2012 musix

I'll start with the obvious and say Frank Ocean's Channel Orange. I'm not a fan of his weird, warbling voice, but there's a superb production to make up for it. While chilling to it, I can't help but think it's the best example of how modern pop can have worth since My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

On the slightly less obvious side - I think the word would be "cult classic" - The Seer by Swans is quickly becoming one of my all-time favourite albums. Swans have always sounded in some way like they wanted to horribly murder you, but this is the perfect example of that atmosphere, an album that makes two hours of thick, screeching guitars and unsettling drones beautiful. The title song deserves all Lady Gaga's chart positions, period. So what if it's thirty-two minutes long? A true masterpiece makes you want to persevere, that's what I say.

And finally, the new Between the Buried and Me is keeping my inner metalhead happy. Atmospheric black is my favourite style of metal, and combining it with prog results in the ideal mosh-fest for mathematicians and tropers. The one real problem is the number of minute-long interludes that don't really do much, but the long tracks more than make up for that.

Just my two cents.

Another fan of The Seer. Excellent.

I'm seeing Swans on Saturday, actually...

Calexico has a new album, Algiers. More post-punk and alt-country, and less of the Latin influences, on this album. The brass arrangements are far less boisterous, and they're mixed quieter, to boot. Heck, the whole album is the quietest one I've heard from Burns and Convertino yet.

In spite of this, I still find myself listening to it a bunch.

I think I'll look into it.

So, Swans concert. I think I might write an entry on it for my frequently neglected blog, considering that I had many thoughts on the experience of both the concert and the bizarre trip back home from it. I'll give a brief summary of it here.

This was the loudest concert I've been to, as well as the most intense—note that the two are not the same thing, but here they correspond. While the first concert I went to of theirs (now two years past; dang...) was musically more varied and certainly more historically important, this one was even more of an "experience." Not always a positive thing—I was physically quite tired and uncomfortable, so for a lot of the show I felt more like an unprepared observer to a bizarre ritual than the amp-worshipping acolyte that I would usually be—but mostly, very much a positive thing.

The way that "The Seer" distended and transformed in performance was particularly impressive: I had been there for the piece's first live performance (unbeknownst to me, naturally) as a ten-or-so-minute instrumental; I had later heard it stretched to a twenty-minute semi-vocal piece in their NPR-recorded performance at All Tomorrow's Parties, and transformed further into a full-fledged studio song, thirty-two minutes of shifting patterns, mad wordless chants, undulating sub-riffs. But this final incarnation... it must have been forty minutes or more, like some depraved answer to "Sister Ray", but not so much a song as a vast living beast, filling the room and exceeding it by unknown black degrees, a reptilian god-creature made flesh through sound. Particularly, that strange sub-section to the "giant hit" section—people who've heard the studio version know this part well—wherein Gira, Hahn and Harris engage in sudden massed tremolo strikes while Westberg, Puleo and Pravdica keep up that ungodly-slow, bestial, earth-shaking stomp... There are no words to do it justice.

See this band.

New Muse album, The 2nd Law. I didn't even know about it until a few days after it came out. I like it; a few songs have some wubstep influence but they manage to pull it off well (not a fan of the genre as a whole). Overall perhaps less...hmm...bombastic than their last two, maybe a bit harder to get into, but pretty good IMO.

Also new Between the Buried and Me, The Parallax II: Future Sequence. Bought on a random whim (never listened to this group before) and listening for the first time now. Enjoying so far.

edited 15th Oct '12 1:37:31 PM by MasterInferno

I'm looking forward to Lana Del Rey's re-release of her album. I bet some great tracks are going to come out of that.

And if I have enough money, maybe I'll check Nicki Minaj out.

...what? I can't have pop tastes?

By the way, I finally compiled a list of all of the music reviews on my blog. Feel free to delve through them—or not.

Entertainment For The Braindead put out two EPs, one in September, one this month, and is going to put out another in November and a last one in December. Judging by the titles, they all seem to be part of themed set. So far, Songs for the Apocalypse and Songs for the Homesick work better when listened to back-to-back rather than individually.

The year is 2012. 30 years after it happened, The Death of New Wave has finally been released by Andy Prieboy. If you ever wanted to know how New Wave acts had been axed from the labels in 2:32, here is your chance.

Redshape has a new album called "Square" prepped for the end of the year. I'd have posted the link for the complete free stream on the RA website but I just realized it's off their site just today. But it's pretty sweet. Maybe even better than "The Dance Paradox".

I was actually able to listen to 19 minutes of the 40 minute Ysengrin song To Endotaton (the only song on the album) and in spite of its length, the individual portions that make it up are better plotted and more concise than the material on the previous album. It is ultimately rather long-winded but they keep a lot of internal coherency mostly by following a certain thematic idea and fleshing it out with each successive iteration. Lots more 70's rock influence and at times it's not as much black metal as it is just progressive heavy metal.

