Crispy

This afternoon a package arrived for me, a package containing the CD I ordered the other day. This CD is “The Game” from 1998 by bubblegum dance artist Crispy. Crispy is a band from Scandinavia, containing the members Mads B.B. Krog, Mette Christensen, and Christian Møller. “The Game”, like all out of print CDs, is rare and hard to find, which is why I had to buy it used (but still in like-new condition) from a man in an undisclosed military location in the Pacific. I was also fortunate enough to obtain the Japanese release, which has sixteen tracks versus twelve on the original. However, this CD in particular is different because instead of the band making one or two albums and then breaking up like nearly all bubblegum dance artists did, Crispy made this one CD and then the lead singer Mette died of cancer a few years later. Anyway, the purchase was admittedly rather risky since I had heard only one song by Crispy ever, “Licky Licky”, but luckily my expectations that others would be just as good or better were correct. “The Game” is easily one of the best CDs I have ever purchased. With just about every track, the music is amazing and the song expertly captures that elusive perfect melody. It's the combinations of great music, enchanting melodies, and creative lyrics that make this album so magical.

My favorite songs:

• Licky Licky
• Kiss Me Red
• Lover On The Line
• Enchanment
• Banana Bay
• Happy King

Tune in next time for more about a few of the songs on an individual basis!

Sexy Boy

It's late at night here in Gogginland, and the perfect time for the soothing and altogether mind-deepening music video of “Sexy Boy” by one of my favorite artists, Air. The two members of this French band are Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. Their music is pretty much all a smooth blend of resonating electronica, tranquil melodies, and light rock that reminds one perhaps of the seventies. I have never heard any other band quite like Air, a band whose music carries a steady flow and has a feeling both otherworldly and intimate that makes one think of how things will be two million years into the future. They also created the soundtrack for the movie “The Virgin Suicides”, which I have never seen.

My favorite songs by Air:

• Kelly Watch The Stars
• Alpha Beta Gaga
• Sexy Boy
• Cherry Blossom Girl

Now about the music video. The song itself has that fascinating baseline that acquires a captivating overlay of rough resonance between light and dark metal, and the powerfully repeated and eponymous line of “sexy boy”. It is the kind of song you might listen to while falling asleep in order to be taken to a place far out in deep, deep space, where the place you came from looks no different than all the places around you, and so you contently continue your amazing journey to another world far away while thousands of years go by. The music video obviously has a different take on the song, of course based on the words that are mostly in French and so have no impact on my interpretation because I don't know what they mean. But Sexy Boy goes to the moon, so clearly the outer space feeling is strong. The use of drawings and basic animation instead of live action represent the peacefulness and simplicity of the song very well. Although a music video that centers around a stuffed monkey wearing a shirt that says “sexy boy” on it has an inherent humor about it, the video and music together have a strange kind of rare beauty.

Just Who I Am.

Undoubtably one of the best country stars in modern day times, Kenny Chesney has given the world a warm and summer feeling inside. Having six albums with at least one track going to the number one spot, Kenny has dug a pretty deep home within the country world. As one of the top artist in the country music industry many other artist look at him as a guide but no one can match this singer/songwriters ambition and love for the music. I dont want to sit here and bore you with numbers and how great he is because personally I cant speak for everyone. I want to explore the music and the artist that creates it.

I am a huge Kenny fan to say the least! So I can be maybe a little deep or favorable to this artist.

Who knows why this artist can make a song about summer and summer loves? What is the feeling you get when you listen to a track produced by this guy? I can tell you what I feel, I feel warm, like I am back at the beach and care-free agian. Like most of Kenny's songs they have to do with the beach or summer. I think that everyone can relate to this heart-throbbing summer beach bum. The lyrics make you think about life and how you may take things for granted, like his new song "Dont Blink". If you have ever been in a relationship then you can definitely relate to his songs. The songs make you go back, funny because that is actually one of his songs (I Go Back). They make you reminisce of the love you had for the summer and the love you had that summer. The feelings almost make you relive the past that you so much want to get back. It gives you that summer sun and that summer feeling all over again. Not to mention the non summer songs that have to do with life and decision making. The wild teenager that cant wait to get out of that small town but ends up right back in that small town, or the pissed off boyfriend that takes a trip to the neon lights looking for the good stuff. All these scenarios take place within everyone and the songs are here for that lonely car ride just clearing your head. The music this man produces is a cornerstone to almost everyone that takes a breathe. Through the hard times and the great times Kenny has got a song for that. So dont blink and make the most of memories.

