Marlon Williams - Make Way For Love (2018 Full Album MP3 FLAC Leak)

This is an experiment. There will be several voices in this live review but you can pretend we’re all part of the same hive mind.

https://marlonwilliams.bandcamp.com/album/make-way-for-love

1. Come To Me
• Can you turn it up? It’s still too quiet. YOU DON’T LIKE THIS SONG. Are all the songs going to be like this? ECHO! SKIP! Well, so far I’ve heard basically none of this. Is there more than one person singing? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s an echo. Eh, I like it. I like the strings. I was actually going to say that! Like actually! Are those drums too? Are you just messing with me with the drums. I’m kidding! Oh my god! I like the drums though. I’m not sure how I feel about his voice yet. Yeah, me too. This isn’t pop. This is old people style. This sounds like music you would listen to.
• Read it all when we’re done! Are you going to write that down?
2. What’s Chasing You
• Pause it! Pause it! Iike the beat though. I like it better than the first one already. His voice is better. Yeah, I think he uses auto-tune. What’s this song called? WHAT’s CHASING YOU? A monster. In the dark. Words? Twisting? HEY? YOU WANT TO DANCE TO THIS SONG? Let’s dance! NO NO NO. See? He doesn’t even like this song. It good for dancing to though. Does he have nightmares of things chasing him? Yeah, yeah. DID YOU POOP?
3. Beautiful Dress
• Oh yeah – he pooped. It smells like an old sandwich. Why is it sunny? BOOTY CREAM IS NOT FOR EATING. Why is he writing about dresses. Does he write his songs? I guess. Can’t he sing about somebody else’s dress? That’s weird. So no. I don’t like this song. Too boring. It’s for old people. You can’t even understand him. Yeah, it pretty slow. Maybe it will pick up. It doesn’t have anything about dresses. I can’t understand him, or maybe I don’t want to. Like a panda? Is he in pain? OO-OOOOOOOOOH. This is boring. It’s my least favorite song so far. Does he have a wife? Probably not. No offense. This is a bad song. I really don’t like what he’s doing with his voice. He’s probably really old, right? Like 80? Wow, he’s begging for love. He’ll be forever alone.
4. Party Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
• Is he a party boy? I don’t know. I just hope it’s better than the last song. I don’t like the echo-y voice he does. Me either. At least it’s better than the last song. You can’t understand him because of the weird echo effect. PARTY BOY I think he had too much to drink last night. “I don’t like you”? That’s rude. This sounds like Chris Isaak, but not as good. I don’t know what that is. Probably another old person. There’s a space noise. This sounds like it should be in a movie for second graders. Maybe it’s for second graders from outer space. It’s about this boy, who was like partying, and there was a bully at the party, and the aliens came from outer space and ate them all and it finished but it was only three minutes long and this is the song that was playing the whole time. Yeah, that’s a good movie.
5. Can I Call You
• No. You’re too old for me. Come on get to the song already….eugh. That’s so edgy. Is he crying? He’s like sobbing. I don’t like what he does. Hold on! I want to listen. Once the drums start it’s better. I kinda like the beat and there’s less echo once the drums start. I like the way he sings with himself. That’s because he’s forever alone. SEE That’s why he’s begging for people to call him. “I’m having an old people crisis like for middle age people but I never got over it.” After the bad intro to this song it ended up being my favorite song so far. I kinda like this part – I wouldn’t listen to it but I’d accept YOU listening to it. As long as my friends aren’t in the car. Yeah, that was pretty good.
6. Love Is A Terrible Thing
