Your favourite band?

[Arnab]

Yes, I do care about lyrics. For example, I have listened to no other contemporary band that writes more beautiful and profound lyrics than Tool. Do you want examples?

1. Something kinda sad about,
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?

How can it mean anything to me,
if I really don't feel a thing at all?

I'll, keep, digging
till I, feel, something.

Elbow deep inside the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Shoulder deep within the borderline.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.

2. Saw that gap again today
while you were begging me to stay.
Managed to push myself away,
and you, as well, my dear.

If, when I say I might fade like a sigh if I stay,
you minimize my movement anyway,
I must persuade you another way.

3. I embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to
feel connected,
enough to step aside and,
weep like a widow, to
feel inspired, to
fathom the power, to
witness the beauty, to
bathe in the fountain, to
swing on the spiral of
our divinity and
still be a human

With my feet upon the ground I move myeslf between the sounds and open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out. I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.

4. So crucify the ego before it's far too late
To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.
Just let the light touch you and let the words spill through
Just let them pass right through, bringing out our hope and reason.

before we pine away.

5. Wear your grudge like a crown of negativity.
Calculate what you will or will not tolerate.
Desperate to control all and everything.
Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen.
Wear the grudge like a crown.
Desperate to control.
Unable to forgive. And sinking deeper.

Give away the stone.
Let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor.
Give away the stone.
Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold.

Let go!

------------

Let me give you an example of lyrics by my other favorite progressive metal band, Pain of Salvation. This is one of their songs called "The Perfect Element":

Yesterday found him today
Caught him at his last breath
These walls built to stand come-what-may
Lie shattered in the ashes
His skin against this dirty floor
Eyes fixed on the ceiling
He has stretched those chains of sin
Far beyond all feelings
Still, so still...

In his head a thunderous
Cry of desperation
Tearing voices from his past
Scream for his attention
Behind those eyes a world explodes
No one there to save him
All pain that he's been passing on
Answers to his craving
Once more

I will never leave this shame...

Falling beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

Stealing meaning from this child
We took away his reason
His soul put under lock and key
His heart blackened from treason
But if you take from those you fear
Everything they value
You have bred the perfect beast
Drained enough to kill you

Falling beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

Watching, unseen,
Untouched, bleeding,
Empty, exposed,
Dying, eyes closed

Once he had forests and mountains
That were only his - listening to him
Once he would run through the summer days
Catching memories for ages to come
Now he is dressing this naked floor
With his flesh and blood, and times passes by
His trade of pain might just have lead him
To deal with consequence
For some change as time passes by

I am the waking child
(Lingering, climbing, clinging, clutching
Craving, clawing, hurting, falling down)
I, the wayward son of a mountain lake
(Of icy liquor tears, of a silent Earth)
(Of a rusty lid, of a wingless wind)
(Of an eyeless storm, of fallen gods,
who lost their way)
I set myself on fire
To breed the Perfect Element

Will I ever walk again?

Falling far beyond the point of no return
Nothing to become and nothing left to burn

-------

Another favorite progressive metal of mine is Dream Theater. Here's a song called "Voices":

'Love, just don't stare'
He used to say to me
every Sunday morning
The spider in the window
The angel in the pool
The old man takes the poison
Now the widow makes the rules

'So speak, I'm right here'
She used to say to me
not a word, not a word
Judas on the ceiling
the Devil in my bed
I guess Easter's never coming
So I'll just wait inside my head

Like a scream but sort of silent
living off my nightmares

Voices repeating me
'Feeling threatened?
We reflect your hopes and fears.'
Voices discussing me
'Others steal your thoughts
they're not confined
within your mind.'

Thought disorder
Dream control
Now they read my mind on the radio
But where was the Garden of Eden?

I feel elated
I feel depressed
Sex is death, Death is sex
Says it right here on my Crucifix

Like a scream but sort of silent
living off my nightmares

Voices protecting me
'Good behavior
brings the Savior
to his knees.'
Voices rejecting me
'Others steal your thoughts
they're not confined
to your own mind.'

[Dialogue by rap artist Prix-mo reading from the book "Cultural Revolution".]
"I don't wanna be here, 'cause of my
suffering, 'cause of my illness.
Only love is worth having, only
love is what matters, loving every
people on equal terms. "
"You've got to know who you're
dealin' with because, like a stranger,
a-heh, just might come in through
here with a gun... and then, what
would you do? (Heh.)"
"Everything is immaterial..."
"'n' you know that reality is immaterial."
"This is not reality..."

I'm kneeling on the floor
staring at the wall
like the spider in the window
I wish that I could speak
Is there fantasy in refuge?
God in politicians?
Should I turn on my religion?
These demons in my head tell me to

I'm lying here in bed
Swear my skin is inside out
Just another Sunday morning

Seen my diary on the newsstand
Seems we've lost the truth to quicksand
It's a shame no one is praying
'Cause these voices in my head
keep saying...

