• Best Albums of 2009

    Dez 31 2009, 1h48 por ibentmywookie

    #9 – Silversun PickupsSwoon

    I had an initial aversion to this band that is rather embarrassing to admit. I dismissed them after reading various message board posts claiming they were nothing more than a blatant rip-off of the Smashing Pumpkins. Being more than a slight Pumpkins fan, I took immediate offense to that which might slander my favorite band. As what usually happens, it’s always interesting to hear a song you really like on the radio and find out later who the band was; it makes for some good, unbiased impressions. Fast forward to this year where the Silversun Pickups have released a follow-up to their debut, Carnavas, and after listening to it, I can do no other than place in the front half of my top 20 albums of the year. Opening song “There's No Secrets This Year” starts with a hard, distorted guitar riff akin to something you’d expect to hear from KMFDM. It softens ever so slightly into something a bit pop-ier, but it gets the blood going right from the get-go. The opener is interesting in that it’s bi-polar. The upbeat portion ends about ¾ of the way through and the song slows down to something much droller, a prelude to the driving “The Royal We”. “Growing Old Is Getting Old” is the first single from this album. A bass line steers the song which starts off low-key before reaching a boil with the distorted guitar solo at the end. Its slow crescendo is similar to the break-out single “Lazy Eye” off of their debut. The heaviness continues with the excellent “It's Nice To Know You Work Alone”, a throwback to the heavy-side of grunge. Lead singer Brian Aubert adds much juxtaposition to the instruments. Rather than sing with the usual masculine wail we’ve grown accustomed to from bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, he has a breathy, androgynous croon that is different but can really work. “Panic Switch” is an upbeat, thrashy song that has been making rounds on local rock stations as the latest single. Things finally slow down with “Draining” an aptly named song where bass and guitar lines dance around the slightly depressed lyrics. Strings and distortion begin to filter in adding a fuzzed out sound that some have labeled shoegaze. I wouldn’t quite go that far but you can tell there are influences. “Catch and Release” is another mellow piece, but don’t go searching for your razor blade. It’s a very seductive song, overtly sexual and slightly sadistic. The album ends with “Surrounded (Or Spiraling)” A good hard rocker with as much attitude as it started out with in the opening track. The similarities to the Pumpkins are there, but nothing as plagiaristic as I once feared. I urge you to not be as closed minded as me and check out this band for yourself.

    - Highlights -
    Growing Old Is Getting Old
    The Royal We
    Catch and Release
    It's Nice To Know You Work Alone

    - Lowlights -
    Substitution
  • Playlist Sountox on neurobeat.net - Dec, 29 2009

    Dez 29 2009, 20h18 por Sountox

    Haujobb - Homes & Gardens (2009 Version)
    Depeche Mode - Hole To Feed
    Click Click - Hands Fall Backwards
    Neon Judgement, the - Shiny Happiness
    Trisomie 21 - Hear Me Now
    Psyche - Disorder (Legacy Mix)
    KMFDM - Being Boiled
    My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Death Threat
    invincible spirit, the - Devil Dance
    X Marks the Pedwalk - Abattoir (Extended Mix)
    Armageddon Dildos - Never Mind (Xer/Krid Mix)
    Nitzer Ebb - Down On Your Knees
    Neon Electronics & The Hacker - Better Way (Neon Electronics vs The Hacker Mix)
    Velvet Acid Christ - Caustic Disco
    Millimetric - Prejudicial Silence
    Prodigy, The - Thunder
    Crystal Method, The - Double Down Under
    Luetzenkirchen - Hypnotized
    Trentemoller - Minimal Fox
    Marek Hemmann - Swarm
    HUNTEMANN, Oliver - Lousy Night
    FIXMER, Terence - Hypnose
    Angina P - Known Issues
  • DJ Arkmay @ The Box 12/27/09

    Dez 28 2009, 22h29 por arkmay

  • 2009 - My Top Albums and Best Concerts with Live Shots Illustrating

    Dez 25 2009, 22h07 por valgehunt

    My top albums 2009

    1. Amorphis - Skyforger
    2. Leprous - Tall poppy syndrome
    3. Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
    4. Horricane - The End’s Façade
    5. Ensiferum - From Afar
    6. Týr - By the Light of the Northern Star
    7. Arkona - Goi, Rode, Goi!
    8. <code> - Resplendent Grotesque
    9. Viikate - Kuu kaakon yllä
    10. Mastodon - Crack The Skye

    11. Sybreed - Pulse of Awakening
    12. Crimfall - As The Path Unfolds
    13. No-Big-Silence - STARSTEALER
    14. Damned Spirits' Dance - Weird Constellations
    15. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious
    16. Sinine - Butterflies
    17. Pedigree - Skeletal
    18. Katatonia - Night Is The New Day
    19. Thy Catafalque - Róka hasa rádió
    20. Vreid - Milorg

    21. Shining - VI - Klagopsalmer
    22. Old Man's Child - Slaves Of The World
    23. Scar Symmetry - Dark Matter Dimensions
    24. KMFDM - Blitz
    25. Callisto - Providence
    26. Isis - Wavering Radiant
    27. My Dying Bride - For Lies I Sire
    28. Ajattara - Noitumaa
    29. Wardruna - Runaljod - gap var Ginnunga
    30. Samael - Above

    31. Swallow the Sun - New Moon
    32. Sólstafir - Köld
    33. Månegarm - Nattväsen
    34. Korpiklaani - Karkelo
    35. Fejd - Storm
    36. Kotiteollisuus - Ukonhauta

    Great Concerts 2009 (chronologically), my live shots illustrating

    25.01.2009 Shining at Rockstars


    23.02.2009 Opeth at Rock Cafe

    07.03.2009 Mortiis at Tapper


    14.03.2009 Metsatöll DVD Presentation Party at Tapper with Skyforger

    17.04.2009 Emilie Autumn at Tapper


    12.-13.06.2009 KMFDM, Viikate, Robots in Disguise, No-Big-Silence, Metsatöll at Rabarock 2009

    No-Big-Silence

    Robots in Disguise

    03.-04.07.2009Septic Flesh, Poisonblack at Hard Rock Laager 2009

    Septic Flesh

    17.-18.07.2009 Horricane, Kosmikud, No-Big-Silence at Rock Ramp 2009

    Horricane

    19.07.2009 ILUS MAA, Rannap, Kosmikud, Taavi Peterson at Lauluväljak

    30.07.-01.08.2009 In Flames, Turisas, Borknagar, Enslaved, Vreid, In Extremo, Einherjer, Amon Amarth, Volbeat at Wacken Open Air 2009

    03.09.2009Textures at Rock Cafe


    11.09.2009 No-Big-Silence and 45 Degree Woman at Nosturi

    23.09.2009 Chimaira at Rock Cafe


    27.09.2009 Ensiferum, Metsatöll, Tracedawn at Rock Cafe

    Ensiferum

    Metsatöll

    Tracedawn

    07.11.2009 Isis at Rock Cafe


    04.12.2009 Viikate at Tapper


    11.12.2009 Ajattara, Metsatöll at Rock Cafe

    Ajattara

    Metsatöll

    18.12.2009 No-Big-Silence, Kosmikud at Tapper

    No-Big-Silence

    Kosmikud

    LIVE SHOTS
  • 2009: mi resumen en discos.

    Dez 23 2009, 21h34 por SebCameltoe

    Se acabó el año y hasta el momento he oído esto. Voy a repartir culpas a quienes me hayan hecho oír tales discos.

    A Camp - Colonia
    Instigado por: JackMulligan
    Amo a Nina Persson con loca pasión. Cuando uno empieza una reseña de esta manera, es porque seguro se va a desbordar en palos hacia lo reseñado escudándose en "el amor hacia ______ que ha sido traicionado". Pues no, Si bien el segundo álbum de A Camp no es lo último en guarachas, no deja de ser un gran disco de "Steam-pop" (Término acertada y gloriosamente acuñado por el sr. JackMulligan), que no decepciona (aunque tenga pasajes en que se caiga un poco y sirva más como fondo que como frente). La "fórmula" de escritura de la señorita Persson sigue siendo impecable y su voz sobrecogedora. Destacados: Stronger Than Jesus (gran elección para sencillo), Golden Teeth and Silver Medals (gran dueto) y The Weed Had Got There First (gran cierre. Magistral).


