ASS: Find A Partner!

[Seneschal]

Tramp by Sharon von Etten [via Steeeeeephen]

This strikes me as a somewhat unadventurous album. That’s not to say it’s a bad album, because it isn’t, but there’s not enough about it that I find memorable and I think that’s partially due to its mostly unchanging style. That said, Tramp is rather enjoyable for the most part, and at times shows glimpses of breaking out of the acoustic singer/songwriter ghetto in which many of the songs seem to be trapped.

The opening track ‘Warsaw’, which clocks in at under two and a half minutes, is promising in this regard, providing a short, sharp, and possibly even slightly punkish introduction to an album that unfortunately never quite rediscovers this level of vitality. The breeziness and confidence of ‘Warsaw’ soon gives way to a pair of safe, acoustic numbers which help to make the first half of the album much weaker than the second on the whole, with ‘In Line’ seeming to go on and on, even threatening to become dirge-like in quality, though Van Etten’s vocal strengths save it from becoming completely unbearable. It’s a shame, because the preceding track, ‘Leonard’, is, conversely, exactly the right length and moreover boasts a superb chorus that invigorates the album and, to my mind, grants the music a semblance of personality that the rest of the record, ‘Warsaw’ aside, is sorely lacking. What’s even more irritating about ‘In Line’s bloatedness is that the track that comes after it, ‘All I Can’, is the longest track on the album but also manages to be one of the best, building slowly before bursting into some soaring melodies. It’s followed by ‘We Are Fine’, a duet with Zach Condon which is sweet and shows that Van Etten is more than capable of holding her own against a vocal presence as distinct as Condon’s. Condon turns up again on ‘Magic Chords’ to provide backing vocals, a track which gains from its gentle instrumental accompaniment that brings out the best of Van Etten’s voice.

Penultimate track ‘I’m Wrong’ is, like ‘All I Can’, a song that builds into a sumptuous climax and which, together with the affable closer ‘Joke or a Lie’, ends the album on a fairly positive note. Van Etten is clearly a talented singer and lyricist, but I think she would benefit from stepping out from the safety of her acoustic trappings and embracing a more experimental and esoteric approach.

Verdict: B

[Rose]

Antidotes by Foals [via Aidiera]

<Rose> Pretty good music, horrible vocalist.
<Rose> I think that basically sums this up.

I really don't know much to say other than those two lines. The music was genuinely engaging and interesting, which is something that isn't often the case in indie rock, in my opinion. But goddamn, the vocalist. He wasn't as irritating as Jonsi from a couple weeks back, but he wasn't exactly good either. I spent at least a portion of most of the songs wishing the dude would just shut the hell up and let the instruments speak for themselves. But hey, I place instruments at a much higher importance than vocalists, and I actually did enjoy this. I'll be revisiting it at some point.

>> Rose

[Tunco]

Album: Generic Flipper by Flipper (rec'd by gloomp)

First four (a) tracks are great, nihilism-esque themed punk rock with noisy guitars and atonal vocals, (very notable in Life Is Cheap; also one of my favorite) followed by The Way Of The World; serves as an intermission between the more-insurgent and less-insurgent parts of the album, where the angsty teenagery feeling that is present in the first part (a) is gradually fading away, altering itself to a less punk style; a bit boring in comparison. The last track Sex Bomb, another favorite, contrasts to the rest of the album; it features a what appears to be an improvised saxophone along with another woodwind instrument. The first part -excluding its teenagery angsty feeling, which is an aspect that surprisingly works with this album- reminds me of Brainbombs, which are really good.

I don't have much to say about it, overall; it's a good album.

[unoriginal name]

Dark Space III by Darkspace [rec'd by Rose]

Finally, finally I've gotten something I feel something for that I also don't feel distaste for. Darkspace are an atmospheric black metal project with dark ambient elements who I have looked up literally no info about, beyond basic album details, because that's how I roll. Because this is an album Rose likes, I was concerned I was going to get some lifeless proggy nonsense full of ambient interludes, but luckily I was mistaken. This is a band that goes wall of sound from minute one and rarely lets up. However, this is where I'm going to start rattling off criticisms. Now, Darkspace are a band whose chief thematic interest seems to be... space. Like, outer space. The place with stars? And that's really the opposite direction I like my guitar music, especially my black metal. My favorite black metal projects, at this time in my life, are all raw, noisy, and very subterranean-sounding. They sound like they're from the depths of hell, or a very Arctic ice cavern. Darkspace, on the other hand, take the vast openness of space and attempt to turn that into tremolo picking and keyboard lines, basically. And they do that pretty well. About as well as one could, really. But it doesn't move me nearly as much as a truly great slab of frozen buzz can.

