King Creosote + Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

#180) King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine (2011)

 1. First Watch
 2. John Taylor's MOnth Away
 3. Bats in the Attic
 4. Running on Fumes
 5. Bubble
 6. Your Own Spell
 7. Your Young Voice


it's crossover time again. this time it was Adam's pick. he hasn't done his post on this album yet so i'm gonna keep mine brief.
this is a collaboration between singer/songwriter King Creosote from Scotland and English electronic artist Jon Hopkins. i'd never heard of either of these guys before and really had no idea of what to expect so i was pleasantly surprised to find the album was a kind of blend of folk/pop and electronics. i really enjoyed the mellow, sometimes melancholy arrangements. it's a great summer downer album. i also really enjoyed Creosote's voice, it sounds very familiar at times but i can't quite place it. 
i would definitely check out each members solo stuff.

Geotic - Bless the Self

#160) Geotic - Bless the Self (2011)

 1. Isolated Speech
 2. Isolated Mind
 3. Illusory Body
 4. Clear Light
 5. Union

for this Crossover i decided to check out some Geotic.

/as adam noted in his post on this album, Geotic is a side project of Will Wiesenfeld, the man behind Baths. all the Geotic albums are available for free download here.
/the music is very minimal and chill and all the tracks here flow together seamlessly. this is definitely an album that is stronger if you listen to it as a whole and follow Will's recommendation (from the site linked above) of having no gaps between tracks..
i wish this was a full length instead of an ep but other than that minor business it was a very enjoyable album. i'll definitely be looking into more of this project.

Reaching Quiet - In the Shadow of the Living Room

#140) Reaching Quiet - In the Shadow of the Living Room (2002)

 1. Mother You're Long Gone
 2. She Ain't Gonna Call You Back
 3. Pier 39
 4. Your Fish
 5. Cabin Pressure
 6. Self Portrait Hand Puppet
 7. The Fly
 8. The Moth
 9. On Gummy Worms on Dental Floss
 10. Madame Rennevfski
 11. Salad Days
 12. Split Screen
 13. Housewife
 14. Her Little Office Watch
 15. Indecent Proposal
 16. The Vowels
 17. The Crush
 18. Slow Polaroid
 19. She Ain't Gonna Call You Back (Part 2)
 20. Me and the Pea Coat
 21. Out of Live Wires and Twisties
 22. Broken Crow
 23. Dead Man's Robin
 24. Jesse James' Thesaurusical Advice
 25. Lisa Carmichael (Alan Keyes)
 26. My Prayer Rug
 27. I Beer
 28. You Choke
 29. The Comfy Chair
 30. General Disturbance

crossover time. this time it was adam's choice. you can read his original post here.
this is another team up between Why? and Odd Nosdam. i've always liked Why?'s approach to hip hop. the easiest way for me to describe my take on it is that it's not hip hop but it's also very much not NOT hip hop. i'd say Odd Nosdam has a similar approach as well, at least here. the album has a very experimental feel and there are a lot of cool sound collage "instrumentals" in between the tracks that feature rapping/singing, though those tracks also feel really experimental.
i'm not super into hip hop but i always know i can expect something interesting and entertaining from these 2, especially when they're working together.

BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG, BBNGLIVE 1, BBNGLIVE 2, BBNG 2

#120) BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG (2011)

 1. Based Is How You Feel Inside
 2. Fall In Love
 3. Improvised Jam
 4. Mass Appeal/Transmission
 5. I Got A Bad Feeling About This
 6. Salmonella
 7. Freedom/Billium Evans
 8. The World Is Yours
 9. Listeriosis
 10. Camel
 11. Title Theme/Saria's Song/Song Of Storms
 12. Outro/Glasper

