Song: "Yesterday Don't Mean Shit"
Artist: Pantera
Album: Reinventing the Steel (2000)

Nevermind the music, the lyrics of this song are genius.

There's nothing special about it
It's either there when you're born or not
Gifted with talent are no big deal
Welcome to the death of a century...

[chorus]
Cause yesterday don't mean shit
What's over is over and nothing between
Yesterday don't mean shit
Because tomorrow's the day you have to face
There's no rewinding time
Yesterday don't mean shit
Yesterday don't mean shit

Reliving old reviews is a useless tool of confusion
Don't hold your breath for the turn-around
Come into the world of endless odds...

[chorus]

They'll tell you about guilt
And in time you'll face the darkness...
But darkness is a friend to you
Embrace and fly through the madness
Flying past god and wars and conflict
Oppressor in you
Oppressor in you
Plowing through minds and paranoia
Oppressor in you
The oppressors in you

[chorus]

Yesterday don't mean jack shit...

You protect you and I'll keep to myself
It can only be that way - yeah!

Song: "Hands Up"
Artist: Big Business
Album: Here Come The Waterworks (2007)

This. Album. Is. Amazing. You will like this particular song especially if you're a fan of metal-style drum & bass. It's a very hyperactive song.

There are a lot of videos of Big Business playing live on youtube if you care enough to search them out, but unfortunately not many of them have very good sound.

Song: "Like The Howling Glory..."
Artist: Red Sparowes
Album: Every Red Heart Shines Towards The Red Sun (2006)

Okay, first, the full name of the song is "Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous, And The Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts And Clutching Our Innocent Awe".

Secondly, the track isn't as pretentious as the name may illustrate. It is, however, an epic song, not unlike the title. It's good, reminiscent of Isis but probably better.

Finally, this band is doing a small bit of touring soon on the east and west coasts with another band I've mentioned. You know you want to go see them.

Song: "Out At The Pictures"
Artist: Hot Chip
Album: Made In The Dark (2008)

You know me. When I'm not listening to pseudo-intellectual stoner metal, I listen to trite electronic dance-pop. Nevertheless, this album comes on strong (pun!) and then falls off into a style of music I'd rather avoid. But if you like lighter-spectrum electronic music, this is an obvious must-hear. Made In The Dark comes out in the US on the 5th: Go get it. In the meantime, you can listen to the tracks on their myspace.

As for "Out At The Pictures", the first track, it reminds me distantly of The White Stripes' "Jimmy The Exploder" in part. It's an easy to like, "fun" jumpy song which you should have no trouble listening to over and over (another pun!).

Hot Chip's gotten really positive, energetic reviews for their live shows, so be sure to check them out if they stop nearby.

Song: "Centuries Of Sin"
Artist: Probot
Album: Probot (2004)

There's something magical about cross-spectrum artists coming together to produce genre-ific nu metal. You can decide whether I'm kidding or not about that statement by listening to the song.

That said, if you're like me and don't give a shit what's going on in the common media so you missed this album approximately four years ago, but you can tolerate radio-friendly metal, you should get this.

Be sure to get "Shake Your Blood", too.

Song: "Fatso Forgotso"
Artist: Kyuss
Album: Kyuss/Queens Of The Stone Age Split EP (1997)

The above link is to a video of just the song. This video, however, is of a live performance of it. You will mainly appreciate the live video if you're a fan of Kyuss / John Garcia / Josh Homme / stoner rock, as it's not the best quality. Still, check it out.

I'm not sure what to say about the song except that it's one of the best of anything, ever.

Song: "Black Mastermind"
Artist: Monster Magnet
Album: Spine of God (1992)

There's not much of this song online because it's too good for the internet. I've linked a place where you can find the whole album, instead.

It's entirely worthwhile to get the album Spine of God in SOME form, as it is a direct method of emotional, social, and aesthetic enrichment. And let's not forget your neighbors in a 10 mile radius who will also be better off if you happen to feel like not wearing earphones today.

