BrewBlog

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped

The latest Sonic Youth, "Rather Ripped", is as straightforward record as you'd expect.  Sonic Youth seems to have gained enough confidence in their sound and style to permit a record of mostly five minute songs that get to the point.  I like longer songs and the instrumental ramblings, and Sonic Youth has had their fair share, but this release of shorter and tighter songs is really good. 

"Rather Ripped" gets down to business immediately into the first track and moves along song by song.  "Rather Ripped" has more accessible songs than past releases without giving up Sonic Youth's unique sounds and stylings.  At first listen, one song stuck out as my favorite right away and was worried that the rest was just going to be average.  But I was quickly drawn into more of the CD with each listen.  After a while "Rather Ripped" stands out as being very good.  All the things I most appreciate about Sonic Youth is exhibited and fans will not be disappointed.

Gremlin

Link: No Need to Lug a Laptop When a Gremlin Will Do - New York Times.

This device is the gateway to a music-on-demand service with a twist — you don't need a computer to download music, just a Wi-Fi hot spot. Skip to next paragraph The player, which weighs about eight ounces and costs $300 at Amazon.com, connects to the Music Gremlin service, which gives you access to the more than two million songs on the MusicNET network. Once you have signed up for the $15-a-month service, you can download as many songs as you want, at least until you fill up the device's eight gigabytes of storage space. The music will disappear when you stop paying for the service, unless you buy permanent copies at 99 cents a track.

This is another example of a cool device and service focused on music.  Like I've said before, I love all this technology.  We'll likely be seeing more and more of these types of devices.  We're already seeing integration of digital music players with XM Radio, which is great and now we have this Gremlin.  The future is looking even brighter for music fans.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas

This CD is a good departure from what I usually listen to.  "Ballad of the Broken Seas" is a collaboration effort from Isobel Campbell (Belle and Sebastian) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan).  I was intrigued by the possibilities of these two getting together so I thought I'd give it a try.  The differing vocal styles was tough to resist.  His voice is like a gravel truck and hers more a hang glider in the breeze.  Together, the caravan works together quite well.  That caravan statement was a little lame eh?

Campbell does a majority of the work in terms of musicianship and production but Lanegan's vocal contribution helps make this a really good ride.  "Ballad of the Broken Seas" is mellow.  Much of it sounds similar but it is good.  Multiple listens have given me a better perspective and greater appreciation for the uniqueness of a few of the individual songs, which is almost always true with multiple listens of anything.  But you do get the idea fairly quickly.  This is one of those CDs that you play when you have company coming over or when you just want to chill out.  I'd definitely recommend it just because of how well their contrasting styles works out.

Melvins - Houdini Live

Melvins fans can appreciate the overall contribution to music the band has made over the years.  Although often inconsistent over the years, the Melvins remain among my favorites.  More "on" than "off" the Melvins have an impressive catalog that has supplied me with much listening joy since I became a fan back when "Houdini" was released in 1993.  I saw them live, hated it and bought the CD anyway, loving it.  Since then, I purchased pretty much everything from them.

Now, a bunch of years later, they are giving us a live version of "Houdini" played all the way through.  The lineup for the liver version has a different bass player but Trevor Dunn is more than capable for this effort, considering his requirements for Fantomas.  Anyway, if you like the Melvins and "Houdini", then you have this already.  If not, you're not going to get it.  It's good and is performed very well live.  A few changes work for me and a few do not but it's the differences that make it worth listening to.  What would be the point of having it sound exactly like the studio version.  My favorite overall moment is the opening to "Night Goat".  It has an extended opening that isn't anything special per se, but I sure like the wall of noise for a minute or so prior to the drums kicking in.  Nice.

Ministry - Rio Grande Blood

  Ministry is still around and have been more prolific than I would expect.  Granted, they did the several releases that were compilations and then a CD of remixes and random live tracks.  Even if you didn't count those releases, they have a new release with "Rio Grande Blood", which continues where "Houses of the Mole" left off in 2004.  This is a heavily charged bunch of songs.  I wouldn't say "Rio Grande Blood" has anything new to offer but it does pack a punch and sounds pretty good. 

Many of the songs are faster tempo.  I always like the faster songs and we have plenty of those here.  It's angry, fast, gritty and what you would expect from Ministry.  The political messages are so tiring to me.  I couldn't care less that they hate George W and it's so annoying listening to band after band bash Bush over and over again.  I just don't care.  Sure he's unpopular and think what you want but many of the lyrics are just ridiculous and it kind of ruins it for me.  "Houses of the Mole" and "Rio Grande Blood" both focus heavily on Bush bashing.  Enough already.

Ministry is 100% industrial metal and have been doing it now for a long time.  Their older stuff always appealed to me until recently when I've burned out on their music somewhat.  I've always liked Ministry but they have never been what I would consider a favorite band.  "Rio Grande Blood" will not change that but there newer stuff gives me some variety in my Ministry catalog and will keep me listening for a while.  I'd definitely recommend this one over at least their last two but wouldn't classify it as a "must own" either.

Snow Patrol - Eyes Open

Snow Patrol has been around a while but have just recently received a great deal of attention since the release of "Final Straw" in 2004.  Their latest, "Eyes Open", has as much commercial appeal as it does good feeling.  I purchased "Final Straw" as a risk based on some recommendations and a low price of $8.00.  It turned out to be more than worth it and when "Eyes Open" came around I decided to check it out.  After several listens their new one reminds me a lot of their previous.  I haven't decided which I like better but I'm leaning towards "Final Straw", most likely because of the good memories associated with it.  That CD will always remind me of the long road trip through California.  Eyes open is good though, so it's hard to say which is better.

