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Post #2441
Welp, time to bump this thrad, as it has been a great source of music lately for me. And, well, I'll review a couple of albums most of you wouldn't mind listening as they're in spanish.
MTV Unplugged: Comfort Y Música Para Volar (Comfort and music to fly)
The title delivers, this album is packed from the beginning to the end with very relaxing music, probably the best live performance ever recorded of Soda Stereo, perhaps the most influential band in spanish rock. Many of the songs are heavily modified to fit with the "unplugged" style, so the fans get a completely new thing. Definitely deserves a look.
8.5/10
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The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)
4.5/5
The Glow Pt. 2 is a massive, droning, indie-folk album that is considered by many to be one of the best of the genre. I finally got around to listening to it yesterday and not only did I love it but I was almost completely blown away. The music on the album is very hard to describe. It ranges from indie-folk songs with off-time guitar strumming to explosive fuzzy folk songs to haunting droning tracks, all with Phil Elverum's ethereal vocals humming softly on top of them. The songs sort of flow together to give the album a very dream-like quality. One soft droning note is a reoccurring tie in many of the songs that keeps the album flowing until this note eventually swells into the last song which is basically the same note played over and over with very quiet and dreamy acoustic guitar fading in and out in the background, so quiet that sometimes you wonder if its there at all or if you're just imagining it. Adding to the dream-like qualities of this album is the lyrics. They are very surreal but equally relatable once you dig into them.
I'm still hesitant about giving this a "perfect" score. I'm sure one day this album will grow to that status for me, but for now I'm just going to explore it some more and see how I feel.
Most fans of the genre have probably heard this but if it sounds interesting to you and you haven't heard it, check it out:
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I love the Glow pt. 2.
is it me or are the horns in The Moon the same as the horn part in the chorus of Holland 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel?
Edited:
it's kindof obvious Phil Everanum has been listening to some NMH looking at the sound of that
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Bo Burnham's Words Words Words
6.5/10
It's a pop album with witty humour, what's not to like? Well, I will tell you. But I will also tell what I do like.
Some of the 'songs' like One Man Show require some attention which isn't always good.
The album has it's moments however, for example ''Oh Bo'', ''Words Words Words'' and ''Rant'' are both catchy and funny which is nice.
I said 'songs' because not every track on the album is entirely music.
But the album is quite long and a lot better with the actual performance.
All in all quite entertaining but it is a bit long for one sitting.
Favourite Song: Oh Bo (Studio)
Edited:
Highlights
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Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
Genre: Post-Rock, Instrumental Rock
Honestly, very weak and underwhelming. Nothing on this was
particularly eye catching save for a few parts in some early songs.
I was actually very, very bored by the whole album, which is
something that is saddens me to say about a Godspeed record. I
wouldn't say this is unfocused, but it doesn't seem as thematic as
their other albums, which I believe was their intention. I just didn't like
this direction.
Hopefully the new music that is being worked on will be more focused
instead of "just raw, angry, dissonant, epic instrumental rock." which
even that I failed to see in this album.
Rating:2/5
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that doesn't sound like a 3/5 review.
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Maybe it's not...
Gotta think about it.
Edited:
Yeah, it was definitely a 2/5. One song was good and Rockets Fall... was also decent. But it was just really boring. I think 2/5 is a just rating.
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Its definitely inspired by NMH but its still considerably different and definitely more experimental. The overall feelings of the album are way different too but Phil Elverum is definitely going for a Jeff Mangum style appeal with that album.
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Phideaux - Snowtorch
A
A great piece of prog. The mix of male and female vocals work wonderfully and the whole album gels together really well, which I think is what makes it so good.
Listen to 6:08 onwards. You won't regret it.
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Last heard the latest Cage the Elephant album and hated every song except for Shake me down.
.5/10
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Elephant by The White Stripes
4.5 / 5
One of the best albums I've heard so far. I feel it's really well balanced, because it's not just their usual garage rock sound (which in this album are enhanced to eleven), but you can also find country, folk and blues.
If I'd have to choose a stand-out track, that would be their cover of the pop standard "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". They awesomely add their epic rocking touch to the song and Jack's voice there is pretty awesome too.
100% recommendable album, even if you're not that into rock music.
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I'll have to check that out.
