Wolves in the Throne Room - “Two Hunters”

January 18th, 2008 |

Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters

Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters. 2007 4 stars.

Once again, the friendly black metal acolytes at rateyourmusic.com have recommended another stellar release, this one by Olympia, WA’s Wolves in the Throne Room (why do so many existential bands hail from there?). The second studio album from the band, Two Hunters is an extensive, doom-laden mindfuck that features dark ambient passages, demonic vocals and impenetrably fast drumming.

Wolves in the Throne Room, taking cues from Southern Lord label mates Sunn O))) and Earth, engage in misty post-metal jams that give prevalence to atmosphere while still hearkening back to traditional black metal sensibilities a la Agalloch. The inclusion of spooky choral vocals from a female guest also adds to the haunting power this disc delivers. While some of the jams run a little too long, and the metal vocals can be overwhelming at times, Two Hunters is an immersing listen overall.

No Age - “Weirdo Rippers”

January 17th, 2008 |

No Age - Weirdo Rippers

No Age Weirdo Rippers 2007. 3 stars.

What the hell is a Weirdo Ripper? Perhaps its a loose moniker for No Age’s surreal brand of punk rock, relishing in lo-fi noisiness and ambient textures. If I were to make a rock equation, No Age’s first LP is a combination of scrappy slacker rock like Pavement and Sebadoh with the hazy ambient of Deerhunter, making for a listening experience that is strange and obtuse yet ultimately satisfying in its concision.

The overall tone of Weirdo Rippers is one of restrained excitement, where the band is conscious of their revolutionary artistic potential but is ultimately limited by their lack of technical savvy and thin production values. Still, the lo-fi element is probably what makes this work so unique and appealing in a market saturated by punk bands overcome by their devastating sameness. The roughness of it all has a certain charm to it, like the derelict building on the cover.

Garfield + Nine Inch Nails = Awesome

January 16th, 2008 |

Lasagna Cat makes live action reenactments of old Garfield cartoon strips and then adds to the strangeness of it all by adding trippy music videos afterwards, this one being for NIN’s Head like A Hole. The result is both hilarious and hallucinative! Check out the Lasagna Cat You Tube page for more bizarre installments.

Kayo Dot

January 15th, 2008 |

Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye
Kayo Dot Choirs of the Eye. 2003. 4 stars

Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue
Kayo Dot. Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue. 2006. 4 stars.

Kayo Dot are a psychedelic metal outfit that formed out of the ashes of Maudlin of the Well, a progressive metal band that acquired a cult following in the underground scene. These two albums demonstrate the intense vocal abilities of the band’s mastermind Toby Driver as he verges from spine-chilling wails to hushed, harmonic whispers. Musically, the band sprawls in many exciting directions, using many fluid jazz arrangements, crunching metal riffs and waves of spectacular cymbal crashes. Defiantly one of the standout acts to emerge from the progressive metal scene, Kayo Dot’s jazz-metal explorations continues to challenge and reveal themselves over many listens.

Sigur Ros return to innocense

January 14th, 2008 |

These two remarkable music videos (more like music films really) are for “Hoppipolla” and “Glósóli”, off of Sigur Ros’ 2005 album Takk…

Capturing the wispy nostalgia and childlike wonder of Sigur Ros’ melodies, these masterpieces invite us to return to a state of innocence, escaping the torments and uncertainties of adulthood.

“Glósóli”

“Hoppipolla”

Godflesh “Slavestate”

January 13th, 2008 |

This is a brutally psychedelic video for Godflesh’s “Slavestate”, off the EP of the same name. The bleeding colorization here reminds me of some terrifying hallucinogenic trip. This is industrial metal at its heaviest (and artiest). Set the controls for the heart of the sun…

Godflesh - Slavestate
Godflesh Slavestate EP 1991.

I’ve been pretty busy the last few days, so you’ll have to be patient if you want more in-depth articles and commentary. I’m trying to embed my Flickr account on my blog but its proving to be a little difficult. Hopefully I’ll get it figured out soon, as there are some great pics my girlfriend and I are putting into it. If anyone is familiar with embedding Flickr in Wordpress blogs, leave a comment. Thanks.
More to come.

This Will Destroy You

January 11th, 2008 |

This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain
This Will Destroy You. Young Mountain EP. 2005. 3.5 stars.

