So if you’re a fan of Scuba, chances are you’ve probably already streamed his latest LP Personality. And if you haven’t had the chance yet, head over to the official soundcloud page for the album to check out one of the more controversial electronic releases of the year so far.
So with the material now out for the world to hear, what’s next? Well if you’re Scuba, hopping on to ustream for a 2 hour set for Beatport would seem to be the most natural thing. And you can catch the whole thing below.
1. Something In Between Us – Sigha
2. Like Sun – Toasty
3. Empire – Distance
4. Guts N Bones – Slaughter Mob
5. Take It Personal – Toasty
6. Anger – Search & Destroy
7. Angel – Toasty
8. Nomad – Distance
9. Brood – Boxcutter
10. The Knowledge – Toasty
11. Deep Under – Elemental
12. Candyfloss – Search & Destroy
13. You Got Me – Scuba
14. The Lights (DJ Joseph Remix) – Eric H
15. L’Amour – Slaughter Mob
16. Plate – Scuba
17. So You Think You’re Special – Scuba
18. Cognitive Dissonance – Scuba
19. Obsessed…
Sometime in 2009 I drifted away from music fanaticism. People who read this site might remember when I contributed album reviews and music criticism as a staff member and not emeritus. Similarly I had a couple of composition projects I was working on around that time that moved from amateur to professional (in aspiration only) and then to shelved before I could finish the mixing and mastering process. I have no interest in dredging the depths of my hard drive to complete these sessions, but I do think it’d be nice to share the demos.
The music is guitar-centric but is best identified as trip hop if only for the chill but detailed drum patterns. I wanted the textures to be pretty languid throughout so I sampled a lot of Javanese gamelan (a closeted love of mine) and combined this with an amazing drum kit library shared by a buddy who some of you may know as PSY/OPSogist. Compositionally I was heavily influenced by him as well as similar artists like Team Sleep, Blue Sky Black Death, DJ Shadow, and Xiu Xiu, among others.
Hopefully there’s a track or two in this collection you enjoy. Though the whole album is meant to have a flow (I’m an artíste bro), if you only have time for one track check out “These Arms.” It’s definitely the most energetic song on the album and I haven’t heard of anybody who thinks it’s scrubby (yet). Thank you!
I’ve pretty much said everything that I can about this album on my review, but here is an abridged version. Imminent Sonic Destruction play a version of progressive metal that mixes a large dose of modern metal riffing along with some different vocal styles. The main style sounds like a cross between Voivod and Mudvayne, but there are also black metal shouts, death grows and even some Hetfield-ish parts. As far as the song goes, it is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album but it can, at least, give listeners a decent idea of what to expect from the album.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 21, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Olafur Arnalds – Another Happy Day(Erased Tapes) Blood Sweat & Tears – In Concert (Wounded Bird Records)
Bonobo – Black Sands Remixed (Ninja Tune)
Buckethead – Electric Sea (Metastation)
Busdriver – Beaus$Eros (Fake Four Inc.) Cheap Girls – Giant Orange(Rise Records)
The Chieftains – Voice of Ages (Hear Music)
Cursive – I am Gemini (Saddle Creek)
Davidian – Our Fear is Their Force (Massacre Records)
Dodgy – Stand Upright in a Cool Place (Strikeback)
Drudkh- Eternal Turn of the Wheel (Season of Mist)
Elmsfire – Thieves of the Sun (Massacre Records) Eluveitie – Helvetios(Nuclear Blast) Farewell Republic – Burn the Boats(Self Released) — SowingSeason Field Music – Plumb(Memphis Industries) — SowingSeason fun. – Some Nights(Fueled By Ramen) — Adam Knott
Galactic – Carnivale Electricos (ANTI-) Grimes – Visions(4AD) — Conrad Tao
Gary Husband – Dirty And Beautiful: Volume 2 (Abstract Logix)
Jeff Hamilton Trio – Red Sparkle (Capri) Imminent Sonic Destruction – Recurring Themes(Self Released) — Trey Spencer
Infinito 2017 – Conquest of the More v.1 (Joe Left Hand Rec.)
Jonquil – Point of Go (Dovecote Records)
Damien Jurado – Maraqopa (Secretly Canadian)
Lambchop – Mr. M (Merge Records)
Terry Malts – Killing Time (Slumberland…
Even though the Internet is, in theory, a technology which opens the floodgates and makes the acquisition of information more fluid, more chaotic, and more free, the simple truth is that as a result of that (over-)abundance, we feel the need to divide lest we forget how to conquer. What hypothetically should enable us to digest music without its labels ultimately leads us to label it even more ridiculously than we did before, to compartmentalise in new, almost innovative ways just in order to construct a road-map through the hell of cyberspace and the ideas with which we’re presented.
