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[trr005]

I myself found this band only last year, which is too bad because they broke up in 2002.  But the excellent part of them still stands - their epic music.  Download this and you will be pleased.  I may upload some more later.

Karate - Some Boots (2002)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?qdmwnditziz


Karate | Some Boots (Southern)
In some ways, Karate’s fifth album revisits previous musical themes and, due to the inherent understanding that develops over time between such collaborative musicians, updates and improves on what has gone before. Less jazz-heavy overall than 2000’s ‘Unsolved’, vocalist/guitarist Geoff Farina mixes and melds a variety of styles to keep the listener on his toes. On opener Original Spies he begins with some funky chords and towards the end of the extended solo, introduces some great dub moments, recalling the Rolling Stones early ‘80s flirtation with the genre. Between these he pulls out some heavy single-note riffing, tremelo arm controlled feedback and classic blues-rock licks. The song also features one of his most assured vocal performances and customarily visual imagery. “I too want change,” he proclaims, “I’m not talking about faith; I will pay for evidence of the numbness and pain of anyone with guns, the money or planes.” Farina remains one of contemporary music’s most lucid lyricists, throwing out tongue-twisting lines like he does shapes from his guitar. The result is often compelling and involving, and, as with the ‘chorus’ of Original Spies, carries a hefty emotional punch – “With trusty foresight will the sun still rise? / Will strained new days, saturated with strange / Contain your relocated slang and those incredible eyes?” On First Release Farina mourns the passing of a golden age and the music that provided its soundtrack. “Come’s still around but the band doesn’t play… / When I’m alone I want to feel like a kid getting stoned / Only to keep things a little more clear / Just to be able to hold on to a simple idea.” His lyrics here are reminiscent of the intimate four-track musings of his first solo album, ‘Usonian Dream Sequence’ and more conventionally narrative than much of his work. I’m reliably informed that Ice or Ground? details a ‘dialogue between two long-time political activists who challenge each others’ ideals by responding to Newt Gingrich’s recent sentiment that Afghan citizens will be thankful to the United States Government because the (then-) ensuing war will surely result in indoor plumbing for most of Middle Asia’ (thanks to the press release for that). What I can say with some certainty is that Stevie Ray Vaughan would be proud of the boy Farina’s chops on this. The laid-back South is a rumination on “lazy angels” over caressed cymbals and jazz shapes, and In Hundreds sees a return to a more aggressive, almost math-rock structure. With soul of course. One of the album’s shortest tracks, Airport is classic latter-day Karate, jazzy guitar (the solo avec wah-wah), Jeff Goddard’s loping bass line and Gavin McCarthy’s immaculate drum patterns, perfectly matched. McCarthy is superb on the following Baby Teeth too, hi-hat intro giving way to around-the-kit rolls and fills, punctuated with ‘choked’ cymbals, Farina back on wah-wah duty and linking it to the previous song lyrically too – “I miss them as much as they miss me” from Airport reworked as “I am missed. You are missed.” The album’s longest cut, Corduroy, takes its time, meandering guitar figures and lazy ascending/descending chords drift on barely audible percussion before a snapped snare and a spiteful, tremelo-friendly solo from Farina break the spell midway through its 8:44 duration. To close, the band choose their shortest song of the set, Remain Relaxed a soothing three minute ballad set “on Autumn’s edge out near the woods,” with an elegant guitar break as clear and crisp as the November air. It’s a subdued ending to as varied and intense an album as Karate have thus far produced; they remain a unique voice within the ‘indie-rock’ realm they find themselves conveniently bound to.
Matt Dornan
CWAS #11 - Autumn 2002

[michaelicious]

Karate were a really special band.

[PhQnix]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?2m10liwknet
Show Me How The Spectres Dance by Liam Frost & The Slowdown Family

I stumbled across one of Liam's singles on a compilation album in about 2006 and from then on I've always had an affinity for this album. It's not necessarily breaking new ground, musically most of this has been done before. However, the joy for me in this album is within the lyrics - tender, raw and emotional lyrics which talk of all the topics music is supposed to deal with. I can't really explain my love of this record so this is a link to one of the few reviews I could actually find. It's my first post in this thread after shamelessly following it for ages, I do hope I have followed all of the rules correctly.

[kanavazk]

Okay, so I decided I want to contribute to this thread. This album is new and I really enjoyed it, and I'm not really good at defining the genres of bands or anything so I'm not going to try.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

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http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zzy2uznxykfFrom Pitchfork (on Wind Phoenix):

There's a certain strain of indie rock that excels at exuberance. From Built to Spill's "In the Morning" to Modest Mouse's "Doin' the Cockroach" to Pavement's "Stereo", you can get some serious uplift from chiming guitars, a ramshackle rhythm section, quiet/loud dynamics, and a dude who's ready to put it all out there vocally, even if he's not Jeff Buckley. New York's Cymbals Eat Guitars, whose remarkably assured debut album Why There Are Mountains came out digitally recently, understand something about the infectious spirit of that era. Mountains' "Wind Phoenix" is just a bit over five minutes long, but it feels like three great songs climbing all over each other that somehow manage to exceed the sum of their parts. Opening with a jubilant horn refrain, it skips along on a tuneful melody, slows down, ramps up to a climax, sticks with it for a while, and then crashes back down to its opening section. It's breathless, forceful, loose but not sloppy, and brimming with a sense of joy. Singer Joseph Ferocious says something about an "Ikea finery" and watching Notre Dame; the details aren't all clear, but you get a sense of someone fighting hard to get it all in. With so many ideas and feelings spilling out at once, there's not a song built that can quite contain them.

