Snowed in and listening to music. Let’s see what the shuffle brings. And hey, you know what? Who says these mp3 shuffles have to be ten songs? I’m going to twenty this time. In honor of the twenty inches of snow on the ground. Wouldn’t it just be a yuk-yuk if Black Sabbath’s “Snowblind” came up?
- Goldfrapp – Koko
- Tosca – Chocolate Elvis
- Nobody – After the Summer Hits
- Masters of Reality – King Richard TLH
- Rob Crow – Over Your Heart
- Chumbawamba – Give the Anarchist a Cigarette
- 16Volt – Blackbird
- Morphine – Hanging on a Curtain
- Econoline Crush – By the Riverside
- Niyaz – Nahan
- LCD Soundsystem – Yr City’s a Sucker
- Verdi – Rigoletto: La Donna e Mobile
- Kula Shaker – Ol’ Jack Tar
- Nine Inch Nails – 14 Ghosts II
- Mission UK – Run
- The Knife – Heartbeats
- Joe Beats – Doing the Nothing
- B. Fleischmann – Nightly
- Nobody presents Blank Blue – All the Shallow Deep
- Mozart – Symphony no. 29 in A Major, K. 201: Allegro Moderato
Random thoughts to go with a random shuffle:
Leaning towards electronica again, I see. I was just telling someone that I’ve really been listening to more of that than anything else this past year or so. And I’m sure meditation purists would scoff, but I find that nothing makes it easier to let my thoughts flow while I step back and just observe them than putting a techno song on repeat, especially while I’m on the road. If I’ve ever had any brilliant thoughts or insights, they’ve probably come from doing that. I know at least a couple posts in recent months came after mornings spent listening to Joe Beats and NIN.
In a just world, Eric Powell of 16Volt would be as well-known as Trent Reznor. Not that I’m knocking Reznor, of course — the thirty-six Ghosts I-IV downloads were a hell of a release, and “The Four of Us Are Dying” from The Slip (given away for free on his website) was a song that helped me through some rough times last year. Big ups for both of them.
Goldfrapp and Rob Crow were probably my best discoveries last year. I knew of Crow’s work in Pinback and loved it, but after playing his solo records into the ground, I started listening to his many side projects too. Where does the ultra-prolific mofo find time to eat and sleep?
“Hanging on a Curtain” was really the song that got me hooked on Morphine (ba-dum-bum-tssh). I don’t know if a band’s name has ever been better suited for their music. Funny enough, it was a snowy day in February one year when I remember really digging into them and just wallowing in their “low-rock” sound all that day. Good times.
Nobody, a.k.a. Elvin Estela, just blows me away. I don’t even know how to fairly encapsulate his output. It’s like a kaleidoscopic mix of electronica, world music, shoegaze alternative, and who knows what else.
I don’t care if The Knife’s “Heartbeats” is sugar-coated Swedish electro-pop candy. That fucking song is addictive. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
How the Masters of Reality aren’t one of the biggest bands in the world is further proof that there is no God. Twenty-plus years into it and still writing great songs, and Chris Goss’s voice still sounds excellent. After almost two years of delayed release and numerous false hopes, I was beginning to wonder if fate was determined to prevent me from ever getting their latest release, but after a comedy of errors between me, their Dutch record company, and the U.S. postal service, I finally got it in October. Worth the wait? Of course.