What MUSIC are you listening to? ARCHIVE

Michael Barnes wrote:

Strangely, proceeds from the record are going to help Haiti. Didn't see that coming!

!!!

As long as it doesn't spurn any of those tired "'black' metal" jokes, that's cool.

The Darkthrone sounds cool. I haven't picked up any new black metal in many, many years.

Listening to those two sent me off on an old metal thing...so I broke out the Bathory records. "Blood Fire Death" and "Hammerheart" are two of the greatest metal records ever recorded. Mercyful Fate's "Melissa", holy shit. The first couple of Sodom records...Kreator...and of course, Celtic Frost.

Hell to the Yeah, doubly so on the Sodom.

Oddly, black metal has been one of the more progressive genres over the past couple of years...some really interesting stuff going on...but like most metal genres, the more they play around, the less metal it gets...

The Darkthrone record is fun, but don't expect anything like their old stuff...but if you're down with that, I'd also recommend their last couple of records- "Dark Thrones and Black Flags" was great, it had a song called "The Wind they Called the Dungeon Shaker" on it. A lot of those TRVE KVLT fuckers hate their new material, but they likely also worship Nifelheim. But if you like stuff like Sodom and don't mind a punkier sound, you should be just fine.

Out of all the newer BM I've heard over the past two years, I'd definitely recommend anything from Peste Noire (France), Wolven Ancestry (Canada), the last two Nachtmystium records (US), all the Furze albums(Norway), and all the Leviathan(US) albums.

The problem with black metal is that several highly regarded releases over the past decade (my shit goes back to mid 90's) are no longer available. My current music listening project ( halfturkey.blogspot.com/search/label/Project%20250 ) is @ 1979; I may have to proactively scoop stuff up now so that it's available later...

p.s. Black Metal listening must be as lame in GA as it is in OR (at least we have Agalloch to sop things up for us). I got a lot more out of it in NY and WI. We had one snowy day this year, and I walked around all night listening to a black metal smart playlist, and it was 10x better...

Oh man, nothing beats putting on a Burzum record on a really cold, snowy day. On a humid day in mid-June...not the same thing at all. It's music for colder climes, that's for sure.

Black metal pretty much doesn't exist in Atlanta. There's no 'scene', and practically zero bands. Every now and then a show comes- Satyricon a couple of years ago, but I'd rather not hear anything past the second record...Mayhem back in 2000...Watain came through last year...but by and large, not much going on. I only know one other person that is really even aware of the genre, the infamous Billy Motion.

The Czech BM scene is almost non-existent as well - I haven't heard Master's Hammer's new album yet but I didn't like their previous work much so I don't think this one will change it. Root sucks and so does Trollech and other crappy "pagan" stuff. However, Hell Militia, Blacklodge and Aosoth are coming to Czech Republic in April so I am curious about that, never heard this stuff alive.

So tonight I went to see Ray Davies in concert and that was pretty awesome. It's amazing that at 66 years old, he still has quite a bit of energy in him. He played mostly stuff from the Kinks and a couple of his solo songs. The warmup band (the 88) complimented him pretty well and played with him for the last couple of songs.

For those of you heartbroken by the end of Norwegian band Madrugada: Sivert Hoyem, the singer of the band with the dark brown voice has a new solo album out, bit more rock than the former.Good vibe.
Also new: Blood Red Shoes and Gorillaz. Gorillaz off in the direction of Damon Albarn's Chinese opera project, Blood Red Shoes on a slightly different tangent but with the same energy. BRMC also out, but not in my possession yet.

Speaking up black metal and my music listening project: This week was my first listen to The Germs. I hadn't realized that such a point existed on the punk/black metal continuum. Much needed after two The Saints albums.

Thanks to my girlfriend, this song has been stuck in my head lately:



It's a catchy slice of new retro. Sounds exactly like actual '80s pop music, plus the vocalist is doing an amazing Bowie imitation.

Here's another very retro 80's tune as well. Voice sounds like a happy Dylan, music sounds like J Geils band. Catchy.



(Sounds like you and your girlfriend are still together. Good to hear. I recall you mentioning it may be on the outs)

Here's a tune I've been enjoying lately.

(and gave me an asthma attack from laughing).

For those of you guys old enough to remember Tina Turner, in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - AND who can appreciate terrible, terrible music covers...





Finnish Metal band covering that song. NO really. It has to be seen to be believed. Also, EPIC BEARDS.

Been enjoying Diablo Swing Orchestra lately. They have some sample songs on their website . They sound pretty much like you'd expect from the band name.

I've just discovered that the Bouchard boys are back playing as "Blue Coupe" and showing just how much of the heart and soul they took with them when BOC broke into pieces.

There's some homemade vids on YouTube that have them live. I'd love to get a recording of a whole concert.

S.

This is one getting some local airplay, but the group still hasn't released an album yet. Fiendishly catchy, this one has been stuck in my brain for days.

Ring, Ring, by the Sleigh Bells:

I heard Sting's "Fields of Gold" in the pub the other night, and now I can't stop listening to it, or admiring it's emotional fragility.

God help me. The same thing happened with "Walking in Memephis" a few years back.

What guilty pleasures have you all got hidden on your playlists?