Gamingforce Music Exposure Club™

Note: this stuff makes Merzbow seem tame.

Whitehouse - Mummy and Daddy ( 1998, Susan Lawrly, Extreme Noise )



Track Listing:

1. Philosophy of the wife-beater
2. worthless
3. A cunt like you
4. Daddo
5. Private

Overview:

Brutal noise that can even make the biggest noise fan's tremble. Here is a link to their website, it will do more justifaction for their music, then i can say.

http://www.neox.demon.co.uk/whitehouse/

Download and be afriad

(red-amazing | orange - great | white - normal)
my official review

Leslie Feist - Let It Die (2004, jazz, bossa nova, indie rock, soft)


1. Gatekeeper
2. Mushaboom
3. Let It Die
4. One Evening
5. Leisure Suite
6. Lonely Lonely
7. When I Was A Young Girl
8. Secret Heart
9. Inside And Out
10. Tout Doucement
11. Now At Last

Comment: A booming Canadian female artist. The softer of the two albums, alot of the tracks here sound like they're from the 40's. But you can actually hear a big difference between this album and Monarch. Maybe the European influence? My favorite are marked in red, Tout Doucement I'm not sure why. I love Now At Last because it brings me back to the 40s, even though I was born in the 90s lol.

Download

To start, all three albums form one of the greatest musical talents of our era.

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

Year: 1969
Label: Hannibal
Genre: folkrock



From Amazon:
There's not a single dud in the trilogy of albums that singer/songwriter Nick Drake released during his all-too-short career. And 1968's Five Leaves Left--his first album--is certainly no exception. Drake's sensitive guitar work and sensitive vocals are backed by the baroque sounds of a chamber string group and the platter's lyrics show maturity well beyond the age of their 20-year-old creator. More sparse than its follow-up, the jazzy Bryter Later , but less tortured than Drake's dark final chapter, Pink Moon, Five Leaves Left is a classic folk disc. Songs like "River Man", "The Thoughts of Mary Jane" and "Day Is Done" are among Drake's finest moments. Newcomers be forewarned: this music is as infectious as it is bleak. --Jason Verlinde

Tracks:
1. Time Has Told Me
2. River Man
3. Three Hours
4. Way to Blue
5. Day Is Done
6. Cello Song
7. Thoughts of Mary Jane
8. Man in a Shed
9. Fruit Tree
10. Saturday Sun

Get It

Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

Year: 1970
Label: Hannibal
Genre: folkrock



From AMG:
With even more of the Fairport Convention crew helping him out -- including bassist Dave Pegg and drummer Dave Mattacks along with, again, a bit of help from Richard Thompson -- as well as John Cale and a variety of others, Drake tackled another excellent selection of songs on his second album. Demonstrating the abilities shown on Five Leaves Left didn't consist of a fluke, Bryter Layter featured another set of exquisitely arranged and performed tunes, with producer Joe Boyd and orchestrator Robert Kirby reprising their roles from the earlier release. Starting with the elegant instrumental "Introduction," as lovely a mood-setting piece as one would want, Bryter Layter indulges in a more playful sound at many points, showing that Drake was far from being a constant king of depression. While his performances remain generally low-key and his voice quietly passionate, the arrangements and surrounding musicians add a considerable amount of pep, as on the jazzy groove of the lengthy "Poor Boy." The argument could be made that this contravenes the spirit of Drake's work, but it feels more like a calmer equivalent to the genre-sliding experiments of Van Morrison at around the same time. Numbers that retain a softer approach, like "At the Chime of a City Clock," still possess a gentle drive to them. Cale's additions unsurprisingly favor the classically trained side of his personality, with particularly brilliant results on "Northern Sky." As his performances on keyboards and celeste help set the atmosphere, Drake reaches for a perfectly artful reflection on loss and loneliness and succeeds wonderfully.

Tracks:
1. Introduction
2. Hazey Jane II
3. At the Chime of a City Clock
4. One of These Things First
5. Hazey Jane I
6. Bryter Layter
7. Fly
8. Poor Boy
9. Northern Sky
10. Sunday

Download

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Year: 1972
Label: Hannibal
Genre: folkrock



From AMG:
After two albums of tastefully orchestrated folk-pop, albeit some of the least demonstrative and most affecting around, Drake chose a radical change for what turned out to be his final album. Not even half-an-hour long, with 11 short songs and no more -- he famously remarked at the time that he simply had no more to record -- Pink Moon more than anything else is the record that made Drake the cult figure he remains. Specifically, Pink Moon is the bleakest of them all; that the likes of Belle and Sebastian are fans of Drake may be clear enough, but it's doubtful they could ever achieve the calm, focused anguish of this album, as harrowing as it is attractive. No side musicians or outside performers help this time around -- it's simply Drake and Drake alone on vocals, acoustic guitar, and a bit of piano, recorded by regular producer Joe Boyd but otherwise untouched by anyone else. The lead-off title track was eventually used in a Volkswagen commercial nearly 30 years later, giving him another renewed burst of appreciation -- one of life's many ironies, in that such an affecting song, Drake's softly keened singing and gentle strumming, could turn up in such a strange context. The remainder of the album follows the same general path, with Drake's elegant melancholia avoiding sounding pretentious in the least thanks to his continued embrace of simple, tender vocalizing. Meanwhile, the sheer majesty of his guitar playing -- consider the opening notes of "Radio" or "Parasite" -- makes for a breathless wonder to behold. If anyone needs confirmation as to why artists like Mark Eitzel, Elliot Smith, Lou Barlow, or Robert Smith hold Drake close to their hearts, it's all here, still as beautiful as the day it was released.