"Black Mastermind", meanwhile, is just so damn good, it inspired a whole 'nother album: Superjudge.

Song: "Sir Yes Sir"
Artist: Tomahawk
Album: Tomahawk (2001)

Not the best, most interesting track from this band, or even close to the top of this imaginary list... but I am but one person, and you get what you get. This song is a bit too awkward to be called a "song"; it's more of a "track". The combination of word, tense emotion, and music here paints quite a picture of - as I'm sure you'd imagine from the title - free love and world peace. (According to Big Brother, that is.)

Song: "Orgone Accumulator"
Artist: Hawkwind
Album: Space Ritual (1973)

Like with Space Is Deep, this is a valuable song to your collection.

I put this together for Sludge Swamp. The general requirements were that the tracks had to be familiar to the genres of stoner, sludgey hard rock, doom, and/or post-rock. As you can see, I have issues with rules, but I think I accomplished the general picture one would expect.

Void of Course:
1. Sheavy - Oracle
2. High On Fire - Headhunter
3. The Atomic Bitchwax - Kiss The Sun
4. Hawkwind - Paranoia (Part 1)
5. Red Sparowes - Like The Howling Glory...
6. Tomahawk - Cul de Sac
7. Dozer - Exoskeleton
8. Monster Magnet - Freeze And Pixelate
9. Desert Sessions - Like A Drug (Instrumental)
10. Black Math Horseman - A Barren Cause

The title was originally "Sacrificial Lamb" until I started fucking with the tracklisting to be more melancholic than the title suggests. I was having a really fun time putting together a graphic for that. I'm going to save what I did and see if I can get a more appropriate set of songs (non-stoner, probably) to match the graphic(s) I put together. Perhaps this comp-making thing will become a habit...?

In any case, I highly recommend some of these songs. As I'm sure you know, some of these have made it to song posts here. "Oracle" by Sheavy definitely needs a post of its own.

Edit: Here's some astrolo-geekin' for ya. I organized this mix during a void of course moon, and it was posted on their site during a VOC moon. Fucking awesome.

Song: "Fuel"
Artist: metallica
Album: Reload (1997)

I'm sure you know this song, but I'm posting it anyway. This video reminds me of a movie preview I saw recently of a girl who has an extra set of teeth.

Song: "Sheep"
Artist: Pink Floyd
Album: Animals (1977)

Because I apparently lived on an Amish commune in South Dakota, I had not heard this song until I was about 20 years old, due to a friend's recommendation. Regardless of your musical tastes and interests in general or of late, I hope you have not made this same mistake.

Lyrics:
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away;
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air.
You better watch out!
There may be dogs about!
I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.

What do you get for pretending the danger's not real.
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
No, this is no bad dream.

The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by.
With bright knives he releaseth my soul.
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places.
He converteth me to lamb cutlets,
For lo, he hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then well make the bugger's eyes water.

Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream.

Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told.
Get out of the road if you want to grow old.

Song: "Ageing Had Never Been His Friend"
Artist: Love Is All
Album: Nine Times The Same Song (2006)

This song will probably annoy most of you for reasons that will be obvious almost instantly. The first time I heard this, my reaction was sort of like "... wha..t the fuck?" followed by a giggle fit. For as annoying as it is, it earns its spot here for making me laugh.

Song: "Egg Room"
Artist: Reverse Dotty And The Candy Cane Shivs
Album: demo?

This band is a lot more interesting live than you'd think from their sound, and I think this video is a clear indicator of that. Watch it.

Song: "We Hate You"
Artist: Electric Wizard
Album: Dopethrone (2000)

I find that people see some of my interests and choice in words harsh, or difficult, or rude/mean, or confrontational, or abundantly "angsty". I'll be the first to admit that I am, indeed, full of angst. But, I find it very strange that those who most feel the need to point out any apparent sense of dissonance or warmonging are, actually, the ones who feel this way - often times more than I do. It's not something you can cover up with elevator music, religion, drugs, general passivity, anything. Although you will probably try because you're emotionally ignorant enough to think nice = happy.

