Vol. 2, Episode 25

Here it is V2 EP25. This marks somewhere around the halfway mark. This one may offend some and my give better understanding to who I am. I hope this will not turn anyone away from this blog. Enjoy.

The Hives – Vini Vidi Vicious
The Hives are a Swedish garage rock revival group. This album is their second and most popular. It was released in 2000. They like to wear suits when they play. It is kind of a changing theme. It is not always the same suit either. If you check out all of the different album covers you will get my meaning. Obviously, the title of the album is a play on the famous Julius Caesar quote, “Vini Vidi Vici”. There were three singles that were released from this album. The first was Hate To Say I Told You So. This song was the reason that I got into the band. At the time I had MTV2 and they were still playing music videos. I remember when MTV played music videos. It is really sad to say that about to TV stations that are supposed to be dedicated to playing music. Anyway, the song has a similar chord progression to the song by the Kinks called All of The Day And All of The Night. This probably adds to the popularity of the song. This song was also included in the compilation album called Music from and inspired by Spider-Man. The song was obviously not from the movie or inspired by the movie, it was written before 2000, but it was a popular song at the time, 2002, and so was included in the compilation. The video for the song was very simple. It was the band playing in front of a two tone, beige on top and grey on the bottom, screen. There were added 60s psychedelic video effects added to the video as the group played. It made for a really cool retro feeling video for the song. The second single released from the group is called Supply and Demand. It is a good song but did not have the same flow as the previous single. There is not much info on this song as to even it charting success or I don’t have access to that information. The latter is probably the truth. I still like the song though. The third single from the group is called Main Offender. The song is essentially a recreation based on the song Have Love, Will Travel by The Sonics. The lead singer has stated that the song by The Sonics is one of his favorites. This song is also playable in the Rock Band video game. This is one of my favorite albums. It is very fast paced and easy to jump around to. Totally by accident, I ran across a record store on line that was selling copies of this album with a slightly bent corner for five bucks back in 2008. Although I already had the album from its debut US release in 2002, I couldn’t pass up such a great deal on a record that I loved. I have purchased all of their regular albums to date. I am excited for the up coming next album, scheduled for later this year. The only album that I did not pick up from them was the “greatest hits” album that was released at the same time as Vini Vidi Vicious was. I did not get it because it was just tracks from the two albums and I figured that I would be getting the previous album at some point because I liked Vini Vidi Vicious so much. I did get that first album too by the way.





Joe Boyd Vigil – Toonami: Deep Space Bass
DJ ClarkNova – Black Hole Megamix
I have had the music bumpers for the original Toonami run since cartoon network had them on their sight in the early 2000s. I loved these tracks but the network never said who created them. I knew that there was supposed to be a CD in the works from the network supporting the music that was created but I fell out of touch with the cartoons after a few year of watching. I still listen to these tracks on a reoccurring basis. It was because of Toonami that I own quite a few box sets of anime cartoons. Only a few of these bumpers are actually included in the Deep Space Bass collection that Toonami put out. I am glad that I downloaded the whole list of the bumpers and that I still have them after my hard drive crash last year. It was only recently that I found out who the writer of the music is. The writer is Joe Boyd Vigil. He has not only put out these drum and bass bumpers that I love so much but he has also put out the CD that I wanted to get through Toonami and an additional two CDs that was released on iTunes and Amazon in 2007 (I can’t seem to find them anywhere though). It is because of Toonami that I wanted to get some recording software. There was one track in particular that I really enjoyed called Strings. It is literally a repeating loop for about a minute and a half. This is actually all that the original bumpers that I downloaded are. It is just that the song strings appeals to me more than the other 10 tracks. I wish that I had known about this CD when it came out. As it stands I had to download the tracks off Deep Space Bass. I am glad to have them but it is always nice to have a physical copy. The tracks that I already had from the original Toonami downloads are expanded a little on Deep Space Bass. It is nice to hear the songs the way that they were intended. It is also great to have more music from an artist that I like. It is too bad that I found out about the album so late but I am still happy to have the music at any rate. There was also a CD that was never released from Toonami. It is a set of 21 songs that are new, old and current. The album was remixed by DJ ClarkNova. The tracks are not even named properly. It was leaked onto the internet and is currently being hosted by a Toonami fan site. If you are interested it is a legal download of all 21 songs. I think that it was the heads of the Toonami unit at Cartoon Network that leaked the album knowing that it would never see the light of day. It is because of Toonami that I purchased the anime box sets that I have. The ones that I have are Cowboy Beebop, Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star, Trigun, and Blue Sub 6. I am sure that there are others but I just can’t remember all of them. These are for sure the important ones though. I know, they are the strangest names for cartoon series but just say to yourself that they are from Japan and it should all make sense to you then. There are still some cartoons that I would like to have that aired on the anime time slots back then. They are becoming harder to find since they are not being advertised any longer on Toonami. I think that these cartoons and the music that that they brought with them are one of the happy points in a dark point in my life. I want to thank you Toonami for giving the fans of anime a way to see the things that we loved so much.

