The NEW OFFICIAL Music/Albums Discussion Thread

[TEEX]

I'm a bit late, but thanks for the post, Ric! Great piece indeed.

My new-found appreciation for thrash metal continues with Vektor - Outer Isolation (2011).


In summary:
- Science fiction themes
- Shrill, raspy high pitched vocals more commonly heard in black metal (think Gaahl from Gorgoroth)
- Great transitions between slow and fast tempos
- Melodic

Noteworthy Tracks:
Cosmic Cortex
Tetrastructural Minds
Fast Paced Society

[TYLR]

That is a sweet logo and equally sweet album art. Thrash isn't my favorite, but it's cool sometimes. I'm listening to Cosmic Cortex, and it's pretty cool.

[lokira]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3J4VxWIM6s

Yeah, this is an awesome insomniac song.

[Psychotik]

Oh man I wrote a lengthy review for Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 because I like it. I really like it.

[Reveal] Spoiler: Review

Hip-hop always had a place in my heart. It was the first genre of music I was really into (granted it was mostly ganster rap). After some time, I had grown tired of the genre thinking it was just a teenage phase and moved on to mainstream rock (because that's not a teenage phase, am I right guys?) Anyway, years went by and my musical taste slowly grew more and more open. Eventually, I stumbled back to listening to hip-hop, mostly the underground kind, and rediscovered how much I loved the genre. It can be about so many things: poetry, social commentary, political commentary, a rant, pretty much anything. Right now, the mainstream rap scene comprises mostly of songs about parties, money, women and the like. It makes me want to cut myself and die. Luckily this album makes me believe in rap.

Kendrick Lamar is a 24 year-old rapper hailing from Compton and guess what? He doesn't rap about thug lyfe! Hooray. In fact he is quite the opposite. He mostly makes songs about social and politcal commentary and he isn't afraid of taboo subjects (pretty obvious when the first track is called groove Your Ethnicity). He talks about race, religion, prostitution, and government, among other things. It also has some very interesting stories in there as well, like on No Make-Up and Keisha's Song (Her Pain). That leads me to his voice.

His voice is a little nasally, so some people might not like it as much, but it doesn't bother me at all. On a technical level, his flow feels really nice and he can rap fairly quickly (I like that sort of stuff). Stylistically, I love the way he raps. He gets emotionally wrapped up while rapping (especially on Keisha's Song) and it makes everything seem more personal to him and that he's actually rapping about something that he holds dear and near to him. When he raps fast, he consistently changes up his style which is something that I also enjoy. The way he plays off the female vocalist on No Make-up is really a joy to listen to. There's also a track (Ab-Soul's Outro) with a beautiful spoken word rant which is an incredible window into his psyche. It probably has some of the best lines on the entire album. Kendrick plays off really well with Ab-Soul on this track. The track itself sounds like something you might see in a movie, where there's some hipster spoken word poetry accompanied by bongo drumming in some little hipster coffee shop. Another thing worth mentioning is the guest rappers. They all do a pretty good job, but never overshadow Kendrick, which is good.

The beats are another thing to take notice from this debut album. There are a ton of producers collaborating on this album and I'm still amazed at how consistently good they all are. Of course, a wide array of producers mean a nice variety of beats. Some have a more electronic sounds and effects while others are a lot softer and more jazz-influenced. Tammy's Song has these neat bleep bloop sounds. HiiiPower, which has my favorite beat of the year, was produced by J. Cole and is just so good with it's really soft electronic sounds. Ab-Soul's Outro's beat is pretty much a straight-up jazz song. If it was an instrumental track, that's what I would assume it was, at least. It even has a minute-long saxophone solo at the end.

Of course I do have a few qualms with this album. My biggest one is the couple of weak hooks here and there; not exactly the catchiest. The hook on A.D.H.D. is actually a little irritating to listen to. I also thought that this album starts out a little slow. The first three tracks felt weak in comparison to the rest. Really, that's all I have to complain about. This is easily one of my favorite albums of the year and even of all time, mostly because of the amount of passion that went into this. Kendrick definitely left me with a really good impression of him, definitely top-tier work. I really can't wait for his sophomore album Good Kid in a Mad City coming up sometime in 2012. Thinking about it makes me giddy.

[lokira]

This don't need so much words.

[TEEX]

Not that I think this will necessarily appeal to anyone's interests, but I wrote a rather lengthy review on David Sylvian's album "Blemish" (2003). While it's not necessarily new, it is debatably one of his best/worst releases since it was the turning point in his career when he became particularly avant-garde (after leaving Virgin Records and starting his own independent label, Samadhisound).

[Reveal] Spoiler: "Blemish" Review

Blemish is the 6th album that English musician/poet David Sylvian has released over the course of his career as a solo artist. It has been regarded controversially by fans and critics alike both as a masterpiece and as a disappointment marked by excessive monotony and lack of creativity. The latter description is one that I would presumably expect from those that have been devout fans of past highly esteemed albums such as Secrets of the Beehive (1987) and Dead Bees on a Cake (1999), and have already formed an idea of what one should expect from him. The fact of the matter however, is that David was never the kind of person to take a commercial path with his releases and ride on the wave of past successes.

