Ipod Songs post #3

1.) "Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through The City Walls And Everyone Reveled In Their Ignorance" By Red Sparowes- Not being a musician, it's hard for me to discuss instrumental bands. When a band's got a vocalist, lyrics and such, it's easier for me to try to make sense out of what they're all about. However, Red Sparowes use their song titles not only to describe the sounds they create, but also to tell a story. The stories they tell typically speak of the apocalypse--foreboding, intense and all-consuming. This track's from At the Soundless Dawn, which pales in comparison to their latest, but I still like getting swept away in their tidal waves. Even if they're over 10 minutes long.

2.) "The Valley" By Oxbow- A theme's developing here. I'm sitting here hoping for some pick me up, and I'm getting Red Sparowes and Oxbow. Where the former talks about the apocalypse, Oxbow talks about the horrors of the here and now, of which there are many. "The Valley" is a largely acoustic beast, and Eugene Robinson moans over the top. Someone recently called Oxbow contemporary blues, and this track goes a long way toward proving the theory--even though these blues bear the burden of suicide and drugs more than being po' in the south. Surprisingly delicate for Oxbow, this song is probably the least scary on their recent "greatest hits" collection, Love That's Last: A Wholly Hypnographic & Disturbing Work Regarding Oxbow.

3.) "Secret Heart" By Feist- Closer to what I was looking for, Feist here explores why a lover won't reveal his inner self to her. This is one of those times where the music almost betrays the theme of the song. Her lover obviously is hiding on something, yet the music is playful and spritelike. Not sure what to make of that...maybe Feist has her own secrets?

4.) "You & I" By Jeff Buckley- Where's the razor? Shit man. I should have put my hip-hop folder on random. This shit's killing me.

5.) "Symphony of Light" By Orko the Sycotik Alien- Finally. This dude's elusive as hell and only really releases his music as CD-Rs. It's sad, really, because his shit blends reggae, hip-hop and supreme beat-making into some of the best underground hip-hop around. If only his stuff wasn't so hard to get ahold of...though www.accesshiphop.com has most of it, just at a pretty steep price for CD-Rs. Oh yeah...this dude has made beats for Saul Williams too...