'Love, just don't stare.'
'Reveal the Word when you're
supposed to'
Withdrawn and introverted
Infectiously perverted
'Being laughed at and confused
keeps us pleasantly amused
enough to stay.'

Maybe I'm just Cassandra fleeting
Twentieth century Icon bleeding
Willing to risk Salvation
to escape from isolation

I'm witness to redemption
heard you speak but never listened
Can you rid me of my secrets?
Deliver us from Darkness?

Voices repeating me
'Feeling threatened?
We reflect your hopes and fears.'
Voices discussing me
Don't expect your own Messiah
This neverworld which you desire
is only in your mind.

[Edited on 15-1-2004 by Arnab]

[mona]

Well I'm no lyrics expert, but they do look like they would make a good song. You can find that with Tool but what about all the other more heavier metal bands? With heavy metal what's the point of having lyrics when you can't even understand what they're saying because they're screaming and sound like they're banging saucepans together? I think you'd have a better chance finding someone who has equally as good lyrics as Tool and who you can actually listen to for hours without getting a headache.

[Arnab]

Haha! So Tool is not so bad any more? Uh Oh! What has the world come to?

Other heavy metal bands? Just like any other genre, there are metal bands that write good lyrics and bands that write poorly. A good heavy metal song doesn't just revolve around lyrics. It also exudes a certain "attitude" through the use of electrical guitars and loud drums. If you truly want to capture the spirit of metal, I suggest you read about the roots of heavy metal back in the late 60s, how it came to exist.

I am not just looking for good lyrics. Other wise I could just read poetry and forget about the "music". I am looking for high quality musicianship, too. I am looking for music that moves me. Sometimes, heavy metal moves me in a certain way that no other genre can. Sometimes, Jazz does the same thing. Sometimes I am in the mood for some classical music. Other times I am dancing to the beats of club music.

Like I said, keep an open mind.

[Edited on 15-1-2004 by Arnab]

[fab]

I don't really care about Nogor Baul or LRB. They are the quentessential putuputu emotional bands that cater to the tastes of general bangali middle class youth. Not my cup of tea.

Oh really? That's rather contradictory considering that Pop musicians and the likes of Shania Twain and Christina Aguilera are also "quEntessential [sic] putuputu emotional" artists that cater to the tastes of general middle class teenagers

[Edited on 16-1-2004 by fab]

[Arnab]

Haha! Yeah right! The Bengali middle class youth has the same social issues as the North American middle class. As if Shania's songs are totally comparable to LRB's music. And I don't even like Shania THAT much. Most of the time, I don't care what vapid lyrics she's singing. I like the musical nature of the Shania songs that they play on radio. She has a good voice and I like it. What can I say?

If you really wanna talk about contradictions: I like Christina Aguilera too because of her voice, but I don't like Britney's music, I like Shania but I don't like Pink. Am I a contradictory pop listener? Or is it a matter of personal taste? I like Christina's voice, but I also like growling death metal vocals. Isn't that a bigger contradiction? I have been to numerous metal concerts and head banged. I have also sat at an equal number of classical concerts in prestigious concert halls to enjoy symphonies and applauded the artists properly. I also enjoyed jazz with my girlfriend at local bars. Contradiction?

[Shubho]

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR

[fab]

Looks like you missed my point Social differences between the two cultures aside, it doesn't negate the fact that music from ANY culture that is targeted to the mass population will always be emotional and follow a specific, success proven formula. I just thought it was contradictory that you scorn the middle class music of one culture, while praising the same of another.

Anyhow, if your girlfriend likes Portishead, she may also like Hooverphonic (from Sweden I think), who are sooo Portisheadish it is quite embarrassing!

[Arnab]

I can see your point. But there's no contradiction really. The formula for successful music for the American middle class is different from that for the Bangladeshi middle class. The musical style will be different. As the west is technologically advanced, the level of production will be different. Also different will be how the music is interpreted by the target population. They are not just the same. It's like saying "Bangla is a language, English is a language; So, Bangla=English." There's a lot of differences based on cultural nuances amd subtlties in production between LRB and Shania's music that can make me prefer one over the other.

Hooverphonic...I'll tell her.

[Edited on 19-1-2004 by Arnab]

[nitewulf]

hi, did a search on artcell and came across this thread. im currently heavily into bangla rock and couldnt help but say a few things.

first of all, those of you who are into bangla rock, and are interested about the new emergent rock scene and the underground bands there, please check out the 'amadergaan.com' site/forums. we have various band members participating in various threads all the time, plus you can check out a lot of bangla rock/pop music from the 'downloads' section.

now here are my favorite bangla bands:

1) the watson brothers - sheer brilliance. post modern lyrics, melodious guitar driven rock, mindblowing compostions, and ridiculously good production quality...they are absurdly ahead of their time for bangladesh.

website:

http://www.thewatsonbrothers.com/

you can check out their song samples from the site. mind you, samples are of low quality and are not representative of the actual sound quality.

you can get the album from 'http://www.banglabazaar.com', actually albums of all the bands i am mentioning here can be obtained from said website.

