FO SHIZZLE MA NIZZLEAt least as good as the first one. Maybe better.
I don't know what kind of VBR this is, but I'll change it for a better rip when I get one.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
David Bowie - Station to Station (1976) [FLAC]
1. Station to Station
2. Golden Years
3. Word on a Wing
4. TVC 15
5. Stay
6. Wild is the Wind
Probably my favourite Bowie album (it's between this, Hunky Dory and Heroes). If Nietzsche's Ubermensch made it into space and took heaps of coke then crooned to you over some sterile funk-pop it would probably sound like this
Good shit, I'm not a big fan of the first half of the album but from TVC 15 on it's fucking blissful
Download
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Yo La Tengo - Painful (FLAC)
In my opinion, Painful is just as good of a record as I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One. Yep. Although not filled to the brim with the immediately satisfying noise pop beauties that comprised the first side of the latter album, Painful chooses to move along at a beautifully slow pace that allows the perfectly created atmosphere on the album to envelop and tug you into its little corner of the world. The album opener, "Big Day Coming", certainly has to be the highlight for me, as its languid pace allows the band to stretch out and really tug at your nostalgia-strings. Excellent night music, not that it will put you to sleep, as the smattering of louder rockers serve to keep everything fresh. A+ effort.
Enjoy
Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music Vol. 2 (FLAC)
A Blue Note compilation which, when combined with its sister volume, sheds light on Monk's early and inspired work as a premier bop stylist. Accompanied by such recognizable names as Max Roach, Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, and Kenny Dorham, this is a set that will help fill out any jazz collection.Enjoy
Herbie Hancock - Empyrean Isles (FLAC)
Another obvious classic that really needs no introduction, I must say that I've always loved the artwork to this record. It captures the mysteriousness of the contained music so well with its clear but rather nondescript foreground (leafless branches?) and out-of-focus background that could contain anything...Enjoy
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure (FLAC)
Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson, Eric Dolphy and Tony Williams are amongst my favorite players of their respective instruments, and Richard Davis/Kenny Dorham don't slouch either. Absolutely ESSENTIAL record from the 60's Blue Note avant-garde.
Enjoy
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯A♯∞ (FLAC)
I listen to Godspeed You! Black Emperor in my car so people think there's no driver at the wheel.
FLAC
Lustmord - Heresy (1990)
1. Get comfortable headphones
2. Listen to this album while falling asleep
3. ???
4. Wake up with shit stains all over your sheets
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Lustmord - The Place Where the Black Stars Hang
For the next few days I'll be posting GRIMDARK albums in preparation for Halloween. Enjoy.
Brian Williams is a Welshman recording as Lustmord. The Place Where the Black Stars Hang is a huge, atmospheric effort with dark overtones and satanic dirges. This music is about as dark as it gets. The entire soundscape is electronic. Williams builds on the drone with atmospheric effects and wild synth washes. The soundscape is dense and foggy and the sound design is flawless. There are no holes or gaps in this layout. The disc is set up as one long (75 minutes and 48 seconds) track with five distinct sections. Williams builds the atmospheres upon each other as they ebb and flow. This dark minimalism will appeal to fans of Jeff Greinke, Alio Die, Richard Bone, Max Corbacho, Pete Namlook, and Oöphoi. In dark ambient circles it is essential.
4.5/5
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Health - Get Color (2009)
"My favorite rock album of 2009? Really? Well, I really haven't heard too much from this year besides the big critically acclaimed albums, but Get Color is the only thing with a sound that has really captivated me. Which is weird, because I didn't care for HEALTH's messy debut at all.
But this, this is something special. They may be part of a scene I generally dislike and it is true that they seem incredibly stupid live, but I can't keep from loving this record. The main gimmick here is that ethereal, melancholy vocal melodies are juxtaposed over meancing, shoegazeish guitar noise, rhythmic industrial clatter, and urgent, jumpy dance beats. A simple formula, maybe, but somehow HEALTH use it to make something that sounds very viscerally emotional and even ritual in its sheer intensity."
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Pharoah Sanders post [v0]
Born Ferrell Sanders, Sun Ra changed his first name to Pharoah because...he's cool like that. Famous tenor saxophonist who followed along the lines of Coltrane's later period. All of these albums have long, side-length compositions. Deaf Dumb Blind has a strong afrobeat influence. Karma, his most famous, includes the famous piece "The Creator Has a Master Plan" with guest vocals by Leon Thomas, flute, and loads of cool percussion. On Jewels of Thought, Side A is mostly a duet between Thomas and Sanders. While Side B has Sanders used other reeds, like the bass clarinet. Black Unity is a mix of all of these influences into one big piece.Karma (1969) [v0]
Jewels of Thought (1969) [v0]
Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun) (1970) [320]
Black Unity (1971) [v0]
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
"Feel the wrath of my Bombast!" exhorts Smith on this follow-up to their groundbreaking Wonderful and Frightening World of... the Fall, and this collection is ample proof of the pure confidence the group had at this time. Stompers like "Barmy," "What You Need," and the mighty "Gut of the Quantifier" are all led by Brix Smith's twanging lead hooks, filled by distorted guitars and bludgeoning drums, on top of which Smith rants with conviction. But it's the departures from this sound that mark the real interest here: The synth-driven "L.A." looks ahead to the Fall's experiments with electronica; "Paint Work" is an impressionist piece interrupted by Smith accidentally erasing over some of the track at home; and "I Am Damo Suzuki," a tribute to Can's lead singer, which borrows its arrangement from several of that group's songs. The Fall sound mysterious, down-to-earth, and hilarious all at the same time. Absolutely essential.
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire [FLAC]
This is too atonal for me. I can send the CD to you for Christmas if you wantDownload (Mediafire)
PART TWO WORKED FOR ME THIS MORNING, TELL ME IF IT'S STILL FUCKED
Monday, October 19, 2009
Albert Ayler - Live in Greenwich Village: The Complete Impulse Recordings [FLAC]
Gosh darn it, this may be some of the best free jazz I've ever heard. Ayler brothers Albert and Donald play tenor sax and trumpet and bounce off each other with marching melodies and chaotic improvising. Also, there's a white guy wanking on a cello and the drummer and dual bassists are nothing short of amazing. This is probably my favorite compilation of all time, and the first disc is a masterpiece (the second album is pretty close to perfection as well.)Download FLAC
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out [FLAC]
Haven't posted shit in a while, so I return with this touchy trad jazz album. Impress your parents by listening to this essential dad jazz recording while studying for that big test tomorrow. Will post moar good free jazz when it appears in mail.Download FLAC
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Siege - Drop Dead
"Siege is the birth and death of hardcore punk on one record." Maybe it is, maybe it is not...Download [320]
Friday, October 16, 2009
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (40th Anniversary re-issue / Remastered / Stereo Mix) (2009) [FLAC]
Download [FLAC]
Happy birthday In the Court of the Crimson King :3
This is the new remaster done by Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree hurrr)
- "21st Century Schizoid Man"
- "I Talk to the Wind"
- "Epitaph"
- "Moonchild"
- "The Court of the Crimson King"
- "Moonchild" [full version]
- "I Talk to the Wind" [Fripp and McDonald duo version]
- "I Talk to the Wind" [alternate take]
- "Epitaph" [backing track]
- "Wind session" [extracts from the session that produced the intro to "21st Century Schizoid Man"]
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Portishead - Roseland NYC Live
Most live albums pretty much lose the feel of the original studio albums -- sometimes they sound tinny and distant. No such sound here. "Live: Roseland NYC" has not only an orchestra, but the jazzy trip-hop of Portishead's two albums, and the beautiful voice of Beth Gibbons. No wonder it was so good.
Portishead hit the big time with their sophomore album "Dummy," an exquisite blend of smoky jazz and subtle trip-hop. Which, admittedly, sounds like the wrong kind of music to play live, but it works wonderfully here. Portishead includes an almost equal mix of songs from their two albums -- six from "Portishead," five from "Dummy."
And surprisingly, the songs sound like simple redos of the mysterious, melancholy songs from Portishead's too-short career, not stage banter and stripped-down versions of lush songs. It's more than a little unusual to have a band's third album be a live one, but in this case it seems perfectly acceptable.
Backed by an entire orchestra, horns and some wicked turntables, the band plays remarkable versions of their songs. "All Mine" is even more beautiful and haunting than in the album, and "Sour Times" is even more breathtaking than it was originally. Most of the others are faithful renditions, given a powerful new twist with the strings and horns -- only a couple feel less cohesive in a live setting.
Frontwoman Beth Gibbons is known as having a lovely pop voice, and she is in excellent form here. A lot of singers are exposed in live performances as having less-than-stellar vocals, but Gibbons' performance demonstrates what a beautiful voice she has.
"Live: Roseland NYC" is a demonstration of what a good live album should be, showcasing one of trip-hop's best bands. Definitely worth checking out, both as as an accompaniment to Portishead's studio albums, and as a good listen itself.
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Slint - Spiderland (FLAC)
WINNER'S GUIDE TO FORMING A MATH/POST-ROCK BAND
I. Preparation
1. Buy: Numerous guitars (all in different tunings), a few capos (cut some of them), a big amp, every single effect pedal you can find (at least 2 loopers/delays)
2. Learn: Finger tapping, odd meters, scales and modes (all of them)
3. Come up with a name, something with more than five words is necessary. Doesn't have to make sense.
II. Appearance
1. Can't be fat. Must wear clothes from a designer website and/or thrift store. Bushy beards are necessary.
III. Performance
1. Dance around like crazy (bound to happen if you have lots of pedals) while playing.
2. Make sure you are playing at least 4 notes every beat. Loop something if it feels lacking and play on that loop.
3. Oh yeah, drums are important.
IV. Realization
1. Album cover must either be black and white or have at least 50000 different colors. Only put band name and album title on the cover if your label makes you. Just kidding, you can't have a label.
2. Make sure all of your song titles can function as a complete sentence. Use symbols liberally.
3. Only advertise through cryptic posters stapled up near your house.
4. If you can make your album a record instead of a CD do it. Digital downloads are okay too.
With all of these tips you should be well on your way to having a great post/math rock band. Good luck.
