Orange Tulip Conspiracy - Orange Tulip Conspiracy

Artist: Orange Tulip Conspiracy
Album: Orange Tulip Conspiracy
Genre: Experimental Rock
Year: 2008
Origin: USA (LA)

I usually try to avoid reposting albums that have already been offered by my blogging friends, but this is a great album that deserves more exposure. Orange Tulip Conspiracy is sort of a mashing together of the members of Estradasphere and Secret Chiefs 3. I like both of those bands, but this seems like a culmination of their musical ideas, avoiding some of the sloppiness and incoherency that went with their earlier experimentations. I guess arguably that could mean that this release is more 'tame', but I think that would be selling it short. Anyway, if you aren't familiar with these artists, it's a style created by jumping between (instrumental) genres - all kinds of rock, jazz, classical (and even some death metal) show up when least expected. And it's fantastic.

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Skarp - Requiem

Artist: Skarp
Album: Requiem
Genre: Blackout Grind
Year: 2005
Origin: USA (Seattle)

Blackout grind? Yeah, it's a made-up subgenre, but I think it sounds cool and gives a hint of the band's atmosphere. Skarp takes a crusty punk song structure and drops the bottom out with mammoth heaviness you won't believe. The female vocalist is "singing like I'm from Sweden," with fitting harshness for a grind act. As you can see from the album cover this release has a somewhat silly theme of suicide, making this kind of like the punk equivalent of DSBM, though of course there are the usual anarchist lyrical themes as well.

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Twilight - Monument To Time End

Artist: Twilight
Album: Monument To Time End
Genre: Black Metal
Origin: USA
Year: 2010

Twilight is a super-group of sorts (Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice, Nachtmystium, Isis), playing post black metal kind of how you would expect from the combination of those three parts. It's pretty dense and very good. But you probably already have it. Well if you don't, listen to it here!

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Alex Kresovich - Gold N' Fly 007

Artist: Alex Kresovich
Album: Gold N' Fly 007
Genre: Hip-Hop mashup
Year: 2010 (I think)
Origin: USA (New York)

If you don't have nostalgia for the game, this post probably won't hold much interest for you. But it really is an expert production job, with the tempos and crescendos seamlessly matched. Of course I've played Goldeneye many times and it really brings back memories, but it's kind of amazing that these songs weren't made for this. The quality of the rapping is mixed, from those tracks that could stand on their own (Nas, Tech N9ne, 2Pac) to some really terrible rap by really terrible people (Lil' Wayne, 50 Cent). Admittedly it starts to feel a little repetitive after 22 tracks, but if the concept sounds interesting to you at all you should check this out.

Also, I'm not sure if Alex Kresovich was part of The Ocarina of Rhyme or Vinyl Fantasy VII projects, but they're pretty cool too and are linked from his website.

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