Savatage

Savatage are a progressive metal band. This is an album by them.

It is good. You should listen to it, guy.

Artist: Savatage

Album: Handful Of Rain
Genre: Progressive Metal

Track Listing:

1. "Taunting Cobras" – 3:21
2. "Handful of Rain" – 5:25
3. "Chance" – 7:50
4. "Stare into the Sun" – 4:43
5. "Castles Burning" – 4:39
6. "Visions" – 1:25
7. "Watching You Fall" – 5:20
8. "Nothing's Going On" – 4:09
9. "Symmetry" – 5:04
10. "Alone You Breathe" – 7:30

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QL10THV9

July

http://sharebee.com/5aa689a7

Found this on an otherwise unpromising blog today, a rare self-titled psychedelic album from 1968. If you like the first few Floyd albums (you know, when Barret was around), then you'll love it. Unfortunately the band only produced the one album, as they gathered no hype around them.

Electric Six

With thanks to Emperor Helltroll for providing a link, Electric Six's latest masterpiece. I'm listening to it now and it is fucking mega.

Artist: Electric Six

Album: Flashy
Genre: Alternative Rock

Track Listing:

1. "Gay Bar Part Two"
2. "Formula 409"
3. "We Were Witchy Witchy White Women"
4. "Dirty Ball"
5. "Lovers Beware"
6. "Your Heat is Rising"
7. "Face Cuts"
8. "Heavy Woman"
9. "Flashy Man"
10. "Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart"
11. "Graphic Designer"
12. "Transatlantic Flight"
13. "Making Progress"

Download

Blind Illusion

Did somebody just say "Thrash Metal with Les Claypool on bass"? Because I think I just heard someone say "Thrash Metal with Les Claypool on bass".

Artist: Blind Illusion

Album: The Sane Asylum
Genre: Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal

Track Listing:

1. "The Sane Asylum" - 1:37
2. "Blood Shower" - 3:53
3. "Vengeance is Mine" - 5:29
4. "Death Noise" - 7:08
5. "Kamakazi" - 5:06
6. "Smash the Crystal" - 3:29
7. "Vicious Visions" - 6:17
8. "Metamorphosis of a Monster" - 6:39

Download

Romantic Gorilla

Romantic Gorilla sound exactly how their cover art looks on this, their self-titled debut. Not a great fan of thrash or punk, I've got to admit I really enjoy this, which LastFM classifies as a Davey-validating 'powerviolence'. Screw genre though, this is just awesome fun. For fans of Melt Banana, as Romantic Gorilla have about the same attention span.

Click on the album cover for mediafire download.

Lush

And now the second! Thank you, Davey!

For Lush's first proper full-length, the band opted to work again with Robin Guthrie. Though generally delightful, Spooky suffers from being bottlenecked into a dream-drift haze that isn't as convincing as the ones concocted by the likes of My Bloody Valentine and A.R. Kane. On paper the Guthrie/Lush collaboration seems like a match made in heaven; however, this lacks a punch and balance that begins to frustrate by the latter half. Whatever dynamics Lush appear to be capable of are rendered limp by Guthrie's sonic razing. Saving the record from being buried is a batch of quality songs. Despite its faults, it's more hit than miss. It's easy to criticize the lack of drive, but the drifting nature is rapturous in spots. Regardless, the draftiness is relied upon too often.

The three singles released from the LP ("Nothing Natural," "For Love," and "Superblast!") showcase the aggressive side, if only through a relative nature. As with much of the band's early material, guitars dart and veer all over hell's half acre -- just as you hear a gentle strum in one ear, another guitar whisks by like an overhead jet, only to be grounded to a halt by a swollen jolt from some netherworld. If stripped of its myriad effects, "For Love" would sound like a top-rate Go-Betweens song, filled with lovely jangles and smart songwriting. Closer "Monochrome" is a melancholy ballad whose cousin is Catherine Wheel's "Black Metallic." Beneath all the swooning and swaying, it almost suckers you into missing the cheesy "dum-dum-dum" drum lead-in to the choruses, airlifted out of your least favorite Top 40 schlock ballad circa '86. Those devils!

Review Courtesy Of AllMusic.Com

Artist: Lush

Album: Spooky
Genre: Shoegaze

Track Listing:

1. "Stray" – 2:07
2. "Nothing Natural" – 5:54
3. "Tiny Smiles" – 4:26
4. "Covert" – 3:34
5. "Ocean" – 4:49
6. "For Love" – 3:29
7. "Superblast!" – 4:07
8. "Untogether" – 3:33
9. "Fantasy" – 4:27
10. "Take" – 3:28
11. "Laura" – 3:22
12. "Monochrome" – 5:05

Download

Slowdive

David has given us shoegaze! Thank you David! Here is the first album!

Though not as big and swirling as Just for a Day, there's more of an attempt to put advanced song structure and melody in place rather than just craft infinitely appealing, occasionally thunderous mood music. Everything is simplified, as if Brian Eno's presence on two songs -- he contributes keyboards and treatments and co-wrote one tune after turning down the band's invitation to produce -- hammered home the better aspects of "ambient" music. This is no Music for Airports though. On the opening "Alison," the largely uplifting "When the Sun Hits," and the darkly blissful "Machine Gun," Slowdive are still capable of mouth-opening, spine-tingling flourishes. They've found a way to be quiet, moving, and aggressive simultaneously, mixing trance-like beauty with the deepest delayed guitar sounds around, a sound at once relaxing, soothing, and exciting, and most of all harshly beautiful.

