Love or Hate Reborn

Trollheart · 11-10-2019, 04:17 PM

It's on the way...

Trollheart · 11-10-2019, 07:48 PM

Title: The Maria Dimension
Artist: The Legendary Pink Dots
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia/Experimental Rock
Artist Reaction: I think I’ve heard one of their albums before; can’t remember if I liked it or not
Genre Reaction: Not my favourite playground, that’s for sure
Familiarity: As I say, I’ve heard one album. They seem to have a ton.
Suggested by: Elphenor

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"] Disturbance: Very sixties sound, especially to the vocals. Guess that would be the neo-psych thing going. Decent rhythm and melody. Can’t say I’m blown away by it. Nice sax at the end. Quite infectious actually in the long instrumental lead-out; hypnotic in a way. Was going to score this lower but it’s won me over in the last few minutes.
Pennies for Heaven: Ah this is much better. Love the gentle acoustic guitar, the vocalist reminds me a little of Al Stewart and it’s very pastoral, and for some reason reminds me of Van der Graaf Generator. Particularly with the darker, bass clarinet is it? Excellent. Kicking up in a slightly faster tempo now, kind of a marching percussion to it. Really like this. Touch of Alan Parsons in the fanfare there too. Nice.
Third Secret: Love the melody on this, reminds me of something but I’m not sure what. Oh I have it: the theme music (or incidental music) to a comedy programme called People of Earth. A nice rolling drumbeat here and the keyboard runs are just majestic. Love this one too. Ooh, sax! Even better. The um, Ave Maria thing at the end is tres weird though.
The Grain Kings: Bouncy kind of reverb? Very spacey and those horns again very VDGG. Could be on for a fourth success here boys! Feel a very Bowie vibe from this, circa Ziggy/Aladdin Sane. Some crazy weird sounds being used here - kind of sounds like someone is operating an old bellows in front of a trumpet or something! Vocal is just excellent here. And then the instrumental break is, well, epic. Only word for it.
The Ocean Cried Blue Murder: I’ll be surprised if this album dips below the superbly high watermark set by the first four tracks, and this is no exception, with a haunting piano melody twinned with a low, breathy sax (or maybe it’s clarinet, but some sort of horn anyway), maybe the first ballad. Certainly seems so. I also note sounds going from speaker to speaker on my system, so that’s pretty cool too, as if it wasn’t already cool enough.
Belladonna: This one is a ballad, too, with what sounds like cello and glockenspiel maybe, and a very gentle vocal. That smoky sax is back to add its own flavour too, just ****ing beautiful.
A Space Between: The shimmering keyboard line here that underpins most of the melody is amazing, reminds me slightly of Supertramp’s “Child of Vision”, and the percussion is added in just the right amount, the vocal kind of almost mechanised with a screeching guitar in the background. Love the key change, then my friend the sax is back to say hi, and very welcome it is too.
Evolution: Kind of running out of superlatives for this album. The longest track on the album, this runs for almost nine minutes and kicks off with a sort of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” guitar intro before the drums slide in kind of muffled, raising the tempo a little, has a sort of eastern feel to it, perhaps there’s sitar going on there, not sure. Heard a baby crying anyway. The whole rhythm has a kind of 1980s Peter Gabriel feel to it, tribal in a quiet, restrained way.
Cheraderama: Totally spaced-out and totally ****ing wonderful. Is that harp? Probably not, but it sounds like it. Is any track on this album even slightly bad?
Lilith: Another gentle, ethereal track that is almost ambient in its feel, with very low-key vocals and soft percussion being led by a ghostly keyboard melody. Need I say I love this too? I thought not.
Fourth Secret: Very oriental feel to this, with choppy, harsh vocals like a Russian male voice choir, or dogs barking, with a droning synth and rumbling but soft percussion. Evokes a stark beauty all of its own.
Expresso Noir: More bouncy and uptempo with a snapping, growling synth and swirling guitars. Sounds like a steam locomotive, which fits in with the lyric, and again I hear a lot of Bowie in here.
Home: Absolutely beautiful ambient piece, with soft piano and lush synth. Think this is an instrumental. Yep. Gorgeous.
Crushed Velvet: Driven mostly on cello and a breathy, almost whispered vocal, it’s the perfect end to a perfect album
Conclusion: when this started, I thought oh right, this isn’t going to be up to much. Three minutes in and I had done a complete 180, and since the end of track one I’ve been entranced by this album, by its awesome beauty, tenderness and just the right punch when and where needed. The musicianship is nothing short of spectacular, the vocals haunting and the whole thing runs for its entire length with hardly a misstep (I could do without “Ave Maria” and the baby crying, and maybe the very end of the closer, but these are small, insignificant niggles). I’m now looking forward to hearing more from them.

So, Love or Hate? Bringing back True Love for this one. It deserves it. Hope that review and reaction was worth waiting for, elph! Thanks for the opportunity to discover this amazing album.

