Goofle

Brand New cause I love the cover art.

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Electrophonic Tonic

No love for folk metal...?

Shut out again

Howard the Duck

^^i hardly ever touch that stuff

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

Unicr0n

Now that I have bounds of free time (at least until I find myself a goddamn job. though even after that, my life will mostly consist of the internet and music anyways) I may as well get in on this business. Hopefully something I'm not familiar with wins.

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Go ahead, pick apart my tastes. I know you want to.

Paedantic Basterd

Sneer

I should probably set the ball rolling.

1) What are this albums' strengths?
It's a highly evocative and atmospheric piece, utilising subtle tones and textured layering to create a depth in the music. It's in this depth where the beauty lies, and if you open yourself up to it, it's massively rewarding.

2) What are its weaknessess?
It's an album that works best when absorbed as a whole. For some, each individual song may not offer enough in terms of a hook, and if that's what you're looking for, this isn't an album for you.

3) How does it compare to the artist's other work?
The band have released three albums, and this is my favourite. It just sounds more organic and absorbing than the others.

4) Favourite songs?
Hmm, I really like all of them. I guess Stockard Drive, Early Evening Reverie and Untitled are favourites. Untitled in particular is amazing.

5) What feelings did this album evoke?
Isolation, being in a state of detachment from the rest of the world. This isolation is a sanctuary - a place of calm - where one can share a moment with the world around them, cradled by melancholic, quiet contentment.

6) How does this album fit into your regular rotation?
It's something of a regular, especially in the autumn and winter months.

7) What stood out to you about this album's themes, musically/lyrically?
There's an endlessness in the music that reflects the sheer scale of the universe around us, and our insignificance in the grand scheme of things. Yet, the album is not mournful in nature, instead suggesting to the listener that we should embrace said insignificance and marvel at the understated beauty that surrounds, manifesting in the moon, stars, trees, sun and snow.

8) If you've had any noteworthy experiences with this album, what have they been?
I remember sitting in my room with an ex-girlfriend one evening listening to this whilst it snowed buckets outside. It's a very fond memory of mine, and one that contributes to my affection for it..

9) What do you know about this album's creation? Any interesting facts or anecdotes?
I know very little about the band itself, there isn't much information on them. I know it was produced by a guy from Mahogany, a band that also shared a split with Aburn Lull prior to the album's release.

10) How does this album represent the chosen theme?
It sonically conveys the cold, still and distant nature of a winter's night. When frost glistens under the moon, alone in a blackened blue sky. You can almost taste the chilled, crisp air when listening to the wavering tones and textures weave in and out of each other.

11) How does this album compare to other albums nominated for this theme?
Well, I personally think it reflects that wintery mood a lot more than The Lonesome Crowded West and White Light/White Heat. The others I'm not too familiar with, but for me this album just captures the intangible perfectly.

12) How does this album compare to others in its genre?
It's not far from being shoulder to shoulder with the best work from FSA, Landing, Malory and Bethany Curve.

13) Can you recommend similar albums to this?
Landing - Seasons, Malory - Outerbeats, Mahogany - The Dream of a Modern Day, Flying Saucer Attack - Distance,

14) What does this album's artwork say about it? Is it well paired with the music?
It conveys the hazy, almost weary elegance of the album, with the dulled greys and browns, barren skies and fuzzy car.

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Fright Team radio show

Zer0

1) What are this albums' strengths?
What appeals to me about the album so far is the atmosphere. It has a light, almost ambient feel to it and you become submerged in the beautiful sound of the album. It also uses effects such as reverb and delay very effectively to achieve this atmosphere.

2) What are its weaknessess?
While the atmosphere grabbed me on the first listen it was difficult to tell one song from the other at times. This changed somewhat with a couple of more listens but I am still in the process of really getting into the album.

3) How does it compare to the artist's other work?
This is the first album I've heard from them but it probably won't be the last.

4) Favourite songs?
The songs that stand out for me so far are 'Blur My Thoughts Again' and 'Early Evening Reverie'. The former has a bit of an ambient electronic vibe that kind of reminds me of Arms & Sleepers while the latter uses space and repetition to great effect. It also build in dynamic nicely during the latter half of the song.

5) What feelings did this album evoke?
The feeling of being outside early on a frosty morning. The atmosphere and use of reverb on this album seems to remind me of the ambience associated with frosty mornings, where distant sounds reverberate better due to the sound bouncing off hard frozen surfaces and are louder as a result. There is also a feeling of isolation, as Stu has already pointed out. It's an album to lose yourself in and forget about what is going on around you or what is going on in your life. Also the album title Alone I Admire is an indication of this isolation.

6) How does this album fit into your regular rotation?
I could end up listening to it occasionally.

7) What stood out to you about this album's themes, musically/lyrically?
Not quite sure what themes are on the album yet. But I will listen out for lyrical themes the next time I listen to it.

8) If you've had any noteworthy experiences with this album, what have they been?
I drank a nice warm cup of tea yesterday while I was listening to it. The music went nicely with the cup of tea.

9) What do you know about this album's creation? Any interesting facts or anecdotes?
Not much really. I just know that it was originally released in 1999 and then re-released in 2002.

10) How does this album represent the chosen theme?
The lush ambient atmosphere of this album seems to reverberate well with winter landscapes and dark, cold weather. It's definitely an album that I will associate with winter in the future.

11) How does this album compare to other albums nominated for this theme?
I can't draw an association between White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground and winter. Maybe the person who nominated it can due to personal reasons or something like that. 50 Words For Snow by Kate Bush was my nomination and it's an album that is very heavy with winter themes and a winter atmosphere. It's a pretty obvious choice. I have yet to listen to The Mantle by Agalloch but Ashes Against The Grain and Marrow of the Spirit have a bit of a wintry feel to them so I imagine The Mantle is the same. The rest I haven't heard or haven't heard in their entirety.