Foo's Rock Again

Back in the summer of 2005, the Foo Fighters released their fifth studio album In Your Honor. Dave Grohl pronounced that the album is the “ultimate” Foo Fighter’s album. The album came as a double disc album, with the first disc being hard rocking songs, and the second album featuring soft, acoustic driven songs. Guests on the second album included John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Norah Jones, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. In Your Honor is one of the Foo Fighters’ most successful and highly publicized album to date.

While many critics gave the album rave reviews, I was not one of them. The rock album drew thin, with the only enjoyable songs on the album being the singles “Best of You”, “DOA”, and “No Way Back”, with the rest being completely unbearable. Despite all of the guest appearances on the acoustic disc, as a whole it was a complete mess. To date, I believe that I have given the entire acoustic album a complete listen-through only once.

Ever since the beginning of the summer, when I first heard news that the Foo Fighters were releasing another album, I couldn’t wait for it to arrive, mostly because of my disappointment in the last album. When I discovered that Gil Norton (who produced their second album The Colour and the Shape, which was re-mastered and re-released this year as the 10th anniversary of the original release of the album) was producing the album, I was certain the it would be a success. On September 25th, the Foo Fighters released their sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.

The album starts off with a bang with the first single from the album, “The Pretender”. The track is a hard rocking return to the early days of the Foo Fighters. The chorus is very catchy:
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the Pretender
What if I say I’ll never surrender?
So who are you?
The first single also includes a very cool music video, with a SWAT team attempting to attack the band:

While the album starts off very strong with “The Pretender”, if unfortunately fades from there. It seems that Dave Grohl and Co. could not steer away from the half acoustic/half rock idea that was used on In Your Honor. Instead of having separate acoustic and rock songs, there are multiple tracks where both of these ideas are meshed together. The tracks “Let it Die”, “Erase/Replace”, “Come Alive, and “But, Honestly” all have a similar recipe; they all end with hard rocking guitars, and include a soft acoustic intro or bridge. While “Erase/Replace” uses the recipe with the most success, the for mentioned tracks become awfully repetitive and boring. There are some enjoyable filler songs on the album, including the acoustic track “Stranger Things Have Happened”. The more enjoyable tracks are ones that most listeners will casually listen through. “Long Road to Ruin” and “Summer’s End” are both upbeat, 90’s rock songs that the Foo Fighters are known for.

The end of the album includes some interesting experimentation. “The Ballad of Beaconsfield Miners” is a sort-of tribute to a man Dave Grohl met before he was involved in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, Australia. The instrumental track guests Kaki King, and is mostly acoustic guitar picking. Another experimental tune is last one of the album, “Home”. The ballad includes only Dave Grohl singing and softly playing the piano. The track includes a tie-in to the album title:
Echoes and silence, patience and grace
And all of these moments
I’ll never replace
While both of these are an interesting change from the Foo Fighters norm, they both come as awkward and out of place on the album. These would both have a better effect if they were included in some sort of B-side or bonus disc. Personally, I would of much rather seen some more upbeat rock songs at the end of the album, instead of these two head scratchers.

Before I bought Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, I hoped for a follow up album that was better than In Your Honor. Overall, the Foo Fighters put together a decent album. The album had a better structure than their previous album. Unfortunately, the album left me wanting more, for it did not meet my high expectations.

Key Tracks:

• Long Road to Ruin


• Summer's End


• The Pretender

SMiLE.dk

SMiLE.dk is a nice bubblegum dance band with songs in a good range of styles and colors. As of their last album release in 2003, the members were Malin Kernby and Veronica Larsson. The .dk tag at the end of their name is because although the band is from Sweden, they marketed themselves in Denmark. Like many bubblegum dance artists, they were also quite popular in Japan. I do not actually know if the name is supposed to be pronounced “Smile” or “Smile D. K.”, but I usually just say “Smile”. One of their earliest songs, “Butterfly”, is quite famous because it is not only a good song but it was in the original Dance Dance Revolution. Several other songs of theirs have been in later versions of Dance Dance Revolution, but none are nearly as well-known as “Butterfly”. One thing that I've noticed about SMiLE.dk's music that makes them stand apart from other artists of the genre is their impressive proficiency in making songs that are delightfully easy to sing along with and stick in your head for a long time afterwards.

