The Metanet Weekly Music Trading Thread

[SlappyMcGee]

Won't be back home until tomorrow, Aphex.

[kamikaze3000]

Sign me up for next week pleassssssssssse :)

[Sunset]

Sign me up for next week, brah.

[krusch]

Sign me up on a permanent basis. This is fun.

[yungerkid]

i'm in for this next week at least!

[Donfuy]

sign me up permanently

[Universezero]

Sign me up for next week, please.

[Aphex]

I might be a little early, but I have exams at the moment (don't worry, I have listened through the whole album; no cheating here :3). Anyway, I thought this might be a good way to post the reviews.

Artist: Peter, Bjorn and John
Album: Gimme some
Genre: 'Indie' rock
Rec'd by: SlappyMcGee
Rating: 5/10
Review: I've never been a huge fan of indie rock; however I decided to remove all my previous bias against the genre and just sit down and listen. I do love the 'happy-mellow' vocals and the 'bouncy' guitars in tracks such as "Eyes", "Dig a little deeper" and "May seem macabre"; the sound reminding me of the atmosphere of the main stage at a local music festival I frequent. However there is nothing that gives me an emotional response; for some reason the entire album felt cold and rather detached. I'm not sure why; maybe it was the very "calculated" sound (even the solos lacked spontaneity imo) or maybe it was the fact the "happy-mellow" vocals didn't really seem to actually be saying anything of a powerful or intimate nature. However, maybe you should take my words with a pinch of salt, as I've never really been a huge fan of indie rock. Sorry slapps D:

[Tanner]

I've had a couple questions about the reviews so I thought I'd let everyone know at once how informal it can be. There doesn't need to be a rating, it doesn't have to be longer than a few sentences. Just a write a little something about what you thought of the album and of course what the album was and who it was by. And you can submit them as soon as you're finished, it doesn't need to be at a specific time.

Since this is Wednesday, I'd like to remind everyone as well that if you haven't been able to get in contact with your partner, let me know here or in PM and I'll work something out for you ASAP.

[rocket_thumped]

I might be a little early, but I have exams at the moment (don't worry, I have listened through the whole album; no cheating here :3). Anyway, I thought this might be a good way to post the reviews.

Artist: Peter, Bjorn and John
Album: Gimme some
Genre: 'Indie' rock
Rec'd by: SlappyMcGee
Rating: 5/10
Review: etc

I like this format.

[Tanner]

I might be a little early, but I have exams at the moment (don't worry, I have listened through the whole album; no cheating here :3). Anyway, I thought this might be a good way to post the reviews.

Artist: Peter, Bjorn and John
Album: Gimme some
Genre: 'Indie' rock
Rec'd by: SlappyMcGee
Rating: 5/10
Review: etc

I like this format.

Looks good on the blog too, I think. http://metanetreviews.tumblr.com/

[rocket_thumped]

I like this format.

Looks good on the blog too, I think. http://metanetreviews.tumblr.com/

Should album art be included?

[Tanner]

I like this format.

Looks good on the blog too, I think. http://metanetreviews.tumblr.com/

Should album art be included?

Not mandatory, of course, but if the dimensions are reasonable (say nothing over 400x400 or under 200x200) I'll include it.

[Aphex]

Looks good on the blog too, I think. http://metanetreviews.tumblr.com/

You might want to remove the "artist" and "album" bits though, as it's already in the title of the blog post... Also I like the tagging idea of the person who reviewed :)

[aids]

Looks good on the blog too, I think. http://metanetreviews.tumblr.com/

You might want to remove the "artist" and "album" bits though, as it's already in the title of the blog post... Also I like the tagging idea of the person who reviewed :)

Yeah, also, use tags for genre and the recommender too. "RW:Aphex" and "RC:SlappyMcGee" just as examples.

[Tanner]

Yeah, also, use tags for genre and the recommender too. "RW:Aphex" and "RC:SlappyMcGee" just as examples.

Done.

[unoriginal name]

Artist: Psykovsky
Album: Tanetsveta
Genre: Psytrance
Rec'd by: krusch
Rating: 73

Review: I went a little overboard. (click)

I don't like psytrance, or so I've always believed. I do, however, like this project, and I like kirsch. Which is why, before passing judgement, I am going to listen to Psykovsky's Tanetsveta. All two hours twenty-five minutes of it. As I type this I'm five minutes into the first song. It's not awful, but I can't imagine myself wanting to listen to it for more than an hour. I hope desperately that is a failing of my imagination.

