A Swarm of The Sun - The King of Everything (EP: 2007)
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Yeah, it's some more A Swarm of The Sun, but I was caught by surprise once again. When I did a search for the new album by them, I seem to have completely overlooked the EP they released in 2007 titled "The King of Everything". It's obviously got some tracks that I have heard before but it's got some that I haven't heard yet, and that's always a treat.

I'll say it right now before I forget: This EP starts off strong, and ends on a strong foot, making it another fantastic album to add to my collection under their name. If I had realized that this EP existed before listening to the other albums, I would've been as happy as I was when I first listened to Zenith. Especially since this EP has one of my all time favorite tracks by this band as the first song:



...the only difference in this version is that it has a little bit extra added to the intro, which I would've been happy if they had kept it in, it sounds awesome.

In terms of how this EP sounds, it sounds amazing. If you're looking for a quick couple tracks to get you to see if you like this band or not, they hit this one out of the ballpark which obviously bled into future albums. After listening to this EP, this officially means that I haven't listened to an album by A Swarm of The Sun that I haven't liked. I've been looking for more bands in this genre that have been releasing consistently great albums, and this is added to the list.

Bands Worth Mentioning...

So, i've been talking a lot about a pretty specific amount of bands this month, but that's only because a lot of the albums I want to talk about are by some of the bands, however that doesn't mean there are a lot of other bands that are worth listening to. I've listened to my fair share of post-rock and i've been able to categorize the kind I like versus the kind I don't like. Here are some albums/bands that are worth mentioning for old times sake:

Joy Wants Eternity - You Who Pretend To Sleep (2007)

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Joy Wants Eternity is an old favorite of mine. The album "You Who Pretend To Sleep" is the only one i'm familiar with. I remember really enjoying it a while back and I still do enjoy it. It's not much of a regular listen for me anymore, but it's still a great post-rock album.



Caspian - Tertia (2007)

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If you're looking for a bit more dark atmospheric instrumental post-rock, Caspian are definitely where you'd want to look. The only album i'm really really familiar with is "Tertia", although I have listened to their other releases before.. While it's a great album to listen to, I never really took too much from it to remember. Granted I had only heard it once before, and listening to a few tracks now, I may want to give it another listen. Definitely reminds me of I Hear Sirens, in a good way.



Gifts From Enola - Loyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind (2006)

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I'll be honest, Gifts From Enola were a band I sort of fell into and fell right back out of. Not to say that they're bad, but I never really found much about them that I really truly liked. A few of their albums are decent, and the one I think I liked the most out of them all was "Loyal Eyes Betrayed The Mind". I had heard this album back when I was first getting into post-rock, so that's probably more of a reason why I couldn't get into it. Again, just like the album I mentioned before, i'm finding some enjoyment out of it while I listen to it now.

Looks like I've got some catching up to do with this thread since I was last here. Really liked that Caspian track, it sounded really complex to me. Starts off really dark, like you say, but I like how it kinda explodes into the light from about 1:30 when that guitar phrase kicks in, it's all very visual stuff...to me, anyway. Definitely gonna put Tertia on my to do list :thumb:

Yeah, I tend to update this thread pretty frequently. Tertia is a pretty good album, which I also found out yesterday. I hadn't given it the proper listen it deserved when I first ran into that band.

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This song. This song right here is what perfection sounds like. I'll be doing a double feature about The Best Pessimist, one of which will be this post, and the next talking about an album that I absolutely love. There's really not a whole lot to say really, especially when the song title itself just speaks for itself, in a way. You see the title "Love Is", and while you listen to the song...you think to yourself, what is it? What is love and what makes it real? Main reason why this song is being posted in this section for heartbreak is because it has that same feel to it that most songs would have in this type of setting. Definitely worthy of a listen though even if it does make you feel sad.

The Best Pessimist (ambient / post rock)
one man living the dream...

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That's right. We've got a solo artist here. The Best Pessimist is a post-rock / ambient solo artist that goes by the name of Sergey Lunev. This man alone has released a total of five studio albums over the course of his career, and I will say it now, none of them are anything but amazing. This man alone has so much creativity and talent in his own mind, and it really shows itself through his music, better than some post-rock bands of 3 - 5 members.

One album I would love to mention is...

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Love Is...