This is actually a major reason why I've grown to respect him even more as an artist. Such evidence of his willingness to become involved with such a broad variety of music can be seen not only upon further examination of his discography over the years as a solo artist, but also of the various other projects he was involved in, such as the art rock band Japan, Rain Tree Crow, and electronic jazz trio Nine Horses. One must not also overlook his numerous collaborations, such as those with the classically trained Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍一) and King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp.

The opening self-titled track is 13 minutes long and is characterized by heavy repetition of ambient soundscapes provided by Christian Fennesz, and vocals that appear far more droned than is typically expected. The lyrics themselves don't really lend themselves to as much structure and feel more improvised. This somewhat disjointed, and often cryptic quality in the writing later proves to become a recurring theme throughout the album, and taken together, may reasonably cause the listener to feel alienated from the message being communicated. Upon examination of the passages individually however, the feelings of desperation to hold onto something that was lost, the urge to give up, and the frustration of coming to grips with reality are abundantly clear.

Tracks 2, 5, and 7 ("The Good Son", "She Is Not", and "How Little We Need To Be Happy" respectively) feature the avant-garde guitarist Derek Bailey as a guest. The sloppy improvised chord strumming exhibited throughout each of those songs is actually one of the reasons I became so turned off after my first few listens, and as a result, I neglected the album for what would be several months only to eventually revisit it in the middle of this past summer with a more open mind. Even today, as someone who has listened to Blemish in its entirety at least 50 times, I'm still marginally perplexed by this musical decision. Perhaps by some stretch it reflects increases in the narrator's escalating states of agitation. Regardless, I can still respect this experimental approach.

The final track, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful works that David ever recorded, and that is “A Fire in the Forest”. Although the narrator still has yet to permeate the "gray skies" he is experiencing, he at least re-establishes some sort of foundation for himself. Fennesz’s ambient textures are very warm, inviting and easy to listen to. While David still conveys a sense of yearning, he assures the listener that he has at last accepted his reality, but hasn’t given up on everything. As far as trying to communicate feelings that are not exactly the easiest to be open about, all the while sustaining his authenticity and leaving enough leeway in the content for the audience to make their own speculations, Blemish is undoubtedly a sublime masterpiece in my eyes (or ears rather).

[Psychotik]

Nice review, Terry.


Azure Emote - Chronicles of an Aging Mammal
Azure Emote is an Experimental Death Metal band from Philadelphia. They really like to include electronic and industrial sounds to their mostly death and progressive metal music. The electronics are a nice touch to give these guys a more unique sound. Although most songs sound pretty good, they aren't very memorable, save for a few. A numerous amount of these songs also feel like they lack energy. Still, they have an interesting sound worth checking. From what I've heard, they also have a new album in the works, so that's something to look forward to.

[| nokt |]

\That Mr Fijiwiji song sounds pretty neat as well, even though I'm not a big fan of dubstep. I might check out his EP when it drops.

Keeping It Surreal

[Psychotik]

http://venetiansnares.bandcamp.com/album/affectionate

Venetian Snares has a new EP out. It's okay.

[A2Z]

The Flashbulb's new Opus At The End Of Everything went on pre-order not too long ago.

artwork for the CD I assume


teaser

[Schlagwerk]

Listening to A Flash Flood of Color by Enter Shikari. It's metal and rock with splashes of electronic. Pretty good so far.

[lokira]

teaser

Oh my god this is sweeeet ! I don't know how to explain this but i love. gonna check this opus as soon as possible

[| nokt |]

Listening to A Flash Flood of Color by Enter Shikari. It's metal and rock with splashes of electronic. Pretty good so far.

I love this album. So much better than common dreads.

Rou really tones down the spoken word, which is what really turned me off about common dreads. He still has parts like that in the album, but it's few and number and flows a lot better.
He also really gets down in this album. Gets hard. It's the lowest I've heard his vocals go (arguing with thermometers).
Some parts of the electronic feels like it could be polished a little better or even removed completely. But it still works.
I like that the vocals are just out there. No metaphors like take to the skies. It's just raw emotion.


As to flashbulb, I really liked terra firma that he released a little while ago. Precisely wrong is pretty cool, but I wasn't a really big fan of the glitch in that song. His songs are usually hit or miss for me. I'd guess a 80-20 ratio.
It's also the first album I got a limited edition. Glad he ran another run of them.

[Xynn]

The Flashbulb's new Opus At The End Of Everything went on pre-order not too long ago.

artwork for the CD I assume


teaser

I was going on about this on facebook back when it was announced last year. SO Hype.

[Psychotik]

Listening to A Flash Flood of Color by Enter Shikari. It's metal and rock with splashes of electronic. Pretty good so far.

Oh God it was awful. So early, but I think I already have the worst album of the year. I mean, if they stuck with just the post-hardcore without the electronics, then maybe it would have been better, but it ruins the album. On one of the tracks, the vocalist goes on a rant about big corporations and how they pollute the environment, but then they transition it right away to dubstep wobbles, and shitty wobbles at that. The electronics sound like complete shit throughout the album. They're nothing but trend riders, like Korn.