Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (320) (2010)

Friend's review: I liked the first half, but the second half seemed like the thirty-fifth day of an endless party, if you know what i mean. also, fire the drummer.

9.4/10

Park that car, drop that....wait. Wrong album.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (320) (2000)

Per request. I have a Russian test tomorrow and therefore no time to write my own review. Not that I would want to try and write a review for this album. I'll let Sputnik do my talking for me.

So much of the music that we hold dear stands side by side with us, as our peer, joining hands or marrying voices or calling to arms, but for all the inspiring qualities of Lift Your Skinny Fists it is never once a viable possibility that the minds behind the composition of its schizophrenic and soaring peaks and troughs are Just Guys That Went To Your School. Godspeed You! Black Emperor are better than you and me; they can do things you and I aren't capable of, and they can do them despite, and because of, their pretentious, elaborate self-indulgence.

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven is the sort of record which doesn't have hooks because the very idea of listening to a minute of the last dramatic surge is blasphemous and because everything relies on everything before it and everything after it in order to work. Many people have claimed that Godspeed's shorter and more digestable EP Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada is more concise and therefore better, but the two records are simply different; Lift Your Skinny Fists is the work of a group of incredible musicians and artists, unrestrained, unleashed and totally off the rails. In the hands of a band less than sublime it would be a veritable train wreck, but in the possession of Godspeed You! Black Emperor it is simply life-changing. Set aside some uninterrupted time and all of your pre-conceptions, ignore everything I just wrote and listen to this album right from the start right to the finish. You'll know what I've been trying to say.

Welcome to ARCO AM/PM Mini Markets we would like to advise our customers that any individual who offers to pump gas wash windows or solicit products is not employed by or affiliated with this facility we discourage any contact with these individuals and ask that you report any problems to uniformed personnel inside

Carissa's Wierd - Songs About Leaving (V0) (2002)

There's a line with "sad" albums. You have to communicate whatever anguish, despair, loss, pain, depression, or misanthropy through the medium of your sound, which can be difficult to pull off. Lots of bands wind up simply sounding flat and boring at this point. If you can pass that first test, though, there's another line: you can't be over the top. If it's hyperbolic sadness, it's unbelievable, and if it's unbelievable, there's nothing for your listener to connect to. This is why many bands labeled "slowcore" or, as I prefer, "sadcore," reject the label. They want the bitterness in their music to sound natural, rather than forced.

Carissa's Wierd second album, Songs About Leaving, passes both of these tests with flying colors. This is by far one of the most depressing albums I have ever heard, in particular lyrically, but also musically. The album actually features two singers: Mat Brooke (who would go on to form Band of Horses with Ben Bridwell, who played bass for CW), who sings on the majority of the tracks, and Jenn Ghetto, who has an absolutely beautiful voice and who I would have liked to have heard more from. Can't have everything, I suppose. Still, Ghetto's final chorus on So You Wanna Be A Superhero is absolutely chilling:

My dreams are full of what's not real
I'll fly away to save the world
I'll make you proud someday
I just won't be around to see your face
My life is full of what's not here
I'll go away and save myself
I'll make you proud someday
I just won't be around to see your face

I do believe that if many singers attempted a chorus like that, they would immediately break the over-the-top law. With Ghetto, however, there is never any doubt that these words are coming straight from her soul. Same with Brooks' lyrics. And the thing is, the entire album is like this, and it's brilliant from start to finish--there is no let up. There is no relief. But there's also never any question of it being fake. This is a tragically real record.

Sofisticated fuck princess please leave me alone

Corrosion of Conformity - Wiseblood (320) (1996)

Wiseblood was released 2 years after Deliverance, an it certainly sounds like it. That's not a bad thing, however. This album is thoroughly enjoyable. If you like Deliverance, you'll probably like this album.

