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[Kyros]

That's pretty awesome.  I was kind of afraid Ryan Adams would ruin my favorite Superchunk song, but it's pretty solid.  Also nothing is more hilarious than TNV covering The Arcade Fire.

[ptownblazer]

Score!

Thanks Pat, you're my favorite poster  

Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free



part 1

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ydmjgqzydnn
part 2

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?atvjju2moxm
edit - got the chance to really digest this, and listen to it a few times in headphones.  i'll go out on a limb and say this will be on most top 10 lists by the end of this year (that's sarcasm, it's just that obvious).  easily their best album.  merriweather post pavilion's first real competition in the album of the year race, and it might just be "better" imho - but it's all just subjective opinion (is that redundant?).  blasphemy i know.  that's how i roll.  contrary for the sake of being contrary . . . maybe.  i've been accused of that before.  there's not a clunker on here though and my favorite tracks are bound to change, but initially "river" and "gravelly mountains of the moon" grab me, and "they will appear" is jaw-dropping, one of those spine-tingling middle sections with a slow-build up and when the back-beat kicks in, oh man . . . ok, for me this is better than mpp.  akron/family grew some balls and this album is so damn confident.

[scarred]

3 albums in at least as thrice as many posts? This is truly the worst page of MediaF!re ever.

Loop Guru - The Fountains of Paradise (1999)



While Loop Guru tends to lean more towards straight-up electronica, The Fountains of Paradise represents their first real departure from that formula. Thoughtful, melodic, conceptual, ambient, and thoroughly delicious. They borrow a lot from more middle eastern influences. This is a great album best digested as a whole... indeed, the songs flow so well sometimes you don't realize there's been a shift in track until a minute later. Trippy and delightful.

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

[pulpfiction21]

Yay!!! worst page ever!!!

[imapiratearg]

Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

Ohboyohboyohboy.

[Clintaga]

Yahoo! Back to Business/Pleasure!

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?jyqmnxmnnjzThe precursor to Bad Vibrations, this is a 2005-2006 release that gives you a slightly gritter feel from this totally skull crushingly good instrumental Post-Rock band.

And I just got this album, so YOU just got this album. See how fun it is to share?

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?y2w2i5mtdaq
This dude has a better review of this album (and Dubstep) than I could write, so here it is (bolded my favorite Parts):

British DJs invent new genres of electronic music as often as cubicle monkeys refresh their Gmail inboxes. Keeping up with these developments can be a chore, however, for us Yanks. We can’t tune in to pirate radio or trek down to a South London club on a Friday night to hear how a different drum machine or piece of wave-editing software has transformed last weekend’s hip sounds into even hipper sounds. Unless we’re willing to sift through crates of import 12-inches or devote extravagant portions of our weeks to message-board scouring, we’ve got to be dabblers – we’ve got to buy the Run the Road comps, to rest content with enjoying UK garage but not quite being able to explain it to our friends.

And we’ve got to latch tightly on to records like Burial. Those records that grant access to "exotic" subcultures and transcend their milieus. The LPs that work for the diehards and the dilettantes. Albums whose songs allude to scores of obscure microgenres and regional artists but also recall the work of internationally acclaimed pop acts.

For most of us, this debut full-length from a mysterious English producer (or producers) will serve as an introduction to dubstep, the most recent trend to emerge from the scenes that spawned garage and grime. Dubstep, as its name implies, emphasizes cavernous bass, so much so that its effects are lost on cheap stereos. Rhythms move in sharp, repetitious arcs, but most of the genre’s producers use slurred, stumbling beats to craft their grooves, which makes for some of the trippiest dancefloor fodder this side of Houston’s chopped-and-screwed hip-hop tracks. Dubstep is menacing stuff, texturally rich but also foreboding, asking us to give ourselves over to desolate tones and disorienting rhythms, to sounds that signify little that is pleasant or welcoming.

Maybe it’s easier to listen to this stuff on the subway or alone in your room than it is to dance to it. From the first notes of leadoff "Distant Lights," Burial recalls Arthur Russell’s most abstract emissions, which is to say this isn’t an album you put on for company. Disembodied voices echo through tunnels of low end that suggest Pole on codeine. Every instrument – and there aren’t many – in the upper registers sounds melted or short-circuited. Think of it as dub by way of Factory Records, each sound resonating lonely as Ian Curtis’s voice, each drum loop striking like A Certain Ratio’s staccato funk.

