So, I’ve decided that I’m going to be experimenting with the format of this blog a bit, and I know that I said I would be writing editorials and the like, but let me be damn it!
It is with that, that I would like to announce something I would like to call…
Daily Listening!
I will be posting most of the different music that I’ll be listening to throughout the day, with maybe a brief description of each songs’ sound. Hopefully, you can listen to some of these if you get bored, and maybe find some new music!
Lets begin with an older one.
Since doing that review yesterday had me listening to a whole lot of New Order, it reminded me of the existence their debut album, Movement. It’s nothing like any of their other music, largely in part because of Martin Hannett, the man who produced Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. The album overall has a sparse, dark feel, though not as much as any of Joy Division’s work, and while not as “new wave” as much of their later work, it truly is an under-appreciated piece of the group’s history.
Album Highlights:
“Dreams Never End”- It gives a taste of what is to come from New Order, and it is a beautiful opener to the album, as well as being a great transition from the moodier work they had done with Ian Curtis.
“Senses”- One of the darker songs of the record, this track is heavily influenced by Hannett’s production. It also has almost an industrial vibe, which goes well with the electronic drum hits, and Sumner’s vocals.
“Doubts Even Here”- This, the second to last track of the album, seems to show the trajectory that Joy Division most likely would have taken, had Ian Curtis not died. It uses similar instrumentation to Joy Division’s French limited release “Atmosphere”, with large drums, and somber, gorgeous synthesizers, with Hook’s bass helping to set in the melody.
Listen if you enjoy: Joy Division or The Cure’s Pornography
Find the album on YouTube here.
Next up is NEU!’s “Hallogallo” from their groundbreaking self-titled debut., NEU!. Founded after two member’s of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk left the group, it is regarded as one of the prototypical krautrock tracks, with a driving “motorik” beat (a 4/4 time beat characterized by it’s driving rhythm and lack of diversity in it’s technicality), and hypnotizing guitar, that makes you not realize that this is a 10-minute long song. Most will recognize the drum beat, as many critics consider this a proto-punk song, since most punk-rock groups use a very similar driving beat to the “motorik” beat.
Listen if you: enjoy punk music, or, if you want to know one of the progenitors of modern alternative music (Radiohead, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop have all cited NEU! as an influence.)
You can find Hallogallo on YouTube here.
If not the best, easily one of the best rap albums ever, Madvillainy, is a collaboration of world-renowned producer and rapper MF DOOM (JJ DOOM, DANGERDOOM, NehruvianDOOM), and world-renowned DJ and producer Madlib (Jaylib, Quasimoto, Yesterday’s New Quintet). Using samples from old comic cartoons, Madlib lays a funky and quirky foundation for DOOM’s wild and incredibly clever wordplay and persona. This album, while relatively average at 46 minutes run time, is absolutely groundbreaking.
Album Highlights:
“Accordion”- The first ‘real’ song on the album, uses a simple accordion sample with a flowing bass line to give MF DOOM the flow he needs to lay down his freestyle-styled lyrics. Just listen to the last 4 bars.
“Raid”-The best way to describe this song is DOOM’s last 2 bars in his part: “The Villain been spitting enough lightning/To rock shock the Boogie Down to Brighton” Alright then.”. Not to mention the sample from the Jazz group the Bill Evans Trio.
“All Caps”- I feel like I’m just repeating myself here- just listen and you’d know why this album is here, and why it, and the people who made it, are so highly regarded.
Listen if you: Enjoy ‘old-school’ rap or underground rap
You can find Madvillainy on YouTube here.
And now for something completely different: the Bikini Kill compilation, The Singles. One of the biggest bands to come out of Olympia, Washington, and one of the biggest riot grrrl bands, Bikini Kill was a punk band whose music was very socially oriented. The Singles is really an amalgamation of their best work; It includes songs that outwardly discuss the riot grrrl movement (which I will be writing a post about soon in case you aren’t sure what that is), the perception of women in society, and their anger and frustration towards those perceptions.
Album Highlights:
“New Radio”- A blistering album opener, “New Radio” contains one of Bikini Kill’s most famous lines: “The gaps in teeth/The dirty nails/Baby boy you can’t kill what’s fucking real…”, a line that helps to show their view that flaws are real, and not everyone can be perfect.
“Rebel Girl”- Following “New Radio”, this song is one of the group’s more famous songs, sonically just as aggressive as the song preceeding it, but with a different message, instead talking about a girl who wants to be another girls’ friend because she’s a rebel and everything she does carries the riot grrrl revolution.
“The Whole Album”- No, seriously, I had a hard time figuring out which other song stood out, and all of them are great, so, since the album is about 17 minutes long, why not listen to the whole thing? Every song is charged with emotion, and you can tell through singer Kathleen Hanna’s screams and growls, and the aggressive drumming and guitar playing.
Listen If You Like: Joan Jett, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, punk rock, DIY culture, third-wave feminism
This is a link to The Singles on YouTube.
Hopefully some of you will enjoy this, if not, eh? It was an experiment, we’ll see if I keep doing this. (by the way all the music i link to, I DO NOT OWN, just wanted to say that)
I probably won’t post much this weekend, I’ll be in Austin for ACL Fest, I’ll do recaps of each day afterwards though (with pictures I hope!)
thanks, see you on the flip side//
ben aaron martinez
A blog about nothing 