), but it does the job, and it's quite enjoyable. Throwaway, yet punchy.

[B]6/10. [/B]

[B]Asian Dub Foundation feat. Sinead O' Conner - 1000 Mirrors[/B]
(A song about domestic violence in the Asian community, dedicated to Zoorah Shah. Variety of genres.)
[B]McFly - That Girl[/B]
(50s rock'n'roll welded to 00's British pop.)
[B]Spice Girls - Viva Forever[/B]
(Some beautiful flamenco guitar. Listen without prejudice.)
[B]Hector Berlioz - Marche Au Supplice (March To The Scaffold), from Symphonie Fantastique[/B]
(Early Romantic piece, where Berlioz tells the story of a dream of his own execution.)
[B]Richard Wagner - Ride Of The Valkyries, from Die Walkure[/B]
(One of those pieces of music everyone knows. About a tribe of Amazonian warrior women.)
[B]Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet[/B]
(Hip-hop. About the white community's fear of inter-gender relationships.)
[B]Genius/GZA - Duel Of The Iron Mic[/B]
(Early Wu-Tang hip-hop. Features the recently departed ODB, and Method Man.)
[B]Lauryn Hill - Ex Factor[/B]
(Gritty R&B. Great guitar solo.)
[B]Fleetwood Mac - Songbird[/B]
(Piano-led 70s pop-rock ballad.)
[B]Love - Alone Again Or[/B]
(60's proggy psychedelic folk.)
[B]Afghan Whigs - If Only I Had A Heart[/B]
(Cover version of the song the Tin Man sings in Wizard Of Oz.)

You can get the Afghan Whigs and GZA songs from me on Soulseek. I'm Iai.

Dibs

It's been a while since i've done one of these, so bear with me.

[B]The Afghan Whigs[/B]

Starts off pretty slow, driven by the slow bass line and the soothing piano going. This leads into the vocals, which are relaxing with an occasional forte of piano and strummed guitar chords and small short licks.
It's kind of a jazz/blues thing going on here, i like it so far.
Soon the vocals change from a man to a woman, then return back to the mans vocals after this breakdown.
This music is very relaxing, but it's a step or two above elevator music. I really like the vocals, and the way the guitars and piano work together. The bass work is also very soothing.
As the song progresses the piano deviates a bit with some nice little licks.

Overall, 7.8/10. I enjoyed it very much, especially the vocals.


[B]Songs[/B][list]Age of Silence - Auditorium of Modern movements (Progressive/Avant Garde HellHammer side project)[/list][list]Karl Sanders - Whence no Traveler Returns (Middle Eastern Ambience)[/list][list]Vintersorg - Om Regnbågen Materialiserades (Progressive/Viking/Black metal)[/list]
All available on soulseek from me, Per Ardua Ad Astra

q!p

it's working now

[b]Age Of Silence - Auditorium Of Modern Movements[/b]

Arcturus connections here, even before I listen to the song. But onward!

It sounds semi-random at the start, mainly ochrestrated, but with a drumkit. Very strange sounding. Some piano and quick giutar flash by. It sounds a bit like Arcturus, but retarded eagles chasing rabbits. There are some electronic drums too.. with an olde english orchestration bit.. interesting

When the singing comes in it sounds more normal, structured. Almost every single vocal is harmonized, sounds kind of nice. The music sounds so much like Arcturus' Sham Mirrors, except the piano sounds more real. It's heavy but very melodic and bouncy, and some of the orchestral instruments are ever present.

Singing stops for a flute bit, sounds a bit celtic, but I'd say it was just put that way because it sounded nice. Theres still the chunky guitar there, it's not too loud either, some high bits too.

The beat straightens out to a more marchy one, some cool vocal interplay, a bit like those done by Spiral Architect. I'm not sure what he is saying, it's just very melodic and nice to listen to that I don't really care.

Back to the bouncier beat pretty soon, piano joins in this bit soon after and it overshadows the rest of it, just too loud. But, then it stops and that is the end.

Then it ends once again on some semi-random piano, which might be the intro to the next song, or looney tunes.



There were quite a few good and bad things about this song.

Good: it was interesting, yet fairly easy to listen to, very melodic, and the instrument playing was good, guitar wasnt as technical as Arcturus, but this isnt Arcturus.

Bad: The mix of instruments worked well, except the piano near the end, and the semi-random bits were a bit awkward. Also, I found it hard to keep concentration up, even for only 3:30. With the vocalist constantly in harmony everything just seemed to melt together into one blob, if anything, the vocals were too melodic.

I don't know how much of Arcturus was in this band, but the music sounded VERY similar.
And if only the singer didn't double every single word with a harmonizing note....