    A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
    Instigado por: Andrés Gualdrón.
    A principios de año y por insistencia del buen Pulgas oí el debut de A Place to Bury Strangers. Apenas supe que lanzaron Exploding Head (no hace mucho) lo escuché y… vaya forma de cumplir con la promesa que hace el título (si tomamos el título como índice). Es un disco con demasiada fuerza que (al igual que el de A Camp) no se aleja demasiado del "sonido característico" de la banda. Recomendado escucharlo con audífonos y con ganas de perder capacidad auditiva. Destacados: In Your Heart (para bailar y molerse a pata a la vez), Exploding Head y I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart.

    Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
    Instigado por: Alphekka
    "Hermoso y triste" fue la descripción con la que conocí este trabajo, y es una descripción perfecta: concisa y apropiada. Reconozco que me cuesta trabajo escuchar el disco porque siempre quedo con una desazón mayor a la satisfacción estética que el álbum brinda. Destacados: Todo. no tiene presa mala.

    Asobi Seksu - Hush
    Instigado por: JackMulligan y Alphekka (en proporciones iguales).
    Confieso que éste fue el álbum que me hizo prestarle más atención a la banda, aún a pesar de que se aleje un poco del lenguaje shoegaze de los dos primeros discos y se acerque más a tierras del dream pop. Sin embargo, es un disco altamente balanceado entre lo delicado de las voces y texturas y el wallofsound de las guitarras y la firmeza de la base rítmica. Lleva ñapa porque vi a la banda en vivo hace poco y aunque perdí seis meses de capacidad auditiva gracias a ello, ha sido uno de los mejores conciertos en que haya estado. Segunda ñapa: ReWolf (a continuación). Destacados: Layers, Sing Tomorrow's Praise, Gliss (me la quedaron debiendo en vivo), Me and Mary…
    Rewolf
    Versiones acústicas de canciones de la banda. Una buena nueva forma de mirarlas. Destacado: el cover de Suzanne de Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions.

    Catupecu Machu - Simetría De Moebius
    Instigado por: mí mismo.
    La primera vez que viajé a Buenos Aires regresé con El número imperfecto en la maleta y la rabia de saber que se presentaban el día en que volaba de regreso a Bogotá. Este año volví a la ciudad y lanzaron Simetría de Moebius dos semanas después (y por eso no volví con él en la maleta). Mucho ha pasado con Catupecu en estos últimos años tras el accidente de Gabriel. Confieso, además, que no he oído nada de Laberintos entre artistas y dialectos (lanzado justo antes que se presentaran en Rock Al Parque 2007), entonces no sabía qué esperar de este trabajo. Me encantó a la primera impresión. Impecable. Probablemente empata en el tope de los trabajos de la banda con El número imperfecto, los sonidos electrónicos y guitarreros se complementan y las letras siguen mejorando. Si habemos de verle algo malo, se puede decir que podría explotar un poquitín más, pero no necesariamente. Destacados: Confusión, Piano y RD, Simetría de Moebius Barolo y Salvo, y lo demás en segunda medida.

    Colonies - Thirty Thousand
    Instigado por: El Venao'
    El descubrimiento del año. Así de simple. El disco salió hace 10 días (literalmente) y lo habré escuchado unas 10 veces de pe a pa. Es imposible saltarse aunque sea una nota final. El disco es la respuesta a la pregunta "¿Se puede seguir haciendo rock como el que oía mientras crecía, sin que suene anacrónico ni wannabe-retro?". Sí, se puede, y se puede hacer magistralmente. Y las letras, por los dioses, las letras, uno se muere de envidia del talento de escritura. Y la carátula, es de las mejores que haya visto en mucho tiempo (tal vez la mejor del año). Y todo. No es el disco del año, pero casi, casi. Destacadas: Las Islas Malvinas, Silence & The Stain y por sobre todas las cosas, Floating Fast. Y, por humor, La Madrugada viene ya (hasta cantando en mal castellano la logran, hágame el favor).

    Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone!
    Instigado por: Las recomendaciones de last.fm
    La descripción que dan es "fight pop". Me pareció un poco a Los Campesinos! en esteroides (no que esto esté mal). Bastante divertido pero le falta solidez al disco, hay momentos en que uno puede pasar seis cortes de largo sin que importe. Supongo yo que el siguiente disco mejorará (espero). Ideal como para despelucarse un ratito. Destacados: Watch This!, The Greater Than Symbol and The Hash, 1993.

    De Juepuchas - Ser De Juepuchas Varios Años
    Instigado por: Mi hermano
    En una época en que cualquier bobo con computador puede hacer música (incluído yo), es bastante factible que el panorama sea de una serie de lanzamientos autoindulgentes y/o pretenciosos. De Juepuchas aparece, le da en la jeta a todo bobazo que cree que hacer música es pendejear en un secuenciador y sale con uno de los mejores trabajos del año, el mejor hecho en 2009 en el país (lo digo como fan de Telebolitos), tan bueno que hasta en Serbia pegó (por mi culpa) aún a pesar de la falta de referencias culturales. No tiene presa mala.

    De Rosa - Prevention
    Instigado por: mi mismo
    El proceso fue "Oh, conseguí el Mend (debut de la banda)". "Oh, tienen un disco nuevo". "Oh, es más maduro que el Mend". "Oh, ¿qué coños le echan al agua en Glasgow?". "Ah, maldita sea, ¿por qué se separaron?" (Chemikal Underground debería poner una escuela de música. Yo me inscribiría). Es cierto que este disco es más "suave" que el Mend (no llega a los puntos como el solo de Feedback de Camera, por ejemplo, y no tiene un destacadisisisisísimo como Cathkin Braes) pero es un gran trabajo y, mal que mal, funciona como un buen canto de cisne para la banda. Harán falta. Destacados: A Love Economy, Flight Recorder, Tinto.

    Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe
    Instigado por: Nomeacuerdo
    Es un buen disco. Pero no me mató. Pero tiene sus temas. Pero qué más se le puede pedir a una banda de la trayectoria de DM. Pero afortunadamente no es el Exciter que guácala. Me los perdí en vivo porque me mecatié la plata en coooosiiiitas… digo, en el viaje a Buenos Aires. ¿Valió la pena? ya ni sé. Destacados: Hole To Feed, Peace, Jezebel.

    Eels - Hombre Lobo
    Instigado por: Alejo (que rotó el link)
    El señor E no pierde el tiempo y cada disco se da más bate que una pelea de hooligans del West Ham contra los del Millwall (bien dice Irvine Welsh en Trainspotting: es seguro que NADIE a ese lado del océano haya comprado un bate de baseball para practicar ése deporte. Jamás). Tiene todo lo que uno espera de un disco de Eels, perfectamente bien ejecutado, sin que suene repetitivo ni forzado. Destacados: The Look You Give That Guy (el himno de todo jilted lover en el planeta), In My Dreams, Tremendous Dynamite, The Longing, Fresh Blood, What's A Fella Gotta Do (si, todas estas). Ñapa:
    The MySpace Transmissions
    Ep en vivo con versiones de este álbum y del clásico My Beloved Monster. Mucho muy bonito en la vida ole.

    Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
    Instigado por: Mufasa
    No es un mal disco, pero pareciera a veces que la banda se esforzara cada vez menos (o que adquieren con cada disco un grado de sofisticación que no quiero ver). Destacados: Turn It On y Katherine, Kiss Me.

    Gustavo Cerati - Fuerza Natural
    Instigado por: Lily
    Primero, reconozco que no hay un solo scrobble de este álbum en mi perfil. ¿Cómo, entonces, lo oí? En la librería El Ateneo de Cabildo con Juramento, mientras veía libros acompañado -por eso no llevaba audífonos. Resumiendo: es un disco que hace que uno quiera -pida, exija- que el señor Cerati abra un perfil en last.fm para que uno sepa, basado en lo que está escuchando mientras graba el álbum, a qué va a sonar. ¿A qué suena Fuerza Natural? a Modest Mouse mal hecho, y a Cerati esperando que no nos demos cuenta. Destacadas: Cuando se acaba, uno descansa.

    Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly
    Instigado por: Dani Gaviria (Para ella, el disco del año)
    No hay nada malo con tomar el sonido característico de la banda y no salir del territorio familiar, siempre y cuando no suene a un cover de sí mismo. Este álbum es bastante, bastante bueno, delicado, "elegante". Música de arrunche en su máxima expresión. La voz de Hope Sandoval, la delicadeza instrumental, las atmósferas que crean las canciones… imperdible. No tiene presa mala.

    Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
    Instigado por: nomeacuerdo
    No es mal disco, aunque no me enganchó a la primera (creo que dejé de ponerle atención un par de veces y eso que la idea era analizarlo). He de darle más para ver qué tal me termina de parecer.

    KMFDM - Blitz
    Instigado por: Kam
    Lo llaman "regreso al nivel". KMFDM es una de esas bandas que yo aprecio pero no amo, entonces no me apasionó tanto este lanzamiento. Sin embargo, concuerdo con que es mejor que los trabajos más recientes (incluído MDFMK). Otro gran disco que balancea las ganas de bailar con las de darse pata criminalmente. Destacados: Bait & Switch, Me & My Gun.

    Letting Up Despite Great Faults - Letting Up Despite Great Faults
    Instigado por: las recomendaciones de last.fm
    Teniendo en cuenta que el año pasado M83 y Televise lanzaron un par de enormes discos que balancean lo electrónico con lo clásicamente shoegaze, es difícil pensar que una banda nueva logre tomar ese camino, encontrar un lenguaje propio y sacar un trabajo brutal (todo en 9 canciones y apenas 32 minutos). Más texturas que M83, menos autista que Televise, de los descubrimientos del año. Destacados: Todos. Es un disco muy sólido y suficientemente corto para no perderse ni una nota.

    Lord Cut-Glass - Lord Cut-Glass
    Instigado por: Joder, es Alun Woodward.
    Es cierto: Este álbum me hace extrañar más y más a The Delgados y no puedo evitar fantasear con qué hubiera pasado si no se separasen (o si cumplo mi sueño de aparecerme en Chem19 con mi bajo y las canciones de la banda aprendidas a decir "reformen que ya tienen bajista"). Consideraciones de fan aparte, Alun explora un camino más acústico, más cercano al folk escocés, con aires de bardo clásico (con todo y el acento weedgie). Discazo, dis-ca-zo. Destacados: Look After Your Wife, Big Time Teddy, Even Jesus Couldn't Love You.

    Mallu Magalhães - Mallu Magalhães
    Instigado por: Eriqueta
    Sólo le cabe un adjetivo: Hermoso. Es un disco tan dulce que puede provocar caries (lo digo como un halago). A pesar de su sencillez, tiene mucho valor de repetición. No tiene presa mala, de nuevo.

    Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing
    Instigado por: Joder (eso sí, rotado por el venao')
    Hay poco que pueda decir sobre esta banda. ¿Cómo superar un debut tan ANIMAL como el I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child? Pues con éste álbum. En estos dos años la banda ha madurado, las composiciones son más fuertes (y eso ya es bastante decir), las letras son aún mejores (joder) y la interpretación es aún mejor (obvio). Si hacen esto cuando el promedio de edad de la banda es 21, no quiero imaginar cómo estarán para cuando tengan mi edad. También estuvo bastante cerca de ser el disco del año, bastante bastante. Destacados: Todas y cada una, pero especialmente I've got Friends, Everything to Nothing y The River. Ñapa:
    The MySpace Transmissions
    A diferencia del MST de Eels, en esta ocasión no se reservan ni un átomo. Me hace desear malsanamente querer verlos en vivo.

    Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
    Instigado por: Joder, son los Manics.
    Casi no me atrevo a oír el disco por tanto bombo que se hizo alrededor del hecho que todas las letras del álbum sean las últimas que dejó Richey Edwards antes de su desaparición. También, porque le perdí la pista a la banda después del Lipstick Traces. Finalmente le di la oportunidad a pesar del temor que no fuera sino un intento desesperado de sacar platica de la leyenda de Richey. Pues salió el -a mi juicio- mejor disco de los Manics, con todo lo que caracterizó a la banda en The Holy Bible y Generation Terrorists (lírica y estilísticamente) con la madurez y el talento que han agarrado los muchachos galeses en esta década y casi media. Sobrecogedor, es la única forma de describirlo. Destacadas: Peeled Apples (vaya forma de abrir), Journal For Plague Lovers, Marlon J.D. y Williams Last Words.

    Metric - Fantasies
    Instigado por: Daniel
    Es el primer trabajo que escucho de ellos. Delicioso, en todo sentido. Voy a tener que mirar más de ellos para poder profundizar en el valor de este disco, pero por si solo, es bastante bueno. Destacadas: Sick Muse, Gimme Sympathy (y Sick Muse. Impresionante canción).

    Modest Mouse - No One's First and You're Next
    Instigado por: Mi mismo
    Mientras Cerati quiere sonar a Modest Mouse, Modest Mouse quiere sonar A Modest Mouse, lo que, tal como yo lo veo, quiere decir que uno no va a dejar de reconocer el sonido de la banda a la vez que siempre se va a sorprender. Lo malo de los EP es que uno siempre queda con ganas de más. Destacadas: The Whale Song, I've Got It All (Most).

    Morrissey - Years of Refusal
    Instigado por: mi mismo
    No le he parado tantas bolas a la carrera de Moz solo como debería. Claro, hay canciones que uno escucha y queda sano, pero álbumes… desde el Your Arsenal no me había dedicado a uno completo del capo de Manchester. Si bien reconozco que no tendría el bagaje para decir lo siguiente igual me atrevo: Years of Refusal es el mejor disco de Morrissey. Viejo sabroso pa' hacer disco sabroso. Destacado: No tiene presa mala.

    Muse - The Resistance
    Instigado por: mi mismo, rotado por el venao'
    Le hace falta. ¿Qué? Ni idea. Es un disco que no pierde fuerza, no se cae, los pasajes instrumentales son muy bien hechos, las letras, la producción, musicalmente es impecable. ¿Esperaba más? Seguramente. Destacadas: I Belong To You [+Mon Cœur S'ouvre à ta Voix] y Undisclosed Desires.

    Natalia Lafourcade - Hu Hu Hu
    Instigado por: El Venao'
    Mi yo de hace cinco años me hubiera levantado a pata (o por lo menos juzgado compulsivamente) si se enterase que me tomaría el tiempo de oír, disfrutar, revisar y considerar entre los mejores discos del año un trabajo de Natalia Lafourcade. Pop a más no poder, ejecutado de forma impecable, con grandes canciones, melodías pegadizas y arreglos interesantes. No sé si sea mejor que el Casa, pero tiene su encanto y mucho. Destacadas: Ella es bonita, Cursis melodías.

    Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
    Instigado por: mí mismo
    Si se han oído los tres trabajos anteriores de la banda uno sabe a qué atenerse. No decepcionan, en tanto que no proponen nada nuevo, pero a la vez su territorio cómodo y familiar sigue trayendo canciones memorables, frescas y divertidas. Phoenix tiene la gracia a que uno sabe que sus trabajos van a mantenerse en ciertos parámetros pero a la vez van a seguir sonando novedosos. Indispensable. Destacadas: Lisztomania, 1901, Lasso, Rome, Armistice.

    Placebo - Battle For The Sun
    Instigado por: duh
    Han pasado 13 años desde el punk con delineador y guitarras en afinaciones únicas. El sonido adolescente de mi preadolescencia creció y se convirtió en un adulto reflexivo, sensato, sensible… una gran persona. Es difícil decir que superaron el Meds con este trabajo pero igual lo hago: es el trabajo más completo de Placebo, uno de los pocos discos que -gracias al preview del mismo que regaló la banda un fin de semana- me hicieron salir corriendo a comprarlo sin bajarlo antes. El futuro para Placebo sigue siendo brillante y espero que regresen. También estuvo cerca de ser mi disco del año. Destacadas: Kitty Litter, For What It's Worth, Speak In Tongues, The Never-Ending Why y la mayor seguidilla de perfección: Julien, Happy You're Gone, Breathe Underwater, Come Undone y Kings Of Medicine (en ese orden, es decir, dejando correr el disco hasta el final sin pausa y a todo volumen).

