Yeah, but I'm kinda diggin' it.

Step 1: Play the below video.



Step 2: Mute this video, then press play. Watch.



Step 3: Repeat.

Disma- The Manifestation EP (2011)

New(ish) two track EP from death metal masters Disma. The more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced that their album Towards The Megalith is one of the best death metal albums ever. Yeah, ever. Not just in the last few years or the last decade, but ever. These two tracks hang with anything off of Towards The Megalith. This was only released as a 7", so the link below is to a vinyl rip. It's a little noisy, but not too bad.

The blog will probably be slowing down a bit (yeah, I know, how much slower could it get?) for the last couple weeks of the year as I'm putting together a year in review for 2011. I've also got a few new ideas to generate content that I'll roll out next year.

Disma on last.fm

The entire EP on YouTube:


Get it here.

Graveyard- Hisingen Blues (2011)

Tip of the hat to Black Metal Bobby for the recommendation on this one. A lot of bands have been going for a throwback "classic rock" sound in recent years. Some of them do it pretty well. The Black Angels modern take on the 13th Floor Elevators' psychedelic sound has produced some of my favorite albums of the past decade. Black Mountain also does a nice job with a variety of different classic rock sounds (I posted their most recent album back in April), particularly with their more Zepplin and Sabbath-esque tracks. Unfortunately for Black Mountain, Sweden's Graveyard may have made them irrelevant in my mind. Graveyard's brand of heavy blues harkens back to...well... Led Zeppelin. Most of you know I have a love/hate relationship with Led Zeppelin and publicly I profess a lot more hate than I do when listening to them privately. Their lifting of riffs and entire tracks from blues musicians and traditional blues songs without attribution, responsibility for the bullshit self-aggrandizing rock star posturing that continues to this day and generally shitty attitudes  make it difficult for me to simply enjoy the music. Anyway, Graveyard remind me quite a bit of Led Zeppelin at their best. I'd throw Deep Purple, Hendrix and bit of Sabbathian heaviness into the mix as well. The vocals are particularly strong, channeling Robert Plant at times. "Hisingen Blues" might be my favorite blues song ever, lyrically at least, with its nod to the Swedish black metal scene.

It's not the most original thing you'll ever hear, but it goddamn rocks and that should be good enough for you.

Graveyard on last.fm



Get it here.

Void Meditation Cult- Sulfurous Prayers (2011)

I really enjoyed the Sperm Of The Antichrist demo that I came across a few years ago, so when I heard a track on a Hells Headbangers Records compilation that sounded exactly like Sperm Of The Antichrist I was intrigued. Turns out they changed their name to Void Meditation Cult and are currently working on material for a full length. Sweet!

Not sure which (if any) of you this will appeal to, but having grown up a punk rock kid who dabbled in crust, I've always had an affinity for the ugly and grimy in music. The first time I heard Mental Funeral by Autopsy I remember thinking to myself something along the lines of "Fuck yeah! This is exactly what I'm looking for!" Void Meditation Cult definitely have a bit of an Autopsy vibe, playing ugly, primitive...ummm... deathened black/doom?....doomed black/death?...blackened black/death/doom/black?....whatever, none of you are going to enjoy this.

Void Meditation Cult on last.fm


Get it here.
*Bonus* Sperm Of The Antichrist- Blight And Darkness

Oranssi Pazuzu- Kosmonument (2011)

When creating music some bands blur genre boundaries, and while difficult to pigeonhole, they can still be rather safely said to operate within a particular genre or two. Mitochondrion is a great example of this. There's a lot going on in their songs, but you can rather accurately label them a death/black band. Others completely smash genre boundaries, making simple descriptions of their music impossible. Oranssi Pazuzu is of the latter variety.

If I absolutely had to adhere to the two genre maximum when describing Oranssi Pazuzu, I suppose I would go with something along the lines of "blackened space rock." Which, in and of itself, should sound unique and interesting enough to warrant a download, but that's missing part of the picture. These dudes are obviously big fans of 70's psychedelic and prog rock, the Floyd and Crimson influence comes through loud and clear. I also hear some krautrock, Neurosis and the thundering bass-heavy industrial metal of Godflesh. Droning ambient sections are littered throughout the record. The track "Luhistuva Aikahäkk" starts out with a minimalist groove that almost reminds me of Portishead. "Maavaltimo" breaks out into a driving hardcore riff that nearly gets buried by a host of spacey guitar. "Komeetta" is astonishingly danceable. All of the vocals throughout the album are done in a black metal style and somehow manage not to completely clash with everything else that's going on. Then there are the actual black metal parts. Which, I'm assuming by now you could guess aren't very straightforward. They bend and twist and mutate in a way that reminds me of Deathspell Omega. 

Honestly, I have no idea what the hells this is. It completely defies categorization. I do know that it's one of the most interesting albums I've heard in a long, long time. It's going to take a while to digest, but somehow I know that I'll still be listening to this album years from now.

Oranssi Pazuzu on last.fm

The most "black metal" track on the album.


Might be my favorite song on the album. It's like Godflesh on LSD.


Get it here.

Algernon Cadwallader- Parrot Flies (2011)

Not sure why I'm just getting around to posting this album now. Been thoroughly enjoying it for a number of months, it's among my favorites of the year.

Some people write Algernon Cadwallader off as Cap'n Jazz worship and leave it at that. It's not hard to see why, the jangly guitar, sloppiness and raw, screechy vocals that Algernon Cadwallader employ were the essence of Cap'n Jazz. But I think you'd be missing out if you don't give Algernon Cadwallader a fair shake. Does it sound like just about every band the Kinsella's have ever been in (include Make Believe and American Football in that mix)? Sure, but it's also played with an ebullience, swagger and youthful passion that I haven't heard since Meneguar broke up, and that's saying something. 

I was hoping to come up with something witty to say about all the hooks on this album, but fuck it, just download it.

Algernon Cadwallader on last.fm



Get it here.

Portal- Outre' (2007)

I feel like I've been listening to and talking about this band a lot recently, so I suppose I'll post some.

I was quite surprised when Portal blew up after their 2009 album Swarth. Prior to that they were very much a fringe band in black and death metal circles. That part I didn't find so surprising, Portal is unquestionably one of the most challenging bands to listen to that I've ever heard. So when they started popping up on some of the bigger metal websites and blogs and NPR featured a video of their performance at Maryland Deathfest (see below) I was a bit astounded. Perhaps it's the fact that they signed with Profound Lore Records, who get a lot of press. Maybe its the costumes or the disquieting live atmosphere or their commendable commitment to things Lovecraftian in all facets of the band. Or maybe it is the music, I have no idea.

