Saturday 28 May 2011

OK....

Yeah, so Weezer uploaded a video of them doing Paranoid Android to YouTube...and it's - get this - NOT terrible.  I know, right?  That's the complete opposite reaction that I had expected myself to have, too.  That being said, it's pretty much note-for-note.  You can't ask for too much from Weezer, though.  They've been riding the mediocrity train for years now.


Wednesday 25 May 2011

#458 - "Blues For The Red Sun" - Kyuss


Released On:  Dali Records, 1992

Before trademarking "Desert-Fried Stoner Rock" as the brains behind hard-rock standard bearers Queens Of The Stone Age, Josh Homme was tuning his guitar down two full steps and routing it through a bass amp.  The result was best exemplified on the classic hazy sludge of Blues For The Red Sun, where various aspects of acid psychedelic rock and doom metal meet inside acres of molasses-textured molten guitar.  This is one of those albums that needs to be played LOUD, and doing so will reward you with enough headbanging riffery that you'll likely develop whiplash by the end of it.  Pack one beforehand, though.  Sludge like this deserves it's own hazy shade of green.  Not green like money, though.  It did only sell 39 000 copies, after all, which only goes to prove that even in the early 90s you were all dirty pirates.

Where You'd Know It From:  Long-haired stoners in the parking lots of high schools across North America. 

Track Listing:
1.  Thumb (4:41)
2.  Green Machine (3:38)
3.  Molten Universe (2:49)
4.  50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)  (5:52)
5.  Thong Song (3:47)
6.  Apothecaries' Weight (5:21)
7.  Caterpillar March (1:56)
8.  Freedom Run (7:37)
9.  800 (1:34)
10.  Writhe (3:42)
11.  Capsized (0:55)
12.  Allen's Wrench (2:44)
13.  Mondo Generator (6:15)
14.  Yeah (0:04)


("Green Machine")


("50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up))"


("Mondo Generator")


Monday 16 May 2011

#459 - "& Yet & Yet" - Do Make Say Think


Released On:  Constellation Records, 2002

Constellation Records is a post-rock institution, giving support to Efrim Menuck (Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Blah Blah Blah) as well as a host of like-minded bands.  Of those bands not given guiding light by Efrim, Do Make Say Think are the best of the pile:  they have the same wide-ranging sense of ambition that informs the best Godspeed suites, but they exercise a heady sense of restraint coupled with a funky sense of rhythmic backbone.  It sounds like the results of a divinely inspired jam session, and, with the album being recorded in Justin Small's house, that may be exactly what it is.  Mandatory for anyone who's ever liked a post-rock album and wants more.

Where You'd Know It From:  Much like drone/doom, post-rock is enjoyed by intellectual hipster stoners.  So, if you are one or know any such, you'll probably know this one.  Also, "Chinatown" was used in Syriana.

Track Listing:
1.  Classic Noodlanding (5:26)
2.  End Of Music (6:51)
3.  White Light Of (6:56)
4.  Chinatown (5:33)
5.  Reitschule (9:15)
6.  Soul And Onward (5:29)
7.  Anything For Now (9:14)


("Chinatown")


("End Of Music")


("Soul And Onward")


Friday 6 May 2011

#460 - "Sleeping With The Enemy" - Paris


Released On:  Scarface Records, 1992

Before the L.A. riots, there was "Coffee, Donuts, And Death", a brutal screed advocating cop-killing as a cure for the brutality and corruption endemic amongst those who policed the poor communities across America.  And that's not even the most controversial song on the album:  that prize goes to "Bush Killa", the President Bush Sr. assassination fantasy that caused Warner Bros. to cancel the album's release (the date of which neatly coincided with the lead-up to the 1992 U.S. Presidential election).  What else would you expect from an album that opens up with nearly two minutes of sirens and heavy machine-gun fire titled "The Enema (Live At The White House)".  It wasn't just about the political firebrand lyrics, however; the production is tight and funky, with crisp bass and an adventurous sense of sampling.  None of this is surprising, of course, considering a very young DJ Shadow handles a lot of the production here.  One of the fiercest hip-hop albums to ever make the white establishment really, really uncomfortable.

Where You'd Know It From:  Hip-Hop History 101?  That dreadlocked kid in your class who found the album during Bush Jr.'s reign and thought it was soooo timely?  

Track Listing:
1.  The Enema (Live At The White House) (1:53)
2.  Make Way For A Panther (2:30)
3.  Sleeping With The Enemy (2:40)
4.  House Niggas Bleed Too (1:31)
5.  Bush Killa (4:51)
6.  Coffee, Donuts, And Death (3:52)
7.  Thinka 'Bout It (4:26)
8.  Guerrillas In The Mist (3:11)
9.  The Days Of Old (4:19)
10.  Long Hot Summer (1:42)
11.  Conspiracy Of Silence (3:42)
12.  Funky Lil' Party (2:49)
13.  Check It Out Ch'All (3:27)
14.  Rise (1:12)
15.  Assata's Song (5:01)


("Bush Killa")


("Coffee, Donuts & Death")


("Guerrillas In The Mist")