    Puscifer - "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P.
    Instigado por: Recomendaciones de last.fm
    Es bueno, pero no es brillante. Maynard James Keenan es un genio, y no voy a cometer la burrada de comparar Puscifer con Tool o A Perfect Circle. Son planetas distintos. Da esperanzas, señales de mejora desde el "V" is for Vagina, pero queda faltando algo. Esperar a ver qué pasa. Destacadas: Polar Bear, The Mission (con Milla Jovović)

    Rammstein - Liebe Isr Für Alle Da
    Instigado por: pues es Rammstein...
    La ventaja de Rammstein es que uno sabe qué saben hacer a la perfección. Teniendo en cuenta que se trata de una banda cuya peor canción ("Te quiero Puta!") es buena, uno se mete de cabeza porque va a sonar sabroso. Desde el poder con el que abre el álbum en Rammlied hasta el cierre baladesco de Roter Sand (como es tradicional en Rammstein) no decae en un momento. En resumen: para fans. Destacadas: Pussy (humorístico primer sencillo), Liebe ist Für Alle Da, Waidmanns Heil (Casi que suena a que se burlan de quienes los acusan de ser un mal clon de Laibach) y la mejor del álbum y casi del año: Frühling In Paris.

    Silversun Pickups - Swoon
    Instigado por: mi mismo
    A mí si me pareció mejor que el Carnavas.Y eso que el Carnavas es un discazo. Es de esos álbumes que uno escucha y queda totalmente satisfecho. Facilito, entra al top 10 del año. Destacadas: The Royal We, Growing Old Is Getting Old, Panic Switch, Sort Of, y de nuevo Panic Switch (brutal).

    Sonic Youth - The Eternal
    Instigado por: mi mismo
    Es un gran disco de Sonic Youth y al que le gusta le sabe. Destacadas: Anti-Orgasm, Poison Arrow, Malibu Gas Station.

    Stereophonics - Keep Calm & Carry On
    Instigado por: Mufasa
    Pasa lo mismo con este álbum de los phonics que con el de Muse. Es bueno, muy bueno, pero no es memorable, tal vez se esperaba más de ello. De hecho. Destacadas: hm… 100MPH es de las que más me gustó.

    Los Telebolitos - El Arte de la Popular
    Instigado por: mi mismo
    Lo único malo es que es muy corto. Si tuviese más canciones sería perfecto (un bundle de los dos EP sería un gran LP y a la vez no pero a la vez también). Destacadas: Dolor, Las calles de mi ciudad (y no lo digo porque haga un cameo en el vídeo) y Hasta que no salga el sol (hermosa canción).

    Teresa Gutiérrez - Teresa, la que el tema le endereza; Los B-Zajes
    Instigado por: los dioses.
    O es un desfogue de genialidad o de total imbecilidad. Como yo participo del proyecto me decanto por lo segundo. Hay que hacer más temas (esperen pronto más temas).

    The Black Heart Procession - Six
    Instigado por: Alphekka
    Demasiado denso y triste para que le haya podido prestar la atención que se merece. Porque se la merece. Destacados: Todas.

    The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
    Instigado por: Mufasa
    Colin Melloy et. al. se metieron en el chicharrón de hacer un álbum que cuenta una historia, y si bien la historia que cuenta es más bien simplona, la narración mediante las letras de las canciones es bastante efectiva y la instrumentación es impecable. Le faltaron cinco pesitos de clavicordio (porque siempre querré más clavicordio). Recomendadísimo. Destacados: Todo, sin descontar nada, y con las letras en la mano.

    The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
    Instigado por: rotado por venao' y encontrado por accidente en una librería en calle Borges.
    El salto entre At War with the Mystics y Embryonic (incluída la transición que es el Once Beyond Hopelessness, banda sonora de Christmas in Mars) es bastante fuerte. De su disco más pop saltan a su disco más frito (más frito aún que el Zaireeka). Genial para perder la cabeza un rato. Destacadas: Convinced of the Hex, Silver Trembling Hands, Evil y en loop malsano Powerless.

    The Lonely Island - Incredibad
    Instigado por: Papa
    Las canciones de los digital shorts en forma de álbum. Gracioso a más no poder, buen hip-hop ñoño… dudo que supere la prueba del tiempo pero bueh, uno pasa un buen rato. Destacadas: A gusto del cliente.

    The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
    Instigado por: recomendaciones de last.fm
    Este año he oído más shoegaze que antes, gracias a la radio de recomendaciones (que tanto la extraño). Este es un gran debut, un disco de shoegaze a carta cabal, bonito, alegre, que saca una sonrisa. Destacadas: This Love Is Fucking Right, Everything With You.

    The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
    Instigado por: Recomendaciones de last.fm
    Es de nuevo válida la pregunta: ¿Qué carajos le echan al agua en Glasgow? En serio. ¿Qué hacen, además, los de Chemikal Underground para encontrar tales bandas? Imaginen una banda de Krautrock tipo Neu!, con menos repeticiones y voces, acento soapdodger y mucho, mucho nivel y tendrán este álbum. Destacadas: The Howling, Crocodile (Kraut en su más clásica expresión) y Island (épica).

    The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
    Instigado por: nomeacuerdo
    Otro gran disco apropiado para bailar y dar pata. Creería yo que el mejor de Prodigy. Puedo equivocarme, pero es el que más me gusta de ellos. Destacadas: Omen, Run With The Wolves, Piranha.

    The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead
    Instigado por: Mi mismo
    El disco del año. Me mandé de cabeza a oírlo apenas lo conseguí, pero con muchísimo miedo (otra vez: ¿Cómo superar un debut tan perfecto como Fourteen Autumms and Fifteen Winters? Pues no se puede, pero casi). Desde la primera vez que lo oí no he podido cerrar la boca cada vez que oigo alguna de las canciones de este álbum. El cambio en el sonido que representa la producción de Paul Savage (cuarto disco en esta lista producido por él), que llevan el sonido de la banda a un punto más ordenado, más claro pero no por ello menos efectivo o desgarrador, mas el progreso en la escritura de las letras, hacen que este sea un trabajo completamente demoledor. Desesperanzado, tal vez, sutilmente oscuro, doloroso… no sunshine lollipops and flowers in here. I Became a Prostitute es la canción del año, aunque están muy a mano The Neighbours Can't Breathe y Seven Years of Letters (la canción más significativa para mi este 2009). Bien podríá quedarme páginas enteras laureando este disco pero prefiero que lo consigan y que la música hable. Destacadas: Todas, todas, pero en especial las tres anteriormente mencionadas.

    Urban & 4 - Hello!
    Instigado por: Nikola
    Dado que mi croata es casi nulo, solo puedo hablar de éste álbum en tanto a la parte musical, que sabe balancear los teclados y secuencias con las guitarras fuertes y sabrosonas, creando el álbum más equilibrado del quinteto. La voz de Damir Urban ha mejorado. Destacadas: Sunce, Magnet, Bambita.


    We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls
    Instigado por: Recomendaciones de last.fm
    Otro debut, otro disco salido de Glasgow (aunque la banda sea de Edimburgo). Sigue la pregunta sobre los acueductos caledonios. Impresionante, la verdad. Destacadas: It's Thunder and It's Lightning, Moving Clocks Run Slow, Keeping Warm.

    Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
    Instigado por: a partes iguales por Eriqueta y JackMulligan.
    Confieso con vergüenza que hasta la semana pasada oí esta banda. Todavía está muy fresco en mi cabeza para dar mejores conceptos pero me supo gustar oh si. Destacadas: Heads Will Roll, Skeletons.

    Recopilaciones

    Xiu Xiu/Parenthetical Girls - Morrissey/The Smiths split
    Cada banda aporta un clásico: I am Hated For Loving por Xiu Xiu (la palabra en el diccionario sería "desconcertante") y Handsome Devil por Parenthetical Girls (confieso que Handsome Devil es mi favorita de The Smiths y esta versión me supo enganchar). Recomendado.