So, again, this is something that I basically have to say I can appreciate, but don't love. I appreciate this a lot more than most of the stuff I've gotten, though.

[aids]

round viii

• Aidiera >> mediate [-]
• xwd >> gloomp
• Tunco >> Rose [-]
• gloomp >> Aidiera [-]
• Seneschal >> xwd [-]
• mediate >> Seneschal [-]
• Rose >> Tunco[-]

Aidiera >> mediate >> Seneschal >> xwd >> gloomp >> Aidiera
Rose >> Tunco >> Rose

[aids]

http://albumswapping.tumblr.com/post/23559550455

Do by Toshimaru Nakamura & Sachiko M [via gloomp]

gloomp told me that this comes from the outskirts of the music realm, but I’m pretty sure this from a different place entirely. The first track is a 36 minute drone, and this hardly qualifies as a song. It’s half an hour of ‘pitch tone click pitch click’ and I felt every minute of it. The second song was pretty much a two minute transition to the last song, which was ten minutes. Both of these were just like the first, except not as annoying. There was nothing wrong with this album, but for fifty minutes, nothing happened. At all. Occasionally I would hear an annoying tonal shuffle or squeal, but I can’t figure out what I gained from listening to this.

The genre was listed as Avant-Garde, but that doesn’t do it justice. This was Bruit-Muet, through and through.

» Aidiera

[Rose]

Maaäet by Tenhi [via Tunc]

I was pretty excited to see Tunc recommend me a dark folk album, since I'm pretty sure this is where our tastes overlap. And sure enough, I did like this. It was minimal; probably not as minimal as the album Aids listened to this week, but it was minimal. Sometimes this minimalism helped create a great atmosphere, and sometimes it just made it harder to pay attention. But it did the former more often than the latter. While this wasn't great, I really don't have many complaints either. Fairly solid album.

>> Rose

[Tunco]

Maaäet by Tenhi [via Tunc]

I was pretty excited to see Tunc recommend me a dark folk album, since I'm pretty sure this is where our tastes overlap. And sure enough, I did like this. It was minimal; probably not as minimal as the album Aids listened to this week, but it was minimal. Sometimes this minimalism helped create a great atmosphere, and sometimes it just made it harder to pay attention. But it did the former more often than the latter. While this wasn't great, I really don't have many complaints either. Fairly solid album.

>> Rose

terrible review you should feel bad

[Rose]

Maaäet by Tenhi [via Tunc]

I was pretty excited to see Tunc recommend me a dark folk album, since I'm pretty sure this is where our tastes overlap. And sure enough, I did like this. It was minimal; probably not as minimal as the album Aids listened to this week, but it was minimal. Sometimes this minimalism helped create a great atmosphere, and sometimes it just made it harder to pay attention. But it did the former more often than the latter. While this wasn't great, I really don't have many complaints either. Fairly solid album.

>> Rose

terrible review you should feel bad

I liked the damn album, jeez. XD

[xwd]

Homogenic by Björk [via Seneschal]

This album's great. It combines hauntingly beautiful vocals with lush strings and complex electronic sounds. They all work together really nicely, with no one element excessively overpowering the other and meshing nicely. There are moments where one stands out on its own, but they all get their time to shine. You'll get mostly a capella segments (with the right touch of reverb and echo), string intros and outros, and electronic breaks and breakdowns.

Of course, interesting sounds are one thing, but they're pointless if they leave you feeling flat. All aspects work together to create some very powerful songs, a general feeling of unease and strangeness, maybe some coldness too. (Björk is Icelandic, after all, and while I'm aware it's pretty green there, they still get plenty of snow and ice.) That's where the electronic aspects come into play mostly, for their all-around weirdness in contrast to the other parts. It really works well, the crunchiness plays nicely with the strings. Also I'd like to apolgize for my inability to understand lyrics easily, this album isn't really mixed for them to stand out. It also doesn't help that Björk likes to draw out syllables for long periods of time. Sounds great, makes comprehension tricky.

The whole album's really nice, but I'd say Alarm Call is probably my favorite, due to its particularly crisp beats. The other singles Jóga, Bachelorette, Hunter, and All Is Full of Love are good tracks too. Pluto also takes the electronic weirdness up a notch, when I first heard the intro I thought it was another album until the vocals came in.

In closing, that cover's really damn weird. Look at it for more than 10 seconds and tell me it's not. It suits the album really well. Just don't look into her eyes.

