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December 30, 2009

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime


Awwright, got some really, really awesome music for you today.
Yank Crime was Drive Like Jehu's final album and their masterpiece, as well as their major-label debut (which means it shouldn't be to hard to find in a well-sorted record store near you).
It starts off violently with mind-twisting, dissonant riffs reminescent of no wave legends Sonic Youth's brilliant guitar arrangements. It's hard to constrict this band to a single genre as they draw heavily from noise rock and post-hardcore as well as achieving the technicality and complexity normally only found in math rock.
It really shows that the no wave bands and bands inspired by those no wave bands has had a great impact on Drive Like Jehu's sound. Just listening to them reminds me of the hard, driving riffs and rhythms of Shellac, the noisy aggressiveness of Big Black or the atonal and dissonant, yet somehow melodic and catchy riffs of Sonic Youth.
I can not emphasize enough how brilliant this album is. It consists entirely of wonderful, long songs filled to the brim with wonderful dissonant, driving riffs repeating alongside brilliant drumming, incredible hard and driving bass riffs as well as the "in-your-face", shouted lyrics that sound like they were ripped straight from some Fugazi song.
This is brilliant, easily one of the best albums of the 90's.

December 29, 2009

Idiot Pilot - Strange We Should Meet Here


Hey there. So I've got a new album for ya, this time by a band called Idiot Pilot.
I don't really feel like typing out a long description, so I'll just write something short.
It's really hard to classify them as one genre, but I guess you could say that they are similar to The Sound Of Animals Fighting, basically really experimental rock, sort of neoproggy with a little post-hardcore here and there, and a little electronic influences.
Except that these guys are more post-hardcore and shoegaze mixed with electroclash/new rave.
This may sound like absolute shit, but it's actually very skillfully done, and has just the right amount of guitar, alternating between screaming/singing vocals and synths/electronic kick drums.
It's interesting for sure, so check it out - I, for one, really enjoyed this album.

December 28, 2009

Jesu - Silver


Hello again! I'm back after the holidays and I hope that you've had a merry Christmas.
Silver is an awesome EP by Jesu, a band that former Godflesh frontman Justin Broadrick formed after they split up.
Jesu is only one of Broadrick's many projects, but definetely one of his best. They have always played a very eclectic brand of music, being rock at the core, but experimenting with many different genres such as shoegaze, industrial, drone doom and ambient, among others. Kind of like a british Boris, I guess.
Silver, however, is a shoegaze release. And a heavy one at that. Imagine Black Sabbath meeting My Bloody Valentine, and you pretty much have the overall sound on this EP.
Broadrick does a good vocal performance, as well as playing all the other instruments except for bass and drums.
All the songs have a very nice structure, consisting of many layers of sounds with guitars high in the mix and vocals low in the mix. Like proper, traditional shoegaze should be.
But Jesu are not afraid to think outside of the box and incorporate ambient synths, industrial beats and doom riffs to make the music their very own.
A must listen for any fan of shoegaze or bands like Boris.

December 25, 2009

The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys' Christmas Album


Merry christmas everyone! Yeah, I know I forogot to post a christmas ablum, but christmas isn't over yet, and I hope it's not too late.
I was going to post "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio initially (it's a piano-driven jazz album with christmas songs and songs from Charlie Brown, really great album) but then I though of this amazing album, which is, in my opinion easily one of the greatest christmas albums ever.
Not much to say really, it's the Beach Boys singing christmas songs. Could it get any better?
Just download it and have a Merry Christmas!

Note: If anyone really wants the Charlie Brown album, I can upload it.

DOWNLOAD
Sorry for the Megaupload, Mediafire isn't working for me.

