Thursday, 17 June 2004, 22:35:37 EDT

In the middle of composing the previous post I was called over to my boss' office. It seems that tomorrow will be my last day, at least for a while, working at the CCSU help desk. Starting Monday I will be working for the networking department. My job will be to help install the wireless network in the new University Center with the goal of achieving the maximum coverage area possible. Once that is done we will be going back and re-working the current wireless network across campus to make it better. I am very excited about this progression; I think I am going to have fun with this project and hopefully something more permanent can come of it. I just figured I would mention that before getting in to the real post – CD reviews!

Last week I went to Best Buy to pick up the new Velvet Revolver album; it seems I was a little too early as it was not on the shelves and would not be until the next day. So, I wandered around the store for a while and eventually made my way to the techno music section. Looking through the CDs I found that Dieselboy just release a new album a couple weeks ago and that has tracks from Josh Wink, BT, and Tiësto. How could I resist? One of my favorite acid house artists, one of my favorite break beat artists, and, basically, the only trance artist I like all on the same album and remixed to wicked drum and bass (which I am slowly deciding not to call jungle - just ask if you think you can stand the explanation). I must say, this album rocks! The Wink track is very identifiable and makes me remember why I love that acid sound that comes out of well tweaked Roland TB-303. The other two tracks are not so easily picked out but if you listen you can hear them. Another cool thing about this album is that it was produced as a sort of tribute to the DJ's AD&D buddies and the whole game in general. The album runs just like a campaign; it goes from real dark and evil to ever so slightly melodic all the while being narrated by a dungeon master. If you like d&b and DnD then you should pick this album up.

Since I wasn't able to pick the Velvet Revolver album that day I went back last Saturday and picked it up. After having listened to it for almost a week I can safely say this is an excellent album. At first listen it is rather bland but after listening to it a couple of times the style grows on you. I guess I was just expecting a Guns N' Roses type sound since three-fifths of the band is old GNR band members but the sound is quite different. The music is really mature and is definitely not heavy metal; I would say that it is straight up hard rock. My favorite tracks from the album are Big Machine (#3), Headspace (#7), Superhuman (#8), Slither (#11), and Dirty Little Thing (#12). Quite a few out of thirteen tracks but I like them all equally and they are a good representation of the potential of this band. No, the guys are not young but they are talented musicians and have a good bit of life to draw material from. One of the things that really suprised me about the album is that the lead guitar, played by Slash (why did you think I was going crazy over this band?), is blended much more with the rest of the music. If you don't listen for the lead solos you won't hear them; they match the rest of the music that well. Once again, I recommend you give this one a shot. I must warn the Windows users, though, this CD is "protected" by the MediaMax cd-protection software. You can read this for a detailed explanation of this horrible technology. If you use Windows I recommend you do not put the CD in your computer; if you get the CD and want a digital copy of it just ask me and I will send you one as I don't use Windows and have had no problems copying to Ogg.

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