Saturday, 26 January 2008

Daily Thrash Motion

It takes about thirty seconds to connect with very large groups of music videos on Dailymotion. “Thrash Militia” has particularly good stuff. Make sure you adjust sound volumes between videos, some of them are very quiet/loud.





You probably need to know the studio version to enjoy this:





Thursday, 24 January 2008

MDK

Yay! I just got offered "MDK," Magma's best album. I used to have this album on magnetic tape, with Agitation Free "II" on the other side. Listen to "MDK" over the sound module at Prog Archives.

To me who listens music almost solely on the MacBook or on the iPod Shuffle, a physical CD is of almost no interest. Worse, living abroad means that if I ever pack back home one day, I will have to move the CD with me; a CD is small but you have to multiply this to everything in life, and it soon amounts to tons of stuff.

The only advantage is that the CD can be put in the hi-fi and the hi-fi has a clock-timer thingee. In brief, I can wake up with Magma. I love it. Thanks B and G!

Wednesday, 16 January 2008

On Aphex Twin

The best commentary on Aphex Twin I ever read. I agree with every single word.

Monday, 14 January 2008

Recent additions

Back to blogging. Here are recent additions to my ear:

- Overkill, Taking Over (1987) -- which goes along with my Overkill craze.

- Oldelaf & Monsieur D., “Le Café” (2006) -- a hilarious track from their last album:



- Black Strobe, Burn Your Own Church (2007) -- I saw them play most tracks in Edinburgh last year at Cabaret Voltaire, and they were simply amazing. Check their excellent podcast.

- I also exhumed a lot of Rolling Stones album from my musical past, in order to build my Ultimate Best of Stones. I am not part of the Nostalgic Snobs Club and I like much of the recent stuff from Voodoo Lounge (err, 1994, fairly recent let's say, but I was already listening to it when it came out!).

- Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left (1969) -- a good pick, especially for the song “Riverman”.

- A Pink Floyd bootleg recorded in 1970-71 on the French radio Europe 1 (mistakingly referred to as Europa 1 in the bootleg). I have listened only to the first two tracks, the quality is acceptable. The last track is an orchestra version of “Atom Heart Mother” which sounds very average, I am not that impressed.

Happy New Year, Invisible Tiny Readership!

Tuesday, 25 December 2007

Whisplash 2007

I am now done with posting Overkill videos. The last one made a point: you can still play good thrash metal from the 1980s in 2007. Here's another proof: Metallica's “Whisplash” at Werchter. The audio-only version has really good sound.



“Sick of the Studio” was good news for the people who lived close to the tour locations, and good news for people who have seen and joyed Metallica live. Their Reading concert a few years ago was good, even though they were touring “St Anger”. Metallica are rightfully sick of the studio: their recent studio stuff is interesting, but it is not good (“Vulturous” has potential, which lasts 15 seconds and then dies in useless vocalisations and a monotonous arrangement). But their tours are still good! And I think that “S & M” carried the insight that their old stuff is good enough to enjoy several cycles of innovative recycling. Thrash has many lives.

On a different topic, the cable that goes from my computer to the hi-fi is badly damaged and I get sound through only one speaker (left). The funny thing is that it gives me the opportunity to listen to records in a different way. Caravan's “Golf Girl” in mono is funny, because the horn at the beginning is completely killed, it's only guitars, drums and vocals!

Sunday, 23 December 2007

Overkill frenzy, last episode

Watching Overkill at Wacken 2007 perfected my knowledge of the band, which is impressively good on stage. Their new drummer is absolutely fantastic. Here's “Wrecking Crew” with muffled yet enjoyable sound:



And the unforgettable “Rotten to the Core” live, again!

Saturday, 22 December 2007

Post-rock by friends

I had never thought that one day I would come to lik bands of which I know members personally. Because I am picky and because local bands do not get much support, I thought this would never happen. Of course, my reasoning is flawed by the fact that every band was once a local band; my dichotomy is inconsistent.

My hometown is Grenoble, France. The two 'proximal' bands I listen to on a regular basis are:

- High Tone, a dub band from Lyon (good website by the way). I have seen them play at the Eurockéennes festival a long time ago. Their work is just excellent. I even came to work briefly with people who themselves work with their label, Jarring Effects.

- RIEN, a very good post-rock band from Grenoble of which I happen to know a member; we spent time in the same class in high school. The label is the Amicale Undergound, and the two albums happen to be… free. Isn't that perfect? Go and listen to it.