The Batlord · 11-10-2019, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elphenor

Maybe our tastes aren't so irreconcilable

The Dots are my favorite group of all time

glad to hear you like Ka-Spel's vocals too, they turn a lot of people off, but he always sounded like the Grim Reaper as a flower child to me and it's just enthralling

The Fall are your favorite group of all time.

The Batlord · 11-10-2019, 08:15 PM

So they're just the band you like right now. Just say that. Don't be a dumb teenager with a new favorite band every week. It's pathetic.

The Batlord · 11-10-2019, 08:20 PM

You're the one who insists on having an all-time favorite band. Gay.

The Batlord · 11-10-2019, 08:39 PM

I'm trying to make a post with absolutely no parentheses or brackets and apparently it's forbidden.

**Frownland** · 11-10-2019, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

I'm trying to make a post with absolutely no parentheses or brackets and apparently it's forbidden.

PM me the text that's giving you problems using pastebin.com and I'll be a g and look into it.

The Batlord · 11-10-2019, 08:55 PM

Yeah it's gone but the only punctuation I can remember besides a period I guess was quotation marks.

Trollheart · 11-10-2019, 08:59 PM

I've had that too. Literally no brackets, bold tags, italics - nothing but pure text and one line is acceptable and the next isn't.

Our system
VVVVV

grindy · 11-11-2019, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Title: Illusion Machine
Artist: Bret Higgins’ Atlas Revolt
Genre: Jazz/Fusion
Artist Reaction: Never heard of him so no reaction
Genre Reaction: Not the J word!

Familiarity: Zero
Suggested by: grindy
A Little Background: Not a lot. Bret Higgins is apparently a bass player from Canada, who formed this band (possibly he’s famous for some other band but that information is not immediately available and I don't feel arsed to go searching.
Expectations: Reading the description on his bandcamp page it sounds hopeful, but you guys know me and jazz! Still, I’ll shoot for a low to high Like.

(3) Shadowboxing: Has a nice guitar line then the violins seem to take charge, and it gets a kind of Celtic feel. Quite upbeat, with some nice drumming. Some warbly organ now, kind of proggy in a way, also reminds me in part of early Vangelis work. Not half bad to be fair. Very Santanaesque guitar. Good start.
(3) Hunter: A little more laid-back with some really cool tribal style drums and a rippling piano merging with a growling guitar. Very catchy.
(3) Last Man Standing: Again has a sweet violin line with something like bongos or congas (always get them mixed up) driving the tune, and nice dollops of thick, throaty organ (ooer!) with this time a guitar more in line with The Shadows maybe.Lovely slick bass work. Like this.
(4) Euculipsa: This is really slow and reminds me of the theme to Twin Peaks. Cello or violin merges nicely with organ and maybe some harmonica, very relaxed. I can see how when they mention in the description of the music that it includes “film score” music, this is what they mean.
(2) Astral Soul Shake: Jazziest one yet, driven mostly by bright organ or piano, with that ticking percussion which seems to be the hallmark of jazz, at least from the little I’ve heard. Some pretty fine guitar on here though.
(3) Sun Gazers: This has a slowburning, sort of building opening then some choppy violin before the organ just takes it completely over. Really good. Oh here comes some snarly guitar. Better and better.
(3)Stero: Kind of a gypsy thing going on this, driven again by organ and some funky guitar. Still, I’m beginning to get a little bored. Far from the varied, genre-defying music this was touted as, it all seems to be along the same lines, with a few tweaks here and there. The same ideas, just used differently, a formula that gets added to or subtracted with each track. It’s okay, but it’s turning out not to be enough to hold my interest. This is okay but kind of only that. I don’t expect I’ll remember any of this music once this album is over, nor come back to it.
(4) Illusion Machine: Nice bass line and a soft violin carrying the tune, slower this time, little like a lament maybe, reminds me slightly of Waits’s work on Night on Earth, and there’s a certain European feel to it too - Spain, France maybe? Nice. Very nice.
(3) Zebop: This has a sort of Steely Dan edge to it, funky and laid-back with sax I think; is this the first time I’ve heard the horns? I think so. Again quite movie soundtrack-ish. Good work on the violin; sounds like more than one or overdubs, as they appear to be harmonising. Very Doors-ish organ, nice runs.
(3) Moon Chasers: Nice slow one to end on, and it’s good but again it’s sort of the same idea as many of the tracks here. They’re not bad ideas, not at all, they’re just too similar. I’d be hard-pressed to separate many of these tracks one from the other. All great music, sure, but not terribly engaging. Probably good to do other things to, not so good to review.

Conclusion: Think I said it all really in the track descriptions. Some really nice music, great musicianship, but most of it is too much alike to get me excited or even curious about checking out more. Maybe it’s the jazz elements, but though I did like it for what it was, much of it bored me and I don’t see myself ever being into this in any major way.

