TrekBBS vs. the Music

[PKTrekGirl]

Guster - The Captain

A lively, feel-good song with nice guitar work. I like the little disharmonies. I've never heard of the band. Definetely appealing.

You know, I wasn't going to review the picks, because I wanted to give others a chance to go...but I did listen to this song and I liked it too. Kinda fun. And I'd never heard of these guys.

Canadave, are they not on YouTube at all? Or what? I want to look up more of their stuff, because that was a fun song.

 

[Canadave]

^ Some of their videos are on YouTube, but you can't find many of their songs otherwise... I think they might get pulled more often or something, especially stuff from their newer albums.

That said, here's a few you might like. "One Man Wrecking Machine", and "Careful" for a couple newer songs. And for some of their older stuff (which had a bit of a different sound, thanks partly to their drummer playing with his hands and not sticks) there's "Demons" and the song that hooked me, "Two Points for Honesty".

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't know if it's because these days, there is such a shortage of new bands who appeal to me, so I am willing to think twice...or if they genuinely ARE better than Candlebox. But I liked this one, and might listen to more of their stuff. 8/10.

I actually am not a fan of Candlebox at all either. Although I do like the singer's voice, I found them to be a boring band. 3/5 of this new band are from Live, who also have some extremely sketchy work.

I was always of the opinion though that Live were a band of great rock musicians burdened by a horribly pretentious singer. Some of their music was extremely well composed. I think this album proves that point, it's just unpretentious rock with massive riffs and great tunes.

Candlebox reminded me a lot of Bush. They're a band that uses grunge elements, but there really isn't a lot of substance underneath.

As for Live, I'm a bit biased because they're from my general area, so they get favorable radio coverage (this isn't too bad. Philly has also adopted Pearl Jam, so they get a ton of coverage as well). Ed Kowazxczjxi could probably use a sense of humor, but their songs (especially off of Throwing Copper) are very well done overall.

BTW, as far as bands that I think are instrumentally great, but their singer brings them down, I have to add Kings of Leon to that list. I've discovered I love their songs more when song by cover artists than when I listen to them on the radio.

 

[Pingfah]

^ See I don't like Throwing Copper much, in my opinon the 2 albums that followed, Secret Samedi and The Distance to Here were much more assured and less self-conscious. There's some really good tunes on those 2 albums and after that they took a real nose-dive.

I saw them on the Secret Samedi tour and they were tight. Very impressive live performance.

 

[Jetfire]

Here are mine:

don't worry, it's a legit site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRrETu4oFMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetexhUTCYI

-The Velvet Underground "Stephanie Says"

Never heard before. Didn't like...not a fan of this type of music really. 4/10.

-The Zombies "Hung Up on a Dream"

Never heard before...not a fan of music 60's or early 70's...this wasn't too bad. 7/10

-Freundeskreis "Tabula Rasa"

Never heard before. I am a casual listener of hip-hop...this wasn't too bad. 7/10.

Here are mine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3fZd5qZje0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSRZRhGKSwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZo4bOZf3B4

 

[PKTrekGirl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3fZd5qZje0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSRZRhGKSwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZo4bOZf3B4

1. Lamb of God - Redneck

Would never know this song had anything to do with anything 'redneck'. Partly because it's death metal times about a bazillion...and partly because I could not understand one single word this 'singer' (and I use that term VERY loosely here) 'sang'. Or yelled. Or roared. Or whateverthefuck he was doing.

Could not WAIT until this 'song' was over. Sounded like it came straight from the depths of hell. To the point where it almost scares me. And this, coming from a girl who listens to heavier rock, as a rule, than most women.


2. Bleeding Through - Love Lost in a Hale of Gunfire

See previous post, only replace the word 'redneck' with 'love'.

Sorry...but this is some godawful stuff. Truly.
.
.
.
.
Oh! This just in! I just heard an entire sentence I understood: "My heart belongs to you!" HURRAY! One sentence, in two songs!

I hesitate to open the third one...but..."Cover me - I'm goin' in!"



