#139 Seu Jorge - Cru

Heard about his new one on dusted, got this one instead - also, this is apparently the guy who did the Bowie songs on The Life Aquatic, so that's cool.

I could launch into sub-rants about how non-English vocals affect me, or about the Brazilian sound, but these posts are getting sort of bloated. I don't even know what I'm doing on here anymore.

Its a pleasant listen. Mellow and cool, never insisting on itself, but with enough pulse and texture to brighten your day. And its actually pretty diverse, almost to a fault, when more aggressive, electronic numbers bust up the flow. A good summer album, with crooney singing, swiped guitars and shuffley beats 3.5/5

#138 The Sugarcubes - Life's Too Good

Once again, I was reading the latest Believer and these guys were mentioned. I'd heard the name before, but didn't know where, figured I'd hit it.

At first I dismissed this as derivative: "This just sounds like some 90's singer. Who does it sound like? Oh yeah, you're totally trying to be Bjork you stupid...typa typa...oh, it is Bjork."

Fair enough.

This is the kind of time I'm glad that I'm doing this project, because I can immediately see how these guys were influenced by early REM. Also, they themselves certainly influenced later early alternative/indie bands like The Dismemberment Plan. Its a very 90's album, despite coming out in '88, and I guess I have to give it credit for its prescience. Bjork's voice is powerful and nuanced here, and that's certainly the main draw. Musically its uncomfortable in a way that evokes 90's acts like the Cranberries, Bjork's solo work, and even Tool, somehow.

That said, its not really pleasant to listen to, and the male singer takes a huge shit on every song he appears on. He comes across as a German douchebag, or the guy from The Prodigy, and he gives the music a pretentious 80's euro slant that I don't enjoy. At the end of the day, the album's interesting to have heard, but I have no use for this, and will likely never listen to it again, so I can't see giving it better than 2.5/5

#137 Neu! - Neu!

I heard them mentioned in a Believer article about drum machines, which talked about Kraftwerk, and mentioned that some members started Neu! afterwards. They're a name I'd heard bandied around, so lets hear what's what.

On some level, its what you'd expect from guys who just quit Kraftwerk. It's minimal, highly repetitive, and longwinded. On the other hand, it's more guitar driven, and arty in a different way. Ok, an aside. I think I know post-punk when I hear it, but when put on the spot, I struggle to define it. I think it comes down to two main things:

1. Subversion of pop approaches: punk did pop conventions nastily, post-punk tried to escape pop conventions.
2. Disinterest: punk hated society so much it lashed out, post-punk hated society so much it disconnected.

The result was a consciously arty movement that grew from one that was traditionally disinterested in making art: the subversion and disdain are the common thread, tackled differently. I think repetition is also key, and its something that incorporates both those other two elements.

So I hear that Krautrock (like this album) influenced post-punk. And as I listened to this, I could totally hear it. Its got the iciness, the repetition, and the structures are decidedly un-pop. So the trappings are there. But it comes years pre-punk. And what bands does this reminds me of? Slint, and Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk. But those bands are largely considered post-rock. So this album precedes punk, and it inspired the reaction to punk, but really sounds most like what came after post-punk. The lessons here number two:

1. Movements are cyclical, and inspiration chains are hard to follow. Something that seems new might just be gravitating back to what inspired what inspired it.
   
2. These labels are sort of bullshit.
   

I like the album. It sounds like Slint and Laughing Stock-era Talk Talk, and a bit like Television. Its meditative, organic, and it breathes. It is simple, but effective and inventive, and I think it will fit the niche of atmospheric some-relation-to-punk-or-rock music that Laughing Stock previously occupied. Also, goddamn, that closing track is uncomfortable 4/5

Edit: cleaned up, I wrote this late.

#136 Best Coast - Crazy for You

On Pitchfork, Dusted, everywhere.