8.5/10

____________________________________

[b]Eluveitie - Lament[/b] - celtic + metal, maybe even with Orô, the intro piece to Lament

[b]George - Breathe In Now[/b] - really nice soft rock with a female singer

[b]Xavier Rudd - Little Chief[/b] - acoustic

[b]Rocket Science - One Robot[/b] - polished groovy garage rock with a little bit of electronic

As hard is it may be to believe, i don't believe he is harmonizing. That's just how his vocals sound, if you listen to the rest of the album and his project, Solefald, you'll see that's just how his vocals are. It takes some getting used to.

*not a dibs*

Dibs

Xavier Rudd - Little Chief

Starts with an acoustic chord pattern in 3/4 guided by a string ensemble of sorts. This guy has a very intimate folky way of singing and writing...in this song anyway. It's a nice ballad type song...not too emotional, more relaxed and mellow. The chorus is a bit more dynamic and upbeat than the verses, with a rimshot playing a waltzing beat. I like it when he holds a falsetto for a few seconds and the instruments run dead for a few seconds. This is very rootsy music. The drums have a marching beat right before the second verse...and there seems to be a light backing tone. The climax is also solid, where there seems to be more complementary melody and light female backing vox...very soothing. The song ends with a cello melody and the acoustic riff and some backing vox.

I like the song, although it's far from original...it's solid. I like the light backing vocals near the end, that complement the singers voice well. Good song, but nothing that blows my mind. 7.1/10



My pix:

[B]Aphex Twin - Outside (Violin solo)[/B] : relaxing electronica track that combines various musical styles...definately recommended.

[B]Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks[/B] : A fun cheesey dance track with acoustic guitars

[B]Cocteau Twins - This Love[/B] : a piano driven ballad with beautiful vocals

[B]Ella Fitzgerald - Cry Me a River[/B] : a jazz/soul song...one of the best ever.

[B]dEUS - Suds & Soda[/B] : very catchy alt rock song

[QUOTE=OrbDragon]Aphex Twin - Outside (Violin solo)[/QUOTE]
aka Outside - To Forgive But Not Forget

on an unrelated note, I dreamed about FL.. there was a picture of a red mushroom, and I had to review the sounds I imagined in my head from looking at the picture.
not a diob

diob now

Second Duck themed FL in a row for me, strange.

[b]Lemon Jelly - Nice Weather For Ducks[/b]

Haha, cool intro, sounds like it's from a kids show
"All the ducks are swimming in the water, balda ralda ralda"

Acoustic guitar does come in, sounds a little bit like John Butler the way they cut it up and put it together. A light drum beat comes in, the music sounds very happy. The guitar and some other sounds are all put into a major key, some strings in the background hold a note, and jump around at the end of some bars.

A quick break of just guitar and bass, then it all comes back with the intro sample included. The sample stops, and there's some scratching to be heard in the distance. The music seems to thin a bit, then returns with a horn loop comes in, very happy sounding again.

Eh.. jazz bit? It's a break in the song, following the beat. The flow in and out of it works well, but the section itself sounds out of place in this song.

The happy bit comes back, the horn loop is there, and there's a trumpet playing some lead. Then everything stops, the duck sample returns with some ambient major chord, the light scratching, the horn goes mad for a short bit, and then it fades out.


Yay for feel-good music, it was nice to listen to. Good music for a having a good day to. They paced it well, building it up and dropping off to keep it interesting. That jazzy bit belongs elsewhere, everything else was great.
9/10


Did Lemon Jelly do that song about a beautiful sunrise too, it sounds somewhat familiar?

____________________________
[b]Eluveitie - Lament[/b] - celtic metal, you could get Orô too, it’s the intro piece to Lament, but Lament works as a standalone song

[b]King Mungi - Foulbody[/b] - decent melodic nu-metal with a fun aggresive bit

[b]The Porkers (or Salmonella Dub vs The Porkers) - Waiting For Us[/b] - laid back ska

[b]The Cruel Sea - Better Get A Lawyer[/b] - blues rock

[b]Reel Big Fish - Skatanic[/b] - ska/thriller/comedy

Lemon Jelly did a song on William Shatner's new album

/random.

Not a dibs.

Bump. I can't find any of them.

I'll dibs then....

Reel Big Fish - Skatanic

Starts with a weird avantgarde brass, a fading chord...and weird hissing sound. The brass strikes simulaneously with the opening bass drum. A cool bassline comes in with a drum break...until it comes into a more groovy reggea-ish drums. Cool trompet riffage...and a very high pitched bassline along with the main one. It switches very subtlely from heavy to melodic parts. A cool tempo change when the song turns into ska. The brass section plays some familiar melodies that fit quite well within the context of the track. The second verse has backing vocals. The song flows well despite the very frequent change in dynamic. I like the jammish twist around 2 minutes into the song...very cool. It stops around 2:20...and in comes a small bassline...with ride work ride into the reggea part with the high bassline.

