"Malefic, a sufferer of claustrophobia, was allegedly locked in a casket during his recorded performance to the vocals on the track 'Báthory Erzsébet.'"

a blackened drone/black ambient/whatever record is a GREAT idea on part of sunn o))).

ironically, however, what i found is that some portions can be less devastating than life metal.

this doesn't feel like just a product of the genre it chose; it feels a bit underbaked at certain points.

blame my ... read more

sunn o))) (and drone/noise/etc) remind me of mark rothko (which makes it funny they seem to hav made one of his paintings the cover of their new self-titled).

what i mean is that both, on the surface, seem effortlessly prodced, like something you could whip up yourself in five minutes.

but the fallacy in that is that both hav taken EXCRUTIATING detail to make this "easy-to-make-sounding" art very specifically crafted.

last year i tried to get into drone by listening to pyroclasts. ... read more

folk isn't my wheelhouse, and avant-garde folk requires some commitment to appreciate.

i wouldn't necessarily say anco is exempt from that...

but EVEN so, creativity and wonderment and whimsy and authenticness just OOZES from this album.

the latter half of "feels" really hit me harder, as i think that's more in the range of music im used to.

this album sounds like childhood and nostalgia and longing.

but that fact doesn't remove any of the emotional impact; i ... read more

the enduring impression i'm getting of fennesz, coming off of endless summer and this album, is that he doesn't like half measures.

each track, even the tiny interludes, are very intentionally crafted.

this isn't endless summer, but to be frank i prefer this record.

i think fennesz's choices here feel more pronounced. every glitch, every silent moment, every note played on the guitar feels like it was honed towards a certain atmosphere.

and i happen to really, really, ... read more

some pretty unique shoegaze that, for the most part, is built on that "meticulous" tendency iv seen in j-rock.

the latter half didn't really captivate me as much.

which isn't to say they're "bad," so much as they didn't meet the very high standard set by the first tracks.

the rest of the album is good enough, but i think it's on those first few songs that mdg really shines.

faves: prologue..., te wo futte, hades..., danke, yurikago...

to think they hit it this out of the park on their SECOND album is almost unthinkable.

coming in from lpwp, you can tell their style is relatively less mature. but sunbather, in that regard, has a less controlled, raw, wailing energy to it. it's stunning to witness.

faves: Dream House, Sunbather, Vertigo, The Pecan Tree

this is it. this is what depression sounds like.

i think the mixing at some parts can sound awkward. but otherwise the effect and atmosphere of this album is devestating.

even for a record this full of noise it doesn't say anything more than it needs to say. it's remarkable.

faves: A Quick One..., Bloodhail, Hunter, Who Would Leave..., Waiting for Black Metal Records..., Holy Fucking Shit..., I Don't Love, Earthmover

nin cooked here, as they have done like... everywhere else in their discography.

ironically enough this is my first front-to-back nin record. i think trent succeeds here most on the original tracks.

the plain vocals over the minimalist instruments on the "stripped" re-recordings can sound a bit silly to my ears.

but, for the most part, those points get washed away in an ocean of difficult tranquility.

with "still" you are invited to lay in that ocean, to stare up at the ... read more

for one reason or another i just couldn't sink into this album like i had wanted to on my first listen. not that i didn't enjoy it but that i couldn't allow myself to genuinely just listen to it.

hecker doesn't fuck around though. borderlands has always been a personal fave track. and i will probably come back around to it when i feel less on-edge and inattentive.

i think being in whatever euphoria i've been having (hypomania i think?) has made me warm up a lot to music i didn't previously fuck with.

cause. oh my god. i get it. this is what the apocalypse sounds like.

faves: Through Silver in Blood, Eye, Purify, Locust Star, Aeon

godfuckingdamn. i genuinely have never heard a record that kept my full attention the entire way through. this is the first one to do it.

it's neurotic and eccentric, betraying (sublimating?) a deep, blunt, hard yearning. very very very inventive stuff.

this was like. genuinely fantastic. tdp is so dynamic on this record.

it's balm for the soul in the same way the emo it draws its lineage from did.

but it's very unique. saying everything in its unique twists and turns. i ... read more

holy shit

faves: Farewell, Woman on the Screen, Blackout, Electric, My Machine, Just Abandoned Myself (LISTEN TO THE VINYL VERSION IT'S SO GOOD OH MY GOD)

surprisingly evocative for a record like this. very heartfelt, honest bland of samples, gentle guitars, and glitch.

the soundtrack to yearning for halcyon days to which you can no longer return.

faves: Made in Hong Kong, A Year in a Minute, Caecilia, Badminton Girl

this is a really really lovely, whimsical album that brings me the fuzzies. not nostalgia, per se, but. a welcoming of familiar, old, warm feelings into the present.

makes me think of a childhood where i wasn't dissociated to hell.

it's cute and slow and slowly impactful and the impact is feeling held in the arms of someone you trust.

faves: Green Green Grass of Tunnel; We Have a Map of the Piano; I Can't Feel My Hands Any More, It's Alright, Sleep Still; The Land ... read more

damn. this album made me realize how much i truly do love atmospheric bm (surprise surprise).

this album has the best balance of melody and noise i've heard (at least for my tastes). i don't know german, but you can hear (and *feel*) the pain in the sound.

it's comforting, in a way. like a balm, but also one that matches the pain people go through. it understands how hard it is and is empathetic in its sound.

the first half of the album blew me away more than the second. i ... read more

this album was quite intense and almost impenetrable at points for me. i find a lot of metal overwhelming, so. fault of choice i guess.

this prog/tech-death/blackened-death/whatever thing IT has going on here is hard for me to understand.

but i like it! i think i like it enough to say i liked it. it also took me a while to appreciate dillinger.

and turning roaring-20s-era capitalism/consumerism, and all its ridiculousness/goals/nihilism into metal? i fuck with the aesthetic heavy.

faves: ... read more

this goes insanely hard at times. very creative and well-crafted fusion of genre.

i'm coming off of earlier death grips so when they weren't as loud as that i felt... subverted? but new is good too. plus, for better or worse, the death grips inspiration is very noticeable on some of the tracks.

those sassy vocals kinda sealed the package for me, though it took some getting used to. wrapping the bow on a darkly comic, self-aware look at. well. the theft they did to us.

lip critic is ... read more

there's a lot that's been said about this album. i can't pretend hip-hop and its surrounding genres are my wheelhouse.

but! what i heard i liked. and tyler's cleverness is perceptible, i think, to any kind of listener.

i appreciated it being a concept album, playing with persona. very creative and you can tell he's in his groove.

faves: IGOR'S THEME; EARFQUAKE; RUNNING OUT OF TIME; GONE, GONE / THANK YOU; ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?

pretty fucking cool blown-out rage with some edm parts.

going from fête de la vanille is wild and a demonstration of how versatile lucy is. i guess i'm not absolutely blown away cuz i learned of jane remover doing it first.

faves: G6 Anthem, 2010 Justin Bieber, Tout Naturel, One of Us Is Lying, Unmusique, Cat's Eye

really really really fucking good gothenburg melodeath that helped make the scene matter so much.

there were multiple moments where the musicianship i was hearing made me do a double take. or, alternatively, just sit in awe. usually the latter.

faves: Moonshield, The Jester's Dance, Artifacts of the Black Rain, Dead Eternity, Goliaths Disarm Their Davids, Gyroscope