gotjuice

Finals are going to kill me, but I'm determined to get this thing done by New Year's. Going to have to pick it up.

#9



The Mars Volta
Octahedron
7.4/10

There’s a common argument or indictment I’ve heard many people use in regards to The Mars Volta. It goes something like this: “Frances/Bedlam/Amputechture is probably my favorite TMV album, but dammit, if they would just cut out some of the damn random noise/not put so much filler in their tracks/cut down on the studio effects, they’d be so much better and I could listen to them more.” In other words, if they would just FOCUS, they could produce something truly spectacular. Well, to anybody who’s ever said something similar to that…

Here you go!

Not that this album is nearly that simple. But for all the crap this album has taken (although I did enjoy the Hitler Youtube video on the subject), 90% of it isn’t deserved. Some criticism is obviously valid. Thomas Pridgen’s performance on Bedlam was so good that, amazingly, Jon Theodore, who is an equally incredible drummer in his own right, wasn’t even missed. Pridgen, however, all but disappears on Octahedron, his bat**** craziness held back by the timidity of most of the album. And apart from Cotopaxi, there are no moments of pure frenetic energy that made the previous TMV albums so great. And I wouldn’t put this album above any of the 3 albums I listed above. But that doesn’t mean Octahedron can be written off. This is by far Cedric’s best vocal effort to date, and it’s nice to hear his voice without it being filtered through multiple layers of effects for once. Teflon is going to go down as a top 10 track in the entire TMV discography. Cotopaxi is a teasing reminder that they haven’t abandoned the sound that brought them to this point. Props to TMV for being willing to experiment mixing up their sound, and major props for being able to do that effectively without losing their identity in the process. And that's why they're at #9 on this list.

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I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders...

gotjuice

Merry X-Mas all. Finals are done, and as a holiday treat and because I still want to get this done by 1/1, this is a special double edition of the countdown.

#8

Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion
7.5/10

I'll be honest, this album might be higher up the list except that I was pretty late to the game regarding hearing it. Also, this was my first foray into Animal Collective, so I'm still digesting the album as a whole.

Obviously though, this album would top a lot of people's similar lists, and with good reason. This swirling mixture of electronica, dream pop and Beach-Boys esque harmonies took me a few listens to appreciate, but on about the 3rd listen it did indeed click. My Girls is obviously a phenomenal song, but I almost think I like the opener, In The Flowers, more. Overall though there's no song that I really feel like skipping when I listen to this, hence it's entry at #8.

#7

Fuck Buttons
Tarot Sport
7.5/10

I can't say that I enjoyed this album more than the debut Street Horrsing. I really didn't feel like there were any songs on Tarot Sport that could match Okay, Let's Talk About Magic or Race You To My Bedroom. Also, the extra ten minutes that Tarot contains makes the album slightly overstay its welcome in my book. But that doesn't mean this album should be overlooked. Once again, this duo manages to create an impressive display of electronic noise. Space Mountain is fantastic. These guys avoided the sophomore slump with this album, and it will be exciting to see what they can create in the future.

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I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders...

gotjuice

So this whole top-ten thing obviously never panned out as I was hoping, never really had time to do it properly. Since I need to update this and I have other reviews I'm anxious to get to, I'm just going to finish this off.

6. Russian Circles-Geneva
This post-rock/post-metal group from Chicago brings the goods again. Following up their fantastic debut Enter and their equally brilliant sophomore effort Station, Geneva sees R.C. both sticking with their strengths and experimenting with their sound. The addition of strings on Geneva make it a slightly different listen from their previous two albums, but doesn't hinder these guys from producing some kick-ass instrumental music all the same.

5. Isis-Wavering Radiant
More post-metal here. First review in this journal is Isis's Panopticon, which should give you some idea of how eagerly I was awaiting this album. However, there was some trepidation on my part as I really felt that In The Absence Of Truth was their weakest album to date, and I was very curious to see whether they could return to the form I loved so much in Panopticon. Luckily, Turner & Co. hit this one out of the park. I won't put it above Panopticon, but it's much much better than ITAOT and equally as good if not better than Oceanic.

