Listening to Machine Head's album The Blackening

I love the retaliatory song Aesthetics of Hate.

Poetry about depression + monotone + Moog = Awesome (or scary, depending on how you look at it.)

March of Cambreadth

How many of them can we make Die?

Currently listening to 'Internal Clock, Municipal Orrery' from the Revolutionary Girl Utena Original Soundtrack 03. I'm not up to this point in the series yet, so it's almost an 'spoiler alert'... except I can't be sure what it is spoiling beyond some kind of betrayal, synchronised drumkits and basslines and voices in chorus. Oh, and now there's a bell. Awesome. ...but there are a couple more songs left yet. Spoilers?

The remaining songs on OST 3 are from the Sega Saturn game, you don't need to worry about spoilers there. However, OSTs 4, 7 and 8 are certainly worth listening to as well (you can skip 5, it's half drama CD and half numbers from the musical, and 6 is just a best-of) and 4 in particular contains Missing Link which is probably one of the best songs ever found on an anime soundtrack. And don't listen to 8 before you watch the movie, the stars in the rose garden scene will be better if your body isn't ready for what's coming

Kyle Landry's playlists are now my homework-doing music. his arrangements are unlike any other youtube pianist's, which is why he's such a great inspiration. TehIshter's very good, as well, his arrangements tend to focus more towards left hand leaps while kyle has more speeding arpeggios, although both are still immensely impressive.

http://soundcloud.com/slowonerveoaction-3/the-flaming-lips-i-found-a
http://soundcloud.com/slowonerveoaction-2/the-flaming-lips-i-found-a
http://soundcloud.com/slowonerveoaction/the-flaming-lips-i-found-a
The Flaming Lips 6 hour song. This is actually fucking great.

^ Is there any instruction of how to play it like they did with Zaireeka?

symbv wrote:^ Is there any instruction of how to play it like they did with Zaireeka?

Nope. It's not that kind of project. It's just a six hour song. The only thing Wayne Coyne said was that it wasn't something to sit down and listen to, it's more of a song to live to and do what you normally do. It's meant as a background piece.

backseatjesus wrote:it's more of a song to live to and do what you normally do. It's meant as a background piece.

Precisely what I am doing now... Not sure if I can last for 6 hours though... perhaps take the part one first...

It has been a while, hadn't it?

Anthrax - Worship Music
'Bout damned time this came out. Better than We've Come for You All, but doesn't quite achieve greatness.

Carnivore - Carnivore and Retaliation
Pretty good crossover thrash. The lyrics can be hilariously offensive at times, too.

Cynic - Focus and Traced in Air
Metal meets jazz fusion meets trance. Well...they're certainly technical, I'll say that. And awesome, too.

Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters/In God We Trust, Inc. and Frankenchrist
DKs are one of my favorite punk bands and these are great albums. IGWTI is as close to traditional hardcore as they got, the others show more than a bit of diversity.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Well, it's DEP. What else needs saying? Musical chaos is afoot.

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
Really, in all honesty, there's not a whole lot different without Portnoy. I was expecting much less. A pleasant surprise and worthy album.

Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills
Another dug up from the archives. Still holds up as a decent-if-unremarkable industrial hard rock album.

Kittie - I've Failed You
The girls are still at it, I see. And still doing pretty good at it, too.

Life of Agony - River Runs Red
Take a little New York hardcore, mix in some thrash metal, and just a sprinkle of spooky AiC-like grunge...and you get this great album. And honestly, their only "great" album (Ugly and Broken Valley were pretty good, while Soul Searching Sun was...less than impressive).

Primus - Green Naugahyde
Oh my Jesus, it's about time we got some new Primus. And if you're a fan, it does not disappoint one bit.

Type O Negative - Slow, Deep and Hard and World Coming Down
SDH is one of the all-time great breakup albums (just don't take it too seriously) and WCD is just all-around creepy awesome (just don't listen while depressed). What reason is there not to listen again?

Tankred wrote:Listening to Machine Head's album The Blackening

I love the retaliatory song Aesthetics of Hate.

That song (and album) has a high level of badassery. Good call.

Azathoth wrote:However, OSTs 4, 7 and 8 are certainly worth listening to as well (you can skip 5, it's half drama CD and half numbers from the musical, and 6 is just a best-of) and 4 in particular contains Missing Link which is probably one of the best songs ever found on an anime soundtrack.

