So I finally bought and have listened to some of Doomtown 7. I was talking months ago about how I didn't have it yet.

It's better than I expected.

Gotta say I enjoy the gross misspelling of "Sagittarious" (or the tag wants to read "Sagitarious" even though it's two t's on the CD).

It's a little less whiny than Marauder, and way less than High As The Sun. The songs are faster... The vocals sound more like Black Elk than I could have expected by association.

"Hair And Teeth" seems like the winner of the lot.

Sagifuckthis' little intro bit reminds me of what they were doing later...

If I hadn't heard this kind of sound before I might like it, but in the moment it isn't really standing out.

...

And since Outland sucks as a rule, I have to say I prefer the latter two albums.

In case anyone cares, they have a show coming up 4/22 with Mongoloid Village and some screamy post-asshole bands Burials, Moths, and Judgement Day (spelled wrong because they're American and you know how great our education system is here by evidence of "Sagittarious").

Meatjack has a very lovely (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) song entitled "Cold Flight". I've been meaning to make this post for ages, now, but I keep thinking the song belongs to Glazed Baby for some reason and thus seem to lose the song. Perhaps I discovered these bands in short order of each other, but they do have some obvious similarities. Either way, the song comes from the 2003 album Days of Fire... and is virtually invisible to the internet community. You will benefit from downloading it at one of the obvious venues. It's pretty good.

Song: "Tie Me Up! Untie Me!"
Artist: mewithoutyou
Album: Catch for Us the Foxes (2004)

This song is sooo miserable and sad all by its lonesome. It's one of those songs that you can only listen to in particular moods, or mindsets when you can ignore the talk-singing or somehow find it endearing. On one hand, it's almost embarrassing to think I "own" this album. Seeing when it came out, though, I can understand the appeal. I was on my own Thirteenth Step program. I must have related even though I don't know the words.

And the titles... are interesting. So are some of the lines used in the songs. Pretty sure this guy gets laid despite acting like a fucking baby about it. It's too many metaphors.

I suddenly have an urge to listen to Black Elk.

Song: "Muscledog Shot"
Artist: Milligram
Album: Hello Motherfucker! (2002)

This might have come out in 2001, but there are two versions of this album and I can't get any straight information on this band. I have the one with 15 songs.

Most days Winamp has no idea what I want to be listening to, but some times it hits right on the money. This song's very welcome and stoner rock warm and nice and all of that shit. The following song, "Not Okay" also sounds really nice, though probably better in context, after this song. Nevertheless, oops, missed the boat again.

Song: "Girth and Greed"
Artist: Old Man Gloom
Album: Christmas (2004)

Only the first minute and 33 seconds of that video is the song here.

I wasn't paying attention when I downloaded this a week or two ago, but now that I've had to do the research, it's a bit annoying to discover the other band personnel connection (which, now, is obvious). Nevertheless, this song is pretty awesome and straight to the point, something Isis never achieves...

I'm pretty sure you have two minutes to spare, so if you're as musically ignorant as I am and haven't heard this song before, check this out.

Song: "Triad"
Artist: Tool
Album: Lateralus (2001)

I'm glad I can sit through this whole album now and be unaffected.

I am also glad it's still good, anyway.

I am not glad that, in listening to it, it sounds like everything else I listen to lately. Musical growth? Nah, just new, subtle cover versions of "Triad". That's what I get for reflecting.

I'm gonna go sit in the corner and cry about how I love Tool now.

Song: "Witchcraft"
Artist: Witchcraft
Album: Witchcraft (2004)

It's weird how long this song took to sink in. Or for me to post it, even.

I think I've hit a musical plateau.

It's strange how people interpret music with their body. It seems so arbitrary. Why would a series of noises equal a physical reaction? Everyday noises never seem to, even noises that carry a beat like fans, but yet when presented in "musical" format... it does. Why? And why do some people hear music and randomly move however the fuck they feel or would move regardless of the actual music, while others literally or semi-artistically interpret the music as a particular body movement set?

Monkeys with instruments. I'm going to start telling Sweetie she better watch out for those monkies, but especially the ones with tom-toms. But someday, Sweetie, I'm buying maracas and there will never be sleep for any of you again. I will leave every room shaking the shit out of those things while singing about my hatelove for sons 'a bitches and shitty kitties. So maybe she'd better keep me out of maracas stores and forget the fucking monkies. Actually, this sounds like too much work. I'll get a tape down and set it to play every day at one in the morning to make up for when I need to rush out of doorways. Like when I have to help someone who's becoming a victim of street crime. I'll be Maraca Lady, saver of street crime victims. And Sweetie will cry, why not meee? And Bobo Gaygay will be like, cuz you're a slut, ho. And then I hit Bobo over the head with my super maraca, accidentally killing a flea in the process... My arch enemy. And the day was saved at last. We can now eat popcorn and dehydrate in peace. Sunsabitchez, sunsabitchez, lots and lots of sons and bitches and bitches sons and sons with bitches and bitching at sons while sunning at beaches, [maraca dance] OLE.

SURE, I'd love another, Bartender!

It's almost like content!!

Song: "Disciple"
Artist: Slayer
Album: God Hates Us All (2001)

Has Slayer ever toured with Ministry at all? Some lyrical themes and some of the same sounds are familiar.

In other news, it's hard not to like this song.

Song: "Coin Operated Boy"
Artist: The Dresden Dolls
Album: The Dresden Dolls (2003)

Slaves.

Song: "Hanglider"
Artist: Fu Manchu
Album: none

It looks like I just found another track I need to have youtubed. It seems this came out in 2002, but that's all the information I can find.

Nevertheless, this song can't be any more great than it is. It's instrumental and very "stoner" aka mellow. If you haven't heard it, you can find it on torrent sites for right now.

In the meantime, hey guess what? Fu Manchu's coming out with a new album next month. They're also touring at the same time. Should be more dates coming soon for those of you who don't live on the west coast.

Song: "Scorpionica"
Artist: Orange Goblin
Album: The Big Black (2000)

When I first had Orange Goblin material, I was immediately drawn to a few songs and didn't care about any others. This is generally how I start out with new bands, and if they're going to impress me as a whole or fill any sort of aesthetic void in my life through other songs, it'll be a while before I know it. This is one of the songs that got through over time...

"This is stoner rock/metal" is about all the song needs to be described. It's a little too white noisey for an introduction to the genre if you're coming from a radio background, but it moves well and there's that little bit of guitar fuckery in the middle that breaks up the hum so it's not "difficult".

Then again, is any stoner rock difficult? No.

Song: "Love"
Artist: Gojira
Album: Terra Incognita (2001)

Been stuck in my head for around twelve hours now. For about ten minutes it was Caleb Bird's high-pitched singing (neh neh neh neh neh neh NEH NEH to a portal in the sky-iiigh) because I thought about how I needed to get those videos done, and it went straight back...

I wonder if astrology is more interesting in France. I've seen charts done up in german and swedish and spanish, but not french yet... Thank god, I can't read it worth shit.

Song: "Passive Aggressive"
Artist: Placebo
Album: Black Market Music (2000)

I'm still mad that this band sounded so great to me for years and then when I saw them live it was like being raped by a ghost.

No pun intended.

I have happy thoughts for them anyway.

If you don't see the humor in this post, you're totally smarter than me.

Song: "Von Braun"
Artist: 35007
Album: Sea of Tranquility (2001)

I meant to post something by 35007 nearly two years ago when I was recommended them originally by Zillagord and some last.fm thing... I have no idea why this is the first time I'm actually doing a post on them.

They're not the most interesting band in the world for me as they have a little too much repetition, but they're great for certain moods, particularly when you are/want to be relaxed.

Though not apparent with the youtube song I've linked, the actual "Von Braun" stereo song is interesting in that part of the instruments are played only in the left ear and the "spacey" sounds travel back and forth and "stop" on the center-right at the end of the song. I don't know if that's intentional or it's just my copy... but yeah. It's a weird feeling afterward, my left ear having gotten so much of a workout after listening to this with headphones. It's like standing to the side of a band playing. It's refreshing to hear an equally centered song right afterward.

Don't you hate when people describe music who have no background in music whatsoever? This is why I don't write "reviews".

Song: "Worthless"
Artist: Ministry
Album: Houses of the Molé (2004)

Re-posting this song from that other thing over there, with the things and the stuff. I was thinking about SunnO))) and people claiming their extreme loudness. Maybe I just have too much hearing damage, but... not really. Effective, but not that loud.

That I can remember offhand, this past/last/my only Ministry show was the loudest show I've ever been to. Me standing a couple of feet from the speakers probably had everything to do with it. Once the initial ear damage wore off, it was very nice to actually be able to feel the music, literally.

And also I have the song stuck in my head after a day or two ago...