Tons of hype around these guys, presumably on the strength of standout single Boyfriend. Which is, by the way, super catchy. The strained singing of Bethany Cosantino cries out in loving longing, in a way that would sound terribly emo on a boy, but sounds sort of charming here. The simple chugging guitars provide girl-group backing for the crooning, and it gets stuck in your head. Is the secret of its success that girls can sympathize, and boys can fantasize that a girl that sounds so cute could be longing for them? Seems plausible to me.

Anyway, I harp on this opening song for so long because its such effective synecdoche for the whole album, which is the album's downfall. What's cute and charming in a song, and actually becomes more charming after two, becomes tiresome after 12. Ok, ok Beth, shoot. You got it bad for some guy. At first it was cute, but now you're sounding kind of desperate and pathetic. Maybe that's the album's concept or message on some level. Maybe true longing isn't over when the song is. But, look, I'm not looking for concepts on an album this simple, this indie, I'm looking for enjoyment, and this is gum that loses its flavor too fast.

There are some awfully good songs on here, maybe it will make mixtape fodder, but as an album I'm being generous with 3/5

#135 Acid Eater - Black Fuzz on Wheels

Reviewed on Dusted.

Said review really stole my thunder by pointing out the appropriateness of this band's name, on a number of levels. The album title also fits: if there's two words that describe this music, they're acid and fuzz. It's distorted to the point of absurdity, overblown, overfuzzed, overloud and sort of awesome. Its all texture, like the guitar sounds themselves are tearing at the seams and spilling their splintered interior composition.

The actual riffs are pummeling, but groovy, the closest points of comparison are an even louder Boris, or a more melodic Lightning Bolt. Its basically riffy 60's garage band music, complete with organ stabs, with a sub-Polysics dose of surf, but its all turned to a hundred and eleven, with Japanese nonsense in place of the lyrics. Realize I'm not trying to be dismissive of non-English singing by calling it nonsense, its just that the vocals are usually distorted beyond understandability in any language, and there are plenty of noises that don't seem to be in a language at all. The singer's favorite is a drawled out "waow!" sound, sounding not unlike someone doing Christopher Walken on SNL. Which is a surreal angle.

There's a pantheon of Japanese noise rockers, from the Boredoms and Melt Banana, to the aforementioned Boris and Polysics, and these guys have earned their place alongside them. These guys just don't pull any punches, and sometimes that's all it takes to make me a fan 4.5/5

#134 VA - Cambodian Rocks Vol.1

Another compilation off of Calamarfarci, can be downloaded here. I've been itching for something new, and with my good luck with Brazilian 60's psychedelic/garage rock, it seemed like this might be a good find: a compilation of Cambodian 60's psychedelic/garage rock.

This hits some of the same sweet spots: the overblown, trashy production lends grit and energy, and the non-English words let the vocals serve as a different kind of instrument to my ears. But where Tropicalia reinvented 60's rock, this apparently largely copies what was happening in the US. I say apparently because I can't say for certain that these weren't melodies and tropes that originated in Cambodia and found their way to the US. Nothing would please me more to hear that this is what happened, but it doesn't seem likely based on what information I can scrape together.

In any case, it mostly sounds like Nuggets-style garage rock and 50's rock and roll; some of the songs even appear to be outright covers. Most of the songs are overall awfully simple, and lack the energetic invention of their Brazilian counterparts. Also, the compilation is dominated by two artists, with only a few songs by anyone other than Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea; I'd certainly like more variety. A couple standouts save it somewhat: the guitar/vocal interplay on Don't be Mad is snakey and compelling, and the horns, organ and loping bass lines of Since When You Know Me lend a richness that I wanted more of. It seems ungenerous, but there was just too little on here that was all that inventive to justify anything higher than 2.5/5.

#133 VA - Funky 45 Party (Small Potato Records)

I've had a lot of full-attention-requiring work lately, which kills my new music output, but catching up a bit. This was off Calamarfarci, a blog with a handful of obscure downloadable compilations and mixes, check it out here.