Their Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cymbalseatguitars

[trr005]

Karate were a really special band.

I fully agree

[VSnaresFreak]

alright i just uploaded an album but apparently now you cant post direct links unless your a Pro member? whats up with that?

[pulpfiction21]

The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up - Picks Us Apart (2005)

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http://www.mediafire.com/?2nzkjmktyvy

The California/Washington quintet's third full length finds the band's music moving towards the up-tempo side of the spectrum while the subject matter becomes bleaker. "A sonic universe gently compressed into a moody snow globe," swoons the SF Bay Guardian, "Picks Us Apart is the Jim Yoshii Pile-Up's finest moment, and clearly one of the best albums of 2005."

velveteen - Home Waters (2007)
This was the band that was part of the whole "Narrow Stairs" Death Cab april fools joke. They sound a lot like death cab, but there are a couple of songs on this album that are constantly being played on my mp3 player.

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http://www.mediafire.com/?rgn0emkomnm

From Punknews

German indie rock band Velveteen received a ton of press when blogger Jerome Holeyman leaked what the public thought to be Death Cab for Cutie's new album, Narrow Stairs, earlier this year. It was actually Velveteen's 2007 full-length, Home Waters, but Charlatantric's prank worked because Velveteen carry enough similarities to make such a joke believable.

Here's the thing: Home Waters itself, regardless of the devastating parallels to Death Cab, is a really, really good album.

One of the deciding factors is vocalist Carsten Scheauff, whose hushed voice is often a dead ringer for Ben Gibbard's, perhaps circa Something About Airplanes or The Photo Album. Besides that, his lyrics also employ the occasional scene with picturesque reality. In lo-fi opener "Prologue: Plastic Cups," he softly narrates: "I held your hair while you threw up / and dragged you down the stairs. / And outside we cracked plastic cups / and I drank from your can."

Musically, Velveteen are treading similar ground as well, but one can certainly see elements of Built to Spill or Appleseed Cast -- after all, Velveteen seem to be masters here at pairing plaintive vocals with sparkling backgrounds. Everything is understated, even when they lightly create buildups or splash their songs with atmosphere; in any event, it's fairly gripping.

Like Death Cab's "Styrofoam Plates," there's a candidness and emotion here that hits its peak in tracks like "After the K.M. Tapes" and the record's late practical masterpiece, "Firework Special." You look forward to hearing Scheauff's somehow restrained urgency delivered in couplets like "So it's all captured on your four-track / and I can still recall all the fun we had." "Summer of 88" is a potential college radio hit, and its followup, the aforementioned "Firework Special" is an extensive, explosive and overwhelmingly emotive affair.

When you get past the fact that Velveteen is potentially cribbing a number of ideas from the current American giants of the style, you realize that they've nonetheless fashioned them into a delicate, arching and impressive way themselves.

Uzi & Ari - Headworms (2008)
Great Indie/Electronica stuff

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http://www.mediafire.com/?ktguom2mhwl

This Salt Lake City based band is a project spearheaded by Ben Shepard - no, not the GMTV presenter, this is a talented, unique multi-instrumentalist. Named after Ben Stiller’s kids in The Royal Tenenbaums, one would expect this to be another one of those twee indie-pop girl/guy groups. In reality, they are a determined five-piece outfit that melds shoegaze sensibilities with electronica and layered melodies. Recent times have been harsh for the band. Shepard was recently hit by a couple drunks who fled the scene and left him with a busted car. Then $4,500 worth of equipment including instruments, processors, and synthesizers got stolen from his house. Thankfully the band has chosen to soldier on and these mishaps did not delay the release of Headworms.

Uzi & Ari have already been gaining acclaim in Europe — which isn’t too much of a surprise, especially with Shepard’s Thom Yorke-esque vocals and the band’s Mum-reminiscent electro-tinkering. Shepard is a writer and musician of considerable talent, making an indelible mark with the rousing strings and guitar chug of Missoula, following up with the Radiohead-meets-Beirut brilliance of Wolf Eggs. From this point onwards the album seems to switch between poignant chamber pop composition (populated by violins, glockenspiel and piano) and twanging romps, often changing mood within the space of a single song. Shepard’s instrumental configuration isn’t too far from Sigur Ros-style grandeur, but the band always manage to keep a lid on the scale, maintaining a sense of intimacy on tracks like Magpie’s Monologue and Thumbsucker. Elsewhere, you’ll find highlights in the staccato brass and skittering electronic beats of Comforts, which makes for a highly successful and very unusual combination of sounds, putting a lightly experimental slant on the band’s chamber pop stylings.

