LOTW (Listen Of The Week)?

Listen of the week? Mine was the new O.S.I. -- I really dig it. It's not Chroma Key, but you can tell that it's got something in common with them. Killer track is "Bigger Wave". I love the combination of electro and guitars -- of course. But I also dig the combination of "groove" and "headbanging" rhythms. Makes for a unique combination, methinks.

Also really digging the new Placebo. Glad they got over it and got back together.

Feel free, also, to discuss whatever else you've been listening to for the past week, in traditional "Tunesday" thread mode.

For some reason, John Wetton's CHASING THE DRAGON has had my ear for the last ten days.............then I go home and watch Hackett's DVD,THE TOKYO TAPES, which has much of the same material.........all very good.

When I'm at home lately, which is an increasing rarity, I can't seem to get ohGr's Sunny PsyOP out of the player. The former frontman of Skinny Puppy has produced a dark album, predictable in its desolation and electronic thrash and discord...

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

Listen of the week? ... feel free, also, to discuss whatever else you've been listening to for the past week, in traditional "Tunesday" thread mode.

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Nice thread Dusty. I don't know about the rest of you, but I got tired of posting the same old listens on the Tuesday thread. Maybe an overhaul to reviewing just one or two listens is what's needed to get Tuesday's hopping again.

This week, I've been spinning the new Three Days Grace disk, One-X. I was really excited about this one and have been anticipating it's release for months. There are a couple of outstanding tunes on this disk that fall into the same core sound of their first CD. But then on other tracks they start to sound too much like Nickelback. I am soooooooooo sick of Canadian rock bands trying to sound like Nickelback. Even Nickelback sounding like Nickelback has become tiresome. Blech!

Anyway, the tracks that are good are really, really good. The rest is mediocre. This doesn't really compare to their debut s/t CD which I love. One-X has only had three spins so far. It'll be interesting to see, after a few more spins, whether the rest of it grows on me or whether I just tire of it.

Been listening a lot to "Dogs" by Nina Nastasia lately. Love this CD. Quite a debut. The followup "The Blackened Air" is kind of smokey, folky, alt-country leaning music, with Steve Albini crafting a wonderfully evocative soundscape for her beautiful songs to live and breathe in. Lots of shimmer to add to the odd tales and metaphors. Gentle, yet sardonic, and sometimes biting lyrics. The debut was just on the tiny Socialist Records label and went out of print almost as soon as it was released, back in 2000. So became kind of a mystery ater she became more well known with the release of the excellent "The Blackened Air". But Touch and Go reissued it a couple years ago, and I just picked up a used copy a couple weeks ago, and it is a bit less eclectic, and not as folky as the second, nor as quietly introspective as the third, but still very loveable. In some ways I think it's her best. A bit more jazzy at times. The acoustics are really nice in all of them, and lots of room for the natural dynamics. She's a big favorite of Steve Albini, so he does a great job recording, especially the cello and acoustic basses. Love the musical saw too. Nice touch. And Albini works with Steve Rooke to master them at Abbey Road, just like the very nice Electrelane records he does that I also love.

I had a dream about a dog
I was walking
In an amusement park
With people all around me

We rode the roller coaster rides
And he was laughing as we
Jumped in the sky
And I saw that I looked just like him

It's a dog's life
I wanna lead a dog's life
Run in the woods, dig a hole
Just him and me

Yeah, that OSI is the best album I've bought in a while. For me the track "Once" is the mind-blower. I love the way it relentlessly pulses and plucks along, building by layers until it's a thick swirling tapioca of sound. Fantasic rhythm and pace for driving.

Oh, this should probably be here:

http://forums.audioreview.com/newrep...reply&p=147919

Hey Dusty, remember when I first came to this board I thought you were a school teacher?

:lol:

It's going to be seeing a lot of my cd players in the coming weeks. Great stuff.

Swish

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Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn

Nice thread Dusty. I don't know about the rest of you, but I got tired of posting the same old listens on the Tuesday thread. Maybe an overhaul to reviewing just one or two listens is what's needed to get Tuesday's hopping again.

