So this is something of an experiment. I’ve had a radio show called “Music For Middle-Brow Snobs” on WHPK (the U of C radio station) for some time. I thought it might be cool/exciting/very mildly entertaining to put my playlists on the blog so folks here could download them. This has, however, proved to be more technically difficult than I was expecting. But I think I have it figured out, maybe. Anyway, the first one I’m trying is a Doomy set:
1. Pentagram — When The Screams Come
2. Candlemass — Black Stone Wielder
3. Vintersorg — Jökeln
4. Thor’s Hammer — The(ir) Modern Freedom
5. Ekklesiast — The City
6. Esoteric — Caucus of Mind
7. Jesu — Heartache
8. Gallhammer — Tomurai: May our Father Die
In theory, if you hit the little DOOM download link here, you should go to Mediafire, and be able to download a zip file which, when opened, will give you all the songs on the playlist. If all is well, it should go into your itunes as a single album (that is, if you organize it by album, it should be in the right order.)
So, if anybody cares to download this (Tucker? Eric? Uland? Anybody?) and tell me if it worked, I’d appreciate it. Or if anybody has tips on how to do this better, let me know….
Why, none of those are by DOOM at all.
By coincidence, I just finished reading a TechCrunch article on online music. They mentioned playlist.com, which lets you create playlists and then gives you the html code to post the list to your blog.
Here's a link to the help page, so you can see if this is what you are looking for:
http://www.playlist.com/help
Thanks Bry. I'll check that out.
The download worked just fine. I'm a idiot about importing things, but Candelmass is now playing happily on my itunes.
Great! I love Candlemass….
And Bry, I don't think that link is going to do what I want it to; they allow you to make playlists from their own databases, rather than from your own library, and the latter is what I'm hoping to do. The method I've got seems to work okay, at least, though it is a little cumbersome….
I had to drag the folder and drop it into an iTunes playlist, but I did get the songs okay.
Well, that may be the best I can do….
Nice set. I've been into the more funeral doom side lately; evoken, catacombs, etc.
Thanks Uland. I haven't heard Evoken; I like Catacombs though. Also Skepticism is pretty great.
Is this kind of thing a genre? And is it meant 100% seriously, or are they joking around?
Doom metal is definitely a genre. Basically very slow tempos, minor keys, layered slogging. I think it's very pretty myself; almost ambient.
As to how serious they are…I mean, yes, it's meant to be aesthetically pleasing and meaningful, sure. Some doom bands make more use of humor than others…the Melvins are one of the genre forefathers, and they are definitely a witty band. Of the stuff on my playlist, I think Candlemass definitely has a sense of humor; probably Thor's Hammer too, to some extent.
But none of them are Weird Al; it's not a put on. They're making music which is meant to be music, not a joke. And really, it sounds like music to me. That Ekklesiast song is almost classically structured; Gallhammer (a female Japanese band) is really fearsome, bordering on experimental music.
Really, as far as metal goes, I think this stuff is really some of the most accessible. It has tunes, it's pretty in a straight-forward way. I mean…you pretty much don't like any loud, guitar-based music, do you Tom? Do you even like any post-70s rock at all? I mean, there isn't any reason that you should…but that's where these folks are coming from, more or less. (Particularly from Black Sabbath, but from other somewhat proggy/loud/heavy music as well.)
The stuff does sound like people with skills put it together. But its attitude is so anguished and big, like with most heavy metal, I guess.
Are these guys all from the '90s or from later? The closest I can reference them is grunge, and to tell the truth I know that stuff only thru Nirvana and the Singles soundtrack.
Nirvana I like a lot, but that's pretty commonplace, I suppose.
Nirvana's a good reference; the Melvins are a big influence on Nirvana and on Doom. So they're kind of cousins, I'd say.
And yeah, it's mostly 90s and later. Wikipedia says "During the first half of the 1980s,[1] a number of bands from England (Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General) and the United States (Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble) defined doom metal as a distinct genre." But that stuff sounds pretty different; the more grandiose doom is really a product of the late nineties and oughts, I think.