Paedantic Basterd

Brilliant, a rating system harder to follow than Trollheart's! Finally.

Machine

I'll review all of these this Friday

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boost my ego

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ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Machine

ENTRY 4

Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol.2
Genre: Ambient, Drone, Glitch, Noise, Microsound



I have some experience with Nota's work and I've loved everything I've listened to by the guy. I listened to the first Xerrox album at the beginning of the year last year and after that listened to a couple of his collab albums with Ryuichi Sakamoto which are some of my favorite ambient albums of all time. The guy knows how to make some really damn interesting ambient and glitch music. I hope to someday be able to get through Alva's entire discography at some point. I expect nothing, but greatness out of this sequel to the first volume of Xerrox. I'm thinking an easy 7/10 here.

Track 1: Xerrox Phaser Acat 1
Love the tones here that start us off. Very low, but warm... very full. There's some light buzzing in the background that keeps getting more reverbed out as the sound increases. Wow that almost sounded like a bubble bursting in like 0.01% speed. Loving the ambient noise dwelling in the background while the major ambient tones just fluctuate in volume and effect. Got some panning whirrs in the back. Oh I love that little synth melody that starts around the 4 minute mark, if it was by itself and not surrounded by the enveloping noise then it could almost be the basis for some sort of minimal techno song. xThe sound is already quite a bit more complex on this album than it was on Xerrox Vol.1. The track has this slow evolution to it, what was in the background 2 minutes ago has slowly made its way to the forefront of the song. Here comes a bit of that microsound influence now, very loosely rhythmic beeps and noise interjections are popping in and out of the track over the gorgeous synth melody that keeps looping. The loop somehow feels completely natural though. There's a damn good bass tone that has been going throughout this song that can only be heard in the right ear, or at least can only be heard prominently in the right ear, gives the track a lot of depth it wouldn't have without that droning note in the back. The track is quite long, but never feels like it's dragging despite the almost complete lack of progression for minutes at a time, it lets you get comfortable with each new idea before adding in new ones or taking away old ones. Great opener.

Track 2: Xerrox Rin
Next up is a shorter track only about a minute long. Some microsound here, not too much going on in the mix whatsoever. Just a bass tone and some glitched out noises here or there. And that's it. Interesting experiment, but I don't see why it's here.

Track 3: Xerrox Soma
Starts off with the most lovely sounding synth I've ever heard this man use. Sounds like something between a string and a piano, not sure else how to describe it. It's hard to even hear the actual tones of the synth due to how absolutely engulfed it is in noise. It manages to maintain its beauty and presence despite the noise and you might say the noise in fact bolsters how pretty the undertones are. This album has a definite penchant for drones that I didn't hear in Xerrox Vol.1 which was based on more on ambient tones and glitch music. Loving the lighthouse siren bass tone that pops in and out of the track. Some very subtle glitches spurring around in the back of the track. Nevermind they just got a whole lot louder. Really digging this track very similar in tone to the first track, but not quite as longwinded.

Track 4: Xerrox Meta Phaser
So the last track goes straight into this one without a hitch. It's more or less a continuation from what I'm hearing. The tones of the last track are slowly giving way into this new sound, which sound like someone recorded a choral group and just spent weeks manipulating all the humanity out of the sample. Very light and fluffy tones that are both heavy and and inhuman. Now there's some cracking tones with an almost buzzsaw bass wallowing throughout the track. Weird how something so light turned into an absolute hellscape without me even noticing in about 30 seconds. The track has now gone full our assault on the senses, pure aural attack. First true noise track of the album, but it isn't without its hidden beauty beneath the sharp attack of the synthetic noise on top. Wow it genuinely sounds like an ocean of noise crashing through a city and killing everything in it's path. In sound design this is the best track on here so far easy.

Track 5: Xerrox Sora
Loving the almost Replica-esque microsamples in the beginning, the first bit of rhythm the album has really had. Some nice strings over the top ofeverything else, as usual the mix is absolutely filled with sound even when not too much is going on. I genuinely can't tell if these are strings or some sort of uncanny synth. Like the intense glitching going on here. The original rhythmic microsample is still looping around in the very back of the track just so you can barely hear it, love that production choice. The theme of this album so far seems to be making the most maximal sound possible using the most minimal of sounds. It scores a lot of points on that front, as cohesive songs you should probably look somewhere else, but if you're listening to alva noto then why are you looking for that in the first place. Nice little cutoff of sound here near the end, subtly glitchy little outro here. Nice track.