Most of my recent funk listening focused on big artists with big ambitions, weaving grooves around spaceships and politics and psychadelia. This is simpler stuff, short, tight, funky tracks with more in common with the meters than parliament, the kind of stuff you expect tarantino to be dragging out of a crate and onto an action sequence. Its all skittered beats, busy bass, horn hits and simple sentiments, delivered with style. Everything you need and nothing more.

I put some of this on with a handful of other tracks on random at a gathering a couple nights back (separate from my "offical" full listen) and it did good things to the mood for sure. I dig, I think is the appropriate parlance 4/5

#132 White Denim - Fits

Got this from David because I recognized their name from a song (Sitting) I got off obscuresound, which I then put on a mix for Robin. [Edit, or did I? I think it was in the running, and got cut.]

Wow, that song did not prepare me for what I found here. The first half is some fast, expertly-played, noisy, angular garage rock, like someone playing 3 different Gang of Four songs blended together at double speed. Its actually really exciting, like a thrashier Single Frame (also from Texas) or a more melodic Giddy Motors. The second half mellows out considerably, turning into a soul-tinged series of surreal lurchers with great bass lines. Syncn is an excellent, moody closer that reminded me a bit of radiohead before its manic climax. Totally what I needed; this was strikingly, exactly what I wanted to listen to at the moment I heard it. Accordingly 5/5

#131 Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

A leftover from the prog kick.

I had a couple false starts listening to this one, just not finding myself in the mood for it. It's damned dense, focused on complex keyboard, bass and drum patterns, and it gallops along at quite a pace. It was also fighting an uphill battle, the 3 short tracks don't really move me, and opera remix Toccata is kind of interesting, but utterly inaccessible, and not especially listenable.

The reason to be here is the 4-part, 25 minute Karn Evil, which has some killer organ and keyboard solos, Gabriel-esque singing, and a great sense of drama and pacing. Its actually the small touches that set it apart from other prog epics. There's a moment at 5:32 of 1st impression where the band drops completely out for just a beat or two, and the effect is totally attention-grabbing in a way that long songs should remember to be. It sets up moments later in the song where similar drops lead into frantic vats of music. Also, as simple as it is, the melodies are good. The band finds a good hook and wields it assertively, using it as a repeating theme just often enough, leaving you just saying "man! that sounds awesome!" more often than most complex music dares.

The lyrics are uneven though, part 2 of Impression 1 brings the carnival theme to the fore and it sounds kind of ridiculous, like a Kiss song. That's not, in my book, a good thing. Also, the instrumental Impression 2 meanders a bit too much at time, losing some momentum. Coupled with the forgettable first 4 tracks, I don't think I can place the whole affair any higher than 4/5

#130 The Love Language - The Love Language

There's a roundabout path here. I read about their new album on dusted, could only find their first album, which it turns out I'd previously heard (and liked) a song from via obscuresound.

Someone compared these guys to the arcade fire, and I can see that. There's something epic and acoustic and swelling and piano-drenched about this that reminds me of them. Night Dogs even sort of steals the main melodic line from the end of Rebellion (Lies) and combines it with the main melodic line from Friday I'm in Love. This seems like a stretch, but if you hear all 3 songs you'll see what I mean.

That said, I rather like this. Its got a simplicity to it, with a real sense of emotion, melody and pacing that evokes The Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian. But here its married to this fuzzy, overblown home-recorded lo-fi tape hiss aesthetic that I totally fell for. It ends up sounding timeless and huge in inexplicable ways. I could see this growing into a favorite 4/5

#129 Nas - Stillmatic

Another rap sequel. I never got into Illmatic, but I first heard it a long time ago, and need to revisit it. There's not much consensus on this one, but there are certainly fans out there.

If Lil Wayne's rapping is saying "yep", Nas's is saying "tat". Its all clipped cadence, the emphasis is all attack and release, no sustain what so ever. Its powerful stuff, and on highlights like One Mic, Ether, and the surreal Rewind, the rapping's as staccato as it comes. There's some clever turns here and there, but across the board, there's some real stupid shit too. Smokin, My Country, and Rule (with its unbearable "everybody wants to rule the world" hook) are all instant skips on the occasion I ever listen to this again. But I don't see that happening, as an album, its a one and done for me 2.5/5

#128 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II

Going through some albums that were making the rounds on "best rap albums of the 00's lists".