• He needs to just get into the song. Wait, what’s this song called? Ohhhh…no, I don’t like this song. Old people gone wrong. They should not sing about love. This song is a bra? DUDE. I hate this song. The piano/voice stripped down sound doesn’t work since neither are particularly strong. What is that noise? It sounds like he’s farting, digeridoo-style. Nothing about this song is good. Even the way it ended was bad. This is my new least favorite song. Me too.
7. I Know A Jewel
• Wow. He’s resorting to jewels because he can’t get a girl? Or a boy? What do you think about the title? I think it’s about that he knows the singer named Jewel. I think that he fell in love with a jewel because he couldn’t get a person to fall in love with him because he’s too old and has an echo-y voice. No offense. This sounds the most like Chris Isaak so far. I still don’t know who that is. It’s what I would rather listen to than this. Oh! He’s coming knocking at your door! Actually, I kind of like this song. But not really. This is a totally fine song that I will never remember. YEAH. Whoa – that was short! YEAH
8. I Didn’t Make A Plan
• I don’t think he made a plan for this album. It’s like the same song over and over. I KNOW! This one is more just piano. Siggghhhhhh THIS GOT GOOD REVIEWS? It’s OK…it’s not bad. It should just be way better. REEEE-SOOOOORTSSSS That was just a random thing though – you don’t have to write it down. I’m not going to say anything about the song. It’s bad. Oh, I just did. Who do you think would like this album? I think young women would like this album. WHOOOAAA…NO. Like who? Like lonely women in their early 20s. And you know a lot about what kind of music they would like? Would you like this when you were 20? Yeah, probably. HOW MANY WOMEN IN THEIR EARLY 20s DO YOU KNOW? I don’t know any now! I used to! When I was 20! Well, you’re wrong.
9. The Fire Of Love
• This is the worst song ever. I mean album. Eugh. How do you do this? It’s so bad. It’s not that bad. It’s pretty bad, honey. I thought this was going to be better. I did too. But I also just thought. Of things. Can we listen to someone good, like The Man Who Sings About Poop? I’m about ready to skip to the end of this song. No, that would be cheating.  There needs to be more drums. Hey! You can’t leave! I have to go poop in my room. Why are you talking about poop so much? Why are you asking that? So you can write it down? That’s not a review either, honey.
• //
10. Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore
• Is this a girl? Oh! That’s him! No, that was a girl. Was it? It’s hard to tell without the echo. That’s gotta be a girl. At least he’s not lonely any more. Maybe it’s just his sister. They can both be lonely together. Because of their parents. This song is better than the others because it’s not echo-y. Her voice is pretty nice. She should have sung the whole album. The bum bah bum part is fun! It’s like the Little Drummer Boy! Are they still sad? Maybe if they weren’t so whiny they’d get what they want. Because I’m pretty sure people still get what they want sometimes, especially if they don’t whine. YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND YOU DON’T THROW A FIT Ewwwww I don’t like that part PBLTTTTT EWWWWW Everyone says “ew” at the last part even though the rest was pretty good. EVERYBODY POOPS.
11. Make Way For Love
• No. I won’t. Is there a girl in this one too? I don’t think so. I think that’s just his friend the echo. That’s not a review. You don’t know me and my reviews. IT’S A BLACKBERRY? YOU DON’T NOT LIKE IT. This is fine I guess…kind of an oldies song. BORING. This is his last song? It’s not very strong. I DON’T LIKE IT. Man there’s a lot of negativity. It’s just boring…you know? Not super terrible, just not my thang. This sounds like one of those Hawaiian songs like where they do the hula hoops. Like if they did the hula hoops but fell asleep. You can’t write down your own jokes. They’re not funny. No offense. Bedtime, or no good? NO GOOD