Mr. Tambourine play one more song for me, 'Cause I gotta leave, I lost what I believed

Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites (320) (2005)

Per request. This is one of the worst album covers I have ever seen in my life. Minimize your media player or tuck your iPod in your pocket so you don't have to look at it and listen to the music, which is luckily a lot more beautiful. If you listened to Frengers and liked it but thought, like me, that it was a little too disjointed and more of a collection of tracks than an album, you should download this one immediately. This one is far more seamless throughout--literally, all of the tracks flow together by design. This is also just more of an interesting album, if you want my opinion. It might not be your immediate reaction to apply the "progressive" label to this band, but this album may merit it.

Care lines, care lines thumped it up (I have no idea)

YOU KNOW US...

That's why I hold you...

Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I (V0) (2007)

Holyshitdoublepost

I've listened to this album four times now in the past three days. I have a long list of new albums that I need to sort through, but the problem is that every time I listen to this one I discover something new about it that I never noticed before, and then it makes me appreciate it on a whole new level, and I have to listen to it again. So far this seems to be an infinite loop.

This is Kashiwa Daisuke--who is, in case you didn't guess, from Japan. Or at least that's what most people believe--one of the RYM reviewers believes Daisuke might be a cyborg from outer space. After hearing this album, I'm not ready to dismiss the possibility that this might be some kind of peace offering from an advanced civilization. I can picture a civilization watching us, slowly observing our musical evolution, and then taking Earth's musical output, combining it with their futuristic abilities, and creating a hybrid alien/human record that showcases the flawless trademarks and characteristics of both civilizations' appreciation of the power that music can have on an ordinary human or alien being.

There's so much to this album that I really don't know where to begin. There is a modern classical base, with strings, piano, and occasional programmed drums providing the skeleton and driving most of the album. This, I would subject, is humanity's side. The alien side is where this album gets interesting, as glitch--intentional skips or stutters--run throughout. If the idea of cathartic strings and piano being interrupted by electronic jitters gives you pause for concern, let me say I completely understand where you might be coming from, as I was in that same camp. I honestly believe now though that the electronic manipulation could not have been done any more beautifully. It works perfectly.

Structurally, the album is divided into two tracks. Stella, which is apparently from what I have read a love story, runs for 36 minutes and rises and falls between periods of intensity and blissful, calm, glitchy ambiance. I can't stress enough how well the dynamics of the album were pulled off--it seems almost natural. Other artists struggle with this, and their songs hit their peaks and the listener isn't quite ready for it, and it's frustrating. Program Music was scary, the first time I listened to it I could have sworn it was somehow a sentient being, rising and falling with my mind's natural fluctuating temperament. Very few albums, even by successful bands, can do anything close to that. The second track, Write Once, Run Melos, is not quite as naturally flowing as Stella. The transitions are more obvious and more abrupt. However, I think I like it just as much if not maybe even more so than Stella. Something about the piano lines throughout just completely wow me, and the crescendo at the end is something to behold.

Bottom line is, you can't go wrong with this album.

Stella

Cherry Ghost - Thirst For Romance (V0) (2007)

This is the Cherry Ghost album that does it for me--as much as I love their newly released Beneath This Burning Shoreline, their debut is just slightly more polished. To me the tracks overall are stronger and it's more consistent than the follow-up. Sonically, you're not going to notice much difference--same semi-lo-fi, country-tinged, British indie music. Simon Aldred's vocals are still strangely hypnotic and his lyrics, once given time to be absorbed, help give the songs a depth that may not be immediately apparent.

Mountain Bird

Candlemass - Nightfall (320) (1987)

Dubious will no longer be posting albums for Mandatory Metal Mondays leaving me to take over his duties. I am excited to start sharing some albums that are a bit different from the last few (awesome) stoner metal albums that have been posted to fulfill MMM.

I’ll try not to start off too ambitiously by posting the second album by the seminal yet criminally underrated Swedish band Candlemass. Candlemass were one of the first bands to be officially labeled as “doom metal”, many even claim that they started the genre. As with many metal bands from Sweden Candlemass’s guitar parts place a much higher emphasis on melody than other bands playing a similar style of music at the time (for those not familiar with the genre, doom metal can be best compared to a heavier, slower “Masters of Reality” era Black Sabbath). Although Nightfall does contain many heavy-as-hell riffs that would make Tony Iommi proud (At the Gallows End, Well of Souls) most of the riffs in this album are comprised of non-muted notes that give the album a much more atmospheric, depressing, sound than what was usually heard from the aforementioned guitarist.