In my fruitful opinion, it's necessary to embrace your anger.

(Ha, Valentine's Day. Didn't even notice that until after I posted this.)

Song: "Forty-Six & 2"
Artist: Tool
Album: Aenima (1996)

This is on the same subject as the previous post. For the record, I'm finding it hilarious that I posted that song on V-Day - it was entirely unconscious. As for this song...

Maynard, singer and lyricist of the band Tool, apparently has his Moon in Cancer. From an astrological viewpoint, this is ridiculously obvious in the lyrics he's written. The themes that come up throughout APC's, Tool's, and Puscifer's songs are all very similar. Water (sweat, crying, rain, flood, undertow, etc), consumption/being consumed or taking/giving, holes/womb - mother - "anima", home, embodiments of weakness (fetal, children, "11", pet, "cries of the carrots"), memory, reflection, and a major Cancer fear: dissolution of power (aka. what's "safe") through change (aka. chaos). Though these are individually universal issues, together they are unique to Cancer. He has some astrology that brings this all out in specific ways (for example, he obviously wants to change/transcend), so if you're a Cancer Moon, or Cancer anything, you needn't over-analyze this paragraph. Nevertheless...

I have no Cancer anything, but I have a lot of Libra. Libra, like Cancer, has issues with power, control, and change. All of the "Cardinal" signs do (that would be Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn). Naturally, the more you fear something, the more likely it'll happen to you. That's why it's important to transcend, or embrace, what you fear. ("Embrace the random", anyone?) Fear is just the prelude to hate, and who really wants to waste their time on either? Hate is exhausting. So is fear for that matter. It seems much simpler to just get the process over with and own up to your hate/fear instead of letting layers build to the point that they control you, or even become all that you are.

I basically broadly explained this song for you, here. Now give a gift to yourself & listen.

...

PS. Despite what the newbies say, this is not a "deep" song.

Song: "Tolerate"
Artist: Staind
Album: Tormented (1996)

When I was 17, I met a guy who decided that because I listened to Tool & Korn and liked Staind's recent radio hit "Mudshovel", I needed to listen to this band's first album. So, he sent a copy of it to me.

Though I've only listened to one other of Staind's albums entirely, I'm sure their entire discography is a huge disappointment in comparison to this album. Or, music in general.

As with standard album formula, "Tolerate" is the best song on its album as well as the first. However, it's a difficult song to listen to. In the wrong mood, it can come across as horribly annoying. But, during a good moment of angst or social disgust, you're sure to love this song to pieces. I used to listen to this song a lot before school, and apparently this behavior is universal.

Song: "Heresy"
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Downward Spiral (1994)

"...heresy can be without a religious context as the holding of ideas that are in fundamental disagreement with the status quo in any practice and branch of knowledge." (wikipedia)

Here's your appropriate prelude and intellectual base for what's coming.

Song: "Allen's Wrench"
Artist: Kyuss
Album: Blues For The Red Sun (1992)

I'm still exhausted from yesterday, so, for now, this is what you get. After all... Allen's Wrench, iz all you geh-hee-yet!

That reminds me. I went searching for an allen wrench one day. I had allen wrenches but not the right size, so this became an ordeal. Having to remember that I had to go buy new ones, this song got stuck in my head. It has not left since. I hope you suffer this same fate.

Song: "Everlong"
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album: The Colour and the Shape (1997)

My moral obligation as a fan of music and the internet is to add events to last.fm. Among other things. This song reminds me of being 16, simultaneously discovering music & the internet and their collectively related pangs. To Dave's presented question, no.

Song: "Vince Fontaine"
Artist: Unida
Album: The Great Divide (2001?)

Tonight Unida is playing in Los Angeles and I'm not there. :(

They're also playing March 7th, same city. I won't be there, either. :(

Someone tell me what "MFNO" means. I read it as "motherfucker no", but I have a rich fantasy life. Anyone know?

