dark(wave) week

For lack of any one artist that I particularly want to write about yet wanting to write something @.@, I thought I'll attempt a Weekly Top Artists round-up (of last.fm chart). It should be interesting since some of the weekly tops may not make it to the more permanently visible Top 50 chart in a long time--if ever, but they are certainly no less worthy to put forward and recommend. And I don't always have an more varied chart than this...

UPDATE: download a ten-track selection here, link valid for a week.

1. All my faith lost
An Italian neofolk duo that makes quiet, pensive and somewhat dark (some label it 'goth') music and takes their subject from enchanted world of fairies, folklores, and lot more--my favourite track for example, An early fright from The Hours, muses about existence and Kierkegaard. Try a free track here (courtesy of last.fm).

2. Marissa Nadler
Melancholic and strange but perhaps not so appropriately grouped into the 'New Weird America' folk movement, Nadler exudes a rather more traditional and mystic aura than her contemporaries. She sings airy and slow, with simple and delicate guitar backing, and it totally charms me. Recommended Ballad of Living and Dying for a start.

3. Jewel
Do I have to write about Jewel? Really?? Well, let's try tags: folk, pop, rock, singer-songwriter. Ever since she releases the latest Goodbye Alice in Wonderland I have been ignoring it--gave it a listen, thought it unremarkable and never touched it again. This week I dug it up and listened alongside her earlier efforts, and may I say, it's actually good. Maybe the music is not as intense and so-honest-it-hurts (or apparently embarrasses, as some reviews evidenced) as before, but the life she continues to narrate...is more than some tracks in some album. Way to go, Jewel.

4. The Beatles
I'm not a fan, not by a long shot. I could never quite understand the strong emotions the mere name excites in some people (especially those born long after Beatles disbanded--John is not your personal god! Nor is George, for that matter..*prepares invisible cloak*) Alright. But quite needless to say, they are a great band, especially on the last few albums (my fav: Revolver), truly genius stuff.

5. Black Tape for a Blue Girl
Another darkwave/ambient band--the name was what attracted me first, gotta admit. I still don't quite get what 'gothic' exactly means--it's so musically vague and unilluminating, so I'll just forget that and quote wiki: "their sound could be described accurately as an ambient soundscape of analog synth and old world instruments (both real and synthesized), mixed with vocals of poetic and melancholy themes."

6. Nightwish
Nightwish is probably the one of the most famous and representative of the symphonic metal genre. I remember hearing 'Wish I had an Angel' (youtube) years ago and how the powerful and expansive soundscope stunned me. It had since had its lead vocal fired and replaced, and the new Dark Passion Play album is still very awesome.

7. Green Day
Green Day is a popular American (pop) punk band, and I'm imagining an disapproving stare from Jeremy our residential punk boy as I am writing this, but I have to say: the music is just...sweet! For a long time I was just listening to American Idiot--and never got tired of it, but now I'm starting to go back in time and begin from the beginning, and it's been thrilling.

8. The Ditty Bops
Quirky and playful indie pop band of two girls from California, they play a blend of folk, bluegrass, jazz, swing music, ragtime and musical theater. The eponymous first album is a gem.

9. Norah Jones
I was just indulging myself...I should know better than voluntarily sinking myself in that Sultriness...again... lol.

10. Explosions in the Sky
Someone asked me if I was listening to some violent metal stuff and I asked why. Oh no, this is not a loud metal band. Quite the contrary actually, it's an instrumental band (I still don't like the non-instructive post-rock tag) that makes ambient, experimental music, with equally long and idiosyncratic album names like Suddenly I Miss Everyone or The Earth is not a Cold Death Place.

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Now playing: Lisa Germano - After Monday