Posts Tagged ‘Album of the day’

Album of the day: Ancestors – In Dreams and Time

Posted on Saturday, March 24th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from the Obelisk: As massive as the riffs were on Ancestors’ 2008 Tee Pee Records debut, Neptune with Fire (originally also the band’s demo), their largesse pales in comparison to the distance of stylistic ground the band has covered since.

The progression away from that album’s two-song Sleep-derived sprawl was almost immediate on 2009’s Of Sound Mind  – titled as if to indicate the L.A.-based act’s own consciousness of what they were doing – and last year’s Invisible White EP  was even more of a departure from what seemed like a stated course of gleefully mining and putting stoner rock riffing to epic, extended use. You could almost hear the one-song album on its way. Ancestors might still get there, but if they do, it’ll be in a much different form.

The full-length follow-up to the pattern of influence Invisible White established is In Dreams and Time (also Tee Pee), which confirms over its far-ranging 66 minutes emotional weight as the center of the band’s songwriting construction even as much as it utilizes thickened tones to blend in elements from earlier offerings.

The really amazing thing about Ancestors is that we’re talking about a four-year span of time that all these shifts have taken place. Of course the first record was put to tape well before it came out, but even so, if not for the breadth it covers, In Dreams and Time would feel like a debut in itself for how much of a beginning it seems to be for the band.

The inclusions of Moog and modular synth by Matt Barks, and the piano and organ of Jason Watkins (who also contributes vocals), are pivotal to the sound of In Dreams and Time almost immediately, rivaling if not surpassing Justin Maranga’s guitars at times.

Opener ‘Whispers’ begins with heavy crashes, but ultimately its nine minutes are more defined by the interplay of melody and the “extras” than the meat of the riffs themselves. King Crimson-esque oohs and aahs run through the middle, and it’s not until its final movement that heaviness in the traditional sense enters into it, the drums of Jamie Miller (also of Night Horse and since replaced by Daniel Pouliot) signaling a faster finish to which Nick Long adds the first in a series of engaging bass runs while Maranga’s lead vocals take on a Steve Von Till-esque gruffness.

The Neurosis influence isn’t a central focus – that is, Ancestors aren’t making post-metal – but it’s there all the same. The song slows at its end and leads into In Dreams and Time’s shortest cut, ‘The Last Return’, which still surpasses six minutes and shows more of the melancholic side of Ancestors’ approach that really came to the fore on Invisible White.

This is progression without pretense, and I’d say ‘The Last Return’ is indulgent for the wash of guitar that seems to consume its dramatic male / female vocal interplay, but it also works really well. Miller comes in after two verse /c horus tradeoffs and a landmark piano solo from Watkins that’s well-suited to the mood of the track, adding a bit of pulse to the last two minutes alongside distorted guitars and the still-prevalent piano.

Continue reading: The Obelisk: REVIEW: Ancestors, In Dreams and Time
(Courtesy of JJ Koczan / The Obelisk)

Tags: Album of the day, Ancestors, In Dreams and Time, Invisible White, JJ Koczan, Justin Maranga, TeePee Records, The Obelisk
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »

Album of the day: Lilacs & Champagne – S/T

Posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: The first seven seconds of Lilacs & Champagne‘s self-titled album contain an appropriated piece of music so instantly resonant to a particular segment of listenership that it might dictate the way they hear the remainder of the album. It’s the short fanfare ITC Entertainment used in ...read more

Album of the day: Inverloch – Dusk/Subside

Posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Lovingly pinched from OneMetal.com: Hands up if you know dISEMBOWELMENT. Hands down if you’re lying to try and look cool. As I thought, most of you. The fact is, the Aussie legends are pretty much only that – criminally overlooked at the time, it’s only with the benefit of much ...read more

Album of the day: Unsane – Wreck

Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: As anyone who’s hung out there in the past decade could tell you, New York’s Lower East Side is no longer a scary place. It’s the kind of hood where you can chow on designer meatballs, drink Pabst in a neo-dive bar, and catch an artfully ...read more

Album of the day: Wooden Stake – At The Stroke Of Midnight

Posted on Sunday, March 18th, 2012

Praise for Wooden Stake‘s At The Stroke Of Midnight from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: As we’ve said before, regular aQuarius shoppers should know what to expect from Wooden Stake: female fronted, horror fixated, riff rituals of slomo sludge, that are part Black Sabbath, part Jex Thoth, part Obituary. The first ...read more

Album of the day: White Hills – Frying on This Rock

Posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: Well, this is a funny way of reeling it in. White Hills, those hyperprolific purveyors of jaw-clenching, brain-warping psychedelia, aren’t ones to shy away from the sprawl; why solo for three minutes, main man Dave W. seems to always be saying, when a dozen minutes will ...read more

Album of the day: Sylvester Anfang II – Latitudes

Posted on Friday, March 16th, 2012

Praise for Sylvester Anfang II‘s Latitudes from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: It’s been more than 2 years since we last heard from this Flemish free-noise post-kraut avant-psych collective, and strangely, this Latitudes session was recorded back in 2010, so while it’s technically a new releases, the actual status of this ...read more

Album of the day: A Whisper In The Noise – To Forget

Posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from The Sleeping Shaman: There is a hoary old debate occasionally dusted off, and probably worth having, about what constitutes ‘heavy’ music, when the thudding blues rock of Sabbath is considered (rightly) to be heavy by many (like me) than the most overly ‘loud’ produced deathcore, or whatever ...read more

Album of the day: Locrian & Mamiffer – Bless Them That Curse You

Posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Praise for Locrian & Mamiffer‘s Bless Them That Curse You from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Killer collaboration from these two aQ faves, both trafficking in a similarly ominous abstract minimalism, and who together have conjured up something pretty epic. The opening track begins as if to creep abjectly through some ...read more

Album of the day: Worm Ouroboros – Come the Thaw

Posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from CVLT Nation: A forboding mire of dark synthesizers welcome us to Come the Thaw’s beautifully meloncholic landscape. The ominous drone is only allowed to build briefly before being pierced by a sharp inhalation and a breathy, unsure question: …How…how will you ever find me now? When your ...read more