Barcode Brothers

The Barcode Brothers are Christian Møller Nielsen and Anders Øland, a pair coming from Denmark. Their music is engaging and after hearing just a little bit you find yourself salivating for more. The music has a sort of trance quality to it, as it takes a catchy melody and repeats it while building upon it and putting out different variations. The Barcode Brothers only ever made one album, and it's the sort where with each track, it's either an awesome song or a fairly mundane one yet still worth listening to. The thing that sets the Barcode Brothers apart from other artists of the genre is really that their best songs are mind-blowingly extraordinary despite the disappointment of everything that isn't those best ones. They use instruments such as guitars, flutes, and bells together with the well-chosen electronic sounds that make up the bulk of the songs to create music that is easy to listen to repeatedly and actually somewhat meditative.

The best of the Barcode Brothers:

• Flute
• It's a Fine Day
• Dooh Dooh

“It's a Fine Day” is a somewhat paradoxical song, as although the title and lyrics pronounce at first glance how nice of a day it is, the feeling and color of the music, as well as the interestingly chosen background sounds of waves and of seagulls, make the day being spoken of seem like a windy and cloudy day in deep autumn at the grass-covered top of high cliffs overlooking the ocean, perhaps with the singer standing up there wearing a big hand-woven coat. That is, however, a fine day in old Goggin's book. The sound of the chorus, both of the instrumental side and the vocal side, and especially the flute and nonsense vocals, is somewhat haunting in a strangely comforting way. The acoustic guitar forming a very subtle counter melody at certain parts is just one example of “It's a Fine Day”'s complexity and uniqueness.

You can listen to “It's a Fine Day” here.

You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.

Dreams Deux

Thank goodness that Neil Young has released a new studio album. Young fans can now forget that 2006's Living With War ever existed. I, like a lot of fans and critics, was not entirely impressed by the album. Living With War was a concept album (the concept was basically bashing the Bush Administration's actions involving war, global warming, and other failings), and while the message was quite strong, most of the tracks were repetitive, and many of them fell short.

Now, in 2007, Neil Young has recorded another studio album, titled Chrome Dreams II. The album is a sequel to the Young album Chrome Dreams that was recorded in 1977, but was never released. The album does not has as much drive or direction as Living With War, but has a more general theme to it, such as his 1970 album After the Gold Rush.

The album starts off with a nice harmonica/guitar ballad in "Beautiful Bluebird", and it is very reminiscent of his song "Sail Away" from Rust Never Sleeps. According to his website, the first three tracks on the album, "Beautiful Bluebird", "Boxcar", and "Ordinary People" were all recorded in the 80's and scrapped from various albums. All of them do form a nice beginning to the album. The most effective tracks on the album are also the longest ones, with "Ordinary People" clocking in at 18:12, and "No Hidden Path" running at 14:33. "Ordinary People" is a song that has been long known by Young's die-hard fans, since it has been performed live a few times, despite never being recorded on a studio album. The track is a song that continuously tells the mishaps and misfortunes of various working and middle class people, with strong backing horns and keyboards filling in between verses.

The album encompasses a wide variety of Young's talents. He touches on his rocking side with tracks such as "Dirty Old Man" and "Spirit Road". The final track on the album is similar to "Our House", from Young's days with CSNY, although the it doesn't quite reach the same highpoint. Young of course includes a few guitar/harmonica driven tracks with "Shining Light" and "The Believer".

Overall, Chrome Dreams II is a very good album. The album is sort of a remembrance of Young in the 80's, touching on albums such as Rust Never Sleepsand FreedomWhile it is more of an album for Young's fans, it is still worth purchasing next time you are at a record store.

Key Tracks

• "Beautiful Bluebird"


• "Ordinary People"


• "No Hidden Path"

O-Zone

O-Zone is a fun band from Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe. O-zone split up in 2005, but before that, the members were Dan Bălan, Radu Sârbu, and Arsenie Todiraş, who have now all gone on to their own individual musical careers. A lot of O-Zone's music is very upbeat and energizing, and in the Romanian languge, although they seem to be the sort of band where a song is either absolutely stupendous, or rather boring. They were never very popular at all in the United States, except for their song “Dragostea Din Tei”, the real name to what many people know only as “The Numa Numa Song” from an Internet video from 2004 that quickly went from dashingly awesome to popular at an unfortunate level.

Anyways, my favorite O-Zone songs:

• Despre Tine
• Dragostea Din Tei
• Ionize
• Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara

“Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara” is an amusing song with a chorus sort of part that is really quite catchy. It has a pretty simple beat, which sometimes has whistles for some reason, but it works out fine with the rest of the music, which is also somewhat simple. The very subtle notes being played in a constant staccato manner throughout much of the song make “Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara” a pleasing song to listen to if you can pick them out. Because of that, I personally would have made them louder. The people going “Iyeee! Whoaa!”, as well as the background crowd of people laughing sometimes, put together with the somewhat back-and-forth aspect of the chorus sort of part makes it a nice song to both listen to and shout “Iyeee! Whoaa!” with your friends in a big car on a sunny afternoon while driving through the town with the music up and the windows down.

You can listen to “Sarbatoarea Noptilor De Vara” here.

You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.