Holy shit Klayton is still doing things?!
I thought he just dropped off and died after collabing with Blue Stahli. I miss Celldweller and Argyle Park so much, he is the man. Remember going to one of his gigs that had like 20 or 30 people at it. Chill as dude.
Yep, he's been doing a lot of work with other artists and also his own stuff under the many aliases he uses. He picked up Scandroid again and released a load of things last year.
All you really have to do is look at his youtube channel or soundcloud and you'll see he's been active as hell this year, lot of behind the scenes stuff and social talk though.
Im.subscribed to him but youtube never pops up any videos of him for years to me, weird.
Still at it!
---
@Surfur -- Jenny & Tenkitsune -- Little Fox Adventure -- Tenkitsune:
Lovely beeps and boops. Boopin and beepin.
The mix of old-school soundbytes and the singing is a nice, unique sound. Love the Animal Crossing vibe I get from 50 onward. Nice and diverse. The driving synths at 1:39 are cool, too. Does a great job of slowly elevating from an 8-bit aesthetic to a more modern, electric sound without losing focus on what made the 8-bit music era so special.
@ShapeOfPeePee -- Global Erosion -- Chaos in the CBD:
Great adventurous beat to start us out. Relying more on world drums gives the tune a more primal feel, which is neat with the futuristic synth soaring overhead. Lots of great space in this piece.
Distant horns are great. Just the right amount of reverb and echo. Gives it a real mysterious call. When it comes to effects like this, I like to think spatially: the drums are us and the horns are responding and they must be far away.
When you listen to music with the intent to "see" what's going on, it opens up a lot of rich avenues to be creative. What kind of a world is this? Why are we drumming? Why do we need to drum? Why are they responding with horns? These are simple questions that can tell us a lot about the world this song is taking place in.
When I work on anything creatively outside of music like writing or stories, I like to give it a song to help visualize the process. This helps mitigate potential roadblocks and open new paths for exploration. Hearing music with the intent to make something is a wonderful source for inspiration and I'd encourage you to give it a try if you haven't already. This song is simple but has lots of potential to make something really cool.
@Krypanzer -- Not Alike (feat. Royce Da 5'9) -- Eminem:
Spittin' straight fire. I like it when they move past the triple feel and start to slip out of meter. Feels out of control but still in control at the same time??
What I really like about Eminem is he's dynamic with what he's saying. There's a clear line of action with what he's saying. We start with an introduction, followed by a slow build, followed by a hard pay-off when the bass drops. And each in each verse, there's a smaller line of action that you can see. He could've copped out but nah he being musical and shit.
This piece was, ofcourse, a big ol' fuck you to Machine Gun Kelly who was making nasty-ass moves towards Eminem's daughter, who was 16 at the time. Machine Gun responded with his own diss-track, which Marshall followed with Killshot -- pretty self-explanatory.
Despite what these songs might imply, Marshall's a tender guy at heart. He established the Marshall Mathers Foundation for disadvantaged youth and spent quite a bit of money to buy back the royalties for his former production team. All-in-all, a real stand-up guy.
@tark. -- Dot in the Sky -- Drab Majesty:
Whoa there Starman
Bowie af. Definite early tech vibe to the whole thing. There's some really great key modulations in here, like in the middle of the chorus. It went in directions I didn't expect to hear in this particular genre. Like the addition of harder drums around the 2 minute mark. Gives the thing that extra oomph.
For something that came out in 2017, this really nailed the feel it was going for. What a wonderful little ode.
This piece was written in response to a mass suicide by a cult called Heaven's Gate. The suicide coincided with the passing of Comet Hale-Bopp. They figured they could bum a ride into the great beyond, I guess.
Hale-Bopp's gonna be the name of my rock opera.
@Bird -- Straight Edge -- NOFX:
Started out with some real country twang and took a reaaaaal sudden stage-right. That sachmo' impression made me laugh. I really wasn't ready for that. It was like three mis-directions one right after the other. Great back-up singers and that mouth trumpet at the end was pretty great, too.
