(lostpilot's) Discoveries

[lostpilot]

I decided to start a thread in this forum to share my musical discoveries.
At this point in my music discoveries I am at the stage where I begin to realize many forms of music are actually available to me, so I decided to broaden my horizons.
Before me - many plausible discoveries yet to be discovered.

I will often use a term "post-genre". By this term I mean ascension from the regular rules of particular genre to the almost genius structural and melodic version of that particular genre. Yes, I invent genres, so what.

If you know any releases that should interest me, please, share!

Updated weekly.

Week 1:
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion;
Wavves - King of the Beach;
Pinkshinyultrablast - Happy Songs for Happy Zombies;
The Incredible String Band - S/T;
Electric Wizard - Dopethrone;
Wolves in the Throne Room - Malevolent Grain

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion. Oh boy - what a jump into a completely different sound yet familiar structures. I was thoroughly impressed by turning pop-motives towards listenable corner in their Fall Be Kind EP, but this grandeur album steps beyond pop-music. It's surely a masterpiece of almost chaotic yet perfectly fit pieces of modern pop music.

Wavves - King of the Beach. Intense, yet light, summer-y, sunny, noisy, interesting. As my friend described them, they should be defined as post-Blink182. Yes, somewhat soulless and anxious, but to see this genre in a totally different perspective is a blast. Very good with some friends, beer and a blunt. Genre? Surf rock. Beat this.

Pinkshinyultrablast - Happy Songs for Happy Zombies. Mogwai reference was not the reason I checked them out - generally a recommendation from the society of the internet; to get some thick shoegaze with extra-warm vocals. Been looking for something similar these days. Stepping into approachable shoegaze.

The Incredible String Band - S/T. Most of you will not like this album. Most likely only one of you will be able to listen to this album; but take this album to an extent of an experiment - collide your mind with our older generation's inner young mind. Collide. Compare. My step into acoustic/sunny/hippie/psychedelia.

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone. The pagan voices roams in my bong, yes, they're full in this album - but not in an aggressive way. A doom/stoner metal band with heavy tribal influences. Very enjoyable with headphones as an aural experience.

Wolves in the Throne Room - Malevolent Grain. Dark atmospheric ambient metal, distanced yet heartful, noisy with thickness of metal strings. Very doom-y, dark and dank. My step into heavier waters.




So much for this week. This will make me listen to new music.
Discuss, share, recommend!

[An bád dubh]

I decided to give Animal Collective yet another chance, though the last time I was disappointed with them was last friday I guess hehe.

Checked the album, was gonna stop it after the first 10 minutes or so but then I didnt. Listened to it all the way through, didnt love it, not sure if I even liked it, but it didnt turn me off enough for me to turn it off. (Haha, Im gonna use that last phrase I just wrote in my next song, totally!) Dont steal it people!

Edit. uuh, all the variations of it work as well. Gonna use all 4 variations in my next song, replacing "off" with "on".

So yeah, I will listen to that album again in a while. Still very doubtful if Im ever gonna enjoy this band but its worth the try.

[lostpilot]

I thought the same thing some time ago. I could not get into them, I did not feel anything spectacular about MPP, but then one day I just gave some time and an open mind - and it paid off quite well. Try not to compare their sound with anything regular that you listen to. Imagine this as the evolution of (pop) modern music altogether. That's the way I see it. To be honest, their previous releases still ceases to impress me very much, for example, 'Campfire Songs' was a blissful experience - an acoustic AC album, yet still psychedelic and textured.

[An bád dubh]

Some bands are worth trying to get into, lets see if this one is too.

[An bád dubh]

By the way, lostpilot, your second to last sentence in the opening post gave me a thought. The sentence was: "This will make me listen to new music".

I like the idea of you broadening your music horizons by actually "forcing" yourself to listen to new and different music.

My idea: Lets get together 5 to10 people with similar hopes, and force each other listen to new music, which will broaden our musical horizons.

In actuality: Starting a thread where all members of the experiment will agree to listen to the music presented in the thread. All members of the experiment post 1 new album weekly (or one in two weeks) which the other members will have to listen to. It will make between 5 to 10 albums of new listening per week. They would have to listen to it at least halfway through, as some albums one just can not listen to until the end. This would "force" the broadening of music taste, and would be quicker than just broadening it naturally during time.

Similar thing that you are doing to yourself, but we would do it as a group and to each other. We could also do it in a group and to ourselves, but I think the sense of achievement would also be different if one knows that others will listen to your music as well.

I would be in, would you? And give your thoughts on it.

[lostpilot]

I think I would be in, but basically there are already two  threads dealing with this stuff:

The album week thread (recommendations basically, but without pushing the limits too far etc)
Necrobestiali..blahblah's thread about violent "different" music (not what we want, cause I'd like to avoid the violence and anger in music).

So yes, basically, I am in.

[An bád dubh]

I like to avoid violence and anger in music as well. Basically the thread would have to have some limits to it, one should be able to decide not to listen to music which one does not want to listen to. For me those would me any kind of black metal/deatch metal/similar.

The album week thread is good. Lots of good music in there. Though not sure if recommendations are enough for most to try out new stuff.

Hmm, lets think about this, if we could come up with some sort of thread with clear guidelines and goals that would work well. Then put it in motion after all the albums weeks are done for example. Then we could see if there is interest for it.

[lostpilot]

It's a good idea to start this after the full circle of album weeks. Cause basically to start our thread during this time would be kinda silly - too much music coming towards people anyway

[bright lights, big city]

MPP's album art is one of my favorites. just thought i'd throw that out there.