Song: "The Bit"
Artist: Melvins
Album: Stag (1996)

It's stuck in my head. This and "Real Solution #9" by White Zombie. What can I say.

I'm expecting a busy week, so you're going to be expecting a post drought. But that's what these entries are for!

These are all bands I've been recommended or suggested to try whose discography has been lost on me, but they nevertheless have songs (or a song) that seems worthwhile.


Song: "Honorable Mention"
Artist: Subarachnoid Space
Album: The Red Veil (2005)

I swear to god I posted about these guys before, and yet somehow this has apparently never happened. In any case, this song is pretty lucrative no matter what genre base you're coming from, but the rest of their songs are more psychedelic/post-rock, on a gentler spectrum. I also love how "PSSA" starts...


Song: "In Particular"
Artist: Blonde Redhead
Album: Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000)

I don't think this song conveys any true sense of "x x x", but perhaps so from a crazy girl's perspective... Kind of an emotionally tense song, here.


Song: "A Fiend Is Living In My Brain"
Artist: Garadama
Album: Garadama (2001)

This one made me laugh so hard the first time I heard it. "Why?", the first track on this album, also got me pretty good, although its humor may be lost on you. It sounds so serious and dark/doomy... but yet, not at all. When I was 12 making fun of heavy metal as being ridiculously serious, aspiring to someday have my own metal band in which I'd wear frilly pink tutus and vocalize my love for cute little kitties, this is the kind of fucked up sound I pictured.


Song: "No Passenger: No Parasite"
Artist: Norma Jean
Album: Redeemer (2006)

Pretty good song; layered, depressingly flowing, gentle in comparison to the rest of their material. I might have liked this band as a whole better when I was young, but at present their music is mostly lost on me.


Song: "Sex N Money"
Artist: Oakenfold (Paul)
Album: A Lively Mind (2006)

I disagree. I'll take money, though.


Song: "El Tren"
Artist: Moho
Album: 20 Unas (2004)

Love how this song starts. The sound gets a little irritating to me after a few minutes, though, so the fact that this song is over eight minutes kills my patience and attention span. Still, great intro. This band might grow on me.


Song: "!get Up, Punk!" (good sound, shitty video)
Artist: X-Ecutioners
Album: General Patton Vs The X-Ecutioners (2005)

I think this song is the first of its kind on my little blog thing here. It's very "hip hop" in style. Mike Patton is singing, so some of the annoyance that might be derived from that genre is temporarily bypassed. I saw this song performed live at a Peeping Tom show and it was one of the highlights.


Song: "Evil Ways"
Artist: Black Mountain
Album: In The Future (2008)

This song sounds familiar to something I can't identify, something possibly out of the 60s/70s. Being a person surrounded by aural beasts, it's an easy to listen to, easy to relate to kind of song.


Song: "Zoloft"
Artist: Ween
Album: Quebec (2003)

Speaking of evil. There's something ironic about this song that nobody seems to understand.


Song: "Like a White Bat in a Box, Dead Matters Go On"
Artist: Melt-Banana
Album: Cell-scape (2003)

Holy shit, this song sounds exactly like its title. I can imagine that people hear this band and thus feel the need to pursue it like a dog sniffing another dog's ass... but I still don't get it.


Song: "Halls of Illusions"
Artist: Insane Clown Posse

Album: The Great Milenko (1997)

I love this song. :( So much. :( Ridiculous cynicism is my cup of tea, clearly.


Song: "I Adore You"
Artist: Queen Adreena
Album: Taxidermy (2000)

This is one of the first heavier sounding girl-fronted bands I was introduced to. I don't have the patience for their style as a whole, but this is a pretty straightforward creepy rock song.


Song: "Someone Great"
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: Sound of Silver (2007)

This actually isn't that bad of an album, but in most moods it's a painful listen due to being trivial/vapid. This particular song is really soft, introverted and naive sounding... while the rest of their music is more fun.