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)
4.5/5
The Glow Pt. 2 is a massive, droning, indie-folk album that is considered by many to be one of the best of the genre. I finally got around to listening to it yesterday and not only did I love it but I was almost completely blown away. The music on the album is very hard to describe. It ranges from indie-folk songs with off-time guitar strumming to explosive fuzzy folk songs to haunting droning tracks, all with Phil Elverum's ethereal vocals humming softly on top of them. The songs sort of flow together to give the album a very dream-like quality. One soft droning note is a reoccurring tie in many of the songs that keeps the album flowing until this note eventually swells into the last song which is basically the same note played over and over with very quiet and dreamy acoustic guitar fading in and out in the background, so quiet that sometimes you wonder if its there at all or if you're just imagining it. Adding to the dream-like qualities of this album is the lyrics. They are very surreal but equally relatable once you dig into them.
I'm still hesitant about giving this a "perfect" score. I'm sure one day this album will grow to that status for me, but for now I'm just going to explore it some more and see how I feel.
Most fans of the genre have probably heard this but if it sounds interesting to you and you haven't heard it, check it out:
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Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite
The first studio album from Dream Theater, the prog power-trio Rush's album "Moving Pictures" is an obvious influence in this album, with Charles Dominici's vocals sounding like a slightly lower pitched Geddy Lee (This was made before Labrie replaced Charles as lead singer), and Kevin Moore's playing is very synthy like Rush, but there is something different about them as well, they are faster, more technical, the solos are longer and more frequent. The entire thing is a great 80's prog album with brilliant instrumental work, but after this album the band went another direction with their music, meaning it isn't a good introduction to the band. I must also mention the album art is horrible.
My personal favorite tracks are:
Ytse Jam (Instrumental)
and
A Fortune in Lies
I'd give it a 8/10
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James Blake-James Blake
James Blake's debut album is basically a mix between electronic music and soul. Having the vocal and lyrics of a typical soul song while mixing in some dubstep beats is at the least fairly original. Most of the album is fairly boring and uninteresting. Although it sets itself to be a soul-electronic mix album, it's more of "here's some piano and singing" for 30 seconds and then "oh hey here's some electronic". The mixing of soul and electronic is scarce on this album although I will say maybe mixing piano and dubstep at the same time may not be as great at once thought. Most of the time the album seems a bit off beat with the vocals and is a bit awkward. However, when James Blake does get his dubstep+soul formula right, such as in song like Limit To Your Love and To Care (Like You) it's very satisfying.
59/100
Overall it's a fairly decent record. James Blake new sound is fairly interesting, I just think it needs a bit more time to mature.
FAVORITE SONGS:
To Care (Like You)
Limit To Your Love
Why Don't You Call Me
The Wilhelm Scream
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
Unluck
I Never Learnt To Share
Lindisfame I
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6.5/10
honestly (like Mirrored) I really think it sucks, but I have to give them credit for the interesting idea and actually making it look like they had an objective this time unlike with Mirrored...
high points include: ice cream, africastle, my machines
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What didn't you like about Mirrored?
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like i said, it didn't really feel like they had any real objective going for it. not saying i don't like albums with mixed types of songs or anything, but it didn't feel very... "stable", or like it flew together really well. i haven't heard mirrored in forever, though.
it's kind of bias since i usually prefer a much more serious sound in albums, but i have to credit them for not being an identical one-in-the-bunch-band. i liked snare hanger and atlas though
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Well it is intentionally abstract, it's a weird album.
Maybe repeat listens will help you find enjoyment.
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Esoteric - Epistemological Despondency (1994)
Genre: Funeral Doom/Death Metal
9/10
This is slow and long. But luckily there are some well placed tempo changes and strangely spacey sounding effects for Funeral Doom. Surely not what I expected for a Funeral Doom album, it's very interesting. Easily the best Funeral Doom I've heard since Absum.
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SNOWMINE - Laminate Pet Animal
Genre: Indie-Pop, Turbo-Hipster, Post-Seapunk
Saw this on a lot of people's favorites list this year and was
curious to check it out. Unfortunately I find this entirely
uninteresting and boring. Of 9 tracks there is one good song
(which I enjoy quite a lot), "Let Me In". But for a indie-band
album it's got pretty solid and clear sounding production.
Rating:1/5
Edited:
Oh yeah, shit's free here so whatever.
