What are you listening to at the moment?

Wait, theres a album??????????????

I'm afraid so.

My car stereo has been kidnapped by the nipper and missus so I end up having to listen to stuff like this rather than my type of music.

Whatever happened to the rule - the universal rule that the car stereo was the driver's domain and should NOT be messed with by passengers, eh?

Currently listening to: Possibly the greatest 70s tv show theme tune EVAH Tarzan!

Better one. Shows what I know, it was made in 1966! Tarzan Funky theme!

Stylo video.

Meh!

Were the guest acts not available?!


peej, I'm surprised you'd strip away the rap parts. Those are the best for me.

I just find the majority of modern gangster rap a little on the twee side. The world's moved on, y'know? Though that's purely my thought on some of the stuff on Plastic Beach - it all sounds a bit too mid to late 90s compared to what decent hip hop acts are doing now (more melodic stuff rather than guttural rhyming over a mic)

Twee? Like this you mean?

I love that pic :D

Thing with me is that I watched his films (like Are We There Yet?) before I heard his tracks, so I went from "aww, he's a nice family man" to "OMG, he has a potty mouth!"

That picture is probably the best SFW picture in the history of the internet.

After Spin Dr. Wolf's thread on dodgy lyrics I listened, of course, to the ultimate lyrical botchjob, Alanis Morissette's Ironic.

I was never a huge fan of hers as, despite her being one of the greatest vocalists around in music, her tracks aren't really up to much.

From there I checked out her 2008 album, Flavors of Entanglement, and I'm pleasantly surprised. She's really broadened her musical range.

All the lyrics are still ignorant of grammar and syllable-heavy (Moratorium, major example), but that's her style. She's working with Bjork producer Guy Sigsworth, so there's a cool ambient Bjork-vibe, throughout. She's expanded into more hip-hop and electro, so you get tracks that sound like System of a Down (Citizen of the Planet), Nine Inch Nails (Straightjacket) and Evanescence (Versions of Violence). The piano ballads (Not as We, Torch) are very heartfelt. Giggling Again For No Reason is a gorgeous dance track. Tapes is incredibly atmospheric.

Quite a few songs I'd cut out, but overall it's a good eclectic album.

I quite like some of Alanis Morrisette's stuff, even had a mini crush on her but she looks decidedly odd now..

I liked her first album. Everyone told me that made me a hormoanal teen girl though :(

Been listening to some derrick and the dominoes on the way in. Made me want pizza.

I've had Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein for a good five or so years now, and despite it being regarded as a modern hip-hop classic I've never managed to get into it. Now though I can't stop listening to it. Maybe it's because the album's so utterly bleak, which seems to fit my mood perfectly atm, but it's fast becoming one of my personal favourites.

(Peej, if you think rap is twee then just have a listen to this. Probably my favourite track on the album, but there are so many highlights in there)

Next up - new Gorillaz. Should be pretty special, from what I've read. Can't wait.

Yup; waiting for my copy to arrive.

/is so 20th century

I'm listening to me playing piano

/gets no work done

At this precise moment I'm listening to "Superfast Jellyfish" which is track 6 on "Plastic Beach" it's rather jolly.

I must get around to watching the DVD later.

From my first listen through the album - which I didn't think *that* much of on first play - that was the only track that stood out. But that's because I'm a massive fun of Gruff Rhys.

A bunch of Sparklehorse tracks in memoriam of Mark Linkous :(

By 'arrive' you meant 'finish downloading', surely. ;)

I had a quick listen this morning. Seems good! Even compared to their earlier work there's a lot of variety in there, gets nice and mellow towards the end.

Also, Stylo is awesome - can't get it out of my head atm.

It's hit Spotify pretty quickly btw:

Plastic Beach

Was quite surprised to find that I didn't take an instant dislike to the hip-hop and rap bits. It's all good. Was wondering if Damon Albarn would somehow manage to shoehorn in some chinese music (bit of a nod to the Monkey project)

Dum de-dum,
Dum de-dum,
Dum de-dum
De-de-de de-de,
Dum de-dum,

/clicks link
"why is spotify not available in my country"
/ :(

Still listening to a lot of Gaslight Anthem at the moment. Have been meaning to give the Gorillaz a go as well.

Fave track on the album. Catchy as hell.

It's definitely a stand-out, but my faves atm are 'Empire Ants' and 'Broken'. Even the hip-hop tracks, which sounded a little odd at first (especially White Flag) have grown on me after a second listen.

Also, I was half-expecting Snoop Dogg to be dreadfully shoehorned in somewhere, but that opening track is absolutely perfect for the guy.

Listening to the new Amy MacDonald album 'A Curious Thing'.

Bought the deluxe version, with a second disc of 'Live At Barrowland Ballroom'.

First impressions...

The live disc is ok - the music's good, and there's a few interesting covers (Mr Brightside, Fairytale of New York), but if I'm honest, her voice doesn't cut it live.

The main album's not a radical departure (unsurprisingly) from 'This Is The Life', although it's a bit more studio-fied, with much less of the semi-acoustic feel. Most of the tracks are up-tempo, full-band stuff.

The first album turned out to be one of my favourites from the past few years, so I'll see if this one turns out to be a 'grower'.

She's done the 'hidden track' thing again at the end. Last track finishes, a couple of mins of silence and then a voice / acoustic guitar version of 'Dancing In The Dark'.

Not a bad job either.

Aaargh! I hate that...

The first thing I do when I get a new CD (aside: still not received Plastic Beach from Jersey) is rip it to my NAS/SqueezeBox and I can never decide whether to leave the tracks as-is, or edit out the silence and add titles to the so-called 'hidden' ones.

One of my favourite albums has two hidden tracks and it's freakin' annoying when I want to listen to it on repeat. There's like three minutes of silence, and a song, and then fifteen minutes of silence, and then a song.

And I never remember to FF when the silence hits: I just forget that I ever had the album on at all, and then at some point the music randomly starts again and scares me :O

Not just me then.

The number of times I've jumped out of my skin when some song just starts out of nowhere!

The only good hidden track is on the 'Lost In Translation' soundtrack.

It all goes quiet for about 10 mins, and then suddenly, Bill Murray is crooning Roxy Music's 'More Than This'.

Love it!