Honor Roll Breakfast!

So my band recorded today, and are releasing this here shit for free. It's a two track EP, the first being Pitchfork, and the second Minus The Bear.

Hopefully the music is more creative than the song titles.


http://www.mediafire.com/?whxyg2jmw2q


(No album art cuz we're too indie, maybe later)

OMG

BLACK PEOPLE IN OFFICE

YAY

Double Feature: Marnie Stern

I'm listening to Marnie Stern's new album as I'm typing this, so I've decided to up her last album. This is because I'm on the third track, and don't want to disappoint my avid readers. What I know for a fact is that In Advance of the Broken Arm is some of the best noise-pop I've heard. This is also for fans of Hella and the myriad of other projects Zach Hill has going on, because his drumming is as prominent as Marnie's guitar lines, and the two insane styles actually compliment each other, surprisingly so.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ywomwdmymji

The Necks

You like trance? jazz? krautrock? minimalism? pink things?

The Necks' Drive By is an hour long track of meditative goodness. This trio develops their sound very gradually, creating very beautiful melodies subtly. Even if you don't love it at first listen, when it ends you'll miss it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2joumzcn2gj

toe and toe make fore

Toe is a Japanese math rock band with a fantastic drummer and a great sense of melody. The shifts in key and tempo are very subtle, and they really groove more than most math rock bands today. I could call it jazzy to convey that it has interesting textures and stuff, but the music is not improvisational in any way, so don't think that.

Book About My Idle Plot on Vague Anxiety

http://www.mediafire.com/?mtkxyozng1m

New Sentimentality

http://www.mediafire.com/?znw2ayoznny

Wolves in the Throne Room!

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmwkqyg2j1w


Extra tracks. Get the vinyl though, it's hot fire.

Вогулoв, Таруц, Bepmo

Wogulow, Taroutz, Vermo - Eternal Number of Repeats
Вогулoв, Таруц, Bepmo - Бecкoheчectbo Лoвtopehий

I found this album in the Best of the Year So Far thread on the Coma, and I would have to agree that this is one of my favorite records so far. At parts it is ridiculously heavy, but between these tracks are truly beautiful parts, and everything feels like it belongs. The album is just 31 minutes long, and it doesn't feel too long or too short at all. Despite the name, it is just one person making this music. The problem is, I can barely find information on him because he seems like somewhat of a recluse, and everything else is in Russian. However, this ain't hip-hop, so let the music speak for him.


http://www.inmypreviouslifeiwasyou.com/wtv.html
click the pic, yo

Cheval de Frise

Cheval de Frise were a French math rock duo with Vincent Beysselance on drums and Thomas Bonvalet on acoustic guitar. That's right, this band is not about using effects and looping stuff (Sorry Tera Melos and Battles, I love you both), it is about polyrhythms and dissonance. The record is just 39 minutes, with most of the songs under 3 minutes, but every track is polished and it doesn't feel like parts are repeated unnecessarily. The nylon strings give the songs an almost flamenco like feel, and it's noisy at parts, but the duo knows when to stop the free parts and lock in again. They do this with astounding speed, stopping on a dime and creating very interesting rhythms. As Cicatrizatron said, "really dope, even though its french"

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?mfttjjujh1y

Steve Reich

Steve Reich is probably best known for Music For 18 Musicians, the piece that established him as a genius and a true innovator in minimalism. His Early Works (haha get it) are much more stripped down, often relying on tape loops going out of sync with each other, a process he called "phasing". He developed this idea after It's Gonna Rain and Come Out, and instead of having tape loops be the instruments, he wrote for pianos (Piano Phase) and for hands (Clapping Music). While it may not seem like a lot is going on here, it was groundbreaking, and kind of meditative.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?oecogwlg5bn

The Gaslamp Killer part deux

So in the past few days I've listened to a lot of GLK, and someone wanted a good rip of I Spit On Your Grave, so here we are. It's more of what you heard on The Gaslamp Killers, but I can't tell which one I like more. Either way, this guy is legit. There's a version of this album floating around with an hour long track, but it's really in three tracks. This is a rip of the CD, which I got in the mail, so trust me on this one.

