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Music To Play In The Event Of A Nuclear Holocaust
1. The Manic Street Preachers- Archives of Pain 2/5
I've tried to like the Manics many times over the years, but there's just something faceless about them. This song isn't bad; it's driving and passionate, but like all MSP I've heard it mostly reminds me of the limitations of guitar/bass/drums instead of pointing to the glory... or, y'now, to the tub of booze at least.
2. Refused- New Noise 3/5
This almost sounds like an extension of the MSP song, until the screaming starts. Good screaming, though. I dunno. My problem with the heavy chugga chugga stuff is that oftentimes the music is used as a sledgehammer and nothing else. Oh sure, it's brutal and pounding, but even the band itself doesn't seem to have the faith that the music can be anything more than that. I give the Refused extra credit, though, because this song's climax ALMOST breaks through to the other side.
3. N.E.R.D.- Bobby James 3/5
Nice change of pace. I kinda like this for its mellow tunefulness. Only thing its missing to put it right over the top is a killer hook.
4. Sunny Day Real Estate- Round 2/5
Another band I've never got into. This song tain't too bad. Kinda suffers from the same problem as the MSP (ie: has the sound of rock, but doesn't really rock).
5. The Distillers- The Young Crazed Peeling 4/5
Pop/punk is hard to pull off - and these guys do it. Is that Brody Dalle singing, though? Cuz the vocals are the secret weapon here - they don't sound like the neighbor's spoiled kid whining about chin zits, which is the typical voice of modern pop/punk. And the band really pushes the momentum foward. Don't get me wrong, nobody here is gonna win a Pulitzer Prize, but for what it is, it is.
6. Bis- Lie Detector Test 3/5
I remember Bis as not much more than cheerleader chants set to rudimentary chords. There's still traces of that here, but overall way more ambition than I'd heard from them previously. Not bad, mang.
7. Everclear- Fire Maple Song 3/5
This mix is totally working for me, 'cuz even the well-known bands are bands that I've heard very little of. I seem to remember owning Everclear's debut album for a couple of days and then selling it and never paying attention to them again, but listening to a single track in the middle of a mix reminds me why I would've bothered to buy that album in the first place. They got something going on.
8. The Cardigans- Iron Man 5/5
Yeh sure, it's an obvious cover for the Cardigans and everybody's heard it already - but I didn't have a copy of it until now, so thanks, man.
9. Bob Marely and the Wailers- Rock Sweet Rock 5/5
Proof positive that nobody should apologize for putting well-known (read:overplayed) artists on a mix. I'd never heard this song before. And I LOVE it. I mean, it's Bob Marley for one, but those stoned doo wop background vox and that piano-led reggae shuffle? Awe. Some.
10. Charlie Christian- Dizzy Atmosphere 4/5
Whoa. We've come a long way from the Manic Street Preachers. To my untrained ear, a lot of jazz sounds like some egghead practicing his scales, but this one niftily avoids that. Don't know how exactly - maybe the jaunty beat, or the constant return to the central melody, or the brevity of the piece - but, yeh, I'm along for the ride.
11. Chomsky - Light 2/5
A hard collision from Charlie Christian to this, and Chomsky loses. Kinda bubblegum emo, if that's not redundant. A little too modern rock radio for my tastes.
12. The Deathray Davies- The Girl who Stole the Eiffel Tower 3/5
I like the Deathray Davies, but in order to pull off their brand of witty power pop they rely on great melodies. And great melodies don't grow on trees. This song has lots to recommend it, but it ends up lacking that memorable melody. I like. But I just don't like enough.
13. Deltron 3030- Memory Loss 3/5
Every now and then I hear a hip hop song that I start to enjoy and then it damn near ruins itself with a chorus that descends into modern Top 40 R&B balladry. This song flirts with that mistake, plus it's a little repetitious, but another nice detour in the mix. And is that trumpet AND harpsichord? Extra points, boys, extra points.
14. Screeching Weasel- Hey Sububia 3/5
Yet another band I never really heard anything by. Not quite as good as, say, the Distillers track - this singer is much closer to that neighbor kid with the zitty chin - but rockin' enough for some fun.
15. The Descendents- Suburban Home 3/5
I know they're considered classic/seminal/important by some, but to my knowledge I've never heard a Descendents song before. S'okay.
16. Eyes Adrift- Solid 2/5
Cool. I've been curious about what these guys sounded like. It's a bit more turgid and grim than I expected. Sounds almost like a Holiday Inn lounge act covering a Metallica power ballad. Disappointing, considering the players.
17. Ladytron - Playgirl 1/5
That SLAM you just heard was my mind closing shut. I found this kind of stuff an uninteresting gimmick 25 years ago. In 2006 it still sounds like a gimmick, but it's mutated from uninteresting to positively pointless.
18. Nas - 2nd Childhood 3/5
More mellow hip hop. Is this hip hop for beginners? Cuz I can appreciate it to an extent. Good groove and gratuitous use of the N-word, but I'm not yet sure how I'd differentiate the good from the bad. Fortunately for me, nobody cares how I make that call.
19. Weezer - Paperface 3/5
I have proudly sold every Weezer album I have ever bought. All one of them. This is a bit more rip-roaring punkish than yer usual Weezer fare. At first it seems to get in and get out in under two minutes - and I was gonna grant that the band showed considerable wisdom for that fact - but then it fades back up and goes one for a whole extra minute. We'll just call that the Cuomo tax. Still, not altogether annoying.
20. Robert Johnson - Come on in my Kitchen 5/5
Fuck, man, this guy's just ripping off the Stones.
21. Nirvana- Aint it a shame 4/5
Never heard this before. Great fun - but just another sad reminder that we lost someone who would've been a valuable presence on the mainstream landscape. Fack it anyway.
Anyway, paranoid android sir - this was a damn fine mix. Like I've said already, it was FULL of stuff I'd never heard before, which means a lot of it might grow on me in future days. There's really nothing that makes me wanna clamp my ears shut, and a whole lotta songs that I'll continue to go back to.
Thanks!
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