Interesting but useless factoid: It seems this album was released on the first day of summer (northern hemisphere) in 2004. Venus was retrograde, squaring Jupiter.

You should look up everything you bought around the end of June 2004 and get back to me and tell me how "worth" it those items were to you later. I bet you were an asshole like me and bought something with several electronic parts you'd have to repeatedly replace to the point that you can't even do anything with the damn thing ever. And I fucking knew astrology then, too. What the hell.

Song: "No Angel or Demon"
Artist: Witchcraft
Album: Witchcraft (2004)

Did I just post some band from another country today?! Well, here's another one. Patriotism is overrated (not to mention false).

I remember, vaguely, hearing this song/album for the first time. The production and overall guitar sound reminded me of an ex. I was fascinated that this band existed...

I remember that ex tried to call me for the first time on the fourth of July once, too... except I was in another state at the time, watching someone get an enema via x-ray while they were a couple of feet away screaming. That day will make the top ten most "interesting" days in my life. I'd like to tell the whole story because it's hilarious to me when I'm not feeling self conscious, but... it's not musical.

Maybe some NIN coming up here, soon, then...

That there Witchcraft there, they have a nice message about cosmic judgment in this song that I think I can relate to.

Song: "Eko Eko Azarak"
Artist: Electric Wizard
Album: We Live! (2004)

I suppose I could have looked harder. I seem to have forgotten a lot of songs I've posted at this blog... especially with the artists I've posted a lot of, ie Electric Wizard.

It's odd how such a slow/low song can be so catchy.

Since it's the fourth of July, I should write something about that. Hm. Well, this particular one, I was planning on a show but wasn't prepared for how fucking hot it was going to be. I'm dehydrated as it is without making it worse under the heat of a venue. Plus, I'm in a crappy mood and social shit does not sound interesting... as much as I am annoyed that I haven't seen BOTSC yet.

The good news is that it means avoiding crowds and people who haven't figured out that drinking themselves retarded on holidays isn't impressive.

Or any day... but it's easier to have "sympathy" for an alcoholic who clearly has some massive issues going on than it is a generic weekends and holidays asshole.

Pointless and backwards mass social activities are so fun and exciting for me. One of these days I'll get around to insulting everyone's vices. Something to look forward to...

Meanwhile, it's a good day for this band.

Song: "LAMC"
Artist: Tool
Album: Salival (2000)

This "song" reminds me a whole lot of my current experience with importing, exporting, and backing up my blogs.

Listen to the whole thing up until the fade/silence at 6:45 or you won't "get it".

Stay on the line for the perviest song you'll ever know that does not relate, in any way, to my blogs.

Although I bet if I printed out all of my writing in the last ten years, it would be a hell of a lot taller than ...

Song: "Is This It"
Artist: The Strokes
Album: Is This It (2001)

The song is stuck in my head, so it's getting posted.

I am grateful to whatever led me to this band early on because otherwise they'd be in the pile of bands that piss me off simply because my ex listened to them. I haven't heard everything they've put out, but I like The Strokes okay. Doing a quick search, apparently the first time I heard them was January 15th 2002. (These are the rewards you get for writing things down...)

Here's what I said a few days later, with links added for the sense-making.

arg. pollution. i've listened to hard rock consistently over the last several years (since i was 15, at least) and suddenly i'm liking a ... non rock genre song.
perhaps the same instruments.
but not the same genre.

deftones and mudvayne. yeah, that'll make me happy alright. yeehaw.

See, I've been doing this for years. Nine years of getting distracted by other songs when I go to post about just one. Oh, and mislabeling bands' genres, too.

...With my love, it's all she's ever needed.

Song: "Ephraim"
Artist: Thrones
Album: Sperm Whale (2000)

Every time I've seen Thrones, this song has been played first.

In recorded format, it's only about four minutes long which is fairly tolerable even for those of us with shorter attention spans and more immediate needs.

Live, however, "Ephraim" is stretched out to about fourteen minutes. Listen to the first minute and that's what it's like pretty much the entire time.

The second time I saw Thrones, I had a "this again?!" sort of internal reaction. The third time around, though, just watching all of the "scene" people clear out of the room was worth it. I've never seen a musician have such a repelling effect on people before. This particular song is very "drone" which is a difficult genre to begin with and certainly not for everyone. Perhaps with the popularity of certain similar bands people know what they've come to witness or at least fake the staying power to impress themselves in the name of something or other. As far as I've noticed, Thrones doesn't have this "for the sake of" appeal.

In watching people clear out, I wondered if perhaps Mister Preston chose to play this song so long and first specifically to weed out the morons in the room. For some reason (the reason of me being the kind of person who'd do something like that), this idea comes across as REALLY funny. Even if it isn't on purpose... wow.

I did not like this song at all the first times through, but after that and since getting the recorded format of it... I'm afraid I can't NOT like it.

In it's four minute long incarnation, it's a nice moody song. In its live 13-15 version, it's simultaneously irritating and hilarious. Both versions, worth it.

Song: "Changes Are No Good"
Artist: The Stills
Album: Logic Will Break Your Heart (2003)

I learned of this band because of "Still In Love Song" during the five minutes I had Much Music (Canada's MTV). I liked the lyrics even though they're a bit emo-ish and catering to the whiny demographic, so I checked out the rest of the album. I have continued to come back to the album despite it having no relation to anything else I've been listening to the last few years, and I still like the songs... so I think that says something.

This song is close to how I feel today. "I am the weekday on weekends".

Song: "Sheep & Goat Judgment"
Artist: The Whip
Album: Freelance Liasion/Sheep & Goat Judgment (2003)

It's been long enough. Here's the other song you should have listened to when I posted the other song, but for some reason didn't because you only do what I tell you to do and that's that...

Speaking of which, I need you to go to the store for me. I need lots and lots of food. And shampoo and a computer chair with wheels. Also, my Karpet's looking nasty so you need to also vacuum when you're done with the Big food Business. You should follow that with a good scrubbing. I'll be sitting on one of my Thrones talking to one of my Tight Bros From Way Back When if you need me.

Song: "Jack"
Artist: Danava
Album: Demo (2004)

And this is for Jack... Though my Jack's an angel despite being a huge fucking tease.

This song sounds very much not like the sound Danava has created for themselves. It's more... something. It seems to come from the same "place" but it doesn't have that extended, introverted, thoughtful sound.

In any case, Danava has since taken the demo off their myspace/etc, so I'll upload the song later on.

Edit: Only took me two hours...

Song: "Atras"
Artist: Orate
Album: Orate (2004)

El doom. Familiar stuff despite the language difference. Strangely, upon looking this up, I discovered that I liked this a year and a half ago and simply forgot. Nice going, me.

Song: "Reflection"
Artist: Tool
Album: Lateralus (2001)

I remember saying, outloud, to a friend of mine that this song was the best song, ever. I was sincere at that moment, and continued to feel that way for a while. I grew up and the song lost its relevancy (the "message" hasn't been lost even though I'm sure some of you might find that ironic). I don't return to it often because of the 11 minutes and the fact that the song is best enjoyed in context of the album when one is in a particular mood/mindset. This song has emotional heaviness, but I prefer a different sort of sound now that eight years have passed... and there is no best song, ever, despite what I may say once in a while.

In thinking about it, perhaps this is the quintessential Tool song... because who else likes Tool but people who "must crucify the ego"? Seriously, who's met a humble Tool fan?

Anyway, day-after, this song sounds really nice.

Song: "Got 2 Let U"
Artist: The Knife
Album: Deep Cuts (2003)

I've listened to this song quite a bit in recent months. It's a nice, simple song - weird but comfortable. I think I got this album about two and a half years back because of a sharing community, which would make it one of the rare decent finds from the lady masses.

I sing to myself about how I'm going to forgive myself for letting me down because I'm so pretty, too.

Song: "Indian Passage"
Artist: Witch Mountain
Album: Come the Mountain (2001)

Concentration is hard. That's what doom is for.

Not really. but yeah.

Song: "Default Judgment"
Artist: Fear Factory
Album: Archetype (2004)

Hi, this is loud. And what a lovely message for the kiddies.

Song: "Zero Manifest"
Artist: 57chevy
Album: Megatsunami (2001)

Nothing but downloads, you guys. I wish this band would get back together for the five minutes it takes to create an adequate, informative website again. Fuck, I'd host it. Obviously, it would be called Megatsunami! Hm... I may just have to do that this summer.

But yeah, this song has been stuck in my head off and on since shortly after I heard it... It has pretty simple, repetitive lyrics... "I can not and I will not" repeated a few times, then "I can/will not be saved". Cuz he's freeeeeeeeyah.

And the song itself is that lovely, upbeat stoner rock goodness, sounding a bit like hard stomping on the ground. You want it. Seriously.

