The Gamer's Quarter

dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:11 am Post subject:

what's it like? i can probably get it locally for $18 to $20. i can add it my boredoms roundup.
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Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

It's Boredoms' Christmas album. I'm only half joking.

It's a live recording from Christmas 2005. It opens with sleigh bells and heavenly chanting, and then turns into the drum section going all out while Eye dicks around with the choir sample for 40 minutes. It's really rather awesome, and much better to listen to than it is to read about.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

You can listen to Nine Inch Nails' new album, in full, for free, off of the official the Year Zero site.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 6:22 am Post subject:

Going through some boxes and lo and behold what did I find but my tape of Master Control by Liege Lord. I forgot I even had this, I'm surprised the cassette lasted this long. So I've been rocking out to Eye of The Storm, Kill The King and Feel The Blade among others all day long.
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aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Not even The Good Soldier? Check out that xylophone mastery!
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

The Good Soldier is good - but I just don't love it. Zero Sum is a classic ending track up there with, say, "Sad Song" at the end of Lou Reed's Berlin.
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aerisdead

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:28 pm Post subject:

Yesterday it was Liege Lord, today it's Cirith Ungol. King Of The Dead is such a kick-ass album, even more than its predecessor Frost And Fire and that one was pretty damn good itself.
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dhex · Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:32 am Post subject:

boris with michio kurihara - picked this up friday night during a lite drunk music shopping spree (along with jesu, the post godflesh justin brodrick project which actually did a totally fucking kick ass remix of an explosions in the sky song) and holy fucking shit it's really great! i totally picked it at random cause i dug the cover. it was a little pricey used so i presume it was an import?

edit: yeah, import from portugal? wtf? comes out in america next month. it's spacerocky and kinda pleasant to listen to. man i slept too hard on these guys, someone punch me.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Dhex, the next time Boris swings by your neck of the woods, I highly recommend seeing them. They slaughter live.
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dhex · Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject:

kompakt - get pop ambient comps. they tend to be really good, from what i've heard. i like the orb collection on there, and i do like ulf lohman.

and yeah, boris sold out by the time i knew what the score was and ended up seeing lightning bolt/boredoms instead. this was last summer. they are in my sonicliving queue.
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Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Also, if you dig the mellow side of Boris, check out Soundtrack to the Film Mabuta No Ura (not an actual movie.)

If you want to hear them at their most pretentious yet awesome, Flood is the way to go.
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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

I've been listening to tons of CATHEDRAL. Mostly The Ethereal Mirror and The Carnival Bizarre. They are (or were, anyway, with their first couple of albums) what one could probably call post-death doom metal, having been formed by ex-Napalm Death vocalist Lee Dorrian, a roadie for Carcass, and other veterans of death and grind. They generally draw from Black Sabbath (naturally) as well as bands like Candlemass, Pentagram, and Witchfinder General -- and, speaking of Boris, would hugely appeal to folks who enjoy their Heavy Rocks album, parts of Pink and Akuma no Uta, etc. Check out "Ride" and "Utopian Blaster" -- two of my very favorite drivin'-fast songs.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:15 pm Post subject:

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Aside from the aforementioned Cathedral I've been listening to the new Boredoms, the new NIN (yes, and even a little old NIN (the one thing I never did stop listening to, actually, was the Fixed EP)), Seefeel's rereleased (or soon to be rereleased) Qique, Earth's Hibernaculum, etc. I'm sort of out of touch, I think, and I need to get dialed in again. What's new? I think you guys know what I'm into.

I'm using soulseek again, on the beta server as antitype. Anyone else still hanging around there?
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dhex · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject:

six organs of admittance? specifically "school of the flower" ?

and biosphere but everyone knows that.
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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

I've meant to look up Six Organs for a long time. Thanks for the reminder, dhex. And yes, I am familiar with Biosphere, though mostly because of his work with Deathprod -- good god, I love Deathprod. Which reminds me, I need to catch up with Rune Grammofon releases! I believe Arve Henriksen's got a new one out...

Also: x-posted from my LJ:

Until this week I hadn't been keeping up with new music in 2007 very actively, and even now I'm just catching up with a few releases I've meant to spend more time with [...]