December 22, 2009

Warning - Watching From A Distance

What's up, everybody? So today I wont be posting a Christmas album, but tomorrow I will, I promise! This, however, is a masterpiece by british (and awesome) doom metal band Warning.
What makes this so special is, in my opinion the vocals and the lyrics. They almost sound out of place at first, as if they were more fitting for a traditional heavy metal album or power metal.
The vocals are incredible, and are the driving force of the entire album.While this might sound strange for a metal album, it's true. The heavy droning, doom-guitars are merely ambience compared to the vocals. But you might still wonder what it is that makes the vocals so special and great? Well, I'll tell you: It's the raw emotion and power that makes them so wonderful.
Now this is an incredibly depressing album, which in it self is also quite unusual and unique for most traditional doom (a lot more common in funeral doom). It is truly soul crushingly emotional, in a way I've never experienced before. The combination of those heavy, droning guitars, the slow, pounding drums and those amazing, emotional vocals make this a true masterpiece of depressing, beautiful doom metal.

December 21, 2009

Ulver - Kveldssanger


Yeah, bit late with today's update I guess, almost forgot about it. But nevertheless, here it is. Kveldssanger is a neofolk album sung entirely in Norwegian by Ulver, an awesome band from Norway who have played tons of genres, including black metal and folk. The album after this one was raw, aggressive black metal, but on the one after that they started to experiment with electronic music and ambient and whatnot. They basically change musical direction with every album, so it's hard to say what genre they play.
So whatever, Kveldssanger is an incredibly awesome album of dark, melancholic neofolk with influences of traditional Norwegian folk.
The vocals as well are great, flawlessly lead vocals performed frontman Garm and really nicea capella backing vocals accompanied by beautiful acoustic guitar among a few other instruments.
I'd say this is easily one of Ulver's best albums and something any self-respectable (neo)folk fan should listen to.

By the way, since it's almost Christmas now, I'll probably post some sort of "Christmas-ey" album tomorrow or the day before Christmas.

December 20, 2009

Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology


Well hello everybody! I'm back again with another awesome album. Maybe you've heard (of) them, maybe you haven't, but one thing's for sure: Cap'n Jazz was an incredibly awesome and influential band and this album is a compilation of all the songs they ever (officially, at least) recorded. Cap'n Jazz has the sound of everything that was good with the 90's emo bands and they accomplished far more in about six years than most bands do during their entire career. The opener 'Little League' is a perfect example of what good emo sounded like in the 90's.
Also, their cover of A-ha's song 'Take On Me' is fucking brilliant and way better than the original (not that the original was any good).
Even if you're an fan of emo or not, this is required listening for anyone with an interest in good music. Listen to this shit!

December 17, 2009

The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism


Why, hello everyone! It's been a while since my last album post (a week to be precise). I promised I would post something today, and as you can see; I held my promise.
Okay, so the Avett Brothers is a folk/bluegrass trio who makes awesome folk/bluegrass with a strong rock-influence. I don't know if you've noticed it, but folk is pretty much one of my favorite genres (as well as folk-related genres, such as bluegrass and alt-country). On Emotionalism they seamlessly mix fantastic singing with nice, catchy guitar, harmonica, bass and banjo. Still they retain a very rocky sound and it really never gets boring. I listened to album just about a week ago for the first time, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. folk/bluegrass/country-fan or not, you should check this out, because it is just brilliant. Very "indie" and modern sounding folk with bluegrass and alt-country in the vein of Calexico makes this album a truly amazing experience. Check it out!

December 14, 2009

Next Update...

Hello, I've been pretty busy the last few days and I still am, so there probably won't be an update for a few more days. Maybe I'll post something tomorrow, but I don't think so. However, I promise I'll post something on thursday. In the meantime, just chill and listen to some music, look at some other music blogs or something, I don't know.

December 10, 2009

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'


Okay, time for something a bit different. This is the oldest album I've posted so far (from 1958) and it is an awesome jazz album. I'm not much of a jazz guy myself, but every once in a while I feel in the mood for some sweet saxophone/trumpet/bass/guitar/whatver-wankery. To be fair, this is not a wanky album, it's just really good bebop/hard bop. For those of you who don't what that is, it's basically jazz that you can dance to (kinda like swing), with fast and upbeat, but still rather simple rhythms, focusing more on the tonal instrumentation (sax, trumpet, bass and whatnot).
Even if you're not very interested in jazz, I think you should listen to this. Jazz is hard to get into, but is really great once you do. This might not be your particular favorite of the countless jazz sub-genres but I guess it's still a fairly good starting point. If you're a prog rock/metal fan, you'll probably enjoy jazz (especially for its incredible technicality). Check it out!

