Четверг 11 Май 2006, 10:15

I'm sick and tired of my top ten being totally stagnant… or mostly stagnant. This week brought a few changeups, but honestly, it might be time for a drastic musical change. Last.fm makes me utterly aware of my musical rut, and that in turn makes me more likely to work my way out of it. I don't know if any of you feel this way, but I've definitely had that experience in the last couple of weeks. The usual haunters of the list may get a little less attention this week as a result. Some of the lower guys in the pecking order are going to likewise get a bit more attention as they need some way to climb above the noise level of my charts.

1. Clutch: 94 plays
Hoorah! Clutch! I tried out The Elephant Riders again and I have to say that I've grown to not only like and appreciate it as a Clutch album, but I've grown to love it as an album in its own right. Very good stuff. I made a revisit to Jam Room this past week. Man… Who Wants To Rock? is a brilliant opener. It starts nearly silent, but you can hear the muffled, gruff vocals way back there in the mix. When the drums thunder down though, and that groovy riff strikes, you'll be left musically resonating and vibrating for a second or two. "…just like corn bread done too well!" This song is quite simply one of teh best album openers ever… elegant and simple, doing what it is meant to do, get the show started. Release The Kraken was also my very first Clutch track ever, so this album holds a pretty special place in my groovy soul.

2. The Devin Townsend Band: 80 plays.

Yep. It was just the same three albums. Synchestra, Terria and Ocean Machine were all in the mix. Blah, blah… musical genius… blah blah.

3. Devin Townsend: 67 plays.

Alright… so this was Terria and Ocean Machine… and that means that the above 80 plays came from Synchestra alone. Yes, I'm obsessed. See why I want change in the top ten?

4. Faith No More: 44 plays.

I gave Angel Dust a spin through a couple of times. I like it… but it's a bit less playful than The Real Thing. I think those were the exact words left in the comments of my previous weekly eval by another user. I do like the use of the Be Aggressive cheer in there though. It made me chuckle. I like TRT better though.

5. Ween: 35 plays.

Okay. We smoked way too much pot this week. Thus enters Ween. I have no idea where to start with Ween. They're a talent hidden under a rock, that's for sure. I think they nearly self-sabotage themselves in making music so inaccessible… but when you're stoned or when you're not thinking in a standard train of thought, Ween brings the party. Most of what I listened to came from their older material, but I think I ran through The Molusk and at least a few tracks off of 12 Golden Country Greats. Fun factoid: 12 Golden Country Greats has only ten tracks. The album was named for twelve country musicians that assisted Ween's two mainstay members in creating the album. Ween is both amateur and genius in one. They're irreverant, raucously obnoxious, bitingly harsh, stupidly funny, and damn fine musicians if you have the patience. They come highly recommended from me. Just start with their later stuff.

6. Spiritual Beggars: 25 plays.

Hmm… they're new to the list, but these guys only get broken out every once in a while for me. I was particularly digging Demons this week. They're a good stoner rock band comparable to contemporaries like Dozer, Karma to Burn, Mr. Bones and others. They're Swedish, and it always confounds me how these Swedish guys can keep making such great music… even if metal gets old now and again.

7. Therion: 24 plays.

Hmm… these guys are symphonic metal. I didn't really know that when I obtained them. I wasn't terribly impressed, honestly. The Nightwish type stuff… and I know these guys aren't exactly Nightwish… bothers me. It wreaks of cheese. A choir leading your band was cool when I was fifteen and had all those wild teen emotions dying to escape. Then, I'd have been glad to blast some Nobuo Uimatsu and let the choir in its infinitely apocolyptic glory sweep me off. But guess what? I grew up. No Therion for me. No Nobuo for me either.

8a. Medeski, Martin, & Wood: 22 plays.

Funky jazz. Lots of nifty guitar. Groove. These are some uneducated, dull terms I could use to describe these guys. This could fast grow on me. I listened to End of the World Party and was pleasantly satisfied. I don't know much in this vein. But I really like it. If anyone is familiar with a different artist with similar sound, please do let me know.

8b. Edguy: 22 Plays.

Oh Christ. Why oh why do I like these guys? Rocket Ride has been spinning lately, and it's typically a pretty generic form of power metal. But every once in a while, they manage to pull something out that makes me grin. It could be the nice piano in the opening track,Sacrifice or the killer '80s hair metal tribute further towards the end of the album, but one way or another, Edguy seems to be doing what they're supposed to do. I kid you not, there's some serious hair metal love going on over here on this album. If you dig your White Snake or your Slaughter or your whoevers, you'll probably find something to like here. The funny thing is that I don't dig folk like that in any capacity whatsoever… so why God, oh why do you suck me into this shite music? Why do I like it? Explain! I beseech you!

10. Queens of the Stone Age: 21 plays.

They're still here. I still love them. Over The Years and Through The Woods rocks. But, I have little else to say here.

So there's the ten. I think I'll make a separate post henceforth devoted to the little guys that are really attracting my attention. There's a lot I want to talk about when it comes to new acquisitions of music. Another week down the pooper, and more dribble forthcoming! Read and be mindlessly occupied.