Micshazam's album and song picks

**Frownland** · 12-02-2018, 08:44 AM

Have you ever been to any shows? Do some concert reviews.

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-02-2018, 08:49 AM

I probably mentioned at least once in the distant past that I don't go to shows.

I've got fairly bad tinnitus and am scared to death of it getting any worse, so no shows for me. Whenever I'm near very loud noise for extended periods of time, I'm feeling so anxious that I'm having difficulties concentrating and carrying a conversation.

**Frownland** · 12-02-2018, 09:58 AM

Depends on what you go to, but I think that shows are getting a lot quieter these days. Bit of a shame that you're missing out on that but I can respect your reasoning behind it.

Wanna review one of my albums?

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-02-2018, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Depends on what you go to, but I think that shows are getting a lot quieter these days. Bit of a shame that you're missing out on that but I can respect your reasoning behind it.

I might dare to dip my toe a bit some day. There's a few acts I consider bucket list items.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

Wanna review one of my albums?

Umm... as long as you know what to expect from me w/r/t appreciating that kinda thing... sure, I guess.

**Frownland** · 12-02-2018, 10:06 AM

**** on it if you like. I'm sure that you'll hate the production.

Wolves in Sheepskin - Lizard of Ox

The Batlord · 12-02-2018, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I probably mentioned at least once in the distant past that I don't go to shows.

I've got fairly bad tinnitus and am scared to death of it getting any worse, so no shows for me. Whenever I'm near very loud noise for extended periods of time, I'm feeling so anxious that I'm having difficulties concentrating and carrying a conversation.

****ing grandma.

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-09-2018, 12:49 PM

I haven't forgotten about that Frownland album. It's just that I hate listening to it, so it's a slow process trying to get any kind of grasp on it.

Meanwhile, here's some listenable music:

MYRKUR - Juniper (Official Music Video)

New Myrkur! Still not sure if I like her music that much actually, but I do own that album that was recorded as a live choir performance with no black metal instrumentation.

This song (from a short EP, I believe) takes a folky direction and I think I dig it. Not a black metal fan really, in case you never noticed.

JINJER - Dreadful Moments (Official Lyric Video) | Napalm Records

I ordered this EP yesterday. It's out January 2019. I like the more proggy direction they're taking things in. Not that this is regular prog metal or prog rock. Oh god no. This is metalcore with proggy tendencies and it's such a cool combo.

Saintseneca - "Pillar of Na"

Interesting singer song writer thing. It's a dude! Bet that surprises you, given that it's me who posted it. Discovered it because I subscribed to the label Neko Case is at (Anti Records). I like some of the sonic elements of this a lot. Kinda unlike any other contemporary album I remember hearing. Looks backwards to the 60's and early 70's a lot. But without feeling retro in an affected manner. Very clear recording quality that sounds contemporary, but with some sounds that recall folk artists like for example Vashti Bunyan. Later in the song, it starts recalling Smashing Pumpkins more than any 60's music. Interesting!

The Kut - Mind Games

I've posted this a few times already here and there. No one ever reacted to it. I think it's fantastic. Come on! Listen to it and tell me what you think!

**Frownland** · 12-09-2018, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I haven't forgotten about that Frownland album. It's just that I hate listening to it, so it's a slow process trying to get any kind of grasp on it.

I gave you a less accessible one to try to challenge you. It's my most digestible inaccessible records though, since some of them are 2-3 hours long.

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-09-2018, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

I gave you a less accessible one to try to challenge you. It's my most digestible inaccessible records though, since some of them are 2-3 hours long.

I do dig the sound quality at least. There's a very nice feeling of the sounds being placed in a space and the character of each sound is clear and full of character. It's the compositions I'm struggling with, so to speak.

~~MicShazam~~ · 12-12-2018, 02:59 PM

After uploading the last of my albums to Youtube earlier today, I started listening through my own albums chronologically. I had all sorts of mixed feelings listening to these again, so I wanted to write a sort of mini review for each album.

Spoiler for Planetary - Distant Stars (2009):

My first album! All written in Reality Adlib Tracker in MS-DOS over a range of many years. This means that the album is very varied in style. This one still holds up for me, plus the personal nostalgia factor is huge.
100%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Music In Green (2011):

Tried to get used to Open MPT, which would become my preferred music tracker moving forward. I think there's a weird sort of thrash metal influence here, but the songs are basic electronic wank that is mostly interesting in the more busy mid sections. Those opening groovy segments of each song... kinda dull. But I love those crazy mid sections.
50%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Stray (2012):

Like a second try on an album like the one before, but this time it's got more atmosphere, sounds less derpy and the 6 tracks are very different from each other. One of my personal faves.
90%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Sanguine (2013):

Pretty varied. Jumps wildly up and down in quality over 11 tracks or so. Some favorites
here and some cringey stuff.
70%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Elusive Memories (2013):

Really tried to do something new here. The middle of the three tracks is kinda nicely atmospheric, although very long. Took inspiration from Twin Peaks and the Type O Negative album October Rust for some of the aesthetic elements.
70%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 1: The End (2013):