This is a cover of Minor Threat's song by the same name. This is like polar opposite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypkmp6D90KU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirVtiJuvDs
---
@Nuclear Syringe -- Losing All Sense -- Grizzly Bear:
Great little beat to get things revvin off. The compression on that bass is delish. Got that real 80-90's vibe. It's such an iconic sound that relies on how easy it is to put together. The sound of strappy kids just trying to make music. Really enjoying that driving guitar underneath everything. That bass line is phat.
People identify Grizzly Bear as indie and underground but they're pretty far from it at this point. They've toured with Radiohead for a time. Once, they had Jay Z and Beyonce show up to a concert in 2009.
@Sleepy feet -- SICKO MODE -- Travis Scott:
That's a cool fake-out in the very beginning. Didn't expect the phrase to cut out and get all groovy all of a sudden. The pitched-down vocal @ 1:39 really pull the ears in a weird, floaty direction. This followed by the "shout chorus" at 2:17 make for an interesting combination of ideas.
This song's got like four different vibes in it which is pretty sweet. The ever-changing vibe gives the whole thing a "sick" feeling. It might not be what Scott was going for, but it's another interesting layer to look at. It's like a micro-album contained in a single song.
Oh shit -- I just realized that the second verse has samples from Notorious B.I.G. There's something real special about that to me.
@craZy_y0™ -- Be with You -- Mondays:
Pretty poppy. I like the sparse, punchy electric guitar going on. I like how it morphs from that into a synth sound -- as if it were evolving.
Couldn't find a whole lot about Mondays. All I know is that, according to Genius, this song is used for Aphamau's Minecraft Mystreet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od0TYpe_JKo
Sorry. I wish I had something more tantalizing to share.
@perka123 -- God Damn -- Avenged Sevenfold:
Great intro. The rapid drumming grabs my attention and I'm left *intensely* listening to a guitar solo. Drastic musical contrast always grabs my attention. That break-down segment at 2:00 is thicc. Bass is killing it. Love how the acoustic material slowly peeps through the crevices of this really metal piece. It's as if there's two concerts going on at the same time but the metal band's covering the whole thing up. This is definitely a song for the times.
Avenged Sevenfold's been around for a damn long time. They put out their first album in high school.
Band member James Sullivan AKA The Rev wrote the song "Fiction" and died three days later.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/5e2756c9-d6fe-44a2-9061-58022d569af8/image.png
From what culture:
Taken from their 'comeback' Nightmare album, eerie piano-led ballad Fiction marks Sullivan's last recording on an Avenged album. As he was finishing up he reportedly told M. Shadows "I think I've given you guys everything that I have [...] I don't know if we have any songs left or what we're going to do, but this is my final song" before passing away not three days later.
@tratzzz -- Santeria -- Pusha T:
That vegetable roast is sick nasty. Refrain's got some great, simple instrumentation. That machine gun drum sample is fucking hot. Verse 3 hits quickly and hits hard. The drowned-out horns gives De'Von's story the sinister, dramatic conclusion it needs and it's overflowing with raw emotion.
Pusha T's manager, Anthony Gonzalez, actually ran a drug ring down in Virginia Beach. After he got put away for that, it drastically changed the direction of T's music; he kinda chilled out, which I think was for the best.
--
I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting on the edge of your seats for two weeks! I under-estimated how tough it'd be to carve out the time to really sit down as listen carefully to everyone's stuff. When I do this, it's not background material; I literally sit down in my room with my headphones on and take notes. I committed to listening through this whole thing and I wanted to do a good job because your musical tastes deserve it. REST ASSURED THIS SHIT"LL BE DONE, SOON. I've only got about 15 tracks to go out of 125!
An ever-fervent reminder that you can still win $20 on Steam by listening to some stuff on the playlist and writing nice things about it! It's super chill.
facepunch mixtape 2018
https://open.spotify.com/user/bxny4fvugh4lep4izd5cmipeo/playlist/4Z4UaekAZpA5OVHvd3NYIh?si=3NYj77aYRPuX0hMS5GRngw
I don't remember where I found the Mondays song, I think I found it through discover weekly or one of the song radios but it was back in late March or early April. Definitely sounded like something you could use in YouTube vlogs but except you have to buy a license from some record label I assume is associated with them to use their songs.
