Björk - Post

Genre(s) - Electronic/singer-songwriter
Origin - Reykjavik, Iceland
Year of release - 1995
Bitrate - 192-320 kbps
Size - 58.74 MB

What's there still to say about Björk, the weirdest chick from Iceland? That's she's totally awesome and one of a kind? No, I'm sure that's been said a million times already. I guess Post is one of her most earthly, grounded albums and a bit more accessible than some others, at least, and It's oh so Quiet is definitely one of her most well-known tracks. Miss Guðmundsdóttir has a voice like an unguided missile, going in all directions and capable of causing massive impact in a landscape built up from a wide array of different electronic sounds and beats that gives each song a whole different mood. An eclectic tour de force and one of the most outrageously expressive, haunting voices in music today.

1. Army of me
2. Hyper-ballad
3. The modern things
4. It's oh so quiet
5. Enjoy
6. You've been flirting again
7. Isobel
8. Possibly maybe
9. I miss you
10. Cover me
11. Headphones
    

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Street Dogs - Fading American Dream

Genre(s) - Street punk
Origin - Boston, USA
Year of release - 2006
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 41.11 MB

Street Dogs are a punk band formed around Mike McColgan, the original vocalist for the Dropkick Murphys, who I honestly don't really know very well. They have it all: plenty of melodies, chantable choruses, a blue-collar attitude, and great vocals. Anthemic slower songs like Tobe's Got a Drinking Problem and Fatty serve to diversify an album on which each of the faster tracks already show different influences. For instance, the Decency Police could have been written by Dead Kennedys while Sell Your Lies shows a more modern hardcore edge. All this is topped off with the brilliant Billy Bragg cover, There Is Power in a Union. Fading American Dream circumvents all the things that make most punk a boring affair while keeping things nice and political, and there is no greater praise I can think of. Great stuff.

1. Common people
2. Not without a purpose
3. Fatty
4. Decency police
5. There is power in a union
6. Tobe's got a drinking problem
7. Shards of life
8. Sell your lies
9. Rights to your soul
10. Hard luck kid
11. Fading American dream
12. Final transmission
13. Katie bar the door
    

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Buffy Sainte-Marie - It's my way!

Band/artist - Buffy Sainte-Marie
Genre(s) - Folk
Origin - Canada
Album - It's My Way!
Year of release - 1964

[Re-upload because of deleted file. Gracias a Rosmisur for letting me know]

This near-ancient album is Buffy's first and also the only one of hers that I really like. It is a very fine example of no-frills folk with acoustic guitar and vocals and little in the way of further ornamentation, which places emphasis on the lyrics and gives her messages a feeling of urgency. Buffy Sainte-Marie is of course of Cree heritage, and this is reflected in most of the songs, dealing with all kinds of social problems many indigenous communities face, but also normal day-to-day topics as seen through these people's eyes. I figure some of the tracks on here may be traditional, but I don't know. You may know The Universal Soldier and Cod'ine from Donovan as well, and they are some of the best on the album but the first eight songs are just brilliant as a whole and Now that the Buffalo is Gone doubly so.

1. Now that the buffalo is gone
2. The old man's lament
3. Ananias
4. Mayoo sto hoon
5. Cod'ine
6. Cripple creek
7. The universal soldier
8. Babe in arms
9. He lived alone in town
10. You're gonna need somebody on your bond
11. The incest song
12. Eyes of amber
13. It's my way!
    

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My Dying Bride - 34.788%... Complete

Genre(s) - Experimental (doom) metal
Origin - Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Year of release - 1998
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 51.31 MB

34.788%... Complete perplexed critics and fans, and there was every reason to be perplexed. This wasn't the My Dying Bride we were used to! In the end it was too unfamiliar to digest for most doomsters and it is still generally regarded as a dubious aberration in the band's career. This is a pity because it has a lot of charm if you don't have your expectations set on crushing doom alone. It's a very vague album, not unmetal but highly experimental with psychedelic under-, over- and other tones. The Whore, the Cook and the Mother is the best example of this and therefore the most enveloping track on the disk. And I can understand nobody was hoping for a track like Heroin Chic (Not Chick as the mp3 tag and file name say! More or less my mistake), where Aaron seems especially influenced by Michael Gira's reciting-singing style and trip-hop soundscapes. But there are plenty of moments where the "old" My Dying Bride shines through (The Stance..., Der Überlebende, Under Your Wings...) so I don't get all of the fuss. Recommended to any metalhead feeling adventurous and in for something 34.788%... completely different.

