Tosca Tango OrchestraReviews of stuff I listened to in early 2007:
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible: 6/10 - I had heard these guys were the next great rock saviors, which probably set me up to be defensive... they're okay, but nothing great. Fairly catchy in that dry, dull sense. Reminds me of bright eyes a bit, but even more subtle. The final track stands out to me as good. They have potential to be something I'd love, but this album wasn't it for me.
Dyecrest - The Way of Pain: 3/10 - Squeaky arena metal. The singer ruins it for me with his fancyness. I only kept this because out of the 7 or so random metal albums I've downloaded recently, it was one of two that was almost listenable.
The Locust - New Erections: 1/10 - Structure-free unlistenable crap metal.
Asmodee - Symptome de Ruines: 1/10 - Horrible.
Turbonegro - Party Animals: 5/10 - Punky kinda straight rock. Super watered-down lyrics ("All my friends are dead / x2 / They got kicked in the head / All my friends are dead.... x3 / They got smacked in the head! / All my friends are dead"). Jet-like at times. Catchy, but not totally my thing.
Naildown - World Domination: 7/10 - Fuck yes. A random download discovery of my own! A metal band that doesn't totally blow! Okay, so they're not totally unique (in fact could be a Children of Bodom clone), but they're punchy, hard, and indulgent metal.
Breaking Benjamin - We Are Not Alone: 4/10 - Opening track ("So Cold") is great.. the rest is pretty weak.
Chevelle - Vena Sera: 4/10 - Just what you'd expect.
NIN - Year Zero: 8/10 - Fuckin tight. Extremely organic, and yet almost purely digital. That's something that NIN has been shooting for for a long time... the convergence of technology and raw humanity. Torturing electronics. I liked the noise on "My Violent Heart" when I heard it, but I thought it felt a little to regular and scripted. I'm pleased to find that the rest of the album is loaded with that noise, but it's much more freeform and real.
I like the move back to complex layered dirty songs after With Teeth's more straightforward rock band-oriented approach.
There's a lot of aggression and feeling, but without the naughty (and kinda unnecessary) language of previous songs like "You Know What You Are". Not much cursing here at all, in fact. This might be the least explicit NIN album ever. A sign of maturity perhaps, but I think more a sign that Trent is focused on something different this time.
As far as the whole apocalyptic backstory, I don't sense much of it here... probably because I haven't had time to learn the words and hear what's really being said, but it doesn't come off as overly political (like APC's Emotive did for me... a big turn off). I do feel like Trent is talking to Bush at times, and I could really do without that image, but I can get past it and just enjoy the music.
I think this is really gonna grow on me even more. Quite a nice work, and very timely. Good to have NIN back in action so much lately.
Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet: 6/10 - More indulgent metal awesomeness. Masturbatory guitar/synth solo battles are excellent ("If You Want Peace... Prepare for War"). Album starts off strong, but kinda meanders at points.
Thursday - War All The Time: 4/10 - Capable band, but doesn't always fit my mood. Singer sounds annoyingly strained sometimes. Useful for a couple singles, but not a great album all together.
Tosca Tango Orchestra - waking life soundtrack: 6/10 - Unique... definitely worth checking out if you like the movie. Really brings back the mood. Kinda tiresome to hear it all straight through, but it may just be inappropriate driving music. The slapping sound gets old. I'd like to see a prog rock band cover their songs, lol.
The Used - The Used: 8/10 - The Used at their best. An oldie, but still good for a listen. Just reminds me how much their new albums suck.
Poe - Haunted: 7/10 - "Soundtrack" for her brother's (Mark Z. Danielewsky) book House of Leaves. Several catchy songs. Not really a soundtrack, just songs inspired by themes from the book. Stands alone just fine... you wouldn't have to read the book to enjoy the music. Likewise, liking the book doesn't mean anything about your perception of the album... and you may have already heard songs from it without knowing they had anything to do with the book. I can't say every song is stellar, and there are a few that are kinda embarrassing. But the good ones shine bright.
James Iha - Let It Come Down: Breezy, light rock with good melodies... easy to listen to. Haven't heard it enough to pick any favorites yet, but I can tell this one is gonna be a keeper. You may recognize his name from Smashing Pumpkins (and A Perfect Circle, among others). Reminds me a lot of Gomez.