This isn’t exactly a revelation, but what interests me is the way we handle it when an unexpected event screws with our neat ideas of what constitutes good, bad, pop, metal: how do we adjust when someone moves the goalposts artistically? This has to be a test, because no person is capable of removing the art they’re experiencing entirely from its context or from the discourses surrounding it. Would that it were possible, but it isn’t.
So when Bon Iver punched through the speakers to deliver the curveball that was “Woods” way back on his Blood Bank EP, everyone went insane. You’ll recall that this was a point, distant though it now may seem, when Justin Vernon was still in most regards a cult superstar and perceived as a lonely, bearded guy with a guitar. Nobody expected anything else from him; if they claim they did, they’re having you on.…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 14, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Barry Adamson – I Will Set You Free (Central Control)
Anvil – Pound for Pound [ReIssue] (The End Records)
Audrey Assad – Heart (Sparrow Records)
Audra Mae and The Almighty Sound – Audra Mae and The Almighty Sound (Side One Dummy) Avatar – Black Waltz(Entertainment One)
Band Of Skulls – Sweet Sour (Vagrant Records)
The Beauty of Gemina – Iscariot Blues (Metropolis Records)
Beneath the Massacre – Incongruous (Prosthetic Records)
Sean Born – Behind the Scale (Mello Music Group) Burial – Kindred(Hyperdub)— Deviant Caliban – I Am Nemesis {EU} (Century Media)
Dawn Of Ashes – Farewell To The Flesh [EP] (Metal Blade Records)
Lee DeWyze – What Once Was (Wuli)
Earth – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II (Southern Lord)
Eisbrecher – Die Holle Muss Warten (Metropolis Records) Eisley – Deep Space [EP] (Equal Vision Records)
Exdetectives – Take My Forever (Post Planetary) The Explorers Club – Grand Hotel(Rock Ridge Music) — SowingSeason
Field Music – Plumb (Memphis Industries)
The Frozen Autumn – Chirality (Metropolis Records)
Goatwhore – Blood for the Master (Metal Blade)
Heartless Bastards – Arrow (Partisan Records)
Hillsong – Live in Miami (Hillsong)
Belle Histoire – I Can Tell (InVogue Records)
Hopes Die Last – Trust No One (Standby Records/Red) …
One album that I’ve been holding out for ever since its announcement (and after hearing the My Old School EP, knowing that, one day, he’d have to present us with a full-length of some kind) is John Talabot’s debut LP, fin.
One of those rare house releases that purposefully avoids existing in any particular time frame, it eschews immediacy by slowly and patiently building itself up under waves of liquid tension and sun kissed melodies. Borrowing greatly from the ’90s Ibiza house scene, as well as using the more minimal tendencies of Europe’s more mysterious stalwarts, the Barcelona based artist has crafted one of those rare and magical albums where everything seems to work comfortably unperturbed with its surroundings or context. As a teaser for the night ahead, it’s a tantalizing call to arms; as the afternoon medication it’s simply sublime. Best served under a scorching sun with partners close at hand.
‘Last Land’ represents the pinnacle of Talabot’s production talents, featuring perhaps one of the most creative loops this side of The Field. It holds the kind of melody that house producers just seem to avoid these days, as if they’re afraid at creating a kind of anthem that they won’t be able to contain. For Talabot however, this kind of thing just seems to come naturally to him.
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You can purchase fin through Permanent vacation here.
When I learned that Dia Frampton had participated on season one of NBC’s The Voice, I decided that I would give season 2 a chance when it finally aired after the Superbowl. The episode that ran after the Superbowl was better than the crap that American Idol had been pushing, but, despite the talent, nobody really caught my attention — today was different. Lindsey Pavao is a bartender out of Sacramento, California that counts Radiohead, Bjork and Fiona Apple among her influences and it totally shows on her rendition of “Say Aah” by Trey Songz. The song on the video is an abbreviated version of her full performance, but it was enough to convince me to buy the full version on iTunes.