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=3E3LJWPX

The Gaslamp Killer

I'm kind of taking the short route with today's selection. The Gaslamp Kilelrs Mix is available for free off of The Gaslamp Killer's myspace, but the tracks are all weird and there's random album art, so I organized everything and it should work without any hassle. The tracks are named 1-46, so it's all just short snips that change constantly, but if you want gritty instrumental hip-hop with tons of jazz and funk samples, this guy is a master. Listen to 26, and you'll see how he brings together sick drum beats and that beautiful piano melody to create something completely unique but still familiar. I believe this was all created with turntables and old records, which seems incredible cuz this dude just keeps bringing in samples seamlessly, and it sounds liek way more than two turntables, but maybe it's more, I don't know. Anyway, sick shit.
I ordered his full length I Spit On Your Grave, I already had it, it's well worth checking out too.


http://www.mediafire.com/?ekvctlr74w0

Kim Hiorthøy

This is supposed to be a compilation of Kim Hiorthøy's previous work, but he either renamed the tracks or the guy who made the info page on rateyourmusic did it wrong. Anyway, this album represents both the best and the worst of experimental electronica. Door Opens Both Ways is definitely one of my favorite tracks, and Evil House, Evil Day is a stand out, clocking in at almost 11 minutes without dragging. Then there's Ting Some Virker, in which what sounds like a phone message in Norwegian is played over some minimalistic chords. Two and a half minutes, but it sounds like 4.
Kim experiments both with tones and sounds, and is successful in both, I think. On Sunday would be just a generic track if not for the slightly off key trumpet(?) that appears, playing a melody that is both sad and weird. As for experimentation with sound, Kim uses tons of found sounds, apart from the messages, which set the mood. An obivous place is near the beginning of Doktor Watson-Trikset.

He is also a graphic designer, designing artwork for Rune Grammofon, home of Supersilent, a band I'll try to get on here.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?cdrpo48mp33

Fuck, my bad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLI

Normal Love

"Normal love isn't interesting. I assure you that it's incredibly boring."
-Roman Polanski

If you listened to Zs' Arms, the album I posted a couple of days ago, and didn't think it was enough, I give you Normal Love. Normal Love is like Zs, only heavier and more dissonant. They have a violin player, two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer, and the amount of rapid fire noise they can procure out of their instruments is amazing. The album is relatively short, with 6 tracks at 32 minutes, but it is quite a masochistic form of music. Ndugo is the one track that is calm pretty much throughout the entire piece, but it quickly morphs into The Final Sarcophagus of Darkness, a piece as dark as it sounds.
This isn't official, but I have read that each piece was written by only one member, so I assume that is how the album maintains the atonal sound while not sounding like the same track over and over.

Listen to this album loud.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?zrho5kff9hn

William Basinski

William Basinski's The Disintegration Loops II is sublime. It is perfect studying music, because it is simple and repetitive, but when you concentrate on it, you notice that the melodies are beautiful, and the slow disintegration of sound is perfect. Seriously, read a book with this in the background. It is at once happy and melancholy, with so much potential. No matter what mood you are in, this will complement it, and the other 3 Disintegration Loop albums are supposed to be good as well, so I'll work on finding those and uploading them. Also, I'll try to find a higher quality version of this one, and upload that.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?gr0hndnlvzg

Four Tet Remixes

Four Tet's Madvillain Remixes are a mixed bag. Half of this is run of the mill, but the Great Day and the Meat Grinder remixes are better than the original songs, in my humble opinion. Accordion is the only one that really disappoints. I don't really care about the instrumental tracks, but if you guys wanna cut 'em up or whatever it is you hipster kids do with Madvillain, go ahead.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?rq9drmsdz3j

lolwut

Blogger fucked something up, I don't know what happened.