so it's Crossover time again. i chose to do BADBADNOTGOOD's current discography since adam has been raving about them so much. check all his posts here BBNG2 BBNGLIVE 2 BBNG
i actually picked up the first record off bandcamp back when it first came out and then, like most things i get off bandcamp and don't listen to right away, i forgot about them. until now.
as he explained in his post, these guys are a jazz trio that's into hip hop. while he "really loved this album"  it didn't really do it for me. i'm not saying it was bad or anything, it was pretty enjoyable, it's just not really my style. a little too mellow and beboppy. and the sound of the piano reminded me of stuff you'd hear on PBS or something. i don't want to rip these guys as they're all obviously talented musicians but like i said, this isn't really my thing. what i will agree with adam about is the Zelda medley being the highlight of the album. it's extremely well done and it really is amazing how iconic these songs are. even after all these years and the fact that they're being presented in an entirely new light, you still know exactly what they are. hopefully they'll do some more game music in the future.
like i said, this wasn't a bad album and i'll definitely be keeping it in rotation on the old ipod but other than the Zelda track it's probably not something i'll go out of my way to listen to.

BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNGLIVE 1 (2011)

 1. Hard In Da Paint
 2. Electric Relaxation
 3. Camel
 4. Doom
 5. Matt Swag
 6. Fall In Love
 7. Disorder
 8. Nightmare
 9. Brooklyn Zoo
 10. Alex Swag
 11. The World Is Yours
 12. Salmonella
 13.Bastard/Lemonade/AssMilk/Shouts Out
 14. Freedom

as the title says, this is BADBADNOTGOOD's 1st live album. it only has a couple tracks off the studio album, the rest is all new stuff. most music is better live but i think that's especially true for jazz. the sound quality on the album is great. it loses some of the overproduction of the studio album. most notably the bright, tinkly PBS piano sound. it's not entirely gone but it's dulled or something. there's also more variety in the tempo, which is always nice, but it also gives the drummer and bassist a little more to work with and allows them to show their skills as well. i really liked this album a lot. i would probably recommend starting with this album over the studio one.

BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNGLIVE 2 (2012)

 1. Hard In Da Paint
 2. DMZ
 3. Banter
 4. CMYK/Limit To Your Love
 5. Rotten Decay
 6. Bastard/Lemonade

the 2nd live album was kind of a live teaser ep for the new full length. these tracks are really cool. they have a darker sound and offer more of a variety of tempos and arrangements. i'm not going to get too much into the tracks though since they're all on the next album. once again the sound quality is great.

BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2 (2012)

 1. Earl (feat. Leland Whitty)
 2. Vices
 3. Rotten Decay
 4. Limit To Your Love
 5. Bastard/Lemonade
 6. CHSTR
 7. UWM (feat. Leland Whitty)
 8. DMZ
 9. CMYK
 10. Flashing Lights
 11. You Made Me Realise (feat. Luan Phung)

the latest release from BADBADNOTGOOD. this is a fucking dope album. this is what i wanted the 1st album to sound like. the songs are darker and more varied in tempo and instrumentation. it's not the same piano sound and mellow tempo for the whole album and like i mentioned before, i feel like the bass and drums get a little more attention on these tracks. the drummer in particular, dude lays down some rad beats. all the playing is excellent though, these guys know their shit. i hope on their next album they have more tracks with sax, it really complimented their style well. i was really impressed that they did a My Bloody Valentine cover. this is also the only time i've EVER enjoyed a kayne song. EVER.
overall i have to agree 100% with adam about this album. fucking amazing stuff, i'm looking forward to where they go from here.

oh yeah, how fucking rad is that cover art?

volcano! - Paperwork

#100) volcano! - Paperwork (2008)

1. Performance Evaluation Shuffle
2. Africa Just Wants to Have Fun
3. Tension Loop
4. Fairy Tale
5. Slow Jam
6. '78 Oil Crisis
7. Sweet Tooth
8. Astronomer's Ballad
9. '-----------------
10. Palimpsests
11. Kitchen Dance

so it's our 100th post which means Crossover Time again. it was adam's pick and he chose this .

he discovered this band way back when for our 1st end of month theme, Local Bands. you can read his original post here.

as he states in his post this band incorporates a lot of different things into their sound. they're very poppy but also very experimental. Fairy Tale is probably a good example. it's a very poppy sounding song overall but it's pretty much buried under a layer of distorted synth noise. as good as the poppy parts are i prefer them at their noisiest. the singer has a good range and a lot of energy. i don't get the whole random Spanish lyrics thing but hey, if that's your thing he does it. the drums and guitars weave in and out of time signatures effortlessly and make for a compelling backdrop for the singer's range. i've listened to this album a couple times now and have found things i missed on previous listens. this was a really cool record, i'll definitely be checking out more of their stuff.

