Friday Music 17-12-07

Welcome to a new regular feature on Skip The Budgie! I've realised that I don't talk enough about music on here, so since it is my main passion, I'll do a little slot every Friday on what I've been listening to this week, just for fun mind, nothing serious! Maybe I'll offer up some mp3's too but that's a bit dodgy - for now check out their Myspace sites or Youtube to hear the music).

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It's been a pretty mad week for music, or at least my acquirement thereof. Mainly I have been listening to prog band Coheed and Cambria's first album The Second Stage Turbine Blade a LOT. I think it's brilliant, sounds quite a lot like At The Drive In and although most of the songs are made up of the same major - harmonic minor chord change, it all fits together well.

[w:Coheed and Cambria|Wikipedia] reveals that the band's albums narrate a series of comics called [w:The Amory Wars], which is the only reason I can think of that people call them a prog band, because you couldn't have a 'normal' rock/metal concept album, oh no. There are tons of Videos on Youtube, so check them out...

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Staying on a metal theme, Atreyu's new album Lead Sails Paper Anchor is quite different from their others, more rock elements than metal, less shouting more singing and the quitar riffs are toned down quite a bit with more old Metallica style chugging instead. There is also more cheesy singing and it's really not as good as The Curse, which has vampires in it.

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Dark Tranquillity have done it again with Fiction, another gloriously brutal-yet-melodic assault on the senses. Top marks here, but then I am a big fan. Stylistically it's not really any different to Character or Damage Done (my favourite), but I'm always happy to have more songs like this!

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Just to shock you a bit, I had a listen to Burial's album Untrue, even though words like 'garage' and 'dubstep' are thrown around like such cheap confetti, since lots of people seem to be going on about it at the moment. I have to say that I don't think it's the seminal must-have album of 2007, mainly because the bouncy beats and RnB vocal samples really really irritate me. The concept is sound though and it's not your usual Garage fare, as it is very mellow and atmospheric.

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Lastly, I've just finished listening to the BBC's version of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by the late great Douglas Adams. It's been a long, long time since I read the book, so it all seemed pretty new to me. Not as good as H2G2, but then neither was the book!

Friday Music 21-12-07

So Radio 1 don't like this song any more, they don't like the number one of the top 100 Christmas songs ever? Ah well, I suppose faggots are pretty disgusting anyway, give me a good stew any day!

Other seasonal treats I have discovered recently include the epic funk storytelling that is Bootsy Collins' Christmas is 4 Ever (mentioned in a previous post). It is a strange mixture of the usual psychedelic funk and sleigh bells. You can't help but get into it though, some of it is hilarious!

But it's not all seasonal joy in my jukebox, oh no sir! The freezing mornings are seriously jeopardising my ability to cycle to work, so I need some serious motivation to get going in the mornings. Normally I would listen to Drum and Bass, but it is SO cold I've been turning to Heavy Metal instead.

So this week I've been playing Rise of the Tyrant by Arch Enemy, an album of awesome guitar solos, anthemic melodies, chugging riffs and grandiose faux-classical interludes. It is utterly brilliant, and helps fight the cold.

Have a good Holiday, I don't think I'll be back until next year (with music stories anyway)!