This is for Dean

http://www.mediafire.com/?tobz4vuwtbz

Burial

I recently found a copy of Burial's debut album, Burial. Having only heard his breakout album that half the world jizzed over, Untrue, I wasn't expecting the glitch influence in this album, but I have to say, it is very interesting. Untrue is one of most melancholy albums I've heard, with tons of vocal samples, strings, and sparse beats. On this album, Burial experiments with the drum samples much more, with odd time signatures, off beat rhythms, and the melodic parts are subdued. I'm uploading the CD version, which is different in both the tracklist and the number of tracks than the vinyl I have, but it is overall the same album.

I urge everyone to download Untrue if they like this album but think it's a bit weird, it is much more accessible, but very refreshing.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?m4g8o1qptd4

Zs + Extra Life

No music yesterday, no poem today, what the fuck, Tamas?
Too busy watching the Olympics.

Anyway, I present to you all one of the most original albums of the 00's, Zs' Arms. If you think math rock is dead, listen to this. It is intricate, composed music that has been called brutal prog and other ridiculous terms, but it's understandable, because these guys are at the top of their game, and even reading this stuff off of sheet music must be a workout. Standout tracks are Nobody Wants To Be Had and Balk.


Charlie Looker, the guitarist and vocalist for Zs, recently left Zs to form Extra Life, a similarly innovative band that focuses on Looker's classical voice training. This monophonic style from the Renaissance makes for a very unique experience, but very interesting. Looker is clearly a virtuoso.


Arms: hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?oie9brmgrvc
Secular Works: hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?vcwuk4camh1

Weight

Weight

I've heard people say:
"Every experience is a once in a lifetime experience."
But are they ever truly happy?
Is a walk through warm woods
just like a walk to the bathroom?
A man rocks his daughter to sleep,
singing in a foreign tongue.
If seldom meant important,
My time under the covers
would not feel like thievery
and guilt.

----------

Jam/Circle Takes The Square

Jam

Driving in from the track,
I always turn the radio on to the freeway traffic alert station.
And the other day I heard the best one.
The man said that the Santa Monica freeway
near the San Diego off ramp
was congested due to an indecent exposure case.
They're working on getting him off of there now, he said.
Meanwhile I suggest you take an alternate route
Which of course, no one did

-Charles Bukowski

----------

Since I'm leaving for New York in about 10 minutes, I don't have time to write a poem, so I decided to post one of my favorite poems, "Jam" by Bukowski.

Now, to the music. In honor of Storm, I'm giving you guys Circle Takes The Square's As The Roots Undo, without a doubt the best hardcore album I've ever heard. If you like pageninetynine, Saetia, etc, this will be right up your alley. The vocals might take a while to get used to, but if you look past that, the band's songwriting is miles above your average screamo band. Two singers, an amazing drummer, great lyrics, and very well thought out song structures make this an extremely rewarding listen.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?qtb1vhkgkga

Anyone Who Likes Max Restaino is a Faggot/The Locust

Anyone Who Likes Max Restaino is a Faggot

Max, this is not for you.
You told me to
write you
a rhyming pome.
You're all Shalom
and shit, go home.
You're not Nina,
but you're in needuva
new brain,
Harry Potter train.
Tomorrow, focus,
nothing else rhymes with
"The Locust"

----------

The Locust is a synth influenced grindcore band. New Erections is mainly for Max, because anyone that already likes The Locust has this record, and anyone that doesn't know them probably won't like them. Anyway, it's worth a try. Stop and stop dynamics, 3 vocalists screaming their lungs out, political vegans.

We'll bury this city in trash. We'll bury this city in trash. We'll bury this city in trash.


I'm also throwing in their 2003 album, Plague Soundscapes, because the two albums together is 44 minutes.

New Erections: hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?qieislnvz2s
Plague Soundscapes: hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?vx1wjwc3wrl

Bullshit Poem/Wolves In The Throne Room

I'm tired

On my horse
I ride to war
Sometimes I
bring back a whore

On the way back
We ride my steed
And the girl,
She rides me.

