The mediaf!re Thread 2010: This Time It's Personal

[scarred]

The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future [2009]

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It's a tricky thing to make accessible pop that doesn't hide behind clever irony or fall into the soulless, Auto-Tuned suckhole of Top 40 pap. The Bird And The Bee displayed an aptitude for bubbly, tropicalia-laced pop on its excellent debut, and the cumbersomely titled follow-up, Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future, continues that exploration of carefree, happy-making music.

Vocalist Inara George and programmer Greg Kurstin have an affinity for all things pretty and vaguely retro, as her exceedingly pleasant vocals and his lush production attest. It's a formula, yes, but one that works over and over, from kitschy but rich-sounding earworms like "Love Letter To Japan" and "Diamond Dave" (yes, as in Lee Roth) to the more introspective and sadly beautiful "Ray Gun" and "Baby." Only the somewhat plodding "Witch" and a couple of jarring musical interludes lean toward self-indulgence. "Polite Dance Song" is a welcome repeat inclusion from a 2007 EP that subtly showcases George's vocal prowess in the context of a silly hip-hop-influenced goof, a reflection of the underlying skill and craft that make this fluffy-sounding collection of songs cheerily frivolous, but not disposable.

Grade: A-

Quoted in its entirety because it is too good to be swallowed by the pagebreak.

Also

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[Orcusmars]

seriously if this entire page was just people quoting that album it would still be one of the better pages of music in this thread

[Zombiedude]

Oops

[scarred]

Irrefutable proof.

[Zombiedude]

Oooh la la

[valley_parade]

Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs-World Is Yours(2009)

So good.

[E. Spaceman]

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Japanese Music Appreciation Week continues on Melt Banana thursdays

[Catacombs]

That Blakroc album on the previous page is pretty damn good.  Still on my first listen but I'm groovin.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Yeah, i've been enjoying it quite a bit.

There's a couple weak traks (tm) in the middle, but all in all it's pretty sick.

[ADRIAN WOODHOUSE]

so if you can listen to it, knowing all that stuff...i can't do anything about it, but there maybe some people outthere who didn't know and mind the fact.

Oh please. Can we keep the political activism outside the door? Death in June, as Sol Invictus and other neo-folk bands political affiliation and/or leanings should be ignored, and their artistic output enjoyed for what it is. There are plenty of extreme nationalistic bands in the US, for instance, or bands with a clear Zionist stance. Should those bands be defenestrated as well?  If that were the case any German industrial/martial band should be banned from the airwaves. Freedom of speech and being a mature audience have a lot to do with this, as only very young idealists (an utopic stance to take) will take umbrage on whatever these artists think/do in their private lives.

for sure no one knows of all the stuff which is going on in all of the heads from musicians we all are listen to, but IF you do, as in this case and don't like their opinion
maybe you don't like listening to their music anymore.  to me believing in a master race and stuff is not an opinion is it is a crime; mind-wise , if you think of human rights.
i don't know about of all the nationalistic bands of the u.s. and other country, but they are not posted HERE for that reason, right? that's all i am saying.
aaand the most german industrial bands suck anyway

[aflowerchild]

For some reason on the Flacroc album I only got the first 3 songs....
Peculiar

[E. Spaceman]

for sure no one knows of all the stuff which is going on in all of the heads from musicians we all are listen to, but IF you do, as in this case and don't like their opinion
maybe you don't like listening to their music anymore.  to me believing in a master race and stuff is not an opinion is it is a crime; mind-wise , if you think of human rights.
i don't know about of all the nationalistic bands of the u.s. and other country, but they are not posted HERE for that reason, right? that's all i am saying.
aaand the most german industrial bands suck anyway

Holding a belief (even though it is wrong) is not a crime. This is not an opinion, if you think of human rights i hope it will be clear why. As for nationalistic bands in the US, they are not posted here because no one has posted them here, not because of any bans or censorship. I honestly don't think anyone listens to them or is interested in them but if they were they will not be punished for their hypothetical crimethink

[KharBevNor]

I was gonna weight into this with an argument, but I've had it up to here with this shit on the last.fm forums, really, (where at least every six months some dude comes along wanting to ban people for listening to a list of 'nazi' bands they have concocted, only about three of which are demonstably fascist in both belief and lyrical content) so I suppose I'll just say, fuck off back to wherever you came from. When I get back on my personal computer I'm gonna zip up some Blood Axis, Boyd Rice and Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio albums and upload them here, just to annoy you!