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Yes, that was exactly the intention.

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Originally Posted by Snowbunny

Hey Dusty, remember when I first came to this board I thought you were a school teacher?

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Yes...yes I do. Now you know better, right?!?

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Originally Posted by bobsticks

When I'm at home lately, which is an increasing rarity, I can't seem to get ohGr's Sunny PsyOP out of the player. The former frontman of Skinny Puppy has produced a dark album, predictable in its desolation and electronic thrash and discord...

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I love that album. I love the staggering swaggering grooviness that Mark Walk puts on much of that. I'm trying to remember, but there was another album that he did right around the same time, and I used to listen to those all the time. (wanders off, looks it up) Nope, that was Welt, never mind.

Definitely listen of the week, contender for listen of the year, quite possibly listen of the decade:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...V66493434_.jpg

Camille, Le Fil

I got so into it, I wrote a review over at amazon.com.

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This album is wonderful. First of all, and foremost, the foundation of any album is the music, and this album has catchy songs from beginning to end -- perfect little pop gems that are exactly as long as they need to be, no longer, no shorter. One should be in love with the human voice to fully appreciate this album, as it is used not only for the lead instrument, but percussive, harmonic, and many other instruments -- including "raspberry" as a percussive element -- but personally, the human voice is my favourite musical instrument, and I am very enamored of Camille's, specifically. Her timbre reminds me of a place somewhere between Kate Bush's high young-girly voice, Bjork's fearless vocal gymastics (although, not quite yodeling), and perhaps Mike Patton's sheer insane versatility. The overall production is somewhat sparse, with only the occasional bass, piano, drums and whatnot accompanying her multi-layered voice. She sings in French, so for those of you who feel you must understand the lyrics, this may not be for you. I don't understand French, and I do feel I am missing something, as she strikes me as clever enough to write interesting lyrics with the occasional brilliant turn of phrase, but I guess I will just have to learn French. She's also very adventurous, and without confidence, experimentation can fall flat on its face, but Camille has so much charisma it brings a tear to my eye. I would recommend this album to fans of Todd Rundgren's A Capella, Jean-Michel Jarre's Zoolook, Beth Gibbon's Out of Season, and the works of Les Paul and Mary Ford (e.g., "Mr. Sandman").

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For some reason, there are different reviews for all the different copies of this disk. On one of the other reviews, someone wrote simply "...sounds like a little girl turned loose in a studio..."

Actually, now that I think about it, that's kind of true. One just has to decide for one's self whether or not that's a bad thing. I do realize it might be for some people, but to me, I truly enjoy the occasional wide-eyed innocence/innosense/?sp. Especially when it's carried off with the bravado this recording is....erm...with which this recording is carried off...erm...whatever...

In the future, can we start a new thread each week? I really hate having to start at page 20 and work my way backwards to find the new posts on an ongoing thread. I know it's not a big deal, but just a little pet peeve of mine.

I've been spinning John Denver a lot this week. Not much new to say about him. Man, that guy could sing. I'm still saddened by the loss. :(

<img src=http://members.mailaka.net/davey/manger.jpg align=left hspace=5 border=0>Back to 1997 for me with some of the future Califone guys. There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight. Probably written half a novel about these guys already, so maybe I'll just turn it over to good ol Piero Scaruffi to set the stage ...

Chicago's Red Red Meat started from similar premises but evolved towards a more intellectual exploration of music. Red Red Meat (1992) and Jimmy Wine Majestic (1993) unleashed the dirty, feverish and unstable vibrations of all the blues irregulars of the past (the Rolling Stones, Captain Beefheart, Pussy Galore, etc), but the atmospheric Bunny Gets Paid (1995) veered towards desolate free-form "pieces" that felt like scarred remnants of pop songs. This, in turn, led to the abstract framework of There's A Star Above The Manger Tonight (1997), replete with synthesizer and other sophisticated arrangements, which was, de facto, a postmodernist exercise in stylistic deconstruction, bordering on trip-hop and ambient music while retaining the cacophony of Captain Beefheart and Pussy Galore.