While Headworms garners an “electronica” tag, it is as much pop — melancholic, sadly trodding and homespun pop music of and for people who like to stay at home and dream up their own world. And while this kind of approach to pop music is paradoxically quite unpopular at the moment (the majority seem to want drug addicted girl singers with strange voices and Sixties soul beats), this kind of music needs time and that is probably the scarcest resource nowadays, even rarer than crude oil and fresh air. These songs need time to evolve until they are ready to be recorded, time to hone their arrangement to a crude sort of perfection and finally, but probably most important, time to be listened to.

Lifestory:Monologue - Hold Me In The Wind, My Friend (2007)

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http://www.mediafire.com/?yjdtzyvzmgt
Not my words

Simply beautiful to both the ears and the eyes, give these guys one listen and you'll be hooked on flawless musicianship, and the prettiest, most sincere heart felt vocals ever sang.

[kanavazk]

alright i just uploaded an album but apparently now you cant post direct links unless your a Pro member? whats up with that?

That's direct links to the files, not to the download page...

[Lwize]

Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender

For the uninitiated, if you can get past the vocals, Joanna and this album are awesome.

[youthcant]

I hope this isn't too mainstream:

Justice - A Cross The Universe

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http://www.m3gaupload.com/?d=UY496FP5

the dvd is really good.
you posted this the exact date i bought stumbled across the album/dvd at a record shop.

[HotwiredUterus]

Have some Japanese dream pop.

After After Hours by Sugar Plant

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?xmh0hxz1znl
also, does anyone have The Rosebuds Unwind? just asking.

After After Hours is an entrancing collection of hypnotic dream-pop. While the songs all blend together, Sugar Plant is about sound, not songs, and After After Hour certainly delivers with its fusion of droning electronics, ethereal vocals and pulsating strummed guitars

[edwinalink]

Per discussion on the listening thread:
Bitcrush - Epilogue in Waves

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?jvzwim0mo4m
It’s pretty much a given that an n5MD release is going to provide exquisitely recorded beauty and melancholy. Evolving from it’s original IDM roots it now can almost single-handedly lay claim to defining post-rock blends of electronics and instrumental rock. It comes as no surprise then, that label founder Mike Cadoo, going under the guise of Bitcrush, is capable of delivering an album that is a quintessential summation of where the label is currently at.

Acoustic drums with plenty of room reverb clang under the washes of synth and guitar drone, accentuated by electronic pulses and blips. The sound is huge, the epic-ness Cadoo strives for is achieved with aplomb. A spattering of vocal tracks - ‘Of Days’, ‘Epilogue To Tides’ and ‘To Drown’ add a layer of variety to the otherwise distant wall of sound aesthetic. “To Drown’ is also notable for it’s overt use of programmed rhythms, as opposed to the organic drums of the rest of the album. The album can have a tendency to wash over the listener in the wrong context, with it’s consistently languid tempos and simple chordal progressions but, in the right place - and I would suggest up loud and in the dark - its a moving and peaceful body of work.
(Review courtesy: Cyclic Defrost)

thank you so SO much! I'm still flipping out over this album!

now if only someone could be so kind as to show me a code for that "jaydiohead" thats still active.

that'd be a trip!

[edwinalink]

sad fact.

i had never used mediafire or even seen it in use.

until i downloaded that album.

call me a troglodyte. its okay.

[tuomas]

First of all: this post definitely does in no way represent the entirety of the german music scene. I just want to share some of the better recent acts that happened to make it into my record collection. I'm sure, there are a number of board-members who might contribute much more profoundly in that direction.

Blackmail - Bliss, Please (2001)


Readymade - It doesn't make sense (1998)


Slut - Still No1 (2008)

Thanks for these. I never got around listening to Black Mail, eventhough I had some high recommendations. Readymade and Slut are more familiar though I've gone bit off the boil with them. The older Slut albums where pure gold in terms of melancholy at the time they really fit the phase of my life back then.

[valley_parade]

The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up - Picks Us Apart (2005)

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?2nzkjmktyvy

Rawwwwrgh. I find this one everywhere. But I still can't find the first two. Somebody send me a PM if you've got them.

[Catacombs]

Excellent post, Ben, but i think there's something wrong with the Lemonheads album.  It said 'decompression failed' when i unzipped it.

[Bowers]

Karate - Some Boots (2002)

This is amazing.

[ptownblazer]

The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ng20v4njndg

Fucking...Awesome..

Wow.  Agreed.  This very, very, good.  That first track is one of the more exciting things I've listened to in a while . . .

[Metope]

Okay, yesterday I ended up talking about Monomen in Meebo, which is the band of some friends of mine, and then I realized I hadn't uploaded it in here yet. On their Myspace page they have placed themselves in the New wave / Shoegaze / House genre, and they describe their sound as "air in motion". So here it is, the Monomen LP (they have an EP out too, but I've managed to lose the actual disc and I can't find it on my PC either).

Monomen - Monomen LP

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?mzmmi3ywmzm

Also, here's the solo project of one of the guys in the band, Apes & Potatoes.

