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Symbolic - by Death

mediate rec'd this to me because of the presence of Cannibal Corpse in my last dot FM, but while Death and Cannibal Corpse are so heavily associated as two of the most classic death metal bands, in my eyes they operate on two completely different planes. Cannibal Corpse had and always will have a sense of humour, not only in their eww lyrics but about themselves and death metal in general; a fine example is that bass (guitar) fill in Addicted to Vaginal Skin, which is so out of nowhere and stupidly fast to the point of hilarity (and awesomeness). Contrast this sensibility with Symbolic, which has some of the fastest double bass I've ever heard (kudos to the drummer's calves) and decides to show it off under riffs that just don't try too hard to be exciting, be it poor songwriting or unexciting production. Granted, 1,000 Eyes ends with a string of double bass that might implode your headphones, but when the lyrics of the song are considered (hint: the song is called 1,000 Eyes, you really needn't guess hard what the lyrics are) you know that Death is taking it much too seriously. Symbolic and Zero Tolerance piqued my curiosity with their ferocity, but the latter 40 minutes aren't very interesting (except in small bits. For instance: I recognize those Mastodon guitar harmonics in Crystal Mountain! Those Atlantan devils!)

can i be in the next round? :D

PALEMOON wrote:can i be in the next round? :D

Yes you can!

Diamond Mine by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins [via mintnut]

This is a pleasant to listen in terms of individual tracks - a soft-tenor male voice on top of a mellow classic guitar/piano/etc. melody - but it gets annoying after two tracks. Tracks sound very similar to each other, like those of the other 3579265 indie rock bands that follow the exact same formula to create pleasant songs, which is why I was glad that the album ran just below of 35 minutes.

Dystonia Duos by Joe Panzner & Greg Stuart [via gloomp]

And once again gloomp attempts to "expand" my "musical horizons" with ""noise" "music"" (imagine I had to get someone to make finger quotes around my finger quotes there). Except this time I think he succeeded, because I don't want to run until the hurting stops. I mean, I'm not going to play this again, but maybe I can use it to freak out old people.

Anyway, this is apparently some of the best that "electro-acoustic improvisation" has to offer. I honestly don't know why it has that name, it makes me think of a Kplecraft jam session. Hey, we've got a hacked NES, some drums, and a sax, let's jam! I don't know what this solo is going to turn out to be! Then again that's electro-acoustic jazz, so, something totally different.

I will say though, it's not the worst thing I could think of. It's unnerving, sure, really loud in a lot of part, but it doesn't come randomly out of nowhere, it slides in and out. There's some definite progression to it, though I honestly don't know where it's going. Maybe it's going nowhere, just like all of our lives! Deep. But at the very least it wasn't an hour of static.

I have no idea what was used to make this album, but based on some of the sounds and pitches I heard, I will have to guess a dial-up modem of some kind was involved. There's a lot of cheap microphone noises, with humming and hiss, but they go in and out so I have to assume that was a stylistic choice of some kind.

This is more of a single-album experience, and it's not like noise music has anthems anyway, so the tracks are pretty much all roughly the same. Organ b/w Timpani Solo gets points for reminding me of how much Homestar Runner likes the term "b/w" (backed/with), i.e. "Pork b/w Beans." Casa de Pedras had some nice bass to it. Also at the very end, when it faded out, my ears started ringing and it could've been part of the music and I wouldn't know.

If you're into this sort of thing, I'm sure it's already mysteriously made its way into your music collection like whatever that thing in Evil Dead 2 was that had the camera in first-person view as it zoomed around the woods. Maybe you'll enjoy this more than cutting off your hand with a chainsaw.

I'm going to go listen to Brazilian funk now. You know, smooth everything out.

>> xwd

http://albumswapping.tumblr.com/post/51022745584

Should I say fuck it and carry on with the next round?

Beautiful Lifestyle by George and Jonathan [via xwd]

... I'm ... at a loss for words here ... for the past 2 weeks or so, I've been listening to this album, still have no idea what to write about it. Lets try this, all of the songs are good, really really damn good. They mixed in varying styles of music in each song, so you have very dubstep songs, funky as hell songs, but a common trait is all round pretty happy, kinda poppy songs. I like what they've done here a lot, just can't really describe it. You've got songs that are totally different coming back to back to each other, like "The Next Best Thing," "Dubstep Daycare," and "Burning Up Inside;" then again another trio of confusing placement with "Hissy Snake Popout," "Unicorns Forever," and "Planet Funk," where all of the songs are completely different styles ... yet it works so well. I highly recommend you check it out ASAP, because it's damn cool what they've done. Just a warning, their site uses lots of flashy colours with their music player, so if you are prone to epileptic seizures due to flashing lights, may want to click play and change tab, because the songs are really damn good. Site can be found here. Great album, loved the songs.

i basically refused on principle to listen to that album tunc rec'd me

i also don't remember what it was

otters~1 wrote:i basically refused on principle to listen to that album tunc rec'd me

i also don't remember what it was

It's called Asshole / Snail dilemma by Runzelstirn & Gurgelstøck

this is really something, you should experience it

When is the next round? I want in.

EDIT: Updated the string as per Tunco's request.

Ok so it's..., wow, 8 months overdue, but here is my review for Live at the Austin Outhouse by Blaze Foley.

Live at the Austin Outhouse by Blaze Foley [via Gloomp]

Ok, I don't really have much to say about this. I listened to it way back in April and decided to put off writing about it until a later date when I would listen to it again, which turned out to be just now, but I can't really think of anything more to say. From what I've heard about Blaze Foley he sounds like he was quite a character, but his music for me sounds a little pedestrian. It's good for what it is but I can't relate too much to what he's singing and it doesn't really spark my imagination. The arrangements are very simple, just his voice and an acoustic guitar, which is the kind of thing that I imagine would go down very well in a live setting where the music might feel more intimate and palpable (indeed this is a live recording, so I imagine I'd like this quite a bit more if I'd been in the audience way back in '89 when this was recorded) but here there's a distance which means I can't really invest myself too much in it. Or maybe I'm just not a huge fan of country music in general. Either way, it's fine, just not my cup of tea.

Due to nobody's negligence in particular *cough* me *cough* ASS is getting an upgrade. While group swaps were very fun while they lasted, I think the future of ASS will be better off if we swap albums in pairs. There won't be any more 'rounds' per se, if you and another person feel like a swap, then have at it. You'll be responsible for your own deadlines and such, but I'm not worried about that much. Even a few reviews a month would be worth it. So thank you for contributing thus far, and if you'd like to join me on the next leg, there's plenty of room for the lot of ya.

desperate to know what that's an acronym for

ASS: FIND A PARTNER!

pshh like i'm going to read the title