Review Courtesy Of AllMusic.Com

Artist: Slowdive

Album: Souvlaki
Genre: Shoegaze

Track Listing:

1. "Alison" – 3:52
2. "Machine Gun" – 4:28
3. "40 Days" – 3:15
4. "Sing" – 4:49
5. "Here She Comes" – 2:21
6. "Souvlaki Space Station" – 5:59
7. "When the Sun Hits" – 4:47
8. "Altogether" – 3:42
9. "Melon Yellow" – 3:53
10. "Dagger" – 3:34
11. "Some Velvet Morning" – 3:23
12. "Good Day Sunshine" – 5:08
13. "Missing You" – 4:15
14. "Country Rain" – 3:34

Bonus Disc:
1. "Some Velvet Morning" – 3:23
2. "So Tired" – 4:03
3. "Moussaka Chaos" – 6:24
4. "In Mind" – 3:45
5. "Good Day Sunshine" – 5:08
6. "Missing You" – 4:15
7. "Country Rain" – 3:34

Download

Thunderbolt

The album is Demons & Diamonds. I dunno what it is or where it comes from, but it sounds like Power Metal and durry wanted it up.

DOWNLOAD

Harvey Danger

You may have heard of them. Well, to be honest, you probably haven't. But I'm sure you know the song Flagpole Sitta, which was all over the place in the late '90s and was used as the theme song for the genius British sitcom Peep Show. The album I'm posting today doesn't actually have that song on it but you'll like it anyway.

Harvey Danger are an indie rock band from Seattle. Little By Little is their third full-length studio album, and in 2005 they released it as a free download from their website - before Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead made it cool.

It's a nice little album, and well worth a listen. And at least it's not noise. I mean, who the fuck wants to listen to Masonna? (Lolicat touches little boys.)

Artist: Harvey Danger

Album: Little By Little
Genre: Indie Rock

Track Listing:

1. "Wine, Women, and Song" – 3:15
2. "Cream and Bastards Rise" – 3:17
3. "Moral Centralia" – 4:27
4. "Little Round Mirrors" – 5:15
5. "Happiness Writes White" – 3:09
6. "Incommunicado" – 2:16
7. "Cool James" – 3:26
8. "What You Live By" – 3:04
9. "War Buddies" – 4:25
10. "Diminishing Returns" – 5:13

Download

To Kill a Petty Bougeoisie

If you're on the metal forum, these are the guys in Actumen's sig. He gave me the download link today off of his blog, so I thought I'd share this with you. It's great haunting dark ambient stuff, with female vocals.

The Patron:
http://www.mediafire.com/?0ej1jm1ungk

Lazy post, so fuck you.

Björk

Starting out at the tender age of 11, Björk has since appeared in various Icelandic pop outfits, of which The Sugarcubes gained some international acclaim. Following the break-up of The Sugarcubes, Björk has pursued a solo career which has seen her go from basic dance-pop to classical instrumentation and avant-garde experimentation. Whatever mode her music takes, however, it always carries the mark of modern pop's most singular innovator, Björk.

Download- Post

Download- Medúlla



Download- Vespertine

Emilie Simon

If my words are not that clear
I know my hearts is understading every little kiss
Of you

Just a sunny day in Paris
Please give back to me
I don't need to be romantic
I just have to be me

My lover is gone
But I'm not on my own
With all this little kisses of you
My lover is gone
But I'm not on my own
With all this little kisses of you

Émilie Simon born in Montpellier in 1978, is a French singer and composer of electronic music.

The daughter of a sound engineer, Émilie grew up in Montpellier, France. She studied lyric singing at a Conservatoire for seven years before studying ancient music at the Sorbonne and later electronic music at the IRCAM; she tried her hand at jazz and rock until finally turning herself towards electronic music. She concluded her advanced studies, obtaining her DEA in contemporary music.

This is her debut album, self-titled Émilie Simon. It was a commercial and critical success, and features such stand-out tracks as Flowers, Dancers in the Rain (one of the most emotionally affecting songs I've heard for a while) and a wonderful cover of I Wanna Be Your Dog.

Download

Masonna

Masonna is, if anything, more harsh than Merzbow, but his tracks tend to be shorter (Tripsy Sunshine is an exception), often being under 2 minutes in length. However, this makes the album matter more than the individual song, and as such, a Masonna album can only be described as an experience best lived through oneself. Masonna takes no prisoners.

Sonic Devil
http://www.mediafire.com/?cwutw2mtmyo

Tripsy Sunshine

http://www.mediafire.com/?fzjtromktqg

Shock Rock

http://www.mediafire.com/?augykmmmazw

Merzbow

Probably Merzbow's most famous recording, and certainly the most popular that I can tell, Pulse Demon is a sumptuous exercise in harsh noise. Whereas other Merzbow recordings might feel undercomposed, or rushed, given Akita's prolific work-rate, Pulse Demon is the work of a master at ease with his talent. As always, the tracks were personally mastered by Akita above and beyond normal quality levels so as to work better at high volumes.