When this album saw release in the UK back in March, its home-listening potentialities lead critics to call it both a step forward for dubstep and a step away from dubstep. Burial certainly plays like a capital-A Album rather than a collection of dance cuts. Now that Kode9 and Skream have released impressive but ultimately less affecting dubstep LPs, it’s apparent that this album does indeed have something special going. Burial is a genuine event, a coming-out party for a style of music that will probably have run its course in a year from now. It’s also a record that stands to be remembered apart from its immediate context, one to be valued not as a subcultural apex but as a fully realized work.

EDIT: Found this, I think Edit posting is better than double posting.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zmqt2dtkomz
It's a 2005 EP from 65daysofstatic that I hadn't heard of and really enjoy. Can't get enough of there wonderful brand of Post-Math (Whatever).

[pwhodges]

Bruckner wrote some excellent choral music back in the 1880s, and some of it, like this mass, has only wind and brass accompaniment, or even, in the case of this motet, just trombones.  These pieces were recorded in Salisbury Cathedral (the most perfect of the gothic cathedrals of Britain; and what an acoustic!) at a concert I took part in back in spring 1993 when I lived alone in Salisbury after my divorce.  It was the first digital recording I ever made, having just bought a Sony TCD-D3 portable DAT machine.  

Why have I put it here?  I dunno - I just think it's fabulous if you like that sort of thing.  Go on, try it, why not?

Bruckner - Mass #2 in e & Motet 'Libera me'

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http://www.mediafire.com/?ti3dzmz42t2

[gospel]

I felt an urge so I figured I would share it.

John Spencer and the Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

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http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yo4nwnmiyvf
EDIT: sorry about the link, was multi-tasking/being retarded I guess.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

hows about a bit of icelandic melodic hardcore punk from 2003.  i'm pretty sure this is out of print - i don't have a hard copy myself, only ripped mp3s from a CDR that a mate of mine copied from his friend who owns the album.  i've only ever seen it at the band's gigs (i don't even know if they're still together), and at a second-hand cd market stall (would have bought it but i was skint at the time).  so yeah, pretty rare.  

reasonably good sound quality and some fucking awesome music.  "sparks" and "i wish" in particular are pretty impressive.


I Adapt - "Sparks Turn to Flames"  (2003)

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?3zmj4dgxeeu
fans of comeback kid and similar hardcore bands would enjoy this, although it's a little more raw.

[Avec]

The new Silversun Pickups album is looking good.

[Catacombs]

I'm pissed I haven't had time to sit down and listen to it yet, and then today MONO's new album came in the mail so it's being put further back 

[edwinalink]

Here's one of the most remarkable albums i've heard in the last couple of years - Elsiane's Hybrid. They're a duo based in Canada, & they're music is difficult to categorise; there are elements of trip-hop, jazz, electronica & even a whiff of neo-classical in their songs, but most remarkable is singer Elsieanne Caplette's voice, which is unlike anyone else i've ever heard. & on top of all that, it's just gorgeous - give it a try. Standout tracks are "Vaporous", "Hybrid" & - best of all - "Mend (To Fix, To Repair)".

Elsiane - Hybrid


[aac | 320]

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?zrmkydhngy1
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?mwtmmwlzltm

this kicks so much anus.

I mean this, ahab, bitcrush...

OMFUCKIN'G my life has again been made better by this thread. so many thanks to you i give!

[look out! Ninjas!]

I felt an urge so I figured I would share it.

John Spencer and the Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJBsuCfErQQ

Wilco are cool I guess.
(the link is to a youtube video of Wilco. Please fix this or something)

[valley_parade]

Here's a fun one for you guys. I've been listening to a lot of Stan Getz's bossa nova stuff lately.

Stan Getz - Voices

Getz worked yet another angle during the '60s with this appealing jazz combo and choral mix. He had already followed up a slew of straight jazz dates with some initial forays into the world of strings and, of course, his massively successful explorations of bossa nova. Now, Getz plies his melancholy yet breezy horn through a seraphic and somewhat haunting backdrop of subtle bossa rhythms, strings, and a wordless choir. While it doesn't eclipse his innovative work with arranger Eddie Sauter (the strings date Focus and soundtrack Mickey One), Voices still features a wealth of top arrangements, a fine backing group, and plenty of Getz's hypnotic brand of saxophone alchemy. Sporting charts by Claus Ogerman and the talents of such jazz luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Ron Carter, and Grady Tate, Voices may not qualify as an essential Getz disc, but it is one that will be enjoyed immensely by fans.

