Posts Tagged ‘album of the day’

Album of the day: Alcest – Écailles de Lune

Posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010

Alcest - Écailles De Lune

Lovingly pinched from Blistering.com: High on the “most anticipated” list for this scribe and several others who were awestruck by the majesty that was 2007’s Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde, Alcest’s newest Écailles de Lune arrives with a newfound set of expectations, ones that just weren’t there last time around. Following up a career (and subgenre) milestone is a high mountain to climb and frankly, it would have taken a Herculean performance to top Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde. This doesn’t come close, but we’ll take it.

Characterizing the Alcest sound would fall somewhere between the unbridled optimism of shoe-gaze pop coupled with wishy-washy black metal overtones. What made Souvenirs… so captivating was the sense of optimism offset by the harsh realities of somber black metal. It’s a strange beast, although mainman Niege has a distinct knack for coalescing various moods into one sonic platform.

On Écailles de Lune, the optimism is tempered with a spate of hardened black metal sojourns, although that doesn’t stop the first half of “Écailles de Lune Part 1” from being the monumental high point of the album. The song is overflowing with glorious melodies and Niege’s wistful vocals, eventually decaying into a grim black metal landscape. “Écailles de Lune Part 2” follows suit in the dark department, employing a barrage of black metal advances that come as a bit of a surprise.

Continue reading: Blistering.com Review: Alcest – Écailles de Lune.

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Posted in 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 2 Comments »

Album of the day: Dwarr – Animals

Posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Praise for Dwarr’s Animals from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records: Eccentric outsider doom metal from the ’80s, from waaaaaay down underground. Now hold up, if the words “doom” or “metal” make you think, not for me, think again (maybe). This isn’t like any metal you’ve ever heard, really. More like spaced ...read more

Album of the day: Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space [Collector's Editon]

Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: “There’s a hole in my arm where all the money goes,” moans Jason Pierce at the start of “Cop Shoot Cop…”, the 17-minute closer of Spiritualized’s third album and lone masterpiece, Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space. His bedraggled voice drips through the words. ...read more

Album of the day: Highway Child – Sanctuary Come

Posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: With the early fuzz tone of the guitar and the insistent rhythm, it’s uncanny how much “In the End” from Highway Child’s second album through Elektrohasch Schallplatten, Sanctuary Come, sounds like “Hey Bulldog” from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. With the McCartneyist piano bounce (transposed onto ...read more

Album of the day: High on Fire – Snakes for the Divine

Posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010

Lovingly pinched from Pitchfork: High on Fire make burly music; that’s the only thing you can really call it. The Oakland power trio’s thundering roar isn't dumb; there’s a clear technical virtuosity on display in Matt Pike’s squiddling solos, and the songs move confidently through multiple riffs and movements without ...read more

Album of the day: Cathedral – The Guessing Game

Posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: A double album is always a curious read, and Cathedral’s ninth full-length, The Guessing Game, with which the legendary UK doom outfit celebrates their 20th anniversary, is no exception. All the more so considering The Guessing Game is so close to the 80-minute limit of ...read more

Album of the day: Bardo Pond – Bufo Alvarius

Posted on Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Praise for Bardo Pond’s Bufo Alvarius from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records: One of our favorite records from this Philly drone / drug / psych ensemble, available again on lp, this time with a bonus track, and a cd version bundled with the lp…
Bufo Alvarius, originally released in 1995, was Bardo ...read more

Album of the day: Sir Lord Baltimore – Kingdom Come

Posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Ripple Effect: People will debate endlessly about who founded that musical beast we’ve all come to know and love as heavy metal. And while arguments can be made that Blue Cheer unleashed the world’s first heavy metal song with their noise-core version of “Summertime Blues,” or ...read more

Album of the day: The Brought Low – Third Record

Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: What New York City rockers The Brought Low have always managed to do best is get right to the point, and on their latest offering, the appropriately titled Third Album (Small Stone), the trio make it known right away that they’re open for business. “Old ...read more

Album of the day: Cluster – Qua

Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Lovingly pinched from BBC Music: Forty years young as a band next year, Cluster’s venerability is not unique in terms of the movement they are most often associated with – the Krautrock scene of 1970s Germany, which was footloose, sincerely experimental and in many cases highly influential. Yet their synthesiser-driven ...read more

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