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jcknbl:
Ok, so I've talked about starting this before and a lot of people really liked the idea. So lets see if we can't make this work. The point is to create a thread where people can go to find new music so they don't have to clog the forum with independent requests (plus recomending music and writing reviews of stuff you like is a lot of fun). Now I'd like to keep this thread clean and organized. I think it would be cool if it actually looked like a recomendations list as opposed to a forum thread with a bunch of people listing random bands, albums and songs.

So assuming people actually participate I'm going to keep an updated index of everything in this post. To make that a little bit easier for me it'd be nice if everyone used something like the following set-up.

-Album
-Artist
-Genre
-Year
-Mood (People keep setting up threads asking for happy music, or angry music, etc.)
-Other Bands this sounds like
-Summary/Review/Trivia/Whatever You Want
-Include Album cover pics if you want

Some other guidlines:

-Don't post albums that are already on Jeph's rec list.
-Don't repeat albums already mentioned on the thread
-Try to keep it to one post per-person per-page. Edit your initial post to include updates and either put "UPDATED AT x:xx time" where I can see it or pm me about your update. This is just so I can keep an index.
-Try to keep the thread clean. Don't have random conversations here. If you have to post random comments about the thread instead of participating in them either delete or clear the message after everyone has read it. The fewer posts that aren't recomendations the better. This is just so people can actually use the thread and find what they're looking for instead of wallowing through arguments about Deerhoof.

Thats it. I promise I'm not actually anal, just trying to make this work. Recomend away.


* If this actually works it would be really great if a mod could sticky it. Assuming thats possible.

Table of Contents

1. The Hammered
-Bad Moon Rising- Sonic Youth, 1984: Experimental Rock, Noise Pop/Rock, Indie Rock (hazy-sounding and dark)
2. Onewheelwizard
-Welcome to Sky Valley- Kyuss, 1994: Stoner/Desert Rock, (big)
-Feathers- Dead Meadow, 2005: Psychedelic Rock (Trippy)
3. Greenlikejuly11
-Two Years and Thirty Minuter- Mark Schwaber, 2004: Indie Pop/Rock with folk influence (happy, bittersweet)
-The Killing Card- Mark Schwaber, 2006: Indie Pop/Rock with a Hardcore tinge (a little dark)
4.Amok
-Hold Your Colour- Pendulum, 2005: Drum 'n' Bass with a heavy trance influence throughout (upbeat)
-Matter & Form- VNV Nation, 2005: Futurepop (Upbeat, Contemplative, Optimistic, Warm)
-Lost Alone- Mind.In.A.Box, 2004: Progressive Futurepop(Dark, Contemplative, Regretful)
-Qntal II- Qntal, 1995: Neo-Folk/Darkwave (Almost all. Largely positive.)
-This Is My Battlefield- Panzer AG, 2004: EBM (Angry/Angsty, Combative, Defiant)
-The Failure Ephiphany- Unter Null, 2005: EBM (Angry/Angsty)
5. Khar
-Ultraviolence Uber Alles- The Count Nosferatu Kommando, 2002: Industrial Black Metal (Misanthropic, hateful, angry)
-Radio Ixtlan- Ewigkeit, 2004: Industrial/Progressive Rock/Death Metal with significant tribal and folk elements (upbeat)
-Nattens Madrigal: Aate Hymne Til Ulven I Manden- Ulver, 1997: Extremely harsh black metal (bleak, sorrowful, enervating, even beautiful)
-Themes From William Blake's 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'- Ulver, 1999: Experimental electronics/eclectic (Thought-provoking)
-Hardangervidda- Ildjarn + Nidhogg, 1999: Ambient keys (Peaceful/blissful)
6.Misereatur
-Erik Truffaz, Mid 90's- Current: Jazz (Chilled out)
7. Jcknbl
-Loveless- My Bloody Valentine, 1991: Shoegaze, Noise Pop (Warm, calming, mysterious, dreamy)
-Arular- M.I.A., 2005: Dancehall, hip hop, electronica, so many (Fun, very political, extremely dancable)
-No Kill No Beep Beep- Q and Not U, 2000: Post-Hardcore, Dance Punk (Energetic and Contemplative)
8. Pat101
-American Water- Silver Jews, 1998: Indie Rock, Alt-Country (familiar, relaxed, lonley)
9. Luke C
-...And Justice for All- Metalica, 1988: Thrash Metal (angry and aggresive, some mellow)
10. Dancarter
-VIVIsectVI- Skinny Puppy, 1988: Industrial (Angry or downright scary)
-Solutions for a Small Planet- Haujobb, 1996: Industrial Dance/EBM/Cold Techno (Danceable cynicism about the future)
-The Dividing (enhanced version)- Android Lust, 2003: Industrial (Electronic and dark)
11. GreenMonkee
-Ágćtis Byrjun- Sigur Rós, 2001 (US): Post-rock, Shoegaze (melancholy--> brooding--> breathtaking and uplifting--> melancholy)
12. Storm Rider
-Elements- Atheist, 1993: Jazz-influenced death metal (really difficult to describe)
-The New Order- Testament, 1988: Thrash Metal (Aggressive, angry)
13. Praeserpium Machinarum
-Samme Stof som Stof- Under Byen, 2006: Somewhere between electronic chamber pop, noise rock + nowhere (mysterious, dreamy, dark, fragile, harsh )
14. DynamiteKid
-Give It Up For Rod Stern!- Rod Stern, 2006: Country/Folk (Perverted)
-Circles- Fony, 2003: British Metal (Dark/I can't believe what that fucking whore did to me)
-True Crown Foundation Songs- Lucky Nine, 2005: British Metal (dark)
-Powder Burns- Twilight Singers, 2006: Anthemic Rock (Blackly romantic)
15. Karl gambolputty...
-The Great Eastern- The Delgados, 2000: Baroque Pop (any)
-What Fun Life Was- Bedheads, 1994: Shoegaze (Introspective)
-Let It Be- The Replacements, 1984: Indie Rock (Inebriated)
16. Intelmole
-Mother- KUBB, 2005: Popish but unique (upbeat, mellows at the end)
-The Kooks- Inside Out, 2006: Indie (upbeat)
17. Ramenxnoodles
-Witness- Modern Life is War, 2005: Hardcore (angry, sometimes uplifting)
18. Tommydski
-Power Out- Electrelane, 2004: Rock (Mercurial, Wistful, Subtle)
-Owls-Owls, 2001: Rock (Exuberant, Bright, Inquisitive)
-Libertine- Silkworm, 1994: Rock (Visceral, Melancholy, Wry)
19. Timehat
-Tango Zero Hour- Astor Piazzolla, 1986: Tango Nuevo (Sophisticated)
20. Merkava
-This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About- Modest Mouse, 1996: Indie Rock (ups and downs)
-Emergency & I- The Dismemberment Plan, 1999: Rock with a variety of influences (Spastic, volatile, moody, solemn)
-Source Tags & Codes- ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, 2002: Indie Rock/Hardcore (Epic, bombastic, harsh, beautifu)
21. Minkles
-Alligator- The National, 2005: Indie Rock (Melancholy, reflective)
-Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?- The Unicorns, 2003: Freak Pop (Weird, cheerful, energetic)

