Commit This To Memory by Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack
Commit This To Memory
2005
Emo
Epitaph

1. Attractive Today
2. Everything Is Alright
3. When "You're" Around
4. Resolution
5. Feel Like Rain
5. Make Out Kis
6. Time Turned Fragile
7. L.G. FUAD
8. Better Open The Door
9. Together We'll Ring In The New Year
10. Hangman
11. Hold Me Down
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

I want to thank you for being a part of my forget-me-nots and marigolds
And all the things that don't get old
Is it legal to do this? I surely don't know
It's the only way I have learned to express myself
Through other peoples' descriptions of life
I'm afraid I'm alone and entirely useless in this department
Let's get fucked up and die

"L.G. FUAD"

For a long time, my musical taste was focused on pop punk and emo. I'm not proud of that in any way, but I guess no music fan is proud of most of the stuff that they started out listening to. About the time I was getting into Motion City Soundtrack was about when my tastes were beginning to change.

They're very heavily rooted in pop punk, but put their own spin on it, mostly with Moog synthesizers and great lyrics. It's very hard to describe their sound without making them sound generic, so just take my word for it. Motion City Soundtrack is just one of those bands that has really stood the test of time for me and my musical taste, especially Commit This To Memory.

Commit This To Memory is a much more electronic album than their punky debut, I Am The Movie. If I had to pick one of the two, I'd say the first album is better overall, but Commit This To Memory is a better record to start out with. It's packed with hooks, sweet synth riff, and really impressive drumming. I like their singer's tenor voice and his interesting, clever lyrics. Despite the large number of instruments being viciously pounded on, the band sustains a tightly knit synth rock sound. The production is great and is done by ex-blink 182 bassist and presigious podcaster Mark Hoppus.

This is another one of those albums that you're just going to have to take my word for and jump in. I think Motion City Soundtrack is a great band, and "Hold Me Down" is one of my favorite songs.

Click here to download (83.84 MB)

The album as a whole isn't super explicit, but there definitely is some heavy swearing going on in "L.G. FUAD" and "When You're Around."

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CD / Deluxe CD+DVD / Digital Copy

Document by R.E.M.

R.E.M.
Document
1987
Alternative
I.R.S.

1. Finest Worksong
2. Welcome To The Occupation
3. Exhuming CcCarthy
4. Disturbance At The Heron House
5. Strange
6. It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
7. The One I Love
8. Fireplace
9. Lightnin' Hopkins
10. King Of Birds
11. Oddfellows Local 151
(Also includes a 952x952 album cover .jpeg)

A thumbnail sketch, a jeweler's stone
A mean idea to call my own
Old man, don't lay so still, there's still time to teach
Point-to-point point observation, children carry reservations
Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold
A mean idea to call my own, a hundred million birds fly

"King Of Birds"

Long story short, I'm posting Document because lately, every time I put my iPod on shuffle, one of the first songs that comes up is always "King Of Birds." It's an awesome tune, and I don't mind hearing it over and over, so I've been going back and listening to this album from time to time lately. My dad swears by it as R.E.M.'s best album, and while I'm not sure I agree with that statement, I do really enjoy it and I don't think there's a bad song on the record.

This album really showcases the many faces of R.E.M.. What probably got most people interested in Document was the poppy "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," but it has a lot more to offer that gets overlooked. That song (I refuse to type the title out again) got me into R.E.M. and I like giving it a spin every now and then, but lately I've been into the darker Stipe songs, like "Oddfellows Local 151" and "Welcome To The Occupation." There's obviously also the middle eastern "King Of Birds" and the booming "The One I Love" as well. Plenty of the band to go around for different tastes on this one.

That's not to say it's not a cohesive peice of work. I definitely think that each song sounds distictively Document, and in the end it all comes together for a nice, evenly paced collection of songs. This one's a quick download, and a short album, you have no excuse for not checking it out.

