arf's january 2022 haul
The rules are simple: I listen to as many albums as possible, and report back to sputnik with a selection. Some will be new releases, some will be old stuff I'm discovering, some will be stuff I already know from long ago that I gave a proper listen again. Aside from personal favs, I'll try to avoid anything that's getting attention otherwise already. |
| 1 |  | Pensees Nocturnes
Douce Fange
Personal AOTM - this album is simply exactly my vibe. I need to give it a proper listen under the influence of wine and cheese some time.
[ blackened musette ]
2022-01-16 |
| 2 |  | Earthless
Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
Three 20 minute jams that go very hard. Earthless's beat is groovier and the riffs are danker. This is not just another stoner release.
[ stoner rock ]
2022-01-28 |
| 3 |  | Punch Brothers
Hell On Church Street
Intended to be a tribute to their mentor and idol Tony Rice, covering the same songs (bluegrass and hillbilly classics) as his acclaimed solo album Church Street Blues, but sadly he passed away (RIP) soon after they started work on it.
[ progressive bluegrass ]
2022-01-14 |
| 4 |  | Ysyry Mollvun
Ysyry Mollvün
Concept album that delves into indigenous Patagonian folklore. You don't hear pagan metal from this region often.
[ atmospheric black metal ]
2022-02-11 (pre-streamed) |
| 5 |  | Planeswalker
Tales of Magic
Magic: the Gathering power metal. Warning: extra cheese. Oh and the vocalist will sing with Gloryhammer in the future. Songwriting is just adventurous enough not to bore you after 2 tracks, but still safe from being "progressive".
[ power metal ]
2022-01-21 |
| 6 |  | Lastryko
Sesje
Is this Krautrock? But Gdynia is in Poland now...
[ space rock / Berlin school ]
2022-01-17 |
| 7 |  | Weress
Au-Delà des Lieux Légendaires
Dungeon synth in space! How cool is that? (Well, it actually does sound even colder than typical dungeon synth.)
[ dungeon synth / space ambient ]
2022-01-08 |
| 8 |  | Polterwytch
5 Curses Of The Polterorgel
(EP)
There's now this new trend and everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon: take black metal sound, add some organ (either church or hammond will do), and use that instrumentation play some catchy tunes that would otherwise fit classic hard rock or punk. I quite like this formula, keep it going.
[ blackened horror punk ]
2022-01-14 |
| 9 |  | Bong Wizard
Vulgar Display of Flower
DUDE WEED LMAO
This is gimmicky af, but gotta give them props for actually writing kinda decent songs to go along the dankest lyrics one can possibly come up with. Extra points because I had fun listening to this.
[ stoner metal ]
2022-01-07 |
| 10 |  | Carathis
The Amethyst Fortress
(EP)
Also adding the organ, but a bit more traditionally melodic black metal.
2021-12-20
[ melodic black metal ] |
| 11 |  | Kaatayra
Inpariquipê
Deconstructed, minimalist, lush tropical take on atmospheric BM. Catching up on this and oh boy this is one of the top releases of 2021 imo.
2021-11-26
[ tropical post-metal ] |
| 12 |  | Dolpo
Inner Himalayas
I've always thought that Tibetan musical tradition - with its droning horns and undertone throatsinging - would make a great combination with metal (in particular, drone-doom) - even better than the now already well-tried Mongolian. Dolpo does exactly this. The album actually includes field recordings the band (Italians) made on their trip to the Himalayas. Verdict? Could be better, but this is a promising demonstration of the concept.
[ tibetan drone-doom metal ]
2019-01 |
| 13 |  | Hugo Kant
Far From Home
Very trippy, appropriately otherworldly jazzy downtempo with folky instrumentation. It's quite varied too, so each track is its own minitrip here.
[ trip-hop / nu-jazz ]
2020-10 |
| 14 |  | Kokoroko
Kokoroko
(EP)
It's short, but it grooves hard. Excellent musicianship, stands on its own as more than just 70s pastiche.
