The Comsat Angels - Waiting For A Miracle

Heya! Kind of a late post (well, later than usual) today.

Today's album is a little something I stumbled across at a local used record store yesterday. I'd seen the cover before and I was pretty sure that I'd heard someone say nice things about it, it was in nice condition and cheap too, so I picked it up.

I listened to it today and yes, it is good.

To be honest though; it's pretty formulaic British, new wave post-punk, but it's still damn good. These guys really know what they're doing and it's nice to listen to as they do their thing. Cheesy keyboards, clean but slightly dissonant chords, prominent bass, repetitive drums; it's all in here.

What I especially like is their smooth blend of spastic, artsy Talking Heads-like post-punk with typical British, Joy Division-esque (maybe not as moody) clean-cut post-punk.

It sounds at times very similar to The Sound, whose fantastic album Jeopardy I highly recommend you to check out if you haven't already.

So yeah, this is nothing special, but still a very good and solid post-punk, and pretty underrated too.

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Astrobrite - Crush

Hey everyone! I'm going to Egypt tomorrow and I'll be gone for a week, so I thought I'd post a little something before I left.

This here is pretty, pretty, pretty nice album. Real fuzzy, dreamy post-punk/indie pop or something. You know, shoegaze.

It's real good and stuff, whatever. I don't feel like writing much right now, so just check it out, really, it's awesome, you won't be dissappointed.

See ya guys!

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Norma - Book Of Norma

Yes, yes, yes. Late Saturday update comin' at ya (at least late where I am). This album is an album I actually found at my local library some while ago (very big library by the way, and they have a nice habit of purchasing obscure, yet very good albums which you can then loan for free. Awesome right?).

Norma is a post-punk/shoegaze/indie rock/whatever band straight out of the Argentina underground. How exactly the people at the library got a hold of this I'm not sure, but that's not really the important thing here, the important thing is that this album is pretty fucking good.
I only picked up this album because I thought the cover looked cool and the name sounded interesting. But then it turned out to be really good too.
The first song is a little weird and noisy, so the first time I listened to it, I thought: "What the hell is this shit? Should've never borrowed it" or something along those lines.
But then the second song wowed me (probably the best on the album, or at least second best).
Their sound is really cool, like a fresh take on the classic post-punk/shoegaze sound of the late 80's. It's sounds retro, but still modern and up-to-date.
Yeah, it's an awesome album and I think you should check it out ASAP.

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Aves - Demo

Hi. This is a rather unusual release. Aves' 2009 Demo is a very nice mixture of post-punk/shoegaze, black metal and a bit of post-rock. These guys are part of the so called blackwave movement that has risen in the latest couple of years.
And it's instrumental. You may have already heard it, and you may have not, but this is still a great demo.
I specifically love how they manage to blend these quite different styles seamlessly and still making it sound great.
It's instrumental, which is good because it lets you focus entirely on the instrumentation, which is quite awesome.
It's been quite humorously referred to as "twee black metal", due to the fact that Aves incorporates black metal elements into their upbeat, twinkly and melodic post-punk.
The black metal influences are most notable in couple of songs, for example the beginning of the second song.
Also, there's this badass 70's hard rock/heavy metal-ish guitar solo being played while the drums are doing insane black metal-style blastbeats. Does it get more awesome than that?

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The Sound - Jeopardy

Hey everybody, I'm back! Hooray!
No, but seriously, I decided to keep blogging (obviously) so today I'll have another album for you to enjoy.
As for the "albums of the decade"-list; I probably won't be making one any time soon because it's just too much work and I don't have time for that.

Alright, now onto the music. The album I've decided to post today is an album I stumbled across about a week ago and have benn enjoying quite a lot the last few days.
This is, in my opinion, probably one of the most underrated albums (and bands) of the 80's, maybe even one of the best.
The thing that I love most about this album is, well, everything really. The drums in the background playing all kinds of variations of that classic post-punk beat, the wonderful vocals, the wonderful, melodic yet at times dissonant guitar chops and the fat, creeping basslines.
The bass on this albums is kind of special in a way that it's just as prominent as the guitar, maybe even more. While the bass is playing just about all the time, the guitar really only "pops in" for quick chops and some short riffs here and there, mostly during the choruses. This is especially evident in the first song, which also happens to be my favorite song of the album, along with "Missiles" and the title track, "Jeopardy".
So if you like new wave, post-punk and/or other stuff like that and you haven't already heard this album, now is a damn good time.
Because this right here is fucking awesome.

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A Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head

80's revival, fuck yeah! This album is filled with amazing shoegaze/post-punk and VERY NOISY guitars.
It starts out with a hard-hitting and poppy (yet kind of depressing in a no wave kind of way), post-punk/industrial beat and a lot of noisy instrumentation (as is the tradition with shoegaze).
This album feels like it came straight from the eighties, but still feels new and fresh.
Every song is great and as a whole this album is just wonderful.

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Shellac - 1000 Hurts

Yeah, so I'm gonna follow up the Big Black post with another awesome Steve MOTHERFUCKING Albini-album. I mean this man is a fucking legend in music production and recording engineering and that really shows in this album. Because the production is flawless. All instruments are crystal clear and perfectly placed within the mix. So, enough about the audio production, now onto the actual music. Shellac (which is his current band) is similar to Big Black, but in my opinion has a more refined sound, so to speak. It's sounds like your typical No Wave noise rock/post-punk, but at the same time it's very different with it's distinct sound. Atonal, choppy chords, non-technical but not too simple drums, minimalistic guitar arrangements, heavy, repetitive rhythms, strange time signatures and often quite prominent bass (think Sonic Youth meets Melvins). Steve does vocals and lyrics, and the lyrics has that wonderful sarcastic touch to them that Steve's lyrics always has. Ok, so this album may be hard to get into, but once you do, you'll love it. Trust me.

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Big Black - Songs About Fucking

Besides having the most awesome album title ever, it also happens to sound awesome as fuck. Big Black is a legendary noise rock/post-hardcore band, fronted by Steve MOTHERFUCKING Albini and this is probably my favorite album of them. Imagine a mix between Sonic Youth, Black Flag and a little bit of Ministry, and you've pretty much got Big Black. This album is fucking badass and you should totally listen to it like right now. By the way, the second half of the album is way better than the first, but the first is still great.

DEWNLEWD, DEWD (DOWNLOAD)

Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs - Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs

Oh hello. Today I have an awesome, japanese, all-girl post-punk/shoegaze band for you. They also have the lovely japanese habit of typing FUCKING EVERYTHING IN CAPS. Anyway, album's pretty awesome; nice vocals, lovely instrumentation, very good. And no, you will not turn into a weeaboo for listening to this album. I may not sound so enthusiastic about this album, but it really is amazing. Definitely check it out. Peace.

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A Place To Bury Strangers - A Place To Bury Strangers

Ok, second album for today, two more to go. This self-titled album is some sweet, awesome (as always), somewhat noise-rocky shoegaze/post-punk goodness. Kind of sounds like My Bloody Valentine meets Sonic Youth. I really recommend that you check it out, very good album.

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