Reviewing the playlists in the "Shuffle Your Playlist" thread

[Trollheart]

Oh what's that player? You want more? You done got more! Ya feel me? *

Yeah, it's time to premiere


*Trollheart is currently awaiting sentencing after having been found guilty by a unanimous verdict at his trial on charges of, and I quote, "Aggressively and Deliberately Trying to Be "Street" at an Inappropriate Age. And Being Irish Too, Which is Almost as Bad".

And we begin as we did in season one, with the man who started it all.



"God of Destruction (Cryo remix)" - Suicide Commando
Genre: Aggrotech/Dark Industrial
Source: 19th album Goddestruktor
Year: 2022
Nationality: Belgian
Comments: If I recall correctly, I experienced two different sides of aggrotech in season one, the second being very much more on the "aggro" side. Which will this turn out to be? Given the album cover, title, and indeed song title, I'm willing to bet this will be more like the second time I sampled this genre, but we'll see. I guess an air-raid siren is not the most ideal thing you want to hear when a song begins, and I can feel that thick buzzing synth shaking the ground beneath my feet as the track begins, but initially at any rate it comes across as more techno? Not that I would know about such things.

Yeah, overall more on the "lighter" side of aggrotech, if that is indeed what this is, and probably great to get smashed out of your head and dance to, again not something I would know anything about. But decent to listen to, and I like this. Good start.
Rating:


"Don't Spoil it" - Czarface and MF DOOM
Genre: Hip-hop
Source: First collaborative album Czarface Meets Metal Face
Year: 2018
Nationality: American/English
Comments: I've heard of MF DOOM (not to be confused with the Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom, but then you knew that) and I've heard of Scarface, but not Czarface. Says they're some sort of hip-hop supergroup. I wouldn't know. The song is just over 90 seconds, so perhaps hard to judge but there's a nice bopping drumbeat and the rap is okay, kind of relaxed compared to some I've heard. It's all right.
Rating:


"Dilemma" - Dark Half
Genre: Horrorcore
Source: 2nd album Graveyard Blues
Year: 2012
Nationality: American
Comments: While it certainly wouldn't be my genre of choice, I've found most of what I've listened to of Horrorcore to be quite amusing. This starts off with the standard scary/horror music but then rides on a nice little acoustic guitar line with piano, and swaggers along in a mid-tempo sort of slow swing. Listening to the lyric it's pretty damn dark and depressing, but whether or not you're supposed to take it seriously I don't know. Good song though.
Rating:


"Lost Times" - Schoolboy Q (featuring Jozzy, apparently)
Genre: Hip-hop
Source: 6th album Blue Lips
Year: 2024
Nationality: American
Comments: I've said it before, and I will now repeat it: holy fucking hell! How many producers can you have on one album? I count 26! That's 8 more than there are tracks on the album! Anyhoo, sounds like something out of the 70s soul stable, whatever the backing track (?) is, then a nice little piano piece reminiscent of Rose Royce or something. Seems like a fairly aggressive rap, then there's a nice sung bit (presumably the bracketed Jozzy?). Good enough I guess.
Rating:


"Kill the Beat" - Kodak Black
Genre: Trap, Southern Hip-hop
Source: 2nd mixtape Heart of the Projects
Year: 2014
Nationality: American
Comments: Think I heard his debut album Painting Pictures way back when. Don't recall what I thought of it. I never honestly know whether to talk about the music on a hip-hop song or album - am I right that they don't make their own music but always use samples? Or does that just throw my total ignorance of the genre into the harsh daylight? I don't care: I'm prepared to admit I know fuck-all about hip-hop and am happy to learn. But given that, all I can say is the rap is okay but the second voice (backing rap?) annoys me. Not really for me.
Rating:


"Shroud" - Tech N9ne
Genre: Hardcore Hip-hop
Source: 15th album Special Effects
Year: 2015
Nationality: American
Comments: Is that backwards masking? Sure sounds like it. Very good soulful voice I must say, then some sort of spoken word piece (not a rap) and then a harder rap. Interesting stuff, kind of industrial rap maybe? Ah, what the fuck do I know? Good though.
Rating:


"Amethyst" - Roc Marciano

Genre: East Coast Hip-hop/Gangsta Rap/Drumless
Source: 8th album Behold a Dark Horse
Year: 2018
Nationality: American
Comments: Now that is one cool album cover! I would have taken that as a metal one had I not known. Wish it had been. Didn't think much of this at all.
Rating:


"Koslov" - :Wumpscut:
Genre: Dark electro/Electro industrial/Aggrotech/Dark Ambient/Darkwave
Source: 3rd album Music for a Slaughtering Tribe
Year: 1993
Nationality: Germany
Comments: Odd. Lucem has this down as coming from another source, but that "first take" might mean it's off a demo maybe? Anyway this is the only version I can find so I'm using it. Only the second track on his list that is not American. Sounds like an excerpt from a movie opening it, then pretty aggressive synth and industrial percussion, a ragged vocal that's very hard to hear, really really far down in the mix. If this is a first take I hope they did better with the second! I can barely hear him, not that I'd be able to understand a word he sings if I could, but still, for those who could make it out, it would be nice to be able to hear him. Yeah, started out interesting but it's just annoying now.
Rating:


"Pieces/Ruins" - P.O.S.

Genre: Conscious Hip-hop/Experimental Hip-hop/Abstract Hip-hop
Source: 6th album Chill, Dummy
Year: 2017
Nationality: American
Comments: Never entirely comfortable with any genre that uses the word "experimental", but so far this is okay. Nice sort of swinging beat to it. Yeah I like this one.
Rating:


"Euronymous" - GHOSTEMANE

Genre: Trap/Memphis Rap /Horrorcore
Source: 6th album Plagues
Year: 2016
Nationality: American
Comments: This is interesting. Once I saw the title I wondered, and yes, it does seem to be linked to Mayhem and Varg Vikernes' burning down of churches in Norway in the 1990s, soon after (or before) which Mayhem lead guitarist Euronymous was killed by Varg. So we have a news report in the background, with a Horrorcore rap and beat running through it and I guess a sort of "reimagining" of the guitarist's last moments, and I guess that's a Mayhem track tacked on at the end. Weird, but then, it is Horrorcore, so weird comes as standard. Overall I'd have to say on balance though that I don't think much of it.
Rating:

So how have we done as we open season two? Let's see what Lucem's playlist scored overall.

Average rating:

[Trollheart]

Next up:

[Trollheart]

"Was He Ever Alive?" -Swans
Genre: Neo-folk/Post-punk/Gothic Rock/Industrial
Source: 3rd compilation album Various Failures
Year: 1999
Nationality: American
Comments: Oh, I don't like Swans. Not the birds, they're fine. But the band. Yuck. Everything I've heard from them so far (admittedly not a terrible amount but still) I have religiously hated. There's something very dark and aggressive about them, and while I don't have a problem with dark and aggressive (I've listened to Doom Metal, Black Metal, even DSBM) there's something just, I don't know, bleak about them? Yes, I'm aware of the irony of quoting Depressive Suicidal Black Metal and then moaning about a band being bleak, but there it is. This comes across as early Nick Cave maybe with a shot of Johnny Cash at his most mean, and to be fair, not as bad as I had expected. Very minimal guitar, strumming the same chords it seems, with perhaps a dark synthy organ? First Swans song I've heard that I didn't hate, and that's something. Quite surprised.
Rating:


"In the Fog I" - Tim Hecker
Genre: Ambient/Drone/Noise/Electroacoustic
Source: 7th album Ravedeath, 1972
Year: 2011
Nationality: Canadian
Comments: Hold on: two questions. Why is an album released in 2011 showing a date of 1972, and how can acoustic be electric? Electroacoustic? Aren't the two things mutually exclusive? Answers on a piece of skin ripped from the back of your worst enemy to... What? Come on now: who still uses postcards? Well, we'll just see if it catches on, now won't we? The music? Oh fuck yeah, the music. Knew I was here for a reason.

Right then. Nice ambient sound to it, pretty relaxing, then some sharp feedback guitar or something slices through it, but it's still cool. Almost like some sea-beast coming up out of the tranquil waters of a lake or something. Well I don't know; that's how it sounded to me. Yeah, enjoyed that.
Rating:


"Communion" - Killing Joke
Genre: Post-punk/Industrial Metal/Industrial Rock
Source: 9th album Pandemonium
Year: 1994
Nationality: English
Comments: How odd that I should come across this band twice in the one day. Reviewed them as part of SGR's selection in my other thread, and now here they are cropping up again. This has a more solid, fuller sound that the track I listened to on SGR's choice, but that was from an album released nine years prior, so I guess they were evolving, progressing. This has a kind of eastern tinge to it, nice rolling percussion and immediately grabs my attention more than the other one did. Going well so far.
Rating:


"New Seeds" - Boards of Canada
Genre: Ambient/Downtempo/Progressive electronic
Source: 7th album Tomorrow's Harvest
Year: 2013
Nationality: Scottish
Comments: If we can keep this four-star rating going, it will be quite something, as I really don't like Boards of Canada. Is this their last album? 2013, so ten years and more, and I don't see anything else being released by them. This, to be fair, is not bad. I can certainly listen to it, which is not something I can usually say for their music. It's got a nice melody running through it and it doesn't grate on my nerves, which is always a plus. Ah, what the hell? Let's keep it going.
Rating:

"Als wär's das letzte Mal" - DAF
Genre:
Source: No idea
Year: Shrug
Nationality: German I guess?
Comments: I have looked high, then I considered also looking low, so I did. I then searched far, but came back realising I had not also searched wide, so I went back and did that. Finally, I travelled to all four corners of the earth, realised the earth is a sphere and has no corners, and returned home a lot grumpier than I was when I set out, the upshot being I have come across a few DAFs, but no German one and none that seem to have recorded this. So I got nothing, and can only listen to the track and let you know what I think of that.

Yeah, even the YouTube is in German, so no help there. Seems to be a fairly basic old-school rock or maybe punk track, with a decent guitar riff and a singer who seems to prefer to talk rather than sing. Not really worth all the searching then. Should have stayed at home.
Rating:


"Theme" - Public Image Ltd.
Genre: Post-punk/Art punk/Experimental Rock/Punk Rock/Noise Rock
Source: Debut self-titled album
Year: 1978
Nationality: English
Comments: Ah, I remember Public Image, Johnny Rotten/John Lydon's attempt to throw off the cloak of controversy and scandal that went with the Sex Pistols and reinvent himself in the public eye as a more acceptable musician. Their first single featured, I do remember, all of the band saying "'Allo" in a mad attempt to be taken seriously and as civilised human beings. Fucking hilarious.

I shudder when I see this is over nine minutes long, but we'll see. I feel the days of 4-star ratings are long over now. It's slow and doomy anyway, with sharp angry guitar that sounds like it's being forced to be polite and restrained, and doesn't like it one little bit. Reminds me of when Brian Robertson replaced "Fast" Eddie Clarke in Motorhead, a cartoon that showed him riffing and Phil "Filthy Animal Taylor" and the dearly-departed Lemmy looking at each other quizzically and saying "'Ere! 'E's a bit, well, musical, innee?"

PIL always feel to me like someone took the Pistols (who I hate, don't get me wrong) and forced them into three-piece suits and told them to behave. You can hear it in Lydon's wailing attempt at a vocal as the guitar yearns to be let loose, or preferably jammed up someone's arse, but has to be good. Yeah, there's no reason this needs to be as long as it is. Just an overlong diatribe with added guitar, possibly a joke I don't get.
Rating:


"The Same Old Sauce" - Grötüs
Genre: Experimental Rock/Industrial Rock/Industrial/Alternative Metal/Raga Rock
Source: 2nd album Slow Motion Apocalypse
Year: 1993
Nationality: American
Comments: I really don't like the E word, and this track bears out why. This is just a mess. Some sort of metal riff with someone shouting in the background and possibly kicking dustbins over. Pass. At least it's short, thank the Great Pixie.
Rating:


"Virginal II" - Tim Hecker
Genre: Ambient/Electroacoustic/Drone
Source: 9th album Virgins
Year: 2013
Nationality: Canadian
Comments: We're back with the Canadian ambient/drone musician, and this is much more of a drone, as I understand them; quite repetitive, almost a loop in some ways. It's all right, but not as good as the first track.
Rating:

"Fratres for Violin, String Orchestra and Percussion" - Arvo Pärt
Genre: Modern Classical
Source: 5th solo album Tabula rasa (or possibly 6th orchestral album Symphony No. 3, not sure)
Year: 1977 or 1971
Nationality: Estonian
Comments: I like the violin, but rather like the flute or horn, I prefer the softer, sweeter side of it. Here, it's kind of aggressive, Pagnini-like, played in your face as opposed to allowing it to wash over you. Mind you, that's just the opening of a 9-minute symphony, and it does settle down nicely soon after. I've heard Part's work (hah! Part work! Sorry) before and quite liked it. This is nice. Can't beat a bit of classical.
Rating:


"Sin in My Heart" - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Genre: Gothic Rock/Post-punk/Neo-psychedelia/Art Rock/Deathrock
Source: 4th album Juju
Year: 1981
Nationality: English
Comments: From the sublime to the, well, not sublime. Never a fan of punk, and though I'm slowly getting there under my own steam, and though I see this is labelled as post-punk, it can't be denied that Siouxsie led the charge for England along with the Pistols, Toyah, Hazel O'Connor and the Clash in the full-on assault on the establishment, and is remembered as one of the heroines of the punk rock movement. But yeah, this could go down more as Gothic Rock for sure, hardly a punk riff about it,  more like a Cure song really. Never been mad on her voice though. It's decent enough, in fairness.
Rating:

Started off really well for GD, then started to slide a little, but let's see what the average is, in the end.

Average rating:

[GD]

Oh, sorry. "DAF" stands for Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft. I blame Spotify, who have them listed in the former way.
And if you want to hear more Swans in the vein of the first song try listening to White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. The song "Blind" and a few others are among the best in their catalog and should be more up your alley than their 'normal' sound (or at least the albums I imagine you're thinking of).

Thanks again for your perspective, it's always fun to read

[Trollheart]

On we go then with

And he wants to break me right out of the gate with a fucking eighteen-minute track! Are you and Lisna teaming up or something? God help me. Oh right: there is no god. Well that's me fucked then, innit?


"Won't Let You Down" (Extended Texas Remix) - Chamillionaire
Genre: Southern Hip-hop/Pop Rap/Dirty South/Political Hip-hop/Hardcore Hip-hop
Source: 8th album Ultimate Victory
Year: 2007
Nationality: American
Comments: Oh fuck what is it about this? The moment it begins I fucking LOVE it! The rhythm, the melody, the backing, the rap - everything about this smokes! (Probably not a street word, and if not, copyright Trollheart MMXXIV). I'm actually glad this is as long as it is. Really enjoying this. The horns are amazing and the tolling bell, but I just love everything about it. How does this maintain that level of energy for almost twenty minutes? Never flags, not once. Fucking superb.
Rating:

"Long Way Home" - Decora
Genre: Hip-hop I assume?
Source: Not sure: an album called Bread and Oats maybe
Year: 2016?
Nationality: American
Comments: I had some serious trouble tracking this down, the first reference to Decora being some Spanish band or something. I just instinctively knew that was not the one. But I eventually, I think, found that it comes from an American rapper (how odd!) who seems to be involved in some sort of adult literacy programme? Anyway, it looks like the album in question is Bread and Oats, but I can't find any links for it, so I don't know, if there's a sort of hip-hop version of Discogs or RYM, maybe you guys could let me in on it, because I am finding this nowhere!

On, then, with the music. Well, initially no, it's not music, just a spoken word piece behind some wind effects, but very impressive. Then there's a sung piece and then the rap, and it all comes together very well indeed. Very upbeat, dancy, and catchy. I like this too.
Rating:


"It's On Again" - Alicia Keys and Kendrick Lamaar
Genre: Contemporary R&B/Film Soundtrack/Hardcore Hip-hop
Source: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 OST
Year: 2014
Nationality: American
Comments: Very powerful intro by Kendrick, and when Alicia comes in she just gives the song another level of grandeur. Really good.
Rating:



"Nepo Baby" - Flyanna Boss
Genre: West Coast Hip-hop/Trap
Source: Single
Year: 2024
Nationality: American
Comments: Can't say I like this much. I can't work out whether she's dissing "welfare queens", or teenage mothers, or what the hell. The beat is good, but there's something about it that doesn't speak to me. Bitch.
Rating:


"Love Me Now" - John Legend
Genre: Neo-soul/Contemporary R&B/Pop Soul
Source: 6th album Darkness and Light
Year: 2016
Nationality: American
Comments: Love the orchestral intro and then the sort of climbing piano melody, and the song sounds familiar to me, which is odd as I've only heard a few Legend songs, though maybe it was used in some TV show? Very good anyway.
Rating:

"Whips and Chains (Lovin' on Me)" - Eliphont
Genre: Dunno: R&B?
Source: No idea
Year: 2023
Nationality: American I assume
Comments: Another one I can't find. Maybe she's only on YouTube. Probably just as well if so; song is okay but just kind of meh. Nothing special.
Rating:


"When it Comes to You" - Fridayy
Genre: R&B
Source: Debut self-titled album
Year: 2023
Nationality: American
Comments: Starting with fucking Autotune is not a good way to get me onside, and not being on RYM is also not a good thing. Right, found him on Wiki. And now I recognise that album sleeve. I've certainly heard at least one track off this, but I don't remember if I thought much of it. Based on what I hear on this one, nothing great, pretty standard ballad in a sort of soul mould I guess. Bleh.
Rating:


"Cooped Up/Return of the Mack" - Sickick
Genre: Pop Rap/New Jack Swing
Source: 8th single
Year: 2022
Nationality: Canadian
Comments: Okay this is more like it. Very catchy and with a lot of kind of low-power energy, reminds me of those old soul songs from the 70s in some ways, with a shot of reggae for good measure. Oh the backing track is "You're Lyin'" by, um, let's see... some guy. Linx. That's the one. No wonder it sounds so familiar. Like it though even so.
Rating:


"Beautiful Now" - Zedd
Genre: Electro House/Electropop/Complextro (?)/Festival/Dance-pop/Progressive House/Big Room House (shouldn't that be big room in a house?)
Source: 2nd album True Colours
Year: 2015
Nationality: Russian
Comments: Is it possible I'm becoming a fan of progressive house? I've kind of liked everything I've heard so far, and this is no exception. Really catchy and quite emotional. I can see dancing to this. Not me, you understand: I wouldn't inflict that horror on anyone. But this is great. Finishing strongly.
Rating:


"Encore (Extended Version" - Cheryl Lynn
Genre: R&B
Source: 5th album Preppie
Year: 1983
Nationality: American
Comments: A soul diva. Meh. I find a lot of these ladies sound quite similar, and really, I could be listening to Chaka Khan or Donna Summer or Dionne Warwick. Not to say it's bad, but it's just a bit of a damp squib to end with. There's also not too much to the song, and I don't really see why it needs to be extended to over eight minutes. Five minutes into it I'd had enough.
Rating:

Well the playlist started off really well, dipped a little and then sort of came back up, so let's see what we got.

Average rating:

[Trollheart]

Next up@

Oh no! Not this cunt! Anyone but him!