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

[pulpfiction21]

Picastro - Red Your Blues (2002)
Some may know this band because they are on Polyvinyl Records. If you don't, they play gothic/Folk with a Cellist and a female singer. Amazingly they still seem to make songs that are rather catchy, or at least to me. Probably my favorite band with a Female vocalist.

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?uzkyqyik2zd

Clocking in at just under 40 minutes, Picastro’s debut effort is the ideal listening time for a record that deals in melancholic landscapes and downtrodden atmospheres. It’s just long enough for you to envelope yourself in the sound and the feel of the record, while not being long enough that you find yourself bored or overly depressed. The band consists of Liz Hysen, Zak Hanna, Evan Clarke, and Rachel McBride. Hysen seems to be the unofficial leader of the group as she takes care of the vocals and songwriting duties. It is the electric guitar of Hanna, the drums of Clarke, and especially the cello of McBride that fill out the sound of the band and allow Hysen’s visions come to reality.


By the end of the first track the structure of the songs becomes apparent: moody interplay between strings (guitar and cello), rhythmic stabilization or punctuation, and subdued- almost monotone- vocals. While this structure yields some interesting results it is never truly broken out of and hampers the ability of the record to truly transcend the sum of its parts.


On “Mine” the guitar and cello both play delicately plucked melodies that mirror each other almost exactly. Hysen’s vocals ride in between these two driving lines awaiting some sort of break. The second verse features only the guitar and Hysen until the cello comes in once again playing a more legato melody that counterpoints the guitar nicely. It is one of the finest songs on the record because it is both simple and haunting. The entire time that the song progresses there is a feeling of impending dread, the arrival of something horrible could come at anytime.

Baby Panda - Avalanche Kiss (2008)
Shoegaze/Indie

This is Paul Gonzenbach's (The lead singer for The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, which I uploaded one of their albums a little while back) latest project. Avalanche Kiss is their second full length and it is amazing. The first song on the CD, Love Can't Touch You Now, absolutely blows me away every time I listen to it, which at times is back to back to back. There is a large focus on instrumentals, and Paul's voice never seems to bother anyone. Definitely check out if you like anything I've posted before, especially the Jim Yoshii Pile-up.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?ir2g4w1yueu

Baby Panda has put out another great LP. On Avalanche Kiss, Paul Gonzenbach, formerly of The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up, leads the band on 11 beautifully simple and inventive songs. Piano, strings, guitar, and drums back Gonzenbach’s elegant singing. Fans of Morrissey, Clinic, and Xiu Xiu will want to pick this gem up.

[pwhodges]

HEARING TESTS

I put this in another thread, but am copying it here for reference. 

Here is the web page describing how to use a CD of hearing tests.  And the following link is to a rip of the CD which I downloaded when it was free, in Flac format (it's split into directories, so you'll need to think slightly to make a CD if you need to):

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?iinyoedndwi
The same company also provides a range of free online tests.

[scarred]

Faunts - Feel. Love. Thinking. Of. (2009)



Post rock/Indie rock/Dream pop group from Alberta. Their 2005 debut High Expectations/Low Results was great. I've only heard a couple songs off this new one but it sounds absolutely awesome. Pitchfork has more to say:

Faunts score their most moving performances when their singers are at their most numb, and must rely on technology to fill in the blanks: the effects-pedal fireworks that close out the haunting "Lights Are Always On", or the quivering, pitch-shifted synth line that essentially serves as the wordless chorus for Amusch's "It Hurts Me All the Time"-- a track that, for all the contemporary bands dancing on Joy Division's grave, is one of the few to capture the glacial beauty of "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

Code: [Select]

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

[Mr. Mojo]

I haven't been on here in awhile but have come back to some good music. Anyway in return I've come across a lot of good stuff.

I'll start with "!!!". This album is called "Myth Takes". It's relatively hard to look them up considering that if you type in !!! in google you'll get quite a bit of nonsense. Anyway the band is very percussive sounding and very danceable.