Download FLAC
Password: haveanicelife
The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (FLAC)
Historically, the greatest songwriters in rock (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello) have never articulated any original or remarkable thoughts within their lyrics. The most a successful rock lyricist can hope to accomplish, is to accurately mirror the status quo by encapsulating how and why certain segments of society feel. Not to write meaningless, relativistic "phonetic poetry"
When Morrissey first emerged from the UK's New Romantic scene in the early 1980s, he and the Smiths immediately stood out from the crowd. Hitherto, he was the first lyricist to speak out for tens of thousands of disaffected, alienated adolescents, who had been waiting impatiently for such a spokesman as the flamboyant Mancunian. Unlike unbearably bleak successors Kurt Cobain and Richey Edwards, there was an occasional optimistic light at the end of the tunnel within Morrissey's lyrics.
"Meat is Murder" is full of somber, melodic tunes that cast a autobiographical light on Morrissey. The first song "The Headmaster Ritual," is a petulant diatribe aimed at the abusive faculty of St. Marys, a Catholic school he attended until he was 16. Track five, "That Joke isn't Funny Anymore," is my personal favorite; a song which Morrissey claimed in an interview was about the treatment he received by the music press. Then there's "How Soon is Now," a song that the Smiths are identified with here by most people here in the US, nothwithstanding the fact that it was never released as a single for the Smiths in the UK.
A definite must-have for any Smiths fan and a smart first-listen for those looking to get acquainted with the band's best work.
Download FLAC
Password: haveanicelife
Sianspheric - The Sound of the Colour of the Sun [v0]
2001: Space Rawk Odyssey
Sianspheric have done it again. The ideal mix between pure bliss and raw 'rawk' noise. Time and time again they've proven themselves to be THE best modern space rock act. Always a step ahead of their imitators, bands are copying their sound of three albums ago, while they're already 20 years in the future. High points on this one would have to be Tous Les Soirs-so spacey...so deafening-still surprises me every time the distortion crunch kicks in-it would shatter Jello. Also they slip in a cover of the Smiths Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want which is also a favourite. I haven't heard a better Smiths cover. All in all the album is essential for any lover of shoegaze or space rock music. I'd be hard pressed to think of a better band around right now, continuing (but not imitating) the legacy built by bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, Swervedriver, and Slowdive.
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Stars of the Lid - Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline (FLAC)
Had to take this down, sorry bros
Hit me up on last.fm, rym, or gmail and I'll sort you out
William Parker - Double Sunrise Over Neptune [FLAC+v0]
In case you don't know who William Parker is: he's the one man keeping free jazz alive in the 21st century. Double Sunrise Over Neptune is a live album from the 12th Vision Festival in NYC, having Parker not play his main instrument (double bass, he passes the duties to a WHITE CHICK :o) but instead playing some unique horn instruments. The album is three long improvisations and a short intermission performed by over a dozen people. Two drummers, a bassist and guitarist are the bed for which a multitude of horns (baritone/tenor/alto sax, oud, trumpet) play in near-perfect unison. Like in famed jazz critic Piero Scaruffi's description of Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, each member only adds layers and colors to each piece with the "roots being the rhythm and the improvisations being the ripening fruit on a tree" that is JAZZ (Parker's liner notes for the album.) Anyway, it's probably the only jazz album of the decade so far that deserves the title of "classic." Free jazz veterans should enjoy this one.FLAC //\\ v0
P.S. There's also female Indian scat singing, to add to the uniqueness of the album.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Final verdict on FLAC vs MP3
Hearing the difference now isn't the reason to encode to FLAC. FLAC uses lossless compression, while MP3 is 'lossy'. What this means is that for each year the MP3 sits on your hard drive, it will lose roughly 12kbps, assuming you have SATA - it's about 15kbps on IDE, but only 7kbps on SCSI, due to rotational velocidensity. You don't want to know how much worse it is on CD-ROM or other optical media.
I started collecting MP3s in about 2001, and if I try to play any of the tracks I downloaded back then, even the stuff I grabbed at 320kbps, they just sound like crap. The bass is terrible, the midrange...well don't get me started. Some of those albums have degraded down to 32 or even 16kbps. FLAC rips from the same period still sound great, even if they weren't stored correctly, in a cool, dry place. Seriously, stick to FLAC, you may not be able to hear the difference now, but in a year or two, you'll be glad you did.
The Avalanches - Since I Left You (Australian CD FLAC)
Note on versions
All of the versions contain samples not included on the other versions but the 2000 Australian issue is the proper version. When it was released in the US and UK, there were some issues clearing various samples so they had to be replaced with imitations.
Review
Endless summers for many youths don't consist of beaches and surfboards. Instead, they're spent on blacktops and jungle gyms. More gritty and halfway between the curb and the hoop than anything celestial, the Avalanches remind you of a point in your life when you could blissfully hang upside down from monkey bars and just dangle. Like recklessly riding your BMX or skipping rope after downing a sugar-laced pitcher of lemonade, the un-mawkish Since I Left You thrives on making you feel youthful and mighty. Its Utopian grove stand bric-a-brac of grooves, beats, flutters, whistles, oohs-and-yeahs, and sundry animal noises can alternately sound familiar and fresh. Some origins can be immediately placed, and those that can't trigger an impulse that you've heard it somewhere before. You're at least familiar with the tone as it relates to a long-lost feeling of childhood bliss -- whether it's staring at a clear blue sky from a fresh-cut lawn or the first time you heard "Rock the Bells." If you want stifling touchstones, they're there. Dunk the Beastie Boys of Paul's Boutique and Basement Jaxx into the fountain of youth; Sylvester meets Tweety; Mercury Rev links hands with the Bomb Squad for laps around the roller rink. It's no cloyed nostalgia trip, pieced together humbly by Aussies who are probably telling you the truth when they say they listen "to a little bit of everything." The unflinching mix offers plenty of tempo variety, knowing just when to change the pitch before hitting overkill. The second half features a subtle lull that builds up in time for "Live at Dominoes," possibly the strongest cut. There's little doubt to Since I Left You's status as one of the most intimate and emotional dance records that isn't vocal-based. Working on a mystical level, don't be too surprised if a future dig through the wallet unearths a membership card to the Summer Break Funk Association.
Download FLAC
Password: haveanicelife
Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi (2002) [FLAC]
Requested by Talvi.
This is not Music Has the Right to Children IMO.
But, hey, it's still Boards of Canada.
Then, really good album.
DOWNLOAD [FLAC]
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (FLAC)
Friday, October 2, 2009
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Bright Moments (1973)
In a way, this album is a lot like Sam Cooke's live 1963 album performance. Kirk, like Cooke, has the whole package: personality, skill, and a general kindness amongst others. If you haven't heard of this man before, he is truly one of the most talented jazz musicians of all time. Blinded at a young age, Kirk plays multiple instruments, sings, and has his trademark skill: playing three saxophones at once. Here, Kirk does not hold back. There are a few elements of free jazz, and the percussion adds a bit of a funk edge to the performance. A beautiful live show that deserved all the applause it got.Download 320
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection' (1894) [FLAC]
Stars of the Lid coming soon.. Uploading took longer than I thought it wouldDownload
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Corea - Los Peores 7 Km De Mi Vida ( 192 kbps)
Sorry for the small picture, was really all I could find for this.
"The music playing is very tight, especially considering the style of music. Each song has its hook or definite moment and every climax is built up for optimum poignancy. The screams are unlike any of the dozens I've heard before, and are more than effective in conveying Los Peores 7's overall feeling of outrage and devastation. Each use of noise and abrasion is precise and ineffably augments said feeling in ways music rarely can. That's my take on the aural aspect of this album, and I really have to hold myself back there because I could honestly go on and end up writing a paragraph for each minute of the one-hour duration. At the end of it all, though, as with all music, it's all about what this album evokes within the listener. Unfortunately, and again, as with all music, some people don't have the proper wiring for it, and it's a shame to me personally.
Now, I typed this up back when I felt this album was still beyond anything I could ever describe, and although it fails as a coherent analysis of Corea's music, I present it here, as I feel it still serves a purpose:
outrage insanity lost innocence that girl you like is going to hurt you very soon epic horror movie and you will be filled with bitter regret "why are you so beautiful and great" disillusion staggering realization that this will never happen heartache anger madness disbelief frustration chaos bloody face sitting there grinning like you're going to kill 20+ people with an axe some persistent and venomous thought is making your stomach hurt and your heart sink and you have no idea what to do you are running 7 kilometers and your mind is absolute abrasion and exhaustion and "suddenly i feel stupid and worthless why do i even bother" remembering an old french song you heard in your youth on an old radio in an old house in some place you never saw again on your back gazing at the sky in a deserted and peaceful city park on an autumn afternoon surrounded by a billion (or 1000 million) crows bearing witness all your bones are broken blood flowing to places it shouldn't and one lung is pierced wondering what went wrong absolute silence and in your dying moment you remember childhood ignorance and giggle softly the universe is collapsing into itself and i wonder what happened to that one kid we used to pick on
Obviously, such rambling is better left in a poetry or sketch book surrounded by morbid doodles than in a music review, but despite that, it still bears relevance here: basically, if none of the words or phrases above incites any sort of understanding or familiarity within the reader, chances are this album has little, if anything, to offer them. Los Peores 7 Km de Mi Vida blasts and surges with degrees of emotion that the average person either has not experienced, or will not ever experience in their lifetime, so this music is wasted on average people, as it'll go way over their heads and arouse the conclusion that Corea is nothing but incoherent muddle, puerile tantrum, or a huge, exaggerated mess. Take that as you will, seeing as some people think they're better off never developing a grasp for such negative feelings, and others know how to deal with it and find comfort in reflecting on overcome inner turmoil. The stuff this album is made of is either in you, or it's not; it's simply too dramatic to provide much middle ground.
Los Peores 7 Km de Mi Vida serves as the one big scream for those who just didn't have the throat for it when the little things piled up and finally took their toll. It's the exhaustion of that fat clumsy kid that everyone used to pick on after running 4 miles non-stop into the desert trying to escape his abusive father and a cynical, careless world. It's the unbearable grinding in his head at the thought of abandoning his loving mother and younger sister to their fates, and the tearing divide of his mind and essence, trying to cope with it all and find a light somewhere, wondering what"
~ MOA
Download
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tim Buckley - Starsailor [FLAC+v0]
You have no idea how rare this is.And yeah, it's one of my favorite albums ever. Minimalist folk rock that uses Tim's amazingly unique voice as the lead instrument. Lots of good texture as well as memorable guitar riffs. The title track is mostly samples of Tim's voice as the background music. Also includes a nice touch of jazz (the trumpet solo on Down by the Borderline in particular is fucking flawless.)
