Jibber jabber.

I'll try to get my stuff out Wednesday.  As usual, I'll post my playlist in a separate thread instead of with the CD in case anyone wants to be surprised by what they're about to hear.

And here's a question:  should I try to decorate the CD and case to be all pretty -- in which case you'll probably get it around November -- or should I just slap them in the mail, which I can do tomorrow?

[edited by Scyess on 05-23-07 at 10:05:23pm]

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"Old" is the old new.

Its a Bank Holiday weekend over here, so I should have time to do the do in the next day or two. Expect a horse and cart to deliver in the next three months, mail being on time.

Okay, 'tis finished, and I'll mail out tomorrow, so round about a week from now. Don't read on if you want a surprise, here's my tracklist:

1. Arch Enemy - Enter the Machine: Instrumental, good intro song.

2. Do Me Bad Things - Time For Deliverance: Unfortunately defunct London band, there's, like, 10 of them in the band. Love the sound, Disco Blues Jazz Rock fusion. This is one of the rockier tracks.

3. Rueben - Song for Saturday: Another British band, with a singerwho sounds a bit like Gavin Rossdale off'f Bush. These guys are good though.

4. The Prodigy - Spitfire: Turn it up, this'll blow your speakers.

5. Supergrass - Late in the Day: These guys did their best work in the 90's, here's one from then.

6. UNKLE - Glow: I honestly think that James Lavelle is a genius.

7. Terrorvision - Hypnotised: My favourite band to drink to.

8. Coheed & Cambria: The Suffering: I don't reckon enough people listen to these guys, but it may be different in the states.

9. The Black Mages - Those Who Fight Further: NERD ALERT - this is a rocked up version of a tune out of Final Fantasy VII. I make no apologies, I love this.

10. Biffy Clyro - Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies: Scotland's finest. New single.

11. Spooky - Interim: A curio.

12. Outside - Journeyman pt2: I dabble in the Jazzier side of things occasionally.

13. Martin Grech - Venus: A mate turned me on to this guy, hadn't heard of him before that.

14. Lost Prophets - I Don't Know: Swiftly to Wales now (I've just noticed there's no-one on this disc from Northern Ireland... Just as well, I suppose).

15. Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less And Less: From Leeds. Northern.

16. Jamiroquai - When You Gonnal Learn: From the first (best) album.

17. Hard-Fi - Middle Eastern Holiday: Ohh, bit 'o politics.

18. Alexisonfire - Boiled Frogs: I just love this tune.

19. Leftfield - Melt: Best song for 'relaxing' ever, FACT.

Enjoy.

By the by, don't expect any artwork from me. I'm as artistic as a dead hedgehog.

[edited by Scyess on 05-30-07 at 6:05:16pm]

Forget I mentioned Thrice, it didn't burn on to the discs. Bloody iTunes.

I got Smurph's disc today. Can't wait to give a listen.

I'm hoping to have mine complete this weekend.

Sycess' disc has arrived, soon to be played. Comments later.

I got Smurph's last night.  Fortunately, I've got zero to do at work, so I've already listened it through twice.  Here are my comments, without looking at the track list.

 Track 1:
A little more classic-rock-y, screaming-guitar-y than I normally like, but I enjoyed it anyway.

 Track 2:
I like this track... almost but not quite enough to want to find more music by them.  But the chorus of voices vs the main singer works quite well.

 Track 3:
Didn't really care for this one.  A little too whiney, a little too much like a 90's grunge remnant.

 Track 4:
This song is great.  I like the Indian-like samples; mix that the crashing beat of it and it reminds me of something you might hear from Pig Face.  The vocalist reminds me of the chick from Lords of Acid without the insipid lyrics.  (Not that "They call me Spitfire" is poetry, but better than any given LoA lyrics.)  I'm going to check out more by this band.

 Track 5:
I found this one a little boring.  The singing part was unimpressive, and the musical interludes were kind of annoying.

