Random Track of the Day

[Trollheart]

Here's something I used to do in my original journal. Simple enough, like most of my ideas. I dump all my record collection into a randomiser player and then write about whatever comes out. Since my music taste is not quite as eclectic as some, but still relatively varied, it could be anything from country to classical or metal to ambient, soundtrack, maybe even the odd prog rock! Hey, stranger things have happened. Could be something I love, something I hate, something I have not yet heard, something I've even forgotten I had. You know, random.

Anyway, here's what fell out of the machine today.

Title: "Said She Loves Me"
Artist: Miss Crazy
Format: Band
Year 2014
Genre: Hard Rock
Nationality: American
Taken from: Their fourth album Inception
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album/track: Zero
Comments: Before I hear a note, I have to say a band who calls themselves Miss Crazy sound, well, not up to much, but I've been wrong before. This is taken from what appears to be their last album, released in 2014, seems like they may fit in to the idea of glam rock? Lots of tributes on their website, mostly to Eddie Van Halen and Jeff LaBar of Cinderella as well as Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot. Whether they have anything to do with the band or not is something I don't know, but they call LaBar anyway "one of the family". Hmm. Not much actual information on the band itself (why do bands make official websites and then not even include a goddamn bio?), so what's the music like? Meh, it's basic glam rock all right, with the singer sounding like Noddy Holder after a bad night, or maybe yer man from Bonfire. Hard rockin' guitars but this could be any hair/glam/pop metal band really. Nothing memorable.

So unmemorable, in fact, that nobody could be bothered putting up a YouTube! Hey, I'll give them points for "Make America Crazy Again". But that's all I'll give them points for.

[Trollheart]

Title: "Master of the House"
Artist: Cast
Format: Cast
Year Not at all sure: 1987?
Genre: Soundtrack/Musical
Nationality: Multi, I assume
Taken from: Soundtrack to Les Miserables
Familiarity with artist: N/A
Familiarity with album/track: Not this, but I have seen the musical, at least the musical 2012 film on telly.
Comments:  I don't honestly know which version this is from - I think it says "original Broadway cast recording"? Probably doesn't matter. Fantastic music all the way through, and the book, if you haven't read it, is of course a masterpiece, even if it does get slightly bogged down (to say the least!) in the Napoleonic Wars. This is I believe sung in the tavern owned by (for those who are familiar with the story) Thénardier and his wife, to which little Cosette is brought by Fantine at the beginning of the story. It's basically a "look how great it is to be running your own pub" sort of song, and unless you know what scumbags the landlord and his wife are, it's a pretty upbeat, harmless drinking song. More or less.

[Trollheart]

Title: "In Your Mind"
Artist: Imperia
Format: Band
Year 2004
Genre: Symphonic Metal
Nationality: Dutch
Taken from: Their debut album The Ancient Dance of Qetesh
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album/track: Zero
Comments: For a symphonic metal track, I'm glad to hear it has less of the usual forced operatic stuff that bands - which I do like but still - like Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica et al all tend to do too much, making the whole thing very theatrical and over-bombastic. This is a ballad anyway, or a slow song, and the singer's voice is quite soothing. Nice enough, though I'd not say enough to make me want to check them out further at this point.

[Trollheart]

Title: "RCA (-)"
Artist: Carbon Based Lifeforms
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Ambient, electronic
Nationality: Swedish
Taken from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to Refuge, seventh in their discography but first soundtrack I think
Familiarity with artist: Some; I've heard about three of their albums
Familiarity with album/track: I believe I may have heard it once before, as this is one of those three albums.
Comments: Very ambient and atmospheric, not really too much in the way of music; more electronic groans and hums and not quite a drone, as it does change, but for at least half of the way through it's just buzzing and low humming. Easy to see it's from the soundtrack of a movie. Not the greatest introduction to CBL if you haven't heard them before, but decent enough.

[Saulaac]

I was looking for a "Your favourite music which could be soundtrack material" thread, so settled for TH's thread which is random and soundtrack-y.

