The Monthly Music Trading Post

Bulldog · 05-28-2010, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unchained Ballad

I think that's a great idea. I'm going to have trouble with it though. I've never been good at picking a favourite.

Same story here. Just pick any old one you think looks pretty neat if you have trouble. It doesn't have to be the best artwork for you or anything.

I've already got a couple of ideas myself. Hopefully we'll get an odd number so I can dish two links out myself

RoemerMW · 05-28-2010, 03:51 PM

I haven't been on Musicbanter for a year or so, but I'm back now and I loved this part of the site, any way I join in on the next one?

gunnels · 05-28-2010, 07:17 PM

Whoah Roemer is back.

OctaneHugo · 05-28-2010, 08:45 PM

The jackknife is in my sweaty hands as I listen to and review the album I was sent, Sweetheart of the Rodeo by THE BYRDS.

I will forever see this in my library and read it as Sweetheart of the Radio. And now you will, too.

I know precisely two things about country music: that Johnny Cash was a G and that modern country makes me want to commit ritualistic suicide by devouring my own intestines and then feeding the leftovers to my dog.

So when offered the opportunity to listen to what is considered a landmark album in country music - recorded during the greatest musical era of all time -
I happily accepted the chance. Every country song I've ever even remotely enjoyed seemed to have been made a long time ago, so I was happy about Bulldog's choice.

The album begins with "You Ain't Going Nowhere", which features a slick pop hook and an infectious chorus. It has a nice harmony, a slick pop hook and an infectious chorus. Then things went down hill.

"I Am A Pilgrim" has finger pluckin' banjo and a fiddle. Overall it's a bit too southern for me - because I don't enjoy the kind of sound it has, it's not catchy, and there's nothing memorable otherwise. It's hollow and boring.

I'm not one for overtly religious messages in my music (certain abstract stuff is OK) so "The Christian Life" nearly lost me at the title. While the lyrics are pretty frank in meaning, that's not why I didn't enjoy the song: it was the singing. It's drenched in....southern. I have no other way to describe it. The music itself is pretty good, though: it all flows together and has some cool qualities about it.

"You Don't Miss Your Water" is a very slow moving song with a neat little piano part going on in the background. Similar to the song preceding, the vocals are lame and make it less-than-enjoyable. They're not annoying, but they're totally uninteresting. They sound incredibly emotionless which doesn't fit the song at all, and the harmonies fall flat because of this. There's a couple of spots where the background vocals shine through for a second or two and those times are nice. The piano is easily my favorite part of this song, and the bass and drums do some good rhythm playing.

"You're Still On My Mind" has some more great piano happenings, and the percussion blend with the bass for a more interesting rhythm section. It's definitely an upgrade from "Water" and I enjoyed this quite. The vocals, though, aren't terrible. They're not to my liking but they don't ruin the song. The piano is easily the most interesting thing here.

"Pretty Boy Floyd" starts off with some ultra-southern banjo and then kicks in with a vocals part that's more storytelling than song. The rhythm is generously supplied by the drums and bass again, and it's as good as ever. There's more fiddle here, and I'm actually quite fond of it. The first time it popped up it was pretty mediocre, but here I enjoy it. The song is more of an audio novel than a song, especially due to a complete lack of rhyme in certain spots; there's not even slant rhyme. So the scheme there is pitiful, but it picks up near the end. Other than that, the song is well-off. There's a nice banjo thing going on all the way through in the background, sounding incredibly similar to the first time it showed up. There's a cool fiddle-let outro that, unfortunately, is a fadeout.

"Hickory Wind" is back to the shuffling pace with a fiddle. Not a bad song but not really catchy or anything that will stick with me. There's some decent banjo stuff about two-and-a-half minutes in that's cool. The vocals aren't all that memorably but I love the harmonies. If there's one thing I had to say was best about this album it's the harmonies, because it's rare they're ever a weak spot in the song. 95% of the time they are absolutely brilliant.

"One Hundred Years From Now" is pretty good. The drums are as fast as they'll ever get on the record and do some cool stuff tying in with the vocal harmonies as well as some surprisingly rocky rolls, and there's some terrific banjo stuff. Everything but the lead vocals is tremendous, but there' boring again. Good song, though.

