A few albums recently listened.

[hello spiral]

Bennie Maupin "Jewel in the Lotus"

 

totally lush, atmospheric, almost ambient jazz record. lovely.

 

Thanks, this is great.

[Guest jasondonervan]

Urban Tribe - The Collapse Of Modern Culture (1998)

 

 

Such a forgotten gem. I have to admit I didn't pay it as much attention as other longplayers on Mo Wax around the time of release, but it stands up very nicely 15 years on. Just the right amount of laidback lushness, bolstered by a sublime touch of Detroit flavour.

[Nebraska]

franz falckenhaus' stories from my cold war: very intriguing warm ambient electronic music that serves as 'a rainy and melancholic infiltration into the romantic darkness of international espionage.' i almost wish legowelt would re-do these songs with some better analogue equipment as some of it sounds as though it's coming from a vintage commodore 64 video game instead of a more serious film or television soundtrack as implied by the tracklisting

[Ivan Ooze]

Taake - Noregs vaapen 9,5/10 just one of my favorite artists right now, amazing black metal album, throws even a banjo solo in it, production and songs are top notch

Altar of Plagues - Teeth glory and injury 6/10 the music is pretty much ok but never makes me jizz, the vocals don't have power and in 1 part just a rip from a behemoth song, another part seems ripped from death grips the best shit happens at the end of the album

Kanye West - Yeezus 8/10 What a trash album, i can't stand the vocoder on blood on the leaves and some of the lyrics are so bad it's funny, still i enjoy this very much, praise yeesus

Deathspell Omega - Drought 8,5/10 Start's off like a drug infiltrating your brain and goes into a pool of black chaos with some spare moments to hold your sanity on, ends with an orgasm just like paracletus very good ep

The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest semen of a sheltered elite 9/10 Heavy like fuck, the tracks are really long, have a lot of atmosphere and are put together really clever, an amazing experience!!

Ulver - The mardigal of night 8/10 Holy fucking lol at the production the distortion just pierces your eardrums but the songs are great, can't listen to the whole thing in one take without bleeding my ears though

Sunn o))) - Monolith's and DImensions 8/10 4 sick like hell tracks that need to be listened on high volume on beast system prefered with a beer and joint in your hand

Boards of Canada - Tomorow's harvest 8,5/10 i like it a lot, the tracks slowly creep up on you boc style, don't think it will be a geogaddi masterpiece, time will tell

Arcturus - la masquerade infernal 10/10 dug this one out of my album collection after a few years, still love the shit out of it, great musicians and amazing vocals, perfect!

[Nebraska]

 

reg tilsley's orchestral #6 - heavy gravy: despite the title and front cover, this isn't heavy but rather moody jazz covering (mostly) different late night scenarios (jim's pad, shot in the arm, town talk, midnight menace, interrogation). pretty much like the soundtrack to an episode of the streets of san francisco

[beerwolf]

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 6/10 Okay so I'm not the worlds biggest LS fan but I do think they/him write some very good tracks. Three of which are on here; North American Scum, Someone Great (love this track so much) and All My Friends, I think Sound of Silver is pretty good too. The rest of it is pretty average and not my pint of beer at all. Most of his stuff is like that for me, either brilliant or a sack of cack.

 

The TUSS -Rushup Edge 6/10 6/10???!!! what the fuck you peasant!! I hear you scream lol. That's right punk 6/10. I appreciate it but I've never loved it. And that's all I can say my friend.

 

Metallica - Kill 'em All 9/10 Classic

 

Bowie - Spiders From Mars 9.5/10 Classic

 

The Clash - London Calling 8/10 Title track is one of the greatest tunes ever, Train in Vain, Lost in the Supermarket, The Card Cheat among others are all classics imo. Some weak tracks too.

 

Bibio - SW ?/10 Can't score it just yet but some cool tracks on here, nice vibe. First album I have bought by Bibio, further investigations will be undertaken pronto

Edited June 28, 2013 by beerwolf

[Alcofribas]

bernhard gunter monochrome rust

 

within a few seconds of putting this on it started to rain outside and with the windows open behind me it was often quite difficult to distinguish between the music and the rain. this pleased me immensely and was quite good.

 

recommended with rain.

