Machine Head, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Prong, Public Enemy
Two months ago or so, the alternative band Gorillaz released their "D-Sides" album, a compilation of B-sides and leftovers from the recording sessions of their second studio album. The thing is, these B-sides and leftovers sound just as good as - if not better than - the album itself! The only thing that ruined it was a boring and awful remix CD that came with it.
And just like that, this "leftovers compilation" album is packed with plenty of powerful and - mostly - varied songs, from insanely melodic pop songs like "Another Day Without Sun", "Scarify", and "Bad Fluid", to heavy power chord string-snappers such as "If I Could", "Fruit Of A Bad Tree", and "Alone With Myself", to solo piano or guitar performances like "This Taste" and "Am I Here", to the usual fresh body shop 'pop rock with a twist' repertoire like "Not That Good", "Deep In The Abstract", and the fantastic "The Self Hate Song". My most favorite song, "Aeromind", definitely stands out as a dense, airy, possibly Celtic-influenced song, with Pedro singing in an accurate way that I've never heard from him before.
A couple of times there's notable background crackle (hence "rusty" demo songs, probably), and most songs suffer from the same bad voice mixing that's heard in "make this end" - maybe all of them do, but it's not notable in the solo piano/guitar songs. The abundance of 'guitar/piano plus the singer' types of songs on the first half of the album begins to irritate alightly, and the guitar rhythm in "This Taste" sounds exactly the same like the one in "Another Day Without Sun" - given that was just five songs ago, it feels really awkward.
All of these issues are forgivable, though. Basically, these are demo songs, some obviously recorded before "make this end", and it was even admitted in the description that 'the sound is shitty'. The fact that some songs sound a bit the same can also be understood, and shouldn't be even cared for, since this compilation offers a greater assortment of genre-mashing than the albums. And the bad vocal mixes... they're no more, right? Just listen to "tasteless".
This compilation shows some facets of this solo artist/band-type-thing I haven't come to know until now, and it's great. Plus, it's even twice longer than the band's usual albums, and it doesn't come with a crappy remix CD. I hope that some of these will be considered for re-recording (hint: "Aeromind" has some background crackle too) and that other artists will follow suit.
"the middle line" - Some eerie sounds with a really weird rhythm, possibly in 5/4 time signature... The guitars angrily blast out in the chorus. The repetitive bassline, the rhythm that's hard to follow, and the blast of noise in the chorus, remind me of "Somewhat Damaged" by Nine Inch Nails. Very industrial.
"candid" - It's a very weird-sounding piece, but is also much more catchy than it's weird (especially the chorus). I'd call it pop rock if not for the really weird guitar and the manic drums. There's a lot of varied layers throughout the track.
"make this end" - Okay, not a catchy rocker. More of a ballad. The guitar that begins becomes a bit repetitive, but there's more guitar layers kicking in after, with some nice singing and harmony. Then there's some awesome guitar chords and a few drones. Reminds me of "weird medicine" from this very artist's "tasteless" that was released a year after this.
"starving babies" - A track with crazy, out-of-tune guitars more one-off guitars replacing each other. It sounds a bit mad.
"demons asleep" - It's a shuffle-y song, with a catchy, solid synth riff in what I thought was a chorus. There's some more random, out-of-tune guitars here and there.
"angry machine" - This one is a rock track. There's both solid guitar chord progressions and a booming, low riff in the chorus, and the crazy, seeimngly random guitar screw-ups which already become a staple of the album at this point. This time, they're actually pretty catchy.
"locked in" - There's a quite loud bass line that repeats almost for the whole track, and I think it almost mutes the other guitars. The song has a pretty good outro, though.
"drive me" - A very weird reverse synth (or perhaps a reversed guitar) I like a lot, continued for most of the track. There's some very good guitars, too. All of these make for another catchy song. This is also the first time I've successfully managed to figure out what the singing is ("drive me, drive me away..."). These lyrics fit the moment nicely.
"holy gangstas" - A chromatic, and rather fast song. There's a weird, seemingly misplaced short part that only has synths and the singer, but it's a nice break from a pretty repetitive song.
"constant liar" - This song has a very low rhythm guitar part played at one note repeated for the most song, but it actually gives a better accompaniment to the song than the bass line in "locked in". There's some varied guitars, too.