December 9, 2009

Boris - Smile


Aww right. Last album for today is Boris' latest full-length (released last year). If you haven't heard of the pure awesome that is Boris yet, now is a good time to do so. Briefly, Boris is a japanese trio who play pretty much everything from stoner rock to doom metal to experimental drone. I've posted a collab album of theirs earlier (here), where they worked with drone doom gods Sunn O))).
Smile is more of a traditional (and by traditional I mean not batshit crazy) stoner/psychedelic rock album (although, the some songs are pretty droney), but every once in a while they release some heavy-as-fuck drone/doom or some experimental stuff. Either way, it seems that everything they touch turns to fucking gold. Including this and the Sunn O)) collab. This may not be their best, but it's still brilliant.
Oh, and make sure you have an extra pair of underwear ready for the solo in the end of the first song.

Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now


'Sup? As you may have noticed, I did not post anything yesterday, so I thought I'd post two albums today, starting with this one. So Antony and the Johnsons consist of this gay dude (you'd think his sexuality would be irrelevant, but this is not the case here as most of the lyrics have something to do with sexual confusion and violence) and the Johnsons(?). You've probably heard of these guys before, for a while they got lots of attention and suddenly all the bi-curious hipsters were sympathizing with him and loving his music. But it really is great, that's why I'm posting it now. So, the vocals are probably the most unique part; fragile, androgynous and just great.They might be hard to get used to at first, but eventually you'll love them. This is accompanied by beautiful piano, violins and other instruments that make it sound like chamber pop.
Very awesome album. Download it.

December 7, 2009

Aether - Artifacts


Hey there. Today I have some really awesome music for you, as always. Aether (real name is this dude who makes awesome trip-hop and this is probably his best work. There seems to be a large ambient influence as many of the songs are really calm and downtempo, like Selected Ambient Works 85-92, but with a hip-hop beat (might not be as good as Aphex Twin's masterpiece, but still). This guy is really talented and doesn't seem to get the attention he deserves, so give him a listen (also records under the moniker A.M Architect).All in all, Artifacts is a great collection of chilled-out, laid-back beats and with a distinct ambient sound, 38 minutes of pure trip-hop genius. So if you're in the mood for some really chill music that never gets boring (like some ambient), then this is your album.

December 4, 2009

Contour - Pre-Production EP


Hello there. I don't think this EP has an actual cover, so I just went ahead and posted the band's logo instead. Okay, so 4 days ago, Douglas of Contour sent me a message asking me to post their Pre-Production EP on my blog if I liked it. And obviously I did, because here it is. So Contour is an australian screamo band and an awesome one at that. The vocals remind me a lot of Varg Vikernes' (a.k.a Burzum, you know the church-burning black metal dude from Norway who killed his friend and then went to jail for like 10 years?) high-pitched shrieks . If you've ever listened to any of his stuff - which is awesome by the way - you'll hear the similarities. Besides the vocals there seems to be a strong metal influence; heavy palm-muted riffs, crushing double bass-drums and raw, yet beautiful melodic passages reminescent of both and screamo and metal. This EP is very interesting indeed, a nice approach to the often generic-sounding (but great) screamo genre.

DOWNLOAD

As for you non-emo/screamo fans who might think I've been posting a lot of this stuff recently, don't worry. I'll try to post some other kinds of music as well for a while now.

