LithoJazzoSphere Roulette V1: Variety & Reciprocity (Post-Roulette Playlist)

[HOF]

As great as some of Kevin Gilberts bigger productions are, I really enjoy some of the more minimalist stuff he did. Song for a Dead Friend and Lonely Road are the two that especially come to mind.

[HOF]

Sent!

[Elite]

Okay, let's just say I completely disagree with you on Mr. Bungle this collection of tracks would be at least a 9/10 if I had to rate them, with Ars Moriendi being Bungle's Magnum Opus as far as I'm concerned. Alas, it was not meant to be.

[Nachtmerrie]

Nachtmerrie - Mastodon - "Black Tongue", "Toe To Toes","More Than I Could Chew"

Early Impression - "I don't know if this drastically moves the needle on my overall preexisting opinion of them, but the drumming is still just as stellar as I expected it would be."

Final Summary:

The likely unplanned coordination in two people sending me a different selection of songs from the same band seems to wind up helping both submissions, with me starting to feel I could get into this band more, with this particular set having a bit broader range of types of songs from them. 

Details:

So Mastodon is another of those bands that's been so ubiquitous in the metal landscape that it's kind of hard to avoid them even if you want to, to the point that I've long known the names and faces of all of the members even without really putting any effort into attempting to do so.  I've heard a number of their albums, but I've always been pretty lukewarm on them.  I remember Brann's fills really standing out on their early albums when I first heard them, but the sludgy sound just didn't appeal to me much at the time.  They also lean into the stoner metal angle, which is a genre I'm especially picky about, since much of it doesn't feel like it goes anywhere and you probably need to live up to the name of the genre to get full enjoyment out of it.  Fortunately this doesn't apply so much to Mastodon. 

They had gradually grown on me a bit over time, with "The Motherload" being the first song of theirs I actually have given a fair number of plays to, and then Hushed and Grim a couple years ago was the first full-length album of theirs that I liked more or less in full.  But even then, having given it a couple plays that year, I still haven't revisited it since then.  Well, so with you and Vmad giving me a double dose of Mastodon this round, I think it's been effective in getting me more into them than I was, and I'm starting to see more of what I think other people see in them.  Still easily their strongest attribute is Brann's playing.  I'm glad that he has playthrough videos of some of these songs and others, which helps to shade in some of the nuance of what he does.  The fluidity with which he changes subdivisions of rhythms in his fills is quite remarkable. 

I think one of the obstacles of getting into them earlier on was their vocal styles.  I knew that they had multiple lead vocalists, but didn't follow them closely enough to know who sang what.  Brann's voice has been my favorite of the three, as it's the most distinct to me.  I can tell now that it's Troy's vocals that I find the most unusual.  I'm still not completely sold on them, but they do have a lot of character, and I think are probably most useful in contrasting the others as part of a multi-lead vocal attack.  He seems to be the predominant vocalist in this set of songs though, which might hold them back slightly.  I don't think there's quite enough of a sample size of Brent's in the six total songs to always distinguish him from Troy. 

This group of songs seems to give a somewhat more comprehensive view of their sound, though the songs aren't quite as catchy.  "Toe To Toes" has the acoustic playing, particularly in the intro, which is a side of them I'm not sure I was aware they had.  "More Than I Could Chew" adds to that with the Mellotron intro.  I knew they had a prog rock/metal bent to them, but I assumed it was more to do with the complexity of their songs and sometimes exploring conceptual material, but the auxiliary instrumentation certainly adds additional interest.  This batch of songs also represents three different tunings they've employed.  Additionally, Brent has a somewhat unusual but intriguing soloing style, which seems to be derived from his more banjo-style playing technique. 

1:28 in "Black Tongue" is probably my favorite passage of these songs, with quite a mystical-sounding riff.  "More Than I Could Chew" has perhaps the most interesting backing vocal work, with a number of sections of quite ghostly vocals, such as at 2:09, or at 4:15 when they add the upper octave for a bit more forward example. 

