What Are You Listening To Now? 6.0

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Sammi Elston - Heartless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSCBky_kA48

Teen uploader with one of the most interesting voices I've heard in a long time. Fresh new talent, I want some more.

 

[Haulover]

Haven't heard anything by Sigur Ros yet, but I've read the name a couple of times. Seem to be Iceland's leading prog heads. If you want more weird Icelandic music (apart from Björk), you could give the band Katla a whirl. They come highly endorsed by this month's Deaf Forever magazine. Latest album is called "Allt þetta helvítis myrkur" and is described as "lava-infused pagan ambient noise". Not my cuppa, the mix is too frigid for my tastes, but maybe you'll like it. Having read that Katla's main man used to play in Solstafir, I'll add them to the list of Icelandid recommendations as well.

As for Vintersorg: He's had one or two good pagan/viking metal albums and his voice is outstanding enough, but most of his music feels deliberately artsy without being coherent enough. A lot of instrument wanking, not enough substance. I like him best when he's singing other people's songs, like he used to do in Borknagar - who I greatly admire for their musical vision. Too bad more often than not their taste in mixes leaves a lot to be desired though. For every great-sounding piece of music, there's at least one sounding like it was taped on a faded four-track, with the impact force of a wet tissue.

Many thanks for the hint on Katla - I'll look them up.

Scroll up - are you familiar with Missa Marcuria? A fun listen from time to time.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Many thanks for the hint on Katla - I'll look them up.

Scroll up - are you familiar with Missa Marcuria? A fun listen from time to time.

Never heard of them. I'll have a listen and come back.

... One hour, three minutes and nine seconds later ...

Not really my cuppa. The musicians are top-notch no doubt, the production is fantastic (again, no surprise considering where and by whom it was recorded), but the music... I've never been a big Pink Cream 69 or Vanden Plas fan and DC Cooper makes me clutch my balls in sympathy every time he tries to shatter the ceiling with his screams. The best thing on this record is the Edenbridge singer - and I don't like THEM very much either. A 5/10 for me. Not so bad as to instantly turn it off, but nothing I'll go back to any time soon.

My counter-pick: Communic - Hiding From The World

That's my kind of power prog metal.

 

[Handley_Page]

POCO - A Good Feelin' To Know

 

[Haulover]

Never heard of them. I'll have a listen and come back.

... One hour, three minutes and nine seconds later ...

Not really my cuppa. The musicians are top-notch no doubt, the production is fantastic (again, no surprise considering where and by whom it was recorded), but the music... I've never been a big Pink Cream 69 or Vanden Plas fan and DC Cooper makes me clutch my balls in sympathy every time he tries to shatter the ceiling with his screams. The best thing on this record is the Edenbridge singer - and I don't like THEM very much either. A 5/10 for me. Not so bad as to instantly turn it off, but nothing I'll go back to any time soon.

My counter-pick: Communic - Hiding From The World

That's my kind of power prog metal.

I'll give "Communic - Hiding From The World" a try.

Prog/power metal isn't really my favorite "thing". I spin it from time to time, but my preference (in the metal world) is for what I call avant garde metal, sometimes called "metal in opposition".

 

[Blind_Justice]

I'll give "Communic - Hiding From The World" a try.

Prog/power metal isn't really my favorite "thing". I spin it from time to time, but my preference (in the metal world) is for what I call avant garde metal, sometimes called "metal in opposition".

I'm not a huge power metal fanatic either. For one thing, most of the genre conventions have been laid down in the '80s and subsequent bands have added precious little to the formula. For example, Glacier released an EP and a few demos in the mid-to-late '80s and they have released their official debut this year, which sounds amazingly fresh despite its 30-odd year gestation period. The Stratovarius/Helloween/(early) Sonata Arctica school has been literally yodeled to death and don't even get me started on that Symphonic Metal epidemic. Most bands have forgotten the Power ingredient which made Sanctuary, Vicious Rumours and the like so amazing. Thus my unbridled joy when that new Communic record dropped. Despite their technical skills, they kick serious ass. You can sit and listen to the lyrics, but as easily can you make a one-man moshpit in the center of your living room. Very few "power" metal bands can do that these days.