Psytrance, I admit, is not something I've ever really listened to today. I've merely filed it away with most other intricately-structured and beat-oriented totally electronic genres as Not My Thing. I've tended to prefer things that are more rough-edged and/or abstract. Of course, that's something you've probably already noticed if you know me very well at all. You may not, though! I have know idea who will read this. Probably very few people, but hey, who knows? I'm rambling. I had it in my head I could stream-of-conciousness my way through this album with a new text document. I probably can, too, but that would be immensely boring and self-indulgent.

There were some vocals just now in the second track, Burning Bridges. They sound like some sort of teeth-rotting imitation of Scott Walker. I wish they didn't, because then I'm just reminded of how much I'd rather be listening to Scott Walker. The Drift is a fucking masterpiece, you know? Everyone should listen to it all the way through at least five times in their life. Tilt is pretty good, too, but it is to The Drift as Swordfishtrombones is to Rain Dogs. Which is to say, /not as good/. Slashes instead of italics because I don't want my emphasis to be mistaken for the title of something.

Up to track three, M Muh Seeng Wuh, and it's the longest on the album, clocking in at 17:17, if my rip is to be believed. Which it might not be. But it's only a few seconds off at most. Anyway, this album still isn't particularly winning me over. It sounds nice enough, but everything is too artificial and samey. That's usually how I feel about electronic music of this nature. I can dig repetition, but here there's no edge to it, no roughness. To me, it sounds like candy. And candy is okay, it's sweet and fun if it's a good flavor and brand, but in small doses. I would characterize Psykovsky as a good brand, from what I've heard so far, but that doesn't mean I want to chew his Tanetsveta bubblegum for /two and a half goddamn hours/.

Look, but don't get me wrong, I don't hate this (although I'll probably end up hating the review it made me write), at least not yet. It doesn't particularly stimulate me, but I'm not offended by it. I do, however, have sneaking suspicion that by 8:30 I'll feel much less neutral. Will that come to pass? Read down through several more paragraphs of idiotic rambling to find out!

I'm up to the fourth track now. There's some sort of stupid ultra-processed vocal bit that keeps coming back and I'm not digging it at all. There's all sorts of squawks and squeals and other sci-fi noises trapped in a cage of beats and oh god why can't they just go away. I'm not sure how great the album would be without them, but it would be significantly more interesting to me. I know some people eat this shit up, but I honestly don't get it. It really does sound like candy. That's the best analogy I can come up with. I guess some people just like candy a lot more than I do. I know maxson does. He is all about sweet. I'm more of a salty/savory sort of guy, though. I sometimes catch myself thinking "spicy" is my favorite, but I really shouldn't say that when all I've ever had are very mild spices.

I was going to stick a part in here about Psykovsky himself, you know, like a real music review, but I really didn't find a whole lot that was too informative. I've learned that his real name is Vasily Markelov, that before releasing a full-length he appeared on a few comps, and that, according to last.fm, he is a "crazy bad ass mother fucking psyko genius who is gonna blow your tiny little mind…." I dunno, there's probably more out there, but it honestly was not too interesting scrolling through Google to get information about a guy behind an album that bores me more than anything else. I'm not too sure how much longer I can keep talking about it, really. I might just start talking about albums I love that not enough people listen to. Because I have a lot of those. Although how effective it is to start doing that 7+ paragraphs into a boring, self-indulgent review written for a forum about a game that most people forgot about somewhere around 2007 is debatable.