[trr005]

Karate - Some Boots (2002)

This is amazing.

Here you go
Karate - Unsolved - (2000)

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http://www.mediafire.com/?tugmykmzzlq

Karate | Unsolved (Southern)
Karate frontman Geoff Farina has a deliciously seductive way with words. Take “Soaked to that critical stage with the overdressed words of the well-meaning vague” (The Lived-But-Yet-Named) or better yet “Choked today on blank Tudor boldness as broken neighbours sucked through the seams of the shit they build with ostentatious walls” (The Angels Just Have To Show). You kind of know what he’s talking about, enough of it makes sense, but it’s the things that don’t, the spaces and little fractures in our understanding that make the lyrics so rich and beguiling. The band perfectly mirror the slow building anxieties of the narratives with an inventive combination of bass, drums and guitar - a jazz power trio who can rock with a savage intensity (Sever) or ease down low with a subdued, effortless fluidity. Farina’s guitar playing, especially, is a wonder to behold - not since Jerry Garcia has every note in a solo been so cleanly defined. The songs start slowly, Farina’s breathy, urgent vocals reminiscent in their phrasing of Donald Fagen. As the tension builds, the band begin to step away from the 4/4 verse-chorus format, taking instead the probing, questioning structures of jazz and cloaking their music in them. Most of the tracks brew this way until they peak with little explosions of sound. The closing track, the eleven minute This Day Next Year, is exemplary in the way it strains and reaches towards the meteor shower of drums that finally put it to rest. Somehow, Karate have found a new idiom in the tired old notion of ‘rock’ music. Not jazz-rock, with the mathematical pedantries of John McLaughlin and Pat Metheny, this is more like some madman’s idea of a cross between Lullaby for the Working Class, Steely Dan and The Minutemen, creating a fresh, heady brew that kicks ass without relying on noise and distortion. This is rock music. But not as we know it.
Stav Sherez
CWAS #7 - Spring 2001

[Catacombs]

Excellent post, Ben, but i think there's something wrong with the Lemonheads album.  It said 'decompression failed' when i unzipped it.

It failed for me also but I tried uploading it again and it worked for me. Hopefully fixed.

Thanks!  It worked fine just now.

[Bowers]

Here you go
Karate - Unsolved - (2000)

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?tugmykmzzlq

Thanks a lot but I cant open the file!
Apparently its invalid 
any chance of a re-up?

[trr005]

Thanks a lot but I cant open the file!
Apparently its invalid 
any chance of a re-up?

Are you sure it's not working?  I downloaded it and unzipped it myself to try it, and it worked fine for me.  Try downloading it again and if it doesn't work for sure, let me know and I'll hit you up with a re-up.

[imapiratearg]

Here is a mini-album by a now defunct Toronto-area band called Arcs. It is pretty amazing. Five dudes equally influenced by pop and punk (I guess maybe more 90s emo than punk) made an album, but it is not a pop-punk album.

This is everything Fall Out Boy could have been.  One of their vocalists even sounds a bit like Patrick Stump.

[pat101]

I'm surprised that this album hasn't been posted (In fact it may have been once upon a time ago...), a stone cold classic

Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus (1997)



The fact that this was released in 1997 still is surprising to me, it sounds completely ahead of its time. El-P, (who formed the usually awesome Def Jux Label) Bigg Jus, and Mr. Len's only group album is still one of the best 'underground'  hip-hop albums ever. To me it defines the entire el-p/def jux sound. '

pt. 1

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mywtmohmwmypt. 2

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?godjytdnnmq
All Music

Featuring material recorded over 1994-1997, Company Flow's official full-length debut, Funcrusher Plus, had a galvanizing effect on the underground hip-hop scene. It was one of the artiest, most abstract hip-hop albums ever recorded, paving the way for a new brand of avant-garde experimentalism that blatantly defied commercial considerations. Musically and lyrically, Funcrusher Plus is abrasive and confrontational, informed by left-wing politics and the punked-out battle cry "independent as f*ck." It's intentionally not funky and certainly not danceable; the beats are tense and jagged, and often spaced far apart to leave room for the MCs' complex rhymes. Bigg Jus and El-P's lyrical technique is so good it's sometimes nearly impenetrable, assaulting the listener with dense barrages of words that take a few listens to decipher. Even if this is all highly off-kilter, it's also a conscious return to hip-hop on its most basic, beats-and-rhymes level; hooks or jazz and funk samples aren't even considerations here. The production is spacy and atmospheric, often employing weird ambient noises and futuristic synths that clash with the defiantly low-budget production values. It's also quite minimalist, particularly on tracks like "Vital Nerve," which is basically just a three-note synth line over a beat, and the classic Indelible MC's single "The Fire in Which You Burn," where Co-Flow trades rhymes with the Juggaknots over a skittering beat and sitar drone. Other tracks have sci-fi and conspiracy theory undertones; some are set in an Orwellian dystopia, while some pointedly satirize corporate and capitalist greed. Yet there's also some straightforward realism, as on "Last Good Sleep," a frightening domestic abuse drama. Funcrusher Plus demands intense concentration, but also rewards it, and its advancement of hip-hop as an art form is still being felt. It's difficult, challenging music, to be sure, and it's equally far ahead of its time.