Kwintpod, you are posting awesome music, don't stop.

[Mixitup]

Sordo's is back!  Relaunched today Nov 20th....
Merry Christmas early

Sordo

[the_pied_piper]

*ahem*

http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,23868.0.html

[E. Spaceman]

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A poppier end to Japanese Music Appreciation Week

[sean]

good call dude

[Zombiedude]

Hey Shane

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[valley_parade]

Awesome!

Guys, why did we do Japanese Music Appreciation week this week, when the new Boris single comes out next week?

[E. Spaceman]

Because i wanted to.

[valley_parade]

Works for me.

[Zombiedude]

Real Estate - Real Estate[2009]

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[pinkpiche]

Here's some danish stuff!

Menfolk - Colossus


Heavy noise/math-rock with two bassplayers! If you like this, please support them : http://www.myspace.com/menfolk

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Turboweekend - Ghost of a Chance

Turboweekend is a three piece band from Copenhagen consisting of Martin Petersen (Drums), Silas Bjerregaard (Vocals) and Morten Køie (Bass), and adding Anders Møller on
synths and backing vocals live. The music is part dark synth pop, part bouncy electro-rock with a soulful twist. The three main members have been friends since 4th grade, and
have played together for ages, but this particular band was formed in the summer of 2006.

http://www.myspace.com/turboweekend

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Mislyd - Dunkel Mix

Mislyd are a dj three-piece. One of the best mixes I've heard this year.

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Lack - Saturate Every Atom

»The idea has come to me that what I want to do now is to saturate every atom. I mean to eliminate all waste, deadness, superfluity: to give the moment whole; whatever it includes.
It must include nonsense; fact; sordidity; but made transparent.« – Virginia Woolf, 1928
The principle that every idea must be reduced to its essential quality in order to realize its potential, became Lack's guiding light in the process of composing their third album.
The title Saturate Every Atom thus contains all the premises of the album: always compress, always concentrate, never compromise.

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Electrojuice - Solrock

GAFFA gave us 5/6 stars and wrote:
"If it's dark, twisted electro-hip hop, melodies with hints to classic 90's IDM or stretched out techno with old school electric bass and beautiful soundscapes,
the two boys' music is unique and independent and at the same time fairly catchy. An enviable combination."
DR Music handed out 5/6 stars as well and wrote:
"On 7 very different tracks they move effortlessly through various kinds of spherical house and electro."

http://www.myspace.com/electrojuicemusic

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Khal Allan - Tuder og Høvding

Really cool danish hip-hop. For people who like Madlib, Madvillain, Quasimoto - that kind of stuff..

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[Harun]

Julianna Barwick - Florine


I usually DGAF what pitchfork says about anything, but apparently they believe Diplo was onto something when they described him describing Julianna's music as 'carebears making love.' I think they're onto something...

Beautiful, choir-like, ethereal, hypnotic, synth-like looped acapella. Think Imogen's 'Hide and Seek' or Bon Iver's 'Woods,' Except even more spacey and amazing. RIYL amazing music.

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[amok]

Bon Iver's 'Woods,' Except even more spacey and amazing.

Sold. Also thanks pink and Zombie. 3 class posts in a row.

[medicatesleep]

Cave In - Antennae (demos from God City Studios)

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God City is owned and run by Kurt Ballou (CONVERGE) and these are some really interesting recordings from Cave In's major label debut before RCA got their greasy hands on 'em. Enjoy.

[minus_the_david]

OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cave IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think i'm in love with you...for real!

[valley_parade]

Real Estate - Real Estate[2009]

You're just full of good music. I've been listening to Real Estate pretty much non-stop for the past few weeks.

[Zombiedude]

Likewise

[Touch Me Im Sick]

Pop Ambient 2009 - Various Artists

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[Zombiedude]

The Tom Fun Orchestra-You Will Land with a Thud[2008]

Normally, when you see the word "orchestra" attached to an indie act, it's intended in an ironic fashion. It's either one dude with 7 toy Casio keyboards billing himself as an Orchestra, or three scruffy dudes playing decidedly un-orchestra like rock & roll. This scenario plays out roughly 99% of the time, but I can introduce you to that remaining 1%: Sydney, Nova Scotia's Tom Fun Orchestra and their new album You Will Land With A Thud.