Still, though. New Bodies is fucking insane stuff. It's one of the best albums of 2009. Why don't more people listen to it? It's one- Wait, wait. This album totally just sampled What Is Love and Adam West Batman back to back. What the fuck is this shit, seriously? I mean, I guess it was sort of funny, sorta? But it just totally pulled me out of the album. Not that I was very far anyway, with those beats acting like some sort of pulsating force wall, but still. There was some sort of cool atmosphere going on. I don't know, I think I'm just harping out of boredom. I wanted to be blown away by this album. I wanted everything I had decided psytrance was to be proven wrong by a work of monolithic genius. Or, at the very least, that I could be entertained. But instead I get something where every song sounds the same and none of them put me in a trance, they just make me feel like I'm eating taffy AND EATING TAFFY FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS IS NOT SOMETHING I LIKE TO DO I DON'T EVEN LIKE TAFFY VERY MUCH TO BEGIN WITH OH GOD AND THERE WAS ANOTHER CHEESY REFERENCE SAMPLE THING JUST NOW I DON'T LIKE THOSE MUSIC BE BETTER GODDAMMIT MAN I'M ONLY AN HOUR IN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Okay, I gave myself 14 minutes, or the length of the eighth track, Aura Leta (also the first track of DISC TWO) to resettle. There was some cool stuff in that track, I wish it stuck around longer. Everything still sounds to sweet. Really, though, this is a silly review that I'm mostly doing out of boredom. I could've (as the rules suggest) just tacked "Yeah, it's alright" or something along those lines onto the end of the first paragraph and been done with it. But no, I get verbose when I'm trapped into listening to bland music for /two and a half hours/. The length is really a hang-up for me, I'm sorry. I know you're probably thinking I can just split it up by disc or something but I can't, man, not me. I can split up boxsets (I spent a few months working through Tony Conrad's four-disc Early Minimalism Volume 1), but when something is meant as a cohesive, single release, that;s how I fucking listen to it. I spent 4 consecutive hours listening to ErstLive 005, and I don't regret it. I don't really regret spending the time on this one either, because I made a promise to the world I would listen to this, but I do wish I hadn't had to.

There are bits in Mother Toddler, the track I'm listening to now, where an awesome bluesy guitar briefly emerges out of the electric lollipops, but it's depressing more than anything, because, like the vaguely Walkeresque bit mentioned way up there, it reminds of all the things I'd rather be listening to. Why do you have to have cool bits, album? Why can't you just be cool all the time? Is it really so hard? I want to insert a semicolon/underscore/semicolon here but I feel it would be too unprofessional. Although that isn't a very good reason, given that I'm not a professional and like this review isn't silly already.

There's still about 40 minutes left to this thing. I was tired when I sat down to start listening, but I am definitely significantly /more/ tired now. You can tell because of how bland that sentence was. This track has a circus thing going on. I'm starting to grow on the weird samples and references. Without them this thing would be a lot drier. I think I am in this album's world now. I've accepted its rules, even if I do not agree with them. Which I do not. Still, though, I am past the pulsing force wall. This track now, Suddenly, is pretty cool. Maybe that was the problem all along, I just couldn't accept the music for what it was? I don't know. I still think the earlier stuff was too sweet. This has some grit in it, though. Just a little, but enough that I can get into it. Or maybe I am just tired enough that I am actually falling into a trance. I don't know.

Got some rain and birds going on, cool. Weird singing and twangs. I feel like at the same time I'm talking more and less about the music than I have been in the rest of the review. But I think that's about to change, because I'm going all meta again. I was almost going to stick a review of the album I gave krusch, Heitkotter by Stephen David Heitkotter, in here just out of boredom and the desire for this to be some sort of ultra review god juggernaut I don't know. The point is, though, Suddenly is a cool track and it's almost over.

Still don't like the beats, though. It's just not my thing, especially for this long. I know I've already trod this ground several times, but if there's anything this review needs it's more padding, you know? But, like, I can groove out to a kicking' 7" any day of the week, that's fine. But my appreciation of such processed bopping is short-lived. By the half hour mark it's safe to say I won't be feeling it so much anymore. It always feels to me like any interesting ideas get smothered beneath the blanket of beats. And that's a massive generalization, I know, but I am tired and I don't feel like forming good explanations for my general dislike of a sort of music I know very little about. I remember saying up there that I'm going to regret making this any sort of posted, and I think that that's pretty much a certainty now.

Anyway, the music is still going. The song is asking me if I am happy, or possibly it's about a person named R.U Happy, which would be an odd name. If it is asking me, though, here is an answer: not really. To return to that theme of tiredness, I'm tired, not really feeling above "content," although I am having "fun" writing this, I guess. I don't like how it's getting sloppier and sloppier, though. I've pretty much given on writing anything coherent, although I barely had ambitions of that to begin with. Weird mouth stuff going on in the song. And next track. It's something Russian. There's an old Russian guy talking. But of course it's Russian, all of these tracks are Russian. As we established way up there, Psykovsky is (shockingly) the project of a Russian guy. Yeah, I've really lost all momentum. At least it's almost over. I can do closing thoughts soon! In fact, I'm just going to let this track play out and then deliver a summation over the finale.