Red Red Meat guitarist (and original founder) Tim Rutili, drummer Ben Massarella and bassist Tim Hurley set out to further investigate this unfocused sea of sounds as Califone. The brooding acid-blues sound of their Roomsound (2001) and Quicksand Cradlesnakes (2003) absorbed jazz, post-rock, samples and loops into the canon of blues depression and gospel ecstasy.

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Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn

In the future, can we start a new thread each week? I really hate having to start at page 20 and work my way backwards to find the new posts on an ongoing thread. I know it's not a big deal, but just a little pet peeve of mine.

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If you hit the little http://forums.audioreview.com/images...s/firstnew.gif button on the main RR page, it will take you straight to where you left off (as long as you're signed in). Did you not know that?

And: this thread only had 7 posts, I didn't feel like spreading myself too thin.

So Califone used to be Red Red Meat? Would this be a good place to start, or Bunny Gets Paid (for Red Red Meat -- I'm already started on Califone)?

This week there have been several highlights:

Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People -- this one is still giving me great joy. What a great jumble of styles.... "Shampoo Suicide" is my current favourite from the album.

The Kinks Are The Village Green Society -- Pure classic story-telling. All time faves.

Grey Delisle's The Graceful Ghost -- If you dig country, you have to give this vocalist a chance. This is my chillax disc of the week.


Also, gave two RR group comps compiled by Davey and Mike a spin. Great work guys!! The transitions from track to track are very impressive.

Cheers,

audiobill

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Originally Posted by audiobill

The Kinks Are The Village Green Society -- Pure classic story-telling. All time faves.

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It doesn't get much better than that. Nice one.

For me, I've been listening to a lot of new stuff, but after a family discussion about Blue's Clues, I pulled out this:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov...00534panv0.jpg

I don't think I had listened to it in a couple years, but it is a very nice album, and really is enhanced by Fridmann's production. It's not one of my faves of the '00s, but has some very nice and fun pop songs.

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

If you hit the little http://forums.audioreview.com/images...s/firstnew.gif button on the main RR page, it will take you straight to where you left off (as long as you're signed in). Did you not know that?

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I did not know that. Thanks for the tip.

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

And: this thread only had 7 posts, I didn't feel like spreading myself too thin.

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Oh sure, it only has 7 posts now. But it's young. Look at Bernd's "spinning" thread...on it's 18th page already!

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

So Califone used to be Red Red Meat? Would this be a good place to start, or Bunny Gets Paid (for Red Red Meat -- I'm already started on Califone)?

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Depends on how resourceful you are to a certain extent, and how much you like that sound. None of their records are in print anymore and Bunny copies get some pretty good cash. That one is my favorite, but I'm kind of a patient guy and had it on my djangos alert list for quite awhile before snagging a cheap copy. Looks like Jimmywine Majestic and There's a Star are both available used for pretty cheap at places like amazon marketplace. I prefer the Tim Rutili dominated sound on Bunny and the later ones after guitarist Glenn Girard got fed up and left, but Jimmywine has some excellent stuff, and many prefer the earlier sound. I like the looser and more experimental feel of the later ones. But it's all good to me.

How do you like Black Tape for a Blue Girl? I just picked up Remnants of a Deeper Purity recently and it's good. Maybe a tad pretentious, but that title track does rule.

I love Black Tape for a Blue Girl. Too much reverb, though; other than that, medigs.

We drove down to Saint John yesterday to meet my wife's nephew and his wife, who were coming off a cruise ship to see the sights. And we had a really nice few hours with them.

While the ladies were shopping for the kids (who weren't along!), I dropped into Backstreet Records and looked around a bit--not much classical. But in the stack of classical LPs, there it was, an old Fine Arts Quartet recording of of a couple of Mozart's "Haydn" quartets, K. 421 and 465 ("Dissonance" quartet), on a Concert-Disc CS-227. And only 97 cents! Well, I only have a few of their recordings, but the Fine Arts Quartet always played wonderfully. They weren't as dramatic as many, but they were very precise even in rubatos, and they shaped each note and phrase very nicely. Not only that, the sound is fabulous. It perhaps harks back to an older way of playing, but it's very enjoyable, definitely the best of the week.

