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This Is Not A Now Playing Thread

I've seen Skillet popping up all over the place these days. I remember about half a year back when only my girlfriend at the time listened to them, and their whole family listened to nothing I recognized.

I don't like them, but I don't like anything these days. I've never seen Christian Rock as anything other than cashing in either to be honest, like I told my girlfriend if you've got a god given talent aren't you doing him proud regardless of how you use it? People become Christian Rockers just because that's an audience that will accept them regardless of talent. If I want to hear songs about God, there are good ones like Spirit in the Sky, Somebody Up There Likes Me, God Gave Rock and Roll to You, none of them sung by the stereotypical "model" Christian.
 
Heeere we go.

BT - Emergency
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkCe_AbcZF0

This is only part of this awesome album, which is all strung together like a huge DJ mix or something, hour to each "side". This is my favorite track, however.

There's something intensely satisfying about a very long song that actually employs all its time to full effect. Unlike some trance/electronic songs that are 10 minutes plus, this one feels complete without being repetitive. The buildup renders the song totally hypnotic once you reach the real peak of it-- it feels like a soundscape as well as a song, sort of echoing around you as you listen. The breakdown, particularly at 5:18 or so, feels like a moment suspended in time, and indeed I feel the purity of the sound in this song lends itself to just closing your eyes and experiencing it. It'd probably be spectacular to dance to at a really good club. Also worth noting is the ending and wind-down-- I don't feel I encounter many songs that wind down satisfactorily, as if you DID just experience something, so this song is always a pleasure for me, beginning to end.

wall of text
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrWu13Uh2Yw
 
Blue Oyster Cult - Then Came the Last Days of May

Blue Oyster Cult is an amazing live band, case in point this video. Then Came the Last Days of May is a wonderful song in the first place, with a great melody, but even though it's not at a very high tempo, the song seems to move so quick due to the nimble melody. But when the verses end and the guitar solos start is when this song really shines. They start slowly, but speed up for what seems like forever until Buck Dharma and the bass player (Rudy Sarzo??) are kneeling on the floor with the Eric wailing on his 'stun guitar' and the drums blazing, and suddenly when you are about to forget how this song even started, it slows back down and a short, flowing section leads to the outro. I've watched this three or four times so far, it's just so exciting.



edit: Parliament - Flash Light

whoa this song is so funky it's unreal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3flYZ6LOsw
 
Merkabah - Narwhals

Randomly stumbled upon these guys and they're pretty good imo. Polish band which is a bit of experimental/post-metal/sludge/psychadelic/drone and 100% instrumental. You kinda have to listen to it to get a feel for it since I don't quite know how to describe it.
 
Cloudkicker - Beacons

Cloudkicker's newest album, and their longest one yet, clocking in at over 43 minutes. And just like the others, it kicks a lot of ass. The song titles seem to play out pieces of a dogfight (I think), and the music supports it, with really chaotic tracks all over the place. The exceptions are "I admit it now. I was scared" and "We were all scared", which are more laid back, atmospheric songs, pulling you in close before finishing out strong. Overall, though, most of the tracks on this album feel much more in control than earlier works. He hasn't really lost the polyrhythmic edge, but extra beats aren't thrown in haphazardly any more, and so the songs seem to flow much better, even though they aren't in common time. That extra flow that is present on this album may not be what everyone is looking for out of this band, but I really like this one so far (I only downloaded it earlier today), and it could end up being my favorite album by them, and probably my second favorite 2010 album.

You can get it here, and it's available for free download, but this is the first album that you can buy a CD by Cloudkicker.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhdqfX44zUM&feature=related

Vampire Weekend-White Sky

Indie Band with great sound

This particular song is from the album Contra, and is amazingly smooth with great flow. Their lead singer has SUCH an amazing voice a bit softer then most indie bands, and one of those that i really like. It ends a bit too soon, but the sheer hilariousness of the chorus make the song that more enjoyable. Its only three minutes long and starts of with a great beat. Lyrics are particularly inventive and adds to the great feel of the song.
 