Tracks:
1. Pink Moon
2. Place to Be
3. Road
4. Which Will
5. Horn
6. Things Behind the Sun
7. Know
8. Parasite
9. Free Ride
10. Harvest Breed
11. From the Morning

The best album of the 1970's

Dead Horse - Horsecore

Year: 1990
Label: Self released tape, later on Relapse
Genre: gloriously self-aware thrash metal



Another review I didn't write:
Finding structure in aggressive and metallic music delights this avantgarde thrash act who use a quirky and culturally diverse collection of influences to accelerate schizophrenic sound. Lead guitar screams shaped like a horse's call opens pounding percussion supporting quickly changing, short riffs that hammer out a central rhythmic pattern to each song. Alternately hoarsely sung or death metal shouted vocals carry a sense of mood over the shifting texture. Varying not only styles but the shapes and tempos of each tune, dead horse make these mixed elements in their music the simultaneous continuity with "brutality" that is the hallmark of upper echelon extreme music. Rock, jazz, funk and country music all appear as near parody in this highly literate collection of poetic thrash songs.

Tracks:
1. Murder Song
2. Born Believing
3. Crashing of the Irate
4. Hank
5. Bewah
6. World War Whatever
7. Forgive
8. Army Surplus
9. Piece of Veal
10. Mindless Zombies
11. Adult Book Store
12. Flowers for the Dead
13. Too Close to Home
14. Scottish Hell
15. Subhumanity
16. Someone

Get It

Arthur Lee/Love - Black Beauty & Rarities

Year: recorded all over the place, released 1997
Label: Eva
Genre: Psych



From AMG:
This bootleg does diehard Love fans a considerable service by gathering Arthur Lee's rarest work together in one place. Holding by far the most interest are the first nine cuts, which assemble the rare pre-Love cuts from 1963-65 that Lee was involved with as writer, performer, producer, or some combination thereof. This includes the tame soul instrumentals by the L.A.G.'s in 1963; the far more confident American Four tracks from 1964, highlighted by the exuberant "Twist and Shout" ripoff "Luci Baines" (with Lee vocals); the Curtis Mayfield-ish soul of Ronnie & the Pamona Casuals; the Spectorish production of Little Ray's "I Been Trying"; and the nifty soul of Rosa Lee Brooks' 1964 single "My Diary," which features Jimi Hendrix on guitar. Tracks 10-19 are a 1973 unreleased album by Lee and/or Love, Black Beauty, which unfortunately is typical of the dispirited hard rock Lee was churning out in the early '70s, with occasional flashes of individuality in the folkier moments (as well as the strange cover of the Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In"). There's also an unreleased 1977 cut, and a couple of decent versions of "Feathered Fish" (which Lee wrote in the mid-'60s, although Love didn't record it) from 1994 that show a bit of the old energy.

Tracks:
1. The Ninth Wave
2. Rumble-Still-Skins
3. Soul Food
4. Luci Baines
5. It's The Marvin,Baby
6. Everybody Jerk
7. Slow Jerk
8. I Been Trying
9. My Diary
10. I'm Good & Evil (Do What I Do)
11. Midnight Sun
12. Walk Right In
13. Skid, Not really A Friend
14. Beep Beep
15. Stay Away
16. I Got To Find It
17. Lonely Man
18. Where Were You
20. Give Me A Little Energy
21. Feathered Fish #1
22. Feathered Fish #2

Get It

Nasum - Grand Finale

Year: 2005
Label: Relapse
Genre: Grindcore



A career spanning collection from the single most important grindcore band, ever. In addition to a bevy of album material, it contains every non-album track recorded. If you want a more comprehensive review, click here. There are 152 (!) tracks on the two discs, and that would take up too much room to post, so if you want to check the track listing, go here.

DOWNLOAD

Pelican - The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw

Year: 2005
Label: Hydra Head
Genre: Instrumental Prog-Metal



From AMG:
There's a new style of metal rising in the early 21st century; one that is light on the vocals and heavy on the instrumentals. But this certainly isn't your dad's familiar metal instrumental -- prog-like overindulgence has given way to sounds that alternate between dreamy soundscapes and crushing riffs -- as evidenced by groups like Pelican. On the group's second full-length for Hydra Head, 2005's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, Pelican introduces a new texture to its sonic palette: acoustic guitars. But those expecting a full-on flamenco guitar concerto will have to look elsewhere, as they're used sparingly. The phrase "the type of album you have to listen to all the way through" seems custom-made for the moody and atmospheric Fire, as it really is a sort of aural roller coaster. With the same stylistic thread running throughout many of the album's seven tracks, individual standouts are hard to pinpoint, but if push came to shove, you can't go wrong with the epic album opener, "Last Day of Winter." A new era of instrumental rock has arrived, and Pelican appear to be leading the pack.