Click here to download (45. 46 MB)

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CD / Vinyl / Digital Copy

Z by My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket
Z
2005
Alternative Country
ATO

1. Wordless Chorus
2. It Beats 4 U
3. Gideon
4. What A Wonderful Man
5. Off The Record
6. Into The Woods
7. Anytime
8. Lay Low
9. Knot Comes Loose
10. Dondante
(Also contains a 500x500 .jpeg album cover)

A good shower head and my right hand
The two best lovers that I've ever had
Now if you find you agree with what I just said
You'd better find a new love and let them into your head
I went over the river and into the woods, where did I go
A wood burning stream flows up through the trees
Like the soul of the hottest kind of lover I've ever seen
One who lives to choose another fool's dream

"Into The Woods"

My Morning Jacket is one of those bands that everyone should be familiar with if they are to call themselves a music fan. They've been around for over 10 years and have a very unique sound, especially on Z, their most experimental record. Singer/guitarist Jim James (who is a better frontman than any band could ask for) records vocals in an empty grain silo to achieve otherworldly amounts of natural reverb and echo. This suits the music just fine, though it's hard to say exactly what kind of music it is that My Morning Jacket makes. Their songs are all rooted in americana and alternative country, but they end up sounding more like U2 than Greatful Dead.

This is even truer on Z. On this album, the band experimented with adding synthesizers into the mix, and incorporated reggae and dub feels into certian songs. The result is truly something to be heard, and all adds up to a huge sounding record with drawled vocals, psychadelic jam sessions and just a hint of electronics all based around traditional southern rock.

And boy, does Jim James know how to make a record. "Wordless Chorus" is the perfect opening song, "Dondante" is the perfect closer, and everything in between flows at a steady pace from calm to freakout, and then brings the energy back down again for the albums epic ending. Download this album if you're looking for something unique that can really establish a mood.

Click here to download part 1 (41.53 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (57.97 MB)

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CD / Digital Copy

Pikul by Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups
Pikul
2005
Indie
Dangerbird

1. Kissing Families
2. Comeback Kid
3. Booksmart Devil
4. The Fuzz
5. Creation Lake
6. ...All The Go Inbetweens
7. [Blank]
8. Sci-Fi Lullaby
(Also included is a 1630x1462 album cover .jpeg)

The fuzz in my head grows
It's already so low
The fuzz in my head stands
It's already all too clear
So much for losing track of time

"The Fuzz"

Pikul (pronounced pie-kull) is the first EP that I've uploaded to Continuous Hit Music. I'm not usually an EP guy. I like my music to last a long time without interruption. But this is a great little bite-sized peice of music that I felt the need to share. Since it's a short album, I'll keep my summary pretty short for your sake.

Silversun Pickups are not one of my favorite bands. They're very good, but I was really underwhelmed by their first full-length album, Carnavas, and I can only listen to them when I'm in a certian mood. Apparently their second album (Swoon) has very recently made it's way onto the internet to great praises. I haven't heard it yet, but I plan to soon. Pikul is reguarded pretty unanimously as being their best work. It features a cellist, which really adds to the more rockin' songs like "Comeback Kid."

These guys get labeled indie everywhere I've read about them, but I would describe them as playing a new style of grunge that is pretty unique to the band. They have a keyboard player, the aformentioned cellist, and a female background vocalist who lends her voice to the lead part in "Creation Lake." Their lone guitarist (who has a pretty impressive pedalboard, and puts it to good use) is able to fill the empty space very well for playing in a band with sudden heavy freakout sessions. Great tone and heavy fuzz sound, and good use of subtle but frequent use of digital delay.

Pikul is a nice peice of music. Not something I can listen to all the time, but when I'm in the mood, it's perfect. Very unique sounding band.

Click here to download (80.94 MB)

The 7th track is 11 minutes of silence, to make "Sci-Fi Lullaby" a hidden track. It used to be 16 tracks, but since I'm such a nice guy, I condensed it into one cohesive track for you.