Final Ratings:

• Three or four. Solid four. Four lonely people out of…your mom.
• Five echoes out of infinity echoes. Because it was exactly in the middle of nowhere so the echoes will never end.
• THREE SOUR CREAM SOUR CREAM SOUR CREAM OUT OF CREAM CHEESE

Average rating: Four lonely echoes of various creams.

A Very Special Mixmas Special Mix - BrisYee (2018 Full Album MP3 Download)

1. Hey, what? Is this a standup comedy album? I hate standup comedy. I don’t even have a good reason for hating it, I just do. I didn’t really like Master of None either but it had Eric Wareheim so even though Aziz is kind of whiny it was almost worth it. Now I’m trying to figure out what made this track stand out compared to any of the others. OHHHHH…THE GRAPEFRUIT. Now I get it.
2. Now we’re into my party jams. PARRRRTY JAMZZZ. You know it’s a party because she’s singing about booze. That’s how you knew Lorde was old enough to drink on her album last year. Is that a synthetic steel drum? I guess if you’re throwing up from all the sugar from your exclusive diet of screwdrivers you probably don’t want to be handling real drumsticks. Do people regularly mix higher-end vodka with orange juice? Grey Goose is gross, but if you liked it and paid for it it seems like a waste to drown it in OJ.
3. This sounds like Caribou after he wakes up. I like it so far! Plus, he’s singing about Coca-Cola and so far there’s no rum in it. Bum-bum-boh, bum-bum-boh! I am extremely satisfied with this song but I’m not following what’s happening with the soda mystery.
4. This guy sang for some new wave band, right? I don’t know how he couldn’t have. I’ll just assume this is a Depeche Mode remix. If it’s not, the voice is a little bit of a put on. I feel like if I broke his heart and crushed his dreams and all the other things he’s challenging me to do he might feel differently about his soul. I like the confidence but I don’t trust in his fortitude. I’ll take that soul if I want to take that soul.
5. CHIPMUNK ROBOTS! I love chipmunks and I love robots so there’s no way this song can fail me. Oh no…a big ol’ “LIKE THAT” man just took over and messed with the flow. I didn’t like him until he started playing Pong with the chipmunk robot and then I was OK with him. I’m 90% sure this song isn’t by Eric Wareheim or one of his friends but it should be, and he should do the video. It’s basically a Major Lazer or DJ Douggpound song.
6. This is ominous and WOW she’s really getting right to business. She called me the “B” word and I didn’t even do anything to her. I don’t know that I’ve ever been angry enough to relate to a song like this. What the heck is she saying about a horse? I’m having a hard time following but I feel like not all of this rant is as focused as it was at the start.  So angry.
7. I shouldn’t have started thinking about Tim & Eric…now all the songs sound like comedy bits. It doesn’t help that the vocals sound like Terry Crews. Maybe they’re supposed to be. Is he shouting “I got that work!” over the sirens so his co-worker can hear him? And now they’re working! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! This is my new favorite song. I’m teaching it to the baby this weekend. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

1. We’re in a saloon! That there cowboy just asked me “what up?” Three time signature changes in the first minute…not a great sign. What is this song doing? CHOOSE A SIDE! Buuuuut…it has a wacky fake phone conversation and isn’t angrily telling me about blood and money so it’s not all bad. “Little baby man”? Did I hear that right?
2. This is the slowest of my JAMZZZZZZZ so far. I don’t know why I keep doing that but I’m all in now so I might as well run with it. The second vocalist on the mix that I don’t care for. He talked about blue flowers though…maybe he knows Kool Keith. So many mid-song shifts though and now it’s not a slow JAMMMZZZ. One of the sub-songs is definitely stolen from “Ms. Jackson”. The rest are stolen from various rooms in the all-robot fetish club and now I’m drenched in antifreeze and various lubricants. That was kind of exhausting.
3. I hope this is the Macarena. No vocals yet and I’m grateful after that last song. I’m really enjoying this one so far – nice and trance-y and it feels wide open. I’m not really writing much because I’m enjoying this a lot. Good song. Done.
4. Oh boy…glad I got a chance to relax with the last song. This one was recorded inside the tank of a tanker truck where we thought it was a good idea to have a rave but then a raccoon closed the hatch and now we’re trapped in here. We need to bang on the sides to try to alert someone that we’re in here, but we also need to PARTY. PARTY JAMMZZZZZZ. This whole sounds like when I “play” the siren whistle by breathing in and out but played through stadium speakers. I would be OK if I never had to listen to this again.
5. Oh good…sounds like the truck is driving away. The problem is that we’re inside it. Actually, aside from the awful and grating intro this isn’t too bad. Kind of like if one of the Blue Room Released artists didn’t want you to relax at all.
6. I’m glad I’m getting breathing instructions for relaxation hypnosis. CONTROL MY MIND, JAMZZZZ. Oh wait…it’s hypnotizing me into relaxing. With squeaky shoes and Slinkies. I think I had this song on a Ras Dva industrial sampler in 1994. Because I’m super old.
7. OH MAN, HARRY NILSSON! I love Harry Nilsson, although this isn’t my favorite song. I did have a dream of dressing the oldest male offspring in a leather fringe jacket and recording him staring into storefronts back when he was two years old. Nothing funnier than a toddler midnight cowboy.

