Strand of Oaks - Pope Killdragon

So I finally got around to posting this! Sorry it took me a lifetime. Anyway, bottom line is this is a wonderful listen, and one of the most replay friendly albums I've heard. Nothing hear sounds particularly foreign, but the at the same time it is unlike any other 'sad' folk album I've ever heard. The lyrics especially strike me as original for this type of music, despite being perfectly fit.

One thing I've found with this one is that while some tracks jump out right away (my personal favorite, 'Last to Swim', being the main culprit) all of these tracks have something to offer, and this album has a way of revealing itself slowly. Which is great, because I kept on wanting to go back, and I just ended up liking it more and more. Hopefully it has the same effect on you.

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Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (2010)

Oh look, I creeped your wishlist too! :P I've only listened to this once so far but from what I remember it sounds like if David Bowie made really catchy porn music. Yep.

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Bark Psychosis - Hex (1994)

I've been meaning to post for a while, but I'm convinced Mediafire hates me because it never works. So I'm using Megaupload for now.

I know I've put enough post-rock on here but this is too good not to share. It was actually a review for this that coined the term "post-rock" and is considered very influential to the genre along with Talk Talk's last two albums. This is often compared especially to Talk Talk's Laughing Stock (which is one of my all-time favourites) but to me this is definitely more melancholic and atmospheric. Something tells me you'll really dig this.

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Kate Bush - The Hounds of Love

So this one took some time to sink in. Its pretty accessible, but the sound wasn't something I'm used to or particularly fond of regularly. This came out in 1985, and believe me, the synths sound like it. Luckily fantastic songwriting saves it, as there are plenty of gems here. Its experimental and emotive all at once, and is carried by Kate's fantastic and unique vocal style.

The diversity here is what makes this several cuts above the 80's pop that springs to mind when you first listen. The first bit is excellent pop songwriting that is fairly easy to wrap your head around. But as the album progresses, you get more and more twisted and things get pretty daring.

While not the greatest track, Waking the Witch is pretty damn metal for a female pop album. That statement alone should tell you this woman wasn't making pop by the book.

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Galaxie 500 - On Fire

So I saw that you have this wish-listed, so I thought I'd help you out and post it! It is an awesome slowcore/ dreampop album. I can't really pick any standout tracks yet except the first, though they all seem good. The whole album blends together as sort of one cohesive whole, feeling like drifting along on a cool day.

Everything is very simply put together, but this works well and it manages to create a really pleasant atmosphere with it. They call these guys slowcore, but I don't see them as close to Red House Painters or Low. They are slow, but the atmosphere is a little different by my reckoning, closer to something like My Bloody Valentine. Anway, hope you enjoy.

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Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit (2010)

Each new album Agalloch releases seems to sound completely different than anyone was expecting. So it makes sense that with Marrow of the Spirit they’ve decided to do a lot of things they’ve never done before.

First off, this is definitely their heaviest album to date. Into the Painted Grey starts off with guns blazing, blast beats and tremolo riffs a plenty. It’s black metal Agalloch style, and they do it beautifully. Secondly, they’ve actually taken a step back from their work so far and actually incorporated some familiar sounds from their earlier albums. The acoustic strumming from The Mantle is all over The Watcher’s Monolith, and we have some Pale Folklore-ish electric guitar picking on Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires. For a band that has constantly changed their sound from album to album, I think that’s pretty cool.

I don’t know if this is better than The Mantle or Ashes, but it certainly comes close. The fact that they’re still putting out the best metal music out there and have been doing so for more than ten years is just awesome, and from this it doesn’t look like they plan on stopping. See you in London boys.

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PS I Love You - Meet me at the Muster Station

Some more homegrown indie talent here, with an interesting sound. They're from Kingston, and have received Pitchfork's approval with this album (so you know its good!). Its amazing how big their sound is for just two guys. Facelove is an epic tune.

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Diamond Rings - Special Affections

For my blog comeback, I have decided to post this gem of Toronto area indie pop. This guy is getting a lot of attention from the indie press and I think he's only going to get bigger. Not all of these tracks are great, but a few of them are irresistible pop gold. The hooks would make Lady Gaga jealous.