Then there's "Blue Canadian Rockies" which is the musical equivalent of an overdose of Nyquil mixed with about 4 Valium tablets. This one nearly put me to sleep.

"Life In Prison" is a pretty good song: there's great guitar lines going on and I dig the rhythm (again). The lyrics are surprisingly dark: "With trembling hands I killed my darling wife/Because I loved her more than life/My love for her will last a long, long time/But I'd rather die than live to lose my mind/And I'll do life in prison for the wrongs I've done/And I pray every night for death to come/My life will be a burden every day/If I could die my pain might go away." They're in humongously stark contrast to the upbeat tone of the music itself, and there's more dark stuff earlier in the song. The only things I know about The Byrds is that Gram Parsons was in them and so was David Crosby (I think) and the only things I know about either of them is that Crosby was the Crosby in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (sometimes without the Young) and that Gram Parsons had some issues. I think it said he wrote this one, so there's that.

"Noting Was Delivered" is OK. The vocals are decent and the instruments are pretty standard for whats on the album. There's cool rock and roll sections in the middle of this song that are great, including a section where the bass and drums (always in unison on this album) really go off in the middle of an ultra-country guitar solo.

"You Got a Reputation" starts off really, really cool, with some awesome guitar stuff going down. The vocals start and they're, for once, FITTINGLY DEADPAN. Dude's singing about a who‎re and the tone is perfect, both the singing and the instrumental aspect. Overall I really enjoyed this song, there's quite a bit of cool stuff going on and it's all bold and angry and taunting. Probably my favorite song here.

"Lazy Days" starts off pretty fast with some sliding guitar and the vocals are good, too. It's actually a pretty boss track, I really love the guitar here. The heaviest song on the album and just as good as any of the best.

The album ends with "Pretty Polly" which has really fast guitar in the intro. It's similar to "Pretty Boy Floyd" in that it's more of a storytelling than an "actual song" except it's way better and more interesting. This is another dark one, detailing the exploits of a pretty girl named Polly and the conclusion detailing her murder: "He stabbed her in her heart till her heart's blood did flow/Down into the grave Pretty Polly did go/Now a debt to the devil that Willy must pay/For killing Pretty Polly and running away." I mean, is that surprising that Gram Parsons unloved and alone in a dirty hole like an animal?

Overall, this album really just fails to capture my attention. It has some things going for it - like that it doesn't just fade into the background but actually manages to keep me listening - and I really enjoyed a few of the songs here, but it's really boring a lot of the time. It drags on, especially because the middling eight tracks or so are dreadfully dull and though it ends strong I can't say I'm going to be eager to listen to this again. It will, however, remain in my memory, and one day I will revisit the songs here to come to a new conclusion, perhaps one where the songs I didn't like transform into the ones I did as the ones I did enjoy try to cement their position as some of my favorites ever.

RoemerMW · 05-29-2010, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunnels

Whoah Roemer is back.

Cool, someone remembers me! I stopped going here initially because I was getting way to obsessed with music (in a spending more time downloading music, organizing my music library, obsessing over correct track/genre/year/etc. id3 tag info, etc. than actually listening to and enjoying it way, I have OCD). I purged my music library a few months back, now I actually take time to enjoy music instead of just hoarding it, something reminded me of this place so I came back.

NumberNineDream · 06-02-2010, 09:53 AM

Sent by Gunnels

CORNELIUS
Fantasma (1997)

It's the third album by Japanese artist Cornelius, who seems to be a part of the Shibuya-kei scene, which I don't know much about (other than the page featured on wiki). So I thought having this album sent by Gunnels as a pretty cool deal.

As for the album:

I seriously loved it immediately. I don't know if I can say it got me more familiar with the Japanese Pop scene, but if I had to put this album in some genre category, I would tag is as "Sunshine Hip Hop".
The editing and mixing of the "musique concrête" is great, the sampling ties the whole album together, the tunes were truly happy and uplifting. I didn't mind not understanding some of the songs that were sang in Japanese, as even the ones sang in English didn't give much functions to the lyrics, as vocals felt like another instrument complementing the music.
I have to say though, I was kind of disappointed when the tracks "God only knows" and "Thank you for the music" didn't turn out to be covers of my favourite Beach Boys and ABBA song respectively. I still did enjoy them immensely though

So to that I add, thank you Gunnels.
'twas a nice trade

gunnels · 06-02-2010, 03:16 PM

Glad you liked it.