FLAC //\\ v0 (vinyl rip)
Monday, September 28, 2009
Zweizz - The Yawn of the New Age (2007) [FLAC]
This album hates you.(P.S. - There is an electronic cover of Immortal's Blacker Than Darkness. Look up the rest of the song titles if you really need another incentive to download this.)
Iron Lung / Pig Heart Transplant
Iron Lung is one of my favorite artists in the power violence / hardcore punk genre. Their latest album "Sexless // No Sex" has been virtually the only album from the style I've played over the past year. Sporadic pacing keeps you interested the whole way and if you're a fan of the genre it's worth your while to check it out.
Sexless // No Sex (2007)
Pig Heart transplant is a project headed by Jon Kortland of Iron Lung, and a complete departure from the aforementioned band. Total fucking Swans worship with a modern spin. The album is oppressive and ugly, and is like if early Wolf Eyes starting covering Swans songs. Their band page refers them to "Ugly Colossal Sound" so you can get an idea. Even though it is reminiscent of Swans, it's its own beast and totally worth a listen.Hope You Enjoy Heaven (2008)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Soft Machine - Third (Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc) [FLAC]
Here is the bonus disc from the 2007 remastered deluxe edition of Third (which I just got in the mail today :DD) The first disc, the actual remastered album itself, was already uploaded and can be found here. The 2nd disc contains live performances of Facelift (different from album) as well as Out-Bloody-Rageous, and the 5-part Esther's Nose Job from their second album.Download FLAC
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme [FLAC]
Reuploaded for a bunch of reasons:1. tolkkii's has been down for ages.
2. the only other FLAC rip on the web is the shitty 90s version which has the sax mixed way too loud.
3. it's fucking amazing
a wuv soopweem
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Melt-Banana - 1998/13000 Miles - At Light Velocity
You know when you put on 2 different albums at the same time through 2 separate speakers and its unlistenable? That's what Melt-Banana sounds like.
Download v0
Password: haveanicelife
Monday, September 21, 2009
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (FLAC)
When I was young, I had a best friend. We would hang out all the time and every time we saw each other at school, we'd talk about music a lot. I was a post-punk kid and he was a grunge guy.
Time passed, our tastes developed with every year. We turned 19, and he left to join the army. He would write to me every now and then out of boredom to ask how things were going. Then it was the year that Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights came out. I told him about how fresh it sounded and that I wanted to start a band with him when he got back.
A month passed, he didn't write back yet. I waited 3 more months until I got a letter. Then, my mother told me that my best friend's mother was visited by people of the Army. I couldn't believe it, and decided to phone her directly about what happened....
She told me he had died in combat. I looked at my extra copy of Turn on the Bright Lights, unopened, waiting for my friend. I said what I thought was appropriate; "I am sorry for your loss... He was my best friend, and I don't think anyone can replace him...."
She simply sobbed at the other end, and I slowly hung up. I turned to the extra copy I bought, opened it up, stuck it in my CD player, and listened to it. And when I did, I put it above my TV, right next to the photo of me and him together 6 years ago.
I wept.
Password: haveanicelife
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Mono (FLAC)
2000 - Hey, You EP: 320
2001 - Under the Pipal Tree: FLAC //// V0
2002 - One Step More and You Die (FLAC)
2004 - New York Soundtracks (sure, if you must..): FLAC
2004 - Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky [...]: FLAC //// V0
2005 - with WEG Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain (FLAC)
2006 - You Are There (FLAC)
2007 - Travels in Constants #22 EP: FLAC //// V0
2009 - Hymn to the Immortal Wind (FLAC)
Credit goes where it's due.
She - Orion (2009) [256]
This is new she album. I haven't listened to it yet but I'm sure it's delicious!! Probably..
big nose.
http://www.shemusic.org/orion/
Download [MP3 256]
Joseph Haydn - String Quartets, Op. 76 1-3 (Takacs Quartet) (FLAC)
Perhaps Haydn's best string quartets, and performed by the esteemed Takacs Quartet, to boot. I can't really be bothered to break down all that's going on in these works, but suffice to say that at no cost to you, there should be no reason you aren't listening to them.
Enjoy
Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring (Leonard Bernstein & the New York Philharmonic) (FLAC)
Cliche to say, but his music is indeed "distinctly American". Taking simple, folky melodies and harmonies and weaving them up into the tapestry of the European art music tradition, Copland created some of the more pleasantly listenable music of the 20th century.
Enjoy
Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 1 (Leonard Bernstein & the Vienna Philharmonic)
It's Brahms. It's the Vienna Philharmonic. And Leonard Bernstein is good too. Don't ask any questions, just listen to the best 19th century composer of all time. OF ALL TIME!
Enjoy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No. 41 (Frans Bruggen & the Orchestra of the 18th Century) (FLAC)
An excellent performance of Mozart's most famous symphony on period instruments. Not much more to say, really, other than Bruggen handels (doho) everything quite well.
Enjoy
Fugazi - Furniture (FLAC)
Yep, the Furniture EP/single. The last bit of both my now complete Fugazi discography, as well as our beloved hfs40,000's. As of now, we have everything (and I really hope that changes, meaning Fugazi decides to release something new!).
Enjoy
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Jesus Lizard - Liar (FLAC)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Robert Ashley - Wolfman (1966)
A collection of noise/field recording tapes. Originally released in 1966 then re-released in 2003. Arguably one the first "noise" musicians.Download 256
The Fucking Champs - VI (v0)
Sup guys, newfag here. Here is some of The Fucking Champs. They get extra points towards whatever I rate them because they have the best band name.They are an instrumental rock band. They jam a lot. I write for Simple Wikipedia sometimes.
Download
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (2009 Remastered)
Welcome PMac as our 14th poster! Look forward to the wide range of hipster garbage he will be posting.
Download FLAC
Password: haveanicelife
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers (FLAC)
Without wishing to sound like a Dream Theater fan or something, this is something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while now: on a purely technical level, I believe “Protect Ya Neck” by the Wu Tang Clan to be the peak, the pinnacle, the unadulterated high point of music composition, and something that will never be topped by future generations. And I know it’s catchy and destructive as fuck, I’d never doubt that, but let’s give this a bit of analysis:
- The detail! Take that short, scratchy two note sample in the background when Inspectah Deck’s verse begins, for instance.
- The way “your neighbourhood Spiderman” is almost sung, yet has nothing on ODB’s later operatic heroics.
- RZA’s subtle change in sample choice when the mic gets handed over to Raekwon, coupled with the whistling kettle sound that accompanies his and Meth’s verse.
- “Moving on your left, AH!”
- The fact that U-God (that dork…) is given only three seconds, none of it proper rapping.
- SOOOOO!!
- OBD’s singing! Oh man, the centrepiece of the track, no doubt. The way he rides the chants of “protect ya neck!” and “watch ya step kid” is just sublime, only to break out into one of his tightest ever verses. No father to his style.
- Ghost storming in with “for cryin’ out loud my style is wild so book me” before Ol’ Dirty could even finish his last line, showing more raw passion and aggression than most suckers can pack in their entire career.
- The subtle, nuanced piano lines that run through the entire thing.
- “Feelin’ mad hostile, ran the apostle / Flowin’ like Christ when I speaks the gospel”
- The glorious noises that cloud the swearing (on the CD version, at least).
- GZA bringing this whole circus to an end with one of the classiest, chilled verses ever laid down onto wax. He took us the fuck outta here.
And that’s just scratching the surface, brother.
Prove me wrong. -End
Download FLAC
Password: haveanicelife
Sam Rivers - Crystals (1974)
Rivers' response to Coltrane's Ascension.(PS: Non-free jazz fans go to track #2 if you don't like the first one, I guarantee you will enjoy it much more.)
Download 320
Henry Cow FLAC megapost
Henry Cow was an English avant-garde rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. An inherent anti-commercial bias kept them at arm's length from the mainstream music business, enabling them to experiment at will. They remained in existence for 10 years and produced a body of music that was challenging, provocative and influential for years to come. Collaborations with the similarly-minded band Slapp Happy led to an eventual merging of the two bands. Many of the members continued on as Art Bears. Henry Cow was among the founding members of the movement dubbed Rock in Opposition (RIO). Henry Cow's repertoire included elaborately scored pieces (often with complex time signatures), tape manipulations, free improvisation and songs. It incorporated elements of jazz, rock, classical music and the avant-garde. Dagmar Krause's vocals added another dimension to their sound, giving it a dramatic, almost Brechtian flair. Henry Cow's music was challenging, not only to the listener, but also to the band themselves. They often composed pieces to challenge their own capabilities. Some of their music was scored beyond the conventional ranges of their music instruments necessitating that they "reinvent their instruments", learn how to play them in completely new ways. And yet their music may not have been as good as it could have been. Henry Cow conducted their affairs as a committee, having regular, minuted meetings with no decisions being made unless approved by the group. This included their music. Band members brought their ideas to the table but often they ended up being watered down as a result of the collective process, rather than strengthened, and many of their best ideas may not have been fully realised. Who knows what Henry Cow might have produced had individual members been given more free reign. While their music is a decided "acquired taste", there is much to recommend in it, for as it is often dissonant and challenging, it is also rich and exciting, and yields more insights upon repeated listening.
All albums but Western Culture are remastered and some have bonus tracks.
Legend
Unrest
In Praise of LearningWestern Culture
Check this for the remastered version of Western Culture (in 320)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Fela Kuti - Open & Close & Afrodisiac & Zombie
Finally listened to Expensive Shit / He Miss Road and I liked it enough to instantly acquire more Fela from which I definitely liked Afrodisiac the most. Zombie would be great if it was only 1 track album because the rest isn't really on a par with Zombie. ALTHOUGH Mistake is good stuff, too.Open & Close / Afrodisiac v0
Zombie (2001 remaster): FLAC //// V0
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Django Reinhardt - The Complete Swing/HMV Sessions 1936-1948
"When it comes to the real roots of jazz guitar, two names clearly stand-out in the minds of most jazz followers - Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. While the recordings of the former are few enough in number to make it a somewhat easy task to acquire, the latter’s fairly large body of work poses a challenge. Add to this the fact that many foreign issues exist and that in addition to his work as a solo artist Reinhardt was also a key member of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. This group was formed in 1932 and included two rhythm guitars, Django’s solo voice, and the violin of the legendary Stephane Grappelli, although several subtle variations of this grouping were offered up in later years.