2) black - while TWB is my personal favorite band, black IS THE BEST BAND IN BANGLADESH, hands down, right now. very talented. awesome compositions, awesome lyrics, and awesome attitude...totally guitar driven grunge rock/pop.

website: www.enterblack.com

songs: check out amadergaan.com for songs by black. actually let me link a few for your convenience,

http://www.amadergaan.com/mp3/Black/...20-%20Amra.mp3

http://www.amadergaan.com/mp3/Black/...-%20Opolap.mp3


3) cryptic fate - best metal band in bangladesh right now, in my opinon. their album 'shrestho' is a concept album based on the liberation war. check out their song from the mixed compilation album 'agontuk - 2' to see what kind of production quality and compositions they are achieving nowadays. the vocalist shakib is a huge cricket fan as well, he actually wrote a song after bangladesh won the ICC championship, that song is included in the first agontuk album, its called 'joyodhonni'.

those are three of my favortie bangla bands so i described them in detail. when my bro's band (zefyr) releases their album in NYC, im sure they'll get a spot there as well.

also checkout 'bangla', they are an aweomse trippy fusion rock band. their debut album is mindblowing.

other bands to look out for: stentorian, nemesis, breach, kronic and arbovirus.

By the way, artcell is what you would call a 'progressive rock' or 'progressive metal' band in the same vain as dream theater, symphony x etc...not really my thing, but they are quite good at what they do. i preffer the gold old retro metal such as maiden, priest and dio and stylish metal like tool, sevendust and cryptic fate.

just to let you guys get an idea of my own musical tastes, ill answer the questions asked by the thread starter:

1. Favourite Artist?
The Doors
followed by:
Led Zeppelin
Credence Clearwater Revival
The Rolling Stones
Stone Temple Pilots
The Watson Brothers
Black
Feedback
The Who
The Beatles
Bob Marley


2. Favourite Album?

People are strange - doors
boston - boston
Zeppelin 4 - led zeppelin
Ullash - feedback
warfaze - warfaze
ohom - the watson brothers
amar prithibi - black
bad company - bad company

3. Favourite Song?

stairway - zepp
when the music's over - doors
shine on your crazy diamonds - floyd
rong - watson brothers
chena dukhkho - black

4. i) 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th favourite Artist?

already answered.

ii) the Artists whose most songs you know off by heart.

black, watson brothers, doors, credence clearwater revival, boston, floyd, the who, the rolling stones, beatles.

well hopefully that was an informative post for some of you, i hope you do check out some of the kick a** music thats coming out from bangladesh now. it makes me proud that our boys are doing such great music recently.

[Edited on 6-2-2004 by nitewulf]

[Shafi]

Just read this thread and great to see that there are some bangladeshi band fans too

Artcell and Black are among the most talented bands in Bangladesh now.They are awesome. But what surprised me that none talked about warfaze and miles!!!

These two are bangladeshi legends as I think.

Cryptic fate has some nice BAss works but I don't like the vocal. Same for Watson Bro because both has same vocal.

Don't think Watson bro is a full time performing band because their bass and vocal are from cryptic fate as I know.

And also I missed bon jovi,scorpions in thise thread I like them too.
G&R are also great.Bsides I like few songs from Brian Adams and Ronan Keating.

Shafi

[Carte Blanche]

After reading nitewulf's post, I decided to pay a visit to the "watsonbrothers" website. Watson Brothers? Since when Watson is a Bengali surname? The name itself is queer to start with. As if that wasn't enough, I had to find this piece of LAME info on WB's bassist Farhan's page:

Farhan happens to have that wonderfully rare quality in a Bangladeshi bassist-- he's had sex. In fact, he makes up the 20% of The Watson Brothers who have, i.e. the only person. He talks about his great experience: "Hmmm, I remember it just like it was yesterday. It was right before Class 8, and it happened twice. Hmmm." Inquisitive friends have asked, "What exactly took place?" and Farhan replies "I don't know exactly, but I had a great time. I have written a bass solo that lasts exactly as long as that sublimely beautiful experience-- 45 seconds. All I can tell you is that it actually happened, and I'm not lying. Hmmm."