This is "Espiègle", composed by a young Pierre Lapprand in 2019. I think it could be an awesome soundtrack to some kind of Batman vs Joker, or perhaps a throw-back film noir of the 50s-60s. I just lurve this type of erratic cinematic sound.

I didn't know what Espiègle meant so I looked it up: Vif et malicieux, sans méchanceté. Un enfant espiègle.
"The quality or state of being roguish or frolicsome".

Trollheart, I hope all is OK!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRLfyo27RO4

[Guybrush]

^Hey, that's pretty cool, @Saulaac 🙂

Thanks for sharing!

[Saulaac]

Cool, glad you liked it @Guybrush ! He's the one in the yellow trousers with the soprano sax or whatever it is. Same as the sax player at the lake concert in the yellow shorts which I posted earlier.

On his website he writes "Pierre now explores the most punk corners of modern Jazz with CHRONES, improvises interstellar landscapes with Congé Spatial and creates a singular electronic universe with telluric energy in his solo project Pierre & The Stompers".

He sounds like an unstoppable force with a horn rocket in his hand 

[Trollheart]

Title: "Reality"
Artist: The Samurai of Prog
Format: Band
Year 2019
Genre: Prog rock duh
Nationality: Multi
Taken from: 7th album Toki no Kaze
Familiarity with artist: I've heard one album. This one. I wasn't overly impressed with it.
Familiarity with album: As above
Familiarity with track: I've heard it but only once and I don't remember it. That's not good, surely.

Comments: The Samurai of Prog can't be called a supergroup, but they are made up of certain members of other prog bands, whose names I won't bore you with now. I guess you might call them a project? Anyway, despite the name, they're not Japanese (mostly Finnish) and this is the only one of their albums I've heard. This track is a long one (over 9 minutes) and features a lot of sound effects before a bouncy piano melody comes in, slightly reminiscent perhaps of early Supertramp, then the song appears to be sung in another language (Japanese?) though its title is in English.  There's a lovely orchestral backing, and overall it's quite uptempo and cheerful, but I'm a little confused by the switch from English to Japanese (it is Japanese; I checked) which throws me off. I also find a lot of Japanese female vocalists sound like they're about twelve, and so does this one. Might get into this at some point, right now it's just all right.

Rating:

(Found a video)

[Trollheart]

Title: "A Nightmare to Remember"
Artist: Dream Theater
Format: Band
Year 2009
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Their 10th album Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Familiarity with artist: I'm aware of their work
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: None
Comments: Dream Theater are one of these bands in the prog metal genre with whom I have little patience. They seem to be almost the poster boys for excess and overblown pomposity, and for them I have coined, and do claim copyright in all territories and in perpetuity on the phrase "technical wankery", which I believe describes many of their long, instrumental jams which often seem to go nowhere. That said, I have heard a few good tracks recently, so there may be hope for them. This one, and this whole album, is new to me.

Has a typically dramatic opening with those choral synths (Prophet?) then the guitars take over and it races along. I suppose it's my own fault, having so much prog rock and prog metal, but again we have a fucking monster of a track, sixteen minutes and change - seven minutes longer than yesterday's! Welcome to my world, huh? Nice piano break there in the fourth minute, and police sirens seem appropriate, as I read this was written about a real-life car accident that John Petrucci had as a child, and it describes his experiences both during the accident and then in the hospital.

I have to admit, it's better than I expected. Maybe there's some hope for me and Dream Theater after all. The track speeds up in the 8th minute on Petrucci's fretwork and then there's a sort of half-unclean vocal (just the singer doing a raw voice really, totally decipherable) in the 10th. Not too much TW I suppose, and it follows a basic melody and plot, so yeah, not bad at all.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Meet Me (At the Bottom)"
Artist: Eric Clapton
Format: Solo artist
Year 1999
Genre: Blues
Nationality: English
Taken from: 15th compilation album Blues
Familiarity with artist: Duh
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: You may hate his politics, his racism and his smug smile, but you can't fault Clapton as a guitarist, or indeed a legend. This is taken from an album with the highly original title of Blues, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a blues tune. Has some nice organ accompanying it, giving it a slightly gospel bent, but of course it's the frets that hold court, and like, I assume, all the other tracks on this album it's a cover, this being a Willie Dixon song.