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Blue Screen Life by Pinback

Pinback
Blue Screen Life
2001
Indie
Ace Fu

1. Offline P.K.
2. Concrete Seconds
3. Boo
4. Bbtone
5. Penelope
6. Talby
7. X. I. Y.
8. Prog
9. Your Sickness
10. Seville
11. West
12. Tres
(Also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

Oh, Penelope
Are you filled with air
Swallowed oxygen
That makes you float up?
Is it Dropsy?
Will your lungs swell?
It's depressing me
To see you struggle

-"Penelope"

Pinback is a band that wouldn't have any problems playing a show in front of an angry bear or a swarm of bees. No sudden movements. They're a two man band whose music consists of clean electric guitars, harmonized vocals, drum machines (live drummers on some songs), and the occasional synth lead or two. The two singers often are singing two totally different verses at the same time, and each's guitar playing really compliments the other's.

Their songs usually start out very simple, and slowly add different elements into the mix in a very natural way that is very calm until by the end everything's crazy. The sound created is a very natural and stream-of-conciousness type of music that is really soothing. Not so much in a Sigur Rós way (I actually bought Blue Screen Life at the same time I bought Ágætis Byrjun, excpecting more of the same), but more of a The American Analog Set type of way.

I got into Pinback through a podcast that is no longer active called HiMyNameIsMark. It was a music show run by the former bassist of blink-182 and (+44) who, believe it or not, is a very talented guy who knows a thing or two about music. About the time this podcast came out was the time I really started developing my own taste in music, due to the incredibly wide variety of genres that this guy would play. I really got the chance to decide for myself what sounds I liked and didn't like. The podcast got me into some of my favorite bands, like Limbeck and The Dismemberment Plan.

Blue Screen Life is a pretty nice little collection of songs by Pinback. I wouldn't call it a great album, because there are some songs that are gems ("Penelope," "West," "Seville," "Concrete Seconds") and some that just don't do anything to stand out ("Offline P.K.," "Bbtone," "X. I. Y."). But I do really dig Pinback's style, and it really hits the spot when I'm in the right mood. I would say that Blue Screen Life is pretty accessible to just about anyone, so please, download away!

Be sure to pay close attention to "Penelope." It's a great song about a dead goldfish with some brilliant lyrics.

Click here to download part 1 (52.85 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (53.36 MB)

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CD / Digital Copy

Rated R by Queens Of The Stone Age

Queens Of The Stone Age
Rated R
2000
Rock
Interscope

1. Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
2. The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
3. Leg Of Lamb
4. Auto Pilot
5. Better Living Through Chemistry
6. Monsters In The Parasol
7. Quick And To The Pointless
8. In The Fade
9. Tension Head
10. Lightning Song
11. I Think I Lost My Headache
(Also included is a 592x592 album cover .bmp)

C-C-C-CO-CO-CO-CAAAAINNEEE!!!

"Feel Good Hit Of The Summer"

Rated R is an album that I always put on when I'm really stressed out or really ticked off. It has a huge, aggressive sound in a small package filled with pop hooks that just makes it a great hard rock album. Very rebellious, very upset, and very heavy, but the songs are all sing-a-longs. This is what I love about Queens Of The Stone Age. They can make a full album of songs that are just on the edge of being straight up metal, but they have a great sense of humor and melody that keeps them from being corny or taking themselves too seriously.

The record opens with "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer," which lyrics consist only of drug names. (The chorus, "Cocaine," has been written a few lines up) Rated R has an excellent flow, and each song just feels natural after the one before it. The drum fill that ends "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" cascades right into the beat that opens "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret," the feedback at the end of "Auto Pilot" transitions perfectly into "Better Living Through Chemistry," and so on. You get the idea.

Like I said before, I love to put this album on when I'm upset. It's a huge stress reliever for me. Josh Homme's robotic, muffled guitar tone just scratches some itchy spot in my brain that makes me forget my worries and relax to the distorted sounds of Rated R.

