Sausage - Riddles are Abound Tonight - 48:43 - 1994
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When you loaded this page, I was listening to:
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Sausage - Riddles are Abound Tonight - 48:43 - 1994 |
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The origingal Primus alumn regroup to bring us this funky little number. Les Claypool is phenominal, you would swear he has either extra fingers or extra strings, because he makes that bass spit out a barrage of notes. This CD takes a slight jazz fusion approach and dumps out some of the coolest bass riffs I've ever heard. Although the first and larger chunk of this CD rock, the latter gets a little monotonous in length and reppitition. The Seminephrous Tubeloidial Buttnoids rock. | |
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Scatterbrain - Here Comes Trouble - 37:03 - 1990 |
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Tommy Christ (formally of Ludichrist, which was often accused of ripping off Agnostic Front's "metal" sound) fronts this happy and often comedic approach to "hard rock". I actually heard this for the first time on the Dr. Demento show. My favorite song is one where they play riffs from about 12 different "classic" songs, or one of the most rockin homages to one's member. "girls can't keep their hands off of him and neither can I". There's also a Cheech & Chong cover, and a classical number. This CD straddles the line between the good, the bad, and the novelty. | |
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Schleprock - (america's) dirty little secret - 35:17 - 1996 |
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The reviews tend to run bitter when I buy something, under limited knowledge, expecting one thing, and getting another, this is just such a case. Based on the video I saw, and their manner of dress, I assumed they were a sort of power ska band, wrong. Schleprock, who has chosen the uglyist cover imaginable (although the artwork within is cool), is like a hodge podge of bands including Green Day, Rancid, Offspring, and Fugazzi. But, where these other bands have something unique about them, Schleprock does not. They would be at home on the soundtrack to Weekend at Bernies 4, or at a frat party. | |
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Sepultura - Chaos A.D. - 50:10 - 1993 |
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What can I say, Sepultura kicks ass. There's no other way to put it. They make your lip curl up, your teeth grind, your muscles tense up, and usually you find yourself bobbing your head weather you wanted to or not. They are so rhythmically orientated, the sound seeps into your soul and kicks a hole in it. With each album they continue to grow in technical and musical mastery. Sepultura is the benchmark for their genre, not to mention earth friendly. | |
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Sepultura - Roots - 72:19 - 1996 |
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This is the reason I'm alive. This CD is so powerful, every beat so brutal, this is what it's all about. There's a perfect balance in the tempo of the music that slows down just long enough to nail your soul with a barrage of drum blast. Sepultura has always been a very rhythmic band, and that aspect is brought to a new level here. Although a little time is wasted with jaunts to the rain forrest, ultimately they serve as a nice time to relax for the next aural assault. This CD is jammed with 72 minutes of amazing music. Buy this CD. See this band live. Tattoo their logo on your forehead. Sepultura Rules! | |
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Sepultura - Blood-Rooted - 64:52 - 1997 (92-96) |
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For my money, Sepultura can do no wrong, and what with their split up, like a junky in a desperate need of a fix, I feel lucky to get anything I can. This compilation contains a mixture of new songs, re-mixes, odd-versions, and live tracks. Unlike many CDs of this type, the music is both different enough, from what you've already heard, to be interesting, and yet cool enough that you will want to listen to it more than a few times. There is a Dead Kennedys cover amongst the live tracks, and the "Lookaway" remix contains more KoRn than the original. | |
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Sepultura - Against - 47:36 - 1998 |
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I was so underwhelmed with my first listening of this CD, that I didn't even bother to hear it all the way through. It's apparent that the core of Sepultura left with Max, and although our boys are still just as hard as ever, they seem to be missing some fire. The new guy does an adequate job of easing the transition, and there are still new sounds to be heard. It's not a bad CD by any measure, but it just leaves me a little flat. It may grow on me later. For those of you that still have their logo tattooed on your heads (as I instructed,) it's ok because our tribe still leaves behind an incredible legacy. | |
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Sex Pistols - The Great Rock and Roll Swindle - 66:29 - 1985 (79) |
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The Great Rock and Roll Swindle was an odd little movie put together by Malcolm McLaren, the self professed inventor of the whole punk movement (and who later went on to have a hand in scratching in hip hop). The movie outlines the formula for how the boys came to fame exactally as dictated by McLaren. The songs are odd and varried, with a little dab of everything. Although there is one major song is missing off this CD, there are a handfull of not to be missed songs, as well as some pretty good miscelanous material. | |
