AFK, KTHXBAI

Hi,

As another weekend arrives, I again do not have time to make an extensive post. That said, I leave you with the following:


NEW DORNENREICH!

Also, I will be spending most of today coding on portunes.

listening in 2011; January 29th.

Howdy. Time for new music!


Here's a pleasant surprise from chillwave artist MillionYoung. As with most chillwave artists, I'm not familiar with this guy's previous work, but the tracks off this album on HYPEM suggest I should.


Next is a rather odd track by an (apparently) French duo titled Slippery Slope. The single, Too Insistent (RYM) is also pretty good.


Beatdown hardcore. An appropriate moment for live samples (also, their quality is decent and I couldn't be arsed to find anything else). Fucking want. The crowd looks kind of bored, though.

Next, indie pop fans will want to check out Gimme Some by Peter Bjorn and John. Second Chance is a pretty catchy song, and though it doesn't make me personally want to hear the album badly, I can imagine the indie crowd drooling over this. Also, cool album cover;


The Go! Team has a two-song single (RYM) out. The songs, Buy Nothing Day and I'm Not Satisfied are on HYPEM. I blogged about these guys previously; I wasn't excited then, and I'm not now, so I'll give the album a no-thanks.

Overall, some pretty good stuff seems to (be) com(e/ing) out this year! Time to go listen to MillionYoung. I think I'm going to do a first-impression-review.

listening in 2011; 28 & 29 January

Hi folks.

Yesterday, I didn't really hear anything interesting, but I found it worth mentioning that tracks off the new Belphegor album, Blook Magick Necromance were rather disappointing. These guys kicked some ass back when I was a young metal kid attending my first festival (even though I ended up missing Kataklysm to see them)! However, this just doesn't have the power I expected it to have.

Now, on to good music.

Monumental Torment is apparently a new technical death metal band, and this is their debut. Judging from Element of Chaos and Seek To Destroy, they really know their scene. Actually, not really; they seem to be moving to a somewhat math-y sound, compared to generic technical death.
Many will probably pass this off as guitar wanking, but I've never cared much for that before, and I wont now. I do hope that the album as a whole will contain some changes of pace (it does seem to have some song(s) with calmer passages).
A lot of death metal (in general, but the technical subgenre in particular) suffers from the faster-is-better paradigm. While it applies to some extent, playing only at high speed is just boring, similar to listening to the same speedcore sample for several minutes.

Off to different territory, Curren$y put out a new mixtape (don't ask me why they're listed under compilations on RYM). Record Deals has a nice beat, but it's rather lengthy. Similar issues arise with Frost; the sound is okay, but the rest is kind of boring.

Minks - By The Hedge is the final album for this post; this seems to be one of those albums that just kind of drifts besides you in your speakers. Though, not quite; there are some more upbeat tunes, too.HYPEM has a bunch of songs. Go listen for yourself.

Good night!
note: unlike usually, I will now make new posts instead of appending to old ones.

listening in 2011; January 23rd

Huh, wow. Just, wow. This caught me by surprise. Check out this track by Israeli metal band called Arafel, Sword's Hymn, the first track off their album, For Battles Once Fought. Sounds promising!

The new album by semi-legendary post-rock band Mogwai, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, has been gaining significant hype all over the web. If you think songs like San Pedro really qualify as post-rock, anyway (you can hear some on HYPEM). Personally I'm kind of indifferent about it.

For those of you who enjoy black metal, Helrunar is putting out a new (double!) album, titled Sól. You can hear the first three tracks off the first disc here (the first track is an intro). Given this alone, I must say there isn't much new here. Melodic bits, atmospheric bits, reasonable vocals, but nothing really standing out. More importantly, nothing I can listen to for two album lengths. If you dig this kind of stuff though, by all means, go for it.


And the last for now is Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes by Social Distortion. Though this is apparently a band with some punk history, this is just straight-up rock. Good stuff, though. Machine Gun Blues and Can't Take It With You are pretty good songs.

listening in 2011; 22 January

Hi there,

This post sort of continues from last Thursday; except I'm going to look at the 2011 - everything chart from now on; this chart includes singles, EPs and other stuff, though I'll probably ignore videos and bootlegs.

Anyway, there's a bunch of 'yeah... not for me' material here now; a single from the Kanye album, which turned out to be a good song except for, you know, Kanye (listen for yourself).

Moving on, we see Nicolas Jaar with Space Is Only Noise, which I think is microhouse. A truckload of samples, vocals here and there. HYPEM has a few tracks. Again, not really for me.

Cut Copy with their album Zonoscope is up next. They must get calls from the 80s all day, asking for their sound back, but the songs themselves aren't exactly bad. It just sounds kinda dated. Take your shot of nostaliga here.


Stratovarius is also still putting out albums; is their 2011 offering. I have my doubts about these guys (and power metal in general), but Darkest Hours and Under Flaming Skies sound great! The production is relatively heavy, but they're getting no complaints from me. A pleasant surprise!


Last, Adele has a new single, Rolling In the Deep, which is quite pleasant.

Destroyer - Kaputt

Psst! guess what! HYPEM has the album Kaputt by Destroyer as a preview! You can hear it here. It's pretty damn good. Go listen to it.

(this album was previously mentioned here and also covered by theneedledrop).

listening to 2011; January 20

Hi,

So it turns out RYM's charts only update bi-weekly. I've been busy studying anyway. Now it's time for a break. Lets have a quick look at the new charts. First thing noticed: damn, it already went over five hundred rated albums. That's quick.

Anyway, here's the top five (from 1 to 5). Lots of metal. Approve.


this track from Mitochondrion - Parasignosis sounds promising.


New Ulcerate! I'd already wishlisted this after their previous album as well as an excellent live performance.


Falkenbach is a band I've heard of, but never really bothered to check out. This track from Falkenbach - Tiurida doesn't give me any reason to do so now. Check it if you're into folk metal, though.


New Earth! Truthfully, I've never looked at the band much beyond their debut, Earth 2. Looks like this will make me regret it.

Destroyer - Kaputt was already mentioned here.