The Hammered:
I'll post a couple albums here. Let me know if I screw it up somehow. Also, this has a somewhat small and generally relatively mainstream selection that most people will know about. This is mainly because I only actually started listening to music fairly recently and don't have massive knowledge of obscure bands, and when I do know about a band, I often haven't actually heard them much or at all. So, sorry if this is all stuff everyone knows about.

Actually, I decided I'll add some more later. I'll just leave it at the Sonic Youth album for now.

First, Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising
Genre: Experimental rock.
Year: 1984.
Mood: Mostly hazy-sounding and dark, though it's not uniform.
Other bands this sounds like: Not sure.
Review (sorry for the long-windedness, but I enjoy going on about it. I couldn't limit myself to a few sentences. I also apologize for my tendency to drool over this album.):
Sonic Youth's second full-length album (third if you count their debut EP). The songs here flow together, taking only the necessary break at the end of side A (or where that would come on the vinyl, if you're listening on CD) and right before the final song. It almost gives the impression of a concept album, or would if there were any discernable theme or story tying it together. At any rate, with the exception of the songs added with the reissue, which aren't part of the album proper, it all feels very unified and really demands to be listened to in one sitting, while concentrating on the music.

The songs here are generally hazy, as I mentioned before, and the lines between one song and the next are blurred. The guitarists are oftener interested in making atmospheric, strange noises and feedback than playing conventionally; even when they play anything you could call a melody or a riff, it's usually fragmented and brief. Often the songs turn into minimalistic instrumentals, often made up only with feedback and other guitar noises, though these are by no means uninteresting. One of the best and creepiest is the 2+ minutes of droning feedback that opens "Ghost Bitch," with the guitars making eerie, high-pitched squeals before disappearing as a low, droning foghorn-like sound repeats along with some kind of crashing noise, leading up into Kim Gordon's spoken chant.

The other thing that bears mentioning is the ending. After "Justice is Might," probably the weirdest non-bonus track song on the album, slowly dissolves and fades away, "Death Valley '69" roars to life as easily the most (and really only) "rocking" song on the album, almost completely different from everything before it. It's really an incredible finale, preceded as it was by such trance-like music.