I don't mean to make it sound like Portal isn't a great band, they are, they're just the antithesis of the lowest common denominator dreck that gets recycled around the web's metalsphere (see: Revocation). The guitar sounds like a swarm of bees, if the bees were the size of Labrador Retrievers. Or maybe more like the wail of some monolithic ancient beast loosed from its prison at the bottom of the sea. The wall of sound rolls over you like some sort of sick off-kilter tide, making you queasy. The vocals sound like what I imagine the exhalations of a dry-throated long deceased corpse would sound like. The drumming seems unhinged, erratic, even sloppy at times. Wait, I'm not doing this right again.

Portal is one of the most frightening bands I've ever heard. Outre' features some of the strangest and most awesome guitar playing you'll ever hear, if you can make heads or tails of it that is. Also, it's my favorite Portal album. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Portal at last.fm

This song is off their 2009 album Swarth.


This one is on the album you're about to download.


Get it here.

The Helio Sequence- Keep Your Eyes Ahead (2008)

Only a handful of times in my show-going career have I been completely blown away by an opening band that I was previously unfamiliar with. Of those, only one rapidly ascended to rank amongst my favorite active bands. As you can probably guess, that band is The Helio Sequence. The funny thing is I saw them open up for Minus The Bear, who at the time I absolutely loved. Since then however, I've found myself listening to Minus The Bear less and less (especially since that turd Omni) and The Helio Sequence more.

The first time I heard The Helio Sequence I was impressed with the amount of noise these two dudes made. I would describe their first few albums as shoegaze, or perhaps shoegaze's catchier cousin dream pop. These were big wall of sound affairs, the walls being composed of pedal driven guitar, loops, synth, 8-bit bleeps and bloops and of course drums (interesting tidbit: drummer Benjamin Weikel plied his trade on Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News). Those things can still be found on Keep Your Eyes Ahead, just not in the same quantity as their other releases. Really, the transition from dream pop to indie rock/pop began on their third album Love And Distance, but even that seems dense when compared to the sheared down sound of this album. It might be ridiculous to call the results of a band diluting the sound they had cultivated and playing more by the pop playbook fresh, but to me that's exactly what Keep Your Eyes Ahead is. It's like that first day in the spring where you can go outside without a jacket, it might only be five degrees warmer than the day before, but that five degrees makes all the difference and somehow you feel unburdened. The Helio Sequence has always written tremendously catchy songs, but by scaling back a bit and committing to writing the pop songs they always seemed to know they were capable of, The Helio Sequence have produced what is, to date, their master work and one of my favorite albums of the aughts.

Keep Your Eyes Ahead is essential listening for everybody.

The Helio Sequence on last.fm



Get it here.

Midnight- Satanic Royalty (2011)

Hopefully you dug that Midnight compilation I posted a few weeks back. After eight years of existence and a slew of EPs and splits, Midnight has finally released their first full length and goddamn does it rule. Satanic Royalty is a lot less raw sounding than even the better produced tracks on Complete And Total Fucking Midnight. I suspect that for some this will dispel much of the charm that Midnight once held, but I think they benefit from the better production. The riffs on this album are too awesome not to be heard and that tinny, recorded in a trashcan under water sound would really detract from these songs. The better recording also makes it clear just how awesome Athenar's vocals are, one of my favorite metal vocal performances of the year for sure. I can't overstate how rad this album is, it's like shotgunning beers with Satan or something. 

Midnight on last.fm



Get it here.

The Mountain Goats- Tallahassee (2002)

This is one of those just in case posts. If we've known one another for more than 15 minutes and discussed music at all, you probably know that The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle is one of my favorite musicians ever. Why? Because he is the best lyricist ever. Period. If you're familiar with The Mountain Goats I defy you to name a better lyricist. If you're not familiar with The Mountain Goats, get familiar. Now. Trust me, as a guy who spends most of his time bowed before the altar of the almighty riff, the only way a musician who, for most of his career, recorded albums in his bathroom with just an acoustic guitar could be counted amongst my favorite musicians is by being an extraordinary wordsmith.

Tallahassee happens to be my favorite Mountain Goats album as well as a great starting place for the uninitiated. Tallahassee captures The Mountain Goats in a transitional period, after Darnielle's lo-fi unaccompanied acoustic recordings and before The Mountain Goats became full band with well produced albums. Tallahassee in many ways combines the best of both eras, with good production and occasional drum, bass and other instrumental accompaniment, but for the most part is just Darnielle and an acoustic guitar.

This comes more highly recommended than anything else I have posted on this blog.

The Mountain Goats on last.fm

Everybody's favorite Mountain Goats song ever:


One of my personal favorites from this album:


Get it here.

Gigan- Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes

Surprise! Another death metal gem from 2011!

I hate the overwhelming majority of modern technical death metal. So much of it is just technical for technicality's sake. Bands seem to sacrifice songwriting, heaviness and originality (3 things I value more in my death metal than technicality) for being as tech as they possibly can. I don't get it. Prime example: Revocation. People talk about that band as if they're the second coming of Death. I get that the dude can play guitar and play it quite well, but Revocation's music is some of the most generic, soulless shit I've ever heard. There are a handful bands that pull off technical death metal well, Gorod, Mitochondrion, Gorguts, Decapitated and a few others. I think I can make another addition to that list with Gigan. If you've listened to much tech death then you know what to expect, but here's what I dig about this album: the Gorguts style insane riffing, Gorod-like jazzy bits, inhuman Origin-esque grind tempos (though unlike Origin, Gigan mix up tempos, so their albums aren't an all-out aural assault that gets tedious after a few songs, the quieter sections are also quite nice) and the strange spacey atmospheric stuff. Also, the fact that this album doesn't just sound like a bunch of riffs smashed together.

I've always wished more death metal bands would go for the space/Sci-Fi thing, thanks Gigan.

Gigan on last.fm



Get it here.

Midnight- Complete And Total Fucking Midnight (2005)

How about ANOTHER band that wears masks when they play? Perhaps I should have done these last two posts the week leading up to Halloween rather than the week following.

The sound of Cleveland, Ohio's Midnight harkens back to the first wave of black metal. Think Bathory, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer and Venom. So, not so much black metal as it's conceived today, but rather thrash or speed metal with the typical Jesus hatin' subject material and in this case, a healthy dose of sleaze (listen to "Endless Slut," "Unholy and Rotten" or check out some live footage of Midnight with the Midnight Mistresses if you don't believe me). This album compiles a bunch of Midnight's early material and as you would expect with such a compilation, there is some variance in the quality of both the recordings and the music itself. Though, once you hear it I think you'll agree that one of their earliest songs "All Hail Hell" is a fucking thrash anthem, as is the other track below. To this point first wave black metal has more or less be ignored by the whole thrash revival thing. With Midnight gaining in popularity I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years more bands trying to sound like Hellhammer cropped up. Hop on board now and when the second wave of first wave black metal hits you can say you were into it before it was cool.

Midnight has a new album coming out next week (11/8), if it rules I'll put it up here as well. 

Midnight on last.fm





Get it here.

Ghoul- Transmission Zero (2011)

I've been patiently waiting for this album to leak so I can post the video below. Watch it.



Nice.