Track 6: Xerrox Monophaser 1
Very high pitched strings to start it off, very Stars Of The Lid. Some rumbling in the background, has a morning storm feel to it. Almost like the sun is rising, but a storm from the other side of the sky is quickly approaching, weird mixture of moods. This is actually a quite lovely bit of ambient music. Some audible piano for the first time on the record, loving the manipulated sine waves as well. It's so weird I can actually feel the shapes of the sounds, that's how well engineered this album is. It's so well done that describing it makes me sound high.I really want to find the stem of that manipulated sine wave loop and sample that for a project I'm working on, it's so perfect in sound. The strings from the very beginning have been looping in and out, like I said before it very much feels like a song from The Tired Songs Of Stars Of the Lid. Almost too much so lmao. A trend of this record is to end on very quiet glitch, I like that. Yeah really damn pretty stuff, much different than Vol.1 so far.

Track 7: Xerrox Monophaser 2
As I suspected Monophaser 1 leads right into Monophaser 2. Holy **** that sub bass is immense. Wow I was not prepared for that, that is pants ****tingly low. Yeah more strings that come in and out with more of the almost vibraphone sounding sine waves. A definite sequel to Monophaser 1. Some pretty nice sounds comeing out of the back of mix, loving the stereo effect of this record, very well produced. Where the first part was pure ambient bliss, this is much more in the vein of dark ambient despite using almost the exact same synths, but with added sound treats. The string loop is less prominent this time, it takes its time to get where it needs to be rather than the constant every couple seconds loop of the first track. Another good track, not quite as magical as the first part though.

Track 8: Xerrox Teion
Another short track here. Pretty noisey bass line going. This one is almost too sub bass ridden for it's own good. Although I like the overall direction of the loop being played. It's this constantly rising instrumental that breaks down to its very core only to start over again more sonically dense than the last time. Cool track.

Track 9: Xerrox Teion Acat
So this seems to be a sort of continuation of the experiment from the last track, but more in the style of the rest of record as this sort of ambient, but not really thing. The album also seems to be getting increasingly glitch as the album moves forward as well with this one sustaining itself on nothing, but a drone and some heavy glitch layering of that drone. I actually quite like the little sparse groove that the glitch is creating. Pretty straight forward track overall, doesn't really change to much beyond what I already described. Some sonic oddities here or there, but this is a relatively simple track.

Track 10: Xerrox Tek Part 1
Love how each track just bleeds into the next on this album, this one is starting with a bit of static and a strange double bass strum that echoes out into oblivion. Lot of microsound influence coming through on this track, lots of alien hiss and spurs in the forefront of the drone. This track is one of the few so far that has been completely based on in noise and glitch with very little in the way of melody or harmony. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for a 6 minute track it can get a bit monotonous. The album is also very long, clocking in over an hour in just 11 tracks, so it is a bit much sit down and completely digest with full attention. This is probably the most uneventful track on the album so far, there's no real sense of progression just one big drone and some hissing. Probably the worst track so far. It really isn't terrible just way too uneventful for me to care.

Track 11: Xerrox Monophaser 3
I'm going to take a guess and say this probably picks up where monophaser 1 and 2 left off? I WAS RIGHT! The low rumbling sub bass tones are back and so are the distant Stars of the Lid strings fading in and out of sight, except this time they don't seem to be on a loop. This part mixes the blissful ambience of part 1 and the midnight spookyness of part 2. This actually might be the best one so far, loving the noise on top of these beautiful chords and strings. Reminds me a lot of Meta Phaser, but instead of some all enveloping tsunami of sound coming down, this feels more like the storm from part 1 really kicking into full gear getting stronger and stronger as the track goes on. A similar effect yes, but completely different outcomes, in fact I've never heard something that so sounds like rain that is not rain at all. Great ending to the album, not quite to the height of Meta Phaser, but great in it's own right.

OVERALL
Another great project from Alva Noto, while the first half of the album is in every way superior to the second half the album creates a mood unlike anything I've ever heard before and despite the numerous flaws that can be found near the end of the record it still manages to create an amazing mood and is of fairly consistent quality. I know that sounds a bit weird saying the end of the record is flawed but it is consistent, I promise if you listen to the album you'll know exactly what I mean. Yes you can find the flaws easy enough, but taking it as an album it works wonderfully for what it is trying to do.
6.5/10 (rounded down to a 6 for rateyourmusic).

__________________
boost my ego

listen to me stroke my delay pedal

ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Mondo Bungle

do all my albums

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Machine

I actually will, for all the ones I haven't heard.

