Plumbing the depths of depravity and laziness like never before, we bring to you Score Playlists. From now on, every week we will ask a friend, family member, fan OR random person who we owe money, to tell us what is playing on their ipods right now. This week, Raunaq Sahu rages, rants and waxes eloquent.
Yes. Most of the stuff I’ve recently started listening to isn’t on LAN (Hardly a surprise. There wasn’t even a proper Bruce Springsteen/The Rolling Stones/Sting/The Police/Bob Dylan catalogue on LAN the last time I checked. Probably because they aren’t called GIGAMETH or LAMP IN A POD. I don’t know). Mediafire zindabaad. Megaupload too. Though the considerate folks at Megaupload do not allow parallel downloads. It requires patience to download stuff, but it is rewarding. At least it was to me.
So, this is a random pick of ten albums that I have been rotating non-stop on Winamp over the past month or so. If you strongly believe that ‘RAP IS NOT MUSIC’, or that ‘ELECTRONIC MUSIC SOUNDS THE SAME EVERYWHERE’, or that ‘DJs JUST ADD A RANDOM SAMPLE BEAT TO CREATE A TRACK’…
Fuck off. Go pontificate about your impressive understanding of music somewhere else.
10. Blue Lines : Massive Attack
Yes, you have heard of them because ‘Teardrop’ is the theme song for the Fox TV Show, House MD. But Blue Lines, and not Mezzanine is them at their finest. Don’t just take my word for it. Q readers voted it number 9 in a poll for the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The tracks ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ and ‘Blue Lines’ stand out in this superb album.
9. Up the Bracket : The Libertines
Prior to listening to The Libertines, I knew Pete Doherty only as the guy Kate Moss dumped after making some disparaging comments about how well-endowed he was. Or wasn’t. My bad. He was part of one of the most awesome bands ever, and sadly they broke up after releasing only a couple of albums, one in 2002(this one), the second in 2004. As Doherty croons in their self-titled second album, ‘What Became of the Likely Lads?’
The Libertines play a fast and dirty brand of music, with Carl Barat and Doherty providing all the vocal fireworks. Chosen tracks – ‘Vertigo’, ‘Death on the Stairs’, ‘Up the Bracket’, ‘Boys In The Band’… you know what? Screw this. I love the entire album to bits.
8. The Low End Theory : A Tribe Called Quest
I had recently listened to Q-Tip’s The Renaissance and had liked it. And then I started listening to A Tribe Called Quest (he had been a part of the group until they disbanded in 1998), the iconic hip-hop group which I was till then, sadly unaware of. And this album just shows us why they are among the greatest ever. One can safely say this album was the holy grail of alternative hip-hop. Jazz and hip-hop had never been this fantastically and seamlessly blended. Q-Tip and Phife are in fine form here – they effortlessly bounce off each other’s verses. My picks – ‘Verses from the Abstract’, ‘Vibes and Stuff’, ‘Check the Rhime’, ‘Jazz (We’ve got)’.
7. In My Memory : Tiesto
The biggest and most accomplished DJ ever, without a doubt. So it was not at all surprising when he played live at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics. In My Memory is my favourite record of his (still puzzled as to why Allmusic gives it a couple of stars only) – and guest vocals by Kirsty Hawkshaw, Jan Johnston and Nicola Hitchcock lift the mood even more. ‘Battleship Grey’ is an absolute favourite.
6. Music for the Jilted Generation : The Prodigy
‘Blown away’ is the only way to describe the effect this album has on its listener. The Allmusic review puts it aptly – ‘Sonic Terrorism’ with the never dying energy each track brings to the room. Forget the Black Eyed Peas, this is where ‘The Energy Never Dies’. And I haven’t even listened to their other albums properly yet. Selected tracks – ‘Full Throttle’, ‘Voodoo People’, ‘Poison’, ‘The Narcotic Suite : Skylined’.
Oh, and the album title was the sole reason I listened to this one first, instead of listening to their debut album, ‘Experience’. This album was my first brush with hardcore techno. Wow. WOW.
Tune in tomorrow to discover the Best Five. Yes, we are diabolical, no? Muhahahaha.
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