Anyway, Creepsylvania's finest are back with another slab of death-tinged thrash, b-horror movie schlock, axe murder, Killbot antics and surf rock. Ghoul albums are always a blast to listen to and Transmission Zero is no exception. As usual, riffs abound and they haven't lost their touch when it comes to writing anthemic sci-fi thrash odysseys. In case you aren't familiar with Ghoul, members have also spent time in Bay Area bands such as Asunder, Dystopia, Ludicra, Exhumed and Impaled. Though if you ask they'll say they have no idea what you're talking about and that they hail from a small Eastern European town whose major export is tar and primary industry is toxic waste disposal.

Ghoul on last.fm

Get it here.

Young Widows- In And Out Of Youth And Lightness (2011

If you're going to emulate a band, The Jesus Lizard is a pretty great pick in my opinion. And for their first few albums, that's just what Young Widows did. Don't get me wrong, I like 'em just fine, but I don't think they really deviated from The Jesus Lizard's playbook enough to warrant the reverence that many showed for them. Until this album, that is. Sure, there are still a few tracks on here that could be Goat b-sides and the signature gnarly bass tone and pounding drums are still out in full force, but on In And Out Of Youth And Lightness they've dialed back the intensity a bit and created some truly great moody and meandering epics. While I do have Young Widows' first few albums, I can't say I've actively followed them in the past, that's probably going to change.

Also, I'm curious about the song "Miss Tambourine Wrist." Is that anything like tennis elbow?

Young Widows on last.fm

The video below is a vinyl rip (obviously), but it sounds better that 90% of the MP3s people upload to YouTube. Sweet.



Get it here.

The Mercury Program- From The Vapor Of Gasoline (2000)

All of you should have A Data Learn The Language and Chez Viking by The Mercury Program. If you don't, you need to rectify this immediately. I'm sure far fewer of you have anything pre-A Data Learn The Language though. Rather than the ultra smooth grooves powered by the rhythm section and Rhodes piano accompaniment that The Mercury Program is known for on its later albums, their earlier albums were much more guitar driven and a lot less dense. There are certainly glimpses of what they would later become, the rhythm section is as tight as ever and there's a bit of vibraphone here and there, but with it's off-kilter guitar work, dissonance, sprawling song structure and sparse vocals (yes, vocals) it reminds me as much of bands like June of 44 and Karate as it does later Mercury Program. Oh, and it's fucking awesome. 

The Mercury Program on last.fm



Get it here.

The Promise Ring- Nothing Feels Good (1997)

I probably haven't been doing enough to keep those of you who don't go in for the heavy stuff occupied, huh? Well, try this. The Promise Ring is Davy von Bohlen's post-Cap'n Jazz, pre-Maritime pop punk/indie rock band. You might even label this "emo" if you're one of those people who doesn't actually know what the term emo refers to and label every pop punk band with a wimpy lead singer "emo". If you're familiar with Maritime (which you should be, I posted their newest album a while back), then you should have some idea what to expect. The man's a pop genius.

The Promise Ring on last.fm



Get it here. (.zip)

Frandy- Relief (2011)

I like hardcore. I particularly like the darker side of hardcore, hardcore that flirts with metal and plays footsie with sludge. I like Cursed and Engineer and Achilles. A lot. And because I like all of that I like Frandy.

Oh, and Frandy is from Flint, MI, the most dangerous city in America. 

Frandy on last.fm

(None of their stuff is on YouTube. But this is the cover of the EP. It's creepy.)

Get it here. You can download the EP for free from Frandy's Bandcamp. Do it.

The Men- Immaculada (2010)

Immaculada is one of my better finds of late, really digging it. This sinus infection I have is less awesome, however. The Men are a noise rock band from Brooklyn, NY. I don't think noise rock quite captures their sound, but certainly if The Men have an overarching philosophy it's something along the lines of "if it's noisy and loud, we're into it." There's a good bit of variance from track to track, but here's some of the stuff I'm reminded of when listening to The Men: Black Flag, Dinosaur Jr., Bleach era Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Bone Awl (that song kinda comes out of left field), Earth and perhaps less surprisingly, some of the Am Rep roster. So I guess that would make The Men a noise rock/punk/grunge/alternative/shoegaze/black metal/drone band. Yep, that sounds about right.

They also put out an album this year that I'm getting right now. If it rules anywhere near as much as this album I'll throw it up on the blog. 

The Men on last.fm



Get it here. (It's a .zip Blaine. You really need to find an .rar extractor)

Pneu- Highway To Health (2011)

Thanks to Jackson for the recommendation. This Tours, France duo stirs up a math-rock mixed drink that tastes like the noisy weirdness of Lightning Bolt and Hella at their catchiest, with perhaps a jigger of the heaviness of early Don Cab. Fun as all fuck. The best part is that excessive consumption won't result in alcohol poisoning! Oh, and there is a vocal cameo by Eugene Robinson of Oxbow. Yeah, I know, I made that same face when I first read that. Weird.

Pneu on last.fm

 Why is it my favorite tracks are never on YouTube? Anyway, this one rules too.


Get it here.

J Mascis- Several Shades of Why (2011)

It's supposed to rain all week. You're going to be needing this. J Mascis and an acoustic guitar with occasional accompaniment. I could tell you who J Mascis is, but you should already know that. So I won't.

J Mascis on last.fm



Get it here. Yes, the album title is in Spanish on the mediafire link, but the metadata for the tracks is correct.

Flourishing- The Sum of All Fossils (2011)

This is a tough one. Most of the reviews of Flourishing I have read describe them as a "progressive" or "experimental" death metal band. I feel like "progressive" and "experimental" don't really mean anything anymore, they're terms that get thrown around when it's too difficult to pigeonhole a band's sound and Flourishing's sound is certainly hard to pigeonhole. Death metal certainly applies, but that's only a small part of the story. On The Sum of All Fossils you'll hear death metal, grind, Coalesce-esque weirdness, noise rock and more. I know, it sounds terrible, but trust me. I generally hate genre-salad bands. Too often it ends up sounding like Between The Buried And Me, a bunch of riffs just strung together, but Flourishing somehow make it work. The best description I have read comes from their last.fm page: "The trio bulldozers through massive magnetic riffs, industrial mechanization, realms of dissonance and loose progressive abstraction creating an annihilating rhythmic bedlam." There, does that sound better?

This will most definitely make my top of 2011 list.

Flourishing on last.fm



Get it here.

Barghest- Untitled (2011)

Been jamming on this one quite a bit recently. Barghest is a black metal band from Baton Rouge, LA, featuring current Thou guitarist Matthew Thudium and former Thou drummer Terry Gulino. For some reason people have been comparing this album to Burzum's early/mid output. I don't see it. Perhaps it's just because I'm not that big on Burzum (politics aside, his music just doesn't do for me what it does for so many). Personally, I would compare it to Weakling. Granted, Barghest is a bit more straightforward than Weakling (no proggy bits to be found here), but in terms of epic, tremolo-picked riffs and soaring leads that make you want to put on your best scowl and throw up your claws, Untitled is one of the few albums I've heard that can rival Dead As Dreams.