The fittingly named post -rock band This Will Destroy You have crafted a dense and powerful EP that follows the same slow-burning instrumental pathways as bands like Explosions in the Sky, while still making unexpected (and welcomed) detours.

While the ambient compositions give way to fiery crescendos, there are also diverse electronic flourishes and interesting break beats to keep your attention from waning during the long, neo-psychedelic passages.

Overall, this album sounds familiar but immensely satisfying if you are a fan of instrumental post-rock (as I am) and its shows the band’s potential for lyrical song structures and intense guitar-driven cataclysms.

Be sure to look for their self titled debut LP on January 29…

This Will Destroy You - This Will Destroy You

Blender’s 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums

January 10th, 2008 |

Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted

Blender Magazine has crafted a fairly thorough list of the Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever, naming Pavement’s raw Slanted and Enchanted the best of the best. While I rarely read Blender, I rather enjoyed this list, as it includes several under-rated gems from the 90s. Here are Blender’s picks:

100 The Shaggs - Philosophy Of The World
99 Dream Syndicate - The Days Of Wine And Roses
98 Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
97 The Mekons - Rock ‘N’ Roll
96 TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
95 The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
94 Half Japanese - Greatest Hits
93 Big Black - Atomizer
92 Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
91 The Chills - Kaleidoscope World
90 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
89 Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
88 Daniel Johnston - Yip/Jump Music
87 Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
86 Flipper - Album - Generic Flipper
85 The Clean - Anthology
84 Beat Happening - You Turn Me On
83 The Misfits - Walk Among Us
82 The Embarrassment - Heyday 1979-83
81 The Vaselines - The Way Of The Vaselines
80 Feist - The Reminder
79 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
78 The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
77 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
76 Le Tigre - Le Tigre
75 Galaxie 500 - Today
74 The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong
73 Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
72 The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
71 Stereolab - Refried Ectoplasm
70 Mudhoney - Superfruzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles
69 Nick Drake - Pink Moon
68 Descendents - Milo Goes To College
67 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising
66 Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
65 Various Artists - No New York
64 Cat Power - The Greatest
63 Nirvana - Bleach
62 The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
61 LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
60 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
59 Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
58 Built To Spill - There’s Nothing Wrong With Love
57 Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
56 Archers Of Loaf - Icky Mettle
55 Bad Brains - Bad Brains
54 Unrest - Imperial F.F.R.R.
53 Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
52 Bright Eyes - Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
51 Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
50 Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous

Read More »

Alcest - “Souvenirs d’un autre monde” Review

January 9th, 2008 |

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un autre monde

Alcest Souvenirs d’un autre monde 2007. 4.5 stars.

Among the several recent discoveries of albums I overlooked in 2007, is this post-rock gem by France’s Alcest. Souvenirs is an ethereal, hypnotic and engaging listen that takes shoe-gaze dynamics to new and evocative heights. While formerly a black metal band, Alcest has moved away from that genre’s resigned aggressiveness to produce this work of surprising tranquility, dipping into the same shimmering, glacial pools as Sigur Ros and even Jesu.

The tracks here are layered with hazy and churning guitars that wash over you, while the serene (and indecipherable) vocals glide over the beautiful chaos, driving epic and fluid compositions toward a distant horizon. Like the album’s title suggests, Alcest’s work here is like a window to another world, one of blinding sunshine and swirling snow drifts, where battered souls can hide from their Earthly troubles. Truly an exercise in catharsis that plays to your imagination.

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

January 8th, 2008 |

Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan 1963. 5 Stars.

Everything has already been said about this man and his work. Like the greatest music legends of the 20th Century, Bob Dylan is just as much a myth as he is a musician, as the recent film I’m Not There will attest.

But there is no mythologizing about the lasting power of Dylan’s powerful song-writing, which in his more poignant efforts, provide stirring social commentary that has spanned decades and generations, making it depressingly obvious that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Last year, after being caught off guard by “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, off the album above, I immediately learned the song’s chords and did my best to memorize its labyrinthine lyrics. Every time I sing this song, I have to take a moment on reflect on its form and contemplative energy, trying to get into get into Dylan’s crackling mindset. I always have this image of a whethered and world-weary figure, exhausted by the multitude of horrors surrounding him, trying to inform the world of the immense costs of our collective actions. Over 40 years later, this screed is still echoing from the mountain.

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’,
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’,
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’,
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’,
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’,
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.