| | Domina has spent the night again (meaning, of course, that I still did not get that time alone). I will have to wake her up soon so that I can take her home. I have enough time to write up a list of the albums I picked up recently, so here they are:
Rasputina -- Thanks for the Ether
*This is their first album, so it is before they started using distortion and electric cellos, as well as before they had their own drummer. It is a great album, but it might be too slow or calm for some people -- like Domina. In addition to containing such songs as "Any Old Actress" and "Howard Hughes", there are also notable humor pieces such as the track "The Donner Party", which suggests a trend of cannibalism among the early American colonists.
Slayer -- South of Heaven
*Their last album of the eighties, following the infamous Reign in Blood. Knowing that the band could not have possibly topped Reign in Blood, they decided to change their style a bit for South of Heaven by slowing down and singing, as opposed to simply yelling. The album is also essentially the "red-headed step-child", as far as the band members are concerned. King describes his, if not the entire band's, performance as the "most lackluster" on South of Heaven. Still, two songs from the album, title track "South of Heaven" and "Mandatory Suicide", have become immovable fixtures in Slayer's live setlist, being played at almost every show.
KMFDM -- Angst
*A classic in industrial music, the 1993 release of Angst was the first KMFDM album produced with the use of computers. KMFDM is a notable group in industrial music in that they were not at all affected by the surge of popularity garnered by Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. Rather than molding their sound to appeal to these newly popular figures, KMFDM, being motivated by their anti-mainstream ideologies, just kept going and playing their own music. As a result, KMFDM is clearly industrial, but is still a bit different. Angst includes the fastest song in KMFDM's catalogue, "A Drug Against War", which assaults the listener at approximately 320 beats per minute.
Pixies -- Doolittle
*Have I ever mentioned that just about anything the Pixies has done is amazing? They are the founders of "alternative rock", and a major influence on such artists as Kurt Cobain, Radiohead, and Placebo. Doolittle is no exception. In fact, Doolittle and Surfer Rosa are the top choices for the Pixies best albums. When compared to Surfer Rosa, Doolittle is the less noisy sister, which includes fan favorites such as "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "Wave of Mutilation", "Here Comes Your Man", and "Hey". The rest of the tracks are also fantastic, and seem very much under appreciated. "I Bleed" has a beautiful, and quite simple, chorus that I found myself repeating for several minutes on the first listen. "Mr. Grieves" starts out with a ska/reggae sound, and then picks up speed, making for a very catchy tune for what is, in essence, the title track of Doolittle. "Tame" makes for an excellent example of what may be the Pixies' greatest strength in instrumental writing: a talent for intriguing dynamics. The song starts at almost a whisper, and then startles the listener with a sudden explosion of noise. This explosion is concluded with a sudden drop in volume, taking the music back down to the whisper.
So, those are the albums I picked up, with some short descriptions of each. They are all exquisite, but I think the volume and tempo of Thanks for the Ether will keep me from listening to them outside of certain moods.
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| | Posted 9/14/2007 9:44 AM - 26 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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