fair enough, I rescind my statement. I'll fix it for you.

Haha, that's better.

Neil Young and Dylan for me .... its hard to breeze through albums cause they demand multiple listens ....

King Crimson and Nina Simone

A couple of recent obsessions/discoveries:

Nile - Those Whom the Gods Detest
I had a staggering experience with this album last night. "4th Arra of Dagon" was the one that really hit me, just the sheer monolithic mass of it and how perfectly it captures the abomination of Lovecraft's ideas. The drumming is inhumanly fast, while everything else just stands there, towering over the listener. It's perverse. It's evil and wrong and at once so powerful. In other words, it's terrifying. The detail that bothered me the most was the weakness of the double bass. The drum doesn't lay out the song's rhythm but flails against it in a shockingly organic way, and by organic I mean biological; it sounds like the twitching of an animal in the throes of some gruesome trauma. I was taken back to a few weeks ago when the car in front of me ran over a squirrel. How could its legs move so fast? This is different, though. The Deep Ones aren't so much damaged as twisted. So the effect is that of a lone body part still rebelling against mutation, and an organism that now only sneers at its struggle.

If you haven't already guessed, I was high as fuck last night.

Rocketship - A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness
The tragedy of the serial monogamist. Fall in "love" too many times and you'll feel that certain sadness, as the promise of each new relationship is shadowed by the approach of its end. It's not all bleakness and clouds; if there were no beauty to be found in fading things, then their fading would not bother us. Dustin Reske has learned this well. He knows that the smile and the sadness are inseparable, and his music reflects that, with a guitar that bathes us in the gentle glow of its empathy and an organ swollen, trembling with restrained tears. (All restraint is off on "We're Both Alone.") Twee as it may be, there's not a drop of excess cuteness here. He knows, too, that the tragedy goes deeper. Real hope is possible. It isn't easy to stay jaded forever, and it's a matter of course that eventually we all let our guard down. What's coming still comes, harder. Is it worth it? Wouldn't it better to condition ourselves against the need for love and abandon its pursuit altogether? Most would have better luck... well, turning into a fish. Nina Simone called it a shame, to have to write a song like that. I agree, and Dustin would agree, but what a pretty shame it is.

Deep Purple

high violet - the national and neil young unplugged, and now randomly kings of leon, who i haven't listened to much in a couple years. but only the first 3 albums, sorta the 4th one.

Leonard Cohen - "Diamonds in the Mine"

Ahahaha this song. Smack in the middle of the superb Songs of Love and Hate, it surely has the power to stop many listeners cold as one of the wildest, most brazenly bizarre tracks he's ever recorded. Just listen to the bouncy bass, the jangly guitar (especially the absentmindedly perky noodling that floats over everything), and the backing choir, and listen to Leonard. He grates. He screams. There was no need for him to do any of this because his usual subdued delivery adds to the impact of his lyrics; he's a master at structuring his verses around one word or phrase, often a very visceral one related to violence, death, or the body, so that it catches the listener off guard when it arrives. This and the darkness of his imagery in general are more than sufficient in getting the right reaction. But he wasn't satisfied this time, and he had to shout it. His voice sounds awful, like he's straining to embarrassingly meager effect, or worse, like he's not even trying. On the first few listens I hit skip after a minute of this crap. Finally I gave it another chance and fuck, Jesus, he's roaring. We're in "Big Black Mariah" territory here, but Cohen hasn't a pinch of Waits' swagger so the result is kind of laughable. Yet he certainly has the courage of his convictions. Is he drunk? Playing drunk? Perhaps, but the thought behind the foam is clear: it's intended to be laughable because he's making fun of himself! By ramping up the intensity of his vocals to ridiculous extremes, he's pointing at his words, his whole persona, and saying "Look how dark and scary! That Leonard Cohen guy sure is one misunderstood, lonely dude. Some heavy-duty shit right there, no doubt about it." It's playful, it's witty, it's funny, and it actually works to deflect such criticism (that he takes himself too seriously) should it come his way. It also succeeds musically because of the way he builds to his laryngitic peaks; played at one level, it would just be offensive. Cohen is one hell of a good troll.

Pig Destroyer (the two albums that I have are Phantom Limb and Prowler in the Yard). Anybody have any recommendations in terms of similar bands that I should check out?

Red finally clicked for me. Can't believe I didn't like that album until a couple days ago.

Yeah I can't either :P

Current obsessions are Big K.R.I.T. and Organized Konfusion, both thanks to Dreww. Also hip-hop in general.

the doors... although i wouldnt say necessarily obsessed quite yet.

i have decided that is this it? title track is my favorite strokes song

Wild Beasts' 'All the Kings Men'. Just stupidly good.