Right, so. I think my thoughts are all covered in the review, but to succinctisize: Never thought psytrance was my thing, turned out I was right; this album is mostly boring and samey; Suddenly was a cool track; I'm tired; the tracks are generally sweet in an unpleasant, tooth-rotting way; I DON'T LIKE BEATS THEY CAN DIE; man this is such a stupid review; it had Batman in it; why is it two and a half /mother god damn shit fucking hours/; the last track is pretty cool; man this is such a stupid review; why was it mostly rambling about nothing; why did it have to be as unreasonably long as the album; yeah this is a cool track; I think when this last song finishes I'll suddenly feel really good because I finished it all of it oh man; let's wait and find out.

…

Yeah.

[krusch]

Ahhhahahahaha ahahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Amazing review. Sorry for that torture.

Edit: I'd just like to point out that I agree with you about the beats. I'd happily listen to Tanetsveta with all the beats taken out.

Aaaand, here's my review:

Artist: Stephen David Heitkotter
Album: Heitkotter
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Rating: Rating?

No shirt, no shoes, no cigarette papers. Wait, cigarette papers! I manifested some. Wonderful. This is hot weather music. I'm not sure how much gloomp would be able to get off on that feeling up in New York state, but down here in the heat of Australian Summer, this is exactly what I need. The opening track "Hangin' All Night" really is *exactly* what I need, because that's what I'm goddamn doing. I'm hangin' all night, no shirt, no shoes, no, no yes; cigarettes, my window open, barely less hot outside than in, moodlit room, moonlit porch. This album also gives me strong nostalgia for my early teens in my hometown of ~1000 residents, full of drinkers and half-baked musicians, throwing parties in the community hall. Beer and sensimilla-fueled jams composed by said half-baked musicians, local nutters and hippy blow-ins, each making it to the stage at some point of the night to pick up the paid band's instruments and ramble off into their own broken improvisations, neurotransmitters sluggish, playing more in parallel than in collaboration and only very vaguely grasping what each other is trying to do. Caring very little, anyway. This is the feeling I get from the instrumental digressions of this album.

The instrumental grooves would be my favourite part of this album of the lyrics weren't so fucking fantastic. In another blogged review of this obscure record, to which gloomp linked me, I read "The vibe is intense and feverish like a nightmare," and I'd certainly agree. The lyrics sound like the ravings of a Datura-eater. They work very *very* well with the music, coating the sounds in a deliciously feverish mood. The delirium comes to a crescendo of wah-wah at the end of the closing track "Fly Over the Moon". This would be my personal favourite (if I had to pick one) from "Heitkotter". I have a penchant for long songs, and this one clocks in at 14:28 by my watch. Modest, but definitely long enough to get that groove going.

Speaking of length, the great thing about listening to ripped (single disc) LPs is that they're only 40 minutes long, in contrast to the two and a half hour monolith I rec'd gloomp this week. Sorry gloomp! Speaking of gloomp, why did I wait until he'd submitted his absurdly verbose review before I wrote mine? I shall feel inadequate with the length of mine now, but I suppose that's the story of my life ... I'm rambling, I see. Speaking of rambling, I've spoken only about the opener, the closer, and the album on the whole. But gloomp's review was all over the place, so I can probably afford write about the middle three tracks (I could even forget to write about the very middle track) in the latter portion of this review and still get away with a semblance of congruity.

brb cigarette

"I Don't Mind" (track two) is the most melancholy note in this album, I find, though the feel of it is not dissimilar or at all inconsistent with its surrounders. The other songs do have a more psychedelic groove, which I dig a lot. With that said, I love this track. I get the feeling it'll grow on me, too. I also love the echoes of Hendrix's "The Wind Cried Mary" in "Cadillac Woman" ("Heitkotter"'s most-scrobbled track last week, funnily enough), which reminds me of the popular song references in "Tanetsveta" which so irked my reccommendation partner. Hehe (I'm sure this comparison will irk him too). My favourite part of this track is the fuzz bass at the end. The bass sounds in this album are great. Sometimes they seem to hit the resonant frequency of the room they were recorded in and swell above the rest of the elements. The wholly inconsistent mastering (presuming there was mastering) is a really great part of what sets this album's mood. Cathartic! that's the word I've been looking for during this whole review. The album has a distinct sense of urgency, as though the players needed rather than wanted to put these sounds down on wax, and fidelity was of far lesser importance than content.

Yeah, this is a psychedelic album. It's downright weird, in fact. But I find it very listenable. I'm sure I'll be hearing some more of "Heitkotter" this Summer, and some more the next Summer, and probably some more on the many sleepless nights I'm sure to have in the next few years at least. Re-rec'd.