Lindsey Pavao definitely has a unique look and voice, and her take on “Say Aah” shows that she also has a bit of a creative side too.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of February 07, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Air – Le Voyage Dans La Lune(Astralwerks) — Deviant
A Place to Bury Strangers – Onwards to the Wall (Dead Oceans)
Dierks Bentley – Home (Capitol Nashville)
Tim Berne – Snakeoil (ECM Records) Beth Jeans Houghton & Hooves Of Destiny – Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose(Mute) Big Sir – Before Gardens After Gardens (Rodriguez Lopez Productions)
Archer Black – Forgiveness Is A Weapon (Post Planetary)
Casting Call – Life Goes On (Casting Call)
Robert Deeble – Heart Like Feathers (Dead Letter Records) Departures – Green Turns To Red, Then Turns To Gold (Fist in the Air Records) Die Antwoord – Ten$Ion (Downtown) Dr. Dog – Be The Void(Anti-) — SowingSeason Eluveitie – Helvetios {EU} (Nuclear Blast) Feed Me – Escape From Electric Mountain(Mau5trap) — Deviant The Fray – Scars & Stories(Epic) — SowingSeason Hyper Crush – Night Wave (RPM) Kiros – Lay Your Weapons Down (Century Media Records)
Ben Kweller – Go Fly a Kite (The Noise Company)
The Law – Trigger (Local Boy Records)
The Lemonheads – Hotel Sessions (CBRA)
Liam The Younger – After the Graveyard (Underwater Peoples Records)
Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD Records) Scott Matthew – Gallantry’s Favorite Son (Riot Bear Recording)
Paul McCartney…
The Users’ Best of 2011 list has been posted in its entirety. Feel free to skim through it and lament the omission of your favorite albums.
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of January 31, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
The 2 Bears – Be Strong (DFA) Alcest – Les Voyages de L’Ame(Prophecy Productions) — Kyle Ward
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour – Out Of Frequency (B.A.R. Music)
Astral Doors – Jerusalem (Metalville)
Black Bananas – Rad Times Xpress IV (Piccadilly Records)
Bleeding Through – The Great Fire (Rise Records)
Cirith Ungol – Servants of Chaos [Re-Issue] (Metal Blade)
Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Columbia)
The Doozer – Keep It Together (Woodsist)
Candy Dulfer – Crazy (Razor & Tie) Lana del Rey- Born to Die(Interscope) — Adam Downer
Matt Flinner – Winter Harvest (Compass Records)
Ruthie Foster – Let It Burn (Blue Corn Music)
Aretha Franklin – Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998 (Sony Legacy) Jacques Greene – Concealer(Self Released) — Deviant Gotye – Making Mirrors (Universal Republic) Grimes – Visions (4AD) — Conrad Tao Hit The Lights – Invicta(Razor & Tie) — DaveyBoy Imperial Teen – Feel The Sound (Merge Records) The Internet – Purple Naked Ladies [Physical Version] (Odd Future) — Deviant
The Jealous Sound – A Gentle…
Robin Pecknold wants to be the man on the screen – that much is clear from the get-go – but how far are we willing to bend to accommodate him? Quite a bit, it seems, judging by the Santoshian levels of patience with which all of us waited for his band’s sophomore release, Helplessness Blues, to drop. Although three years usually isn’t seen as a particularly long gestation period for an album – just ask Kate Bush – it wasn’t really the length of the wait that ended up toying with us big time, but rather the stop-start nature of the band’s initial recording sessions and Pecknold’s sketchy vision of what he wanted his group’s second album to be like. Having first said that he wanted the album to be released in late 2009, and that, “even if there are fuck-ups, I want them to be on there: I want there to be guitar mistakes; I want there to be not totally flawless vocals”, the principal songwriter for the Fleet Foxes ended up scrapping virtually the entirety of their first batch of recording sessions once he decided that he didn’t quite like what he was hearing, thus sending his entire crew back to the drawing board and about $60,000 in the hole. Once famously described by Seattle producer Phil Ek as having “talent coming out of his ass”, the Seattle native…
Riding on the curtails of a buzzing demo, followed by the left-field addition into hardcore/metal label Deathwish, Bay Area’s own Deafheaven is a poster child of success this year. Essentially springing up out of nowhere, their own special blend of “My Bloody Valentine meets Weakling” has spring boarded them into the limelight, reaching and relating to fans of multiple genres and styles. Roads To Judah carries so much depth as an album that its nearly unimaginable to believe that it’s only a debut, leaving the door open for countless possibilities and directions as to which path this enigmatic group will tread upon next. Whether its the shoegazey haze of ‘Violet’, to the post-rock/black metal hybrid of ‘Unrequited’, Roads To Judah is a melting pot of various musical styles that blend together to create one of the most memorable debut albums this generation has ever seen. – ThisLifeisGenocide