A mess of tracks from all sorts of time periods. Some are remixes. Some fun stuff, some crap.
70%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Paralysis (2014):

At least I really tried to write more complex music. Some of these tracks are the most involved I've ever done in terms of complexity, but oh how I hate this album. A couple tracks or so that I kinda like, but it's overall tepid and turgid and drab and I hate it.
10%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 2: GRIM (2014):

In trying to wash the bad vibes of that prior album off my mind, I went back to some very old unfinished tracks and wrapped them up for a short 4 track thingy. Simple groove oriented stuff that I kinda find fun, but overly simplistic.
60%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Autumn Pyre (2014):

5 tracks from that old DOS program. Old tracks that I went back to and finished up. One new
track written in OpenMPT, plus some old tracks written by my brother in that DOS program.
I have fun with this one.
80%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Mythology (2015):

Ugh... yet another drab attempt at writing more complex music. There's one track named "Nebulae" that's one of my favorites and another called "Second Guessing" that hides a mean synth solo, but overall, this is dull as dishwater.
25%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 3: Leakage (2015):

Yet another short compilation of odds and ends. All over the place. Most of it is ****, but this time it was intentional. I finished up some of those tracks whether they were deserving or not. Guess I was desperate to wash another drab way-too-long-in-the-making-album off my mind for the second time.
25%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Dream Inertia (2016):

Total reset of my style! In my opinion, this is the first album I've done where the music starts being pretty polished and sophisticated in how it's structured. A personal favorite and I'm super happy that I made it. I had a unique approach this time where I wrote the tracks like pretty fleshed out demos, one at a time. After a demo was done, I wasn't allowed to listen to it anymore and would move on to the next. When I had 9 tracks, I went back over them and polished them up. Somehow that approach really seemed to work for me. Almost every track has a cool synth solo. That's another thing I like about this.
100%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Linear Path (2016):

Basically more in the same style as the previous one, but with more piano and more layers. It was hard to avoid all sorts of clashing with all of those layers of open notes, but I made it work eventually and learned a lot. The fourth and last track is kinda weird in that it sounds very different from the other three and is sort of a ramble of ideas, written in a linear fashion like pearls on a string.
100%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for The Hunt (2017):

Tried to do something with more of an electronic style of beats than the previous two. Also tried to strip it down since I couldn't bear dealing with all those layers like I did on the previous one. It's ok. Feels a bit simple sometimes.
80%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Persona (2017):

Working title was "AOR". That makes sense when you look at how these songs are put together. This is by far the tracks I've written that are closest to being structured like melodic pop/rock songs. I basically aimed to write something melodically driven with a very conservative songwriter approach to chord progressions. Learned a lot by doing this. It's only 3 tracks, but it took forever to put together. There's a fourth track after one minute of silence at the end, but it was a failed attempt at writing more in the same style. I gave up the idea of making a long album, and probably for the better.
100%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiler for Past & Present (2018):

Weak attempt at evolving the style of the previous project. Track one is decent but sounds flat. Track two is messy and feels lazy in it's structure. The third track is track one with Chula Vista soloing over it. Yeah... I'm not crazy about this thing, honestly. Have felt creatively stuck since.
60%

12-02-2018, 08:44 AM	#191 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Have you ever been to any shows? Do some concert reviews. __________________ 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

12-02-2018, 09:58 AM	#193 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	Depends on what you go to, but I think that shows are getting a lot quieter these days. Bit of a shame that you're missing out on that but I can respect your reasoning behind it. Wanna review one of my albums? __________________ 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

12-02-2018, 10:06 AM	#195 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	** on it if you like. I'm sure that you'll hate the production. Wolves in Sheepskin** - Lizard of Ox __________________ 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

12-09-2018, 12:49 PM	#197 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I haven't forgotten about that Frownland album. It's just that I hate listening to it, so it's a slow process trying to get any kind of grasp on it. Meanwhile, here's some listenable music: MYRKUR - Juniper (Official Music Video) New Myrkur! Still not sure if I like her music that much actually, but I do own that album that was recorded as a live choir performance with no black metal instrumentation. This song (from a short EP, I believe) takes a folky direction and I think I dig it. Not a black metal fan really, in case you never noticed. JINJER - Dreadful Moments (Official Lyric Video) \| Napalm Records I ordered this EP yesterday. It's out January 2019. I like the more proggy direction they're taking things in. Not that this is regular prog metal or prog rock. Oh god no. This is metalcore with proggy tendencies and it's such a cool combo. Saintseneca - "Pillar of Na" Interesting singer song writer thing. It's a dude! Bet that surprises you, given that it's me who posted it. Discovered it because I subscribed to the label Neko Case is at (Anti Records). I like some of the sonic elements of this a lot. Kinda unlike any other contemporary album I remember hearing. Looks backwards to the 60's and early 70's a lot. But without feeling retro in an affected manner. Very clear recording quality that sounds contemporary, but with some sounds that recall folk artists like for example Vashti Bunyan. Later in the song, it starts recalling Smashing Pumpkins more than any 60's music. Interesting! The Kut - Mind Games I've posted this a few times already here and there. No one ever reacted to it. I think it's fantastic. Come on! Listen to it and tell me what you think! Last edited by MicShazam; 12-09-2018 at 01:21 PM.