03/20/12: Pig Destroyer - Natasha (2008) [Crossover Review 4]

03/20/12: Pig Destroyer - Natasha (2008) [Crossover Review 4]

1. Natasha

     Oksentaminen's chose "Natasha" by Pig Destroyer for this crossover review. You can check out his original post here. I have not heard most of the bands that Scott Hull is/was a member of so I did a little bit of reading on Pig Destroyer before I listened to this album. I'm not the biggest grindcore fan but oksentaminen's review made it very clear that I wasn't about to listen to a grindcore record. That ended up being completely true. Having not heard ANYTHING else by Pig Destroyer I can safely say that this album is a departure from their other material. If I had to guess they were a grindcore band, I would have never been able to do that based on listening to Natasha.
     The album is one 37-minute track and has a wide range of styles present. It starts with dark ambient and droning mixed with audio samples which eventually breaks into a sludgy metal song. There are heavy doom filled moments, followed by beautiful echoey guitar riffs which fades away to water dripping and a low foreboding drone. This album was all over the place yet completely unified as one cohesive composition. I am super impressed with this album. It was truly an interesting ride. Ambient music and certain types of rock can bore me if I'm not in the right mood. This album moves seamlessly from metal to ambient to just sounds, and back again all the time and at just the right moments. The conclusion of the track can only be described as an ocean of static and even at the albums simplest moments, I was paying attention to everything. Oksentaminen, you know me pretty well, my friend... good show! (080)
 

This Heat - This Heat

This Heat - This Heat (1978)

1. Testcard
2. Horizontal Hold
3. Not Waving
4. Water
5. Twilight Furniture
6. 24 Track Loop
7. Diet of Worms
8. Music Like Escaping Gas
9. Rainforest
10. The Fall of Saigon
11. Test Card

so it's crossover time again, this time i got to choose. in his post on this album,  adam_biedermann highly recommended this album to me for the the next crossover and i decided to trust him. check his post for history and such.


overall this is a pretty dark sounding album. have you ever seen like a Tom & Jerry cartoon when Tom gets drunk or fucked up or it's supposed to be spooky? or like a 70s movie with some sort of freakout scene? a lot of the weirder parts of this album remind me of stuff like that, which is rad.


all in all this was a dope album and i really dug it. another good call by my colleague, another successful crossover. at least on my side...

Cursive - I Am Gemini

Something Is Shifting In This Symmetry

#60) Cursive - I Am Gemini (2012)

1. This House Alive
2. Warmer Warmer
3. The Sun and Moon
4. Drunken Birds
5. Lullaby for No Name
6. Double Dead
7. Gemini
8. Twin Dragon - Hello Skeleton
9. Wowowow
10. This House a Lie
11. The Cat and Mouse
12. A Birthday Bash
13. Eulogy for No Name

crossover time, for this installment my comrade has chosen for me to listen to the new Cursive. initially i wasn't thrilled with this choice. it's not that i dislike Cursive, it's that upon hearing that Tim Kasher dropped the extra instrumentation and went back to more "rock" oriented roots i just wasn't all that interested. i like Cursive as a "rock" band but i love Cursive when they have all the extra shit. at least that's what i thought before i listened to this album. while i wouldn't go so far as to say i love this record, i did enjoy it very much and i will go as far as to say that it's my favorite "rock" album by the band.