    NINJA Tour Sampler
    Nada del otro mundo, pero no está mal. Las de Nine Inch Nails valen la pena.

    The Flaming Lips & Stardeath And White Dwarfs - The Dark Side of the Moon
    Es un disco que grita "CARBUUUUURELO!" todo el tiempo. Siendo un cover total de un álbum clásico es fácil que los uberfans de pink floyd lo odien. Mejor. Hippies mugrosos. Me gusta más que el original, así se mantenga todo el tiempo haciendo equilibrio en la delgada línea entre lo pretencioso y lo sabroso. Destacadas: The Great Gig in the Sky, Money (por fin una versión de money que no es aburridísima), Us And Them (hermosa) y Brain Damage.

    Super Champetas 2009
    Fuera de concurso. Un álbum triple que tiene el Ñato Mamarrón. ¿Qué más se le puede pedir a la vida? pues muchas más canciones, y éste compilado lo tiene. El Rezo Bochinchero (fuera de chiste) es una gran canción. Por otra parte, amo malsanamente la champeta entonces es imposible no disfrutarlo, pero hay que anotar que canciones como La Come Callao', Paola, Cazafantasmas, Salchipapa del Timba, entre otras, son grandes.
  • Tuesday Twenty: Top Twenty Albums of 2009

    Dez 22 2009, 15h22 por amodelofcontrol

    Ok, so time for my roundup of the best albums of the year.

    20
    Doves
    Kingdom Of Rust
    Heavenly

    I was not a fan, particularly, of the last Doves album Some Cities (released way back in 2005), so it had been some time since I really appreciated how good this band could be. My love of the band came rushing back upon hearing the title track, which was the wistful, sad comeback single. The rest of the album was pretty much just as good - particularly the sleek sky-gazing of opener TocarJetstream and the harmonies of TocarSpellbound. But really, this was an album full of songs that should have made this band huge. Once again, they never quite managed it, but that's not for the want of trying.

    19
    SITD
    Rot
    Accession Records

    Easily their best album since their debut, the band's promise of "bone-crunching beats" was met in some style here. And it wasn't just the rhythmic backbone that was so impressive - the title track is a breathtakingly powerful dancefloor track - the songcraft was broadly of a much higher level, too, with much greater variety in the beats, the lyrics, and the tunes. The sound of a reinvigorated band, this.

    18
    Velvet Acid Christ
    The Art of Breaking Apart
    Dependent Records

    Not the only comeback in this list, but perhaps the most unexpected change of direction here, that's for sure - even if it only was a part-change. Half of the album is VAC as I've known them for years - tripped-out, trance-industrial, but it's the other half that gets really interesting. A huge The Cure influence, more than anything, pervades these other tracks, along with unexpected undistorted vocals and acoustic guitars, to astounding effect. Far better than I thought this was ever going to be.

    17
    The Prodigy
    Invaders Must Die
    Take Me To The Hospital

    The turnaround in this band's fortunes in the past year has been astounding. From a nice bit of nostalgia, following the awful Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned all but killing their career stone-dead, to arena-filling band once again. And this was done simply by returning to their roots. Rave synths and old-school dance influences permeate almost everything here, not to mention a knowing wink that suggests that nothing here is being taken too seriously. I may be bored of TocarOmen, but evidence recently suggests that club dancefloors are not bored of that or most of the rest of the album!

    16
    Rotersand
    Random Is Resistance
    Trisol Music Group

    The single War On Error gave an idea of what was to come, and the album delivered as apparently promised - a stomping electro album bristling with political statements and righteous fury...and it was fantastic. Unlike the perhaps a little understated 1023, which never seemed to catch on despite a whole stack of great songs, this goes straight for the throat with everything made bigger and better. There are dancefloor stormers, epic pop songs, and for perhaps the first time even the ballads are brilliant. I'll even forgive them the title and lyrics to Gothic Paradise, the rest is so good...

    15
    autoclav1.1
    Where Once Were Exit Wounds
    Tympanik Audio

    ...where Tony Young takes a turn into post-punk, and the change suits his music well. And despite the newly-shown influence on record, otherwise it's a gradual evolution on this album of the sound that has been developed now over four albums to ever-better results. So, what's next, Tony?

    14
    Mastodon
    Crack The Skye
    reprise records

    Mastodon continued their apparently unstoppable rise to the top of the metal tree with this album, a sprawling, lengthy proggy epic (seven songs, fifty-or-so-minutes) that actually contains at least one of the band's finest moments (the single Divinations, since you ask). Otherwise, it's business as usual for Mastodon - the technical ability is simply awesome, the songs are great, they are as heavy as the beast they are named after, and their quality control is pretty much unquestionable.

    13
    Assemblage 23
    Compass
    Accession Records

    Tom Shear's electro juggernaut just keeps on going, with no dip in quality - in fact, at points this album is even better than Meta was - particularly in the case of career-highlight collapse, the best song Shear has perhaps ever written. In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, it's not hard to see why The Poison Moon was cast out as a B-side - he clearly had too many great songs for the album!

    12
    KMFDM
    Blitz
    Metropolis Records

    Twenty-five years, and a cracking way to celebrate. As I put it last week when I had Davai in my tracks of the year list, Blitz "had a whole host of storming tracks (in fact, I can't think of any filler at all other than the closer)", and not only that, the tracks with Lucia on lead vocals seemed to fit much better. Particularly when pouring scorn on the pro-gun lobby in the seething Me & My Gun, while otherwise the cover of Human League classic Being Boiled was a fascinating reworking, too. I'm not asking for another 25 years, but there is certainly a few years left in this lot yet.

    11
    The Big Pink
    A Brief History of Love
    4AD

    I got into this late - only a month or two back - and I've listened to it a lot since. And yes, I love it. Shoegaze meets industrial meets pop, and comes out sounding pretty damned good. Heavy rhythms, torrents of guitars and huge, huge choruses would be nothing without some great songs, and there are loads here. Even if Dominos annoys you, give the rest of the album a chance - it's not all like that (and most of it is much, much better). Frisk really needs to be a single, though...

    10
    Necrotek
    Menschenfeind
    Vendetta Music

    I wrote in my Connexion Bizarre review for this some months ago that this album was "one that wears its influences so obviously has no business twisting new and interesting sounds from such familiar raw materials in such style as this", and this comment still holds. An impressively nihilistic take on industrial, with dense soundscapes and clever samples taking centre-stage, not to mention a set of awesome remixes to round it off. And no "spookyness" or bad psy-trance beats required.

    09
    Katatonia
    Night Is The New Day
    Peaceville

    This band continue to do no wrong, it seems. Little has changed musically - it's still gloomy, foreboding metal - but then when they do this so well why change things? Jonas Renkse remains the focal point as ever - his lyrics of alienation, despair and resignation fit the music perfectly, and his expressive vocals allow just a little light into the dark shadow of the music. Despite the stylings, this band remain unique and deserving of far more plaudits, perhaps, than they get.

    08
    Sunn 0)))
    Monoliths & Dimensions
    Southern Lord

    A remarkably listenable album from a band who are, if I must try and describe them, ultra-heavy-ambient-drone-metal (with no drums in the usual sense). Broadening their palette for this album had incredible results - with choirs, the odd bit of percussion, god-knows how many guitars and other instruments, and the incomparable Attila Csihar providing more vocals from the pits of hell. Admittedly, many people will still hate it, but it's perhaps less divisive than THE BLACK ONE, that's for sure!

    07
    Imminent
    Cask Strength
    Ant-Zen

    Ten years since the brilliant Nord, comes an album easily it's equal, and is a tour de force of rhythmic electronics. Alongside bruising tracks like Bock and Ila, comes the choral-samples-meets-quasi-breaks of gari, the whistled melodies that underpin lorsc, the unsettling calm of Cling...this is an varied album that has clearly been given time to gestate. It's not going to resurrect an entire genre, though, but that's not important right now. It is, however, a reminder of how brilliant rhythmic industrial can be in the right hands.