Tracks:
1. Last Day of Winter
2. Autumn into Summer
3. March to the Sea
4.
5. Red Ran Amber
6. Aurora Borealis
7. Sirius

Get It

Saint Vitus - Live

Year: recorded live Nov. 10, 1989 (released 2005)
Label: Southern Lord
Genre: The progenitor of American doom metal



From AMG:
Listeners who discovered Saint Vitus after the fact will never quite grasp just how thankless and dispiriting an existence they endured throughout what one must cruelly dub their "1980s heyday." No MTV, no gold records, no chart success, no nothing! Just one overlooked classic American doom album after another, and long, punishing slogs of touring in rackety vans -- SST style -- for the "privilege" of performing in a band and starving for a living. Cult stardom isn't just a colossal oxymoron, kids, it's not very fun, either. Which is why none but the bandmembers themselves, and to a lesser degree, those who "lived" underground heavy metal during the '80s, will probably appreciate the grail-like wonder and importance of this 1990 Vitus Live album. Recorded at Germany's Circus Gammeldorf, on November 10th, 1989, it captures the seminal Wino/Chandler/Adams/Acosta lineup at the height of its power, and mere months away from Wino's departure, thereby marking the end of an era while serving up a near-perfect career highlight reel, fit to challenge even the following year's "official" greatest-hits set, Heavier Than Thou. Retro-themed doom metal standards such as "Living Backwards," "Born Too Late," and "Look Behind You" gain additional relevance under these circumstances, and incomparably doleful grinds like "The War Starter," "Looking Glass," and "Dying Inside" assume a timeless vitality when upgraded from their at times poorly produced studio versions. The same goes for the oft-covered masterpiece "War Is Our Destiny" and the uncommonly speedy "White Stallions," which literally surge from out of the speakers in this live setting; and, for the finale, a drawn-out romp through "Clear Windowpane" boasts both drum and guitar solos (the latter humorously including the Batman TV show theme!). Once again, Live stands as an essential document from one of heavy metal's most under-represented divisions -- American doom -- and one of its least rewarded champions, Saint Vitus.

Tracks:
1. Living Backwards
2. Born Too Late
3. War Starter
4. Mind - Food
5. Looking Glass
6. White Stallions
7. Look Behind You
8. Dying Inside
9. War Is Our Destiny
10. Mystic Lady
11. Clear Windowpane

If you're iffy about listening to something called "doom metal", TRY THIS OUT. Anyone who has ever kicked back to some classic Sabbath will enjoy this record.

Sam Gopal - Escalator

Year: 1969
Label: Stable
Genre: Psych



Reviewed by Rod Oldkarb:
Recorded in 1968 by homely acid rockers who lyrically placed themselves amid that hoary host of late-Sixties psychedelic bands in whose tunes images tend toward the melancholic, Sam Gopal featured the snaggle-toothed talents of lead singer/guitarist Ian "Lemmy" Willis, as well as a tabla player--rather than the traditional drummer--whose name was, coincidentally, Sam Gopal. Willis's compositions provide the finest moments: the nearly-Eastern guitar riff that also serves as the melody of "Grass," the psychedelic blues of "Escalator," with Roger Delia's manic guitar leads springing out in all directions while Lemmy sings "If you think you like me living, baby/You're gonna love me when I'm dead," as well as the acoustic melancholia of "Yesterlove," with tablas tabling and fingercymbals cym'bling whilst Lemmy laments his forever-lost love.


This has hands down the premier recording of seminal psych standard "Season of the Witch". And yes, it's THAT Lemmy. This CD remaster also contains a rare 7" the band released.

Tracks:
1. Cold Embrace
2. Dark Lord
3. Sky Is Burning
4. You're Alone Now
5. Grass
6. It's Only Love
7. Horse
8. Escalator
9. Angry Faces
10. Midsummer Nights Dream
11. Season of the Witch
12. Yesterlove
13. Back Door Man

Get It

Monks - Black Monk Time

Year: 1966
Label: Polydor
Genre: the very first punk rock record?



An Amazon user review:
Back in '66, the Monks were some of the most whacked-out dumb-dumb genius-punks in town. Their LP debut, Black Monk Time, is a flat-out masterpiece, complete with grinding banjos, nursery-rhyme-gone-horribly-wrong lyrics, face punching guitar licks, and organ runs that sound like they're being played by Beethoven's brain-hungry zombie smashed out of his mind on NyQuil. The songs range from pissed-off anthems ("Shut Up," "Complication") to come-ons from a parallel universe ("Drunken Maria") to hard-faced declarations of sick intent ("Monk Time"). And then there's "Higgle-Dy-Piggle-Dy," with its sky-scraping vocals and an aforementioned organ vamp. Dementedly catchy, out of this world, and flat-out amazing. Monks forever.