3. The Agonist - Business Suits and Combat Boots.

Okay. Now you're just fucking with me.

More megadeath metal. But thanks to the fact that there's a chick in this band who (occasionally) sings for a line or two in between her death metal screeching-from-hell, I can understand the occasional word (although no full sentences).

And ever-so-lucky for us all, this video also sports the added bonus of a few dozen disgustingly graphic photos of animal experimentation on such a level that they would give Dr. Mengele nightmares. I'm really excited about that part in particular - you have no idea.


Long story short, I would rather chew a roll of tin foil than listen to those 3 videos again.

My picks (I'm tempted to post 3 Justin Bieber videos, just to counteract all that pit-of-hell shit (although godawful teenybop music is, admittedly it's own SPECIAL kind of hell), but I'll settle for a few videos I think are utterly hilarious (good) or utterly ridiculous (bad) - up to you which is which :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyVSKydUxKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci0fyRAw21Q&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZjnFZvCNc

^ (my friends on Facebook and I though out about 50 things wrong with that last one - most hilarious FB thread I've ever hosted).

 

[Jetfire]

^
I am not crazy about the images in The Agonist video either...been a while since I seen it.

Sorry you had a horrible experience with my picks.

 

[Canadave]

I reviewed your last set, PK, so I'm gonna let someone else do yours, but I have to say that the last one is awesome.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

^
I am not crazy about the images in The Agonist video either...been a while since I seen it.

Sorry you had a horrible experience with my picks.

Hey, don't be sorry! This thread is about trying new stuff. You don't have to like the new stuff all the time - I know you haven't liked a lot of what I've posted. And I think I said about 4 pages back that I'm not a fan of death metal...so it's no surprise that I didn't care for those.

For me, it's just fun to try things outside my normal zone. Even if I don't end up liking some of it. Because some of it, I WILL end up liking. Canadave can vouch for the fact that one of my now-fave bands of all time came to my attention via a suggestion HE made in a thread a lot like this one about 3 years ago. I'd have probably never heard of this band if it hadn't been for Canadave...so I'm happy to sift through some things that are not to my taste to find more potential gems like that one! And just in this thread, I've decided to actively pursue an interest in two other bands who I'd kind of heard of, but never found time to really listen to much before now - Filter and Queens of the Stone Age (both courtesy of AJ)...and I'm interested in hearing more of The Gracious Few and Fountains of Wayne as well. In short, not a bad haul. So I have no complaints at all. And you have no apologies to make, IMO!

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I reviewed your last set, PK, so I'm gonna let someone else do yours, but I have to say that the last one is awesome.

Oh my...you should have seen the thread I had going on Facebook when I posted that video a few weeks ago. It was epic. I think in my initial comment box, I wrote something like "Where to start in the list of about a million things that are just WRONG about this video?"

Well, one of my friends started MAKING the list...and it went from there. Everything from "Can't see moshpit from angle of camera" to "Band members all appear to have shaved/showered/done laundry this week" to "Tad and Connor brothers (from Screaming Trees) are absent, and therefore unable to crush the lot with team stage dive" to (after about his 5th mention) "You can't point it out too often ... PONYTAIL MULLET GUY." We had lots of fun with this one.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

(I suppose I'll bite.)

1. Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls

Never heard this band before and I definitely dig both the vocals and the riffs. The bridge is really well-done, too. Still, it's not a genre of music I'm accustomed to listen to much of so for probably that reason alone it didn't totally click with me.

Pretty cool stuff though. 8/10

2. Blur - Country House

It's got a nice rhythm to it and I think the singer's voice is very soothing but it felt like it was playing it safe to the point that I got kind of bored. I'm not saying it's the sort of song that should have exploded or anything. It just never left its comfort zone and its comfort zone never blew me away.

I'd listen to it again if I were bored enough. 6/10

3. Smells Like Teen Spirit - The Ukulele Orchestra

Oh hey, this is actually the second time I've clicked on this link. It has a loveliness about its music that only the best ukulele artists can really muster but the vocals really irked me. Still, I can recognize the intent was to come off comically so I'm not going to subtract much over the issue.

