Part the third, where I discover things I dislike, and things I like.

Here we go again, I took the weekend off from listening to albums as part of some mental whim (in other words I went and wrote something professionally on Saturday and watched football on Sunday). So today I must update on Friday’s listening. I left my last entry on the ominous possibility of having to listen to a Slipknot album due to a lack of availability of album at 248 in our list.

It took a few minutes to prepare myself for a first run through a Slipknot album in full. I brought up a picture of a kitten on screen, wore bright colours and switched all the lights on, just in case, and dove in headfirst. I have to say I was not disappointed, it did indeed terrify me for three-quarters of an hour. I’m not averse to the odd bit of Metal, Metallica and the old favourites like Iron Maiden are on my iPod. I even like two Slipknot songs. Unfortunately after listening to their eponymous debut my list remains stubbornly at two.

I’m afraid to say that being screamed at for a whole album just doesn’t do anything for me. If I have anger to get out I always find more punky sounds can help me get it out (or shouting at over-paid footballers). I struggle to get past the sheer anger that it gives off, which is the whole point of the record, and therefore never found myself relaxed enough for the music to not be a focus. Normally when I listen to music I’m doing something else, if I like it it melds into the background, I’m relaxed by it, enjoying it just being there. With this album I couldn’t help but keep noticing that it was on. It drills away at your skull like an angry wasp wearing a scary clown mask.

I can’t even pick out individual high points on the album, I’m afraid it’s just not for me. Of course what would Corey Taylor and the boys care? They’ve sold millions of records worldwide.

I move on to number 246 in our long list, Stankonia by Outkast. Described by the music press as a ‘masterstroke’ and ‘ambitious’ this is the duo’s fourth album. A fact that surprised me I have to say, before their obscenely popular Speakerboxxx/The Love Below I could only name one Outkast track, the Grammy Award winning Ms Jackson.

So it was with interest that I loaded Stankonia and pressed play (searched for it on Spotify and pressed enter). It’s ambitious, that’s for sure. The whole album attempts to fuse Rap with futuristic sounds. Synths and Beats dominate the album, giving the sound a very surreal effect. In a one-listen review it’s all a bit hard to take in. So much is thrown at you that I can only imagine it gets better with every listen, that you notice a new element to the mix that you didn’t the first time.

The stand out songs are the two big singles, B.O.B. and the already mentioned Ms Jackson. The first is based on a very drum ’n’ bass rhythm, differing from most of their previous output. But they pull it off well. The song even features a gospel choir in the chorus, a fact that draws listeners in almost every time. The hugely popular Ms Jackson is full of angst, with Andre rapping about the mother of his daughter, it’s full of regret about the problems a relationship can have, and the relationship between a man and his mother in law (a theme more common from Les Dawson than an American rapper).

I have to say it’s probably not for me, I’ll definitely give it at least one more listen, to see if I really can uncover some more of a very complex album. It’s definitely ambitious, and at times that ambition comes together to form some fantastic music. But for me it’s too skittish, never letting itself get much of a rhythm. There’s several ‘breakdowns’ that separate the album, but they don’t ever seem to come at logical points to me.

So we move on, and finally Sugar’s 1992 UK #10 Copper Blue is ready after it’s adventure in the world of downloads. We’re back to albums I’ve never had any connection to before again with album 248. Sugar were an American band that only graced us with its presence from 1992-95. A period in which I ranged from the ages of 5-8, so it’s no surprise they are a new discovery to me.

Their style is very much pop meats rock, and I like it. It’s very uptempo and feels shiny, which is a stark comparison to the previous albums I’ve listened to. But just below the surface it’s far from happy. Listening to it without thinking you don’t really notice anything but if you pay attention there’s much melancholy amongst the hooks and melodies. The album was picked as NME’s best album of 1992, and I can see why.

I liked it, however I sit here afterwards with not a lot to say about it. That might actually say something about how much I enjoyed it, or that after a few songs it began to merge into one. A trait I have no problem with on an album. I shall listen again, next time I might even come out with more to say about it.

250 mentalism, part 2

To continue this ridiculous musical quest Orbital followed Gomez yesterday, I just couldn’t be bothered to write again in the evening. Dance music and me don’t seem like an easy mix, I grew up listening to Green Day and Blink 182 and this still have a love of pop-punk overriding most of my other musical tastes. So the plunge into Orbital’s first record, Orbital, was one sort of into the unknown.

However, I’m not averse to a bit of electronica, the likes of Simian Moblie Disco have wormed their way into my brain over the years so it wasn’t with too much trepidation that I fired up Spotify. And, guess what, I liked it. Q’s description (Proved that hardcore electronica could be popular) seems to be correct, sure it’s a constant stream of electronic beats, but it’s very listenable. It’s an oddly gentle record, beeping away in the background while you work on whatever is important in your life.

