I close my eyes and I say goodbye....

1) Acid Bath- 'The Blue'
2) Godflesh- 'Frail'
3) Solstafir- '78 Days In The Desert'
4) Enslaved- 'Clouds'
5) Voyager- 'Surfacing'
6) Zombi- 'Spirit Animal'
7) 35007- 'Tsunmi'
8) Battle of Mice- 'At The Base of the Giant's Throat'

This is a random compilation I put together for a really good blog I visit quite regularly Sludge Swamp.
It's a bit of everyting, sludge, stoner, post-rock, experimental progressive black etc etc, just a lil summin summin for y'all.

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Let's Get Funked Up!

Bootsy's Rubber Band- 'Stretchin' Out' 1976
1) Stretchin' Out (In A Rubber Band)
2) Psychoticbumpschool
3) Another Point Of View
4) I'd Rather Be With You
5) Love Vibes
6) Psychical Love
7) Vanish In Our Sleep

Bootsy Fuckin' Collins. To be fair, I could leave the bullshit blurb there and that would say it all, but my desire to waffle aimlessly to the void of emptiness would not be sated....and that just won't do.
This. Is. Funk. If those three words don't get you reaching for the 'fro comb, flairs and star shades then step away from the vehicle and put your hands on the bonnet! This is Bootsy's first 'solo' album, the first in which he was able to forge a complete album of his own unique brand of P Funk, having previously cut his teeth with James Brown and the daddy of funk, George Clinton. Granted, there are some of Bootsy's trade mark humorous banter on the album, but if you were to strip that all away (but why would you?) it's pure, unadulterated funk.
Bootsy's bass sound is as unique and distinctive any of the guitar gods you could care to mention. His voice may be....an acquired taste but his quirky, goofy and colourful approach is to 70s funk what Snoop Dogg was to 90s gangta rap; for all their amusing eccentricities neither are novelty acts and neither should ever be dismissed.

Though all of Bootsy's late 70 releases are well worth owning, this is his most consistent, funky and essential offering. Even if only to check out the utterly brilliant, truly genius I'd Rather Be With You (I can't praise this track enough!) you must give this a spin.
May the funk be with you...

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The Skye Is Crying

Just heard a very rough rip of the new Mastodon album 'Crack The Skye.' It is very far from what I expected, far more progressive, experimental and ambient than any of their previous works. There are still a few driving riffs here and there, but it's hugely removed from the likes of Mother Puncher and Slick Leg.
> The first track (Oblivion) is sublime, proggy and full of solos, the kind of shit you wish Mastodon would do full time...well, me at least. It took a while for me to even realsie that it was actually Mastodon, I thought I'd been had and that this was just a random (although good) band.
> Track 2, Divinations, is very Mastodonesque. As such it feels somewhat of a let down; the riffs and techniques on show sound so familiar it's as if this song could have come straight from 'Remission', 'Leviathan' or even 'Blood Mountain'...be that a good or bad thing.
> Quintessence is the third offering from the album. Yet again we have some very familiar sounding riffs here, the hammer ons/pull offs just seem to come from another Mastodon track somewhere. It does continue the ambient/mellow feel though, there's even some synth or synth guitar on there as far as I can tell.
> Next up, The Czar....even more proggy goodness! The intro even bears some resemblance to the Space Rock of Zombi and the post-rock ambiance I've come to admire over the last few years. Evidence of even more keyboards/synths. Being a near 10 minute track there are obviously musical twists and turns that I could waste much time explaining...but I won't, suffice to say there's even a Grand Magus 'Iron Will' sounding riff just as the intro breaks....

I could spend even more of my not so valuable time reviewing the album (well, the 6 of the 7 tracks I heard) but I shan't, as I'm trying to sort out uploading some Bootsy Collins shit. I urge all of you to check the album out as soon as it's released (I'm definitely buying this one!) as I think it's one of the most mature releases of Mastodon's career. A huge leap away from the 'Life's Blood' EP material, this is progressive, experimental, ambient and heavy rock all rolled in to one. There seem less and less straight metal passages here, but I for one am not sad. I want more Pink Floyd loving solos, more chilled out riffing and some of whatever these guys are drinking!

