I Am An American Aquarium Drinker

Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

That is all :)

Those Gold Soundz

Are you Prepared for the list of the greatest albums/songs of the 90's? Good. Out of sheer boredom, here it comes, the greatest thing that ever happened to music 21 - 11 Years ago.



#25 The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails

 

#24 Music Has the Right to Children - Boards of Canada

  

 #23 If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian

#22 Endtroducing.. - DJ Shadow

#21 - Grace - Jeff Buckley 

#20 - Summer Teeth - Wilco

#19 Achtung Baby - U2

#18 Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space - Spiritualized

#17 Post - Bjork

#16 Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins

#15 I See a Darkness - Bonnie "Prince" Billy

#14 Blue Lines - Massive Attack

#13 The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest

#12 Definitely Maybe - Oasis

#11 The Bends - Radiohead

#10 Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Aphex Twin (1993)

Here is the best album by the man who has done more for electronic music than anyone since Brian Eno. One could talk about Aphex Twin for days and days, but it would all come back to this perfect little album he started with. The whole thing feels so entirely human and emotional, that one would forget he made it with a keyboard and mouse. The opening track, "Xtal", although it has no words, feels like it's speaking to you directly. "Pulsewidth" shimmers with some kind of joy. And "I" feels empty and lonely. The whole thing is the most perfect example of Pre - Daft Punk electronic music, and what led up to their big Discovery.

#9 - Screamadelica - Primal Scream (1991)

Screamadelica is the best example, to me, of when a band completely redefines themselves and changes everything about their sound, and creates the best thing that band did, or has ever done. Primal Scream, before Screamadelica, sounded like a band trying to be The Rolling Stones (although judging by their name, you'd probably think they were some kind of Heavy Metal). Before Screamadelica, they were simply just another rock band. After Screamadelica, they were the most forward thinking, different sounding, and completely original rock band around. Just listen to the song "Loaded" or "Slip Inside This House" for proof. By mixing their roots of rock with electronic influences, they created an experience unlike any other. Nobody's tried to replicate what Primal Scream did here, and nobody will probably try. You only get this much lightning in a bottle once.

 #8- The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips (1999)

 

Following 1997's ambitious but pretentious album Zaireeka, The Soft Bulletin represents The Flaming Lips' marvelous return to form. With gorgeous orchestral accompaniment throughout, and their trademark childlike lyrics, this is the essential Flaming Lips album. Before Yoshimi Battled the Pink Robots, before they had were in search of a mystic, and way before they tried to remake The Dark Side of the Moon, The Flaming Lips became legends with The Soft Bulletin. And because of The Soft Bulletin, they still are.

#7 Nevermind - Nirvana (1991)

Almost 20 years since this album came out, people still don't quite understand just how important this thing was. I don't understand how important this thing was, all I hear is the stories. The stories of how before Nirvana, Alternative rock meant to the record industy "lowest selling". How before Nirvana, Indie Rockers didn't stand a chance, and how after Nirvana, the whole record industry's grapple hold on what sold was entirely dismantled. Initially, the record label only pressed 5,000 copies of this album because Alt. Rock "just doesn't sell". And 26 million sales later, Nirvana disproves that again and again. Although it's true that the record industry slowly got it's control of what was popular back again, for this brief shining moment they lost it. Because of Nirvana, even today, people can make their own music and sell it themselves, and have the confidence that the do it yourself attitude works. Because for Nirvana it did.

#6 - MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana (1994)

This is one of the saddest, most emotional albums ever made. Not only because Kurt Cobain killed himself very shortly afterword, not only because it proved just how talented Nirvana was before their short time ended, but because it has all of Kurt Cobain's greatest songs, stripped down and sang directly to an audience in an extremely pleading, begging way. The two highest points, the cover of David Bowie's  "The Man Who Sold The World" and their own "All Apologies", are almost too hard to listen to. And Kurt Cobain's jokes in between songs just make it even more unbearable. But it is beautiful, and completely easily to relate to, because who is a person who doesn't go through some form of agony? Some form of hopelessness? This is the best album I know of to capture that feeling, because on this album, that feeling is real. 

#5 - Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement (1992)

Quick, name the best American band of the 90's. Did you say Pavement? No? Guess again. To an indie rocker, Pavement is as good as The Beatles. To everybody else, Pavement is one of the most original, honest, and influential bands of the decade. Their debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, shows us all why. Starting off with the classic "Summer Babe (Winter Version)" and ending with "Our Singer", this is one of the albums that defines the nineties, and is the album that defines independent music. Now it has countless accolades to prove that, but everybody who listened to it knew the first time they heard it that this was something very special. 