Queens Of The Stone Age is one of my favorite bands of all time, and if you ask me while I'm listening to them I'll probably tell you that they're number 1. They have never put out a bad album, and each album is on the exact same level of greatness (at least for me) for different reasons. I could never pick a favorite, and I could never pick a least favorite Queens Of The Stone Age record. They just haven't done anything that I don't like. I've actually compiled a collection of B-sides and rare material that consists of 44 songs, and I enjoy it so much. Please listen to this band, they're so great.

Click here to download (89.34 MB)

Rated R is a very good title for this album. Subject matter and language is not the most accessible.

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CD / Vinyl (Rated X) / Digital Copy

Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See by Okkervil River

Okkervil River
Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See
2002
Folk
Jagjaguwar

1. Red
2. Kansas City
3. Lady Liberty
4. My Bad Days
5. Westfall
6. Happy Hearts
7. Dead Dog Song
8. Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas
9. Okkervil River Song
(Also included is a 1200x1200 album cover .jpeg)

Red is my favorite color.
Red, like your mother's
Eyes after a while
Of crying about how you don't love her.
She says "I know I don't deserve
Supervised sight of her
But each day becomes a blur
Without my daughter."

"Red"

Okkervil River is one of my all time favorite bands. As a whole, I would call them a folk band, but on Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See, they live on the fine line between folk and bluegrass. And I love it for that. Okkervil River is best known for creating the masterpeice and accompaniment Black Sheep Boy and the Black Sheep Boy Appendix, respectively. That saga as a whole is probably up in the top 5 of my favorite albums. However, I think that this album is a better way to be introduced to the band.

Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See is Okkervil River at the rootsiest, but it's also the band at their saddest. All their releases are very somber and deal with emotional subject matter. But while Black Sheep Boy and Appendix combats frontman Will Sheff's torn heart with anger and vengeful energy, Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See feels broken and defeated. It also features one of the saddest songs you're likely to ever hear, "Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas."

The music behind it all is deeply rooted in bluegrass. The songs are led solely by acoustic guitar and Will Sheff's crackling voice, and are joined from time to time by harmonica, mandolin, pedal steel, and violin. Though at the same time, they keep it sounding fresh and new with respect to the music of their past. It's a very modern folk album.

I also really like that they chose to keep this album short. At 9 tracks, it's 45 minutes long, and goes on for just the right amount of time before ending with a short ambient passage of a chirping forest. My only complaint is the awful vocalist who they got to split the vocals with Will Sheff on "Happy Hearts." Man, that guy is horrible. I like Will's parts of the song, though.

Click here to download part 1 (62.45 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (52.14 MB)

One f-bomb exactly.

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CD / Digital Copy

Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós
Ágætis Byrjun
1999
Post Rock
FatCat

1. Intro
2. Svefn-G-Englar ("Sleepwalkers")
3. Starálfur ("Staring Elf")
4. Flugufrelsarinn ("The Fly Savior")
5. Ný Batterí ("New Batteries")
6. Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) ("The Heart Pounds (Boom Boom Boom)")
7. Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása ("Good Weather For An Airstrike")
8. Olsen Olsen
9. Ágætis Byrjun ("A Good Beginning")
10. Avalon
(Also included is a 400x400 album cover .jpeg)

Hullabaloo, I rushed down to the lake, a savior
I made a ship ready and said a little prayer because I was scared
The sun shone and the lake flowed
Sunflowers, sunflowers - the flies die
But today I am to save as many flies as possible.

"Flugufrelsarinn" English Translation

More simply beautiful music, this time from one of my favorite bands, Sigur Rós. They're on the same record label as Animal Collective, Björk, and Panda Bear, and very deservedly so. This is a very unique and clever form of post rock, drawing influences mostly from shoegaze, classical, and ambient artists. Featuring a full backing orchestra, falsetto-based vocals, bowed guitar, and brilliant lyrics sung only in Icelandic and in some places, the band's own gibberish language, Vonlenska.