Song: "Fangs And Arrows"
Artist: Raccoo-oo-oon
Album: ?

This is an instrumental. It's pseudo-psychedelic, post-rock, indie... something? I like it, in any case. Their material is pretty weird.


Song: "Satellite"
Artist: TV on the Radio
Album: Young Liars (2003)

I hate this band, but they do have a few okay songs. I like the metaphor here...

Song: "Schyssta Lögner" (two links)
Artist: Witchcraft
Album: Witchcraft (2004)

I was going to put this artist on the last post, but I couldn't decide which song to add. Seeing as how there was more than two I was trying to chose from and I've briefly mentioned this band before, I had to pass due to common sense.

According to file date stamps, I heard of this band in the middle of 2006. My first impression was positive - they seem laid back, they have a fairly unique sound (pre-stoner/doom genre references aside), the aged recording quality makes it more interesting like listening to a live show. However, it's taken me this long to give a crap. In short.

Great song, albeit short and Swedish. Most will like their English songs better, but I like the beat and blend of sounds here so it's what you get.

Song: "Suture Up Your Future"
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album: Era Vulgaris (2007)

You can also see an acoustic version, although the song isn't quite as effective without drums.

Nice song. Gentler than most of the songs I post. I've had a prolonged phase of listening to this album a lot since I got into it. EV is a refreshing shift in direction for this band, as this album is more eccentric and varied than their others which, despite growth, still seemed to hang onto the "stoner rock" title. This song is anything but.

If you like this, you should also try "Running Joke".

Song: "Slutgarden"
Artist: Marilyn Manson
Album: The Golden Age of Grotesque (2003)

"I never believed the devil was real
But god couldn't make someone filthy as you"

I was 15 the first time I ever listened to Marilyn Manson. I was initially put off because of his reputation, and my parent and friends' parents didn't like the idea of us listening to his music. However, it was difficult to avoid.

A year later, Mechanical Animals became one of my top-listened albums. I got Holy Wood when it came out in 2001. I recall hanging out with my mom one day about this time and her making a comment about how she was glad I never picked up any of that Marilyn Manson. Well shit, I thought I had most of their albums and they were one of my top ten favorite bands! ... His reputation to "infect" clearly fully eclipses the music.

Still, I took my polite, nerdy self to Best Buy and purchased TGAOG after it came out. I was mostly disappointed with this album, although the latest makes me want to cry for aesthetic decency. TGAOG is where I deboarded the interest plane. That said, Manson has some really admirable lyrical skills. For as much as I've dreamed about music, no band has ever made me dream of a field of black spades ("Spade" is one of the songs on this album) before this.

Song: "Agenda Suicide"
Artist: The Faint
Album: Danse Macabre (2001)

About this time last year, I was looking for new music and this was one of the bands I found. I recall walking by a hospital after a show in April, with "Take Me To The Hospital" suddenly infecting my brain despite having had the time to decide it was an annoying song and thus avoiding it. At this point, I find the band really easy to listen to... but I do not come from an elitist masturbatory masculine "rock" background, so they could possibly suck to you.

Still, this is one of their okay songs (many of their songs are better than this). The point of this song is pretty clear, easy to relate to, and it has a video... so that's what I'm posting. The lyrics are about the 'rat race' of life, when life becomes endless work. I'm sure you can picture that.

Song: "Boys Wanna Be Her"
Artist: Peaches
Album: Impeach My Bush (2006)

You haven't lived until you've shown up for something wearing a shirt with a big gold rooster on it, and the nearest extremely animated gay guy tells you he lovesssssss your shirt. Gosh, now I know why I purchased such an article. Clothes like that deliver results.

This song sort of reminds me of that.

Damnit, Sounds. I had "Take Me To The Hospital" stuck in my head all day because of that. This is your fault. Also, why do I post more when I think I won't post at all, and vice versa?