1. "Woodpecker No. 1" – 6:42
2. "Woodpecker No. 2" – 3:37
3. "Spiral Blast" – 4:30
4. "My Station Rock" – 4:54
5. "Ultra Marine Blues" – 11:29
6. "Tokyo Times Ten" – 11:09
7. "Worms Plastic Earthbound" – 24:53
8. "Yellow Hyper Balls" – 6:03

Midori

As introduced to me by our beloved Han Wu Ti, Midori are a hardcore/punk band with a touch of jazz. Now, ignoring genre, as 'hardcore' will more than likely put you off, brave Beardians... It's more like a more reserved, non-electronic Melt Banana. It's fun, and you have a Lolicat seal of approval on it!

http://www.mediafire.com/?ytlo7x39o9z - first album
http://www.mediafire.com/?y13lvjdgjsq - second album
http://www.mediafire.com/?mpav5uymupy - third album
http://www.mediafire.com/?nmbbyhiy3o0 - fourth album

The Clash

When they kick out your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head?
Or on the trigger of your gun?

London Calling is the third album by English punk rock band The Clash, released December 14, 1979, on CBS Records in the UK and in January 1980 on Epic Records in the United States. The album represented a change in The Clash's musical style, and featured elements of ska, pop, soul, and reggae music. The album's subject matter included unemployment, racial conflict, drug use, and the responsibilities of adulthood.

The album received positive reviews and was ranked at number eight on Rolling Stone' list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. London Calling was a top ten album in the UK, and its lead single "London Calling" was a top twenty single. It has sold over two million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in the United States.

Give 'Em Enough Rope, for all of its many attributes, was essentially a holding pattern for the Clash, but the double-album London Calling is a remarkable leap forward, incorporating the punk aesthetic into rock & roll mythology and roots music. Before, the Clash had experimented with reggae, but that was no preparation for the dizzying array of styles on London Calling. There's punk and reggae, but there's also rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock; and while the record isn't tied together by a specific theme, its eclecticism and anthemic punk function as a rallying call. While many of the songs -- particularly "London Calling," "Spanish Bombs," and "The Guns of Brixton" -- are explicitly political, by acknowledging no boundaries the music itself is political and revolutionary. But it is also invigorating, rocking harder and with more purpose than most albums, let alone double albums. Over the course of the record, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones (and Paul Simonon, who wrote "The Guns of Brixton") explore their familiar themes of working-class rebellion and antiestablishment rants, but they also tie them in to old rock & roll traditions and myths, whether it's rockabilly greasers or "Stagger Lee," as well as mavericks like doomed actor Montgomery Clift. The result is a stunning statement of purpose and one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever recorded.

--Review courtesy of AllMusic.com

Listen to this. Even David likes it.

Artist: The Clash

Album: London Calling
Genre: Punk Rock

Track Listing:

1. "London Calling" – 3:19
2. "Brand New Cadillac" – 2:09
3. "Jimmy Jazz" – 3:51
4. "Hateful" – 2:47
5. "Rudie Can't Fail" – 3:26
6. "Spanish Bombs" – 3:18
7. "The Right Profile" – 4:00
8. "Lost in the Supermarket" – 3:47
9. "Clampdown" – 3:50
10. "The Guns of Brixton" – 3:07
11. "Wrong 'Em Boyo" – 3:10
12. "Death or Glory" – 3:55
13. "Koka Kola" – 1:45
14. "The Card Cheat" – 3:51
15. "Lover's Rock" – 4:01
16. "Four Horsemen" – 3:00
17. "I'm Not Down" – 3:00
18. "Revolution Rock" – 5:37
19. "Train in Vain" – 3:11

Download

Puffy Amiyumi

Look at my PUFFY, all grown up and sexy-like. Perhaps they'll never regain their girlish charm, but they're a lot more mature and sexy sounding on this album. It's a fair trade off- I don't want the police catching me, so I guess I've got to like some legal girls, eh?
The album's great, stand out tracks being the singles Boom Boom Beat and Kuchibiru Motion.

www.megaupload.com/?d=HRQRLXVB

Thin Lizzy

Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in the town
Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
So don't you be around

Thin Lizzy are a totally fucking awesome hard rock band from Ireland. Their lead singer, Phil Lynott, was a rad dude but he was just too rad. In fact, he was so rad that he died. In Dublin they remember him as the raddest black dude ever to be Irish and built a statue of him and everything. Everyone agrees that the statue is hella rad.

This album is a selection of live recording made for the BBC, and were originally aired by John Peel. John Peel was also so rad that he died of over-radness. All of these songs are hella rad, especially Emerald, Bad Reputation and Vagabonds Of The Western World.

Maybe if you download this and listen to it you might be able to learn some pointers on how to some day be as rad as Thin Lizzy.

Artist: Thin Lizzy

Album: The Peel Sessions
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Track Listing:
1. "Whiskey in the Jar"
2. "Rosalie"
3. "Suicide"
4. "Emerald"
5. "Cowboy Song"
6. "Jailbreak"
7. "Don't Believe a Word"
8. "Little Darling"
9. "Still in Love With You"
10. "Vagabonds of the Western World"
11. "Little Girl in Bloom"
12. "Killer Without a Cause"
13. "Bad Reputation"
14. "That Woman's Gonna Break Your Heart"
15. "Dancing in the Moonlight"

Download

The Protomen

Apparently their songs are about Megaman, which is fucking retarded. Also I listened to some songs on MySpace and hated them, but whatevs.

(I think Herr Kaiser Matthelm will shit himself if I don't post this already. You owe me five blowjobs, HKM.)

Download

Bob Marley & The Wailers

Good friends we have, oh, good friends we've lost
Along the way.
In this great future, you can't forget your past;
So dry your tears, I say.

