In the words of Neil from the superb and highly-underrated British comedy show The Young Ones, "it's getting really heavy and uncool in here!"

Time for another (purely subjective and vastly self-indulgent) List of my favorite things! Yes! The derivative format that is so overused by all magazines all the time and tepid cable TV networks such as E and VH1!

My 5 Favorite Songs On My iPod Today (subject to change and evolve tomorrow)

1. Echo And The Bunnymen - Killing Moon
Quasi-Cure Brits singing odes to the dimness, rain and murk. Straight from the trenchcoat and male eyeliner heart of the 80's, Echo were always one of those bands I sincerely wanted to like more than I really did, and still do. I find most of their music just a tad boring, either too pop (Lips Like Sugar) or too gloomy and plodding (the Album Heaven Up Here). I first discovered their fleeting majesty upon hearing their cover of The Doors' People are Strange from the Lost Boys soundtrack and was impressed. They have all the right elements - The baritone vocals of Ian McCulloch, the above-par musicianship of the other Bunnymen, cool guitar sound, air of mystery and great hair (for that time). Killing Moon (off the album Ocean Rain) was just one of those songs I always knew but didn't think much of at the time it was currently popular. Rediscovering it a few years ago I dig it in a big way. Somewhat like a modern version of the Doors, odd chiming guitars and underlying darkness, without the trappings of anything vaguely resembling heavy metal or the like. It's very hard to describe to someone that has not heard it. It is not fruity like most of the 80's new wave crap that is currently in vogue - I was too busy trying to be a parking lot-dwelling dirtbag, listening to Iron Maiden and W.A.S.P. until I heard Black flag....
That can be a whole other blog entry.

2. Deftones - Ihabia
The Deftones are commonly (and quite mistakenly) lumped in with the already-dated Nü-Metal mooks (such as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Godsmack) by virtue of the era that they became somewhat popular in. Anyone who really likes this band knows that they are a universe away from that whole horrid sound that saturated our mediocre airwaves back 3-4 years ago. This track is a searing dynamic jetstream of molten guitar voltage, angelic vocal harmonies and cathartic screaming madness, based on nothing familiar and leaving me saying "Oh Snap" every time I hear it. An interesting note is that Jimmy 3K actually gave me the CD that this is on, Around The Fur, which is an epic soundscape in its entirety after I raved about them after seeing a video of theirs late one night whilst extremely baked. Though they use a lot of the Drop D tuning that other aforementioned bands would overuse to the point of a migraine, Deftones did it first and used it interestingly and countering every shriek, squeal and shred with a contrasting and complimentary harmony, creating an unholy noise that resonates timelessly.

3. Sleep - The Druid
I wrote a review of their album Dopesmoker a while back - they still blow my mind. They have since broken up and key members formed High On Fire - another blistering chunk of insanity.
The true heirs to the bludgeoning mayhem of Black Sabbath, carrying on the spectral creepiness and impending doom that is often attempted but rarely achieved in the Stoner Rock genre...
This track must be heard to be believed, sounding as if it were recorded under a starless black sky at the base of megalith-encrusted mountain, surrounded by skulls on sharp pikes and luminous red pupil-less eyes peering out from the dark thickets. Eldritch is the only word to describe this, echoey and shouty, thick, mutilating monster riffs, followed by a devilish bluesy lead outro. When I listen to this I want to wear a suit of granite armor and smite my enemies with sledgehammer with a mallet head the size of a watermelon. I want to drink goat's blood from a skull and carve glowing runes into the walls of a witch's tomb. When it is over I then resume my life's destiny as a suburban dad, stopping at the ATM and picking up a half gallon of milk before going home.

4. Horace Andy - Collie Weed
Horace Andy is a reggae singer, popular in the U.K. in the 70's and has been the sometime hired vocalist for Massive Attack - the atmospheric, hard to categorize musical collective from Bristol, England. Admittedly, my experience with Reggae does not extend too far beyond Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, all "Roots" reggae artists from the classic age of the genre, but this sounds like it is right from that point in time judging by overall sound of the delightful sunny music. If you have ever heard Massive Attack (often referred to as originators of the Trip-Hop sound), especially the tracks with Horace on vocals, it is difficult to reconcile his sun-drenched past sound with the sinister, brooding, dusted with PCP sound of Massive. Yes, they all smoke tons of pot and cannabis-induced music runs the gamut from the Grateful Dead to Cypress Hill to Willie Nelson, but such a quantum shift in overall atmosphere is jarring and disorienting. Listen to Horace Andy sing and it will conjure up visions of the Caribbean that white folk idealize it to be, lazy afternoons on the beach, drinking dark rum and eating jerk chicken. The voice of an angel who has frolicked amongst the devils.

5. Low - On The Edge Of
These cats are an odd bunch, and that is meant in the most complimentary way.
Low's moniker aptly describes most of their early catalog, in addition to being slow as well. Quiet, to the point of sleepiness, slow-paced without becoming sluggish, and impossibly melodic under the circumstances. The band is a trio, led by a husband/wife two-part harmony, with a bottom end that rattles your solar plexus in an inexplicable manner. If I sound puzzled by them it is because I am, and to add to the deepening mystery of the band, they are devout Mormons! Besides the Osmonds, how many Mormons truly rock? I am not sure "rock" is the correct word, but it sounded good a few seconds ago... This track is from their latest record The Great Destroyer and I am in love with the whole sound. Shimmering guitars alternating between gloomy and bright (I seem to like this sort of thing if you haven't already noticed) and the vocals - Beyond a Simon & Garfunkel harmony thing - her voice is absolutely ethereal and his contrastingly earthbound... A sad sounding song with cryptic lyrics. I can't figure them out, can you?

Soft from your lips to the rise of your stomach
Your lungs filled with fingers keep jamming words down my throat
Nothing to steal we've got nothing to love
Nothing to spill because oh we're so innocent oh

Oh on the edge of
Oh on the edge of

I could have built you a house on the ocean
The ocean repeating and receding into the sun

So cut to you dead and now cut to the laughing
Cut through our bodies and lastly into our oh

Oh on the edge of
Oh
Oh on the edge of

I'm not sure if it is deep, but it feels that way.