I think everyone in my group has gotten my swap #2 CD and had a chance to listen to it by now. If not, you can decide whether you want to wait to read this post.
The cover art is a screenshot from this site, where you can make your own similar designs.
1. Nobuo Uematsu - Opening/Bombing Run
The name Nobuo Uematsu is revered among video gamers. He's the original soundtrack composer for the Final Fantasy series, among other things. It's my opinion that the FF7 soundtrack is the best in the series to date, even though, technology at the time being what it was, it's still a bit more obviously electronic than I'd like. This song plays over the game's opening scene. For the first minute, the camera moves through the city in which the first part of the game takes place, giving you an idea of where you are. At around the point where the music changes, you gain control of your main character, who's assisting a revolutionary group on a mission to destroy a power plant. (Don't worry, it's an Evil power plant.)
2. OneUp Studios - A Hero's Judgement
The liner notes for Time & Space urge the listener to "appreciate it for what it is: good music", without regard for the fact that it originally came from a video game. This track is originally from the SNES game Chrono Trigger. It plays during the trial of the main character, Crono, who's been falsely accused of kidnapping the princess (also a member of your party).
3. Juno Reactor - Mars
Juno Reactor makes some good music. Some of their songs have vocal samples, but never any real lyrics. I usually prefer the ones with no words anyway. Beyond the Infinite is, in general, a bunch of songs with an outer space theme.
4. Aphex Twin - Girl/Boy Song
Anyone who says electronic music isn't real art hasn't heard this song. Just because he's not actually playing those drums himself doesn't detract from how amazing it is. I've had this MP3 for a long time, but I actually only bought the album recently, so I could use it for this swap. I like some of the other songs, but not as much as I'd expected to. Some Aphex Twin fans seem to prefer his earlier work, so if you want an album, maybe that's the way to go.
5. KMFDM - Risen (lyrics)
I own eight KMFDM albums, more than any other band in my collection. I wouldn't say they're my favorite band, but I would say that their albums have never disappointed me. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to call 1995's Nihil their best album to date. But if you just like this song, you'll probably like the album it's on, Attak, as well. I have a feeling that this song may be a mock call to arms in parody of the heat the band took after the school shooting at Columbine, due to the fact that the shooters apparently liked their music.
Fun facts: KMFDM does not stand for "Killing Madonna Fans Doesn't Matter", "Kill MotherFucking Depeche Mode", or any of the other bizarre things you may have heard, though many fans may share those sentiments. 1993's Angst, however, included a song called Sucks, which featured lyrics such as "We don't like Michael Jackson / We hate Depeche Mode / We don't care for Madonna / or Kylie Minogue", which is surely not a coincidence. On the web site, the frontman, Sascha Konietzko (the only person who's always been a member of the band, though some others come and go), claims that KMFDM stands for "Kein Mehrheit Fuer Die Mitleid", which, if you speak German, you'll know makes absolutely no sense. It ought to be "Kein Mitleid Fuer Die Merheit", which means "No Pity for the Majority", and which is what Sascha actually says in this interview. In 2000, following 1999's Adios, KMFDM's supposed "farewell album", Sascha formed a "new band" called MDFMK, which stood for nothing at all besides being a reversal of the letters in KMFDM. MDFMK released one self-titled album, and KMFDM is now alive and well again, so if you ask me, it was probably just a publicity stunt.
6. George Boole & The Toggles - Voyeur
This track comes from a compilation CD my college put together in 1997 to showcase music made by students and faculty. I'd assumed that GB&T had eventually fallen apart like most college bands, but a web search revealed that they're still making music as boole, which is not nearly as cool a name if you ask me.
7. Soul Coughing - Unmarked Helicopters (lyrics)
You may have heard Soul Coughing before on the radio or MTV -- probably Circles or Super Bon Bon -- but nearly every one of their songs is better than okay, so you owe it to yourself to buy an album. All three of their albums, in fact. And since I know you'll do that, I gave you a song that doesn't appear on any of their albums. It was written for Songs in the Key of X, the X-Files TV show soundtrack CD, and while it's a little darker and more X-Filesish than most of their work, it's still Soul Coughing.