 Track 6:
Not much special about this track, I think.  Maybe I just wasn't high enough.

 Track 7:
Now that's more like it!  This is a fun song that I liked a lot.

 Track 8:
If this song isn't the theme to some American Pie type movie, it should be.  It sounds like it was written exactly for that purpose.

 Track 9:
This is a fun track, cheesy guitar solos notwithstanding.  Before I looked at your track list, I was thinking "Electirc Light Orchestra?  Meat Loaf?  Some video game theme music?"

 Track 10:
This song is a pretty typical example of the reason why I stopped listening to regular radio stations.  Didn't like this track much.

 Track 11:
Nice break, and an excellent choice for your CD.

 Track 12:
Ouch.  I never cared much for this loungy style of not-rock, not-jazz, not-R&B... with the minor chord organ and the wa-wa pedal on crack.

 Track 13:
Ah, the whining!  Hit me while I'm down from the last track, why don't you?

 Track 14:
This track was all right.  A little generic, maybe.  But the after-song interlude was interesting.

 Track 15:
This has to be the best song on the CD.  I'm going to have to look up some more stuff by this band.

 Track 16:
Until I heard this track, I never liked Jamiroquai.  Now, I still don't like Jamiroquai.

 Track 17:
Pretty good track.  Very listenable, with hints of peat and asparagus.

 Track 18:
They're doing that thing where they're trying a little too hard to sound like they're shouting.  Other than that, this one was pretty likable.

 Track 19:
Great ending.  Nice smooth touch for the last track, even if it wasn't intentionally the last track.
 

In summary:  even though I wasn't impressed by some of the tracks, I like the CD as a whole, and I'm going to keep it instead of crushing it to dust and selling it to cocaine addicts.  I also found at least two bands I want to hear more from.  Thanks, Smurph.

[edited by Scyess on 06-08-07 at 12:06:15pm]

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"Old" is the old new.

Discs burned...CHECK

Disc envelopes addressed...CHECK

Discs placed in envelopes...CHECK

Discs mailed...uh, sometime this week.

The CDs were mailed yesterday. Herein lies the track list.

1. Bikini Bottom - Electrocute. knkx sent me this song. hdb!

2. Filthy Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters. I think Scissor Sisters are the best pop band out there.

3. A Helluva Town [Sa-Ra "Go" Remix] - George Russell. This comes from a compilation cd remixing old jazz songs. I'm a sucker for stuff like that.

4. Shake Down - Natural-Self. Anyone who has swapped with me in the past knows that I'm also a sucker for funky instrumentals.

5. Eddie's Gun - The Kooks. It's a shame this band is getting zero recognition in the US.

6. Everybody's Happy Nowadays - The Buzzcocks. Wanna know something embarrassing? I had never heard this song, or anything by the Buzzcocks until this track showed up in an AARP commercial. It cracked me up that an ad agency would think a song like this would get retired people to join AARP, but I guess that's just a sign that the baby boomers are finally ready to start dying off.

7. Una Linea de Luz - Kinky. I put Kinky on my first swap disc. I've seen them a few times and they're always a good show. Their first CD is still their best, but I can't resist their mix of English, Spanish, pop, rock, and electronica.

8. Didgeridoo - Aphex Twin. I'm not a big fan of Aphex Twin, but I like a few songs. This one came off a James Lavelle mix, I think.

9. New Music Machine - Cornelius. Cornelius is a superb soundsmith.

10. Waving Not Drowning - Orbital. I like the blend of electronic and acoustic sounds here.

11. It Takes Time To Build - Beastie Boys. Defender!

12. The American Way - The Crystal Method. I can listen to Crystal Method all day long. I considered 5 different Crystal Method tracks to slot in this place.