I'm really pleased so far, definitely a contender for the end of year lists and it's good to see yet another band attempting to create a new vision of the old; the "epic" out of the primitive.

edited 3rd Nov '12 11:40:14 PM by StillbirthMachine

New Scott Walker album coming out this December!

This should be delightfully unsettling.

Bit of an understatement, frankly

There are 2 new albums this year that I absolutely love:

Tame Impala's Lonerism

The Music Tapes' Mary's Voice

Another album I Kind of like but I'm on the fence of, is Dr. Dogs' Be The Void.

I'm too busy catching up on new music to form a proper top 10 right now, so... Things that came out this year that I have enjoyed:

Sleigh Bells - Reign Of Terror
Deerhoof - Breakup Song (full album "music video" of sorts here)
Fergus & Geronimo - Funky Was The State Of Affairs
Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy
High On Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis
Frank Ocean - Channel ORANGE
The Fall - Ersatz G.B.

edited 3rd Dec '12 11:08:24 PM by MikeK

Joy Electric. Dwarf Mountain Alphabet. A new direction for Ronnie, and some of his best and catchiest songwriting yet.

My 2 favorites from this year are Of Breath And Bone Be'Lakor and Beyond Hell / Above Heaven by Volbeat.

edited 11th Dec '12 7:54:28 AM by reub2000

Oh my freaking goodness, Xera put out a new album. Downloading right now. If it's as good as their last two, it very well could dethrone Queen of the Wave as my favorite album of the year.

So, it's time for my personal 2012 music awards that likely nobody gives a damn about but I'm doing it anyway!!!

Or you can call it my 2012 retrospective if you will.

Album of the Year

• Between The Buried And Me - The Parallax II: Future Sequence
• Imaginary Flying Machines - Princess Ghibli II
• Demon Hunter - True Defiance
• Periphery - Periphery II: This Time It's Personal
• Devin Townsend Project - Epicloud
• Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar
• Toxic Grind Machine - Embrionic Emission

Album of the Year by a band I didn't know existed or didn't exist until then

• Toxic Grind Machine - Embrionic Emission
• Genedefect - Nebulae Archaic
• Orden Ogan - To The End
• 7 Horns 7 Eyes - Throes Of Absolution
• The Advaita Concept - The Ratio

Pleasant Surprise of the Year

• Princess Ghibli getting a sequel
• Chelsea Grin not being bad
• Neosis rebooting Breach The Void's best song
• CD 2 of Devin Townsend's Epicloud being arguably BETTER than the main material
• Liking Kamelot's new singer much better than Roy

Song of the Year

• Wintersun - "Sons Of Winter And Stars"
• Between The Buried And Me - "Melting City"
• Demon Hunter - "My Destiny"
• Code For Silence - "Deathrace"
• Ne Obliviscaris - "Forget Not" (does a re-recorded 2007 song counts?)

Facebreaking Song of the Year

• Toxic Grind Machine - "Morphia"
• Tracedawn - "You're Fired!"
• Miseration - "Stepping Stone Agenda"
• The Faceless - "Autotheist Movement III: Deconsecrate"
• The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza - "You Won't" (I didn't even like the album but holy sh** this song)

Most warm-sounding Song of the Year <3

• Periphery - "Epoch"
• Skyharbor - "Celesial"
• Devin Townsend Project - "Love Tonight"
• The Omega Experiment - "Tranquility"
• Alcest - "Autre Temps"

Most Repeat-worthy Song Moments

• Sylosis - "A Dying Vine" (THIS)
• 7 Horns 7 Eyes - "Divine Amnesty" (Intro and outro)
• Between The Buried And Me - "Melting City" (The flute solo)
• Intandem - "Odyssey" (The chorus is great, but it's the buildup that sends me the chills)
• Wintersun - "Sons Of Winter And Stars" (that awesome moment when you think the song couldn't get better)
• Tracedawn - "Nothing And Nowhere" (The sexy piano)

Bands who released stuff in 2012 and deserve honorable mention

• Silent Descent
• Rise To Fall
• Ill Niño
• The Contortionist
• Divine Disorder (pretty promising btw)

edited 21st Dec '12 10:25:27 AM by NEO

My favorite albums (with brief reviews):