The classic Marley album, the one that any fair-weather reggae fan owns, Legend contains 14 of his greatest songs, running the gamut from "I Shot the Sheriff" to the meditative "Redemption Song" and the irrepressible "Three Little Birds." Some may argue that the compilation shortchanges his groundbreaking early ska work or his status as a political commentator, but this isn't meant to be definitive, it's meant to be an introduction, sampling the very best of his work. And it does that remarkably well, offering all of his genre-defying greats and an illustration of his excellence, warmth, and humanity. In a way, it is perfect since it gives a doubter or casual fan anything they could want. Let's face it, the beauty and simplicity of Marley's music was as important as his message, and that's captured particularly well here.

--Review courtesy of AllMusic.com

More essentials. This is a great introduction to one of the greatest artists of all time, the legendary Bob Marley. Every song is a classic, every song is beautiful. I urge everyone to buy this CD, you can't have a music collection without it.

Artist: Bob Marley & The Wailers

Album: Legend (Greatest Hits)
Genre: Reggae

Track Listing:
1. "Is This Love" – 3:52
2. "No Woman, No Cry" – 7:07
3. "Could You Be Loved" – 3:55
4. "Three Little Birds" – 3:00
5. "Buffalo Soldier" – 4:17
6. "Get Up, Stand Up" – 3:16
7. "Stir It Up" – 5:33
8. "One Love/People Get Ready" – 2:51
9. "I Shot the Sheriff" – 4:41
10. "Waiting in Vain" – 4:15
11. "Redemption Song" – 3:49
12. "Satisfy My Soul" – 4:32
13. "Exodus" – 7:36
14. "Jamming" – 3:31

Download

A Tribe Called Quest

If you can't envision a brother who ain't dissin',
Slingin' this and that, 'cause this and that was missin'.
Instead, it's been injected, the Tribe has been perfected.
Oh yes, it's been selected, the art makes it protected.

One year after De la Soul re-drew the map for alternative rap, fellow Native Tongues brothers A Tribe Called Quest released their debut, the quiet beginning of a revolution in non-commercial hip-hop. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm floated a few familiar hooks, but it wasn't a sampladelic record. Rappers Q-Tip and Phife Dawg dropped a few clunky rhymes, but their lyrics were packed with ideas, while their flow and interplay were among the most original in hip-hop. From the beginning, Tribe focused on intelligent message tracks but rarely sounded over-serious about them. With "Pubic Enemy," they put a humorous spin on the touchy subject of venereal disease (including a special award for the most inventive use of the classic "scratchin'" sample), and moved right into a love rap, "Bonita Applebum," which alternated a sitar sample with the type of jazzy keys often heard on later Tribe tracks. "Description of a Fool" took to task those with violent tendencies, while "Youthful Expression" spoke wisely of the power yet growing responsibility of teenagers. Next to important message tracks with great productions, A Tribe Called Quest could also be deliciously playful (or frustratingly unserious, depending on your opinion). "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" describes a vacation gone hilariously wrong, while "Ham 'n' Eggs" may be the oddest topic for a rap track ever heard up to that point ("I don't eat no ham and eggs, cuz they're high in cholesterol"). Contrary to the message in the track titles, the opener "Push It Along" and "Rhythm (Dedicated to the Art of Moving Butts)" were fusions of atmospheric samples with tough beats, special attention being paid to a pair of later Tribe sample favorites, jazz guitar and '70s fusion synth. Restless and ceaselessly imaginative, Tribe perhaps experimented too much on their debut, but they succeeded at much of it, certainly enough to show much promise as a new decade dawned.

--Review courtesy of AllMusic.com

Some essential hip hop for you today. This, along with Nation Of Millions and Licensed To Ill, is a masterpiece and a record you need to listen to before you pass judgement on the genre. If one more person says 'can't spell crap without rap lol!' I might just have to cut a bitch.

Go ye and listen.

Artist: A Tribe Called Quest

Album: People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm
Genre: Hip-Hop, Alternative Hip-Hop
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/atribecalledquest

Track Listing:
1. "Push It Along" – 7:42
2. "Luck of Lucien" (featuring Lucien Revolucien) – 4:32
3. "After Hours" – 4:39
4. "Footprints" – 4:00
5. "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo" – 4:06
6. "Pubic Enemy" (featuring DJ Red Alert) – 3:45
7. "Bonita Applebum" – 3:50
8. "Can I Kick It?" – 4:11
9. "Youthful Expression" – 4:52
10. "Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts)" – 4:01
11. "Mr. Muhammad" – 3:33
12. "Ham 'n' Eggs" – 5:27
13. "Go Ahead in the Rain" – 3:54
14. "Description of a Fool" – 5:41

Download

Apologies for the rapidshare, megaupload has been giving me shit lately.

Pain (Swe)

Pain is an industrial metal band from Sweden. The band started out as a hobby project for front man Peter Tägtgren, whose idea was to fuse metal with electronic influences. Tägtgren, who is also the vocalist/guitarist of Hypocrisy and producer of his own The Abyss studios, is the only current member. Pain's self titled debut was released in 1997, and since then Pain has released four more albums, and a DVD. In early February of 2006, blabbermouth.net reported that Pain had signed with Roadrunner Records.

(1997) Pain

(1999) Rebirth

(2002) Nothing Remains the Same

(2005) Dancing with Dead

(2007) Psalms of Extinction

**Links coming**

Bruce Faulconer

Guy who does the music on the English dub of Dragonball Z. At Dory's request. This is volume 1 of 6, and also the best of the series. Also I threw in the Buu one. I didn't upload these, but I know the latter works fine for a fact. So enjoy.

