The Weekly Shuffle

OK we have been back at this for a few installments , so we are re-acquainted  with me hitting shuffle on the old iPod and reviewing the first ten tracks that pop up.

Deafheaven - Unrequited

Now that they have broken into the mainstream we can't forget what put them on the map and when they were more black metal than shoe-gaze or post rock. The song still rips pretty good and this album has stuck with it on my iPod to stand the test of time.

Alice Cooper -Who Do You Think We Are

Like disco Kiss  and Vegas Elvis , I have a thing for New Wave Alice Cooper, it much better than the cock rock years. Its smartly written , surprising as when these albums come up in interviews he claims to have been too drunk to remember making them.

Watain - I Am the Earth

Some older Watain , Erik growls a little more here than the more shouted Bathory style approach he began using more after this album. I can hear the Dissection in the guitar melodies.

The Mission - Naked & Savage

The Mission UK marched on with this album which retains every thing that makes them great , the emphasis being on the guitar tone, the drums are a little thin and programmed sounding here. The background vocals oohs, remind me of Sympathy For the Devil.

The Smiths - This Charming Man

I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear, is a classic line to a classic song that shows both sides to the enigma that is Morrissey and the bands skips along with him , creating the juxtaposition that is often the Smiths.

Alcest - Les Voyages De L'Ame

This is barely metal if at all and I have a bad feeling the new album will step away from this even further. Though this might play to the bands favor in record sales. For post-rock a genre that forsakes vocals , this makes a good case for them.

Tears For Fears - Women in Chains  

A great song , but the title is more exciting than the lyrical content of this soulful ballad . One of the bands greatest performances. It's chill inducing when he belts out the "and I feel lying in waiting is a poor man's game " line.  

Thin Lizzy - Killer On the Loose

Sometimes the singer reminds me of a cab driver from Jersey. They are full of great guitar playing even if this song is straight ahead rock a shade lighter than Motorhead.

Dissection - Night's Blood.

I could give myself a head trying to count straws and figure out if this is black metal or Swedish death metal. They have the very melodic guitar but unlike their limp wristed country men in the genre, the give it more teeth and attack. Jon's vocal's have a meaner sneer than death metal in it's rasp. These guys are awesome anyway you slice and Watain is the only band that has been able to carry their flame.

Wreck & Reference - Winter

I think the fact these guys are still in my iPod attests to the fact  I have gotten over the fact they are not called No Youth and I am able to embrace the dark sonic wasteland they call songs.The agony in this guys singing voice is great and adds to the song's bleakness.  

The Return of the Weekly Shuffle

What the fuck is a weekly shuffle you ask. Well I hit shuffle mode on my iPod and review the first ten songs that pop up. It is back by popular demand so here we go.

the Last of the Famous International Playboys by Morrissey

This song is golden, smartly written though not as mean spirited as some of his solo work, but it is tons of fun none the less. People always call Moz depressing, but this song makes me smile every time.

Bulletproof Cupid by Placebo

Sure its a cool riff, but that doesn't make this a song . It feels more like the intro to the Sleeping With Ghosts album.

Ups by Cocteau Twins

This song flutters like fairy birds. She rolls her consonants strangely on this one and is speaking in tongue most of the time here , but that is the great thing about Liz is  she uses her voice more like an instrument rather than just the tired old verse chorus radio rock.

Saturday's Child by Brendan Perry

The male half of Dead Can Dance whose voice once reminded me too much of Neil Diamond, so I used to fast forward past his songs most of the time and now he is one of my favorite singers. Live the man is  an unsung powerhouse. I like this song because the way he transitions up into falsetto is very endearing.

Day of Lords -by Joy Division

Damn, the Weekly Shuffle returns only for my iPod to pump out a bunch of goth, "Where will it end" laments Ian Curtis. This song is heavy even though its not metal. The bass really pumps nicely into the drums on this .

Obedience by Wreck and Reference

O.k something closer to metal. I am still not over the fact this band's name is not No Youth. This was a great almost industrial album that shows  much like Pinkish Black that you don't have to have guitars to be heavy. The tormented vocals that come close to screaming with out screaming are brilliant.

The Earth is My Witness by the Gathering

The golden years from these guys and ..gals. There is a dark yearning to this album that feels like snow to me. This was my first exposure to this band and really stuck with me , despite popular opinion their other albums fall short of this one.

