RedSky0
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Yeah, so I'm going to shamelessly repost something I wrote up elsewhere:
1. Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind | Post Rock/Noise | 4.25/5
I’m clearly biased here, but I just love this to bits. Sure besides the heavy classical influence this is pretty stock standard post rock, but in execution there’s just nothing done wrong. While this doesn’t push the genre anywhere new, it simply excels in its niche. Perhaps the biggest problem here is the production just doesn’t cut it for an ensemble of this size, and needs to be far more discerning. Standout tracks here are Burial at Sea, Ashes in the Snow and Everlasting Light.
2. Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió | Avante Garde/Electronic/Black Metal/Folk) | 4.25/5
Took me a while to get into it, but there's something ineffeably awe inspiring about this album by some Hungarian band I'd never heard of before. Maybe it's the way it transcends genres and is impossible to pin down. Perhaps it's the way it wavers between an extremely soothing concoction of folk and electronica, and pretty ****ing dense metal and jumps in abruptly hilarious fashion between the two. Regardless it just has an inexpicably sublime, ecclectic vibe to it. As far as weakenesses go, since this album focusses on weaving atmosphere there are clear moments where it drags, oddly enough not on the 19 minute Molekuláris gépezetek which also just happens to be the stand out track.
3. Manchester Orchestra - Everything to Nothing | Indie Rock | 4/5
I think everything and more has already been said about this album, but a couple of things make it stand out for me. Dynamism, particularly. What annoys me about most indie is the songs are structured predictably and they don't ****ing go anywhere. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, rinse, repeat. While this album doesn't revolutionise indie, it encompasses enough melodic nooks and subtelties to make itself distinctive. Vocals break out in bouts of agressive, heartfelt, belched intensity then collapse into disconsolate, subdued murmurs. Like a good book, melodies do not need to be conveyed chronologically to be affecting and coherent, and the album benefits this layering and added complexity. Standout tracks include Everything to Nothing and The River.
4. Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland | Psybient/Psytrance (that's what RYM said ...) | 4/5
I have no clue how to review this. It's good, just listen to it.
5. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More | Indie Folk | 4/5
Pretty cookie-cutter folk, but done really well. Perhaps the biggest boon is the handful of instruments every band member is capable of playing, everything from accordians to organs to double bass which gives the impression of a band much larger than a quartet. Songs all follow a fairly predictable, quiet intro, hoedown build up, chastened outro, but it sells itself on how convincingly it's done and the climatical technical complexity you don't often get on comparable folk like Damien Rice. Songs like I Gave You All, Little Lion Man and Thistle & Weeds, are all particular stand-outs. Plus it has banjos! That's right, banjos! Need I say more?
6. Rx Bandits - Mandala | Progressive Rock/Pop Rock/Reggae | 4/5
To sum up, a bunch of incredibly layered and technically proficient jazzy guitar jam session soundscapes, almost quite to the point where each song lacks anything to cling to and the album washes together a bit. Instrumental sections fade in and out effortlessly and the whole album seems shrouded over by a Latin influence with lyrics crossing over into Spanish every now and then. The other half of the songs almost have a pop rock feel to them, while at other certain moments the vocals sound eerily like Jack Johnson. Make of that what you will? Standout tracks include Breakfast Cat and It's Only Another Parsec....
7. Converge - Axe to Fall | Metalcore | 3.75/5
Converge are a band that demands your attention. Riffs will be drilled your mind until your brain is spasming from aneurisms and blood is leaking from your skin pores. Monotony in the middle section you say? The end couple of ballads are a congenial progression and maturing of an effective but stagnant brute force style but would have been better as an interlude to the core album rather than an end tack on? Huh, you say that Jane Doe effectively told a story and creatively broke up bouts of intensity whereas Axe to Fall is a more straightforward affair? **** you. Guitars will distort until you have lost all touch with reality and are imbued with an all consuming inhuman rage and hunger for human flesh. Listening to Converge is masochistic, and you will ****ing enjoy it. Standout tracks include Effigy, Cruel Bloom and Wretched World.
8. Rhian Sheehan - Standing in Silence | Ambient/Electronic | 3.75/5
Quote:
Pretty much what I would say, way better than I could say it. There are some really subtle and evocative sections here, but the album kind of overdoes the epicness value a bit in certain songs.