Tracks:
1. Monk Time
2. Shut Up
3. Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Choice
4. Higgle-Dy-Piggle-Dy
5. I Hate You
6. Oh, How to Do Now
7. Complication
8. We Do Wie Du
9. Drunken Maria
10. Love Came Tumblin' Down
11. Blast Off!
12. That's My Girl
13. I Can't Get Over You
14. Cuckoo
15. Love Can Tame the Wild
16. He Went Down to the Sea

Get It

Frank Zappa - Sleep Dirt

Year: 1979
Label: Discreet
Genre: guitar



A nice, long, very comprehensive review can be found here. In my opinion, Frank's best guitar work can be found here, and is especially evident on the nearly classical title track.

Tracks:
1. Filthy Habits
2. Flambay
3. Spider of Destiny
4. Regyptian Strut
5. Time Is Money
6. Sleep Dirt
7. Ocean Is the Ultimate Solution

Download

I'm not very good at writing reviews and I am rather sick right now, so please excuse the lack of reviews for the Japanese albums; just take my word that they are very good and deserve your time. I will try to describe the musical style, though.

Cocco - Kumui Uta
1998 :: Speedstar :: J-Rock



1. Chiisana ame no Hi no Kuwamui
2. Mereta Yurikago
3. Tsuyoku Hakanai Monotachi
4. Anata no Tsuki
5. Rose letter
6. My Dear Pig
7. Utataka
8. Ratai
9. Yuemji
10. SATIE
11. Raining
12. Unai

Download here

Cocco is a fantastic singer/songwriter from Japan that I only ever see in j-music discussions when people in Japan are involved, which is a shame since she makes such good music. There's a lot of influences here, from metal and rock to jazz to typical j-pop, and it all blends wonderfully.


move - BOULDER
2004 :: avex trax :: J-rock



1. How To See You Again
2. Dogfight
3. Bureikou Night ~Bring your mic~
4. Nobody reason ~Noah no Hakobune~
5. Lookin' On The Sunny Side
6. Real Fact
7. Rock Da House
8. Noizy Tribe
9. Mission 2 Gemini
10. Ghetto Blaster
11. Selfless
12. Cherry blossom
13. Noizy Tribe (English version)

Download here

A combination of rap, techno, and rock, this album was one of the first j-rock albums I heard and it's stuck with me through everything else.


Modest Mouse - The Lonesome, Crowded West
1997 :: Up :: Alternative



1. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine
2. Heart Cooks Brain
3. Convenient Parking
4. Lounge (Closing Time)
5. Jesus Christ Was an Only Child
6. Doin' the Cockroach
7. Cowboy Dan
8. Trailer Trash
9. Out of Gas
10. Long Distance Drunk
11. Shit Luck
12. Truckers Atlas
13. Polar Opposites
14. Bankrupt on Selling
15. Styrofoam Boots / It's All Nice on Ice, Alright

Download here

AMG:
Talk about original -- this band has something for just about everyone. They can do quiet, brooding acoustics like "Bankrupt on Selling," dark and pounding thrashers like "Cowboy Dan," funky jump-around emo like "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" -- just about anything. Throughout the whole album is a white-trash feeling and a sort of down-to-earth analysis of the state of the world, without sounding pretentious. Give this album a listen and you can be sure that you will be singing the rambling, catchy, almost whiny vocals in no time. If you dig indie rock at its very best, go pick this album up.


Islands - Return to the Sea
2006 :: Equator :: Alternative



1. Swans (Life After Death)
2. Humans
3. Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby
4. Rough Gem
5. Tsuxiit
6. Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone
7. Jogging Gorgeous Summer
8. Volcanoes
9. If
10. Ones
11. [untitled]

Download here

AMG:
On their debut record, Return to the Sea, Montreal's Islands have crafted a rich, exciting, and emotionally deep sounding album that carries on the freewheeling spirit and sound of the Unicorns as well as that of the Elephant 6 bands of the late '90s. You see, Islands singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer Nick Diamonds and drummer Jaime were members of the Unicorns and they have taken the strengths of that band, amplified and adjusted them, added a few more vital ingredients, and come up with a disc that satisfies on a variety of levels and rates among the best indie rock around. The Unicorns were a lo-fi, experimental car crash of a band, equal parts whimsy and exuberance; Islands are a much more adult and measured experience with a much cleaner sound and more classic arrangements (lots of strings, accordions, standup bass, and pianos to go with the cheap synthesizers). Diamonds' voice is much less whimsical; he has scaled back on the Coyne meter from nine to around five and now conveys his slightly off-kilter lyrics with more emotion and honesty. Despite the changes, the group hasn't lost any of the sunshine-addled spark that the Unicorns had, as songs like the whirling "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" or "Jogging Gorgeous Summer" (which comes kitted out with steel drums and recorder!) clearly demonstrate. The trippy "Volcanoes" (nice rock snob reference to the Troggs tapes in the lyrics), the indie psych/hip-hop mash-up featuring the rhyme skills of Subtitle and Busdriver, or the epic-length psychedelic singalong that opens the record so nicely ("Swans [Life After Death]") show that the band hasn't lost their ambition, either. "Ones" itself has more big-hearted ambition and dramatic power than most bands could dream of unleashing. The lovely instrumental "Tsuxiit" or the sweetly pop-rocking "Rough Gem" sound like the work of another band entirely, and indeed all of these comparisons to the Unicorns are ultimately irrelevant. It's not like you have to be a fan of that band to fall in love with this one. All you need is an indie pop heart and two functioning ears. A love of melodies and innocent weirdness. The ability to see through the clouds of hype surrounding other lesser bands and grab on tight to this band and record. So clap your hands, say yeah, and throw Islands a parade (wolf or otherwise) because Return to the Sea is an indie rock triumph!