Not to suggest that this nine-piece extravaganza makes music that is anything close to orchestral, but their size and raucous, sweeping sound certainly means the Orchestra tag makes more sense for them then it does for yer man with the Casios. That big sound is headlined by the growl of frontman Johnny Turbo, who sounds like either an 80's Saturday morning cartoon hero or a badly named Mafia driver, and provided by the capable Tom Fun players and their plethora of instruments. What's in that plethora you ask? How about a trio of guitars, violin, upright bass, accordion, banjo, drums, mandolin, clarinet, trumpet, and shaky bass. I don't know what a shaky bass is exactly, but it sounds mighty cool.

This album also sounds mighty cool, which is a fairly impressive feat for a collective this size. Its one thing for a group like this to be impressive live, and Tom Fun has certainly established a reputation in the Maritimes as an outstanding live act. But often the visual impact and energy of such a large group will carry the day during a live performance. On record, that many people and that many instruments can often result in a kind of organized noise that doesn't do the band justice. Thankfully, that isn't the case on You Will Land With A Thud, as the various players give each other enough space to create the energetic, chaotic-yet-melodic sound found throughout the album. The talent assembled to help make the album certainly didn't hurt the cause, as Gordon Gano (The Violent Femmes) & Warren Bruleigh (the Violent Femmes, Louise Attaque) handled production duties, the mixing was done by Phil Palazzola (The New Pornographers), and it was mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, White Stripes).

Not bad for a little band (well, figuratively speaking) from Cape Breton. Despite their home island's reputation for traditional, east coast music, Tom Fun looks to a number of diverse sources for inspiration. The Waits-ian When You Were Mine opens the album in a more subdued fashion than I would've expected, but its tale of birthing a tiny, slimy spy and sending him off to Lithuania and Syria is a good intro to Turbo's vivid, storytelling style. The horn-filled Rum & Tequilla brings jook joint jazz to mind, while Tar Pond Tango is certainly the only latin-tinged song about Cape Breton's famous environmental nightmare. Highway Siren Song Breakdown and its irresistible electric blues guitar & harmonica combo spins a tale of a 70's drug run through Oklahoma and is un-expectedly one of the album highlights for me.

I can certainly appreciate the influences found on those aforementioned songs, but it's on the more wide open, cluster-rock songs where the band really shines. Songs like Throw Me To The Rats, Watchmaker, Last Of The Curious Thieves, and Heart Attack In An Old Motel showcase the band in full force, and are all quite powerful. Watchmaker and Last Of The Curious Thieves both have prominent vocal contributions from Alicia Penney, and her soulful voice works as a nice counterpoint to Turbo's gruff delivery.

Anyway, this review is already as large as Tom Fun's roster, so I'm simply going to stop right here and encourage you to check out You Will Land With A Thud. It's really quite enjoyable, and will not only help you shake off winter's doldrums, but it will keep you grooving through the spring and into the summer.

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It's a bit like Grand Hallway I suppose, but rockier and Canadian.
Tom Fun Orchestra - Throw Me To The Rats

[scarred]

Speaking of which:

Grand Hallway - Promenade [2009]

Grand Hallway has created quite a unique place in pop music. Their songs are an interesting medium between baroque orchestral pop and traditional Japanese music. Given their prior releases, hearing the sounds on Promenade is no surprise. Led by master songwriter Tomo Nakayama, Promenade finds Grand Hallway expanding on their musical abilities.

Promenade is much more dramatic than Yes Is The Answer, their debut LP. It takes the listener on a journey; each song follows a romantic storyline. The path is one that finds Nakayama joining with artists as diverse as The Maldives, Voyager One, and Sleepy Eyes of Death to total an impressive eight. The octet, then, produces a sound full and encompassing. Each run through Promenade will draw forth new elements, providing the listener with another chance to listen to the album for the first time.

“Raindrops” may begin soft, with a patter of plucked guitar strings, but it grows into one of the more beautiful melodies heard this year. “Blessed Be, Honey Bee” continues with a strength only eight can provide, while “Elinor With The Golden Hair” brings forward the Japanese influence with an oriental string sound. Toward the end, “Sirens” shines with multiple vocals compounding and swirling amidst an array of orchestration.

