First the tracklist :
1. Bjork / Delcare Independence (4:40)
2. Brand New / I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light (3:57)
3. Morrissey / You Have Killed Me (3:08)
4. Marilyn Manson / Putting Holes In Happiness (4:31)
5. The Honorary Title / Radiate (3:04)
6. Nine Inch Nails / The Great Destroyer (3:17)
7. MC Frontalot / Livin' at the corner of Dude and Catastrophe (3:44)
8. Underoath / There Could Be Nothing After This (3:26)
9. Linkin Park / Given Up (3:11)
10. Wired All Wrong / 15 Minutes (2:54)
11. Bloc Party / Waiting For The 7.18 (4:15)
12. The Rakes / We Danced Together (3:53)
13. The Streets / Lets Push Things Forward (3:51)
14. The Pillows / Advice (2:15)
15. Kings Of Leon / On Call (3:21)
16. Clann Zu / Crashing to the Floor (3:44)
17. Modest Mouse / We've Got Everything (3:42)
18. Various - Elliott Smith / All Cleaned Out (2:57)
19. Pretty Girls Make Graves / Pyrite Pedestal (3:28)
20. Ima Robot / The Beat (3:37)
21. The Shins / Phantom Limb (4:50)
22. Electric Six / Pink Flamingos (2:42)
Then the download link : CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Then, the analysis.
We start with a whopper of a track, a new Bjork song called "Declare Independence" off the album Volta, probably her best work since Homogenic.
Then it's on to a sweeping emo track from Brand New. I didn't care for them at first, but their lyrics stick like barbs and the songs just plain rock.
Morrissey is up next, with a song from his most recent record Ringleader of the Tormentors, "You Have Killed Me." Classic Mozz with some really awesome string arrangements and beautiful guitars.
And then, comes Mr. Manson out of nowhere. The new album Eat Me, Drink Me, with its Lewis Carroll-referencing title, peons to love, both lost and newfound. T. Rex-esque rock numbers and distinct style is a big, huge honking departure from Manson's previous record, Golden Age of Grotesque. "Putting Holes In Happiness", I read in a magazine, is about Rachel Evan Wood, Manson's current paramour. Yummy.
The Honorary Title had a great first record and a mediocre follow-up. This is from that album, Scream and Light Up The Sky, but it sounds like it belongs on Anything But The Truth, their awesome debut. This is about the best song on this middling disk. Tsk, tsk.
Trent Reznor (aka Nine Inch Nails) returns to the dark side with Year Zero, a concept album about... something. Does the concept behind the album really matter when NIN returns to dark, deadly form with songs like "The Great Destroyer"? Watch for the digital drum breakdown that dissolves into ear-splitting noise at the finale. Classic NIN.
And now for something completely different : Jokester rapper MC Frontalot teams up with "one-man band" Brad Sucks for "Living At The Corner Of Dude and Catastrophe" from the genius sophomore disc Secrets From The Future. This song was written for a Songfight, a weekly competition wherein participants are given a song title and then write a song within 7 days. It won, obviously.
Underoath make screamy bad-ass music. That is all. Pick up They're Only Chasing Safety and Define The Great Line. I usually don't go in for scream-o or any thing ending with -o or starting with scream... but these guys are kickin'
Linkin Park really surprised me with Minutes After Midnight... It was a very real departure for them and I think it really works in their favor. You can only make so many versions of Hybrid Theory or Meteora... "Given Up" is the first track (after the obligatory "intro" track they like to throw in) on this very different album.
"Supergroup" is a term that gets used too often, although in this case it might actually apply. Wired All Wrong is composed of Self and God Lives Underwater, both one-man-bands... And it shows. Their album Break Out The Battletapes is filled with stuttering guitars, fat beats and desperate songs about the price of fame, like this number "15 Minutes".
Brit rockers Bloc Party took their 2nd album and came up with more somber meditative songs than on their debut, Silent Alarms. Weekend In The City, the follow-up, is jammed with a mix of those high-energy jams and slow build-ups like this track "Waiting For The 7.18"
These other Brits, The Rakes, rule your American asses with their sharp, angular dance-punk. Ten New Messages, their second album, is filled with poppy, dancy numbers like "We Danced Together"
It seems I'm on a British theme, eh? British "rapper" (and I use that term very loosely) The Streets speaks over beats on "Let's Push Things Forward" from Original Pirate Material.
Now we travel way across the sea to the land of Japan, where The Pillows have been rocking for decades. Their albums do moderate business, but I first heard of them as the soundtrack for the anime "FLCL" (pronounced 'Fooly Kooly'). This version of "Advice" is from the record Happy Bivouac.
Kings of Leon have changed in a big, huge way since their first two albums, Youth & Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak. They've gotten better, deeper and more ... interesting, to say the least. "On Call" is from the new album Because Of The Times and exemplifies their new style, less flashy Strokes-esque noise, more everything else.
Clann Zu broke up after the album Black Flags and Bandages, but their songs still resonate. The chilling "Crashing To The Floor" rings with acoustic guitars, violins and crushing drums.
People hate on the new Modest Mouse album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, even though, or because, it features Johnny Marr from The Smiths on guitar... To me, a long time Modest Mouse fan, it's so surprise that Mr. Brock & company continue on the same musical groove started on Moon & Antarctica and continuing on through this song, "We've Got Everything".
"All Cleaned Out" by Elliott Smith comes from the posthumous release New Moon .This recently unearthed gem reveals another facet of the many that we know already about the late Elliott Smith.
Like a few other bands on this mix, Pretty Girls Make Graves have done some major overhauls to their style. In their case, most of the songs on Elan Vital don't quite click, but this one, "Pyrite Pedestal" and a few others hit the sweet spot.
Ima Robot are the most fun you can have without being legally drunk. Monument To The Masses is a jump up, shout out blast of musical fun. "The Beat" is no exception.
There's that scene in "Garden State" where Natalie Portman tells Zach Brapf that The Shins will change his life. I don't necessarily think they're that good, but their albums kill, especially Wincing The Night Away. "Phantom Limb" chugs along on a buzzing bassline and pretty sweeping guitars that provide a nice perch for the vocals to grab ahold of.
Electric Six have put out 2 fantastic records in the past 2 years - the underrated Senor Smoke and the over-rated Switzerland. "Pink Flamingos" is from the latter, one of the less offensive tracks - other song titles include "I Buy The Drugs" and "Chocolate Pope"...
And that wraps it up. Hope you enjoy.
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