Tim Kasher is an amazing songwriter and while i can't help but wonder what these songs would've sounded like with strings and such, he's crafted some truly great songs here. he's very good at switching between calm and hectic,  melodic and dissonant and his musical arrangements are done with precision. i've always enjoyed his vocal delivery and i definitely agree with adam_biedermann , Kasher's lyrics are awesome as always.

despite the lack of added instrumentation (which he teases with on instrumental tracks Lullaby for No Name and This House is a Lie) this was a great album. good rec biedermann

02/29/12: Igorrr - Nostril (2010) [Crossover Review 3]

This time around, I picked what oksentaminen listened to and I had to pick out something of his to listen to. We did the months theme a day early to adjust for the leap year and fit in both of our additional rules that we are attempting to abide by.

02/29/12: Igorrr - Nostril (2010) [Crossover Review 3]

1. Double Monk
2. Tendon
3. Excessive Funeral
4. Very Long Chicken
5. Melting Nails
6. Pavor Nocturnus
7. Caros
8. Cruciform Dachshund
9. Half a Pony
10. Unpleasant Sonata
11. Dentist
12. Fryzura Konika
13. Veins
14. Moldy Eye

     After hearing a selection of Igorrr in oksentaminen's car I knew immediately that I needed to listen to all of this guy. take a look at oksentaminen's reviews of Nostril and Poisson Soluble. He didn't spend a ton of time giving you info on him and neither will I. Heres what you need to know. Its sometimes metal, sometimes grindcore, always has rad booming electronic beats, baroque is definitely an appropriate word in describing him, and he is fucking rad. This album is unlike anything I've heard and its awesome. Its fast as hell, he'll pummel you with his beats, and he'll confound you with the wide selection of samples and the wide range of genres represented here. I'll get behind oksentaminen's label of "glitchy baroque grindcore metal" This one man project is spectacular and I will most definitely be listening to his other albums ASAP. (060)

02/09/12: Nick Grey And The Random Orchestra - Spin Vows Under Arch (2008) [Crossover Review 2]

02/09/12: Nick Grey And The Random Orchestra - Spin Vows Under Arch (2008) [Crossover Review 2]

1. King Flood
2. Miller, 1918
3. Your Greatest Hunger
4. Black Paper, Mountain
5. Couvre-Feu
6. Italian Cities Fight Smog
7. La Zone Battue
8. Setting Expectations
9. Porno Drone (Evil SPiders Have Put A Curse On Our Garden)

     Wow, I am a whole week behind. But anyways this is my second crossover review picked by oksentaminen. You can see his original review here. I had definitely not heard of Nick Grey before but based on his review I knew I would be able to get into it. I would say his description of the very hard to describe sound is accurate. A bit ambient, a bit folk and a lot experimental. This is probably a prog record in a way. Each song sweeps and changes and flows into each other. I listened to "Spin Vows Under Arch" 3 or 4 times over the last few days I was working and I caught something different and beautiful each time. Different singers coming in and out of soundscapes. Ghostly buildups at times that almost reminded me of Sigur Ros. I have to give it a couple more listens to really get a grasp of what I have listened to but a quality album. Once I figure out whats happening here I'd like to check out what else Nick Grey has done. Good pick oksentaminen. (040)

Coaltar of the Deepers

Dead By Dawn

#40a) Coaltar of the Deepers - Dog EP (1999)

1. C/O/T/D
2. Super Natural
3. Summer Rain
4. Blind Love

#40b) Coaltar of the Deepers - Penguin EP (2004)

1. Fastest Draw (Dream Man 2)
2. Wipeout
3. Dead By Dawn
4. Swimmers

so post number 40 means it's crossover time again. this time i got to pick. adam played a track by these guys for me a while back and i remember really digging it so i decided to check 'em out.
i started with the Dog EP, and though it's not at all like the track that was played for me, i still enjoyed it. it's  dreamy, poppy Japanese shoegaze. although it won't blow your mind it's definitely a solid album. what it will do is leave you completely unprepared for the metal assault that is the Penguin EP.
Penguin is an odd combination of the poppy shoegaze of Dog and elements of death metal, electronics and occasionally traditional Japanese music. from the 1st track to the last, this album had me hooked. i really wish this was a full length because 15 minutes was not enough.
this is definitely an interesting band and i hope to hear more from them in the future.

