n3rd.org » music

Not quite as good as it could’ve been

n3rd — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:18:14 +0000

Man, I gotta say, 2009 has been an exciting year for me in many respects, and it is not even over yet. Aside from things like finishing school, hooking up with a cute girl and getting my first real job (which is pretty damn awesome if I say so myself), what really tickled my pickle this year was the bunch of CD releases that hit the stores (or file sharing communities, whichever you prefer).

It appears that in 2009 all the stars have aligned to give us aural pleasure. So far it has brought us new albums from Aes Dana, Archive, Infected Mushroom, Muse, Pearl Jam, Third Eye Blind, Placebo and The Prodigy (as well as Solar Fields, although that was technically a videogame score). If we’re being generous and add Firewater’s latest CD in mix, which was released in late 2008, we’ve in my humble opinion assembled the créme de la créme of awesome bands. Or bands that used to be awesome but have somewhat slipped into mediocrity.

Sadly enough, none of these records has really impressed me all that much. They’re all very solid and by no means bad, but they left me somewhat dissatisfied nonetheless. Then again, Infected Mushroom’s last record Vicious Delicious was a god damn masterpiece which was more or less impossible to top. The Prodigy hasn’t really done anything worthwhile since The Fat Of The Land and Third Eye Blind’s debut back in ‘97 is still undoubtedly their best album. Maybe it’s just me getting older.

In any event, there’s one final straw for me: the most anticipated release of the century (for people with brains, anyway): Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland by Shpongle! A fairly retarded name, I know, but I’m so gonna pee my pants when I finally hold that CD in my hands. I wish I could see them live next month in London. Their debut Are You Shpongled? was awesome, the follow-ups Tales Of The Inexpressible and Nothing Lasts… But Nothing Is Lost were nothing short of spectacular, and I expect the new album to be absolutely mindbogglingly insane. It’s gonna be the first CD in years I’m gonna buy without even listening to it first. And if it sucks… well, I’m probably just gonna kill myself. Or at least go cry for a while and bitch about it on the interwebs. That’s what it’s for after all.

Double Recommendation: Slumdog Millionaire

n3rd — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:40:52 +0000

Usually my movie recommendations just end up in the Monthly Movie Roundup (alongside my cinematic caveats), but I would like to single out Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire for two reasons. For one, it is a truly great movie with a fresh cast that tells a fantastic story that inspires a sense of wonder, and I did not want to let this movie go under amidst the other MMR entries.
Secondly – and more importantly – it has an outstanding soundtrack, an amazing blend of traditional Indian music and modern electronic dance elements. The opener O… Saya immediately takes you hostage and sends your mind on a journey through soundscapes so magnificent, yet unfamiliar to our western ears. Other highlights are the incredibly catchy Paper Planes (which you might have come across on the radio), the more traditional sounding Ringa Ringa and most definitely the breathtakingly beautiful Latika’s Theme.
I do not believe that Academy Awards are necessarily a reliable indicator for the quality of a movie, but in this case the ten Oscar nominations (including one for Best Score and two (!) for Best Song) are well deserved and I’d be very surprised not to see Slumdog Millionaire win a good portion of them. Jai Ho!

Picks of 2008

n3rd — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:40:44 +0000

The year 2008 draws to a close and it’s time for the obligatory annual roundup. It’s a sacred tradition to be obeyed by ever blogger, magazine and radio station. Actually it’s not so much sacred as it is pesky but hey, I didn’t make the rules. So without further ado I present to you my Picks of the Year.

Picks of 2008

Please note that this is not exactly a “Best Of” but a list of songs that have had an impact on me in one way or the other during the past 12 months. That’s the reason why you’ll find songs that weren’t actually released in (but came to my attention during) 2008.

Battles – Atlas
Mirrored (2007), Beat Records
Swayzak – Smile And Receive (Apparat Rmx)
Things To Be Frickled (2008), Shitkatapult
Ott – Rogue Bagel
Skylon (2008), Twisted Records
Hol Baumann – Bénarès (Vârânaçî Edit)
Human (2008), Ultimae Records
Pendulum – 9000 Miles
In Silico (2008), Ear Storm
Puscifer – Country Boner (Disco Viagra Mix)
“V” Is For Viagra (2008), Puscifer Entertainment
D. R. Hooker – The Sea
The Truth (1972), On Records
Hercules And Love Affair – Blind
Hercules And Love Affair (2008), Mute
Modwheelmood – MHz
Pearls To Pigs, Vol. 1 (2007)
The Knife – Silent Shout
Silent Shout (2007), Brille Records

Best albums of 2008

Yes, only 2008 releases qualify for this category :-)

Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era, Kranky
Max Tundra – Parallax Error Beheads You, Domino
TV On The Radio – Dear Science, Interscope

Honorable Mentions

Outstanding releases that didn’t quite make the cut to the top three.

Entheogenic – Flight Of The Urubus, USR
Firewater – The Golden Hour, Nois-O-Lution
God Is An Astronaut – God Is An Astronaut, Revive Records
Lindstrøm – Where You Go I Go Too, Smalltown Supersound
Woolfy – The Astral Projections Of Starlight, Permanent Records

On a personal note I have to inform you that due to private reasons I probably won’t have time to write much during the next few weeks. I wish everyone a merry Christmas and peaceful holidays.

Declining Interest

n3rd — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:00:13 +0000

There are two things my musical world-view is based on. One: my taste in music is exceptionally good *coughs*, and two: everyone else’s sucks. And what better way to prove this is there than coming up with your own, homebrewn statistic.
For the sake of scientific inquiry I decided to take a look at the yearly top ten songs from 1990 to 2007 as compiled by TsorT and calculated the percentage of songs that ranked high on the I’d turn that shit up if it was on the radio-scale:

So in the top-ten list of 1996, for example, were four songs that I would now rank somewhere between kinda enjoyable and fuck yes. Among them – and I’m not ashamed to admit that – is Toni Braxton’s Un-Break My Heart. Cause she’s hot. Or at least she was eleven years ago.

You really shouldn’t read too much into this. For one, I basically pulled this out of my ass and didn’t really take the time to listen to all the songs (that would’ve taken at least 7 hours, which is basically 6.5 hours longer than I am willing to spend on any one blog post). Just thinking about that Macarena song made me want to lacerate my ears with a hedge trimmer. And yes, you may call me an asshole for linking that.
Secondly, I assume that the farther back you go in your memory the more you start romanticizing things involuntarily. With the exception of Bryan Adams, his suckage reigns supreme.
Also keep in mind that this is based on my likings on the day of writing which can differ significantly from what I thought back then. At least to the degree that I ended up with the graph that I wanted.

So what’s my point here? ~~I can make pretty diagrams with Excel and Photoshop~~ Nothing, really. I would very much like to conclude that my taste in music is evolving away from the mainstream, but this line of argument is weaker than Stephen Hawking’s biceps and so inconclusive that even a Texan creationist wouldn’t buy it.