This is the Reinhardt mother lode - a six-disc collection of the Gypsy legend's oeuvre stretching from just before to just after World War II. Disc one includes several infectious cuts with vocalist Freddy Taylor, beginning with Stuff Smith's "I'se a Muggin'." Disc six closes with one of Reinhardt and Grappelli's last recording sessions together, which included an unusually dark reading of "Oh Lady Be Good" and a revisitation of the obscure "Bricktop" (the first version appears on disc two). In between are well over 100 marvelous tracks, with sound quality up to Mosaic's (and Michael Cuscuna's) impeccable standards."
It is good, right?
download v0
Kashiwa Daisuke - April.#02 (FLAC)
Global Communication - 76:14 (FLAC)
Fairly good ambient/ambientan techno, made a really big impression on me first time I heard it, was best shit evar!! Not so much now but I do believe it's not bad.Here's some interesting rym review:
"I feel like I can’t fully appreciate it. I get the feeling that this was meant to listened to completely stoned. Absolutely horizontal and incapable of standing up. Incapable of doing anything without starting to laugh so hard that you become afraid that you might not get enough air to breath properly. This time around I can wonder without being dis-respectable whether all the people that are digging this are in fact stoned."
So if you don't like it you know what to do! proadvice hurr. It makes everything better and is the coolest thing to do, right?
FLAC //// V0
Monday, September 14, 2009
Don Cherry - Eternal Rhythm [FLAC]
Finally got this Japanese remaster in FLAC. 320kbps mp3 is in an older post, use search for "Don Cherry".Download FLAC
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
New Zealand Music Post
There will be some stuff on here that I've already posted to make the list seem more monumental. This took me all day, enjoy.
Artist: Toy Love
Album: Cuts (compilation)
Years Active: 1978-80
Genre: Punk/Pop-Punk
Sounds Like: The Buzzcocks
Toy Love basically sum up everything that happened in New Zealand music during the punk era (not very much). They were lead by Chris Knox who is pretty much a legend here.
Artist: Tall Dwarfs
Album: Hello Cruel World
Years Active: 1981-
Genre: Lo-fi
Sounds Like: Lo-fi
What Chris Knox did after Toy Love. Really good stuff. Jeff Mangum is a fan (I'm not even kidding, they go camping together)
Artist: The Verlaines
Album: Bird Dog
Years Active: 1981-
Genre: Indie/Jangle-Pop
Sounds Like: The Velvet Underground, The Clean
Download: Here
Posted before. Part of the Dunedin Sound. The whole jangle-pop Velvet Underground worship known as the Dunedin Sound was popular during the 80s, this is the period where New Zealand music was/is most acclaimed. The Verlaines are the smart band with the Dunedin Sound, their name is a reference the Paul Verlaine, and they crammed everything from Schubert to Verlaine's homosexual relationship with Rimbaud into their single, 'Death and the Maiden'. Downes is now an intellectual lecturing at Otago University, see.
Artist: The Clean
Album: Anthology (compilation)
Years Active: 1978-
Genre: Lo-fi/Indie/Jangle-Pop/Post-Punk
Sounds Like: Tall Dwarfs, the Verlaines
The anthology sums up everything you need from the Clean up to Unknown Country. Probably the best introduction to the Dunedin Sound. Hugely influential and still playing shows today.
Artist: Gordons
Album: 1st Album and Future Shock EP
Years Active: 1980-85
Genre: Post-Punk/Noise Rock
Sounds Like: Shellac, Big Black, Scratch Acid, Joy Division
On breaking up, formed Bailter Space (probably the best known band here), but far superior imo. Mostly tight post-punk with reverb/treble tinny guitars that are occassionally let loose sounding kinda shoegazey, foreshadowing Bailter Space's sound. The start of the uglier side of the 80s in NZ music.
Artist: This Kind of Punishment
Album: A Beard of Bees
Years Active: 1980s
Genre: Post-Punk/Lo-fi
Sounds Like: This Heat
Download: Here
Melancholy post-punk with singer-songwriter tendencies. Highly recommended.
Artist: Peter Jefferies
Album: Last Challenge in a Dull World
Years Active: 1980-
Genre: Post-Punk/Lo-fi
Sounds Like: This Kind of Punishment, Alastair Galbraith
Download: Here
Get this if you digg This Kind of Punishment. Peter Jefferies was a member. Pretty unknown cult goodness.
Artist: Alastair Galbraith
Album: Seely Girn
Years Active: 1980-
Genre: Lo-fi
Sounds Like: This Kind of Punishment, Peter Jefferies
Download: Here
Features on other artists albums around the place.
Artist: Bailter Space
Album: Robot World
Years Active: 1980s as the Gordons, 90s as Bailter Space
Genre: Shoegaze/Noise Rock
Sounds Like: Gordons, Sonic Youth, The Verlaines
Download: Here
Cranking up the distortion but making up for it with melodies and less aggressive vocals. More shoegaze, less post-punk, but still more Big Black than My Bloody Valentine.
Artist: The Dead C
Album: Harsh 70s Reality
Years Active: 1980s-
Genre: Avant-garde, Noise, Noise Rock
Sounds Like: Sonic Youth, Harry Pussy
Casual noise from guys that don't sound like they care. If it's too much, skip the first few tracks and see how it goes.
Artist: The Dead C
Album: The White House
Years Active: 1980s-
Genre: Avant-garde, Noise, Noise Rock
Sounds Like: Sonic Youth, Harry Pussy
Download: Here
Harsh 70s Reality's more friendly and psychedlic younger brother. Again, skip the first few tracks if it's all a bit much.
Artist: Gate
Album: The Dew Line
Years Active: 1980s-
Genre: Drone, Folk, Noise, Noise Rock
Sounds Like: The Dead C, This Kind of Punishment
We're moving into more modern New Zealand music now. A lot of it's cool 'cause it references the older stuff so much.
Artist: Birchville Cat Motel
Album: Beautiful Speck Triumph
Years Active: 1990s-
Genre: Ambient, Drone, Noise
Sounds Like: Yellow Swans
Just wait for the closing track..
Artist: Birchville Cat Motel
Album: Our Love Will Destroy the World
Years Active: 1990s-
Genre: Drone, Noise, Noise Rock
Sounds Like: The Dead C
Download: Here
Artist: Black Boned Angel
Album: Supereclipse
Years Active: 2000s
Genre: Drone, Doom
Sounds Like: Sunn O))), Nadja
Download: Here
Artist: The Mint Chicks
Album: Octagon, Octagon, Octagon EP
Years Active: 2000s
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Sounds Like: The Blood Brothers, Ex Models, At the Drive-In
Artist: The Mint Chicks
Album: Anti-Tiger EP
Years Active: 2000s
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Pop
Sounds Like: Ex Models, An Albatross, Die! Die! Die!
The greatest live band ever until they went pop. I saw them live with the Blood Brothers and they were crazier. If you're interested in their pop stuff I can upload some of that too.
Artist: Die! Die! Die!
Album: Die! Die! Die!
Years Active: 2000s
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie, Post-Punk
Sounds Like: The Mint Chicks, Steve Albini related projects, Joy Division
Download: Here
Pure Steve Albini (who recorded the album for them) worship. I read an interview with them and they say the three albums you need are: Joy Division's Closer, the Gordons album I posted and Shellac's Terraform. The catchiest noise rock you'll ever hear, the vocals grate, but the rhythm section is powerful as hell.
Artist: The Brunettes
Album: Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks
Years Active: 2000s
Genre: Twee
Sounds Like: Lou Reed dueting with an angel. The Vaselines, Belle and Sebastian, the Velvet Underground..
Download: Here
Crazy good live. Emerged from the underground playing over the top twee, got a bit more serious and signed to Sub Pop. Heather (female vocalist) is bangin'
Artist: Surf City
Album: Surf City EP
Years Active: 2000s-
Genre: Indie, Dunedin Sound, Post-Punk
Sounds Like: A throwback to everything on here
Download: Here
Artist: David Kilgour
Album: Frozen Orange
Years Active: 1970s-
Genre: Soft rock
Sounds Like: The Clean minus experimentation
Download: Here
Nearly everything here has been either released by, or heavily influenced by bands on the label Flying Nun. I've barely scraped the surface here of great New Zealand music, so if you're interested, check out their website. I recommend pretty much every band up there. If I can ever be bothered I'll rip my DVD that covers the music videos from the Clean to the Mint Chicks chronologically.
These lists are also helpful:
Since the early 2000s there has been more of a focus on dub, reggae, and drum & bass. There's also a really popular indie scene but I won't go there..
If anyone wants it I can upload this. It's basically stretched out dub/reggae/electronica/jazz that's really really good, and almost sums up where good NZ music is now.
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One [FLAC]
I see a beach...the waves pounding against the shore. A beautiful girl, her heart beating against her breast. I see a tall, handsome man. Now I see it! Now I see it! I can hear the roar of the Ocean. And finally I can hear the Music of love. I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING AS ONE.Download FLAC
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Clean
The Clean are a hugely influential lo-fi/post-punk/indie pop band from New Zealand. I don't actually know how well known they are outside of New Zealand, but like the Verlaines, famous bands from other parts of the world namedrop them to be cool.Anthology (2003) [VBR]
Their early lo-fi indie stuff and their most popular.
Download
Unknown Country 1996 [256 m4a]
Something from their more recent, mature period. Probably not as appealing as their early work, it's without that lo-fi jangle-pop charm, but it's their best in my opinion. Available in FLAC if anyone particularly wants it.
I've got a solo album by David Kilgour too if there's interest. Comment if you like this sort of thing. Being the patriot that I am, I'd be more than happy to post more New Zealand music if people are liking it.
Bossk - .1 & .2
Short lived nature sludge/post-rock band. I usually get bored with most post-rock bands, so I always find special if I can listen to one and still be awake when the album stops. Already disbanded only releasing these 2 EPs, but one of the band members released an album in another band, which I'll probably post soon.
