Current music:	The Mars Volta - Drunkship of Lanterns | Powered by Last.fm
Entry tags:	music, writer's block

Writer's Block: Ten for the Tenth
NaNoWriMo is going badly. It seems that even when I know what I want to write, I can't quite get the words out. This is quite frustrating. Of course, most of the time I haven't been motivated to do much of anything for the past, oh, year or so.

I feel like talking about music, at least, after being prompted by this thing. This is my first time answering one of these.

You might be wondering what these sound like, so I hunted down a video of a song from each album, because I'm just that great.

Not in any particular order:

• They Might Be Giants - Flood: This is what started the whole craze and made them my favorite band for over 10 years (although I don't really listen to them much now).
  Birdhouse In Your Soul


• Laibach - Volk: Industrial re-imagining of national anthems from, uh, 12 countries or so. It really sounds totally completely awesome, to me. It's a collaboration with Silence, another Slovenian band you've never heard of—although Wikipedia says that one member of that band is now in Laibach. It also says that Milan Fras, the singer with the interesting head gear, is no longer part of the band, which kind of sucks because he's really the person who defines it for me. I think none of the original members are still part of the group. At this rate, they'll be around for centuries.
  Anglia (contains naked people)


• The Residents - Demons Dance Alone: The anonymous eyeball-heads have been around since the early 70s, and they did most of their major work in that decade... but then they came back in 1999 with Wormwood, which was not really that good as a whole. In 2001 there was Demons Dance Alone, which totally kicks your ass. Their newer stuff doesn't sound a lot like their older stuff; kotra hates their older stuff but likes a few songs from this album.
  Betty's Body (I could only find a live version, which doesn't sound as good as the original, alas)


• Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese: I like this album. I guess I like Primus in general, and this is the album that has the most of my favorite songs or however that sentence works. Les Claypool, the bass player/singer, is really good at the things that he does.
  Tommy the Cat (furries!)


• The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute: This really only contains five songs but it lasts for almost 80 minutes. I don't listen to this a great deal anymore but when I go through the whole thing, paying close attention to it, it's a really wonderful experience. Of course I had to listen to it like ten times before I really got into it.
  L'via L'viaquez


• Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica: An album from 1969 that's full of wonderful insanity.
  Ella Guru


• Pink Floyd - The Wall: This is something my parents listened to a lot when I was young, and I liked it but of course I didn't really understand it. Then one time I saw a little bit of the video linked below, where the kids were turned into meat. I didn't understand that this wasn't meant literally, so it turned me off from Pink Floyd for a while. Then when I was older I listened to some of it again and realized I liked it a whole lot.
  Another Brick in the Wall


• Pixies - Doolittle: Back when I lived with my mom and I had my own broken car I would listen to this in the tape player when I went places. I think the tape used to belong to my sister. It's good.
  Monkey Gone to Heaven


• Rammstein - Mutter: This is full of great songs.
  Sonne


• System of a Down - Toxicity: Yes, I like this album. I actually got into this because my mom kept listening to it.
  Toxicity

Okay, so, also, I just made a mix CD, as I do approximately twice a year. It's mostly songs that have been running through my head lately, or that I think I should listen to more. What's on it???

1. The Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore (4:21)
2. John Vanderslice - Time To Go (2:28)
3. John Vanderslice - Exodus Damage (5:01)
4. Einstürzende Neubauten - Susej (4:49)
5. The Raconteurs - Many Shades of Black (4:23)
6. Gustav Holst - Uranus (5:49)
7. In Extremo - Sängerkrieg (3:56)
8. The Mars Volta - Drunkship of Lanterns (7:06)
9. The Residents - End of Home (1:04)
10. Captain Beefheart - Electricity (3:07)
11. Tom Waits - Earth Died Screaming (3:39)
12. They Might Be Giants - Lullaby To Nightmares (2:29)
13. Pixies - Caribou (3:14)
14. David Bowie - Cactus (2:54)
15. The Rolling Stones - Miss You (3:35)
16. Pink Floyd - Money (6:22)
17. Primus - Bob (4:40)
18. Nirvana - Sappy (3:26)

(That's right, I have two songs in a row by the same artist! I'm crazy, man!)


Interestingly, none of these songs are on my top 10 albums.

I like to force my music on other people, so I will gladly send you a copy of this. Unfortunately I don't have much money, so if you want one, send me, um, about $1.25 via PayPal to teiladnam@gmail.com with your address. (This is assuming you live in the US. If you're from elsewhere, it will be a bit more. I don't know how much.)