Art House Director (Day 101)

I'm going to buy the new Ace Attorney game later today so I'll definitely have some things to say about that soon! But for now, I'm going to continue discussing song titles.

• Day 16: Devin Townsend - "Truth"

I went through kind of a Devin Townsend phase around this time. I'm trying to figure out what prompted it but I can't remember exactly what it was. My best explanation is that something of his came up on random shuffle by chance and I remembered just how much I liked his music. Townsend approaches his music with a combination of musical chops and a good sense of humor--and in the case of his Strapping Young Lad material, unbridled aggression. This particular track showcases his beautiful melodic singing voice--and he was only 20 years old when he recorded it. The entire album has a lovely wall of sound kind of production style that I really like.

• Day 17: Strapping Young Lad - "All Hail the New Flesh"

Although this song was penned by the same man as "Truth," it couldn't be more different in tone or style. Strapping Young Lad was a project he launched as a way to work through his numerous frustrations. As a result, the music is loud, aggressive, and fast. Still, there is a quality to it that separates it from other extreme metal--likely the emphasis on unique production. Devin Townsend is famed for his ridiculous vocal versatility and he proves that to be true here with a variety of peculiar shrieks and growls.

• Day 18: The Devin Townsend Band - "Vampira"

Although this song could loosely be described as metal, this track is much more lighthearted and fun than anything you'd find in the Strapping Young Lad catalog. It's also absurdly catchy--and the music video, which features Townsend prancing around in a red devil costume, is hilarious as well.

• Day 19: Devin Townsend - "Earth Day"

Devin Townsend's first album Infinity was bombastic. Terria, which features this track, dials it back and slows it down a little bit in favor of longer and more deliberate pieces of music. "Earth Day" is probably the album's highlight.

• Day 20: Frank Zappa - "Peaches en Regalia"

Frank Zappa is most widely known as a musician that penned a lot of funny "novelty" tracks like "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" and "Bobby Brown," but he was also responsible for a ton of amazing instrumental tracks like this one. This is probably the most concise and catchiest of those songs in his repertoire, those his catalog is absolutely packed with classics--and yeah, even the "novelty" songs are really good.

• Day 21: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "Sleep"

For several years now, I've been a huge fan of post-rock. It's a fairly modern genre that emerged out of 1990s artists like Slint and Tortoise. It is essentially ambient and/or atmospheric music that is often instrumental but uses mostly traditional rock instrumentation. GY!BE is one of the genre's more ambitious outfits, with tracks that frequently top twenty minutes in length. "Sleep" may just be the pinnacle of their career with eons of buildup that intensify into triumphant crescendos. The recorded monologue that begins the track recalls the beaches at Coney Island through the eyes of an old man--and it'll always stick with me.

• Day 22: Devin Townsend - "Deep Peace"

Another Devin Townsend track from Terria that wanders through pretty, entrancing guitar leads. 

• Day 23: Enslaved - "Ethica Odini"

Enslaved is one of the few extreme metal acts that I still listen to these days. Every album they've released in the past ten years or so has been stunningly consistent--but none sound particularly similar to another. Despite releasing music with heavy guitars and black metal shrieking, their albums are more often than not loaded with unique textures that always keep me coming back.

• Day 24: Aesop Rock - "Daylight"

Aesop Rock is probably my favorite rapper and has been for years. There's not an album of his that I don't like (barring perhaps his debut) and this song is in my top 5 favorites. Like most of his material, his verses are deluged with impenetrable metaphors--but one of the most famous lines is "Life's not a bitch/Life's a beautiful woman/You only call her a bitch 'cause she won't let you get that pussy."

• Day 25: Murs - "What Do You Know?"

The End of the Beginning is still the only Murs album I have and I have no idea why--possibly because I'm still not tired of it. This might be the song on that album that has gotten the most listens.

• Day 26: Aesop Rock - "1,000 Deaths"

I hadn't heard of this song for quite some time as it was released on a relatively obscure EP before the albums that made him popular. I was surprised at just how good it was. For some reason, the line "Maybe I'll stroke my billygoat beard and rethink the time that angels appeared... maybe I won't" always cracked me up. I guess you had to be there.