“Vulgar verbal abuse; foul-mouthed; coarse, abusive, or slanderous,” reads the dictionary definition of “scurrilous”, which, while a more-than-decent descriptor of Canadian progressive metal band Protest the Hero’s (PtH) third studio effort, doesn’t quite tell the whole story. Scurrilous sees PtH indulging in shenanigans that frankly didn’t seem possible during their unpolished (but much-heralded) Kezia and Fortress eras. Most evident of all is their…
At this point, Esoteric can be called the forerunners of funeral doom metal, because they’re just that good. Paragon Of Dissonance is more of the same from the esteemed band, only this time massive improvements have been made. The rhythm section and melodies that weave into the thick, crushing guitars are more interesting than usual, making massive song lengths seem shorter than they are. When I say massive song lengths, I mean that the longest song here is eighteen minutes long – that’s pretty long. Still, as usual, Esoteric handle their songs excellently, somehow keeping the listener hypnotized the entire time. It’s no easy task, but they make it look like child’s play. Now that’s some proper funeral doom! – Pizzamachine
Well, isn’t this fitting. A I A, elusive and gorgeous little double-mini-album that it is, is perfectly content here, as the forty-ninth of fifty great albums this year, sandwiched between two metal albums you probably forgot to download. This is an album destined to be eternally lodged in the periphery of music criticism communities like the one we have here–something that distinguishes it from, say, Bon Iver, Bon Iver or James Blake or what have you. This isn’t to say that A I A is worse than those other albums–after all, it’s my fifth favorite…
Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of January 24, 2012. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff or contributors.
Aborted – Global Flatline (Century Media)
Archetype – Red Wedding (Dekagon Records)
Atomic Forest – Obsession [Remastered] (Now Again) Battle Beast – Steel {EU} (Nuclear Blast)
Bhi Bhiman – Bhiman (Redeye Label)
Biohazard – Reborn In Defiance (Nuclear Blast)
Blessed By a Broken Heart – Feel the Power (Tooth & Nail Records)
Bleubird – Cannonball!!! (Fake Four Inc.)
Chairlift – Something (Columbia) Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory(Carpark Records) — Adam Downer
Joe Cocker – Hard Knocks (Savoy Label Group) Dead Icons – Condemned (Bullet Tooth)
Dion – Tank Full of Blues (Blue Horizon Ventures) Craig Finn – Clear Heart Full Eyes(Vagrant Records) — Adam Knott
First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar (Wichita Recordings) Foxy Shazam – The Church of Rock and Roll(EMI)
Gangrene – Vodka and Ayahuaska (Decon Inc) Gonjasufi – MU.ZZ.LE.(Warp Records) — Deviant
Graffiti6 – Colours (Capitol) Irdorath – Dekonstrukteur Des Fleisches {EU} (Massacre Records)
Kari Jobe – Where I Find You (Sparrow/EMD) Lacuna Coil – Dark Adrenaline(Century Media) — Trey Spencer Lamb of God – Resolution(Epic) — Steve M.
Madchild – Little Monster (Suburban Noize Records) Tim McGraw – Emotional Traffic (Curb Records) Ingrid Michaelson – Human Again(Cabin…
Providence is Immolation basically giving us more of the same, which just means more really quality death metal. Rob Vigna and Bill Taylor lay down some gnarly trems and pinch harmonics while Steve Shalaty rips it up on the kit. No bells and whistles here, kids – just riffs. And good ones at that. These five tasty tracks pick up where Majesty And Decay left off to show there’s still plenty of momentum and longevity in this quarter-of-a-century-old band. Let’s just hope Scion keeps footing the bill for more free metal of this caliber. – AngelOfDeath
It’s been quite a long time since Mogwai has really been able to “wow” listeners. Their 1997 debut, Young Team did an admirable job, as did 2006’s Mr. Beast, but high quality releases have been few and far between for the Scottish post-rock band. Their latest LP failed to make waves, and became a sort of “back burner” type of release. However, the creativity and intrigue absent on Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will survived elsewhere, in the form of a little EP called Earth Division. Earth Division features more thoughtful songwriting, with more lush atmospheres and mellow instrumentation, as well as vocals, a Mogwai rarity. It stands out as wholly unique, with the beautiful and touching songs being some…