NumberNineDream sent me:

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown -Arthur Brown

gunnels11: Ever heard of Arthur Brown?
crappyguitar18: Sh*t yeah.
crappyguitar18: I have his debut, Crazy World of Arthur Brown. It's one of my favorite 60s albums.

Look at the cover. Look at it. A blind man could tell that this is a psychedelic rock album. And lord is it.

From the very beginning, the album is a crazy trip. "Prelude- Nightmare" opens up with an eerie melody, soon to be overrun by drums and keyboards until the the main theme bursts through. It's fast, wild, keyboard driven, and just a blast to listen to. The lyrics depict a nightmare but is performed with gusto and energy.

The lyrics are the center of attention in many of the songs. There is a central theme of fire, hell, magic, and of course surrealism. The lyrics range from poetic to narrative to nonsensical, but it all adds to and reflects the music behind it.

The real highlight of the album for me is "Fire". Zany and energetic, Mr. Brown gets to show off his vocal range to one of the most bizarre-yet-catchy songs ever. Apparently, it was #2 on the Top 40 at one point, making this one of the strangest songs to ever grace the list.

All in all this album is a blast to listen to. Get it if you haven't already.
Thanks #9 for an ace trade.

+81 · 06-02-2010, 03:35 PM

Guh, I lost my nearly completed review. I don't think I'll be in the next one.

duga · 06-02-2010, 03:51 PM

KO's - Joyful Rebellion

I finally got around to writing a review for this. Sorry for the delay, things have been quite nuts the past month. Anways, Unrelenting sent me this enjoyable rap album. I mentioned I was just trying to get into rap as it is a genre I really have little experience with. He mentioned he usually recommends this album to rap newbs and after the first listen, I could tell why. It really is rap for beginners. Not that that is bad...actually it is quite perfect for that, yet I feel it could still be enjoyable for just about anyone. The beats have a really good mix of different genres like acoustic, rock, reggae, jazz, and more. There is a balance of about 60% rap, 40% singing. Both are done quite well. I feel when it comes to rap I am ready for something a little more out there, but I am quite happy to have added this to my collection. 8/10.

Mojo · 06-03-2010, 05:36 AM

Ok lads and lasses. Bulldog isn't going to be around for a few days so i'm going to kick off the next trade. The theme, by the looks of things, is favourite artwork. +81 is out so the list of participants is as follows.

Abdullah424
Gunnels
James44754
NumberNineDream
OctaneHugo
RoemerMW
Unchained Ballad
Unrelenting

If +81 wishes to change his mind or if anyone else wants to get involved, you still have time. I'll be pairing people up tomorrow night.

EDIT: Oh and nice choice on the Arthur Brown! I like that record too and saw him live last year supporting Hawkwind.

05-28-2010, 03:51 PM	#1402 (permalink)
RoemerMW Music Addict Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Klamath Falls, OR Posts: 452	I haven't been on Musicbanter for a year or so, but I'm back now and I loved this part of the site, any way I join in on the next one? __________________ My Music Collection

