Music: Rate and Discuss

Seen Frank Turner live tonight in Toronto.

I dunno if anyone from anywhere except Europe will know who he is, but I hear he sells out arenas in the UK. It was an awesome show and he is a great entertainer and musician. 10/10.
 
Went to an A Winged Victory for the Sullen concert tonight. It was amazing. I don't usually seek out ambient music to listen to (although I have been more, lately). But in a live setting, it's brilliant. Every note was beautiful. Also, "seeing Arvo Part's 'Fratres' performed live" is now checked off my imaginary list. Ended the show. Perfect.
 
So after ignoring them for about half a decade, I've found out I quite like Lamb.


I usually don't venture too much into this kind of stuff, but I always find myself liking it when I stumble upon it. Similar to Curve, I think what does it for me is the sound of a woman breathing into my ear.
Speaking of which, I'm sure I have some old Curve albums that need to ripped into iTunes.
 
Animals as Leaders - Weightless

Oh happy day! Been waiting for this one since their mind-blowing debut. Only given it a couple preliminary listens but it sounds pure quality. I like that they've pulled back a bit and tried to write songs that are more musically interesting and less reliant on shred. But still have lots of shred. Oh yes.

They also use some lo-fi electronics to pretty neat effect. The intro to this first song, for example:


 

I enjoy this so I thought I would share.
 

Also they will have a new album out sometime, supposedly more ambient (the new cool thing these days)... according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sadly this song isn't the most exciting thing although the 15 sec clip of it was beautiful at the end of the Inni trailer, probably because I'm a sucker for clean tones juxtaposed with noise.
Still very interested in what they're coming out with next though.
 
Dog-- said:
Seen Frank Turner live tonight in Toronto.

I dunno if anyone from anywhere except Europe will know who he is, but I hear he sells out arenas in the UK. It was an awesome show and he is a great entertainer and musician. 10/10.
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He is fairly big over here in the UK (Mainly because this is where he's from) and I've seen him twice in 2 consecutive years at Leeds Festival. He was on the main stage the second time and managed to get nearly everyone watching in the field (and this is A LOT of people) to sit down and then jump up at a certain point in his song. It was epic.

Totally brilliant musician.
 
Beck - Girl

I had no idea this mother f*cker was a Scientologist. Also he looks like a little kid. Mellow Gold gave me the very best monster in the first Monster Rancher.

 
dfc05 said:

Also they will have a new album out sometime, supposedly more ambient (the new cool thing these days)... according to the Wall Street Journal.
Sadly this song isn't the most exciting thing although the 15 sec clip of it was beautiful at the end of the Inni trailer, probably because I'm a sucker for clean tones juxtaposed with noise.
Still very interested in what they're coming out with next though.
Click to expand...
The new cool thing these days? Since when? Sigur Ros doing a album full of material that is more ambient is hardly a revelation.
 
waters_wall_floyd.jpg


Bought my Wall tickets today, yay! I thought for sure I had missed the last chance to see this ever last year when I couldn't afford it, then I hear it's coming back to the States on a commerical last night. I'm just gonna go ahead and assume Roger is doing it just for me.


Psyched.
 
Mogi67 said:
The new cool thing these days? Since when? Sigur Ros doing a album full of material that is more ambient is hardly a revelation.
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Yeah I have no clue why I said that. Probably due to a personal leaning towards more ambient music lately, but no, it's not really a trend in the real world :p.
As for Sigur Ros specifically -- it's not really surprising, but given that their last two albums started leaning more towards happy energetic crap, ambient would be a step in the opposite direction.

[edit] ok I guess Jonsi did ambient music on Riceboy Sleeps post-"Med sud..." but then he went and made "Go"...... :\
 
Latitudes - Agonist

Made a note of this a year or two back and just got around to grabbing it. I don't really have a review for this except to say it is some stonkingly sludgy shit and I really quite like it. If the riff starting at around 5 minutes doesn't make your beard grow then you will never truly be a man (or woman-man).

 
Viper's been in a funk. Specifically, ELECTRO FUNK, disco funk's twin, house's cooler brother, and the #1 music for GETTING FUNKY. Seriously, if your party's dead, put this on, and everyone will start freakin'. You! You're not having fun? Here's some electro funk! Now you're having fun! This genre is where Daft Punk gets all its samples.