First off, that is some beautiful artwork for an album cover. Honestly, the minute I see it, all I want to do is fly away and listen to this music over and over again. The album itself is also fantastic. It's got a mixture of great beats and beautifully crafted ambient post rock that you just can't listen to it once. This is definitely one of the examples I like to use when I talk about albums where the tracks are layered perfectly so that each track is better than the next, which allows for a near perfect experience on your first listen. Spoken from experience, the music tends to get better and better the more you listen to it.



And keep in mind that this is one of five albums that he has, so if you see yourself getting bored of this one, you have four more to listen to, including...

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I Just Want To Be Your Everything

and

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To Whom It May Concern

Throughout those three albums that I mentioned, you'll still hear songs that will blow your mind. Nothing feels the same throughout every album. His creativity really does shine with each album that comes after the next. And if you're really craving some more, you can check out his two EP's: Two Against All, and Autumn Leaves, which again, and I apologize if I am repeating myself, are nothing short of amazing. Give this man a listen because I mean, you may as well right?

Jonsi - Go

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Yes, you recognize the name. Yes, it is the same Jonsi as the vocalist of the same name from Sigur Ros. Some people may not be aware that Jonsi has also made a name for himself on the solo side of things. He's got a few albums under his sleeve as a solo artist, even one that he made with his partner Alex Somers titled "Riceboy Sleeps", which is just as amazing as it sounds...

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Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps

Anyway, back to Go. This album is definitely one you'll want to open your ears to, just for the curiosity of what Jonsi would sound like as a solo artist. Let me tell you. It's an amazing album. This album could possibly change your life, but maybe not. I wouldn't say it did that for me, but it does have the ability to bring me to a much happier place in regards to post-rock. I'd do a feature of this album in my "Angel Room" section, but I figured why bother. Honestly, if you're looking for a little bit more upbeat version of Sigur Ros, this album is where it's at. The first track in the album titled "Go Do" just sets the tone for the entire album.



Another track that is probably my favorite on the entire album is titled "Boy Lilikoi". Its got this weird mixture of being upbeat while still sounding a little bit depressing, but it's done very well. The lyrics are pretty damn good as well. Yeah, Jonsi sings english lyrics, who would've thunk.



Honestly, if it were to come down to it and I had to choose one post-rock solo album that I'd take to the grave with me, this one would be it. Jonsi is certainly one of the more underrated solo artists, but I think that has to do more with his success with Sigur Ros getting in the way, which isn't a bad thing. I just think people don't realize that Jonsi does make music on his own, and it's worth as much of a listen as any Sigur Ros album.

Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps

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If there was ever something that needed to be done, album wise, this one is an album that I don't think I would've been able to survive without. To me, there is just something so beautiful about hearing an album that was crafted by two people who love each other to no end. It surpasses any kind of band chemistry that has been seen before, and it really showcases how much they care about each other with how good the album sounds as a whole.



If you're looking for more of the ambient side of Sigur Ros, where the vocals aren't as prevalent, this is an album that I would definitely recommend checking out.

I still remember the first time I stumbled upon it, I was curious to know who the second half of the Jonsi & Alex was, in which case I would've never thought they were in love. Not that I ever thought it was a bad thing, but I feel like I was able to grow more in love with this album after knowing the kind of relationship the two members had. It's a weird thing, but it really does work for this.

Jonsi - Go
(part II, kind of)



I just wanted to throw this in here to let you hear this beautiful song done on an acoustic guitar. It sounds fantastic and well worth a listen.

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I've got a couple more bands to talk about that really know how to perform better than expected on stage:



Part III coming soon.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
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This is going to be a pretty quick review, but I have to say...when I heard this album for the first time at it's release, I really didn't pick up on what was so great about it. I'm listening to it again tonight and that opinion has drastically gone into the opposite direction. From the minute I heard the first track, I found enjoyment, and that has continued throughout the rest of the album. I can't really say that Godspeed You! Black Emperor have seriously outdone themselves on this album because if you know anything about this band, you'd know that they have always done something that is nothing short of amazing. I mean...F♯ A♯ ∞ has to be one of the greatest post-rock albums I've ever heard, if not ever made.

The opening track Mladic really does set the tone for the rest of the album, and it certainly opens the album on a strong point which like I said, does continue throughout. Usually when I listen to a Godspeed You! Black Emperor album for the first time, I do see myself getting bored for some reason, but as this album has proven, multiple listens are necessary to get the full effect, which it has for me.


yeah, it's a 20 minute opening track, but they use every second of every minute to their advantage, and it works well.