I'm listening to OST 4 at the moment. I heard Missing Link earlier in the week, I sort of like it and the remix of Paleozoic Within the Body. So far everything else is okay. I can't say I care for Prophecy of W, the remix of No-One Has Anything to Tell is even drearier than the original, and I've found the remixes of Spira Mirabilis Theatre and Utopian-Past-Tense Incantation to be barely likeable. I suppose Seazer wanted these remixes to sound similar to the duel choruses from the third arc; but I confess I prefer the clearer, natural soundscape of the versions used in the series.
I'm not interested in OST 7 at the moment, and I don't plan on checking out OST 8 until after I see the film so I'll follow your advice on that one. I did get the non-drama songs from OST 5, as a few of these are backgroumd music tracks not included on other releases - I've skimmed through most of it and it sounds okay.

So I just got the new Mandarin-language Twins album 3650 and I'm actually unironically enjoying it... Help me, I think I'm becoming an actual Twins fan.

How long can one ironically enjoy something before the enjoyment becomes unironic?

Bomby von Bombsville wrote:How long can one ironically enjoy something before the enjoyment becomes unironic?

A few weeks at most.

Bomby von Bombsville wrote:So I just got the new Mandarin-language Twins album 3650 and I'm actually unironically enjoying it... Help me, I think I'm becoming an actual Twins fan?

You mean you were not one?? I have always thought you are a Twins fan through and through (that's why I rushed to inform you about the 10th anniversary album design as soon as I learned about it). I was not able to detect any irony in your previous mentions of Twins.... Or I am just being slow?

Not really. By the time you posted those pictures I was unironically a fan of them as actresses through and through. They've always been a likable screen presence and have both improved their acting skills greatly throughout the years.

The music though? Took a bit of time. While I've always thoroughly enjoyed the Twins Effect theme, I've always had a difficult time getting into Chinese pop ballads in particular, even many of the ballads by Faye Wong, who is easily one of my all time favorite artists. I guess the irony comes from stuff like the broken English and the novelty of hearing the girls attempt rapping in this catchy little number.

But I do really feel the need to point out this second video for "Strawberry, Apple, Orange", which had already been one of my favorite songs of theirs when I first heard it accompanied to this much more typical music video. The former video I just discovered a couple days ago, and have been strangely intrigued by it. It seems unfittingly grungy looking, especially for a group as unabashedly clean and cutely bubblegum as Twins. I like it, though.

Interesting, because coming from the place where Twins started their carreer, their image to me is always first and foremost a singing act. Any of their acting career is just "side business" so to speak. So much of the attention is how they perform as singers on stage while how well they act receives less mention.

That's often the case with a lot of Hong Kong singer/actors. I'll always foremost think of Leslie Cheung as one of the greatest actors in film history, but to many of his local Hong Kong fans, he's more revered for his music.

My understanding with Twins is that they were criticized as performers for not being very talented when they first came out. They definitely don't seem like they've been trained as rigorously as the girl groups from Japan and South Korea, but in a way it's kind of refreshing to see a pop group where the focus isn't on pulling off dance moves.

Bomby von Bombsville wrote:That's often the case with a lot of Hong Kong singer/actors. I'll always foremost think of Leslie Cheung as one of the greatest actors in film history, but to many of his local Hong Kong fans, he's more revered for his music.

Not all of them though. Andy Lau is first and foremost an actor and he had many years of acting behind him before he broke as a top singer.

Bomby von Bombsville wrote:My understanding with Twins is that they were criticized as performers for not being very talented when they first came out. They definitely don't seem like they've been trained as rigorously as the girl groups from Japan and South Korea, but in a way it's kind of refreshing to see a pop group where the focus isn't on pulling off dance moves.

This is actually a problem with the HK idol scene. There is just not the same discipline, level of investment and long term look when idols were trained and produced. And it is coming from the production company as well as the artists themselves -- too often an artist only wants to use the singing as a springboard to branch out to other areas like movie making or being celebrity guests or modelling and would not want to go through grueling and tedious dance/voice training for extended period. The best "dance group" that lasted long enough to make a few good selling records was Grasshoppers (and no longer performs now), but their dancing acts is just amateurish compared to even the Japanese male dancing-singing acts 30 years ago. Korea managed to catch up with Japan and even overtake them in terms of creating proficient and well-trained idols in less than 20 years, but in HK Twins is the best the pop industry can copy from the idol model of Japan/Korea. To me it is not that refreshing because it only reminds me of how far behind HK is in terms of developing idols.