Week OF 6/12 - Punk, A Cappella, Trip Hop, soundtracks

Many soundtracks are hard to classify properly, it can switch genres from song to song. You can do one of two things in a digital playlist, make the genre 'Soundtrack' (the more common option) or properly classify each song (what I do). This week is both Kill Bill soundtracks, along with a modern Torch Songs compilation I found crate digging at a tent-sale, and some other fun items....

New Releases:
Bouncing Souls
Comet
Label: Rise Records / Chunksaah Records
Released: 6/12 2012
Genre: Punk

Bouncing Souls are one of those bands I've always meant to buy an album from, but have never done so... for whatever reasons (or no reason, just is). So I changed that with their latest release. I'm a moderate fan of them, I've been kind of following them since the late 90s or so, enjoying what songs I do come across. Comet is pretty much exactly what I expected from this group, solid east coast punk - plenty of attitude, good melody. While nothing on the album makes me stand up and take notice in a "this is pure awesome" kind of way, I don't want to skip any tracks either. Good, solid, all around punk rock. I think I'll go pick up their back catalog now.

Adding To The Collection:

Pandora Celtica
On Thin Ice
Label: self-released
Released: 2010
Genre: A Cappella, Christmas

Christmas in June! The bonus here is that they don't just do the same 10 songs that are always done for a holiday album. Some strange bits like Santa Claus Got Eaten By The Kraken find their way in. An absolutely awesome cover of Hazy Shade Of Winter is here, turns out the song did need an a cappella version done. Along with some other Christmasy songs, or wintery as the case may be, good album to toss into the holiday pile to keep the mix actually mixed.

Kill Bill
Volume 1
Label: Maverick / A Band Apart
Released: 2004
Genre: soundtrack


Installment one of the movie soundtrack. Opening with Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) is a good choice I think, for the movie and soundtrack. There are some soundscore pieces here as well as songs from the movie. Along with some parts not in the movie like Ode To Oren Ishii which, well, should have been left off. There's all kinds of great mood pieces on here, as Tarantino really does have an ear for action and understands tension. Good movie, good soundtrack.

Kill Bill
Volume 2
Label: Maverick / A Band Apart
Released: 2004
Genre: soundtrack

Installment two... just as epic as the first. A few more audio bits from the movie, which is a few more than it needed. But it's also got Ennio Morricone on it, which means that track alone is worth the price of entry. Same deal as the first volume, soundscore pieces make the album. Another RZA track - this time hidden at the end of the album - really needed to be left off, especially as it completely ruins the outro beauty of the final song. There isn't as much to the second volume, but it's a perfect compliment to the first, and they should have just come together in one package.

Torch
A Six Degrees Collection Of Modern Torch Songs
Label: Six Degrees
Released: 2003
Genre: Trip Hop, Downtempo

I'm wasn't completely sure what I'd get when I saw the title of this one digging through boxes of used CDs during a local record store tent sale, and for a dollar I was completely willing to take the chance. Sadly, this is now out of print, but it's a good testament to early 2000s trip-hop. They all fall, more or less, into proper torch style, and include some choices I would't have thought would make torch songs. dZihan & Kamien, Snooze, and a remix by Nitin Sawhney. Though the last two are known for their downtempo mixes so that's not a total surprise.  It's a good collection, light, and full of unrequited love. If you run across it I recommend picking it up.

Next Week:
Several downtempo albums, some new Army Of The Universe, and Ayria, and a few other things I've found hiding in my stack of goodies pulled at random.