The reissue, as I've mentioned, adds a few other songs. Aside from Halloween and Echo Canyon, I don't find them particularly interesting. However, Halloween's a very good song, sounding creepy and seductive at the same time, and Echo Canyon is, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the CD, although way too short.

onewheelwizzard:

Album: Welcome to Sky Valley
Artist: Kyuss
Genre: Stoner/Desert rock (Kyuss preferred the latter, everyone called them the former)
Year: 1994
Mood: Picture a 100-foot-tall monolith of an amp in the middle of a desert.  It's very ... big.
Similar Bands: Black Sabbath, Sleep, Slo Burn, Unida, Yawning Man, Queens of the Stone Age's self-titled album  (Side note: of these similar bands, 4 are projects involving Kyuss members)
Review: This was Kyuss's third album, and its first with bassist Scott Reeder, who makes his presence very impressively known.  There are 10 songs overall, but the album is organized into only three tracks, an attempt to get listeners to listen to the entire album "without distraction," as the liner notes advise.  Overall, it's a pretty perfectly constructed series of songs ranging from insanely heavy slabs of sludge ("Asteroid") to tripped-out explorations ("Space Cadet") to driving riff rock ("100 Degrees"), and there isn't really a weak point the whole time (unless you count the hidden joke track they stuck at the very end, entitled "Lick Doo.")
Kyuss used a few interesting techniques to get their sound, which, as far as I know, is one that has never really been replicated (though not for lack of trying on the part of the entire stoner rock genre).  They tuned all the way down to C, and guitarist Josh Homme (remember, this is half a decade before QOTSA) played through a bass amp to get the sound he wanted.  Anyone can do that, though ... the real reason they're so good is the utterly undeniable groove that permeates every track.  This was Kyuss's peak, and at the time this was released they were arguably the best live band in the world ... anyone who saw them play and had anything to say about it certainly said so.


Album: Feathers
Artist: Dead Meadow
Genre: Psychedelic Rock ... I suppose.
Year: 2005
Mood: Trippy as hell for sure, heavy feel without being metal
Similar Bands: I can't think of anyone who actually sounds like them, but comparisons can definitely be made to My Bloody Valentine and Black Sabbath, if that tells you anything
Review: This is the 4th and latest of Dead Meadow's albums.  Their sound is defintely different than it was for the first three, mainly because there's a 2nd guitarist in there but also because they left one of their fuzzier pedals at home for this one and it's a much cleaner sound (personally, I tend to prefer their earlier, fuzzier stuff, but this is not only their most accessible album for the majority of you folk reading this, but it's also the most consistant and polished).  This music definitely ... swirls.  Lead guitarist Jason Simon is straight-up the best wah-pedaler since Hendrix.  His guitar sounds like what the best kind of drugs feel like, and with his vocals floating over an absolutely killer rhythm section and a new like-minded guitar sidekick, the end result is hauntingly beautiful throughout.  The only time the album falters is during the second-to-last track, which consists of the drummer laying down a furious barrage of ... the exact same thing for 2 minutes (and it sounds longer than it is).  It's worth it, though, because the following 14-minute journey, a rerecording of a song from their first album, might be one of the 5 best extended-jam album closers in history.
Oh, one other thing.  Stephen Malkmus really, really likes this album.  Like, really likes it.

greenlikejuly11:

album: two years and thirty minutes
artist: Mark Schwaber
year:2004
genre: indie-pop-rock with a minor folk influence
moods: happy sounding music, bittersweet lyrics. in that way similar to death cab. autumn music for walking around
similar bands: lou barlow, death cab, elliott smith
review: this is the first solo album by my friend mark, who has been playing around the pioneer valley since he was like 18 or something... amazing fingerpicking and great lyrics too, it's hard for me to believe he ain't famous. he recently won a local song writing competition too. you can check out some of his stuff on www.myspace.com/markschwaber1

also, logically


album: the killing card
artist: mark schwaber
year: 2006
genre: indie pop rock with a hardcore tinge to it
mood: still similar, but this album is darker, definitely more of a winter kind of deal
similar bands: it doesn't really sound like anything else i've heard...
review: i don't really know what to compare this to... pop rock with harcore guitars layered under some of the tracks, but it still works amazingly well. joel from killswitch engage is on one of the tracks, and overall it's a haunting, beautiful album

amok:
EDITED ONCE: 28/04, late evening. Will add more next week as promised.

Gonna go for range of genres here, with a focus on electronica, and try and pick my faves from each style rather than be too comprehensive.



