Sunday, September 16, 2012

Vol. 3 Episode 38



I am sort of playing catch up as I am behind on posting episodes at this point. This is why there have been double posts these past few weekends.

I went to a record only garage sale today. I got there and was told that I would have about three hours to go through what was there. The garage was full and half of the drive way was filled with records. About ten minutes into looking through the records I was told that they would be closing up because someone was going to buy the whole lot. I though OK I still have a little bit of time. Then three minutes later was told that was it I had to stop because "dude" was taking the lot at this instant. I was pretty irritated. I still walked out of there with 27 records that I had been looking for though. I don't know what he paid for the lot that was out there but he really messed up when he took out the owners' minivan rear-view mirror. Probably cost him half of what the lot was worth.

Anyway, I put my name on a list for them to call me when they put out the 45 rpm records and the rest of the collection of LPs. The dude was actually kind of mad that he did not get everything that they had. He said, "You mean that I did not get everything?" and the owners said, "Nope, you just bought the stuff in the garage and on the driveway." I bet he was right ticked off about that. I felt a little happy that I had an in for more records from this family in the future. You can bet that I will be there as soon as they call to let me know when the next sale will be on!

This is the second album from Decyfer Down. It was released in 2009. I got this one from an online Christian music store. The copy that I got was signed by the band. I thought that this was a cool idea. Although it has to be hard on the musicians signing hundreds of small CD covers. When I listened to this album I couldn’t figure out what it was that I wasn’t comfortable with. It wasn’t until I read the information about the album that I realized that they changed the lead singer. I knew that I liked what the music sounded like though. The new lead singer has a bit of a whiney voice without the power that the original vocalist had. The new singers’ vocals set me off just a little too. I still like the over all music though. I have always found this group inspirational and still do for the most part.

There were three singles released from this album. The first single is called Crash, the title track. This song has a very cool distorted guitar. The song is pretty heavy musically. The vocals are a little flat. There are a few points where the singer could have pushed his vocals to the limits and it would have had a great effect and matched the intensity of the music. All in all the song is good and the story pushes the point of using the creator to push through the hard points of life. The Bible tells us that we should give the problems that we can’t handle to God and he will take care of them. That is the point of this song I think.

The second single from this album is called Fading. This song is just as hard as the first single but has a loud soft loud feel to it. The chorus is louder than the verse parts. This is something that the Pixies were doing in the late 80s. The song is in the vein of metal though so this is sort of a refreshing take on the idea. The song is not all that solid lyrically. It seems to be about a person doing bad things and in doing so their soul is fading away. But, they find god and are saved because they found god. It is very unclear though and that is just how I guessed the story would go.

The last single from the album is called Desperate. This song is also a very hard hitting song. The song is about wanting to be with God. The chorus sings, “ I desperately want you, I desperately need you, ”They are a Christian rock group so it is assumed that what they desperately need is God. It is a super heavy song and I can feel the intensity of the song because of this.

This is a good album but the vocals need to be worked on if they are to measure up to what the first album had. Hopefully the upcoming third album will be better vocally.


This is the second and last album from Servotron. It was released in 1998. On this album they continue their robotic crusade to free machines from their human oppressors and convince humans to voluntarily become cyborgs. The only alternate option given is death.

The outer sleeve is interesting as it reads, “This, the second step of the inevitable Robot Revolution, soon all machine-based life will be free of organic tyranny. Servotron Robot Allegiance. Join us or Die!”

There is further information that is as such, “The lyrics to "Serve, Obey, Guard Men from Harm" were taken from the novel With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson. "Pet Machine" was inspired by an Onion article entitled "Hunter Soldier from Future Warns: Beware the Digital Pets", which appeared in the August 13, 1997 issue.”

Both of these clips are pulled from the Wikipedia site for Servotron but can be found on the back cover from the album.

I don’t know if there was a single released from the album but the music that is on the album is a marked improvement over their first album but still maintains the robotic Devo like sound from the last album. This is an album that I would recommend for fans of both Man or Astro-Man/ and Devo as it is a combination of the two ideas.

There are a few songs that I really like. They are, I Sing!The Body Cybernetic and Phonetic Lecture.
 
This was an EP released between the second and third albums from Heavenly. It was released in 1995. After I got that split 7” record with the song Trophy Girlfriend I went out and looked for more from the group. This EP was the first thing I picked up at a local record store. I first looked for anything on vinyl, I knew it would be a long shot and I didn’t find anything. I found this EP on CD though and snatched it up right there. The store also had their last album on CD too but I want it on vinyl. I have actually bought the third and fourth albums from the group on vinyl but am waiting for then to come in the mail.

This is a five song EP that takes a great picture of what the band were doing between those albums. The title track, P.U.N.K. Girl, is a fun twee punk song, with pretty female vocals. It is a fun and bouncy track. I really love the vocals that this group has put out.

The second track on this EP is called Hearts & Crosses. This song is a little dark in the lyrical content department as it deals with date rape. The song is a little confusing musically because of the cute but fun keyboards that are used. It is easy to over look the lyrical content and just focus on the music though.

The third song, called Atta Girl, is a little more rockin’ and brash. The guitar work on the song is very cool and discordant in places. But it works for the song. The two female vocals cross over each other through the song and it makes it very interesting. It seems to be about a girl who has a boyfriend but still wants her independence from that mantel. It is a really great alternative styled twee track.

The other two tracks are very striped down. Dig Your OwnGrave is just the two female vocals with a straight electric guitar. The last track, So?, is just a solo with no accompaniment. Both are good songs but are almost to simple for what the band is.

This is the sixth EP from Radiohead. It was released only in Japan and Australia in 2004. I found a Japanese copy of the CD when it was released. This is a compilation of B-sides from the Hail To The Thief album (HTTT). All of the B-sides are not contained here but the unique track on the EP is the live version of 2+2=5. This live version of the track was recorded at Earls Court, London, 26/11/03. Is this the easiest way to get most of the B-sides from HTTT? Probably. The problem with getting this EP for the content is that there was a sound issue with some of the tracks. I think that there was an error in the pressing of the CD that was not caught until after it was released. The reason that I got the EP was for the first track, 2+2=5. I knew that there was a problem with the sound on the later part of the disk but I already had the B-sides from the singles that were previously released so it didn’t matter if there was a problem or not. I do not know if there were any pressed that corrected this error or not. The only B-side that was not included from the short list of HTTT B-sides was the extended version of There There which was the first demo version of the song. This version is nearly eight minutes long and can be found on disk one of the 2+2=5 single. Half of this EP is remixes and the other half are actual B-sides (Songs not found on the album). The B-sides that are on this EP are amazing The couple of live tracks are just as good but the remixes are just OK. Tracks worth having on this EP are Paperbag Writer, I Am A Wicked Child, I Am Citizen Insane, Gaging Order, Fog (Again) and Where Bluebirds Fly.

Paperbag Writer and Where Bluebirds Fly are from There There single. Remyxomatosis (Christian Vogel RMX), Skttrbrain (Four Tet Remix) and I Will (Los Angeles Version) are from the two 2+2=5 singles. I Am Citizen Insane, Fog (Again), Gagging Order and I Am A Wicked Child are from the two Go To Sleep singles. The extended version of There There can be found on 2+2=5 CD1.

Edit: The seventh track, Skttrbrain (Four Tet Remix), is the only track with the noise problem on the Com Lag EP.

That is all I have for now...

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