@Dasein an excellent song, I couldn't agree more. Been listening to Avenged since like 2004, I miss The Rev so much
Love the whole Spotify playlist. Discover Weekly is broken for me and some other new playlists don't want to load properly, but this one works fine and has a ton of varied songs.
This week's reviews has been sponsored by the eighties!
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71Y2E3PkBAL._SL1440_.jpg
https://omgfuckmylife.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/gay2b80s.jpg
---
@tisseman890 - Faradenza - Little Big:
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan
There's something charming about how naggy and annoying the beat/singing is. I'm pretty sure LB was aware of this while putting it all together. It's something that would be terrible on their own but is kinda hilarious put together. Case in point: the guy literally made up a language just for this song. None of these words really exist.
The only real way to experience this song is to watch the music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t_sMynan_k
@TheOneFree-Man -- LSD and the Search for God -- The Blue Angel Lounge:
Love that distant feel this song invokes. The singing along with the instrumentation sounds almost like The Doors from an alternate universe, singing through a crack in the space-time continuum. The drone synth hovering over it all really completes the package that the band's other-worldly.
Man, this has been the week for outstanding music videos, hasn't it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBN89emhdQ
@Mariobro -- One Thing Left To Try -- MGMT:
This is MGMT with a capital T. A blend of 80's aesthetic with 2000 sensibility. The mix is clearly far beyond what was possible back then. The drumbeat's real snappy which is a nice contrast to the stretched-out synths. I love that disgusting change in feel at the end, there.
MGMT was a band that never intended to be a band. The whole thing started out as two guys fucking around in college and trying to make weird sounds. Long story short they put out an EP and people liked it to their surprise. When they started touring, they performed as a duo with an iPod playing the backups.
@dcalde78 -- Love will Tear Us Apart -- Joy Division:
I haven't heard Joy Division for a solid minute so this was a treat.
I think this is the only band I can say really pulls off the sad, drunk robot character really well. The whole thing's real melodramatic and cheese'd up which makes it just plain fun to listen to -- like scratching an itch that you wouldn't feel comfortable to address in public. I don't know why, but Joy Division just feels like it came out of a Weebl and Bob cartoon, sometimes.
Joy Division is a band marred by tragedy. Curtis, in-particular went through a lot. Everything from fits of epilepsy, to a draining divorce, to accusations of neo-Nazism. He took his own life at the tragic age of 24. Part of what makes this band so magical was the fact they were able to create anything in a time of such personal turmoil.
I never read into Joy Division before this so I'm actually kind of shocked. I never really gleamed any of this while listening to their music. It gives their stuff a lot more depth. I'm going to have to return to this soon.
@tnk -- Sounds Like a Melody -- Alphaville:
I think we've reached peak 80's.
Wispy singing can be real easy to criticize if it isn't done correctly. Here, it's done very well. The mood of the piece calls for it. The change in pulse half-way through is kickin'. Almost feels like two songs crammed into one. I love the layering of strings in there. It's sophisticated but not, y'know?
@Dok -- The Government Knows -- KNOWER:
Holy fuck god damn you made me belly laugh. I am actually in pain, right now.
This playlist has been so much metal, punk, soul, etc that I really expected this to be a serious take on some government shit. But then he says masturbate. The great thing is this song really touches on an issue going on in the world in a way that's silly but still true. It takes something important and sticks it in your mind.
Even without the silly subject matter this song is strong. The dance of synths and subtle harmonics is dizzying and colorful. The drop and drone at 2:40 is memorable, unique, and phunk AF. To follow that up with the super-slow refrain is about the funniest fucking thing I've heard this year.
On a second listening I noticed the track ends with a silent pistol going off. Hoyl fuck what a great song.