The FAQ did as fine a recording of the Debussy and Ravel Quartets as I've ever heard, too. I haven't yet heard them over the Signature S2's.

I picked up a few other things, too, and I've listened to a couple already:

Verdi Overtures, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli, on Philips Eloquence.4681832. This is a worthy enough addition to my collection of overtures.

Who Do We Think We Are? Turtle Island String Quartet, on Windham Hill Jazz 01934 10146-2.

I must say doing the listen of the week is a lot easier than putting together a whole list. Good idea, Peter.

Thanks! And nice to hear from you, too, as always -- you're always listening to interesting things.

For me it's Sol Seppy - Bells of 1 2, a female vocalist in the folk/pop/electronica style, it's a really nice album from a lady branching out on her own, I think I read somewhere she's worked with Sparklehorse in the past.

She's got that kind of delicate little girl lost voice matched with lots of acoustic instruments like piano and cello it's an album which you can come back to and each time and hear something fresh.

Cheers
Mike

This past week has found me listening to some releases from the past six months. Probably the best (and most listened) is The Kooks: Inside In/Inside Out. Highly recommend if you like your music to be British pop inspired by XTC. Others this week include: Giant Drag (excellent cover of Wicked Game), the Paddingtons (breakneck and ragged Babyshambles influence), and the latest Zutons and Dirty Pretty Things releases. I'm going to have to dig out See How We Are from X over the weekend to hear Fourth of July a few dozen times next week...

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Originally Posted by PDK

This past week has found me listening to some releases from the past six months. Probably the best (and most listened) is The Kooks: Inside In/Inside Out. Highly recommend if you like your music to be British pop inspired by XTC. Others this week include: Giant Drag (excellent cover of Wicked Game), the Paddingtons (breakneck and ragged Babyshambles influence), and the latest Zutons and Dirty Pretty Things releases. I'm going to have to dig out See How We Are from X over the weekend to hear Fourth of July a few dozen times next week...

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There's a latest Zutons? I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the heads-up.

HEAD'S UP!

I was just thinking about where that saying came from. LOOK OUT!

There's a new Ed Harcourt. Don't think its out here yet.

LOTW for me was The Beatles - Rubber Soul

What must it have been like to have heard this for the first time when it was originally released?

Drive My Car
Norwegian Wood
You Won't See Me
Nowhere Man
The Word
Michelle
Girl
In My Life

All those great songs and its not even a Greatest Hits? Did anyone really need the drugs?

Hippy Friday!

Snowie

DUCK!

Why "duck"?

Seagull, I could understand. But, duck? :confused5:

Actually, it's funny that you bring that up...where meanings of phrases came from, that is. We were just talking over dinner about the phrase take it with a grain of salt, and wondering how that originated.

And no...this post is not music related. :prrr: ...unless you count the two margaritas that I had with dinner as I hummed Margaritaville.

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Originally Posted by Davey

Depends on how resourceful you are to a certain extent, and how much you like that sound. None of their records are in print anymore and Bunny copies get some pretty good cash. That one is my favorite, but I'm kind of a patient guy and had it on my djangos alert list for quite awhile before snagging a cheap copy. Looks like Jimmywine Majestic and There's a Star are both available used for pretty cheap at places like amazon marketplace. I prefer the Tim Rutili dominated sound on Bunny and the later ones after guitarist Glenn Girard got fed up and left, but Jimmywine has some excellent stuff, and many prefer the earlier sound. I like the looser and more experimental feel of the later ones. But it's all good to me.

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Yeah I know, replying to my own posts is kinda pitiful, but gotta add that I've been listening to Jimmywine Majestic a lot the last couple days and it really is a good album. A bit heavier and harder rocking than the following Bunny or anything that came after. Back in those early days they were opening for bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and had a louder sound without as much complexity, much closer to the Stones Exile-era blues-rock sound, just slowed down a bit. Fairly simple drumming and percussion, mainly just a backbeat, but solid album and I can appreciate why many point to it as their best. In some ways, so do I. It's a more accessible package than much of what came after. And still has subtle hints of the Appalachian charm that would get fleshed out later in Califone.

