I didn't even know that Explosions in the Sky was working on a new album. Let's hope it will be on Spotify asap.

Ornette wrote:, and in their case, I think when they tried to get fancy they sounded worse.

Do you mean their later melodeath era, like Heartwork by chance?

While on the subject, i've actually never been much of a Carcass fan - sure, they're hugely influential upon tons of extreme metal bands (they basically spawned entire throngs of imitators to this day, like Impaled and Exhumed), but I think i've posted before that only Symphonies of Sickness really grabs me. It's a lot more cohesive and well put together than Reek of Putrefaction, but it's also at the same time more energetic and filthy than the later, more reserved works like Necroticism and the aforementioned Heartwork. (though admittedly Necroticism is a fine album, but I find that most of the songs aside for the absolutely amazing "Incarnated Solvent Abuse" are literally all 1 to 2 minutes overlong.)

in all honesty, the length of the Necroticism songs is not as bad as say...the length of the songs on Death Magnetic ;)

Just recently:

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited: I guess this album is pretty much classic. Somehow, despite having megahippie parents, I never really got much exposure to Bob Dylan as a kid beyond the basic few songs that everybody knows. So this was my first time listening to "Like A Rolling Stone". You can go ahead and crucify me now...actually though it's a great album and it's not difficult to see why he's such a big thing. There aren't many people who can carry a folk rock song for very long - the closest thing we have to Dylan today would be John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, a very talented writer and a good musician in his own right, but I can't imagine him going on for a full eleven minutes as Dylan does is "Desolation Row".

Earthless - Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky: I mean you can probably guess what kind of music this is. Very serviceable psychedelic jazz fusion, aimless and with its head in the clouds but that's half the point isn't it?

Devin Townsend - The Hummer: Townsend jumped from metal to ambient with the mediocre Devlab but this second attempt is certainly a step forward, far more cohesive and almost melodic at points, and with a rather remarkable section of Leonard Cohen reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Like all things Townsend, it's unabashedly cheesy except when it seriouses up, and it's well up there with his better metal albums.

Tristania - Beyond the Veil: Pretty undistinguished gothic metal with some doom influence. Nice production but nothing to write home about.

Kimonos - Kimonos: Mukai Shutoku of Zazen Boys fame makes some more straightforward rock, and god damn is it good. This is the first time in months I've listened straight through to any album genre-tagged simply as "Rock". Not so reminiscent of Zazen Boys as of Shutoku's previous project Number Girl, but not even so much that - if there's something that it reminds me of it's probably The Pillows' work on the FLCL soundtrack.

Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss: Relistening. You know I'm really not sure how many black metal artists can get away with putting the word "light" in an album title Better still if it's actually a good album. Not the equal of Filosofem but in fairness no Burzum album is - I'm tempted to say no black metal album of any kind is. Man, what the hell happened to this guy that he lost his touch? Actually you know what don't answer that

Actually I posted as I was still listening to this and so forgot to mention how much I love Tomhet. This is how you switch from black metal to dark ambient. Why couldn't he do so well on his prison albums? Equipment limitations?

Up next:

Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Apocalypse
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Visions of the Emerald Beyond
Sylosis - Edge of the Earth
Seigmen - Metropolis
Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées
Long Distance Calling - Avoid the Light
Omega Massif - Geisterstadt
Isengrind/Twinsistermoon/Natural Snow Buildings - The Snowbringer Cult

^ Can't ever go wrong with Dylan. Ever. You should proceed to buy every single album of his, like, right now (ok, at least the 60s stuff).

Eva Yojimbo wrote:^ Can't ever go wrong with Dylan. Ever. You should proceed to buy every single album of his, like, right now (ok, at least the 60s stuff).

As well as late-90s to this day ongoing magnificent, incredible Reneissance.

And 70s shit like Desire and DEFINETLY Blood on the Tracks which might be his best album and one of the best of all time (I can never choose between Highway 61 and Blood on the Tracks)

Xard wrote:(I can never choose between Highway 61 and Blood on the Tracks)

For me it's Basement Tapes and Blonde on Blonde. Freewheelin' is a damn-near perfect album too; probably the best of his pure folk stuff. I'm a bit surprised you'd prefer Highway to Blonde. Both superb, certainly, but I think the latter is denser and more complex. To put it another way, I think Highway plays better when you're newer to Dylan, but over time I find myself coming back to Blonde more and more and finding new subtleties.

Eva Yojimbo wrote:For me it's Basement Tapes and Blonde on Blonde. Freewheelin' is a damn-near perfect album too; probably the best of his pure folk stuff. I'm a bit surprised you'd prefer Highway to Blonde. Both superb, certainly, but I think the latter is denser and more complex. To put it another way, I think Highway plays better when you're newer to Dylan, but over time I find myself coming back to Blonde more and more and finding new subtleties.