13. Sexbomb (Peppermint Disco Mix) - Tom Jones. Tom Jones tops my list of guilty, cheesy pleasures. It's a dream of mine to see him in Vegas. I don't care that I'll be surrounded by a bunch of blue-haired, undersexed women flinging their granny panties at him. Nobody can match his cheeky machismo.

14. Run 4 Cover - Basement Jaxx. I saw them a couple years ago and had a fun time at their show. This song off their new CD reminded me of that engergy.

15. Human After All - Daft Punk. I was going to put this song next to Kraftwerk's "We Are the Robots," but rightly decided against it.

16. Temptation - New Order. A few months ago, I was watching some movie I have since forgotten and at one point I sensed a sappy, depressing, lovesick montage coming up and I thought, "This soundtrack needs Temptation." Thirty seconds later, my wish came true. I wish I could remember which movie I made conjure this song up.

17. Skateboarding Saves Me Twice - Grandaddy. I'm so sad that their last CD is their last CD.

18. Marvo Ging - Chemical Brothers. I can't believe it's taken me this many swaps to finally put on a ChemBros song. They're one of my favourite acts. I put this one on because it sounds like they're playing Track 10 backwards.

Got your disc yesterday, Mr Warrior. Which was nice. I'll give it a good seeing to later.

Pretty feckin quick, too.

So, after a couple of runs, here's my Choad review. I'm very familiar with quite a lot of this disc, as I have cd's by some on here, and a passing interest in others.

Electrocute - Bikini Bottom

Fun song. The bassline is great in particular.

Scissor Sisters - Folithy Gorgeous

On principle I hate them, for what they did to 'Comfortably Numb'. The only track of theirs I like is 'Take Your Momma'.

George Russell - A Helluva Town

Not a big fan of this one.

Natural Self - Shake Down

Not bad, not great. So-so.

The Kooks - Eddie's Gun

This is a good song, although the singers accent is a bit annoying.

Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays

Not a fan, but this is quite a good number.

Kinky - Una Linea De Luz

Not to my taste, but fine.

Aphex Twin - Digeridoo

Great song. Big fan. This is slightly less scary than his normal output.

Cornelius - New Music Machine

Not bad.

Orbital - Waving Not Drowning

One of my favourite acts. This isn't one of my top tracks of theirs, but with a body of work so amazing, that's not to say its anywhere near bad. Great, in fact. Such a pity they split, but one of the brothers Hartnoll is continuing on at the same sort of stuff, which is awesome.

Beastie Boys

Not one I know very well, but a class song.

Crystal Method

Dirty. I like.

Tom Jones - Sexbomb

He should stay on his green green grass, to be honest.

Basement Jaxx

This has good music, but the vocals are seriously annoying. Londoners should never, ever 'sing' in their 'normal' voice. I would rather have had a different Basement Jaxx track, as most are good.

Daft Punk - Human After All

By quite a long way, the best song on the cd. Absolutely fantastic song. Never loved anything French so much in my life.

New Order - Temptation

Saw them live a year or two ago, I'm a big fan. This is a great song.

Grandaddy - Skateboarding Saves Me Twice

I'll be getting more of their stuff, if this is anything to go by.

Chemical Brothers - Marvo Ging

They can be pretty up and down, for me, this is one of their better ones for me.

Top notch cd, Choad, especially the second half. Thanks!

1. Arch Enemy - Enter the Machine: I've had a hard time listening to music like this since the 80's. I think Spinal Tap and Bill & Ted ruined over-the-top guitar flourishes for me.

2. Do Me Bad Things - Time For Deliverance: This was a fun song.

3. Rueben - Song for Saturday: Yeah, I definitely caught the Gavin Rossdale impersonation going on here.

4. The Prodigy - Spitfire: I've always enjoyed The Prodigy, they sound evil in a good way.

5. Supergrass - Late in the Day: Supergrass never really caught on over here. They had one song (Alright) that got a lot of air play. I always liked that tune, but I didn't get bit by the BritPop bug until after that wave had crashed. This is a good track as well.