Certainly check out this album if you haven't yet. I'm loving this so much right now.

As it stands right now, I really don't have much more material to put into post-rock month, so unfortunately I am going to put an end to it tonight. I know it wasn't the entire month, but hey, I tried. It's actually the first time i've ever done a month long theme in my journal. Could've gone worse. Anyway, back to the normal ol' programming tomorrow.

there are some songs where you find yourself listening to them every single day at leas 2-3 times a day, this is one of those times

Honestly, there have been a lot of things in the past couple years that have really just blown my mind. Things happening in music where I just say "man, that was a match made in heaven, i'm really glad that happened." For example, when I heard a few years ago that Mikael Akerfeldt and Steven Wilson were doing a collaboration, I was struck with excitement, and of course, that excitement remained as I heard the album for the first time, and the second time, and the third time, and so on and so on. Since then, there haven't been very many other instances where i'm just caught by surprise that something like this is happening, unless you count the collab album of pg.lost and Wang Wen, which of course I do count that. This year we have something possibly even more amazing than both of those things combines, we have a collaboration between two bands that I have an enormous respect for. Franz Ferdinand of course coming first in my "fanship" have been in my life since the day they released their debut, and my love for them has never gone stale. Sparks on the other hand, I got into them much much later in their career, but loved them instantly, so much that I had no problem buying tickets to see them when they came this way. Of course to make that even better, we got to meet the Mael brothers, which was awesome. Now to finally get a chance to see these two genius bands get together is almost mind blowingly awesome. I really don't know what to expect from this or if it'll meet / exceed the expectations I have for it, but I really hope that we receive something from them that destroy any competition for best album of the year this year. Yeah, i'm being a little dramatic, but who cares.

I do want to mention something kind of funny, and i'm sure the Mael brothers knew about this seeing as I wasn't the only person that had this come to mind. Back when I was just getting into Sparks, I had a weird feeling that them and Franz Ferdinand had a bunch of similarities, more-so towards the vocals over anything else. I've always seen a lot of similarities between Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael, but that could just be me. It's certainly not a bad thing as they both pull it off really well. Upon hearing the news of a collaboration, I literally said "i ****ing knew this was going to happen, and i'm so excited that it is happening."

There have been shows recorded with Kapranos and Mael singing together, but it's nothing 'official', although if the album sounds anywhere near as good as this does, then we've certainly got something to really be excited about...



This is going to be such a great mark in music history, and I honestly cannot believe it's really happening.

Yep. We're going to put Megadeth, one of the big 4 up to the podium to finally decide whether or not they are worth the hype they receive. I'm not entirely sure if i'm planning to do the rest of the big 4 for a "worth the hype?" but it's certainly possible. Anyway, let's get right down to things.

First off, I have had absolutely no idea up until this point what the verdict would be on this band. There's so much to take into consideration and that's what makes it the most difficult. First off, we have Dave Mustaine, the "jellyfish hair" man:

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Dave Mustaine is amazing at everything he does. He can shred on the guitar, he has an amazing sense of what it means to be a performer on stage, and his vocals fit the thrash metal scene perfectly. People also know him as being one of the most right wing individual you'd ever meet, but that's his own personal issue and that doesn't really change my opinion on him as a musician.

Megadeth as a band have certainly had their ups and down, with 14 studio albums to their name, you can't really blame them. What I mean by that is...they've certainly had their fair share of terrible singles, and albums, but to even the play field, they've also had some fantastic albums and singles, and DVD (live in Argentina to name one). They've been around for a while so a few mistakes here and there is completely understandable, especially when history has shown that they can rise above it and still make some amazing music.

For me personally however, as time goes on, and Megadeth hint at more new albums to come in the near future, I kind of grow tired of following the news as it seems ever since Endgame in 2009, it feels like work to try to get through a Megadeth album fully. I'm not saying they've lost their touch, millions of fans out there would say they are in their prime, but for me, I just feel like every time they release something, I feel a sense of emptiness as I finish a new album of theirs. I mean, to be honest, when Super Collider was released back in 2013, I think I got through half the album before I said "yeah, i can't do this right now," and I actually haven't gone back to listen to the full thing. Nothing on that album really stood out to me. When it comes down to albums in general though, I am a man who loves a good listen of Rust In Peace / Youthanasia / Peace Sells...but Who's Buying? but maybe that's just because I grew up listening to the early Megadeth due to my dad being a huge fan of theirs back then. I don't know, it's a pretty ****ty feeling to have with their new material as I know they are pretty good.