Some of my favorite songs:

• Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)
• Dragonfly
• Boys
• Future Girls
• Come Chameleon
• Golden Sky
• Mr. Wonderful

“Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” is both my favorite SMiLE.dk song and one of my favortie songs of all time. The original “Dancing All Alone” was basically the same song except that for the kimono mix they replaced the words “singing dum-dee-doh” with “in my kimono” which makes the song fifty times better. I don't know why they didn't just do it that way to begin with. My friend thought a kimono was a small wooden house, so I will tell you that a kimono is basically a traditional Japanese dress for women. Anyway, some of the things that make this track great are the beat and baseline that give the song its energetic feel, and the chorus that is easy to pick up and is strangely fun to sing. The song obviously has a sad connotation, but its melody has a kind of content beauty. I also like the instrumental side of “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)”. It's quite a green song, with a dark greenish-black base, shiny green-gray plucky instrument things, and a light green string counter-melody to the chorus. My favorite color is green as well, so it's no surprise that I like this song.

You can listen to “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” 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.

Bubblegum Dance

Bubblegum dance is a genre of music that is not really like any other. The name probably came about because that's how each song sounds: like bubblegum that is dancing. Bubblegum dance comes primarily from Scandinavia, especially Denmark and Sweden, although the words to the songs are almost always in English. I love the bouncing beats, happy music, and fun lyrics, but it always invokes the same question from my friends. They ask, “Goggin, why are you listening to music that is clearly aimed at teenage girls?” I think such assumptions are unfair and wrong. I listen to whatever music that makes me feel good, and if someone thinks less of me because of that, I don't want to be their friend anyway.

Nearly all bubblegum dance follows this formula:

• Steady 4/4 beat
• Chord-based music with mostly synthetic instruments
• Lead vocalist is female, often high-pitched and somewhat nasal
• Song follows chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-chorus-chorus-etc.
• Lyrics are in English and about love
• Lyrics contain sexual references ranging from thinly veiled to bluntly obvious
• Nonsense lyrics such as "la-da-dee-dadee-dah" or "aiee-oh-wah"
  

Some of my favorite artists:

• Toy-Box
• SMiLE.dk
• Aqua
• Dr. Bombay
• DJ Bobo

You may look forward to reading more about these artists in the coming weeks.

Fight Me and Lose.

Topic for discussion, Foo Fighters. On September 25th the new album will hit the stores at a amazing speed. This just so happens to be the bands sixth studio release and marks a 10 year reunion with producer Gil Norton, who helped The Colour And The Shape go to a double platinum status (which is getting remarketed for the celebration). The album is "Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace" and already has kids antsy. The new album is supposed to be pretty solid with twelve new songs and the same ass kicking vocals and shredding of the guitar.

The Foos have been around for close to or more than 10 years now and have six albums under their belt. With smash hits like Best of You, Big Me, Hero and many more. I have like the Foos for quite awhile now and even own some of their cds. Dave Grohl is a great performer and has a slight harshness to his voice and that is what makes it unique. They have the songs that you get warmed up to before you do something big. For example I was the captain of the wrestling team at my high school and I made a cd with the run out song Hero. Parents loved it and the school board loved it because of the simplicity of the song and the language wasnt that bad. Not that it matters to a bunch of college kids but if that is something you respect then by all means keep it up.

So if you are a Foo Fighters fan go get it, You know without a doubt I will.

Stereo Total

Stereo Total is a rather odd band from Germany. Their music is an interestingly strange and strangely interesting blend of some kind of retro garage rock and basic low-tech electronic sounds. However, the aural variety and experimental nature of Stereo Total's music doesn't allow for any labels to be truly applied to their work. Most of the lyrics are in either French or German, and a few in English, as the band is comprised of Françoise Cactus, who is French and does nearly all of the vocals, and Brezel Göring, who is German. Their music is recorded at a lower quality in order to fit the style, and I find that such a decision fits Stereo Total's music quite well. I would not really say that Stereo Total is a “good” band, mostly due to the fact that most of their music is really not much more than rhythmic noise, e.g. one song has a badly sampled car screech looped over and over. “Then what good are they?” you are surely asking. Well you see, like many bands, amongst the multitude of bad songs there are a few that are actually quite good, diamonds in the rough if you will. I must point out, of course, that I really have only heard the music from their second album “Monokini” and several of their newer songs, and so there may be many more songs worth listening to than I am aware of.

