HELLION SOUNDS crimson nightmare

prog-metal video game music covers? absolutely rad even though it sounds lame as fuck. one of the funnest albums i've heard in a long time! 2006.

PIERRE LUNAIRE gudrun

this record is very difficult to put into words, so i will use someone else's:

"With their masterpiece "Gudrun", Pierrot Lunaire surely belongs to Italy's most experimental and original prog bands, along with Orchestra Njervudarov, La 1919 and Opus Avantra. Of course there are avant-garde and musique concrète influences, specifically on the title track and "Gallia", but when I really think of it, avant-garde or experimental aren't really the first words that come to mind, nor is avant-prog for that matter. First of all, the album pretty much defines the words "unique" and "original" in my view. There's literally nothing else quite like it, even though Arturo Stalteri's "Andre Sulla Luna" deserves to be mentioned for the obvious reasons. I think it's the exceptional level of uniqueness and creativity what has always appealed to me the most in this album. It's one of those truly rare albums that create its own little universe. After a good number of listens, it also appears to be undeniably beautiful, even in its most free-form and out-threre places.

The title track starts off relatively conventional, but suddenly turns into something that could be my favourite piece of progressive electronic ever, if you can call it as such. Folk/ambient/opera/experimental electronic/musique concrète/prog rock would be a decent description for this stupendous work of art. The operatic vocal plays a very important role here; I personally find the vocalless version (included as a bonus) a whole lot less compelling. Some tracks are very much minimalism-influenced ("Dietro il silenzio"), others are a bit more in the prog rock vein ("Giovane madre"). "Plaisir d'amour" is an interesting experiment - while the harmonical basis couldn't be more cliché, the distorted arrangement creates an unusual contrast that eventually works well. It's easy to write off "Gallia", the most free-form track on the album, as a filler, but for me it works just as great as the rest of the album. "Morella" with its unexpected twist at end is another highlight. Add to that various spoken word and retro interludes, and all tracks being separated by a special effect which I fail to recognise."

gudrun defies classification, but for the hell of it here are some of the tags it has received over at rym: avant-prog, experimental, musique concrete, opera, modern classical, progressive electronic. easily one of the best works of the 70s. highest recommendation! 1977.

IPSWICH living in a stranger's home

super-rad little ep of (post-)punk/noise rock tunes from new zealand. reminds me of a punkier version of something like hot snakes or young widows. pretty fucking cool! 2011.

ORIGIN informis infinitas inhumanitas

all you need to know: awesomely produced mega-heavy hyper-technical death metal band with moments incredible enough to make your soul shiver like the pulse of a bowstring. 2002.

LONG FIN KILLIE houdini

omg. my new obsession. experimental/post-rock/-punk/chamber pop (!!!) from scotland. completely genius. the closest comparison is early-ish cerberus shoal, but not even they sound much like this. a totally original and brilliant release. think talk talk mixed with xiu xiu and you're getting there. highest recommendation! 1995.

THE PARADISE MOTEL left over life to kill

fantastic dream pop/slowcore from australia. female vox. hints of tindersticks and post-rock. under-the-radar and awesome. 1997.

TOLEDO BEND kinship

no download link, but a link to stream their debut album from bandcamp:

http://toledobendmusic.bandcamp.com/

super-awesome indie folk/alt-country sorta group. rad guitar playing, lots of violin, male/female vocals & harmonies. surprisingly polished and coherent for a debut. really, really great!

sorry for the broken pictures

note to self: don't hotlink that shit

also, sorry for never posting. i always forget about this :(

also, does anyone even read this? seriously.

ALEXISONFIRE old crows/young cardinals

the swansong from the revered canadian post-hardcore group. i think this is their best work. many of the songs have a punk bent to them, and a lot of the lyrics are about sticking it to the man, etc. and dallas green has the voice of an angel (but you knew that already). awesome shit, and one of my favorite albums to drive to. 2009.

LETLIVE fake history

really sweet post-hardcore from l.a. definitely recommended. 2010.

KETIL BJORNSTAD & DAVID DARLING the river

piano/cello minimalism. remarkably gorgeous tunes. on the ecm label, so as always the sound is pristine. one of the most beautiful records you'll ever come across. 1997.

FORENSICS things to do when you should be dead anyway

epic shit that falls somewhere in between early isis and perhaps something like a day in black and white. in fact, a quick glimpse at the related artists will tell you what kind of music this band plays: pageninetynine, zozobra, old man gloom, and burning airlines, among others.

lots of really cool sludgy parts intertwined with some gorgeous post-rockesque moments of clarity. really, really impressive album. 2004.

TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO being there

beautiful jazz trio music from one of the finest groups playing today. as with all ecm releases, the production is just absolutely gorgeous, perfectly complimenting the subtle playing of this trio. lush, perfect jazz music. so so good. 2007.

AMOEBA SPLIT dance of the goodbyes

awesome and underknown prog/jazz-rock group from spain. wonderful female vocals anchor these sublime prog-rock jams. total throwback to stuff like the soft machine, et al, but this sounds so totally fresh. one of the best prog albums of the last few years. recommended. 2010.