Two short rants: what is with rap albums having sequel names? The Blueprint 2, OB4CL2, Stillmatic, The Chronic 2001, Tha Carter II (and 3!). Also, again, why are these rap albums so fucking long? 77 minutes? That is too damn long to listen to in a sitting.

This is tricky, in that there are some good songs on here. The guy is a deft rapper, and he has a slurred, whiplash style that I sort of enjoy. Here, try this, say "Yep", taking note of what happens to your mouth and voice. That's what every syllable on this album sounds lie, all "ye" -style windup and a dulled "p"-style hit on the beat. On the first few tracks, he's just rapping and rapping, and its flowing, and it sounds great, and the subject matter is even gritty and unpretentious.

But there's so much I don't like on here. God. Rant #3. I can't stand choruses in rap, they kill the flow, and they're almost always the worst part of the song. That's right, the worst part of the song is repeated again and again. They're song killers. Entire busdriver albums have been ruined by his recent move to choruses. There's tons of choruses here.

So despite finding things I like on here, as an album, given its excessive length and near-unlistenability of so many of the songs, its not really a win 3/5

#127 Memory Tapes - Seek Magic

Another pickup from David. I got a lot of stuff from him that I'm working my way through.

The obvious reference point here is cut copy: this album emulates their combination of 4/4 electronic beats and soaring, half-fragile sentiments. The occasional disco influence creeps in, some nice background strummed guitarts, and some hyperdense m83 soundscapes, but I'm not enough of a connoisseur of the style to really judge this in terms of the music. The key is that it works pretty darn well emotionally. Its well-paced, interesting without being daunting, and hits the right notes at the right times; the mastery of emotional tone makes it remind me of LCD soundsystem, even though the music sounds only ever so slightly DFA-ey.

I think this might be a grower, and I think it will get plays, but despite all that praise, my impression of it right now puts it at 3.5/5

#126 Fabulous Diamonds - Fabulous Diamonds II

Read a promising review of this on dusted.

This is, at heart, a minimalist album. I had always sort of assumed that minimalism in music referred to the number of notes, that if it sounded sparse, it was minimalist. For example, The Books would be minimalist under this definition. John told me about another concept though, which I guess you could call compositional minimalism, which is where you try to compose music by specifying as little as possible. For example, there are pieces that provide a page worth of short snippets, with the instruction to each musician to repeat each phrase as many times as they like, before moving onto the next "loop". Under this definition, the meticulously-groomed soundscapes of The Books are far from minimalist, but bands like The Beta Band come to mind.

There's your crash course in music theory. Anyway, in this latter sense, its a highly minimalistic album, this. Each song is built from a simple, basic loop, some drums that repeat, but that constantly stray slightly from the beat, some repeated vocal lines, and a solo instrument or two that wanders in and out. The majority of the album is occupied by two 10+ minute tracks that follow this formula. Predictably, the result is repetitive, but it kind of works. There's something meditative about it, it reminds me of white light/white heat-era velvet underground stuff.

Weirdly, the same formula is applied to make four 3-minute songs in the middle, and it kind of works there too. I'm not sure why I like this. I think maybe because it works well as background music, or because it manages to be just varied enough to be interesting. Its also, in some indulgent kind of way, the kind of music I like to make, but wouldn't subject anyone else to. The end result, in any case, is a curiously enjoyable listen, given how simple its building blocks are 4/5

#125 Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

A leftover album from the prog kick, and a band I heard my dad mention back in the day. Awkwardly, this sounds really familiar, but I have no memory of sitting down to listen to it, so I'm going to go ahead and declare it eligible.