I haven't uploaded what I've got for a few reasons:
1) It seems that most uploads are being pulled quite quickly by the label
2) A few blogspots have been sent not so pleasent e-mails about it from the record label
3) It will probably be on a crap load of other sites for you to check out, so it would be a waste of my time, especially in the incomplete state I have it
4) I know 1 and 3 seem to contradict themselves, but fuck you and you're Miss Marple investigations!
5) I'm sorting out some P-Funk for yo asses, so I can't be bothered with it
6) Buy it when it comes out! Seriously, this album is 'wikkid kool hommies'

Out there...

Zombi- 'Spirit Animal' 2009

1) Spirit Animal
2) Spirit Warrior
3) Earthly Powers
4) Cosmic Powers
5) Through Time

Wikipedia and journalists alike describe the genre of this band 'Space Rock.' I suppose that's as apt a term as you'll come across. The way I described them to a friend was "Imagine if a progressive post-rock band were transported back to the 70s and decided to make trippy, far out albums but Vangelis offered to play keyboards.....and Cheech an Chong catered." It's hard for me to quantify this band (actually just two people, one on drums the other on bass/synth) as the space rock genre has, thus far, been an unknown entity to me and this is my very first introduction. When listening to the album I can't help but visualise, not necessarily specific images, more like the visualisations you get on Windows Media Player; colours, shapes and swirling masses of....stuff. I also imagine it to be a soundtrack to a particulalry brilliant 70s sci-fi/horror film. If I were ever to make such a film, I'd get these guys to swathe my worthless footage in loving arms of synth, psychedelia and 'space.'
Enough waffle, simply put this is another album to lose yourself in. You could quite easily put it on in the background whilst working on your computer, whittling some wood you found out back or even making love to a beautiful man/woman/animal/vegetable/mineral, and it would never intrude on your activities, simply leaving you with a warm and pleasent memory of what you'd heard. However, if you really listen to it, actually sit down and give the album the time it deserves then you too will get lost in it's wonder.
So, once more, turn the lights off, pour yourself a drink of your favourite tipple, roll a fattie, get naked or do whatever it is you do to chill out and lose yourself in sapce....

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MySpace Samples

I've got chills, they're multiplying...

1. Main Titles (3:42)
2. Blush Response (5:47)
3. Wait For Me (5:27)
4. Rachel's Song (4:46)
5. Love Theme (4:56)
6. One More Kiss, Dear (3:58)
7. Blade Runner Blues (8:53)
8. Memories of Green (5:05)
9. Tales of the Future (4:46)
10. Damask Rose (2:32)
11. Blade Runner (End Titles) (4:40)
12. Tears in Rain (3:00)

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die."

After listening to the Conan OST almost obsessively for over a week I thought it was time to give something else a spin. For an unknown reason I thought to d/l this sound track, probably because I seem to be in more of an 'ambient' kinda mood. Simply put, this album, much like most of the film itself, gives me chills.
Synth music like this is probably maligned and stigmatised by most folk for being dated and cheesy; all I can say to that is in that case Beethoven is outdated, classical music is cheesy and stale. It annoys me so much that people dislike a certain type of music because 'It sounds dated.' Dip shits, all music (as all art) is dated and all art is timeless, get over your childish and social hang ups about everything old being of no worth and only the now being 'hip.'
Richard Corliss said something along the lines of 'Nothing ages so quickly as yesterday's vision of the future.' I said something fairly similar, along the lines of 'Nothing means less than half baked, horse shit sound bites.' Spooky, huh?
Sod 'em all, turn the lights off, the music up and escape into a world of synth.

