On my shortlist to listen to right now: Hot Chip, OK Go, Whitey, and And So I Watch You From Afar...

I've been listening to Meshuggah in preparation.

OK Go.

Obviously I heard about them because of youtube, back in 2006. That year I was trying to get away from heavy rock/metalisms because I was experiencing a "relationship" that I knew wasn't worth being emotionally tied to music I'd probably want to listen to later. I was listening to tons of lighter rock and dance - Ladytron, She Wants Revenge, Daft Punk, The Gossip, Scissor Sisters... These phases only go so far.

I remember waiting to get OK Go's first one because of all of the hype, and liking "A Million Ways" a lot. But that's about as far as I got. I ended up remembering it in conjunction with some married guy hitting on me. Why do people get married if they know they're sluts?

"WTF?" - I think this is a single somewhere... I've been trying to avoid it. Hm. Not too bad.

"This Too Shall Pass". Hm. Well, okay.

"All Is Not Lost". Too gentle/sad. I'm not 14, and even when I was 14 I would have been pissed at this.

"Needing/Getting". Alright background music, but I suppose if I had time to listen to the lyrics I might get something out of it.

"Skyscrapers". Again with the sad. No.

"White Knuckles". bleh.

And... I give up. The rest is all whiny. New wave meets whiny rock, what's new, let's move on.

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And So I Watch You From Afar.

My history with them is confined to the last year. I downloaded them because of their album cover and the creepy name.

"S is for Salamander". Good start... doesn't sound as much like Russian Circles 2, here. ... Seemed longer than four minutes, though.

"D is for Django the Bastard". Reminds me of current 19-24 year olds. and that was short.

"B is for B-side". Hm... going off the deep end.

"K is for Killing Spree". Sounds familiar to another song they've done at first, not sure which. Then sounds messy, like instruments all doing their own thing not paying attention to each other. Hard to get through... not gonna make it.

Well, it follows the EP rules... half good, half WHY?

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Hot Chip.

I heard them first by some random individual song(s) posted online, and then backtracked. This would have been 2006 or early 2007, giving me enough time to get used to a random set of songs I liked by them. 2008's Made In The Dark was unexpectedly good. It didn't last as long as it should have, but I'm still coming back to a few of the songs. I remember wanting to go see them live around then, but deciding against it because I could see that just being a clusterfuck of judgmental teenage girls. Those concerts are never any good.

"Thieves"... Immediately, not as strong as the first track on Made In The Dark. Sounds 80s with the synth noise in contrast with the really low bass. It moves well enough. 6 minutes? Too long.

"Hand"... Piano beating. wtf vocal thing? Fucking repetitive.

"I Feel Better". Now we're 90s dance music. Waltzy. Like some Disney princess movie.

"One Life Stand". ...... How long do I have to wait for some kind of breakdown? Theoretically should be good and it's not.

"Brothers". Tuned out.

"Slush". wtf again.

"Alley Cats". I hope this song's about fucking, because I'm getting really bored. ... Nope, not sticking around to find out.

"We Have Love". More weird ass vocals. Now we're late 90s trance BS. I heard this before, Cher.

"Keep Quiet". Ironically loud vocals.

"Take It In". *snort* Nice title.

So.... Not as good as Made In The Dark, as is immediately apparent. A couple of these songs might be saved in the future, but in the meantime... Ugh, I'm glad I have some real music to do next.

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Whitey.

I only just heard of them yesterday. I think I first heard Glazed Baby about two years ago. The guy from Glazed Baby who did the vocals/guitars is also the guy who does so in Whitey. Seeing my love for "Handgun" and "Under Nancy's Boot", and let's not forget my posting of "Chinatown"... I thought I might see what this guy's been doing in recent years.

"Texxxass *69". Really energetic, but also really fuzzy... It doesn't sound nearly as clearly recorded as some of the GB stuff. Can't hear the lyrics, but it's probably for the better...

"Barely Legal". Same slappy drums as above, but slower/doomier. Acid-ic vocals. Pretty dark.

"Oh, Oh Marie". I can hear words. Different style of song than the previous two... like to the point of funny, but it also kind of sounds dark, too.

"Well, well, well". There's the bluesy sound I've been waiting for. Now we're rock instead of metal, but still with a kind of lo-fi / fuzzy sound happening that's consistent with most shit I listen to. Screaming sort of takes it away from "rock", akin to Monster Magnet's early bitching. At 3 minutes it sounds like it's going to end, and it's not even half over. Back to blues rock. Surprised at how good this album is so far... Hm, and he says it's a cover. I wouldn't have known otherwise.

"CNHC". Captain Noodle's Hot Cock...? Sludge madness. What's that, a gong? But then it sounds like it's a consistent noise... maybe something else. Fucking crazy shit happening here, sirs.

"Nightmares By The Sea". Magnet-y with the higher guitar sound. Kind of odd... Not sure I like this one.

"Imprisonment Blues". LOL title. Reminds me of Texas/Mexico, bar music, but not as "bluesy" as I expected.

"Going to Nola". Sounds like a waste of gas to me, Masters of Reality. These guys have an odd sense of humor...

"The 7% Solution". Woah watery tunnel sound. And creepy/dark comes back again. Moves pretty well despite being sort of "mad" (in the English sense).

Crazy. I like it.

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In short:

No, Maybe, Enh, Yes.