The rumors are that Grand Hallway is poised to break out with this release, and I can sure believe it. Promenade is an impressive journey, one that blurs reality with a fictitious dream-world both colorful and mysterious. In Promenade, Grand Hallway has pieced together a masterpiece, one that will certainly garner Nakayama and the seven that accompany him fame in the world of independent music.

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"Blessed Be, Honey Bee" is worth the download alone.

[theoryC]

^awesome

[carrotosaurus]

Oberhofer - oO0OoO0Oo [2009]
Lo-fi indie pop in the same vein as Wavves, Girls, The Drums etc. Probably the next big thing:

He's the unassuming rocker in their midst: Brad Oberhofer stunned colleagues at Matador Records, where he works as an intern, when he played them a demo of a few songs he had recorded.

Now the 19-year-old NYU student has landed one of them, "Away FRM U," on a Paste magazine CD sampler -- a rare feat for an unsigned artist nobody's yet heard of -- played a CMJ showcase hosted by Hartford/Brooklyn music promoter Natalie Noyes and has generated intense interest among music-biz types in New York for his vibrant, raucous indie-rock sound.

"I have not seen someone with as much potential as he has," says one of those Matador colleagues, Thom Williams, who with a friend has been assisting Oberhofer. "Give him a year or two and he could be a MGMT figure."

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[variable_star]

Grand Hallway - Promenade [2009]

Nice, been looking for this. Grand indeed!

[glyphic]

Ok, guys. I haven't ever posted anything here. This is also my first time using mediaf!re. Please alert me to any errors.

Confession time: I am a fickle, vacuous consumer whore who will only truly listen to something when popular culture tells me I should. With their debut record, Ruin Everything!, Athens, GA’s We Versus The Shark have allowed me see this outstanding flaw. I’m happy to say that over the course of ten tracks bursting with flavor and good times, Ruin Everything! facilitated my slow, arduous recovery process.

So the story goes, Mr P sent me a package with CDs to review, and among the batch was this We Versus The Shark album. I popped it in (probably in a bad mood), listened to the first few bars of "You Don’t Have To Kick It" and promptly discarded it. All I remember hearing were disco beats and nondescript shouting over some chicken-scratch guitar. Exasperated, I cried, "I’ve heard it before!"

Over the next few months, I kept seeing We Versus The Shark’s name here and there, and after a few friends kept chatting them up, I decided to give Ruin Everything! another chance. I re-listened to "You Don’t Have To Kick It," and though the ever-present disco beats and shouting were firmly in place, I also unearthed found sounds, malfunctioning electronics, jagged guitar parts (not in the way most of their peers take this route—think more Dazzling Killmen math and less Gang Of Four skronk), and poignant melodies that rocked the shit out of my sandwich. In short: I found the group to be completely irresistible.

At their most chaotic, We Versus The Shark might recall a more caustic Q And Not U having entirely lost it, or a much more refined version of the Ex, but neither comparison does the group justice. There are certainly obvious reference points scattered about the album, but I found it nearly impossible to describe the band in simple terms. I guess the most accurate description for We Versus The Shark would be "frenzied pop."

We Versus the Shark - Ruin Everything!

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Edit: Fixed, I hope.

[E. Spaceman]

PM Sent

[youthcant]

So I was trawling through FFFFOUND! and stumbled across this

there was something on dropular from this thread as well...
do you have an FFFFOUND! account?

[scarred]

Magic Wands - Magic, Love & Dreams EP [2009]

Mystic duo Magic Wands return with the Magic, Love and Dreams EP recorded with John Hill (Santogold, Lykke Li, Nas) to be released through Bright Antenna and Young and Lost Club.

Recorded in John Hill’s New York Studio - and using the same drum machine as Prince’s Purple Rain - Magic, Love and Dreams is cosmic pop of the highest order.

Both Teenage Love and Kiss Me Dead feature walls of white noise guitars, whilst the newest track on the EP, Starships (a song inspired by the Phoenix lights) kisses the sky with ether rag soaked abandonment. Previous UK single, Black Magic, has been given the full John Hill treatment and the 2009 version sounds super nova big.

Magic Wands have spent the last 6 months touring relentlessly, and writing and recording the tracks that will make up their debut album. They’ve been on a monster East-West Coast US tour with Black Kids and the Virgins as well as returning to the UK to support CSS on their October dates.

In anticipation of the EP release through Bright Antenna, the band tour with The Kills and The Horrors in the US through April and May. They’ll return to the UK for early summer shows around the EP.