12-12-2018, 02:59 PM	#200 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	Reviewing my own complete discography... After uploading the last of my albums to Youtube earlier today, I started listening through my own albums chronologically. I had all sorts of mixed feelings listening to these again, so I wanted to write a sort of mini review for each album. Spoiler for Planetary - Distant Stars (2009): My first album! All written in Reality Adlib Tracker in MS-DOS over a range of many years. This means that the album is very varied in style. This one still holds up for me, plus the personal nostalgia factor is huge. 100% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Music In Green (2011): Tried to get used to Open MPT, which would become my preferred music tracker moving forward. I think there's a weird sort of thrash metal influence here, but the songs are basic electronic wank that is mostly interesting in the more busy mid sections. Those opening groovy segments of each song... kinda dull. But I love those crazy mid sections. 50% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Stray (2012): Like a second try on an album like the one before, but this time it's got more atmosphere, sounds less derpy and the 6 tracks are very different from each other. One of my personal faves. 90% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Sanguine (2013): Pretty varied. Jumps wildly up and down in quality over 11 tracks or so. Some favorites here and some cringey stuff. 70% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Elusive Memories (2013): Really tried to do something new here. The middle of the three tracks is kinda nicely atmospheric, although very long. Took inspiration from Twin Peaks and the Type O Negative album October Rust for some of the aesthetic elements. 70% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 1: The End (2013): A mess of tracks from all sorts of time periods. Some are remixes. Some fun stuff, some crap. 70% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Paralysis (2014): At least I really tried to write more complex music. Some of these tracks are the most involved I've ever done in terms of complexity, but oh how I hate this album. A couple tracks or so that I kinda like, but it's overall tepid and turgid and drab and I hate it. 10% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 2: GRIM (2014): In trying to wash the bad vibes of that prior album off my mind, I went back to some very old unfinished tracks and wrapped them up for a short 4 track thingy. Simple groove oriented stuff that I kinda find fun, but overly simplistic. 60% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Autumn Pyre (2014): 5 tracks from that old DOS program. Old tracks that I went back to and finished up. One new track written in OpenMPT, plus some old tracks written by my brother in that DOS program. I have fun with this one. 80% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Mythology (2015): Ugh... yet another drab attempt at writing more complex music. There's one track named "Nebulae" that's one of my favorites and another called "Second Guessing" that hides a mean synth solo, but overall, this is dull as dishwater. 25% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Creative Suicide part 3: Leakage (2015): Yet another short compilation of odds and ends. All over the place. Most of it is **, but this time it was intentional. I finished up some of those tracks whether they were deserving or not. Guess I was desperate to wash another drab way-too-long-in-the-making-album off my mind for the second time. 25% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler** for Dream Inertia (2016): Total reset of my style! In my opinion, this is the first album I've done where the music starts being pretty polished and sophisticated in how it's structured. A personal favorite and I'm super happy that I made it. I had a unique approach this time where I wrote the tracks like pretty fleshed out demos, one at a time. After a demo was done, I wasn't allowed to listen to it anymore and would move on to the next. When I had 9 tracks, I went back over them and polished them up. Somehow that approach really seemed to work for me. Almost every track has a cool synth solo. That's another thing I like about this. 100% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Linear Path (2016): Basically more in the same style as the previous one, but with more piano and more layers. It was hard to avoid all sorts of clashing with all of those layers of open notes, but I made it work eventually and learned a lot. The fourth and last track is kinda weird in that it sounds very different from the other three and is sort of a ramble of ideas, written in a linear fashion like pearls on a string. 100% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for The Hunt (2017): Tried to do something with more of an electronic style of beats than the previous two. Also tried to strip it down since I couldn't bear dealing with all those layers like I did on the previous one. It's ok. Feels a bit simple sometimes. 80% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Persona (2017): Working title was "AOR". That makes sense when you look at how these songs are put together. This is by far the tracks I've written that are closest to being structured like melodic pop/rock songs. I basically aimed to write something melodically driven with a very conservative songwriter approach to chord progressions. Learned a lot by doing this. It's only 3 tracks, but it took forever to put together. There's a fourth track after one minute of silence at the end, but it was a failed attempt at writing more in the same style. I gave up the idea of making a long album, and probably for the better. 100% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler for Past & Present (2018): Weak attempt at evolving the style of the previous project. Track one is decent but sounds flat. Track two is messy and feels lazy in it's structure. The third track is track one with Chula Vista soloing over it. Yeah... I'm not crazy about this thing, honestly. Have felt creatively stuck since. 60% Last edited by MicShazam; 12-15-2018 at 01:49 AM.

12-02-2018, 08:49 AM	#192 (permalink)
~~MicShazam~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Aalborg Posts: 7,634	I probably mentioned at least once in the distant past that I don't go to shows. I've got fairly bad tinnitus and am scared to death of it getting any worse, so no shows for me. Whenever I'm near very loud noise for extended periods of time, I'm feeling so anxious that I'm having difficulties concentrating and carrying a conversation.