Bulldog

I did indeed Great to hear you liked the album that much. Another one you should make it an absolute priority to check out is Sweetheart Of the Rodeo by the Byrds - another one of the albums pivotal to the evolution of country rock, and one of the best albums ever ever ever on top of that.

And as for the review, I never have much to do on a Thursday, so I'll get the Ben Folds review up then. Rest assured though, I definitely did like what I heard on the first listen.

storymilo

Yup

Bulldog

This one's from good old Story. So, here it is; belated review from the last trade #1...



For about 6, 7, 8 or however many years it was ago when I actually used to take music TV semi-seriously, this was all I'd seen and heard of this album...



Pretty nice clip and that, and the old Fred Durst impression's good stuff too. To put it simply though, this album's been more or less in the back of my head ever since I first saw the above promo on TV, and it's one I would've got for myself all those years ago were it not for the fact that I had lots of other random crap to raid HMV for. So this one's been on the back burner until it was mentioned as per this whole weekly trade thing that's been going down around here. Needless to say, I was happy to take it on.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting too much that was at all spectacular, so this album served as one of those really nice pleasant surprises that new music can give you every now and then. It wouldn't have been bad for this trade we're currently in the middle of either - the whole thing as a unit of work has a very light-hearted and kinda uplifting feel about, seeing as it's full of great, punchy, melodic little songs. In a way, it wasn't really spectacular as I'd expected in the sense that this is what I'd call a spectacular song but, as I'm sure a lot of us know, that's very rarely a bad thing. Well, alright, it's quite often a bad thing. I mean, how many songs have you ever heard that just do nothing for you, are about as edgey as a satsuma and do absolutely nothing to stand out with an identity of their own? Of course, that's not a criticism I'd level at Ben Folds here even in the slightest sense. What I've just finished listening to for the second time is a very catchy, infectious and memorable little album, great to just kick back to when you feel like letting relative simplicity do the talking. Catchy, melodic, pretty funny in places too, not to mention an album with a very consistent level of quality to it, to the point that I can't actually pick out a below-par song from it.

When all's said and done, this is great stuff. Cheers Story, I'll be giving this a few more goes in future Glad you dug my album too.

I'll get the review of Lateralus' album up in the very near future too.

FaSho

^Ilove Ben Folds, so glad you enjoyed that, even though I'm not the one that sent it to you.

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Dieselboy

NumberNineDream sent this:

Soundtrack from Underground by Goran Bregovic

Knowing the theme here was supposed to be fun/uplifting, and seeing that I was given a soundtrack, had me interested right off the bat. Finding that it was for a Serbian film that Wikipedia labeled as a 'black comedy' only managed to increase that interest. Mr. Bregovic's music definitely works for the fun theme though, and works well. Filled with big brass sounds and upbeat chants, it often had me thinking of parades, gypsies dancing, and even a circus at times.

When you first start this album, you are greeted by a somber sounding trumpet, which goes on for a good while, and even had me wondering how uplifting this could possibly be. After about a minute in though, the music stops and then 'BAM', it explodes into a riot of brass and excited vocals, unlike anything I've found myself listening to before. This is what you'll hear through most of the cd...extremely energetic and catchy all of it, but the piece that really caught my attention in this song (and actually in most of the album) was that bouncy tuba! After taking this album in, I think the tuba could actually be the happiest sounding instrument if played correctly, as demonstrated in songs like Wedding Cocek and Ya Ya as well. The lyrics are not in English, but it's not even an issue. You don't need to be able to understand what they're saying, when you have those horns doing their very best to keep a stupid grin glued to your face and your head nodding.

Not every song on here is as so happy as those though. In fact, I'm not sure I'd be able to stand it if that were the case. Having a few slower sounding songs mixed in like Underground Tango and War (well how are you going to make a song about war sound happy or uplifting?) was a nice touch, and almost a relief from the overwhelming happiness of prior songs. I think my favorite on here might actually be one of these slower numbers in Ausencia, which was very mellow with pleasant vocals, and a neat bubble popping sound throughout. I imagined this to be the movies love song, but really...I have no idea.