So...the moment you've probably been waiting for. What is the verdict? Well, as I said before, this one wasn't anywhere near as easy as the last couple ones I have done on this type of deal, and perhaps I didn't do this as well as I could have, but...the verdict is...

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I have to go with this one, don't I? How can I not? Megadeth have and will always hold a special place in my heart, even if they are starting to show more weaknesses than strength. I have often found myself going back to their earlier work and finding new and exciting things about them that I never heard before. Plus, they're just a great band. When I first heard about them, I just went through their catalog and 95% of the time I was enjoying myself. Now, to sort of end things on a positive note, I want to post one of my all time favorite live videos, from their Live In Argentina DVD:

How many times have you heard people saying that Megadeth is in their peak? That's just baffling to me because while they're not at their lowest point, they're certainly nowhere near the level they were at with Peace Sells or Rust in Peace.

I honestly didn't listen to the new record after being so disappointed by Endgame and United Abominations.

I wasn't so much pointing out how often people say they are in their prime. I was more pointing fingers at the millions of fans that love to defend Megadeth no matter how bad an album is. There are those people who will always say "man, this album is the best one they've done yet".

United Abominations for me has 2 tracks that I like, and that's about it.

Nightwish - Live To Tell The Tale


So here's something I've always been curious about. What makes a band put certain songs as "bonus tracks?" Seriously, I've wondered about this ever since I first heard Nightwish's Once album a long while back. As an album, it's pretty damn good and still holds a good place in my collection, but there is one song that has always stuck out to me, which is posted above: "Live To Tell The Tale". To some people, they have never even heard this song as it being a bonus track doesn't make it too easy to find for those not aware of it's existence, although my memory isn't as good as it was back then, I do believe this song was actually featured on the Once album as the final track. Anyway, i'm getting off track. I've heard some people say that they've listened to the Once album and have never heard this track. That's more towards the point I was trying to get to. To someone who isn't even aware of it's existence, this song doesn't show up in their queue or anywhere, which bags the question, "what made it not as accessible as the other tracks?" This track alone is easily one of the best songs on the entire album, there are even a few tracks I would take off the album and replace them with this one to give it it's own appropriate place on the album instead of being a bonus track. It does deserve it's own place on the album, and I do think it was probably a bad play on Nightwish's part to put this track as a bonus track. However, on the other side of things, maybe it's a bit of a "gift" if you're into looking for bonus tracks for albums you've come to enjoy. Maybe Nightwish knew exactly what they were doing when they made this song a bonus track, so that for people who are willing to look for it, will be surprised to know of it's existence, and come to enjoy the album even more. If that's the case, bravo Nightwish.

The collaboration we've all been waiting for...at least for me (part II)

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Franz Ferdinand and Sparks (FFS) have been teasing their fans for months now about how this project is going to sound, and we officially have our very first taste of what to expect from the upcoming album. A release date has even been set for June 9th of this year. They've set up preorders for a Double LP or a CD for when the album is released, and you're damn right i'm going to be all over both of those. It's kind of funny that they decided to wait until April 1st to release the first single to give us a taste of the album, but man...this album is going to be amazing:



It's definitely got more of Sparks' influence on it, but i'm sure there will be equal influences from both sides on the rest of the album. Before I forget, they've also released an official track list for the album:

01. Johnny Delusional
02. Call Girl
03. Dictator’s Son
04. Little Guy From The Suburbs
05. Police Encounters
06. Save Me From Myself
07. So Desu Ne
08. The Man Without A Tan
09. Things I Won’t Get
10. The Power Couple
11. Collaborations Don’t Work
12. Piss Off
13. So Many Bridges
14. King Of The Song
15. Look At Me
16. A Violent Death

I cannot wait!

Listened to and loved Franz's first record, though I've never heard of Sparks. Kinda liking that single though, might check out the album when it drops.

Sparks are great. I got really into them over the last couple years. They're certainly worth a listen.

So, I assume most of you are aware that we have got some seriously talented individuals at this forum. You weren't aware of that? Well, this journal will make sure that you are. To name a few, Frownland, Mondo Bungle, and Plankton all have got some great tunes to share with the forum, and they post quite frequently with new material, some more than others. I want to try to talk about them in the best way I can. I won't really be doing much reviewing as much as i'll be shining the light on some great stuff i've heard from the members here. I will definitely be making sure the names of the members are included so that you can also check them out. So, first up we have...