Whiskey Funeral   by Darkthrone

The black and roll years of this band are sadly under rated much like Kiss' disco days or Vegas Elvis. I am a champion of the under dog when it comes to bands getting away from their comfort zones to find something else that works just as well as the sound you expect from them.

Christine Sixteen by Kiss

Speaking of Kiss...there's no use in pretending. I like Gene's creepy moment when he is talking to himself about how he has got to have her. The Lolita weirdness continues on Goin Blind. Musical it's catchy I'm not sure the under current of the Elton John piano line really works but thirty years later the song is in my iPod.

Into the Coven - Mercyful Fate

That intro is sweetly played as the calm before the storm. The riff is metal up to 11 no question. Fate is rawer than King's solo works and this appeals to people who are really into the first two Maiden albums as well, as long as they aren't pussies about becoming Lucifer's Child.


 

Wreck and Reference: No Youth

For the first few weeks I owned this album I had it stuck in my head that the name of the band was No Youth and the name of the album was"Wreck and Reference" , so when I learned it was the other way around , it gave me a brain freeze and was hard for me to listen to the album until this freeze melted away.

This electric duo consists of a sampler / programmer who also sings and a drumme. the Jury is out if this is metal I will say but it contains elements of metal, is Author Punisher metal ? No abrasive yes, Wreck and Reference is much more melodic than Author Punisher, less Godflesh and even a blast like beat or two on the song "Nausea" which features ghost vocals that hold a monotone melody in the distance.

The opener " Spectrum" is like more chilling Xiu Xiu with a stronger Joy Divison influence, the effects coating everything the Korg pumps provides space and ambiance , to this stark landscape. The lyrics are abstract but from interviews i have read they are inspired by Cormac McCarthy. The harsh vocals which come in before the dissolution of the song at the three minute mark are angry enough to be on an American Black metal album, and share a punkish sneer typical of Usbm.

"Solstitial" the Xiu Xiu like sound creeps back into the chant of the vocals. the drums are very primal stomping around the soundscape. There's a weird spoken word section in the middle of the song and it builds in a Godflesh manner, the vocals shift into the harsher black metal like feel.

"inverted Soul" should already have you clued into the experimental nature of what s going on here despite the sway into the more colossal pound, the vocals underneath sound more hardcore than metal. There's a cold mechanical sense to every pitching being done and I think this lifelessness makes the album darker. The drummer works well around the often very opaque and noisy barrages of sonics they bounce against.

"Cannot" starts with a spoken word that builds into a harsh metallic synth and then dissipates back into the muffled monologue. I like the keyboard melody, the harsh vocals are cool Becuase they are passionate but not contrived by having to be cvlt or brutal , just an expression.

"I am a Slave" is another passionate catharsis, the vocals are a wept howl and the synth bass is convincing against the drums.the drone to the melody of the clean vocals is very unique this is what it would like if Phillip K Dick had metal band. sure there I'd Godflesh all over this one, but the manage a very original take on it and scrape up some pretty cool ounces to capture it with. "Obidence" is a seamless transition out of the previous song to the point as it could have been part of it as a longer work. Some of the songs do have this run on quality but to the ears it comes across as they are pieces of the same puzzle. The eerie break in this sounds like muzak piped into a mall in hell. The more articulated vocals after this break sound more authentic to who they are than if they had gone the more atypical growl route.

The wide range of different tortured vocal sounds is one of this albums strong points. The croon which opens "Winter" is a good example . The fact it isn't always in key , is o.k particularly given ome of the production tricks employed in their placement. Sometimes the oddness of the mix on this album is part of its appeal and certainly plays up the stark futuristic tone.

To say there were two other songs which didn't make it onto my iPod would be an exaggeration of the term song. Noise collages might be a more term. Either way they didn't seem to reall be a part of the album , tough some people are into that sort of thing,thus the glory of the iPod i can choose just not to acknowledge them as they are nt a part of what I consider to be the best listened use of this album. So taking that in mind I'm only reviewing the eight songs which are actual songs that comprise this album. So once I was able to put the brain freeze caused by the name mishap behind me I was able to rate this dense piece of electronic darkness a 9.