Hammock - Kenotic - 2004

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, and I looked and behold, a pale horse and the name that said on him was death and hell followed with him." J. Cash

Done, lets dive right in.

As a bit of background, I've just gotten home from another night of work, kicked off my shoes and now I feel like writing.

To start, I love the Album Leaf - a sprawling web of ambient, post-rock, electronic sound that has been getting bigger and better since 1999. Granted, its been a while since their/his last album but Jimmy LaValle is most certainly working on new material.

Anywho, I just stumbled upon a duo similar to Album Leaf called Hammock and decided to give the debut album Kenotic [2004] a listen. I quickly realized that they were not only similar to AL but also built upon key themes laid down by them, themes including atmospheric rhythms and melodies and slow tempos.

I described this album to a friend just yesterday afternoon as being the soundtrack to a carefree dream that you can't quite remember in morning. I like the continuity from song to song and I like the laering of sounds - ie reverby guitar melodies with violin and cello. Thinking about it more, I think this album his similar to the Postal Service's "Give Up" and most of God Is An Astronaut's discography.

I'm tired and can't say much more. Listen and enjoy. Dwonolad

Om - God Is Good - 2009

Think for a second about where we listen to music and then about what music we listen to. The way I see it, there are quite a few categories: the subway, the bedroom, the shower, the bar, the city street - the list could go on for a while but you get the point. There is however one category I didn't mention because it is both out of place and out of the ordinary: meditation.

Om, a duo of the incredibly talented bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros and the wildly accurate drummer Emil Amos, form long threadlike meditative melodies that are in many ways hypnotic and drug-like. God is Good takes the raucous rhthyms of previous albums - Variations on a Theme - and tames them, making for transcendental aural experience. Call it stoner rock or drone metal or whatever you like; music is music.

That being said, candles out, lamps off and lighters at the ready folks.




Daolnwod

Disappears - Lux - 2010

I found this album yesterday and gave it a whirl; I was surprised at how much I loved it right off the bat. Using steady, percussive drums; fuzzy, reverb-soaked guitars; punchy, wet bass lines; the Disappears have gotten the stonegaze genre down. Whoa, I didn't even mention the distant vocals. Overall, if you like bands like True Widow, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Eagles of Death Metal, you'll love this album.

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Weedeater - Jason... the Dragon - 2011

Best case scenario: you're already au courant with Weedeater, you love this album just as much as the three before it, and I'm up late - or early, depending on how you look at it - for nothing. To start, I'm not the biggest fan of the vocals - those sort of growly, screamy metal voices. That being said, I enjoy the interesting, sometimes syncopated yet sometimes steady drums. The bass is overdriven and nasty and great - what more can I say, it drives the music in my opinion. The guitars are also, usually, heavily overdriven and always dronish. Bottom Line: This album is drone, sludge, stoner, etc and if you like music, you will most likely and hopefully enjoy it. Listen and, if you dislike it, you never have to hear it again.

Oh and PS, the vocalist blasted one of his big toes off while working on this album. He suffered to bring you this album? You are damn right.

daolnwoD

Wooden Shjips - West - 2011

I stumbled across this little gem yesterday. With trippy guitar effects, punchy bass lines and Doors-esque vocals, this band manages to make me move. Formed in San Francisco in 2006 and signed to Holy Mountain records (the same Holy Mountain that produces Six Organs of Admittance, Om, etc), Woodent shjips have released five albums with West being the latest. Check it out

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Novadriver - Deeper High - 2005

As a bit of background, I work as a bartender/bouncer at night during the the week in addition to having a bit of a green thumb. I also listen to some crazy heavy music from time to time. Recently I have been selflessly growing six Jalepeno plants whom I have dubbed "the Boys".

Now, I just got back from work and noticed that one of the 7 or so peppers hasn't been getting larger while all of its peers have. This troubled me, so naturally I checked the pepper's connection to the larger stem; at that point the pepper plopped off into my hand. Panicked and somewhat drunk, I took a bite of the pepper. Teary eyed and hiccuping, I withdrew to the kitchen and devoured the first collecton of lipids I could find: Yogurt. Upon recovery, I remembered that I had planned to write an entry about Novadriver's 2005 album "Deeper High"...

If you like a good amount of psychedelic effects - ie. flange, phase, wah, etc - you will love this album. Its wild and unpredictable with wah-laden screaming guitar solos and extended noise/indie-rock breaks.

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Black Sabbath - Live in Paris - 1970

There is not much I can say about Black Sabbath that hasn't already been said by someone else at some point in the past 40 years but What I can safely say is that they were one of the best live bands of their time. There are some videos of this show floating around but I ripped the audio out myself. Enjoy!

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Black Sabbath: Live In Paris 1970