[lostpilot]

the cover fits the book, right?

[lostpilot]

Previously on lostpilot's discoveries..


note: I decided not to put up links in my future posts. It's incredibly easy to find the albums on google - "band + album title + mediafire/megaupload/rapidshare". usually the first result to show up is a proper link. sorry, those who thought I'd always paste links.


WEEK 2:
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Keywords - psychedelic/abstract/indie/vocals/chaotic
Someone on SL told me to try this album after falling in love with Animal Collective. The album is in the same chaotic psychedelic vein as Animal Collective (=exploiting the usual music structures and forms and tones and etc). This could be quite enjoyable while high, no chance to try this yet.

Dirge - Wings of Lead Over Dormant Seas
Keywords - drone/metal/noisy/monotonic/waves/growl
A recommendation by a friend. This is drone in the form of intelligent metal. Four songs in the album, two of whose are somewhat incomplete (not less of the worth though), but the other two are completely epic in a very drone-y way.

Stubborn Tiny Lights VS Clustering Darkness Forever, OK? - The Infinite Regress
Keywords - regular postrock/artsy postrock/acappella moments
Nothing out of the ordinary in the post-rock, but these guys are pretty good in structure and the emotional evolution of their songs. Obvious influences - GY!BE, Yndi Halda and ASMZ = a fair attempt to create epic post-rock in a "band" mode.

Emeralds - Emeralds
Keywords - drone/electronic/dreamy/effects/percussion-less/without narrative
Something completely different from my usual (narrative) driven music  - Emeralds deliver abstract key-strokes in a completely electronic four song album. Interesting, thought-provoking, unusual. "Geode" reminds me of a drugged up version of Boards of Canada. Or a IMAX movie about technologies.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Keywords - shoegaze/bedroom romance/black hair/candles/introspective/Zevaka
Shoegaze at it's best. I did try Slowdive before, they were good, but MBV just outruns them twice or thrice with the emerging melodies, noise and very experimental outcome of the album. I was deeply surprised to find this band was that experimental - in terms of the sound textures.

Astrobrite - Crush
Keywords - shoegaze/psychedelic/noisy/abstract/experimental/female spirit
I would say this band could be the "Angelic Process" of the shoegaze. Taking what's good and reversing it completely in the process of creating this music. Very psychedelic at moments, abstract, sometimes just random noise, but mostly shoegaze-y structures, singing and melancholy.

Alcest - Souvenirs d'un Autre Monde
Keywords - post-Evanescence(lol)/romantic/semi-gothic/post-forms/emotional/female spirit
What a surprisingly good band! It's like listening to some form of gothic/dark romance rock with evident medieval influences, yet the song structures and repetitions are prominent of post-forms. Somewhat drone-y, which is very enjoyable.

extra/rediscovery: Amenra - Mass IIII
Keywords - screamo(?)/post-metal/agressive/nicely mixed/noisy
To be honest, I found Amenra a while go, when I found Isis/Neurosis/MOTA, but this band is clearly different from those bands - this band has more aggression, more outward power - at the same time, the band has more movement and power at itself compared with Isis, for example. This band has SOME slow moments (basically, the Mass IIII intro song is  the only moment of some slow epicness), but mostly it's aggression with feedbacks and heavy drumming.


See you next week!

[bright lights, big city]

I love Alcest. Like a lot. I need to try Deerhunter again. I listened to Cryptograms when it came out, and honestly got kind of bored with it. However, I feel my musical tastes are better and more diverse these days, so I'm going to be give them another shot.

MBV is good, don't get me wrong, and are the masters of the genre, but I put Slowdive right up there on the same pedestal as them. Have you listened to Lush? In that same vein as those 2 bands. I highly recommend them.

[Starz]

I don't know why but I really can't seem to get into Loveless by MBV. I prefer bands such as Slowdive and Bowery Electric and even A Shoreline Dream.

[E-Money]

Loveless is in my top 10 of all time!! Glad u enjoyed it lostpilot!!   

[lostpilot]

Very different opinions here!

MBV is good, don't get me wrong, and are the masters of the genre, but I put Slowdive right up there on the same pedestal as them. Have you listened to Lush? In that same vein as those 2 bands. I highly recommend them.

I find Slowdive too simple. Of course, Soulvaki is an awesome record, but at the same time it lacks the distortion and the noise, while Loveless delivers quite easily. Yeah, I have Lush on my drive, just need more time.

I don't know why but I really can't seem to get into Loveless by MBV. I prefer bands such as Slowdive and Bowery Electric and even A Shoreline Dream.

I've been there. Apparently, these days I am able to easily cross into bands and genres I once hated or wasn't able to get to! Open mind does magical things..

Loveless is in my top 10 of all time!! Glad u enjoyed it lostpilot!!   

What would be the other ten albums? Maybe something that would interest me?

[ben]

recommendations:

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
No Age
Abe Vigoda
Ducktails
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Baths
Bear In Heaven
Caribou
Crystal Antlers
Deerhoof
Lightning Bolt
HEALTH
Memory Tapes
Ponytail
The Morning Benders

[lostpilot]

crossing out what I've heard so far, and the list is -

downloaded
listened

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
No Age
Abe Vigoda
Ducktails
Baths
Bear In Heaven
Caribou
Deerhoof
Lightning Bolt
Memory Tapes
Ponytail
The Morning Benders

thank you, Ben!

recommendations:

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
No Age
Abe Vigoda
Ducktails
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
Baths
Bear In Heaven
Caribou
Crystal Antlers
Deerhoof
Lightning Bolt
HEALTH
Memory Tapes
Ponytail
The Morning Benders