----------

So you might be wondering why the poem for today is shittier than usual. It's for one of two reasons. One, because I'm tired as hell from band practice and not getting enough sleep, and two, in honor of black metal. Now you might think corpse paint and Norway when you hear black metal, but Wolves In The Throne Room completely blow that stereotype away with Two Hunters. Somewhat. Their lyrics are still ridiculous and not to be taken seriously, but they believe in radical environmentalism, not church burning. Of course, it's not like you can make out what the guy is yelling over the gorgeous guitar melodies and blastbeats. And I do mean gorgeou. This album is full of intertwining guitar lines, not quite up to par with composed counterpoint, but near it. Another point to make note of is the production. Most black metal sounds like it was recorded in a shoe box lined with aluminum on a mountain slope, but this record is warm. Listen to Dea Artio and you'll see what I'm talking about.

One of the best records of 2007, hands down.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fwbpkgd3fho

In the City/Madlib

In the City

I went down to the city
with an old lady, once
for a concert that they were hosting
in Central Park
I lugged her beat up suitcase
through the streets of New York,
my only respite being the coat check
at the museum, where it could sit on a shelf
while she talked to paintings.

As we sat on the dry grass in the park,
I ate her mildly rotten potato salad.
I ate her slightly sour yogurt.
I ate her chocolate, dandruff and all.

But when the music started, I could barely hear it.
I looked at her, and she just shook her head.
As she sat down, I saw her eyes become wet,
and she started to read her book,
assuming I could hear Tchaikovsky.

We stayed for the first of three pieces.
On the subway, her wrinkled face
was struggling to smile at me.
On the train, she slept,
While I looked at her relaxed face
and tried to rid myself of the
sadness that went from her into me.

----------

Today I will show you guys some hip-hop that sounds a little different than self-glorifying rap. Often, I talk to people who believe that hip-hop is nothing more than what they hear on the radio, when this could not be further from the truth. In reality, hip-hop is the most exciting genre out there, always reinventing itself, with hordes of artists experimenting with the usual formula. The unfortunate part is, this experimentation is not club music, and intellectualism rarely gets on the airwaves, apart from indie stations and NPR.

So, I give you Madlib's debut full length, Shades of Blue, from 2003. It is an instrumental hip hop album (Yes, no rhymes. This is hip-hop, not just rap), in which he samples from the Blue Note discography. For those who don't know, Blue Note is a jazz label that's been around since the late 30's. Madlib takes the tonal experimentation of jazz and the head boppin' beats of hip-hop, and mixes them masterfully. This album is a great place to start if you want to get into instrumental hip-hop. If you MUST have vocals, you can check out Quasimoto, Madlib's rapping alter ego, or Madvillain, a collab between MF DOOM, one of my favorite MCs and Madlib.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?dm8hics1gno

You/Boredoms

You

We're speaking with tongues and
We gasp to fill our lungs
Our bodies like ladders
I'm grabbing the rungs

We can't go outside 'cause
It's too dark out tonight
So I'll have to make do
With your starry eyes

Just over a meter,
You're not a mouth breather
You're perfect but have to
Learn to pronounce "either"

In the dark I rehearse
How to say those three words,
Those true words that, last night
You wound up saying first.

Your dog ate a stapler.
That's ridiculous.