Cool song, despite 3:15 long...alot of interesting twists. I like the psychotic vocals in the chorus alot...and the frequent tempo changes. Very tight stuff...I enjoyed this listen.8/10

My picks:

Bebel Gilberto - Samba de Benco
Very laid back Brazilian samba soul track with sensual female vocals (recommended)

RJD2 - Ghostwriter
Uber-cool instrumental hip-hop

Doves - Caught By The River
Pop rock track...just really solid.

dEUS - Suds & Soda
Nifty alt rock song with violin riffage

dibss on Bebel

Bebel Gilberto - Samba de Bencao

There, we go. Me and my slow connection. She's Joao Gilberto's daughter, right? Her voice is real smooth and airy, more than pleasant. It's all in sung in Portugeuse so I'm not exactly sure what she's wisping on about but it sounds lovely. The groove is laid back and gallops along at a lazy brazilian stroll. Think about sitting on a beach in Rio and a sunset serenade and you've got this song encapsulated on a postcard. I like the electronic flourishes and what sounds like a bit of faux scratching towards the end, works well. Makes me wondering if the horns on here are sampled. Either way, it's very atmospheric and very approachable.

This is very relaxing, you can hear the crickets and birds chirping if you listen real close at the end and start. Everything about this song is so smooth it almost feels restrained. I'm really digging her voice a whole lot and her little sigh towards the last third of the song as she vocalizes along with the melancholy horns is very sensual. I'm really glad I checked this song out, it's downbeat but definitely not depressing, reminiscent a bit of trip hop but with a distinct brazilian take. I'll have to check out more of her stuff.

9/10

Let's see... something for everyone

[U]Mr. Lif - Phantom[/U]
Underground hip hop

[U]Fog - What a Day Day[/U]
Bizarre hip-hop-electronica-pop

[U]Brian Jonestown Massacre - Donovan Said[/U]
Bohemian rock complete with bongos and jangling bells

[U]Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Indictment[/U]
Polemic jazzy/funky socio-political wandering by Fela Kuti worshipers

[U]Tweaker - Crude Sunlight (feat. Jennifer Charles)[/U]
Sleepy eletronica featuring Elysian Fields chanteuse

[U]Spacemen 3 - Revolution[/U]
Shoegazing hard rock? I dunno.

Bump. All I can find is the Mr Lif song, and I don't feel like reviewing another hip-hop song, as they always seem to be too difficult. I might it later, but bump for now.

dibs

I wanted to do that Tweaker song, but I can't find it so if I got the right song..

[B]Spaceman 3 - Revolution[/B]

Their name seeems familiar, but I guess this is the first time I'm listening to their stuff. A loud, rough, chunky guitar riff opens the song, I guess you could call this shoegazer-ish. So that goes on and on for more than a minute or so, with the vocals muttering and some nice tom-taps to build up the momentum. So far I'm liking it.

In the two minute mark the singer, or should I say, speaker goes about his musings. "The time is right," "I'm tired, so tired," he says, among his other lines. His voice fits in a blues-rock band. Not much change going on until nearing the end, where the instruments gradually get louder, with the bass grooving its way to my ears. Then it gets noisier and noisier, and the tempo getting faster, until it ends abruptly. Okay, that was a bit weird.

It looks like the whole 6 minutes can fit into 2. There's really just 3 parts into the song: the intro buildup, the lyrics part, and the loud, noisy ending. The band spent so much time in the segments, that it was a bit hard for me to digest it. But I like the bluesy bits, so it might grow on me. So all in all it ain't such a bad song at all. I'll be looking out for better Spacemen 3 songs.

[B]7/10[/B]

Songs:

Dysrhythmia - [url=http://www.dysrhythmiaband.com/mp3s/And%20Just%20Go.mp3]And Just Go[/url](post rock-ey metal??)

Frantic Bleep - [url=http://www.franticbleep.com/mp3/01_fluctadmission.mp3]Fluctadmission[/url](experimental metal)

Xiu Xiu - [url=http://www.epitonic.com/files/reg/songs/mp3/Xiu_Xiu-Jennifer_Lopez_(The_Sweet_Science_Version).mp3]Jennifer Lopez(The Sweet Science Version)[/url](experimental post-punk, quite abstract)

!!! - [url=http://www.epitonic.com/files/reg/songs/mp3/Chik_Chik_Chik-Hello_Is_This_Thing_On.mp3]Hello? Is This Thing On?[/url](indie dance music)

mine

I dreamed I threw Jennifer Lopez off a cliff last night and yelled out "I heard you liked the feeling of freefall, enjoy your last one." But she'd kidnapped some people and was really good at martial arts, using it for evil.

that Jennifer Lopez song wouldn't work.. or I didnt want to register

[b]Dysrhythmia - And Just Go[/b]

I checked these guys out ages ago on a reccomend from Coypu, they had just demo's then and those were really noisy and hard to hear.