Other favorites were the previously mentioned Ya Ya, and also Sheva. True story here, I was listening to the prior song (one of the slow ones) and then Sheva came on with a mellow intro. I was sorta zoned out and slumped over a bit, just thinking to myself, and then that noisy horn riot bursts its way in out of nowhere and I sat up straight like, "HOLY F*CK!". God I love that tuba.

All in all, this is a very good suggestion here, and again...fits the theme well. I actually feel like I've been outdone, and my offering was nowhere near as good, but who knows. I will be keeping this around for sure, and listening to it in the future. I'm actually working on downloading the movie as I type this, and have become very interested in checking it out now, as it will be nice to place the music with the scenes they were designed for. If the movie is anything close to as exciting as this album then I'm really looking forward to it.

Rickenbacker

Still haven't gotten around to listening to Abdullah's album but I definitely will this weekend. Review will be up in a few days.

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last.fm
rym
Talk About the Passion - R.E.M.'s Discography Reviewed

NumberNineDream

That is exactly what I felt about this music, which is the key element to the film. The film is sublime btw, you will definitely enjoy it and very surprised by the whole outcome of pretty much everything... I watched the film a week before my birthday (2 years ago), and was surprised with having this album as a gift the next week. I very much think, that was one of the happiest surprises.

Btw, some of these tracks were used as soundtracks for the movie Borat as Goran Bregovic made the other film's music as well... a lot of great tracks on there too. It's a shame they were wasted on Borat, even if I think it is one great comedy.

I will review your album very soon... cheers.

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NumberNineDream

It's I review my album...

Dieselboy sent me this:


I didn't know what to expect when Dieselboy sent me this album, though he was nice enough to give me a brief write up of the band. Still it was still an unknown territory.

The first time I heard the album, I loved it. I was surprised when I read in your review that this album wasn't as near as good as the one I sent you, cause it's a bloody good album! That album is mainly a mix of funk and hip hop, with bit of jazz, latino music, electronica, rap and samples of recordings and songs all chaotically merged together to make one single unit, an album perfectly mixed from start to finish. This album is made to be heard from start to listen, and I don't think any tracks can just be picked and listened to alone. It even reminded me of The Mothers of Invention's We're only in it for the money, which I consider it to be in my top 3 list of favourite albums, an album that always impressed me with its sublime mixing. The Audience's Listening was also a very impressive album, definitely a favourite.

As I noticed that I forgot to talk about how this album works for the theme, I guess it was all in these random sound bits added throughout the album, and of course all the those beats that just sucks you deep in the rhythm.
So thanks db for the album, definitely an album I wouldn't have checked out on my own.

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Dieselboy

Np. I felt like it was sort of a stretch from what I've seen of your taste around the boards, but at the same time, it was the most fitting thing I could think of for the theme. I'm glad you gave it a shot and liked it. It's one of my all-time favorites as well. I'd actually be interested to check out the album you called a favorite, and compared it to "The Mothers of Invention's - We're only in it for the money." Never heard of that...might have to look that up later.
Cheers!

abdullah424

Rickenbacker sent me



Arrested Development - 3 Years 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of

When Rickenbacker sent me this album I told him I had never heard it before but imagine my surprise upon listening that it was one of my favorite albums from the 90's. The cassette might even still be floating around somewhere in my grandma's house.

I thought about letting him know and asking for another album. However, listening to it again after so many years felt like the first time and the album deserves being mentioned so here we are.

The theme was to send a happy album and this album definitely delivers. Arrested Development made a hip-hop album that just makes you feel good about being a person and at the same time makes you want to help other people. Every track is positive and upbeat and just puts you in a good mood. My favorite track has to be Mr. Wendell, a story about helping out a homeless man that always puts a smile on my face.

This is a great album that I'd recommend to everybody who likes hip-hop and everybody who's looking for an album that might help them appreciate hip-hop.