rocktastic!

Arrrr! I had to do stuff in meatspace today, so this is neither as long nor as thorough as yesterday's S marathon. If it's not enough for you, needy readers, add your own in the comments. You can type way faster than I, anyway. Doooo iiiiiit...

Rachmaninov - spell as you like. I'm not adding many classical composers because I have no classical wisdom and rarely an experience to share - haven't caught Mozart on tour yet - but some are still worth mentioning. Sergei is one in my book. To start, I have an incredible soft spot for piano compositions, which I will explain later. Then, much to the chagrin of probably everyone reading this, I don't really care about "pretty" classical work. Probably because of the bro's piano tendencies, I typically prefer to ditch the artsy, happy-go-lucky stuff for something fast, busy, and minor, or somehow off-key (slight pun intended).

Now that I've explained, I need only provide one descriptor: Rachmaninov is fury in piano form.

Radiohead - ok, yes, Radiohead has been insanely popular in both the popular and underground realms for many years now, with music everywhere on the spectrum between acoustic and extraneously electronic. You probably know them and love them. For me, they occupy a very special niche in my music collection: sleep music. It takes just the right sound to be sleep music, rather than just boring; Radiohead hits it perfectly, being relaxing, yet amusingly engulfing enough to envelope me in a trippy slumber. This is a difficult accomplishment.

Of course, there are a few songs that I will actively choose to listen to: for example, "The National Anthem", "My Iron Lung", and "15 Step" are mesmerizing.

Also, as Jo might recall, Radiohead on shuffle makes interesting statements out of song titles. For example, "Anyone Can Play Guitar", "Just" "I Can't", "Creep". Thanks, Randomhead.

Rage Against the Machine - probably the second-most angry group I know, only because every now and then they covered a neutral-attitude song. Definitely the most obscene lyrics, though; no contest on that one. In other words, I heart. Further, they deserve an inordinate amount of musical cred - their bass player can actually find that elusive thing they call "the pocket"; guitarist Tom Morello has mastered both groove and playing guitar with pencils and screwdrivers; and front man Zack de la Rocha can do timing, obscenities, flag-burning, the "lead singer dance", sarcasm, fat rhymes, more obscenities, and even wit, all at once. Too bad they had to break up - you can only be that serious for so long, I guess.

The Raincoats - I think "Lola" qualifies as educational, and should be included in elementary-level spelling lessons. Just ignore what the song is really about. Pathetic fact: I knew Weird Al's parody, "Yoda", long before I heard the original song. Que triste.

Rammstein - angry-sounding Germansanity! These growly, deep-voiced yellers have unfortunately defined the stereotype for anything Deutsch. If you actually listen, though, the music is complex, clever, quite varied, and often pretty strange. I only understand a few lines here and there, but they're not always angry... Just most of the time. For a quick potshot, they sound like morons when they sing in English. But I can't rip on them so hypocritically, since I would sound infinitely dumber trying to sing in colloquial German.

The Ramones - proof that three chords are sufficient, and sometimes overkill. Punk legends.

Rancid - standard punk. Only worth a mention from me because of "Maxwell Murder", a mostly-incomprehensible <2min track with a lightning-fast bass solo.

Rasputina - precisely not what you would expect from two girls on cello and a wood-block-addicted drummer. To summarize most effectively, consider that they opened for Les Claypool when I saw them in STL in 2006. That hint means "go listen!"

Ravi Shankar - known for his work on the sitar. He released stuff like "Sounds of the Sitar", but sorry, Ravi, that should be singular.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - more pop from jl?? You know them from "Give It Away" and "Californication", no doubt, but to me they are not pop, but fizzled-out 90's funk, with groovetastic tracks like "Mellowship Slinky in B Major" (extra points for putting the song's key in the title), their cover of Ohio Players' "Love Rollercoaster", and - here's a shocker - "Funky Monks". Unfortunately, Blood Sugar Sex Magik is the only album I can stand; the rest are devoid of funk. Ick.

It would be absurd of me not to mention their astronomical bassist, Flea. I'm not about to do any research, but he must have had both classical and "something fast" [alitrans] slap/pop training, because he can do it all. He's not quite as machine-gun as Mr. Wooten, but he also doesn't use Victor's complicated multi-slap and multi-finger-pop techniques - it's raw, unadulterated spspspspspspspsp...

Reel Big Fish - a seminal pop ska band, covered extensively by that mess that called themselves Six Ways 'til Sunday. Over the course of their albums, the gradually drifted away from ska towards rock with occasional horns, but oh well. Their lyrics are also generally focused on high schoolish issues, but oh well again. It's all loads of fun. "Sell Out" and "Beer" are great, even though they were completely out of that 6WTS front man's vocal range. Contrabass voices don't do high tenor very well. Again, ask expert saxophonist The Jod about these guys - both RBF and 6WTS.

Regina Spektor - folk/anti-folk? I appreciate all of her solo banter, as well as her duet with Ben Folds, "You Don't Know Me", on his most recent album, Way To Normal. Emily would probably deny it, but to me that song sounds like something she and I would do... She would likely deny this, too, but we were a pretty good harmonic pair back in the day; see Cake for details. Anyway, I'm running out of time, so end gush.

The Residents - loosely counts as "music". They made most of their bizarro instruments. For bonus points, Primus covered them all over the place. "Hello Skinny/Constantinople" (medley) and "Sinister Exaggerator" can be found on Primus albums, and live, Primus typically inserts "Hello Skinny" in the otherwise-empty interlude section in the middle of "Too Many Puppies". Also, in "The Air Is Getting Slippery" (on Pork Soda), Les says "me, I'd rather play Residents [...]" But I repeat, most would not consider The Residents to be "music".

Rick James - go ahead, make the jokes. He's a super freak. I don't even know what genre(s) to put on him. Not to be confused with Richard D. James of Aphex Twin.

The Ripple - "Ain't nothin' going on but a funky song." I wonder what genre they fall into.

Rob Zombie - the solo work of the front man from White Zombie. Songs like "Superbeast" are slightly angry, but most of his songs, such as "Living Dead Girl", are intentionally funny goth metal. To stick tongue further in cheek, see if you can find the video for that song. Also, look for a tour of his comically-themed house, as well as further insight to his entertaining personality, on an episode of MTV Cribs. He likes dead stuff.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band - "jam-band"/funk with an overload of slidey lap steel guitar. That's about it.

Roger Miller - HILARIOUS 50's-ish country. I won't even try to describe further, just observe that he has songs entitled stuff like "Dang Me". Also, he sings along with his guitar solos, or even in place of a solo. Weirdo.

Rogue Wave - more yummy "indie pop", sort of. Thanks, Mandy!

The Rolling Stones - ugh! Why, when there is so much better classic rock out there??

Roni Size - one of the kings of both dance beats and messed up electronica. All you need is a quote:

"Use your cloaking device? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... I didn't think so!"

Rush - Geddy Lee, bass deity of the past few decades. Also, weird song deity. You might know them from "YYZ", a song of torture in one of the Guitar Hero games. In the classic rock world, you might also recognize "Tom Sawyer" or "Workin' Man", among others. Deliciously weird.

Geddy Lee signed one of Les Claypool's basses.

RZA - I know approximately nothing about these guys, and I don't care that much, either. I only mention them because "RZA" is a friend's name for another friend.

Bien, c'est tout. Rocket.