Category: Music

Dichotomy

I currently have two albums pre-ordered, both of which release in August. That’s about the end of what they have in common. They literally could not be any more different.

Firstly, we have Brendon Small’s Galaktikon II: Become the Storm, which is a follow-up to one of my favourite albums of all time. The original Galaktikon is a masterful metal album that tells the story of a divorced intergalactic super hero who must rescue his ex-wife from his nemesis. It’s beautiful and unique and given the subject matter, a few songs hit surprisingly close to home. Most important of all, it knows that its premise is ridiculous and goes to great lengths to really ham it up. Oh, and also the music is terrific and every song on the album is a winner.

Galaktikon II has been said to have a somewhat different objective: to be a new Dethklok album, only without the Dethklok name. This is awesome because I love Dethlkok, but at the same time I also wanted a straight sequel to Galaktikon. Fortunately, Brendon Small seems to have split the difference, as the two currently released tracks from Galaktikon II each have distinctly familiar sounds. “Nightmare” is something that sounds absolutely like a Galaktikon song, but is wholly new and is actually pretty creepy. “My Name is Murder” on the other hand, you could easily mistake for a Dethklok track. I don’t know how to explain it properly, but I can absolutely tell you that without a doubt, we’ve got Nathan goddamn Explosion on vocals here. So yeah, Galaktikon II looks like it’ll be the best of both worlds, and that’s really the most that anyone could ask for.

Our other album is Rainbow, Kesha’s re-debut after being freed from the tyranny of… whatever that whole deal was. I know she was in a huge lawsuit with her old producer, but I didn’t follow it closely enough to be able to write about it with any certainty. And we all know that I’m not going to be doing the research. Anyway, I am absolutely in love with her last album, Warrior, which as you may recall is another one of my all-time favourites. So I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s got to offer with a little more freedom to do what she wants and (ostensibly) a lot less corporate meddling.

Like Galaktikon II, I’ve listened to two tracks off of Rainbow already, and again, they showcase two different sides of the album. “Praying” is a song that obviously is very close to Kesha’s heart, as it is a half-jab at her old producer or whatever. It’s a mature response, though, as it’s more about she grew stronger through her trials, and how she forgives ol’ what’s-his-face for all that he put her through. “Woman” on the other hand, is a straight-up celebration of Kesha’s pride at being a strong, independent woman. And why shouldn’t she be? All women should aspire to that. All people should aspire to be strong and independent. It’s a bumpin’ track that gets me shouting along as Kesha belts out the “I’m a motherf**kin’ woman!!” hook. Love it. Rainbow is going to be more of a gamble than Galaktikon II, I think, but I’m still very optimistic about it, based on my historical adoration of Kesha and the tracks that have already been released. And, you know, I’ve already pre-ordered the damn thing, so.

Rainbow will be released on August 11th, and Galaktikon II follows shortly after on August 25th. Both are available for pre-order in digital and physical formats through various retailers.

On rapping paper dogs

I was browsing the PSN store about a month back, to see if anything good was on sale. When clicking into the PS+ deals, I noticed that I was able to pre-order a remastered version of PaRappa the Rapper at a discount. I didn’t really stop to think about it, and immediately locked in that preorder. I love the soundtracks to PaRappa and its spin-off, Um Jammer Lammy. Why would I pass up the opportunity to get an HD-quality version of the game?

The game was released this past Tuesday and the answer to that question, my friends, is that PaRappa the Rapper Remastered is almost unfairly difficult, and as a result, is not all that fun to play. It’s a rhythm game that arbitrarily rewards or punishes you for matching the rhythm, despite that ostensibly being the goal of the game. This was the same thing that kept me from ever really getting into the original release.

Now, if you are completely unfamiliar with this game or perhaps the genre at large, it’s actually very simple. Each stage is a song, wherein a character will rap a phrase, and then you have to rap it back at them. This is accomplished by pressing corresponding buttons that appear on a bar at the top of the screen as PaRappa’s icon passes over them. Typically, you want to hit the button right on time, but every other rhythm game will allow a little wiggle room in either direction. You know, because rewarding only perfect timing would be more maddening than fun.

PaRappa… doesn’t follow these rules at all. I spent maybe and hour and a half with the game, and I still have no idea when it actually wants me to press the buttons. It seems completely arbitrary, as even when I hit every note with (as far as I can tell) perfect timing, there’s a 50% chance that the game will see fit to detract points from my score. Sometimes it seems like the game would prefer me to hit the button a little bit ahead of the cue, sometimes a little bit after. This appears to change not even with every song, but with every phrase. It’s literally impossible to suss out what the game really wants from me. At this point, I think it might be actively trying to infuriate me.

Compounding the problem is that PaRappa’s vocals will accompany each button press, and they will totally throw you off. If your timing is imprecise, his raps will be stuttery and incomplete. If your timing is perfect, they’ll flow like a river. But in my experience, the better his rhymes flowed, the more likely the game was to penalize me. For whatever reason, the jumpy stutter-rapping scored better more often. There are options to “Feel the Beat” (enable rumble) and “See the Beat” (I noticed no difference), but they didn’t help at all in figuring out the correct timing.

