well, i just passed 40,000 plays this afternoon, and i want to take a minute to look over my charts and my relationship with music.
first up is my top ten at this point:
Einstürzende Neubauten,
Skinny Puppy,
Laibach,
Coil,
Swans,
Front 242,
Der Blutharsch,
Front Line Assembly,
Klinik,
Deutsch Nepal. i'd say this is pretty representative of the main part of my taste, although i haven't listened to much d.n. in a while...
neubauten are by far my favourite band. if i'd started on last.fm a couple of years earlier, they would probably be well into the 2000 plays if not higher. i don't listen to them as much as i used to, which is a shame, but there is so much amazing music out there that i can't keep going over and over the classics. plus they are a band that i really like to listen to in complete-album form, and i'm not always in the mood for that. but how i feel about them hasn't changed in a long time.
then there's the rest of my charts. recent additions to my top 50 are
Death in June,
Absolute Body Control and
Fad Gadget. i'd heard lots of dij before, but it hadn't really appealed to me. then i heard brown book and nada, and some of the earlier stuff, and i was totally hooked. the more electronic tracks by dij - "
To Drown a Rose", "
Carousel", "
The Calling", "
Come Before Christ and Murder Love" are brilliant, and very different from the strummy acoustic guitar stuff i'd heard before. a.b.c. almost sprang out of nowhere on me. i knew the name as a klinik-related project, but when i finally heard them i was surprised and enthralled in equal measure - a more conventional structure than klinik but still slightly strange, dark electronics. fad gadget were another surprise - i knew them all along, and i even had a 7" of "
Back To Nature" from god knows when. i know i've danced to f.g. in clubs, i just never got around to playing it at home. well now i have a few albums, and all is well with the world.
the rest of my top 50 hasn't changed much as far as i can tell - the real fun is going on outside of it. i've been assimilating new music at a rate of knots recently. some new discoveries are bands i only have 1 or 2 tracks by, or perhaps a solitary album, so they have no chance of making it to the top. there are loads of post-punk, minimal wave and ebm acts lurking midway down my charts. current lesser-known faves would include
Borghesia,
Nine Circles,
Vice Versa,
Clair Obscur,
Esplendor Geométrico,
Sonar,
Schleimer K,
Click Click and
Malaria!.
i've noticed a resurgence in a teenage listening habit recently. that is, playing one song over and over. i haven't done this for years but over the past six months i've caught myself indulging in repeat listens. tracks that have done this to me include: nine circles "
Twinkling Stars",
Tuxedomoon "
No Tears" (both the original and the
ADULT. remix), laibach "
L'Homme Arme", esplendor geométrico "
mosku esta heladú", and absolute body control "
Is There an Exit?". i'm sure there are others...
i've been listening to a bit less martial industrial of late too, despite the upsurge in death in june plays. the last thing that got me excited was
Triarii's new album. oh, and discovering
Ophir, which is what the guy from
Wappenbund did before wappenbund. i've been meaning to have a dark and stompy martial day for some time now to redress the balance.
hum, so. 40k plays. well done me.
Deutsch Nepal