Current/Last Thing You Listened To?

[Moonface]

@Maniakkid25: Part of me was hoping she was going to be from my home county of Essex until I learned that that's her actual name and she's Canadian.

Almost Here - The Academy Is...

I was kinda curious about why their name is what it is after typing it in this post and turns out they were originally just called The Academy but added the Is... to avoid any legal trouble with other things already using the term.

[Maniakkid25]

Even better, the reason behind the name has nothing to do with that (it's a pun on MSX, as in the famed computer series). They also have A LOT of aliases (with different genders and personalities, too), to the point that they have their own wiki for their work. Yeah, Emma is THAT prolific. I know she does this for a living, but holy f***! 

They also aren't available on Spotify, which is very annoying.

[Moonface]

Would it even be feasible to have their stuff on Spotify in any neat fashion with so many aliases in use, since all the songs wouldn't be able to be listed under a singular artist. Do they make it well known they have so many active and retired aliases or is that just something people figure out for themselves over time?

Spaceman - Babylon Zoo

One of my co-workers this morning kept singing random popular songs from the 90's such as Cotton Eyed Joe and I ended up remembering this song and introducing them to it. Didn't get to really listen to it at the time all the way through though because of being on shift so decided to listen to it fully now instead.

[Maniakkid25]

They make it known, but I don't know how well. One workaround I can think of is that they'd all be under the artist "Halley Labs", which is the "label" that all the aliases are "signed" to (for want of better terms). But, to give you an idea of how much of a shitshow it is for those that didn't check the wiki, Emma Essex is the name of the artist, and one of their aliases that they make music under. No, that's not a typo, and you didn't read that wrong; Emma Essex is different from Emma Essex! And that's not even the first time they've done that! So yeah, that headache I can understand, but I think the real reason is that Spotify is a shit company that doesn't pay the artists nearly as much as they deserve, so their revenue would take a steep decline if they made their music available on streaming platforms. I have no idea how much their fans ask for it to happen, nor what her response to it is; I'm not really following them close enough.

Figurehead (Album) -- The Queenstons

What is arguably their magnum opus. The Queenstons is one of the few aliases that uses original vocals, which are done by Emma herself. This album came out back when they were Renard Queenston, however, so I don't know how different they sound now, if at all. Either way, it's a brilliant mix of Drum and Bass style drums, trance-y synth lines, and anthemic vocals. The name of the alias comes from the fact that two of Emma's major aliases at the time -- Renard and Jackal -- are both Queenstons, so the idea is that they formed a duo together.

[Moonface]

They make it known, but I don't know how well. One workaround I can think of is that they'd all be under the artist "Halley Labs", which is the "label" that all the aliases are "signed" to (for want of better terms). But, to give you an idea of how much of a shitshow it is for those that didn't check the wiki, Emma Essex is the name of the artist, and one of their aliases that they make music under. No, that's not a typo, and you didn't read that wrong; Emma Essex is different from Emma Essex! And that's not even the first time they've done that! So yeah, that headache I can understand, but I think the real reason is that Spotify is a shit company that doesn't pay the artists nearly as much as they deserve, so their revenue would take a steep decline if they made their music available on streaming platforms. I have no idea how much their fans ask for it to happen, nor what her response to it is; I'm not really following them close enough.

I...uh..uegh~~ 
On the part about Spotify not paying much to artists on their platform, I assume that most if not all other music streaming platforms are probably just as bad? If so, do you think there's any way for a music streaming platform to be sustainable for both itself and the artists hosted upon it?


For some reason I got Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island in my mind at like 2am during my non-sleeping stupor, and haven't been able to get this song out of my head all day so decided to just go and listen to it:

[Maniakkid25]

Jesus Built My Hotrod -- Ministry

Okay, I know that from a band with that name, this sounds like a parody of worship music, but it's not. Ministry is an influential Industrial Metal band (think Nine Inch Nails), and this is apparently a fan favorite song by them. It's a very weird song, between the polymeter (4/4 drums under a 5/4 guitar riff) and the incoherent gibberish being spouted by guest vocalist Gibby Haynes (of the Butthole Surfers), and apparently that gibberish comes from the fact that Gibby was absolutely s***face drunk at the time of recording. This song is weird. Now if only it didn't rock so damn hard...

[Moonface]

Jesus Built My Hotrod -- Ministry

Okay, I know that from a band with that name, this sounds like a parody of worship music, but it's not.

I forgot for a moment that the artist name comes second and thought they were called Jesus Built My Hotrod because of the highlighted statement until I read the sentence following it.

...the incoherent gibberish being spouted by guest vocalist Gibby Haynes (of the Butthole Surfers), and apparently that gibberish comes from the fact that Gibby was absolutely s***face drunk at the time of recording. This song is weird. Now if only it didn't rock so damn hard...

How does he perform this song live then, if at all? I can't imagine it would be easy to sing something sober that was originally performed while drunk.


Constant Conversations - Passion Pit

[Maniakkid25]

...the incoherent gibberish being spouted by guest vocalist Gibby Haynes (of the Butthole Surfers), and apparently that gibberish comes from the fact that Gibby was absolutely s***face drunk at the time of recording. This song is weird. Now if only it didn't rock so damn hard...

How does he perform this song live then, if at all? I can't imagine it would be easy to sing something sober that was originally performed while drunk.

Your guess is as good as mine. I do know that Gibby Haynes is well known for wanting to sing nonsense, so maybe that's just his flow.

The '59 Sound -- The Gaslight Anthem

This is one of those songs that took me a few listens to actually like it, but admittedly the first time I wasn't really listening. It's a song that's about asking questions to a friend who died in a car crash. The band itself is also really good. They're kind of a punk rock Bruce Springsteen band. I should listen to more of them...

[Mr EliteL]

Celldweller - End of an Empire album

Had a period of not listening to my music thanks to my ear, but decided to get back into it because I missed the songs. Although my MP3 corrupted so haven't got everything/most of my music back on there yet. My ear's still slightly wrong but doesn't bother me as much as before.

[Moonface]

Did you ever have a doctor look at that ear @Mr EliteL?


Whiskey in the Jar - Metallica

Dang I love this cover so much. Just the opening with the two solitary guitar beats going into the full instruments gets me pumping the volume way the heck up every time I hear it.

[Dragon Lord]

[Moonface]

From The Inside - Linkin Park

[Dragon Lord]

I normally don't like covers of Vocaloid songs like this, but damn she absolutely nailed this one. Can't believe this was released six years ago and I never came across it until now.

[Maniakkid25]

Played a little bit of Gitaroo Man today (GAME IS HARD, YO!), and the soundtrack is an absolute banger! Seriously, 100% recommend, would play just to hear that music!

[Moonface]

No idea how this just got stuck into my head to make me wanna listen to it right now, but here we are. To be fair, this game had an absolutely banging lineup of cover songs and is one of the few things I can give it credit for. That dancing minigame for these songs was heckin' lit!