It’s all really too bad, as the rest of the game is wonderful. The weird paper style of the visuals is a little dated, but I still think the game looks rad. The story that goes along with those visuals is a little formulaic, but it’s cute and usually pretty funny. And like I said before, the music is excellent. These are tracks that I often listen to independent of the game.

If PaRappa was a little more forgiving, I could see myself going back to it to play for trophies and maybe even just for fun, but as it stands, I almost feel like I’ve been swindled on this one. Admittedly, I should have known better, because I’ve been frustrated with PaRappa before on more than one occasion, and I’ve spent countless hours trying to get in the groove with Um Jammer Lammy, which has all the exact same issues. I suppose that I was just hoping that the HD remaster would have a softer touch.

The worst thing about it all, though? I’ll absolutely buy Um Jammer Lammy Remastered as well, if it should ever happen.

2016 Xmas Gift Roundup!

Oh my, has yet another year passed already? Well, I guess three years if you’re just going by the last time I wrote one of these things. Remember how it used to be an annual tradition? Did I write this exact same intro paragraph last time? Ehh, I’ve already recycled the idea and the banner, might as well re-use some of the text as well.

I think that, for the most part, I stopped doing these because I began to feel embarrassed about all of the stuff I get for Xmas. I mean, it’s not like it’s all that excessive (especially with my lack of wife), but it’s easy to look at these articles and think to myself “gee, I sure am spoiled, aren’t I?” Maybe next year will be the year I finally act on my desire to volunteer somewhere and help those less fortunate.

But probably not. That would also require leaving the house, and my incredible selfishness is a defining character trait.

Continue reading 2016 Xmas Gift Roundup!

July’s token post about music

I’ve got to keep this blog from being entirely about video games, right?

So, I bought another Ninja Sex Party album. It’s called Under The Covers, and it is, appropriately, a cover album.

Ninja_Sex_Party_-_Under_the_Covers_(Artwork)

I’d say that it’s split about evenly between songs I know really well, and songs that I’d never heard before. On one hand, you’ve got age-old favourites like “Take On Me” and “Jump.” And there are two Rush songs. Two! That’s so cool! Then there’s stuff I’d never heard, like “The Burning Down” by King’s X. Probably my favourite track on the album, in fact, is the cover of “We Close Our Eyes” by Oingo Boingo, which I had absolutely no familiarity with before this album.

I swear to you that I’ve never heard Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” in my life, but I knew deep in my heart that it was a Michael Jackson song the first time I played it.

Anyway, I think it’s pretty solid as far as cover albums go. I can’t deny that I just love Danny’s voice, but they also make some interesting changes to each song. Like the bass solo in “We Close Our Eyes” that I love more and more every time I listen to it, or adding a piano to “Wish You Were Here.” I don’t feel that they really go so far as to make any of the songs their own, but that’s alright. The point of the album is to pay tribute to the bands that NSP loves, not to make a name for themselves through these covers.

The thing that really makes this album stand out (for better or for worse) is that in a way, it’s not really an NSP album. Their usual thing is comedic lyrics with fun electronic pop music. This is… it’s like the complete opposite. It’s still a lot of fun, but it just doesn’t feel like NSP at all. Not a single swear. Not a single explicit reference to sex. No Danny singing about his junk. These aren’t bad qualities, but like I keep saying: it’s not really NSP.

Regardless, I love this album and listen to it constantly. I don’t know how many times I’ve been sitting at my computer and go to play one song and then end up listening to the whole album. It’s great, and I would absolutely force my loved ones to listen to it if I had any avenue to do so.

Contrasts

I have purchased two albums this month, and they could not be more opposite of each other.

First, an album by The Builders and The Butchers: Salvation is a Deep Dark Well. This is folk rock, so it’s obviously got a much stronger country bent than you would expect from me, but it’s much deeper and way less stupid than country. A fun mix of banjo, violin, an mandolin make this album really stand out from the bulk of my collection, and the punchy, upbeat tunes are nicely juxtaposed against bleak and macabre lyrics.

Next, Endless Fantasy from Anamanaguchi. This is a modern techno-pop album that features the use of a Game Boy as an instrument. It’s effects-heavy instrumentals and chiptunes which are influenced by j-pop and video games. One song is called “Meow” and, unsurprisingly, leans on synthetic mewling as a substitute for actual vocals. Another song does have human vocals, but they are nonsense in the style of a Japanese person with a very loose grasp on English writing English lyrics because English is hip.

So don’t you ever suggest that my taste in music isn’t broad.

A weird thing to complain about

There was once a time, many years ago, when I used to go to the movies a lot. For a long time, I used to go at least once a week. Eventually, both time and money became an issue, and going to the movies just didn’t happen very much any more. Sure, I’d get out to anything that had the name Marvel stamped on it, but by and large, trips to the theatre became much rarer. In 2015, I think I probably saw a total of three movies in the theatre.

