Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 248 Location: WA
Re: Open Minded Record of The Day.. « Reply #15 on Feb 15, 2011, 2:47am »
During and soon after the demise of stoner/desert rock pioneers Kyuss, Josh Homme was experimenting with a new direction, hinted at in 1997's split EP between Kyuss and Homme's latest musical incarnation: Queens Of The Stone Age. A year later Homme and drummer Alfredo Hernandez teamed up to forge the debut self titled album by Queens Of The Stone Age.
Though initially lacking the buzz and critical acclaim of later Queens albums, this more straight forward, fuzzed out, jam rock gem has since garnered much praise from long time fans and somewhat of a cult status, particularly due to its high price and lack of availability.
While seemingly destined to reside in the shadow of later releases, QOTSA remains a powerfully assured debut, with a chilled out summer vibe and songs that pack a significant punch through its fuzzed out riffs, quirky dynamics and smooth melodies.
Anchored by the solid grooves and complex drumming of Hernadez, Homme's inventive riffs and solos, dynamic, catchy song structures and remarkably assured clean vocals, complete with his trademark Californian drawl, take center stage.
The riffs are coated with a warm fuzz though are noticeably lighter on distortion than his previous work with Kyuss. Production is handled by Homme and he displays his emerging talents as a future production whizz. There is clarity through the fuzz and the mix is nicely balanced between Homme's up front fuzzy guitar chops, warm low end pulsations and the thudding drums and splashy cymbal work of Hernandez.
Though not quite as dynamic and developed at this early stage in his singing career, Homme's vocals are confident, melodic and chuneful. The songs themeselves are a mix of hard rock, fuzzy stoner rock, trance-like repetitiveness and the more quirky, eclectic flavours that would define later releases (You Would Know, Hispanic Impressions, I was a Teenage Hand Model).
Consistently strong and dynamic the whole way through, highlights include the opening trilogy of Regular john, Avon (live favourites), the brilliant If Only (spruced up in this re-recorded version), heavy groove of Mexicola, fuzzy hard rock of How to Handle a Rope and the 1-2 later album punch of You Can't Quit Me Baby and Give the Mule What He Wants
A long awaited reissue with a bonus disc of unreleased material is about to be released on March 1, 2011. Get that shit!
Queens of the Stone Age 2011 Tour Dates: 02/21 Auckland, NZ @ Logan Campbell Centre 02/22 Wellington, NZ @ Town Hall 02/24 Cristchurch, NZ @ Town Hall 02/26 Brisbane, AU @ Soundwave Festival 02/27 Sydney, AU @ Soundwave Festival 03/02 Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre 03/03 Melbourne, AU @ Palace Theatre 03/04 Sydney, AU @ Soundwave Festival 03/05 Adelaide, AU @ Soundwave Festival 03/07 Perth, AU @ Soundwave Festival 03/18 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks 03/19 Birminham, AL @ Workplay Soundstage 03/20 Nashville TN @ Ryman Auditorium 03/21 Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage 03/23 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel 03/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory 03/25 New York, NY @ Terminal 5 03/26 Boston, MA @ House of Blues 03/27 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis 03/29 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy 03/30 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues 03/31 Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue Nightclub 04/01 Chicago, IL @ The Riviera 04/02 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium 04/04 Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom 04/05 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant 04/06 Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club 04/08 Denver, CO @ Ogden 04/11 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater 04/12 Los Angees, CA @ The Wiltern
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 248 Location: WA
Re: Open Minded Record of The Day.. « Reply #16 on Feb 15, 2011, 5:14pm »
The Thievery Corporation is undoubtedly the biggest name in the Lounge genre. They're in a league of their own in down-tempo music, & started a new wave of electronic lounge music in the late 90s with their unique sounds & productions, with releases such as DJ Kicks, The Mirror Conspiracy, Richest Man in Babylon, Cosmic Game & Radio Retaliation.
'It Takes A Thief' is the best of The Thievary Corporation. It strings together their biggest, most successful career-defining productions, with 16 hand-picked songs, all featured on one compilation. Highlights include massive hits, such as 'Warning Shots', 'Sweet Tides', 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram', 'Until The Morning', 'Sound The Alarm' & 'Lebanese Blonde'.