Next I have this really cool live Black Sabbath album called "California Jam 74'". It definitely shows the peak of their performing, with blistering solos from Tony, even an amazing Bill Ward drum solo. Very Heavy.

Both albums are in this link
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a75bc8b5dbf2ed6e7432d3c9683f450ae04e75f6e8ebb871

[duallain]

I haven't been on here in awhile but have come back to some good music. Anyway in return I've come across a lot of good stuff.

I'll start with "!!!". This album is called "Myth Takes". It's relatively hard to look them up considering that if you type in !!! in google you'll get quite a bit of nonsense. Anyway the band is very percussive sounding and very danceable.

It's easier to look them up if you try, 'chk chk chk' instead of '!!!'.  Also, the album is stellar, tons of fun. 

[RedLion]

I still feel it needs to be closed and replaced with something a little tighter, or even just abolished altogether so people use more specialised threads to share music. I know neither of these things is gonna happen, so I'm going to make the best of the thread we do have.

It's really not that big of a deal to me, but I'm kind of curious: just what authority do you pretend to have? You've long seemed to be on some kind of crusade against this thread, which is certainly your right, but it gets very very old very very fast. I'm sure you already feel like you've addressed this point, but I don't think you have sufficiently: if it bothers you that much, why do you simply not partake of the thread? Why don't you just not have anything to do with it and not go near it? And if it really really bothers you that much and you simply cannot in any way condone it, you know you don't have to be a patron of this forum at all.

And if you and some of the mods are going to go into a shit-fit whenever someone dares to complain about the "rules" of this thread, then it really isn't worth it and it should be just closed down. Because what's happening right now is just death by 1,000 cuts.

[David_Dovey]

Both albums are in this link
http://www.mediaf!re.com/?sharekey=a75bc8b5dbf2ed6e7432d3c9683f450ae04e75f6e8ebb871

Oh geez man that is an awful, awful way to upload music. That is just dogshit.

[Orcusmars]

I think music is something that's more rewarding the more effort you put into it. Whether you're making it or just listening to it. The more you invest, the more you get out of it. Music is worth paying for, it's worth the work you put into it. This thread doesn't require effort, it doesn't require work, there's something that's definitely missing. There's download links here and very little else.

That's a little silly, don't you think? Considering the less-than-marginal profits that bands make off of the money you spend on an album (that is, of course, assuming they have a record deal), it has often been said that the best way to support underground music is to go to their show and buy a t-shirt. This idea that "the more you invest, the more you get out of it" makes sense, but at the same time you have to look at what that investment means for some people. I'm a college student, and I literally cannot stand to buy more than two albums a month - if I were to buy more, I would have to sacrifice rent, food, or utilities - and threads like this allow me to investigate new bands without having to feel like I wasted my investment every time I buy an album I dislike.

I hope I don't offend when I say that your opinions come off as fiercely elitist - it's true that this thread doesn't really require work, but at the same time, with the technology we have today, believing that music should require work is inefficient. The only thing it could achieve is a decline in the exposure that smaller bands get, while maximizing the profits of a dying business model. I understand your sentiment, and believe me when I say that it's a noble one, but it's also a little bit dated.

Now, with regards to your suggestion that we decentralize this model and attempt to open it up to musical discussion, I need only note that such discussions are currently happening in the Music Talk category. If you really want to have a serious discussion about music, then nobody's stopping you from making your suggestion a reality. You don't need to break up this thread to have meaningful discussions about music. Even with regards to your idea that a more focused approach would make interested parties more keen to the consumption of a particular artist, you fail to consider that anyone visiting this thread and downloading music probably knows their way around the Google search engine, and can find any information that you would ideally wish for them to have on their own, if they so desire.

In short, this thread is not necessarily destructive to the "process" of finding music. In fact, it may be even more helpful than an approach where everything is separate but in-depth. While I don't fault you for your misgivings about how the thread goes, I hope this can kind of sell you on not being a curmudgeon about it.

[sean]

guys basically all you should do is really appreciate the music you love and look at it as more than a file on your computer stuffed in your hard drive.

mass downloading contributes to depreciation of music. sometimes buying an album by your favorite band increases your appreciation. i think that's really it.

or am i as batshit insane as daz?