Blonde on Blonde and Basement Tapes would be just behind Blood on the Tracks and Highway 61 for me...I haven't listened much to Freewheelin' actually, although of course it's great album.

ohwait, Bringing It All Back Home might be my third favourite, actually.

I have a soft spot for Desire too as it's the album that got me into Dylan. Flawed but still with some damn great songs...Sara in particular.

As for Highway 61 Revisited vs. Blonde on Blonde... wellllllll, I'm not sure if I have any clear reason. It does boast my two all time favourite Dylan songs (Like A Rolling Stone and Desolation Row) and I don't anything from Blonde on Blonde quite compares to those two...

I don't know, I won't throw a fuss if you take Blonde on Blonde over Highway. In any case we're talking about some of the best albums ever recorded so putting them in precise order is quite redundant anyway

Xard wrote:In any case we're talking about some of the best albums ever recorded so putting them in precise order is quite redundant anyway

Very true.

The interesting thing about Blonde VS Highway is that I think the latter has slightly stronger songs if you were to match its best up with former's best, but the former just works better as an album. Go figure.

It's too bad Dylan always sounds like he's whining. First 2 Mahavishnu albums are great, the rest of them not so much so.

Ornette wrote:It's too bad Dylan always sounds like he's whining.

Blasphemy!

That's really the only complaint I've ever heard about him. I guess because I grew up with him I just accepted it as a normal way of singing so it's never bothered me. Besides, his artistry transcends any antiquated notions of singing well.

Azathoth wrote:Like all things Townsend, it's unabashedly cheesy except when it seriouses up, and it's well up there with his better metal albums.

So true. But the cheesyness is what makes him great. Personally I prefer some of his stuff with SYL to be honest. Kids chorus' singing "God Damn I need it!!!!" always make me giggle.

schismatics wrote: So true. But the cheesyness is what makes him great. Personally I prefer some of his stuff with SYL to be honest. Kids chorus' singing "God Damn I need it!!!!" always make me giggle.

SYL is hit and miss for me - a lot of the time Devin just seems too mad for his musicianship to come through, and I've never been a huge fan of sounds as heavy and extreme as SYL's. But as with most of Devin's work, when they're good they're damn good.

And yeah, Devin's cheesiness seems to scale directly with the quality of what he's making...

So, today I stumbled upon a song by a Japanese jazz rock'n'roll big band known as The Thrill. While I couldn't find much of their work floating around, I was hooked by the first song and immediately bought an album. They've apparently done some work on anime, such as Blue Submarine No.6, but I've yet to listen to any of that.

If you haven't heard these guys yet, I strongly recommend them. Here's the song I first heard before buying an album: Speed Jazz. For those who are familiar with The Thrill, what do you think of them?

Sachi wrote:So, today I stumbled upon a song by a Japanese jazz rock'n'roll big band known as The Thrill. While I couldn't find much of their work floating around, I was hooked by the first song and immediately bought an album. They've apparently done some work on anime, such as Blue Submarine No.6, but I've yet to listen to any of that.

If you haven't heard these guys yet, I strongly recommend them. Here's the song I first heard before buying an album: Speed Jazz. For those who are familiar with The Thrill, what do you think of them?

I had no idea they did the songs on Blue Submarine No.6, now this stuff does sound awesome. Now my parents are gonna be forced to hear me listening to speed jazz instead of the typical metal!

Sachi wrote:So, today I stumbled upon a song by a Japanese jazz rock'n'roll big band known as The Thrill. While I couldn't find much of their work floating around, I was hooked by the first song and immediately bought an album. They've apparently done some work on anime, such as Blue Submarine No.6, but I've yet to listen to any of that.

If you haven't heard these guys yet, I strongly recommend them. Here's the song I first heard before buying an album: Speed Jazz. For those who are familiar with The Thrill, what do you think of them?

Huh. This track is unexpectedly quite awesome.

Reason I say "unexpectedly" is because Blue Submarine No.6 has horrible soundtrack that doesn't fit in at all with the action. When OST is bad in anime usually I can just ignore it but in this case it meshed so weakly with action on screen it became yet another aspect of the series I hated. :/

But that track is pretty nice indeed....strange

Does anyone know who sings this song and what anime it came from (if it came from one at all)? I found it while looking up music from NGE and I'm fairly certain that it isn't from anything Eva. But the song is awesome and I'd love to hear more from whoever sings it.

Born of Lilith wrote:Does anyone know who sings this song and what anime it came from (if it came from one at all)? I found it while looking up music from NGE and I'm fairly certain that it isn't from anything Eva. But the song is awesome and I'd love to hear more from whoever sings it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQK7s_pxe4

Ornette wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGQK7s_pxe4

Wow, Megumi is a really talented singer. Thanks for the link!

Started going through the discography of Anna Maria Jopek. Thanks to Kutta for the indirect recommendation; she's pretty awesome!