Beautiful Plateau
Long time, no post... The lack of ability to post at work coupled with the lack of time and patience to post from the dial up connection at home and the lack of feedback received here (except from flickgoddess I would add) has lead to an obvious lack of posts. I make no apologies, and offer only lacking excuses.
There will be no top 52 for this past year. I haven't posted much and feel it would be lame and probably not garner much response.
The following things are good and were generally received as Christmas presents:
Baroness - Blue Record
My tastes have skewed heavier in recent months. This is an excellent metal album. I've never been much of a fan of the growling vocal style, but it's limited use here is helping me along.
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Again, more heavy rock. Nice mix of growl with more subdued melodic vocals.
Pelican - Australasia
This album is just brutally fucking awesome. There are no vocals, and none are needed. A very heavy, crungey, chord-based rock band. Very loud and textured. Songs with movements. Just so very wonderfully powerful.
Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
Heavy Japanese noise/drone/psyche/whatever. I think you either love Boris or you hate them. There's not really a lot of take or leave it with them to me. This is the band that really got me started down the road of heavy noise rock that I'm currently exploring.
Muse - Absolution
Big arena-ready effects rock. Lots and lots of effects. The guy can really sing though, even if the lyrics are a bit... simple. Maybe I/we are just too used to lyrics being purposely obscure to appreciate this. I really like Muse though, and a couple of years ago I would have looked down my nose at them and derided them for being too much of what they are. Now I realize that this band is really a blast to listen to.
Muse - The Resistance
Their new disc, given it's first listen just today, hasn't really done anything for me. Yet.
Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room: B-sides and Rarities
Not for the casual fan or non-fan of Sonic Youth. There's a lot of noise here and it takes some patience to listen to, but I found myself gleefully smiling at various points throughout the album as I was surprised and enthralled by the band's still obvious daring and enjoyment of what they do. The icing on the cake was a 25 minute alternate take of "The Diamond Sea" that I think amazingly tops the original version from the end of the album Washing Machine. It's a more subtle take on a song filled with some of the most un-subtle feedback jams the band has undertaken in well over a decade before or since. Just breathtakingly gorgeous.
Nirvana - Bleach: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Worth every penny, too. The sound is so, so much better than on most previous cd releases, plus there's a nice era-appropriate live show tacked on as a bonus that sounds good and gives a decent glimpse of the band as a live unit at the time, before things got huge, as witnessed on...
Nirvana - Live at Reading cd/dvd
I actually haven't played the cd of this yet, but the dvd is wonderful. A great band at the height of their power having fun playing a huge show. Well filmed, excellent sound quality, and just a total joy to watch.
Jay-Z - The Black Album and American Gangster
I've never been as much a fan of rap as I thought I should be, but everything they say about Jay-Z is true. He really is probably the greatest rapper of his generation, and the music is actually good, and not just an afterthought.
That's about it I guess. There's some more things I've played but haven't really had a chance to form a proper opinion on yet. Wolfmother, St. Vincent, Beirut, Lost in Translation, Local H... etc, etc.
On a more personal note(s), I've been doing very well lately, I think. The Lexapro has really helped me mentally, and my gastroenterologist recently gave me (and proved) to me that I had a clean bill of health, physically. Threerings has begun to enter the realm of the not employed, which hasn't really stressed me out at all, at least not yet. She seems happier, so it's completely worth it as far as I'm concerned. I've been working a lot of overtime the past month or so, which is tiring, but overall, things are good. I feel generally good about most everything most days.
There will be no top 52 for this past year. I haven't posted much and feel it would be lame and probably not garner much response.
The following things are good and were generally received as Christmas presents:
Baroness - Blue Record
My tastes have skewed heavier in recent months. This is an excellent metal album. I've never been much of a fan of the growling vocal style, but it's limited use here is helping me along.
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Again, more heavy rock. Nice mix of growl with more subdued melodic vocals.
Pelican - Australasia
This album is just brutally fucking awesome. There are no vocals, and none are needed. A very heavy, crungey, chord-based rock band. Very loud and textured. Songs with movements. Just so very wonderfully powerful.
Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow
Heavy Japanese noise/drone/psyche/whatever. I think you either love Boris or you hate them. There's not really a lot of take or leave it with them to me. This is the band that really got me started down the road of heavy noise rock that I'm currently exploring.
Muse - Absolution
Big arena-ready effects rock. Lots and lots of effects. The guy can really sing though, even if the lyrics are a bit... simple. Maybe I/we are just too used to lyrics being purposely obscure to appreciate this. I really like Muse though, and a couple of years ago I would have looked down my nose at them and derided them for being too much of what they are. Now I realize that this band is really a blast to listen to.
Muse - The Resistance
Their new disc, given it's first listen just today, hasn't really done anything for me. Yet.
Sonic Youth - The Destroyed Room: B-sides and Rarities
Not for the casual fan or non-fan of Sonic Youth. There's a lot of noise here and it takes some patience to listen to, but I found myself gleefully smiling at various points throughout the album as I was surprised and enthralled by the band's still obvious daring and enjoyment of what they do. The icing on the cake was a 25 minute alternate take of "The Diamond Sea" that I think amazingly tops the original version from the end of the album Washing Machine. It's a more subtle take on a song filled with some of the most un-subtle feedback jams the band has undertaken in well over a decade before or since. Just breathtakingly gorgeous.
Nirvana - Bleach: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Worth every penny, too. The sound is so, so much better than on most previous cd releases, plus there's a nice era-appropriate live show tacked on as a bonus that sounds good and gives a decent glimpse of the band as a live unit at the time, before things got huge, as witnessed on...
Nirvana - Live at Reading cd/dvd
I actually haven't played the cd of this yet, but the dvd is wonderful. A great band at the height of their power having fun playing a huge show. Well filmed, excellent sound quality, and just a total joy to watch.
Jay-Z - The Black Album and American Gangster
I've never been as much a fan of rap as I thought I should be, but everything they say about Jay-Z is true. He really is probably the greatest rapper of his generation, and the music is actually good, and not just an afterthought.
That's about it I guess. There's some more things I've played but haven't really had a chance to form a proper opinion on yet. Wolfmother, St. Vincent, Beirut, Lost in Translation, Local H... etc, etc.
On a more personal note(s), I've been doing very well lately, I think. The Lexapro has really helped me mentally, and my gastroenterologist recently gave me (and proved) to me that I had a clean bill of health, physically. Threerings has begun to enter the realm of the not employed, which hasn't really stressed me out at all, at least not yet. She seems happier, so it's completely worth it as far as I'm concerned. I've been working a lot of overtime the past month or so, which is tiring, but overall, things are good. I feel generally good about most everything most days.