 

#4 In The Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (1998)

The Elephant 6 Collective was responsible for some of the better albums of the 90's, including The Apples In Stereo's Fun Trick Noisemaker and The Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk At Cubist Castle, but none of that compares with Jeff Mangum's masterpiece writing on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. With it's completely nonsensical lyrics that somehow speak to everyone, and it's minimalist arrangements that eventually become full blowouts, this is the best thing any Elephant 6 band has ever done or will ever do. But it's more than that. It's one of the best thing's ANY band has ever done or will ever do. And it's touched more hearts, more minds, and influenced more bands than most bands will ever do to. Win Butler, the singer for Arcade Fire, says that this is the greatest album ever made, and one of the reasons they signed to Merge Records. Now if I ever get a record deal, I'm hoping it's from Merge to. 

#3 Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement (1993)

The debate will always go on about which Pavement album is the better one. Some people say it's Slanted, some people say it's Crooked. While they're both central so essential, I have to side with Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. Why? Because this album represents Pavement at their most stripped down and honest, which is what the band was always going for anyway. It has their best songs, "Cut Your Hair", "Range Life", and the absolutely gorgeous classic that is "Gold Soundz". It has some of the most clever lyrics ever written, and some of the most simple, gorgeous arrangements. While this album isn't as straight forward as Slanted, or as refined, it represents exactly what Pavement is. Which is just a couple of ordinary guys, playing extraordinary music.

#2 Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1991)

Loveless represents the pinnacle of noise rock and dream pop, both at the same time. Everything that bands like Galaxie 500, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, and perhaps even Sonic Youth were trying to accomplish in the 80's, My Bloody Valentine did in the 90's. Although they have perhaps the most misleading band name of all time (hearing My Bloody Valentine, I definitely thought they were some kind of abrasive emo band), this album has some of the most beautiful melodies ever crafted, on top of some of the weirdest sounds and noises. This album is almost like a study between what is noise and what is music, and playing with the idea that perhaps they are are both interchangeable and completely different. The most perfect example of this comes right at the beginning with "Only Shallow", but continues throughout the whole thing. And by the time you reach the classic "Blown a Wish", you realize that the type of musical experience this album provides is a one time thing, and something you'll want to revisit over and over again. I don't think the human mind can really get sick of something like "Loveless". Constant repeats only reveal that there is so much more about this thing to discover.

#1 OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)

No matter how much music I discover, no matter how many new albums I buy, no matter how many new songs I write, and no matter what happens in my life, I keep coming back to this album. This is the first album I ever bought where I truly fell in love, where I could sit on my bed and listen to it for hours and hours and never get sick of it, even when it repeated for the umpteenth time. This album is very much responsible for the reason I love music, and just hearing bits and pieces of it automatically feel me with joy. Without OK Computer, I don't know what my music taste would be. I don't know how much my personality would change. Without OK Computer, I could very well be a different person, that's how much impact it's had on me. And that is why OK Computer is, and always will be considered the very best album of the 90's. Because it has music that gets inside your soul and connects to you on an extremely personal level, and will sympathize with you when your sad, and expand your joy when you are happy. It has an immediate cleansing effect from anything else, because it isn't like anything else. OK Computer is simply put the greatest album of the 90's, and more than that, one of the greatest musical accomplishments of all time.


YAY!! We're done!! Almost.. Now it's time for el songs.

10. One - U2
9. Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine
8. Xtal - Aphex Twin
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
6. Loser - Beck
5. All Apologies - Nirvana
4. Common People - Pulp
3. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
2. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
1. Gold Soundz - Pavement

YAY!! NOW we're done. I hope you all enjoyed such things, and I hope if you don't own some of those things, you will check them out! It's definitely worth it. And so ends our list of the things that win at EVERYTHING FOREVER in the nineties. :)

The River of Thought Flows Most When The Valley of Boredom is Widened.

Hey guys, to be honest I am quite bored and I would like to talk to you about some video games. I'm guessing that most of you wonderful readers would rather spend your time doing more constructive things like studying, reading, playing children's card games, and poking fun at the Pope-Mobile. But not me, I like to kick back and assume the position of not moving for a few hours.

1) Half-Life (Valve-1998)

Score:5/5

The story follows a 27 year old Theoretical Physicist named Gordon Freeman working at Black-Mesa in New Mexico. His department is working on a portal system that shares a link with this border world called 'Xen.' Well, something goes wrong and now aliens are eleporting into the facility at random and the government is trying to cover up the whole fiasco. It is your job to try and put an end to this nightmare. This games is so great on so many levels! First off, it was the leader in 3-D graphics and engine use back in 1998 and even today you would think it was made post millennium. It is also wonderful because the story behind everything will leave you scratching your head with delight because your brain has just had an endorphin explosion within your cranium.