Jesu's Conqueror is one of those albums I've been spending time with, and I suppose now that I've accepted that it's not the debut LP or the Heart Ache EP it's clicking with me. While the aforementioned were still close enough to their roots in Godflesh for my comfort -- at the same time moving in a direction altogether beyond Godflesh -- Conqueror is a progression from earlier Jesu, favoring even more "shoegazey" textures and melodies, and guitars that don't grind so much as they scrape along somewhere between dreary bleakness and shimmery hope; sunlight filtered through urban decay. (This was largely true for last year's Silver EP, too, and I never spent much time with that beyond a few quick listens. It seems to work better here.) I guess I still prefer those first couple of releases -- "Walk On Water" from the eponymous LP and Heart Ache's title track are two of my very favorites from '05 -- but I'm not jumping ship just yet.

Needless to say, comparing Conqueror to the new NIN (or The Fragile) at all, let alone unfavorably, was pretty unfair and a bit premature. I am still enjoying Year Zero, and I still find this to be a refreshing truth (to see my jaded skepticism mostly defeated, that is), but I'd no longer necessarily say it's the better of the two, and I definitely wouldn't say that Reznor has "surpassed" Broadrick (I honestly don't know what possessed me there).
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Saturday: More symphony. Two Stravinsky pieces -- Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss and Symphony in Three Movements. Both good, although I think I prefer the brutal nature of the Rite of Spring, which according to the high-falutin' playbill, means I'm some sort of Neanderthal. Then Tchaikovsky's First, which was great except for some serious "lull" portions that I just couldn't bring myself to get excited by. I instead watched the French horn players empty their spit valves on the floor. Conducting was by Michael Tilson Thomas, who is excellent, although he's a little distracting until you get used to his style. He conducted the Tchaikovsky without ever opening his score, which was impressive.

Last night: Saw Lightning Bolt at a warehouse show in West Oakland. There were three openers, being:

- Bug Sized Mind, a lone guy with synths and patch cords who does abstract screamy electronic music. Good shit.

- Some noise group who did everything off of an iBook while people acted out something in the middle of smoke machines and a strobe light. The stage show is entirely theoretical because only the people in the first row saw anything.

- A noise/punk band from Oakland who basically played, uh, really noisy and chaotic "angular rock" while throwing themselves all over the place. Energetic, although I didn't feel like telling them that at their most lucid, they sounded like Korn.

The whole thing was emceed by MC Jelly Donut, who completely failed to get any sort of traction with the crowd, even with the inclusion of the Doughnut Hoes.

Lightning Bolt were fucking tremendous.

The crowd was the most hipster-y that I've ever seen. Questionable hair decisions abounded and everybody was definitely too cool for school. Loads and loads of girl-cut pants on guys, homemade clothes, the whole nine yards. Nearly every guy there (and the crowd was overwhelmingly male) would have been described in the Vice Do's and Don'ts as a "Timmy". One guy did compliment me on my "If you can read this you are a pope" R.A.W. shirt, telling me that it had brightened his day and gave me an ironic hi-five (very slow, makes no noise upon impact).

I was a little befuddled by the crowd dynamics during Lightning Bolt because while it had similaries to your standard mosh pit/crowd press at the front of the stage, it was still laid-back enough for people to be drinking beer and using their cell phones while in the midst of it. There were also plenty of people who had no idea of proper crushed-crowd etiquette, which was minorly annoying. Admittedly, a large amount of metal/punk/grindcore shows before the age of 20 has turned me into more than a bit of a snob in this area.

dhex · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:33 am Post subject:

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:25 pm Post subject:

dhex · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject:

well, maybe for justin brodrick. some of it reminds me a bit of isis, but without the pomp and hairgel.

if nothing else with mr. brodrick, at least it ain't ice.

edit: listening to it (conqueror) again, it sounds really weird and a bit flat. like why does he only sing through a delay/verb? he's not a crooner or anything but you'd think they could find a vocalist maybe. or not. i mean, it works, it just seems forced after a while.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

After pitching it to one of my friends as my favorite album of all time, I took the time to listen to David Sylvian's Blemish (and its companion The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter, aka the best remix album ever created) again tonight, for the first time in a while. I think what draws me to this material so much is the perfect restraint Sylvian demonstrates. It's essentially a concept album about the dissolution of his 20 year marriage, but it never devolves into platitudes. I can't even say it's a good breakup album, because his emotion and alienation and intelligence pretty much eclipse whatever most people might give voice to.

