Slayer - Reign In Blood. THE metal album to rule all metal albums. You can take your sugar-coated Metallica riffs, eat some cocaine mixed with sugar, and go play it on VH1, you can take your gay cowboy drinking songs of Pantera and go sodomize your children with them, they have got nothing on Slayer. My stance on the metal genre is that much of my stance of the pro-choice movement; being "yeah sure, do whatever you want, just fucking leave me alone".
The only reason I ever found metal even slightly interesting was the element of speed. And my god, is it ever-present here. This entire album is over in less than 30 minutes. It's one of those albums that you don't even realize that for the past fifteen minutes has been done playing.
It has your badass brain-crunching power chordes that unlike Metallica, never sound redundant. And it has just about the best closer Postmortem - Raining Blood. If you tend to dislike metal like I do, just listen and work back from there. Oh yeah, and Rick Rubin produced this masterpiece.
Not for the faint of heart. Wolfmother - Wolfmother. If you like thunderous riffs that can be heard from miles away, venture forth no further. It's like a fucking supernova. A mix between Kyuss, the White Stripes, and Sabbath, this can't be that bad of an album to ganja out with I have yet to confirm this. What I believe is the only album I have purchased new at retail this year, and unless Axl finally releases Chinese Democracy by the end of the year, it will stay that way.
Islands - Return to the Sea. Even if it dosent destroy you, the nails-on-chalkboard vocals of STZA will certainly grind you up a bit. And the political message, it's terrifyingly true. I could listen to "Endless Pt. There is also a really great variety on this album that isn't found so much on Pride. I love how Houck works in the little theme chorus in a bunch of different songs, too. B-side song from the new Appleseed Cast CD.
It's only included on the vinyl version of their upcoming LP, Sagarmatha, so it's probably not the best the new album has to offer. However, I enjoy it more each time I listen which is like five times since I bought it off their myspace. The whole song could be off Two Conversations, save the ending which combines the soft vocal harmonies of Low Level Owl with the glitchies of Peregrine.
The ending bothered me at first because you want it to be more epic than it is when the drums come in strong, but I think they wanted to up the energy while still keeping it chill, and it's effective in that sense. There are two new demo songs on their myspace as well, which I recommend.
A friend up here recommended this CD while we were playing Mario Kart, and it's quite good. Some really cool ideas in here, especially with using string instruments and piano.
The other is better though, I posted it a while back. Both are some really beautiful mathy post-rock. Everything I said before applies. More dancey than their other stuff, but quite good.
It's growing on me. Greg Gillis mashes up 20 to 40 different songs per track on each CD, and this is truly a masterpiece. Will make the most stony indie kids smile when "Get Low" comes in over the guitar riff from a Van Halen song. The Sea and Cake- Car Alarm. This is the chillest album ever, and it's super good. Check it out and then check out the rest of The Sea and Cake's excellent catalog. Features members of Shrimp Boat, Tortoise, and other Chicago scene folks.
Thursday, October 23, O! Daniel showed me these guys a while ago and I just got around to getting their CD because I was curious. They are definitely trying some new things in the somewhat stale "mathy" genre, throwing in solos and super repetitive parts, and a lot of the time it works.
Just give it a listen all the way through, as each song is quite different from the last. Note: I would almost just skip the first track, as it is way more "rock" than all the others, and come back to it so that's not your first impression.
This is the audio from Toe's live DVD, and it sounds really great. Like one of the best live recordings I've ever heard. And Toe is quickly becoming one of my top bands, possibly like top three. So if you like Pele, Mouse on the Keys, Tenebre, etc. Saturday, October 11, Mouse on the Keys- Sezession. Imagine if Toe had a baby with Jaga Jazzist. Pretty tight. Thursday, October 9, Anathallo- Canopy Glow.
Not nearly as good as Floating World, but still pretty cool. A little boring actually, but Floating World was a revolution in music, so I don't know how you can really follow that up.
They liked this mix but sent it somewhere else to be mixed again, which is what is being released on the CD, so this isn't what the final CD will sound like. So you we might like it more on the final versions, and you might not even want to listen to this one because it will spoil the final version. Tuesday, October 7, Annuals- Such Fun. This new album is a little more low-key, but still groovy. Well, let me clarify. The first album's songs were either crazy or real low key. These songs all find a nice medium, floating just below rockin out.
It makes for a slightly less immersive album, but good nonetheless. I miss all the yelping though. Monday, October 6, Today. I went to Western Supermarket about tonight, and was surprised to find Liam Finn playing in the store. There was also a super cute check-out girl named Olga that I will always regret not talking to. Haven't listened to all of this yet, but it's gonna be tight.
If you enjoy pop music or mathy things, get it. Also check out their split with Cats and Cats and Cats that I posted a while back, which is stellar. But they have developed their sound more, I guess, but I may have liked the old style better. We'll see. Slightly mathy instrumental rock that is very nice to listen to. The bass player uses an upright, which gives a different feel than similar bands. A similar band might be Unwed Sailor or even Toe.
I've thought about taking this down, but I think there are both pro's and con's, so just try and support good music, and I will too.
Saturday, September 20, Radical Face- Ghost. This guy is also in an electro-pop band that Casey turned me onto, Electric President, but this is his folkier stuff. Has lots of fun whistling and handclaps and stuff, but still remains somewhat solemn. I'm pretty bad at comparing bands, so.
Tuesday, September 16, Four Tet- Rounds. My roommate turned me onto Four Tet, and it's pretty awesome. Folky-electronic-post rock at its finest. Really chill and nice. The file is a little bigger because I went with a higher quality rip. This stuff deserves it. Friday, September 12, Blitzen Trapper- Furr.