The classic that all your parents (and pi) have heard:


Very discoey, but that bass is all funk:


The AWESOMENESS that was the BBQ Band:


Dat beat:



Then there's Dam-Funk, a present-day one-man funk band. As far as I can tell he self-produces. Half his tracks are one-offs performed live on vintage gear in a smoke-filled garage. Picture an SH-101 droning on for 7+ minutes as he shuffles across his Juno for the next pad sweep, all the while accompanied by his hushed lyrics into a vocoder. His music videos are populated by what appear to be his poor neighbours in LA. He proselytises "true funk" in his interviews. This guy is insane.



And bringing us closer to the present, more Com Truise! He released "She Melts" back in Oct, and it's a lot closer to BoC than usual. We'll see where he's heading. The guy needs to make more shtuff.


 
So because I first learned about Astronautalis here, I figured I'd post some songs from his new album, This Is Our Science, here. So, here we go.


Brilliant, all of it.
 

The Mars Volta Group back in 2010 with what I believe is their new and still-current drummer. Gat damn. Their new album isn't supposed to come out for another six months or so, though, it's been too long :(
 
I sang this a couple of years ago and then kind of forgot about it for a while...until a week ago when I decided I'd rather like to hear it again, and since then have been listening to it non-stop. It's really powerful.

Samuel Barber: Prayers of Kierkegaard

Sorry there's no video...they've taken it off Youtube for some reason.
 
*shels - Plains of the Purple Buffalo

How did these guys pass me by? Christ, what an incredible album. The band are billed mainly as post-rock/metal, but that seems like such an ill-fitting label somehow. If anything it's too restrictive - this sound is so vast, so monstrous, so energetic and yet so evocative that I might even be tempted to use a word like 'epic' (maybe). More than that, this is something everyone can and should listen to. At least, anyone with a predilection for amazing music. :v

Seriously, turn this shit ****ing right up.


 
^ Heard them a few times back when I used to hang out on turntable.fm, but they never particularly grabbed my attention. But I'll give it another listen since you posted again.

James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
I recently discovered that the library here seems to throw anything that's not classical, standard rock, or electronic into the "New Age" category, even if it's not actually new play some really nice fingerpicking guitar.



And if we're allowed to rant about music we hate... Far East Movement - Like A G6. It seems this song came out last year, I don't even know. I don't listen to mainstream radio unless forced to (on the university shuttle). I've only heard portions of this song twice and I already hate it. It might even be the worst song I've ever heard, surpassing Hoobastank's "The Reason" in crappiness. I can't understand how anyone listens to this song. It's annoying and, despite being only 3:30 in length, feels like it's at least 6 minutes due to the sheer torture of it. Also, I was wondering what a G6 is supposed to be (assumed it was a stupid slang term) and googled the song, only to learn perhaps the most pathetic part of all: "Writer and producer Niles Hollowell-Dhar revealed that the reference to a G6 was created primarily in order to rhyme." :flame:
 

Reeks of Trent. Yet wouldn't be out of place on Mass Effect's or Deus Ex's soundtrack...

Love it.
 

i've been a fan of band for a long time. mid-90's electronica. this album has everything i could want, dub, drone, pop. It's ethereal, rhythmic, swooning. love this shit. give it a listen
 
Seefeel's great. Quique and Succour are also great albums by them.

I don't care too much for Plainsong, it's a little cheesy.

Blue Easy Sleep, however...


And of course, Time To Find Me


Ruby-Ha off of Succour is my favorite of the album, but it's not on youtube.

Edit: Well here's the first minute or so


All their tracks have such a great 90s electronic vibe, I love it.

Their new self-titled album is also pretty great, specifically Airless and Aug30.
 
The Verve - Lucky Man.

...just got back from a nice bike ride, kickin' it in front of the fire with the wife, the dog, and some nice chow. Fsck yeah.
 

I don't know why I haven't listened to Iron Maiden all this time, in my life. God they're awesome. This is officially the music I want to listen to on my deathbed.

Or rather, while charging a tank on my horse, lance pointed forward and a cavalry sabre in the other hand. Listening to this.


God I finally know how I want to die.
 
So the new Weeknd mixtape dropped and I've been listening to a lot of that.


Cover of Dirty Diana:

Really like it, in order of his mixtapes I think House of Balloons>Echoes of Silence>Thursday. Need more listens but HoB is ****ing amazing and I just don't know if this can pass it.

Download it, and his two other mixtapes ~for free~ here.
 

Completely fell in love with this song.

So insanely beautiful by Ed Sheeran, a great new artist out of the UK.

He also has a song with probably the most lyrics ever, along with one of the coolest rifts and beats that just gets my head bobbing so easily. God this guy can sing fast.

