qubixrueb's Last.fm Journal

Who are your heroes

Fri, 2 Oct 2009 08:53:13 +0000

I dont know why I have an interest in the biography or stories behind musicians. Often their stories dont elaborate on the songs I hear written and dont tie their albums together to create a whole picture of the artist. They generally seem dull and wandering and uninteresting until the people become famous, and then something drastically changes with their personality... maybe due to the power of knowing that people are watching you and agreeing with everything you say (the same thing that makes modern pop culture items so disposable and their followers such worthless automaton.) Hero worship often does not apply to the person before they were in any sense "heroes". When not known for doing anything extraordinary, they were simply ordinary. Thus...

Could it be that reading the history of another person is a form of escapism similiar to listening to music? Simply because the two are tied to together as the creator and the creation allows more of a passive interest to be held, especially in extreme cases where the creator is much more famous than his creations (ex. Charles Manson, Oscar Wilde, Kurt Cobain).

I dont know where Im going with this yet, I just think the dual interests that most people have (biography and album) are interesting. Perhaps it's just one of the results of modern day information overload and the anxiety that's presented with not knowing enough. Yet who would be worth knowing and socially ostracize a person for not knowing the facts behind their favorite band's/artist/writers life? It's not as if you learn about the artist through their exploits, unless your favorite publication is star magazine.

BC bands I would recomend:

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:36:36 +0000

The Hits!
Alcoholic White Trash
The Jolts
The Deadcats
D.O.A
The Rebel Spell
The Pawns
The Pervs

yeye up the punx

dan le sac VS scroobius pip

Mon, 9 Apr 2007 00:11:17 +0000

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip are a new British rap duo, very much like beat poets, with controversial rock-influenced lyrics over very bass and drum backbeats. I'd like to encourage their popularity and separate them from fellow brit rappers The Streets.

The Streets are a band popular for taking known rap concepts and making them multi cultural. Their innovative use of meter and accent allow them to distinguish themselves from other rappers who exploit race and nationality only in lyrics, such as the very popular and succesful rapper Eminem or Haitian-born artist Wyclef Jean. The streets do not need to explain their heritage, it becomes very obvious very immediately.

Den Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip are similar in that their nationality becomes immediate when they refuse to mask the accent of their speech. And like The Streets, Dan Le Sac merely recites with a clever use of meter. But Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pup are lyrically focused on an attack on individuality.

I would recommend listening to this artist just for the controversial ideas they write against the perceived world of music appreciation. They deliver their first single and video, Thou Shalt Always Kill, with fearlessly biting sarcasm and an attack on pop culture icons of classic rock and music publication. They even attack the fear of pedophilia along with spelling, free thought, gang rap, rock icons, and bar hopping. Dan Le Sac knows his opinion, and he yells it. Scroobius Pip holds a steady meter behind this ridiculous and angry controversy full of wild and oscillating bass and drum.

The media loves it, with viral internet campaigns to publish this song to 200,000 youtube views, with positive response from the internet-enthused masses. They are due to be interviewed in popular music magazine NME, where they will be given a chance to elaborate on of of their first lines "thou shalt not read NME" and give their 10 commandments to the entire music press.

It should be understood that this is not a dorky beat poet on an apathy binge, this is two people who say what they know needs to be said, with the indie awareness to make it work. Listen.

http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip

Fuck yah

Fri, 6 Apr 2007 18:52:03 +0000

I got 99 problems but Charles Manson ain't one.

99 Problems

Old, but genius

Fuck Re Issues

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:48:36 +0000

Why does ANY record label feel the necessity to re issue material recorded by groups found popular only decades ago? I dont understand the need to collect music from ancient charts, music that influenced what we now consider and reject as pop.

Not to say that I have never "sunk to this level" though. Classic rock and rock radio have been getting on my nerves recently because, like top 40 pop radio, they play the same songs all day, every day- for decades. Pop radio has the sense to change their rotation every month or so at least, even if their rotation is streamlined to heavily distorted (nearly clipped due to the digital process recording is done with) tracks meant to be louder, with more bang, and more sentimental than ever. Rock radio once did the same thing. Rock radio was once cool.

So where do re issues fit into this? Re issues convince everyone that it's ok that your favorite band hasn't changed in 30 years. Re issues remind us of music everyone has already imitated. Re issues are from another culture at another time. Re issues are comfortable. Re issues are "collectors items". Re issues are crap. The Doors just released a hyped re issue item, again bringing up the debate if theyre the greatest rock band of all time, or pretentious crap. I have no stance because, although I cant deny their influence, I also cant say theyre anything new to me either. Theyre boring.

I admit my favorite artists, Tom Waits and David Bowie, are well past their prime. I'm ok with that. I still buy their albums, I still credit their genius, I own a Led Zeppelin collection. Am I a hypocrite? No. Im not saying music from past generations is bad music. I am saying we've heard it, and it's time as a society to look for something new. Im giving thanks to modern media and last.fm for helping people do so.

And what about the bands from those decades that were never so popular? If we're interested in re digesting culture, it would be due justice to see re issues of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Television, Phillip Glass, The Velvet Underground and it's primal influences John Cale and Lou Reed. I'd like to see Nick Cave, MC5, or Gang of Four find importance with a generation of people not convinced that ACDC and The Beatles were the two best bands to ever exist. I'd like to see people searching another generation for a greater understanding of music in general, not just the same routine rock shit we hear every day. It would be great if people could understand the emotional impact of jazz and blues, or give country, rap, foreign, electronic, music a chance. Every genre and decade in musical existence has something for someone that a re issue will never let you find.