December 3, 2009

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World


Besides winning a grammy for the longest album title of 2007 (just kidding, they didn't), Andrew Jackson Jihad are also an awesome folk punk band. And if take a look at the cover, you'll notice that there's a huge bunny (or rabbit, if you will). Why I mention this is because I believe this album is some kind of homage to fellow folk punker Pat the Bunny of Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. It becomes even more so apparent if you listen to 'A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit'. This is of course awesome. Now, as far as the actual music goes it's really great and incredibly catchy. But then again I love folk and folk punk so my opinion might be slightly biased (the album has recieved excellent critical appraise however). Altough if you didn't share most of my opinions on music, you wouldn't be reading my blog, now would ya? So yeah, this album is great both musically and lyrically, definitely check this one out if you're interested in folk or punk or both.

December 2, 2009

Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People...Lazers Do


Alright, let me just start this off by saying that this is probably the most awesome album art I've ever posted on this blog. I mean just look at those two rudeboys dancing in the background, the mummy, the bikini babe and of course Major Lazer himself with his badass shades and microphone ammo-belt.
Now to the music. This is quite unusual from what i normally post, but I recently found this awesome album and thought the blog could some more variety. This is, at its foundation, a dancehall album. But it takes inspiration from so many other genres, such as reggae, dub, electro and house. Major Lazer consist of the two producers Diplo and Switch, the dudes who produced M.I.A's "Paper Planes".
Basically all of the tracks make use of brilliant sampling and they've all got a bass-heavy beat. There is also at least one collaborator on each track, mostly various less known reggae, dub and dancehall artists (most notable in my opinion would be Santigold and Turbulence though).
Obviously this album was made to be played in clubs, but that doesn't change the fact that it's enjoyable to listen to at home as well.
Now, I'm not really a big fan of dancehall, but I find this album to be really great (except the 10th track which features horrible autotune with Nina Sky. Eww). If you don't believe me just check Pitchfork's review (not that they are respectable or even good critics, but still).
So if you like dancehall or other "dance-music" like house, techno or trance (or reggae/dub), then be sure to check this out.

December 1, 2009

Maths/Throats - Split


Ok, so I was initially only going to post this split as a bonus in my previous post, but then I realized this split is so awesome it deserves more attention. I mean it's just incredible, probably my favorite SPLIT OF THE DECADE. It's that great. Maths have really outdone themselves here an are playing some of the most melodic and amazing riffs I have ever heard in screamo. If this was a full-length, it would literally kick the shit out of Descent. And Throats; Wow. Just wow. They're not afraid to use influences from other genres in their music. This shit is the most eclectic screamo I've ever heard. Full on assault with really hardcore screamo only to converge into some crazy, chaotic emo violence (yeah, I know it's not a real genre) in the next song and then end with a - wait for it.... - GUITAR SOLO. Yes, a guitar solo. Screamo with guitar solo's. How badass is that? Next up, some more chaotic power violence shit, which ultimately collapses into a heavy as fuck stoner metal-breakdown. The next song has the most awesome, bone crushingly heavy doom metal-breakdown. And of course the last song fuses all of these styles into one big package of awesome.

Maths - Descent

Well, this is the "ridiculously amazing screamo album" I was talking about in my post two days ago. And this really is an amazing album, but I hope I didn't hype it too much for ya. But whatever, you'll probably love it too. Ok, so the album was released this year and it is Maths' first LP after tons of demos and splits and stuff. I'd listened to their split with Throats earlier, and I really loved it. So naturally I was very excited when I found out they'd released a full-length, and it is also in the very style of screamo which happens to be my favorite; lots of melodic, harmonized riffs, raw screams full of emotion, a little post-rock thrown in here and there and of course epic build-ups (much like Envy). What is also notable is how well the album flows. Honestly, if I weren't paying much attention, I wouldn't have the slightest idea of when one song ends and the next one begins. So obviously Maths put in a large amount of effort to make this album be what it is. Anyway, this is probably one of my favorite releases this year, and if you have any sort of musical interest in screamo, you should definitely check this one out for som raw, beautiful, melodic screamo. Also, it's awesome.

Oh, and as a little bonus, I thought I'd upload the split with Throats too. Awesome stuff as well. You know like really, really good. Download both of them. Seriously.

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