[sean]

actually fuck that either you guys stop quoting daz or i make all of you listen to gatefold by orchid. 18 tracks, boys.

[scarred]

All those in favor of creating a debate thread for this in another forum and leaving this thread for album uploads say aye!

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[look out! Ninjas!]

To be perfectly honest I think this thread should be only uploads, and then comments should go in the existing comments thread. It'd make it much, much neater and friendlier.

[Sox]

It's really not that big of a deal to me, but I'm kind of curious: just what authority do you pretend to have? You've long seemed to be on some kind of crusade against this thread, which is certainly your right, but it gets very very old very very fast. I'm sure you already feel like you've addressed this point, but I don't think you have sufficiently: if it bothers you that much, why do you simply not partake of the thread? Why don't you just not have anything to do with it and not go near it? And if it really really bothers you that much and you simply cannot in any way condone it, you know you don't have to be a patron of this forum at all.

As I've said, there's other people in this thread who seem to work with the idealist approach I think we should have towards this thread, whether it's intentional or not. And I'm not going to stop reading this thread to miss out on that, regardless of how many people disagree with my views. However, as soon as the topic comes up again, I'm not going to hesitate to remind people of those views and defend them if I have to.
I don't claim to have any kind of authority. I do however get quite frustrated when people tell me that my opinion is invalid because I'm 'nobody', which seems to happen in this thread more than any other. For the most part, I try not to be rude, insult people, and remain polite. It always strikes me when people who haven't posted outside of the music forum who've been here for just a few months pretend to know anything about me and how I fit into this community. I wouldn't mind at all if people weren't rude and insulting towards me. I have many friends here, most of whom I've known far longer than any of my friends off of the internet. No matter how much a single thread, or even a single subforum might start to bother me, I'm not about to leave.

I think there's a lot of people in this thread who don't appreciate the way the forum works because they've never really integrated into the community surrounding it, who haven't gotten to know the personalities that dominate it. These people should not throw stones and they do not need to be defended.

Interesting premise, but I'd say you're batshit insane. Okay, not batshit insane, just a little wrong. Do you think libraries are a bad thing? Do they cheapen one's appreciation of books and authors?

Nice straw man. I'm not going to spend time burning it, but books are not comparable to music and this thread is not comparable to a library.

[Sox]

Jens, relax. If there's something going on that doesn't concern you, it's easier to not let it concern you than it is to let it bother you. Sometimes you don't need to say anything unless you feel a need to step in for somebody. What you, and all the other folks complaining are doing right now is making a much bigger deal about a discussion between 4 or 5 individuals than there needs to be, doing far more harm than good.

Ladies and gents, if you don't like us talking, don't pay attention to it. There's enough room in the thread for this. You wouldn't walk up to a group of people having a conversation on the street and ask them to shut up, so why do it here?

[Sox]

Who says it'll never be resolved or that we'll never reach a mutual consensus? Most people are being pretty polite and trying to understand each others views from what I can see. Just let the friendly (but wordy) discussion continue at it's own pace, don't complain about it, don't distract from it and don't call anybody a jerk, and all will be fine. The alternative is that enough people make a fuss that a mod or admin steps in and prohibits all future discussion, ruining it for the people who are being polite, sensible and tolerant (but wordy), as has happened hundreds of times before on the forums.

If the big wordy discussion has nothing to do with you, I ask you (nicely) to not respond to it, not react to it, pretend like it isn't even there. You'll be like the old ladies that file complaints to get overly sexy shampoo ads banned from TV, and nobody really wants to be like that, right?
If you are already involved in it, for pete's sake, at least try to be polite.

[valley_parade]

Daz, can you honestly just shut the fuck up and post more music?


My friend's been going through a big psychedelic phase lately and sent this to me yesterday. Why yes, that is Lemmy on guitar and vocals, pre-Hawkwind and pre-Motorhead. Everyone ever seems to say it's pretty mediocre, but I dig it.

Sam Gopal - Escalator

Late-period British psychedelia with snaky psychedelic-blues guitar lines, anguished vocals, a bit of an Eastern-folk bent to the melodies and a sheen of stoned mysticism to the lyrics. You have to be a very good group to pull this off well, and Sam Gopal were not very good; they were adequate, at best. Not terrible, but they definitely sound like a bill-filler, likely to be found as the opening band for much more interesting musicians in the U.K. in the late 1960s. The songs sound too similar to each other, but it is more low-key than you'd expect given Lemmy's later resume. Fave cut is "Midsummer Night's Dream," which puts the "You Really Got Me" riff to good use in a late '60s psych context (it sounds better than it reads).

