Any new albums?
Have any of you bought any new music recently? (Ripped mp3's count as well, you norty munkies)
Any good? Any recommendations, or warnings to steer clear on guff stuff?
Just yesterday I bought 'Astro-Creep 2000' by White Zombie, and about three days before that I bought the 'Baby's Got A Temper' single by the Prodigy, and I ripped 'Loud' by Timo Mass and 'K' by Kula Shaker. And about a week ago I bought 'La Roc Rocs' by Cut La Roc.
Astro-Creep 2000 - I love it. I don't know what it is, but there's something that makes it subtly different from Rob Zombie's solo stuff. I think one factor is that Rob sings about the undead, evil, demons, Hell and so on, whereas White Zombie, as far as I could tell, wrote songs about pain and suffering in general. As with most metal albums I buy, it grew better with repeated listenings. At first the tracks sounded same-y, becuase I was listening to it while doing other stuff, but now I've picked up all the differences and listen to it properly. I wish the lyrics were more intelligible, though... I can't make out what's being said.
I wouldn't recommend starting with this if you are new to metal; try some of RATM's stuff or Rob Zombie's 'Hellbilly Deluxe' (IMO, 'The Sinister Urge' wasn't as good, and 'American-Made Music...' is made up of remixes, and isn't pure metal; it's got hard house and industrial in it as well).
Genre: Death Metal | My Rating:7/10
Baby's Got A Temper - The Prodigy shot themselves in the foot when they made 'Firestarter'. A righteously-deserved No.1 slot, but they can never make a better song. No matter how hard they try, they will never top that wonderful track.
This is highly impressive, though, and if the rest of the album is this good, it'll justify the long wait for 'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'. It's in the style of the songs from 'The Fat Of The Land', and some guitar samples from 'Firestarter' are clearly recognisable, but they're sl-o-o-o-wed down, and it creates a really cool effect. Keith's shouting (that's what he does; he shouts... not singing or speaking/rapping) does sound out of place the first time you hear it, and I do still like to listen to the instrumental version from time to time so I can hear the unadulterated music, but to really appreciate it you do need Keith in there... he brings it all together and the lyrics provide a reason for the music shifting.
You'd expect the sound samples that they've chosen to be cacophonous, but even though they wouldn't normally complement each other, Liam's somehow woven them into beautiful, savage harmony.
The Main Mix is the best; the Dub version sounds cool at first, but the stuttered vocodered lyrics start to grate after a while. Dunno what's up with the box art, though; that policeman dolly is well scary!
If you're a Prodigy fan, get it. Lovely song.
Genre: Bigbeat | My Rating: 9/10
Loud - I didn't buy this; just rented it from the library and stuck it in my portable mp3 player. Aren't I norty? Oh well, I own about 80 CD albums and I've only ripped (without buying) four and a half albums, so I don't think the music industry is losing much profit due to me.
'Old School Vibes', the track from WipEout Fusion, is there in all its glory, but it does sound better in-game, because the album version has a slow trippy bit in the middle which Fusion (obviously) cut out.
Timo Maas is a great artist, and he can make head-banging bosh/techno as well as he can do psychotic spooky stuff, and this album has lots of both. 'Help Me' featuring Kelis does both artists a favour; it's very deep and almost soulful, thanks to Kelis's rich voice. 'Manga' and 'Hash Driven' are wonderfully dark as well. 'Shifter' is defnitely something I'd dance to at a nightclub (if I ever went to nightclubs). I've got a new dance artist to add to my list of favourites.
There are some bad tracks, though. I'd previously heard a much faster version of 'To Get Down' in a mix, and it was disappointing to hear the slower album version. And 'We Are Nothing' is a load of horrible hippy cack. That little girl on the box art is sooo sweet, though.
Get it if you want something to stomp around your bedroom to but want to avoid stuff that goes thud-thud-thud.
Genre: Hi-Octane Dance | My Rating: 8/10
K - Wonder how long it took them to come up with that title? I've yet to listen to it all the way through, so I can't give a full review, but I've liked what I've heard. I'm guessing that Cornershop definitely used this band for inspiration. 'Hey Dude' is a great track... poetic, intelligible lyrics and lovely guitar work. In this day and age of electronic wizardry it's nice to hear some real instruments. This album is sunny, happy and lovely, and it's great if you want some feel-good music. The guys are good with their instruments and the pseudo-Asian elements go well with the otherwise British music. Get it if you like Cornershop. Cool stuff.
Genre: Rock/Indie | My rating: 8/10
La Roc Rocs - I originally bought this album for the track 'Bassheads', which appears in WipEout Fusion. It's in there, exactly as it in the game (although, just like Timo Maas' 'Old School Vibes', it's still better in-game). I was surprised when first listening to this album how different from 'Bassheads' all the other tracks are; they're not even in the same genre and it's hard to believe they're by the same artist. Methinks their Fusion track must have been written specifically for the game.
The album is just short of an hour long, but it seems a lot shorter... I have a Rob Zombie album which is only 45 minutes long and it seems a lot longer when I listen to each all the way through.
However, kudos to Cut La Roc for giving us such a wide variety of styles in one album. There's some good scratching in 'Halloween' (the intro track), but that is unfortunately its only good point. It's trying to be a scary track but it's actually quite bland. And as it's the first track on the album one can feel rather disappointed. 'Can You Feel', the follow-up track, is however a sublime creation. It reeks of despair and yet it's weirdly uplifting; it manages to be both happy and sad at the same time and will sound different depending on what mood you're in.
'Freeze' is another favourite track; it may not feel happy but it's definitely dancey, and I like the didgeridu.
Onto the bad tracks. 'NY Pimp' is a load of squeaky bleepy guff, and 'Chasin' The Voodoo', while a pleasant, hypnotic and harmonious way to round off a mostly pumping album, is repetitive and hardly develops.
In short, a good album with something for whatever mood you may find yourself in. Get it if you like the Space Raiders or the later, darker songs of Fluke (after all their earlier bouncy songs about having a 'happy heart' and putting your 'arms around the world'). At the cheaper range of the abum spectrum, however, it's worth checking out as it's bound to get used as a CD-shaped chill pill many times.
Genre: mixed Dance | My Rating: 7/10
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Last edited by One, Two, Middlesboogie; 07-16-2002 at 12:46 AM..
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I was pissed that they didn't include Blitzkrieg Bop, Teenage Lobotamy, or DUI. This is the third time this kind of thing has happened to me. You hear me bands? Stop taking off B-sides to piss off your fans! Nit-picking aside, I liked the album. What can I say? It's Green Day.