Score:  8/10

---

[

Good to see these two submissions might get you more into Mastodon.
Dissapointed you didn't mention that killer intro riff on More Than I Could Chew

Will send something this weekend but this is gonne be a hard one.

[Elite]

Will send something this weekend but this is gonne be a hard one.

Here you go:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWWzBc3TOlaAV?si=7de34ad5292d41f3

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Hah, I've probably heard the bulk of those though. 

I was asking in relation to a potential fourth option which I don't think would really fit into any of those definitions, but I think I'll just leave it off and focus on choosing between the other options.

If it's different enough it could certainly work, I'm just trying to expand my tastes a bit. 

There is also one of Snowfalls with their new singer, which is really good and worth checking out.

Yeah, I did listen to that one as well, though it didn't stand out quite as much. 

7.75 is a little bit low but at least it's not 6.75!

7.75 is actually above average in over half of the rounds, you just happened to send in a high-scoring round.  Granted, your average score is higher than that, but oh well, not every band is going to work quite as well, and it's still high enough that I'm quite likely to investigate them further. 

Dissapointed you didn't mention that killer intro riff on More Than I Could Chew

It's good, it just doesn't stand out from some of the others.  And it's just a bit outside of the tuning range that appeals most to me, which I know is pretty arbitrary, but I can't really help it. 

[Evermind]

Sent!

[senecadawg2]

As great as some of Kevin Gilberts bigger productions are, I really enjoy some of the more minimalist stuff he did. Song for a Dead Friend and Lonely Road are the two that especially come to mind.

This, especially. The lyrics on Song for a Dead Friend still blow me away.

[ariich]

As great as some of Kevin Gilberts bigger productions are, I really enjoy some of the more minimalist stuff he did. Song for a Dead Friend and Lonely Road are the two that especially come to mind.

This, especially. The lyrics on Song for a Dead Friend still blow me away.

I'm not much of a Gilbert fan, but that song destroys me.

Anyway sent!

[Lethean]

Lethean - Angra - "The Shaman", "Upper Levels"

Early Impression - "I wish the first song had the production quality of the second, but I may have been sleeping on this band too."

Final Summary:

It seems this could be a band that I might enjoy their later releases more due to a sleeker production, but even the earlier track has noteworthy properties, making this another artist that look forward to hearing more from. 

Details:

Angra is another of those bands I've known about seemingly forever, but just never spent a lot of time with.  I'd heard Temple of Shadows, which was considered a classic, and enjoyed it, but was just never compelled to revisit it.  Even when their name kept popping back up with Aquilles Priester auditioning for DT and Kiko Loureiro taking the Megadeth co-guitar slot, I just never made the effort to investigate them further.  I'm kind of regretting that a bit, but hey, that's exactly why I'm having this round, because later is better than never. 

It's curious that aggregation sites seem to consider Holy Land, the album "The Shaman" is from, to be much better than Secret Garden, the originating album for "Upper Levels".  Perhaps it's an issue of consistency, but at least these particular songs go in the opposite order for me.  "The Shaman" is a nice enough song, I enjoy some of the hand percussion and auxiliary instrumentation in particular (the didgeridoo in the ending especially, I own one myself, but am awful at trying to play it), but the overall production feels really time-locked to the mid-90s, with some dated keyboard patches and a fairly weak guitar tone. 

"Upper Levels" on the other hand, just has a much richer feel to me, a higher-budget sound, meatier guitars, and still with some hand percussion and other intriguing components here and there.  I was kind of hoping one of these tracks would have Aquilles, as I've seen him live when he toured with Tony MacAlpine, plus the DT audition, and a few Youtube playthroughs here and there, but he seems to have been inbetween these eras.  No matter though, I can check out that material later, and his replacement is more than capable, with some quite piquant arrangements and great drum mixing, especially on the toms. 

Kiko's soloing is another highlight, as I hoped it would be based on everything I've heard from him before (and you sending him in an earlier round).  He really is a complete soloist, seamlessly going between some jazzy phrasing, blues licks, the shredding you expect in prog/power metal, and he's again especially adept with whammy dips, which I find quite addicting.  There is some fantastic bass work throughout as well, most notably in the intro of "Upper Levels" and at 4:06 inbetween the solos.  And I assume Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee were given writing credit for that whole section at 4:36, the resemblance is kind of uncanny. 

