Last Album you listened through

So, went on a Woods listening splurge a few days ago. Here's the lowdown:

• How To Survive In / In The Woods 2xK7 cassette (Fuck It Tapes, 2005)—Depending upon how you look at this one, this one is either two odd little E Ps or or one very odd album. In either case, an interesting release, covering a surprisingly broad emotional range with very limited means. Also sets the official Woods standard of pairing up the album's two most overtly creepy/fascinating tracks with "God Hates The Faithless" and "Angel's Trumpet", though the closer's simple yet effective use of a crying cat may well push it further into the realm of discomfort than either of those on repeated listens. On the lighter side, "Broke" is pretty cute, and "Make Time For Kitty" and "I Get By" are both strangely witty. The crackling low fidelity of the recordings may put off many, however.
• At Rear House LP (Shrimper/Woodsist, 2007)—A lovely album indeed, and even more subtly sinister than the first, as neatly presaged by the timeless, morose is-this-a-love-song-or-isn't-it "Don't Pass On Me", brought forward with the haunting "Be Still" and ultimately fulfilled in full with "Night Creature" and "Walk The Dogs". Not a very happy place to be, this sound-world: It's like a modern reading of a book of folk songs so old that the meanings are lost but for their menace and emotional perplexity. Even the cute songs here like "Hunover" are bathed in an aura of dreamy strangeness. In a word, fantastic, and certainly worth the while of anyone looking for something to make themselves feel pleasantly unpleasant.
• Songs Of Shame LP (Shrimper/Woodsist, 2009)—Another near-perfect album, albeit for entirely different reasons from At Rear House: Where that LP was an unabashed cavalcade of elemental spookiness, this one is, by Woods standards, pure and luminous pop, married to some of the best production of their career. To single out particulars: The hypnotic psych-jamming of "September With Pete"; the wonderful drum sound and plaintive harmonies of "The Hold"; the title-creating "Rain On"; the peculiar folk-inflected tape experimentation of "Down This Road"; and, most of all, "Gypsy Hand", a song which probably deserves its own paragraph. Suffice it to say, it ranks with The Magnetic Fields' "100,000 Fireflies" and The Beatles' "Baby, You're a Rich Man" as one of my all-time favourite pop-type songs. Buy it for that.
• At Echo Lake LP (Woodsist, 2010)—Definitely a very long step down. Granted, every album can't be perfect, but the sameness of the production—in and of itself disappointingly devoid of the band's trademark eeriness—really gets to me. Deserving of a re-listen? Yes, probably, if only because "Pick Up" and "Suffering Season" are fine tracks, but that said... it's never going to be a favourite. Close, but no cigar.

Killing Joke – Night Time. Killing Joke are probably among the heavier bands associated with Post-Punk (hell, Metallica have covered them), and they even could also be considered an early influence on Industrial Metal. This album was apparently the start of a phase where they were starting to get more commercial (or at least calmer and more melodic) though. It still has enough of the signature choppy, echoey guitar sound to sound like a Killing Joke album, but keyboards are more prominent and Jaz Coleman is using a much smoother vocal tone, only going back to the growling a few times for effect. You might be familiar with “Eighties”, if only because Nirvana got sued for allegedly ripping it off with "Come As You Are".

The Zombies - Odessey And Oracle. I always want to correct that title, but that's really what it's called. I think the cult around this album overpraises it just a bit, but it is a quality sixties pop album with some great songs. I like to break it out whenever the weather is nice.

A-Ha - Hunting High And Low. I was just recently semi-involved in a facebook conversation where someone said that while most people think of Synth-Pop as being "cold", he considers it to be "warm". To me it kind of varies from artist to artist, but this is definitely one of the warmest synthesizer-based albums I've heard.

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On. I can't think of anything to say about this album other than "it's really good".

edited 11th Mar '12 4:11:56 PM by MikeK

Decided to listen to every Orbital CD I own, in order.