Snow Patrol is easy to listen to and they don't switch it up too much.  So if you like what you hear on early tracks or on the radio, you'll totally like this CD.  It's mixed really well and sounds great.  There is a mix of slower ballads and some up tempo songs and that seems to work well and maintains a good flow.  Their sound relies much on the vocals, which is what distinguishes them, but the instrumentation holds its own.  Snow Patrol won't scare your neighbors and they won't take you anywhere you have never been but they are good and I would recommend you give them a listen. 

Pandora + Sqeezebox

Earlier this year I was looking for some new ways to discover music.  At the top of the list were four on-line services designed in part to do just that.  I checked them out but will have to admit that it was difficult for me to invest a lot of time evaluating these services.  That said, Pandora was the clear winner for me.  I'm not suggesting that it's the best or anything but Pandora appealed to me and has since stuck.  Pandora evolved from the larger Music Genome Project and has emerged to offer music lovers a wonderful free service.  Pandora defines itself as:  "...a music discovery service designed to help you find and enjoy music that you'll love".

Pandora is very easy to use.  You simply choose an artist you like and Pandora will play similar music based off of data derived from the Music Genome Project, which has attempted to "capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level".  Then, you simply give the songs  that play an thumbs up or thumbs down and Pandora takes into account your preferences as you go, slowing changing and refining your profile for that given station you've created.  Plus, you get to have multiple stations to appeal to your different tastes in music.  I've been using it for a few months and I really like what my station is playing for me.  If you've given an artist a thumbs down on a song, that song will never play again.  Two thumbs down for an artist and that artist will not play again (or is it three thumbs down?).  Anyway, you get the idea.  In addition to the on the fly rating, you can add artists that you like to your profile and it will take them into account as well.  Very cool!

I highly recommend trying it.  Just go to http://www.pandora.com/ and get stated!

Now, on the the marriage of Pandora and Sqeezebox.  Last year I outlined my music setup in a post entitled "Digital Music".  I sang the praises of Slim Devices and their products.  Now, Slim Devices' Sqeezebox supports Pandora!  This is great and I'm pleased to see the integration of two great services.  My only problem is that I have an outdated Sqeezebox so I'll need to upgrade prior to using Pandora on my home system.  I'll eventually upgrade and the $36/year for the service will be a no brainer.  I can't get enough of these innovations.  Keep them coming!

Interesting Use of Satellite Images

The following is from Kottke.org.  Check out the Satellite images showing a Zimbabwe settlement in 2002 and then again in 2006.  International rights groups are claiming these images show the result of serious human rights abuses.  More details are provided in the story.  The thought is chilling.  Hats off to the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences for exploring images for this purpose. 

Therapy? - One Cure Fits All

This looks like a legit post at first glance but nope, it's another review.  I'm so backlogged with the new music reviews.  Hey, I'm not complaining.  I was really needing new music.  "One Cure Fits All" is not readily available in the US so I had to obtain this via import, which is disappointing.  That's how it was with the last Therapy? release, "Never Apologize Never Explain".  Overall I think "One Cure Fits All" is good, but not great.

I've been a Therapy? fan since their second album "Nurse" back in 1993.  They have been around a while and are very prolific with their releases.  "One Cure Fits All" is better than the few reviews I read of it but I don't think it's as good as "Never Apologize Never Explain", which was my favorite since their earlier stuff.  Therapy? typically has some really good songs mixed in with some average songs on each CD.  It's a matter of the ratio.  I really like Therapy? because they seem to always change it up slightly while sticking to their harder edge.  This one has some really good songs.  It doesn't seem to be mixed as well as their other stuff.  The producer may have dropped the ball a tad but it's not unbearable or anything; it could just use a few level changes here and there.  I'm looking forward to letting "One Cure Fits All" grow on me more as I'm sure it will.

Tool - 10,000 Days

Tool has a good new effort with 10,000 Days.  I became a fan of Tool around a little after they were getting really popular with Aenima.  Being a tad annoyed by the vocal styling at first, I eventually came around and was drawn in by their sound and began to like their music.  10,000 Days is more of the Lateralus direction.  Tool's direction hasn't changed much but they do seem to introduce some new cool bits throughout their work.  10,000 Days has the usual strong opening few tracks followed by what I would consider a bit of a waste of time followed by another good song and so on. 

Many times the formula of a few strong and straight forward songs mixed in with quieter, slower moving "noise" works and sometimes it doesn't.  For me, when Tool does this, it doesn't work.  Don't get me wrong, I get it, but doesn't always work for me.  A mood or flow is being attempted and other times it's just a style speckled throughout the regular songs.  Some of my favorite music is like this, some of it is predominantly like this.  But with Tool, whatever mood or vibe I'm supposed to get I just don't.  I get a little frustrated and want to fast forward to the good stuff. 

That said, A bulk of 10,000 Eyes really rocks.  It has many great moments I'll look forward to hearing many times.  Big fans would probably dismiss my claim as simply not getting it, but oh well.  I still like Tool and will buy there future music because I always get a rush from some of their songs.  I'd even say I'm blown away at times.  Obviously, if you like Tool, I'd suggest getting this but if you like Tool, you already have it.  One final word, it's annoying to release new music every five years.  A band could not make a favorite list of mine without being at least somewhat prolific.