Vocally they're nothing particularly notable, with a fairly conventional prog/power sort of vocal style.  I was surprised to learn that Fabio Lione of Rhapsody has been their vocalist for awhile now.  Rhapsody was actually one of the very first power metal bands I listened to, though they were never one of my favorites, and it's been so long and I've listened to so very little of them since then, which likely explains why I didn't make the connection at first.  That harmony section at 3:10 in "Upper Levels" is quite stunning though, I kind of hope they do that more often on other songs. 

Score:  8/10

Just perusing these comments, as there are a lot bands I like...particularly fond of early Angra. Litho, do yourself a favor a give the full Holy Land album (that's where The Shaman is from) a listen. It's excellent. Admittedly, it might be "especially special" for me because it came out during a time of full blown music discovery, but Angra kicked it up a notch from their (already great) debut. They were very influenced by Helloween on that one (although with more than a bit of distinct personality already), while with Holy Land they truly came into their own. There's plenty of power metal still (not that you can hear much of it on The Shaman), but all mixed in with a bunch of cool influences, including classical and ethnic music. The production could be a little warmer, but it works. And Andre Matos (RIP) is great on this one.

I, of course, completely concur with this recommendation.  Yet another confession that I don't care about production, but in this case I really hope if it's that bad, it's something you (Litho) can get past to listen to the album.  Because the songs on Holy Land are awesome.  So creative and unique and just all around fantastic.  And Andre Matos doesn't really sound much like anyone else to me.

Secret Garden is a great album imo.  I don't like the title track, and there's a song or two that I'm indifferent to, but it's very strong.  I'd recommend Omni over it, but Omni doesn't have Kiko so maybe just listen to them both.

from a massive fan of the Andre Matos period Angra, while "The Shaman" is a great track, but I would have probably gone with something else 1st.
I actually did think about sending them.

I can see that.  There are some longer tracks that I wanted to send but didn't have time for.  And I didn't want to send the "hits" thinking Litho has maybe already heard them somehow and even if not, it'll be easy enough for him to find them if he starts looking into Angra.  The Shaman is pretty awesome and I wanted a track that had a lot of the Brazilian elements to it. 

[Lethean]

Sent for round 12.

Also, very glad to see that Riverside won round 11. 

[SoundscapeMN]

Just sent mine.

This was a lot more difficult a round to figure out than I assumed it would be.

Mostly because my taste in pre 1990 music is Classic Rock, Prog, or Jazz Fusion for the most part.

Well the Jazz Fusion doesn't work as he stated
Classic Rock standards also don't work as he stated

And sending some of the big names of Prog, even deeper tracks seems a little less unique. Even just scanning Litho's rym, a lot of names I was thinking of, he has some if not a lot of music already from, many rated, etc.

Or some of the things I thought of, there really was only like 1 track I would feel good about sending him (or only 1 track I really know from said artist. Like several artists from the 80's, like a 1-hit wonder or, they just happen to have 1 really good tune, etc).

So, I had to come up with something that I knew he wouldn't know, but also would potentially like, but wasn't predictable, etc.

I'm sure I'll probably come up with a handful of artists I could have sent him later, which seems to happen to me and I imagine others. But, I try (and maybe fail miserably at it) to avoid doing too much overthinking with this stuff, lol.

from a massive fan of the Andre Matos period Angra, while "The Shaman" is a great track, but I would have probably gone with something else 1st.
I actually did think about sending them.

I can see that.  There are some longer tracks that I wanted to send but didn't have time for.  And I didn't want to send the "hits" thinking Litho has maybe already heard them somehow and even if not, it'll be easy enough for him to find them if he starts looking into Angra.  The Shaman is pretty awesome and I wanted a track that had a lot of the Brazilian elements to it.

yeah, it was the length of some of them that shyed me away. I also figured someone else might send them (or Shaman itself, although they weren't in the list of artists I don't think).

[TAC]

Just sent mine.

