So I never have much to say here, really. So here's the first ten tracks that come up on the ol' iPod shuffle:
1. Punky Brüster - Wallet Chain
Weird. I only have one song by this group (actually a spin-off of Strapping Your Lad) in my 'Pod and it pops up first. Funny little punk rock three-chorder with energy to burn. Good way to start the day.
2. Seeds and Stems - Giudizio Disangue
I can't remember where S&S came from, they were a group on mp3.com back in the day, doing Goblin-esque sci-fi-/horror/action movie soundtracky stuff. Loads of fun, and really good at what they did. They would have sounded right at home in some wackadoodle Dario Argento flick.
3. Slayer - Necrophobic
I don't think I need to defend Slayer. 'specially not Reign In Blood era Slayer.
4. Peter Brötzmann - Divide by Zero
PB with the Chicago Tentet, from the three-disc set of live and studio sides on Okkadisc, now sadly out of print. Holy crap. Has there been a better free jazz album in the last twenty years? Thirty? I saw these cats live and it was mindblowing - like watching a chamber orchestra spin previously unknown Stravinsky works out of thin air.
5. Opeth - Baying of The Hounds
Off Ghost Reveries. Totally proggy - and kinda goth to boot. I really shouldn't like it at all - but go figure, I'm fucking crazy about this album. Despite everything about it, on paper, screaming lame - I mean, it's prog-death-metal with folky acoustic "sensitive" interludes - it fucking blazes. And the whole thing's got this groovy Greg Rolie style organ (think Santana in '72) that takes it up a notch, puts a little 70's retro psychedelic flavor in there.
6. Ambrose Slade - Knocking Nails Into My House
Early incarnation of the band that eventually was just called Slade, circa 1969, I think. Solid guitar pop. The album is mostly covers of bigger artists from the time - Born to Be Wild, Journey To The Center Of Your Mind, Martha My Dear. That's just something bands don't do anymore. Knocking Nails was a cover of a Jeff Lynne tune which I've never heard the original version of - I can only assume it was with The Move.
7. John Cage - Ryoanji (Jeff Krieger, cello)
Damn. Probably my favorite recording of this piece. The album this is from (Krieger's Night Chains) is another out of print one - too bad, it's really tremendous.
8. Archive - Numb
From You All Look The Same To Me. Awesome elctro-pop group from the UK that no one in the US has heard of. Kind of have a Charlatans-meets-Underworld at half-speed vibe. They keep the songs simple - two, three chords, a great melody and groove and boom, you got a killer song. Their first couple albums were pretty weak IMHO, but they really came into something on YALTSTM. A great pop album more people oughta know about.
9 Giacinto Scelsi - Rucke di Guck III
Hmmm... not one of Scelsi's most interesting pieces. Not sure why I've even got it in here. Not sure, really, why anyone felt it was worth recording. Sounds like something GS wrote for goofs more than anything else. Dates from '57, just before he found his voice - the obsessively monotonal works he's more famous for. It's rather obvious, listening to Rucke di Guck, that he needed to find another direction.
10. Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter (Live, Brussels, 1973)
The Stones. 1973. Live. Mick Taylor on fucking fire. 'nuff said.
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Strange... Mostly Pop / Rock, only two classical and one jazz. And no folk / blues / bluegrass. Seems odd. I'd wager jazz takes up a good 1/3rd of what's in there. Hmm... maybe I'll try it again next week and see what happens.