8bit: anamanaguchi

I love 8-bit music. It just has an amazing feel that just blows me away, like an old synthesizer or sampler. There is a certain feel. Anamanaguchi adds a lot to the genre of chiptune. They use an NES and Game Boy, but add a twist; guitar, bass, and drums. These chiptune punks create wonderful music with Yes-like synthesizer and Green Day-like punkiness, and these two pieces meld well.
I believe that they had a demo, because many of the tracks on the 8-Bit Collective list the album in their metadata as a demo that had about 20 tracks. These tracks were recorded in 2005 and posted onto 8bc.

pretty girls - zakk zielke

"All the cute girls are all in bed." Why? Because, according to Zakk Zielke (AKA Optikos from the E6Townhall), "Pretty Girls Melt in the Rain". That song begins with acoustic guitar and vocals. After the first two lines, drum machine, bass, and synthesizer enter. It's an excellent song.

B-side number one is "Yo, I'm Freaking Outt". It is a mediocre rock tune with partially intelligible lyrics. I can't really make them out. The second B-side is called "Scorpio (Parts 1-5, Instrumental Demo)". It is instrumental electronic rock, that is a bit repetitive, but not too much.

Overall, 4/5. Because, it's a great single. Definitely.

Listen/download for free at CLLT here.

agr recordings on bandcamp

Sorry for the long time of no update; I have other stuff to do you know.

AGR Recordings now is uploading its catalog onto Bandcamp. The site has only a couple releases right now, like "Little McDonald (Rock Mix)" by Wicked Lizard and "Oh-One" by Obnoxxion, but one release is being transferred from a tape, and more are on the way!

AGR Recordings is a label for the experimental and electronic work of veggieman (me!) and Dergley.

This is an ACM.

Mysterious Waters aren't bad, but their depressing surf-pop can get pretty irritating after a couple listens. From last year's debut album of theirs comes lyrics like "go surfin' in the sun and have some fun, while your best friend's mom aims at you with her gun." Seriously.

Their new single, "Bad Signal" (b/w "Archenematic Decisionmaking Techniques") is different than Mysterious Waters The Full Length Album Of All Time. It's still depressing, but not upbeat anymore. It's sludge. With depressing lyrics. Oh well. At least there's some awesome drumming.

sp: teargarden parts one and two

The Smashing Pumpkins broke up in 2000, after "releasing" a free album, Machina II: The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. They reformed in 2006 and released Zeitgeist in 2007. In 2009, Jimmy Chamberlin, longtime Smashing Pumpkins drummer, quit the band and Billy Corgan hired Mike Byrne from Portland, OR.

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope was announced on September 16, 2009, and it shall be released one track at a time over several years as 192kbps mp3s on smashingpumpkins.com. The first song, "A Song for a Son" is piano-based with an amazing solo. It is a beautiful song.

"Widow Wake My Mind", from February 2010, is rock. Like Zeitgeist but less heavy. Kind of Siamese Dream, but different.

By the time I heard "A Stitch In Time", I figured out that Teargarden now has its own feel, a mix of mellow, beautiful songs, and rockers. There is no way to compare to other albums because it's its own thing.

"Everyone gather up your soul," sings Billy Corgan in the Zeitgeist-like "Astral Planes". I find nothing wrong with Zeitgeist, unlike other fans, so I like this song a lot. Nice to have a mix of styles.

"Teargarden Theme" is a beautiful song with guitar and organ that less people have heard than the others because it is only on the vinyl 7" of the physical release that is a limited edition. Fortunately, several people ripped the song from the vinyl and posted it online. Many of these, however, are played at 33 1/3 RPM instead of 45 RPM, and are slower and longer. There is a correct speed rip here.

"Freak" was released on July 6, 2010. It has pretty sweet distorted guitar, a nice beat, great lyrics, and a beautiful melody. It was released as a single and is available as 256kbps AAC on iTunes.

"Spangled". A beautiful acoustic song. Originally released on Sweet Relief. A day later released on the official website. The shortest track so far. A love song.

"Tom Tom" (mp3 coming soon) is scheduled for release on Tuesday, the EP release day. Some record stores began selling it early , leading to its leak on YouTube. This prompted producer Kerry Brown to offer radio stations, magazines, and rock bloggers (like me!) a CD-quality WAV of the song, which sounds great. It's a great rock song, and I'd love to hear it on the radio over some of the trash on there these days.

"The Fellowship" is synthesizer based. It adds a horrible layer of noise into the background of the song, but at times sounds possibly melodic. The track was released 11/12 on The Vampire Diaries OST. It does have pretty good lyrics though.

"Cottonwood Symphony" has not yet leaked. I will review when it does, but for now, that is Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Parts One and Two.
EDIT: "Cottonwood Symphony" has leaked. Here. The acoustic song is beautiful, and possibly should have been on Part Two.

flexi-discs

These are cool. No, really. They are. Flexi-discs (or diskettes, if you like that term better) are cool. Hold one on your hand, expecting it to be stiff and watch and feel it bend like paper. Feel the grooves. Don't worry, it won't damage them. Somehow they are much more durable than their vinyl plastic cousins. Now put it up to the light and look through it. Kind of like sunglasses. Put your hand on the white printing. What does it feel like? And finally, place it on your turntable and carefully lower the needle onto the plastic surface and carefully listen. Is it crackly? What is on the disc? Is it a local hardcore punk band? A spoken word or sound effect record from an old magazine? Or even data for a computer?
Flexi-discs were officially first manufactured by the company Eva-Tone as Eva-Tone Soundsheets in 1960, but the discs had Soviet origins. Eva-Tone went out of business in 2000, being the last maker of flexis. Erika Records claimed in early 2010 that flexis would soon be available, but after a website redesign, no mention of them can be found, and there possibly will be no more flexi-discs produced.

thoughts: in the light of machines

In the Light of Machines - veggieman - 2009
From September to November of 2009 I recorded and assembled the electronic experimental noise album In the Light of Machines. It was the follow-up to August's Modern Life, a lengthy guitar experiment and my first album under the name of veggieman, and will be followed by Apply to Forehead (title may change) in most likely 2011 (which will also sound completely different). I have written reviews/explanations for each track; here they are after the jump.