I will warn you that the production is pretty raw. I know it's intentional and part of the whole black metal aesthetic, but it's just about the only thing keeping me from crowning this album of the year. There is some really awesome guitar work on this album that kinda gets lost in the wash. Headphones and a sharp ear recommended.

Barghest on last.fm 

Unfortunately, "Hellish Entrancement" wasn't up on YouTube, that song is the jam. This one is great too. Warning though, whoever upped this video had a really shitty quality MP3 of the song. The production on this album isn't great, but it isn't nearly as bad as this video would lead you to believe.



Get it here. Sorry for the Megaupload link, but this was the only 320kbps rip I could find.

The Weakerthans- Reunion Tour (2007)

Wow. I can't believe this album is almost 4 years old (it will be next month). The first time I heard The Weakerthans I was 14 or 15. I hated it. I checked it out since I knew the former bassist from Propagandhi was in the band. It reminded me of the wimpy pop-punk songs that John K. Samson was responsible for on Propagandhi's Less Talk, More Rock. I didn't listen to The Weakerthans for a few years. But, for some reason, when I was 18 or so The Weakerthans clicked, I guess I was more open to wimpy pop-punk at that point. Since then they've been one of my favorite bands and my most listened to band according to last.fm (and those wimpy Propagandhi songs are now my favorites on that album).

Reunion Tour, The Weakerthans 4th and most recent album is one of the best albums I have ever heard. It shouldn't really have come as a surprise when this album immediately vaulted into position as my favorite Weakerthans album, over the course of their previous 3 albums The Weakerthans had been improving as a band in every facet imaginable and Reunion Tour didn't deviate from that path. Musically it's similar to their past output, indie/pop-punk with a bit of country twang and folksiness thrown in the mix. However, Reunion Tour adds a lush density that none of its predecessors quite had. I won't say it's a headphones album since it's equally, if not more so, a fantastic album to sing along to, but if you were to listen to it with your nicest pair of cans you'd be pleasantly surprised.

The music is only half the attraction of Reunion Tour though, John K. Samson is the other half. Is he a good singer? Not particularly, though he has much improved from his early Propagandhi days where he was objectively bad. Lyrically, he's one of the best ever. The only other person who competes with Samson for best lyricist ever is John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. Each song is written from the perspective of a different character and the lyrics are extraordinarily literate, witty, insightful and the wordplay is brilliant.  

Not liking this album could very well be grounds for ending our friendship. 

The Weakerthans on last.fm



Get it here.

Crucifix- Dehumanization (1983)

I realized I haven't posted much (if any) punk rock on here. Since I've been on a huge late 70's/early 80's punk/hardcore kick recently I'm going to post some.

There are few records that meant more to me than Dehumanization when I was in midde/high school. Though Crucifix never received the same recognition as their San Francisco peers The Dead Kennedys and Millions of Dead Cops, this album is generally recognized as a a classic, though the words "underrated" and "overlooked" are frequently used in same sentence. Politically and aesthetically Crucifix were in league with the English peace punk scene and bands like Crass and Flux of Pink Indians (this album was released by Corpus Christi, an offshoot of Crass Records). Musically they were Discharge on amphetamines, combining d-beat with the blistering speed of early hardcore bands such as Black Flag and Bad Brains. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Discharge, but this record rips way harder than any of their output. Check it out.

Crucifix on last.fm



Get it here.

Disma- Towards The Megalith (2011)

....and we're back. Since I don't think anybody really reads this, here's another death metal album!

Profound Lore hits it out of the park yet again with this release. Those of you who are familiar with Incantation's Onward to Golgotha might recognize the vocal stylings of one Craig Pillard on this album. I shouldn't really have to describe what Disma sound like now that you know they have a former member of Incatation, but just in case you aren't listening to Onward to Golgotha on a weekly basis like you should be, Disma play death metal. Slow, ugly, heavy as fuck death metal. I've seen the term "old-school death metal" used to describe Disma, however I'm starting to think that anything that isn't overly technical and wanky automatically get's labeled as such. So fuck it. It's death metal, it crushes, go get it. (Also, I have no idea what the hell is going on, but there has been a ton of awesome death metal released this year.)

Disma on last.fm



Get it here.

Updates

Just in case anybody is still reading this, I haven't abandoned the blog quite yet. This month has been crazy busy with school and moving, but once I'm set up in the new place next week I'll start updating again.

Cannabis Corpse- Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise (2011) METAL ALERT

Not going to post a link to a free download of this one since Andy is a friend (though those links are out there) and $6.66 is a totally reasonable (and awesome) price to pay for an album. When Cannabis Corpse started out it was some decent death metal tunes with a great schtick. Now, as far as I'm concerned, they're some of the best that the genre has to offer (regardless of how good the schtick is). Everything about this band has improved. This will without question make my best of 2011 list.

Cannabis Corpse on last.fm



Get it here.

Ghost cover the Beatles

My interest was piqued when I heard that Sweden's Ghost did a cover of the Beatles' "Here Comes The Sun." If you haven't heard about Ghost yet, they've become rather infamous in the metal scene. Part of it is the schtick. As you can see from the photo in the YouTube video below, the singer wears a rather elaborate antipope get up and everybody else in the band wears cowls. Part of it is the mystery surrounding the band, nobody knows who they are. I've heard plenty of theories as their identities, including Swedish death and black metal royalty. Part of it is the music. Ghost play very Blue Oyster Cult sounding traditional heavy metal with orthodox satanic lyrics. For those reasons some people hate it, some people love it. Personally I think everything about Ghost is extraordinary well done, from the aesthetics to the extremely tight, modern take on traditional metal.

Anyway, the cover of "Here Comes The Sun" is everything that a cover should be. The song being covered is recognizable, but Ghost have made it their own, transforming a relentlessly hopeful track into something moody and downtrodden. Check it out for yourself.



In case the cover made you curious, here's a link to Ghost's full length Opus Eponymous.

Mars Red Sky- Mars Red Sky (2011)

Do you wish that instead of putting out a piece of shit like their second album, Sgt. Sunshine put out another killer album like their debut? Do you wish Sgt. Sunshine were French? If you answered yes to either of these questions then Mars Red Sky's first full length is for you (in case you don't know Sgt. Sunshine, they were a stoner rock band from Sweden). I hesitate to say that in the end Mars Red Sky (the album) will supplant Sgt. Sunshine (the album) as my go to stoner rock jam because Sgt. Sunshine has held that honor for so long, but I believe Mars Red Sky will. Here's why: Like Sgt. Sunshine, much of the riffing on Mars Red Sky is of the heavy, groove laden variety that I love. The tracks have plenty of hooks. Honestly, if I were to listen to just the riffs on this album I would swear it was some unreleased Sgt. Sunshine material from around their debut. Unlike Sgt. Sunshine however, Mars Red Sky really mellow out at times, abandoning the Kyuss-like mammoth riffery and fully embracing the psychedelic and space rock elements that permeate the rest of the album. I think the variety makes for a more enjoyable listen. Finally, I generally think vocals are the weak point for most stoner rock bands and Sgt. Sunshine were no exception. I really enjoy the vocals on Mars Red Sky. They're actually good, not just "good for a stoner rock band."

