Busta Rhymes - Fire It Up
Yep, the Knightrider sample. Remember when this first came out? Hell yes.
22 plays
Faithless - Drifting Away (Paradiso Mix)
This is one of my favourite Faithless tunes, probably because of the length of the intro, a solid 2:30 before the beat kicks in. It starts off with some acapella opera singing, followed by a gorgeous little piano melody, which just builds and builds until the bassline drops.
The rest of the track is brilliant too, but that intro is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
30 plays
Primal Scream - Miss Lucifer
I was a bit too young to be into Primal Scream when they first started hitting the mainstream in the early ’90s, with the Screamadelica album, but by the time they released XTRMNTR and Evil Heat at the turn of the millennium, I started listening to them a bit more.
And this was a good time for me to discover them, as they incorporated ever more dance and dirty electro elements into their previous indie/brit-pop sound. Whilst I like the classic tracks such as Loaded, Rocks, and Movin’ On Up, this later sound has been much more to my taste.
Miss Lucifer is relentless in its assault on your ears, with layers upon layers of riffs, beats and vocals. I’ve used the word “incessant” before when describing music, and this is another track to which it could apply.
5 plays
Rammstein - Du Hast
Tomorrow evening, I’ll be ticking off one of the bands on my list that I’ve always wanted to see live: Rammstein. They’re on at Wembley Arena, and thankfully a mate of mine managed to get a couple of tickets.
Rammstein are famous for their live shows, which are usually full of explosions and incredibly pyro-maniac in nature. I read somewhere that they do this because they expect the general (non-German) audience not to fully understand the lyrics. Thus the music and the visuals become more important to the experience of the live show.
I’m biased, because I speak German, but I love this band. The lyrics are actually really clever in their use of puns and wordplay, and the themes they cover aren’t the usual ones you find in music. Put this together with some absolutely pounding industrial metal, and it’s a match made in heavy metal heaven.
I’m really excited about tomorrow night, and can’t wait. After Rammstein, the only two bands that I desperately want to see live: Korn, and Faithless. Sometime soon, sometime soon…
20 plays
Richard Davis - This Time
Something about the lyrics is grabbing me tonight: “I don’t feel like reading your mind, this time”.
39 plays
Wasaru - Temporary Broken
I’ve been using the music website Jamendo recently whilst looking for music for a few videos that I’ve made, as the artists there release their music on a Creative Commons Licence, which means that it can be used royalty-free.
There are a lot of great artists on the site, but I’ve generally concentrated on the instrumental genre, specifically looking for music with a bit of a trip-hop and/or dubstep influence. Something that reminds me of Burial or DJ Shadow, and works well as incidental music to my visuals.
Wasaru seems to be a French artist, but I can’t find too much out about him/her. The music they make is very subtle, with gentle beats behind a few layers of melody. It’s all very relaxing and easy to drift away to.
39 plays
Rick Derringer - Real American
AKA Hulk Hogan’s entry music.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes.
14 plays
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
This evening, I have mostly been listing to Marilyn Manson. It’s been gooooooood.
I stumbled across Tainted Love on one of the music channels over the weekend, and it reminded me that I’d not listened to any of his stuff for a good while. I’m big fan of the music itself, although sometimes the lyrics can be a little too overplayed and hackneyed.
It’s just the intensity of the thudding bassline and huge guitars over the top that gets me. His music really does fall into that category of danceable metal.
Whilst on the train this evening, I couldn’t help but cast my mind back to his interview with Michael Moore in Bowling For Columbine, where he comes across as a really intelligent guy who genuinely knows his shit. I think it amuses him more than anything to be seen as an antichrist figure by the media, and he plays up to that nowadays.
19 plays
Richard Davis - Others
I forget how I discovered Richard Davis, but I’ve had this album on repeat constantly over the last few weeks. It’s sort of minimalist house/trance, with some great vocals and glorious melodies. Certain tracks are uplifting, whereas others just you leave in a completely relaxed state of melancholy.
This song is one of the latter, with a beat that just ticks over sufficiently quickly to have your head nodding away, but without overwhelming the tune and other layers. This would be ideal to have on at 3am when you get home from a night out, to help you drift away and forget everything.
17 plays