Great one. 8/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XajgoxU-_nc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bv1oNp_wJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxbFLYa0_bw

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

And someone tell me if I did this wrong somehow. First time and all.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

^ Looks great to me! I just went, so I'll let someone else review your stuff...but no worries - you're 'doin' it right'.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Glad to hear!

 

[Goji]

I don't know anything about reviewing music, or music terminology either, but I thought I'd give this a try, and see how far I got.

1. Nine Inch Nails - Only

This song was new to me. I listened to it once and it didn't click for me, so I played it a second time and came away with more of an impression. I like the fact that it builds steadily over the course of the song, with the vocals especially becoming more prominent in the later half. It has a nice rhythm to it, and while the vocals are a bit more raw than I usually go for, it worked for the song and never approached the kind of screeching that does turn me off the heavier rock genres. I enjoyed listening to it. So, um, 7/10? Sounds good to me.

2. FFX Ending Theme

I'm assuming this is from a video game, which means that it's the least likely on the list that I would have come across on my own. But I liked it, quite a bit. I always appreciate a nice, somber instrumental piece with pianos and strings. It built to something of a peak around the 3:30 mark and I got the most into it then. At other times it was a little slow, but nothing too off-putting. Taken as a piece of music with no connection to its source material, I enjoyed it more than I expected to. 8/10

3. Queen - Somebody to Love

Alright, this one I know. And I happen to like Queen, so I had a fun time listening to it again. The vocals are great, both the solo and group parts, and the beat is nicely catchy. This one is perhaps the hardest for me to write about, even though I do like it. It's a classic, in any case. I'll rate it at an 8/10 and call it a review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClW15gRkuoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFUAG_1775U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgTzCi37VLw

 

[Pingfah]

Carbon Leaf - What ABout Everything

There is something terribly familiar about the singer's voice. Probably a little too MOR for my tastes, a decent tune, but just not very interesting. Reading up on Wiki it seems that this band is better known for Celtic & Bluegrass influenced rock, which sounds a lot more interesting. 2/5

Fountains of Wayne - Trouble Times.

Again a little too MOR for my tastes, not offensive but not very exciting. It gets more interesting as it livens up. 2/5

Counting Crows - Up All Night

Well, people will probably laugh at me for calling those two songs too MOR and then saying that Counting Crows are one of my favourite bands, but there it is, they are. This is a beautiful song, with an attention to detail that is lacking in the previous two songs. I love the mournful, regretful feel that the singer imbues so much of their music with. They may not be changing the world, but CC are an example of a band that just work perfectly with each other and this song is no exception. 5/5


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9IT5eKm6yk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaJ1X1tlJSI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LZwlF5MFa8

 

[Count Zero]

Therapy? - Sprung

I've heard some of their songs before, of course, and I like a few of them. However, this one doesn't really grip me. It's ok, but a little monotonous.


Doves - Jetstream

Mmh, I wonder what genre this is. An atmospheric, meditative song in a way, and yet a lot is happening musically. I've never heard of this band before. The sond sounded quite interesting.


Talk Show - Peeling An Orange

I like the unusual melody line of this song but I'm not sure about the singer's voice - too much 'typical rock singer' for my taste. I haven't heard of the band but I could imagine checking out a bit more of their songs to find out what they're like. It definetely has potential.


Here's my selection:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7L0IYPXKj8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2-GIyG7bXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qjYUe30xgU

 

[Pingfah]

^ To answer your question, the Doves song was written conceptually as if it were an alternate song to close out the movie Blade Runner.

 

[Count Zero]

Ah, that explains it. Thanks for the info. I think it woulf have fitted quite well.

 

[Pingfah]

I won't review your tracks as I just did one, but I will mention that I love the band that recorded the second one. They've always been very popular here, but I feel much of the rest of the world has badly missed out.