If you dig Sgt. Sunshine (obviously) or Kyuss, check this out. 

Mars Red Sky on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems:  Strong Reflection, Curse, Way To Rome, Marble Sky.

Fleshpress- No Return & Rebuild/Crumble (2010) METAL ALERT

These are my two favorite EPs from last year. For those of you unfamiliar with Fleshpress, their drummer is Mikko Aspa, the lead singer of the almighty Deathspell Omega. Despite having a member of the best black metal band on the planet, there are only flashes of said genre throughout Fleshpress' music. Most of what Fleshpress plays falls under the heading of doom. What type of doom? I don't really know anymore. A few years ago I would have called Fleshpress a sludge band, but their 2007 album Pillars was a lumbering beast of a drone album. Now they seem to have embraced the genre as a whole, taking elements from every sub-genre of doom. On No Return and Rebuild/Crumble you'll hear elongated drone sections, Eyehategod-esqe sludge (including the faster, punkish parts EHG was also known for), bluesy Bongzilla style stoner doom riffs, psychedelic guitar leads and yes, a wee bit o' black metal. Open your ears and hearts to hate.

Fleshpress on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: Dead End Life Crawling Through Shit And Blood Soul Burning, Spiral Filter Forcing You Down To Black Pyramid, Rebuild.

Whirl- Distressor (2010)

One of my favorites from last year, Whirl is a shoegaze band from California. I didn't know much about Whirl (other than the fact that they're excellent) before reading up on them to do this post. It turns out the guitarist from Whirl is also in Deafheaven, the black metal/shoegaze/post-rock band whose album Roads to Judah I posted a while back. Not really surprising as one band is straight-up shoegaze and the other has serious shoegaze proclivities, but awesome nonetheless. If I had to compare Whirl to any band from the late-80's/early-90's shoegaze scene it would be Ride. Like Ride, Whirl cultivates a swirling, kaleidoscopic wall of guitar. Of the 6 tracks on this EP (excluding the intro track), half are perfectly executed, slow-moving shoegaze. However, the other three tracks are where Whirl are at their best, in my opinion. The tracks "Blue" and "Meaningless" are more up-tempo, sounding like catchy-as-shit indie rock with wall of sound guitars. "Child" pairs the meandering shoegaze Whirl excels at with a heavy riff that reminds me quite a bit of My Bloody Valentine.

Beware, this album is extremely habit-forming. 

Whirl on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: Leave, Blue, Meaningless, Child

Loss- Despond (2011) METAL ALERT

Usually I like to have at least a handful of listens under my belt before posting an album. I've heard Despond in its entirety twice (thrice by the time I finish this). So why am I posting it after two listens? Because it's a fucking masterpiece. But more on that in a second. I love me some funeral doom. There's something about the melancholic guitar work over ultra heavy dirge and guttural vocals that I love and on their debut EP Loss did that as well as anybody I've ever heard. Combine that with the fact that the last Ahab album was a disappointment and I was ready to crown Loss the new kings of funeral doom after the EP. Despond not only confirms that assessment, but may even vault Loss into the ranks among my favorite bands currently making music.

It may sound weird, but Despond is one of the more beautiful albums I've heard recently. Don't get me wrong, it's depressing, but depressing in an oddly pretty and triumphant way that's frequently life-affirming. Perhaps it's just me. Every review I've read of the album talks about how oppressive an atmosphere it creates. I hear the delicate, often clean guitars and get jazzed. Here's the other thing about Despond though, it really isn't all that heavy. Barring a few songs, there isn't much of the punishing low end that one would expect from a funeral doom album (also, there's one sliver of black metal). Shit, there are clean vocals on this album! Good ones! It's like somber post-rock played at a snails pace with flashes of doom. Yet, somehow it's still very much a funeral doom album. The songs crawl along, the atmosphere is mournful and most of the vocals are guttural to the point that they're unintelligible. That being said, I've failed miserably at capturing the essence of this record. Just fucking listen to it.

Serious contender for album of the year. Suicidal black metal ain't got shit on this.

Loss on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: I just said it was a masterpiece.

New Thou Material

Thou has posted tracks from some of their upcoming releases to their site. There are a lot of bands who, even when I'm looking forward to a new album, there's the worry that it's going to be a disappointment or the knowledge that the band in all likelihood won't ever be able to top a previous album of theirs. Thou is not one of those bands. Which is all the more astounding due to the fact that they're so ridiculously prolific. Anyway, if Summit didn't do it for you and you miss the bludgeon you to death Thou of old, then these EPs are for you.

To The Chaos Wizard Youth EP
Big City EP (Split w/ Cower)
The Archer & The Owle EP

Hitler Reacts To The New Morbid Angel Album

Perhaps you're familiar with this internet meme, perhaps not. This is fantastic. I haven't heard the new Morbid Angel album, but if it's as big a piece of shit as the entire internet is saying it is it must be one whale of a turd.

Burning Brides- Fall Of The Plastic Empire (2001)

I once read a description of this record as being "the best Mudhoney album that wasn't recorded by Mudhoney" which is a pretty fair description, I suppose. Fall Of The Plastic Empire certainly harkens back to the early 90's grunge and alternative rock scenes. I also detect a bit of Pavement in their sound in the lackadaisical pace they sometimes set (though never as sloppy sounding as Pavement) and especially in the frequently odd and often nonsensical lyrics. Though, just as often Burning Brides churn out big stoner rock riffs that slog along. In the end their sound is hard to pin down, it's grunge, it's alternative, it's slacker rock, it's stoner rock, it's even a bit metal at points. What really matters however, is the fact that it's fucking great. If you listened to any music at all in the 90's you should probably check this out.

Also, Dimitri Coats went on to form OFF! with Keith Morris of Black Flag/Circle Jerks fame, who, if you're smart, you'll be seeing later this month when they open for Dinosaur Jr.

Burning Brides at last.fm

The only track that I could find from Fall Of The Plastic Empire that wasn't live is below, it's one of the heavier tracks from the album, so I've also embedded a video of them performing on Conan from 2002 I think.




Get it here.