The really good ones:

• Bad News From The Stars
• Megaflittchen
• Ach Ach Liebling
• Ex Fan de 60ies

A few more that are still pretty good:

• A La Sortie Du Lycée
• Schön Von Hinten
• Lunatique

“Bad News From The Stars” is a song the likes of which I have never heard before or anywhere else since. It stars off with a whistle, then a few drums and a small choir of robotic cherubim singing the words “bad news from the stars”, which as soon becomes apparent, are the only words in the entire song. Then the music kicks in with some sort of grooving bass the color of tin and the subtle traces of something electric zinging around at the top. Somehow the various parts all come together and let themselves be counter-intuitively enhanced by the low-tech feel of the recording. The music begins skipping, jumping, and dragging in a fashion that not only transfigures the vocals into part of the music itself but enhances the delicious confusion of whatever it is that this song thinks it is doing. After a nice time of bumping around with the music, you will hear Françoise adding in with her own line of “bad news from the stars”. The song ends soon after that, leaving the listener thinking two things: “What just happened?” and “I hope that it happens again!” So what does “bad news from the stars” even mean? I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that the song invokes a feeling of soft metal and happy stars somewhere very far away. If you like “Bad News From The Stars”, I also recommend “Megaflittchen” as it has a somewhat similar idea and feel.

You can listen to “Bad News From The Stars” 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.

Drastic? Not Quite

After listening to KT Tunstall's new ablum Drastic Fantastic, it is hard to not make references or comparisons to other female singer/songwriters such as Alanis Morisette, Jewel, Dido, etc. While Tunstall uses the same recipies for success (backing acoustic guitars, soft falsetto vocals, catchy hooks), Tunstall has a more omnipresence than anyone who has come before her. There is something in her vocals that says she isn't going to fade away; she is here to stay. The album as a whole is more grown up than her previous singles "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" and "Suddenly I See" off Eye to the Telescope.

The album starts off with a bang, with the first track having Tunstall just asking for "Little Favours" with backing heavy rocking guitars. The track uses a very effective verse/chorus switch between minor and major cords. The next track on the album, "If Only" is one of the catchiest tunes on the album, and a personal favorite of mine. The song speaks about a girl who only wanted a chance with a guy who never gave her one, and when he comes around to realize her, she tells him it is too late. Throughout the album, there are a number of acoustic ballads that all work well, including "Hopeless", "White Bird", and "Beauty of Uncertainty". The first single of the album, "Hold On" is a good choice. The song is probably the most radio-friendly track of the album, with catchy clap beat and latin-driven guitar picking. It seems that for every soft, slow acoustic track, there is another rocking, upbeat track, such as "Funnyman", "I Don't Want You Now", and "Saving My Face".

Overall, the album starts off very strong. There is a good mixture of upbeat and slow songs. Every track seems to have its own uniqueness to it, for no two are alike. The end of the album sort of ends in a dissapointment, with the last few tracks dragging the album to an end. On the album as a whole, Tunstall proves that she is here to stay, and is not going to fade away like previous female singer/songwriters.

Key Tracks:

• "If Only"


• "White Bird"


• "Hold On"

Explosive

“Explosive” is one of bond's best pieces, which is probably the reason that their best hits album goes by the same name. However, pretty much all of their music is of such excellence that it is impossible for one to say that “Explosive” is any better than many others. It really is quite an explosive work of music. Like the powerful balance between a forceful shock wave and graceful plumes of fire, the aggressive drums and delicate strings form the awesome explosion that is the track's namesake. The main melody, which is played on strings, feels like it's all over the place, but at the same time it has a purpose. The drums provide a stabilizing center that anchors what would otherwise be an overly sporadic tune. “Explosive” also flows to other segments that have a different feel to them, sometimes a momentary time of peace provided by sky-blue flutes, or a spiky transition that builds up to the next part, and all feel as part of the same explosion. About three-fourths through the piece, some low brass of a lovely red forms one of the most moving counter-melodies with the strings that I have ever heard. The few snippets of unintelligible vocals function nicely as a bit of punctuation to the music. Altogether, “Explosive” is a powerful mixture of expert string playing and a jamming alloy of drums and supporting instruments that combines into a solid block of win.

You can listen to “Explosive” 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.