I was snooping around for the latest Califone news after hearing that the new album was gonna be out this year, great news, supposed to hit the stores in early October and already glowing reports. Roots & Crowns. Sporting a new avatar in anticipation. Can hardly wait. Brian Deck is back. The world is right. Should sound great. And also downloaded a song called "Dreamless" by Temistocles H. Rutili, the man also known as Tim Rutili of Califone, and formerly Red Red Meat fame. From the unreleased score of The Lost, the soundtrack draws from some personal favorites too such as the song "Dowser" from Rutili's old band, Red Red Meat, as well as cuts from Boris, Black Heart Procession, Baseball Furies, and the Black-Eyed Snakes, among others. Free download from The Lost's website below ...

http://www.thelostmovie.net/soundtrack.html

But what I really just wanted to add is that I saw at the SubPop site that Jimmywine Majestic is apparently still available on CD new and There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight is available on LP from the label. But like I said before, both easily had for cheap used on CD. And of course, from itunes or napster or other download places like that. And then there's all the family of bands like Sin Ropas and Fruitbats and Loftus and oRSo that flowed from those beginnings as members splintered :)

Is it a new week?
This week I went in a different direction and bought some old Stones and Marley. That said the real LOTW was Buddy Guy's Bring 'Em In. Alot of older tunes rerecorded, with a vastly superior sq to most blues offerings. Highlights include "Aint no Sunshine" with Tracy Chapman and "Cheaper to Keep Her"--which unfortunately a couple of my friends are discovering right now...

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Originally Posted by Davey

Yeah I know, replying to my own posts is kinda pitiful...

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Not at all. At least you're having an intelligent conversation.

J/K...screams "follow-up" to me.

Calexico - Hot Rail
Makes my turntable happy.

Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island
Took forever but I recently came across this at a local indie record store. No more awful 128 kb/s mp3 for me :)

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Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn

There's a latest Zutons? I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the heads-up.

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I've been searching around the 'net and can't find any news of a North American release date. :(

First official day of the holidays, for me. Woo hoo!!

Listening tons to "Stadium Arcadium" by the Red Hots.

The guitar work on this double disc is imho the best that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have put to disc.

A summertime grower.

Cheers,

Bill

Muse, Black Holes and Revelations

Contender for hard rock/pop album of the year.

The Radiohead comparisons will continue, due mostly to their experimentation with electronica in a rock context, but to my ears, they end up sounding completely different. In fact, if I said anything, I'd say Queen. Tracks 1-4 go by way too quickly; tracks 7 and the last track, the first US single, blow me away.

Hey, FA, I think you'd like this.

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

Muse, Black Holes and Revelations

Contender for hard rock/pop album of the year.

The Radiohead comparisons will continue, due mostly to their experimentation with electronica in a rock context, but to my ears, they end up sounding completely different. In fact, if I said anything, I'd say Queen. Tracks 1-4 go by way too quickly; tracks 7 and the last track, the first US single, blow me away.

Hey, FA, I think you'd like this.

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Yeah I'm enjoying it too, it's ott in places but that's their style and there is a definite Queen comparison there. I'm not sure Radiohead will ever sound again like the Radiohead people remember and make comparisons with.

Next contender for LOTW is Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser which extends his electronica dabblings, it's a real grower and even a bit funky in places.

Cheers
Mike

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

Muse, Black Holes and Revelations

Contender for hard rock/pop album of the year.

The Radiohead comparisons will continue, due mostly to their experimentation with electronica in a rock context, but to my ears, they end up sounding completely different. In fact, if I said anything, I'd say Queen. Tracks 1-4 go by way too quickly; tracks 7 and the last track, the first US single, blow me away.

Hey, FA, I think you'd like this.

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Thanks Dusty. I had it in my hand the other day, but put it back on the shelf pending finding some reviews. I really dig their first CD, although I haven't listened to it all that much relative to some other disks that I bought around the same time. Based on your comments and Mike's I'll pick up the new one this week.