05-28-2010, 08:45 PM	#1404 (permalink)
OctaneHugo Goes back & does it again Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: philadelphia Posts: 807	The jackknife is in my sweaty hands as I listen to and review the album I was sent, Sweetheart of the Rodeo by THE BYRDS. I will forever see this in my library and read it as Sweetheart of the Radio. And now you will, too. I know precisely two things about country music: that Johnny Cash was a G and that modern country makes me want to commit ritualistic suicide by devouring my own intestines and then feeding the leftovers to my dog. So when offered the opportunity to listen to what is considered a landmark album in country music - recorded during the greatest musical era of all time - I happily accepted the chance. Every country song I've ever even remotely enjoyed seemed to have been made a long time ago, so I was happy about Bulldog's choice. The album begins with "You Ain't Going Nowhere", which features a slick pop hook and an infectious chorus. It has a nice harmony, a slick pop hook and an infectious chorus. Then things went down hill. "I Am A Pilgrim" has finger pluckin' banjo and a fiddle. Overall it's a bit too southern for me - because I don't enjoy the kind of sound it has, it's not catchy, and there's nothing memorable otherwise. It's hollow and boring. I'm not one for overtly religious messages in my music (certain abstract stuff is OK) so "The Christian Life" nearly lost me at the title. While the lyrics are pretty frank in meaning, that's not why I didn't enjoy the song: it was the singing. It's drenched in....southern. I have no other way to describe it. The music itself is pretty good, though: it all flows together and has some cool qualities about it. "You Don't Miss Your Water" is a very slow moving song with a neat little piano part going on in the background. Similar to the song preceding, the vocals are lame and make it less-than-enjoyable. They're not annoying, but they're totally uninteresting. They sound incredibly emotionless which doesn't fit the song at all, and the harmonies fall flat because of this. There's a couple of spots where the background vocals shine through for a second or two and those times are nice. The piano is easily my favorite part of this song, and the bass and drums do some good rhythm playing. "You're Still On My Mind" has some more great piano happenings, and the percussion blend with the bass for a more interesting rhythm section. It's definitely an upgrade from "Water" and I enjoyed this quite. The vocals, though, aren't terrible. They're not to my liking but they don't ruin the song. The piano is easily the most interesting thing here. "Pretty Boy Floyd" starts off with some ultra-southern banjo and then kicks in with a vocals part that's more storytelling than song. The rhythm is generously supplied by the drums and bass again, and it's as good as ever. There's more fiddle here, and I'm actually quite fond of it. The first time it popped up it was pretty mediocre, but here I enjoy it. The song is more of an audio novel than a song, especially due to a complete lack of rhyme in certain spots; there's not even slant rhyme. So the scheme there is pitiful, but it picks up near the end. Other than that, the song is well-off. There's a nice banjo thing going on all the way through in the background, sounding incredibly similar to the first time it showed up. There's a cool fiddle-let outro that, unfortunately, is a fadeout. "Hickory Wind" is back to the shuffling pace with a fiddle. Not a bad song but not really catchy or anything that will stick with me. There's some decent banjo stuff about two-and-a-half minutes in that's cool. The vocals aren't all that memorably but I love the harmonies. If there's one thing I had to say was best about this album it's the harmonies, because it's rare they're ever a weak spot in the song. 95% of the time they are absolutely brilliant. "One Hundred Years From Now" is pretty good. The drums are as fast as they'll ever get on the record and do some cool stuff tying in with the vocal harmonies as well as some surprisingly rocky rolls, and there's some terrific banjo stuff. Everything but the lead vocals is tremendous, but there' boring again. Good song, though. Then there's "Blue Canadian Rockies" which is the musical equivalent of an overdose of Nyquil mixed with about 4 Valium tablets. This one nearly put me to sleep. "Life In Prison" is a pretty good song: there's great guitar lines going on and I dig the rhythm (again). The lyrics are surprisingly dark: "With trembling hands I killed my darling wife/Because I loved her more than life/My love for her will last a long, long time/But I'd rather die than live to lose my mind/And I'll do life in prison for the wrongs I've done/And I pray every night for death to come/My life will be a burden every day/If I could die my pain might go away." They're in humongously stark contrast to the upbeat tone of the music itself, and there's more dark stuff earlier in the song. The only things I know about The Byrds is that Gram Parsons was in them and so was David Crosby (I think) and the only things I know about either of them is that Crosby was the Crosby in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (sometimes without the Young) and that Gram Parsons had some issues. I think it said he wrote this one, so there's that. "Noting Was Delivered" is OK. The vocals are decent and the instruments are pretty standard for whats on the album. There's cool rock and roll sections in the middle of this song that are great, including a section where the bass and drums (always in unison on this album) really go off in the middle of an ultra-country guitar solo. "You Got a Reputation" starts off really, really cool, with some awesome guitar stuff going down. The vocals start and they're, for once, FITTINGLY DEADPAN. Dude's singing about a who‎re and the tone is perfect, both the singing and the instrumental aspect. Overall I really enjoyed this song, there's quite a bit of cool stuff going on and it's all bold and angry and taunting. Probably my favorite song here. "Lazy Days" starts off pretty fast with some sliding guitar and the vocals are good, too. It's actually a pretty boss track, I really love the guitar here. The heaviest song on the album and just as good as any of the best. The album ends with "Pretty Polly" which has really fast guitar in the intro. It's similar to "Pretty Boy Floyd" in that it's more of a storytelling than an "actual song" except it's way better and more interesting. This is another dark one, detailing the exploits of a pretty girl named Polly and the conclusion detailing her murder: "He stabbed her in her heart till her heart's blood did flow/Down into the grave Pretty Polly did go/Now a debt to the devil that Willy must pay/For killing Pretty Polly and running away." I mean, is that surprising that Gram Parsons unloved and alone in a dirty hole like an animal? Overall, this album really just fails to capture my attention. It has some things going for it - like that it doesn't just fade into the background but actually manages to keep me listening - and I really enjoyed a few of the songs here, but it's really boring a lot of the time. It drags on, especially because the middling eight tracks or so are dreadfully dull and though it ends strong I can't say I'm going to be eager to listen to this again. It will, however, remain in my memory, and one day I will revisit the songs here to come to a new conclusion, perhaps one where the songs I didn't like transform into the ones I did as the ones I did enjoy try to cement their position as some of my favorites ever. __________________ If Any Major Dude Has Yet To Tell You, Click Here