Well, for my first post to the Music Exposure Club, let me give y'all a Cease & Desist SPECIAL!

DJ Danger Mouse - The Grey Album

Released: 2004
Label:
Genre: Bastard Pop



1. Public Service Announcement
2. What More Can I Say
3. Encore
4. December 4th
5. 99 Problems
6. Dirt Off Your Shoulder
7. Moment of Clarity
8. Change Clothes
9. Allure
10. Justify My Thug
11. Lucifer 9 (Interlude)
12. My 1st Song

OK, I'm gonna get things started with an album that Danger Mouse released in early 2004. He took the acapellas of Jay-Z's Black Album (that Jay-Z had released for remixers to use, so that's not the problem,) cut the hell up and sampled the hell out of The Beatles' White Album, and merged the two together. He pressed 3000 copies to use as a limited edition promo, giving some away and selling a few at a low price. It got some press, which got the attention of EMI. They threw a fit, sending a Cease & Desist letter to Danger Mouse, claiming that the DCMA protected their copyright from being sampled blah blah blah. The album was banned on the 4th of February.

Well, see, all this attention did nothing more than incite publicity for the album, which quickly got downloaded. Downhill Battle organized a protest day where people would host the albums for one day on their own personal servers, calling it Grey Tuesday. Many websites joined in and so we have lots of people with a copy of an album that was only supposed to be a limited release. Danger Mouse himself said that he doesn't care about not selling it as long as it gets heard, so what's the big deal?

That question becomes even more prevalent upon listening to the album. DM didn't just take the Beatles music unaltered and put Jay-Z's rapping overtop of it. Sometimes, the samples are altered enough that they only bear a slight semblance to their source material, so one wonders what the problem really was. The album is quite enjoyable to listen to, even for people who (like myself) don't enjoy rap at all. I mean, over someone else's music, I actually like listening to Jay-Z rap. Personal favorites are tracks 5 and 6, using samples from "Helter Skelter" and "Julia," respectively.

Justify your thug.



Jay-Zeezer - The Black and Blue Album

Released: 2004
Label:
Genre: Bastard Pop



01. I Swear It's an Interlude
02. Say It Ain't December 4th
03. What More Can I Say, Jamie
04. Encore for Wayne
05. The World Has Changed Clothes & Left
06. Surf Wax Off Your Shoulder
07. Undone - The Threater Song
08. Only in a Moment of Clarity
09. 99 Problems with Buddy Holly
10. Public Service Holiday
11. Justify Mykel and Carli
12. No One Else But Lucifer
13. Allure in the Garage
14. My 1st Song's Name Is Jonas
15. Yeah in the Sun *Bonus Track ft. Usher, Lil' Jay-Zeezer & Ludacris
16. 99 Luft Problems *Bonus Track ft. Jay-Zena
17. Bonnie, Clyde & El Scorcho *Bonus Track ft. Beyonce

While my review will be quite a bit more concise about this album than the previous, let me just say outright that I enjoy it quite a bit more. Something about one of Weezer's two good albums being mixed with this man rapping is ... incredible. It just works way too well to be anything but good.

The artist talks about the process of making this album on his website here. Fairly entertaining stuff right there.

I've got 99 Problems with Buddy Holly, too



Dean Gray presents American Edit

Released: 2005
Label:
Genre: Bastard Pop

1. American Jesus
   1. American Edit
   2. Jesus' Tears
   3. Summer of the Damned
   4. Suburban Ring
   5. It's Like That
2. Dr. Who on Holiday
3. Boulevard of Broken Songs
4. The Bad Homecoming
5. St. Jimmy the Prankster
6. Novocaine Rhapsody
7. Impossible Rebel
8. Ashanti's Letterbomb
9. Greenday Massacre
10. Whatsername (Susanna Hoffs)
11. Boulevard of Broken Songs (Dance Mix '05)

Contains elements of the album "American Idiot" by Green Day and samples from:
George W. Bush, Smokey Robinson, Brian Adams, Johnny Cash, John F. Kennedy, The Legendary KO, Jermain Dupri, The Daleks, The Timelords, Gary Glitter, Aerosmith, Oasis, Travis, Missy Elliott, U2, The Offspring, Bill Hicks, Bryan Ferry, Queen, Mission: Impossible, The Sex Pistols, Dire Straits, Deep Purple, Ashanti, Buffalo Springfield, The Who, The Beatles, Nelly, The Bangles, and more.