I came back to it through a discussion with my friend about how few musical works really impress me (or even manage to gain my attention) lyrically. The only other examples I could come up with were Bill Calahan/Smog, Will Oldham/Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Palace, and early Dar Williams. Does anyone have artists to add to these, nostalgia free (I toyed with leaving out Dar Williams because I was first exposed to her before my artistic filters were fully set, but those first two albums just had some undeniably strong writing)?

EDIT: Here are those two Sylvians. If you find Blemish too esoteric you might start with something like the Readymade FC remix of "A Fire in the Forest" on The Good Son vs. the Only Daughter. I assure you though, they're both worth concentration and purchase.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Yeah, Blemish is a very interesting album, disconcerting in just how mellow and subdued it comes off. But my only other Sylvian experiences have been Dead Bees on a Cake and his works with Christ Vrenna on Tweaker (The Attraction to All Things Uncertain and 2 a.m. Wakeup Call are both worth your time, if you can find them).

I'll be sure to give the remix album a listen. It's ever so rare for good remix albums to pop up (Except when it comes to NIN, but I'm biased).

EDIT: Who wants the C86 tape?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

Lately, I've fallen in love with Natsumen's NEVER WEAR OUT YOUR SUMMER XXX !!!. It's this wonderful mix of sprawling prog/post rock and squealing improv jazz. A combination like that might sound pretentious and dull, but they manage to make some of the most joyful, uplifting music I've heard in a long time. The band's entire output is about seasons, most specifically summer, and this album is most definitely summertime music.

A video of Newsummerboy live.

Youtube + bootleg sound quality doesn't really do the brass section much justice, though Sad

Also, I've been listening to Enduser's From Zero. Creative spin on the ol break/raggacore from Cincinnati, by way of Enya samples and "Return of the Mack."
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Speaking of summer, I think I've got the soundtrack to your next wild humid house party right here.

It's some cuts from Sublime Frequencies' new collection of Omar Souleyman tracks; he's a Syrian folk/pop guy who's released several hundred albums in a totally bootleg fashion over the last decade or so. And it kicks the ass of whatever DFA/Kompakt thing you were planning on dancing to.

I'm pretty sure it will rock your next round of Excite Truck, too.

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:39 pm Post subject:

Massacre - From Beyond.

Massacre were pretty by-the-numbers death metal but shit man, those vocals and that guitar sound.
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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Throbbing Gristle -- Part Two: The Endless Not (very much in the vein of late Coil)
Arve Henriksen -- Strjon
Björk -- Volta (a wonderful leap forward from Medúlla)
Circle/Verde -- Tower
Circle -- Earthworm EP
Mayhem -- Ordo Ad Chao
Flower-Corsano Duo -- The Radiant Mirror (thanks to simplicio!)
Koch-Schütz-Studer -- Tales from 30 Unintentional Nights (again!)
Nadja -- Base Fluid (free internet single; doomgaze!)
Nadja -- Touched 2007
Gang Gang Dance -- God's Money (one of my favorites from '05)
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:09 pm Post subject:

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Hell yeah, man. It's easily their best record since De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. And don't get me wrong --- some of the Maniac stuff is great, particularly Wolf's Lair Abyss, and Chimera was a step in a more satisfying direction after Grand Declaration and would've been a stellar album for any OTHER black metal band --- but this is true fucking Mayhem. In addition to the return of Attila Csihar, whose versatile vocal talents shame most "extreme" metal screechers (he goes from his black metal rasp and shriek to death growls to "clean" wailing to Blixa Bargeld-esque squeals like nothing), they seriously benefit from the decision to peel back the production values and expose the raw viscera of their sound; Hellhammer claims to have used triggers on the kickdrums only. And his drumming is as spectacular as ever. The blastbeats are utilized with relative restraint, allowing for some more interesting compositional meandering. Not that they're reluctant to lay down the crushing brutality. This is Mayhem, after all.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:47 pm Post subject:

I have to say after hearing that I am very tempted to pick that up, though, the new Candlemass is should be out pretty soon. That's a dead hard decision for me.
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Just saw the Arcade Fire in Atlanta. The Civic Center was a terrible venue for them, but they are incredible live. I have no words.

Their set included a three-in-a-row run of "Tunnels," "Power Out," and "Rebellion (Lies)" that sent the crowd wild.