It seems like I’ve been going to significantly more movies as of late (this Friday will be the fourth Friday in a row that I’ve gone to the theatre), and while the experience is obviously a little different from how it used to be, there’s one relatively minor change that’s really bugging me.

Back in the day, the pre-show used to feature a music segment where one of the hosts would talk to some musician or another about their upcoming or recently released album. These would almost always be Canadian indie musicians that nobody has ever heard of, and almost never would their musical styles appeal to me back then, but I think that nowadays I’d definitely look up some of the artists that were featured.

Now, there are just commercials for whatever mass-produced pop garbage is hot at the moment. Not even interviews, just the same commercials that you’d see on TV or YouTube.

Why did it disappear? I have no idea, really, but a little Googling suggests that the music segment was sponsored by SiriusXM. Presumably the sponsorship deal came to an end and the music interviews got axed in the process.

Like I said, I never really cared for most of the indie stuff that was featured before, but I definitely held a certain appreciation for the segment. It highlighted music that is underrepresented and tried to push people in the direction of finding something new. It was nice to see a mainstream media avenue give exposure to non-mainstream music; a painless way to introduce people to the idea that music exists outside of radio garbage.

Of course, the interviews were never long or in-depth, because it was just a short segment during the pre-show, but it was easily the most interesting segment. But that’s dead now. Instead, we just get told to buy the godawful new Ariana Grande album. It’s so disheartening.

The music segment wasn’t the only thing to go either. Nearly every segment with any sort of thought put into it has been axed in favour of more commercials and Toys R Us ads hosted by the most obnoxious kids on the planet. There aren’t even periodic trivia bits any more. I used to try to get to the movies early because I enjoyed the pre-show, but now I just get there early to make sure I get a decent seat.

I can’t stop listening to Attitude City

I, like many internet folks, am a fan of Game Grumps. I didn’t like it at first, but then something happened and suddenly I found it significantly more entertaining. What changed was that Jon was replaced by Danny. And despite watching the show for years now, I had never even given thought to looking into Dan’s comedy band, Ninja Sex Party, until last week. Boy did I mess up.

I have had the songs from Attitude City stuck in my head nonstop since I first listened to it, and I think that’s a testament to just how good it is. This album has so infected me that while I don’t generally care about music videos, I watched the Dragon Slayer video like a dozen time over the weekend. Also, I have seriously considered learning the dragon dance.

It’s synthpop with a strong comedy bent, and most of the songs are about boning. The language, obviously, is fairly strong and very explicit. I absolutely recommend grabbing this one to support a really great duo. It’s not high-brow humour, but it’s still very funny.

attitudecity

#weirdbuttstuff

Happiness undying

Friday was a big day. An expensive day, I should say. Not only did The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD release, but also Tonight Alive’s new album, Limitless, which I was considerably more excited about. So excited was I that I bought it right away  on iTunes, even though I know that I’ll eventually be double-dipping to get a physical copy.

Because that’s just the kind of guy I am.

A guy who’s bad with money. Don’t act surprised. This has already been established.

Anyway…

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

You know, I don’t let myself squeal like a little fangirl often enough. It’s really quite a lot of fun. You should give it a shot if you haven’t.

Tonight Alive had released a few singles before the album proper dropped, all of which were very distinct from each other, as well as being very distinct from the band’s prior music. Obviously, the reaction from “fans” was not very positive, what with the internet and all. There are a few positive comments scattered throughout YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc, but for the most part it was the “This is not the same as your last album, never listening to you again” fare.

While not every single clicked with me right away, I did really get into the lot of ’em with a few listens. And it’s true, the album at large does lean more heavily towards the pop spectrum of TA’s pop-punk classification, but there are a couple heavier tracks on there that serve to keep it from all sounding the same.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to it enough times yet, or to really take it all in yet, but I’m definitely on board with Limitless. Heck, I even changed my Facebook cover image to reflect it, and I was pretty sure that my previous cover page was never going to be dethroned.

So that’s that. I may report in when I have more to say about it, and I may not. Probably the latter, because I always struggle to actually write anything meaningful about music. It’s good. That’s all that really matters.

Top 15 Albums of 2015

Do you like listicles? Because apparently I do. I promise that I won’t do as many of these stupid things this year. Cross my heart.

Okay so remember a couple years ago when I did lists of the top albums and artists that I’d listened to the year before? Well I’m doing it again. Only just with albums this time because it’s so redundant to do both. It works like so:

I pull up my Last.fm page and check the top albums for the last 365 days. Keep in mind that this is only considering tracks that were actually scrobbled. So anything I listened to via the Scrobbler app on my phone or Winamp on my PC. CDs obviously don’t count (not that use those too often), and neither do tracks that were played with Media Player Classic, because I don’t have the Last.fm plugin for that, if there even is one.

So no, the list isn’t entirely accurate, but it’s the best metric that we have. Enjoy.

Continue reading Top 15 Albums of 2015