Tags and reviews; what the?

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 09:11:02 +0000

Alright, im going pretty tag-crazy recently.

Give me some interesting tag ideas, and I will put songs to them as they come up! Ive got a couple of funnyish ones so far. What are some you use? etc

CDs added
Mule Variations
This has Tom Waits at a little bit of an aggressive stage of transformation in his career. Recorded in the late 90s it does not sound contemporary for it's time at all. He does not hold to the avant-garde instrumentation he's known for much during this venture, which is a disappointment or a good thing depending on what you expected. He's still the same bluesy singer with the same groveled shouts though, and his writing is poignant as usual.

Mass Romantic
And I thought Electric Version was well done! The New Pornographers really bring the pop here, but with more contemporary rock to accompany their rhythm section. Their exaggeratedly simple yet tasteful melodies are exemplified over topical lyrics and a vocal performance that reaches for the melodies and hits, for the majority of the album.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
I feel bad about giving praise to this over-hyped band, but I will anyhow. The instrumental layering and syncopation is more to do with breaks and minimalism in the same sense of Gang of Four, but their singer does a good job of separating them by sounding MORE angry and British than Gang do. How? Listen, you will find out. This whole CD is very fast, danceable, and written with many barstool victims in mind.

Show Your Bones
Listened again, still disagree with a lot of this album's material. I enjoyed their early material because it was so energetic and noisy! The music was rude. They seem scared of that now, and the result shows in their singles. Despite their impressive exploration of harmony and tonality many of these songs sound like concert filler.

Antics
Another very highly regarded band, but another one of my recent favorites. These guys sound a lot like what Joy Division would if they followed themselves up and did not turn into New Order instead. I kind of hate New Order though. Lots of interesting material created by the jagged tonality of their very electric harmonies. Served with a cynical side of very strong, proud, and droning lyrics that make you hate and love everything if you really pay attention.

At War With The Mystics
A fun album that adds to their collection of fun albums, although also a somewhat more serious musical endeavor. Respectable, well done, a good album of the Lips. If you're a fan pick it up, if you are not at least give it a listen.

Dig Your Own Hole
The Chemicals Brothers hit their house beats and grating sound effects really, really, hard on this album. This is music for a rave, music to be on drugs to, music that does not really give up after it's over. A lot of their hits from the 90s are featured, so if you were listenind during that era this could make a very memorable album. Sounds very similiar to Daft Punk, but with harder beats and less minimalism on the tracks. Still very steady, dancy, electronica music. Not that I know too much about electronica.

This Year's Model
New Wave hits a fun note on this album (as if it's ever hit any others?) with tracks you could expect in a funky dork fest. You know, party music that's not top 40. I enjoy it regardless, party or not!

To the 5 Boroughs
Shit this album is sloppy. With the exception of Mike D's signature hard pronunciation and strong meter, the others kind of sound lazy on the album. Unaffected by their music, being paid to say something... Their lyrics have the same effect as a bus stop conversation you dont really want to have; they're bored, drawling, and not very entertaining. Despite the flop, I guess it's not TOO too bad. It is disappointing to hear their age though.

Recommended Listens

Still Take You Home
NARC
Letter From an Occupant
Piku
Fancy

Recently a band named gay against you seems to be getting last.fm notoriety as an electro pop act. I honestly can not decide if they are aiming at fame by being offensive and awful, or if that's just the idea they had while making music. All their songs are downloadable, so listen to the cacophony at the artist link.

Oh man!

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:30:00 +0000

Apparently there's another band on here named Perpetual Motion Machine!

Well, that's ok. Our version of it last year was not all that great anyhow. Two plays and counting!

MORE ALBUMS!

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 02:52:38 +0000

A Thousand Leaves
There's a lot missing from this album in comparison to sonic youth's other output. However, not missing is the experimental instrumentation. Too much of it to be honest.
Beggars Banquet
A classic album by the Rolling Stones. Less to offer in terms of complication than Exhile on Mainstreet, but more to offer in regards to songwriting. The single is the best track, Sympathy for the Devil.
Swordfishtrombones
Apparently this is Tom Wait's first very percussive recording, and it kind of tells itself as that. This record can sound very bad if you have a specific mixing preset, which is the only warning I can possibly give about it. The album is quite intelligent, although you will hear many familiar melodies.
Amnesiac
A precursor to Kid A, but not better.
Entertainment
High energy, bass driven punk music. Very danceable, reminds me of Franz Ferdinand. Lots of odd chord rhythms, specifically on the track Naturals Not In It
Countdown To Ecstasy
A step forward in technicality from their first album, but a step backwards in songwriting. Steely Dan try to sound more contemporary on this record and pull it off without a hitch.
Pink Flag
More punk music. It's fun, and an exceptional album in terms of it's influence on music. I cant say I strongly enjoyed it though.
Sketches Of Spain
An amazing jazz record. Exemplary trumpet playing, and almost alludes to the electronic experimentation he would feature on later albums.

The High 5 Downloads
16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six
Dear Doctor
Damaged Goods
Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
Saeta

Teehee

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:54:36 +0000

More Albums

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 11:42:16 +0000

As of Saturday, November 11th 2006
Rolling Stones - Goat Head Soup
Lou Reed - Ecstasy
The Jesus And Marychain - Psychocandy
The Who - Live at Leeds

Oh, and Im in some semi-serious new wave band. Its kind of odd. More on that when we get a name, and some recordings that sound nice. Practice is what we need mostly.