.1 @ VBR
.2 @ 192
Boris - FLAC reuploads
Because it was about time for it.
If someone has more boris in FLAC uploaded post in comments and I'll edit the post.
Amplifier Worship
Flood
Feedbacker
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Verlaines - Bird Dog (1987) [320]
The Verlaines play fucking awesome jangle-pop indie stuff with heaps of literary references in the lyrics so you can feel smart while listening to them. Their most famous song is Death and the Maiden which you might recognise. Stephen Malkmus loved it and recorded his own cover that you can watch on youtube. Also, yeah, I think it's a reference to Schubert. Graeme Downes loves classical music.Watch the original here (yeah, I know, faggy hipsters smoking Camel cigarettes)
Please leave a comment if you like it so I feel motivated to upload some stuff by the Clean.
Henry Cow - Western Culture (Remastered)
karppy and nostalghia's request
After Henry Cow's _In Praise of Learning_, the situation in the band was getting a little divisive. Lindsay Cooper and Tom Hodgkinson wanted to compose longer instrumental pieces, while Chris Cutler and Fred Frith wanted to focus on more song-oriented music. Unfortunately, they couldn't come to an agreement so Frith, Cutler, and Dagmar Krause released their song-based material as the first Art Bears album, _Hopes and Fears_, while Hodgkinson and Cooper's work was released as the final Henry Cow album, _Western Culture_.
And let me tell you, it's fookin' brilliant. _Western Culture_ is pretty much entirely composed, with only sporadic glimpses of the band's previous affinities towards improvisation. Hodgkinson and Cooper each compose one side of the album (1 and 2, respectively -- BUT, they both wrote "1/2 the Sky"), and while they are distinctly different, it all ties together nicely because of the consistent harmonic quality and dense, tight arrangements. Best of all, this music, while very strange and complex, is also very moving and evocative, all the while deploying twisted, angular melodies, intense textural colors, dissonant harmonic language, and shifty motivic processes. This is also the most 'classical' sounding of their catalogue, probably because of the emphasis on wind instruments. Hodgkinson's pieces are gritty and atonal, complex and energetic. The organ outburst opening "Industry" takes off with Cutler's drumming unpredictably shifting accents. "The Decay of Cities" begins quite beautifully, with an unusually tuned acoustic guitar and melancholy trombone extending into catchy, danceable melodies, then strains of clattering noise split by a four-note arpeggio played on different instruments, then to scratching violin, and eventually resolving itself with the a rearrangement of the early motif. Cooper's pieces embrace Eastern European folk traditions with astute modernism, like Stravinsky, although some of the most revelatory moments bring out jazz idioms, like the percussive avant-jazz piano in "Gretel's Tale" or the chirping free saxophone over falling, dense, slowly-moving organ chords on "1/2 the Sky", which creates a very ominous sound. Cooper also provides "Look Back", a short, melancholy chamber piece for strings, woodwinds, and bass guitar, and in contrast to the album's prickly music, this is quite lyrical and beautiful (wish it was longer...). "Falling Away" is an aggressive rocker with an intricate folk melody and a churning rhythmic undercurrent. The music deconstructs in the middle, building towards its joyous apogee with its return to main melody at the end -- one of my favorite Henry Cow moments. Chris Cutler's drumming is at its finest here.
Definitely check this one out. This is Henry Cow's swansong, a tremendously rewarding album that still ranks as one of the most compositionally sophisticated 'rock' albums ever. This is one of those albums that I could listen to every day for the rest of my life and not get bored of it. It is constantly satisfying, eminently listenable and gives me a feeling like no other CD.
password: haveanicelife
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why (2009)
IT LEAKED BITCHES!
Also unlike the Baroness album, this one doesn't disappoint.
Download 320
password: haveanicelife
Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire (2004)
Like nothing I've ever heard before, Melvins at their best play while Lustmord fucks their music in the best way possible. Dark sludgebient metal. And don't feel weird if you think this sounds like Tool sometimes, Adam Jones is in this album too (in fact I could upload Tool in lossless in the following weeks).
Download @ 320
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Nick Cave - The Boatman's Call [FLAC]
Tolkkii's request- it's taken months, sorry if you've found it elsewhereI had a few problems with uploading (fucking mediafire), so tell me if there's an issue when you get it
Download (Mediafire)
Radiohead - Kid A (ALAC)
"I had never even seen a shooting star before. 25 years of rotations, passes through comets' paths, and travel, and to my memory I had never witnessed burning debris scratch across the night sky. Radiohead were hunched over their instruments. Thom Yorke slowly beat on a grand piano, singing, eyes closed, into his microphone like he was trying to kiss around a big nose. Colin Greenwood tapped patiently on a double bass, waiting for his cue. White pearls of arena light swam over their faces. A lazy disco light spilled artificial constellations inside the aluminum cove of the makeshift stage. The metal skeleton of the stage ate one end of Florence's Piazza Santa Croce, on the steps of the Santa Croce Cathedral. Michelangelo's bones and cobblestone laid beneath. I stared entranced, soaking in Radiohead's new material, chiseling each sound into the best functioning parts of my brain which would be the only sound system for the material for months.The butterscotch lamps along the walls of the tight city square bled upward into the cobalt sky, which seemed as strikingly artificial and perfect as a wizard's cap. The staccato piano chords ascended repeatedly. "Black eyed angels swam at me," Yorke sang like his dying words. "There was nothing to fear, nothing to hide." The trained critical part of me marked the similarity to Coltrane's "Ole." The human part of me wept in awe.
The Italians surrounding me held their breath in communion (save for the drunken few shouting "Criep!"). Suddenly, a rise of whistles and orgasmic cries swept unfittingly through the crowd. The song, "Egyptian Song," was certainly momentous, but wasn't the response more apt for, well, "Creep?" I looked up. I thought it was fireworks. A teardrop of fire shot from space and disappeared behind the church where the syrupy River Arno crawled. Radiohead had the heavens on their side.
For further testament, Chip Chanko and I both suffered auto-debilitating accidents in the same week, in different parts of the country, while blasting "Airbag" in our respective Japanese imports. For months, I feared playing the song about car crashes in my car, just as I'd feared passing 18- wheelers after nearly being crushed by one in 1990. With good reason, I suspect Radiohead to possess incomprehensible powers. The evidence is only compounded with Kid A-- the rubber match in the band's legacy-- an album which completely obliterates how albums, and Radiohead themselves, will be considered.
Even the heralded OK Computer has been nudged down one spot in Valhalla. Kid A makes rock and roll childish. Considerations on its merits as "rock" (i.e. its radio fodder potential, its guitar riffs, and its hooks) are pointless. Comparing this to other albums is like comparing an aquarium to blue construction paper. And not because it's jazz or fusion or ambient or electronic. Classifications don't come to mind once deep inside this expansive, hypnotic world. Ransom, the philologist hero of C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet who is kidnapped and taken to another planet, initially finds his scholarship useless in his new surroundings, and just tries to survive the beautiful new world.
This is an emotional, psychological experience. Kid A sounds like a clouded brain trying to recall an alien abduction. It's the sound of a band, and its leader, losing faith in themselves, destroying themselves, and subsequently rebuilding a perfect entity. In other words, Radiohead hated being Radiohead, but ended up with the most ideal, natural Radiohead record yet.
"Everything in Its Right Place" opens like Close Encounters spaceships communicating with pipe organs. As your ears decide whether the tones are coming or going, Thom Yorke's Cuisinarted voice struggles for its tongue. "Everything," Yorke belts in uplifting sighs. The first-person mantra of "There are two colors in my head" is repeated until the line between Yorke's mind and the listener's mind is erased.
Skittering toy boxes open the album's title song, which, like the track "Idioteque," shows a heavy Warp Records influence. The vocoder lullaby lulls you deceivingly before the riotous "National Anthem." Mean, fuzzy bass shapes the spine as unnerving theremin choirs limn. Brash brass bursts from above like Terry Gilliam's animated foot. The horns swarm as Yorke screams, begs, "Turn it off!" It's the album's shrill peak, but just one of the incessant goosebumps raisers.
After the rockets exhaust, Radiohead float in their lone orbit. "How to Disappear Completely" boils down "Let Down" and "Karma Police" to their spectral essence. The string-laden ballad comes closest to bridging Yorke's lyrical sentiment to the instrumental effect. "I float down the Liffey/ I'm not here/ This isn't happening," he sings in his trademark falsetto. The strings melt and weep as the album shifts into its underwater mode. "Treefingers," an ambient soundscape similar in sound and intent to Side B of Bowie and Eno's Low, calms after the record's emotionally strenuous first half.
The primal, brooding guitar attack of "Optimistic" stomps like mating Tyrannosaurs. The lyrics seemingly taunt, "Try the best you can/ Try the best you can," before revealing the more resigned sentiment, "The best you can is good enough." For an album reportedly "lacking" in traditional Radiohead moments, this is the best summation of their former strengths. The track erodes into a light jam before morphing into "In Limbo." "I'm lost at sea," Yorke cries over clean, uneasy arpeggios. The ending flares with tractor beams as Yorke is vacuumed into nothingness. The aforementioned "Idioteque" clicks and thuds like Aphex Twin and Bjork's Homogenic, revealing brilliant new frontiers for the "band." For all the noise to this point, it's uncertain entirely who or what has created the music. There are rarely traditional arrangements in the ambiguous origin. This is part of the unique thrill of experiencing Kid A.
Pulsing organs and a stuttering snare delicately propel "Morning Bell." Yorke's breath can be heard frosting over the rainy, gray jam. Words accumulate and stick in his mouth like eye crust. "Walking walking walking walking," he mumbles while Jonny Greenwood squirts whale-chant feedback from his guitar. The closing "Motion Picture Soundtrack" brings to mind The White Album, as it somehow combines the sentiment of Lennon's LP1 closer-- the ode to his dead mother, "Julia"-- with Ringo and Paul's maudlin, yet sincere LP2 finale, "Goodnight." Pump organ and harp flutter as Yorke condones with affection, "I think you're crazy." To further emphasize your feeling at that moment and the album's overall theme, Yorke bows out with "I will see you in the next life." If you're not already there with him.