Song: "Schism"
Artist: Tool
Album: Lateralus (2001)

To my webserver: I get a large portion of my hits before noon because many come from the other side of the world. The fact that you were down for hours early this morning was not amusing. What were you trying to do, prove the existence of mercury retrograde at me or something? Too late. In any case, I hope you achieved your necessary level of whatever-the-hell and had a nice nap.

I remember where I was when I heard this song for the first time. I was sitting at my desk against the wall in the living room, with the recorder on my desk waiting for the radio station to play the new Tool single like they promised. It began, I pressed record on time, and I wandered off while it recorded because I didn't know what to think yet. I would play it back afterward and see how I felt after a few listens.

After the song recorded, I rewound the tape and pushed play to check where I was on the tape. I blinked because I didn't hear anything, then said "AW, SHIT"... because I'd just recorded over the song. Instead of "play", I'd pushed "record".

It was so funny to me that I made an mp3 of me accidentally recording over it to share with a friend. I got up early for nothing but comic relief that day.

Like every day, I know.

Song: "Feeding"
Artist: Tarantula Hawk
Album: Tarantula Hawk (2002)

This song is called "Album 1 Track 3" on their myspace, if you're sampling.

I got an idea to do a video for this song. Unfortunately, it's incredibly difficult to do a six minute long video with only a very basic idea of what you want to accomplish and very limited "footage" that cannot be recreated. I've tried clips, but it just isn't right. The song is way too mood-driven for a clip.

Anyhow, if only for the creepy/weird factor, this song is needed in your library. Or on your shelf. Or in your folder. Or on your head underneath your hat. Or in your pants. Or in your backpack. Or under your pillow for safe-keeping. Or wherever you happen to put songs this week because you're, like, totally anti-library, k?

Song: "I Love It When You Crawl"
Artist: Cable
Album: Pigs Never Fly (2004)

So, you're going to have to go find this one yourself. I actually meant to post this ages ago but I couldn't find anything worth posting for the song. I guess I imagined that would change, but it did not. You can get an idea from last.fm, but the track there is live and... it's not the same.

I prefer less/no screamy vocals in my mellow guitar/drum, but all the same this song is great. If you don't have this, go get it.

Song: "Clone"
Artist: Gojira
Album: Terra Incognita (2001)

Thanks to Angrychairs for uploading this album... I'd forgotten about it.

Song: "The Perfect Fit"
Artist: The Dresden Dolls
Album: The Dresden Dolls (2003)

Time to do an unusual song. I haven't listened to this at all in a long time, but there were a few months sometime around 2004 where the overall sound coming from The Dresden Dolls was interesting and I really liked this song.

You might know this artist between the songs "Girl Anachronism" and "Coin Operated Boy"... Well, this song is way more mellowed out. Maybe a little sappy.

PS. http://twitter.com/amandapalmer

My life started to improve in late 2004. Coincidentally, this is when I downloaded all of the Kyuss albums - Wretch, Blues for the Red Sun, Welcome to Sky Valley, and And The Circus Leaves Town.

I knew, beforehand, that this was going to be something epic so I wrote down all of my first thoughts on the songs. This resulted in a comment from a guy I knew who didn't listen to fucking garbage, telling me to check out the band Sheavy.

I tried to listen but I never gave a fuck about Black Sabbath despite my one-off argument with the ex about them, and didn't really want to hear a vocalist that sounded like Ozzy. This was not appealing. Take your BS obsession somewhere else, asshole.

Then I actually listened to the lyrics in "Electric Sleep". "Cyberspace is no place for the real world" about covers it. My wordy friend went off on tangents about the band, about Black Sabbath, about a whole genre inspired by the same sort of crap... He sent me Unida and Dozer. I gave them all a listen... I liked them better. But, in time, I was coming back to Sheavy and getting used to their 'sound'. Before long I was even broken on Black Sabbath. Apparently, covers aside, I'd just never heard Vol 4.

Meanwhile, I talked to one of the guys from Sheavy. I could not fucking believe it. I was coming from bands like Tool where band contact is pretty much impossible. This guy fucking found ME. THE HELL. Theoretically I'd been friends with people involved with music before, but not a member of a now-favorite band. Crazy.

About that time, my friend introduced me to Dream Theater. I liked some, but... what a bunch of wankery.

He also went off about Fiona Apple. I knew her from 1997 or whenever it was, but singer-songwriter wasn't really my cup of tea. I downloaded some random songs that I didn't already have, anyway... and subsequently became very caught up in the drama going on about the release of Extraordinary Machine. Fucking bullshit. I bought everything she had and pre-ordered the album.

With Teeth by NIN came out. Pretty much everyone around me were saying it was a joke, even though most of these people were not "typical" listeners of NIN. I was a bit sad that it wasn't really that great, but that didn't stop me from buying a ticket to see them the second it went onsale for me.

And I got DSL. I needed to utilize this for music. I found 20 years worth of top-100 billboard songs for each year, and downloaded every single one. I wrote about them all. I was reminded about a lot of artists I hadn't bothered with in years, resulting in a little more downloading. I'd gotten a last.fm account a few months beforehand, and during this time my charts were fucking schizophrenic because I was also listening to a lot of Sheavy, Monster Magnet, Kyuss... 80s and 90s pop right next to stoner rock.

Madonna came out with Confessions on a Dance Floor. I didn't really want to like it, but I was stuck on it for a while.

Extraordinary Machine came out, naturally great.

Sheavy's new one, Republic? came out. I was disappointed.

I listened to Autolux's album in preparation for their show with Nine Inch Nails.

I also did Queens of the Stone Age research, though I was still sick about them. I ended up looking at a link on their site for the band Eagles of Death Metal. I figured I had nothing to lose, I guess, and watched the "Speaking in Tongues" video... and died laughing. HOLY SHIT THIS WAS BRILLIANT. It was a tutu'ed death metal growl about ponies and rainbows short of my ideal band. MORE PLS.

I saw Nine Inch Nails live... In itself, it was a great experience. The first time I saw them, and the first time I saw Tool in 2001, I was a little sick afterward because I didn't have the money to be spending on concerts but I really liked the whole feeling/experience. Now I had some expendable money. I could do this if I tried to. I wasn't sure. I was scared. My friends now didn't listen to my music. And they were "old" in my eyes, "over" the inanity of momentary experience, more interested in security and assurance. Bleh. I didn't want to do this alone but I was going to have to if it was going to be accomplished.

Seeing Queens of the Stone Age... just, what? They'd been this awesome all of this time? How the fuck? Where did I go wrong? I got a bunch of their albums starting with Over the Years, and probably got Desert Sessions at this time as well.

I had to see another show soon, so I went to Fiona Apple. It was my first non-arena, middle-sized venue show, and my first non-rock show. It was really great and just what I needed. Yep, more concerts...

Most of 2002 sucked for me. "Important" things happened, and I suppose things improved over the course of the year, but I felt like shit. Any music that I took into this time was making my heart hurt.

I did some searching to figure out that bands that I didn't love but merely liked worked for the moment. I listened to a lot of Deftones and Nirvana for a while. I needed less bass, though. Maybe something in my exact opposite mood. Maybe something I wouldn't care if it got ruined by my shitty moods and disgust with humanity.

I heard The White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl" somehow - perhaps the radio. I did my research, and their style struck me as really familiar even though I knew I'd never heard anything like it before. I downloaded a bunch of random songs.

At the same time I heard The Strokes' "Last Night" which resulted in some minor downloading.

This fresh newness was nice. I started looking for other stuff, something nice and simple and popular and meaningless.

A friend of mine online liked the band Le Tigre. I looked them up to discover their most popular song was "Deceptacon". I gave it a listen, and... WHAT THE FUCK. NO. I had another friend who had "I'm a gasoline gut with a vaseline mind" quoted on some site of hers, and I needed to go back to it and find out why...

The song somehow stuck. And then I was listening to "Friendship Station" because it was about how I was feeling then. Or "Let's Run", aka give me attention every day and every niiiiiiiiiiight. And then there's "The The Empty" which made me notice that perhaps those lyrics were intelligent enough to look up.

I'd known of Placebo a few years at this point, but hadn't bothered much with their music. I downloaded some. It fit my mood really well... and they were just varied enough to not become boring. At first I loved songs like "Allergic" and "Drowning By Numbers".

Towards the end of the year, I was screwing around and bored one night, so I ended up fishing the radio again. It all sucked. I found myself on the classic rock station for some reason. After a song or two, I realized I needed to do this... I was fucking ignorant about classic rock. I knew things in a vague sort of way, and that wasn't good enough. I needed to hear more, and learn something...

Randomly, in 2003, I had a new boyfriend again. He was interested in music in a hoard-ish, sampling way. He liked a wide spectrum and didn't seem stuck like the former.

