My current favorite songs of the week
TGIF! I thought the weekend would never get here. Unfortunately I am under the weather so I am not going to be able to go to tonight's Gothsicles, Conformco, and Absynthe of Faith Show at The Red Sea. I don't think people want me to sneeze on them or listen to me blow my nose so I am staying put and not share the plague with everyone else. That's alright, this has been a great week for music for me and I can focus on writing tonight's blog post.
Last weekend I was watching a couple of episodes of season 9 of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. On the Queens episode, Anthony talks to one of the members of the hip hop group Swet Shop Boys. The track "T5" which was featured on the show got me hooked right away. Then when I went to look to see if their album is on bandcamp, I read their bio and saw this is the same rap group that Venom/Rogue One star Riz Ahmed is a member of. I was well aware Riz was also a rapper, just didn't know what group he was in until this week. Hip hop music is a hit or miss with me but when I do find a hip hop group it is because the group has something different to offer to music listeners, and Swet Shop Boys definitely does offer something different. I like that the group raps about their experiences as Muslim Americans especially when dealing with TSA, I added "T5" as well as "Aaja" (another favorite track off their album) to this week's playlist. I love the arsenal instruments and sounds that the group incorporates with their rhymes. It is a rich, diverse collection of hip hop tracks. It is a fun album to listen to and has quickly rose to the ranks of one my favorite hip hop albums.
The new VNV Nation album finally came out (digitally) today. I have listened to it a couple of times today. I definitely like the music but it did not grab me like Automatic did in 2011 with its fantastic, memorable melodies. Noire is a solid album don't get me wrong about it but I felt like it is just lacking the same magic that I heard on Automatic and even on Transnational that truly transcended all music, and uplifted me whenever I was down. This album felt a little flat to me. I am not going to lie, I think Ashbury Heights and Blume put out albums more compelling EBM music than what Ronan has offered up on Noire, and later this month Solitary Experiments drops a new album, and next month !distain will be dropping a new album. Say whatever you want about the new Blume album but I have to hand it to the band for changing up their sound. Maybe it is time for a change for VNV Nation. In spite of my feelings of the new album, I did find a few tracks I felt were worth putting on this week's playlist.
Asides from Swet Shop Boys, my other favorite group right now is All Hail the Silence. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that legendary electronic artist BT is part of this synthpop group. I haven't listened to BT's music in years because I had moved on from the type of electronic music he made to post-punk, industrial, and synthpop music. I have a couple of tracks by the band on the playlist but my personal favorite track is "Diamonds in the Snow". The song has made me excited about their upcoming album Daggers which comes out in January.
This week I found out that Emika has a new album called Falling in Love With Sadness. I only listened to the album once but I enjoyed what I heard.
I think it was yesterday or Wednesday I discovered the electro-pop sounds of the Seattle band NAVVI. The duo has a new album called Ultra. They remind me quite a bit of Tiny Deaths.
Of course no playlist is without a couple of tracks by my fave Autumn (US band). I was listening to the song "Resurrection" today at work on one of my Random Mix playlists. That song gets so overlooked by my other favorite tracks (i.e "How It Came to Be This Way", "A Waiting Time", and "Even Now" on The Hating Tree. Had to include that song on this week's playlist. Oh hell! I have been neglecting The Hating Tree in favor of the band's new album Chandelier. Speaking of Chandelier, I absolutely adore Neil's shimmering guitar riffs on the song "From Under the Waves", also featured on this week's playlist.
Also threw on some oldies by Peter Murphy, Dead Can Dance, Chvrches, and Laura Carbone (a terrific artists whose two post punk albums needs to be heard), and faves by !distain, Hanzel und Gretyl, Project Pitchfork, Sleepthief, and Pale Waves from their new albums (or in !distain's case single).
Last weekend I was watching a couple of episodes of season 9 of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. On the Queens episode, Anthony talks to one of the members of the hip hop group Swet Shop Boys. The track "T5" which was featured on the show got me hooked right away. Then when I went to look to see if their album is on bandcamp, I read their bio and saw this is the same rap group that Venom/Rogue One star Riz Ahmed is a member of. I was well aware Riz was also a rapper, just didn't know what group he was in until this week. Hip hop music is a hit or miss with me but when I do find a hip hop group it is because the group has something different to offer to music listeners, and Swet Shop Boys definitely does offer something different. I like that the group raps about their experiences as Muslim Americans especially when dealing with TSA, I added "T5" as well as "Aaja" (another favorite track off their album) to this week's playlist. I love the arsenal instruments and sounds that the group incorporates with their rhymes. It is a rich, diverse collection of hip hop tracks. It is a fun album to listen to and has quickly rose to the ranks of one my favorite hip hop albums.
The new VNV Nation album finally came out (digitally) today. I have listened to it a couple of times today. I definitely like the music but it did not grab me like Automatic did in 2011 with its fantastic, memorable melodies. Noire is a solid album don't get me wrong about it but I felt like it is just lacking the same magic that I heard on Automatic and even on Transnational that truly transcended all music, and uplifted me whenever I was down. This album felt a little flat to me. I am not going to lie, I think Ashbury Heights and Blume put out albums more compelling EBM music than what Ronan has offered up on Noire, and later this month Solitary Experiments drops a new album, and next month !distain will be dropping a new album. Say whatever you want about the new Blume album but I have to hand it to the band for changing up their sound. Maybe it is time for a change for VNV Nation. In spite of my feelings of the new album, I did find a few tracks I felt were worth putting on this week's playlist.
Asides from Swet Shop Boys, my other favorite group right now is All Hail the Silence. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that legendary electronic artist BT is part of this synthpop group. I haven't listened to BT's music in years because I had moved on from the type of electronic music he made to post-punk, industrial, and synthpop music. I have a couple of tracks by the band on the playlist but my personal favorite track is "Diamonds in the Snow". The song has made me excited about their upcoming album Daggers which comes out in January.
This week I found out that Emika has a new album called Falling in Love With Sadness. I only listened to the album once but I enjoyed what I heard.
I think it was yesterday or Wednesday I discovered the electro-pop sounds of the Seattle band NAVVI. The duo has a new album called Ultra. They remind me quite a bit of Tiny Deaths.
Of course no playlist is without a couple of tracks by my fave Autumn (US band). I was listening to the song "Resurrection" today at work on one of my Random Mix playlists. That song gets so overlooked by my other favorite tracks (i.e "How It Came to Be This Way", "A Waiting Time", and "Even Now" on The Hating Tree. Had to include that song on this week's playlist. Oh hell! I have been neglecting The Hating Tree in favor of the band's new album Chandelier. Speaking of Chandelier, I absolutely adore Neil's shimmering guitar riffs on the song "From Under the Waves", also featured on this week's playlist.
Also threw on some oldies by Peter Murphy, Dead Can Dance, Chvrches, and Laura Carbone (a terrific artists whose two post punk albums needs to be heard), and faves by !distain, Hanzel und Gretyl, Project Pitchfork, Sleepthief, and Pale Waves from their new albums (or in !distain's case single).
Comments
Post a Comment