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.
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.
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 Donovanas 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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 Badgot 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.
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.
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.
This blog is meant to generate attention to bands that I think deserve it, and aims for a large variety of music styles. I will only share albums that I personally recommend, and do not honour requests. You won't find complete discographies here as I encourage individual research and do care about the artists enough not to offer their entire lives' work for the taking. If you notice a mistake or a wrong/broken link, please let me know so I can fix it. Thanks!
Complaints and compliments can be directed to bartromeijn-at-hotmail-dot-com but for quick messages by all means use the shoutbox and comments.
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