Well, you know my musical tastes are pretty wide-spread. Rock, electronica, metal, what have you. I'll try anything at least once, but I'm most at home listening to early '90s Death Metal, where a tight groove, rolling bass drums and that typical guitar crunch was all that mattered. Apart from Nile, all those tech-death guitar jerkers can fuck right off. Yep, you're really, really fast and can play sick shred, but is it fun to listen to? No? 'Kay, bye. That's my issue with Cannibal Corpse (and incidentally, many prog metal bands recently). Too much shred, not enough song. For my taste, "Images & Words" was the best DT record, even though it was a barely camouflaged Rush blowjob. Many later albums are too much guitar wank and drum math, not enough melodies. Not everything has to be played in 9/17ths to be progressive.

 

[Haulover]

..make a one-man moshpit in the center of your living room...

...subsequent bands have added precious little to the formula...

Bingo. That's my chief complaint with most "prog metal" as well - and ditto (BTW) with symphonic prog, and so many other genres.

That's why I'm all over whatever forms of music - usually loosely placed in the metal category - are more experimental, and incorporate or create different styles.

I loved Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Besides being very good - everything they did was different and new. Devin Townsend's recent "Empath" was different, a bit experimental, tons of fun, and a great listen.

Acts like Subterranean Masquerade, unexpecT, Tub Ring, Disillusion, Stolen Babies FromUZ and even Amaseffer- among others - get full credit for mixing it up and trying new things, and pushing the envelope WHILE still producing music that's appealing. I.e. it isn't different just for the sake of being different. It actually goes somewhere, and has a purpose, and is enjoyable.

I find a lot of it by following discussions about "avant garde metal".

 

[MetaBob]

Kieran Kane. Norman Blake.

Together and apart, with friends. Some songs stand out, though of course they're all good, including Dark Boogie #7, Sauerkraut 'N Solar Energy, and I Don't Know Why, which I used in one of my stories.

And, oh dear, I just found this one.

 

[Haulover]

Kavus Torabi : Hip To The Jag

 

[Haulover]

Fiona Apple : Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Think - Ani DiFranco Mark-II (That isn't a bad thing)

 

[Blind_Justice]

Tori Amos - Under The Pink

Pop songs for people who hate pop songs.

 

[MetaBob]

Holy Mountain - Sleep

 

[Haulover]

Wobbler : Dwellers of the Deep

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

The Killers - Human

 

[PennLady]

Devil's Peak (We Eventually Eluded Death) by Humulus.

(I discovered Bandcamp in the last year and keep finding stuff.)

 

[Blind_Justice]

Devil's Peak (We Eventually Eluded Death) by Humulus.

(I discovered Bandcamp in the last year and keep finding stuff.)

TIGER LADY!!!

 

[ChromeCollar]

From Can to Can't by Corey Taylor.

 

[Handley_Page]

A Very Old pop tune:
Hoots Mon; Lord Rockingham's Eleven.
The organist was Cherry Wainer (see 'Happy Organ').

 

[Blind_Justice]

Pink Floyd - The Wall

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Laine Hardy - The Weight

 

[Handley_Page]

Lord Rockingham's X1. : Blue Train.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

So done with Christmas music; if I hear God-damned 'All I want For Christmas' one more time I won't be held responsible for my actions...

Band of Heathens - Hurricane
Carrie Underwood - Church Bells
Lady Antebellum - American Honey
Asheley McBryde - Livin' next to Leroy
Miranda Lambert - the house that built me
Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss - Whiskey Lullaby

and:
Freddie Mercury & Monserrat Caballé - Barcelona, because Freddie...

 

[Blind_Justice]

So done with Christmas music; if I hear God-damned 'All I want For Christmas' one more time I won't be held responsible for my actions...

Band of Heathens - Hurricane
Carrie Underwood - Church Bells
Lady Antebellum - American Honey
Asheley McBryde - Livin' next to Leroy
Miranda Lambert - the house that built me
Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss - Whiskey Lullaby

and:
Freddie Mercury & Monserrat Caballé - Barcelona, because Freddie...

I'm in the same boat, only my hate boner is for "Last Christmas".

 

[Haulover]

Cursive : The Ugly Organ

 

[Haulover]

King Crimson : The Power To Believe



Best album to be released in the last 20 years, AFAIC