  

01/20/12: Today is the Day - Temple of the Morning Star (1997) [Crossover review 1]

01/20/12: Today is the Day - Temple of the Morning Star (1997) [Crossover review 1]

1. Temple Of The Morning Star (acoustic)
2. The Man Who Loves To Hurt Himself
3. Blindspot
4. High As The Sky
5. Miracle
6. Kill Yourself
7. Mankind
8. Pinnacle
9. Crutch
10. Root Of All Evil
11. Satan Is Alive
12. Rabid Lassie
13. Friend For Life
14. My Life With You
15. I See You
16. Hermaphrodite
17. Temple Of The Morning Star (electric)

     The rules were already roughly explained by oksentaminen but this is my first crossover review. We decided that every 20th entry we will be listening to and writing up an album from the other persons already chosen albums. Here's a quick breakdown of the "rules".

          1. I picked which of my albums to listen to for oksentaminen. I had this privilege due to the
             fact that he will be picking our first end of the month theme album.
          2. I picked one of oksentaminen's albums to listen to myself.
          3. Every 20 picks we switch. He'll pick which album of his I review for my 40th entry

     I just listened to Temple of the Morning Star by Today Is The Day. I'm not going to go into background or history because oksentaminen covered it quite thoroughly in his write up (see here: Temple of the Morning Star)
     I am not the hugest metal head, but I can always appreciate a metal album that steps outside the norm. I was able to tell almost immediately that i would enjoy this album as it opened with a very interesting aoustic track. I always enjoy a little thinking outside the box and experimentation in music and this was no exception. It had its acoustic moments, very melodic moments, and then the straight up metal and grindcore moments. I found that i enjoyed the songs that had that almost stoner metal feel to them. I really liked that this album had so many ups and downs. I like metal music, but I like to be able to take a breather sometimes. I had never even heard of Today is the Day until this project and I'm glad this was my first crossover choice. Good show Mr. Austin and good call oksentaminen. (020)

A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons

1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound

#20) A Silver Mt. Zion - 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons (2008)

 1. untitled 1
 2. untitled 2
 3. untitled 3
 4. untitled 4
 5. untitled 5
 6. untitled 6
 7. untitled 7
 8. untitled 8
 9. untitled 9
 10. untitled 10
 11. untitled 11
 12. untitled 12
 13. 1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound
 14. 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
 15. Black Waters Blowed / Engine Broke Blues
 16. BlindBlindBlind


so we decided that every 20th post we would do a crossover thing, i'd listen to something adam_biedermann  had posted and he'd listen to something i'd posted. each time someone would get to choose for themselves and for the other person on an alternating basis. i'm sure i explained that poorly. for this first installment adam_biedermann  was the chosen one so now i'm listening to this. if you want to read his post and get a bit more info go here:  http://mykillhandiscalledevil.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-6th-2012-silver-mt-zion-13.html

having only heard 2 albums (Horses in the Sky and This Is Our Punk Rock, although i really don't remember the last one) and a live bootleg i wasn't too familiar with these guys, but i recall enjoying Horses so i was looking forward to this. right off the bat i'll have to agree with my colleague, so far this is also my favorite album.
after a little over a minute of eerie, slightly sad sounding noise spread over 12 tracks the album begins with my favorite song 1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound. while i highly enjoyed all the tracks on the album this one just really stood out to me. it starts quietly and builds itself into this beautiful cacophony of swirling strings and riffs before burning out into a string and choral arrangement for the last 3 minutes. it's very easy to win me over if you have a rad string section.
the rest of the tracks follow a fairly similar pattern of "quiet/noisy/mellow/really noisy/quiet again" and though they may be similar in that manner they are all completely different listening experiences. the guitars and strings complement each other perfectly, whether it's the chambery opening of Blindblindblind or the crushing howl of the title track this band can make it sound pretty.
so yeah, obviously i really dug this record. well played adam_biedermann, well played.