    06
    Manic Street Preachers
    Journal For Plague Lovers
    Columbia

    I think there was a lot of trepidation when it was announced that the Manics were using the remaining lyrics left by (the now-officially proclaimed dead) Richey Edwards for their new album. It appeared to be initially suspected that this was going to be The Holy Bible MK II, but it was actually nothing of the sort. Granted, it had a similar, dry sound, and a fair number of relevant film samples, but it was nowhere near as bleak, and the music the band created around the lyrics was the freshest, most powerful and more importantly best they had done in years.

    05
    Skullduggery
    You are Here [nowhere]
    Trozoc

    A chaotic, brilliantly varied album that took in seemingly as many genres and influences as it was possible to do, but somehow managed to be coherent and actually sound like a complete album. The best moments were very different - the dark lullaby of TocarAngel, and the stampede of TocarRelapse. Not perhaps to all tastes, this album, but well worth a try if you want to hear something different, that's for sure.

    04
    1349
    Revelations of the Black Flame
    Candlelight Records

    The band did warn that something different was coming with their latest album, and they really weren't kidding. Rather than the furious, all-out "old school" Black Metal sound for previous albums, in conjunction with co-mixer Tom Gabriel Fischer they went for a grinding, slower sound that for much of the album was nearer dark ambient than black metal - and was an utterly enthralling and intriguing listen. The music may have been different, but the pitch black heart certainly remained. If only more bands took astonishing risks like this...

    03
    Fever Ray
    Fever Ray
    Rabid Records

    Cold and pitch-black in tone - and, indeed, even darker than karin dreijer andersson's work with The Knife on Silent Shout, which was some feat. The vocals are treated to within an inch of their life for the most part, and at points it sounds as if you are intruding on Karin's fears and nightmares. Needless to say, this resulted in an extraordinary album that like so many great albums, takes more than a few listens to really appreciate it.

    02
    S.K.E.T.
    Depleted Uranium Weapons
    Hands

    This act have made political statements in their instrumental rhythmic-industrial-noise before, but none with as such eloquence and fury as this. A whole concept album regarding the titular weapons, from their use in Iraq to the after effects, to calls for certain ex-world leaders to be tried for war crimes. Well-placed samples and detailed sleeve notes provide the narrative, giving facts and figures, and the music provides an elegantly precise backdrop, with thunderous highlights like 700.000 tons to wipe out humankind actually sounding like a bombing raid.

    01
    Alice in Chains
    Black Gives Way To Blue
    Virgin

    Ok, so hands up who was honestly expecting this to be any good when we first heard the surviving members were working with a new singer for a new album. An inkling that we were in for something special came with the two new tracks debuted at Sonisphere in the summer, and then when the album finally arrived in late September the full force of what they had done was unleashed. Not a single note wasted, this is the sound of Jerry Cantrell and the band picking up where they left off in 1995, and making a brilliant, timeless metal album. Picking highlights is something of a pointless exercise with something this good, perhaps, but for me the woozy, anthemic TocarCheck My Brain, the fantastic grind of TocarLast Of My Kind and the epic, monstrous TocarAcid Bubble (just check that riff when it emerges from the murk for the chorus) are the picks. So, not an album I was expecting to be crowning album of the year, but definitely a worthy one.
  • 2009 - Top 25 Albums

    Dez 17 2009, 22h12 por groverXIII

    Holy crap, so many great albums were released this year that it was difficult for me to narrow this album down to just 25 picks. Before I start naming my top albums, here's just a list of honorable mentions, all of which probably could have found their way onto my list:

    3 Inches Of Blood - Here Waits Thy Doom
    Alestorm - Black Sails At Midnight
    Arsonists Get All The Girls - Portals
    Augury - Fragmentary Evidence
    Austrian Death Machine - Double Brutal
    Be'lakor - Stone's Reach
    Billy Talent - Billy Talent III
    Buckethead - Slaughterhouse On The Prairie
    Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
    Cormorant - Metazoa
    Dååth - The Concealers
    Dalriada - Arany-Album
    Deströyer 666 - Defiance
    Dethklok - Dethalbum II
    Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
    Eluveitie - Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion
    Evile - Infected Nations
    Exivious - Exivious
    Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
    Fu Manchu - Signs Of Infinite Power
    God Forbid - Earthsblood
    Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
    House Of Broken Promises - Using The Useless
    Insomnium - Across The Dark
    Kalisia - Cybion
    Killswitch Engage - Killswitch Engage
    Kong - What It Seems Is What You Get
    Lamb Of God - Wrath
    Mantic Ritual - Executioner
    NOFX - Coaster
    OSI - Blood
    Revocation - Existence Is Futile
    Scale The Summit - Carving Desert Canyons
    Scar Symmetry - Dark Matter Dimensions
    Skeletonwitch - Breathing The Fire
    Skyclad - In The... All Together
    Slayer - World Painted Blood
    Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club
    Suidakra - Crógacht
    The Company Band - The Company Band
    Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
    Warbringer - Waking Into Nightmares
    White Wizzard - High Speed GTO
    Wino - Punctuated Equilibrium
    Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg

    See what I mean? Anyway, without further ado, the list.

    25) Mastodon - Crack The Skye: So many people have this album at the top of their lists. I personally liked the album a great deal, but didn't feel that it was up to the quality of their previous work.

    24) Katatonia - Night Is The New Day: I'm a bit new to Katatonia, but I really found myself enjoying this album early on. I heard some similarities to Opeth that really helped draw me in.

    23) HORSE the band - Desperate Living: HtB can always be relied on for some serious weirdness with their music, and this was no different. I felt it improved upon A Natural Death, although it's not quite as great as The Mechanical Hand was.

    22) Obscura - Cosmogenesis: This was the album that really drew into technical death metal, and was one of my favorites of the year. The fretless bass work is fantastic.

    21) Rammstein - Liebe Ist Für Alle Da: It had been too long since the last album Rammstein had released an album, and considering the direction the band had taken with their last few albums, I was worried at how this one would come out. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. Their best work since Mutter.

    20) Koffin Kats - Forever For Hire: As far as I'm concerned, Koffin Kats are the best psychobilly band out there, and they continued to reinforce that opinion with this release.

    19) Celldweller - Wish Upon A Blackstar Chapter 01 & 02: The man known as Klayton began releasing his latest album two tracks at a time this year. These first two chapters are excellent and really left me wanting more.

    18) Les Claypool - Of Fungi And Foe: Ah, Les Claypool. The mad genius from Primus continues to get weirder with age, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

    17) Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect: For a long time I believed BTBAM to be a screamo band based solely on their name; as it turned out, I was completely wrong. And I have never been happier to be proven wrong.

    16) KMFDM - Blitz: KMFDM are a bit like the AC/DC of industrial rock... you always know what you're getting with their music, and yet, it's still pretty damn great.

    15) TrollfesT - Villanden: In addition to possessing the most patently ridiculous album art, Villanden is a deliriously entertaining blast of bizarre folk metal. Enjoyable from start to finish.

    14) Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió: I was really surprised at how much this album grew on me, considering my usual opinions on black metal. Then again, Thy Catafalque is not your typical black metal. The highlight for me is the 19 minute, 11 second Molekuláris gépezetek, which digresses into a hypnotic drumbeat with a smattering of saxophone and piano before its final metallic crescendo.

    13) Devin Townsend Project - Ki & Addicted: Both of these albums could easily occupy spots on this list, but for the sake of simplicity I'm combining them. Ki's mellow, propulsive guitars are an amazing complement to the bombastic pop-metal riffs of Addicted.

    12) Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11: 2009 was the year I learned that acoustic guitars can shred just as hard as electric when played right. This album blew my mind.

    11) Megadeth - Endgame: Dave Mustaine may be a dick, but he showed this year that he still remembers Megadeth's thrash roots, and subsequently released his best work since Rust In Peace. Endgame is as great a return to form as Death Magnetic was for Metallica.

    10) Supercommuter - Supercommuter: Alright, I like a bit of nerdcore hip-hop now and then, and Optimus Rhyme was probably the cream of the crop until their unfortunate decision to part ways. Take vocalist Wheelie Cyberman, replace the funk rock beats with 8-bit bleeps, and you have a recipe for success.

