balding angrily

This is the last I do of these because I don’t want for the website to be dedicated to this game. If you wish to follow along, you can download Nick’s mix. You can also read Magnus’s comments where you would normally find Magnus. His review will give a better feel for these tracks because they’re all very personal.

Track 1

• :02 Starts out with some solid, hard beats, and some possibly ironic piano playing.
• :25 Then the strangled voice comes in. This voice isn’t unpleasant. I might be able to listen to an album of this guys singing.
• 1:05 Some falsetto. What’s this song about? “I am my father’s son?” And how does it relate to “I wish I was a little girl so I could root myself in the shower?”
• 1:55 Some rough guitar solos. Lots of dirtiness to this track. I’m refraining from the word grunge because it’s too specifically linked with the 90s Seattle scene. But if the word grunge hadn’t been co-opted by that ultimately paper-thin “movement,” it would apply to this track.
• 2:40 Overall, not bad, but not to my tastes. I like the noisiness, the dirtiness, and the feedback. But it doesn’t hit me in a personal way.

Track 2

• :00 I like the understated opening. The higher guitar hitting the arpeggios is very nice. It sounds like a dreamy night under the stars.
• :24 This is a really nice waltz. Ethereal but it doesn’t take shit from anybody. It stands on firmly planted feet with those assured drums.
• 1:55 The third time I heard this I was watching a runner, and I started to imagine this as a soundtrack behind a race scene. It has that triumph-filled-with-pain feeling.
• 3:08 Changed key signatures to 4/4.
• 3:27 This is the real triumphant pain theme, and they’re doing a nice job of transitioning from 3/4 to 4/4 with the 3-3-2 beats. Someone’s been studying their text books.
• 4:57 Now we’re at the final run to the tape. The lead runner, our hero, knows he’s going to win, but he feels the intense pain in his chins and lungs.
• 5:37 The dénouement. Overall, beautiful track.

Track 3

• :01 “Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say…”
• :17 This voice is smooth. It puts me at ease, but at ease in a pub where I’m never fully at ease. I’m comfortable in a alcohol-induced way.
• 1:28 Nick, you really like a waltz. I can imagine you can show your partner around the dance floor.
• 2:18 Not enough can be said about the Hawaiian-by-the-sea feel to this track - the trumpet, the ukulele-sounding instrument. The accordion is a little out of place for Hawaii, but it still feels tropical.
• 3:31 I feel like he took some lessons from Peter Gabriel and just started mumbling word-like sounds into the microphone.
• 4:32 Very cool long coda that strips out the drums and strings, leaving it to the trumpet and accordion - a really brave way to end a track.

Track 4

• :00 Where are my glowsticks? I NEED MY GLOWSTICKS!
• :20 UH-UH-UH!!!
• :37 I told a friend one time that there are some tracks that just make you want to fuck. This is one of those.
• 1:03 Fuck underwater, to be specific.
• 1:24 I can do without the chorus. Or they could’ve found a stronger chorus because the lead singer overpowers the back-up.
• 2:15 This is “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid as interpreted by The Prodigy.
• 2:58 Seriously, the back-up monks need to go.
• 3:16 If you can’t tell, I really appreciate a thought out ending. That final guitar scratch is perfect for this track.

Track 5

• Because this song is pretty much a stand-up routine, I can’t really live-blog it. Once you’ve heard the jokes, a fourth or fifth listen doesn’t reveal anything more. I really like the “Kiss” motif around 1:27 and later. I also liked the “team-building exercise” T-Shirt because Jerry used to lead team-building exercises. I like to think that he’s singing to one of Jerry’s students. Since I know some of the females he’s taught, I like to picture these particularly frumpy people.

Track 6

• :03 If I would respond to this track I would respond with something from Björk’s Selmasongs. It has that everyday-noises-as-rhythm-section philosophy.
• :56 These ethereal voices are definitely not Björk-like. I feel like I’m underwater with this track.
• 1:24 This track sounds like it came from either a Sofia Coppola or John Hughes movie. I can see a young Alan Ruck looking deep into a pointillist masterpiece in front of this song.
• 2:32 The key signature changes. Things I’ve learned about Nick from this mix: he likes waltzes, songs that change time signatures midway through, and music that have a water feeling to them.
• 3:32 The Beach Boys have nothing on these guys.
• 3:49 You know what they say about water in dreams, don’t you? It’s all about the sex. So, Nick is obsessed with sex; it’s so obvious.
• 4:36 “Sixth floor: swimsuits, snorkels, underwater masks, tropical fish”

Track 7

• :03 Sorry, Nick, this is my least favorite song of the group. I really like positive messages in raps à la Common, but this song just lays there.
• 1:05 I do appreciate how you connected to Wowser’s song with the saxophone. That’s a brilliant connection.
• 2:18 This is about the time I go to sleep. See, in Wowser’s track the soothing sounds were welcome. This is boring interrupted by some guy rapping with false bravado.
• 3:22 But it’s blessedly short.

John’s up next. John, do you want to publish to this website or to Magnus? Magnus, will you have our friend be a guest blogger on your site?