 
Paul Jebanasam - Music for the Church of St. John the Baptist
Recording of a beautiful, captivating 25 minute ambient/classical piece composed specifically for the one live performance at that church. Been listening to only this all night. First part is really droney and gets a little scary at bits, but is interesting to listen to. Middle part (~11-14 minutes) is my favorite -- very much like Arvo Part, and fitting for the setting. End is very nice also, just wish a drone was kept going for another minute as it seems a little abrupt. 8.5/10

Also, while working today:
Short tape loop disintegrating while being transferred to digital. I don't know if anyone can genuinely listen and focus the entire 63 minutes. If so, I commend you. However, it was great to have on while working and the original loop, pre-disintegration, is gorgeous and hazy. I always seem to lose focus about a minute in, then become aware of the disintegration around the 10 minute mark. Then lose focus again until the last few minutes. What fascinated me the last time around was that even when the notes are mostly gone (physically), there still seems to be some residual haze recorded. Or maybe an hour straight of it just drove me partially insane and I started hearing sound that isn't there. I don't know. 8/10

last:
One man and a sax, single-take, multiple microphones. My favorite off that album, probably the most accessible piece. I used to listen to just a live recording of it, but the studio recording is amazing. I like the weird echoing effects going on. 9.5/10
 
Just discovered a Japanese mathrock band called nuito. They're basically what would happen if About Tess and Toe were one band. Hectic, noisy, melodically precise... music. Music!

 
^Cool, I liked 4 min and onward. I'm still not sure how I feel about math rock. Great for head bobbing, but I usually like more memorable melodies. Otherwise I can't distinguish among bands. I think Tera Melos is the only really mathy band where the melodies are catchy enough for me to remember.

Posting this mostly because the review on allmusic is one of the funniest reviews (in a wry, not-so-obvious sense) I've ever read, and spot on.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-red-score-in-tile-r649192/review
allmusic said:
by François Couture
Is William Basinski's A Red Score in Tile dealing with obsession? It sure feels that way. It consists of a Fender Rhodes loop, 20 seconds of a slow, melancholy motif. The tape is worn, the grain of the sound showing like an old photograph; the playback speed of the reel-to-reel machine changes almost imperceptibly, bending one particular note. These are only two of the many details you will have time to discover and/or make up if you hold on through the 45 minutes of the piece -- around 135 reiterations of the loop. Honestly, it's uncertain if modifications are applied to the loop in the course of the piece. The repetition becomes so obsessive, a mix of fondness for the cute fragment and annoyance at the reiteration, that reality becomes blurry. Expecting change, the listener occasionally hears changes, only to reason with himself and decide that, no, it's still the same -- and reconsidering again after a while, in a vicious cycle of imagination and disbelief. Surface noise from the turntable stylus makes matters worse, as it adds alterations that are not meant to be there (or are they?). The strangely romantic quality of Disintegrating Loops (the album which revealed Basinski's music in 2002) is absent from this 1979 tape composition. What remains is an odd exercise in stimuli depravation. The piece came out in 2003 on an LP released by Three Poplars through Die Stadt.
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Got some lesser known Porcupine Tree albums, and must say I really enjoy the diversity of songs on them.

Here are two from "Recordings":



And one from "Lightbulb Sun":

 
Good stuff, Porc have some great tracks hidden away on EPs and crap. Man, I still haven't touched half of their back catalog before Absentia...

You instrumental metal fans should check out Chimp Spanner. Really nice clean production, playing reminiscent of Dream Theater in parts but it gets pretty rhythmic and djent-y too (boy I hate that word).



Also, for something completely different - Farewell Poetry. I've given their album a few spins now (stream it at their site) but I still can't decide if I'm super into it. Really minimal post-rock vibes with spoken word poetry over top. Very moody, very different. Also takes ages to build:

 
Liking the Chimp Spanner you posted, gonna have a look and find some more of that.

One last song from Lightbulb Sun (its long, but fantastic):

 
Wanted Bob said:
Liking the Chimp Spanner you posted, gonna have a look and find some more of that.

One last song from Lightbulb Sun (its long, but fantastic):

Click to expand...

<3

Good excuse to post more Steven Wilson:


Oh Steven, you dreamy devil. The more I listen to that album, the better it becomes. Except the pure jazzy bits. Still don't like those.
 
This song is getting really famous here (ALONG WITH THSOE STUPID BOOTS ARGH#*&@#$#)

I like the song a lot but seriously sick of those boots people wear them at the club and it's absolutely RIDICULOUS no joke.