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Sailing the Seas of Cheese

I've officially decided there is all together too much damn music out there in the world. The internet is seething with stuff I'm longing to check out. The problem is that there just isn't enough time, even for someone with as little going on in their life as me. I just can't take it all in and actually process music nowadays, there's so much music stockpiling in my collection I can't give it the time and attention it truly deserves....there's just too much good music out there!
Couple that with all the shit that's out there too and it can be quite daunting; I often sit up at night worrying that there must be so many absolutely killer, shit hot releases out there by obscure bands and I'll never get to hear them. The best album in the world is out there and I'll never find it....
Somewhere, somehow, someone has committed to tape (well, mp3 most likely) the ultimate Blackened Death Funk album ever and I shall never hear it. Equally, in a small bedroom three friends have just put the finishing touches to their Progressive Thrash Jazz band's magnum opus and it shall never grace my ears.
It was all so much simpler when I didn't have the internet...or, to quantify, when I didn't have broadband. Back in the day when it would take the best part of a fortnight to download a single song (where it would have been quicker for me to receive the information by overweight, asthmatic carrier pigeon) I had time to savour the music, the opportunity to pour over the intricacies of the slap bass and gravity blasts, time to salivate over the arpeggiated sweep picking and triple vocal harmonies. Now, in the age of my terabyte hard drives and being able d/l a double album in the space of 10 minutes, I find myself cataloguing it, changing the track names to suit my OCD of everything being in the right order and filing it away with hours of other stuff I haven't got the time to listen to because I'm too busy d/l more.
Fuck the internet, fuck this on demand life and fuck my inability to spend more than five minutes listening to music that actually excites me.

Daft Punk

I'm a bit undecided about the Punk's discog, some of it is funky as Bootsy Collins in a bath full of lava lamps and yet they can sometimes come across as really cheesy euro-pop shite. Either way, when they're hot, they're shit hot, so here are a couple of YouTube videos of interesting mashups featuring their work. Mainly cos I like them, also cos I'm lazy and it means I can post stuff without doing any real work....

This is taken from a live show the duo put on in 2007. It's a mashup of Around the World and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. It's a really good song, and the crowd seem to be going ape shit.
Righteous.


This one is just a remix of Harder, Better.... with Outkast's Roses.
Representin'

MegaDriver

Another band that plays metal versions of classic game themes, this time, the guys focus on Sega games (hence the name.) I never knew this niche genre was so popular, or taken quite so seriously. This band (and it's a full band this time) have a very professional looking website and all their releases are polished and sound pretty damn good. Their latest release is a full length CD of Sonic The Hedgehog themes, which sound very very good. Their impressive Discography boasts more themed releases with Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Shinobi etc etc. My personal favourite has to be either Ken's stage music from Street Fighter II (I remember playing the game on that stage just to hear the song which I really liked, even as MIDI!) or the various Streets of Rage tunes, simply because the game was so damn good. Personally I prefer these fellows to The Plasmas I posted last time simply because I used to have a Megadrive and I can actually remember most of these songs.
Instrumental, fist pumping, metal nostalgic goodness!

Their entire discography is available for free download directly from their website but here are a few samples to get you going:
> Sonic Chemical Zone
> Street Fighter II: Ken Stage
> Altered Beast: Rise From Your Grave

Website:
http://www.megadriver.com.br/site.cgi
(try to spot the ridiculously out of place Brujeria t-shirt. Decapitations and Mega Drive themes, a natural progression)
MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/megadriver

Nintendoooooo

I found this 'band', The Plasmas, whilst browsing another blog, checked his MySpace page and he's got three albums up there, free for d/l. It's a one man band, from what I can tell, and he plays instrumental metal versions of classic video game themes and songs. If there is anything better than that, I'll be damned. It's not the usual shite reworkings of game themes with badly played guitar and horrendous production, it actually sounds good!
So here they are.

2008- Noentiendo

1.- KILLER INSTINCT
2.- KIRBY GOURMET RACE
3.- CONTRA (Feat. DUANE of "The Adventures of Duane & Brando")
4.- DR. TETRIS
5.- LINK IN THE FIRST DUNGEON
6.- SUPERMARIO
7.- MAVERICK HUNTERS
8.- CASTLEVANIA
9.- STARFOX
10.- X IN THE FORTRESS
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2008- Extreme NES Terror

1.- GHOSTS 'N GOBLINS
2.- DESCENT
3.- DOOM CASTLE
4.- GOLDENEYE
5.- THE WILY WARS
6.- BIRTHDAY BUBBLE BOBBLE BLOWOUT
7.- ACTRAISER
8.- T.M.N.T.
9.- KUNG FU V SHINOBI
10.- MEGAMAN
11.- RYTHMIC HALLUCINATION
12.- DOOMED DUKE
13.- MORTAL KOMBAT
14.- TERRANS OVER THE UNIVERSE
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2009- NES Cult Armageddon