This was a lot more difficult a round to figure out than I assumed it would be.

Mostly because my taste in pre 1990 music is Classic Rock, Prog, or Jazz Fusion for the most part.

Well the Jazz Fusion doesn't work as he stated
Classic Rock standards also don't work as he stated

And sending some of the big names of Prog, even deeper tracks seems a little less unique. Even just scanning Litho's rym, a lot of names I was thinking of, he has some if not a lot of music already from, many rated, etc.

Or some of the things I thought of, there really was only like 1 track I would feel good about sending him (or only 1 track I really know from said artist. Like several artists from the 80's, like a 1-hit wonder or, they just happen to have 1 really good tune, etc).

So, I had to come up with something that I knew he wouldn't know, but also would potentially like, but wasn't predictable, etc.

I'm sure I'll probably come up with a handful of artists I could have sent him later, which seems to happen to me and I imagine others. But, I try (and maybe fail miserably at it) to avoid doing too much overthinking with this stuff, lol.

Oh brother..

I can see why you're leading this roulette.

[ariich]

Just sent mine.

This was a lot more difficult a round to figure out than I assumed it would be.

Mostly because my taste in pre 1990 music is Classic Rock, Prog, or Jazz Fusion for the most part.

Well the Jazz Fusion doesn't work as he stated
Classic Rock standards also don't work as he stated

And sending some of the big names of Prog, even deeper tracks seems a little less unique. Even just scanning Litho's rym, a lot of names I was thinking of, he has some if not a lot of music already from, many rated, etc.

Or some of the things I thought of, there really was only like 1 track I would feel good about sending him (or only 1 track I really know from said artist. Like several artists from the 80's, like a 1-hit wonder or, they just happen to have 1 really good tune, etc).

So, I had to come up with something that I knew he wouldn't know, but also would potentially like, but wasn't predictable, etc.

I'm sure I'll probably come up with a handful of artists I could have sent him later, which seems to happen to me and I imagine others. But, I try (and maybe fail miserably at it) to avoid doing too much overthinking with this stuff, lol.

Oh brother..

I can see why you're leading this roulette.

A match made in heaven.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

 

[Evermind]

Oh brother..

I can see why you're leading this roulette.

 

[twosuitsluke]

It’s a 20 minute limit for this round now right? Only stipulation is before 1990? Got it.

Edit: also, are movie scores on the table?

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so. 

[twosuitsluke]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

Ha! You don’t sound thrilled by the prospect. It’s ok, I don’t think I will send a movie score.

[TAC]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

AKA Please Don't! 

[twosuitsluke]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

AKA Please Don't! 

He’s used to me sending shit by now 

Gonna send shortly. I’m actually more confident in my submission than I have been in this roulette for a long time 

Edit: sent

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

AKA Please Don't! 

Two of my favorite albums of all time are film scores.  I don't listen to others particularly frequently though, so while I certainly don't have any particular opposition to them, I just hadn't given enough thought to the idea of receiving them yet.  They could certainly work if they were the right ones, but it's kind of like that for almost anything, really. 

[Nachtmerrie]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

One artist?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Yeah, 20 minutes, 1989 or earlier. 

I suppose so.

One artist?

I just realized Litho never answered you here, but yeah it's one artist.




also 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Ah, yeah, we already resolved it over e-mail. 

Still waiting on one person (who could it be?), and if they don't respond to my PMs by tomorrow I'll probably just put hangman up then and add them in later. 

[Sacul]

Is it someone named after a great Deftones song?

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Or it might be a cool song from a band highlighted a couple times in ariich's roulette. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3lJXbUT-qE

He actually sent, but I already knew one of the songs too well.  I have a few errands to run, but I'll throw up hangman this evening, with one song short if need be. 

[twosuitsluke]

but I'll throw up

Murder of the Universe AGAIN! Knew I’d convert you.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

[LithoJazzoSphere]

  : __________
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Guessed letters:

[Sacul]

D

[TAC]

T

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I know When Dream & Day Unite came out in '89, but DT is banned. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

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Guessed letters: dt

[Crow]

F