Stereolab – Sound-Dust
Sound Dust is the seventh album from Stereolab. It was released in 2001. It is a very pretty album from the group with flutes and strings paired up with the usual groove that Stereolab is known for. There was only one single released from the album. That single is called Captain Easychord. The song is a piano driven track with English lyrics. There is also a really cool lap guitar solo in the song. I don’t really like the lap guitar because of its heavy use in current country but in this case it works really well. The song is not super up beat but certainly drives along. The song basically says live what must live and die what must die. This reminds me of my grandfather on my wife’s side who is currently 96 and slowly dyeing. His memory is fading, he hurts all the time all over and just wants to sleep most of the time. I honestly don’t have much sympathy ever since I met the family all they have wished for the man was that he passes on. OK, I have a little bit of sympathy but it is mostly that he would just pass on. He was an abusive parent just like my grandfather was to my dad. Maybe that is why I just don’t care. I know all too well what an abusive parent is and I don’t want those types of people in my life no matter how young they are. If it were my choice they would still be in New York, sorry moms, Either way you look at it, it is not my choice. What is my choice is how often I see them. When I see them is usually on the holidays. The other thing that I have a problem with is that they need to be the center of attention. They are the oldest people in any group that they and I have been in, of course they are the center of attention. I hate that, not that I want to be the center of attention. Hardly, I would rather be at home relaxing. I don’t even want to be seen. So, when I hear that they were saddened that I did not say “Hi” and talk up a storm with them I get quite pissed off. I don’t care. I don’t need them; they are extra baggage on her side of the family in my opinion. I don’t have any grandparents living at this time. My last grandmother died a couple years ago. For me it is very hard to care about people that are not in my life consistently. I don’t even like to talk to my father for mainly the same reason. When I get old, please, just put me in a home with my stereo and music to listen to and let me be. Although my grandfather was verbally and physically abusive, my father was and still is to a greater extent a verbally abusive parent. I see my self as lucky that he did not bring the physical abuse with him to his parenting though. I don’t want or need that in my life and choose to cut it out as much as possible. Yes, this does mean that my son does not get to see his grandparents as much but I would rather not have my son abused as I was. I see my father abuse him the same way that he did to me and this is a good enough reason to eliminate them from his life in my opinion. You can disagree with me if you want to, I don’t see why you would, but it is my choice.


Jill Scott – Who Is Jill Scott (Words And Sounds Vol.1)
Lets start with the question that is posed in the title of the album. Who Is Jill Scott? She is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. The album, Vol. 1, was released in 2000. She has something different in her style that I like. I am not an R&B fan but her musical style has something special. This album brings back some emotions that are not so good feeling. The albums she creates are always heavy in emotions. They are usually about love and anger from her point of view on men. The first time I heard/saw a song from her was on MTV2. It was the single A Long Walk. She is getting to know a man. It is filmed in black and white and slowly turns to color. They are just taking a walk around the hood. It was really educational for me being a white kid. I think that part of what appeals to me is her smile. It just makes me want to smile right back even though she is not here with me. The other thing I love about this album is the instrumentation. I love the Rhodes keyboard for one. It is used all over this album. If you have not heard this instrument, if you are interested in music I don’t see how you could have not heard one, it has a smooth rounded bell like tone. Stevie Wonder used this keyboard in a lot of his music in the past. I also love the fact that although she uses beats in her music she has a live backing band. You can tell what is played by a real band and what parts are created beats. I really like the combination of synthetic sounds and real instruments. The way that she does it is fresh and flows together seamlessly. Her band is a big part of what makes her albums work so well. That I am aware of she has had the same group since her first album, Vol. 1. The album has a good flow. I think that everyone should hear this one at least once in their life time. I take that back. I think that everyone should hear any of her albums at least once. It is not that they all sound the same but they all sound that good. Her albums are a celebration of love and life and everyone can appreciate that. She has 2 albums, one a regular album and the other still has information forthcoming, coming out this year, 2011. I am very excited for both of them. I was able to hear the new album, The Light Of The Sun, early on NPR’s First Listen. I was blown away by the musicality alone. I have only listened to it once and can’t remember anything about the stories that she is telling on this one but I can only assume that they are also about life and love. I plan on getting both of these albums, you should at least hear the regular album

That's all for now...