 Final Rating: Seven sexy robot cowboys out of 10. A few of them needed to tone it down a bit and I could have done without the excursion to the fetish club but overall those were some well-programmed JAMZZZZ BOTZZZZZZ.

The Oh Hellos - Eurus (2018 Full Album Leak Download MP3 320)

Oh, hello! This is a live review of The Oh Hellos. Great intro, me.

http://music.theohhellos.com/

Grow

At maximum volume I can’t hear this nice singing and strumming over the loud talking next to me. That stinks. Let me jam my earbuds in deeper. // Done. That’s a little better. OK, so this sounds like a female-led version of the Strumbellas copying the Lumineers. You know what? I’m mostly OK with this kind of copying. This has a little bit of Riverdance happening in the background though which is not so great. And a really terrible electric guitar something in there too. But the chorus of voices is definitely my thing, especially since I may never get a good Polyphonic Spree album again. The Riverdance stuff gets a little out of hand toward the end.

O Sleeper

That was an abrupt transition. This has wobbling flute and guitar and quiet stuff like I should wake up now. Maybe this will be my new alarm sound. Oh hey…male vocalist this time. Old timey, too. He’s kind of doing an Ian Anderson thing without the unique edge. This one isn’t Riverdance but it’s close. There’s something darkly 90s and new age hiding in the shadows of this album so far. Hey, how come the band name is “Oh” but this song is “O”? The answer must be MARKETING.

Dry Branches

Dumb filler. Burn it like dry bran- oh. I mean O.

Eurus

I can get behind this. Actually, I should probably stand next to this, put my arm around this’s shoulder, and start kicking my feet out in time to the music. I don’t know if this band is actually Irish or not but I sure hope so because if they’re not this is way pretentious. Nope, American. They said “kin” like they meant it. Even though it’s on the edge of insufferable this song hasn’t quite gone over and I’d totally play a game while this was on in the background. Maybe not listen to it directly again though. They sound a lot like a local cover band that’s excited to finally play the matinee set at the state fair.

A Convocation of Fauns

So apparently the last minute of Eurus was actually this song. I don’t think there was any transition at all.

Hieroglyphs

JAM BAND! I actually really like when albums flow from song to song so I can’t complain too much but the endless mega-riverdance might be a little bit overkill. I can’t tell this song from the last two (one-plus?) at all. And the trailer park drumming is really starting to get to me. This would have been an excellent point in the album for a song that was…anything different from what the first five were.

Passerine

Back to the woman who sang the first song to close this thing out. I wonder if this would be more my thing if the drummer and electric guitarist got kicked out. Probably only a little more. Because you know what this album did? Made me want a new Saintseneca album since they take folk traditions and do something really special with them. I can’t get past the cover band feeling with the The Oh Hellos.

Final Rating

Four elephant ears out of 10. 10 might seem excessive but once you get past six you’ve crossed a threshold and every one only gets better after that. Not so with the children of Michael Flatley. Who I’m pretty sure is the Riverdance guy. LORD OF THE DANCE!

Fischerspooner - Sir (2018 Full Album Leak MP3 320 Download)

I sure have a lot of new things to listen to. Can I live review all of them? Probably not.

I loved the first Fischerspooner album. The second one tried way too hard and I listened to it maybe twice. Who knew they would make another album? Did they make more before this and I just didn’t care? Huh…I guess so. Also, now I have no idea what I listened to because what Wikipedia says makes no sense with what I listened to and when. Whatevs.

1. Stranger Strange

Sounds like old Fischerspooner so far. I’m going to get really tired of typing that whole name. I could call then FSP but I hate acronyms so I’ll just copy and paste them. I kind of don’t like his whiny, sleaze, sexy moan voice thing that he does. This song is a lot less catchy and dancey than it is…I don’t know. It sounds like Suicide without being interesting. Maybe one of those 80s darkwave bands I didn’t really listen to? He really likes saying the “f” word.

That wasn’t very good.