If you like this, I think you might Enjoy Louis Cole who I learned very recently is, infact, one of the members of Clown Core.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxEIQQkhyeI
Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm sending this to all my friends.
@greenbandit -- Isombard -- Declan MecKenna:
Another modern ensemble echoing back to old-school stylings. I think it's appropriate this came up as same time as Alphaville on this playlist. Wouldn't be surprised if there's some heavy influence, there.
I think Declan does a good job of marrying the 80's sound with some newer stuff -- mainly the reverse acoustics and some fresher equipment. I think my favorite part of this track was the last 20 seconds or so, actually. The off-kilter pulse was a great way to wrap this up.
--
WELL this is taking about two months longer than it fucking should. This is totally my fault because I'm lazy and stuff, though. I should be able to wrap this up in the next post so expect an exciting announcement soon about who I think has the bestest music taste and stuff.
I will say that it's going to be tough to pick a "winner." I've genuinely enjoyed something about everything on this playlist thus far -- even if that thing was the fact I've never heard sounds so completely bonkers before. I'm going to have to do a bit of re-listening to really narrow it down.
facepunch mixtape 2018
https://open.spotify.com/user/bxny4fvugh4lep4izd5cmipeo/playlist/4Z4UaekAZpA5OVHvd3NYIh?si=OT29vFlUTQK5ciyS1kTe5w
Here's a picture of me finishing this playlist:
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/30a704e4-2b3c-4f69-b1df-61fceb1acafb/wheezing.png
---
@Ignatius -- The Evil Has Landed -- Queens of the Stoneage:
Funny to say, but that opening's got some real Beach Boy vibes to it. I love the giant spaces they put in. These guitar solos are sultry and delicious. I like the doo-bop line @ 2:19. The slow burn of a buildup is textbook alt-rock.
This whole thing's real quirky. It feels like the sick combination of Lego blocks from like a hundred different kits. You expect a mess, yet somehow it all comes together in what is a naturally beautiful product.
The band originally wanted to be called Gamma Ray but a German metal band also called Gamma Ray threatened to sue them.
WELL WHO'S LAUGHING NOW??
@AsianKevin -- BOOGIE -- BROCKHAMPTON:
Huh, more Brock. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that someone as popular as him is the top pick for a few FP'ers, but it's not what I expected, y'know? Nothing wrong with that, of course -- he's fantastic.
I can't listen to this without thinking of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqKv1X3rHoQ
This song relies on the beautifully squelchy sirens and saxes going on. Everything in the track leans against this sense of urgency and rising pressure. It's so impossibly hard when you think about it; sirens, fundamentally, are noise-makers. They're these gross, blaring things meant to grab your attention to get you the fuck out of the way in an emergency. To use it in a musical sense is daring, to say the least. To pull it off as well as it has been here is nothing short of genius.
If you like this sort of industrial rap, might I recommend Clipping?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbU9UUwxBxA
@Akvai -- Mota -- Russian Circles:
What a cute little story!
As cliche as it is, I'd describe this song as **euphoric.** It has this druggy, floaty feeling in the beginning and slowly rises into more abstract places throughout. Midway through, it starts doing nutty stuff like taking out beats and putting in drum fills in places that don't belong. As the end approaches, continuity goes out the window as the high loses control. And right when we're at our most vulnerable and uncomfortable, it slowly meshes into a beautiful, mystifying drone that melts all the tension away. We're not "grounded" yet, but we're no longer miserable. It's really neat!
The band is named after a drill exercise in ice hockey. By strange coincidence, the lead guitarist Mike Sullivan shares the name of world-famous hockey player and coach Mike Sullivan, who works with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/93184e4e-3150-44ff-9d56-6f1ba234a2bb/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/a940ebfa-0210-4e43-a5e4-9b180674a254/image.png
It's like they're the same person, isn't it??
@tau -- Passing Through A Screen Door -- The Wonder Years:
I love that lead-in chord going on @ 0:48. It's so spicy and out of place.
