Album Club 2019: Thuja - All Strange Beasts Of The Past

windsock · 01-19-2019, 02:29 PM

I dunno, are our ratings compounded afterwards?

Zhanteimi · 01-19-2019, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I need to get this album done, but I also wanted to check out Tool's Ænima album. Playing both at the same time now and the results are not half bad!

I actually like this idea: play a dark/ambient free folk album with something not.

Anteater · 01-19-2019, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windsock

I dunno, are our ratings compounded afterwards?

I update the original post on an album's thread (like this one) on the last day with the total average of everyons's ratings.

OccultHawk · 01-19-2019, 08:34 PM

It’s two weeks to get it in, right?

Anteater · 01-19-2019, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

It’s two weeks to get it in, right?

I'm posting the next album sometime tomorrow, but I'm not going to be a stickler for every straggler. If I notice people aren't reviewing multiple weeks in a row though...heads will roll.

OccultHawk · 01-19-2019, 10:39 PM

The reason I like this album is because it connects the ethereal with the earthy. It’s definitely a west coast nature scene. Like terrestrial nature it’s not always easy going. This album sits comfortably is llllldissonance and remains ambient. It’s sort of like swimming in murky water. It’s nice but in the back of your head it’s like what’s down there. A drowning man will grasp at water moccasins. I’m falling asleep.

10/10

~~MicShazam~~ · 01-20-2019, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zhanteimi

I actually like this idea: play a dark/ambient free folk album with something not.

The flat feeling I have of that Tool album not being interesting enough was helped quite a bid with the added textures of the Thuja album. Sometimes it fit so well you'd think it was how it was recorded and not just a random musical sandwich.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

I update the original post on an album's thread (like this one) on the last day with the total average of everyons's ratings.

Alright I'll go back and edit the review.

**Frownland** · 01-21-2019, 12:48 PM

Opens on some seemingly prepared instruments a la Keith Rowe before slipping into some gorgeous soundscapes that vaguely remind me of my own playing in parts. These improvisations are careful and precise but still willing to take chances. As quickly as the album points toward a more explicitly folky sound by incorporating mandolin and possibly banjo, it falls back into dreamy drones and tasty interplay. The percussion on this album remind me of Sun City Girls' Charles Gocher's style. Towards the end of the album, things begin to get more droney and meditative, with the cinematic closer taking a more expanded look at where the album started with field recordings, percussion, drones, and prepared instruments finding their way around one another in the strange space that is this album. The way these tracks transition into new ideas and one another is incredibly fluid, which makes from some strong tension-building and resolution. This record is simultaneously earthy and otherworldly and full of dynamic ideas that aren't rushed into or deserted too quickly. Fairly certain I'll be returning to this. 4.5/5

windsock · 01-27-2019, 08:37 PM

Don't forget the average on this one, Ant.

Anteater · 01-27-2019, 09:35 PM

With Frown's added in (and scaled up appropriately to an out of 10 rating), the final score is 7.9 out of 10.

01-19-2019, 08:34 PM	#24 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	It’s two weeks to get it in, right? __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

01-19-2019, 10:39 PM	#26 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	The reason I like this album is because it connects the ethereal with the earthy. It’s definitely a west coast nature scene. Like terrestrial nature it’s not always easy going. This album sits comfortably is llllldissonance and remains ambient. It’s sort of like swimming in murky water. It’s nice but in the back of your head it’s like what’s down there. A drowning man will grasp at water moccasins. I’m falling asleep. 10/10 __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

01-21-2019, 12:48 PM	#28 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Opens on some seemingly prepared instruments a la Keith Rowe before slipping into some gorgeous soundscapes that vaguely remind me of my own playing in parts. These improvisations are careful and precise but still willing to take chances. As quickly as the album points toward a more explicitly folky sound by incorporating mandolin and possibly banjo, it falls back into dreamy drones and tasty interplay. The percussion on this album remind me of Sun City Girls' Charles Gocher's style. Towards the end of the album, things begin to get more droney and meditative, with the cinematic closer taking a more expanded look at where the album started with field recordings, percussion, drones, and prepared instruments finding their way around one another in the strange space that is this album. The way these tracks transition into new ideas and one another is incredibly fluid, which makes from some strong tension-building and resolution. This record is simultaneously earthy and otherworldly and full of dynamic ideas that aren't rushed into or deserted too quickly. Fairly certain I'll be returning to this. 4.5/5 __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x