Orianthi - What's It Gonna Be

Australian guitarist. Carlos Santana considers her to be "seriously ass-whoopin'". I think that says enough.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkutnleJqOQ

Thrice - Daedalus

incredible band - been around for years now and they are still finding ways to re-invent themselves with almost every album. Daedalus comes from their concept album(/s) "The Alchemy Index" that consists of four EPs, Air, Water, Fire and Earth - with Daedalus coming from air. Give it a listen. Like it? Good. Listen to some other tracks / albums and see how different their other work can be. Don't like it? Shame. Listen to some other tracks / albums and see how different their other work can be.
 
JimBob said:
Cloudkicker - Beacons
Click to expand...

So much their in this post. Cloudkicker is one dude actually, which is pretty freaking incredible!

Great album too. :)

Edit: Do the Dohnk - Max Bemis

I'm a huge Say Anything fan and expanding on that, a Max Bemis fan too, this is from his upcoming tour CD thingy... and it's really good, on par or better with pretty much everything on Say Anything's newest album. Whoooooooooo. It's got guest vocals from his wife too which is nice :)
 
Metal Church - Hitman

I love thrash metal and I would love to introduce people to Metal Church if they have not already heard them. Metal Church's debut album self-titled Metal Church has to be one of my all-time favorite thrash albums. Coming in at track five, "Hitman" is one of my all-time favorite songs. David Wayne's vocal performance here is one of the best in the genre. He had a wide range and he used it to his advantage. Although Kurt Vanderhoof and Craig Wells do not blend together really well with the riffs, they more than make it for it with their guitar solos. "Hitman" is a very enjoyable song, anyone who is a thrash fan and has never heard of the band need to check the band out.
 
Quit Yer Job - Chixdiggit

After some more lurking away from my usual wifi thread, I found that people talk about music here!
Anyways, most likely we've all been through the punk/pop punk phase in our lives and Chixdiggit does it perfectly. It's a 30 second song which got me into their band, and it's the simple strumming of chords with the cool vocals that makes you want to play the song again annnnnnnd again
 
The Wonder Years - You're not Salinger. Get over it

The Wonder Years- My Geraldine Lies Over The Delaware

The Wonder Years- Buzz Aldrin: The Poster Boy for Second Place

I haven't posted in a while, but I thought I'd share some of "the Wonder Years" with you kids.

If I had to describe them in a sentence, it would be, "they are like Blink 182... except they don't suck". What we are talking about is a good pop-punk band with some catchy lyrics and a sense of humor that is actually acceptable. Its also worth noting that they are so awesome that occasionally they'll have guest vocals by the fabulous Rachel Minton from Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer.

Its not particularly deep music, and it won't make you say "holy shit! these guys are talented" but I'm pretty sure you'll have a good time listening to it, and after all, isn't that whats important?
 
HORSE the Band - The Black Hole

"It's so amazing."

One of their best songs and an absolutely stunning way to end an album, the little joke at the end is pretty entertaining too. I met their keyboardist tonight and I'm pretty giddy haha.
 
DJ Cam - Bounce

As Pete Rock would say, "play dis only at night."

Sick Jay-Dilla/Busta/other dudes/saxophone samples spread across a clean, mellow, chilled out one-drop beat. Perfect for a fine sunday night's vibe.

Smoker dudes may enjoy lighting one up to this, I've heard.
 
SKRILLEX - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites - When the top rated comment is "It sounds like Megatron raping Wall-e against some sort of alloy surface", you know you have to listen. Picture an RnB song getting thoroughly abused by a dubstep wobble and an electro synth melody and you're probably a little closer but still actually nowhere near...
 