2. TopBrazil

This is a little dancier but still doing the Depeche Mode New Order thing pretty hard. It’s not like I’m going to dance to it but I would like it to bounce better. The robot singing is pretty fun. The song still needs a better beat and less terribly breathy lyrics about whatever the hell he’s singing about. I’m almost sure it’s a lot of gay sex. I just looked it up and it definitely sounds like a whole lot of gay sex.

3. Togetherness

He knows, he knows. There’s a lot of “I” so far. I think the “me me me” thing is part of the schtick but it’s less obvious when there’s more vocal distortion. Which this album badly needs. Oh great…another slow-ish song. That is also almost definitely about gay sex. I’m not opposed to a song here and there about going deeper into the dark denim but I could use a break now and then.

4. Everything Is Just Alright

This is more like it! Maybe there will be some gay sex but it’s opening with a bouncy robot beat and instead of greasy singing it’s more of a fast wacky talking thing. I can get behind this. That’s not a gay sex joke. The “OOOOOOOOH” leaves something to be desired but I’d totally listen to this song again. I’ll call it the gay sex counterpoint to Camper Van Beethoven’s “Ambiguity Song”. In case you were wondering, the singer is learning to be a man’s man. And done.

5. Have Fun Tonight

So if I thought the other songs were about gay sex I’m absolutely sure about this one. It’s a lot of wailing “we coooooome together sweetly”. A lot. GO HARD AND LOOSE. This is the gayest album I’ve listened to today. Maybe not all week though. This song actually sounds like a parody of a song, like with only a couple more overly-explicit lines it could be in the background during the scene in “National Lampoon’s Randy Dickles Chases Tales” where they go in the gay club while wearing otter costumes. I just made that movie up but I bet it’s going to be a real thing one day. I kind of stopped listening to the song while I made the movie up but they’re still coming together sweetly and having fun tonight. Great news!

6. Discreet

Whoops…I didn’t realize a new song has started. Not going back. This is back to boring and trying to sound dark. There are glimmers of almost interesting things here like with a sample of breathing from too close to his nose but everything is just cut too slowly and feels dull. There’s no fun here at all, just sort of depressing attempts at confronting the listener with gay gayness. HAHAHA OK, not no fun at all, just mostly. I did like the “sup?” “hi!” “hello” call and response a lot.

7. Strut

This starts off OK. I definitely like the faster songs much better. Which is weird because 15^th Day was the one slow song on the first album and that was my favorite but they’re just not hitting on this one. This song has some playful manipulation of sounds and I like that. More than I like the shouting talking about lame past flings but I like that better than sexy crooning so somewhere in that mess this is my second favorite song on the album so far. Oh, and there’s some gay sex. Surprise!

8. Get It On

Gee, I wonder what this song will be about. And it’s slow to start with just vocals. Not getting any faster. Is he saying “Naked, Na, Na, Na”? I hope so. This is slower but not so bad. Not so good, but not so bad. This should have been one of only two or three slow songs on the album.

9. I Need Love

Because here comes another slow song. “I lost my phone I lost my head” is so profound, man. I like that the chorus is sung in chipmunk voice at least. I think this could be a Lady Gaga song if the pitch was just a little lower. Also, it should be way catchier. Why is it so herky jerky?

10. Butterscotch Goddam

I’m running out of things to say already. I like the robot and chipmunk voices. I don’t like the slow songs. Gay sex just is, and it is a lot. He needs me. Needy needs me. What the hell is this song saying? I kind of don’t care because it’s terrible. Every few bars it changes into a different song and none of them are good.

11. Dark Pink

Definitely ready for this to be over. There’s not a lot to distinguish this from the last song. Oh wait, his voice is a little scratchier and the bass is a little more muted. And it hasn’t changed into a new song yet after 30 seconds. I’ll take this over the last piece of crap.

12. Try Again

Ugh. This stinks. Not a good sign that I keep checking to see how much time is left in the song and how many songs are left on the album. Maybe this is supposed to be a concept album and the songs tell the story of a character moving through relationships and encounters? Maybe it’s more high-concept than that and they’re aware of just how weak this album is (especially as a comeback) and this song is open acknowledgement that they need to try again. I’m probably giving them too much credit.

