Blog two, comin' with that ol' E-brew
Giggs-tical puttin' niggaz back in I.C.U.

Matt Elliott - The Mess We Made
Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Electronic
Release Year: 2003

Seeing as this is the exact type of thing that the likes of tranny and Seg in particular would likely eat up, it wouldn't especially surprise me if I'm reporting on old news with this one, but The Mess We Made is one of most awesome, moody albums I've heard in ages. Landing sonically somewhere between Boards of Canada, UNKLE and Low, with an dreary atmosphere best compared to Radiohead's Amnesiac, it's about as unclassifiable as it is effective. RYM has it tagged as Electronic, Slowcore, Singer-Songwriter, Post Rock and Folk, which just about sums up its uniqueness, I reckon.

The Mess We Made's eight tracks all tend to smudge together in a haze of unease, but the nine-minute centrepiece Cotard's Syndrome stands out simply because it takes the prize as the dreariest of all, and the brilliantly put together Spanish guitar-influenced closer Forty Days is also worthy of note and acclaim. Only The Sinking Ship Song really stands out at all for negative reasons - and even only then because as awesome as authentic accordion-laced sea shanties are, they're a little out of place on a record as ambiguous and grey as this one.

But if I know you guys at all, you love ambiguity and greyness, right?

Download Link (192 Kbps)

Link mercilessly stolen from http://aroomtobreathin.blogspot.com - check it out, or something.

Air - Love 2
Genre: Electronic, Indie
Year: 2009



I haven't heard this yet, but I get the feeling it might be popular amongst us so I threw it up early. I'll probably throw a review up later.

buy (available 10/5)
try

Micronaut - Europa
Genre: Electronic, Instrumental Rock
Year: 2005






Europa is not like most electronic music. Most electronic music is extremely synthetic, created in a small room on a computer. If something from the electronic genre sounds organic, it's usually sampled. There is nothing wrong with this approach to music at all, and indeed, many of my favourite records are created this way.

But not Europa.

Europa is the electronic sideproject of one Chris Randall, the creator of the seminal industrial rock band Sister Machine Gun. Chris Randall is a programmer first and a rock musician second, but that rock sensibility never goes away. There's loads of guitars and basslines and all that good old natural shit going on here. Sometimes I classify this album as instrumental rock over electronic just because it feels like something you could actually see a band playing instead of a guy letting the computer do all the work.

My favourite thing about Europa is its progression. The first four tracks plod along in a restrained, quiet way - you don't really notice that they're there, but you appreciate them nonetheless. They're pleasant. Then the album flows seamlessly into some glitchy IDM, then a brooding piece with a cello, then some loud guitar riffs, and then back to brooding again. All the while, Europa maintains its restraint, sounding like something that approaches the boiling point but never quite goes over. The second half of the album is just gorgeous songwriting. I have a hard time putting it into words, but it just feels like you're listening to something great.

And you are.

buy
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A mix I put together whilst under the influence of orange juice. Enjoy.

+ Toggle Tracklisting

SIDE A:
1. The Heliocentrics - Distant Star
2. Quantic & His Combo Barbaro - The Dreaming Mind
3. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Sankofa
4. Afrique - Soul Makossa
5. The Heliocentrics - Joyride
6. James Brown - There Was A Time (Kenny Dope Remix)
7. Generoso Jimenez - The Phantom Bass
8. Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Go Je Je

SIDE B:
1. The Daktaris - Daktari Walk
2. Wareika Hill Sounds - Reggae Land Dub
3. Aiff - Let It Rock
4. A Race Of Angels - Just Begin
5. TM Juke - Knee Dee (Nostalgia 77 Remix)
6. Marlena Shaw - California Soul (Diplo / Mad Decent Remix)
7. Nostalgia 77 Octet - Nativeland
8. Nobody & Blank Blue - All The Shallow Deep

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Kode9 - Black Sun (12")
Genre: Electronic / Dubstep
Released: 2009

Funky shit from Kode9. Always good to hear new stuff being done with dubstep instead of the usual mid-range wobble.

LINK(320kbps) (mediafire)
or
LINK (320kbps) (sharebee)

I'd recommend you do the right thing and pick it up on vinyl!

Sub Loam - Ohr
Ambient
Year: 2009

I'm sorry Boomkat. I'm not one to guard the genre boarder, but there is no way that this album is modern classical. And what the hell is home listening, anyway? That's more of a description, wouldn't you say?

I suppose I should stop talking to (at?) Boomkat and start talking about what this album is, rather than what it isn't. It is the latest release from Cotton Goods, a new ambient label out of the UK that makes gorgeous, handcrafted and limited covers for all of their releases. It is ambient, in that there is very subtle progression among the tape hiss and the drone. It is an EP. It is something to put on right before you go to sleep -- home listening, you might call it. It is quite good.

Albums without voices are possibly the music writer's wet dream. They can allow the writer to say anything s/he wants to with little fear of ruffling any feathers. How can your assertians be wrong? Easily, actually -- hello Boomkat. Or the writer may use several superfluous and exaggerated claims about the album -- hello Boomkat. I refuse to do this. I will, and I suppose am, going to note the following:

- This album is ambient, purely ambient. It is slow and builds to a very subtle climax.
- There are some well-placed found sounds used throughout the album, building a peaceful soundscape that is rarely interrupted.
- Ohr is Hebrew for light, nettle is a type of plant. Knowing this makes the imagery evoked in the track titles ("Nettle Mix", "Undergrown Path", and "Stones, Sunlight, Morning") more apparent and coherent.