• The Brown Album. Very well-done acid techno, even if not terribly original.
• Peel Sessions EP. I think I actually prefer the production on these tracks over the album versions.
• Snivilisation. Very original techno, even if not always well-done.
• In Sides. Married the eclectic, organic sounds of the previous LP with much stronger (and expansive) songwriting. Definitely their magnum opus.
  • Times Fly EP and The Box EP: Included as Disc 2 of my copy of In Sides, so I always listen to In Sides and these together. Times Fly is a slight, slight step down (and the two, only slightly different, versions of the title track don't exactly help), but the four alternate mixes of "The Box" are all so wildly different that they serve as a perfect coda for the entire listening experience.
• The Middle of Nowhere. Marries the improved songwriting of In Sides with a harsher, more synthetic sound. Probably my favorite album by them.
• The Altogether. A more aggressive continuation of the Middle of Nowhere sound, with a few nods to rock music thrown in. Not up to the standards of the last few albums, but I'll part ways with the critics and say this album isn't any worse than Snivilisation. "Tension", "Funny Break (One Is Enough)" and "Meltdown" are all excellent; the material in the middle isn't given enough room to breathe; and "Illuminate" is the most embarrassing thing I've ever heard from the Hartnolls.
• Remixes and B-Sides. Included as Disc 2 of The Altogether. Doesn't really feel like a continuation of said album, or even like an album in its own right, just a bunch of songs that happen to be bunched together. I listen to it for "Monorail" and "Funny Break (Weekend Ravers Mix)".

• The Howling Void - Megaliths of the Abyss. Symphonic funeral doom solo project of Ryan from Intestinal Disgorge and Hordes of the Morning Star. At around 10 minutes each, the four songs are just long enough to be decent length for funeral doom without getting boring (though some bands can pull off even longer songs just fine).
• Agalloch - Whitedivisiongrey. A collection of two previously released rare EPs plus bonus tracks. First disc is The White from 2008, which might as well be The Wicker Man: The Album from the number of samples from that movie that the songs use. Mostly folky acoustic stuff with some electric guitar, but not heavy at all. Also mostly instrumental other than the aforementioned samples, some wordless singing on "Pantheist", and some spoken word on a couple of others. Still very good and the better of the two discs in my opinion. Second disc is The Grey from 2004, which is essentially a remix album. The first track on that one is an alternate version of "The Lodge" from the album The Mantle, but much longer and played on electric guitars instead of acoustic. The rest of the tracks are songs from The Mantle remixed in an ambient style so as to be nearly unrecognizable. Good, but I'll have to have a few more listens to "get" it most likely. Also my CD player is total crap and kept skipping or failing to read the discs, so that may have somewhat affected my ability to judge this album.

The Mars Volta - Amputechture

THE KIOSK IN MY TEMPORAL LOBE IS SHAPED LIKE ROSALYN CARTER!

I have to say I liked this more than The Bedlam In Goliath, it's more drawn out, and quieter.

Not quiet, but quieter.

Pole - 3

Ambient Dub Techno stuffs. Nice overall, but no moments really stand out.

Burial - Untrue

Superb, as usual.

A really odd pair this afternoon:

• The Androids Of Mu, Fuck Off Records Demo cassette (Fuck Off Records, 1979)—Sort-of first outing by this unjustly obscure, thoroughly shambolic all-girl post-punk outfit. An intriguing recording, with some lovely moments ("Android Reggae Jam", the two tracks under the header "Space for DIY Freaks") but the album (Blood Robot) is much better, if mainly for the absence of the overlong, annoying(ly spot-on) parody track "Reggae". Of interest primarily to the tiny number of fans of this band and hardcore cassette culture aficionados.
• Prurient, The Black Post Society CD (Cold Spring Records, 2008)—A strange one, this album, continuing the trend toward melodic, overdriven synth work initiated with Pleasure Ground but even more withdrawn and obsessive. As ever with Fernow, the emphasis is on texture: The scorching blasts of intermingled white noise and keyboards on "Egyptian Bondage", the cycling drum-machine sounds that drive "Forever Hate", the echo-smothered mantric vocals scattered throughout. This being a Prurient album, a long, slow track that will scare the living hell out of you (assuming the rest of the album already hasn't) is basically a given, and the man delivers with interest on "Mask of the Boys", which manages to turn a series of brief, morbid lines into five things that you may never want to hear again. Not recommended to the easily unsettled.