Of course, we tried to discuss music with each other. By this point I was stuck on the classic rock and had a pretty strong opinion about what I was/wasn't going to take in, in general... but he was listening to motherfucking dance music. I wasn't digging metal anymore, or anything like it, but come on... Dance music? I realized it had a lot to do with where we "were"... I am simply not a "fun" person. AND I was in a shitty mood pretty much constantly around this time. He went "dancing", drank, smoked, fucked around, and whatever else idiots do when they're 18-21 that qualifies as "fun" but sounds more like punishment to me. He'd also pretend to be happy and pleasant for the sake of others - LOL! Sooo not me.

I felt like a fucking asshole about this and made attempts to like the pussy rock and dance music... but... eh. He tried to please the beast by sending me things like Pink Floyd. I mean, c'mon... Try harder. It's not like I knew everything they had or anything, but I definitely knew Pink Floyd by now. I was not impressed.

He threw Muse and Queens of the Stone Age at me. I was disappointed. I'm sure he had a whole album's worth of either of their songs, so why in the world would he chose "Hysteria" knowing I got pissed off at girly sounding music? Methinks it should have been "Time Is Running Out".

A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step came out. Finally something to share. But, by this point, he was grumpy with me most of the time so that was a bit futile... heh. This album makes me think about a time we got into a retarded fight because he had no sense of humor about some pictures I took.

This was the time I picked up L7 after going through a someone a few years older than me's CD collection, particularly "Wargasm". HELLO. And there was Bikini Kill's "Resist Psychic Death", a song made of pure awesome... even though the bass in "Rebel Girl" is better. Yeah, bass. I'd renewed my appreciation.

For some reason I looked up Monster Magnet and discovered they had a new album out soon, Monolithic Baby. I found it online. It was better than what little I'd retained from God Says No, and I liked its.. synchronicity. I felt inspired enough from it to finally get a copy of Spine of God and Dopes to Infinity... and in time the brain was breaking again.

I can't remember offhand when I looked up Fu Manchu. It was apart of something else, some random search. I ended up getting "King of the Road", "Neptune's Convoy", and "Saturn III" to begin with. I pretty much immediately knew I'd found a winner.

I suppose because of his momentary QOTSA-ing, the boyfriend recommended Welcome to Sky Valley at me. His tastes thus far had not met anymore than briefly with my own, but I knew one of Kyuss' songs and gave it more of a shot when he sent a couple of songs my way. I had been listening to a lot of nondescript, who-cares classic rock, so it fit well enough. Over time, though, I noticed I was listening to "Whitewater" a lot...

We broke up, and I was doing new things, so at this point I shut off my mind on everything but "new". I wanted to continue exploring music, but the break up feelings were going to ruin anything good, so I went with the next level up: 80s music. There is no possible way that 80s music can get ruined because it's already terrible.

A little time passed, and I remembered that I had bands in queue to learn about. I certainly loved "Whitewater" by now, and "Demon Cleaner" passed years of inspection, and "Space Cadet" was interesting... so why not get their albums?

Song: "The End of the Road"
Artist: Twin Earth
Album: Black Stars in a Silver Sky (2000)

The start of this song is great. Very Kyuss influenced despite the Monster Magnet band name. Warm, familiar stoner rock for you all...

What the hell, let's keep going. I'm going to have to backtrack a little, though, so here we go.

In the mid-late 90s, I realized I was not a typical listener. I wasn't sure about this at the time because I never had a favorite band, didn't feel like I was a "fan" of anything, and though I liked some songs, I didn't really care about the band or whatever. The kids in school who liked music were either possibly retarded, obnoxious band geeks, or the "metal"/"punk" crowd who took their appreciation of bands to their absolute limits, or one of the endless supply of girls who said they liked music but actually just liked to dance/have fun/appear like a fuckable human being. I hated cliches even then, and was not going to be participating in any. I would have to approach music in my own way.

Being poor worked against me, having deaf and immigrant family worked against me, having parents twice the age of anyone else's parents worked against me, and not being the type to do things for myself worked against me. In high school, I made friends with someone who would provide "interesting" for me. Soon, my social sphere opened up... and in time I was introduced to "real" music.

The first band that stood out to me in a serious context was Nine Inch Nails, specifically the song "Down In It". I heard it through the radio. Soon after that, my social sphere opened up. One of the people liked Tool a lot. It was played a lot when they were around, then in general. It wore off. I was not interested in being like any of these people, being that most of them were fucking full of themselves (as music geeks are inclined to be), so I was resistant.

Around this time, I was noticing that my taste in music was not what was becoming OF music. Socially, music was cleaning up and had always been pretty superficial. I was attracted to songs that were more bassy, deeper, lower, or lyrically "risque". I really liked the song "Obsession" by Animotion. Then there was Stabbing Westward's radio songs at the time. Then it was Gravity Kills. And then I heard Monster Magnet's "Space Lord".

The next school year, I met a guy who I thought was just the hottest jerk and stingiest asshole in the whole wide world. He quoted "Swamp Song" at me for no apparent reason, and I asked what the hell that was about. I was amused that "belligerent fucker" was apart of the lyrics of a song. I had no idea about Undertow, so I bought it. Meanwhile, I met other Tool geeks who I also thought were interesting in their own little way. One of them told me "Hooker with a Penis" was his favorite Tool song, and I busted up laughing and said "that figures".

At the same time, my best friends threw Korn at me. I didn't particularly care for Korn in the way my female friends did, where it seemed largely superficial as if they had never actually listened to Korn ever, but the angst present in the music helped me turn my mind on that.

In 1999, I met some people online that were each different sorts of music geeks. One of them really, really, really liked Insane Clown Posse. I did not and was not going to participate in that, but I was in awe of how far he took his love for ICP. Another guy was a metal geek, in a band, smoked his brains out daily. I also knew a girl who loved feministic punk rock to death - L7, Bikini Kill, Hole... And there were all of the Tool geeks. I wrote one of the girls a story called Mary the Anorexic Lesbian Cow, about a cow who loved Uddertoe and wasn't having any of the other cow's Ricky Mootin's music... She loved that.

The guys introduced me to Slipknot. I was hesitant because, well, ICP. I heard "Wait and Bleed" first. The jerk who got me into Undertow was talking about how he liked it. I got the album. We talked about how great "Purity" is when it peaks at "you all stare but you'll never see".

A few months later, Slipknot became really fucking popular. I heard them played in the parking lot at school. I was annoyed and disgusted.

At this same time, I was listening to The Fragile pretty much constantly.

Somehow, ICP guy got me to download one of their songs. I think the first one was "Boogie Woogie Wu". It took a few listens but I figured it was okay enough, and got The Great Milenko. Despite being obnoxious, I figured it had a better "message" than the vast majority of music.

Because I got ICP, I said it was only fair for him to listen to Tool. He was the only one who had not jumped on the bandwagon, and it was time. He kept saying the usual regurgitated crap people say when they supposedly hate Tool even though they've only ever heard "Sober" or been in the presence of one of the more obnoxious members of the Tool geekdom family. I got him to listen to some songs off Opiate. A few months later, he was listening to Aenima.

At this time, I was listening to a few albums a lot - Antichrist Superstar, Darkest Days, Mer de Noms, and Undertow. I'd had the latter for almost two years at this point, but was just coming into my appreciation of it. The others, I'd just recently bought or found.

The song I brought into 2001 with me was Union Underground's "Revolution Man".

Napster was having issues about this time, and I was wondering if I should utilize the service while it was still running. My boyfriend recommended a bunch of songs over the course of this time, almost entirely nu metal. A few passed my filters but most did not.

I found a live APC song somewhere, "Diary of a Madman", which resulted in me getting the same song by Ozzy. At this time I'd just recently begun writing publicly online, and I appreciated the coincidence. I remembered that I had been interested in discovering more about Black Sabbath/Ozzy before but simply hadn't bothered because they weren't relevant. I got "Paranoid", the song. I said something vague about it online.

My boyfriend reacted that he hated Ozzy and Black Sabbath and it was all crap because Ozzy's an asshole, etc, and therefore I was dumb for listening to them. I picked apart his logic, which he did not appreciate. I think it was the only actual fight we ever had.

At the same time, he said he had a song stuck in his head all day. I asked what song. "Silver Future" by Monster Magnet. WHAT? MONSTER MAGNET? GIVE ME THIS SONG! I got the song, and a few others from the recently released God Says No. Hm. I didn't get it. I wanted to, but... nope, not happening.

I heard "What a Day" by Nonpoint in the early spring of 2001. I was impressed at the lyrical ability of this guy, and got a few songs from the same album. I thought about making a new website and having a feature on it where I wrote about my favorite albums/bands at the time, with Statement being my first one... but I got sick.

And stayed sick.

Lateralus came out. My mind was thoroughly blown. I could have listened to it 24/7...

My boyfriend's last present to me was talking about Mudvayne, their LD50 album I was stuck on for about a year.

System of a Down released their Toxicity album with AMAZING timing with 9/11.

And, suddenly, I was listening to Alice In Chains all of the time. I had a lot of research to do with music, I realized. I'd missed a lot as a kid, and as a teenager, and due to my obsessions. It was necessary to expand my horizons. AIC was safe enough, as I knew them well enough already from brainwashing radio play. I loved the song "Again". I made a background for my desktop, that just read "again and again" over and over. It was great, I used it for years. I'm sorry for my sense of humor.

And "Angry Chair". I was sitting in my angry chair, too. All god damn year.

But then there's "Bleed the Freak", aka Freak the Bleed. Love love love love.

I was pissed when Layne went and died (in 2002). That meant he was going to gain a bunch of post-death groupies, in the same vain (VEIN, LOLZ) as had been with Nirvana, and that was going to be in my fucking way. Sure enough, five minutes later, my ex loved Alice In Chains even though he hadn't to begin with. Nice one.

Anyhow... Napster died. I found Audiogalaxy, and 2002 began...

What songs were popular in the year 2000 was pretty much irrelevant because, by now, I'd quit listening to the radio except in small bursts/by friends, quit watching mtv or any other music channel, and had begun to rely on mp3s and friends to help me discover new (or old) music.

I'm going to do the rest of this by memory, so I may be a little off.

Coldplay. I remember being very surprised when one of my internet associates liked Coldplay's "Yellow". There was no rhyme/reason to it. They didn't seem the type.

This year, I flirted with a guy who liked the Deftones' "Change". One of my friends had White Pony but I didn't feel particularly inclined in that direction yet. I remember quoting "Intolerance" by Tool around him once and he seemed rather confused... Hm, thanks, but perhaps you're not my type.

I don't know if it was late this year or early the next, but whenever it was... the new Staind songs pissed me off. Tormented is a really great album. The next one was okay in places. After that, pure garbage. The acoustic thing was hellish, and then they just made it fucking worse by joining up with fucking Fred Durst of all people. Of all people in the entire fucking world.

STP's No 4 came out close to this time. I was upset and couldn't identify why. Now, this album reminds me of the sick feelings I was having around the time I graduated.

SALIVAL! SALIVAL SALIVAL SALIVAL! I bought that motherfucker. It took three or four months to get to me. I keep it in a safe place, now. Sometimes I take it out of its plastic box and hold it like a baby and sing it pretty songs. And I tell it I'm sorry it's VHS, but I couldn't afford the DVD version. I couldn't afford it, period. But I loves it. It's so purdy.

Also this year, I bought NIN's Things Falling Apart. I built a few websites listening to this one.

Mer de Noms by APC. I heard about this project before it physically happened, and one day my friend told me that the APC songs were on a website. I checked the site out, and they, indeed, had every single one of the songs up online. I downloaded them all. Loved them to death, and was otherwise really caught up in all of the APC hype. It was weird for me, however, when I knew all of the songs well before I saw them live, mere days after the actual release of the record. I felt like I was the only one in the room who knew them... which is altogether possible because kids those days didn't use the internet to enhance their listening experiences yet. Just us computer geeks.

And apparently there was Holy Wood by Marilyn Manson. I got into Antichrist Superstar about this time (would have been earlier but "research" was not easy online pre-2000 aka google/napster), so it was good timing. I liked MM in general, and though Holy Wood never stuck, at the time it was good as a whole product and some of the songs are still nice to visit. Especially "King Kill 33".

I'm sure there were a couple of other albums worth mentioning... but it's way too early for memory.

That said, I can't do this yearly thing based on the top hits or albums that came out that year anymore (hooray, right?) and may stop this here.

Song: "The Desert Song"
Artist: Masters of Reality
Album: Give Us Barabbas (2004)

I've got nothin' for ya. It's good enough, so search away if you don't have it already.

Song: "Eyes & Teeth"
Artist: High on Fire
Album: Surrounded By Thieves (2002)

I watched something yesterday about a lady who could see/taste sounds. She said that deep bass caused her to see black squares.

This song's intro is, therefore, an intricate chessboard.

Song: "Endure"
Artist: Nonpoint
Album: Statement (2000)

I'm posting a different video on the link than here. The link above is to a proper video. This other one is live. Really good video quality and sound, but it's apparent that the crowd is not really there for Nonpoint. In every other video I've found of this song, the crowd has drowned out the singer at the "en-durrrrre" part of the song (like here) and been jumping to the beat the whole time.

Anyway, angst? Nonpoint has some. Great song, one of the best ever. Nonpoint really needs to stop nationally touring with sub-par bands, though.

Song: "Judith"
Artist: A Perfect Circle
Album: Mer de Noms (2000)

Random choice for the day.

Maynard has mommy issues. While that's all fine and dandy, this song tends to make me think more of myself. About when I first heard this song, I wrote a story about a character named "Judith" that was on the topic of this song.

It was for school so I had to take out all of the typical nastiness my stories require, so it became very cartoonish and child-like in presentation. It was about an elf at the north pole who suddenly ran away to California to pursue a career in music. Not an original idea, but it was a matter of the presentation. The whole story took part on stage of a talk show where Judith had to confront her parents and Santa Claus. Through the whole thing, I hinted that Judith was goth and satanic. Cracked me up. I bet my teacher had to look up what a baphomet was.

I turned the story in a couple of days before the last day of high school, ever, so I never found out what kind of grade I got on it... but I passed the class enough to graduate, so who cares? Though it would have been interesting to find out. Wonder what the teacher was thinking... or, if I had been living in some christian town or going to catholic school, what would have happened?

Too bad I never found out. That would have been hilarious.

Song: "Drunk on the Blood"
Artist: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Album: The Royal Society (2004)

Blah. Fucking void of course moons.

Song: "Dear Can"
Artist: !!!
Album: Louden Up Now (2004)

Dear song,

I like you. I wish your band were easier to search. I also wish you were online in a nicely consumable format, period.

I miss when we used to hang out on walks and at work. You were my first favorite !!! song. I think it's because you're crazy. I always like the crazy ones.

Thanks for the good ol' times.

-saturnine

Song: "Freelance Liaison"
Artist: The Whip
Album: Freelance Liaison/Sheep and Goat Judgement (2003)

Just trust me on this: download it from Mercenario. There are some live recordings of The Whip swimming around the internet that are also quite good. In fact, for this song, they're better.

Song: "Planet Moai"
Artist: Tummler
Album: Early Man (2002)

Look what I missed, everybody.

Song: "Memphis Bells"
Artist: The Prodigy
Album: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004)

Here's more Prodigy. It's tough choosing a song between what's on this album because they all are interesting enough and none really stand out in comparison. I thought about posting "Girls" but it would be a little too ironic for this blog. "Action Radar" is nice. The first songs I liked off of this album was "The Way It Is" and "Hotride" but they're both dance covers. But this little song here has the extra bit of bass this blog requires. It's a little too repetitive for more than occasional listening, but if it finds you in the right mood you won't notice.

Last I checked, Invaders Must Die comes out March 3rd... so if you're "Prodigal", be sure to pick it up.

Song: "Fiction (Dreams in Digital)"
Artist: Orgy
Album: Vapor Transmission (2000)

This song is in a huge time-related mix someone made that I downloaded without thinking, which I don't come back to and generally skip through when it starts. A few weeks ago it showed up when I was occupied and not paying attention... and I was taken right back to the time this song came out.

At first, I hated this song. It's a fine means of white noise, but it's just sort of dull. It was played too much on the radio for what it's worth.

After that particular "moment", this song reminded me a lot of when I was 18, particularly the winter of that year... Tough times, but nothing in comparison to what was to come. I found the song ironic versus my experiences at the time. Even now, it's pretty odd looking back at the timing of this song in my life. Just, wow.

And also some crap about how I named one of my major internet projects after a line in this song. That was dumb, because now I'll never escape its mediocrity.

Song: "Whither and Fall"
Artist: Bob Sledge
Album: Do Not Run, We Are Your Friends (2000)

This song wins. The beginning is a bit misleading for the rest of the song, so stick through that first minute.

Also, this whole album is streamed on last.fm, so if you like this, you can easily hear more.

Song: "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered"
Artist: High on Fire
Album: Surrounded By Thieves (2002)

I'm pretty jealous that ungrateful morons in Georgia are given a festival containing a lineup including but not limited to High on Fire, Mastodon, Neurosis, Boris (even though they suck live), Torche... I probably wouldn't attend the festival even if I were rich because, if I were rich, I would have seen these bands more or at all individually, but it's the principle of the thing. Further, I have a show the same day that is one-off, so even if I were rich and liked crowds, I'd probably stay local. It's important to learn what you can when the opportunity arises, rather than beating the dead horse that is High on Fire, Mastodon, Neurosis, Boris, Torche.