1. Pepe Deluxé: Queen of the Wave **
   PD displays an utterly baffling mix of self-indulgence and self-control. On the one hand, they seem to have thrown every idea they ever had into this album (seriously, there’s more interesting ideas in these 47 minutes than some musicians have in their entire careers). On the other hand, every one of those ideas is ruthlessly pruned until they all can fit together seamlessly and sanely: this is, at the end of the day, pop music, not prog rock. Pop music that integrates psychedelic rock, surf rock, soul, early electronic music, opera, and 007-esque brass—yet still sounds cohesive. I don’t like to think too much about “importance”, but this album is so startlingly unique and so finely-crafted that I’m already wondering about what spot it deserves in “album of the decade” lists, and what influence it will have on future generations.
2. Starflyer 59: IAMACEO **
   Sf59 is nothing if not consistent, so if you’ve heard their last few moody alt-rock albums, you can already guess what this one is going to sound like. You can also guess that the consistently high-quality songwriting (“Bicycle Rider” and the New Order-esque “Red Tide” stand out) means it’s well worth a listen all the same. And you’d be right.
3. Joy Electric: Dwarf Mountain Alphabet **
   Almost since the beginning, JE has been defined by the uneasy alliance between two extremes: (1) pop songwriting and (2) production inspired by vintage electronic music. Ronnie Martin has finally resolved that tension by deciding to run two “bands” simultaneously, each focusing on one half of the equation—meaning the JE brand will henceforth ditch the minimalist monosynth sound and focus on making the poppiest electronic music it can. So, for this album, Ronnie has finally loosened his tie a bit: for the first time in years, he’s employing multiple synthesizers, actual chords, and a definite Italo disco influence. This new style allows Ronnie’s songwriting—as good here as it’s ever been—to shine like it rarely has before.
4. Diablo Swing Orchestra: Pandora’s Piñata **
   I can see why this band is such a love-it-or-hate-it outfit. They’re frequently labeled an avant-garde metal band, but let’s face it, they’re not really metal (and they probably aren’t avant-garde either). Their metal is watered-down, their swing is watered-down, and their opera is watered-down. But, taken on their own terms—as a pop band with an wider-than-usual sonic palette and a flair for the dramatic—DSO spins a compelling and catchy-as-hell ten-song cycle. They’ve also done a far better job integrating their influences than on their debut album, allowing them to transition from salsa-metal to Asian choir music over dance beats, and then again to something out of musical theater, while still sounding like the same band.
5. Woven Hand: The Laughing Stalk **
   This was recorded live in the studio, and it shows, in the best possible way. It’s WH’s hardest-rocking and heaviest album yet, and the one that comes closest to capturing the earth-shattering loudness of their live shows. Unfortunately, the middle of the album drags a bit, but the beginning and end are strong enough to make up for it.
6. Calexico: Algiers **
   After the first few listens, I wanted to crack wise about failing to live up to the “-exico” half of the name. After another week, I didn’t care about that anymore. This is (to my knowledge) the quietest and least Latin-sounding album Burns and Convertino have released under the Calexico name, but there’s a smoldering intensity just beneath the surface of these folk and post-punk offerings.
7. Rodrigo y Gabriela & C.U.B.A.: Area 52 **
   I’m a sucker for Latin music. So of course I’m going to like an album of a Latin guitar duo backed by a salsa orchestra.
8. Xera: Llume **
   On their first two albums, Xera proved beyond all reasonable doubt their mastery of the fusion of Asturian folk and electronic dance music. So, for this album, they have nothing to prove. Llume has few of the wow moments that stood out on the prior albums, and the pop influences of album #2 are all but gone—in their place are rhythm and atmosphere that reward multiple listens and quietly compel the listener to hope.
9. School of Seven Bells: Ghostory **
   SVIIB’s first two albums were supported by the twin pillars of quality dream pop melodies and the Dehaza sisters’ vocal harmonies. So Claudia Dehaza’s departure last year caused onlookers to fear the band would be irrevocably changed for the worse. Ghostory doesn’t merely prove those fears wrong—it so completely blows the previous albums out of the water that I can’t help but wonder if Claudia was holding the band back this whole time.
10. Korpiklaani: Manala **
    Folk metal’s party rockers do a serious album. Along the way, they cover the traditional song “Ievan Polkka”—apparently unaware of the internet meme responsible for that song’s popularity (such as it is) outside Scandinavia. Thus, even when Korpiklaani is serious, hilarity ensues.
11. The Orb & Lee “Scratch” Perry: The Observer in the Star House **
    One of the biggest names in ambient house collaborates with one of the biggest names in dub. The results are nothing more and nothing less than you would expect.

Other stuff I liked but not quite as much:

• Soul-Junk: 1961
• Demon Hunter: True Defiance
• Thayer Sarrano: Lift My Eyes to the Hills
• Wovenhand: Live at Roepaen
• Spiritualized: Sweet heart, sweet light **
  It's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space: Once More, With Hope.
• Project 86: Wait for the Siren
• Big Gigantic: NOCTURNAL **
  I always felt that brostep was missing something. Turns out that something was saxophone solos.
• Entertainment for the Braindead: Postcards
• DragonForce: The Power Within **
  Check it out, they figured out how to play at speeds besides "as fast as humanly possible" and "power ballad".
• Muse: The 2nd Law
• Fishdoctor: The Swell
• Kishi Bashi: 151a

Albums that I didn’t get to hear and that I wish I had:

• Hot Club of Detroit: Junction
• Sufjan Stevens: Silver & Gold
• Orbital: Wonky
• David Byrne & St. Vincent: Love This Giant

edited 31st Dec '12 7:11:15 PM by MetaFour