This is possibly the progiest prog album I've ever heard. Long tracks, a side-long track, odd rhythms, mindblowing subject matter, organs, horns (shredded, King Crimson-worthy horns, even), its got it all. Actually, though, its better than average. It knows how to use repeated themes to help you navigate the structures, knows how to control the pacing, has some mean hooks on it. The weakness, for me, is actually the lyrics, which is strange since I don't necessarily tend to focus on them. They come across as something like Pink Floyd, or Bowie at his most operatic, which isn't necessarily bad, but dates the proceedings. And actually, I've always struggled to see Pink Floyd as prog, but this kind of bridges the gap. I'm off in 3 different directions, but then maybe its just the review mimicking the music (as they surprisingly often do). Or I need to stay on target.

Ok, ok. I actually think that in the end its a win. Its an adventurous album that is toes the line of being too pretentious without quite crossing it. I like that 4/5

#124 R.E.M. - Murmur

I've never really gotten into REM, and I've never heard their first album. Reading about a recent reissue of one of their later albums prompted me to seek it out.

So, as I often do when I'm about to listen to an older album, I did a bit of reading to get some context. Allmusic describes this album as bridging post-punk and the burgeoning notion of alternative, and that's actually a really helpful lens to look at this album through. With regards to post-punk, its true: the bass lines, detached delivery and chugging pace are all in line with those traditions, and takes them in new directions. Seen as alternative, its actually surprising this doesn't sound more dated (except insofar as it still sounds a lot like later REM albums), and there really are some influential moves here. The singing style, the approach to guitar work, the simple beats, are all things we would hear plenty of in the years after this album. But there's a lightness and innocence here that I don't associate with early alternative, and it manages to keep from getting too twee/emo/cloying. The jaunty pace and backing vocals of Laughing and Shaking Through are both especially appealing, and sound surprisingly fresh.

I'm not really an REM fan, never have been. Stipe's reedy voice doesn't move me, and his delivery whiny in a way I can't escape. Plus, they've always struck me as pretty overproduced. The real nail in the coffin, though, is that I didn't get into them when I was in high school, and without that foot in the door, its hard to get unjaded enough to let them in.

I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt. The vocals are a little more unhinged, the production a lot looser, which gives it the best chance of any REM album at winning me over. And I'm cheating a bit and giving this a second listen while I'm writing this, and already its growing on me. When I first listened to this it was in 3.5 territory, but I think the rule is where I land, cheating or not, when the writing process ends, and over the last howevermany minutes its crawled its way into the territory of 4/5

#123 Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites

Another rec from David.

I read that these guys were real pioneers in "dream pop" or "space pop" or something. I can see both the labels sticking, its all very ethereal, resting somewhere between the high-pitched reverbey vocals of My Bloody Valentine, and the moodier moments of late M83. Its a lot more propulsive and rocking than either of those reference points would suggest though. The bass is insistent, downright menacing at times, and the drums drive you into honest to god head bobbing, especially on standout pair Apocalypso and Special.

Its really in the last 3rd or so that the album runs out of energy. The rhythm section seems to lose its nerve, and the whispy vocals muse to themselves endlessly. Maybe its just that by then fatigue from endless endlessly layered arrangements has set in, or maybe that's where I'm supposed to be listening to the lyrics and wallowing in pathos, but I don't see it as an album I can endure front to back often. The vocals, in particular are eventually just too dissonant to take. The first 5 or so hits are awfully nice, it just gets to be a beating after a while 3.5/5

#122 NOFX - Punk in Drublic

Another David pickup. I know a lot of people who like this album, so lets see.

Well, its basically pre-blink-182 pop punk, which isn't as much of a slam as it might sound like. Its catchy, fast, with some shreddy guitar work here and there, and some nice metal flourishes. But its also just obnoxious at times, especially with dopey joke tracks like My Heart if Yearning and The Brews.

The word "bratty" is key here. I don't know enough about the post-early pre-new punk era to know when exactly the shift happens, but at some point punk bands stopped being punks and started being brats. They went from angry to whiny, from downtrodden and desperate to rich and bored, from youts to young adults. The subject matter went from what's wrong with the world to what's wrong in my life. Again, I don't necessarily, wholly disapprove of the move completely, on principle, but it does represent a shift-away, and this is one of the first instances I know of where it happens*.