The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax. It's an album of sparking paradox. It's cacophonous yet tranquil, experimental yet familiar, foreign yet womb-like, spacious yet visceral, textured yet vaporous, awakening yet dreamlike, infinite yet 48 minutes. It will cleanse your brain of those little crustaceans of worries and inferior albums clinging inside the fold of your gray matter. The harrowing sounds hit from unseen angles and emanate with inhuman genesis. When the headphones peel off, and it occurs that six men (Nigel Godrich included) created this, it's clear that Radiohead must be the greatest band alive, if not the best since you know who. Breathing people made this record! And you can't wait to dive back in and try to prove that wrong over and over."
ALAC is basically the Apple/iPod-compatible version of FLAC. Going to be either posting stuff from now on in that format or LAME.
Eat dogshit EMI and Apple inc.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch! (FLAC)
"Eric Dolphy has one foot in the compositional richness of Mingus and another in the avant-garde -- at the time, Dolphy was boldly stepping beyond tradition. So perfect are these pieces that it can be difficult to tell where composition ends and improvisation begins, and that ambiguity is part of _Out to Lunch_'s hook. Solos build out of the written arrangement and overlay the rhythms; melodically and rhythmically, this is tougher and sharper than most of the jazz I have heard so far. The playing is absolutely great.
"Hat and Beard" is a skittering, tense work. Dolphy's solo trades off with the trumpet, while furious drumming seems to dare Freddie Hubbard to become more aggressive, and he must finally concede to a quiet tintinnabulation of vibes. Here vibist Bobby Hutcherson seems to face conflict of its own as the nervous rhythm continues to exact a stretched eagerness until the main theme makes a return. Mwahaha, I like it. On "Out to Lunch", Tony Williams' playing is like an entirely new drumming language, superlatively intuitive and subtly emphasizing the perfect notes. In Dolphy's words, "Tony doesn't play time, he plays pulse." (Might not really make sense until you hear it though.) In fact, the rhythm work on this whole album is all astonishing and very easily some of the best I've heard. Players scuffle around the a repeated theme with tense solos, baiting other players and everyone takes the spotlight somewhere, occasionally at the same time. "Straight Up and Down" is a metrical labyrinth, but very swingin' with silvery melodies, achieving accessibility despite complexity. Williams and Richard Davis (bass) are very intense here. The best part is the end, where the initial theme returns with a pendent hum on the vibes -- it's almost disorienting coming out of the tricky stuff, like spinning in circles for a minute or two then stopping and being hit with dizziness. "Gazzelloni" starts with a catchy harmonious lilt then spirals into free territory that sounds more neatly arranged than it does random -- a testament to the skill of these masters. "Something Sweet, Something Tender" is a dulcet piece, mellow but rhapsodic. This one uses some deep harmonic languages to convey its feeling.
VERY sad that Eric Dolphy passed away shortly after recording _Out to Lunch_, because he probably could have gone on to some even more amazing work after this."Download FLAC
or
Download 320
Password: haveanicelife
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Have a Nice Life - Voids (2009)
FUCK YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Compiled here are two separate EPs, the first being Have A Nice Life's extremely rare second demo, Powers Of Ten, and the second being What Happened Next Was Worse, a collection of tracks written around the same time as Deathconsciousness that didn't make it onto the main album. Together these two EPs make up Voids, a sort of footnote detailing a little more of what was going on during the five year period leading up to 2008's Deathconsciousness.
Download
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything (1988) [FLAC Remastered]
My Bloody Valentine making proper songs instead of the noisy mess Loveless is.
Download@FLAC
More My Bloody Valentine:
Download Tremolo FLAC
Download You Made Me Realize FLAC
Download Loveless@FLAC (Lights Never Shine)
Monday, August 31, 2009
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing..... (FLAC)
From the opening sample of "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt" where a voice is heard saying "Producing..." you know you are listening to an outstanding piece of work. In order to better understand this, you have to position yourself at the time this album came out.
You have to realize Trip Hop was already in full fledge: Massive Attack and Portishead had already come out with their own thing, but DJ Shadow came with a different proposal in 1996 when he produced 'Endtroducing...'. Through the magic of samples, he blended in a way many have tried to copy, yet no one yet matched, genres such as rock, soul, funk, ambient, and jazz, into a final product that transcends time. If you need further proof of that, think how long it's been since this album came out (1996) as you are reading this, sit back, listen to it and be amazed, as so many have been amazed to this day.
After listening to 'Endtroducing...' almost daily for three weeks now, turning back and thinking of acts such as Fatboy Slim almost feels awkward, considering his sample-based 'Better Living Through Chemistry' came out almost a full year after Shadow's debut. Granted that everyone has a place in music, DJ Shadow's genius with sampling work simply is above and beyond, making this not only his breakthrough, but also one of the best albums ever.
Other favorite tracks: "Changeling", "Untitled" and the grandieuse "Mutual Slump". If you want to take a dip into an evolved form of his work, check out his side project, U.N.K.L.E., in particular 'Psyence Fiction'.
Password: haveanicelife
Art Bears - The World As It Is Today (1981)
Art Bears are a trio formed in the ashes of Henry Cow's breakup in 1978 with members Fred Firth, Chris Cutler and vocalist Dagmar Krause. Firth and Cutler wrote the music and play all instruments except Krause whose vocals are what make the album so great, particularly on "Freedom".Download 320 (courtesy of music-share.blogspot.com)
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun (FLAC)
VISION!
Instigate yourselves into the final frontier of dance! The last stop on Pyschedelia! Music with no purpose other than to rock out to: Vision Creation Newsun. Listen to the only album which will make you sweat sitting down! Yes, "make you sweat"! You! Well maybe not you: Are you Noise-Impotent? Do you have a problem with messy music? Do you have trouble with the pointless dance hits of the summer? Let me rephrase that last one: Do you find dancing pointless? Do you find that dancing, sweating, jumping around, bobbing your hand, all that "activity" stuff is ultimately just one aspect of living? The part that no intellectual person should constantly engage themselves in? Congratulations! You fail (Fail at what?) at being an interesting person!! (Kinda harsh...) Guess what! (What?) I love this album! (...) Now if only they played this at clubs all over the city (Hypocrite).
CREATION!
Imagine all my accolades for this album: A blend of decent to un-comprehensible descriptions on every song of the album which runs for seven-ten paragraphs. Now imagine yourself, probably sitting at your comp, thinking how "good" my review was. Finally, imagine me shaking your shoulders yelling/screaming/hollaring "WAKE UP/GET A GRIP/WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?".
Buy the freakin' album. Please. Unless of course, there is an artist or band out there who've one upped the trancedental trance the Boredoms have created (I highly doubt there is, as I would have heard of them. It's so easy being pretentious), then ignore that first utterence. Hopefully the journey you embark on is decent. Don't think when you listen to this. Thinking ruins everything. It ruins the atmosphere. It ruins the trippy soundscape.
NEWSUN!
Dance!
Dance as if you've never seen people on TV dance!
If you cannot formulate a whacky dance move, at least shake your head in a wild way until you can't take it anymore!
Lock into the groove!
Feel the repetition! Don't ignore it!
Dive into the sound! Explore every corner! Dance in each corner!
Engage yourself!
Dance with the music!
Slow down when it slows!
Speed up when it speeds up!
Give the album a sweating-sitting listen!
Do a dancing re-listen!
GODDAMMIT I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS ANTI-CAPITAL REVIEWING-BULL!
DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!
DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!
There. -MoaM
Download FLAC
Reuploaded
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3 [FLAC]
Beautiful stuff. You've probably heard it on movie soundtracks and stuff.Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun (2006) [FLAC]
PMac551:
"This will probably be my first ever lengthy, emotion ridden, in depth review. But fuck it, this piece of art deserves the first. To describe what this album is to me, let me tell you something first:
The past week or so, I've been having a horrid time trying to sleep, due to my throat. It seriously feels as if my throat is closing at times, and it becomes hard to breathe and I need to constantly battle staying awake and getting drinks of water and just being scared that I'm going to choke. I have medication, and it has been getting better, but still. So last night I throw on this album before I go to sleep and my throw is slowly acting up, and this album is playing through my earphones. When my throat acts like this, my mind always runs astray. I fear of choking, and it ending...being dead. I don't fear death really, I just don't want to fucking die this abruptly. So while my throat is acting up, this album is softly going through "Wisconsin" and this music is doing SOMETHING for me. I can't say it is comforting me, telling me everything is going to be fine in it's own way through it's own cryptic musical language, or if it is simply making me accept this feeling of death. It was a really ambiguous emotion that was brought onto me, but I somehow became complacent with my state, and eventually began to settle down and sleep, all while this album was still playing in my ears. This album saved me in it's own, weird way.
Not only did I listen to this album last night, but all of this past week during the night I've listened to it as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
After all these times, I've realized what this album has become for me. It's not an album, this is my audible metaphor for life itself. I can't really make heads or tails of what it means, I have no use in analyzing all of it's little details, I don't "get it", it by itself doesn't make me happy or sad or angry or anything, it just is what it is. And it's always there when I choose to embrace it. And I wholly love it as it is, despite not being engaged in all of its nuances.
Fuck, I don't even know the song titles. I don't remember which song was which. I don't have a favorite or least favorite track. I don't care what the band member's names are, what they are working on now, or what the meaning behind any of this is. I don't give a shit if this band made a follow up, or if there was material before this. I don't care what genres this is.
All I DO know, is that this exists, and that it's here for me whenever I choose to embrace it. I felt this music, I actually sincerely felt like I was actively part of the sounds emitting from my earphones. This music overwhelmed me, and I don't even know why it did. Rating this 5 stars is trivial, because this music is part of me now, for better or worse.
Fuck all pretension. There has to be a way to describe something so meaningful to you without it being a simple 3 sentences, and doing it with somewhat exaggerated, emotional text is the only way to convey it.
There has to be a time when you just say FUCK YOU to the critical canon of music, all the trends, all of the hipsters and scenesters, all of the ratings, all of the opinions, all of the preconceptions, all of your biases, all of your caveats, and just give in and LISTEN. Shed all of your silly thoughts of what anyone else is concerned with, and just sit and bask in something, taking it in and reveling in what you are hearing with a certain kind of awe.
I don't care if you think I'm an obnoxious, pretentious snob right now for all I just wrote. I don't even give two shits if you agree with my rating. I just suggest you listen to this album, and hopefully it does for you what it did for me. If it doesn't, and you think "Wow, PMac was really talking out of his asshole, this is overhyped bullshit." That is fine as well.