1. The whore, the cook and the mother
2. The stance of Evander Sinoue
3. Der Überlebende
4. Heroin chic
5. Apocalypse woman
6. Base level erotica
7. Under your wings and into your arms
   

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The Chameleons - Live Shreds

Genre(s) - Postpunk
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 1996
Bitrate - 224 kbps
Size - 66.18 MB

After two out of three studio albums released prior to disbanding, The Chameleons recorded this, one out of several live albums, each one only released years after the original breakup. The troupe play highly evocative post-punk with fantastic vocal melodies and dual guitar interplay. Even the drums are less static than they often are in this genre and the eighties in general, but that may be an illusion owing to the live setting, where everything sounds just that little bit more organic and spontaneous. It has its minor flaws but nothing that can't be reasoned away with ease. The only real problem with the album is that it is much too short! Luckily some of the band's most memorable songs such as Men of Steel, In Shreds and Monkeyland have managed to be included. Even their being billed as "The Chameleons UK" (how lame) doesn't spoil this release for me.

1. Paper tiger
2. Pleasure & pain
3. Men of steel
4. Years ago
5. In shreds
6. Don't fall
7. Second skin
8. Up the down escalator
9. Monkeyland
10. As high as you can go
    

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Hannes Wader singt Arbeiterlieder

Genre(s) - Folk, workers' songs
Origin - Nordrhein-Westphalen, West-Germany
Year of release - 1977
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 60.30 MB

Not a singer of socialist songs by trade, but certainly by passion, Hannes Wader treats us to a lot of classic international workers' songs, but in a fundamentally different fashion than the bombastic symphonics of Ernst Busch. One guitar and his voice are enough for Hannes to render equally powerful music and his voice is certainly much more clear and agile than that of his forebear. I had a couple of fixed favourites on this release (the strong, simple Solidaritätslied and the emotional ballad Die Moorsoldaten), but those are fading into median status as the rest is gradually discovered to be equally beautiful. His audience - it's a live recording, apparently - is as rapt and responsive as I am, over 30 years after the fact. Seriously top-notch, rousing stuff for the discriminating folkie who's not afraid of revolutionary socialism or the German language. Some knowledge of both is of course advised. Vorwärts! Und nie vergessen: die Solidarität!

1. Dem Morgenrot entgegen
2. Auf, auf zur Kampf
3. Der kleine Trompeter
4. Bella ciao
   
5. Mamita mia
6. Die Thälmann-Kolonne
   
7. El pueblo unido
8. Trotz allesdem
9. Das Einheitsfrontlied
10. Das Solidaritätslied
11. Die Moorsoldaten
12. Das Lied vom Knüppelchen
    

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Throndt - Throndt

Genre(s) - Black metal
Origin - Nordhessen, Germany
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 46.70 MB

Little known but highly decent one-man (at least at the time of this release) black metal band from Germany with, of course, a raw and atmospheric sound. It's mostly very fast-paced and trying to air-drum along to this unit once gave me heart pulpitations for like half an hour, which was unrelaxed. It's a short album and easy to overlook but surprisingly powerful and competent in execution. The many interludes (Zwischenspiele) are a bit annoying and they will fuck up your last.fm charts but the outro (Ausklang) consists of one single, rather beautiful riff that reminds me of a simpler The Wanderer by Emperor. I hope more material is forthcoming because Throndt is a project that deserves the chance to make a bigger name for itself and I'm anxious to hear how mister Fergen Grimnir might develop this sound into something unique.

1. Heimat
2. Das Geschenk der Holl
3. Zwischenspiel
4. Winterruh
5. Zwischenspiel
6. Im Kerker
7. Zwischenspiel
8. Hohnlachend, jene Spunkgestalten
9. Zwischenspiel
10. Des Menschen Tag
11. Ausklang
    

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The CNK - L'Hymne á la Joie

Genre(s) - Industrial metal
Origin - France
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 192-320 kbps
Size - 68.29 MB

Kicking off with Beethoven's Ode to Joy, after which the album is named, The CNK keep up the bombast and take it all the way. Evolving from the Count Nosferatu Kommando, the acronym now stands for Cosa Nostra Klub. Musically the band still play slightly fragmented, slightly industrial metal that doesn't really fit either the 'black' or the 'death' prefix. However, on L'Hymne á la Joie, a fuller sound is presented due to the introduction of classical, choral and other ideas, upping the militaristic, arrogant sound of the music. The whole band (music, lyrics, album art, band photography) radiates the sweet putridity of elitist decadence and that's their main novelty. It's not a band or album for every day, but I like the concept and the music is tiring, but certainly interesting. Also, Hreidmarr is a total hottie. :3

1. L'hymne á la joie
2. Cosa Nostra Klub
3. The martialist
4. Total eclipse of dead Europe
5. Vote for winners
6. Die Holzhammermethode
7. Dinner is ready
8. The doomsday
9. Inexorable parade
   