4. Lightning Bolt-Earthly Delights
Downloaded this album on a whim. Had never really listened to much noise rock, at least not like this. Holy shit was I blown away. Definitely a sonic assault. What really does it for me with this album is the drumming, which ranges from crazy to fucking insanity. And I still laugh whenever I listen to Funny Farm, just too good.

3. Mew-No More Stories...
Another album that I downloaded having never listened to the band previously. Needless to say, after I listened to this one I made a frantic backtrack through the Danish art/prog/pop band's discography. Although I am seriously impressed with their complete body of work, for now I'll still say that this album is my favorite of theirs. Maybe it's only because it was the first one I heard, but the whole album is just great. Very solid. Easy to hum along to but not simple enough to fade into background music.

2. Brand New-Daisy
I'll be the first to admit I thought BN would never top The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me. Although I was impressed with the band's ability to mature enough to create a record of that considering their pop-punk roots, I was seriously expecting to be disappointed by Daisy. And...how wrong, how wrong I was. Daisy is the musical equivalent of a surge of adrenaline. Vices, the first track, is one of the most off-putting opening tracks I think I've heard...but it definitely sets the tone for the rest of the record. The band hits and hits heavy, but the songs are concise and to the point. They don't linger, there's no filler intros or wasted time, with the whole album clocking in right at 40 minutes. Even better IMO than TDAG.

1. Silversun Pickups-Swoon
A lot of people will claim they knew what their #1 album of 2009 would be in January when Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion was released. I had to wait until April. As soon as I heard Swoon, though, I knew it would be a shoe-in for this spot. As many spins as I gave Carnavas, SSP's brilliant full-length debut, I've listened to this one even more. It's just so good, both the individual songs and the way they're put together on the album. Fuzzy is really the best adjective to describe this album, but it's not just the guitars, it's Aubert's vocals, alternating between dreamy and edgy, and the drumming, and the way all of the instruments just blend together so well. There is no weak point on this album as far as I'm concerned. From the hypnotic There's No Secrets This Year to the brilliant build-up in Growing Old Is Getting Old to the laid-back Draining, it's just phenomenal. Definitely no sophomore slump here.

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I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders...

gotjuice

Time to get this rolling again. The top 10 list was a disaster (I'm never doing an end of the year list again, I've already downloaded at least 5 albums from 2009 that would nullify albums I listed here), but time to stop hiding in eternal shame and start posting some kickass music again. And this album right here is some kickass stuff.



65daysofstatic
The Fall of Math
9.2/10
Post-Rock, Math Rock, Electronic/IDM/Glitch

“This negative energy just makes me stronger. We will not retreat. This band is unstoppable!”

Indeed. Thinking logically here, it’s probably difficult for a band to be stopped before they release their debut album, but just in case you had any thoughts of trying, this reclusive group from the UK decided to give us a masterpiece right out of the gate: their magnum opus (though One Time For All Time is deservedly in the conversation), a phenomenal mixture of post-rock, math rock, and glitchy IDM.

What makes this album so great is the way it’s able to combine elements of the different genres I listed above without ever sounding chaotic or out of control. Particularly for the post-rock genre, it redefined what could be done with the cathartic peak-valley-peak formula that is often maligned by critics of the genre. In my opinion, this belongs right up there with albums such as Ágætis byrjun, Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven, The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, etc. And the album seems like it’s almost aware of that, as the awkwardness sometimes seen on genre-defining records simply isn’t present here. It has a sense of power, from the cryptically apocalyptic opener Another Code Against the Gone to what is probably their best known track, Retreat! Retreat, to the thick, dense riffs of I Swallowed Hard Like I Understood and This Cat Is a Landmine. Aren’t We All Running, the ending track, is so breathtakingly powerful that it nearly knocks the wind out of you.