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D.J. Shadow - Endtroducing... - 63:34 - 1996 |
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This is a curious CD. It mixes early 80's scratching/hip hop (in small doses), with a more somber side of techno (maybe acid jazz, I don't know, there are too many delineations in that general genre for me to accurately, or rather inaccurately label). There's no vocals, and almost nothing but samples (though not easily recognized, or blatantly presented) and electronic fills. Although this does hold your attention, it doesn't grab you, and it the music often sounds confused about where it want's to take you. Some parts are a little repetitious, some parts remind me of The Art of Noise. | |
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Ravi Shankar/Ali Akbar Khan - Ragas - 78:00 - 1990 (64-65) |
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Ravi Shankar was one of the Beatles influences back in the 60's, and continued to be with George Harrison for many years. One result of this was an explosion of sitar use in recordings at that time, which sadly faded out. The tricky thing about this music, is that it doesn't really conform to any type of music structure I'm familliar with, so it's hard to callibrate my mind to accept it. Also, I don't have any basis for comparison, but I do really enjoy the sounds if not the structure. As with most "international" music, my first Pavlovian response is to get totally starving for what ever food comes from it's native land. | |
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Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peepshow - 42:39 - 1988 |
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At the time, I was drifting away from the passive moody tunes of such as Siouxsie, Smiths, Cure, and Depeche Mode and shedding skin for more aggressive mavens the likes of Meatmen, Exploited, Agnostic Front, and Murphy's Law. I rember when "Peek-a-Boo" came out, it was a pretty cool track and something of a departure for Ms. Pugh. All and all, this is not the greatest representation of the queen of all that which is goth, but it's not so bad either. Siouxsie fans won't be dissapointed, and others might like it as well. This CD showed that the old girl still hadn't dried up yet (but close). | |
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Sir Mix a Lot - Cheif Boot Knocka - 53:55 - 1994 |
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Oh well, so much for my love for Mix. This post success CD deals with issues that now face Mix, such as the IRS, paternity suits, and other assorted gold diggers such as strippers, ho's and the like. Although I can appreciate his new station in life, I really don't care to hear about it. He still tells good stories, I'm just not interested. The music is not quite as sample intensive as previously, but the programming is still pretty hot. Over all, It's a generally good CD, but it's just the material he raps about, and the attitude with which he presents it gives off a negative vibe. This CD is best suited for strip clubs. | |
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Skinny Puppy - Rabies - |
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| What a bunch of schlock. This is the kind of cartoony caricature crap you see when a TV detective goes into a "punk rock" club looking for his informant. Depression with aggression can rarely be achieved with synthesizers and samples of old movies. It took Trent about 10 releases of the same album to get it right. This is just annoying like some 5 year old whining over broody keyboards. If you can make it past the first 5 tracks, it does pick up a bit when he quits whining and lets the synth textures take over. | ||
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Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park - 38:36 - 1990 |
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This is the least annoying of the bunch thus far. Weighing in at a sparce 30 minutes, you would think a band like this could kill 70 minutes at the drop of a hat. I guess I should be happy they didn't. Although you can listen to this one, I wouldn't bother if I were you. | |
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Skinny Puppy - Last Rites - 53:00 - 1992 |
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| This CD has all the rhythm and style of R.E.O. Speedwaggon. Boring... Hello... Anybody home... this sucks, change it. You can't dance to this, you can't be mad with it, you can't get depressed to it, I don't know what purpose it serves. I guess you're supposed to get fucked up with your friends and ponder the genius of it all. Impress your friends, wear dark nail polish and mascara, buy the T-shirt, suck some freon.....whatever... | ||
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Skrew - Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame- 44:15 - 1992 |
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Skrew is a Texan post-post industrial band, who's sound borrows heavily from Ministry, and even has ol' Al sitting in on a track. There are only one or two barnburners here that excite me, although they generally keep the fever and the tempo up throughout. A few songs are really annoying, such as there cover of the Stones "Sympathy For the Devil", and another track that sounds like The The. The formula is what I call post-post industrial, which is generally fast paced gitaur driven sound built with or on electronics. Although this is not really a bad CD, it just never took hold of me. | |
