balding angrily

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Ladies and gentlemen, this post is for one person, one Mr. MagnusfromBerlin. You can follow along, but not knowing what I’m referring to will make it hard on you. That’s how it goes at Balding Angrily. You just have to read and be confused. The tracks at the end? You are not allowed to help Magnus figure them out. You will be hit by a truck if you do. From here on, I am speaking only to Sir Magnus.

Last week MagnusfromBerlin let me download some songs so I could review them. While I’m not qualified or capable of giving a good review in a meaningful way, I can easily spit out the first thing in my head when hearing a song. His rules were simple. He wouldn’t give me the artist or the name of the song.

He chose songs that I likely wouldn’t know because he’s extra cruel.

I chose songs to respond to his, and posted them at the end. He’s since responded to the post you’re reading right this moment. We both want you to play along. We want you to choose six or seven songs that respond to mine, take off any identifying information, and give it to one or both of us to yak about.

Below are my impressions of his songs. You can follow along to my rambling if you want. Download the six songs he gave me here. I wrote this all directly to him. Keep that in mind when you get to “you” statements.

Track 01 - The first time I heard it, it made me think of that stretched-out Beethoven project. Lots of pulsing.

:32 Ooh! A beat! But still more pulsing that never ends. Ever.
1:00 Godammit. The beat ended. The best part and it’s over.
1:48 I feel the beat coming back. Come on. Any second now. You can do it.
2:00 There’s the bass beat, but not the whip-cracking.
2:19 THERE IT IS!! You had me wondering there for a second.
2:39 Ooh! A chord change! Hooray for chord changes!
3:06 Kick-ass lyrics. I wish I knew what he/she was saying. “But I’m hitching a ride”?
3:36 And the synths pick up the melody. This is getting very cool.
4:16 “I can see lights”?
4:30 Seriously, I’m starting to bob my head and dance. I’m digging this track.
4:55 Uh-oh, I’m sensing an end. The chord changes are only in the base line, and now the drum just ended again. This is the “go take a bump off your best friend’s fingernail” interlude.
6:08 Yay! Back to the full orchestration and lyrics! Time to put away the coke and get back on the dance floor!
6:42 You know how I love the Johnny Marr-esque guitar. I feel like that’s what made you send this track to me.
7:24 With only a minute to go, I sense it’s just more of the same to the end. That’s a’aight. I had a lot of fun with this track.

Track 02 - I wouldn’t be surprised if I knew who this is. I’ll let you confirm it though.

:14 This is how you start off a track. Immediately with the drumbeats and some nice piano tinkling.
:43 This voice is very distinct. I’m sure I know who it is, especially with the chorus and lyrics.
1:00 Real drums! Not always with the synths are you Magnus.
1:32 Seriously. Where did the opera singer from the “Star Trek Original Series Theme Song” come from?
2:18 Get-a-bump-of-coke time.
2:35 Not a synth to be heard. Now we’re full-on, real instruments. I love a mixture of synth and real instruments like that.
3:00 Especially that free-form guitar. Very cool.
3:37 “Everyone needs their own life they can follow. Going backwards”? How does one do that?
4:14 Very cool whispered coda.

Track 03

:08 Mandolin-type Spanish-ish guitar. Dig it.
:22 This guy sounds very mopey. Very Spandau Ballet.
1:00 I can’t really listen to the lyrics while trying to type. I like the background piano, though.
1:42 Who’s Ada? His girlfriend? A mythical goddess-type? I can see that. This is kind of an ethereal song that wouldn’t be out of place in a Lord of the Rings movie.
2:27 You got me with the weeping strings. I’m a sucker for strings.
3:08 This song, unfortunately, doesn’t really go anywhere. It’s exceedingly beautiful, but the build is a little too slight.

Track 04

:00 With a laugh, I can already tell this is going to be a fun song.
:23 Very cool bass line. I’m bobbing again. Just like in the first track.
:46 The voice is very Dave Gahan-esque.
1:00 Then it isn’t. I feel this guy is kind of like Bjork. English is his second language.
1:31 I really love the beat and the bass line. In fact, I’m having a hard time being eloquent. I just want to bob my head.
2:42 Kind of like the last track, it’s not really building. While I love this beat, too much of it can get tiring.
3:32 How come I feel like I’m on a camel in the Sahara, bobbing over sandy dunes?
4:05 I like the production work on the guitar. I like that forever-echo type thing.
5:18 Overall - B

Track 05 - Since I’ve heard all these before writing these as-I-hear-them gut reactions, I have to say this is a very fun track. Probably the most fun of all these. Okay, back to the song.

:04 I’m in a video game. I’m shooting beasties. I’m in Galaga.
:27 “I make these mix tapes. I make these pony roads”?
:42 Between the mix tapes, the bees, and the dad that goes to Dad School…what in the fuck is this song about?
1:48 Break it down.
1:58 I like how you gave me a break with some real music, and then went came right back to this pure-synth craziness.
2:25 If I had a synth version of my voice, I’d use it on my outgoing message on my answering machine.
3:15 Fucking bees again.
3:38 And now back to the mix tapes.
4:09 Game over. The beasties finally got the gun-ship.

Track 06

:06 And we’re back to the never-ending pulsing.
:23 Double time. (Kinda like Hammer-time, but not at all.)
:46 I’m cleaning my keyboard with an air sprayer.
1:33 Ominous chords? Why? Who done something wrong? Why all the creepiness?
1:58 Since I know this isn’t going end any time soon, I’ll take this opportunity to tell you what this song reminds me of. It feels like a high-tech heist. Like this would be playing under a scene where some tech-heads were breaking into a big high-tech computer company and they were going to steal some big high-tech thingamabob.
3:48 A brief end to the monotony, and then back to it.
4:09 I should say I like this song a lot more than I’m letting on…but I seriously think it needs to be accompanied by some kind of video. By itself, it’s just too much of the same over-and-over.
5:18 I really like the snaps and kind of intermittent sound effects. I think that really sells this song.
6:27 This song is telling me something. It’s speaking in its beepy language. This song is self-aware.

Now for my 6 (7) songs. I put this together to respond to yours. The connection isn’t always obvious. This was kind of a stream-of-consciousness exercise for me. I chose based on a gut reaction, not with a whole lot of thought.

The first two songs on my mix represent the first track on yours. They are in order. In other words, 1 & 2 of mine represents 1 on yours. 3 on mine represents 2 on yours. 4 on mine represents 3 on yours. Etc. Got it?

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Track 6

Track 7