3 posts tagged “car stereo report”

Back to Black

Amy Winehouse

1 comment

FutureSex / LoveSounds

Justin Timberlake

Music making the rounds in my car this month includes:

1. Amy Winehouse--Although I am drawn to something captivating in her voice, I have to always wonder: why does this girl want to destroy herself so badly?

2. Justin Timberlake--My punk side cringes in disgust, but I can't help it, I like some of JT's songs.

3. Jawbox--My husband brought the CD into the car, reminding me of my college radio DJ days.

For this business trip I bought a couple of new CDs to listen to in my car. I had to make the best of it at a discount store so here's what I picked up:

Year Zero

Nine Inch Nails

Ah, Trent is back to inserting abrasive industrial screwdriver and windshield wiper sounds into his music again, but he also breaks the mold of some of his past work by adding some nearly-happy, poppy choruses with stacked vocals into some of the 16 songs on this new record. I enjoy the fact that most of the beats are solidly angry and aggro towards the beginning of the CD and then the more mellow, soothing experimental stuff with the quiet interludes is left towards the end, rather than the two styles of songs intertwining throughout the CD. Although Trent is clearly influenced by glitch techno on this CD, this is not a techno record--instead it reminds me more of old school 1990s industrial stuff. Back in the 1990s, NIN was kind of "industrial lite," but this CD is more aggressive in the vein of bands like Skinny Puppy--lots of metallic screeching noises, static bursts, and other nearly-painful audio sensations. But just as I like to listen to piercing feedback sometimes, I also like the glitchy arrangements of industrial sounds sprinkled throughout these songs. 

A Poet's Life

Tim Armstrong

Even though Tim was a complete dick to me once in Baltimore about a decade ago, and at that point I decided he was hopeless, I suspect that having his heart royally stomped on by Brody Dale might have made Tim Armstrong a slightly better person, or at least a more sensitive one (judging by some of the lyrics on this record). This CD is a solid ska set, so any Rancid lovers out there should not expect to punk out, per se. I can't really listen to ska all day long, but I enjoyed this generally happy-sounding, bouncy, singalong CD, which soothed my bad mood as I coped with horrid rush hour traffic on 95 South. My faves at this point are "Inner City Violence" and "Among the Dead."

To the Confusion of Our Enemies

Riverboat Gamblers

So here is what I am listening to in the car this week. Although the Riverboat Gamblers have a cheesy name, and I have no clue what their earlier records sound like, this record is a winner. Think melodic, anthemic, singalong punk rock with Dillinger Four-esque song titles like "The Gamblers Try Their Hand At International Diplomacy ." This is most excellent driving music.