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really good album nice and smooth for late night uni work.
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Artist: La Dispute
Album: Wildlife
Released October 2011
This album is almost as indescribable as La Dispute itself. To sum up La Dispute for those of you unfamiliar with their work, they are a post-hardcore band unlike any other band out there. They make use of highly complex lyrics, with every song reading like a poem. Unlike many other bands out there they actually use spoken word and screaming in every song, with one of the most passionate and unpredictable vocalists I've ever heard, a song can go from sounding like a short story with a soundtrack, to a heavy rock anthem unpredictably. To put the band in perspective, Alternative press has said
Wildlife, the bands latest album, is by far their best work yet. It is a concept album unlike any concept album before it, as with most concept albums in order to fully appreciate it you have to listen from beginning to end. This album tells many different stories all fitting into the same theme on the human experience. It truly feels like listening to a biography or a short story, with tales of the hardships of many such as the loss of faith, or a child, and how they cope with the pain, and just like a novel there are even authors notes in between these stories (in the form of the songs "a Departure", "a Poem", "a Letter", and "a Broken Jar"). Not only are the lyrics and vocals amazing but the instrumentals are equally fantastic. The band makes use of a multitude of instruments such as glockenspiel, chimes, and even flutes and trumpets in addition to the usual electric guitar bass and drums, in order to set the scene for each story. The instrumentals truly create a sense of immersion in the album.
It is nearly impossible to pick one standout from this amazing album, but one of my favorites would have to be King Park, a song detailing one particular shooting incident in an intercity area and the impact it has on everyone involved.
I do however recommend that you listen to the entire album if you have the time (album playlist here). If you do listen to it, try and focus on it, perhaps even look up the lyrics to accompany each song to truly get a feeling for the album, because I must say, not since The Fall of Troy's Phantom on the Horizon EP have I even been so immersed in an album. It truly is an experience unlike any other I have felt in music.
10/10
Listen here!
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Holy shit use [img_thumb] tags for that image, god damn.
But I agree, Wildlife is a great album.
Edited:
holy shit, it's 1600x1600. I could almost use that as a fucking wallpaper on my 1920x1080 screen
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Fucking damn. I haven't seen a high res image of that album art before. All I ever saw was like 200x200
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But it deserves it, the album art is fantastic.
Edit:
Okay, thumbed it
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The album art is fantastic, but that doesn't warrant a page stretching image.
Pretty neat that you were actually able to find a image of that high of a resolution and it's quality still be great.
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Pierce The Veil - Selfish Machines - 2010
4/5
Really great album. The songs are dynamic and well-crafted, the lyrics are standard PTV fare (pseudo-love songs with lots of dreamlike, surreal nonsense splattered around), and the production is really clear and lush if a bit too polished at some points. Not as adventurous as their previous album though.
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I hoped to listen to it before this obsessiveness had started.
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Van Halen - 1984
Whoever hasn't listened to this needs to. Very energetic, vintage hard rock with great guitar work.
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-snip-
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No thank you. I won't listen to your mixtape
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Prisoner by The Jezabels
The Jezabels are a marginally popular Australian group, who won me over when I heard the song "Mace Spray" on the radio. I noticed they were playing the upcoming Big Day Out so I figured I'd give the album a listen in the leadup, and it's pretty damn great.
They sort of project a "huge-pop" sound (or, as the band puts it, "intensindie"), with lots of indistinguishable layering of guitars and piano and enormous drums. It's all very melodramatic - in a good way, mind you - made moreso by the countless ways lead singer Hayley Mary manages to deliver her vocals. This is something The Jezabels should be proud of; the songs become colourful and affecting. Rarely will a chorus be delivered in exactly the same way multiple times.
The one place I would fault this album would be in its pacing. The album commences with a huge run of some of its longest songs. When you reach the 30-minute mark and you've just finished track 6 out of 13, it can be a little disconcerting due to the band's sheer intensity. Thankfully the rest of the album eases up a little, and on the whole suffers little for it.
I give Prisoner a solid 8.2/10
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Long Arm - The Branches
Genre: Chill Jazzy Electronic Music That's Just So Chill and Oh So Jazzy
I found out about this album by it's very neat album art. Luckily, the music
was pretty representative of the cover. The artist's website puts it nicely:
"The Branches” album is a reflection of a world, where human feelings and
natural powers are bound together. Everything is correlated in this world.