[Gyroscopic]

Kid A on vinyl

Edited July 5, 2013 by Gyroscopic

[MDF]

Funki Porcini - On 7.5/10

 

Luke Slater's 7th Plain - My Yellow Wise Rug 9/10

 

The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms 9/10

[joseph]

Fucking great album

[beerwolf]

Pixies - Death to the Pixies - 5/10 I've been into guitar music a long fucking time, somehow with The Pixies I never really got the praise. Even though I loved Monkey Gone to Heaven, Where is my Mind and Gouge Away, the rest I sort of forgot about. So today I plucked this out (yeah, yeah I know its an evil 'Best of') and thought perhaps almost a decade of harbouring electronic fetish's and desires I'd put this on and be splatted!!, as time off from genre's can clear your preconceptions. It didn't work and I still only liked those 3 tracks. Mmmmm Pixies and Black Flag. Two bands on paper I should adore...

 

Portishead - Live NYC - 8.5/10 Not much to say apart from one of the best live recordings I've ever heard. I should get the dvd version. Sick album. SOur Times is a work of sonic art.

[hello spiral]

Beerwolf, no!

 

You're doing it wrong!

 

Go listen to Surfer Rosa and Doolittle on repeat while writing 'I must not take near perfect albums for granted and then judge them on a best of' 1000 times.

[ambermonk]

Vitalic - Rave Age: 8/10
I'm kind of crap when it comes to being a critic, so I usually name my favourite trax on the album, which are Stamina and La Mort Sur Le Dancefloor in this case.
Never thought I would get into EDM until I discovered Vitalic last month. I think he's been active for eight years now, but he sure puts the Top 40 wannabes to shame. Rave Age was released less than a year ago.

Other than that, it's the two albums by Warp titans Ae and BoC we've been buzzing about this year.

[Nebraska]

 

soul jazz presents country soul sisters vol. 2 : i liked this so much better than the first compilation mostly because none of these picks seemed as obvious for such a compilation (with exception perhaps to 'working girl' by loretta lynn and conway twitty) but for me personally, 'the bargain store' was (perhaps) the biggest highlight. straight up classic country

[Nebraska]

 

protector 101 - hunter's journey: 7 tracks but it packs a mean punch. imagine an 80s b-movie based on a neo geo sci-fi beat-em up video game based around a concept that's 60% the running man, 20% total recall and 20% robocop. now imagine this game was only released in japan and the movie was a completely foreign production starring some unknown guy, maybe van damme, and some random blonde chick who used to be in a bunch of tv movies. now imagine kicking yourself in the nuts because of how insanely good the soundtrack is. done deal

Edited July 28, 2013 by Nebraska

[Nebraska]

^^ above album related: this is some kind of trailer (?) or promo. really love this guys music

 

[Cryptowen]

Weird Essay About Rifts Part 2: Owen Gets Stoned & Listens to Rifts

 

Now for the record I don't usually smoke drugs & listen to music, or do much of anything really. I mostly just smoke drugs & sit in a corner crying & making woopwoop noises. The only exception that springs to mind is that one time in winter, I was well reefered in a car driving through a city at night. "Horse With No Name" came on the radio & the drums swirled around me like a soft wooden hurricane. The guitar pulled me into the radio while the vocals echoed above, like the voice of God speaking directly to me. I was the desert, I was the horse, I was a non-existent name. The guy driving the car said "man this song is shitty"

 

but then last night

 

It was my first time alone in a new apartment, in a new city where I don't yet speak the language. I began to unpack my luggage, & came across not one but two whole marijuanas. They'd been in a car in the sun for three weeks now, & had taken on a sickly brown colour. I cracked the jar open. Now it smells like Swamp Thing took a shit in my room.

 

"I should smoke that", I think. Now, keep in mind that I don't do drugs often, because my tolerance is low & I get right fuckin wacky. But it had been a few months so I figured "why not". My usual smoking apparatus (a pop can with holes in it) was unavailable, so I had to improvise. Ripped a page out of The History of Western Philosophy, rolled a doobie roughly the size of a small dog, went to the balcony.

 

First hit. Black smoke billows all over the place. Vertigo. "Oh god Swampthing you motherfucker". I soldier through half of it before being over taken by nausea. Rush to the bathroom, look at myself in the mirror. Oh shit I'm starting to get the swirlies I should listen to drone music.

 

Now, the thing that really got me about that last Rifts reissue was that it put "Woe is the Transgression" as the opening track, & not the unique, simplistic beauty of "Behind the Bank". I mean, this is a compilation where every other track is a winner for me, that collectively send me on a 3-hour mystical journey even in the soberest of states. And here this guy is starting off with the ten minutes of harsh wandering synth tone. Never got that.