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible: 6/10 - I had heard these guys were the next great rock saviors, which probably set me up to be defensive... they're okay, but nothing great. Fairly catchy in that dry, dull sense. Reminds me of bright eyes a bit, but even more subtle. The final track stands out to me as good. They have potential to be something I'd love, but this album wasn't it for me.
Dyecrest - The Way of Pain: 3/10 - Squeaky arena metal. The singer ruins it for me with his fancyness. I only kept this because out of the 7 or so random metal albums I've downloaded recently, it was one of two that was almost listenable.
The Locust - New Erections: 1/10 - Structure-free unlistenable crap metal.
Asmodee - Symptome de Ruines: 1/10 - Horrible.
Turbonegro - Party Animals: 5/10 - Punky kinda straight rock. Super watered-down lyrics ("All my friends are dead / x2 / They got kicked in the head / All my friends are dead.... x3 / They got smacked in the head! / All my friends are dead"). Jet-like at times. Catchy, but not totally my thing.
Naildown - World Domination: 7/10 - Fuck yes. A random download discovery of my own! A metal band that doesn't totally blow! Okay, so they're not totally unique (in fact could be a Children of Bodom clone), but they're punchy, hard, and indulgent metal.
Breaking Benjamin - We Are Not Alone: 4/10 - Opening track ("So Cold") is great.. the rest is pretty weak.
Chevelle - Vena Sera: 4/10 - Just what you'd expect.
NIN - Year Zero: 8/10 - Fuckin tight. Extremely organic, and yet almost purely digital. That's something that NIN has been shooting for for a long time... the convergence of technology and raw humanity. Torturing electronics. I liked the noise on "My Violent Heart" when I heard it, but I thought it felt a little to regular and scripted. I'm pleased to find that the rest of the album is loaded with that noise, but it's much more freeform and real.
I like the move back to complex layered dirty songs after With Teeth's more straightforward rock band-oriented approach.
There's a lot of aggression and feeling, but without the naughty (and kinda unnecessary) language of previous songs like "You Know What You Are". Not much cursing here at all, in fact. This might be the least explicit NIN album ever. A sign of maturity perhaps, but I think more a sign that Trent is focused on something different this time.
As far as the whole apocalyptic backstory, I don't sense much of it here... probably because I haven't had time to learn the words and hear what's really being said, but it doesn't come off as overly political (like APC's Emotive did for me... a big turn off). I do feel like Trent is talking to Bush at times, and I could really do without that image, but I can get past it and just enjoy the music.
I think this is really gonna grow on me even more. Quite a nice work, and very timely. Good to have NIN back in action so much lately.
Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet: 6/10 - More indulgent metal awesomeness. Masturbatory guitar/synth solo battles are excellent ("If You Want Peace... Prepare for War"). Album starts off strong, but kinda meanders at points.
Thursday - War All The Time: 4/10 - Capable band, but doesn't always fit my mood. Singer sounds annoyingly strained sometimes. Useful for a couple singles, but not a great album all together.
Tosca Tango Orchestra - waking life soundtrack: 6/10 - Unique... definitely worth checking out if you like the movie. Really brings back the mood. Kinda tiresome to hear it all straight through, but it may just be inappropriate driving music. The slapping sound gets old. I'd like to see a prog rock band cover their songs, lol.
The Used - The Used: 8/10 - The Used at their best. An oldie, but still good for a listen. Just reminds me how much their new albums suck.
Poe - Haunted: 7/10 - "Soundtrack" for her brother's (Mark Z. Danielewsky) book House of Leaves. Several catchy songs. Not really a soundtrack, just songs inspired by themes from the book. Stands alone just fine... you wouldn't have to read the book to enjoy the music. Likewise, liking the book doesn't mean anything about your perception of the album... and you may have already heard songs from it without knowing they had anything to do with the book. I can't say every song is stellar, and there are a few that are kinda embarrassing. But the good ones shine bright.
James Iha - Let It Come Down: Breezy, light rock with good melodies... easy to listen to. Haven't heard it enough to pick any favorites yet, but I can tell this one is gonna be a keeper. You may recognize his name from Smashing Pumpkins (and A Perfect Circle, among others). Reminds me a lot of Gomez.
