Artist & Album Sharing Game!

[Phauss]

Up on the FTP server now, the Japanese release of Zero 7's "the Garden" album. Listen, and enjoy.



Uploaded in .flac format for your high quality audio needs.

[Forb]

How did I miss the Beck one? Downloading both, but my ipod doesn't accept .flac. :[

[Phauss]

Here you go: http://www.flac-mp3.org/flac-to-mp3.html

Careful about the installer, though. This freeware will install shady things if you just speed through the "Next" button.

[Forb]

Up on the FTP server now, the Japanese release of Zero 7's "the Garden" album. Listen, and enjoy.

Uploaded in .flac format for your high quality audio needs.

Will edit after I'm done listening to the whole thing, but I love on Crosses (11) how the beat picks up at 4:20 and changes the tone of the song. I was working on some stuff in the studio and I found myself totally motivated and dancing while doing boring crap.

[Forb]

Up on the FTP server now, the Japanese release of Zero 7's "the Garden" album. Listen, and enjoy.

Uploaded in .flac format for your high quality audio needs.

Will edit after I'm done listening to the whole thing, but I love on Crosses (11) how the beat picks up at 4:20 and changes the tone of the song. I was working on some stuff in the studio and I found myself totally motivated and dancing while doing boring crap.

Nevermind, I only had something to say about the Zero 7 album.

What is the difference in the Japanese release from others?

[Phauss]

It's got those last three tracks. Besides that, it's the same.

[Forb]

This one's for Phauss.


Dirty Beaches - Badlands



Not really sure what to say about this one. But it's the kind that's nice for a long relaxing walk/drive or a relaxing evening during which you can close your eyes and have a nice stiff drink (Don't even think about putting anything in your liquor besides more liquor). I like whiskey.

I've placed it into an appropriate directory on the ftp server.


Here's a sample, and my favorite track.

Spoiler: show

[Phauss]

I'm going to be brutally honest with this one.

This is a rock reinvetion of bad hip-hop. Take a measure long sample of music, loop it, add some electronic bits to it, throw some indistinguishable lyrics in, and make sure the whole thing sounds as low quality as possible for artistic style. It's extraordinarily dry and lacks feeling, or even creativity. The feel that the artist was going for could have been accomplished much better without all the noise. Is it possible to hear a song a hundred times before the song is even over? That's what this feels like.

[Forb]

I'm going to be brutally honest with this one.

This is a rock reinvetion of bad hip-hop. Take a measure long sample of music, loop it, add some electronic bits to it, throw some indistinguishable lyrics in, and make sure the whole thing sounds as low quality as possible for artistic style. It's extraordinarily dry and lacks feeling, or even creativity. The feel that the artist was going for could have been accomplished much better without all the noise. Is it possible to hear a song a hundred times before the song is even over? That's what this feels like.

I gotcha. I know where you're coming from with that.
In a sense, I agree.
Yeah, it's got that feel of pseudo-artistic postmillennial underachiever feel to it.
There's very little substance to it, but I do feel like it's worth a listen (Especially as an album under 30 minutes).

My other senses, the ones which I normally function under in the middle of the night or with the influence of drugs, they tell me to look at it in a different way.
I get a very particular feeling when I listen to this album, and I think that is what makes this a successful piece of artwork which deserves some appreciation. This feeling is delivered by forced methods which are way too present. What it is telling me is what is being channeled by the artist into this work, something of a Leonard Cohen/Tom Waits kind of dream in which the abstract has to be plainly written out because the message is thinly veiled behind that.

I listen to a lot of music, and this is just a nothing album I stumbled into and spoke with in the middle of the night. A stranger I'll likely not share another notable experience with again, to be tucked into my library like any old book I happen to have space for. It did remind me of you, so I thought you'd like a chance to listen as well.

Spoiler: show

I hope this post doesn't come off with a bad tone. I'm just trying to spur some more activity on the forums. By all means, speak your mind at all times with brutal honesty. It's what I always expect and couldn't hope for anything more.

[Phauss]

...something of a Leonard Cohen/Tom Waits kind of dream in which the abstract has to be plainly written out...

That's sort of what I'm talking about. There's nothing beautiful about Tom Waits' voice, but his delivery is so appropriate for the style of music. It's dirty and sounds like someone spilled whiskey on the record player, but it lends itself completely to the overall song. The music itself is still defined and has character even without his vocals. It's not a natural way for him to sing; it's definitely something he has to try to do, but that's ok, because that's the whole idea. Abstract isn't how I'd classify Tom Waits, but it's apparent what kind of aesthetic he's going for.


What I find with Dirty Beaches is that it takes some samples from old music, throws in some contemporary sounds, and then post processes the whole thing to sound ultra-nostalgic. It's an audio version of nostalgia felt from watching Baywatch reruns all day, and it's not a good kind of nostalgia. It's completely overdone, and if you ask me, it screams hipster. It's the Instagram of the music world.

Now, let's think about this. What would we expect out of a song made to sound old-timey? Simple, for sure. Complexity doesn't work for this stuff. What type of post-processing would we want? As far away from digital-sounding as possible. Here's an excellent example of what I'm thinking:


This is Boards of Canada, a song from an album I'm likely to post next in this thread. The song is multi-layered, with some coming in perfectly clear (overlaying synths) while others sound as if the record player had a loose needle (xylophones?). There's a lot of noise in this track, but it all plays together nicely. It's repetitive, but that's ok. In fact, it sets the mood and keeps it until the song fades out. I get a sped-up movie of a sunrise in the desert when this plays. What I get from Dirty Beaches is dissonance and, like I said earlier, Baywatch.

I hope this makes it a little more clear where my angle is.

Spoiler: show

I always appreciate the thought of sharing music. Frankly, I'm relieved that there was something posted in here that I could dig into at the critical level. Agreeing with music doesn't give me many chances to be a critic.