13. Oh Rio

Finally. I really hope this is the Duran Duran song. “Every dream has a dark side…” talk talk talk. About a life of gay sex. Oh my god. Enough. He’s not a good singer, not a good talker, and not anywhere near as clever as he thinks. This sounds like someone who has never faced actual adversity trying to get me to relate to how hard it is to have partied all over the world for years but feel lonely for not being loved. With fake echo crying in the background. I remember that #1 ended with “Megacolon”, which still makes me laugh when I hear it. This song is no “Megacolon”.

Well that wasn’t very good. I can safely keep only #1 in my collection.

Final rating: Three lonely leather daddies out of a whole club full. There’s almost nothing worthwhile here, maybe three or four songs at best and a few neat production tricks.

Download links:
Userscloud
Rapidshare
Mega
Zippy
Zoomy
Whackadoo
Bingo Bango

Defiant Plankton Narratives - A Very Special Mixmas Live Review (2018 Full MP3 Leak)

OK, I have to just live review this thing. No other way to do it justice. I’ve spent too much time already trying to get the album art to upload correctly so I’ll go with what I’ve got and just claim that it was poorly aligned when I got it.

Track 1

Hmm…has it started? Is my volume up loud enough? I think there’s some guitar sound. Let me turn up my volume. Great news, it’s just quiet guitar still. Five dollars says this is an instrumental track. Oh yeah – no way that snare drum doesn’t go with an instrumental rock band. I think this is the band that I had to listen to over the summer. At least it’s a reasonable opener since it builds from quiet, but boy is that drum still annoying to me. I like this part about four minutes in way better now that I’ve had four minutes to hate the drums. Oh geez...six more minutes though? Not that I can talk since Zimpel/Ziolek went about the same way. This semi-electronic sound at six minutes in is nice too. Maybe I only like the 30-second segments that start every two minutes. HAHAHA not even kidding the next part I liked started at 7:59. The next part I will like is at 10 minutes when the song is over.

Track 2

I wonder if this will be instrumental. It could go that way from the opening. It sure would be a good joke if I had to listen to nothing but 15 tracks of Public Broadcasting Service. Which I think is what this one is because I remember the annoying old British guy talking about stuff. Except for maybe he’s Scottish. I don’t care. Their drummer is a little less annoying, but the bass sounds are not as good. I’m just going to put all artsy instrumental rock acts in the same basic bucket of judgement. That bucket is filled with indifference and just a touch of annoyance.

Track 3

The strummed guitar is a nice change of pace, especially with nothing behind it. It’s slow enough and lacking enough snare drum that I’m pretty sure some vocals will have to happen. Even though I’d be happy to listen to an instrumental version of this. Do I know that voice? I think I do. Is this Beck? Was there a song like this on the Beck album? I’d never know because I wrote it off after two listens. Maybe. I can’t remember if I got that far. This is more Sea Change than what I remember if it is Beck. I remember YO DAWG PARTY BUT ALSO IN A HIP WAY. I think that was Beck. I’m not allowed to look until the end though.

Track 4

PIAAAAAANO Oh god this is that teenager girl. Why did this end up on here? OK, this particular song is pretty good but the whole album? I’ll listen to this song since I didn’t hate it but the whole time I’ll let my overall hatred fester and grow. I just listened to the lyrics to this song a little too closely. I’m trying to put my festering hatred aside but even without (most of) that I must just really not like her writing. Because I want to shake this person around and tell them they’re not as poetic as they think they are.

Track 5

MY HEADPHONES ARE TOO LOUD and there is an awful screeching sound. Boy oh boy are there a lot of sound effects so far but that screeching violin is really killing me. I’m too lazy to turn the volume down though so I’ll let it pass. The concept is fine, it’s just really not coming across well because the clickity-click fire crackling noise is popping out a little too sharply as well. I keep wincing. This song is a blast. It was definitely a closing track but the album isn’t over!

Track 6

I AM DANCING AN ISLAND DANCE! This is a wacky little number. Hey, The Magnetic Fields! I’m glad someone else picked out a song that was enjoyable out of all those terrible ones because I didn’t feel like it. I can’t even remember if I got all the way through the album. I like the slippery-sliding trombones on this song.