Yesterday:

Bauhaus - 1979-1983, Volume One. My first Bauhaus album, and I came away liking it. They're kind of more aggressive than I imagined, especially in terms of vocals: I was familiar with "Bela Lugosi's Dead" (via The Hunger) and "Dark Entries" (via Revolting Cocks' cover, though I sought out the original because of it), plus Peter Murphy's solo single "Cuts You Up" (via a local radio station's "leftover lunch" program): Thus I expected Murphy's vocals to be all monotone croaking, when in fact he screams like a lunatic just as often (the end of "St. Vitus Dance" being a good example).

Flaming Lips - Transmissions From The Satellite Heart. My favorite Flaming Lips album, maybe just because it was my first.

Today:

Rites Of Spring - End On End. Supposedly the first "emo" band, although they themselves bristle at the term. This is pretty much like what the original definition of "emo" was though - Hardcore Punk-influenced music + personal lyrics + "emotional" vocal delivery. Thing is, to some extent all of those things also apply to bands that are considered just plain ol' hardcore - Is Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade an emo album? Or even Black Flag's Damaged?

REM - Up. A lot of these songs tend to run together despite the cool, bachelor-pad-ish production and arrangements, but it's got it's share of standout tracks - in particular "At My Most Beautiful" is a lovely Pet Sounds tribute.

Joy Division - Closer. I like them, but Joy Division are a band where if I'm not in the proper mood listening to a whole album can feel too much like work. I was in the mood this time though. I forgot that there's a couple of tracks here that oddly feel like New Order predecessors - specifically "Isolation" and "Decades".

The Runaways - The Runaways. I've kinda talked about this one already. I put it on because it's good "getting ready to go out" music, because I just listened to two slow, moody albums in a row, and because itunes shuffle decreed it.

edited 12th Mar '12 12:37:54 PM by MikeK

So...

• The Decemberists, Castaways & Cutouts—Only recently has how monstrously depressing many of these songs are struck me. That, and why people love "July, July" so much. God is that song catchy. But the slow, contemplative songs are still the ones that I find myself most drawn to: "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect", "Cocoon", "California One / Youth & Beauty Brigade"... in general, one of the better releases of the early 2000s.
• (ibid), Her Majesty The Decemberists—A seriously underrated album. "Shanty for the Arethusa" alone is worth the price of admission.
• The Gerbils, The Battle Of Electricity—Speaking of underrating, this album is overlooked entirely, not merely by most Elephant 6 fans but even by many who know of and listen to The Gerbils. Partly this is because the group's second LP is just a lot less accessible than their first—where Are You Sleepy? subtly introduces its dark overtones in the context quaint, fuzzy pop tunes, The Battle Of Electricity makes no bones about its misery or its strangeness, being as its filled with quirky interludes and songs about the inevitability of death and the interplay of depression and romantic/sexual frustration. But that does not excuse overlooking classics like "The White Sky" and "Lucky Girl", "Share Again" and "Are You Underwater?" and the title track with its magnificent horn motif. Seriously, maybe it's just stupidity or something. I just don't know.
• Current 93, Looney Runes—A brutal, speed-freaky Steven Stapleton remix track ("Panzer Ruin (In The Hands Of Gillespie)"), a hallucinatory remix of that remix ("That's All, Folks!") and then a set of live tracks showcasing Current 93 at their "folkiest"... ergo, putting the lie to the idea that acoustic guitars cannot be weapons of mass destruction. The renditions of "Happy Birthday Pigface Chistus" and Blue Öyster Cult's "The Summer Of Love" are particularly incendiary.

edited 10th Mar '12 8:15:15 PM by JHM

Skrillex - My Name Is Skrillex EP

His first EP, he put it out for free online. (*He's taken it down since then, and it's not available for sale, so if you don't have it already you're SOL barring finding an alternate source*)

It's definitely his best too IMO, the strangely funky "Do Da Oliphant" being a standout.

So far today:

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVEEEEE YYOOOOOUUUUUU JEEEEEEEESUUUUUUUUS CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIST etc.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry.

I first heard this band because, in the late 90's, a local alternative station was playing "Wail" and "2 Kindsa Love" off this album. In retrospect that's pretty surprising because it's not exactly the kind of album I'd expect would break a band on commercial rock radio. It's pretty spastic and all-over-the-place, although the overall style can be summed up as "noisy blues rock" (Or maybe "bluesy noise rock"? "rocksy blue noises"? Yes, rocksy blue noises). That's what I like about it though, especially because even the harshest tracks have some kind of groove to them.