Also, I can’t let this review end without a quick mention of the drumming on this album, which is simply amazing. What can I say, I’m a sucker for solid drumming, and if I had to pick a specific thing about this album that I liked the most that’d be it. Most of the drumming on the album is done by a human being, there are some moments that feature computer beats but it flows so well that it’s almost indistinguishable. The math rock tendencies of the band really highlight how impressive some of the instrumental technicality is, as often the songs are changing between weird time signatures. If you don’t find yourself air-drumming along to this album at several points, there’s something wrong with you.

As I said earlier, to me this is by far their best album, although I understand people who consider One Time For All Time, their second album, to be better. One Time For All Time is definitely more polished, probably slightly more focused. But it just doesn’t contain the power that The Fall of Math has. This album grabs you and shakes you, long enough to make you appreciate it but short enough to always leave you wanting a little more. If you haven't heard it, I cannot recommend it enough if you're a fan of any kind of electronic or post-rock music.

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I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders...

gotjuice

Immanu El
They'll Come, They Come (2007)
8.9/10
Post-Rock, Ambient, Dream-Pop

Before I begin this review, I need to get something off my chest: I love Sigur Rós. They take the breathless climaxes of the greatest post-rock bands, the most soothing and blissful ambient tones, and some of the most dreamlike, ethereal vocals on the planet, and they combine them into music that is completely original. Bands like Múm can come close sometimes, but nobody can do what Sigur Rós does. Another reason I love these Icelanders is their ability to channel the entire emotional spectrum through their music, from the frenzied triumph of Glósóli to the numbingly melancholic Vaka to the bubbly innocence of Gobbledigook.

Phew, that feels better As you can clearly see though, this is not a Sigur Rós review. So why am I bringing them up?

Well, sometimes, I might be in the mood to listen to Sigur Rós, but maybe I’m not ready to hear Sigur Rós themselves. Maybe I don’t have the patience to devote to a full album. Maybe I can’t handle Hopelandic vocals at that very moment. Maybe I just want music that sounds like SR without the entire package.

During these moments, I turn to Immanu El’s debut album. There’s enough to this album so that calling it Sigur Rós-lite doesn’t do it justice, but if you want cliffs, there it is. Most of the album consists of mellow, laid-back guitar, piano, occasional strings, ambient noise, and Claes Strängberg’s dreamy vocals. He’s no Jónsi, but Claes definitely holds his own. The lyrics themselves are in English, and are minimalist but extremely powerful. There is the soft/loud post-rock dynamic very prevalent here, as well as just some gorgeous dream-pop stuff in tracks such as Home. Another hint to the sound you can expect is the album art. It’s a very peaceful fifty minutes, with even the crescendos being more uplifting than necessarily powerful. This album is warm, at least that’s how I would describe it.

About 1/5 of the album is taken up by the opening track, Under Your Wings I’ll Hide, which is one of the most brilliant and beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. Classify it under whatever genre you like, it’s universally gorgeous, with dynamics transitioning seamlessly until the final triumphant climax. Home features some gorgeous string work. White Seraphs Wild showcases some beautiful piano. These tracks are all individual, yet they blend together very nicely. My personal favorite, however, is the closing track, …In Valleys. This song puts everything together, from the warm, tranquil piano chords to the strings to the beautiful vocals, all together in a final apex.

So: if you’re a fan of Sigur Rós, or ambient acts such as Hammock, or any post-rock, you really owe it to yourself to give this a spin. I know I made a lot of comparisons to the Icelandic giants, but They’ll Come, They Come is far from a knockoff. These guys are very original and very good at what they do.

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Freebase Dali

I dig Hammock for sure.. I'll definitely check your recommendations out. Thanks for this.

gotjuice

Np. As always, if you have any issues, just shoot me a PM and I'll get it sorted for you.

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I used to be carried in the arms of cheerleaders...