New album from Blitzen Trapper. I really liked some of the songs off "Wild Mountain Nation," but some songs strayed too far from the others and hurt the cohesiveness of the album. This new one seems to definitely be a step in the right direction, as all the songs seem like they should be on the same record. It's much folky-er and less rockin than the last album, but there's still some upbeat songs. This is what I wanted last. You put in artists you like and it makes a custom radio station based on that artist's characteristics.
Nice for listening at work. Dancey, slightly mathy rock with lots of post-rock influences. Check out "Truck" for the happiness noises ever. I saw these guys with Dr. Dog tonight and was pretty blown away.
They have a great live show and some really interesting ideas in their music. If you enjoy Dr. Dog at Bottletree tomorrow. Soooooo good. Like amazing. Yay for good local bands! These guys are all my really good friends, and they make some cool music. Very Radiohead-esque.
Thursday, August 28, Phosphorescent- Daytrotter Sessions. Phosphorescent did a session for the excellent Daytrotter site, and it offers four-piece versions of his songs- just guitar, piano, bass, and drums. I might actually prefer this version of "Picture of Our Torn Up Praise," which is saying a lot, because I greatly enjoy that song. I'm on a kick, so I thought I'd post this one too. This album has some of the same songs, but with guest female vocals and electric guitar.
Very veryy good. Mount Eerie- Dawn. This is the songwriter from The Microphones stripped down and acoustic. I must say that this is one of the best CDs I've heard in quite a while, at least from a songwriting standpoint. I would say Phil Elverum can stand with any of the indie songwriter heavyweights of today. If you enjoy acoustic music or The Microphones, check it out. This is one of my favorite CDs ever. Folky indie with cryptic lyrics playing with biblical images and metaphors.
Satisfies something deep down that is hard to get a grasp on. At least for me. Check it out. Wednesday, August 13, Dr. Dog- Fate. I've always thought Dr. Dog was kinda mediocre, but this new CD is pretty sweet. Sounds like if Josh Ritter spent a few years in Mississippi. Great for fans of folk and folk rock. I don't listen to much stuff like this, but it kinda reminds me of Telefon Tel Aviv mixed with Tycho.
The main guy in the band also just put out a three song EP that is acoustic guitars and folky sounding, so, pretty good stuff all around.
Saturday, August 9, Benjamin Wetherill- Laura. I've been a little lacking in new music lately, but this songwriter is pretty cool. Imagine if Sufjan decided to be melancholy instead of really jaunty all the time.
Not the most memorable, but worth a listen. Shameless promotion for my band's new CD. Folk rock with some jazzy tendencies. We worked pretty hard on it and I think it turned out pretty good. Comments appreciated! This is a pretty interesting collaboration. Tortoise is an experimental jazzy band from Chicago while Billy is a folky songwriter. They make some pretty interesting music together, as it turns out.
Many of the songs have a sort of jungle feel to them, which is somewhat characteristic of Tortoise, but Billy fits his singing to the music very well, despite his out-of-place-ity. Sometimes dancey, sometimes mysterious, this is worth a listen. I figured I'd show these guys some love, as they're all great guys, even though I don't particularly love their music. Very poppy stuff with some indie thrown in for good measure.
If you can resist the deep-seated urge to immediately turn this CD off, you will find some really cool songwriting with some of the most unique arrangements you've ever heard.
Either way, it's really cool, and if you can take the weird noises and random percussion, well worth your time. Kickball is a pretty sweet band from Seattle, WA that is quickly becoming one of my favs. Picture dancey pop music that is in no way generic and has just the right amount of technicality. If you don't mind a little off key singing, you're gonna love these CDs. I included two because they are very similar and seem to me to be continuations of each other. Thursday, July 3, Peter and the Wolf- Lightness.
For red, negativity Honestly, these guys aren't my favorite, but I haven't given them much of a chance. Very minimalist, lo-fi folk stuff. This is their first album released in For Casey I saw these guys live last night and it was everything I hoped it would be. Only 5 songs, but those 5 are all better than most of Trees, Swallows, Houses in my opinion.
I haven't listened to this band all that much, but I like them a lot. Melancholy indie rock about everything sad in the world. They remind me of another defunct band, Very Secretary. Two members of Carissa's Wierd went on to form Band of Horses, which some people like. Also, "weird" is supposed to be spelled like that. Thursday, June 26, Pele- Enemies. Sorry for the long dry spell.
Summer has been hectic. This is one of my favorite instrumental CDs and it's great for summer. Pele has a very musical approach to their music and is unique among the somewhat stale instrumental rock genre. I like some of them better than the actual versions. Something about Sam Beam's voice lends itself to crappy 4-track recorder noise. If you like Creek Drank the Cradle, you have to get this.
This is a Japanese instrumental band very similar to Toe. A little more aggressive and rock-ish. Very good, worth a listen. This is actually the new Death Cab album. I enjoyed it, although I must say it's probably my least favorite Death Cab album.
It's a little boring to me. The lyrics are still good, as is Ben Gibbard's silky voice caressing my thighs, and there are definitely some really good songs. Many of his songs move with the naturalistic but formalized cadence of an iambic meter. The hardier pulse of "The Gleam Pt. These could have been average indie pop tunes were they not shaped by Elvrum's unique sense of non-linear arrangement and space: He often gives us a few moments to acclimate ourselves to the Dub Narcotic studio's seething room tone before, with a sudden flourish, flooding it with energy, as he does on "Map" and "My Roots are Strong and Deep".
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