The Have-Nots - Proud.

Melodic punk rock with the occasional slight nod in the ska-punk direction. Nothing new, especially not in the Boston rock scene, but I appreciate their way with a hook, the overall energy, and the fact that they can do songs about political and social issues without coming off as anvilicious about it.

Oh yeah, last night I ended up walking home to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, and it was the closest so far I've come to "getting" that album. In the past I've found it kinda dreary and repetitive, but this time it started to have more of a hypnotic quality, and I kinda figured out that the reason that the vocal melodies are so meandering is because he's using his voice like it's the lead instrument in a semi-improvised jazz composition rather than going for any kind of verse / chorus song structure.

edited 12th Mar '12 12:33:28 PM by MikeK

Yeah, I listen to too much music.

The Judybats - Pain Makes You Beautiful.

I guess this is right on the borderline of "college rock" and "adult alternative" - they remind me a little of a quirkier Toad The Wet Sprocket, maybe with some James circa Laid or REM circa Out Of Time thrown in. Sometimes the slick production gets in the way when it seems like they're trying to "rock", but more often it works by kind of adding a dreamy atmosphere to the proceedings. The lyrics are often pretty interesting too - for instance, if the title track is meant to be taken literally, it's basically the sweetest take on the Obligatory Bondage Song I've ever heard. I forgot about the whole "posting samples when I write about more obscure music" thing for a while, so here's "Being Simple":

edited 13th Mar '12 8:10:51 PM by MikeK

Buried at Sea - Migration

Thing about this album. There are three tracks. The first track is some of the most unbelievably heavy Doom Metal I've heard. Seriously, it makes it seem like the atmospheric pressure around you has suddenly tripled or quadrupled. But while the last two are also pretty heavy, they seem anticlimactic. More of the same, except maybe a little noisier.

Still enjoyed it, though.

The Cure - Wish

Yeah, this is that album with “Friday I’m In Love”. This is either a poppier, shorter, and more eclectic Disintegration or a moodier, shorter, and less eclectic Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. Either way, it’s pretty uneven but has it’s share of standout tracks. I particularly like "A Letter To Elise"

Braid - Frame & Canvas

So, I guess I officially like emo, or at least the kind of emo that has lots of cool guitar interplay. Sample track: "A Dozen Roses".

edited 13th Mar '12 8:22:00 PM by MikeK

Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue:The biggest complaint I have with this record are the vocals. Whether they're going for emotive crooning or metal growls, the vocals just don't work on this album and take me out of the song. Thankfully, in proportion to the instrumental sections on this album, they are somewhat sparse. The tunes themselves are a mix of Post-metal, Drone-metal and avant-garde rock. There are some really great textures on this album and the mood evoked by the songs are heavy and atmospheric. Occasionally the atmospheric nature of the tunes causes oneself to lose concentration and the tunes can become background noise, which can be a strike against them depending on the attitude the listener takes.

Overall it's at least worth a listen if you're into Post Metal and or experimental music, but I don't know if I'd keep coming back to this album for multiple listens.

edited 13th Mar '12 8:27:32 PM by Thenamelesssamurai

Not particularly fond of Wish in the context of The Cure's greater oeuvre, but "Open" and "End" are both wonderful.

Judas Priest's Painkiller I really liked this one. Aside of the title track, I already knew Leather Rebel and Battle Hymn/One Shot at Glory from Brutal Legend. I found the whole thing quite entertaining (I could listen to Scott Travis drums for hours). Some highlights include All Guns Blazing, which strangely reminded me of Be All, End All by Anthrax, Metal Meltdown, Hell Patrol and A Touch of Evil. I notice it seems to get a bit less heavy after A Touch of Evil.

edited 15th Mar '12 3:42:30 PM by Alucard

fun. - Some Nights. I felt like I should be listening to this while on an epic road trip, not while sitting at the computer. Maybe not quite a "New Sound Album", but there's definitely an interesting change-up from the debut - I read somewhere they were inspired by the sound of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which would explain the sudden appearance of drum machines, baroque synthesizers, and even a little vocoder. All of which brings out their inner ELO as much as it makes them sound like something that could cross over to top 40 radio.