There is no alive-dead distinction. The season change depends just on state of
mind. Every move, every wind breath, every sound brings an information, opened
for everyone who believes and ready to accept it, who hears and knows how to listen."
The Branches is a very Jazzy experimental Electronic album that is oh so chill. The
chill factor is pretty consistent throughout. It uses ambiance and samples quite well.
It's never fast and as previously stated, it's always chill. Would recommend it, especially
for doing assignments and things that require attention.
Buy here: http://projectmooncircle.bandcamp.co...m/the-branches
Rating:4/5
Sample:
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intriguing.
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God & Beast - NON
9/10
I already reviewed this on another site, but it's pretty long ect so suffice to say that this is an amazing industrial/noise album. Intense, dark atmosphere, amazing use of sound.
E:
there are also boobs on the album cover
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Give Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy album a listen if you like really big noise sounds with pop. Never heard anything like it.
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Slayer-Reign In Blood
Being a fan of the Big 4, naturally I like this album. The guitar playing absolutely slays (pun intended), Tom Araya's vocals sound amazing from the deathly shouts and bone chilling screams, the drum work is nice, and there are slight moments when the the guitars sounds slightly softer to leak a bit of bass to your ears. However, many of the songs sound too much of the same, especially in the middle of the album. Due to this, the album feels predictable around the fifth track and only a handful of sounds are memorable.
Don't get me wrong, all the songs are damn good, just that not many of them stick to me as much as others.
87/100
FAVORITE TRACKS
Angel of Death
Piece By Piece
Raining Blood
Aggressive Perfector
LEAST FAVORITE TRACK
Epidemic
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Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Ever since i had the epiphany that King of Limbs was a lot better than any other album I've really ever heard in the last few years, definitely being on my top 5 for the last 5 or so years, I decided that Radiohead were worth knowing back to front. Before King of Limbs, I'd only listened to OK Computer, In Rainbows, and Kid A, and I figured it was time for that to change. So I went to my local store and picked up the Hail to the Thief CD for a tenner.
I hadn't heard much about Hail to the Thief. I knew it was meant to be "OK Computer II" but I really don't know why - It sounds like a natural step between OK Computer and Kid A, like the missing record that linked the two together, not a return to Radiohead's roots. It's also amazing. It's an album that gets better and better each time you give it a listen, and perhaps the only thing that stopped it being a huge hit would be that quite a few songs on are pretty obviously filler material.
Obvious stand out songs are There There, which was released prior to the album as promotional material, A Punch Up at a Wedding, which is pretty pop friendly and has got some nice lyrics and I'll be fucked if that bass line isn't one of the catchiest that Radiohead have done. There are some nice Kid A style experiments in Backdrifts, the Gloaming and suchlike, and a really great close to the album with Wolf at the Door, which boasts some unrelenting and hardhitting lyrics about a bar fight his majesty professor Yorke got into with some drunk dudes one night in the year 2000.
That said, there are some standout tracks, and some not so standout tracks. As I said before, the album suffers from filler. I'd probably get rid of Sail to the Moon, I Will, and Where I End and You Begin at the least, because they're nothing new, nor are they particularly interesting either - Sail to the Moon continues in the vein of the Tourist, The Pyramid Song, How to Disappear Completely - those slow ballads that always seem to have at least one appearance on a Radiohead album and probably reached the pinnacle with Nude - frankly the tune is interesting but the lyrics are inexcusably terrible, and even for Thom Yorke, their are new steps taken in how to be totally illegible with Sail to the Moon. I don't know how I Will even got onto the album. It bored me.
Thing about this album though, is it needs repeated listening. The first time you hear it I think you might catch a hint of the creativity that went into this album, but the way to get the best out of this particular album is to listen to it like, 3 times or more - so long as you skip the filler. Definitely worth the $10 I paid for it.
8/10
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I love I Will and Where I End and You Begin :(
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opinions I guess, I found them to be kinda fillery
I have to say, Wolf at The Door has got to be track of like the last 6 months for it, the lyrics are so fantastic
FLAN IN THE FACE
FLAN IN THE FACE
Funny x 1
Disagree x 3
Agree x 1
Friendly x 1
Winner x 1
Informative x 1
Dumb x 3
