Finally, here's about half of what I listened to two weeks ago while driving back and forth to KC. The other half will follow shortly. This set is mostly the stuff I didn't like so much. The better half will follow tomorrow.
Looper - "The Geometrid": The best thing I can think of to describe this is: a poor man's Moby. They do similar stuff, but not as smooth, not as catchy, vocal samples not as sharp, and a lot more annoying squeakage. These made the cut, mostly because of the quality of the vocals: Money Hair, On The Flipside, These Things, Tomorrow's World.
Jets to Brazil - "Orange Rhyming Dictionary": iTunes calls this CD gloomy, but in a good sort of way. Oh? I think it's just plain gloomy. Post-punk grunge rock is what I'd call it, and since when can that be anything but gloomy, really? Dark lyrics, minor keys, ragged vocals, themes stated on guitar... yeah, well. Three songs made the cut: Lemon Yellow Black, Sea Anemone, Sweet Avenue
Ladytron - "604": Club tracks. Electronic music, a'la Kraftwerk or Daft Punk, except with hard-edged female vocals. The whole thing is mixed treble-heavy, and when you add to that the female vocals, it seems a bit strident (like when a female politician starts revving it up from the podium - a little screechy.) Might have helped to have more emphasis on bass and drum. Still, there were a few tracks that were okay, two instrumentals (Mu-tron and Zmeyka), and three others (Jet Age, Playgirl, The Way That I Found You.)
Thom Yorke - "The Eraser": Arghh. A jarring record. It feels like someone in the control booth is turning the vocal channel on & off, on & off, randomly. Skipped beats are soooo disturbing, I just can't get past them. :( And I like the guy's voice perfectly well from his work with Radiohead; I mean, I'd just like to hear him sing! Grrr. Stop with the effects already! No thumbs up; nothing made the playlist.
John Gold - "The Eastside Shake": Eh. Not real compelling. Pretty bass heavy, with a thin vocal that sounds like he's singing into a 60's style intercom, you know the kind: "Mr. Smith, your 2:00 is here." "Thank you, Carol, send her in and... hold my calls." Not the best for vocal quality. But it does disguise flaws. Lots of minor keys, pretty slow, and the songwriting is sometimes... just dumb. A couple of tracks survived the cut: Idea99, and Mandarine.
Okay... more positive stuff up next.
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