The opening act, called The National, were shit.
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dhex · Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 12:09 pm Post subject:

i'm on a weird retro kick for stuff i wasn't listening to when it came out (with one exception) mostly early idm - black dog, b12, fsol, etc.

and south of heaven on repeat. i'd forgotten how fucking ass kick the opening track is. i bought this when i was 11, a little bit after it came out, because i'd heard them described as hard and insane and when you're 11 that means a lot.

man, my wife is going to see the decemberists at summerstage with her sister. 36 bucks each! thank zog i missed out on this. maybe we can find her nice, if dorky, sister a nice little timmy to make smart but awkward babies with.

edit: i know a lot of folks like gang gang dance, but i have to put myself squarely in the negatory on this one. succumbed to peer pressure and i tells ya that's the last time i do that.
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aerisdead · . Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 254 Location: Toronto, Canada

http://myspace.com/heknowsthesun
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aerisdead

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

dhex · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 11:58 am Post subject:

no i heard god's money. i would not pay god's money or my own to see them, frankly. just not my thing.

i like squarepusher and all, but hello everything is literally the most technically impressive bumper music from the weather channel you'll ever hear. it's pleasant but c'mon tom, c'mon. we all know you play bass, dude.
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Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

gonna whore out dungen's tio bitar some more > Neutral

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antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Is it wrong that I'm enjoying Battles' Mirrored?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Why would it be?

It actually makes me think Cornelius' Florida Spring Break a little. That's not a bad thing at all!

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

It makes me think of good old-fashioned krautrock.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

silentmatt · Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject:

Go see them live if you get a chance. Their drummer is frigging INSANE.

Just seeing him play is worth the price of admission, right there.
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"Jadis, si je me souviens bien, ma vie était un festin où s'ouvraient tous les coeurs, où tous les vins coulaient."

Wall of Beef · Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 11:01 am Post subject:

Ive been on a Will Oldham kick as of late. Listening to "I see a Darkness" under his Bonnie "Prince" Billy moniker, as well as "Greatest Palace Music", which are songs he made under the various "Palace" band names he had, but he re-recorded them as Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The two are very different records, but I like them alot. Even if "Greatest Palace Music" is downright country.

Joe · . Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 179

you know, i don't dig on oldham enough, especially considering he's from the city i live in!
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Just got a hold of Joanna Newsom's "Ys," finally.

This is the best album I've heard since, well, since I'm not sure when. It's been a few months at least.

For those of you who haven't heard it/don't know too much about it:

It's only five songs long, but lasts for 55 minutes.
It plays like a beautifully, weirdly orchestrated (think Jon Brion production, slightly) folk narrative.
Joanna's voice is stunning, and she writes better lyrics than most written-word poets.

My favorite moments of the album are when it repeats a theme a few times until a gorgeous climax. The best examples happen on the first song, "Emily," and the fourth song, "Only Skin."

Everyone should take an hour out of his/her day and sink under the weight of this ornate force.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 3:34 am Post subject:

I've forgotten just how great Manilla Road's Open the Gates album is. I'm not going to bother comparing it to Crystal Logic because that's Crystal Logic, it's a complete classic, they may never do an album of that level again. But fuck is Open The Gates a damn good fucking album. If you crack a fat over epic metal you have to track this one down and the one that came afterwards, The Deluge.

Actually buy their entire discography.
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Speaking of albums that you've forgotten about: Fugazi's In On the Kill Taker and Steel Pole Bathtub's The Beauty of Sound in Motion.

They're both pretty raw-sounding (in terms of production) mid 90s post-punk, although they sound pretty much nothing like each other. One (the Fugazi) has a lot of stylistic shifts from song to song, the other (Steel Pole Bathtub) has a bit of the "this all sounds too similar" problem, to the point where I usually only listen to the first half of the album; oh what a half an album it is, including the best Pogues cover of all time.

I've been a bit off turn-of-the-century downtempo lately. While I can understand why Boards of Canada, Plaid and Two Lone Swordsmen are good and someday I will fall in love with them again, they're not doing much for me these days.

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Anyone (with a last.fm account) who wants to make me happy and do the right thing, please go here and bombard the real Ghost pictures with YES votes. I want to push that visual kei shit out of there. It's a disgrace.

These two are especially nice:

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