★★★★☆
Explosive is something of a “Greatest Hits” album from Bond. This group of women had a very unique musical style. It is a fusion of classical, rock, and pop that has very few, if any, words. One either loves or hates such an experiment. I fell in love with a lot of their stuff. How I fell in love with their stuff is almost as important as the love itself.
I was working at a really noisy site quite far from home. While, officially, the company had a policy against Pandora all of my managers said to go ahead and use it because it was too noisy for deep thought in the office much of the day. I had brought headphones with me but only “driving music” CDs.
Driving music, at least for me, is far different than “coding music.” Coding music needs to be pleasant at a volume loud enough to drown out the background noise and have few words so deep thought doesn’t end up veering into deep weeds. Once I set my selections up I noticed there were certain songs which were quite appealing and many of them came from a group called Bond.
I was a little disappointed that Explosive compilation didn’t include “Bond on Bond.” This was a rendition of the James Bond theme music and it simply had to be done by them. Still, the title track, “Explosive” is a treasure.
Where this works
This music doesn’t work well with cheap computer speakers or $4 ear buds. There are many subtle sounds combined with a full bodied mid range which goes well beyond the limits of such cheap speakers. Those are designed more for pop and hip-hop, narrow range with thumping base.
A really good set of full ear cover headphones is the best way to experience this music. Oh, they don’t need to be expensive. I got mine for $30 at Radio Shack when they still existed. What is important is your ear fits completely inside the thing without the padding resting on any part of your ear. It’s a weird thing, but it kind of turns your skull into the speaker and this music resonates well there.
For more posts about music you can own check out this post.