>> xwd
http://ilovecopyleft.tumblr.com/

[mediate]

The End Of The Beginning by God Is An Astronaut [via Aidiera]

Awesome music from these guys. Great as background while playing some games that have little to no music (or shit music, whatever it may be). I like it as it creates an atmosphere of some sorts that's ... real nice. Like the album, I'd give it an 8/10. It's very atmospheric, what more can I say? If you like post-rock, you'll prolly like this.

[Tunco]

Into The Labyrinth by Dead Can Dance (rec'd by Rose)

Percussive Native American music with interesting vocals, the vocals get gradually unintelligible throughout the album while a few other instruments start to play (percussion starts to fade, which is the best aspect of the album). The name of the album can be very misleading, I was expecting a melancholic-gothic thing but no it's not and it turned out to be boring. The whole thing feels like it's on the verge of being a bit experimental neofolk.

nonetheless this was really boring overall, it has its few good moments but no this is not my thing at all just boring

[Seneschal]

Kamchatka by Kamchatka [via Meeeeediate]

I don’t like to wallow in past glories all that much, but I won’t deny occasionally wondering ‘they don’t make ‘em like this any more’ when blasting something like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. Well, it turns out that they do, the ‘they’ in question being Kamchatka, a Swedish blues/stoner rock group who on their self-titled debut album kick ass like the ‘70s never left.

‘Out of My Way’ is a defiant opening statement, making the band’s hard, almost progressive rock aspirations clear from the very first second; it’s a great way to start an album. ‘Seed’ is a slight change of pace, shifting into a slow, rhythmic stoner groove not unlike Queens of the Stone Age, however the track swiftly segues into ‘No’, which milks its classic-sounding chorus for all its worth. ‘Mnemosyne Waltz’ slows things down again before ending up as a rollicking guitar jam.

Midway through the album Kamchatka try their hands at a few covers, which allow them to explore further variations on their sound: the first, ‘I Love Everybody’, is adequate but I felt they could have hit it harder, since it feels quite restrained when compared to the rest of the album, yet isn’t soft enough to act as a breather. ‘Auto Mowdown’ is much better, with guitars that wail and screech in a way that recalls the maverick sonic experimentation of a certain Jimi Hendrix. The last of the covers, ‘Spacegirl Blues’, is another success, this time a diversion into more psychedelic territory.

‘Sing Along Song’ doesn’t really have a strong enough hook for me to feel able to actually sing along, but I can’t deny that it rocks damn hard even by the standards of this album. ‘Incognito’ begins with, and frequently repeats, an odd ‘badum bada dum dum’ sort of vocal which at first I wasn’t really convinced by, but after it’s echoed in the guitar line I was sold. The brevity also helped in ensuring that it didn’t become too irritating.

The last track, ‘Squirm’, is a fittingly epic album closer, a six minute guitar jam that touches on every facet of the band’s sound from each of the preceding tracks and throws in a few more musical flourishes for the hell of it, such as a floating, wordless vocal. It even contains a brief, acoustic epilogue with bizarre sampled dialogue (a quick google search tells me it comes from a film called ‘The Fourth Protocol’ with Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan in it). It’s a fun little touch that puts a cap on what is an immensely enjoyable album throughout, despite the occasional moments in which it seems like the band is cruising on autopilot, such as on somewhat forgettable mid-album tracks ‘Mixed Emotions’ and ‘Wrong End’, as well as the aforementioned ‘I Love Everybody’. At its best, however, it fucking rocks; and at its worst, it still fucking rocks. Awesome.

Verdict: B+

>>Seneschal

[aids]

round ix

• xwd >> Aidiera
• kuri >> xwd
• meditate >> Tunco
• Tunco >> gloomp
• Aidiera >> Sen
• gloomp >> mediate
• Ardee >>> kuri
• Sen >> Ardee

Aidiera >> Sen >> Ardee >> kuri >> xwd >> Aidiera
gloomp >> mediate >> Tunco >> gloomp

[aids]

Wow, everyone's slacking.

http://albumswapping.tumblr.com/post/24194629948

[unoriginal name]

oh right

dammit

i meant to listen today honest ;-;

[mediate]

EDIT: Yay for post reservation!

Calendars by Robb Bank$ [Rec by no canada/gloomp]

... I don't get it. I don't understand this album, the lyrical content or the message. I'm sorry, but Rap is really not my thing. I just don't understand it enough to appreciate it properly. I understand that it takes skill to rap, yes, but beyond that, I'm just left feeling confused when I listen to it. This album ... I really don't understand it. I guess it's a concept album? I .. I really can't talk about it and do it justice. Maybe it's godly art in the rap world/community (definitely from the forum posts I've read online and the youtube comments he is apparently really good) but this does nothing to me. Sorry. Didn't enjoy it.