The whole thing's a heart-felt ode to alternative lifestyle. Lots of tender singing mixed with angst and pride. It's hard to be yourself when society is so butt-fuck crazy like it is, and I think The Years conveys that pretty well.
@Inacio -- Blind -- Citylights Remix -- The M Machine:
I like the fake-outs. A big, jumbo-jet build up that fizzles out twice and then hits you hard with some vocalized goodness. That heavy march beat at 1:20 is to die for. They could've gone with a stock techno break-down but they went for real heavy emphasis on every beat. The "clock" break-down is fan-flipping-tastic, as well.
On a side note, look at these guys:
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/ae00cb41-a5ac-4466-8ca9-161a05d3f879/image.png
Not the look I was expecting. Look at that fucking mustache.
I'd say they're too cool for school, but they're clearly in a school bus.
@Moose -- Let It Happen -- Tame Impala:
Really good.
I love the drunk synth vibe. The bending of the pitch really catches my ear in a lovely way. The muted drums kicking at around :50 with the layered singing on top is the cat's pajamas. There's something so incredibly potent about the way he says let it happen. It's both uncomfortable and inviting to me. The record skips halfway through is a really unique way to blend the A and B components of this song. It keeps cascading and creating new, decadent sounds that I don't get sick of. And just when you think you're about to get sick of it, it morphs into something entirely new and unexpected. And just when I thought I was going to run out of nice things to say about this, that guitar comes in and shakes my rib cage.
I would absolutely kill to have a drum patch that sounds half as good as this. It's staccato, potent, and piercing.
@EntropyFox -- I Eat Salads Now -- Sidney Gish:
I couldn't help but snap along in the opening. Real low-key and indie feeling. Chill guitar, chill synth, chill drums, and bitchin singing. It's a brief spurt of a song that really maxes out its time.
@Doom14 -- Shut Me Up -- Mindless Self Indulgence:
This is another one of those songs I've heard for years without really looking into. I know it's old-"ish," so it's interesting to see it on the top of people's list in the far-off year of 2018. Just goes to show what a rockin' song it is.
This thing really does just hit you in the face like a brick. The blocky guitar opening puts this song in a place among the rock gods. I love how the whip is both cheesy and hard-hitting.
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https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/110232/4e7aa4a4-6b6f-4d12-abfb-e7d844b1d4fb/wheeze2.png
I did it. It took two months longer than it should've, but I did it. 125 songs, 8 hours and 46 minutes of consecutive music, and over twelve-thousand words. I didn't skip a single song and I listened to all of them all the way through.
I'm sure y'all are chomping at the bits to know what I liked most. In truth, I need to think about it a bit. I came into this with my own tastes and predispositions to music and I'm not sure if I should use those sensibilities to pick a winner. I said the point of this experiment was to grow appreciation of other forms of music, so defaulting to what I already like isn't very conducive to that idea. Ergo, I need to stew over what's been posted here and really think about what has deepened my appreciation for music the most. So anticipate me to be done with this around the time this year's Spotify roundup happens
As for the other contest going on: I'm not quite sure I'm okay with only a handful of people being entered for a raffle for 20 steam bucks. Next time, I'm going to have to re-think how (or if) I do this because it feels a little sad to see so few people say nice things about our listening habits.
So I'm gonna change the rules a little: you now only need to comment on five songs to be entered into the raffle. The raffle will take place when I have at least ten entries.
Tell your friends! Tell your friend's friends! Get some of your fellow FP'ers to listen to some cool stuff -- because there is a lot of great stuff on this playlist. Diversify your musical portfolio! Invest in the mutual fund that is your audio aesthetic taste! WRITE NICE THINGS ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE'S FAVOURITE JAM AND VALIDATE THEIR MUSICAL TASTE. IT'LL MAKE THEIR DAY.
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facepunch mixtape 2018
https://open.spotify.com/user/bxny4fvugh4lep4izd5cmipeo/playlist/4Z4UaekAZpA5OVHvd3NYIh?si=55XjbZhURn2j6cTR1kMJeA
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