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Slapshot - The CD - 54:05 - 1988 (86-88) |
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Eventhough this has got some pretty good songs on it, I was never fully able to get into this CD that chronicled the first three releases from this Boston "straight edge" combo. I try to find reasons why I don't really like it, but I'm just not really sure. I could blame the simplicity of the almost oi/pub song quality, but more often than not, the simplest songs stick the most. Next I might blame the barking drill sargent vocals, but then again I like fucked up vocalist. Then I would jump on the lyrics, but I almost never pay attention to lyrics. I guess it's just the sum of the whole, I don't know something just doesn't rub me right. (or maybe it's just their a'capella version of Gilligan's Island) | |
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Slave - Stellar Fungk:The Best of Slave - 74:50 - 1994 (77-85) |
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Funky ass bass baby, that's what it's all about! (courtesy of the then15 year old Mark Adams) There's really only one way to listen to Slave, and that's "with the volume loud, bass level up high." Coming out of Ohio at about the same time as the Ohio Players, most of these 9 guys were still in high school. Slightly similar to P-Funk's stellar funk-rock, and akin to Kool and the Gang's accessibility, Slave's sound is accented with rock/jazz guitar, and punctuated with sharp horns; their music is nothin' but a good groove. Although this CD comes in like a shark, it exits like a week old wet sock, because the last bunch of tracks are not really Slave at all, and pretty much suck. | |
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Slayer - Diabolus In Musica - 40:27 - 1998 |
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Like I've mentioned in the past, I've never been a big fan of Slayer. Sure they play fast, and have fucked up art and lyrics, but even Manson can do that - I need more. Within the first 5 seconds, and definitely by track 2, Diabolus had me won over. Some of the elements I don't like about Slayer are still there, but their not as strong as they have been in the past, which may be bad news to devoted fans, I don't know. The production (partially by one of my heros, Rick Rubin) is outstanding, and unlike many heavy CD's, the louder the volume, the better it sounds. To my uneducated ears, this is Slayer's most pollished, and sophisticated effort to date. Maybe it's not as furious as in the past, but it's heavy as hell, and just a little bit funky. I'm nominating "Death's Head" for song of the year. | |
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Sly & the Family Stone - Anthology - 74:00 - 1981 |
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There's only two bands that can make me happy, no matter what mood I'm in. One is James Brown, the other is Sly... I feel like this music has the power to stop war. Sly wants you to just kick back, take it all in and have a good time. And the music: funky as hell! I don't even have the words to describe it. This is the shit. Everyone needs to own this groovedelic, funkalicious piece of mind expansion. It makes you want to cry for not being as good a person as you could be. It gives you courage, hope and reassurance as well as containing the funkiest beats, breaks and riffs ever in history. | |
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Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream - 62:17 - 1993 |
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It used to be that you would call a band like this "alternative", but ever since Nirvana came along the whole scale has been turned around causing this alternate reality where a band like KoRn can have $2,000 weekly liquor bills, and even bands like the Offspring can sign multi-million dollar contracts before their 15 minutes is up. This brings up a whole host of reprocussions both good and bad, but it's nice to see Billy get 6 more zeros on his check than on his shirt, and take away some business from crap like Aerosmith. (oh yeah, this is a great CD, I'm sure you've probably heard most of it already) | |
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The Smiths - The Smiths - 45:35 - 1984 |
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If you're into the misery of love, feeling desperate and out of place in society, or confused and insecure about your sexuality, (and hey, who isn't) then the Smiths may be for you. Also, if Manson isn't your bag for helping you cope with those troubled puberty years, then you or somebody you know may already be a potential Smiths fan. After you get acclimated to Morrisey's voice, (which admittedly, in my case took about 2 years) the Smiths did some really great stuff. They excel in the somewhat confusing genre of danceable depression. Give these lyrics to Robert Smith, and you will want to slit your wrist, but under Johnny Marr's guidance you will want to buck up and hold on. | |
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The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow - 56:10 - 1984 |