Please point out the syntax and spelling errors to me, because these things tend to be habit for me. Also bear in mind that I've not written since my last year of high school (2008). Actually, make that since my second last year of high school. I didn't do shit in my last year.

Also, thanks gloomp. Great rec.

[RandomDigits]

Some guy in my head had this to say about the album I was given:

Artist: The Body
Album: All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood
Genre: Doom Metal
Recommended by: Stephen
Review: starts in a bit

All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood by The Body is one of the first doom metal albums I've listened to, though I have heard songs by other bands with elements taken from doom metal in some of their songs. I listened to the album several times through various speakers and headphones. During the fourth listen, I wrote down any thoughts I had about it while listening to it through my best speakers (with bass turned up rather loud, I later realized).

After looking back through the thoughts I'd written, I gathered up the main points like this.

Pros: I like the first track (A Body). I like the melody played in the intro of A Curse. Empty Hearth has some nice unusual vocals, and the way the guitar is broken up reminds me of listening to a radio station with a weak signal. It's cool andI like that. I like the sound of the guitar. There are some nice ideas and fairly unusual (in this context (maybe not, as I say I haven't actually heard much music by doom metal bands before)) vocals, instruments (piano, viola, saxophone and sousaphone). There's a nice riff near the end of Song of Sarin, the Brave.

Cons: I can't understand what the guy screams about. I can only enjoy the screechy screams for so long and, as far as screams in metal, I prefer the lower death growls found in death metal. The riffs are very simple, and after a while I have a hard time telling them apart. Ruiner starts with a guitar that sounds different from anything played so far which I like (maybe this should be in pros?), but it loses my attention after a while. The use of the choir gets old after a few times.

With that in mind, I now present my review:

I like the start of the album and its experimental songs, but the second half feels like it stretches on for too long.

~ardee~

I would like to be included in next week's trade.

[krusch]

Hey, I was just thinking, perhaps working up a little catalog of Weekly Music Traders' last.fm pages in the first post would be a good idea. Because it's good to have a reference point I think, in deciding your recommendation. wat u say, Tanny?

[toasters]

Artist: Circulatory System
Album: Circulatory System
Genre: indie pop
Rec'd by: Skyline
Rating: 4/10
Review: If you're a fan of Elephant 6 then there's a lot to like here. Circulatory System makes quirky pop music with plenty of fuzzy guitars, strings, and horns, but rather than the airy pop of Olivia Tremor Control they aim for a more somber mood. However the downer vibe and a general feeling of aimlessness make listening to this album a tedious experience.

sign me up for all trades from now on please

[Tanner]

Hey, I was just thinking, perhaps working up a little catalog of Weekly Music Traders' last.fm pages in the first post would be a good idea. Because it's good to have a reference point I think, in deciding your recommendation. wat u say, Tanny?

3) What you send is entirely up to you. Asking your trading partner what kind of music they prefer is neither encouraged or required.

I think it's good idea not to have a reference point, actually. It increases the chances that you'll be exposed to music that you might like but wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to hear. Expands your horizons, maaaaaan.

[PALEMOON]

Artist: M&M's
Album: http://soundcloud.com/m-ms
Genre: ambient electronic
Rec'd by: squibbles

Review: Squibbles just linked me to the author's soundcloud and i was met with 6 tracks. Each of them is about an hour long, so on squibbles' rec i turned on "FLOW" first. The track starts with a man who sounds bearded hypnotizing you, lulling you to sleep as a train chugs into life. Occasionally the sounds of the train in motion drift in for a bit before meandering off, giving the impression of a sleepy train ride. For the most part. Jarring, random voice samples surface occasionally (a loud kid talking about mashed potatoes cuts in so suddenly it made me jump) so that's not so great, and even though the song does a great job of transitioning around to keep it interesting, i was wishing it would either change drastically or end after about 30 minutes. All in all: great in sections, but the length makes it clunky to listen to all at once. 8/10

going and looking at the rest of his soundcloud later :3

[aids]

Sorry Tanner (and Yahoozy), my laptop still hasn't been repaired, so I can't listen to anything on it right now. I won't be able to do any reviews until then, so you can remove me from the list.

[Tanner]

Sorry Tanner (and Yahoozy), my laptop still hasn't been repaired, so I can't listen to anything on it right now. I won't be able to do any reviews until then, so you can remove me from the list.

I jumped in and traded with Yahoozy instead of you. For future reference, if you can't make a trade, try to let me know as early in the week as possible.