Huge paragraph aside, hi. This song is fulfilling on an emotional level. If you have not, please do.

Song: "Capt Midnight"
Artist: Tomahawk
Album: Mit Gas (2003)

Maybe I'm a day late on this being synchronous to collective reality, but oh well. Take it as a sign that I'm going to stop posting anti-cliche songs. Maybe.

Tomahawk has plenty of aggression and apparent chaos on their first two albums. This is a song exception, as it's relatively gentle overall.

My favorite part of this song is "WHAT!", etc. I quote it regularly. WHAT. This part is better portrayed here.

Song: "Weak and Powerless"
Artist: A Perfect Circle
Album: Thirteenth Step (2003)

2004...

Sex and death, best friends forever.

Song: "Gonna Leave You"
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album: Songs for the Deaf (2002)

2003...

Yep, I posted the song before.

Song: "The Patient"
Artist: Tool
Album: Lateralus (2001)

2002...

If I think about it too much, I will still get teary upon listening to this song. Hence why I almost never listen to it.

"This, too, shall pass."

Song: "Silver Future"
Artist: Monster Magnet
Album: God Says No (2000)

2001...

Song: "Seconds"
Artist: Le Tigre
Album: This Island (2004)

WORST VOCALS EVER. EVER EVER EVER.

I suppose it fits in context... but still. AWFUL UGH WHY.

It's worse on record, too.

PS. Please reform, Le Tigre. We still love you.

Song: "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"
Artist: Arcade Fire
Album: Funeral (2004)

The movie The Neon Bible keeps coming on. I keep trying to miss it. The other day I left the tv on while I was doing other things, and I ended up listening to the movie playing in the background... and thus started thinking about Arcade Fire practically against my will. What were/are their good, post-able songs?

Well, here's one. This one snuck in despite the fact that I was listening to Gojira and Monster Magnet's Superjudge a lot at the same time. I'd like to think that means Arcade Fire is good.

Song: "Hoss No"
Artist: Peeping Tom
Album: Peeping Tom (2004)

There are two (or more) Peeping Toms, and this is the stoner rock band from Australia. You will like them if you like, gasp, stoner rock, but this particular song is very classic/southern in feeling. You can listen to a few doomy/darker tracks on their myspace to get an idea ("Shoodabeenrope" is from this album), but other than that this is a download/buy band due to the lack of internet aid.

Song: "Parabol(a)"
Artist: Tool
Album: Lateralus (2001)

I remember in those first few dozen times I heard these songs, the building open between "Parabol" and "Parabola" used to make my day.

Then I remember wanting to cringe because it reminded me of talking to a guy whose name started with P and ended with :(, because I told him it made my day. Didn't make my day too much shortly after that.

This song also reminds me of when I first played with CSS layers, as I was listening to Lateralus on repeat that day. And also because the text I used to play around with were "Parabola" lyrics. The colors in the design were red and yellow. I know, I know. Wrong song.

It's weird that memory sticks so heavily to songs. Or, at least, did.

Anyway, "Parabola"'s lyrics? They are the cheesecake of song dessert. Consume.

Artist: A Perfect Circle
Album: Thirteenth Step (2003)

Oh, Thirteenth Step... How I love thee. And how I hate.

I recall, in a fuzzy sense, where I was when this album came out.

I'd had several years of shit - the last few years of high school were nightmarish, discovering that society did not want me to actually "be myself" at all. This was only compounded by the following few years out...

I met a boy and fell in the love as I found him reasonable and I suppose "beautiful"... only to watch him slowly crumble into a pathetic pile of drug-alcohol abuse and pretty lies. I let things play out instead of taking an active role in what was going on, because there's really just no point in trying to talk sense into an addict, and I couldn't do anything else. I understand misery, dissonance, being out of it socially, needing to escape, etc, regardless of my not understanding why anyone of otherwise sound intelligence would ever default into chemicals.

Mysteriously, a year and a half into things, he disappeared, leaving everything behind but someone to scream at.

Months of complete darkness passed. I then made changes. I attempted to put my head back on straight. This is not an easy task from one of these kinds of "situations", but I was coming into it unstable so I had.. a hard time. To say the very, very least.

A year passed from sudden disappearance, and I found myself with a new boy-man. A year is not enough. A year is nothing. It felt like forever, a whole world between one and the other moment, but still. I went forward, looking towards self-betterment. I had wasted so much time. It was time to deliver, to "participate". I did things. I looked forward, making goals. But after years of shit, the sad little goals I made were still too much. Things felt forced, contrived. Nothing would work. I felt like a failure. I had to go backwards. No, I had to go allllllll of the way back. I couldn't start up again from where I'd left off. I had to start from the motherfucking beginning. Everything had to die.

I recall the moments that I realized that my dreams for myself/my life during my school days died - in tandum with things around me dying, both literally and metaphorically. 2003, when Thirteenth Step came out, I was at the peak of these realizations, everything coming to head. Things were "heavy", everything I came in contact with maintained a sense of poisoned by association.

Watching things crumble and die in 2004 was... infuriating. But necessary. What fucking relief the following year was, this blank slate, like I was "reborn". Like nothing had ever happened. Not school, not the stupid boy(s), not anything... My body changed, my mind changed, my words changed. I was, for once and finally, young.

Nevermind these experiences, I find it interesting my connection with this album, and those who are aware of it. It hurts my mind to think there are people in the world with no real awareness of human extremes, who will go to any length to deny their possibilities or to pinpoint them in black & white technical terms in attempt to make themselves feel safe through separation. Life is not so simple. Your chemical silence and convenient denials will never save you from the truth.

Stay with me
Safe and ignorant
Just stay with me
Hold you and protect you from the other ones
The evil ones
Don't love you son,
Go back to sleep

Edit: That's what I get for writing these things late at night. I forgot to tell you to buy the album.

Song: "Anubia"
Artist: Phased
Album: Music For Gentlemen (2003)

It's really dumb that I'm a top listener at last.fm for this band. Fix this. This song is awesome.

Song: "Gonna Leave You"
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album: Songs for the Deaf (2002)

Despite my sarcasm, I didn't lie.

Back when I first heard Queens of the Stone Age, I thought only moronic fuckers listened to QOTSA. And while this is true, and it does get in the way of band appreciation, it reflects the band itself not (well, maybe, I've only met them in dreams). Back when I wished QOTSA would die, when my sampling of their material was seriously limited, this is the only song that got in and stuck with me.

Why?

"Push it in, Break it off" and "You're out of my high chair, I'm out of your womb".

I'm almost certain that I started listening and hearing that second line when Saturn went into Cancer, even though there was a 9 month buffer between the file datestamp and that time (June 2003). Cancer has pretty much nothing going for it in the way of self-assertion short of reverting to infant models of expression: pointless crying and acting helpless to life/others. Saturn hit my chart when it went into Cancer, and boy did I feel like I was surrounded like a bunch of babies. No wonder the song stuck.

Also, this is irrelevant to my own experience then, but... ladies, no man is worth it. Use a motherfucking condom.

Song: "Miss Alissa"
Artist: Eagles of Death metal
Album: Peace Love Death metal (2004)

I love the first line of this song. Unfortunately, I have to be in the mood for the rest of it. Nevermind the vocals. I used to know someone of the name, and thoughts of voodoo rituals come in up memory.

God damnit, now this song is going to be stuck in my head all day.

Song: "-1"
Artist: Mudvayne
Album: L.D. 50 (2000)

Eve.ry.thing. Sys.tem.a.ti.cal.

I've been quoting this song like that for... going on eight years now. Let's thank the dick who quoted it as "youweretheone" at me before I'd even heard the song. Indeed. Thanks for raping my vocabulary, Mudvayne (WITH SKIN UPON MY FACE).

I want to hate that I (still) like this song, but honestly it's never going to happen. It's been cemented in my brain as Fucking Brilliant, and there it will stay.

Here's a live video without the stage makeup. It's good for everything but the intense part of the song.

Song: "Slut Machine"
Artist: Monster Magnet
Album: Monolithic Baby! (2004)

This song reminds me about being confused about an ex's state of mind. We argued about "sluts", in that he hated them which I found unreasonable, yet when I sent him music he said he liked this song. WTF. It's right in the title, man.

That said, I have an amazing sense of humor for a robot.

Song: "X"
Artist: System of a Down
Album: Toxicity (2001)

Simple, straightforward. Ahh.