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Asobi Seksu - Citrus (2006)

Early post since I'll be up north tomorrow. Asobi Seksu are a dream pop band from New York who are definitely influenced by the shoegaze scene. Songs like "Pink Cloud Tracing Paper" and "Red Sea" are just drowning in dreamy guitar fuzz similar to My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. However, what makes them stand out from the many new-gazers is their singer Yuki Chikudate. She is Japanese and sings in both English and Japanese on the album. For some reason I wasn't a fan of her vocals at first but I love them now so I don't know what I was thinking. Anyways I just bumped this album to a 4.5 pretty recently on RYM so I thought I'd share.

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Mediafire is being a bitch

So no new album this week. Doesn't really matter since you're in Europe anyways. Instead, I give you this:

Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares - Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (1975)

So glad I discovered this. This is traditional Bulgarian folk music, which sounds very different but at the same time is instantly captivating. The choir consists of women from Bulgarian villages who have no professional vocal training, which to me is staggering as these are some of the most beautiful vocals I've ever heard. If you love vocal harmonies as much as I do, I'm sure you'll love this as well.

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Exuma - Exuma (1970)

Another forgotten gem of the 70s. Exuma along with Comus helped to pioneer what would become known as "freak folk," which combines folk with more avant-garde and psychedelic forms of music. While maybe not as weird as First Utterance, this almost sounds like the Carribean's answer to it. It's tribal, soulful, and definitely freakin' amazing.

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Slint - Spiderland (1991)

I first listened to this album nearly a year ago, and since then I've only listened to it maybe half a dozen times. It wasn't until listening to it today that it finally hit me how genius this album is. Spiderland was released in 1991, but feels so ahead of its time. It was extremely influential to both the math rock and post-rock genres and is considered by many to be an indie rock classic.

My favourite song here is "Washer" which is the only song that grabbed me upon first listening. As an album associated with the post-rock genre, I expected it to sound more like the genre does today. Sad, reverb-drenched guitars, huge crescendos, the like. Instead, this sounds like nothing I've heard before. The vocals for the most part are spoken-word, with some fragile singing and even some semi-harsh vocals on "Nosferatu Man." The album also has a short running time of 39 minutes, which is also a plus for me. Sometimes the best albums are the ones that don't take an hour or more to make their point, leaving you wanting more.

Wow my reviews are long now.

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Tim Buckley - Starsailor (1970)

I know an album will become one of my favourites when I'm always in the mood to listen to it soon after discovering it. This is the case with Tim Buckley's Starsailor. From looking at the album cover, you'd expect a pretty laid-back, feel-good folk album from the 70s. Looks, however, can be deceiving.

From the first few seconds of the album you know it's going to be weird. Tim has a very unique voice that can sound haunting or batshit insane, but always beautiful. Songs like "Monterey" and "Jungle Fire" revolve around repeating guitar riffs mixed with frantic, jazz-like drumming. The title track is probably the weirdest thing here, a primarily vocal piece that sounds like something Can would do. The record's most famous song is "Song to the Siren" which you might recognize since it's been covered by many artists including This Mortal Coil and John Frusciante.

While more avant-garde than most singer/songwriter fare, Starsailor is an album that instantly grabbed me despite being much different than I expected. I still haven't heard Jeff Buckley's Grace yet, but when I do it will have this album by his dad to live up to.

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Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (2008)

Alright so here I am posting on a Monday like I said I would. Also I'm not going to bother with YouTube previews anymore 'cause I don't like how even the smallest-sized window takes up a ton of space.

So here is my favourite album of 2008: Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life. I've been listening to it since it was released, but it didn't become one of my favourite albums until fairly recently. Whether this was because of it's length (it's a double album with a running time approaching an hour and a half) or just the fact that it is so different from anything I had heard at the time I'm not sure.

It really is a unique album. The fact that they have been able to find their sound on their first album is amazing to say the least. Favourite tracks include Hunter, a longer track that slowly builds with its infectious drum rhythm, as well as Deep, Deep, an angry post-punk anthem with washes of dreamy synths during the chorus. But really the entire album is fantastic.

This album is pretty obscure, as the band doesn't even have a Wikipedia page (edit: they actually do have one now but didn't until June 30th of this year) and it's possible that it was made in some dude's basement. But the fact that it is one of my favourite albums really goes to show that good music doesn't always come from signing to a big studio and spending a ton of cash to make a professional recording. It really is the future of music, too bad most of the world isn't ready for it yet.

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