Chihuahuas & Chinese Noodles, a 555records remix compilation

This album is my ace-up-the-sleeve of music. It represents an obscure genre of music but I hold it as the  Holy Grail of  the electronic scene. A mix-match of dance beats, crazy glitch spasms, and nonsensical lyrics will lead you on a journey through an electro-land disaster zone. A few of the songs fall into “breakcore.” To explain breakcore, I ask you to think of how Trent Reznor or Atticus Ross treats a computer. Often it sounds as if the machine is being abused, spouting sounds that seem painfully disjointed, jarring to the ear. If what T. Rez and Ross do is abuse, Chihuahuas & Chinese noodles is all-out, totally illegal, god-awful gruesome torture. I often say that you will feel sorry for the machines that made these tracks.

Not all of the songs are that intense. The untitled Remote Viewer remix, The Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers, Homeward Sounds (Tin Star remix) are all peacefully hypnotic tracks. The same sound repeats for minuets will subtle differences in each stanza. Bordering on lullabies these songs still carry that avant-garde  electronic feel. It’s still obvious that even the peaceful songs have been put through a vicious digital engine.

The albums is accessible because of the variety of songs. The high-intensity glitchy and the low-fi ambient offer a plentiful array of music to suit diverse tastes. I soon found that I had favorite tracks that I put on repeat all day and others that I always skip over.

If you happen upon this album, get it. The quality of each song is more than worth whatever you’ll shell out for it.

Gorillaz. I love them. They were the band that got me to fall in love with music. They are the band that continues to drive me in music.

Gorillaz is the animated cartoon band that was put together by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. If you’ve lived not under a rock then you’ve probably heard of them somehow. They are most known for their song Feel Good Inc. Ring any bells? Well they just came out with another album.

At first glance I thought that this album was more relaxed than music in the past but on a relisten to their earlier albums I found that it definitely made around the same dub grooves as before. The main difference this time is that their seemed to be a lot more synth sounds than usual. It is indeed that what makes everything different. Also this album had a whole mess of featured artist. The Gorillaz have been known to add others into their music quite frequently but I didn’t know that they would have another artist for almost every track. That does not take away from it though. Because of this, the tracks are still plenty Gorillaz but now they have a touch of something different, but not too different. You see? It’s all ok. Don’t panic…Take Stylo for instance. Just like I said, synth heavy, 2 featured artist, but still the Gorillaz. In fact I would argue that this pulled them a little closer to their roots (the style not the synth). Either way it’s good to see the Gorillaz again.

Suggested Tracks: Stylo, Empire Ants, Rhinestone Eyes

Peaches…ah yes…how quaint a name. The album art gives a better preview of the music than the name…unless you connect a few more lines than the average. Peaches is an electroclash artist who works around the sexually taboo (gender and the act) for a good majority of her stuff. Her music frequently goes into contradictions about gender roles in society and it’s not for the prudish.

Her album “Teaches of Peaches” is highly sexual and a fun album. It was the first time that I was introduced to the genre of electroclash which in my experience is a sparse mix of rock and dance music. I don’t have much to say about the album but that is by no means a bad thing. This album has to e experienced by oneself. Digest it fully and don’t whiz through it. I love it.

Suggested Tracks: Lovertits, Fuck the Pain Away, AA XXX

MF DOOM is resident to the fantastic Stones Throw Label where a lot of good hip hop and funk is being concocted. For those of you who didn’t know him before, DOOM wears a mask that was based of the mask in the movie Gladiator to represent that all races and creed can listen to his music…the all races thing really has nothing to do with Gladiator. He has many names, including King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn and has collaborated under many other names. This was DOOM’s comeback album after his album Operation: Doomsday. DOOM’s style is unlike anything heard on popular radio. He uses metaphors that stretch across, in this case, his whole album to get across serious points in a humorous manner. For example in one of his songs, Kookies, the whole time through he talks about nothing but jacking off to internet porn while his girlfriend is sleeping in the bed next to him but if you don’t listen carefully all you will hear is a man ordering cookies. Then again, he does not have the most straight forward lyrics so one does have to listen a little harder than most, but that’s ok, his rhymes are just as entertaining on the surface. This was a great album that was rereleased a couple years ago so go out and find it, it shouldn’t be that hard at all.