06-02-2010, 09:53 AM	#1406 (permalink)
NumberNineDream Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: The land of the largest wine glass (aka Lebanon) Posts: 2,200	Sent by Gunnels CORNELIUS Fantasma (1997) It's the third album by Japanese artist Cornelius, who seems to be a part of the Shibuya-kei scene, which I don't know much about (other than the page featured on wiki). So I thought having this album sent by Gunnels as a pretty cool deal. As for the album: I seriously loved it immediately. I don't know if I can say it got me more familiar with the Japanese Pop scene, but if I had to put this album in some genre category, I would tag is as "Sunshine Hip Hop". The editing and mixing of the "musique concrête" is great, the sampling ties the whole album together, the tunes were truly happy and uplifting. I didn't mind not understanding some of the songs that were sang in Japanese, as even the ones sang in English didn't give much functions to the lyrics, as vocals felt like another instrument complementing the music. I have to say though, I was kind of disappointed when the tracks "God only knows" and "Thank you for the music" didn't turn out to be covers of my favourite Beach Boys and ABBA song respectively. I still did enjoy them immensely though So to that I add, thank you Gunnels. 'twas a nice trade __________________ Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats?Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Do bats eat cats? Welcome to the Black Lodge

06-02-2010, 03:35 PM	#1408 (permalink)
+81 Rats off to ya! Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: House of the Ju-Ju Queen Posts: 1,609	Guh, I lost my nearly completed review. I don't think I'll be in the next one. __________________ My Music on: Facebook Last.fm My Last.fm My Poor Ol' Neglected Journal

06-02-2010, 03:51 PM	#1409 (permalink)
duga MB quadrant's JM Vincent Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 3,762	KO's - Joyful Rebellion I finally got around to writing a review for this. Sorry for the delay, things have been quite nuts the past month. Anways, Unrelenting sent me this enjoyable rap album. I mentioned I was just trying to get into rap as it is a genre I really have little experience with. He mentioned he usually recommends this album to rap newbs and after the first listen, I could tell why. It really is rap for beginners. Not that that is bad...actually it is quite perfect for that, yet I feel it could still be enjoyable for just about anyone. The beats have a really good mix of different genres like acoustic, rock, reggae, jazz, and more. There is a balance of about 60% rap, 40% singing. Both are done quite well. I feel when it comes to rap I am ready for something a little more out there, but I am quite happy to have added this to my collection. 8/10. __________________ Confusion will be my epitaph...

06-03-2010, 05:36 AM	#1410 (permalink)
Mojo Melancholia Eternally Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: England Posts: 5,018	Ok lads and lasses. Bulldog isn't going to be around for a few days so i'm going to kick off the next trade. The theme, by the looks of things, is favourite artwork. +81 is out so the list of participants is as follows. Abdullah424 Gunnels James44754 NumberNineDream OctaneHugo RoemerMW Unchained Ballad Unrelenting If +81 wishes to change his mind or if anyone else wants to get involved, you still have time. I'll be pairing people up tomorrow night. EDIT: Oh and nice choice on the Arthur Brown! I like that record too and saw him live last year supporting Hawkwind. __________________ Last.FM \| Echoes and Dust