La villa strangiato - Rush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPHsONF_tE
A brilliant (sorta long) instrumental off their '87 album hemispheres, Rush shows their pure musicianship through this song, alex lifeson in particular. One of the hardest songs in the world to play, Alex plays every note with expert timing. And dont be confused by the slow start; this song rocks.
 
np: Pinkerton - Weezer

For some reason I haven't been able to stop playing this album. I forgot how good it is despite being whiny and somewhat really creepy. Maybe it'll make you forget about the rest of Weezer, the Snuggie-loving fucks behind "I'm Your Daddy" and "Beverly Hills" and remember that they once wrote pretty good music!

here's el scorcho i guess
 
@CIM: Yeah, the old Weezer with stuff like El Scorcho and Island in the Sun was way better than that Beverly Hills shit.

My favorite band is probably Senses Fail (anywhere from punk to post hardcore/screamo), whose lyrics and guitar riffs are far more developed and nuanced than other emo bands that go "blah blah blah cyanide blah". I realize that a lot of their songs aren't great, but then again I'm critical of a lot of artists, and I never like more than half the songs on any given CD.
 
Hocus Pocus is quirky, delightful, and often overlooked. I prefer the faster versions of this song. Focus is a Dutch prog band that was probably best known for this song. It may be just me, but a '70s band having a not-too-cheesy synthesizer solo is quite noteworthy. However there is a lot to love about this song, with neat soloing and yodeling! By the way, the similarity between my name and the band's name is entirely coincidental. I guess great minds think alike?

Edit: Actually, the synth is still rather cheesy, and the flute solo is kind of love-it-or-hate-it. But hey, I like this version!
 
Indukti - No. 11811

I've just recently discovered this pretty awesome polish prog rock band. this instrumental in particular is definitely the main highlight of their S.U.S.A.R. album (although the entire album is quite amazing); it's darker and heavier than the rest of the songs on it, it actually somewhat reminds me of Anekdoten's Vemod era sound a bit
 
I'm doing two songs by the same band.

Stiff Upper Lip - AC/DC

When I first heard this, I'd been a big AC/DC fan for quite a while. I was reading a bunch of reviews some guy had written on all their albums (sans Black Ice, it wasn't released when he wrote these, and he obviously didn't update) and to my surprise, he gave an absolutely glowing review of Stiff Upper Lip, despite being overall pretty harsh to even the likes of The Razor's Edge.
Previously, I'd been under the vague impression that Stiff Upper Lip was a bit substandard, not as good as the old stuff, much like most bands that have been around for a while - they have their heyday, then everything afterwards gradually declines. So immediately, I go to YouTube to check out the first track on the album I think of - the title track. It comes up, I click the link, the video intro starts...
and then the music starts, and I am blown away by the song. The precise guitarwork at the intro, and Brian Johnson is singing in a completely different style to his usual. Then on the riff repeats with more energy, while Johnson goes onto to burst into his usual screamy style. But the whole song is absolutely beautiful, easily on a par with the songs of The Razor's Edge and even Back in Black. An absolute masterpiece of a song, and an awesome surprise.

Hard As A Rock - AC/DC

I had a very simialar experience with Hard As A Rock; before hearing it, I knew the song only for the merit of its name, and it's not-so-subtle connotations. Based on this, I assumed it was going to be a bit of a substandard song written purely so its name could be used. I also kinda assumed based on this that it'd be quite thrashy, hard metal-rock, leaning much more to the metal side than AC/DC's usual rock, which I generally prefer.
How wrong I was. The song starts with a lone guitar playing a precise, definitely not thrashy riff, backed by a subtle drumbeat. The other instruments then join, backing up the lead riff. The rhythm then changes and the riff gives way to a new, deeper tune, and Johnson comes in on vocals. The song then goes on beautifully, returning to the original riff at various points, and never becoming at all thrashy or too hard. An absolutely marvelous song, and another awesome surprise.

The technical descriptions here might be off, as I'm not really a musical person, I just know when I like something and I can sort of divide songs into sections, but I can't really analyse music the way some people can. But basically, the point is, I had very low expectations for these songs and was absolutely blown away when I listened to them.
 
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