Wizard Smoke- The Speed of Smoke (2011) METAL ALERT

Really digging this, could make the top of 2011 list. Wizard Smoke is a stoner doom band (though you could probably guess based on the name and album title. Wizard Smoke was also an Ol' Scratch song title...) from Atlanta. Much of what they play is based on the NeurIsis handbook, what some people have been calling "atmospheric sludge" (which I always thought sounded silly) or "progressive sludge". There's also some worship at the Sabbathian altar and some Bongzilla-esque heavy blues to be heard on The Speed of Smoke. Overall excellent, sludgy, weedy, doom with some keyboards to add a bit of a psychedelic element to the sound. On first listen I wasn't so sure about the vocals. Not the vocals themselves, they're of the screechy, throat-shredding variety that I so adore, but they way they're recorded. They have that somewhat hollow, echoing sound that you hear a lot on black metal albums. However, after a few listens I started to enjoy them and now I think they're totally awesome with the sound that Wizard Smoke cultivates. Use your earballs.

Wizard Smoke on last.fm



Get it here. Wizard Smoke lets you download this for free! 

Gems: Dead Wood, Butcher, Panama II, Witches Brew

Ugh...

I did a really shitty job of posting on this thing in May. Lame. self-recrimination

White Moth- White Moth (2010)

Posted per Jake's request. R. Loren from Sailors With Wax Wings newest project. What the fuck is this? Shoegaze? Black metal? Electronica? Wait, Shelby Cinca (Frodus) is on this album? And Dälek? And Colin Marston (Krallice/Behold...The Arctopus/Gorguts/Dysrhythmia)? And John Gossard (Weakling/Asunder)?

More when I get closer to figuring out exactly what the hell it is I'm listening to right now (or never if I can't).

White Moth on last.fm



Get it here.

The Sea and Cake- Car Alarm (2008)

Car Alarm was my favorite album of 2008 and since then I don't think I've gone a month without listening to it. The Sea and Cake began as an indie rock band with jazz, calypso and post-rock influences and while keeping those influences to a certain extent, have morphed into a group that writes some of the most breezy, mellow indie-pop songs I've ever heard. Car Alarm, in my opinion, is the culmination of what The Sea and Cake have been doing for the past several albums. Their music is deceptively simple. Give it less than full attention and you'll note Sam Prekop's breathy vocals, bright and delicate sounding guitar, a rhythm section that keeps your head bobbing and occasional synth and steel drum accompaniment. Listen closer and you'll notice the interplay between the two guitarists, frequently dueling acoustically and electrically, subtle synth and electronic bits and the restraint with which rhythm section plays. With so much going on both above and below the surface I'm always amazed that Car Alarm is a brilliantly executed indie-pop album and not absolute cacophony. Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of Maritime.

I also just found out they released a new album this month. Sweet!

The Sea and Cake on last.fm


Get it here.
Gems: It's a 10/10, so, all of them.

Cave In- White Silence (2011)

Just gave this a first listen, so I'll be brief. If you're like me and felt that Perfect Pitch Black was rather inconsistent, the first half feeling like Cave In and the second more like Steven Brodsky solo work, well, prepare to feel the sameish. The first 6 tracks of White Silence are Cave In and holymutherfuckingshit are they heavy. The last 3 tracks seem to be Brodsky driven vehicles. But, yeah, Cave In are a nearly straight up metal band again people.




Get it here.

I told Adam I'd post Jupiter, so here it is. If you don't have this yet, get it. Right. Fucking. Now.
Cave In- Jupiter

Miasmal- Miasmal (2011) METAL ALERT

Got this a few weeks ago and have been listening to it a ton. For a band comprised of a bunch of crust punks (including a member of Martyrdöd), Miasmal play some totally awesome, old-school death metal. Guitar tone-wise, Miasmal has the classic buzzsaw sound of the early-90's Swedish bands like Entombed, Dismember and Grave. Riff-wise it's classic Swedish death metal for the most part, oscillating between fast, grinding, chainsaw riffs and slower groove heavy passages. Though, occasionally Miasmal remember their roots a slip a rather punkish riff or two into the mix. The drumming is rather simplistic and reminds me a lot of the galloping style used by some classic death metal bands, but more frequently by D-beat groups.

If you're not into the whole throwback metal thing, this probably isn't for you. If, on the other hand, you're like me and a sucker for new old-school sounding death metal (particularly of the Swedish variety) then check this out. It's not groundbreaking in any way, but it's extremely well executed and Miasmal are certainly among the cream of the crop of the "old is new" metal bands. Tracks 9-14 are bonus tracks from their first few EPs.

Miasmal on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: Mesmerized, Equinox 432, We Will Live Forever, Toxic Breed, Death Mask.

Hot Snakes- Suicide Invoice (2002)

Hot Snakes was a post-hardcore band from San Diego, CA. They featured members of Drive Like Jehu and Rocket From The Crypt and sound quite a bit like the former. I've seen Hot Snakes described as "hardcore garage punk," which is just about as accurate a description as possible. Suicide Invoice is without question my favorite of the three Hot Snakes' full lengths. Like the other albums, Suicide Invoice features some fast, galloping garage rock riffs, a thundering rhythm section and Rick Froberg's snotty vocals. However, throughout the album there are more mid-paced tracks and sections that sound like a nastier Fugazi. Who doesn't like galloping, guitar-driven, garage punk? Thats' right, nobody.



Get it here.
Gems: I Hate The Kids, Gar Forgets His Insulin, Suicide Invoice, Paid In Cigarettes, LAX, Why Does It Hurt, Unlisted.

Moccasin- Last Leaf (2006)

Sorry, busy (I mean lazy) week this week.

Moccasin was (is?) a shoegaze/space rock/psychedelic rock band from Denver. I happened upon this back in 2007 or so and it hasn't left my heavy rotation as of yet. Their music features most of the hallmarks of shoegaze, pedal driven guitars, a dense, lush wall of sound and subdued, dreamy vocals, but Moccasin does so without sounding derivative. The rhythm section adds a certain heaviness to their sound and a times there's a moody, dark quality to the tracks on Last Leaf. But, playing yin to Moccasin's moody yang, there are plenty of hooks, riffs and catchy sing-along choruses. For me, much of the appeal of this album is the number of different ways you can listen to it, depending on your mood. You can strap on headphones and focus on the guitar textures (like I'm doing right now), put it on while cooking and groove along to the rhythm section or even sing along while driving around with your windows down.

As you probably surmised based on the first sentence, Moccasin's current status is uncertain. Back in 2009 they posted a few tracks on their myspace from an upcoming album and that was the last they were heard from. I'm still holding out hope, because if said album is anywhere near as good as Last Leaf it's sure to find a spot among my all time favorites. If you're a fan of early 90's shoegaze, newer shoegaze bands like The Helio Sequence, psychedelic rock or even the space rock stylings of Cave In on Jupiter you'll likely dig this. So, yeah, just listen to it.

Moccasin on last.fm



Get it here. Guess what Blaine? It's a .zip!

Gems: All of them. This album is a 10 in my book, no weak links.

Wire- Pink Flag (1977)

Wire is a post-punk band from London. That's right, is. As in they are still together. You may be thinking, how can an album that came out in 1977 be considered post-punk? Wasn't punk, like, invented in 1977? And you would be more or less correct. Wire was certainly influenced by first-wave punk groups like The Clash and played a similar style of stripped-down rock 'n roll. There's some of the urgency of punk rock in the pace of these songs, though Wire generally has more hooks than their contemporaries. However, at times they play what almost seem to be dirges in their plodding heaviness (something Black Flag would pick up in the mid-80's).

