Whatcha Been Listening To?

The Else by They Might Be Giants has just been released, and I bought it on blind faith. It had to be blinded, because Here Come The ABC's was the first album of theirs that made me wonder what the hell had gone wrong. (As opposed to Factory Showroom, where I damn well knew what had gone wrong. Legal disputes rarely bring out the best from people.)

The album has a sticker proclaiming that it's been produced by The Dust Brothers. You know. They're the brothers who aren't chemical. Anyway, there were a couple of moments when I did look up, and say to myself, "I know that drum loop," but that "this is slightly different" feeling faded by the end of the album. It's a lot like The Spine... there are some tracks I found myself going back to and a few that I feel no compunctions about skipping.

The first release of The Else also includes a bonus CD filled with the kinds of tunes They Might Be Giants don't feel like charging you for. In other words, it's a mixed bag.

Also, I'm still listening off-and-on to a pair of CDs by Khate, Field Report and Composition of a Recorded Mass. Unfortunately, the music begs to be listened to in the dark, and most of the time I'm at work by the time the sun finally hides its face.

(A note about Khate: Her music varies between industrial/techno, the aforementioned soundscapes, and noise that sings. In other words, it's that perfect for me, but a hard sell for most of my friends.)

That prohibition doesn't apply to Those Poor Bastards, though. There's never a bad time for evil cowboy music.

And then there's Rammstein. When Du Hast came out, I enjoyed the single well enough, but didn't care for the rest of their work. Now, through the magic of youtube, and the gateway video of Sonne, I'm now enjoying them quite a bit. I have no idea how this happened, and promise to do better in the future.