'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn' by Bright Eyes

 

Bright Eyes is the Bob Dylan of my generation.  Gone are the easy assumptions and freedom, instead we have neurosis, self-doubt and constant questioning of everything around us.  Scepticism about the modern world and a lack of God to guide us through Bright Eyes gives us unease and anxiety.  

From it's  diegetic opening giving us no place of comfort to it's haunting song 'Easy/Lucky/Free' it confirms Bright Eyes to being as talented with electronics to their familiarity with acoustics.  

A recommendation from a friend that sustained me throughout my 20s Bright Eyes has proven to be a very good friend to this isolated and lost soul.  I almost went to see him when he was due to come to my country but depression stopped that for them.  When you think of the violence of America and the rampant consumerism that prevents spiritual growth it's no wonder that a thoughtful and caring individual becomes upset when cosmic consciousness comes calling.

'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn'  explores the disconnection of what modern life offers to the personal development that seems to be a odds with what most people want.  

It is a unique album in the Bright Eyes back catalogue and one that deserves to be listened to at night under the bed covers for the full effect.  They chart an American history in decline and one's attempts at staying sane in the insanity of Trump.       

'Frames' by Oceansize

 A band I picked up from an anthology based on their excellence, and their album doesn't disappoint either.

A word to describe it is intense.  As a modern prog rock band they go one step further from a usual pop song, a spiralling staircase of musical notes and feelings.  They are a roller-coaster of a band.

They are a controlled explosion.  They play a long game.  They excite me into their vortex of noise.  They need to be more well known.

Their shift changes are more than the sum of their parts as the different elements unify into a spectacular   whole.  Going through the turbulence of the mind they create a dramatic scene of emotion.

Well worth repeated listens as the journey they take you on seems to cover vast arras of being.  Their scope is so large that it encapsulates everything making you feel big as a giant.

Pick up 'Frames' by Oceansize and you will be well rewarded.

 

'Our Souls to You' by October File

 A random purchase, I used to sometimes make when there were shops that sold CDs, was just that.  Random.  You had no idea what you were getting, you just bought on the basis of a band name or their cover art.  It was a test of your ability to judge something on little information.  Some were alright, some were excellent.

October File's 'Our Souls to You' was the latter.  A band I would have never have been recommended or discovered by any other way than chance was to become one of my very favourite metal bands.  

Initially I didn't listen much to them, was it because I was happy back then?  Later when mounting tragedies struck I found that I was receptive to their righteous anger to religion, corporations, and all things frustrating.  They were raw, well crafted, seared with a burning energy and the perfect soundtrack to apocalypse. 

They had a way of dealing with an unfair world proactively and it made a deep appeal to me and helped me to become such a victim.

If you are angry then I highly recommend listening to this album as an antidote to the shrug-shoulders-ain't-life-shit misery rock to encourage you to get off your arse and make life less shit.

 

'Greatest Hits' by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

 One of the first albums I ever bought as a teenager; I wasn't really bothered by music at that point but humiliating peer pressure forced me to keep up with musical tastes.  I think it must have blown me away; so soulful, so funky, so perfectly composed and with real energy and heart.  

I remember listening to a tape recording I had taped myself of a gig they did over the radio and I listened to that before doing my final GSCE exams giving me the spunk I needed to get through those papers.

To people not familiar the the Peppers they may be surprised with how much there is to them.  They have a range to them that sneaks under the covers of brashness.  They have great depth and poetic vocab with excellently executed ideas.  They are a band to live with.

I once read that they don't really party but are constantly rehearsing and coming up with better and better songs.  It certainly shows as they give great thought to their songs like 'Parallel Universe' and 'My Friends'.  'Suck My Kiss' gives a lot of fun and of course 'Californication' is a straight up classic.

Surprisingly, giving that glowing review, I actually haven't got any of their albums that these songs on their 'Greatest Hits' appear, and maybe that needs to change. 

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