Track 7

Yesssssssssssssssssss. There aren’t enough esses (not changing it) in the world to applaud this song. I think this might have been my favorite song on the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album but I didn’t like it as well for my mix. All is well now that it’s the centerpiece of this mix. I don’t have to type anything else because it’s that good a song.

Track 8

This sounds like a Beatles outtake. Or maybe a Beatles parody by Frank Zappa. Is someone singing in a high voice for the backing vocals. The song actually isn’t so bad but the high voice is cracking me up. Also they’re having an awfully hard time choosing a time signature and sticking to it. Art.

Track 9

Oh, nice. This Alt-J album really grew on me over the course of the year. It just didn’t grow tall enough to reach into “mix territory”. Poor Alt-J though…they’re going to need to do something really different but still appealing to get out from under their first album because that’s all I think when I listen to their newer ones. I do appreciate that most of last year’s album was patient and didn’t move at such a frantic rush. I’m glad this was on a mix because I felt bad about not having it on mine.

Track 10

Am I on track 10 now? I should be keeping better track (GET IT?) of what I’m listening to. OK, we’re good.

Track 10

It really feels like we’ve fully made the transition into British rock at this point in the mix. At least from the music. I’m pretty sure the actual band for this song is American. What do I know. I’m no ichthyologist. // Was there singing in this song? Now I can’t remember. I think there was. Just not right now. I wish I had a marimba. I’ve only ever gotten to play one a few times but it sure is satisfying. Oh, there are the vocals. They’re OK. Not as good as the marimba.

Track 11

Well that’s a pretty voice. Is she a little drunk though? It’s really hard to understand the vocals so let me turn the volume up a little more. What the heck – I already can’t hear anything in real life anyway. Fun fact: my whole mix was almost all maudlin female-vocal folk songs. I should’ve stuck with that concept. That song was short.

Track 12

Another amazing song and album that didn’t quite make the cut for my mix. I should have done two discs. This Benjamin Clementine album was really something else and this song was definitely my favorite on the album. Man…so good. The song is such a crazy journey and even though it has all these disparate parts it feels really cohesive.

Track 13

VOLUME IS LOUD This track is mixed crazy loud and also her voice. Is this that Riff Raff woman? She’s so angry. I think I actually like this song but I don’t like the edge to her voice. Which is probably the point, but I still have to listen to it so come on…dull the edges a bit. And there’s just one thing…do you have to use so many cuss words? Oh god…the circus just started. This is turning into Neil Gaiman’s wife’s music. Next thing I know she’ll be wearing steampunk pants and making ticking sounds while she yelps and swears. Goody…now there’s a poor-quality old-timey recording of someone talking. I think I did listen to this at least once because now there’s all the yelling “BALLANTE” or whatever. What the hell, song. This is a real contrast to the Benjamin Clementine song right before – they’re both pretty hard listens in their way and one clicks for me and one really doesn’t. It was nice to have them back-to-back though.

Track 14

See, now I don’t know if this is a new song or not. Oh wait…it’s quieter and a man singing and no one is swearing at me and/or shouting nonsense. This song would probably be nice but after the one-two punch of the last two songs I don’t know what wouldn’t feel a little weak. Is this Elton John? I can only assume it is. He’s going to need to toughen up to beat out the last songs. // GARLIC COIN HAHAHAHA // The interruption might have helped Elton out a lot. Tell me, Elton. Is it human nature? Oh, just human nature you say? Well that’s settled then. This kind of sounds like a Sesame Street song if you listen to the lyrics a certain way.

Track 15

I think this is the last song but I wish I didn’t know that. But that means it’s probably instrumental. The end is really where an instrumental song belongs. This one fits very nicely here. Yeah, this is a super rad way to close out. I need to see what this is. I bet it’s an instrumental band that I pooh-poohed earlier.

Final Rating: Three instrumental tracks out of 15. I’d rate the actual mix much higher though.

Well, that settles it. I listened to someone else’s taste in music and the only thing it did was reaffirm that I like what I like and everything else is exactly bad. I’m going to go listen to Alt-J again right now though.