I can easily get away with people not noticing that I'm female on the internet thanks to my mostly sexless writing, therefore a lot of problems that arise in real life or upon this realization are gone. But upon the knowledge, I notice anything from a clear shift in focus to negative attention to massive walls going up. Suddenly, everything I say or do suddenly has some "deeper" meaning. I go from merely existing, doing whatever I was obviously doing (ie. talking to people or being present or knowing or sharing), to being apart of people's personal needs/intentions. This one needed someone to blame for their misery, so now I'm a slut or full of myself or some similar dilemma. This one supposedly needed to get laid and/or was lonely and think women solve that (moron), so now I'm their thing of the moment. This one thinks all women are/do ___, so now I'm that. Etc, etc. I have little in the way of patience anyway, but I definitely lose my patience with people who do this. I don't see how what gender I am matters, at all, in any way, but as we all (should) know... the masses are asses.

So, to for once be clear, I don't want to fuck you, and I don't want to fuck your boyfriend, either. If it helps, think of me as an autonomous robot. It's probably true.

Song: "Embrace The World"
Artist: Gojira
Album: The Link (2003)

Too much under-excess, sudden-halted into responsibility and time management skills. No like. This better be good or at least worthwhile, else I'm going to be pretty pissed off.

The irony is that I get annoyed with human beings as a collective whole and listen to songs like this, which according to the video, inspire synchronous humanity. ...Which is a subtle synonym for stupidity. I'm not sure how one is supposed to listen to music, or its relevance to anything, but all the same. The masses are asses. Where's Bill Hicks when you need him.

In any case, this song is great - moreso in the right frame of mind. Newbies to Gojira who have a good background in straightforward metal will enjoy this song immensely.

Song: "You're So Last Summer"
Artist: Taking Back Sunday
Album: Tell All Your Friends (2002)

;)

Song: "Burned Mind"
Artist: Wolf Eyes
Album: Burned Mind (2004)

If this "song" doesn't make you laugh or cry, particularly the fan-fare ending, please consider a psychiatric evaluation. You may be missing empathy.

Song: "Point and Click"
Artist: Tomahawk
Album: Tomahawk (2001)

Doing my research for this song, I noticed that this album came out on a particular day in my history that I titled myself an interesting made-up adjective that fits this album really, really fucking well. Basically, so I don't get google hits from people in my past or vice versa, the word means "introverted annoyance".

That said, I love this band. They can be a little tough to get into due to their eclectic "experi-metal" nature, but it's worth the try. This song is fairly straightforward. It's aggressive, but not necessarily metal as it's slow-paced and a bit quiet. And awesome - did I mention I love this band?

Also, thanks to the wonders of various stupid ideas my local city has, it looks like I'm going to be missing Battles because, all in all, I can't miss a one-off show that is guaranteed awesome. "We" love you, John & co, but a 7pm show when I need to be at the other place by 8pm to make sure I get in because the fucking festival isn't selling motherfucking tickets, idiots, is against the rules. Come back soon - hopefully with Tomahawk next time.

Song: "To All of You"
Artist: CKY
Album: Volume 1 (2001)

Wow, did I sell out or what? Oh wait, I've already posted Korn. And put ads all over. Actually, I'm not sure how I could sell out since I've had ads since the beginning. So.. fuck you, man! Don't judge me! ......

Joking aside, this band kind of sucks. This album taken just as a musical product is okay. I like how heavy in feeling this song is. It's not really to be found on the web except for some acoustic versions (just say no to acoustic nu metal, children) so I encourage a preview download. If you're in an open state of mind, it's just fine.

Song: "Tormento"
Artist: Buffalo
Album: Astroqueen VS Buffalo split (2004)

I saw a video for Astroqueen's "Crashlander" about two years ago (hello Kyuss impression), and proceeded to go looking for the song. It was on this CD. The song itself is fine, but the Astroqueen material as a whole isn't really memorable and quickly passed out of my radar. What has stuck with me are the Buffalo tracks - especially "Tormento".

Okay, and "The Four Horseman" cover (listen at their myspace).

Either way.. just the opening of this song alone is great.

Song: "Paranoiattack"
Artist: The Faint
Album: Wet From Birth (2004)

I saw this band live for the first time recently, just to satisfy any remaining curiousity I had about semi-popular lighter spectrum music. This song didn't really appeal to me before but something about the live experience was intriguing. Apparently I'd missed something (probably having everything to do with the invasion of the Superjudge I had right after I heard The Faint for the first time .... mm, monster magnet... post must not get hijacked...). ..but that happens a lot with this kind of music. I am not one with the prancing sheep. In any case, I came home and listened to it, among others, to analyze. Since, it's been stuck in my head. So I suppose it has something or other. It's certainly energetic. And the "message" is okay in my book.

Song: "Revolution Man"
Artist: Union Underground
Album: An Education In Rebellion (2000)

The video is censored. It's actually "one more time and you'll be dead" and "listen while I load my gun". Odd that they'd leave the drug references galore yet guns and death are out. I guess it had something to do with the times, as my particular generation's anti-heroes are homicidal-suicidal.

I listened to this song a lot towards the end of the year it came out, as well as the beginning of 2001. For being classified as "nu metal" they're really not that bad of a group, musically. If you're not from the drug-induced brainwashed generation, though, you might not like this.

Song: "Woke Up This Morning And Gave Myself Head"
Artist: Phased
Album: Music for Gentlemen (2003)

No link to the song itself and no lyrics, but... Wow. Intriguing name, even more intriguing of a song.

Song: "Angry Inch"
Album: Hedwig And The Angry Inch Soundtrack (2001)

You guys are at the mercy of the random function again. Nevertheless, this is deserved.

This movie can be uncomfortable to watch. If you have issues with sexuality, it's pretty much out because the whole movie revolves around a guy and his sex change operation. Even still, it's uncomfortable due to the love story element. Everything happens to this guy. The surreal musical element just makes it harder. Don't watch this with anyone you don't want to see you cry.

I'm more of a fan of the "Wig In A Box" song but it doesn't fit this blog. "Angry Inch" is heavy rock, as most of the songs in this movie are, however.

Song: "Offend In Every Way"
Artist: The White Stripes
Album: White Blood Cells (2001)

Even if you're not particular on The White Stripes or lighter-spectrum rock, you'll probably like this song. Chances are, though, that you already know it. If you don't, the title speaks for the entire song - it's a down song about being offensive no matter what. Pretty universally resonating experience, there.

Song: "Sleep is Wrong"
Artist: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Album: Grand Opening and Closing (2001)

Not too long ago, a random stranger decided to inform me to listen to this band. Uh, okay. I'd recently asked for recommendations, so I gave them a try.

My first impression was that they sounded like Tomahawk. In other words, they're "interesting". I'm not particularly in the mood for "avant-garde" metal at this time, but I'm sure they get better with time. This song is comparably simple, easy to get into, and actually... really nice.

Song: "Souljacker Part I"
Artist: Eels
Album: Souljacker (2001)

Excuse the whinging at the beginning of the song link - someone doesn't seem to understand the difference between an artist album and a soundtrack album.

Other than that, it's a good, bouncy little song. You'll like it if you like energy and heaviness in your rock without standard whine and/or aggression.

Song: "The Sun Has Turned To Black"
Artist: Electric Wizard
Album: We Live! (2004)

I'll run out of these pretty soon.

This song isn't the best start for an introduction to the band, but is nevertheless worthwhile... for its embrace of lollipops and white unicorns and gleeful, smiling children frolicking about like world peace has finally been achieved. Yep.

Also, wow. I've totally sold out.

Song: "Victim"
Artist: Nonpoint
Album: Statement (2000)

You may have heard Nonpoint before - they became briefly popular in 2001 with the song "What A Day", a hip hop-styled lyrically intense nu metal song. As bad as that might sound in text, I used to love them. Unfortunately, they never really toured outside of their general locale until this year, and their more recent material isn't worth unnaturally expensive admission price or dealing with mediocre rock/metal radio-friendly crap from other bands they tour with.

Regardless, Statement is a good album. At the time I picked it up I didn't care for "Victim", but it has withstood the test of time and several changes in music tastes since then. This is one of the most interesting lyricists out there, and this is one of the songs that showcase his obvious talent.

"But now consequence is coming..."

If this song is too angsty/in-your-face for you, try "Endure" from the same album which is a somewhat gentler, more rock style song.

Song: "Nothing to Gein"
Artist: Mudvayne
Album: L.D. 50 (2000)

...WITH SKIN UPON MY FACE.

I used to love Mudvayne, and this was one of the reasons. Holy fuck. Seeing this song performed live, even swimming in a sea of shit this band has put out since this album and familiar corporate bands' material, was amazing and epic. Singer Chad really put his heart into the performance... to say the least.