Magic Wands formed in 2007. While living in Nashville, Chris found a song on Myspace that he listened to repeatedly, day and night. Soon he discovered it was a song by Dexy, called ‘Teenage Love’. During the course of the summer 2007 Chris and Dexy started talking on the phone until dawn, writing songs for each other and mailing gifts such as toy lions, old records, handwritten poems and one glowing heart lamp. Though 2000 miles apart, they decided they were destined to be. Two weeks later Chris was back in L.A. helping Dexy pack up her old Mercedes Benz for a trip across the country.

Currently, Chris and Dexy aren't sure where they would call home, but for the time being are holed up in Los Angeles recording a new track called Warrior. The video for Warrior will be available as a free download upon purchasing the EP on Itunes.

Seriously fucking good fuzzy-guitar-synth-handclap-jam-pop-awesome shit. I can't get "Kiss Me Dead" out of my head. If you like good music, download this.

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[sean]

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lana avacada. the full length, so this is all 14 songs. i just got a hold of it and updated it on the blog, figure i'd update it here too.

enjoy this guys this shit is so mathy and good.

[dancarter]

Necro Facility - The Room


1   Fever Eyes 2:38 
2   Dogma 4:04 
3   Tuxedo 4:04 
4   Anubis 3:14 
5   Kite 5:40 
6   The Box 3:26 
7   Circuit Breaker 4:10 
8   Dissolving Angle 3:50 
9   Jigsaw 3:14 
10   Ragdoll 4:01


"An astonishing septet form the center of “The Room", starting with the fantastic melodies of “Tuxedo”, moving on to the chaotic and angry “Anubis” and the awesome audio storm that is “Kite”. After the powerful “The Box”, and the beautiful “Circuit Breaker” the album becomes more uneven and not as memorable, but the production and musicality are still miles ahead of the majority in the stagnating heavy industrial genre.

Necro Facility have moved on since last time we heard them, adding to their strengths and learned some new tricks in the studio. It all adds up, making “The Room” a much more coherent album, and a very enjoyable experience."
(Release Magazine)

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[gospel]

The Devil and Abbe May – Hoodoo You Do

MySpace

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[smack that isaiah]

Her myspace songs sounded good--they appealed to me
I'll grab this when I get home for Thanksgiving, thanks.

(and, her myspace lists the band name as "The Devil and Abbe May," is that the right order, or is it the way you posted?)

[gospel]

Ah, brainfart on my part.

Pearl and the Beard – God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson

MySpace
"Will Smith Medley" (YouTube)

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“Sweet, gentle and scrumptious, the music of Brooklyn trio Pearl and the Beard conjures up lazy summer afternoons at just the time we need that kind of thing most. The group consists of just three souls—Jocelyn Mackenzie, Emily Hope Price and Jeremy Styles—but its sophisticated vocal harmonies and crafty arrangements make a big impression on the combo’s recently issued debut CD, God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson.” – Time Out New York

“Pearl and the Beard is modern folk at its most graceful. Sans pretense and fresh with tangled harmonies… their simple lyrics are lifted with airy, soul-turning melodies yet reasoned by earthy sounds. It’s unique and exceptional.” – The Soho Journal

“…shades of Gothic troubadour Will Oldham” – The Washington Post

“…Good, honest, sweet and soft… the interplay between the singers is the highlight of this act’s potential.” – The Deli Magazine

“Quirky Brooklyn folk trio Pearl and the Beard… is a breath of fresh air in New York’s cluttered music scene, and they’re well on their way to success” – BreakThru Radio

“Pearl and the Beard’s gentle folk melodies and graceful, cohesive harmonies beg to be listened to.” – Alyssa Rashbaum (Spin, Vibe, Rebel Spirit, etc.)

[smack that isaiah]

Oh my god, that Will Smith Medley is AMAZING (The dude (The Beard?) has a very nice voice, and I love the cello).  My roommate absolutely loves Will Smith, and I just showed that to him as he's planning on going to bed. 

I guess I'm gonna grab their album, too.  (Please tell me the Medley is on the album, or at least that I can find it to download somewhere)

[Touch Me Im Sick]

Crap, Mass of the Fermented Dregs is amazing 

[gospel]

Oh my god, that Will Smith Medley is AMAZING (The dude (The Beard?) has a very nice voice, and I love the cello).  My roommate absolutely loves Will Smith, and I just showed that to him as he's planning on going to bed. 