Volume 1

Buu

Funk Blog 1

Lolicat is really into his funk at the moment, and was shocked to discover that Krusnik Yoshiki likes to indulge in a bit of funk too. So, in honour of a great man, I've decided to put up a nice big series of funky post for y'all to shake yo asses to!

The Sound Stylistics, 'Play Deep Funk'
A brilliant modern funk (2007) album, I'd highly recommend this. It's mostly instrumental, but it's groovy as Hell and definately worth a listen. 'The Player's Theme' is a particular favourite of mine.

Funkadelic, 'One Nation Under a Groove'
This is a Rapidshit link, but well worthwhile. This is perhaps Funkadelic's best album, with their melding of rock/funk and various other styles of music coming to a head.

Anthrax

Back in the day, loli was a rather big Anthrax fan, and went to see them in Belfast. It was a pretty great gig, with the exception that some idiot headbutted me in the face during the crappy support band's set. I think that gives me a fair excuse to hate all metalcore bands, don't you think?
Well, now loli is passing on his Anthrax to you, who will appreciate it more. In this .rar you'll find Music of Mass Destruction, the live CD from the tour that I saw them on. The banter was exactly the same whereever they went, I guess, but it's an awesome set, with their best vocalist, John Bush, a brilliant showman. The other CD Among the Living has some of their best songs, though with their older vocalist. If you want to hear Bush storm through those tracks, I'm pretty sure all of The Greater of Two Evils is up in full on youTube, so check that shit out, yo!

Music of Mass Destruction/Among the Living

Immortal

Some people think that Immortal are silly for some reason. Still, I think I have a subtle respect for any band that can make a career out of writing musical weather reports for the Arctic whilst looking like a KISS tribute band. Now, since I never bother to listen to my Immortal CDs, I thought I'd do you guys a favour and seeing as how I have their discography, upload this shit for you. Keep checking back to this post, as it might take me a while to have them all put up for you. Anyway, enjoy!

Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (1992)

Pure Holocaust (1993)

Battles in the North (1995)

Blizzard Beasts (1997)

At the Heart of Winter (1999)

Damned in Black (2000)

Sons of Northern Darkness (2002)

Blizzard Beasts is a Mediafire link, but Mediafire sound, so don't worry.

Daft Punk... sort of!

So you thought Daft Punk were true originals, did you now? Well, enjoy this and find out otherwise! A load of funk and disco tunes sampled by Daft Punk in their songs.

01. Breakwater - Release The Beast (Robot Rock)
02. George Duke - I Love You More (Digital Love)
03. Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger)
04. Cerrone - Supernature (Verdis Quo)
05. Tata Vega - Get It Up For Love (Da Funk)
06. Karen Young - Hot Shot (Indo Silver Club)
07. Chaka Khan - Fate (Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust)
08. Sister Sledge - Il Macquillage Lady (Aerodynamic)
09. Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Saturday Night (Voyager)
10. Eddie Johns - I Put A Spell On You (One More Time)
11. Little Anthony & The Imperials - Can You Imagine (Crescendolls)
12. Jerry Goldsmith - The Rec Room (Around The World)

Death

By request of my good friend ZeroofHate, a couple of Death albums for you today.

Human is the fourth album released by Death in 1991. It marked the beginning of a major stylistic change for Death. The actual sound of the album is much more technically accomplished and progressive than Death's previous efforts. The lyrics are now more introspective and meaningful as opposed to the gore based lyrics of the band's first two albums or the social commentary on Spiritual Healing. This new style would be more and more prevalent on all following Death albums.

Symbolic is the sixth album by American band Death. It was released on March 21, 1995 through Roadrunner Records. Like its predecessors, this album is progressive and technically advanced. It is notable that the average song length on this album is around five minutes, while it was around four minutes on Human and Individual Thought Patterns, perhaps due to slowed down song tempos closer to that of traditional death metal. As a result, the album was not quite as "technical" as its predecessors but more straightforward, "progressive". According to Metal-Rules.com, it is the seventh greatest extreme metal album of all time.

Artist: Death
Albums: Human & Symbolic
Genre: Death Metal, Progressive Metal
Official Website: http://www.emptywords.org/

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9TK4J122

Baile Funk

Based on the driving rhythm and aggressive vocal delivery of Miami Bass, Baile Funk is the music of Rio's favela populace, the true music of the streets. While the middle class kids listen to rock and metal, the street kids find their emotions expressed in this powerful, exciting blend of hip-hop and dance. Maligned by the press as a means by which the drug syndicates can sell, the parties that the style developed at remain popular, and are a means of expession for people otherwise ignored by the Brazilian middle and upper classes.
Nowadays, Baile Funk is gaining popularity worldwide, with artists such as M.I.A., Diplo and Kelis incoporating the influence into their own work, and CSS taking Bonde do Rolê on tour with them. Obviously a lot of it sounds a bit rough around the edges, but the music is expressly about freedom, the freedom to escape the favela and party, and that shines through.

DJ Marlboro- Funk Brasil

DJ Marlboro's Funk Brasil is the album credited as the start of Baile Funk. I've yet to download it at the time of writing. The download is megaupload.

Bonde do Rolê- With Lasers

Having toured with CSS is a good advertisment for BdR, who have that same party atmosphere in their music. They were until recently on Diplo's label, but this latest album, With Lasers is on thier old label. It's worth checking out, as they incorporate a variety of sounds through use of samples, so it's a bit like listening to someone rap over a constantly retuning radio.