So, Love or Hate? Still, for what it is I can give it a Love (3)

Fair enough, I guess.
Next one: Richard Dawson - 2020

11-10-2019, 04:17 PM	#181 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	It's on the way... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-10-2019, 07:48 PM	#182 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Title: The Maria Dimension Artist: The Legendary Pink Dots Genre: Neo-Psychedelia/Experimental Rock Artist Reaction: I think I’ve heard one of their albums before; can’t remember if I liked it or not Genre Reaction: Not my favourite playground, that’s for sure Familiarity: As I say, I’ve heard one album. They seem to have a ton. Suggested by: Elphenor [COLOR="RoyalBlue"] Disturbance: Very sixties sound, especially to the vocals. Guess that would be the neo-psych thing going. Decent rhythm and melody. Can’t say I’m blown away by it. Nice sax at the end. Quite infectious actually in the long instrumental lead-out; hypnotic in a way. Was going to score this lower but it’s won me over in the last few minutes. Pennies for Heaven: Ah this is much better. Love the gentle acoustic guitar, the vocalist reminds me a little of Al Stewart and it’s very pastoral, and for some reason reminds me of Van der Graaf Generator. Particularly with the darker, bass clarinet is it? Excellent. Kicking up in a slightly faster tempo now, kind of a marching percussion to it. Really like this. Touch of Alan Parsons in the fanfare there too. Nice. Third Secret: Love the melody on this, reminds me of something but I’m not sure what. Oh I have it: the theme music (or incidental music) to a comedy programme called People of Earth. A nice rolling drumbeat here and the keyboard runs are just majestic. Love this one too. Ooh, sax! Even better. The um, Ave Maria thing at the end is tres weird though. The Grain Kings: Bouncy kind of reverb? Very spacey and those horns again very VDGG. Could be on for a fourth success here boys! Feel a very Bowie vibe from this, circa Ziggy/Aladdin Sane. Some crazy weird sounds being used here - kind of sounds like someone is operating an old bellows in front of a trumpet or something! Vocal is just excellent here. And then the instrumental break is, well, epic. Only word for it. The Ocean Cried Blue Murder: I’ll be surprised if this album dips below the superbly high watermark set by the first four tracks, and this is no exception, with a haunting piano melody twinned with a low, breathy sax (or maybe it’s clarinet, but some sort of horn anyway), maybe the first ballad. Certainly seems so. I also note sounds going from speaker to speaker on my system, so that’s pretty cool too, as if it wasn’t already cool enough. Belladonna: This one is a ballad, too, with what sounds like cello and glockenspiel maybe, and a very gentle vocal. That smoky sax is back to add its own flavour too, just **ing beautiful. A Space Between: The shimmering keyboard line here that underpins most of the melody is amazing, reminds me slightly of Supertramp’s “Child of Vision”, and the percussion is added in just the right amount, the vocal kind of almost mechanised with a screeching guitar in the background. Love the key change, then my friend the sax is back to say hi, and very welcome it is too. Evolution: Kind of running out of superlatives for this album. The longest track on the album, this runs for almost nine minutes and kicks off with a sort of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” guitar intro before the drums slide in kind of muffled, raising the tempo a little, has a sort of eastern feel to it, perhaps there’s sitar going on there, not sure. Heard a baby crying anyway. The whole rhythm has a kind of 1980s Peter Gabriel feel to it, tribal in a quiet, restrained way. Cheraderama: Totally spaced-out and totally *ing wonderful. Is that harp? Probably not, but it sounds like it. Is any* track on this album even slightly bad? Lilith: Another gentle, ethereal track that is almost ambient in its feel, with very low-key vocals and soft percussion being led by a ghostly keyboard melody. Need I say I love this too? I thought not. Fourth Secret: Very oriental feel to this, with choppy, harsh vocals like a Russian male voice choir, or dogs barking, with a droning synth and rumbling but soft percussion. Evokes a stark beauty all of its own. Expresso Noir: More bouncy and uptempo with a snapping, growling synth and swirling guitars. Sounds like a steam locomotive, which fits in with the lyric, and again I hear a lot of Bowie in here. Home: Absolutely beautiful ambient piece, with soft piano and lush synth. Think this is an instrumental. Yep. Gorgeous. Crushed Velvet: Driven mostly on cello and a breathy, almost whispered vocal, it’s the perfect end to a perfect album Conclusion: when this started, I thought oh right, this isn’t going to be up to much. Three minutes in and I had done a complete 180, and since the end of track one I’ve been entranced by this album, by its awesome beauty, tenderness and just the right punch when and where needed. The musicianship is nothing short of spectacular, the vocals haunting and the whole thing runs for its entire length with hardly a misstep (I could do without “Ave Maria” and the baby crying, and maybe the very end of the closer, but these are small, insignificant niggles). I’m now looking forward to hearing more from them. So, Love or Hate? Bringing back True Love for this one. It deserves it. Hope that review and reaction was worth waiting for, elph! Thanks for the opportunity to discover this amazing album. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-13-2019 at 04:10 PM.

11-10-2019, 08:59 PM	#189 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I've had that too. Literally no brackets, bold tags, italics - nothing but pure text and one line is acceptable and the next isn't. Our system VVVVV __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018