Disorganized thoughts about music and science and film and philosophy and literature and…
Artist: Hooverphonic
Title: Battersea
Date: March 25, 2005
This is the opening track to this Belgian group’s second album, but it reminds me for some reason of Orbital’s opening track to their first album (”Belfast”), and so I always think this was Hooverphonic’s first track evar. Although categorized as “Trip-Hop”, Hooverphonic falls more on “hop” side of the […]
Artist: Juno Reactor
Title: Fallen Angel
Date: March 24, 2005
Juno Reactor is a band that everyone’s heard but no one’s heard of. Their music has been used in many action movies, including most famously in the Matrix series. They do trance music that’s usually a cut or two above the drab and droll oh-shit-my-e-is-working! shit that comes […]
Artist: Dreadzone
Title: A Dream Within A Dream
Date: March 23, 2005
Although I’ve heard terrible things about it, I’ve never actually seen The Saint. However, for some unknown reason, I’ve listened to the album numerous times and it’s really grown on me. In particular, this chill track is cool for its peculiar sort of aimlessness: the song […]
Artist: Autechre
Title: Flutter
Date: March 21, 2005
This gem of a piece stands apart from most Autechre pieces because it has a really catchy tune (that’s not meant as a dig into their music; on the contrary, it’s a high compliment in this age of easy-consumption pop-music). But perhaps I should just be honest and say that […]
Artist: Dave Brubeck
Title: Blue Rondo A La Turk
Date: March 20, 2005
It is perhaps ironic that I was first introduced to Dave Brubeck’s music through a cover of his most famous “Take Five” track performed by Tito Puente–a cover which takes the piece (written in 5/4 time, giving the double entendre to its title) and plays […]
Artist: Terence Blanchard
Title: 25th Hour Finale
Date: March 19, 2005
Spike Lee’s movies are well known for being political in nature, and if there’s one thing his films can boast, it is a strong confrontation of the socio-political issues of the present. While other films released in the wake of September 11th hurriedly chopped out any […]
Artist: Nas
Title: Got Ur Self A…
Date: March 18, 2005
One of the all-time best rappers (along with 2Pac), Nas has proved himself again and again to have some of the illest, most socially conscious, and best narrative lyrics ever written. Although every album he releases is inevitably followed by the critics saying “Nas sold out…this is […]
Artist: Bloodhound Gang
Title: I Hope You Die
Date: March 17, 2005
“You must die. I alone am best!” So begins one of the best comedy/rock albums I’ve ever heard. Not afraid to resort to 4th grade insults or blatantly sexist/racist/elitist lyrics, their songs consistently deliver high-quality, low-brow humour. And sometimes their analogies are really quite brilliant […]
Artist: The Dust Brothers
Title: Commissioner Castration
Date: March 16, 2005
From the soundtrack to one of the awesomest movies ever, America’s Dust Brothers (not to be confused with England’s ex-Dust Brothers) prove that they can not only produce an album for themselves (as opposed to for The Beastie Boys), but can make it a cohesive, kick-ass soundtrack […]
Artist: Beulah
Title: Popular Mechanics For Lovers
Date: March 15, 2005
For some reason, when I hear Beulah, it seems like it would be the perfect music to play on a pop-radio station. For me, this means that it’s easy-listening with fun lyrics that could easily get massive playtime. Yet the surprising thing is that even though I’ve […]
Artist: Massive Attack
Title: Special Cases
Date: March 14, 2005
When I first heard the most recent album by Massive Attack (a “group” that now has only 1 member left), I was very skeptical how it could possibly match up to their previous Mezzanine. As far as I was concerned, that album was virtually untouchable, with it’s 1-2-3-4 […]
Artist: UNKLE
Title: What Are You To Me?
Date: March 13, 2005
UNKLE’s first album was a stunning collaboration that came out of left field and showed what great things were possible when a handful of talented artists including (famously) Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Beastie Boy Mike D, and others were harnessed under a grand musical design by […]
Artist: Deftones
Title: Pink Maggit
Date: March 12, 2005
A friend of mine once said that “music is nothing but a series of boring parts followed by exciting parts.” While I don’t think that’s necessarily true of every song, it does have some merit with regards to “Pink Maggit,” as the first several minutes of this song are […]
Artist: Primal Scream
Title: Kill All Hippies
Date: March 11, 2005
Any song that starts out with the words “Hello, this is gorgeous, anybody out there read me?” is automatically kick ass, especially if it’s followed by “Destroy, kill all hippies. Anarchy! Disco sucks! Subvert normality!” The song excels in its ability to convey a sense of unease […]
Artist: DJ Shadow
Title: Giving Up The Ghost
Date: March 9, 2005
The second of two very different songs with the same name–this one is purely instrumental, with a nice groove in typical DJ Shadow fashion (i.e. more interesting rhythms than standard 4-on-the-floor dance songs along with a good mix of instruments and some nice intricacies that you […]