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If you never buy another Smiths CD, make sure this is it! Most of these songs are from two radio shows they did for the BBC (one was Peel) and is mostly comprised of songs off of "The Smiths". Although the changes are subtle, they are infinitely better. Being a somewhat bipolar band, you can choose your mood accordingly. If you feel like moping, or if you want to sing your troubles away, you can do both from any given song. Although he sometimes makes you snicker ("behind, behind, behind") Morrisey is better than most at lyric crafting. | |
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The Smiths - Meat is Murder - 46:34 - 1985 |
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I think this one was their biggest seller due to the fact that "How Soon is Now" is on it, but it's probably my least favorite. The music is just a bit more light hearted on this CD, even though the lyrics are not. If you didn't pay attention to the lyrics of songs like "The Headmaster Ritual", you would think, "oh, this is a happy little ditty", but in fact it's about the horror of school for wimpy misfits who spend most of scholastic endeavors trying not to get beat to a pulp. (I can relate, somewhat) My favorite is the funky and soulful "Barbarism Begins At Home". The Smiths take just a bit of getting used to, but it's worth it, especially if you are into being depressed. | |
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The Smiths - "Strangeways, Here We Come" - 36:07 - 1987 |
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For a long time, Hatful of Hollow was the only Smiths I had because it was perfect, and I thought I would like them less if I got another less thrilling CD. Well, I finally broke down and got Strangeways, which turned out to be great and which led to me buying about 3 more. Strangeways has the most pollished, sophisticated music that I've heard from them, but then at the same time it is also a very hollow and more sad sound. | |
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Soulfly - Soulfly - 68:01 - 1998 |
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Sepultura may be gone for now, but their sound lives on in Max's new band Soulfly. The debut CD from one of the hardest cats out there, brings us sounds old, borrowed, and new. For the most part, the music is a continuation to Roots, but with interesting little grooves branching out into new directions. The most fierce song is the very first one "Eye For an Eye", and is a shining example of how good heavy/hardcore music can be. Lots of cool guest dropped by to lend a hand, including assorted members from Fear Factory, Limp Bizkit, Cypress Hill, and Deftones. There are some funky unexpected sounds that crop up here and there, and there's even a small bit of jungle (both techno and rainforrest). | |
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Spice 1 - 187 He Wrote - 61:12 - 1993 |
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I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to certain forms of "gangsta" rap. Usually I disregard most lyrics (in any genre) and am more interested in the music, but in cases like this the lyrics are a large part of the music. Given that, there's only so much I can tolerate lyrics that are so profoundly negative and deal with preying on other people with regards only to personal gain. Now I certainly don't think that bad lyrics incite anyone to do anything, but it's not what entertains me, which is what music is about. Actually, the reality of it is, it's all about money, which is why this is out in the first place. All that said, there are a few good songs here, one of my favorites being another Spice stutter song. | |
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Static X - Wisconsin Death Trip - 43:57 - 1999 |
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As soon as I heard their single "Push It," I knew I had to check these guys out. "Push It" is the type of song that you can never seem to get turned up loud enough, and a lot of the rest of the CD pretty much follows that trend. With lyrics like "your shit's like chocolate cake, and you ass smells like a rose," these guys are sorely lacking in the literary arts, but I've never been one to be bothered by lyrics too much, and as long as your rocking who cares. They aren't breaking any new ground, with their sound that is slightly reminiscent of Rob Zombie and Machine Head, and vocals that tend to rip off SOAD. | |
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Steel Pulse - Smash Hits - 61:40 - 1993 |
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Any ~pedrocom regular should know by now that I never intentionally get greatest hits CD's unless I find them used or real cheap, because you usually do better just to get one of their CD's. That said, this is a pretty well rounded collection from my personal favorite masters of riddim. The songs are gatthered from the center of SP's carrer, which was a pretty prolific core to sample from. They pretty much stay away from the human strife songs on this comp., and play the party songs, but that's cool. If I had to pick bones (and I usually do), I'd mention that I can't believe they repeated the same mistake they made on the album: following a song with it's dub version. | |
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Steely Dan - Two Against Nature - 51:25 - 2000 |