No matter what Wire is doing, Pink Flag is an exercise in minimalism, even down to the cover art. Its 23 tracks come in at just around 40 minutes. Rather than the traditional verse/chorus/verse/repeat song formula, Wire is content with just a single verse and chorus (or sometimes no chorus). The lack of repetition is remarkable. The music itself is rather simple, which isn't to say it's not good, but technical it ain't. That being said, the riffs are good, Colin Newman's efforts are enjoyable both lyrically and vocally (he occasionally puts on the sarcasm/sneer that was popular in punk rock), the bass lines bounce and the drumming is competent. I particularly enjoy some of the guitar tones on this album. For me a lot of early/proto-punk bands tones' were too trebly and hollow sounding, Wire's guitar sound has balls.

Pink Flag's influence is widespread. Minor Threat covered the song "12 X U," post-punk and post-hardcore bands like Fugazi took a page or two from Wire's playbook and modern day indie rock rock bands owe them a debt as well. You may have heard the riff from "Three Girl Rhumba" before, it was ripped off by Elastica (a shitty alternative rock band from the 90's, video below). Give this a listen if you're a fan of late 70's/early 80's punk rock, post-punk bands such as Television, post-hardcore bands like Fugazi or indie rock.





Get it here.

Gems: Reuters, Ex Lion Tamer, Lowdown, It's So Obvious, The Commercial, Mr. Suit, Strange, Mannequin, 12 X U, Options R.

Auroboros- Demo (2010)

So yeah, most of you saw Auroboros at the Black (christ) Mass party. Their demo is available for download HERE. You can download it for free or name your own price. It fucking rocks, check it out.

Also, they'll likely be playing Stash Bash.

Eugene McDaniels- Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse (1971)

Sorry about the metal deluge, now for something completely different. Eugene (Gene) McDaniels was an American songwriter/producer and is now a hermit. He earned a living writing songs for musicians such as Roberta Flack and Gladys Knight, making the Top 40 several times. He put out a number of solo albums in the 60's and 70's, this was his last and best. After it's release in 1971 (so the story goes) Vice President Spiro Agnew contacted Atlantic Records and asked that promotion of the album be stopped and the record taken from the shelves due to it's "radical" black consciousness/black power stance and depictions of marijuana use. Whether that's true or not, Atlantic stopped promoting it and let the album go out of print. Despite this, you've heard bits of this album before, I guarantee it. Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse has been sampled by The Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock, The People Under The Stairs and just about every other worthwhile hip hop artist. Headless Heroes takes soul, jazz, rock, gospel and funk and wraps it up into one tidy little package. The one exception being "Susan Jane," a folkish track which screams Bob Dylan. A classic, check it out.

Eugene McDaniels on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: The Lord Is Back, Jagger The Dagger, Lovin' Man, Headless Heroes, Freedom Death Dance.

Yob- The Unreal Never Lived (2005)

You know, I had a hard time deciding whether to post that Middian album or this Yob album. So fuck it.

Yob on last.fm




Get it here.

Middian- Age Eternal (2007) METAL AERT

Steve overhead me listening to some Yob, he said it reminded him of a heaver old Soundgarden (read: good Soundgarden). I don't see the comparison, but I told him I'd post some. Instead, I'm posting this, the singer/guitarists other band. Middian sounds exactly like Yob, but this might be a bit more accessible than any Yob album as there's a greater ratio of clean vocals to screaming on this one (more on that later). Over the past 10 years or so I don't think any musician has been as consistently good as Yob's Mike Scheidt. 5 Yob albums and this Middian album while Yob was on hiatus, all of which have been at least an 8/10 in my book, a few being 10/10s (including this one). Yob has been labeled as just about every sub-genre of doom imaginable, stoner doom, psychedelic doom, progressive doom, sludge and I've definitely referred to them as space doom a few times. All of these labels certainly fit Middian as well, but none of them even come close to fully describing either of them. What you'll find on Age Eternal is monumental, head-nodding, trance-inducing riffs, surprisingly pretty psychedelic/space rock sounding leads and passages, odd stops and starts for a doom band and lumbering sludge parts. Also, I really like Mike's clean vocals, usually doom band's clean vocals are way too cock-rocky for me and I can't stand them. Mike and guitar player Will Lindsay's screams add a litte balance.

Yob just announced they're headed into the studio to record a new album and a tour to support said album. SWEET.

Middian on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: All of them.

Deafheaven- Roads To Judah (2011) METAL ALERT

I ignored this for a few weeks, even after it had made its way on to a number of reputable blogs. The reason being it was released by Deathwish (Jake Bannon from Converge's label) and other than the Converge and Trap Them releases, I haven't cared much for Deathwish's output over the past few years. How to describe this...post-black metal? No, plenty of blast beats, tremolo picking and harsh black metal vocals. Blackgaze might be more accurate. I'm not usually a big fan of genre-mashing, most of the time it doesn't work. However, black metal and shoegaze seems like a pretty natural combination as both often feature wall-of-sound like guitar work. Anyway, this is pretty awesome. An interesting combination of straight black metal drumming, tremolo picked black metal riffs with dreamy shoegaze undertones and quiet post-rock buildups that break into blast beats and straight forward black metal riffs. Interesting.

Deafheaven on last.fm



Get it here.

Gems: Violet, Unrequited, Tunnel of Trees.

Black Mountain- Wilderness Heart (2010)

Black Mountain is from Vancouver, BC and plays throwback psychedelic rock. Most people mention the obvious Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple influence, so I'll hop on that bandwagon. This album is all over the place, combining mellow acoustic tracks with fist-pumping rockers, soaring psychedelic riffs with slow doomy stoner rock and yet somehow it all works. The tandem/trade off male/female vocals are pretty excellent. One of my favorites of last year. Have a listen. Oh, and how much ass does that cover art kick?

Black Mountain on last.fm





Get it here.

Gems: The Hair Song, Old Fangs, Roller Coaster, Let Spirits Ride, The Way To Gone, Wilderness Heart.

Medications- Completely Removed (2010)

Just about all of you should enjoy this, so check it out. After Faraquet ended, Devin Ocampo (vocals/guitar) and Chad Molter (bass) went on to form Medications. If Faraquet was a math rock band with indie rock tendencies, Medications is an indie rock band with math rock tendencies. Their first EP, which came out in 2005, was more or less an extension of Faraquet with more emphasis on vocals and verse/chorus/verse song structure. The first full length ventured even further into indie rock territory. Completely Removed, their most recent effort, is one of the best indie rock records I've heard. There's still the intricate guitar work that Devin is known for, but now it's part of some extraordinarily well-crafted pop songs. For the first time Devin and Chad trade off vocals, which works quite well and Devin's voice and lyrical capabilities have vastly improved since the Faraquet days. This is some excellent, mellow, intricate indie rock that's perfect for sitting on the porch on a sunny afternoon and sipping a beer (the one partial exception to the mellowness being Kilometers and Smiles which is an oddly awesome combination of rockin' prog riffs and Beach Boys-esque vocal melody). Also, they're playing DC on May 28th, come out.