__________________
boost my ego

listen to me stroke my delay pedal

ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Mondo Bungle

I'm just kidding that's unreasonable

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Mondo Bungle

but you should do these ones. First two releases of my Abstractions series

https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...g-the-abstract
https://troublesalad.bandcamp.com/al...the-antagonist

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Machine

Little side note I'm gonna have to push the albums you all rec'd me until tomorrow because I won't have time to today, but I still want to get a review out. Sorry about the delay.

ENTRY 5

・・・・・・・・・ -「 」(or untitled by dotstokyo)
GENRE: J-Pop, Idol, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Harsh Noise
Release Date: January 12th, 2018




So this album doesn't come out for a week, but I found out their label was doing free downloads for the album leading up to its physical release, of course being technologically illiterate and the site being put through Google Translate I could not figure out how to get the album. Next I tried Soulseek, I eventually found the album after searching through about 15 different look up terms, but the "owner" of the file was being a stingy bitch and wouldn't let me download. Finally my savior on rym comes down from the heavens and gives me a download link to this album. What I'm trying to say is this album better be the best goddamn thing I hear come out this year. The genre's look promising and the fact that this is an Idol group (if you don't know what an Idol group is watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMR2CYhtA7s this video will also give lots of context to how this group fits in with that as an "anti-idol" group or "alternative idol") is very intriguing.

Track 1: ねぇ
Starts off total MBV with the snare hits too enormous guitars. Speaking of which the guitars sound absolutely wonderful. Loving how unabashedly shoegaze this is, it doesn't try and skirt around the fact that this is a shoegaze album that happens to be a J-Pop album.I like the vocals, very innocent female vocals (as expected) it completely works with how fun of a genre shoegaze is. The bass is prominent which I like a lot, it's not doing anything particularly interesting, just following the rote note of each chord, but it works. The third verse feels like something off of a power pop album. Man those guitars in the chorus are just huge, I love it. Damn good way to start off the album. (I also just noticed that the drums are straight up motorik, nice touch)

Track 2: きみにおちるよる
The guitar work on display here is pretty phenomenal. Oh **** yes now we're full J-Pop, the synths in the hook are just heavenly goddamn. Loving the breakbeat drums mixed with the heavily jazz influenced chords, this is more what I was expecting. Oh this one is just too fun for words, I know in a couple weeks this song will be in full rotation for me. I genuinely can't find one thing that I don't love about this ****ing track, pure unfiltered happiness. The harmonized vocals might be the thing that makes this track in all honesty, but then there's the synth, **** man I don't know, it's all god tier.

Track 3: トリニティダイブ
Starting off with some nice synths. Woah the guitars are buried in the back here and filtered to the point of being pure white noise just crashing in the background. This is more synth driven than I was expecting, but I'm almost glad it is; the whole let's put a ton of effects on guitars and call it a day is so tired at this point. This album still has that, but it has more interesting elements to it that add to the cacophony. This is both the poppiest and noisiest track so far on the album so far. Loving the hell out of the e-drums that have been on the last two tracks now, adds a whole other layer to the music that it wouldn't have with live drums. As of now the album is everything I had hoped it would be.

Track 4: ソーダフロート気分
Even more of the synth driven, let's go. The guitar work mixed with synth on this track reminds me a ton of that Crying album that came out a few years ago. The guitar has this wonderful 80'd Crimson feel as it just bounces from ear to ear. The rhythm section is really in the pocket of this crazy stomping beat. This doesn't quite have the tune that the last two songs had, but it's still pretty damn strong. This track is pure 80's, sax solo, with this bluesy guitar line coming through. Man this is why I love J-Pop so much, it completely embraces the things that have been deemed uncool over here. Yeah this one is damn good.

Track 5: 文学少女
Oh **** it's my least favorite chord progression of all time let's see if they can do anything with it. I love the guitar lines and the vocal melody, but that chord progression just gets on my nerves. Yeah this one is just a bit too far on the simple side for my tastes, I'm not listening to J-Pop to hear chord progressions I would hear on the radio over here. The vocals are pretty heavenly throughout this track, but yeah just too simple. Not a ton to say about this one.

Track 6: 星屑フィードバック
Wow that is one noisy ****ing guitar jesus christ. This one is downright punky, loving the four on the floor beat at like 180 bpm lmfao. This one is almost pure chaos, but somehow the chord progressions are still clear as day and god are they wonderful. The drums might be the most outstanding part of this track though, listen to that and tell me that man isn't going absolutely nuts. I'm not sure what to call this sort of passing chord, but it's when a guitar player is playing a Major chord and he moves the root of the chord up a half step to give the progression some sort of chromatic interest. I don't know what the technique is called, but it's literally my favorite thing in music and it's all over this track, it completely makes it.