My LOTW this week has been Sam Roberts. He giving a free show on Friday night that we're probably going to go to (it's a hour's drive from here so what we save on tickets we spend on gas). But The Trews are opening for him and that's a hard show to turn down.

Anyway, I've been listening to Robert's first CD and his latest. I've decided that if I took half the songs from each disk and put them on one CDR, it would be one hell of a killer album! I'm not sure how much, if any, of Sam Roberts you guys hear in the US. But he has a very unique sound to my ears...a good blend of rock, pop and indie sounds. When you hear a Sam Roberts song, there's no mistaking who it is. A nice change to all the Nickelback wannabe bands that are flooding the Canadian airwaves.

made a machine by describing the landscape

Ya ever get one of those weird, inspiring lines like that stuck in your brain for days and days on end? Happens all the time with me, especially with this band. That line has even become the title for a new tour film about the band. And not to be left out, it's become the most recent subtitle link at my website. Been listening almost compulsively to last year's live album that collects some of their career highlights going back to the early 90s and forward to just a coupla years ago. They really get my noodle wigglin' when they work it out in the jam section second half of the Leon Spinx song, of which Tim says ...

"Leon Spinx actually did move to my town. He worked as a doorman at this bar called the Pink Pony. The words to that song are very, very weird, but it's all about thoughts becoming completely different. In the song, two people are having sex and that becomes a separate person that happens to be this weird retired, toothless, scary, crack-smoking boxer. That's what their sex life becomes – you still kinda want to hang out and explore it a bit, but you don't want to get too deep because it might turn on you and you might get hit."

Yeah, definitely a LOTW on my back porch. Very limited distro at the time with one-of-a-kind hand painted (or some might say doodled) cover and cd-r - mine looks a bit like a cave painting of some woolly bully kinda slow-movin carnivore thing ...

http://members.mailaka.net/davey/califone_mothers.jpg

This week, there is a tie:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...131631609_.jpg

Anthony Phillips, Field Day

All instrumental music, mostly short pieces, somewhere between Michael Hedges, Steve Hackett's more acoustic albums and...well, early Genesis (he was only on the first album). First album in way too long. If this is what he has in him, I sure hope there's more coming.

http://harpmagazine.com/img/news/20060514_yorke.jpg

Thom Yorke, The Eraser

I didn't like this album the first time I heard it, but for some reason, I kept putting it on. It's grown on me. Started discovering repeated themes (like the train references), and a dark undercurrent to the "bedroom boffin" electronica coupled with Yorke's plaintive lyrics and singing. This is not a Radiohead side project album...alright, yes it is. Audibly so.

Just got done listening to that Thom Yorke, and really dug it. I head it refered to as Kid B, and I can see why. If you liked Kid A, I'd expect you to like it. A little more song based though and some guitar creeps in now and then. I like it better than the last Radiohead. And, if you're a vinyl fan, the packaging is fantastic, absolutely up there with the very best. All grooved where those swirly lines are and an inner cover that blends right in and slides out the top, nice heavy pressing too.

Before that, listened to ISAN: Plans Drawn in Pencil. If you like them, as I do, its a great listen...nothing to convert a non-fan though. Their last one branched out a bit more than usual as far as instrumentation, but this one is more back to all analogue synths, mellow, floating kinda stuff. Great late night or early morning music. Another nice pressing, which is typical for Morr Music releases, perhaps my favorite label these days. Comes with a poster and catalog.

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Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk

Muse, Black Holes and Revelations

Contender for hard rock/pop album of the year.

The Radiohead comparisons will continue, due mostly to their experimentation with electronica in a rock context, but to my ears, they end up sounding completely different. In fact, if I said anything, I'd say Queen. Tracks 1-4 go by way too quickly; tracks 7 and the last track, the first US single, blow me away.

Hey, FA, I think you'd like this.

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I picked this up this morning. Only one spin so far, but I liked what I heard. I'll definately be spending more time getting to know this disk. Just from the initial listen, I may even end up liking this one better than Absolution. I'm with you on the Queen influence. I said that about their previous CD also.

Eh-gsellent! (rubs hands together gleefully)