7.20.2011

The Poor Man's Music Review.

We all have our excuses. One thing or another always gets put off, for reasons we convince ourselves make perfect sense. We either wait until these issues resolve themselves (at which point another convenient roadblock always pops up) or we make these excuses no longer applicable, screwing ourselves into doing what needs doing. So here I am trying to eliminate some of my shittier excuses. It's easy for me to put off writing by saying I don't have anything to talk about, and I'm tired of that. Maybe nothing new and interesting has come out (bullshit) or I'm too poor to make it out to noteworthy shows (more true, but similarly weak).

Something something economy, something something tough times. Whatever.

So all this brings me to my newest column, the Poor Man's Music Review, with the simple premise that I put my 8000+ songs on random, and brilliantly muse on whatever happens to come up, in real time, off the fucking DOME, suckers. This guarantees both some awful songs, and some great music that I haven't talked about, because who reviews old music? I do now, and those opposed can suck an object of their choice. I hope this is fun for you, and I know it will be fun for me. End of intro, let's go.

#1: Genghis Tron- City on a Hill, from Board Up the House
The best metal band I've found in the past few years, from their last album before their unfortunate hiatus. City is typical of the juxtaposition Genghis Tron has mastered, swerving between breakneck thrash and heavy electronic beats. another one of those bands that disappeared after showing me how brilliant they can get, this shit is the jam.

#2: El-P- No Kings, from I'll Sleep When You're Dead
One of the bosses of early '00s indipendent hip-hop, spitting his usual shit about being the underground boss that's cooler and doper than his mainstream peers. El-P brings some of the heavier beats in the underground, but he's always been one of those guys who has individual songs I dig more than his whole albums. I gotta find some El-P instrumentals.

#3: Thom Yorke- Harrowdown Hill, from The Eraser
From the album that everyone accuses The King of Limbs of sounding like. Comparisons aside, Yorke has a way with his minimal arrangements and shifty beats, creating the same uncomfortable vibe that he does with Radiohead. I came to the Radiohead party shortly before this came out, and it played nonstop in my early 20s, right when I realized I thought Thom Yorke and co were brilliant. Maybe this is why I don't buy into any unfavorable comparisons of new Radiohead.

#4: Pedestrian- The Toss & Turn (A Capella Revision), From The Toss & Turn.
Noise remix from anticon. founder The Pedestrian's first 12", circa 2004. Vocals obscured in favor of glitches and washes of mangled sound, letting phrases slip in with no context and echo into the distance. Way to be weird, hip hop, I'm so into you. Fades into squelched beat.

#5: Animals as Leaders- Behaving Badly, from Animals as Leaders.
My favorite kind of metal. Emotionally intelligent, musically brilliant without being masturbatory, and just fucking different, with a depth that metal often gets away with overlooking. Can't wait for a new album from these fools. If you're not into it I'm sorry, because this guy speaks to me in a way that I just want to share with people.

Wow that went surprisingly well. Umm I mean I have nothing but amazing songs on my computer, so how would anything less than great come up? Duh.

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