No hot-linking images or albums. You can re-host images at http://imageshack.us.

Ensure your tags are correct and that you have specified both Artist/Album in your post.

Upload your files in either a .zip or a .rar archive to mediaf!re.com, in multiple parts if the album is over 100mbs. The reason for this is that we know mediaf!re is safe and efficient and allows multiple downloads. The ads on other sites, such as Sendspace, are known to contain viruses on the page. Get yourself checked out.

Post your link using code tags. It's the # icon above the policeman emoticon. This prevents the links from being traced back to the forums, lowering the chance that the wrong people notice the thread, potentially threatening Jeph with legal action.

Also, please do NOT request albums.

Before you post in this thread, take a minute and consider the following:

Think of this as the community chest. Everyone is free and encouraged to contribute to it, with that in mind:

* This thread is for you to share  the music that you love for people who would normally not be able to access it. This is not an everything-goes-all-the-time mp3 blog.
* Think about what you are uploading. Is it easily available elsewhere and popular? If yes, is it really worth it to upload and post here?
* Have some self control. Is it really necessary to upload the entire discography of this band? Is it all really so excellent? If it is, don't worry. Whoever downloads this will surely realise this and look for more material on their own.

To return to the community chest, imagine you one day open the chest and everyone threw everything inside it. There's probably more things that you can use there now, but they are now buried in a mountain of debris and you'll likely miss the good stuff anyway! Imagine though, that you come to the chest one day and you find that everyone thought about what might best serve us all and the neatly placed it inside. This is what this thread should be.

[andshewas]

neko is out there.  no time to upload, just a heads up.

[kaelling]

Low - Trust

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?4ify0hemjqm

From AMG:

As the follow-up to Low's universally acclaimed Things We Lost in The Fire, Trust comes with a set of expectations that might be impossible to meet. To the band's credit, Low doesn't just rehash the territory they covered on their previous album; instead, Trust goes in several different directions, mixing dark, sweeping epics with smaller, unpretentious songs and eclectic productions (courtesy of Tchad Blake) and arrangements. It's Low's most diverse work yet, but as it turns out, also their most uneven, which is somewhat surprising considering how their previous album was both consistently inventive and familiar. The chilly, almost ominous tone that pervades Trust is also something of a surprise, compared to the relatively optimistic Things We Lost in the Fire -- the album-opener, "(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace," subverts one of the most reassuring hymns, offering only the cold comfort of twangy guitars and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's close, tentative harmonies. The band follows that song with "Canada," which, with its dense, fuzzed-out guitars and propulsive drums, is the most rock song they've ever done, and especially unique considering the electronic leanings Low displayed awhile ago. Most of Trust follows this pattern, alternating a slow, sinuous song with a brighter or lighter one. When this chiaroscuro approach works, it's impressive, but more often than not, it doesn't quite come off. Though some of the album's darker songs are compelling, such as the soulful, brooding "Time Is the Diamond," "Little Argument With Myself," and the droning finale "Shots and Ladders," a few are just too long and dirgey. "I Am the Lamb," an unusually anguished song even for Low, is too subdued to sustain attention at just over seven minutes, despite its slow-burning, funereal menace; likewise, "John Prine" has a doomed grandeur to it, but its eight-minute length doesn't pay off. On the other hand, Trust's lighter moments feel like breaths of fresh air compared to the more oppressive songs -- the fragile, trippy prettiness of Parker's "Tonight" and the sweet, campfire-ready "La La La Song" are equally beautiful and unpretentious, and all the more appealing because of that. It's not until the second half of Trust that it really gets off the ground, but once it does, it makes the lengthy preamble worthwhile. The subtle harmonica and banjo flourishes on "In the Drugs" and the Phil Spector-esque production on "Last Snowstorm of the Year" mix Low's steadfast melodic sensibilities with Blake's colorful approach, while "Point of Disgust"'s beautiful vocals and simple, piano-driven arrangement showcase the band's spareness at its best. While Trust is uneven, its high points still outweigh the occasional slip into boring, dirgey territory. Fans will certainly agree that a slightly disappointing Low album still has more going for it than most other releases.

Low - Things We Lost in The Fire

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http://www.mediafi!re.com/download.php?mddz5zem5qy
From AMG:

Over the course of their career, Low's glacially beautiful music has gradually melted into something much more accessible and intimate. The thaw culminates on Things We Lost in the Fire; despite its brooding title, it's the group's loveliest, most approachable collection of songs yet. Voluptuous strings, softly fuzzy guitars, and propulsive percussion suffuse songs like the sweetly melancholy opener "Sunflower" and the slo-mo pop of "Dinosaur Act" and "July" with a warmth and direction that Low's best work has always hinted at. Even the album's darkest moments, such as the tense, implosive "Whitetail," have more emotional urgency, heightened by Alan and Mimi's close, brooding harmonies. Yet Mimi's airy solo on the spare, undulating "Laser Beam" is equally spine tingling. Things We Lost in the Fire also features more of Low's understated stylistic experiments: The slightly jazzy harmonies and tempo of "Medicine Magazines" add a bit of swing to the group's usually steady rhythms, while "Kind of Girl" delves into earthy yet ethereal chamber folk. Breathtakingly gorgeous moments, such as "Like a Forest"'s pealing strings and poignant melody, and "Whore"'s build from delicate harmonies into a gently triumphant swell of guitars, vocals, and sparkling percussion reaffirm that Low have perfected and refined their sound. The finale, "In Metal," evolves from a melancholy ballad into one of the group's sunniest, most kinetic songs, mirroring the overall transformation of their music. A perfect match for its late-winter release date, Things We Lost in the Fire's slowly rising warmth and subtly hopeful tone not only make this Low's most cohesive, compelling collection, but one of 2001's best albums.

[Bowers]

Are you sure it's not working?  I downloaded it and unzipped it myself to try it, and it worked fine for me.  Try downloading it again and if it doesn't work for sure, let me know and I'll hit you up with a re-up.

yeah still not working,
Every time i try and open it with 7zip I get this message: 'can not open file...as archive'

 

[pulpfiction21]

I use 7-zip too and the Karate album worked fine. Are you rightclicking on the file, going to 7-zip, and then over to "Extract Files"?. Cause you said something about it saying "cannot open archive", you dont need to go over to "open archive".

[Bowers]

just tried that and the same thing is happening
I might try and re-download 7zip and see if that makes any difference

[trr005]

just tried that and the same thing is happening
I might try and re-download 7zip and see if that makes any difference

Hmm.  When you try re-downloading let me know...weird that it's not working though...

[TheFuriousWombat]

Two awesome albums!

Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Gore Motel


No allmusic review but basically this is what it would sound like if a group of German guys totally into doom metal decided to make a jazz album. Ultra dark, minimalist doom jazz results. Image you're wandering a foreign city at midnight in a blackout in a freezing rain and for some strange reason not a single soul but you is around...or is there. This album, the band's first, (and Bohren's other's too) would be the soundtrack to that night. Unlike their later albums, this one gets really loud and heavy while their later work is heavy in a ambient doom kinda way, really slow and dark and feature an ultra mournful, nigh funereal saxophone not present here. It's all fucking awesome though! I'll be happy to upload those if there's interest.

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Johann Johannsson - IBM 1401: A Users Manual

Jóhann’s stately and hauntingly melodic music has been quietly bewitching listeners for some time and his new album, IBM 1401, A User’s Manual - his most ambitiously-orchestrated composition to date – is sure to expand his audience still further.
Inspired by a recording of an IBM mainframe computer which Jóhann’s father, Jóhann Gunnarsson, made on a reel-to-reel tape machine more than 30 years ago, the piece was originally written to be performed by a string quartet as the accompaniment to a dance piece by the choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir. For the album version, Jóhann rewrote the entire score, and it was recorded by a sixty-piece string orchestra. He also added a new final section and incorporated electronics alongside those original tape recordings of the singing computer.

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[Elk]

Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

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[abel]

I'm surprised that this album hasn't been posted (In fact it may have been once upon a time ago...), a stone cold classic

Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus (1997)

niiiice!

[abel]

the budos band, a must have for any fan of funk or soul

the budos band    s/t           2005
 

The Budos Band are an "Instrumental Staten-Island Afro-Soul" outfit recording on the Daptone Records label. The band has eleven members (up to thirteen members at times) who play instrumental music that is self-described as "Afro-Soul," a term and sound which - in a recent interview - baritone saxophone player Jared Tankel elucidates as, being drawn from Ethiopian music the band had been listening to that had a soul undercurrent to it, which the band then "sprinkled a little bit of sweet 60's stuff on top" of.[1]
Jazz, deep funk, Afro-beat, and soul influences can be heard in the Budos Band albums, both of which are Daptone Records releases recorded at the label's own studio, Daptone's House of Soul, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Numerous other funk and soul outfits appear on the same label including: The Mighty Imperials, Sugarman 3, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, plus others.

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[Tom]

Sholi - s/t

Indie Rock, no matter how you attempt to explain, quantify and isolate its existence, it simply doesn't exist. There is no indie rock, there is only rock that attempts to be so much more than what everyone says they want, Sholi delivers this. Blunt, obscure, bleak yet existentially thought provoking. Drumming that doesn't seem to fit as it spills out like garbage, beautiful garbage in a big hot tranny mess. Melodies and hooks that spike sharply out of no where with sneaking low-key baselines. Rock music for and against the soul, meticulously crafted with delicate care, not overwrought but detailed with the past lessons of 'genres', artists and bands. Bavafa soulful voice blends into the aural texture of the songs with beauty and strength. Oh, and Greg Saunier produced it.

01 All That We Can See
02 Tourniquet
03 November Through June
04 Spy in the House of Memories
05 Any Other God
06 Dance for Hours
07 Out of Orbit
08 Contortionist

Payam Bavafa (vox, guitar), Jonathon Bafus (drums) and Eric Ruud (bass, vocals) are San Fransisco Bay Area three-piece Sholi. Basically these guys are the bestest ever and will send you a copy of the album at now extra charge if you donate to Encyclopedia Iranica, Doctors Without Borders, Peace Action West or Project Homeless Connect. More details here.