1.- IN LALIVERO THE CULT BEGINS
2.- TROUBLES IN ABEL CITY
3.- ICE CLIMBERS
4.- METAL GEAR
5.- ZERO AGAINST NEO ARCADIA
6.- KID ICARUS
7.- KING BOWSER'S EVIL CASTLE
8.- CULT AT THE MILLENARIAN FAIR
9.- SIMON'S QUEST
10.- ADVENTURE ISLAND
11.- THE ULTIMATE TEAM
12.- SONIC THE BLUE HEDGEHOG
13.- DEMON'S CREST
14.- THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
15.- TE(GRIND)TRIS
16.- K.O.N.G.
17.- FINALLY THE CULT IS EARTHBOUND
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Utah Saints- Lost Vagueness 12" Mixes

1) Lost Vagueness (Oliver Lieb Main Mix)
2) Lost Vagueness (Josh Wink Deep Dub Mix)
3) Lost Vagueness (Josh Wink Deep Interpretation Mix)
4) Lost Vagueness (Oliver Lieb Dub Mix)

I first heard this song, must have been 2000 I think, on XFM, way back in the day when they played some good music. I only recently remembered the track when I stumbled across a mix of it on YouTube (video bellow) and immediately set about scouring the interwebs trying to find it. Low and wide, high and narrow I searched and couldn't find the bleeder, until very recently. Thanks very much to the original ripper and uploader for letting me rediscover this brilliant track. According to Wikipedia (which I've already asserted as the foremost bearer of truths) the song 'features' Chrissie Hynde*. I'm assuming this is on vocals but they're so processed and there's too many effects on them for me to confirm or deny this.
So, for your aural pleasure, here is the only version of it I've been able to track down, the Lost Vagueness 12" which features 4 remixes of what is a grade A, certified 'CHOON'!

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E22D89LU

*which, incidentally, reminds of another single from around the same time that XFM played a bit (and I quite liked), Hybrid's remix of the Pretender's song 'Kid', released as 'Kid 2000' with reworked vocals by the aforementioned Ms. Hynde. I'll have to dig that one out too.

Conan The Barbarian OST

1. Anvil Of Crom
2. Riddle Of Steel / Riders Of Doom
3. Gift Of Fury
4. Wheel Of Pain
5. Atlantean Sword
6. Theology / Civilization
7. Wifeing (Love Theme)
8. The Leaving / The Search
9. Mountain Of Power Procession
10. The Tree Of Woe
11. Recovery
12. The Kitchen / The Orgy
13. Funeral Pyre
14. Battle Of The Mounds
15. Death Of Rexor
16. Orphans Of Doom / The Awakening

Download:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XEIF9F9P

Bit of a change of pace here but I simply cannot stop listening to this. It's epic, sweeping, emotive, chilling and rousing, every time I hear it I am immediately transported back to my childhood, huddled in front of the TV watching the film on a tape copied from ITV.
According to Wikipedia (the bastion of truth and all knowledge):
"Originally, producer Dino De Laurentiis had planned a soundtrack of pop music for the movie, but was eventually persuaded by Milius to use a full orchestral score. For this purpose, Milius hired Greek-American composer Basil Poledouris, a former classmate from the film department at the University of Southern California, and tasked him to make "a continuous musical drama." The result was a choral and orchestral soundtrack that fills nearly every moment of the film, with pronounced use of leitmotifs to portray mood and character."
Each 'song' is the scene it is taken from. Do not miss this

Misery's Omen- Hope Dies

1) Hope Dies
2) And The Stars Bled
3) Death Lily
4) That Which Lies Beyond
5) Fiendish Ghoul
6) A Cobbled Path
7) Celestial Trinity
8) Planes Of Gold
9) Desecrated Icon In Ruin
10) Ancient City Of Cyclopean Fear

Download:
http://rarme.com/?HopeDies (MU)
Password:
www.thrashmageddon.com
Size:
75.2 MB
Bitrate:
192 kbps

Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/miserysomen

Another release from last year that I'm still listening to and another d/l from an original post of mine on a music forum, so sadly there is a password again.