    9) Animals as Leaders - Animals As Leaders: Tosin Abasi managed to make an instrumental metal album that doesn't really sound like anything I've ever heard, brilliantly showing just what a guitarist is capable.

    8) Metroid Metal - Varia Suite: Seeing as Powerglove didn't get an album out this year, I had to find my fix of video game metal elsewhere. Fortunately, Metroid Metal was more than up to the task, transforming the music of the Metroid games into some sublimely brilliant instrumental metal.

    7) Amorphis - Skyforger: Amorphis' last three albums now have been consistently brilliant, with fantastic vocals, evocative lyrics, and beautifully heavy music. Truly an incredible album.

    6) Baroness - Blue Record: As great as Baroness' previous work was, I felt that there was a certain unevenness that kept me from really enjoying them. Blue Record took care of that.

    5) Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious: It's not often that you find an artist that truly does something original in music, but DSO do just that by mashing metal, jazz, swing, opera, and electronic into one amazing package. This album is unlike anything you have ever heard, and it's an incredible ride from start to finish.

    4) Priestess - Prior To The Fire: Priestess got some much-deserved recognition when their song 'Lay Down' was included on Guitar Hero, but their last album, while solid, was not great. Prior To The Fire completely and totally blows away anything they've done and elevates stoner rock to a new level.

    3) Ensiferum - From Afar: Ensiferum have long been recognized as one of the premier bands in folk metal, with a flair for epic songs, and they continue to separate themselves from the pack on From Afar. Not only do they have the two 10+ minute epic 'Heathen Stone' tracks, but they actually incorporate some Ennio Morricone-style western sounds and a shredding banjo solo on 'Stone Cold Metal' and make it work. Phenomenal.

    2) Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West: I was almost certain that this album would be number one on my list this year, simply because it's Clutch. They consistently manage to release incredible blues/stoner rock and yet seem fresh, and like a fine wine they only get better with age.

    1) Gorod - Process Of A New Decline: This album came out of nowhere and completely ripped my face off. Obscura may have really gotten me a taste of tech-death, but Gorod made me realize just what could be done within the genre. In spite of the dizzying tempo changes, ridiculous guitar leads, and light-speed drumming, I discovered that the riffs were memorable and that there were moments where the band actually slowed things down just a bit and settled into a groove. I never thought that technical death metal could be described as catchy... and yet, Gorod manages to achieve just that. Unbelievable.
  • Tuesday Ten: Top Ten Tracks of 2009 and summary of 2009

    Dez 16 2009, 19h17 por amodelofcontrol

    So, before I rush headlong into my top ten tracks of 2009 (and then albums next week, gigs the week after), a quick mention of a few acts that have wowed me, bored me, surprised me or otherwise this year. Some of these may be in the other lists, others won't be.

    So let's start with the good stuff. Perhaps more than in recent years I actually got into new music this year. So what is there to note? The post-metal thrill of And So I Watch You From Afar, for starters - not as serious as many of their peers, and they are awesome live, too. Well worth picking up the album. Also: Urceus Exit (the North American Seabound, perhaps? Similarly intelligent and effusive lyrical themes coupled with sleek electro-industrial-pop), The Big Pink (where shoegaze met pop and a smattering of industrial electronics to make an intriguing band), Necrotek (old-school industrial infused impressively with sheer hate), HEALTH (noisy-rock, electronics, some truly staggering technical ability, etc), and The Twilight Sad (shoegaze meets indie-pop, and they get along famously).

    There were some surprises, too, this year - like the unexpected comebacks of Sunna and Imminent, both of which were great for very different reasons. And then there were the brilliant returns of Alice in Chains and The Prodigy, neither of which were mere exercises in nostalgia, much to my relief. A sign perhaps that I didn't have my ear to the ground as much as I should was the fact that I was totally surprised to find The PCP Principle signing to Hands Productions, and releasing a fantastic album. Also of note for this year was finding I liked Mesh after all...

    Not every release was great this year, though, and a few really did disappointment me. In particular the new 16Voltwasn't as great, for me, as many others made out - more, er, organic than FullBlackHabit, there were some fleeting moments of brilliance on American Porn Songs but nowhere near enough. The new Behemoth album Evangelion suffered, like 16v, from the shadow of it's predecessor for me, too, while IAMX's third album, Kingdom of Welcome Addiction, was something of a damp squib. In fact, it was the sound of a long, ecstatic party that had come to an end - i.e. the bit where the dull people are left. It resulted in a patchy and frustrating album.

    In other disappointments, not having time to do all the great music I've heard this year justice was a big minus. This will be sorted soon, I promise. Although not having my time wasted by expensive, overly long and poorly compiled compilations - Endzeit Bunkertracks Act IV being a particularly guilty party here. If this was a snapshot of the future of the electro/industrial/whatever scene, it's fucked. Also worth noting, as I finally leave the city for good this week, is that Sheffield is left with little more than HMV, Record Collector and the supermarkets to purchase music from, with the closure of Jack's Records last summer.

    Two final things: in this year's guilty pleasures, there is only really the one - the oh-so-kitsch and fun Little Boots - no idea why, I just love her stuff. There is a longer list of irritations, as you might expect. Headed by two of the "great white hopes" this year: Florence and The Machine - whiny, irritating Alison Goldfrapp wannabe. Oh, and that godawful cover of You've Got The Love really gets my goat, too. Next. La Roux - if I want eighties synthpop, I'll listen to the real thing, rather than infuriating, over-produced facsimilies.

    And as 19 million watch the winner of X-Factor, there is the continuing death of music television. How much longer before someone does a music video channel online? Properly, I don't mean like Youtube. Something interactive, with a decent resolution and a better selection. It's possible, I'm sure, my cynical mind suspects that the labels would never allow it, sadly. Also fucking me off is the continuing upward spiral of gig ticket prices, and of course their "booking fees". This would appear, despite it being a blatant case of ripping the punters off, to have no political will behind it to sort the situation, either. Me no understand...

    So, back to good things: here are my top ten tracks of 2009, a list that has taken a while to collate.

    10
    Nachtmahr
    Code:red
    Alle Lust will Ewigkeit

    Aimed squarely at the dancefloor, Nachtmahr's heavily sexualised and military imagery has grated a little to me, but musically they deliver the goods time and again - Thomas Rainer seems to simply want people to dance, and that's what his latest project do very well. Needless to say there are some belting tracks to slay dancefloors with, and this one is my favourite by miles. Beats turned up to eleven? Check. Harsh-sounding samples simply to give a couple of seconds breather? Check. Doesn't waste a second? Check. An object lesson in how to do dancefloor industrial (and I hear the live show is good fun, too).

    09
    16Volt
    TocarAlkali
    American Porn Songs

    Yeah, so I didn't like all the album, but the opening track - and also the first promo track I got - is still utterly fantastic. In fact, one of the best 16v songs ever released, in my opinion. A slower, bruising rock track that opens up into a bright, buzzing chorus from out of nowhere, and also a reminder that 16v are, at their best, a lot more accessible than some might make out.

    08
    Alter der Ruine
    TocarRelax And Ride It (Be My Enemy Remix)
    Beating A Dead Horse

    The most immediate song on ADR's superb third album, it was no surprise to see it remixed by various people and it was quickly a dancefloor hit, too. While Memmaker's remix was a more straightforward dancefloor take, this one was fantastic fun. Be My Enemy, if you missed my previous mentions, is Phil Barry (ex-Cubanate), and if this remix was a way to get some attention to his new project, then job done. He turns the track into galloping industrial rock that is the perfect pace for the dancefloor, while keeping the best bits of the original intact too.

    07
    Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
    TocarTrouble
    Through The Devil Softly

    Hope Sandoval is likely to get a lot of coverage in the music press soon with her collaboration on Massive Attack's forthcoming album having a likely-to-be controversial video (and the ongoing possibility of a new Mazzy Star album after fourteen years), but she deserves rather more for her long-awaited return with this album. Or, at least, this song, in my eyes, as I can't stop playing it. It's gorgeous, her warm, bluesy vocals taking centre stage as they should, with a sparse accompaniment. A song for dark nights staying in with your lover.