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Rubies - Explode from the Center

Genre(s) - Indie pop ("disco-folk")
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 2008
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 51.41 MB

In the beginning I had only a couple of Rubies' songs and no idea why this band would call their music disco-folk. They sounded like a regular yet professional folky twee band. But when I got my filthy pirate claws on Explode from the Center, it became obvious. I feel Electric is the only all-out dancefloor track, but the rest can't fully hide their influences either. It's mostly in the bass, which does, at specific moments, sound rather funky to the point it might indeed belong between the colour-flashing tiles on the floor and the sparkling ball dangling from the ceiling. And when the synths come in (only sporadically) you definitely know where you are. Rubies kindly provide us with utterly likeable music, overall more relaxing than energising, that doesn't sound out of place anywhere. Not anywhere nice, in any case.

1. Room without a key
2. Too bright
3. Signs of love
4. I feel electric
5. Turquoise
6. Stand in a line
7. Diamonds on fire
8. Silver mornings
9. The truth and the lies
   

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Korn - Issues

Genre(s) - Nu-metal, alternative rock
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 1999
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 66.15 MB

It's not gonna give me any kvlt credits but here is an album that I just so happen to like a great deal. Korn have always been one of the most commercially viable nu-metal bands and Issues tapped into the teen angst to great (financial) effect, but the videoclips for Falling Away from Me and Make Me Bad got me hooked as a boy and I still can't help enjoying those a lot. The rest ain't exactly filler though. The trudging, elephantine guitars let themselves be felt in the gut like a good glass of whiskey and make the singles seem like a rather light affair. All proper tracks (Somebody Someone, Beg for Me and Let's Get this Party Started being the best aside from the aforementioned singles) are very dynamic, partly because of the bass, partly because of the track structures. Opinions about Jonathan Davis differ, of course, but his bellows are commanding and he always manages to make his voice fit the music. I don't like any other album by this band but this one comes recommended.

1. Dead
2. Falling away from me
3. Trash
4. 4 u
5. Beg for me
6. Make me bad
7. It's gonna go away
8. Wake up
9. Am I going crazy?
10. Hey daddy
11. Somebody someone
12. No way
13. Let's get this party started
14. Wish you could be me
15. Dirty
    

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VNV Nation - Matter + Form

Genre(s) - EBM, futurepop
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 74.88 mb

Being a sixth year student bogged down somewhere between your second and third-year subjects forcibly puts you in contact with new people, something I'm usually hesitant about. Hovewever, I did make a new friend who's reviving my interest in dark electronic music. The best group in the whole gothic electro, darkwave, electronic body music, whatever you call it-scene that I was tipped off about by her is definitely VNV Nation. They're one of the most variable projects in their niche, skipping from full-on pumping trancescapes (the Strata-Interceptor combo for instance) to truly sensitive pieces of melancholic futurepop (Arena, Homeward), as they like to call it, sometimes within a single track. It's not so gothic at all, I guess, but one can hear such stylistic origins back in the great moody vocals and overall feeling. This is easily the most satisfying electronic project I know to date, featuring a human drummer and very visionary songwriting that allows for both hedonistic and more introspective moments.

1. Intro
2. Chrome
3. Arena
4. Colours of rain
5. Strata
6. Interceptor
7. Enthropy
8. Endless skies
9. Homeward
10. Lightwave
11. Perpetual
    

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Melanie - Ruby Tuesday

Genre(s) - Folk
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 1994 (compilation)
Bitrate - 64 kbps
Size - 22.50 MB

If you wanna be my friend you better like Melanie Safka. Agreed, her voice is an acquired taste in the same sense as Janis Joplin's: unpolished and technically not good at all, but very emotional when she wants it to be. I think you'll learn to like it. She composes haunting, intense hippie folk songs, Leftover Wine and the gospel-like Candles in the Rain being the best originals. As was not that remarkable in those times, Melanie also relied heavily on reinterpretations of existing songs. I've heard many, many versions of the Stones' Ruby Tuesday but none has ever given me the chills as the heartwrenching lament that Melanie has crafted out of it. It's stunningly beautiful and powerful. Please don't skip this by.

1. Mr. tambourine man
2. Beautiful people
3. Carolina on my mind
4. Lay lady lay
5. Kansas
6. My bonnie lies over the ocean
7. Someday I'll be a farmer
8. Nickel song
9. Happy birthday
10. Ruby Tuesday
11. What have the done to my song, ma?
12. Somebody loves me
13. Tell me why
14. Candles in the rain (Lay down)
15. Leftover wine
    

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