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I can't write about music, 

[onewheelwizzard]

I am digging on the DJ /rupture from a page or two back, like serious style.

Also, new Distance is boss.

And this Bitcrush is pretty fucking sweet too.

Basically what I am saying is that I feel indebted and will make good on my obligation tomorrow.

[Catacombs]

Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

<snip>

This is a great soundtrack, if you already don't have it/haven't seen the movie.  More soundtracks should be posted, IMO (not a request, just a suggestion).

[pulpfiction21]

Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

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Super classy pick!

[pulpfiction21]

Distrails - Virginia Creeper (2008)
Just really hauntingly beautiful music. I'm a sucker for pianos.

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    A unique fusion of piano, lush orchestration, layered sounds, and the phenomenal range of Jared Draughon’s melodic, haunting vocals. Jared Draughon’s mellow, beautiful voice is complemented well by Bitsy Pina’s hypnotic and complex piano themes.

    Distrails is a musical duo formed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

    The duo is composed of vocalist/guitarist/percussionist Jared Draughon,
    and classical pianist/composer/keyboardist Bitsy Pina.
    Textured, artistic and captivating,
    "Virginia Creeper" is a demanding album that flows seamlessly through eight memorable and unique songs.
    Distrails has just released their own album "Virginia Creeper" which they wrote and recorded themselves.

Empire! Empire! (i was a lonely estate) - When The Sea Became A Giant (2007)
90's Emo/Indie. If you haven't checked out this band yet, get on it.

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"Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate) might employ an over the top use of punctuation in their egregiously long band name, but once their beautiful instrumentation hits your ears, it might not matter…a band worth keeping an ear on in the coming times."

"The band takes the best parts of indie, pop, and a touch of folk to make their own unique sound. I’m pretty sure Empire! Empire! are a name you’ll be seeing later.”

Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I(2009)
I'm not a big fan of metal, but since this is instrumental and has a lot of post-rock feel to it, I really enjoy listening to it. It's not completely metal sounding, there are definitely lots of points where I don't hear any metal in their songs at all. This just came out today I think.

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Sol Eye Sea I is an easy sell for fans of instrumental rock and metal. Irepress continues to impress with a blend of off-time melodies, innovative song structures, and metalcore outbursts, but they inadvertently showed a weakness by fumbling the vocals. It might be a small complaint, but it's the one main factor between this album and complete praise.

Pianos Become The Teeth - Saltwater (2008)
genre: Screamo / Experimental / Indie. Similar sound to Saetia but IMO much easier to listen to.

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This is a review of their previous demo EP but it has alot of the same songs on it.

Born from the ashes of the seminal Cartel Cartel Lover, and Princes of Las Vegas, Pianos Become the Teeth is a difficultly labeled band from the Baltimore area. To Label Pianos as a "prog" or "indie" band is to betray their sound. Combining traditional post hardcore energy with the complexity of modern ambience, Pianos has created a sound that is truly original and refreshing. Their 2007 demo EP is a triumph of genre melding prowess; Contrasting chaos with calm, in only two tracks, it runs the gamut of emotion. "Idiosyncrasies" is an effects laden romp through the fields of post hardcore. The dueling clean and screamed vocals lay perfectly upon a soundscape of ambient guitars, beautiful keys melodies and frantic, but tasteful percussion. "All Children Make Mistakes" shows the band's "softer" side. Grabbing elements of post rock and electronica, it is evocative and beautiful. The piano motif coupled with far from typical guitar lines and roaring cymbal rolls, creates an unlikely but somehow perfectly fitting home for the emotive moans of Kyle Durfey. It is simply remarkable what Pianos Becomes the Teeth has been able to accomplish in only two songs, crafting a seamless sound of extremes, raising your heart rate and then cradling it back down just as quickly. Make sure to keep an eye on Pianos, lest you miss them take back the scene one track at a time.

[De_El]

SHOLI

That is a fantastic album cover and also the file has been removed.

[blackhole]

Hello!

I discovered this thread about a week ago and had promised myself not to post anything until I had read through all the pages, but it is much more epic than I had anticipated and I'm hardly even done with half of it.

I've leached dozens of albums so far from several genres (many of which were completely new to me) and as a token of appreciation I thought I would introduce you to a band which I think is really great and unlike anything you've heard  before (not trying to be cool I know this isn't an obscurity contest)

I hail from a tiny little country called Lebanon which, unfortunately, is more famous for its wars, political instability, etc... than for the artistic creativity of it's people. There is however a lot of wonderful music coming out of Lebanon including new experimental bands mixing traditional arabic music with more "modern", "western" musical influences...

My favorite band out of the Lebanese "Indie" scene is called Soapkills. Zeid Hamdan and Yasmin Hamdan combine traditional arabic music with electronic influences to produce this very mellow, relaxing and ambient album.