Imran Aziz's page:

He started off with The Attempted Band, but found that his girlfriend being the lead singer in the band meant that he'd get pushed around. That's why he co-formed The Watson Brothers

OooOOOOooOOOoo! Meye niye shomossha. Then they had to come up with this filthy chunk of gross humour:

Sometimes Imran's numerous friends at York University in Toronto, in hierarchical order according to penis length, sit around him in a circle and ask him to tell them of his troubles. He greatly enjoys this activity, but they usually leave after the story involving the time he discovered Arafat's morning juices on his bathroom floor-- and that ain't orange that we're talkin' about, bunky!

Similar stuff abound in their site, which I'll leave for the reader to find out. I thought of checking out some of their music. I think I'll go read some old BC articles now.

I hope some day these artistes (?) will learn to have a decent site with serious info. Nobody comes to study the art of "master..." in a supposedly metal-music website.

[Carte Blanche]

Forgot to thank nitewulf for his post. I actually checked out the other sites you mentioned. Some good links there. Although Black's website doesn't carry much info right now, as they promise to update it soon, the site designing is very nicely done. Very unique for a Bangla band. Undoubtedly the best I've ran into. Tried out some of their music too. Although this genre of music isn't my cup of tea, I still managed to like some of their productions. Thanks again for the informative post.

[Sami]

Watson Bro... they are just growing up... so carte I guess its the puberty they just hit... show-off is the word... :duh:

Black is brilliant and they have an awesome website.... too bad its been underconstruction for the better of the last 3 months and still is... it practically has nothing... but the looks are just awesome. These ppl got taste... and they get the flute going in their music... love that...

[adnan]

But what surprised me that none talked about warfaze

They are a personal favourite of mine. Really really cool.

Any Chris Rea fan out there ?

[nitewulf]

thing about warfaze is, they suck now. their first two albums were really good, but then some of the fouding members left and they became stagnant and too commercial. as for miles, they are good but they are a pop/rock band, just not my favoured genre.
carte blanche, the drummer of TWB, arafat made the website...his humour takes getting used to i guess, and is definitely not politically correct. but he really is a great guy, and quite intelligent. please dont get any impressions about their music from the way the site is written, thats solely arafat's humour seeping through. the music is on a different level altogether. if you are interested, i could send u some songs through MSN or something.

[fab]

Originally posted by Carte Blanche
Imran Aziz's page:
Sometimes Imran's numerous friends at York University in Toronto, in hierarchical order according to penis length, sit around him in a circle and ask him to tell them of his troubles.

A hierarchical circle? :duh:

[Orpheus]

The name itself is queer to start with

They are trying to prove this wrong! One down.....4 more to go...

A hierarchical circle?

Amio ektu confused.

Bengalis talking about size?? When a bengali boasts about his penis size, you know he is lying... This miscegenation - egyptian & white (some ugly white I assume) girl in my school said it best: "I like everything about Bangladeshi guys except their penis size"

By the way, my height 5'11 - so don't even THINK about dissing me!

[Carte Blanche]

Originally posted by Orpheus

They are trying to prove this wrong! One down.....4 more to go...

lol orphy, ok i admit i'm wrong, but they're still 80% queer

[nitewulf]

heh, ok, i think you guys are taking the site literally? thats odd...the whole site is sarcastic, its not meant to be a serious band site. it's filled with juvenile toilet humour. the drummer just made it up, as opposed to the black website, which is professionally made.
the thing about imran's ex gf as the front man (woman?) of his previous band for instance...was supposed to be taken as a joke, the joke being imran is a loser...it was not meant as a socio-political treatise on the human condition.
dont you get it? they are all friends, and the site depicts all of them as losers, you guys never had a friend circle where everyone used to make fun of each other? odd.
even the name for instance, why does it have to be bengali? because they are from bangladesh? the band members arent brothers in the literal sense, neither do they share the surname watson...
you guys are taking it way too literally...

[Arnab]

nitewulf, there are uptight people everywhere. it's ok. we need both types.

[smickel]

My favourite band would have to be U2.

[Sami]

Those who have heard Hoobastank before... listen to their album ''The Reason''. I just got it and I am completely in love with it... brilliant... all of the songs Suprnova has the album... check it out...

[acker]

Fav band Guns n Roses
Fav album Back in Black (AC-DC)
Fav song Rock the Casbah (The Clash)

[acker]

Here is a fav Nickleback lyric of mine

I like your pants around your feet
I like the way you look up to me , while your on your knees
The way you ask me please , you are my favorite damn disease

so much for womens lib
they know their place

[mona]

Originally posted by acker
Here is a fav Nickleback lyric of mine

I like your pants around your feet
I like the way you look up to me , while your on your knees
The way you ask me please , you are my favorite damn disease

haha acker you know what's the funniest thing? i saw that song on video hits the other day, and i thought they were possibly the worst lyrics i'd ever heard!

man that watson brothers stuff is NOT sarcasm. it's just plain gay. i mean, who says that?

meanwhile in australia, we have the best hip hop bands coming out....anyone who can....check out the Cat Empire and Hilltop Hoods!