 

Until the devil's lettuce opened my eyes. Suddenly it became clear. The harshness, it was cathartic. Putting it at the start like this, it was like confronting your own ugliest traits, looking them right in the eye instead of pretending they don't exist like humans do. I wrote a note to myself

 

Suddenly i swa the truth a& as soon as i knew i knew

when you don't think about what you're doing you think you do

i'm dreaming awake right now

what we think is most real is just a biog conked out night

when this makes sense we've deluded ourselves the most

now i see that all things are me

i keep repeating this but only because i haaven't gotten it right yet

oh owen owen why do you keep boring us with this uninteresting shit you fuck

because it's the only time i feel fucking human

no living organism or that which is dead loves me

this is the lie of life i havwe told myself

and it's eating my face with 9 million insect eyes of those i thought i loved

i am covered in bug blood

I was a point of light, arcing down a blue wire in slow motion. There was beauty in this place, finally. It had been there all along. I made another note

 

stop caring just know

you are love

this is not the one talking this is all this is god

i know the truth & it is flowing

we are all love

The opening pads of "Behind the Bank" hit me like a busload of pandas. Blue, blue, my god everything's bright dark neon blue in this world. And that melody. So unconventional. So...natural. It was

 

pure robot emotion

*my notes at this point also make reference to the film Zardoz but that is another topic*

I turned the volume way down. Barely audible. I understood now. Ambient music is better when it's like this, barely discernible. Left up to the imagination.

 

there has to be some mystery in life you know (for fun!)

if you know the truth too much you die, fills your head in

you die when you can have no more thoughts

remember strong emothing=orgm=small death=DEATH=:)

My memories at this point(never) become hazy. I lay in the dark, drifting in & out of what must have been sleep (though my consciousness remained level throughout). The music wrapped around me. Colours. Motion. "Woe is the Transgression" returned, and

 

don't worry we're all friends, even the bad things

foool fool fool i'm not talking about the writer i am talking about you the reader

i am just a reflection of you

We are all reflections of one another. Yes, it was very clear now. The masculine & feminine of everything. The synchronicity. The eternity at the core of all moments. The aquatic arpeggios of "Ships Without Meaning" surround me. I am in some sort of alien womb.The point of life

 

i'm pretending you are a seperate entity right now haha what fun

1. Know you are all things

2. And it's okay i love you

i really genuine love everyone right now

i haven't had real tears or emotions in years

and if i just give in to my heart i will find the way

By the time I got to Terminator Lake/Transmat Memories I was pretty well trip ballin. I could remember composing this music in a previous life. That's why things resonate with you, y'know? Because you remember them from before.

 

The notes & progressions were no longer important. It was all shapes & imagery, another reality being constructed right up there in the air. All music is this to varying degrees, but good drone/ambient does it so much better than most, with it's complete disregard for human conventions.

 

Midway through the vast metal structure that is "A Pact Between Strangers" I felt real sleep overtaking me & knew I would go no further. That was okay. I was this music, vast & eternal. So I stopped the music & dreamt, reliving memories of my father's childhood.

 

I recorded more notes that night but it's mostly just symbolic references to doors & fucking, so here is the final segment

 

hey it's okay to say stupid things some time what are you worrying about man you're just about to die

but not yeat so okay

deep down you know at any moment you can die

but it;s okay your're allready dead

you gotta know when to let go but not yet

only when you're fucking scard are you making progreess

i want you to be terrified and do it anyway

i want you to make you

BETTER

i don't need anyone i already am everyone

but this is not a good thought to knot

please be better go out and say hig to some people you let your fingers do the work just don;t eworry they will do everuthomg roght d;ea[[s[

i'm tripping out but my god it's like a mechanical maze

i am going to be the person

that changes the world for the good

i believe

 

[Guest trananhhung]

Listening to Deafheaven - Sunbather and seeing them in sf on the 15th. Strong contender for my album of the year 2013, i just have a hard time comparing something like with with Exai or the Haxan Cloak. Anyways, heres a full album stream of what i consider one of the most beautiful metal albums i've heard

This is actually really nice.

[murve33]

Man, sounds like a nice night, Cryptoween; really nice notes too. I haven't been in that state of mind in what feels like a year now. I wish I had some swamp monster.

 

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest - After waiting for this album for years, here I am, bitching about it. There are definitely some nice songs in this album, and I hope the more I get to know them the more I'll like them, but right now, I'm not feeling it. The arpeggio themes that they do on a few of the tracks reminds of Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack, which is really saddening. Everything is so epic and crisp, which have never been two words I've described BOC as (with the exception of that high hat on Skyliner). I listened to MHTRC and Geogaddi before and afterwards respectively, and this new album doesn't compare. It seems so cold and emotionless in comparison. Oh well, I'll still keep trying to love it.