ABIGAIL WASHBURN and the sparrow quartet

brilliant bluegrass/americana from this amazing quartet, featuring bela fleck, ben sollee, and casey driessen. of course the playing is top-notch, but what makes this release top-shelf material is washburn's voice and lyrics, and the groups ability to deftly create haunting atmospheres. definitely one of the best bluegrass releases i've come across, and a very lovely new favorite artist of mine. 2008.

DESSA a badly broken code

maybe the best album of 2010? midwest hip-hop from the female star of minneapolis' doomtree collective. this chick is smart, sexy, introspective, and can simply spit fire. what makes her so special is her unique combination of lyrical ability (pretty much all of her lyrics are amazing), rapping ability (the smoothest, most wicked flow i've ever heard from a woman), and songwriting ability (awesome hip-hop songs with sung choruses! btw, her singing voice is really pretty, too). but what puts this album over-the-top is the production. super clean, smooth, with lots of really cool flourishes everywhere, compliments of doomtree's own lazerbeak. you should check out every major release from the people in this group, but this is probably the best album from any of them. 2010.

WEAKLING dead as dreams

this album should need no introduction. it's the best black metal album ever (by far). it's one of the best metal albums ever released. if you don't have it yet, you should be ashamed. but those those of you that are not yet familiar with this brilliant masterwork, i'll share a snippet from the boys at aquarius records:

Ghastly, anguished vocals and bloodchilling keyboards combine with dual trebly buzzsaw guitars and inhuman trance inducing drumming to create an atmosphere of utter grinding grimness. Weakling draws upon 90's black metal in the Norwegian tradition (especially the raw and primitive likes of Darkthrone, Burzum and Immortal) and then creates uniquely fucked song structures of epic length (20 minutes per, in some cases).
And, like the best music, Weakling also transcends genre. In some ways, 'Dead as Dreams' possesses elements that can be considered akin to the avant garde, experimental creations of the Swans, Skullflower, Steve Reich, or even Yoko Ono. Imagine an extensive, utterly mesmerizing Hermann Nitsch piece, composed for black metal band.
It's a suffocating soundscape of riffing and drone. Subterranean satanic art rock that equals metal. Nihilistic, depressive and never ending.

2000.

SPIRITUALIZED ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space

one of the best albums ever. infinitely recommended for fans of talk talk, radiohead, cerberus shoal, stereolab, and anything of a similar ilk. completely essential. 1997.

HARVESTER hemåt

incredible swedish psych-rock. you might this band from their other incarnations: international harvester; träd, gräs & stenar; and pärson sound. this isn't quite on the level of either the international harvester or pärson sound release, but it is a perfect example of the sort of "raga rock" these guys were doing back in the late 60s, early 70s. i'd say it's a must-have for fans of the genre. 1969.

TIM BERNE fulton street maul

tim berne (sax), bill frisell (guitar), hank roberts (cello), alex cline (percussion). awesome avant-jazz that never veers off into no-man's-land, and always seems to keep a nice, groovy jazz base. 1986.

COURSE OF EMPIRE course of empire

course of empire were a relatively obscure group from dallas, tx in the early 90s. their debut had some success, and was picked up by zoo entertainment (who at one point tool was also signed to). it didn't sell too well, and neither did their follow-up, so the band was dropped. they released one more album on another label in '98, and then faded away from the music scene. interestly, the band no longer recieves compensation from their records, because they are all out-of-print. luckily for us, they have all their material hosted on their website, free to download. lucky us. but why should you waste your time on this album, among all the other countless free ones out there?

'cuz it's fucking awesome. CoE play with a sorta 90s alt metal sound, but they bring in some distinct industrial influences into play to give them a unique sound. they have a great vocalist, really cool lyrics, and they incorporate a lot of cool ideas into their sound that other 90s bands did not (like the near-7 minute closing track that consists solely of birds in the background and an eno-esque guitar playing a beautiful requiem for the world). it's kinda hard to describe their sound without sounding ridiculous, so i'll stop. just give a listen to a total lost gem from twenty years past! 1990.

SLOWDIVE pygmalion

the 3rd and final album from this british group. call it shoegaze, call it dream pop, call it ambient, call it whatever you'd like, but the operative word here is BEAUTIFUL. dreamy and otherworldly, dripping with atmosphere, pygmalion is one of the most original and interesting pieces of art to come out in the last 20 years. for fans of talk talk and my bloody valentine (of course, even though slowdive is like 231 times better than mbv, whatever). anyway, brilliant masterpiece here. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. 1995. FLAC.

CRYPTOPSY none so vile

brutal technical death metal from one of the original leaders of the style. this album is worth it for the drumming alone, which is absolutely retarded awesome. the rest of this rocks, too. 1996. FLAC.

JUNIOR WELLS hoodoo blues man

simply put the best blues album i've ever heard. popping with energy, this is electric/chicago blues at its finest. totally recommended! 1965. FLAC.

STEREOLAB emperor tomato ketchup

The typical (and extremely unique) Stereolab hallmarks are all here. The sweetly delivered, (Socialist) French lyrics, the steady rhythms, and the amazing array of synths and musical textures. You can hear the Silver Apples, Young Marble Giants, Neu!, Suicide, Francoise Hardy, but also the distinctly Stereolab. So...the ketchup's great, hop in!

amazing experimentalkrautpostrock! one of the grooviest albums i own, and indeed a favorite. highly recommended! 1996. FLAC.