Anyway, I'm doing it again. I think I've already made my point here. Its fun stuff, but I don't think I can get past the attitude. I guess this is growing up 2.5/5

*though there's at least hints of commentary here in tracks like Don't Call me White and Perfect Government

#121 Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

Another random album I got from David at IBM. I heard some of the newer NiN stuff when I was at Dave Stout's place a while back, figured I'd check it out.

This is a texture album, and that, I like. Its all buzz and crackle and twists and turns in the spaces between notes, between tunes and tones. Its actually pretty cool. The downside is, I don't really have any patience for the doom and gloom sentiments, and if I'm being honest, I ended up largely tuning out the words. Also, I'm into hooks and melodies, and this doesn't find as many of those things to marry the noise to as, say, the new Holy Fuck ablum.

This might well be my favorite NiN album though, certainly the first I'll turn to the next time I want to hear this sort of stuff, and it made good work music, actually 3.5/5

#120 Health - Health

I really feel like I'm supposed to like these guys, so I tried their first one too.

No, just no. I've already said it in #117, they sound like wimpy Lightning Bolt, or less catchy Liars. The beats are really the problem, I think they're supposed to sound arty, but they just sound thumpy and artbitrary and uninteresting most of the time. I like some of the noise, and the actual thread of melody on closer Glitter Pills, but its just not for me. Not adventurous enough to be interesting, not hooky enough to be enjoyable, not spazzy enough to be exciting. I did try 2/5.

#119 Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot, The Son Of Chico Dusty

Pitchfork and newcomer Dusted both had good things to say about this one, and I liked all his Outkast output, so this was an easy pick.

There's an huge variety of styles going on here, and its an impressive balance of adventurousness and listenability. The rapping's deft and exciting, the subject matter is murder-free, and the lines are packed with surprising references and witty turns. All a good start. But most importantly, the production is wildly varied. Its dense without being distracting, and hits affecting, subtly emotional notes surprisingly often. I mean it in the best possible way when I say it sounds like a Girl Talk album at times, especially in the later parts. Shine Blokas in particular features agile changes in tempo and tone, always meshing excellent raps with affecting, out-of-place-but-not production (including my bff mellotron!). I'm a fan of this one, it stands to find a way onto my top of the year list.

Despite all this effusing, my gut isn't that its a 5 just yet. Still good for "gold" at 4.5/5

Edit 7/13/10: Its really that those last 4 songs are amazing. Its the most backloaded album I've heard in a while. I stand by my 4.5.

#118 Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils

I'm sure countering that prog kick with a new indie kick. This got mentioned alongside Wavves in a slate article, and I think on pitchfork as well.

Its curiously agreeable, languid, simple poppy rock. Drum machine beat, some arpeggios, a slightly surfey guitar line, some reverbed-out vocals, and you've got almost every song on this album right there. But in a Guided by Voices kind of way its enjoyable in its simplicity. It's got a hint of surf rock, but its more broadly beach music: hazy, sunny, lazy. It will either grow on me, or the simple structures will grate on me. I'm quite on the fence, but my gut is 3.5/5

#117 Health - Get Color

The Holy Fuck album reminded me at times of Health, who I saw open for Dan Deacon back in the day. Sounds like their second album is more my speed of their two.

So its loud and busy, but to what end? There's not really any hooks, its not going to wow me with pure noise, something the Boredoms and Lightning Bolt do better, and its not going to wow me with noisy artiness, something Liars do better. Its not that technically all that impressive, and when the vocals come in they sound like Kevin Shields' leftover tracks.

So this is all really harsh. What did I like? Its adventurous, in its way, and there's some nice texture here. But it doesn't move me, somehow the energy that I liked in the live show just isn't here 2/5.

#116 Holy Fuck - Latin

In a curious role reversal, recommended to me by my brother. I liked their original EP, so game on.