Song: "Track 1"
Artist: Tarantula Hawk
Album: Album 2 (2002)

This is both appealing to those that like psychedelic and those than prefer heavier, metal style sounds. Because it's both. It's kind of creepy, as their name might suggest.

I've started with this song because you can sample it very easily on their myspace, and it seems to be an adequate originating picture of what they're like as a whole. This, however, is new to me... so I'm not sure if it's really called Untitled/Track 1 or what.

I originally found this semi-randomly online, so I'm sure their other material is out there somewhere.

Artist: Autolux
Album: Future Perfect (2004)

I didn't know what to think when I first heard Autolux. At the time I wasn't listening to anything particularly heavy or loud, so their material wasn't hard to hear for any reason, but... it's just different. It's very dreamy, soft, calm, stream-of-consciousness. They don't really have "hooks" or super catchy beats. Their work floats in, and on, and out. This is definitely chill-out music.

Some notable moments in this album:

- The layered "shake, shake, shake" in "Turnstile Blues".

- "Robots In The Garden".

- "Plantlife".

Overall, this is a sleepy album. If you like arty, indie stuff, you probably already have this.

Autolux is about to release their second album, Transit Transit. You can listen to the first single on their myspace.

Song: "Blood And Thunder"
Artist: Mastodon
Album: Leviathan (2004)

Whatever it was, I feel better now.

I find it intellectually awkward that I have the transit Venus conjunct Venus in a matter of minutes, and my song post for now is this fucking loud and heavy.

I have Venus in the 8th house... what can I say... "I think that someone is trying to kill me".

"What remorseless emperor commands me
I no longer govern my soul
I am completely immersed in darkness
As I turn my body away from the sun"

Song: "In The Night"
Artist: Floating Goat
Album: Heaven's Burning (2002)

After this streak I won't have anything to post tomorrow. Oh well.

Great lyrical movement going on here. The song itself is pretty nice as well, although it's at least a bit more listener-friendly than the rest of this album.

Song: "Deer Dance"
Artist: System of a Down
Album: Toxicity (2001)

Yes.

Song: "Untamed Chicken"
Artist: Tu
Album: Tu (2002?)

This song has a bit of a slow start due to the fact that it's the first song on its album, but do not be deterred. This is ear candy. I'm offended that the rock portion of the song is so short (2 minutes, 20-something seconds), so repeat listens are necessary.

I dare you to try dancing to this band without getting confused. The whole album is available to listen to on last.fm, so get to it.

Song: "Ancient Delay/Black Vomit" (two songs)
Artist: Wolf Eyes
Album: Burned Mind (2004)

I downloaded this about a week ago from sludge swamp, but I've been behind on my music sampling and haven't been caring much. However, I just heard this and felt it necessary to post.

This is a difficult to describe band and album. Wolf Eyes are musically close to doom/drone, but taking a clusterfuck "noise" approach. It almost sounds like a horror movie soundtrack (real horror, not tiring pop-psychology horror). It's ... dark. These guys sound like they might possibly be out of their minds.

These two songs remind me of driving under high voltage power lines in the desert in the middle of the night, and of a particular Bill Hicks quote: "I feel like a UFO. 'Cause just like UFOs, I, too, am appearing in obscure southern towns in front of handfuls of hillbillies. And just like UFOs, these hillbillies find me equally incomprehensible."

Song: "Pretty Like Drugs"
Artist: Queen Adreena
Album: Drink Me (2002)

I had a dream last night that I found myself singing a bit like this. My voice is deeper and more commanding than this so I was being, uh, funny. To say the least.

Because the video's sound sucks, here's a sample of the track.

And yes, you are at the mercy of my dreams now.

Song: "Control Freaq"
Artist: Felix da Housecat
Album: Kittenz and Thee Glitz (2001)

This is a very simple, repetitive house song. As long as you aren't deaf like I've been this week, the heavy sound of the song once it gets going is pretty powerful and fairly addictive.

Song: "Kick You Right Back"
Artist: The Satellite Circle
Album: Way Beyond The Portal Of The Bone White Rubber Sun (2000)

This band has a stoner rock style of sound with more emphasis on the rock. Nice vocals, bassy, with a touch of psychedelics. Dozer fans will likely love this.

Song: "Perpetual Black Second"
Artist: Meshuggah
Album: Nothing (2002)

I have learned that seeing a band live can make or break my interest and ability to tolerate their sound. This is particularly true with bands that have a very simple or complex overall sound. In this case, the latter. I was hoping a live "picture" of what was going on would help.

The music comes across as a little awkward, especially at first. Certainly cerebral. If you've never heard Meshuggah before, you're better off with the songs on ObZen which are more newbie-friendly (try "Combustion"); you might be okay if you're a fan of related bands already. I tried jumping into this band approximately two years ago in my typical hit-and-run fashion without any base; I failed miserably. As I assumed what would happen, seeing this band lived helped me understand their sound, and now another one of their songs is stuck in my head.

Regarding "Perpetual Black Second": if you don't like radio "metal", you'll like it by default.

Song: "Namaste"
Artist: Floor
Album: Dove (2004)

Another OMG track. But difficult to find thanks to this band having a common dictionary name. In addition to links above, they also have a myspace with a few interesting tracks up.

Song: "Naked Burn"
Artist: Mastodon
Album: Leviathan (2004)

I think this will be my top track for this week... It's good, good, GOOD! As opposed to bad. As opposed to anything other than sheer yay-dom.

Songs like this are why I keep coming back to this band.

"MASTODON is tentatively scheduled to enter the studio in the spring to begin recording its follow-up to 2006's "Blood Mountain". A late 2008 release via Warner Bros. Records is expected."

EE!

Song: "Train"
Artist: Goldfrapp
Album: Black Cherry (2003)

This song is sort of like the The Knife post before, but more traditional. I think it's safe to say that Goldfrapp's music is pretty universally accepted, it having much personality and originality but not having anything really defined. It's "feeling"-based, atmospheric music, but without being totally ambient or obnoxiously repetitive.

"Train" and a few other tracks here have strength. This album makes me think of a girl who's completely lost her mind on a guy. "Train" being only the second track in, is sort of like a tease.

You'll like this if you like copacetic positivity and sex in your music.

Artist: Death From Above 1979
Album: You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (2004)

I was looking at videos of this band, trying to decide which song I would chose to post first... and came to the conclusion that I would have to post on their whole album.

First song, "Turn It Out". Before I knew who this band was by name or sound, I had somehow heard this song. You may have, too. It's very good, but not quite their best. The singer here has a sort of lonely, wailing voice, and the sound itself appeals to the desperation in us all, it being very bassy, very loud, and erratic in feeling. The band is qualified as "dance punk", which gives you more of a picture of what it sounds like. To me it sounds like electronic metal, although I could probably get in trouble with various half-retarded metalheads for saying that.

"Romantic Rights" is a very easy like. The desperate sounds of the track before becomes more upbeat, poppy, feminine. Watch the video, especially after 2:30 minutes in.

"Blood On Our Hands" is, somehow, a very popular song. It starts a little weird for me, but the lyricless part at one minute in is very nice, and the rest of the song afterwards is fine after.

"Black History Month" is the most mellow, quiet track on the album. Even still, it's pretty loud.

"Little Girl" is another popular song. Or it should be, if it isn't. It's upbeat and bouncy in the vein of "Romantic Rights", but slightly moreso because of the rolling sound. You will like this song most if you like this band's kind of crazy, intense sound, but only once in a while.

There are other tracks, but I will conclude with "You're A Woman, I'm A Machine" so as not to spoil the whole album. This title track is soooo nice. Or not nice, for our whiny singing ATM. But it's a great song. It even has decent lyrics (not saying any of these lyrics are bad, because they're not). If you chose to avoid the rest of these, at least get this song.

All that said, this band is sometimes classified as "indie". This band is a lot heavier in sound and feeling than that genre suggests. Similarly, you will like Death From Above 1979 even if you don't care for dance/electronic.

Song: "Hello? Is This Thing On?"
Artist: !!! (chk chk chk)
Album: Louden Up Now (2004)

I didn't really like this song much when I first heard it, but after a while it grew on me. Over-analyzing kind of does this song (or the band) in, though, since you can become obsessed with the different sounds they use that have nothing to do with the song itself.

Yeah, I'm on to you guys. I can just hear the process of it all coming together. "You know what would sound great right here? Jingle bells. Cuz we're totally, like, riding the sleigh of life, man." Seriously, what the hell?

Song: "Flashback"
Artist: Tomahawk
Album: Tomahawk (2001)

I have Mars square (my) Mars tomorrow. Ooh boy, fun and games down at the emotional rape manufacturing plant. Sign up now, get a free punch in the face!

This song is great, especially for varying levels of angst. Have some.