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1k1l0dmmxqy

[pat101]

Jon Brion - Meaningless (2001) [192kbps I think]

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?znzzlynuu1a


Most people probably know of Jon Brion as a producer, but this solo album is a fantastic piece of 'orchestral pop' (I just don't really know what else to call it). I'm not sure about others but this relentless arguing is getting tiresome. After this I'm going to take a break from the thread for a while.

From Tiny Mix Tapes

Like Phil Spector in the ’60s or Glyn Johns in the ’70s, Jon Brion seems to produce everything and anything. That’s him behind the wheel for The Wallflowers’ “One Headlight” and Rufus Wainwright’s self-titled debut. There he is turning knobs for Fiona Apple, then, famously, not. Finally, he shows up for Kanye West’s Late Registration, a pairing that is as surprising as it is fruitful.

Brion is also a ridiculously accomplished musician with a superhuman ear. His weekly stints at L.A.’s Largo, at which he plays obscure instruments and takes audience requests for impromptu covers, are legendary. Some of his songs have shown up on movie soundtracks, but his best work can be found on the self-released Meaningless.

Meaningless shows off everything Jon Brion has to offer. It’s a meticulously produced, arranged, and written endeavor, with an endless shelf life. The disc starts with “Gotta Start Somewhere,” with its sardonic opening line “I may not have anything to offer you/ I may not have anything to say that’s new/ But you’ve gotta start somewhere.” It’s a throat-clearing of sorts, a comment that Brion knows what you’re thinking: this is all bullshit. But, he’s adding, it’s inevitable, so why not?

Brion also co-produced Aimee Mann’s masterful Bachelor No. 2 around this time, and the baroque production of Meaningless matches Mann’s record, detail for detail. Mann even co-wrote the record’s best track, “I Believe She’s Lying,” which is as frenetic as it is heartbreaking. Its chorus — “I believe she’s lying/ I trust her to undermine my faith in her/ In time, I have every confidence she’ll dismantle mine” — is quintessential Brion (and Mann): emotional, darkly funny, and concisely clever.

The genius of Meaningless is Brion’s use of his two greatest assets: production and songwriting. In providing the former, Brion knows when to make things charmingly complicated (as on “Lying” and the funnily confident shuffle “Walking Through Walls,” co-written by Grant Lee Phillips, which features Brion sweetly singing “motherfucker” in the background) or simple (the brutally intimate relationship ballad, “Same Mistakes”). These songs are nothing short of perfect. The McCartney-esque melodies are catchy enough to make an immediate impression, and the lyrics, seemingly simple, have meanings that permeate later. From “Hook, Line, and Sinker”: “I’m feeling for all the world like I’m feeling for all the world.”

Thematically, Meaningless sticks to what Brion School fans know well: addiction (emotional or otherwise), heartbreak, malaise, and tongue-in-cheek exuberance. In this way, much of the record calls to mind the best work Brion has produced, from Mann to Apple, Eels to Wainwright. There’s happiness in spots, but it’s cautious or ironic.

For kicks, Brion ends the disc with a cover of Cheap Trick’s gorgeous ballad “Voices,” and it’s then that you realize: what you’ve just listened to, with its esoteric lyrics and detailed arrangements, is still just pop music. At its core, it’s no different from Cheap Trick, Herman’s Hermits, or AC/DC. And thank god for that.

[gospel]

Wilco are cool I guess.
(the link is to a youtube video of Wilco. Please fix this or something)

It's fixed. My apologizes for my ineptitude.

John Spencer and the Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/download.php?yo4nwnmiyvf

[spoon_of_grimbo]

I propose a new rule - No more petty bitching between miserable, whiny bastards.

Anyway, music:

ALL / Descendents - "Live Plus One

 

Disc One: ALL

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?xojt1mzdouv
Disc Two: Descendents

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http://www.mediaf!re.com/?elw4tmzozmi
Live sets from the legendary geek-pop-punkers Descendents and their equally awesome alter-egos (read: same band, different singer) ALL.  In case you were wondering, this is how pop-punk is supposed to be done.