Black metal.....but not as we know it. This Australian band play a skilfull blend of progressive and doomy post-black metal. I know, I know, sometimes trying to pigeon hole bands and their sound is pretty pointless. Anyway, as it stands I really like the mesh of styles.
As you might be able to tell as the blog evolves, I do like some of the more 'experimental' bands, ones that mix solid styles (that I equally love) and genre's pre-existant sounds with the more unexpected. Be it jazzy death metal, ambient drone doom or (like this) progressive black metal with post rock tendancies, I love it all.
A much over looked and criminally under rated band, give them a try, you might just like it!

Capricorns- River, Bear Your Bones

1. Broken Coffin Of The Venerable King
2. Seventh Child Of A Seventh Child
3. Tempered With The Blood Of Beasts
4. November Suicides
5. Owing To The Fogs
6. The Bells Rang Backwards
7. A Savage Race By Shipwrecks Fed
8. Drinking Water From The Skull Of A Hanged Man

Download:
http://rarme.com/?Cap-RBYB (MU)
Password:
www.thrashmageddon.com
Size:
68.2 MB
Bitrate:
192-320 kbps (mostly 320)

Another of my posts from a music forum, so there's still a password for the rar file.

I love this band, they play a, moslty, instrumental sludgey mix of stoner doom that appeals greatly to me. This is their 2nd full length release and comes from 2008 and although I don't think it's as good as their debut LP, it's still really good stuff. It sounds as if a group of guys went into the studio, smoked a fatty and laid down some perfect stoner sludge.
With a rhythm section boasting former members of Orange Goblin and Iron Monkey it's no wonder this band is tight and quite frankly brilliant! What's more they hail from good ol' London Town.

Ashdautus- Shadow Plays...

1) Intro
2) Entourage Of Apathy
3) Lightless Horizon
4) Veiled Wombs...Smashed Like Glass
5) As The Vile Must Digress
6) The Death Of Remorse
7) And You Will Shed Tears Of Scarlet
8) Tremble As Your Heaven Falls
9) Eyes To A Headless Procession

Download:
http://rarme.com/?Ash-ShadowPlays (MU)
Password:
www.thrashmageddon.com
Bitrate:
128 kbps
Size:
35.1 MB

To get the ball rolling here is a post I made on a music forum I upload to. As such the rar file is password protected (see above for p/w.) A few of my early posts will be similarly protected but in future they won't be, so just grin and bear it. It's my link and my original and shitty review:

"Proof, if it was needed, that there is far more to US BM than Xasthur and Leviathan; while they deal with the more atmospheric, depressive element of BM, this band deal with "real" Black Metal. It's refreshing to hear an actual BM 'band' (instead of the 1-man projects) hailing from the US and it's a nice change, for although the album is raw and brutal, the liveness of it all adds a reassuring human element to the proceedings. Add to that the seeming lack of keyboards (save maybe the intro) and this seems to be getting back to what Black Metal is really all about. There are a few acoustics in there and a couple of more 'melodic' and contemplatively depressive breaks in the songs, but they are never over done and over all this is a hatefull and harsh album.
In the over saturation of the today's Black Metal market I see this as a shining example of how the original sounds and energy of the movement still have their place but with a modern edge. Though I'm sure some of you who are only into the kvlt stuff won't like this, but for me I can't stop listening to it.
As a quick word on the vocals: fuck. The guy sounds as if demons are tearing to get out of his throat. As another reviewer put, the album "[is a] noxious cocktail of pure, unabashed agony." Truly 'Tremble As Your Heavens Fall'!"

This is Black Metal as it should be, cuastic, abbrasive and harsh. This isn't for the dabblers!

First Post!

So here is the first post (hopefully of many) on a blog that will showcase some of the music that I love and think should be put out there for others to hear. It won't be confined or retrained by genre, movement, critical or public opinion or era, simply music I like/respect or whatever else I chose to post.
I know there are thousands of similar blogs out there and that this will probably act as naught but a drop of diarrhea in the shit stained toilet bowl ocean of the internets but hey, I've got nothing better to do!