OK, this final album in my C&D special is . . . WOW. I mean, do you see that list of sampled artists and such? This spans over several genres asides from the rap and rock of the previous two albums. Let me begin by again telling a little bit about the history of the album: Internet release (for free) on the 18th of November, a C&D served just 10 days later. Let's just call the C&D free publicity just like it was for the Grey Album.

I seriously hate Green Day. I mean, I enjoyed them when Dookie came out, but then they just kept making more of the same and I got bored. His voice is annoying as all hell, too. Anyways, this album is fucking GOOD. Just trust me on this. And yes, the artist's "name" is just a spoonerism, but hey, why not? Oh, and Billie Joe Armstrong heard the song "Boulevard of Broken Songs" on the radio and said that he thought it was pretty damn cool. In an age where the recording industry thinks mashups are just having people (sometimes famous, sometimes not) either cover the songs with rapping or just have someone rap over top of it, for him to say that is pretty damn cool.

WE ARE THE SUPERIOR BEINGS

Eyedea & Abilities - First Born
(2001, Rhymesayers, Hip-Hop)



Track listings:
1)One
2)Music Music
3)Birth of a Fish...
4)...Powdered Water
5)Untitled
6)Color My World Mine
7)Liquid Sovereignty
8)Murder of Memories
9)Blindly Firing
10)Big Shots
11)Void (Internal Theory)
12)The Dive (Part One)
13) The Dive (Part Two)
14)Well Being (only DJ Abilities)
15)Read Wiped in Blue
16)Void (External Theory)
17)On This I Stand

Summary:
This is the first release of Eyedea’s. Eyedea’s career up until this point was mainly battling at competitions, with his biggest win being the Blaze Battles in 2000. For First Born Eyedea teams up with DJ Abilities, and takes on more of a mature attitude, mostly focusing on more philosophical eyedeas ideas (I really didn't mean to say that), leaving battle tracks behind.

Download link



Eyedea & Abilities - E&A
(2004, Rhymesayers, Hip-Hop)



Track listings:
1)Reintroducing
2)Now
3)Kept
4)Exhausted Love
5)Star Destroyer
6)Paradise
7)One Twenty
8)Man Vs. Ape
9)Get Along
10)Two Men And A Lady
11)E&A Day
12)Act Right
13)Glass

Summary:
Eyedea’s latest release, he once again teams up with DJ Abilities. In this album Eyedea adopts alot more of a light battle/ comedic attitude in his raps. In my opinion it’s not as good as First Born, but worth a listen.

Download Link

Find Destroyer's Rubies here

Plastilina Mosh - Tasty (2006)
Genre: Electronic, Indie



Review
Well it's kinda weird to put a greatest hits album but I think it's good way to get into Plastilina Mosh. Also, their newest single: Millionaire is soo cool you guys better not miss it. Other good tracks include: Mr P Mosh, Enzo and Monster Truck. Enjoy!

Allmusic Biography
The fertile Angeleno independent hip-hop scene, populated by the likes of Beck and Sukia, was crashed in 1998 by the two Mexicans from Monterrey who record as Plastilina Mosh. Programmer Alejandro Rosso and vocalist/guitarist Jonaz, who have also been compared to the Beastie Boys, debuted to the American public at Austin's South by Southwest music conference, and caught the eye of Beck, who financed a session through his Bong Load label with producer Tom Rothrock (who had previously recorded "Loser" with Beck). Signed to Capitol, Plastilina Mosh began recording their debut full-length with the additional help of Angeleno hip-hop collective Sukia plus Café Tacuba's Anonimo on guest vocals. Aquamosh was released in June 1998 and Juan Manuel followed two years later on Astralwerks. Next jumping to EMI, the duo issued Hola Chicuelos in July 2003, and Plastilina Mosh played a spot at 2004's South By Southwest festival in Austin, TX. Tasty + B Sides appeared in April 2006, complete with an accompanying DVD of the group's music videos and other bonus features.

Tracklist
Disc 1
1. Millionaire
2. Afroman
3. Human Disco Ball
4. Peligroso Pop
5. Nina Bomba
6. Oxidados
7. Mr. P Mosh
8. Enzo
9. Kinkinzazo
10. Alo

Disc 2
1. Viva Las Vegas
2. Quiero Mi Pastilla
3. Tampico Mix
4. Let the Speaker Speak
5. Purrun Pun Pun
6. Mr. Pmosh
7. Mexican Peso
8. Love Ride
9. Tortradora
10. I'm A Rockstar

Download Link!!

Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs
Released: 2005
Label: Wegawam
Genre: acoustic oddness


http://67.55.42.110/albums/Andrew_Bird.zip

I don't know. It's the one I picked out that I listened to the least. It's pretty good.

Quote:

I once had a Sunday school teacher who always accused my classmates and me of grilling him with tough questions. Every time I would walk into the classroom and see him standing at the front, I immediately began scouring the messy bowels of my brain for any question I could devise that involved the mystery of the Trinity, the dual nature of Christ, the complex relationship between predestination and free will, and so on. The teacher often joked that teaching our class was more akin to interrogation than anything else.