Some nice slide guitar there, Derek I mean Eric, and I find myself wondering if this is an instrumental, but then it runs for seven minutes so he could start singing any moment. Not yet though, and we're two of those minutes in, so maybe. Let's see if there's anyone I know on that organ while we wait. Hmm. Gary Brooker apparently. Cool. Yeah I don't see Slowhand opening his mouth now. If not, then for seven minutes I would have to say it's pretty much the same most of the way through. Not that I would diss one of the blues legends. Or Clapton. Decent, but I've heard better from him. Oh wait: he's singing now. Well ye left it long enough, Mr. C! Five fecking minutes in! Hardly worth your while.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "When I Feel You"
Artist: Blutengel
Format: Band
Year 2013
Genre: Futurepop/Darkwave
Nationality: German
Taken from: Eighth album Monument
Familiarity with artist: I've heard an album or two
Familiarity with album: But not this one
Familiarity with track: So none
Comments: It's all right, this Darkwave stuff, innit? I must admit when I first heard Blutengel (Blue Angel) I thought I was listening to either Phil Oakey or Eldritch; maybe they all sound the same. Anyway, given all the stick I give to Depeche Mode about their music being soulless, it might seem odd that I enjoy this darkwave band, but hey! I'm a complicated guy. I wouldn't say I'm a massive fan of this kind of music, but then, I've not heard much of it. What I have heard, I like. This I like.

Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Fluxstration"
Artist: Plankton's Odyssey
Format: Solo artist
Year 2013
Genre: Rock/Guitar instrumental
Nationality: American
Taken from: 2nd album Krill
Familiarity with artist: I know most of his music
Familiarity with album: I reviewed it once and have listened to it a few times
Familiarity with track: And so I know this track
Comments: Strange one today. For those who don't know, or have not come here from Music Banter, or did, but later, Plankton was one of our members and a real nice guy. He is an absolute wizard on the guitar, and really should have been a star, but I guess was never discovered. He left us shortly before we all left MB, due to unspecified reasons, but wherever he is we wish him well.

I have some of his music on my playlist and it still comes up, as it did today, reminding me of the talent of the guy. I reviewed the album way back in 2014, and I think the best way to approach this is to transcribe the relevant portion of that review. So, over to 50-year old me!

For any who don't know, Plankton is one of our own. He's been a member here for a while now and is generally regarded as a nice guy with a lot to say, and is indeed praised for his music in the subforums dealing with members' contributions, which I must admit I have never frequented. This is not his first album, but the one he's looking on I believe as his debut for public consumption, and for a first effort I have to say I'm more than impressed. I actually faced two major problems agreeing to review this: one was that it was the album of a friend, someone I know and respect, so I wanted to make sure I did it justice in the writeup. The other, something I only realised when I began playing it, is that it is an instrumental guitar album, and if you read my review of Neal Schon's The Calling last year you'll see I have little time for those sort of albums. In short, they usually bore me. Conversely though, I thoroughly enjoyed Buckethead's Electric Sea, so perhaps there was hope.

At any rate, I have now listened to it well over twenty times and feel qualified, as far as I can be, to set down my thoughts on it. I've consulted with Plankton for some pertinent information, and will drop that into the review as I go, but for now let's get to the meat of the matter, the lifeblood of any album, its raison d'etre. Yeah: the music.

I should also point out that I am not a guitarist and know little of the instrument beyond the basics, so I can't tell you when he's using a flange bar (if such a thing exists), a tremelo or capo, and I can't identify when he's using effects pedals or what they are. What I can tell you is that everything you hear here is his own work, played and written by him, arranged and produced solely by him. Oh, with one exception, which I'll come to in due course. He tells me he worked on a track a week, every Monday from the time he got home to whatever time he got to bed, and that the album was conceived and recorded this way in about nine months --- should I say born?  Plankton has thirty years' experience playing guitar and it certainly shows here. From what he's told me he's almost completely self-taught, which is another plus to add to the many he already has racked up.