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Trouble Salad - We Are Animals, We Eat Meat EP
Member: Mondo Bungle

Amongst his pretty constantly growing discography, there have been albums I have listened to and enjoyed right off the bat, one of which is titled "We Are Animals, We Eat Meat EP". It seems as though this album is considered more along the lines of "experimental drone / noise" which to be honest, it's a set of genres I never paid much attention to. I was aware of the type of music that it was, but it did take me some time to come to appreciate it as an artform. If you had asked me about a year ago to listen to this album and say my thoughts, I would have listened to the first track and said "meh" and never spoke of it again. However, these days, i'm really starting to see the talent behind the music. This album is a fantastic example of what you'd expect in such a genre, and it was one of the first of the genre that I had heard, and I believe it did a good job in forming my appreciation for the type of music that this is.

Tracklist:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Part IX
Part X
Part XI
Trouble Salad Immolates the Masses

That final track is apparently a remix of a song that was done by our very own Frownland's Wolves In Sheepskin who's music I will also be talking about in this thread, so keep an eye open for that.

Anyway, that's all for now.

I really need to check out Mondo's stuff. He send me a thing a while ago when he was just getting going that I enjoyed.

I didn't know you listened to my music. Thanks for the mention.

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Him and Frownland both have some stuff worth listening to. I've been getting a lot of enjoyment listening to both of their projects.

I do indeed. I just don't say it much since i'm a casual listener most of the time.

I've been a big fan of Mondo's stuff for a bit glad it's getting attention on here

I'm listening to more of his stuff right now and I'm impressed. Expect an excellent review tonight on the couple albums I've heard so far.

no foolin?

No foolin indeed. A lot of your stuff is fantastic.

So, I listened to more albums of Mondo's Trouble Salad project, and I want to keep this short and sweet while also making sure to let people and him know what I think of said albums.

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Besvær Salat / Fuzz / The Source of All Monsters / Disgust: The Soundtrack
Member: Mondo Bungle

I want to start off by saying that even though i've only listened to these 4 albums and the one I've mentioned in my previous post, this guy has got some serious talent. I'm not saying that because i'm his friend, I would still say the same thing if I were someone random who didn't know him at this forum and I ended up stumbling upon these albums. Seriously, this is some seriously awesome stuff. I started off by listening to Fuzz because honestly...the album art was intriguing, and man was I not disappointed. Coming in at only 3 tracks, you can tell right off the bat and by the song lengths that Mondo isn't going to short us out of anything. The album starts off with a 26 minute track titled "Overboard" and it just gets right into things and continues to be powerful throughout the 26 minutes. Mondo has once again discovered how to keep someone interested in the music without it dragging on too much. When I was listening to this album this morning, I was waiting for my bus, and I suddenly felt the world stop around me and all I could feel was the music. It's definitely a rare occasion for the to happen to me where all I can see, feel, and hear is the music in my ears. When you continue throughout the album, you get another fantastic track titled Begin The Ritual coming in at 21 minutes. Again, i'm speaking from personal experience, don't let the length of the song scare you, Mondo has definitely found a way to make a 21 minute drone filled song sound interesting and fantastic and never once do I get bored. I was very happy with how I ended up liking Fuzz. It's not my favorite of his, but it's definitely up there with being an album that I will listen to for a long time.

Moving on, we have an album by the name of Besvær Salat. This album comes packed with 4 tracks, with all the songs either at the 3 minute mark and the 6 minute mark. Instead of going with the lengthy approach, Mondo instead went with the short and sweet approach, and it works. While we already know from listening to Fuzz that he can fit a lot of interesting sounds into a long track, this album also showcases the fact that if you give him just a few minutes, he can still manage to blow you away with something amazing. Out of the 4 albums that I listened to, I found that this album in particular was my favorite. I think it was a mixture of the short tracks mixed with the ambient / synth sounds that really sold me on it. He does have a tag on this album that's considered "coldwave". I'm not entirely sure what that means, but if he's referring to temperature, I can definitely feel a sense of coldness throughout this album. Not necessarily a bad thing, it's just interesting to take into consideration how an album can make you feel, temperature wise. Every track on this album is great to amazing. All of them seem to be a little different, but all manage to use a synthesizer to it's greatest ability. A remarkable 4 track album that is definitely up there with being one of my favorite albums of the year.