Listening to a new album called The Mysterious Production of Eggs, I can’t help but feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit in singer/songwriter/violinist/self-described “professional whistler” Andrew Bird. Though Bird’s focus may be much less overtly religious, he, like my Sunday school class, is not one to shy away from wrestling with the difficult, often unanswerable questions of life. His chosen subject matter on this record is ambitious indeed—the power of imagination, the mystery of creativity, the source of inspiration, the nature of childhood, and the dark forces that seek to suppress all these things in the name of commerce.

His music is suitably whimsical and mysterious. Like a sort of musical Willy Wonka, Bird concocts sweet, choice morsels that seem to be made from pure imagination. One might also compare him to a pop music equivalent of George Lucas or J.R.R. Tolkien, for indeed, with every song here Bird has created—seemingly from nothing—an entire world that one can get lost in. His world-building tools are as pure and as noble as they come: Each of his creations is built on the simple foundation of violin, guitar, voice, whistle, melody, and lyric.

And oh, what lyrics! Bird doesn’t do his subject matter—or his listeners—an injustice by serving up platitudes, clichés, or easy answers. Instead, his lyrics taunt and tease us, with delightful turns of phrase and whimsically absurd imagery flying by faster than you can say… well… “sovay.”

http://www.lookingcloser.org/music/m...tionofeggs.htm

1. untitled
2. Sovay
3. A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
4. Fake Palindromes
5. Measuring Cups
6. Banking on a Myth
7. Masterfade
8. Opposite Day
9. Skin Is, My
10. The Naming of Things
11. MX Missiles
12. untitled
13. Tables and Chairs
14. The Happy Birthday Song


Breaking Laces - Lemonade
Released: 2005
Label: Meeka Salise
Genre: mellow acoustic rock


http://67.55.42.110/albums/Lemonade.zip

Yeah, I picked this out because of the cover. Kind of a disappointment, actually, but it's still pretty good. Highlights: It's Over Now

1. Call You Home
2. Shack Up SOS
3. States Away
4. Garbanzo Beans
5. I Do I Don't
6. Hold My Head
7. Get Up Today
8. This World
9. I Just Wanna Fight
10. (The) Ocean (That Lies Between Us)
11. It's Over Now
12. Reprise

Rabbinical School Dropouts - Esoteric Space Klezmer
Released: 2005
Label: Ethnic Warrior Productions
Genre: Esoteric Space Klezmer


http://67.55.42.110/albums/Esoteric_Klezmer.zip

Quote:

“Postmodernist, exotic, and a ‘brother act’ as well” -Richard Meltzer, San Diego Reader

“Frank Zappa and Dr. Seuss intersect with John Zorn and the Art Ensemble of Chicago by way of Naftule Brandwein and Joseph Moskowitz in a largely improvised musical co-directed by Woody Allen and Howard Stern. with Eddie Cantor offering spiritual support from the great kibbutz in the sky." -George Varga, Union Tribune

“Sun Ra & Frank Zappa at Woody Harrelson's backyard BBQ." -Brian Broccoli, B-Rock Magazine

“Post-Klezmer. Definitely worth checking out.” -Ari Davidow, Klezmershack.com

Highlights: Dunno, I was listening to it with the CD player in my pocket.

1. Zemer La Freak (extended cut)
2. Rabbinical School Dropout
3. Mock Wedding Tantz
4. Kez (Chanukah Frailach)
5. Tubman’s Zimerot
6. Orange Guru Suit
7. Bashtal of Bhudastahn
8. Wannabe Macabee
9. Maimonides
10. Av’s Bulgar
11. Mishiguna Hora
12. Gremlin in the Kremlin
13. Portrait of Esoteric Space Klezmer (new track)

Sigur Rós - ( )
(10/29/02, MCA, Post Rock)



Tracks:
1. [KT]
2.
3.
4. [KT]
5.
6.
7.
8. [KT]
[size=1][KT] denotes Key Tracks.
(Please be aware of the fact that no tracks were given titles, and are commonly refered to as [Untitled 1], [Untitled 2], et. al.)[/KT]

AMG Review

Lush. Soothing. Theatrical. Ethereal. Wintry. Precious. Elegant. Gloomy. Somber. Ambitious. Druggy. Indulgent. These are what allmusic listed for the "moods" of ( ), and it's hard to sum up the album any better than that. The album is a work of sheer beauty, each track a delicate, often climactic work that draws the listener in and creates an unforgetable atmosphere of glacial wonder. It is a very long listen, granted, but then again, since when did I ever post anything quick and easy to listen to in this thread? So go for it, indulge in something a little long-winded. This is, in fact, the album that got me into Post Rock, and was my first Post Rock album ever. I forever thank those that suggested I listen to it.

( )...? ( )!

