Haven't been around here much lately, save for the occasional lurking, but here are a few recent acquisitions of note. If I were to listen to everything I've gotten since my last post in this thread, well, it might take an entire page of posts. Starting with the most recent:

http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/e308f24e26c...ee/5129975.jpg

Ought - More Than Any Other Day (2014)
When I first put it on I was thinking it going to be mostly post-hardcore and didn't see why the people of RYM had voted it as Art Punk and Post-Punk. The Art Punk definitely came though and the post-hardcore faded but it's still present throughout, at the very least for mood/atmosphere. Not sure about post-punk though. Anyway an interesting record that I'll need to keep in rotation as it's somewhat complex.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/3084aaa1639...62/2093225.jpg

New Order - Movement (1981)
I've been a casual fan of New Order since the 90s, with "Blue Monday" being my favorite dance song ever. Never really explored Joy Division until recently, despite being into a lot of darker and depressing music there was just something uninteresting about the bits I heard. But back to New Order - I liked certain songs from them but often found myself thinking that Bernard Sumner was a really bad singer, like cringe-worthy on far too many tracks. So that was that - I had a Best Of disc from the mid 90s and I didn't even like all of that. Having recently explored some Joy Division (not quite listened to enough to really like), I thought I'd try this too and it's far better than later New Order, and more accessible than Joy Division. Win.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/ccb9587033d...2c/1638368.jpg

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)
It's odd that I never listened to this until recently. I'm more of an early Eno fan (the vocal albums) and I do like Talking Heads, so you would think this is something that would have been on my radar. It didn't enter my radar until the 2006 reissue, yet it still took me until this year to check it out. I put it on while walking to the train last week, and I was blown away instantly with the music and sample-like vocals - something I love in a lot of first and second-wave industrial. So hell yeah, glad I got this.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/17135da8164...4a/1461605.jpg

The Sods - Under en sort sol (1980)
I was digging through the best of 1980 list on RYM (I'm doing a weekly top 10 of the year list that started with 1965), and the cover caught my attention. Quite solid post-punk from a band I'd never heard of. I recommend this.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/8db535d9158...0/4911359.jpeg

Moonface - Julia With Blue Jeans On (2013)
I never was much into Wolf Parade, truthfully I hated Spencer Krug's voice for a long time. Then I eventually started checking out his stuff, including Sunset Rubdown and then his Moonface project. His 2012 album Heartbreaking Bravery was pretty good but I didn't spin it that much, probably too mellow. This one though, is more intense, and very beautiful. His vocal style is more up-front, which would probably have annoyed me before, but here I like it and it seems very heart-felt rather than "listen to me I'm so weird and indie" which is the reason I didn't like him in the first place.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/84997101700...ce/4650365.jpg

Cayucas - Bigfoot (2013)
A fun but rather brief Indie Pop album that reminds me a bit of Generationals, Peter Bjorn and John, and Vampire Weekend combined. But to me it feels more consistent than any album I've heard from those bands, maybe due partly to it's brevity. Good fun spring/summer album.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/3cea31b554f...7a/5012641.jpg

Water Liars - Water Liars (2014)
Indie Folk/Rock record that reminds me a little bit of Blitzen Trapper with a little bit of Built to Spill injected. Only played it a few times over the past month but it made an impression. If I wasn't always trying to listen to so much stuff I'm sure I would be playing this more.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/c52cc381397...47/5091236.jpg

Mac DeMarco - Salad Days (2014)
I really liked his last album, and based on his very laid back, I don't care kind of vibe, I wasn't sure if his next would end up being too low-fi and dumb or if I would enjoy it. Turns out, I enjoy it just as much. It shows just the right amount of maturity and a bit more intricacies in the music. Been enjoying this one regularly.


http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/27b77415773...58/5076363.jpg

Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right (2014)
I learned of this band last year and downloaded their album No Passion All Technique from 2012. I didn't take to it right away so it didn't stay in rotation, seemed maybe too dirty/garagey for my tastes. Their new one appeared on my radar, loved the cover art so I thought I'd see if their sound had evolved. I find this one far more accessible, still getting to know it though. But the replay value is higher.


I've also downloaded all kinds of early punk rock and post-punk as I've explored each year in an effort to compile my top 10 lists. There's all the stuff I know already, but I'm always curious about all the other stuff I never got around to hearing or have avoided for one way or another. Many albums from Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Iggy Pop, Pere Ubu, etc. Some I've listened to several times, some just once so far, and my listening queue is getting longer and longer as each year (week) goes by. I'm going insane.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts is great, it had to grow on me a little but I'm glad I stuck with it.

http://www.alone.gr/Assets/insomnium...sun%202014.jpg

Shadows of the Dying Sun by Insomnium

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-cont...elting-sun.jpg

Melting Sun by Lantlos

Add the new Agalloch album in and we have 3 new metal albums primed for me to be disappointed with. Very skeptical going in to these indeed

We Are The City - Violent

Well I can say from experience that the new Agalloch is listenable, but a little disappointing. The new Insomnium is okay as well, I guess. For whatever reason my mind associated this band with In Mourning so I was actually pretty excited for this album, but when I threw it on and heard the difference in vocalists I was a little let down. The rest of the album is decent and inoffensive, but don't expect to be blown away.

As for Lantlos, well their 2010 album was listenable, but honestly there's not a lot of places you can go with this whole "Blackgaze" thing that France has going on right, and if Alcest is the high-point of this new subgenre, then I'm not going to hold out a lot of hope for one of the 2nd or 3rd tier bands.

Yeah I listened to the new Agalloch once and it was good if unspectacular. I might grow to like it though as I thought it got better as it went on. We'll see.

I really loved the earlier Insomnium albums but they're last couple have been meh. Haven't dug the mix of harsh and clean vocals that they've been leaning towards so I'm worried this new one goes further down that path.

I'm guessing I like the "blackgaze" deal more than you and I think there's more potential than just a cast aside subgenre, but the couple tracks I've heard from this new Lantlos album haven't really done much for me. The cover was what really got me interested (I liked but didn't love their last one), but again clean vocals are sort of a turn off for me in black metal and they delve into that from what I have heard. Still shoegaze+black metal has more to offer than just Alcest.

http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/...s-Cover1-1.jpg
Stagnant Waters - Stagnant Waters

Holy crap! Some brilliant avante-garde metal accompanied with electronic work. Seriously digging their sound. Too consumed to form an extensive opinion.

I love that album too!

http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/...ps320ba55c.jpg
The Human Beast - Volume One (1969)

The first and only album by this late 60's power trio. Hard rock/heavy psych with obvious Cream and Hendrix influences.

i just listened to the track Of Salt and Water....this is defiantly enthralling

so my copy of To Be Kind arrived....and i don't normally post pictures of personal copies of albums....but i am just far to excited about this

i kind of feel like Steve Martin in The Jerk....when he sees his name in the phone book for the first time....but to be forever etched on an album by one of your favorite bands is pretty damn groovy!
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