 Medications on last.fm

Get it here.

Gems: For WMF, Long Day, Seasons, Country Air, Home Is Where We Are, Tame on the Prowl.

Indian- Guiltless (2011) METAL ALERT

I was pretty happy when I saw that Indian signed to Relapse last year. Having followed them pretty closely for a number of years, I didn't think they quite got the recognition they deserved. Hopefully being on Relapse will change that. Chicago's Indian have made a name for themselves playing a mix of slow, bludgeoning doom, sprinkled with sludgier mid-paced riffs and scathing vocals that would be equally at home on a black metal record. Guiltless features more of the same, though the band seems to have allowed the black metal influence to show up in more than the vocals. This is particularly true of "The Fate Before Fate." On the first listen, the acoustic track "Supplicants" seemed a bit out of place, but after repeated listenings it's a nice, albeit sinister respite from the pummeling that is the rest of the album. Produced by Buried at Sea mastermind Sanford Parker, this thing sounds absolutely huge. Also, the Scott Fricke artwork is awesome as usual, I'm surprised more bands haven't gone to him for their album art. Another early contender for the best of 2011.

Indian on last.fm

Get it here.

Gems: No Grace, The Fate Before Fate, Guilty, The End of Truth.

Battles- Gloss Drop (2011)

Damn this leaked early (it's not out until June). I had been pretty interested in hearing what the new Battles output would sound like after Tyondai Braxton (guitars/keyboard/vocals) left the group and I must say it's pretty rad. Only been able to give this a handful of listens over the past few days, so I can't really say where it stands in Battles' oeuvre quite yet. It reminds me more of the EPs than Mirrored, which is to say it's dense, mechanical sounding, somewhat repetitive and features less of the poppy element that Mirrored had (with the one glaring exception being "Ice Cream," which is one of the best songs I've heard this year). The four tracks with guest vocals are all quite good, which was a pleasant surprise. Likely a year end top 10. Enjoy.

*Per Abow's recommendation, from now on I'll provide a link to each group's last.fm page for bio/discography purposes. If you don't have a last.fm account you should get one and if we aren't friends on there yet, my user name is aninflux*

Battles on last.fm

Get it here.

Gems: Africastle, Ice Cream, Futura, Wall Street, My Machines Sweetie & Shag.

Death- For The Whole World To See (1976)

My mind was completely and utterly blown the first time I heard this. Not the death metal band! This Death was around in the early-mid 1970's, hailing from Detroit. Obviously huge fans of fellow Detroiters MC5 as well as The Stooges, Death played a similar brand of fast, brutal rock and roll that would be influential in the development of punk rock (but did so with better chops than the Stooges for sure). This is without question one of the best proto-punk albums I've ever heard. A lot of people compare them to early Bad Brains, which I can see a bit in the intensity and vocal delivery (particularly on "Freakin' Out"), but I think the comparison is made primarily because both bands are black. Originally recorded in 1976, this didn't see an official release until 2009. If you dig The Stooges, MC5, Bad Brains or pretty much any music at all, you need to hear this.

Get it here.

Gems: Seriously, every song on this rips.

Explosions In The Sky- Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (2011)

Jackson's mention of the Explosions In The Sky show in Richmond I didn't attend made me realize I should post this (it isn't out yet, so shhhh!). Take Care, Take Care, Take Care doesn't quite match the epic beauty of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place or pack the punch of All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, but a solid effort nonetheless. More of the same gorgeous post-rock that Explosions is famous for. This time with clapping and "Oh's" (seriously!).




Get it here. Since this isn't out yet, the mediafire link will probably be taken town, if so let me know and I'll find another one.

Gems: "Last Known Surroundings," "Be Comfortable, Creature," "Postcard from 1952."

The Mercury Program- Chez Viking (2009)

Simply put, The Mercury Program is my favorite band ever. I was pretty anxious before this came out, I didn't believe they would be able to come anywhere near A Data Learn The Language. I was wrong. Chez Viking is just about as close to a perfect album as possible and in my opinion is superior to A Data... absolutely zero filler, every track is extremely strong. You should have this already, if you don't get it now. I mean right now. This second.

Get it here.

Gems: Every. Single. Track.

Faraquet- Anthology 1997-1998 (2008)

For some reason I ignored this band while they were around. That was stupid. Hailing from DC Faraquet played math rock, but did so with enough hooks and song structure that you might be able place them in the same camp as some of the mathier indie rock bands (Minus The Bear, etc.). Not to mention that having a vocalist is somewhat of an anomaly in the math rock world. The guitar work on this album is fantastic, "The Whole Thing Over" features one of my favorite riffs of all time. If you dig Piglet check this out, a great album for sunny days and completing menial tasks.

Get it here.

Gems: Parakeet, The Whole Thing Over, Call It Sane, Rex.

Neat

So originally I used this blog for a required part of an IT class, an IT class for a bunch of Library and Information Science grad students who were all liberal arts majors (read: a monkey could have passed that class). I deleted that blog before I decided to repurpose it as a music blog, but apparently when you subscribe to the RSS feed via Google Reader you can still see the deleted posts (and apparently this can't be fixed). So ignore it or see what it was like to be in an IT class aimed at the Amish.

Maritme- Human Hearts (2011)

Been listening to this album a ton since I got it about a month ago. I still think Maritime won't ever be able to top We, The Vehicles, but this album has crept its way up into a tie for second, along with Heresy and the Hotel Choir. Anyway, more of the same from Martime, which means super catchy indie pop. Davey von Bohlen (ex- Captain Jazz, The Promise Ring) seems to have made a rather serious effort to step up his silly-ass wordplay on this album, which is always nice. This will make my top 10 of the year for sure. 

Here

Gems: It's Casual, Paraphernalia, Peopling of London, Air Arizona, Annihilation Eyes, C'mon Sense, Apple of My Irony

Crocodiles Double Dose

Two dudes from The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower playing fuzzy, synthed-out, incredibly catchy, sometimes noisy, pop songs about death. Reminiscent of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Summer of Hate was a decent debut, but Sleep Forever was one of my favorite albums of last year. Both are worth having.

Also, they're playing at the Red Palace in DC on the 25th of April. Zeke and I will be there, let me know if you're interested.

Crocodiles- Sleep Forever (2010)

Here
Gems: All of them. "When the peasants with their pitchforks come, I'm gonna spit blood down on everyone" from Mirrors is one of the greatest sing-along choruses I've ever heard.

Crocodiles- Summer of Hate (2009)

Here.

Gems: I Wanna Kill, Soft Skull (In My Room)