The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace ( 1985, Beggars Banquent, Punk )



Track Listing:

1. Mansion
2. Bombast
3. Barmy
4. What You Need
5. Spoilt Victorian Child
6. L.A
7. Vixen
8. Couldn't Get Ahead
9. Gut of the Quantifier
10. My New House
11. Paint Work
12. I Am Damo Suzuki
13. To NK Roachment: Yarbles
14. Petty (Thief) Lout
15. Rollin' Dany
16. Cruisers Creek

Overview:

"Feel the wrath of my Bombast!" exhorts Smith on this follow-up to their groundbreaking Wonderful and Frightening World of... the Fall, and this collection is ample proof of the pure confidence the group had at this time. Stompers like "Barmy," "What You Need," and the mighty "Gut of the Quantifier" are all led by Brix Smith's twanging lead hooks, filled by distorted guitars and bludgeoning drums, on top of which Smith rants with conviction. But it's the departures from this sound that mark the real interest here: The synth-driven "L.A." looks ahead to the Fall's experiments with electronica; "Paint Work" is an impressionist piece interrupted by Smith accidentally erasing over some of the track at home; and "I Am Damo Suzuki," a tribute to Can's lead singer, which borrows its arrangement from several of that group's songs. The Fall sound mysterious, down-to-earth, and hilarious all at the same time. The CD reissue adds the singles "Cruiser's Creek" and "Couldn't Get Ahead" as well as their B-sides making this an essential purchase.

Mark. E Smith has the golden touch

Django Reinhardt and Steven Grappelli - Compilation ( 1920's-1930's, Swing Jazz )



track listing:

1. Chasing Shadows
2. St. Louis Blues
3. Stomping at Decca
4. Solitude
5. Apple Direct
6. J'attendrai
7. After You've Gone
8. Nagasaki
9. Night and Day
10. Avalon
11. Djangology
12. Them There Eyes
13. Some of these Days

overview:

Django Reinhardt may indeed be the father of modern swing and jazz guitar playing, and this record certainly proves that. Aside from Reinhardt's revolutionary technique and pyrotechnics -- virtually templates for modern guitar playing -- Stephan Graphalli's sweet fiddle graces all of the tunes like honey on butter. Le Hot Club are equally impressive as well, especially the cello playing. Although these recordings span a long period of time when recording techniques were primitive to say the least, there is a wonderful, homogeneous feel to the entire album that makes it joyous from start to finish.

url=http://rapidshare.de/files/19008585/django_reinhart___stephan_grappelli_-_swing_from_paris.zip.html] Some of the greatest guitar jazz work ever done & it was recorded before your paren'ts were even born [/url]

Double Post:
Devendra Banhart - Nino Rojo (2004, Young Gods, Folk-pop )



Track listing

1. Wake up, Little Sparrow
2. Ay Mama
3. We All Know
4. Little Yellow Spider
5. A Ribbon
6. At The Hop
7. My Ships
8. Noah
9. Sister
10. Water May Walk
11. HorseheadedfleshWizard
12. An Island
13. Be Kind
14. owl Eyes
15. The Good Red Road
16. Electric Heart


Overview:

As was promised upon the release of Rejoicing in the Hands in the spring of 2004, Niño Rojo is a companion piece. It was assembled from the same recording sessions at Lynn Bridges' Atlanta home that produced 57 tracks. Thirty-two were chosen for the two albums. Some were overdubbed minimally in New York by Young God label boss Michael Gira and Devendra Banhart adding a nip of keyboard or harmonica here, and tucked in horn, backing vocal, or electric guitar there. What these songs showcase is that Banhart is a songwriter of guileless vision. His unaffected aesthetic is etched in the ether of mysterious traditional and psychedelic folk musics from the British Isle and in an America that disappeared the first time in the '30s with the Dust Bowl and for the second time in the grimness of mid-'70s determinism in the shadows of post-Vietnam shame and malaise. Banhart's songs don't hearken back so much as remind us of what we no longer possess as a culture. His songs are spiritual, terminally unhip, with labyrinthine grown-up melodies and the keen unsullied wisdom of children. These 16 songs include the mysterious minor key cipher that is "A Ribbon," with its eerie guitars, a beautifully etched chorus, and an all but hidden keyboard underscoring the quietly insistent vocal. His cover of Ella Jenkins' "Little Sparrow," opens the album; accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, Banhart transfers the song from the universe of its origin as childhood ballad to a bluesy exhortation to spiritual awakening. A slow, easy major chord stroll, "We All Know," with its delightfully ridiculous lyric ("...we belong to the floating hand that was made by animals/we dance so, we let go/we'll remove clothes and we'll trade lobes...."). Seamlessly it shifts and walks the edge of a vaudeville rag that comes complete with accompanying trombones in the chorus at the end. And speaking of rags, there's the nocturnal spiritual guitar blues of "My Ships" that recalls the Rev. Gary Davis illustrating the point that Banhart confines himself to no one terrain, no single point of origin or destination. For Banhart, writing a song is one discovery -- give a listen to "At the Hop" written with Andy Cabic with its bright, canny, gorgeously impure love poetry -- and recording is another. Combining them is yet a third for both performer and listener. Like its companion recording, Niño Rojo is about the shared delight of new encounters with music and language and is an adventure in the hearing.

That Folk hippie from SF and apart of the Gira Family and no, he isn't related to Madonna's man whore.