Or maybe you will agree with me. Maybe you'll listen to this and think "The fact that human beings created music like this makes me have faith in humanity that maybe we still have sincerity left and that the world is a wonderful, wonderful place filled with wonderful people and things."
And maybe then I won't be alone in that above statement."
DOWNLOAD >> DISC 1 [FLAC]
DOWNLOAD >> DISC 2 [FLAC]
Don Cherry - Symphony for Improvisers (1966)
A great two-part avant-garde jazz album that has two bassists and a PICCOLO :D. Pharoah Sanders plays the piccolo as well as tenor sax with Barbieri. One of the free-ist Blue Note releases (which isn't saying too much).Download 192
Bloody Panda - Summon (2009)
"Fronted by Japanese siren and accomplished visual artist Yoshiko Ohara, whose death defying wails have at once drawn comparison to Diamanda Galas, Björk and Jarboe, Bloody Panda creates unique, affecting heavy music that combines visceral power, pained beauty and devastating emotion. Since its formation in 2005, Bloody Panda has skillfully combined the brutal with the entrancing, generating buzz with the UG metal sect and the indie set alike, each drawn to the band's super-strength songs, funeral doom arrangements and the sight and sound of a petite woman chanting and screaming in both English and Japanese alongside four imposing musicians sporting executioner's masks.
Recorded at New York's Excello Recordings and Secret Weapon Studios with engineer Jason Marcucci (Flaming Lips, The White Stripes) and the band's Josh Rothenberger, Summon is a nightmarish, cryptic trip that boosts Bloody Panda's disturbing cinematic vision of terror and frightening ferocity to altogether new spheres. The follow up to the band's acclaimed debut Pheromone, Summon is described as "the aural equivalent of a Takashi Miike film translated into doom metal." The album is an artful time-stretching opus that morphs through a vast cornucopia of both darkened sound and disturbing tone."
tl;dr
Hipster doom metal with feedbacking, japanese female vocals, organ-like keyboards and tribal drumming. Among the best albums of the year. Best played loud.
Download@v0
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Don Cherry - Live at Café Montmartre (1966)
A live performance of trumpeter Don Cherry's quintet by a radio station in Denmark. Probably the most multiracial quartet ever (American trumpeter, Hispanic saxophonist, Italian drummer, German vibraphonist, and Danish bassist). Overall, it's pretty accessible album as far as "free jazz" goes, and of course I'm a sucker for anything this guy composes. There are heavy blowing moments but Karl Berger's vibes provide a nice foil to it. (Also, LOL@the guy trying to say "improvisation" at the beginning of track 5.)Download 256
David Bowie - Heroes (Remastered FLAC)
The Duke + King Crimson + Brian Eno = One of the greatest albums of the late 70's
Bowie's catalogue is very diverse in terms of styles and personas he's adopted over the years. Most people familiar with his work are likely to name 'Ziggy Stardust" and "Low" as milestone albums. But when someone mentions "Heroes," one immediately thinks of the monolithic title track, which to this day retains a place in David's live shows. 'Heroes,' the album, has always been rather overlooked; the spotlight being stolen by it's sister, 'Low.' And while 'Low' is most definitely a masterpiece, 'Heroes' is an excellent work in it's own right and deserves re-evaluation.
'Heroes' takes the listener away to an alternative world filled with chaos ("Beauty and the Beast"), desperation ("Blackout"), nostalgia ("Sons of the Silent Age") and humor ("Secret Life of Arabia"). David's voice hits startling new heights here, and he's singing as though his life depended on it. The ambient instrumental tracks range from murky ("Sense of Doubt") to soothing ("Moss Garden") to horrific ("Neukoln").
I find it almost a cathartic experience listening to 'Heroes,' for it's as if David is purging all these raw emotions out of his system and trying to make the best of a difficult situation (relevant to his circumstances during the time the album was recorded). Depending on my mood, it's not uncommon that I feel either drained or refreshed after listening to the album in one sitting.
'Heroes' evokes a whole gamut of feelings, and is a most provocative listening experience. It's a wild runaway-train of an album, by an artist who was always far ahead of his time.
Download Remastered FLAC
Monday, August 24, 2009
Brian Eno - Another Green World (Vinyl FLAC)
In an interview ten years after the release of his acknowledged 1975 masterpiece ANOTHER GREEN WORLD, Brian Eno said, "I want the music to be as much as possible a continuous condition of the environment...in the same way as a painting is." This goes a long way toward explaining Eno's approach to music, where tone and texture take precedence over lyrics and melody. These are not so much songs as they are ambient sound paintings. Even on songs like "I'll Come Running", which seems to follow a conventional song structure, there is an ethereal beauty about it.
Even on the songs where Eno includes lyrics, they seem to be there not so much for meaning, but for the images they conjure. Consider these lines from "St. Elmo's Fire": "Then we rested in the desert/ Where the bones were white as teeth, sir/ And we saw St. Elmo's Fire / Splitting ions in the ether." In fact, in the Lyrics to "Sky Saw," Eno seems to be saying the words really aren't that important since most people don't pay any attention to them: " All the clouds turn to words / All the words float in sequence / No one knows what they mean / Everyone just ignores them." Besides, only five of the tracks include vocals; the remainder are instrumentals.
Several tracks are less than two minutes ("Over Fire Island," "Little Fishes" and the title track), but the longest track--the vocal "Everything Merges with the Night"--is just barely over four minutes. While the opening track ("Sky Saw") is a gritty guitar-driven song, the rest of the album has a gentle, lush quality. Eno is joined on some tracks by John Cale, Phil Collins and Robert Fripp, as well as a handful of other musicians. If you're new to the music to Brian Eno, this is the place to start. ESSENTIAL
Download Vinyl FLAC
Rhys Chatham - An Angel Moves Too Fast To See (VBR)
Sorry bros, not the compilation. The final disc of the compilation, the songs making up the piece under the same name. The most enjoyable thing on there imo, angular no-wave/post rock kind of. I was listening to that Arvo Part I posted a little while back, more people should really try that out. It's choral of course, but I love it and I don't usually like choral stuff. It's strange and minimalist, with quick crescendos and disappearances (forgive my lack of knowledge in the way of classical music) and lovely background arrangements. Kind of like what Sunn O))) attempted to do on some of the tracks on Monoliths and Dimensions but didn't succeed as well as Part does there (of course. Also, Monoliths and Dimensions is one of my favourite albums of 2009 so far), so just give it a try
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Antlers - Hospice (2009)
All pitchfork jokes aside, I decided to give this album a proper listen. I had tried it two or three times before, and thought it was alright, but I sat down last night with the liner notes in front of me (from their site, didn't think I PAID for music, did you?) and read the lyrics as the album went on.
I felt genuine sadness on behalf of this singer and the patient. Not just "oh, that would be sad", but several times I felt sadness in the pit of my stomach. Absolutely worth listening to.
You can download the liner notes here: http://www.antlersmusic.com/linernotes.pdf
Download v0
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Gate - The Dew Line (VBR)
This will be the most polarizing thing I post here. I listen to it and I get into it, fuzzed out, droney and all that, cool stuff made by cool junkie guy (he probably isn't a junkie). Then I decide to get out of the fuzzed out drones and listen to it objectively and realize that it's kind of boring and long and the guy probably isn't trying very hard. I get into it again though, and it's really good.It's Michael Morley (from the Dead C ) doing drone/folk kind of stuff.
Give the song Have Not a try and you'll know whether you'll love or hate the album
Oh, and then go to the Gate page on last.fm and deny the existence of the Japanese grindcore and Norwegian folk bands also called Gate.
That file looks a bit small, I might've forgotten this when archiving (sorry bros I'll get better at this blog business some day)
Track 7 from Pastel Blues is up now
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Allman Brothers Band - The Fillmore Concerts (1971)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender [FLAC]
Requested by Talvi.
"Ys" has been successful here, so let's check what "The Milk-Eyed Mender" can give us.
DOWNLOAD [FLAC]
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
NoMeansNo - Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? [FLAC]
A concept album of sorts -- the question posed by the title isn't answered until the final line of the album (and is lol) -- Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy?, like nearly everything else the band has released over the years, is clear and definite proof of the group's inspired, creative energy. More than once the duo hits amazing rock epic heights that have more sheer lift and charge than most anything that laid claim to the title -- about the only North American band at the time who had a similar feeling was Drive Like Jehu. Songs like The River, with a brilliant, powerful vocal matching the surging, rising riffs, and the constantly time-shifting prog/metal/punk master-stomp "Kill Everyone Now" sound like they're about to burst out of the speakers, come to life, and go off hunting and slaying..flac /// v0
Boredoms - Super Roots 9 [FLAC]
Monday, August 17, 2009
Mike Patton - A Perfect Place (2008) [FLAC]
As requested! Very Ennio Morricone inspired, like the more mellow parts of Mr Bungle's California. Really good shit if you're a Mike Patton fan like I am.Download (Mediafire)
Autechre Megapost
When was the last time I made a post here?Confield and Untilted have one bonus track each.
Shiina Ringo - Sanmon Gossip [FLAC]
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Shiina Ringo - Shouso Strip [FLAC]
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Smog - A River Aint Too Much To Love (2005) [FLAC]
The Joanna Newsom post a few days ago reminded me to post this. I saw Smog and Joanna Newsom play a show a few years back that was just fantastic.If you aren't into lyrics, you probably won't like this. Despite some lovely arrangements, it's Bill Callahan's gravelly voice and sad lyrics that keep the listener for the 50 minute duration of the album. If you aren't listening to his stories, the whole thing is a bit long and repetitive. I know this because I personally can't get enough of Smog, whereas my sister sat at the show waiting for him to get off stage so she could see Joanna.
Download (Mediafire)
Here's a re-up of OM's Pilgrimage, as requested
And here's The Dry Lake from Hex. According to my Mediafire download count, there are around 40 people who didn't get my update so are missing this track.
Swans - Various Failures
You can bank your hard earned money on Failure
If you're new to Swans: These are the songs Johnny Cash would sing after killing his children in their sleep. These are the songs Mrs. Cash would sing after deciding he did the right thing. They'd sit in the dark, and wait for God's judgment. Melodramatic? Sure, but I'm tellin' you...
