More of A

I feel like I owe some explanation as to what this blog will entail, so let me go on further in this, my second infamous post.

The rules of this music-listening venture of mine goes as follows:

* I will post as often as possible after some progress has been made. Meaning an album has been listened to in its entirety, or a few at that. If there isn't enough to say about a single album then I'll probably wait till I listen to more before posting about it.

* Obviously I'm always adding more music, so the problem of what to do about music getting added comes up. Simple solution: When new music is added, I will go back to that letter in the alphabet and listen to the albums that haven't been listened to before moving on at whichever place I'm at in the list. So if I'm listening to Nada/Surf but get some new ABBA album, I have to go back and listen and write about that ABBA album before continuing with the Nada/Surf collection. This will get trickier as I get near the end, seeing as I've already added more stuff from before where I last posted.

* I get really bored listening to the same band over and over again so expect albums to be jazzed up by me writing about stuff way down the list just for the sake of trying something different. I have to listen to stuff that is recommended to me, so the best way I do this is I try to listen to 2 or 3 albums in the correct list and then reward myself for getting through all of that with a fresh album. So expect a Lil Wayne Album to come up soon even though I still have a long way to go before finishing the A's.

On another note, I'll post my grand total for how much music I have soon because I would like to chronicle with this knowing how much music I started with and how much I'll end with. I should be getting a new hard drive soon to hold all of this new music, so that will be quite an endeavor transferring it all over. But the music listening will continue. Any other suggestions about how to make this more interesting or anything people might like please comment and tell me what you like. I'm really just winging this and doing it for myself right now, don't know if anyone else even likes this crazy idea.

And with that, here's some more music I've gotten through:

Acid House Kings - Advantage Acid House Kings

I was expecting this to be nothing but synthy-long songs that would go on forever with no real motive or meaning and take forever to listen to. What I was surprised by was how Shins-like the music was, withthe singing of Belle & Sebastian to back it up. I don’t know what got me to get these guys’ albums in the first place. Anyone reading this will learn later on that there is usually a motive for why I get an album by a band, being that they’re opening for somebody else that I’m seeing live, someone recommended it to me or I read about it somewhere. But this band I distinctly don’t remember where it came from. I think I saw them on my friend’s computer and took a few, and then just finished off the rest of the discography. As another note, I usually like having all of a band’s albums, not just a few. So even if I hate the band immensely, I’ll probably get all of their LPs. EPs and other things are negotiable, depends if I just happen to stumble across it or I really like the band, but most of the time it’s just for bands I really like. To sum up this one, I was pleasantly surprised by it and enjoyed it and look forward to the rest of the Acid House Kings’ albums.

Ace of Base – The Ultimate Collection

Ace of Base aren’t really as bad as one would think. I mean, they suck and all, but their pop songs are still pretty fun today, with “The Sign” and “All That She Wants” being their main standouts. A lot of their stuff just sounds the same or doesn’t really have much depth, but besides the point it’s harmless fun that isn’t hard to listen to and digest. This ultimate collection is I think supposed to be both of their full albums and a bunch of remixes. So I’ve listened to all the Ace of Base I can handle. That should be enough for anyone.

ADULT. - Why Bother?

What a boring album. I dont' even remember listening to this really, all that it was the kinda crazy weird music that I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of because Pitchfork recommended it and I felt like downloading it. I forget that for every 1 great album that Pitchfork recommends that I actually get into, 10 albums are going to be basically weird new wave-y stuff that is just sounds and then another 3 albums will probably be reissues of stuff that they orgasm for only now because it's gone. So we'll see if that has any effects on the music I listen to on here, but I'm pretty sure it was recommended by them and hence why I have it. I find it more interesting to write about how I got this album than what it was actually about, so that's a testament to how boring I found this album. Nothing really catchy or entrancing about it, just sounds.

The Advantage - Elf-Titled

There's somed inherent charm to The Advantage. They have good music to back them up already because they're choosing from a nice selection of old NES video game songs that not only makes me nostalgic while listening to them but also gives them really good starting music, those songs are very catchy and were okay to have repeated over and over again as you played through a level, so it's no wonder that they translate well to a full-piece band. That being said that is also the reason why The Advantage only goes so far. When you're working with that music, you're limited to the repitition and the song selection, and some of them are odd ones, but all very catchy regardless of being a gamer or not. Some do great, like Duck Tails - Moon Level and any of the Castelvania stuff, but the other stuff on here is, while interesting to listen to their arrangement of it, just so-so. I'm most impressed with the Drummer here, also of Hella, because he is stuck with the task of creating a beat to what are basically drum-less songs while still giving the songs an old-feel to them, and he does it superbly. I find the drumming to be the most impressive part about the album because it adds the new dimension that such basic music needs. On a whole, a great concept and an interesting band, but more must be done with the old NES tunes than simply covers.

Aereogramme - A Story In White

Dear God I don't even remember what this was but I remember it being boring. I don't know why I have all of Aereogramme's album but I do apparently, and after this first one I'm not looking forward to trudging through the rest. Again, more of the experimental weird songs that I think I'm going to find a lot of and just have to get used to. Although maybe this experience will lead me to a new appreciation of the music when I've made it through. Time will tell. But I can tell good experimental different synth music from bad, and this album was just boring for me, verging on trying to be Radiohead early years and late years at the same time, but just trying to be Radiohead this day and age is a really bad move (I'm looking at you Stereophonics/Travis/Coldplay/OneRepublic/Dear God the list goes on). I got all their albums, so we'll see how the rest go.

Akon - Konvicted (Deluxe Edition)

Akon is an interesting rapper. He has guested on some really great stuff and has some so-so hits to his arsenal, but I don't believe this guys' thug reputation for a second on the album. It's gotten so dull hearing that in rap albums and them having to represent and prove it, it's kind of like steroid use in sports. If you talk about being a dealer/doing time/whatever illegal things, then you better really be it, otherwise when you get called out you'll be a phony and your songs really lack any base to them. I never believe Akon was a real Konvict or anything judging by the choice of dress he wears but also because I read he wasn't later on, whereas Jay-Z has done time along with other rappers, but why must they pretend they've lived such hard lives? Can't they just rap about things other than that and create that persona, or, OR, probably a great idea, just create a persona that has done time and sing it that way? Rappers create alter-egos more often than Schizophrenic people, so it would make sense to do so, but who knows. They have to be thug. But back to the music at point, which is what this is really about, Akon lacks a great flow to his raps. Some of his songs are nice and catchy, particularly the radio-friendly "Don't Matter," but his style really gets on my nerves after a couple of times in his faux-Jamaican slur and his rhyme patterns don't really add much. He only has two albums thankfully so this won't take long, but he needs to stick to his guest spots more often and figure out what he wants to be before taking on another full album full of boring songs saying "Konvict Music" over and over again.

That's all for now. I'll be writing more shortly, always listening to more music!