I guess I'm gonna grab their album, too.  (Please tell me the Medley is on the album, or at least that I can find it to download somewhere)

It's not.

http://www.box.net/shared/cz2lpdbe95

[vickster]

Tom Waits - Glitter and Doom [Live] 2009

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[MrSteevo]

Meat Draw - Fin Du Monophone

Myspace

The sophomore release from Vancouver’s Meatdraw is one rowdy celebration of gospel-tinged pop rock that pleads high spirits, open ears and moving feet. The group, led by brothers Marco and Stefan Bozenich, toy with a big-band sound by weaving sunny melodies, a ska-inspired energy and organic fireside songwriting through each track to lead listeners by the hand from finger-snapping lulls to positively fist-pumping highs. To put it plainly, Meatdraw’s music is about as happy as they come, and often ironically so; the opening track "Are We Gonna Die?", despite its ominous title, is upbeat and decidedly non-fatalist, as the title’s query is followed by “How’s it gonna end?” Fin Du Monophone is cheeky, unpretentious and a really fun listen.

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[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

More psychedelic black metal.  Mind-blowingly good.

Negura Bunget- Om

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Negura Bunget have always had a particularly interesting ability to capture the same sort of lugubrious drone so characteristic of the Ukranian black metal sound ala Drudkh or Hate Forest, while still maintaining a high level of harmonic compositions wrapped up in transcendental melodies that sweep up the listener and supplant them in a beautiful yet haunting soundscape of somber woe. The strong pagan tonalities of the music loosely comparable to earlier Borknagar go beyond being simply a facet of the lyrics, the entire product has an amazingly distinct sense of culture that undercuts everything, creating a tumultuous and intense backdrop to their quite distinct brand of emotionally feral black metal.

While they’ve always had a large dose of subtlety throughout their music, with past albums Negura Bunget seemed to have a fairly singular and clear cut direction, OM meanders playfully around, developing and expanding ideas, pondering its own purpose and nature, with each tumultuous passages coming and going as if a dream. "Epic" does not even begin to describe the stunning panorama this album entails. Negura Bunget’s mastery of their style of Romanian Black metal becomes increasingly apparent with each release.

The stylistic and dynamic variety present on OM is absolutely phenomenal. The versatility of the vocals from high snarls, lower sneers, and soaring clean vocals is an interesting parallel to the extremely tasteful implmentation of percussion, each musician effortlessly shifting seamlessly from raging blasts and lacerating guitar lines to more conserved moments highlighted by the implementation of unconventional instrumentation creates a lucid portrait of a band that is both capable of pernicious wrath as well as pedantic experimentation. The clear and warm production undeniably fits OM with a stripped down organic approach that gives the material room to breath and swell rather without the performance becoming clinical. In fact, the entire presentation is nothing short of breathtaking.

Albeit all of the material stands upon its own particular merits, each song plays an integral part in an infinitely greater whole, from the last moments dying echoes of the album openings lugubrious screams, “Ceasuri Rele” does a fine job of setting the atmosphere for the haunting ferocity to follow with the grandiose opening statement set by the ethereal “Tesarul De Lumini”. The progressive atmospheric cuts, “Primul Om” and “Norilor” and the large majority of “Cel Din Urmã Vis” rather than bogging down the album as simple filler or pure wastes of time, succeed at providing contemplative prologues to their subsequent tracks. The forlorn “Conoas Tãcutã” and the contemplative “Hora Soarelui” prioritize the implementation of folk influences, raising the tracks to the levels of spiritual journeys unto themselves, while the direct ferocity and relative overtness of “De Piatrã” are jarringly different, juxtaposed with the nearly avant-garde amalgam of tumultuous passages presented on “Inarborat” and “Dedesuptul” deftly reconcile and combine the phenomenal stylistic variety Negura Bunget wield.

I’ve always been curious as to why Negura Bunget haven’t received near the amount of widespread publicity and appreciation I believe they are quite in fact due, but for whatever reason, OM should finally cement Negura Bunget’s unconventional black metal and should place them amongst the current elites of the genre. This is an album that demands to be listened to; this is not a background album. The beauty is in the subtlety; it’s when the music has had enough time to work throughout your being that the brilliance truly hits you.