So this is a second compilation from I Heart Noise.

Its not as extreme as its predecessor (a compilation of 1-minute tracks called "Gone In 60 Seconds"), but I sure hope that anyone will like it, because many of those tracks are my personal favorites.

Before I started looking for artists to include on "Boston Not LA", I thought that Boston scene is mostly about punk bands.

Guess what? I was wrong.

Case in point - Jenova 7 (a.k.a. Michael J. Sirois) a local musician and filmmaker, whose work strongly reminds me of people like DJ Shadow or Tommy Guerrero - not the first thing that I would associate with Boston (again).

Needless to say - anyone is highly recommended to check out his work. His more recent album "Soul For Sale" is up for streaming on Bandcamp.

Gone In 60 Seconds is the first compilation from my blog (I Heart Noise).

Its a collection of songs clocking under one minute - more than 20 bands from all over the world, including Ireland, France, Serbia, US and UK.

Just recently, I watched a TV show where TFF were mentioned as one of the disposable pop groups of the 80s. I disagree with that opinion - indeed, they were producing slick music, but it was a bit more sophisticated than stuff done by their peers.

In general, 80s were not good for pop music - whatever comes to mind is overused synthesizer sound and hollow sounding drums. Somehow, TFF were able to inject more life into their songs than many others - even with some of the typical production values for those times.

On a downside, some of their songs are/were overplayed (think "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World") and there was a definite reliance on image (although not as heavy as in, say, Duran Duran or Erasure or bands of that ilk). All in all, many of their songs stood the test of time very well and one can easily find less attractive examples of pop music from the 80s out there.

There's no doubt in mind that Obituary are at the top of their game - be it death metal, thrash metal or metal in general. Unlike many of their peers, they don't rely on shock values, but in general they can still beat listener into submission. They also don't rely on the same tempos and you can actually hear variation among songs, which is quite an achievement for otherwise limited death metal genre. Occasionally John Tardy sounds like acne-sprayed teenager, but that never detracts from the overall experience. All in all, one classy band.

Without a doubt, Mr. Albini is my hero. He was never afraid to say what he actually thinks (as opposed to saying whatever anyone wants to hear from him), which is a great quality, in my book. Add to that his production talents, his work with Shellac and mighty Big Black and you get one of the few really talented people in the industry full of dorks.

I'm really glad that mr. Hulme & company decided to return to the idea of Morricone-esque western music, a sequel of sorts to "Slim Westerns", released in 1994. Their previous record called "Pink & Purple World of Dishonesty" was an attempt to explore jazz/noir side of things, but I don't feel that they succeeded. Second part of "Westerns" is a lot more compact than "Pink & Purple" and its a bit more active than the first part. There are all sorts of things thrown in a blender - Tom Waits-like vocals on "Hey, Mister" (reappearing on "Richard Brautigan"), Spanish horns on "El Mariachi Loco" etc. etc. Its not an easy listening record, by any means, but its still a good work and a worthy sequel to part 1.

Stone Glass Steel (a.k.a. P. Easter) just might be one of the most unusual artists working with samples or sound bits taken from work of other artists. A lot of people are familiar with the work of John Oswald and bands like Negativland, but SGS is in a completely different realm. Philip Easter manage to process sound bites so that they sound completely unrecognizable and while some of them might sound vaguely familiar, most are placed in an entirely different context from an original work, which turns SGS work into a completely bizarre and fascinating experience.

"Zen Arcade" is, without a doubt, one of best albums to come out of the 80s. Its a conceptual masterpiece, dealing with the life of frustrated youth leaving his home who is uncertain about the future. Sonically, its a mix of tape experiments, rough punk/hardcore numbers and acoustic performances, as well - rather unusual for the time when it was released. Tragically, Husker Du were largely misunderstood by larger public which, at that time, was choosing either pre-packaged new wave or hair metal acts as their heroes. At the same time, "Zen Arcade" didn't fit into hardcore/punk ethos either, due to being a multi-dimensional and bizarre affair. While it was ignored upon its initial release, it doesn't say much about the record itself - its a powerful album, which was years ahead of many records released in the mid to late 80s.