8. A Perfect Circle - Thinking of You (lyrics)
Yes, A Perfect Circle's vocalist is Maynard from Tool. He's also credited with writing the lyrics, but not the music, which was all written in advance (sometimes years in advance) by guitarist Billy Howerdel. If you're a Tool fan, this album is worth the price of admission. Not as good as Aenima, better than Lateralus -- not that that's saying much. Apparently another APC album is in the works.
9. Faith No More - Everything's Ruined (lyrics)
It turns out Faith No More wrote other songs besides Epic. This one's from a whole different album entirely.
10. Blind Melon - Seed to a Tree (lyrics)
It also turns out Blind Melon wrote other songs besides No Rain. I really think this band never got the attention they deserved. They knew how to make music, and they helped me survive high school. No telling what they might eventually have done if their lead singer hadn't died of a drug overdose.
11. The Get Up Kids - Stay Gold, Ponyboy (lyrics)
When I think of emo, I think of The Get Up Kids. The name of this song is a reference to The Outsiders, but I don't think the story in the song has a whole lot to do with the book.
12. Far - Water & Solutions (lyrics)
This seems to be one of those albums you have to listen to several times before you really get to appreciate it. I'm still working on that, actually. But I like this song.
13. The Toasters - I Wasn't Going to Call You Anyway (lyrics)
The Toasters are about the only ska in my collection. It's not that I don't like ska, I just don't know what's good. Hard Band for Dead is actually not my favorite Toasters album, but after I lost my taped copy of the album that was, I couldn't remember its name, and ended up buying this instead.
14. Yoko Kanno - Want It All Back (lyrics)
There was a song from Cowboy Bebop on my last swap disc, and if I do another one, there will probably be one on that too. The soundtracks (there are several of them) are good enough and diverse enough. This song is on eponine's disc for this swap too, but since we're not in the same group I figure no one will mind.
15. Clutch - Open Up the Border (lyrics)
As with Cowboy Bebop, I can and probably will put a Clutch song on every swap disc I make. Their music and lyrics are fantastic. If you like this song, I can definitely recommend the album, Pure Rock Fury.
16. Downset - Pocket Full of Fatcaps (lyrics)
This song is about writing graffiti. It's partly history and experience, and partly a lecture both to people who dislike the art form and to its current practicioners. A "fatcap" is a nozzle for a can of spray paint which has been modified or specially manufactured to give a wider spray. The idea is that you can cover more area in less time, although in my experience it also uses up paint at an incredible rate. That and other graffiti terminology you may need to know to understand this song are covered in this glossary.
17. Fugazi - Bed for the Scraping (lyrics)
Despite (and because of) their fierce independence and anti-commercial philosophy, Fugazi is a big name in the punk/hardcore scene. Some other fans may disagree, but I would definitely call Red Medicine, the album this song is from, my favorite Fugazi record. It's like a tightly-wound ball of everything that's great about their music. Don't dismiss them just because you don't like punk; many of their songs are more ponderous or more experimental than the usual punk fare, especially those on this album.
Fun facts: Fugazi's lead singer, Ian MacKaye, is generally credited with having coined the term "straightedge", from a song called "Straight Edge" he wrote in the mid-'80s when he was the lead singer of Minor Threat, another punk band. Check out this short Rolling Stone piece on Fugazi for other interesting information.
18. The Suicide Machines - Speak No Evil (lyrics)
This is one time when it probably would have been better to follow LadyJ's philosophy of including more than one track per band. Most of The Suicide Machines' faster songs are like this one, but some of their more moderately paced songs have a unique ska/rasta influence which you don't get to hear here.
19. At the Drive-In - Heliotrope (lyrics)
I don't have a whole lot to say about ATDI. This is another album I think you have to listen to several times before you really appreciate it.
20. Bad Religion - Incomplete (lyrics)
I had a friend in college who loved the '80s. I dislike most of what I know about them. (I was alive the whole time but wasn't paying much attention.) Bad Religion was about our only common ground. Stranger Than Fiction is the same album that has 21st Century Digital Boy, with which you may be familiar.
21. Pennywise - Every Single Day (lyrics)
Pennywise is another band, like Blind Melon, that helped me make it through high school. I chose this song for my final track because I think it's got an important, uplifting, and realistic message. I have to admit that I think this album, About Time, is a masterpiece which the band hasn't equalled before or since.
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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!