9. Blueneck - The Fallen Host | Post Rock | 3.75/5
Post-rock is not all about quiet-loud progressions. Really. It's about conveying mood effectively and almost subconsciously. While this album doesn't stray far outside the established genre boundaries, it does this rather well. Weaving Spiders Come Not Here is a great example of a song that sets a culminating mood all but on the back of a simple repeated piano melody. The focus is generally on minimalism with subtle echoes of strings and electronic distortions dotting the background, fronted by an ethereal voice paint every now and then, an almost Godspeed You! Black Emperor tone - all predictably but tastefully converging to a heavy instrumental section. Some standout tracks are Lilitu and Revelations.
10. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - 11-11 | Flamenco | 3.75/5
This is some involving and technical flamenco, but come on there's only so much straight up flamenco a man can take before his head explodes.
Honorable Mentions:
Gorod - Process of a New Decline
Thrice - Beggars
Panzerballett Hart Genossen: Von Abba Bis Zappa
Do Make Say Think - The Other Truths
Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I
Brand New - Daisy
fun. - Aim and Ignite
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
Sights & Sounds - Monolith
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Sunwrae - Autumn Never Fall
Vektor - Black Future
Closure in Moscow - First Temple
Mew - No More Stories
**** Buttons - Tarot Sport
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
St. Vincent - Actor
Soap And Skin - Love Tune For Vacuum
Regina Spektor - Far
Metric - Fantasies
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Christopher Tignor - Core Memory Unwound
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
Kiss Kiss - And the Meek Shall Inherit What's Left
Sarah Fimm - Red Yellow Sun
Toe - For Long Tomorrow
Trespassers William - The Natural Order of Things
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
1. Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind | Post Rock/Noise | 4.25/5
I’m clearly biased here, but I just love this to bits. Sure besides the heavy classical influence this is pretty stock standard post rock, but in execution there’s just nothing done wrong. While this doesn’t push the genre anywhere new, it simply excels in its niche. Perhaps the biggest problem here is the production just doesn’t cut it for an ensemble of this size, and needs to be far more discerning. Standout tracks here are Burial at Sea, Ashes in the Snow and Everlasting Light.
2. Thy Catafalque - Róka Hasa Rádió | Avante Garde/Electronic/Black Metal/Folk) | 4.25/5
Took me a while to get into it, but there's something ineffeably awe inspiring about this album by some Hungarian band I'd never heard of before. Maybe it's the way it transcends genres and is impossible to pin down. Perhaps it's the way it wavers between an extremely soothing concoction of folk and electronica, and pretty ****ing dense metal and jumps in abruptly hilarious fashion between the two. Regardless it just has an inexpicably sublime, ecclectic vibe to it. As far as weakenesses go, since this album focusses on weaving atmosphere there are clear moments where it drags, oddly enough not on the 19 minute Molekuláris gépezetek which also just happens to be the stand out track.
3. Manchester Orchestra - Everything to Nothing | Indie Rock | 4/5
I think everything and more has already been said about this album, but a couple of things make it stand out for me. Dynamism, particularly. What annoys me about most indie is the songs are structured predictably and they don't ****ing go anywhere. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, rinse, repeat. While this album doesn't revolutionise indie, it encompasses enough melodic nooks and subtelties to make itself distinctive. Vocals break out in bouts of agressive, heartfelt, belched intensity then collapse into disconsolate, subdued murmurs. Like a good book, melodies do not need to be conveyed chronologically to be affecting and coherent, and the album benefits this layering and added complexity. Standout tracks include Everything to Nothing and The River.
4. Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland | Psybient/Psytrance (that's what RYM said ...) | 4/5
I have no clue how to review this. It's good, just listen to it.
5. Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More | Indie Folk | 4/5
Pretty cookie-cutter folk, but done really well. Perhaps the biggest boon is the handful of instruments every band member is capable of playing, everything from accordians to organs to double bass which gives the impression of a band much larger than a quartet. Songs all follow a fairly predictable, quiet intro, hoedown build up, chastened outro, but it sells itself on how convincingly it's done and the climatical technical complexity you don't often get on comparable folk like Damien Rice. Songs like I Gave You All, Little Lion Man and Thistle & Weeds, are all particular stand-outs. Plus it has banjos! That's right, banjos! Need I say more?