I also feel that some credit is due to the band’s lead guitarist at the time, Lars Johansson. Lars may not be remembered in history as the most soulful guitarist, nor will he be remembered as the most technically gifted one, but his leads on this album show a maturity that is not commonly heard in metal. Although he can play fairly fast and makes use of popular shredding techniques such as sweep picking and tapping he utilizes them in such a way that his solos are still melodic and memorable (Well of Souls, Samarithan), which I think is definitely worth mentioning.

Possibly the most recognizable part of Candlemass though is their singer at the time, Messiah Marcolin. Messiah has a soaring, melodramatic voice that puts many 90% of “good” metal singers to shame. Although people unfamiliar with Messiah’s style may initially feel overwhelmed by his singing (even now I become a bit annoyed occasionally by his extremely frequent use of vibrato) I still consider him to be one of the best vocalists I have ever heard and I urge new listeners to give his voice some time to grow on you, it’s definitely worth it in the end.

Overall Candlemass is a band that must be listened to by any person who considers themselves to be a fan of metal, especially anybody who likes the slower, heavier style of bands such as Black Sabbath. Although the band’s first album “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus” (great album title, or greatest album title?) and fourth album “Tales of Creation” are commonly cited as Candlemass’s best efforts along with Nightfall I still find that this is probably the easiest album of theirs to get into and possibly their best. Enjoy.

One day I saw a man, dressed in rags with a staff in his hand, begging for a penny to survive...

Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age (320) (1998)

Ah yes, QOTSA's self-titled debut. At the time of this album's recording, the line-up consisted of Joshua Homme, Alfredo Hernandez, and Homme's alter ego - Carlo Von Sexron. It's sound is quite different from it's follow up "Rated R," and it's kind of surprising how even people familiar with QOTSA's work have never listened to this album.

The album doesn't have the production work or variety of QOTSA's later albums, but it is still a vital part of the band's discography and some of the Homme's best work. A sort of heavy-metal minded attitude to riffing and distortion dominates the albums sound, but not in the way the average listener would expect. It's feels warm and fuzzy, rather than aggressive and crushing. Hardly surprising if one is familiar with Homme's work. Can't accuse him of treading the beaten path.

This life is a trip you're psycho in love, and I know.

DJ Krush - Jaku (320) (2004)

Per request.

Soo many clouds...

Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss (320) (2006)

It's been awhile since I've upped any post-rock, which is a damn shame, because...well...post-rock kicks ass. This is a 5-piece band from England, which has lagged behind a little bit in development of their post-rock scene but seriously kicked some ass from the mid to late years of the most recent decade. This album being a prime example. The GY!BE comparisons will somewhat rightfully get thrown about here, but I hate using it because if you've never heard this album before, you should not go into it with that sort of comparative mindset. The sound may be similar to GY!BE with the strings, horns, and drums, but GY!BE had an eclectic, apocalyptic atmosphere that Yndi Halda abandons, bringing instead a fresh and more uplifting sound. Very good stuff and definitely worth a listen.

We flood empty lakes

Burial - Untrue (320) (2007)

You're walking through the city. The pitch black skies are broken only by the occasional half-lit neon sign, random passing cars, and the glimmer of skyscrapers illuminating the horizon in the distance. The streets are still wet from the rain that continues to fall in a drizzle. You take a wrong step, trip and fall into a recently created puddle. Your clothes are soaked and the chill overtakes you as you start to shiver. The noise of you falling attracted the attention of a few nearby thugs, who promptly walk over and hold you up. You give them your wallet, car keys, credit cards, wristwatch, and shoes. They leave. You're now walking through the wet streets, barefoot, shivering, and soaking wet, with no money, identification, or means of transportation. Gradually you realize that the city, though tantalizing with its faraway glimmering lights and comforting network of communities, is actually a dangerous, lawless, and unforgiving place.

But damn does it sound beautiful.

Ghost hardware