12) How does this album compare to others in its genre?
This album seems to occupy the lighter and more ambient end of the shoegaze/dream-pop spectrum. It seems to stand up pretty well to similar artists and I could even like it more as time passes. It has a softer sound compared to similar albums I've heard which makes it stand out somewhat.

13) Can you recommend similar albums to this?
Stu already mentioned Malory - Outerbeats and Flying Saucer Attack - Distance which I endorse. I would also recommend Bethany Curve - Flaxen and the latest Arms and Sleepers album Organ Hearts.

14) What does this album's artwork say about it? Is it well paired with the music?
I don't really have much to say about the artwork but it does seem to invoke a slightly spacious feel which complements the music somewhat.

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Paedantic Basterd

This turned out to be a much more soothing record than I expected it to be, a bit on the Slowdive side of dream pop. It's got a very spacious and airy feeling to it, which I suppose pairs well with the theme, though it's not the most direct interpretation on the list. My own expectation for the winter theme was dark, brooding rock, or warm, cozy folk, and while this is neither, it has a certain cold snowiness to it that I can fully accept. Early Evening Reverie almost sounds like shoes crunching through fresh snowfall, or snow being swept from a porch.

If I close my eyes, the scene that comes to mind is of snowfall on a night where the clouds have cloaked the sky; one of those evenings that feels soft rather than crisp, and the night appears purple and well-lit from the reflection of town lights off the snow.

Of the albums nominated, I've only heard two of them to compare this to, one of which was my nomination. Naturally, I've got some bias towards my own nomination, but I would say that this album better suits the monthly theme than The Lonesome Crowded West. Atmospherically, I think it even more accurate than my offering, The Devil and God (which I selected for entirely personal reasoning).

I don't believe this album has any standout tracks, but this is because it seems to function as a whole. I appreciate the solace this album evokes in a season I generally find lags with bitter cold. It's a much more thoughtful and optimistic choice than I made.

Unicr0n

1) What are this albums' strengths?
This album is alllll about atmosphere. The minute I slipped my headphones on and started the first track, it grabbed me, put me in a place mentally, and did a very good job of keeping me there.

2) What are its weaknessess?
For me personally, there really aren't any, but I can see how some people might find it too mellow or uninteresting to hold their attention.

3) How does it compare to the artist's other work?
Having listened to all three of Auburn Lull's LPs this week, over and over, I can say that I definitely prefer this one to the other two. Neither of the other's really grabbed me in the same way. They had good tracks but nothing really held my interest in the same way.

4) Favourite songs?
Stockard Drive, Early Evening Reverie, Tidal.

5) What feelings did this album evoke?
Unlike the other reviews thus far, I pulled a much more melancholy sensation from this album as a whole. It made me feel like I was stuck outside in the cold, watching a family eating their dinner in their nice, warm cozy house while I'm freezing my balls off. Fingerless gloves, hand on the window, the whole movie-cliche shebang. That being said, I LOVE the feeling of melancholy, so I enjoyed it through and through.

6) How does this album fit into your regular rotation?
I don't have much of a 'regular' rotation, but this could find it's way on to my sometimes-used ~contemplative music~ playlist very easily.

7) What stood out to you about this album's themes, musically/lyrically?
It definitely captured the sensation of being alone quite well. The drones and swells create a kind of blanket that wraps itself around you and keeps you in your head.

8) If you've had any noteworthy experiences with this album, what have they been?
I was atrociously sick for a 24-hour period this week, and this album was the only thing that sounded even REMOTELY like something that wouldn't make me roll over in my bed and vomit until I died. So there's that.

9) What do you know about this album's creation? Any interesting facts or anecdotes?
Nada, but then I haven't really gone all ~internet detective~ on the band quite yet.

10) How does this album represent the chosen theme?
Excellently. The whole thing screams winter. Crunching of snow underfoot, the disconcerting silence that only exists above at least six inches of snow, the bitter cold on the tips of your fingers as you shove your hands in your pockets. All of it.

11) How does this album compare to other albums nominated for this theme?
I've never been a huge fan of The Lonesome Crowded West, so I can't say I've ever thought about it much in this regard. The Devil and God is a very fitting album for me personally, but that's due to a bunch of emotional garbage that really colours my opinion of the album. The Velvet Underground, Agalloch and Bob Dylan almost ALWAYS sound wintery to me. The other's I'm not that familiar with. But I'd say, out of the ones I do know, it's the best suited for the theme.

12) How does this album compare to others in its genre?
I know jack****-next-to-nothing about shoegaze and dreampop as a whole (though me and soulseek are currently rectifying that issue), but I'm hoping that everything else I encounter will be as enjoyable as this.

13) Can you recommend similar albums to this?
See above.

14) What does this album's artwork say about it? Is it well paired with the music?
I suppose. The sepia tone definitely goes well with the picture in my head when I listen to the album. The actual artwork itself though...I dunno. I wouldn't say it's in opposition with the the music, but I wouldn't say it complements it, either.

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Go ahead, pick apart my tastes. I know you want to.

Paedantic Basterd

The sepia colour to me is pretty much the exact shade of the sky on an overcast winter night. That just entered my head now reading the last review, and I hadn't addressed it.

Do you think that different types of people may interpret the solitary nature of this album differently? Perhaps different personal situations have led to my finding it thoughtful and contenting, and others finding it gloomy or depressing.