6. Rx Bandits - Mandala | Progressive Rock/Pop Rock/Reggae | 4/5
To sum up, a bunch of incredibly layered and technically proficient jazzy guitar jam session soundscapes, almost quite to the point where each song lacks anything to cling to and the album washes together a bit. Instrumental sections fade in and out effortlessly and the whole album seems shrouded over by a Latin influence with lyrics crossing over into Spanish every now and then. The other half of the songs almost have a pop rock feel to them, while at other certain moments the vocals sound eerily like Jack Johnson. Make of that what you will? Standout tracks include Breakfast Cat and It's Only Another Parsec....
7. Converge - Axe to Fall | Metalcore | 3.75/5
Converge are a band that demands your attention. Riffs will be drilled your mind until your brain is spasming from aneurisms and blood is leaking from your skin pores. Monotony in the middle section you say? The end couple of ballads are a congenial progression and maturing of an effective but stagnant brute force style but would have been better as an interlude to the core album rather than an end tack on? Huh, you say that Jane Doe effectively told a story and creatively broke up bouts of intensity whereas Axe to Fall is a more straightforward affair? **** you. Guitars will distort until you have lost all touch with reality and are imbued with an all consuming inhuman rage and hunger for human flesh. Listening to Converge is masochistic, and you will ****ing enjoy it. Standout tracks include Effigy, Cruel Bloom and Wretched World.
8. Rhian Sheehan - Standing in Silence | Ambient/Electronic | 3.75/5
Quote:
| Originally Posted by http://www.thesilentballet.com/tsbt/2009/10_01.html One of the finest masterpieces of sound this year comes from the island country of New Zealand, from the multi-talented electronic producer, Rhian Sheehan. Standing In Silence is one of the most incredible and sincere portrayals of the consequences of having to deal with an out-of-control human existence whose life may well be limited by its own greed. While that description may paint a gloomy picture in some minds, those who are willing to take a chance will find that this is Rhian’s breakthrough album, his grand cinematic excursion, overwhelming with crushingly beautiful yet daring emotion. This is an album, that if overlooked, will not achieve its destination as one of the year’s most inspiring albums. Using unique instruments such as the glockenspiel, music boxes, and helpful hands from several notable musicians, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, there seems to be a never-ending dosage of mind-blowing splendor and self-reflection within this sonic gem. (Brett Hayes) |
Pretty much what I would say, way better than I could say it. There are some really subtle and evocative sections here, but the album kind of overdoes the epicness value a bit in certain songs.
9. Blueneck - The Fallen Host | Post Rock | 3.75/5
Post-rock is not all about quiet-loud progressions. Really. It's about conveying mood effectively and almost subconsciously. While this album doesn't stray far outside the established genre boundaries, it does this rather well. Weaving Spiders Come Not Here is a great example of a song that sets a culminating mood all but on the back of a simple repeated piano melody. The focus is generally on minimalism with subtle echoes of strings and electronic distortions dotting the background, fronted by an ethereal voice paint every now and then, an almost Godspeed You! Black Emperor tone - all predictably but tastefully converging to a heavy instrumental section. Some standout tracks are Lilitu and Revelations.
10. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - 11-11 | Flamenco | 3.75/5
This is some involving and technical flamenco, but come on there's only so much straight up flamenco a man can take before his head explodes.
Honorable Mentions:
Gorod - Process of a New Decline
Thrice - Beggars
Panzerballett Hart Genossen: Von Abba Bis Zappa
Do Make Say Think - The Other Truths
Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I
Brand New - Daisy
fun. - Aim and Ignite
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Oracles
Sights & Sounds - Monolith
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Sunwrae - Autumn Never Fall
Vektor - Black Future
Closure in Moscow - First Temple
Mew - No More Stories
**** Buttons - Tarot Sport
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
St. Vincent - Actor
Soap And Skin - Love Tune For Vacuum
Regina Spektor - Far
Metric - Fantasies
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Christopher Tignor - Core Memory Unwound
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
Kiss Kiss - And the Meek Shall Inherit What's Left
Sarah Fimm - Red Yellow Sun
Toe - For Long Tomorrow
Trespassers William - The Natural Order of Things
Between the Buried and Me - The Great Misdirect
