These are a few of the CD’s I’ve picked up over the last month. I still have 6 or so that I haven’t included because I don’t really know what I think about them, yet. I would’ve gotten this put up a while ago, but I had a lot of trouble getting one album cover per paragraph using CSS (Yes, things like that slow me down).

Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (jazz): This is classic 1959 jazz. With nearly 50 years of reviews available on this album there really isn’t any reason for me to add to the pile. B+

Various Artists – Divas Exotica (lounge): This is a compilation of loungy and sometimes corny songs by all the bombshells of a bygone era. Women like Jayne Mansfield, Eartha Kitt, and Brigette Bardot were fun to look at, but not always to listen to. The songs range from cute to utterly horrible, and I would venture to say that this is almost a comedy album, and I can’t help smiling when I can bear to listen to it. B

Bad Religion – The Gray Race (punk): I bought this thinking that it was “Stranger Than Fiction” which I gave to an ex-gf a long, long time ago. This is the most boring thing I think I have bought in a while. ZZZZZZ C-

Deftones – Around the Fur (metal): To me, the Deftone’s are great metal backed by an insane person. The vocals almost sound more like a confused kid talking and then screaming. I had this album, but somehow lost it. B

The Donnas – Spend the Night (rawk): Ah the Donnas. Imagine if Angus Young and Bonn Scott were born with boobies. Would they rock any less than this all girl rock band who have been on the road since the tender age of 16? It’s debatable. Like previous releases by the Donnas, the songs on “Spend the Night” are lyrically teenage, but catchy as hell. Unlike their previous releases, this album exhibits a more polished sound that keeps me tapping my foot. This was a replacement for a copy that I lost or lent out. B

Pro-Pain – Pro-Pain (metal): I have been looking for this album for a long time, my friend. A long time. It’s pure NYC metal-core with nice break downs and grunty lyrics. It’s so NYC hardcore that it’s almost a caricature of itself. It was impossibly hard to find, and I grabbed it from SecondSpin on the cheap. A-

Rise Against – Siren Song of the Counter Culture (neo-punk): Rise Against started on Fat Wreck records, who virtually created the San Francisco Punk/Pop sound (think Blink 182) through bands like Face to Face, NoFX, and the Descendants, and it’s not surprising that Rise Against sound the way they do. They stand on the backs of a sound pioneered by their predecessors without sounding like they’re trying too hard to walk among them. I was listening to this album when that stupid bitch smashed into my car, so even though I really like it, I’ve developed some sort of aversion to it. B+

The Haunted – One Kill Wonder (thrash): I have no clue what is being sung and/or grunted, but I can tell you that this is what metal is all about. I’m normally into heavy music, but this album actually startled me while I was driving. I’ve seen Slayer live more times than I can remember, I own almost everything that they’ve put out, and I would never say anything disparaging about them, but Slayer has never startled me. Can you see what I’m saying? You want the truth? You want the TRUTH? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! GRAWWWWWGGGGHHHH! Solid A.+

Rise Against – Revolutions Per Minute (punk): This album was originally put out on FatWreck Records, and exhibits that San Francisco pop/punk sound that made the label famous. I have to admit that this is a little more melodic and poppy than my normal grunty grunt fests, but it doesn’t go so far as to be that whiny EMO stuff that is made for teenage girls and the boys who want to be them. Plus, look at the grenade on the cover. How menacing. B+

Social Distortion – Social Distortion (rockabilly): Social D was on the punk scene a jillion years ago, and I think I got into them because of a friend who was into them enough to tattoo “Sick Boy” (one of their songs) on the inside of his lip. Come to think of it, that kid always claimed that he was going to eventually tattoo a zipper up his ball sack. Anyway. This was punk back in the day, but is pretty tame by today’s standards. If you like 3 chord rockabilly with a “Born to lose” angle for when you’re not feeling so great, you can’t beat Social D. I bought this as a replacement for a tape that was lost in the fire a few years back just because it was cheap. It’s hard to really review this one because I’ve heard it 4 billion times, but B+

ZTrip – Shifting Gears (hiphop): The first time I ever heard ZTrip was when he was mixing heavy metal (Pantera) to some hip hop beats. When I looked up this album, I decided against buying it based on the clips that were on the ztrip website. Fortunately, when I went to BestBuy, I forgot that I didn’t want to buy it and bought it by mistake. And man, am I glad I did. Despite the clips, this turned out to be as close to feeling like I’m at an old school hip hop party that I’m ever going to get to at my age. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was dancing around the house to this one. AND, he mixes in Jethro fucking Tull and it sounds good. Who can pull that off? ZTrip can. A

Casey Jones – The Few, The Proud, The Crucial (hardcore): When was the last time you heard straight edge hardcore? Maybe you listened to a little Minor Threat and topped it off with a dollop of Slap Shot just last week. (Or maybe you’re sitting there wondering what the hell straight edge even is. See Wikipedia: straight edge for more info). This is like the old hardcore that I used to listen to updated for today’s kids. It even followed the old school rules of putting little clips from TV between the songs, being preachy, and not taking your lyrics too seriously (One song’s main chorus is “Oh my God. Col got laid”). How can I argue with an album that starts with the sound clip from the Karate Kid (“There is no pain in this dojo. Is there? NO SENSEI…) and proceeds to use clips from the Family Guy? I can’t. B++

Slayer – Reign in Blood (thrash): Replacement for a tape lost in the fire. Slayer is my top band, and I can’t review it impartially. No need to review. C+

Slayer – South of Heaven (thrash): Replacement for a tape lost in the fire. Slayer is my top band, and I can’t review it impartially. No need to review. B++

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