the_eggwhite / The Great CD Listen Through, Part X (Reply)

Collide - Chasing the Ghost
This lot always struck me as a gothier, more electronic version of Curve, but I've never been entirely sure why. They do fit in very well when you put them in a playlist with later curve, though. I think they were pretty much at the forefront of the goth/electonic crossover stuff that got a fair bit bigger a couple of years later.

They're from an earlier version of my "finding awesome artists via the web and then buying their stuff" kick. From before the days of bandcamp and twitter, when finding music on the web involved trawling sites and trying out a whole lot of shit to get at the odd speck of gold.

I should track down some of their newer stuff, because as first albums go, this one's bloody excellent.

Standouts: Transfer, Wings of Steel, Dreamsleep, Like You Want To Believe.

Pretty decent stab award: kaRIN is not Grace Slick, so does not have a voice that can destroy souls on a whim. Therefore, attempting a White Rabbit cover was foolish. However, the changeover to being a very electronic thing with ethereal vocals is enough to count as "doing something different with it", so it gets a pass from me. This is rare. As a general rule, people who are not Grace Slick should not attempt such things.

Verdict: Keep

I'm bracing myself a bit for the next one. Making sure that I'm well away from sharp objects or dangerous pills or anything like that. I'm only on the first floor, so autodefenestration isn't too much of a risk either.

Cranes - Self Non Self
This album is worth it for just a couple of songs... which is good, because there's only a few I can stand to listen to these days. It's just too downbeat and miserable otherwise. Earlier Cranes isn't for the feint hearted at the best of times, and this album really makes that point.

That said, "One From The Slum" is a fantastic opener which leaves you with a false sense of "not suicidal" security. "Focus Breathe" is excellent... but if you're not used to Alison Shaw's strange high pitched yet murky vocals, you may find the rest of the album a bit of a tough one. Then again, whilst it's not exactly a cheery album, it is more upbeat than their second album. I'm not even going to attempt that one tonight.

As it happens, whilst listening through this CD, I've found my tolerance for some of the songs has improved a fair bit. I'm a lot more taken with "Joy Lies Within" and "Heaven or Bliss" than I used to be.

"Beach Mover" still sounds like a mumbly poltergeist trapped in a lift shaft with a de-tuned guitar, though.

I think it says a lot that many lyric sites out there just give up and cry when it comes to songs from this album. The live version of "Reach", for example, sounds awesome... but the vocals sound like a very small person trapped at the bottom of a well that's inside a large, echoey warehouse. Which is positively crystal clear compared to "Nothing in the Middle, Nothing at the End"... a song crying out for a misheard lyrics round on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks". Or it would be if "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" was still any good.

Verdict: Keep