The Source of All Monsters is up next, and I honestly have no idea how to describe this album. At first I found a lot of similarities to the first album I heard of his, titled "We Are Animals, We Eat Meat EP" where he used distortion and noise to it's advantage. Although I really did enjoy that album, this album was much....much better. He uses a variety of sounds and experiments with a lot of different things on this album, but the thing is, it works. It really does work. Some might find it annoying and untalented, but I can hear that it does take some serious brain power to come up with things like this. I don't really know where i'd place this album in terms of ranking the albums, but I don't really want to rank the albums because I already have my favorite, and the rest are still great if not amazing. But, if you're heavily into that drone / ambient type of thing, I'd strongly recommend listening to this album as it does the genre justice. Of course, that's coming from someone who still isn't too familiar with the genre, but I stand by the fact that Mondo has got some serious talent when it comes to this genre. Certainly a great album, and I will be listening to it some more in the near future.

Last but certainly not least, we have Disgust: The Soundtrack. This album, is seriously so beautifully made, that it made me question whether or not I should put Besvær Salat as my favorite, but a few things made that happen. Instead, I made a compromise and I said to myself that if not for Besvær Salat, this one would be my favorite. I don't really know what it is, but i'm just a big fan of that more ambient-ish sound that he seems to have a beautiful grasp on. It's got a lot of my favorite qualities. It's very post-rock-ish, it's quiet, and it's got certain things to it that take a few listens to hear. It comes in at 7 tracks, but none of the tracks are boring or lame. All of them are great, and I certainly don't know which one I'd say is the best, as they all have their own unique qualities which allows the album to shine in the way that it does. If I were to choose a track that stood out, I would definitely go with But If I Go First. It's a very cool and unique track that takes certain sounds that you wouldn't think would work, and Mondo manages to make them work in the best way you could possibly imagine. Again, this and Besvær Salat are definitely competing for my number one favorite album from this guy, but Besvær Salat still takes the trophy on that.

In conclusion, this has been one of the coolest rides of dove into when it comes to discovering a new genre that I had absolutely no knowledge of. Honestly, I had no idea where to start with this type of stuff, but listening to these albums from someone that I know definitely had a positive impact on what I think of the genre as a whole. Mondo has definitely got some unique and special talents up his sleeve, and I still stand by the fact that even if I didn't know him, i'd still think these albums were nothing short of amazing. A lot of these albums are in my list of "favorite albums of the year" and will most likely remain there for years to come. I will also say that I am following / looking forward to more music that this guy releases, as I've grown sort of attached to the albums I've heard already. I'll definitely be giving the rest of the albums that I haven't heard yet a listen and will do a review just as I did here. I hope this comes off as positive as I tried to make it, but if it didn't, well I tried. To wrap things up, give these albums a listen, and let Mondo know how great of a musician he is. He's got some remarkable talent, and it's definitely not going to waste.

Aw that's nice.

Odd that you liked Disgust so much, I made it to be fairly experimental and unlistenable.

These 2 are my favorites tbh
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...tary-collision
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...ide-the-stream

Scratch that, just dropped the best **** ever https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...ooks-like-snow

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Planetary Collision by Mondo Bungle

So, are you thinking of taking your ship into space and fighting off other bad guys in spaceships? Are you also not sure what kind of soundtrack you want to be playing in the background while all the chaos happens? Well, I have it for you right here. Mondo Bundle/Trouble Salad have an album by the name of Planetary Collision. I was curious what this one would sound like as just the album name alone had me intrigued, and what I got out of it was pretty much what I described in the first sentence. Coming in this time at 5 tracks, there's once again a prime example of what the Bungle man can dish out. I don't know whether or not the "in space" theme was on his mind when he made the album, but that's what I got out of it, and it's definitely not a bad thing. Pretty sweet album, well worth a full listen a few times.

While i've been listening to Mondo's musical endeavors, I've also been giving our very own Frownland a listen with his music. Admittedly, I have said multiple times that I don't think what he does could really be considered "music" or he lacks talent etc etc, but in all honesty, I think of him the same way I think of Mondo. It takes some intelligence and know how to do what they do, and both of them are very good examples of what you should expect to hear in the genres they focus on.

