Hmm. Conversation has died. Guess it's time for a new album (what happened to Saeglopur and Aondeug?)
And now it's time to start round 3. Random number generator says "8", which is Talons - Hollow Realm. This was suggested by Saeglopur, and is the first time his album wasn't one of the last few. Congrats, man.
Here's the link that was posted for the album which we will now listen to.
edited 4th Jan '11 4:29:10 PM by arks
Video Game Census. Please contribute.Howdy y'all. I saw the post over on the music board and would like to join this cool thing. How do I go about doing this?
Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.Step one: suggest an album.
Step two: that album will be put on a list
Step three: albums are chosen randomly from that list
Step four: we all say what we think about the album good, bad, or good and bad
Step five: repeat steps three and four until the list runs out
Step six: GOTO Step one.
edited 4th Jan '11 9:49:39 PM by arks
Video Game Census. Please contribute.Where is this list? I don't want to accidentally suggest something that's already there.
Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.It's on my harddrive. I'll copy the current round here.
1 Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson
2 Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost
3 Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue
4 The Crystal Method - Divided by Night
5 Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas Vol. V: Peace
6 George Crumb - Unto the Hills and Black Angels
7 Outkast - Stankonia
8 Talons - Hollow Realm
9 Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out
Getting every album ever suggested is a bit harder.
Video Game Census. Please contribute.Talons - Hollow Realm
Track 1 - Nice instrumental work, unexpected change in style, but all in all it's very organized and well thought-out music. Well, that's surprising: I like it!
Track 2 - I like the guitar part in this. The standards are not lowered for this track at all, it's maybe a bit better than the first one.
Track 3 - It has a more serious atmosphere than the previous tracks, and this again is a nice track, which has an arc.
Track 4 - Interlude, good at that, but I don't like interludes.
Track 5 - Another great track.
Track 6 - And another. I can't say anything bad about this.
Track 7 - Another interlude, a bit underwhelming, but still nice.
Track 8 - An excellent closing for the album.
All in all, I liked this very much. I would totally keep it as background music.
"We have done the impossible and that makes us mighty." - Malcolm ReynoldsAh, hello, my album's up first! Well that is nice.
Actually I'd rather it was someone else's so I could prove I wasn't being useless for this round, but hey, as the old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, don't be a miserable old git and get them delicious lemons down ya. Or something like that.
But yeah, Talons - Hollow Realm. Released on the ever reliable (if you're into instrumental rock with a hardcore edge) Big Scary Monsters record label, these guys are from the distinctly untrendy town of Hereford, in the West of England, near the Welsh border. Their uniquely awesome sound is an epic, crushing, instrumental and somewhat complex aural assault, with two violins to add even more grandeur to proceedings. Seriously, the strings make all the difference. They have the same mind blowing intensity that comes with listening to And So I Watch You From Afar for the first time, and, unsurprisingly, they have previously released a split 7" single with the aforementioned Post-Rock/Hardcore band. There are also hints of more subtle Post-Rock bands like Mono in there, as well as the Math-Rock nuttiness of Don Caballero.
I discovered this album in November and it dropped comfortably in at #9 on my top 50 albums of 2010, so not bad at all. And if Sati enjoyed an album of my choosing, well now, that bodes very well
edited 5th Jan '11 4:40:02 AM by Saeglopur
Listen to Music with Tropers at The Troper Turntable!Well, it's a good sign as far as I'm concerned that you enjoyed it, considering your reception of my previous two choices
Oh, sorry about that. It was nothing personal though
No need to apologise! That's the purpose of the Album Exchange Club - to hear alternative opinions on music, to talk through what we love about music and what we dislike, and to discuss the reasons why people like musicians that you don't, or why they don't like the songs that you do. And in an environment where we can do this without either flying off in a rage about it or avoiding disagreement altogether. Or so I hope.
Listen to Music with Tropers at The Troper Turntable!I'm on Great Railroads now and I wish that track had come a lot sooner.
This band can rock. No doubt about it. I enjoyed the high energy stuff at first, but after a while it felt like that's all that there was. Part of using the link Sae gave us means that I can see the waveforms for the different tracks. Most of them spend a lot of their time looking like squares. One thing I learned was that you need quiet moments to offset energy. Otherwise everything starts feeling like a steady gray, which is exactly the feeling I get from this album. There's not enough contrast, or maybe it's more too little too late. It's possible I'd like this album a lot more as separate tracks than as a whole. There is some good stuff in there. Still as of now I prefer 65daysofstatic.
edited 5th Jan '11 1:23:33 PM by arks
Video Game Census. Please contribute.Talons, Hollow Realm. I'm going to echo arks here in saying that much of this album seemed to bleed together to me, and nothing particular stood out about it. Partly I think this is the fault of the mixing; the drums and guitars seem a bit too loud and the bass and strings too soft, making the album sound—forgive me—hollow. In fact, the rhythm section in general seemed to be a bit drowned, and for music like this to be intense, you need a strong beat.
I also agree with Saeglopur in saying that the strings were the highlight of the album. They were a touch of purity amongst the toil and storm of the guitars. Said guitars would play some interesting figures every once and a while, but had a frustrating habit of dropping those figures too quickly and going back to being an angry bed of white noise. My favorite tracks on the album—"In the Shadows of Our Stilted Homes", "Great Railroads", and "Hollow Depth"—were the ones that allowed the individual elements of the band some time to shine, rather than just get lost in the din.
These guys definitely have chops and musical ideas in abundance, but I feel like they have trouble organizing everything they think of, leading to music that is somewhat muddled. But this is their first album, so they have lots of room to grow.
The album I am submitting is Procol Harum's A Salty Dog.
edited 8th Jan '12 8:09:26 PM by MetaFour
Words cast into the uncaring void of the internet.

I....I think our German teacher talked about this band. 0_o
I spread my wings and I learn how to fly....