Fernanda Abreu- Raio X

Hailed as the 'Queen of Brazilian Funk', Fernanda Abreu has been on the scene for a long time, and this album shows why. This is Baile Funk in its purest form, addictive and fun.

Tigarah- Self-titled EP

This is an interesting album, in that Tigarah is not in fact a Brazilian, but a Japanese girl who, after majoring in politics in University, decided to become a Baile Funk MC and spread her political message through her music. It's not quite up to par with the Brazilian music, because Japanese is not a language that lends itself to the vocal style in my opinion, but the music is fun and not awful. Definately worth a look, if only for interest's sake.


The following albums are collections of various artists, so I can't account for the quality on offer, but there are some gems in there:

Baile Funk Vol.1

Baile Funk Vol.2

Baile Funk Vol.3

Baile Funk Vol.4

Baile Funk Vol.5

Baile Funk Vol.6

Baile Funk Vol.7

Baile Funk Vol.8

Baile Funk Vol.9

Baile Funk Vol.10

Baile Funk Vol.11

Baile Funk Vol.12

Baile Funk Vol.13

Baile Funk Vol.14

Baile Funk Vol.15

Baile Funk Vol.16

Baile Funk Vol.17

Baile Funk Vol.18

Baile Funk Vol.19

Baile Funk Vol.20

Tom Waits

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Indeed, another offering from gritty bluesman and all-round musical genius Mr. Tom Waits. Swordfishtrombones is where he really began to experiment and (without mixing any words) it sounds batshit weird when compared to the Small Change record I previously linked you to. It's not for everyone, that's for certain, but I would urge everyone to listen to it at least once. It's very, very good.

Review courtest of allmusic.com -

Between the release of Heartattack and Vine in 1980 and Swordfishtrombones in 1983, Tom Waits got rid of his manager, his producer, and his record company. And he drastically altered a musical approach that had become as dependable as it was unexciting. Swordfishtrombones has none of the strings and much less of the piano work that Waits' previous albums had employed; instead, the dominant sounds on the record were low-pitched horns, bass instruments, and percussion, set in spare, close-miked arrangements (most of them by Waits) that sometimes were better described as "soundscapes." Lyrically, Waits' tales of the drunken and the lovelorn have been replaced by surreal accounts of people who burned down their homes and of Australian towns bypassed by the railroad -- a world (not just a neighborhood) of misfits now have his attention. The music can be primitive, moving to odd time signatures, while Waits alternately howls and wheezes in his gravelly bass voice. He seems to have moved on from Hoagy Carmichael and Louis Armstrong to Kurt Weill and Howlin' Wolf (as impersonated by Captain Beefheart). Waits seems to have had trouble interesting a record label in the album, which was cut 13 months before it was released, but when it appeared, rock critics predictably raved: after all, it sounded weird and it didn't have a chance of selling. Actually, it did make the bottom of the best-seller charts, like most of Waits' albums, and now that he was with a label based in Europe, even charted there. Artistically, Swordfishtrombones marked an evolution of which Waits had not seemed capable (though there were hints of this sound on his last two Asylum albums), and in career terms it reinvented him.

Note: I hate trying to fit Tom Waits into a genre. He transcends them. I label these posts with some of the more likely genres he might fall into, but his music really can't be categorised.

Artist: Tom Waits
Album: Swordfishtrombones
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Rock, Experimental
Official Website: http://www.anti.com/artists/view/1

1. "Underground" – 1:58
2. "Shore Leave" – 4:12
3. "Dave the Butcher" – 2:15
4. "Johnsburg, Illinois" – 1:30
5. "16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six" – 4:30
6. "Town with No Cheer" – 4:22
7. "In the Neighborhood" – 3:04
8. "Just Another Sucker on the Vine" – 1:42
9. "Frank's Wild Years" – 1:50
10. "Swordfishtrombone" – 3:00
11. "Down, Down, Down" – 2:10
12. "Soldier's Things" – 3:15
13. "Gin Soaked Boy" – 2:20
14. "Trouble's Braids" – 1:18
15. "Rainbirds" (instrumental) – 3:05

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AQBDSXXJ

Tom Waits

And you can't find your waitress with a Geiger counter
She hates you and your friends and you just can't get served without her
And the box-office is drooling, and the bar stools are on fire
And the newspapers were fooling, and the ash-trays have retired
'Cause the piano has been drinking, the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking, not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

Thomas Alan Waits (born 7 December 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by one critic as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl; his incorporation of pre-rock styles such as blues, jazz, and Vaudeville; and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including The Fisher King, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Short Cuts. He has been nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.

Lyrically, Waits' songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of bizarre, seedy characters and places, although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best-known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists—for example, "Jersey Girl," performed by Bruce Springsteen; "Downtown Train," performed by Rod Stewart; and "Ol' '55," performed by the Eagles. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations

The album I post today is his 1976 offering Small Change. The album featured famed drummer Shelly Manne, and was, like Waits' previous albums, heavily jazz influenced, with a lyrical style that owed influence to Raymond Chandler and Charles Bukowski as well as a vocal delivery influenced by Louis Armstrong. The music for the most part consists of Waits' hoarse, rough voice, set against a backdrop of piano, upright bass, drums and saxophone. The album's themes include those of desolation, deprivation, and, above all else, alcoholism. The cast of characters, which includes hookers, strippers and small-time losers, are for the most part, night-owls and drunks; people lost in a cold, urban world.

This is probably me my personal favourite of Tom Waits' albums. Keep an eye out, I'll be posting more. The man is a genius.