[valley_parade]

UP THE PUNX!

The Bruisers - Cruisin' For a Bruisin'


Checked them out after I realized Al Barr from Dropkick Murphys was their frontman. It's missing the last track, I guess.

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediafire.com/?kumkeiuwtz3

[sean]

Interesting premise, but I'd say you're batshit insane. Okay, not batshit insane, just a little wrong. Do you think libraries are a bad thing? Do they cheapen one's appreciation of books and authors?

if you walked into a library with no knowledge of any of the books in there, i bet you would feel somewhat overwhelmed. i think i would, which is the big ol' problem with megaposting or really just any posting without posting ANY artist information. i don't libraries cheapen books though, but that also may be because you don't keep library books. you don't amount a collection of hundreds of books from a library that just wind up on your shelf that you never read. however, you can easily do that with this thread, or any form of music downloading if you are not careful.

did that make any sense?

[scarred]

Patients

This is lovely. Anything Ben Cooper does is sublime. (Although I found Electric President a little harder to get into than this or Radical Face.)

Evangelicals - The Evening Descends (2008)



Oklahoma-based indie/rock/electronic/rawsome group, I saw them live with Parenthetical Girls and 15 people showed up. But they were great. I promise...

The Evening Descends, their sophomore effort, snagged an 8.3 from Pitchfork:

The songs on The Evening Descends find Jones toeing the blurry lines separating ennui, intoxication and insanity. But the more patient, assertive performances lends Jones' peculiar musings a greater degree of sincerity. When he sings "please don't tell my mother/ She wouldn't want to know/ I've been goin' crazy" (on "Midnight Vignette"), it sounds less like paranoid stoner-speak than a portrait of a very real domestic drama. The triumphant "Skeleton Man" presents an even more poignant portrait of an outcast in search of acceptance, his pleas for understanding set to a resolute, bouncing-ball march-- in step with Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)"-- that retains its composure even as the strangulated voices and mad-cap laughter inside his head threaten to overcome him. But it's a tentative peace: "How Do You Sleep"-- The Evening Descends' most over-the-top gesture-- gushes forth with a multi-tracked miasma of arpeggiated guitars and operatic shrieks; however, unlike the John Lennon classic of the same name, the song is not a scathing indictment but rather a genuine inquiry into overcoming recurring nightmares.

The Evening Descends' more considered depiction of Jones' psychosis does not come at the complete expense of Evangelicals' more playful whims: "Snowflakes" is a charming winter-wonderland ballad that's a close companion to So Gone's standout serenade "My Heartache", and the bad-trip breakdown of "Party Crashin'" is framed by cheeky faux hospital-drama dialogue between a doctor and an amputee, Jones' cries undercut by a chipper acoustic riff and wailing sirens. Evangelicals are mostly careful to not let their found-sound chicanery overwhelm their songs, however, "Bellawood"-- The Evening Descends' one out-and-out misstep-- is guilty of over-selling the drama, its story of institutionalization delivered with an uncharacteristically contrived performance by Jones and bogged down by B-movie shtickiness (Hitchcockian strings, Theremin effects). Perhaps it's an instant self-correcting measure that the song is immediately followed by "Paperback Suicide", a simple, glockenspieled power-pop number whose breezy, blissful demeanor craftily belies its tale of a frustrated writer who kills himself just to hear his own obituary-- a requiem for every struggling artist who's pondered infamy through the afterlife. And so The Evening Descends' storybook structure yields an important lesson: There's no need to fake the weird when you live in the real world.

It really is a great record. Recommended!

Code: [Select]

http://www.mediaf!re.com/?wrxmgkk3ztx

[Hat]

Sam Gopal - Escalator

Dogg you did not post a link you did not post a link

[valley_parade]

Fixed the original post, Brett. It's there now.

[exomni]

Interesting premise, but I'd say you're batshit insane. Okay, not batshit insane, just a little wrong. Do you think libraries are a bad thing? Do they cheapen one's appreciation of books and authors?

if you walked into a library with no knowledge of any of the books in there, i bet you would feel somewhat overwhelmed. i think i would, which is the big ol' problem with megaposting or really just any posting without posting ANY artist information. i don't libraries cheapen books though, but that also may be because you don't keep library books. you don't amount a collection of hundreds of books from a library that just wind up on your shelf that you never read. however, you can easily do that with this thread, or any form of music downloading if you are not careful.

did that make any sense?