 

Rodion G.A. - The Lost Tapes - Romanian synthy psychedelia made under a repressive government. These tracks had been hidden on reel-to-reel tape for the past 34 years and were unearthed recently. I had two artists that I could compare this music to, but all I remember is Omar Souleyman. I dunno, just youtube it, or buy it from STRUT records. It's cool stuff, and a strong piece of electronic music history.

 

MOONRIDERS - Camera Egal Stylo - A while ago I was at a cafe in Minneapolis and they had some old-school Japanese hip-hop playing. It sounded like it was from the 80's, and when I asked the guy at the counter who it was, I must've missheard because I can't find them anywhere. All I know is posse was in the name. So, this led me to going through every cassette released in Japan in the 80's (according to Discogs) and listening to them. I didn't find them, but MOONRIDERS is pretty cool. It sort of blends Japanese New Wave with "Art Rock". It reminds me of Man Man at times.

 

Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds, Ghanaian Blues 1968-81 - Great stuff. I'm happy to see that the African Brothers are on the compilation a couple of times.

 

Oval - szenario - A fantastic EP. It gives me feelings similar to that of 94diskont. Just be sure to skip track 3 (Ref). Download it for free here: http://oval.bandcamp.com/

 

Big Brother and the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills - Combination of the Two is a fucking awesome track, and then it sorta goes downhill for me. Maybe I'm just a big asshole, but when Janis Joplin does her raspy blues voice, it just sounds like the lead singer of ACDC or some 80's hair metal singer. I do like the music though.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Murveman

[manmower]

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest - After waiting for this album for years, here I am, bitching about it. There are definitely some nice songs in this album, and I hope the more I get to know them the more I'll like them, but right now, I'm not feeling it. The arpeggio themes that they do on a few of the tracks reminds of Daft Punk's Tron Legacy soundtrack, which is really saddening. Everything is so epic and crisp, which have never been two words I've described BOC as (with the exception of that high hat on Skyliner). I listened to MHTRC and Geogaddi before and afterwards respectively, and this new album doesn't compare. It seems so cold and emotionless in comparison. Oh well, I'll still keep trying to love it.

I had the same impression of "everything [being] so epic and crisp", but I took that as a good sign because that's what Geogaddi sounded like to me at first, very hot/loud and crisp compared to their earlier stuff. And as with Geogaddi the in-your-faceness has worn off and it's just typical schmoove as fuck BOC at this point. Disclaimer: I think the Tron Legacy soundtrack is awesome too, lol.

[Guest Milkweg]

James Holden - The Inheritors

This was a really great listen, challenging but rewarding in the end. A few really upbeat tracks buried in experimentation. Very uninhibited stylistically and an interesting pallette of sounds.

 

I was not at all familiar with James Holden before listening to this, probably the best way to be upon looking into his back catalog. Not as impressive.

Edited August 1, 2013 by Milkweg

[markedone]

Madlib: History of the Loop Digga

devastatin to my ears

[BobDobalina]

^ this is def the best of the production (odd-numbered) MMS installments, great to blaze to as well

 

Speaking of which, this is some mental dub break shit from Tino (Jack Dangers & co.) that I've had on heavy blast rotation:

 

[Danny O Flannagin]

^ this is def the best of the production (odd-numbered) MMS installments, great to blaze to as well

 

Speaking of which, this is some mental dub break shit from Tino (Jack Dangers & co.) that I've had on heavy blast rotation:

 

MY GOD. I want to listen to this just based on the album art

[yshf]

Low - I Could Live in Hope - 8/10 - Absolutely brutal. Just... wow. Fantastic atmosphere, lyrics and means of conjuring emotion. Fucking gorgeous. Also fucking weird and fucking sad. Love it.

 

Three Trapped Tigers - Route One or Die - 7/10 - Ridiculously complex math rock/electronic/noise album. This group is insane. Apparently influenced by Autechre and the like.

 

Crystal Castles - Discog Revisited:

(I) - 7.5/10

(II) - 7/10

(III) - 8/10

 

Always been curious what Watmm's opinion of CC was. They are one of a very few acts with a wider appeal that totally get to me. The imagery their music brings to mind (to me at least) is devastating haunting and perfect. They seem to have good enough control over their sound to branch out but still keep interesting melody and mixing a priority. III especially is friggin gorgeous.