Some new releases in the world of music. Most you've probably never heard of.
!!! - Myth Takes
Innately danceable tunes, but the album runs out of steam halfway through. I like the vocals even if the lyrics are pretty much empty nonsense. Title track is the lone standout, which is kind of sad. 6/10
Acid Mothers Temple & Melting Paraiso UFO - Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars
It took me almost as long to write the title as it did to listen to "Pussy Head Man From Outer Space", the first track. It's crazy acid rock guitar shredding pretty much from 10 seconds in, with the usual spacey distortion and enough noise to tear a hole in the time-space continuum. The other two tracks are epic hypnotic excursions in sonic experimentation, totaling an hour. On the plus side it doesn't sound like it's been recorded underwater like most of AMT's albums. I'd imagine the home experience differs greatly from seeing them live. 8/10
AMT&MPUFO - Nam Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo
These fuckers are prolific. This CD is one gigantic 65-minute 9-part suite encompassing pretty much all of AMT's styles, from introspective acoustic work to dynafiltered vocals to all-out sonic assault. It never once does not sound lovely in its twisted way, and it ends with a jocular a capella breakdown to boot. Non converts may wish to start here. 10/10
The Bad Trips - s/t
Unclassifiable, vaguely in the realm of post-rock. Kind of reminds me of the No-Neck Blues Band but with actual arrangement and a lo-fi haze over the proceedings. First track, "War on Drugs", is menacing and trippy in equal amounts. Group is still struggling to find a cohesive sound but this is a promising debut. 7/10
Coffins/Otesanek SPLIT
First three tracks belong to my second favorite Japanese sludge doom group. Unlike Corrupted, Coffins manages to stay active and release a crazy amount of collaborative work. "Evil Infection" is a brilliant fakeout; starts off sludgelike but then the tempo doubles and before you know it your ass is being served to you. And it's awesome. A rerecording of "Only Corpse" (my Xbox Live SN) also manages to improve on the prior version. "Acid Orgy" is so-so. Otesanek's sole track, an endurance test of a 20 minute atmospheric doom track, only works in fits and starts. 5/10
Drudkh - Estrangement
A natural evolution from "Blood in Our Wells". Three 10-minute tracks form a suite of sorts; arrangement continues to improve as the sound oscillates between melancholia and brutality. A very black and brief instrumental caps things off nicely. 9/10
Engineer - The Dregs
Aptly titled. Sounds like Queens of the Stone Age but with more angst and volume and half the guitar skill. That's not a compliment as I can't stand QOTSA for even five minutes. 2/10
Gallhammer - Ill Innocence
Slow black metal. Sometimes an effective atmosphere is achieved, as in "Ripper in the Gloom", and that's only when this band is ballsy enough to push the tempo past 90 BPM. Slowness isn't necessarily bad but the tracks seem to waver between boring and "this could be awesome if..." 4/10
Jesu - Conqueror
These guys haven't changed their sound a whole lot. Unlike most groups, they achieve success more often with their longer, more sprawling tracks. Vaguely like Pelican with vocals. The Japanese version of the CD contains "Sunrise" and "Sunset", two epic tracks that redeem five or six mediocre and unmemorable cuts. 7/10 (JP version)
5/10 (US version)
Moonsorrow - V:Havitetty
I hope I spelled the CD title right. If not, I doubt anyone would care. This consists of two extended slabs of viking death, two fine slow buildups to something approaching greatness. Moonsorrow's greatest strength is definitely in their arrangements. There's some great, intense peaks and valleys of sound. Might try the patience of a virgin listener. 8/10
Witchcraft - The Alchemist
The first half of this CD is schizophrenic weirdness (and not intentional weirdness). Like Franz Ferdinand meets Black Sabbath with the worst qualities of each. Suddenly, halfway through, these Swedes finally hit their groove with "Hey Doctor" and achieve a unique sound. The slower the time signature, the beefier the material. Ends with a 3-part suite which could either be pretentious or the ultimate summation of their sound. The damndest thing is I can't decide which. 7/10
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Felix_Arabia - September 23, 2007 (06:51 AM) Haveatitty (I'm so punny) is $1.99 on iTunes. |
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Halon - September 23, 2007 (11:23 AM) Myth Takes is pretty cool, didn't care for it much at first but after a few listens it began growing on me. |
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Genj - September 23, 2007 (04:45 PM) I recommend The Takeover's Bad Football specifically for such classic songs as "Little Green Onion Man," "Pretty Not Bad," "I Can See My Dog" and "The Jester of Helpmeat." |
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johnny_cairo - September 25, 2007 (02:44 AM) It's surprisingly hard to find Bad Football for some reason. It was easier to download Victor Jara's discography, and his stuff has been out of print for several decades. Do you have Soulseek? |
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Genj - September 26, 2007 (09:45 AM) Yeah, my username is phantomtollbooth (seriously). I added Bad Football to my upload list. I'm not surprised it's hard to find. It only has around 400 listeners on last.fm and I'm usually a top listener each week with 10-12 plays. It's not amazing, just weird. Plus the album title is fucking Bad Football. |
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