And now I present:



Soapkills - Cheftak

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I have only one more Soapkills album with me because I don't live in Lebanon and left most of my music back home... I have a few other cds you might find interesting (oriental jazz, rock...). I will be away these next 2 or 3 days but when I come back depending on your feedback (or lack there-of) concerning this album I just upped I might upload some more stuff.

Hope you enjoy it and thanks for an amazing thread!

[onewheelwizzard]

This man is Doing It Right.  (In addition to the impeccably worded post, I am also really enjoying Soap Kills.  Guys, get that album, it is fantastic.  My first comparison would be Thievery Corporation, and I really like Thievery Corporation.  And so should you.)

I upped a lot of DJ Krush a while back, and I think there was a positive reaction to that, so this seems perfect.  DJ Cam is an extremely strong artist in very much the same vein of abstract hip-hop turntable work, acid jazz, and trip-hop vibes.  These are some thick beats!  If you enjoy DJ Krush (or any other abstract hip-hop, downtempo, trip-hop, or acid jazz artists), DJ Cam is perfect for you and this album is indispensable.  It's a 2-disc set, and the second is apparently a live mix. 

DJ Cam - Mad Blunted Jazz

From Discogs
Mad Blunted Jazz is DJ Cam’s first US release, a 2-cd set consisting of his import album Underground Vibes and a live album, and it stands among the best downtempo ever. The beats are solid, hip-hop all the way, and the melodies are wonderfully dreamy with jazzy chords liberally applied. Even on harshly named tracks like “Suckers Never Play That,” there’s a delicacy and thoughtfulness to these tracks. “Sang-Lien” veers towards the darker side of the street; “Underground Vibes” stays there and languishes in the beautiful, murky gloom (the vocal sample is wonderfully apt). “Dieu Reconnaitra Les Siens” brings things back to a more upbeat feel, featuring a sample from Deee-Lite. On the live disc, obviously the production value isn’t as high as on the regular disc, but the tracks flow into one another, creating a smoky, “live club” atmosphere. But there are some surprises: the sitar hip-hop of “Gangsta Shit” and “London 1995,” which is essentially a drum ‘n’ bass remix of “Underground Vibes.” This is an essential release.

Part 1

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Following with another French-speaking artist (Cam is from Paris, but this guy's from Montreal), here's some Ghislain Poirier for you guys.  This guy is also sitting pretty squarely in the abstract hip-hop genre, although he draws from a few other genres (dancehall gets its way in there for instance), features a lot more rapping over his tracks (much of which is in French) and is a little more uptempo than DJ Cam.  Excellent stuff as well.

Ghislain Poirier - Breakupdown

Montreal-based producer Ghislain Poirier's music has been given the cutesy subgenre name "glitch-hop" by some, and vaguely irritating though that neologism is, it sort of fits. Imagine if Lil Jon got ahold of a bunch of Mouse on Mars and Oval records and you're more than halfway to the thudding, minimalist beats and cut-up electronic jingles that are the basis of Breakupdown. The instrumentals occasionally venture into the overstuffed mix'n'match aesthetic of DJ Shadow or Cut Chemist (one key exception being the spare, chilling "Close the News"), and linking interludes like "Té Wack" (a babbling freestyle in Quebecois French delivered in a goofily inappropriate gangsta rhythm) are fun but slight. But the meat of Breakupdown is in solid underground hip-hop tracks like "Cold as Hell" and "Nowhere to Run." For good measure, there's a pair of dancehall riddims featuring toasting by DJ Collage, one in English and another (the terrific "Riviere de Diamants") in French. There are so many different influences in Breakupdown that it occasionally threatens to fall apart; the fact that it never quite does is testament to Poirier's canny intelligence.

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[Scandanavian War Machine]

Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I

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^this is really fucking sweet. Sean, if you are reading this (i know you are), download this shit post haste.


also, i'm looking forward to that Ghislain Poirier. i heard one song by him a couple years ago but never found a whole album and had completely forgotten about him until now.

[onewheelwizzard]

Can I also give some MAD props to the Budos Band?  Hell yeah.

EDIT: I'm modifying this post a bit, well after the fact, to make a bigger deal about this album.  This shit is incredible.

[ledhendrix]

yeah Budos Band is the first thing i've got from here in ages and it's sweet.

[sean]

Pianos Become The Teeth - Saltwater (2008)

I actually just recently discovered these guys. They are really fucking good! I highly recommend these guys.

Danny I'll give those guys a peek (presuming you mean me sean).

[Scandanavian War Machine]

yes, i meant you.

i know how much you like this new fangled post-rock thing all the kids are talking about.

[Tom]

SHOLI

That is a fantastic album cover and also the file has been removed.

Fixed it.

[TheFuriousWombat]

More Bohren & Der Club of Gore, because the world needs more unbelievably bad-ass ambient doom jazz.

Dolores
Their newest album, came out last year. #1 on The Silent Ballet's Best Albums of the Year list (a rather impressive accomplishment and well deserved in my opinion). For the first time, there are glimmers of hope in the darkness. They're faint, but they are there. I can't recommend this enough!

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