    06
    Left Spine Down
    TocarProzac Nation - Retro Radio Radutron Mix By the Rabid Whole
    Smartbomb 2.3: The Underground Mixes
    An astoundingly inventive remix by a seemingly up-and-coming Canadian industrial rock band, rather than just sticking a faster beat under the original (as far too many remixes do), The Rabid Whole's idea was to keep the vocals as they were, but bury them in radio static, with lots of "old" radio samples, with the track coming in and out of clarity like an old shortwave radio transmission - and the titled aim of a "retro" mix is complete. A great idea, and it gets full marks for execution, too - a fresh and unusual take on the remix norm that would get tiresome if endlessly repeated, but a blast in this instance.

    05
    KMFDM
    Davai
    Blitz

    KMFDM's best album in years - appropriately marking their twenty-fifth birthday, too - had a whole host of storming tracks (in fact, I can't think of any filler at all other than the closer), but it was this, their first foray into using Russian in their lyrics, that was the unassailable peak. A pounding, anthemic industrial-metal track that harked back to the classic nineties KMFDM, but without merely relying on the past to make it great. A reminder that you can look forward too and still sound fantastic.

    04
    HEALTH
    Die Slow
    Get Color

    I'm still not exactly sure how I'm supposed to describe this - industrial shoegaze, perhaps - but whatever, it was something of a red-herring for the rest of the album, which while more focussed than their debut, was still miles from the mainstream. This track, though, underpinned by a hulking, quasi-industrial beat and some impressive guitar treatments, sounded like nothing else upon release and still doesn't now. The video is, er, interesting, too.

    03
    My Dying Bride
    TocarFailure
    Bring Me Victory EP

    I could, and probably will, go on and on about this song for ever more, but this cover is so good it deserves it's place here. A faithful re-reading of the majestic Swans ode to the crushing inevitability of failing time and again in life, MDB were pretty much the only band I could think of who could do justice to the sheer emotional weight of this track, and so it proves - Aaron Stainthorpe's vocals are perfect for it, and musically little is changed other than the band joining in later in the track. One version of this will play at my funeral.

    02
    Necro Facility
    Do you feel the same
    Septic VIII

    I love it when a band finally shows the promise they've had all the long. A band I'd previously thought were an interesting industrial act, but too close perhaps in style to Skinny Puppy, their first taster of new material in a while was this, which was put at the front of Septic VIII, and with good reason - they've finally gained something of their own sound, and it's strikingly brilliant. The SP-influence is still there, but with melodic vocals, a thumping, powerful production and a killer chorus. When the only complaint is that the song is too short, you know it's good.

    01
    Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    TocarZero
    It's Blitz!

    I wasn't really all that bothered about this New York band previously - sure, they'd made a couple of good singles but I wasn't really caught by them, until I heard this. Eschewing the guitar-rock for a synth-based rock instead, it takes it's time to get it's claws in, but once the chorus ramps up, before the track literally explodes into life for the second verse...Honestly, this is fucking glorious, the sound of a band at the peak of their powers and in full knowledge that they have a song of pure pop genius on their hands.
  • How diverse is your musical taste?

    Dez 10 2009, 20h11 por Renegadesteve2

    First, make a list of your top-20 artists overall. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, count up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 8 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.

    Similar artists
    Thurston Moore
    Ciccone Youth
    Lee Ranaldo
    Free Kitten
    Dinosaur Jr. x2
    Pixies
    Yo La Tengo
    Pavement x3
    Zwan
    Billy Corgan
    James Iha
    Silverchair
    Stone Temple Pilots x2
    Auf der Maur
    Jane's Addiction
    Soundgarden x3
    A Tribe Called Quest
    Run-D.M.C.
    Cypress Hill
    De La Soul
    House of Pain
    Public Enemy
    OutKast
    Fugees
    John Lennon
    George Harrison
    Paul McCartney
    Ringo Starr
    Paul McCartney & Wings
    Wings
    The Who
    The Rolling Stones
    Morrissey
    Joy Division
    The Cure
    Echo & The Bunnymen
    New Order
    The Stone Roses
    Pulp
    The Libertines
    Modwheelmood
    Trent Reznor
    Marilyn Manson
    Tweaker
    Halo33
    Black Light Burns
    Puscifer x2
    KMFDM
    John Frusciante
    Ataxia
    Rage Against the Machine
    Foo Fighters
    Audioslave
    Nirvana
    John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer
    Incubus
    Skepta
    JME
    Roll Deep
    Ghetto
    Kano
    Jammer
    Frisco
    Durrty Goodz
    Eddie Vedder
    Temple of the Dog
    Alice in Chains
    Mother Love Bone
    Mad Season
    Screaming Trees
    Kanye West
    Nas
    R. Kelly & Jay-Z
    Fabolous
    Beanie Sigel
    Lupe Fiasco
    Notorious B.I.G.
    Drake
    Porno for Pyros
    Perry Farrell
    Dave Navarro
    Satellite Party
    The Panic Channel
    Faith No More
    Blind Melon
    Tricky
    Portishead
    Lamb
    UNKLE
    Morcheeba
    Hooverphonic
    Sneaker Pimps
    Archive
    David Gilmour
    Roger Waters
    Syd Barrett
    Led Zeppelin
    The Doors
    Rick Wright
    Jefferson Airplane
    King Crimson
    Thom Yorke
    Jonny Greenwood
    Muse
    Placebo
    Coldplay
    Interpol
    Blur
    Beck
    The Chemical Brothers
    Maxim
    Pendulum
    The Crystal Method
    Fatboy Slim
    Prodigy
    Apollo 440
    Lunatic Calm
    fIREHOSE
    Hüsker Dü
    Mission of Burma
    Wipers
    Mike Watt
    Saccharine Trust
    Fugazi
    Flipper
    Les Claypool
    Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel
    Colonol Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains
    Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
    Sausage
    Oysterhead
    Infectious Grooves
    Mr. Bungle
    A Perfect Circle
    Peach
    ASHES dIVIDE
    Rishloo
    Riverside
    Deftones
    Porcupine Tree
    The Breeders
    Frank Black
    Sonic Youth x2
    Frank Black and the Catholics
    Black Francis
    The Flaming Lips x2
    Built to Spill
    Guided by Voices
    Condo Fucks
    Galaxie 500
    The Sea and Cake

    151/160

    Nice!!
  • Dark Essence Radio - 23rd November '09

    Dez 6 2009, 0h10 por darkessencejosh



    Live to air every Monday from 10pm-Midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on 4ZzZ 102.1fm (Brisbane, Australia).
    Catch us on our live stream via http://stream.4zzzfm.org.au.

    http://www.myspace.com/dark_essence

    1. C/A/T - We Are Still Alive
    2. [:SITD:] - Catharsis [Heal Me, Control Me]
    3. NOVAkILL - We Work
    4. KMFDM - Never Say Never **req**
    5. Stahltischler - Schwarz-Weiss [Pedro Tischler remix]
    6. Antythesys - Powders And Heels
    7. Assemblage 23 - Spark [Sonik Foundry remix]
    8. Ext!ze - Orchestral Infection **req**
    9. iVardensphere - Diatribe
    10. PsyBorg Corp. - Bionic Enhancement
    11. Metallspürhunde - Mach Es Wieder Gut
    12. Level 2.0 - Vexxy

    Interview with Nick Deflaminis of Sonik Foundry
    13. Sonik Foundry - Mechanized
    14. Sonik Foundry - Stigmata
    15. Sonik Foundry - Columbine Soldiers
    16. Sonik Foundry - My Experiment
    17. Sonik Foundry - 5e7en 51nz

    18. E.I.D and Lady Industrial - My Nightmare
    19. Vigilante - Resistr [live]
    20. Wynardtage - Demons Right Behind You [remixed by Grendel]
    21. I:Scintilla - Prey On You [Studio-X Hard Dance Remix]
    22. Lacuna Coil - I Want It [Interface remix]
    23. Vanished Empire - Combat-Hi=Psychosis
    24. Proyecto Crisis - American Scandals
    25. Feindflug - Wintergedanken [Spekulatius Mix]