-Album: Hold Your Colour
-Artist: Pendulum
-Genre: Drum 'n' Bass with a heavy trance influence throughout. Quite diverse.
-Year: 2005
-Mood: As with most D'n'B, mainly upbeat - guaranteed to put you in a good mood. However some songs (especially the title track) are melodic and emotional so it suits solo listening as well as party play.
-Other Bands this sounds like: I'm not well versed in D'n'B so no direct comparisons.
-Summary: A blistering mix of frenetic beats, driving synth melodies and impressive lyrics with vocal delivery to match. If you have even a passing interest in electronica, or have been listening to Sufjan too much recently and want to try something different, pick this CD up. It won't change your life but it's a breath of fresh air considering how stale the electronica scene can seem to an outsider. Inventive, varied throughout and utterly enjoyable in various different settings. 10/10.



-Album: Matter & Form
-Artist: VNV Nation
-Genre: Futurepop
-Year: 2005
-Moods: Upbeat, Contemplative, Optimistic, Warm (you'll know what I mean if you listen)
-Other Bands this sounds like: NamNamBulu, mid-period Apoptyma Berzerk, Code 64, Evil's Toy's Silvertears CD
-Summary: VNV Nation are pioneers of the futurepop genre, indeed it was their vocalist Ronan Harris who coined the term. One of the most lauded and popular bands in the style, they fuse balls-out danceability with warm synths and emotional (sometimes admittedly cheesy) lyrics. Their latest release is possibly their best, combining the classic VNV blueprint with a move into more melodic and slightly experimental territory. Though not the finest release in the genre, an essential record for any electronica enthusiast. 9.5/10



-Album: Lost Alone
-Artist: Mind.In.A.Box
-Genre: Progressive Futurepop with influences from other electronic genres throughout.
-Year: 2004
-Moods: Dark, Contemplative, Regretful, with occasional pumped-up trance interludes. A good mix. Negative in mood while not being downright depressive.
-Other Bands this sounds like: While it'd be easy to reel off a list of influences and close neighbours, MIAB really are in a class of their own.
-Summary: Once in a blue moon, a new band comes out of absolutely nowhere and puts out a first record which sets the benchmark for all its peers. Mind.In.A.Box's Lost Alone was that record in 2004. No other band has fused dark EBM beats and addictive trance sequences so seamlessly, or made such hauntingly emotional use of vocorders, before. An album which will both grab you at first listen and offer further delights every single time you play it again. There's just no words to describe what this band have done, so I'll leave it there. Pure perfection. 10/10



-Album: Qntal II
-Artist: Qntal
-Genre: Neo-Folk/Darkwave
-Year: 1995
-Moods: Pretty much the whole damn emotional spectrum. Largely positive.
-Other Bands this sounds like: Deine Lakaien, L'Ame Immortelle
-Summary: Medieval songs in their original reinvented in a Darkwave fashion by a band who meld genuine medieval string instruments with electronic drumbeats and ambient synths. The focus of Qntal will always be the hauntingly beautiful operatic vocals - and having had the honour of seeing them play live I can assert that there's no Pro-Tools at work there. If anything, the ever-so-slightly flat production of this record only does her voice 99% justice. Still, their sophomore record was possibly their finest work to date, and a good starting point for the band. The song "Palestinalied" has been a favourite of many neo-folk bands including genre legends Corvus Corax; my personal favourite version of this song is track 2 on this here CD. 9.5/10.



-Album: This Is My Battlefield
-Artist: Panzer AG (third project of legendary Icon Of Coil/CombiChrist vocalist Andy Laplegua)
-Genre: EBM (fuck off, it's not dead)
-Year: 2004
-Moods: Angry/Angsty, Combative (funny, that), Defiant
-Other bands this band sounds like: CombiChrist, KMFDM, Unheilig, Grendel, Amduscia
-Summary: So, Panzer AG's new album is released in a week. Having had a chance to listen to and be thoroughly disappointed by it, I thought I'd revisit their ear-destroyingly awesome first CD and hopefully inspire others to as well. This isn't a particularly complex or ingenious record. What it is is one of the best reproductions of sheer unfettered anger in musical form I've heard in recent times. And yeah, you can dance to it (noticing a theme here eh. I'm a synthpop whore). While heavy, it's not distorted to the point of being irritating and unlistenable. Crank up the volume and enjoy having an angry Scandinavian dude shout at you for 70 minutes. 9/10.



-Album: The Failure Ephiphany
-Artist: Unter Null
-Genre: EBM
-Year: 2005
-Moods: Angry/Angsty
-Other bands this band sounds like: Grendel, Psyclon Nine, Hocico
-Summary: The 'cybergoth'/futurepop & EBM scene was fresh enough already in 2005, when out of fucking nowhere comes this blistering release from (rare, given the genre) an American artist. The vocals might initially grate but give the synths a chance to infect you and you'll be hooked. 9/10.

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