6. UNKLE - Glow: "I honestly think that James Lavelle is a genius." Agreed, but this is the most subdued track I've ever heard by him.

7. Terrorvision - Hypnotised: This track did not hypnotise me.

8. Coheed & Cambria: The Suffering: This sounds like Rush Meets Survivor.

9. The Black Mages - Those Who Fight Further: This sounds like mid-70's prog-rock. Do the musicians have long hair and capes?

10. Biffy Clyro - Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies: The feel-good song on this disc.

11. Spooky - Interim: A nice little intermission.

12. Outside - Journeyman pt2: I like the funky guitar. This also has a nice 70's blaxploitation soundtrack feel.

13. Martin Grech - Venus: A little too slow.

14. Lost Prophets - I Don't Know: Good song, especially the guitar in the beginning.

15. Kaiser Chiefs - Everyday I Love You Less And Less: Great track. I love the synth and the lyrics

16. Jamiroquai - When You Gonnal Learn: My overall favorite track on this disc. I've been meaning to get some Jamiroquai, but I keep forgetting.

17. Hard-Fi - Middle Eastern Holiday: This was my favorite "rock" song on this disc.

18. Alexisonfire - Boiled Frogs: a little too screamy for my tastes.

19. Leftfield - Melt: Of course a song with this title would be a nice, ambient track.

Overall, a very cohesive rocking mix with many tasty tracks.  Thanks, Smurph!

I went and done one of dem thar Side Swappin Malarkies with Master Choad, and so here are some notes on the Hootenanny

1. Bikini Bottom - Never heard it before till now, kinda like it. Would go down well at a party methinks, wish Id remembered I had my ipod on me at new years.

2. Filthy Gorgeous (remix) - 'Twas alright, I think I prefer the album version as it seems more rounded

3. A helluva town [sa-ra 'go' remix] - Thought this was cool, though I could have easily have gone for the original jazz number just aswell.

4. Shake down - Thought this was good, if a little samey after a while.

5. Eddie's Gun - Can't really say I was hooked by the kooks, simply because, like a lot of english bands at the moment, they simply sound like a bad futureheads cover band. Sadly there are a lot of acts out there who seem to go for the same sound, and frankly its a bit shit, or perhaps Im being snobbish wanting a little diversity from this new batch, probably record companies doing though, if x shit sells, ergo y shit will sell also, feh!

6. Everybodies Happy Nowadays - This is ace however, buzzcocks never go out of style.

7. Una linea de luz - Really liked this

8. Digeridoo - Not really my cup of tea, think I really have to be in the right mood to listen to Aphex Twin.

9. New Music Machine - Liked this, although its perhaps a minute longer than it needs to be, and went a bit indie in the middle, not a bad thing, but I think it lost some of the momentum of its kick ass opening.

10. Waving not Drowning - Orbital are another act I have to be in the right mood to listen to, however I do love this tune.

11.It takes time to build - Wasn't really taken with this, Ive heard the Beastie Boys do better.

12. The American Way - Thought this was good, though I couldn't really tell you why

13. Sex Bomb [Peppermint Disco mix] - Maybe it came on one too many times when I was out clubbing, but this song is lost to me.

14. Run 4 Cover - Very Energetic, liked it

15. Human after all - Hard not to like Daft Punk, though I do find it difficult to sit through an entire album

16. Temptation - A Classic

17. Skateboarding saves me twice - Loved this

18. Marvo Ging - Enjoyabale track, saw em at a festival a few years back, 'twere aceness.

Overall I really enjoyed this compilation, its one of those ones you could just pop on in the background of a party and let it go, as its very enegetic and theres something for all tastes really. I think I was a bigger fan of your cd from swap 8, but having said that, there were one or two stand out tracks that sold it for me, Grandaddy was a favourite, as were the Buzzcocks, really enjoyed the Una Linea de Luz track from Kinky aswell. Cheers amigo.