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Everybody's favorite duo of 70's studio musicians return from stasis. Yep, Walter and Donald (what great rock names (although I suppose you can't really call them rock anyway, rather, something like Jazz based Pop?) ) are back. Naturally you have to wonder how a band who has been in hibernation for 20 years is going to sound when they thaw out. Well, fear not SD fans, the reawakening sounds as if it could have came "in their prime." Well, sort of, at least from the Gaucho period anyway. I'm not quite sure what it is, but something is not quite right here. The quality of sound is still great, and the songs are good, but nothing is really hooking me at this point. | |
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Steroid Maximus - Quilombo - 40:18 - 1991 |
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I would have bought this solely for The Pizz's artwork alone, but as it turns out it's my old friend of many names (Foetus) up to no good again. I couldn't have been more pleased with this new solo venture. (that is to say, even more solo than his usual solo self) This material is generally a collauge made up of a wide variety of "sounds, places, things, and ideas", that set the tone for the Twilight Zone Mr. Thirwell calls home. You'll hear lots of things in his twisted concoctions, anything from classical, big band, chant... oh forget it, there's way too many to dissect. Suffice it to say this is one wonderfully bizarre instrumental CD that you may think twice about listening to in the dark. | |
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Strapping Young Lad - City - 39:22 - 1997 |
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The similarities between SYL and Foetus are too numerous not to mention, so here are a couple: the artwork in general, "long live the new flesh", and mostly the sound. Although there are more people in SYL, they kind of fall under the same one man armageddon style that is so Foetus. The similarity is one more of a technical nature, and not so much audible, whereas audibly, SYL more favors a cross between Meshuggah and Fear Factoy's cyber metal styles. Back to Foetus again, SYL suffers the same shortcommings that come from a relentless aural assualt, and that is intensity on that level can quickly become taxing. I prefer more groove with my bang, but maybe I'm just too old. | |
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Igor Stravinsky - Le Sacre Du Printemps - 37:04 - 1983 |
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If you never buy another classical music CD, you've at least got to check this one out. I'm about as ignorant as you can get, when it comes to this genre, but I do know "The Rite of Spring" totally rocks. It is similar to "Jaws" in some ways, and has strong ties to both metal & rap. Massive booming drums, powerful horn & string blast permeate the atmosphere, all with constantly shifting timing. It is loaded with suspense, danger, and power. This is actually a relatively recent (1900's) piece that was written to accompany a ballet, and has it's roots in Russian music. | |
Suicidal Tendencies - xxxxxxx - 47:00 - 1998 |
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Ten Story Love - Ten Story Love - 47:57 - 1998 |
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The good folks at TSL were brave/kind enough to send me (and autograph!) a copy of their independently produced, self titled CD. Now I always have a moral dilemma with such things (although I don't discourage it), because if it's not really my type of music, then it would be easy to say "this sucks", but that's different from saying a band I'm familiar with sucks. Anyway, having a fairly frosted heart, I'm not so good at the type of touchy feely stuff, these guys do. It's the kind of Athensesque, lighter side of "X", "friends" music, that would be at home playing in any college bar or late night restaurant. It's is catchy stuff, and they're nice guys. | |
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Sugar Ray - Lemonade and Brownies - 46:51 - 1995 |
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First off, what a great cover. I had a hard time figuring out where Sugar Ray was coming from on this CD, and I'm not sure they knew either. Produced by DJ Lethal, they flirt with the rap/metalish sound that Lethal would later polish. It kind of sounds like they threw out as many different lures as they could, to see which one would get a bite. (for me it was the ripping "Mean Machine," or Green Machine as I call it) And although nothing really stuck with this street tough pretty boy band's debut, they finally found a bandwagon to jump on with their followup. This CD was kind of teetering on the brink of being cool, because of the fat guitars, but it just wasn't quite there yet. "Danzig Needs a Hug" - what a great title. | |
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System of a Down - System of a Down - 40:43 - 1998 |
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The name sucks, the cover is weak, but this is my hands down favorite CD as of late - SOAD kick much ass! They remind me of a mixture of strange things, like Oingo Boingo, Dead Milkmen, Slayer (Rick Rubin produces), Coal Chamber, GWAR, Klaus Nomi, Pearl Jam, and a ton of other things. The good news is, they really don't sound like any of those. SOAD go for it, all the way, and the pacing is perfect. If you want to make an album that makes me happy, you need to switch your tempo as much as possible, and SOAD does a fair amount of that. Furthermore, whenever you have vocals you can scream along to it usually helps, and my favorite thing is when Serj kicks into Satan mode for these one word shouts, I can't get enough. | |
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