Wednesday, October 3, 2007

As promised

First of all, here's Cara Selamatkan Nyawa.



And here's the new countdown image for CoCa's new album.






Cool right? So now on with the rest of the downdate that I promised.

Enter Shikari is basically like a marriage between techno and rock. I usually don't like inter-genre marriages but I have to say that their album, Take to the Skies, is actually a decent record. A small epic, it feels like. I'm not sure but it seems like there's a storyline to be unearthed and all the songs are connected somehow. Even if there's no story behind it, there's a major flow in between songs. The interludes serves its purpose and I advise people to listen to the album as a whole, not just individual songs. If you do insist on getting a preview than I suggest you search for their song "Sorry You're Not A Winner" on Youtube. Enter Shikari = Energy.

I'm going to write a lot about albums, and the next one is Punk Goes Pop. It's a compilation album by "punk" bands doing covers of pop songs that covers things from 'Nsync (is that how you spell it) to Mandy Moore to JLo to Britney. You'll be surprised but there's gems to be found here. My favorite has to be Noise Ratchet's "Crush" and The Starting Line's "I'm Real". Of course, some songs are just crap. Some pop songs just overpower the band and makes the band sound worse than they actually are. "Survivor" is one such song.

Next up is Punk Goes Acoustic. Let me tell you first that I'm a sucker for anything acoustic. The whole album has a mellow feel, with some songs having a personal feel to it. Not much was done in tinkering around with the recording of the songs, and even though some would think that it'll make the songs sound raw, it doesn't. It adds to the whole "I'm in the same room as the band while they're playing the song" feeling. Also, look out for some memorable lines from the bands here. Memorable, to say the least. Songs you have to check out:
  • Yellowcard - Firewater
  • Coalesce - Blue Collar Lullaby
  • From Autumn to Ashes - Chloroform Perfume
  • Midtown - Knew It All Along
  • Rise Against - Swing Life Away
  • Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without the E
Punk Goes Acoustic 2 is a more polished effort by different bands trying to do what the first album achieved. I think it failed because most of the songs sound too pop/clean for me. There's only a handful of good moments in the album. Say Anything's Woe had funny lyrics. The Audition's "Don't Be So Hard" sounds good. Anti-Flag's "Welcome to 1984" has a political vibe to it, surprisingly. Everything else is just normal, I guess. Not much of an impact.

Enough of the Punk Goes Series. Listen to Atreyu's A Death-Grip On Yesterday. Good Album. Check out Ex's and Oh's, and My Fork in the Road(Your Knife in My Back). Nothing but respect to the band's guitarists and drummer. Oh, and also check out Bullet for My Valentine's the Poison. The album is filled with nice riffs, sometimes sounding like solos from the rock-gods of the 80s. Even the album's intro sounds deceptively slowpaced. Kind of like a calm before the storm.

Basketball's hard during Ramadhan. My Chinese Fantasy. The Love Story Effect. Somebody remind me to write about these three things the next time I downdate.