We open on the oddly-named (and it's not the only one!) "Flustraxion", which right from the off has an early Iron Maiden feel to me, like something off Killers or The Number of the Beast, with a sense of acoustic guitar under a squealing electric, then it kicks up with heavy, machinegun drumming and the tempo rises as the track comes fully to life, the guitar wailing histrionically through the piece, with another one growling and snorting in the background. The similarities to Maiden continue, and I'm sure Dave Murray or Adrian Smith would be proud. It's a short track, just over two and a half minutes long, and ends as it began, with a laidback acoustic-sounding outro.

Unfortunately, our old mate only put a few tracks up on YouTube, and this is not one of them, so the best I can do is point you in the direction of his Bandcamp page, and if you want to you can discover his genius for yourself.

https://planktonsodyssey.bandcamp.com/album/krill-2
Rating:

[Trollheart]

Title: "Seven Storms"
Artist: AOR
Format: Band
Year 2016
Genre: AOR
Nationality: American
Taken from: 4th album L.A. Darkness
Familiarity with artist: Zero
Familiarity with album: Zero
Familiarity with track: Zero
Comments: It may be very clever, calling yourself after the genre, but it makes it damn hard to track your stuff down! Yes, AOR, from, presumably, Los Angeles, as all or most of their album titles mention the city, are an AOR band. Who woulda thunk it? Oddly enough, given my love of the genre, I've never heard anything from them, so this will be a first for me.

And AOR is as AOR does. Stop me if I'm being too technical. Walls of guitars, bubbling keyboards, catchy choruses, 90 percent of their songs about girls, you know the kind of thing. Like Power Metal, you can almost substitute a song by one AOR band for another. This, to be entirely fair to the band, is pretty bargain basement, lowest common denominator stuff. I'm sure they can do better. I sure hope so.

[Trollheart]

Title: "Where Are You Now?"
Artist: Saga
Format: Band
Year 1997
Genre: Progressive rock
Nationality: Canadian
Taken from: 11th album Generation 13
Familiarity with artist: I've heard some tracks and possibly one album
Familiarity with album: Not this one
Familiarity with track: So not this
Comments: Saga are another of those bands I just can't get into. They've had their hits, but like other prog acts such as Enchant who just do nothing for me, I just don't get Saga. They almost seem like a poor man's copy of maybe Kansas or Styx or something. This is a short track at least, so even if it's crap it won't last long. Yeah it's hard to judge such a short track. It almost sounds like some sort of interval or bridge track between others, but when I look at this album I see there are a lot of short tracks, and I kind of get the impression it may be a concept album, so to get the song, piece, whatever, I'd have to listen to the whole thing, and I ain't doing that.

Rating: Too short to fairly rate

[Trollheart]

Title: "Stained Glass Sky"
Artist: Arch/Matheos
Format: Band
Year 2011
Genre: Progressive Metal
Nationality: American
Taken from: Debut album Sympathetic Resonance
Familiarity with artist: None; I've heard one album by Fates Warning, but that's about it
Familiarity with album: None
Familiarity with track: And so it follows, none
Comments: Hell, at least they didn't title their debut album with their names! That's something. As I say, I've heard a Fates Warning album - think it was in the Top 500 Prog Albums thread - as far as I remember, I didn't think too much of it. This is another, perhaps ill-advised epic (prog metal bands seldom do those as well as prog rock ones, with some notable exceptions), but that's how it goes. Given that this band is essentially made up of the vocalist and guitarist from FW, it's not at all surprising that the first four minutes of the song are all instrumental, fretburning solos and hammered guitar chords and shredding for over a third of the song. I certainly don't like the vocals - think I may have said the same about the parent band - and overall, so far, not impressed.

Yeah this is pretty woeful. Halfway through it slows down on acoustic guitar, joined by electric, but it all seems pretty formulaic, and more what the band think they ought to be doing, rather than having any real sort of vision for the song. I could be wrong, of course; maybe they know exactly what they're doing and where they're going, but it just doesn't come across that way to me. I know where I'm going though: on to the next track.

Rating: