Deerhunter – Microcastle
Indie rock, pretty meh.

VHS or Beta – Bring On the Comets
Just like I said with Ratatat, these guys have a sound that I find distinctive.  I like them, they’re on the edge between rock and techno;  their songs are light and dancy.  I find myself moved by them to invent words like “dancy.”

Slipknot – Iowa
Their second release; I continue my semi-retroactive education of Slipknot.  Not all that spectacular.  Still Slipknot, that’s for sure, but they seem to favor the “whimpering scream” more in this album, which sounds too melodramatic.

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Indie rock, light and bouncy.  Not my usual but nice.  The name seems pretty random, which bothers me because I feel that a band’s name should have some hint about their style.  Being a former goth (goth in recession?  closet goth?), the word “vampire” hints at different themes than this band is going for.  Just an observation though, nothing to be up in arms about.

Junkie XL – Booming Back at You
Bumpin’ dance music.  Not the best but still packed with the unz-unz, which is a welcome diversion between the indie rock and the screamcore.

Deerhunter – Cryptograms
A little more electronic than the other album.  Pretty experimental compared to the album I mentioned earlier, so it was a fun time.

Ratatat – LP3
Remember how I said Ratatat was that band that had a distinctive sound all to their own?  Well this album seemed to be devoid of that sound.  Very interesting but still a good album.

The problem is that I broke the seal of posting-at-work.  Today I started drafting this post while at work, just so I got my impressions out while they were fresh in my mind.  But that’s a dangerously slippery slope, if I start to work on this page and review music instead of actual tech support.  Maybe I’ll have to cut back here a bit, stop downloading all this crazy random stuff and stick to a few favorite standbys.

New round of stuff.

Codec & Flexor – Killermachine
Gosh I love this band.  The singer guy (I don’t know if it’s Codec or Flexor singing) has a distinctive voice that, when used properly, is awesome.  The sad part is some of the songs on this album have lyrics that just get in the way.  But thankfully in between those parts are awesome songs.  I decided I need to become a DJ just so I can take one of the tracks and cut out the beginning and end, saving the wonderous middle part.  Though I full admit my lust for this band may be bourne of an elitist glee that no one else seems to know them.  Or maybe it’s because Ladytron included them on their mix CD “Softcore Jukebox” (and we all know that CD is awesome because of its cover).

Slipknot – All Hope is Gone
What a name for a Slipknot album, gosh… I never would have guessed.  There was an internet rumor that their next album was called, “Sunshine and Cookies” but I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, right?  All joking aside, this album is like Slipknot only more so.  I think they enjoy the light ballads these days, harmonizing in between the screams.  But still fits the bill of “aggressive music” that siphons off my need to reach through the phone and kill customers.

Funny story about this album though.  It’s not actually released yet (next week is the magic week).  I hopped on bittorrent and got it right quick.  Then I swapped over to Soulseek to get some other stuff and DAMN, that’s a popular album over there.  I guess the Soulseek community doesn’t crossbreed with the bittorrent community very often.  My upload queue is 99% filled with this album and everything else is scattered in and around it.

Ratatat – Classics
Instrumental.  Seems to straddle the line between rock and electronic music.  Also they have a distinctive sound that I can’t really describe since I’m new to this whole music-review thing.

Basic Channel
Their first release… too quiet!  Need to get another copy I think.

And the stream doesn’t stop there: Still have Beck, Ratatat – LP3, some more Slipknot stuff, Deerhunter (more Jordan recommendations), new Junkie XL, Vampire Weekend (just sounds nifty).

New (to me) music:

Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Jordan recommendation.  Good stuff but not the kind of music to keep you from falling asleep at work.

M83 – Saturdays = Youth
Jordan, you’re great but these suggestions make me sleepy.
(Pitchfork review)

Basic Channel – BCD-2
Juicy, juicy techno.  Not really Underworld-quality dance stuff, more beepity-boopity stuff that makes a nice backdrop when doing tech support.  Pitchfork gave it a 9.1 rating, which kind of shocked and intrigued me since they seem to hate everything that’s not indie rock.  But they were right, it’s good stuff!  The review is packed full of review-type language; I myself would not think to describe music with tactile words like “liquidy”.  Also it’s packed of references to other techno bands I’ve never heard of, referring to them as classic and fundamental to the whole techno scene.  So much stuff to listen to!  Though to sum it up, I’d say this album reminds me of Aphex Twin or Autechre, with just stripped-down beats looping for the whole song.
(Pitchfork review)

Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons
Light and atmospheric.  Good stuff.

Slipknot – Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses
I got this album a long time ago just because it was Slipknot and what self-respecting metal fan doesn’t like Slipknot?  No that’s not the story, the truth is once upon a time Trent Reznor answered a fan question, “what are you listening to right now?”  He listed out several albums and one of them was this one.  If Trent likes it, I must like it too. So I got it but never really gave it an honest listen.  Though now that I’ve actually mulled it over, I tell you it’s awesome for taking the edge off at work.  Of course, when I started screaming along my coworkers started looking at me funny.  I feel a renewed zest for immersing myself in screamcore now.

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Another Jordan recommendation, only not bedtime music!  Good disco-sounding dance stuff.  I like it.

Iggy Pop – Nude & Rude: The Best Of
Who doesn’t know Iggy Pop?  I watched “Trainspotting” so many times that “Lust for Life” is one of the most emotionally-charged songs I know.  Now I know more songs by the guy.  Good stuff indeed, a nice break from my normal tastes; it’s good to listen to music made without the aid of electronic equipment.

What next?  Basic Channel’s album is called “BCD-2”, meaning it is the second release so I am looking for the first.  Codec & Flexor have long had a follow-up to “Tubed” called “Killermachine” that was tough to find.  Now I have it and am very excited to give it a listen.  Beck’s “Modern Guilt” – a friend today described himself as a Nine Inch Nails fan “in theory but not in practice,” I feel that way about Beck.  I liked his early stuff but haven’t been keeping up with later releases.  So now I have it and should probably try to form an opinion.  Ratatat – I got their self-titled album from a friend and it’s pretty good.  Now I need to get into more of their stuff.

Dear Justin and Jordan – OMG POST SOMETHING…

Junk mail is the bane of the internet age.  I’m not talking about the spam, I’m talking about the “newsletters” and “important notices” that get sent out every time you register for a site or express interest in a store.  Nevertheless, I try to tolerate what comes my way; maybe a cursory glance will reveal something interesting or noteworthy.  Can you guess what motivated this post?

I get a notice from Amazon pointing out a band.  They say that people who bought this particular Nine Inch Nails album also bought this other album that I’ve never heard of.  It’s a self-titled release by a band called “One Day as a Lion”.  Heck, I like NIN and have not heard of this other band so why not give it a shot?  Turns out, ODAAL is Zack de la Rocha’s new release.  Since I don’t follow music news very closely for bands I’m not insane about, I have no idea what Rage Against the Machine does in their spare time.  I remember hearing they were done and that Zack was on to a solo project.  I suppose this is it.  The press also seems to be making a big deal that the drummer from Mars Volta is paired up with Zack for this album.  I liked RATM so I thought I’d give this album a try.

First off, it’s not a furry tribute album as the title may suggest.  Indeed, that’d be a rather large leap for Zack, to go from politics to deviant sex.  Second off, the “album” is only five tracks long.  It’s decent rock but it seems to be focusing more on Zack’s lyrics and Mr. Mars Volta’s (whose name I don’t know and am too lazy to look up) drumming.  I have never focused on lyrics when listening to music.  The syncopation of the words is more enticing to me than the message.  If I make it to the point of listening to the song repeatedly, the lyrics work themselves into my brain and I sing along.  But rarely do I really sit down and digest the message of the song, which propably undermines around 90% of the effort musicians make.  I’ll make excuses: Skinny Puppy’s lyrics are nearly stream-of-consciousness and you’d go insane trying to pick up on their messages, electronic music doesn’t have lyrics, ummm… yeah whatever.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that ODAAL didn’t blow me away since the focus of the stuff was on lyrics.  Maybe if I give it another listen while looking up some lyrics and/or reviews, that will add some substance.  Nevertheless, it is something I have not listened to before so that’s progress.

(Bonus points if you can identify the movie where the subject line came from.)