Ágætis Byrjun is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love the guitarist's clever use of a cello bow and clear, pure sounding falsetto voice. Like most post rock bands, Sigur Rós' music is truly an experince to be had. The songs on this album take you on steady, flowing builds-to-crescendo, without sacrificing their melodic appeal. The music is very heavily rooted in classical, and their orchestra paired with their rock instruments can really create some unique atmospheric music that you aren't likely to hear anywhere else.

Click here to download part 1 (72.16 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (77.99 MB)

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CD / Digital Copy

Destination: Beautiful by Mae

Mae
Destination: Beautiful
2003
Indie
Tooth & Nail

1. Embers And Envelopes
2. This Time Is The Last Time
3. All Deliberate Speed
4. Runaway
5. Sun
6. Last Call
7. Skyline Drive
8. Soundtrack For Our Movie
9. Summertime
10. Giving It Away
11. Goodbye, Goodnight
(also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

I'm a mess, I guess
It's what I've asked for
It's what I've needed
Well, you know me better than that
Or at least you did, then something happened
Well, once again, something's happened

"Sun"

A good word to describe the music Mae made on their first CD is "twinkly." They make some music that's just plain pretty. Unfortunately, they changed their sound after this record came out, and I don't get as much out of it as I do with Destination: Beautiful. Their style is kind of like a mixture of Brand New and Sigur Ros, to put it kind of vaguely. The vocals, melody, and song structure is still the forefront of concentration, but it's all put over a very busy soundscape of soothing clean guitar tones and whispering synths that beg for more attention while sounding both classical and poppy at the same time.

Mae doesn't get much recognition because they get stacked with all the other "small time" acts that call the music they make indie. The truth is, though, Mae has a very unique sound. Mae does a lot of things right that you don't hear that often. They have an excellent blend of a natural, flowing sound and synth-based electronics that sounds just right to my ears. Their vocalist has a very airy voice that almost sounds like a whisper - a lot of bands try to do this, but I think Mae pulls it off very well for the most part. Some sections of some songs are kind of iffy, but I think the rest makes up for it.

My favorite aspect of Mae's music though, is that it's great to listen to and fit almsot any mood. Their feel is almost a double meaning of both being overjoyed and heartbroken. It's hard to explain. Just check it out for yourself.

Click here to download part 1 (49.99 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (54.79 MB)

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Digital Copy

I think the physical copy of this album is out of print. Lucky I got it when I did.

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane

John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
1964
Jazz
Impulse!

1. Part 1: Acknowledgment
2. Part 2: Resolution
3. Part 3: Pursuance
4. Part 4: Psalm
(Also included is a 497x477 album cover .jpeg)

No matter what...it is God.
He is gracious and merciful.
It is most important that I know Thee.
Words, sounds, speech, men, memory,
Thoughts, fears, and emotions - time -
All related...All made in one.
Blessed be his name.

From the liner notes of A Love Supreme

I hope I'm not offending any jazz buffs out there, but I think that The Roots is actually a pretty good gateway to the world of jazz. So, here goes. I just got home from a 3 hour hardcore show and my ears needed some soothing, and naturally I put on some John Coltrane. A Love Supreme is his masterpiece, and the sound of this album is probably what most of us think about when the word jazz crosses our ears.

A Love Supreme is John Coltrane's ode to God. There is a deep spiritual underlying meaning behind each track, and the liner notes of the album feature a poem, entitled "A Love Supreme," as an offering to God, written by Coltrane himself. The last track of the album, "Psalm," is actually what is called a "wordless recitation" of the poem. There are no vocals, but instead John's sax solo plays exactly one note per syllable of the poem, reading it out loud with music.

It's a very feel good album. I put it on when I just want to relax and hear some laid-back, crisp sounding jazz to sit and think to. McCoy Tyner's piano is sharp and grabbing, while John Coltrane's tenor saxaphone is smooth and warm. A Love Supreme has made it to the top of many a best-of jazz list, and even the high reaches of best-of all time countdowns. This is definitely a great album to start to delve into the scary genre of jazz with, and just an all around perfect performance that is very accessible for listeners of any musical preference.

Click here to download (70.46 MB)

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