Every month, I'm going to highlight a few new songs (singles/album tracks) which have piqued my interest in a good way or a bad way. They will be split into three categories (like SPIN's song list)- "Excellent", "Worthy Of Attention" and "Utter Trash". Here is this month's list (in no particular order):
Govinda- Matter (Water Music)- Culled from the Austin, Texas group's 2003 album "Echoes Of Eden" and from the Tantra Lounge's excellent 2004 release, "Tantra Lounge Vol. 2: More Exotic Electronica", "Matter" stood as a standout among standouts on a collection fusing Middle Eastern sounds with electronica. This song in particular is very trance-like but also very vibrant and catchy, making for a very interesting experience.
Dimmu Borgir- Cataclysm Children (Nuclear Blast)- Not really the second single off "Death Cult Armageddon" but, more realistically, the next best song on the album, "Cataclysm Children" combines the usual brutality (and energy) of contemporary black metal with the band's signature classical touch. Of particular note are the piano segments, as they take the song into a whole new level, showing that the band is not just about brute force. An energetic masterpiece.
Houston f/Chingy, I-20 & Nate Dogg- I Like That (Capitol/EMI)- Yeah, it may sound weird to include this track (given its awful title), but no matter what, I just can't shake this song from my head. It's about as infectious and danceable as a club R&B hit needs to be, and, even if it's biggest selling points belong to the guests (most notably the producers Trak Starz and Chingy, as surprising as that may sound) and not the main performer, "I Like That" is a simple, fun club hit that delivers all that it needs to, even if it means it'll be too big for the performer to top.
Uncle Kracker- Rescue (Lava/Warner)- With more melodrama than your average soap opera, Uncle Kracker manages to produce the worst song of his career, one that was otherwise palatable. Featuring such cliched lines as "won't you come to my rescue/Shake this pain from my soul" and "I'm out here, stranded out here/On this lonely road, I'm so lost, won't you lead me home", you'll need someone to come to your rescue whenever this song comes on.
Jason McCoy- It Ain't Easy Being Me (Open Road/Universal)- Not the worst song from his terrible album, "Sins, Lies And Angels", but one of them anyway. The song starts off with "There oughta be a town somewhere named for how I feel/I could be the mayor down there and say welcome to Sorryville/You won’t find it on a map nowhere, you might say that it don’t exist/But if you make enough wrong turns it’d be hard to miss" and continues on with a infuriating state of self-wallowing that borders on childish- and this from the guy who brought us the macho single "I Feel A Sin Comin' On". Man, pull yourself together- life's not that hard.
Otep- Buried Alive (Capitol/EMI)- This is the sorry state of death metal: a band whose only real understanding of the term is to scream and excessively wail about how terrible life is, all topics done to death and far better by other artists. This particular song was the most grating on Otep's horrible "House Of Secrets" album, as this song features the lyrics "I hate my life" blurted out several times during the course of the song. You know, I'd also hate my life if I didn't realize that I could turn to Cynic and forget this tripe.
-DG