(I would also like to suggest that after you play this game to go and play the sequels. You won't be disappointed. I give the all a 5/5)

2) Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios - 2008)

Score:4/5

Fallout 3 is the third game installment, of the cannon arc, of the Fallout series. This games is set in the year 2277, 200 years after the great war of 2077 where China nuked the U.S. on Oct. 23rd and started the final World War. This particular story is set in Washington D.C. and the surrounding area's, which is referred to as the "Capital Wasteland." The story follows a 19 year old boy, known as the 'Lone Wanderer,' who left the Vault 101 in search of his father who has gone missing durring his mission to complete his scientific project of 'Project Purity.' The project is meant to take the irradiated water and filter it into clean, drinkable water again.

This game is wonderful for its story. There is so much back story that it could keep a person occupied for a very long time just reading about it (trust me, I know.) It also wonderful because it takes some elements of RPG games and 3rd person shooters and smooshes them together with some pop-culture references that everyone from your Grandmother to you 3 year old sister would understand. The drawbacks would be that the games does crash sometime and you can get stuck very easily.

(Another game I would quickly add is Fallout New Vegas. Same universe only a few years later and, you guessed it, set in Vegas. Also a 4/5.)

3) No One Lives Forever 2 (Monolith Productions - 2002)

Score:3/5

This game is pretty much just a spoof on 60's spy hype. A British organization called UNITY is trying to protect the free world from an evil terrorist group called HARM. It is up to Cate Archer to stop them.

This game is fun and amusing with its bright colours and satirical humor of some of the more redicoules elements of Bond (there is a group of killer mimes in this game.) Some major draw backs are that it gets very repetitive and confusing at times, and the constant loading of maps takes away a lot from the moment of the game.

4) Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft Game Studios - 2001)

Score:2.5/5

This story revolves around a super Spartan called Master Chief who is trying to stop Covenent forces from releasing a creature called the Flood upon the galaxy. The Flood are housed on this planet that is shaped like a Halo (See what happened there!) and it is up to Master Chief to save the day.

First off let me say that this game was good in breaking graphics and putting X-Box on the map. The story is fine, but a bit overplayed. The controls are standard and it does give you a lot of fun weapons to play with as well as a whole universe to discover (on your own.) Now for the drawbacks. EVERY LEVEL HAS THE EXACT SAME MAP! You could be on track but swear that you've fought the same battle in the same location with the same enemy ten other times since you've started playing it. That is my biggest beef with this game. It is such a killer of the moment and I wish I never played it. If you do have to play make sure to play it on the X-Box and not on the PC (which I did) and play it with a friend, makes it easier to go through without stabbing yourself.

I am sure that the other games in this series are far better and that this game must have been purely made for its multi-player ability, otherwise, I have no idea how it got to be so popular.

Well, that is my review on a few of the games that I have played recently. The views expressed in this post are purely my own and do not reflect the views of the gaming world at large or the views of Passing Faces as a group. I hope you had fun reading it and hopefully want to try, or stay away, from a few of these titles.

Honorable mentions

(Some of these games I may do a review on them later, when I have finished playing them.)

1) Half-Life 2

2) Dead Rising 2

3) Bioshock 2

4) Assassins Creed 1&2

5) 007 Goldeneye

I'd Like to Talk to you About Diabeetus.

Why Yes, I am going for the Super-Wizard.

Ladies and Gentlemen we are Shoegazing

I Think I'm In Love - Spiritualized from Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Spce
Electricity - Spiritualized from Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Blown A Wish - My Bloody Valentine from Loveless
Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain from Psychocandy
Soon - My Bloody Valentine from Loveless
Kindhearted Women Blues - Robert Johnson from The Complete Recordings
Providence - Sonic Youth from Daydream Nation
She's a Jar - Wilco from Summerteeth
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again) - Wilco from Summerteeth
N.Y. State of Mind - Nas from Illmatic
A House in the Country - The Kinks from Face to Face
Sweet Baby James - James Taylor from Sweet Baby James
Fire and Rain - James Taylor from Sweet Baby James
Chameleon - Herbie Hancock from Head Hunters
Tell Me - Galaxie 500 from On Fire
Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield from Dusty in Memphis
Breakfast in Bed - Dusty Springfield from Dusty in Memphis
You Are Invited - The Dismemberment Plan from Emergency & I
All I Need - Air from Moon Safari
For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield from Retrospective
So You Want to Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star - The Byrds from Younger Than Yesterday
My Back Pages - The Byrds from Younger Than Yesterday
Taste The Floor - The Jesus & Mary Chain from Psychocandy
Cut Dead - The Jesus & Mary Chain from Psychocandy
European Son - The Velvet Underground from The Velvet Underground & Nico
Hard to Explain - The Strokes from Is This It?
All Down the Line - The Rolling Stones from Exile on Main Street
I Just Wanna See His Face - The Rolling Stones from Exile on Main Street
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths from Louder Than Bombs
These Things Take Time - The Smiths from Louder Than Bombs
Karma Police - Radiohead from OK Computer
Day of the Lords - Joy Division from Unknown Pleasures

:) Happy New Year!!!