Suggested Tracks: Deep Fried Frenz, Poo Putt Platter

So I’m excited, this was the first request ever. Carlos St. John. Not only was this a request but it was a request from his PR team. Don’t know who he is but now I do. So I go to his site. www.carlosstjohn.com and watch the intro video. “Carlos St. John, Brooklyn’s James Bond”. First lines I hear, so the first thing I think is wow what a Douche. But wait, that’s not it! Then starts a voice over of himself talking about himself and how he’s going to save everyone or at least “you” the audience of the video. So at this point I’m just thinking WHAT A DOUCHE. This continues for a little bit and then finally fades in some cool sounding R&B back track to a hip hop song. So I decided to give him another chance. The PR folks also sent to links to some songs of his. The song Again had a sick beat and I loved the sample. His rapping was good, needed a little polish but I liked it. Round 2- his second song I was sent, Crescendo, was also good. Beat wasn’t as good and was almost corny but his rap, although still in need of some added UMPH, was alright. For the mean time, check him out, I hope he matures in sound a little more in the future.

Back story: So you may know the Black Lips??? Well they got in trouble in India by kissing on stage and whippin out some dicks and one thing lead to another and they got the heck out of dodge. Well they ended up bumping into one of my favorites, King Khan and Mark Sultan from King Khan & BBQ Show, who were in Berlin. Over the next couple of days, they slapped some tracks together and gave birth to the baby, Almighty Defenders.

The music from this group is interesting because it’s not what you’d expect from these guys in the style that they do. Sure it’s still has the same rag-tag garage rock feel that you have come to know and love but now it has influences from traditional gospel music, so much so that the band arrives on stage donned in choir robes. The songs actually seldom dips into religion other than the song “Ghost with the Most”. Other than that, the songs traverse upon many a subject and even go into a strange gibberish like drone in “30 Second Air Blast”.

If you like King Khan and if you like the Black Lips, you’ll love this album.

Suggested Tracks: Ghost with the Most, Cone of Light, I’m Coming Home

As I sit here and try to encapsulate what this band meant to me, I can not. For some reason, I found myself in love with this band as I listened to it. Harlem, a noise pop band with roots in Austin, Texas, was able to wonder me with a smooth lo-fi sound and awesome lyric writing. My favorite song, Someday Soon, I immediately started to learn on the guitar. Really I can’t go on about this band because I’m just too excited about them and listening to the res of their discography. Listen to this band. Give them money and your first born. It is worth it if your sacrifice helps them continue with their music making.

Suggested Tracks: Someday Soon, Torture Me, Three Legged Dog, Friendly Ghost

While surfing the webs I stumbled upon this album that was up for free download by the artist. I was aware at the rarity that artists not want any monetary gain for their art so I jumped at the occassion. Out popped elZhi with his album, The Leftovers Unmixed Tapes.

I want to say all positive things about it, sometimes it’s hard to find new good hip hop. He had some interesting lines like in the song Contra and one or two songs had good sounding beats. Sadly, though, I was mostly dissapointed to what I found. All the songs almost ran together for me and too many lines didn’t blow me away. Everything about the album was just too plain. You can check him out, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest him, but try at your own risk. Overall, this album was a bland trip.

Tomahawk is a Doom Metal band. Maybe to you that means lots of lyrics about death, lots of bass, lots of crazy drums, an insane singer and big ominous sound. Except for the last one, Anonymous defies, for the most part, that stereotype. One of the members of Tomahawk went and did a buttload of research of Native American music. After studying its sound, composition, style and whatnot, he brought it back to his buddies and convinced them to make this album. During his research he found that instead of a specific composer being credited, most of it cited “Anonymous” as the source. This album is dedicated to those forgotten Indian musicians.  Essentially it’s Doom Metal doing covers of Native American chants, songs, and motifs. It’s not all hard hitting either; the last track is a sweet, even tender, acoustic guitar session. This band is incredibly affluent with talent and the sound they’ve created is neither pure Native American nor disrespectful to it, I feel.

The songs range from intense , dance inducing cacophony to slow melodic hypnotizing chants. This album will take you on a trip to everything from an haunted Reservation to an ancient Indian pre-war ceremony.

Suggested Tracks: Totem, Sun Dance

This album couples a hectic lo-fi sound with the, sometimes screaming, sometimes talking vocals from the band, then to top it off they add in great recordings from news media, interviews, and other hand recorded instances. The lo-fi quality is a smart choice because it stopped their album from being a bland techno rock album that I might have just looked over. Instead, they add a raw quality that makes their message even more fierce to listen to. Sadly its only 10 songs and short songs at that! I really wish it could’ve been longer, even when I was in the car listening to it, I did a “that’s it” thing…But then again its an EP and its a great one at that!

Suggested Tracks: Bang Bang!, Mediocrity Rules, All That Glitters (Rmx by Rachael Kozak)