Random Pick: Four Score

Wheel of chance, give me a wild card of a song.

“Awaken” by Dethklok

For best results, listen to this song while reading this post. It will probably be way too distracting for you.

This song is one of many I purchased after watching the cartoon series Metalocalypse. The show revolves around a fictional death metal band called Dethklok and their numerous misadventures in being the world’s single most powerful band ever.

Their music is a fuse between speed and death metal, combined with hilariously stupid lyrics. The songs themselves are extremely surprising because they display a lot of talent. The quick and continuous riffs as well as double-beats in the drums are showcased in almost all of the show's featured tunes.

Of course the lyrics shine as fun counters to the serious sound of the music, as “Awaken” is about summoning “killing trolls”, which the band actually ends up doing in an episode and thereby destroying Switzerland; as well as songs revolving around doing taxes, working desk jobs, mermaid murder, brutal fashion shows, etc.

The show’s creators Tommy Blacha and Brendon Small created the music and put out two albums compiled of songs featured in the show. The band itself is considered a virtual one (akin to the Gorillaz), but have gone on several tours with other big metal bands like Mastodon and High on Fire.

Even if you don’t like the music I would suggest giving the cartoon a try. It is very violent, profane, and absurd, but that’s what makes it so metal. Check out the posted clip for a taste of the show’s humor.

Random Pick: Three Out!

Random button, don’t fail me now. With one push take me to something awesome please.

“Neobedouin” by Abney Park

One of my more recent favorite additions to my library. For best results, try playing the song and reading along with the post.

Abney Park is a Seattle-based band that plays what they deem “steam punk” style music. For those of you unfamiliar with steam punk, it’s the fantasy genre in which futuristic technology meets with rustic aesthetics (think Wild Wild West). Their style has a 1920s European feel to it (phonograph, accordions, violins, etc) but they’re not afraid to mix and match instruments if they like what kind of sound comes out of it all.

Abney Park songs often revolve around fantastic concepts such as being an airship pirate, Tesla experiments (referencing Nikola Tesla), steam-powered machines, apocalypses and the like. The band definitely feels no need to base their music in reality and that perhaps helps with their out-of-this-world sound. The band uses a mixture of electronic beats, drums, bass, guitar, sound layers (like fuzz or static), harmonicas, and sound effects to craft their music.

I first unearthed Abney Park’s music after watching a very well put-together anime music video combining the anime Steamboy and another one of their songs called “Building Steam.” After seeing this video, which so perfectly blended the music with the anime, I was desperate to know more about the song and artist.

Abney Park is currently playing a short tour in the U.K. and their latest album “Off the Grid” is set to come out in November. Like what you hear? Check out their official website or these similar bands: Beats Antique, The Cog is Dead, or The Clockwork Dolls.

Random Pick: Round Two!

Alright, time to press the lovely random button on my MP3 player and see where we land. And today’s pick is:

“No Time (Beats Mix)” by The Heavy

To be honest I literally stumbled upon this song myself whilst perusing the vast waves of MP3s in the Amazon.com jungle.

Lo and behold I found a NinjaTune XX studio sampler album filled with songs from varying artists signed to the label. I gave it a good listen and this particular track stuck out to me. Maybe not stuck out, but more so punched its way to my attention with the quick beats and jazzy feel.

I quickly looked into the band and found out that I was already familiar with another tune of theirs, “How You Like Me Now?”, which has been used in tons of TV series and car commercials. I really enjoyed their punchy rock and jazz sound that I’ve yet to precisely match with any other recent bands.

Pictured: The Heavy, courtesy of The Heavy official Facebook Page

This version of “No Time” (which I favor over their original version) is exclusively offered on Amazon.com through this sampler only. If you like it or would like to look more into their sound, check out the sampler or their official website.

And if you like these guys, you might like these groups or artists as well: The Pillows, The Black Keys, or The Dead Weather.

First Random Pick!

Today’s random music pick is: "Schweine" by Glukoza!

Wow, and here I thought we would start off with something not random at all.

Welp, to start off, I stumbled across this song a couple years ago when I attended a local show.

There was a good ton of bands there, mostly just haphazard groups of teenagers with plenty of terrible originals being screeched out over blown out mics and amps. You know, THOSE kinds of shows.

There was one band that went up, they had an odd name like “BLUSTERbuss” or something off like that and the guys went up and played a collection of songs, entirely instrumental. It was off-beat to say the least, and it’s likely why I paid attention more to their playing than anyone else’s: the complete lack of caterwauling lead singers.

They played one song however that they said was a cover, which was this one. I dug the rhythm so much that I got the name of the actual song from the bassist and looked it up. Turns out this song was used as a part of a fake radio station called “Vladivostok FM” in the Rockstar game Grand Theft Auto IV.

You'll notice that the song has alot of German lyrics ('schweine' is translated to 'pig') and it mostly is a break-up song talking about the deception of young guys to young women -- you can check out the roughly translated lyrics here. However, Glukoza is a very popular Russian singer, who dabbles in other languages for her music. Interested in what you hear today? Check out Glukoza's official website for more song samples and info.

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