edited 15th Mar '12 12:34:32 PM by MikeK

Evol Intent - Era Of Diversion

Equal parts Hip-Hop, Darkstep D'n'B & Breakcore, Evol Intent could give any British D'n'B artist a run for their money. It's a heavily political concept album railing against consumerist culture, featuring a stream of successful underground MCs used to working with electronic artists, haunting atmospherics, twisted basslines that could give Noisia a run for their money & breaks that range from standard techstep fare to Glitch-Hop to Venetian Snares style insanity.

FUCK YEAH THIS IS AWESOME.

Thin Lizzy - Live And Dangerous. As I've said, I like to put something by Thin Lizzy on for St. Patrick's Day. Tony Visconti has said only the drums and audience are really "live", though Brian Robertson disagrees. Regardless, the results sound like a great live show.

Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time

Seems to be one of the less-liked of Maiden's Eighties albums. However, it may actually be my favorite. The use of synths gives it a somewhat dated sound, but I don't mind at all; I find it atmospheric, particularly in the quieter sections. (Then again I am a sucker for 80s synth sounds in general). The only thing that let me down was the closer, "Alexander the Great", which seems monotonous to me in a "reading a history textbook" kind of way.

edited 20th Mar '12 12:03:00 AM by ImipolexG

:Wumpscut: - Wreath Of Barbs

Definitely his most accessible album, not that that's saying much. Very pretty in places, ugly all over. Christfuck and the title track are highlights.

Best use of acoustic guitar in an EBM song ever.

edited 20th Mar '12 12:12:33 AM by inane242

Over the past week:

• Black Dice, Beaches & Canyons—More ephemeral than I remembered, but still thoroughly pleasurable. Black Dice are one of the very few bands lumped into that whole short-lived "No Wave revival" crowd that I ever had any serious respect for, partly because they honestly didn't (and don't) sound like anything else, but mostly because crazy tribal drumming and weird electronics are my bread and butter. "Seabird" and "The Dream Is Going Down" are both quite worthy.
• Fushitsusha, Gold Blood—Does it make me a depraved person if I use this album as thinking music? That aside, the bass was a bit lower in the mix than I generally prefer with this group, but otherwise a very, very enjoyable album with a particularly strong sense of improvised structure and spontaneous dynamics. Confused? Listen to it. "Cipher" is pretty much perfect.
• Have A Nice Life, Deathconsciousness—I love a good mopey album now and again, but I really love an album that manages to back up its moping with genuinely oppressive, sinister music. Not music for parties, this. The stretch from "Bloodhail" through "Hunter" is thoroughly hypnotic and sublimely evil, especially the end of the last song. "The hunter does us all a great service," indeed.

Today:

Blur - The Great Escape. Somehow despite being just under an hour, this album seems to go on forever. I'd put maybe half of this among their best work for this period, but I'd still rather listen to Parklife.

Happy Mondays - Pills And Thrills And Bellyaches. For whatever reason this feels like a good album to put on in summery weather.

Yesterday:

Oasis - Definitely Maybe. I guess I've just been on a "British bands who were popular in the 90's" thing without knowing it? The only album of theirs I'd heard previously was Morning Glory, and this is much more based on their "glam rock" side (as in T. Rex or Slade), which is cool.

So far today, one:

• Earth, A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra-Capsular Extraction—A collection of early recordings by this very unusual band, derived (if I recall correctly) from two sessions recorded circa 1992. By Earth standards this is, for the most part, surprisingly standard fare: There are drums, and vocals—sparse ones, granted, and often chanted or screamed (at one point by Kurt Cobain), but nonetheless they are present. However, this is not to say that this is either a straightforward or "normal" album; to the contrary, this album is weird. Special credit goes to the sinister mantric strangeness of "A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, Part Two" and the 60-to-0-in-eighteen-minutes loop-damaged death slide that is "Ouroboros is Broken", which happens to be in, of all things, 18/8 time. Yeah. Also, "German Dental Work" is creepy. All in all, very nice, though they would do better later.

Marvin Gaye, What's Going On - Pure, timeless beauty. Love it on every listen.