Now they sound alot cleaner. It opens clean, sparse guitar with delay. A train like snare drum thing builds things up, and a bass guitar (sounds like Justin Chancellor tone) plays a main riff. Guitar feedback is there, but not standing out.

The drums back off and start playing rim shots and hi-hats with. The time signatures are unusual, snare comes back and it's loud, building tension and speed. The guitar is playing some sort of ambient-but-not thing, it's not quiet, but it doesnt stand out at all. The music does have a post rock sound about it, but heavy. This goes on until about 3 mins, then it drops off for a short bit.

The next part is more guitar driven, louder, it reminds me of a band called Season. And there's something abstractly Toolish about this.. but it's not in the sound. Strange. It goes on, changes without being in foreground.

Things happen, I don't know.. it's numbed my sense of listening. After 6 minutes, it's finished and I have no idea what just happened.

Something about it made it very hard to follow actively. It sounds too heavy for passive listening music, but that seems to be the only way to take it in. It was a weird experience, in a good way. It will take a lot of getting used to. I don't know what else to say about it, it needs to be heard. Very interesting.
8.6/10

__________________________________
[b]Season - God Mode[/b] - heavy post rock, if anyone can find the full version of this, please tell me where.

[b]Thyrfing - Dryckeskvade[/b] - viking metal, very piratey sounding!

[b]Weddings Parties Anything - A Tale They Won't Believe[/b] - punkish sea-shanty about cannibalism. 7 mins

[b]The Cruel Sea - Better Get A Lawyer[/b] - modern blues rock (where's Badmoon?)

[b]The Grand Silent System - Champion[/b] - experimental something-ethnic rock, [url]http://www.thegrandsilentsystem.com/av/[/url]

i'll take the grand silent system

[B]The Grand Silent System - Champion[/B]

its starts with a guitar on some effect, vocals and drums on some sort of phaser which slowly comes in over the course of the intro. vocals and style of this kind of remind me of vex red. Then a drop out which leaves a guitar riff, kind of heavy, which the rest of the band join in with after a bit. back into the first section with full backing band. vocal drop out after this and the drummer adds fills. Then into some sort of brigde with that heavy riff from before, vocals with some effect on them.

Into what seems to be a chorus, vocals keep that effect, guitars using another heavyish riff. The heavyness is dropped after this into a clean picking guitar kind of verse with backing band. Another clean riff follows with two vocals, the effect ones from before and normal singing over. Into an outro where vocals are keep on the same effect with dist guitar, ends with a fill the whole band follow.

i really liked this song, reminded me of vex red in a certain kind of way. kind of progressive for a 4mintue song....8/10. sorry if that a crap review but its my first time at this.

tetra snyc - squarepusher
mogwai - christmas steps(kind of goes aganist the short song rule)
plaid - new family
tim tetlow - mind is moving

if anyone had a problem getting these tell me and i'll sort something out over soulseek what ever you use, i have most downloading programs.

I'm back home and ready for some forced listening.



DIBSSSSSSSSSSS

McStolen

[b]Tim Tetlow - Mind Is Moving[/b]

Hey, I haven't heard any new IDM in a while. Theres a soft synth sliding around in a seemingly random sci-fi way, but this pattern repeats, and some Aphex Twin like drum patterns. It's repetitive, but it builds slowly over time.

Theres some deep bass present, but I can't hear it too well on these speakers, some quiet counter melody plays around in there, it sounds transparent somehow..

After about 2:30 the slidy synth goes away, and its just schizo electonic drums, bass and some breathy ambient melodies.
The slidey melody is present at times but very quiet. It comes back to the forefront about a minute after it goes, theres now some bell sounds accompanying it.

The drums and everything have stopped now, just the bells, slidey bit, and breath sounds take it to the end.


Well the only version I found was a streaming one, it is the full thing but it fades out every 30 seconds or so of continuous play.. that made proper listening really hard.
I didnt think it was very interesting to be honest, but maybe it was the interruptions that kept it from me. I dont mind this kind of music, but to me some songs are a bit pointless, no real direction or anything.

Still, I will give it 6.5/10 for the benefit of the doubt, after all it might have sounded good if I was able to listen without interrupions.

______________________________
[b]Eluveitie - Lament[/b] - celtic + metal

[b]Weddings Parties Anything - A Tale They Won't Believe[/b] - punkish sea-shanty about cannibalism. 7 mins

[b]T.I.S.M. - The Last Australian Guitar Hero[/b] - comedy irony alt-pop? - language warning if anyone cares

It seems that msn does let me send stuff these days. I dont go on slsk much anymore, it often stuffs up my audio and I need to reboot to hear sounds..

bamp.
and manuscript, if you havent got it yet.. C:/mIRC/sounds