[ afrobeat / jazz-funk ]
2019-03 |
| 15 |  | Mari Lwyd
Future King
This is not just another medieval-ish dungeon synth album. Highly recommended.
[ dungeon synth ]
2019-11 |
| 16 |  | Vandalorum
Mesopotamian Death Cult
One of the themes I like to hear explored in dungeon synth are the mysteries of ancient civilizations. This is another great HDK release.
[ dungeon synth ]
2019-07 |
| 17 |  | Cyrille Verdeaux
Moebius
New-agey progressive electronic. At the start of 80s Cyrille Verdeaux (of Clearlight) recorded a series of cassette tapes exploring new age themes through neoclassical piano and synths, mostly solo, some in collaboration with other artists. Moebius is a good place to start with the catalog.
[ neoclassical / progressive electronic ]
1981 |
| 18 |  | Gandalf the Grey
The Grey Wizard Am I
Hippie folk with a dash of psych by an eccentric dude who is apparently the current incarnation of Gandalf? This is fairly good self-produced stuff, the recording is of appropriate bedroom quality (cult status guaranteed!), however it could be better if he didn't give up on the concept album idea 3 songs in.
[ psychedelic folk ]
1972 |
| 19 |  | Roger Payne
Songs of the Humpback Whale
This dude singlehandedly saved the whales by recording a jam session by a group of them and making whaling uncool.
[ whale song ]
1970 |
| 20 |  | Li Jianhong
San Sheng Shi
Frenetic onslaught of reverb and distortion. This is an improvised wall of pure energy, so powerful that the musician suffered a heatstroke after finishing the recording.
[ noise ]
2008 |
| 21 |  | Carl Ruggles
Sun-Treader
Ominous, cosmic horror, in the form of symphonic poem. One of composers later known as The American Five (more famous perhaps Charles Ives and Henry Cowell), pioneers of avantgarde classical.
[ modernist classical / symphonic poem ]
1931 |
| 22 |  | Demoniac
Stormblade
Confession: I got into metal thanks to Guitar Hero III. And you know what the boss song of that game was. But before DragonForce was DragonForce, they lived in New Zealand and recorded three albums, morphing from black metal to, well DragonForce with black metal vocals. In-between was this album, which somehow, yeah, does that exact blackened hard rock sound (even adding the organ at one point.) And the edgy lyrics ("Hatred is Purity"? Seriously? Careful with that edge!) mean this really could pass as precursor to BMSS and the scene it spawned.
[ blackened heavy metal ]
1997 |
| 23 |  | Tohpati Ethnomission
Save the Planet
Tohpati and his band manage to weave some of their local Indonesian musical heritage into jazz fusion, in a similar manner to how Mahavishnu Orchestra was inspired by Indian traditions.
[ ethno-jazz-fusion ]
2010 |
| 24 |  | Alamaailman Vasarat
Käärmelautakunta
Do you like crazy, deranged music with horns that goes hard? I like crazy, deranged music with horns that goes hard.
[ avant-prog / klezmer ]
2003 |
| 25 |  | Vernian Process
Behold the Machine
Is steampunk still a thing? The fad was mostly visual, but it managed to produce some music as well, mostly in a style that combines cabaret with gothic rock (and adjacent genres). Most of it is just bland fad music about steam-powered robots and Victorian pastiche. Vernian Process actually developed the sound into something a bit more serious. Unfortunately, there was no follow-up to this album. I guess writing good music is hard.
[ neoclassical darkwave / industrial ]
2009 |
| 26 |  | Zbogom, Ajda
Med Zarjo
Calm folky post-rock, this was a student project (uploaded on soundcloud). This album (and the previous one, which I'm not as impressed by) got some traction on obscure online communities, and then the project disappeared without a trace.
[ post-rock ]
2012 |
| 27 |  | Wongraven
Fjelltronen
Now that I'm listening to quite a bit of dungeon synth, I am also relistening the classics I already heard much earlier when the genre didn't interest me as much. I remember this one being good from when I listened to it as a teen but I don't remember it being THAT good.
[ dungeon synth / nordic folk ]
1995 |
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