[xwd]

Hell's Pit by Insane Clown Posse [via kuri]

Insane Clown Posse. If you don't know them from their confusion about magnets, you probably know them as another bullet point on the list of insane things about WCW. They have a really big following of fans, and yes, they have their own pro wrestling promotion. This album is reportedly their best one.

The first track ends with "welcome to hell... why did you choose this?..." which I found hilariously appropriate given the situation I'm in. After that we get into some dark beats and rapping that really goes along with it. Like, ridiculously violent stuff. It's pretty decent imagery, and it gets points for being about something other than how awesome the rappers are. But it feels really juvenile to me, like they're trying really really hard to be violent and gruesome and offensive and stuff like that. Which would probably explain why all those angsty teenagers identify with it. What I like about it is that all these stories of seemingly random violence is that there's usually really severe consequences for it, and the songs usually end with the narrator dying someone. Probably due to that mythology they've created that they're in love with. Hey, it gives the songs some structure.

The production is actually pretty good. It's dark, like I said earlier, but there's plenty of bass down there too, something to give your subwoofer a workout and make the room tremble. It's interesting to listen to when you're not paying close attention to the music, and there's also lots of spooky sounds. There's good transitions between tracks too, which I'll admit to being a sucker for. If I was a previously disaffected teenager, I would totally love to cruise around at night with my similarly-minded friends while blasting this.

kuri said his favorite track is Night of 44 which is about shooting random people until the cops show up at which point you're screwed. Bowling Balls is about the joys of collecting severed heads and is completely hilarious, not to mention having pretty good beats behind it. Suicide Hotline also made me laugh by having the hype-man that yells stuff at the end of rhymes be on the other end of a phone. Everything else kind of ran together.

I'm gonna go listen to hip hop that isn't about killing people and then dying now.

>> xwd
http://ilovecopyleft.tumblr.com/

[unoriginal name]

Ein Sof by Nullsleep [rec'd xwd last week sorry i took so long bro]

So, xwd gave me a chipmusic EP from a netlabel. Can't sy I'm surprised, that does seem to sort of be his thing. It's only one 15 minute track so I'm not sure how much I can say about it but here goes: Ein Sof is chipmusic that's pretty desperately trying to distance itself from anything resembling a Nintendo soundtrack, which is admirable if a bit gimmicky. It's one smooth, shifting soundscape, like something off a New Age-y cassette or maybe a more ambient Krautrock project, but with a constant rough edge, due to the limitations of the equipment I guess I know very little about this stuff. Mildly atmospheric, but not nearly long enough to be truly immersive. I didn't really imagine much of anything, though I was sort of tired when I listened to it. I don't dislike it, really, but I feel nothing for it. My emotions for Ein Sof are null.

(see what i did there?!!?!?!?! :;dDD;dDD:Dd;dD::D;d)

[aids]

I'm still missing like all of your reviews, so this round is extended.

[Seneschal]

Sorry for lateness, I'll try and post it either today or tomorrow (I have listened to your rec, just need to write up a review)

[RandomDigits]

Well, I had no idea I'd do such a long review O.o

Queen II by Queen [Rec'd by Sen]

I have been aware of Queen since the days when I still listened to mainstream radio. I remember hearing Another One Bites The Dust was played occasionally. I liked the song, but I never explored their music further. Upon discovering that I did not have any of their albums, Sen suggested that I get their album Queen II. I found the album, which is apparently one of the band's less well received, to be quite an enjoyable listen.

Queen II features a variety of styles, ranging from gentle ballads to energetic Heavy Metal. The album also has some prog influences. All styles are well played and merge well together.

Though I liked all of the songs, some stood out as especially good. I liked the opening track, which is a short funeral march played on electric guitars and Bass. It was quite a nice surprise. Father To Son is good from start to finish, though I especially appreciated the heaviness achieved in the heavy sections; 70's metal doesn't often sound all that heavy to me, but in this case, it does. White Queen features excellent vocals and the whole song is outstanding. This is my favourite song on the album.

Ogre Battle is another song I liked. This song is sometimes considered "proto-thrash metal" because of its fast Metal riffs, and I easily can see why. Finally, The March Of The Black Queen is the last song that stood out above the rest.

It seems that most my favourite songs on Queen II had some element of Heavy Metal. I guess that says a little bit about my tastes. However, by no means did I dislike the other songs. They just made less of an impression on me. The whole album is very good, and I am sure to listen to it again in the future. Many thanks to Sen for the recommendation!