Artist: Tom Waits
Album: Small Change
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Rock
Official Website: http://www.anti.com/artists/view/1

1. "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)"
2. "Step Right Up"
3. "Jitterbug Boy (Sharing A Curbstone With Chuck E. Weiss, Robert Marchese, Paul Body And The Mug And Artie)"
4. "I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward)"
5. "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King)"
6. "Invitation To The Blues"
7. "Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O'Clock Club)"
8. "Bad Liver And A Broken Heart (In Lowell)"
9. "The One That Got Away"
10. "Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)"
11. "I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)"

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VX4YEUQ0

Santogold

Santogold- Santogold

This is just a brilliant pop album. To give you an idea of the eclecticism of Santogold's work, here's the list of contributors to this album: Chuck Treece of Bad Brains, Cliffored "Moonie" Pusey of Steel Pulse, Diplo, Freq Nasty, M.I.A, Naeem Juwan of Spank Rock, Radioclit, Sinden, Switch, Trouble Andrew, and XXXchange. She's also written for Lily Allen and toured with Björk in the past.
She's steered away from the stereotypes of 'brown girls' in music, claiming that she is 'not like Ciara', and there is no R&B or rap influence present on the album.

Björk- Vespertine & Homogenic

Vespertine cover

Homogenic cover

Two of Björk's most critically acclaimed albums, Homogenic and Vespertine. I've only just downloaded them myself, so I can't really give you any idea of how good they are, but Vespertine manages to make its way onto most 'Albums You MUST Hear Before You Die' lists, so it can't be that bad. Homogenic is less loved, but combines a lot of heavier beats with choral and classical effects, taking off from where she started with Post.

Homogenic

Vespertine

Nine Inch Nails

I need your discipline,
You know once I start I cannot help myself

Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated as NIN) is an industrial rock act, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. NIN's music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing.

Thank you, Trent Reznor! Not only are your tunes awesome, but this time they are free! Legally free! (It is nice to be able to link to an album download and it not be against piracy laws). This is called The Slip, and unlike NiN's previous downloadable affair Ghosts I-IV this is a proper album with vocals and everything. I am listening to it now and it is very good. Maybe not quite The Downward Spiral, but some quality music all the same. Get it!

Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Slip
Genre: Industrial Rock
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nin

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. Echoplex
6. Head Down
7. Lights In The Sky
8. Corona Radiata
9. The Four Of Us Are Dying
10. Demon Seed

Download: http://theslip.nin.com/

Daft Punk

Work It Harder, Make It Better
Do It Faster, Makes Us stronger
More Than Ever, Hour After
Our Work Is Never Over

Daft Punk is a duo consisting of Paris musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The duo is considered one of the most successful electronic music collaborations of all time, both in album sales and in critical acclaim. And today, for your listening pleasure, I have uploaded all three of their studio albums - Homework, Discovery and Human After All. All records are awesome and highly recommended, so grab it now!

Artist: Daft Punk
Albums: Homework, Discovery, Human After All
Genre: Dance, Electronic
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/daftpunk

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XY57DNH1

Sortilège

Dans un univers
Où l'homme n'a guère
Le droit de citation
Vivent des guerrières












Artist: Sortilège
Album: Métamorphose
Genre: Heavy Metal

Do you like leather and metal? Then you'll love Sortilège. They're pretty much a French version of Judas Priest, and as bad as that sounds (FRENCH?!?!?), this band completely redeems that poor country. With Christian Augustin on vocals (entirely in French) that can pierce as high as Halford himself and guitar work that shows great prowess, these guys are ballsy old-school heavy metal. All Judas Priest fans must get this band. Even the French Power Metal band Manigance (who I laud as one of the best Power Metal acts around) hail this band, and have performed a cover of the Sortilège song "Messager". Unfortunately, I can't get my hands on the CD with Messager, Larmes De Héros, so you'll have to do with Métamorphose for now.

Tracklist:
1. D'ailleurs - (2:32)
2. Majesté - (4:53)
3. Hymne à la Mort - (5:30)
4. Légende - (2:45)
5. Nuit des Limbes - (2:25)
6. Civilisation Perdue - (2:12)
7. Délire d'un Fou - (5:25)
8. Cyclope de l'Etang - (3:58)
9. Métamorphose - (4:38)

Download

Public Enemy

So here it is again, another def jam

I don't think my own review could do this album justice, so I'm going to copy and paste one from Public Enemy's official site. Just know that this is an amazing album, and probably one of the best rap records ever released (along with Licensed To Ill by The Beastie Boys, which is also on this blog BTW). Download and listen to this now, you won't regret it.

Yo! Bum Rush the Show was an invigorating record, but it looks like child's play compared to its monumental sequel, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a record that rewrote the rules of what hip-hop could do. That's not to say the album is without precedent, since what's particularly ingenious about the album is how it reconfigures things that came before into a startling, fresh, modern sound. Public Enemy used the template Run-D.M.C. created of a rap crew as a rock band, then brought in elements of free jazz, hard funk, even musique concrète, via their producing team, the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before. This coincided with a breakthrough in Chuck D's writing, both in his themes and lyrics. It's not that Chuck D was smarter or more ambitious than his contemporaries — certainly, KRS-One tackled many similar sociopolitical tracts, while Rakim had a greater flow — but he marshaled considerable revolutionary force, clear vision, and a boundless vocabulary to create galvanizing, logical arguments that were undeniable in their strength. They only gained strength from Flavor Flav's frenzied jokes, which provided a needed contrast. What's amazing is how the words and music become intertwined, gaining strength from each other. Though this music is certainly a representation of its time, it hasn't dated at all. It set a standard that few could touch then, and even fewer have attempted to meet since.

--Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Artist: Public Enemy
Album: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Genre: Hip-Hop
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/publicenemyofficial

Track Listing:
1. Countdown To Armageddon
2. Bring The Noise
3. Don't Believe The Hype
4. Cold Lampin' With Flavor
5. Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic
6. Mind Terrorist
7. Louder Than A Bomb
8. Caught, Can We Get A Witness?
9. Show 'Em Whatcha Got
10. She Watch Channel Zero?!
11. Night Of The Living Baseheads
12. Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
13. Security Of The First World
14. Rebel Without A Pause
15. Prophets Of Rage
16. Party For Your Right To Fight

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I27EPDCS

-Steel Lord

M.I.A

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (born July 17, 1978) is a British vocalist, record producer, songwriter/composer and visual artist. She is a Tamilian of Sri Lankan origin. Best known by her stage name, M.I.A., her work in music often features a range of elements of genres.

An accomplished visual artist by 2002, M.I.A. came to prominence in early 2004 through file-sharing of her singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers" on the Internet. In 2005, her debut album, Arular, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her second album, Kala, was released in 2007.

'Arular' is probably the stronger album, or at least seems so at first, as it has more outstanding tracks ('Pull Up the People', 'Bucky Done Gun' & 'Galang'), but 'Kala' is solid too, and has M.I.A.'s best song, 'Paper Planes'.

Arular

Kala

Password: carlitosseville

EDIT: M.I.A.'s first work was a mixtape with Diplo, which I've spent all morning finding the download for. Not heard it yet, but I've heard good things. Apparantly it's wonderful in a rough-around-the-edges way. (Download is a mediafire download)

Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1

Daft Punk- Alive 2007

First released in November 2007, Alive is Daft Punk's second live album. The material is taken from their concert in Paris on June 14th 2007, and was critically lauded for its mixing of multiple Daft Punk classics into new songs.

Track List:
"Robot Rock" / "Oh Yeah" - 6:28
"Touch It" / "Technologic" - 5:30
"Television Rules the Nation" / "Crescendolls" - 4:51
"Too Long" / "Steam Machine" - 7:02
"Around the World" / "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" - 5:43
"Burnin'" / "Too Long" - 7:12
"Face to Face" / "Short Circuit" - 4:55
"One More Time" / "Aerodynamic" - 6:11
"Aerodynamic Beats" / "Forget About the World" - 3:32
"The Prime Time of Your Life" / "The Brainwasher" / "Rollin' & Scratchin'" / "Alive" - 10:22
"Da Funk" / "Daftendirekt" - 6:37
"Superheroes" / "Human After All" / "Rock'n Roll" - 5:41

The Residents

The Residents are an avant-garde music and visual arts collective who have created over sixty albums, created numerous musical short films, designed three CD-ROM projects, ten DVD's, and undertaken six major world tours. Throughout their career, spanning nearly four decades, they have maintained complete anonymity. All public relations, interviews and promotions are handled by their spokesgroup, The Cryptic Corporation.
[Title is a link to the full wiki article...]

Now The Residents explained as Lolicat sees them? The most fucked up, disturbing bunch of fuckers to ever make music. Their music seems at first annoying, even silly, but the more you listen to it, the further you get dragged into a nightmare world of surreal happenings. The Residents are the real soundtrack to the End.

Tunes of Two Cities: http://www.mediafire.com/?azwzfmsdwax

Animal Lover: http://www.mediafire.com/?13x9xzdj2md

Of the two albums, Animal Lover is the better, as well as being the more disturbing.

Björk- Medúlla

The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals; only few musical instruments are featured: a bass synthesizer on "Who Is It", piano on "Ancestors" and a gong on "Pleasure Is All Mine". However, the vocals are sometimes processed or sampled: for example, the atmospheric haze that dominates "Desired Constellation" was created from a sample of Björk singing the phrase "I'm not sure what to do with it" from "Hidden Place" on her previous album, Vespertine.

The album features beatboxing, choral arrangements and throat singing, as well as guest appearances by such artists as Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt, Tagaq, Rahzel (formerly of The Roots), Shlomo and Dokaka.

All songs were written by Bjork, except the lyrics for "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" which was based on a poem by E. E. Cummings, and the song "Vökuró", originally by Jórunn Viðar.

~Wikipedia article

Personally, I think that this is one of Björk's most beautiful and expressive albums, and it's easy to forget that it's all made with human voices. It's a bizarre and fragile album, and definately worth a listen, if only for interest and not enjoyment. I hope that you do enjoy this album though, because it's one of my favourites.

1. "Pleasure Is All Mine" – 3:26
2. "Show Me Forgiveness" – 1:23
3. "Where Is the Line" – 4:41
4. "Vökuró" (Sigurðardóttir, Viðar) – 3:14
5. "Öll Birtan" – 1:52
6. "Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)" – 3:57
7. "Submarine" – 3:13
8. "Desired Constellation" (Björk, Olivier Alary) – 4:55
9. "Oceania" (Björk, Sjón) – 3:24
10. "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" (Björk, Cummings) – 1:59
11. "Ancestors" (Björk, Tagaq) – 4:08
12. "Mouth's Cradle" – 4:00
13. "Miðvikudags" – 1:24
14. "Triumph of a Heart" – 4:04