"Various Failures" showcases Swans in their Old Testament folk-rock period. After the first several releases, they moved away from death-march discord into more conventional music. There's easily more wrath and despair in Swans than in any other band I've heard. Michael Gira sings of a world where human life has no value ("Was He Ever Alive?", "Failure," "The Childs Right") and the only effective diversion is devouring the weak. Jarboe is the queen of oblivion ballads ("Song for Dead Time," "When She Breathes," "I Remember Who You Are").
This album, along with 1996's "Soundtracks for The Blind," makes me wonder if there wasn't some actual possession going on; it couldn't ALL be done through vivid imagination alone. The stories are so intense, the music so skillful, and the cd packaging so inspired that "Various Failures" remains a powerful example of Swans in its middle age. Plus, Jarboe does some cool covers ("Black Eyed Dog," "Can't Find My Way Home," and "Love Will Tear Us Apart"). Do not listen to this stuff in the dark unless you're a masochist.
Reupload requests
Deep Turtle - Turkele!! (2003) [320]
Better than Deep Purple imo. Supa technical and energetic progressive hardcore art punk or something or weirdcore lol. Something like Cardiacs+NoMeansNo. They sing in spanish I guess (they are from Finland tho). Really good!
wikipedia
Download [320] mp3
Friday, August 14, 2009
Don Cherry - Eternal Rhythm (1969)
Don Cherry's only fame up to this point was his work as a trumpeter for Ornette Coleman, particularly on his famous 1959 LP The Shape of Jazz to Come. But here, Cherry takes the reigns and makes one of the strangest, most beautiful live jazz experiments ever caught on tape. Eternal Rhythm is a two-part fusion of free jazz, gamelan, and several styles of European music. Definitely worth a listen even for those not fond of the free jazz scene. One of my personal favorites.Download 320
Steve Reich - Works: 1965-1995 [FLAC]
10 discs consisting of: Early Works, Drumming, Music for Mallet Instruments / Clapping music / Marimbas, Music for 18 Musicians (split into 14 tracks), Tehillim / Octet revision, The Desert Music, New York Counterpoint / Sextet / The Fours Sections, Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint / Three Movements, The Cave and Proverb / Nagoya Marimbas / City Life.All the credit is due to rem6775
part 1
part 2
part 3
= 2,77 gb
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Susumu Yokota - Mother (2009)
Saw some bro had it on wishlist so here it is. Ambient with pop/shoegaze vocals from japan. Nice chill out music.
Download @ 320
Steve Reich - Octet / Music for a Large Ensemble / Violin Phase [FLAC]
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Melvins - Houdini (1993) [FLAC]
The only album in my record collection that has been on high rotation for over 4 years now (maybe 5 or something).
Check out my Earth post for the track The Dry Lake if you downloaded the earlier version with that missing
Download (Mediafire)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Yo La Tengo - The Sounds of the Sounds of Science (2002)
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Bark Psychosis - Hex (1994)
Ethereal is one of the most accurate terms to describe this one. Post-rock (not in the soft-loud sense) with a lush, airy, somewhat jazzy atmosphere. Recommended night-time listening.
Download (320)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom (FLAC)
I'm hesitant to write anything about this album. It is too good and things that are too good typically transcend language.
So, for what it's worth, I have harbored a theory for many years which consists of the following. If a capable artist is able to allow his or her work to become completely subjective that artist will touch upon something completely objective. That is to say, the artist will come to terms with something that is true to almost every human being.
If you were born in the 20th century somewhere in the western world, "Rock Bottom" will contain something important for you. Less politicized than most of Wyatt's work, (his outwardly-directed commentary here feels more sociological and personal: "I fight with the handle of my little brown broom...I pull out the wires of the telly-phone...I hurt in the head and I hurt in the aching bone...) "Rock Bottom" is musically and lyrically a work of deeply personal conviction that more than makes up for the immature indulgences of "End of an Ear". In fact, you are forced to wonder if this music would have ever existed had Wyatt not lost the use of his legs in what amounts to a needless, unfortunate accident. While the new cover does the original a bit of disservice -- things do not go swimmingly on this record -- the songs remain the same. Which is to say, the songs can be uplifting and remarkably painful all at once.
There's no reason to guess about what Wyatt came through to arrive at this point. He was an immensely gifted drummer and with "Rock Bottom" he emerges as an immensely gifted writer. I have heard no other record that is filled with such melancholy and determination and self-awareness. Each listening, no matter how many years intervene, provides the listener with a new sense of humility and gratitude. "Rock Bottom" is a singular document in music and in life. If you find yourself in need of something to believe in, try this.
This Kind of Punishment - A Beard of Bees (1984) [320]
Described somewhere as 'This Heat gone introspective'. It's not as good as that sounds, but it's on the right track. It took me a few listens to get used to the vocals, but there is a lot here that you'll be missing if you don't give it at least a few tries too. What you have is a melancholic album that might be too soft for the 'post-punk' tag, bookended with moving piano pieces played by one of the Jefferies (both of which have great, similarly gloomy solo releases if you're interested), filled with assorted effects and guitar layers over the awkward and unsure vocals that despite their nature, could not be removed from the whole without destroying its beauty. Listening to it, the influence of This Heat is quite clear (which is strange, I didn't actually think you could get This Heat records back then in the very isolated Dunedin), but the loops and effects don't seem as bent on experimentation. Rather, they serve as an interesting accompaniment to the guitar and voice. As the first and last track suggest, This Kind of Punishment, despite the additions, are perhaps more simple compositionally, the product of a couple of moody guys given studio time after the break-up of their post-punk band, Nocturnal Projections.
Tell me what you think when you've listened to it, I'd love to post some more Dunedin Sound kind of stuff if anyone is actually interested. Cool guys like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo dig this kind of shit so you should too.
I've re-uploaded The Dry Lake from my Hex FLAC, so hopefully that solves the problem there.
Boredoms - Super Roots 7 (Remastered FLAC)
God tier Boredoms, ranks up Vision Creation Newsun as their best and most lively work to date.
Download Remastered FLAC
Joanna Newsom - Ys (FLAC)
A woman and her harp.
Strum me away to fantasy land you magniloquent minstrel. My boner increases in girth with each wheat-fingered fleck of your yew-stringed lullaby maker.
And that voice, it's like angels fingering each other in helium heaven while pedophiles masturbate in hell.
Yes this album has it all. Oh, how I pine for a life in Narnia where I can see the computer generated deepthroating lion or make love to bizzaro Galadriel, and this album makes it a reality.
Stand naked in a half full bubblebath and pour this album over yourself like oil paint. Rub it into your filthy body, and always remember to scrub behind your ears and underneath your nuts.
Download FLAC
Al Pacino - Songs of Love and Hate (FLAC)
Without a doubt this is Cohen's darkest, most ambitious & quite possibly most depressing record. I think he inadvertently created a whole new genre here---Death Folk. Self proclaimed fans range from Kurt Cobain to Nick Cave.
"Avalanche" definitely veers on the hate side of things. Lyrically speaking, it's like stumbling across Richard The Third in an abandoned mineshaft. Toss in some stark, flamenco guitar & you get the picture. A dark start to a creepy, often disturbing album.
"Last Year's Man" is a fitting tribute to any old Casanova whose seen his 15 minutes come & go. The only thing missing here is a knout & a hairshirt. On "Dress Rehearsal Rag", the whole song reeks of dried blood, bandages & transient hotels. The only real upbeat number is, "Diamonds In The Mine", where he sings like he just gargled with Drano.
"Love Calls Your Name" has to be one of Cohen's most epic & underated ballads, while "Famous Blue Raincoat" is one of his more well known. It's certainly the only song off here ever included on a Best Of.
The pervasive atmosphere of jaded sarcasm comes to a fore with, "Sing Another Song, Boys" & by the time he gets to "Joan Of Arc" you'll be reaching for ABBA's GREATEST HITS.
Pretentious, cynical & pissed off---this is the sound of Cohen strumming his six-string with an open vein of hatred. He's never done anything like it, before or since.
Download FLAC
Earth - Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method (FLAC)
shit dogg is that earth's (second) best album in flac?Download (Mediafire)
The Dry Lake
Try this. If The Dry Lake is still corrupt, I'll re-upload it properly tomorrow with some Nadja and stuff to go along with it
Try this. If The Dry Lake is still corrupt, I'll re-upload it properly tomorrow with some Nadja and stuff to go along with it
Friday, August 7, 2009
Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves [FLAC]
A mixture of Post-Punk, Noise Rock and strange sounds here and there. Not enough noise.
DOWNLOAD [FLAC]
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Disco Inferno - The 5 E.P.'s
Disco Inferno is my favourite band labeled as Post-Rock, and this collection of divine brilliance overwhelmed me. I'm sure you'll like it too.
The.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Jesu - Infinity [FLAC]
whoa, almost a year passed since last Jesu release! I haven't listened to this yet. Too busy doing nothing and didn't feel like listening to one 50 minutes long track. I will tomorrow but you may want to even today.
dl flac / superior v0
Dadawah - Peace and Love (1974)
If my previous upload did not seem appealing to you, then hopefully this does. If you're not into Reggae-like music, then now might be a good time to give it chance. I present you some of the most powerful and soullifting music I have ever heard, don't miss out! :D
Pak - Motel (2005)
Fast-paced and crazy modern RIO, or umm, 'Brutal Prog'. These musicians made the choice to never slow down and think about what the fuck they're doing, and it's a choice I'm more than willing to accept, in fact it's a choice I can partly agree with! I'll just say that this is potentially mindblowing and leave you with this link
Nina Simone - Pastel Blues (1965) [320]
One of my favourite albums. Her voice is amazing, and is as scary she looks. Best-of compilations tend to overlook a lot of her brilliant early work, and in my opinion, this is the best of her early work. So there's no going wrong. Every song works well, starting with the humble a cappella Be My Husband (which was covered beautifully by Jeff Buckley, whom I don't even like), all leading up to the epic Sinnerman (which is used at the end of Inland Empire)
If anyone has any other good Nina Simone or some other old blues or folk singers, I'd appreciate the upload or the recommendation, I'm stuck on this album and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's Ella and Louis Again
Track 7 is now up, I've got to start testing my archives before uploading..
