A belated Happy New Year to everyone.
I spent the last week of 2005 fighting off a headache, doing stuff at work, dealing with my course assignment, and halfheartedly glancing at a couple of Boxing Week sales.
I did buy one thing, namely the single CD version of The Prodigy - Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005. It's funny, because I really didn't listen to The Prodigy much when they were really popular, but I do get nostalgic once in a while for that old-school booming techno sound.
There were more musical acquisitions, thanks to my eMusic subscription:
- Bloc Party - Silent Alarm -- an album that was much beloved by the hipster kiddies this year, and I like it too; wears its retro/post-punk influences well, without being so bloody obvious about it (cf. The Bravery); you can download the lead single, "Banquet", for free from betterPropoganda
- The Clientele - Strange Geometry -- another 2005 release that's been getting lots of good reviews; features lots of jangly reverberating guitars, melancholy lyrics and vocals, and many riffs and harmonies that are positively Beatle-esque; you can download the tune "E.M.P.T.Y." for free, once again courtesy of betterPropoganda
- Richard Bartz - Midnight Man -- another dirtyradio discovery; Bartz is a veteran of the German techno scene, and if you like that sort of sound, you won't be disappointed
- Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen -- featuring Sakamoto's piano compositions all cut up and glitched out by Noto's electronic manipulations, this album really works best as background music; I noticed that bleep lists the album as "Not For Sale In Canada", so I figured I'd grab it from eMusic while I still could (which meant dipping into my "Booster Pack" to get it)
- John Adams - Shaker Loops / Wound Dresser / Short Ride in a Fast Machine -- some Minimalist Clasical music for a change of pace; I already have a different recording of "Shaker Loops", so I only picked up the other compositions on this release
New Year's Eve was pretty quiet. Went out for a nice dinner, then stayed in and watched Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different on DVD. CITY-TV then ran Fight Club after midnight, so I wound up going to bed fairly late.
Comments
Upon your recomendation I got a copy of The Prodigy - Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005.
Very "industrial" sounding, to the point of making me remember working in a press shop 30+ years ago. I'm sorry, this is not music, it's noise.
Posted by: Junkman | January 4, 2006 11:50 AM
Hi, Junkman:
Sorry you found The Prodigy to be disaapointing. Granted, it is a rather abrasive form of electronica (but not as much so as, say, Merzbow, for instance).
However, it might still work for you under certain circumstances, such as maybe music to clean the bathroom (or vacuum) to -- something nice 'n' angry for tackling all that grime. Or not.
(That said, it would probably not make good driving music for the exact same reason.)
Anyway, I hope this doesn't discourage you from reading future music posts of mine entirely.
'Gards,
jv
Posted by: jen | January 4, 2006 5:51 PM
"it is a rather abrasive form of electronica" I think we can safely subsitute "abusive" for "abrasive".
I am not discouraged, and am quite willing to sample music outside my listening "norm", but I am left wondering the "real" reason for music sales "tanking".
Is it the availaibility of music downloads, or is it the quality of the work availaible?
It has been a long time since I have heard anything that gives me the urge to go out and buy.
Posted by: junkman | January 5, 2006 7:45 AM