For the first album of Frownland, I went with an album by his project Wolves In Sheepskin titled Lizard of Ox:

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Wolves In Sheepskin - Lizard of Ox

The reason I want to talk about this album first is because it was the first album I decided to dive into when I noticed that Frownland was making music. I want to also mention that I started to be curious about his music way before I had a decent understanding of what music he was even making, and with that sort of "non knowingness", I kind of skipped through the album and didn't really say much about it. However, that has taken a significant turn nowadays. This album is really interesting in the way that he uses a lot of different kinds of sounds to make music that I have personally never heard of before. Admittedly, this does fall under the tags of avant-gard e / free jazz / noise-art, and with as much understanding as I have of what that stuff is, this album certainly does it well. Coming in at 8 tracks, with each track average between 6-10 minutes long, you'll probably find yourself getting more and more interested in the music as the album progresses. I can't really say if this album will be a continuous album for me, but I am happy I listened to it again now that my understanding on the genre is a bit more refined than it used to be.

Moving onto an album that I actually like quite a bit...

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Wolves In Sheepskin - How Your Mother Cried Last Night

This album seems to be much more up my alley for what I look for in this type of stuff. After listening to Mondo's music for as long as I did to prepare for the reviews (still more to come) that I did, I kind of grew attached to that nasty grimy drone sound that he seems to have gotten down to a natural talent. Frownland sort of went with that same type of deal in this album, and I really like it. I don't mean to compare the two artists in a review like this, but I know that they know their music can be similar in certain cases, so I feel it's ok to mention it. Coming in at 5 tracks, with the first track starting you off with a whopping 23 minutes, you can bet your best bets you'll find a bit of enjoyment in this album. It's not as straight-forward drone as you'd get from a Trouble Salad album like I mentioned, but it's still damn good for what it is. This is an album I will most likely listen to a lot more to really get the feel for it. I also want to mention that I think that whopping 23 minute track titled "Stained Glass Skyscraper" is my favorite track on the entire album. I'm sure that'll change over time though. A whole lot of different styles going on in this album that will surely keep me interested for a long time.

I was going to have this album reviewed with the other two in the previous post, but I wanted to give it it's own for reasons you will see.

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Wolves In Sheepskin - A Van Per Oven

This album is fantastic. Truly. It's got everything that I would hope to hear in an album with tags like ambient / avant-garde / noise / whatever else they wanna call it. It truly is remarkable what kind of things you can hear in this album. The only drawback that I could see being a potential issue for some people when they listen to this album is the fact that you're going to want to sit down and take your time with it, as the tracks dont get any shorter than 9 minutes, and one track even goes for nearly 27 minutes, but hey, for me that's not a bad thing, that's perfect considering I like to just kind of mellow out and let the music take the wheel for a little while. I chose a favorite out of Mondo's album that I had heard so far, and I want to choose this one for my favorite album out of Frownland's music. I'll be looking forward to more stuff that he does like this, because I love it. I'll eat it right up. His other stuff is obviously good / great, but from a personal standpoint, I want to hear more of this type of stuff. As far as favorite tracks go, I think i'll keep it simple and go with Gravity Resistor since he managed to keep me interested in the track for the 27 minutes that it went on for. Two thumbs up. And the reason I chose to have this be it's own post is because I like to give albums that I really truly like their own post, instead of being buried under other reviews.

I really like the second track on disgust.
I just listened to Fuzz, which is really great to just, like, chill out to. I also really like some of the drones on space mall.
I've not listened to either of those albums, or the new one, but I might today.

The new one's my magnum opus.

The collaboration we've all been waiting for...at least for me (part III)

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FFS - Johnny Delusional

So, according to what the FFS page said last night, "Piss Off" wasn't actually the first single. Apparently it was just something to get people in the mood of what the collaboration is all about. However, fans of FFS did receive another track off the album that they are now claiming to be the first single with a track titled "Johnny Delusional". I'm pretty much still at the same point I was when I first heard "Piss Off", y'know the opinion of "if this is how the rest of the album will sound, I'm pretty excited", and that has yet to fail me. We (LiL and myself) have already preordered the vinyl copy for when they release the album, so...I don't see myself being disappointed with this release at all. If I am at all disappointed, you'll certainly hear from me about it.

Thanks for the review mate, A Van Per Oven is one of my favourites as well, along with Knuckle, Lizard, and Your Mother.

No problem. I'll be continuing with your other albums. I've just had no motivation to write out the entries this week for some reason.