-ardee

[Seneschal]

Here it is, sorry again for the lateness.

-


BURST by The Pass [via Aidieeeeeeera]

Ok, before I write about this album I think I should get this out of the way: The Pass sound really, really, really like Passion Pit. If it weren’t for the fact that the lead singer sounds slightly different from Michael Angelakos, I could easily mistake the two. That said, I’m not going to dismiss The Pass as copycat wannabes, because that would not only be grossly unfair to them as a band, but it also would deprive me of this very enjoyable album.

The first two tracks, ‘Treatment of the Sun’ and ‘Vultures’, kickstart the album with lovely, bouncy synth melodies backed up with very catchy choruses. I like the way ‘Vultures’ starts with a deconstructed version of its synth line before plunging into the song.

After a couple of good but not quite as memorable numbers, the synthesisers swell and explode into ‘Rochelle’, my favourite track from the album, a lush and grandiose track that showcases the band’s talents for complementing catchy hooks with equally seductive electronic instrumentation – I’m reminded of ‘The Only One’ by The Black Keys.

Unfortunately, the back half of the album isn’t quite as enjoyable as the first, and a lot of the songs fall into the category of having a bright, sparkling introductory synth line before settling into a routine pop song. They’re still fun to listen to, but it’s a little disappointing to see a talented group content to adhere so closely to their formula rather than trying to take it in new directions (here I’m perhaps guilty of hypocrisy as I like ‘Manners’ by Passion Pit very much despite it suffering from exactly the same flaw – however I’d argue that that album props up its back half with catchier songs). The final track ‘Fate’ is a small step in the right direction, being slightly longer and moving at a somewhat slower pace, but it also feels a bit aimless at times.

Despite my complaints, this is still great fun to listen to, and though it may not be terribly groundbreaking it’s still very entertaining.

Verdict: B+

~Seneschal

[Tunco]

Exoplanet by The Contortionist (rec'd by mediate)

More than three years passed since the last time I listened to death metal, it always felt like it was a genre little room for novelty. (presumably because I refused to listen anything that wasn't Cannibal Corpse-esque) I don't hold the same views right now and the slight change in my perspective has been diluted with this album.

The (technical?) drums (and guitar, time to time) compensate for the terrible vocals.

It's not great and slightly better than mediocre at its best.
ps. this is not my thing

[Stephen]

Sorry :( I think I'm like 3 weeks late.

Psychic Reality & LA Vampires - s/t Split [via Donfuy]

The Not Not Fun label, run mostly by Amanda Brown (LA Vampires), has established among its roster a quite developed character over the past eight years. The label didn't really invent the "hypnagogic pop" genre, but it's certainly been instrumental in its propagation, along with some even weirder psyched-out droney releases. However, the reputation these artists have built is based on their inconsistency, their wilful lo-fidelity, and a general sense of sneering oddball hipness in their reckless lack of quality control. Even their most steadfast fans would agree that they've put out some really fucking bad music.

This release typifies what I've heard of the label, actually. It's all attitude, no real effort. There are some interesting exercises in stretching the possibilities of the pop structure but I'm stumped as to the merit of these exercises at times; for instance Psychic Realities' opener "Sela/Seeing-Eye Lion" does nothing but irritate. It works best when hints at a familiar chord structure lurches from out of the noise - a great example is the terrific "Omni/Omni" from Psychic Realities' side; beneath the industrialist clattering I got some pretty intense nostalgia for what might be a forgotten soft-rock ballad, further obscured by the lethargically yowled vocal delivery, as she sustains a tension between endearment and abrasion.

LA Vampires' side is less of a dirge, but it's more complacent and therefore less memorable. It sounds like a failed attempt to emulate 80s synth-pop, recorded a couple of dozen times on a tape deck, and as such it's pretty much the blueprint for "hypnagogic pop"; it's sometimes nightmarish but mostly hazily disorientating. Whereas Psychic Realities is almost aggressive in her subversions of pop, LA Vampires is not so much subversive as plain lazy. Still, her closer "Acid We" is more controlled and evocative, a feverish intersection of dubby weed-haze and what sounds to me like Middle-Eastern film soundtracks.

I'm ambivalent about it, but I'll definitely still be keeping an eye on Not Not Fun's releases; for instance I really liked the LA Vampires Goes ITAL: Streetwise EP from last year (perhaps its brevity worked in its favour), and I enjoyed Brown's work in Pocahaunted too. I maintain that there are some interesting ideas despite the lack of quality control - but unfortunately polishing things off before releasing them would go completely against Not Not Fun's unique image.