I was a bit unsure when I saw the lengths of all the tracks, Desert Storm lasts an epic 12 minutes, but the time flew by leaving me amazed to suddenly find myself on the last track (perversely only 50 seconds long) after what seemed like no time at all.

There are two live tracks on the UK version of the record, including Orbital’s breakthrough song chime. As it’s a dance record it’s not like hearing a raw live rock record like Green Day’s Bullet In A Bible. It’s polished, but at the same time a different version than that you’d have heard back in the infancy of the 1990s.

So, to summing up I would recommend it to you. Hardened dance fans will probably be very familiar with it already, but those of you who’ve not ventured into the synthesised world of electronica will find this a great place to start.

Fun Fact: Opening track The Moebius samples the Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode “Time Squared”.

Next up would be Sugar’s 1992 album Copper Blue, however it’s not on Spotify so the wait for it to download delays its entry. So, with genuine terror I now move on to Slipknot’s self titled debut. Gulp.

Right, here goes nothing.

If you follow me on twitter, or know me in any way, you’ll know I’m unemployed and very bored at the moment. So as part of my boredom relieving process, as well as sporadic moments of cleaning the flat, I’ve decided to listen to every album on Q Magazine’s 250 albums of the last 25 years.

I like my music, always have done, I’m fortunate enough to like quite a wide range of music. I’m not a hardened music nut, because of that this is going to be quite an experience for me, but I’m determined to do it. I figure it might also inspire some writing as well and give me something else to do. So I’m going to try and write at least a little about each album when I’ve listened to it. I hope you feel like reading what I write.

So here goes. The first album to tick off the list (I have made a list, it’s real) is Bring It On by Gomez. It’s an album I’m not familiar with, in fact the only thing the words ‘bring it on’ do to me is make me think of Kirsten Dunst in a cheerleading costume. The album hails from 1998, when I was 11, so it’s not overly surprising that I hadn’t indulged in it before given I didn’t really start buying CDs on any scale until I was 16.

It’s a beautiful album, never straying above a tempo you can describe as gentle. More than one member of the band, not just in terms of backing a lead singer but who the lead is, provides the vocals. It’s a bluesy jaunt through pyschedelia at times, as if Beck had met a few clones of himself and decided to stick to one type of music.

For me the single Whippin’ Piccadilly stands out, starting off as a jaunty acoustic number before being overwhelmed with what could almost be described as an acid trip of synthetic sounds. The album rapidly returns to the acoustic nature of the start with Make No Sound. It’s a pattern that’s repeated throughout, acoustic guitar being overlayed by synthetic sounds and jazz. While musically upbeat throughout you can feel a tinge of depression in the lyrics there’s some pain in here as well as beauty.

I’m going to listen to it again, but this is a one-listen task in terms of reviewing so here’s where we end. Mostly cause I can’t remember any more from it. I like it, it’s a perfect Sunday afternoon record. Beautifully put together to waft you through the day.

Snow, bloody snow.

I love snow, when it starts snowing I feel like I'm a five-year-old going out to the front of the house with the snow shovel to make a snowman. It's a glorious white happy Ben making substance, who needs cocaine?

However when it follows Sod's Law I being to get a little bit annoyed. Don't get me wrong the skier in me is still as deliriously happy as the five-year-old, but it's jading a little when it crops up at the wrong moment every week. In this case, it's reappearing every time I want to make a journey in the car.

I spent four hours in the centre of Birmingham going nowhere a few weeks ago, if I'd been alone I'm pretty sure I'd have gone mad and battered my way out using my Toyota Aygo as a useless battering-ram against the buses that surrounded me. Today I wish to travel down to Oundle to make the journey down to London for the Leeds v Arsenal game less of a hassle. What do I find when I wake up. Snow. Not just the snow we got when I was a kid that looked hard but never settled, leaving you feeling like you'd just had the winning lottery ticket waved in your face for a few seconds before it was snatched away. No, this snow settles, and fast. There was an inch before I could even get out there to move my car to the bottom of the hill.

At times like this I try to take solace in the fact that those around me seem to panic. The sight of a BMW with chains only on the front wheels (it's a rear-wheel drive car) is one that fills me with amusement. That is until I remember I have to get on the roads with these people. The people who crawl along at 2 miles an hour when there isn't much snow around causing massive tailbacks. The people who try the opposite, desperately revving their engine as the wheels of their Volvo just spin and they go nowhere. It's mildly terrifying.

So please, could we all just keep our heads today? It's not the snow that causes the chaos on the roads, it's us. The panicking, the lack of knowledge, they all lead to crashes and tailbacks. Next time it snows, just Google 'how to drive in snow' and suddenly your life will be so much easier. I promise.