----------

In honor of me going to 88BoaDrums on Friday, I've decided to upload a bootleg of last year's show, 77BoaDrums. This is also the first poem I've put up that is really rhythmic, so it should go well with this 77 minute, piece. It's Yamatsuka Eye from Boredoms (and Naked City vocalist) leading an ensemble of 77 drummers with batons and other psychedelic shit he's known for. The outcome is a very visceral piece. Obviously, it would have been better live, but since most of the world's population doesn't live in NYC, you'll have to make do with this. Brian Chippendale is one of the most prominent drummers in this, and details can be found here: http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/07/bordedoms_77boadrum

I would also recommend going to 88BoaDrums this week, although it might be sold out :[

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=YQC6FNRB

See/Erik Satie

See

She turned to me
And it was like dancing in a timeless world.
Swaying through leaves,
whithering and reappearing.
The world became a liquid,
and I swam through,
following flickering shapes,
allowing them to lead me.
When I reached shore I looked back
and saw a pond,
still, gossamer, and shrinking slowly.
I crept closer until I saw:
It was a teardrop nestled in her eye,
unblinking,
looking at me.

----------

I thought this album went very well with the melancholy tone of my poem, and it's also some of my favorite music ever. It's a collection of solo piano pieces by Erik Satie, and it includes his most famous pieces, the Gnossiennes, and the Gymnopédies. The first of the six Gnossiennes is one of the most beautiful piano compositions I've heard, and Reinbert De Leeuw, the pianist on this recording, lets the music breathe just the right amount, and the effect is sad but gorgeous. It is not music for virtuosos, but it is very enjoyable as either background music, or listening music.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mmgdlq2xz8e

Death/Naked City

Death

What is the chalk outline of a mountain?
At first, a bleeding crater and black vomit.
Like a gun, a shot in the dark,
Two eruptions, then the pavement is coated in heat.

The mountain buries itself
And becomes a part of what it ruled.
We gather on the plains to mourn
But the old have lost their voices
And the young do not know what to sing.

Moths taking flight.
And leaves hitting the ground in the distance.
I have heard machines rust.

I have walked in mountain passes searching for life,
And beneath the snow I found frozen bodies with ice crowns.
I took one to the city, but his crown melted in the heat
And the weeping corpse was shunned.

I found a cave and asked:
"Meghaltál, Istenem"
It cried back:
"S te nem?"



I found a cave and asked:
"You have died, my God"
It cried back:
"And you haven't?"

------------------------------

John Zorn is known throughout the world as a leader in avant-garde music. Naked City, perhaps his most famous band, combined various genres at breakneck speed, while keeping one foot firmly in jazz. Their self titled debut demonstrates the band's ridiculous talent for jumping between jazz, grindcore, bluegrass, and other genres in a matter of seconds. It is sure to be a bit difficult to listen to the noisy sections, but the shortness of the tracks make it relatively easy to get through. Also, The James Bond Theme is some of the grooviest music I've ever heard.

Fans of tracks 10-17 definitely should check out Torture Garden, a collection of "hardcore miniatures".
For those who like the other tracks might like Zorn's other work, which isn't as grindcore oriented, although definitely influenced by it.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?oitfwknxcko

Tense/Asva

Tense

Past: Pat passed.
Rain pats rats, pitter patter
In the sewers; chitter chatter;
"Do her, sue her", In the litter.

Latter; Pat sits, stately
A date bleats:
"Th'economy...weak"
The rosy prose of
proles rolls out her mouth
Uncouth
But shrouded
b'hind crowded
Words, faux wise.
For why's it right
The unqualified rise?
Lies.

And next, who'd
Care, doomed are we,
Stuck in the

-------------------------------

Everyone should listen to ASVA's What You Don't Know Is Frontier.
It is some of the heaviest music I've ever heard, but that's to be expected, because members of Burning Witch and Mr. Bungle are in it. If you don't know the first one, it's drone doom, and both SUNN O))) members were in it. If you don't know Bungle, die.

Speaking of, this music literally sounds like death, so don't expect to get through it easily. It's almost 70 minutes split into 4 tracks, but they are more like movements. Some are beautiful, and some are just horrifying, but they maintain the atmosphere of a funeral very well.

If you're not into doom, this will hopefully convert you. If you are, you might agree that this is arguably one of the year's best records.



hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=DR5EFHMI

Read my pomes

This is going to be a blog for me to put my work up, and you guys to ignore it.

Especially Max.

Maybe I might post music.
Maybe not though.