My name is Jordan and I hope you enjoy this album.

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All Natural - No Additives, No Preservatives (Xtra Phat)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Released:  1998

Yeah, this one is strictly for the Hip-Hop heads. 

All Natural are a duo from Chicago who have released two of the most slept-on Hip-Hop LP's in recent times, and undoubtedly some of the best Hip-Hop to ever come out of the windy city. Everyone loves a bit of experimental Hip-Hop every now and then, but you know, sometimes... you just want to hear something uncomprimisingly pure. As their name suggests, All Natural make Hip-Hop which is exactly that. I believe they also run (or ran?) their own health bar (wtf?), as you can see from their album cover. Anyway, this whole album is packed with classics, with quality that matches the quantity (it's a big album!). For some reason, one of my favourite moments in Hip-Hop is just Capital D repeatedly stating "it's Windy City style!" on the intro to 'It's OK', and that flute sample... you could chill to that all day. There's not much else for me to say really except that this album is ridiculously dope and an essential part of your Hip-Hop collection. So yeah... refresh your mind with some healthy Hip-Hop.

LINK (256kbps) (megaupload)
LINK (256kbps) (mediafire)
Buy It!






I'll also be posting their follow-up LP Second Nature later which is as good, if not better.

Autechre - LP5
Genre: Electronica/IDM/Techno
Release Year: 1998

- Are my colleagues sick of this band yet? They will be.

I just yesterday finally got around to hearing the electronic duo's lessee uh...fifth long player and within the twenty four hours I've had since then, I've played the length of it about five, going on six times. It's rare for an album to take me over for even just a day, and here with no end to the addiction in sight. So I might as well blog about it.

The first thing I noted is that like most Autechre outings, LP5 is a monolithic yet foggy affair. By this I mean that Sean Booth and Rob Brown's mantra behind the music is "more is more", which allows for a sense of "bigness" but also forces, for better or for worse, a near irreducible complexity on it. In one light, the songs all develop and mature (or corrode), but trying to actively listen for the changes is like trying to detect the minute hand on a clock move around - it'll eventually come full circle but your mind can't consciously observe that kind of thing. Just doesn't have the capacity. But don't fret puny human, this is exactly where the might and magic of Autechre comes from.

LP5 in particular is probably their best work in making that magic happen without completely alienating the listener from the experience altogether. Later works like Confield and Quaristice ended up being so cerebral that anyone with two sober feet on the ground would be turned away at the gates of dissonance, and earlier stuff such as Tri Repetae and Amber, while great pieces of work by themselves, simply don't have the balls that LP5 has. And so in my mind it currently sits as the summit of two methodical sides of a mountain. After a day.

Next to the rest of music, it's some of the most psychotic, intelligent stuff there is.

And when compared head to head to another certain IDM flagship, Boards of Canada aren't even that good.

- Seginustemple

Top tracks - Arch Carrier, Rae, Drane2



>>> Link <<<

hello, my name is luke. i hope you're all doing wonderful





Mythematica - Mythematica
Genre: Electronic / Ambient / Psytrance
Year: 2009

There is a huge genre of ambient-y electronic music that is absolutely impossible to define with words. I find that it's easiest to say "it sounds like Boards of Canada", even if it sounds absolutely fucking nothing like Boards of Canada. Hell, Boards of Canada aren't even that good -- sorry Seg -- but at least people know what the hell you're talking about. I was just peeking around and found the term "neo-ambient". Neo-Ambient? Really? What does this even mean?

90% of the albums that fit the "fuck it, it sounds like Boards of Canada" label are decent albums that I'll never listen to again. They're usually good for background music but not for repetitive listening. Every once in a while, though, I'll find something absolutely amazing that just clicks on the first listen. I have no idea what it is but it's just musically interesting and keeps bringing me back for more.

Mythematica doesn't really sound like Boards of Canada at all, but fucked if I know how to pigeonhole them. Sometimes they've got beautiful soundscapes, sometimes they're playing some funky jazz, sometimes they can be pigeonholed into the psytrance genre, and sometimes they probably sound something like what a generic Boards of Canada fan would like. I don't fucking know. But it's really good, one of the best electronic albums I've heard all year.

buy

try

Giggs is in the house; represent, represent, 'sent
A Tribe Called Quest; represent, repre-

Oh right, this is a serious blog and so forth. My bad.

The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite
Genre: (Avant-Garde) Black Metal
Release Year: 2009

One thing I have been enjoying the absolute shit out of recently, to make this post vaguely topical, is the new The Ruins of Beverast album. Rain Upon the Impure is probably my pick for best black metal album of the decade, and despite thinking it was a jumbled incoherent mess upon first listen, I'm beginning to think his new one, Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite, is almost as good.

As it's ridiculous name may imply, though, it's most certainly not for the musically faint of heart. 80 minutes of oppressive black metal interspersed with harsh death-doom sections, beautiful Gregorian chant-esque vocals and obscene amounts of feedback await. I'd say "enjoy" but it hardly seems appropriate.

Download Link (320Kbps)

The Gaslamp Killer - My Troubled Mind
Genre: Electronic / Psychedelic / Trip-Hop
Released: 2009

Heavy 10" EP released on a limited run of 2000 copies.


LINK (320kbps)

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