Song: "Street Justice"
Artist: MSTRKRFT
Album: The Looks (2006)

This band is out of my comfort zone, and yet for a while I really liked them. I can't recall why or what this connection was. I am fearful of the end results of the act of hearing this band for the first time. Hopefully whatever it is will pass quickly and without memory.

Nevertheless, if you like electronic(a), you'll undoubtedly appreciate this group. If you haven't been introduced to them before and would like to be, the best place to start is with the song "Paris". It is muy bein, and it's a great introduction to their style (which goes off into WTFland with particular tracks... what's this shaking it to numbers business? I don't get it and I hope she dies in a fire, the annoying bitch).

Song: "Take Me To The Hospital"
Artist: The Faint
Album: Saddle Creek 50 (2003)

If you listen to this song, good luck with your future sanity. I suppose if it gets stuck in your head the way it has mine, you may have to go to the H to the O to the S to the P to the I T-A-L. You're lucky because you've been warned. Nobody told me. :(

The cartoon show Rocko's Modern Life had a song like this on an episode about "spring cleaning", where they went up to a factory to sing about how everyone should R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, recycle(!!), C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E, conser-erve(!!). Because if we P-O-L-L-U-T-E, pollute the rivers sky or sea, then we're gonna get what we deser-erve! I saw that show when I was no older than 14 years and it still hasn't left my brain. The guy who wrote that show was a fucking genius.

Ugh. My ears feel like they've been flooded. I went to my first show of the year last night, also known as the practice / get back on the horse show. I wasn't expecting to have my world changed, but it was just plain dull. Any moment of reprieve was soon ruined by more of the same dullness. I honestly do not know how a band can ruin their own material. I know better than to do things during a void of course moon, but the main "band" came on well after the void of course period was over... and still made me want to cry.

I should have learned my lesson when I saw my first dance-indie band, who I thought would be great live because their CD-format material was so gosh darn good, but went home needing metal in my life really fucking badly. I, really, knew better.

Like I said in my typical cryptic fashion, I hope this memory fades.

Song: "Aqua Dementia"
Artist: Mastodon
Album: Leviathan (2004)

"It's hard to stand around and watch while they ignore us..."

See also: a video! or the other Mastodon posts I've made, which are similarly amazing! Mastodon is your first warm hug after decades of loneliness, kids.

Song: "Long Hair"
Artist: Monster Magnet
Album: Tab...25 (1991)

Do a torrent search for this album. That said, this is a pretty, what, "groovy" song? It falls off the edge of the universe after four minutes in with Monster Magnet's standard "what the hell is going on"-isms, but the opening four minutes of this song are definitely something you want to consume via ear. So go do that and make me happy, mmkay? Actually, you'll really be doing it for the betterment of yourself. That's usually a good thing. ... Actually, nevermind. It isn't a good thing at all.

How about a song that isn't quite a song, but a track? After all, I think you need to fill your life with trivial things.

Non-Song: "Frail Limb Nursery"
Artist: Slipknot
Album: Slipknot (1999)

I bought this album right after it came out, so I was enriched by this musical gold: "Frail Limb Nursery". You will like this non-song if you have a sick sense of humor. As for the sample, it's from the beginning of the video til 45 seconds in. "Gone, gone without a trace" is a commonly used phrase with me, even nine years past.


Edit: The video disappeared so I changed the link.

Song: "Ashamed"
Artist: Muse
Album: Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002)

Agh, distortion! Pain! But nevertheless a brilliant song.

Song: "Time To Burn"
Artist: Masters of Reality
Album: Welcome to the Western Lodge (1999)

I find this song comforting after an exhausting day. How strangely poetic.

Lyrics:
Time to burn again
Fire for my friends
Time for your shift to end
I’m back to jack again

Realistic, crunchilicious
Everything is suck, suspicious
Mindless times, I’m feeling lazy
Turn me on and let’s go crazy
Dress me up and uniform me
Let’s pretend like you don’t bore me

Time to burn again
Fire for my friends
Fear is in m.i.a.
All that doubt this may
Kiss my ass man