Track 7: サイダー
I'm not gonna comment on the production because I'm pretty sure I got a pretty low quality demo, so it sounds muddy, but just based on how separated the mix is I can tell it's just my copy. This one is really just the girls singing over this intense wall of guitar and bass noise, with a real strong strong groove only really breaking in for the chorus. One thing I really adore about this album is just how damn noisy it is, I was afraid the noise element to the music would be be really really played down, but shockingly it isn't. I know they released a 70 minute single and an EP before this both of which apparently had a strong harsh noise element to them. This is their first real album and there isn't any really harsh noise it is still incredibly noisy all the way through. Loving how the drums actually add the to the guitar sound on this track makes them sound like metal guitars in the chorus.

Track 8: サテライト
Just one long chord on the guitar going on with some injections from the lead guitar. You know what I just realized it's been awhile since the synthier stuff, that makes me kinda sad, that was really nice. This one is more in line with traditional shoegaze with some obvious pop influence. It's not bad, but I think this band is at it's best when it's mixing synthpop, shoegaze, and j-pop. The guitar work on this entire album is pretty wonderful, it literally sounds like some 80's guitar god decided one day "**** it I'm gonna make a shoegaze album", which I think is pretty cool. I really wanna figure out who's idea it was to manufacture this group, because it's such a damn strange idea. Not strange because its so wacky or off the wall or disturbing, but strange in that IT IS so straight faced and serious. This is a J-Pop band who makes harsh noise and shoegaze, no frills. I love that, I wish we had more of that attitude in our aspiring artists over here. I get that this band is manufactured product, but someone still had the idea to take these niche genres and try to go Japanese mainstream with them. Because here in the states if you want to make challenging music you have to be so "anti-mainstream" that you make you never actually get anywhere and if you do want to get big you are forced to sacrifice absolutely everything that makes your sound unique. It's really unfortunate and I wish we could more people break into the mainstream with off the wall ideas.

Track 9: スライド
oops I spoke to soon here's the synths. There's even gated reverb on the drums, does it get more 80's sounding than this? Because I really don't think so. This is such a light sounding song, so up in the air and like I don't know fluffy sounding. It's just pure, I like that in a song. There's not a whole lot going on in this song, but it's just a damn solid song.

Track 10: 1998-
Apparently there are two versions of this song; there's the one I'm listening to which is about 4 minutes and will be on the physical copies, and the other is about an hour longer where after the song there's a 50 minute harsh noise outro which will be on the digital??? I don't know, but anyways here's the last song. Loving the dance-punk drums with this wall of beautiful guitar and bass. Digging this long drawn out verse structure. Oh god that hook is to die for, there's these angelic guitars lines going from ear to ear and the singing is JUST. Yeah this is easily one of the best songs on the album.

OVERALL
This is honestly way stronger than I thought it would be. The first half of the album is probably the best run of songs I've ever heard and while yeah it does lull a bit, it never really dips into bad quality. At worst I was indifferent to one of the songs, and most of the **** I loved.
7/10

__________________
boost my ego

listen to me stroke my delay pedal

ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Machine

ENTRY 6

Ben Christensen - Inouno
GENRE: Techno?

So I bought a **** ton of EP's and singles the other day and figured I'd listen to something new today. This guy is not on rym whatsoever, so I have to take a wild guess as to what the genre what might be. I know the track is about 7 minutes long and it's supposed to be techno, so this should be a bit of fun. I actually just walked through the door and my dad said I absolutely had to listen to it because apparently it's awesome, so I'm excited to give this one a spin.



Track 1: INOUNO
Starting out with some really warped vocals and this really subdued synth. That is an absolutely monster kick drum. In fact all the drums are just completely over powering the mix, not in bad way though. Loving the synths so far, very in line with what you would normally consider techno although everything seems to be really slowed down. It's like downtempo if downtempo wasn't garbage. The track is actually pretty "out there" in subtle ways while keeping the standard beat and structure of an electronic song. Loving this square synth lead coming through the back of the mix. The vocals that started off the track are still phasing in and out of mix, but they're always present, gives the track a nice texture to it that it wouldn't have without it. There's a slightly jazzy element to the track that you wouldn't normally hear in a techno track, I'm not too sure it completely works, but it isn't bad. Like I said it's more of a fusion between techno and downtempo. The beat is strange in and of itself, it doesn't feel like it's looped, but being played live; it's more than likely quantized, but it does feel almost ever evolving in a way that a looped drum sample wouldn't have. Definitely a cool track, I did love a good majority of it.

7/10

__________________
boost my ego

listen to me stroke my delay pedal

ever wanted to hear death grips songs... but they're acoustic? me neither.

Goofle

heavy respect this rating system.

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