"hopeless antem" - It mainly consists of a repetitive drum rhythm and loud guitar blasts in between. The singer almost whispers when there's only the drums, but bursts out with screams behind the loud guitar parts. After two such progressions the drums are joined by a synth noise counterpart and everything sounds together. Every progression has the guitar blasts lower and lower... I thought that was important. The song reminded me of Nine Inch Nails' "Wish", only without a chorus.
I don't know... I think I liked "tasteless" better. You may have noticed that my track-by-track review was pretty repetitive, and I think it's because this album mostly relies on the same things - quiet/loud guitars, out-of-tune guitars, and the occasional synthesizer popping in. Plus, I think it's either the bitrate I was listening to it at, or the vocals were mixed lowly - in "tasteless" they're more inteligible. Plus, the aforementioned loud bass line in "locked in"...
However, this doesn't make this a bad album. Even though the album follows the same formula, it has a lot of its 'moments', and I think this album scored more favorites from me than "tasteless" - "the middle line", "candid", "make it end", "angry machine" and "drive me". It's just "make it end" has a little amount of quirks that made me giving it a 9/10.
"my great descent": A creepy track, with a very chromatic piano and with either wailing or very low processed guitars.
"the game": There's some jazz drumming rhythms and piano progressions, with wailing guitars being a background layer, although they take up more and more space as the track progresses. Vocals are more intelligible on this one.
"mr weirdo": An awesome piano riff and guitars that blend in with the progression. Vocals provide more texture.
"tasteless": The drums and piano take up more space on this one, and there's a synthesizer buzzing in the background from time to time. The sometimes falsetto vocals contrast with the low piano.
"spacecat": Being a more funk/hip-hop oriented piece, it has some great guitar riffs and even has two synthesized organ-like breakdowns.
"deep catchy hole": Very heavy drumming on this one. Synthesized bass. Guitars take the main stage some time later.
"all you've never felt": Another jazz-like track, with the piano and drums taking the main stage again.
"take the virus out": A very heavy guitar riff and screeching, disturbing breakdowns.
"something's wrong": This time the full complex enters - jazz-like drums and guitar layers in different octaves, joined by a dark, chromatic piano and noisy synthesizers in the chorus.
"the only way out": Another guitar-dependent track, with different riffs entering at different timings.
"the price": The first and only track that's heavily affected by synthesizers and programming, although there's a clear guitar in the chorus.
"weird medicine": Although the weak verse parts don't really make you want to carry on with listening, the track has a very optimistic and strong chorus. Note the absense of drums.
I see some comparisons with Nine Inch Nails here. I agree, but would like to assert it my way: this is what Nine Inch Nails could sound like today if Trent Reznor was listening to modern rock bands some more.
I really enjoyed listening to this album. I especially liked "mr weirdo", "tasteless", "something's wrong" and "the price". Whenever I'll get the chance to download this album, I sure will.
I've stumbled upon this when I saw the "Similar albums" box of the EP I recently uploaded, so I decided to give it a listen. The whole thing reminded me a lot of "Richard D. James" album by Aphex Twin, except that it's glitchier, noisier, naughtier, and longer.
Here's a track-by-track review I wrote as I was listening:
"welcome to name land": Very bright and melodic, plenty of layers.
"studio 55": Some great drum loops, more bright melodies, random textures.
"unstable": A repetitive synth riff, with what sounds like children's toys in the background... Makes me think about "Logan Rock Witch" by Aphex Twin.
"une autre fois": Kicks off with some woman moans (reminds me of Aphex Twin... again), then there's some cool synths and a very cool bass-line.
"boitamix 2": A few basses against each other, great percussion in the background.
"fasla": The beginning riff reminds me of what I sometimes do in ZynAddSubFX... Some weird radio sample being played back, more awesome drum loops.
"gumis": Some filtered layers and even more awesome drums.
"buy buy": A bass-line similar to the one in "fasla", less percussion.
"vociste": Filtered and distorted drums, awesome harmony vocal samples.
"blunkont": A repetitive progression, a few layers that switch on and off. Feels more like a lengthy filler than an actual track, but sounds good nevertheless.
"ungugued": Kicks off with something that sounds like a distorted broken synthesizer in the front. Filtered ambiance, some more synthesized layers, and a very dark melody in general. My favorite.
"we trust": A dark pad, filtered and glitchy percussion, proceeding with some insane glitched synths. Another favorite.
"be my drug": A GameBoy-like synth with a random progression in relatively major keys. Later joined by a couple of clones that do the bass.
I came here and left with some new favorite tracks. I like the general flow of the album and the music.
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