 
............ The giant hook-scythe boots? You have got to be joking. That's the most absurd.... I literally can't believe that. I can't do it. Nobody would wear those to a club, would they?


This here's a band called Faraquet, who were apparently influential but I've never heard of them so obviously that can't be true. But I like them anyway. B) Too bad they broke up after only one properly-released LP. Then they mostly regrouped as Medications but they don't seem to have as much impact...ful...nes...s. As before. Anyway this is the first track on the album The View From This Tower. His vocals remind me of Incubus, and it gives a neat effect.
 
Stigmata said:
............ The giant hook-scythe boots? You have got to be joking. That's the most absurd.... I literally can't believe that. I can't do it. Nobody would wear those to a club, would they?
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Yeah man not all of them are that big but some are. Those are very fancy/expensive ones. But like the guys are wearing before the dance group in hats come in are very common. That's just a style here a lot of people talk shit about it though myself included I think they're silly when they get too long but a lot of girls like them.

I dont know its a fashion trend spreading here it started in Mexico then Texas and now also New Mexico/AZ/Cali so it's just a Southwest thing rather than just Mexican. That's unusual too usually our culture goes south and I don't just mean American but even Mexicans and other latinos in the USA set the trend and bring it back when they travel back to see family and stuff.

EDIT: I just googled and found this wikipedia page LOL I just learned a lot. I dont get why they call them tribal music or tribal related though because like I said around here they're common in the club (not just Mexican clubs): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_pointy_boots

I think whoever wrote that wikipedia article is confusing "tribal music" with Trival a GENRE of music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trival
 
Floating Points - Shadows EP



A huge hit for me. KA classifies it as minimal techno, and I'm willing to take his word on it, although I've never heard it done quite like this--but I'm inexperienced on this front. It's certainly not extravagent, with its share of 808 solos and unfiltered sawtooth lines, but it's not the primitive, 8 minute loopfests that defy you to keep listening without getting bored.

It's subtle, but it's not boring. Detail and minute transition is key here, and whether intentional or not, Floating Points really knows how to bring in exactly what's necessary to keep you interested or set the mood. There are buildups and breakdowns, but I can count them on one hand. Even when they happen, they can be nonstandard: track 4's buildup actually kills the main synth, defying your expectations. Most of the time it's knob twiddling, but the good kind: effective enough to be noticeable, but smooth and not in-your-face. I brought up intentionality because I suspect some of it is a jam. It has a somewhat raw, quickly cut feeling (I'll get to the production later), and there's a few timing and twiddling errors. The synth line from track 2 bleeds into track 3 and stays until the end, like he didn't bother muting it. Who knows, maybe it's all sequenced and he just doesn't stress over getting values to sync up with bar lengths like most artists. Point is, it's dynamic and off-kilter enough to at least sound like a live set.

Oh yes, dynamics! What happened to thee? Yeah, you're going to have to turn this one up. Completely uncompressed. Remember those days? The pre-2000's? When there were loud parts of music? Alone, probably half the reason I love this ep. Lends to the "live" feel, like he didn't bother with post production. As far as I can tell, no multiband compression or stereo imaging, and certainly no high freq attentuation (get ready for track 5, you've been warned). Attention artists: do this, it makes your music a million times better.

Thematically, it's blues and introvert techno. Tracks 1 and 5 have their fair share of Rhodes and freeform stabs, which I think every genre can benefit from. Bass is light (relative to this day and age), never overwhelming, and in some cases irrelevant when it matches the main synth line. The only track where it becomes central is 5. Track 1's bass starts out syncopated, almost off-time, but this is a bold statement: it doesn't care. You're here to enjoy some blues, damnit. Tracks 3-4 are more standard 4/4 club droners, earning the "minimal" title well enough. Track 2 could be as well, but for its hip-hop...ish beat. Track 3 is dispensable. I like 808 dickery as much as the next guy, but a solo 4/4 beat makes me skip it.

Track 5, Sais, is of course the stand out that everyone will remember. The bass tempts you with its pseudo-wub. Really, this is the only aggressor in the album. Worth the price of admission, but I think track 1 does the blues/jazz thing better. Still, the last quarter of Sais is amazing, so much so that I want to completely rip it off in my own stuff.

Summary: Not quite genre-defining, but damn is it good and fun. Unpretentious, easy on the ears, minimally (hah :l) derivative, wholesome electronic music. It's too bad I can't get into this guy's other stuff.
 
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