Its groovin stuff, a good mix of hooky bass lines, techno builds and enough texture and noise to give it its own sound. And the live drums do it a lot of favors, adding even more character. That's what it is, electronic music with character. To fill my quota of namedropping, I'd call it a mix of Surrender-era chemical brothers, M83 and manitoba/caribou, with a dash of late nin's ragged edge buzz.

By the way, I've been getting too ambitious with these, trying to keep them to pithy impressions, and maybe a point of reference or two or three or four. Accordingly, lets call it 4/5

#115 Wavves - Post-Acid

I liked their last one pretty good, curious if a year or two of premature fame and subsequent breakdown had any effect on the music.

Nothing negative, anyway. The result is noisy and fun, its a chunk of crunchy, slightly off-kilter pop, lying somewhere in the realm between the thermals, guided by voices, beulah and ween. At times its a little (or a lot) too whinny, but I can't wholly resist the super noisy, brokedown production and some good hooks.

That said, when do I listen to this? Its not driving music, its not working music, its not really armchair attention-getting, its not party music. Oh right, if anything I've read about these guys is true I guess its music for getting stoned to. Well, that's not going to be a real common listen then, but I'll keep it in clip 3.5/5

#114 Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Had heard these guys bandied around, got from David.

This starts off really promising, with a super werid, rumbling lurker of an opener that sounds like Kid A Sucks Young Blood. Then things settle into 9 tracks of genre flirting, electronicey pop that strikes a nice balance of weird and simple. The vocals are curiously pleasant, the hooks enjoyable. It seems frontloaded though, after the first few good tracks it starts getting a little too dancey, a little too Of Montreal B-sidey, a little Peter Gabrieley, even. There's enough going on to warrant another listen, but it didn't seem to live up to the energy of the first few tracks 3.5/5

#113 Moritz von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent

The first of several recs from my office buddy over at IBM.

This is minimalist in every sense, its light on melody, very icy, spare in the beats, and generally features some revolving patterns with only faint surges of textured synths. As background music, it was agreeable enough, and closer listening was at least occasionally rewarding. The production is pretty great at times, with good flumes of reverb pushing here and there. Pattern 4, in particular had some nice subtle buzz to it. This will probably come on a couple more times are work music, I don't know if its quite interesting enough to be a close-listening experience candidate, but we'll see 3/5

#112 Rush - 2112

It actually is a complete coincidence that I did this as #112. Maybe I'll do the self-titled 311 when the time comes though. Anyway, this album was finding its way onto some prog lists I'd been looking at.

So I actually like Rush. Moving Pictures is a classic, and what else I've heard of the era is at least decent. That said, this is not so good. I'm going to (mostly) resist the urge to go on a long screed about what prog is and isn't, but lets lay it out this way: this album has an side-length song and preposterous lyrics; if those things make you prog, then you've only really picked up the worst parts of prog to hitch yourself to. There's no actual adventurousness in the song structure (the title track sounds like an album side with the track breaks plucked out) and there's nothing in the rhythms, chord structures and instrumentation that wouldn't be better described as "metal".

So, fine, it's a metal album, or maybe a "hard rock" album, where does that leave it? Decent, I guess? The drums and guitar solos are good, if not exactly what I'm into, but the real problem is I just can't get past Geddy Lee's shrieking when the context is this pretentious. It lacks the tightness and energy of their later stuff, and doesn't pull off the things that an album needs to to make me put up with these kind of excesses 2/5

#111 Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin Dune Cinqueeme Saison

"If we needed a fifth season" I'm told. Part an ongoing crawl in old prog crannies.

There's a lot to like here. The production's nuanced and lush, and the French singing does a nice tropicalia/non-english hip hop/sigur ros words-as-sounds thing going that I actually rather like. By all accounts this should be ponderous, but it actually comes across pretty sprightly, weaving lots of instruments and lots of good melodies together into a folk-flavored prog romp that's just pleasant enough that you don't notice that its epic-length and otherwise adventurous. Maybe it just caught me in the right mood, I could see this being boring, but that's just the hazard of this approach 4/5