If you're new to their sound & admire good lounge music, you'll love every bit of this album. Over the years, they've produced some amazing tracks, and most of them are on this album.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 248 Location: WA
Re: Open Minded Record of The Day.. « Reply #17 on Feb 16, 2011, 2:16pm »
It's hard to call anything of Pink Floyd's underrated. The band has two entries in the 'Top 20 Best Selling Albums of All Time' list, matching the Eagles and the Beatles for two albums in the chart. Their best-known album, Dark Side of the Moon, spent 741 consecutive weeks (14+ years) in the Billboard 200 Album charts. Their devoted fan base includes millions. And that's not even half of their achievements. So to call anything of theirs underrated is rather unbelievable, but in the case of Animals, it's total truth.
For an opener, Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) is a rather fitting start. It's short, cynically romantic, and simple; just an acoustic guitar with vocals with an animal metaphor from the get-go.
Then comes Animals' most notable track, the seventeen minute 'Dogs.' Seventeen minutes is a rather long time on one subject, but in Pink Floyd style they make it count, with plenty of David Gilmour's wonderful guitar solos. For those who view rock and roll as guitar solo heaven, Gilmour is your god. Also add to the combination the lyrical genius that is Roger Waters. His imagery with the album-long metaphor of animals to humans is striking and fantastic. The dog in this song is a greedy businessman, who is always first to pick up stray meat, first to make a kill, etc. My favorite line is 'You have to keep trusted by the people that you lie to, so that when they turn their backs on you, you'll get the chance to put the knife in.' Even more incredible imagery fills the song as the lyrics describe the painful, lonely death of the dog, specifically from cancer.
Next on the album is 'Pigs (Three Different Ones).' Roger Waters' lyrics describe pigs as the overweight, overpowered authority of the 'farm.' This song spends more time criticizing authority Dr. Garbanzoures like Mary Whitehouse (The Brit equivalent of Tipper Gore), than it does maintaining the pig metaphor. The song features plenty of grunts and voice box to decorate the song as it hops from one pig to another. You may have seen the South Park episode where Cartman tells his new fourth grade teacher 'ha ha charade you are, teach-a!' I say no more. Drummer Nick Mason keeps a great rhythm going through the slow track, certainly able to keep the beat.
The last opus of a song is the ten-minute rocker 'Sheep.' This is my favorite of the album. It features the trademark Pink Floyd 4/3 jumpy rock beat (as also heard in 'One of These Days' or 'Money'). Richard Wright gets his moment of shine with this song since his solos decorate much of the middle. Waters again delivers a powerful vocal as his lyrics describe the most submissive mammal, the sheep. They are pictured as mindless lemmings that do whatever they are told with no objections. They do rebel, however, as you can barely hear the satirical version of the 23rd Psalm, rewritten to include karate and meat grinders in the middle of the track. Do your research, it's funny. My favorite part of this song is the ending, the crushing guitar is as hard a rock as you're going to get out of Pink Floyd and its anthem-like tone will stay in your head long after the song ends.
The last track, Pigs on the Wing (Part 2) closes in its simplicity, ending what is a terrific album.
Apart from the music, the artwork of the cover is fantastic. That flying pig is actually an inflatable that was brought into the air above the power station. Its dream-like cloudy sky looks more like a painting, but ask cover artist Storm Thorgerson yourself and he'll tell you, it's photograph.
Just because you see two songs just over a minute and three songs averaging over ten, this does not mean the album is a messed up project or a throwaway. This album has such great consistency with defiant, symbolic lyrics, powerful guitar crush and Floyd cynicism. It was never appreciated when it was originally released, but it's totally worth reconsideration today.
Joined: Jan 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 248 Location: WA
Re: Open Minded Record of The Day.. « Reply #18 on Feb 17, 2011, 5:21pm »
Younger Brother is at the forefront of the psybient genre. They are a supergroup led by Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen, Shpongle & Prometheus), Benji Vaughan (Prometheus), Ru Campbell, Marc Brownstein (Disco Biscuits & Conspirator), Tom Hamilton (American Babies), Joe Russo (Benevento/Russo Duo, American Babies, Trey Anastasio/Mike Gordon duo, Gene Ween Band, and Furthur).
Last Days of Gravity (with artwork made by the legendary Storm Thorgerson whose work has graced albums by Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, and Led Zeppelin, among many others) release in 2007 narrowly missed a nomination for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize and received masses of positive press thrown it's way.
Younger Brother goes beyond music, eliciting visual, touch, and other sensory stimulation. When listened to with the right friends (I listened to both albums with my friend Lucy ;-), these albums will FOREVER CHANGE HOW YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC. It is stylish in ways that no other music has ever achieved, it is creative beyond anything to come out in YEARS, and and it is more unique and engaging than ANYTHING in this genre, or any for that matter..
Top 3 Tracks: All I Want, Happy Pills & Psychic Gibbon
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