There's nothing wrong with posting without any artist information. If you are on this thread, I think it's safe to say you are connected to the internet, and you can look up any artist you like in moments. And you can always engage the person who posted it in a conversation about it, that's the beauty of the internet.


If you appreciate music, you will certainly build your own collection that you are familiar with yourself, build your own library, just as you would with books.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't have public libraries that collect everything they can.

I have over 10,000 albums in various catalogues, on hard drives, in CD, cassette, LP, and all sorts of other formats. But over the years I have built a library of albums that I will always turn to, and it amounts to no more than 2600 albums, all of which I am intimately familiar with.

If I did not have access to so many thousands of albums through the internet, not to mention communities like this who are willing to post everything online, I would not have such a rich and well-catalogued library of music, nor would I have such an appreciation for it.



If anything peeves me on this thread it's that I can usually identify which album is total shit by how many people are going batshit crazy over it. 


Oh, and thanks for the 320kb U-Roy, excellent album, I only had it at 128kb and an old scraped up vinyl.

[sean]

There's nothing wrong with posting without any artist information. If you are on this thread, I think it's safe to say you are connected to the internet, and you can look up any artist you like in moments. And you can always engage the person who posted it in a conversation about it, that's the beauty of the internet.

...

What?

No, really. I don't mean to come off as rude, but the way I see it, that is what makes or breaks this thread, at the end of the day. Take the huge megaposts some people do in this thread. Yes, they are overwhelming. Even with artist information, they can be overwhelming, with so much music thrown at you at once. But more often than not, people make megaposts without saying anything about the artists they've uploaded, and what are you supposed to do with that? If you download all of them with the intent of listening to them, only the most patient person will be able to sit down and actually appreciate every album. I'm a pretty avid music listener, I would think, and I know for a fact I could not do that. And you honestly expect me to go out to the internet and spend time researching every album somebody posts here? I am sorry but if somebody posts an album and says nothing about it, why should I care enough to research it. It's the person's responsibility, I think, to inform us about the albums they upload. If you upload an album, don't assume it's the downloader's responsibility to find out what it fucking is. TELL US YOURSELF! As you say later in your post, you talk about how you have amassed a vast library of music that you are intimately familiar with it. If you are intimately familiar with it, don't you think you should at least say something about it? I mean, the best posts about music are actually the personal experience ones, where you tell us how this album has affected you. You really can't get that just by looking for an all music review on the internet. Sure, that's fine if you are uncomfortable with writing about music (no, really, its okay. its difficult, i get self conscious when i do it, i understand completely) but don't you think that in this thread the best posts are when somebody talks about the albums they upload? For example, look at all of a pack of wolves uploads. He hasn't posted here in ages but if you look deep enough you'll see he always has something to say about the music he uploads. Also Harry's uploads, if I remember correctly, always had him saying something about the music he posted. Not only is it decent and polite, but it also increases the overall quality of the thread! This ain't sordo kids, say something about what your posting. Care about it!

Only if that made any sense whatsoever, though. (tender ill address your PM later. sorry, but i do not have the time to right now.)

[exomni]

Yeah, piracy or not guys, this thread's intention is to share music you really dig with other people. If you don't care enough about the music to write at least a couple of words stating your opinion of the music then why are you even posting it?

What would I write up in a couple lines for music I really like? "This is really awesome, I dig it a lot, go download it."

How the hell is that useful to anyone? It isn't. As I said in my previous post, you can usually tell if the music is shit by whether someone posts something like that about it.

If the music really were good, you wouldn't be able to sum it up in a couple words. If you really had an opinion about it, that opinion would be best expressed in a conversation, not in a twitter-length tag.


The only time I could sum up an album in a couple lines is if I don't think it's worth bothering with.

If you upload an album, don't assume it's the downloader's responsibility to find out what it fucking is.

If I haven't heard of it, I don't download it, unless they, as you said, write something about it that intrigues me.

That doesn't mean they have to write something that intrigues me, they are welcome to write nothing, and if I don't know what it is, I simply won't download it.



That being said, I completely appreciate the rest of your post here. I agree, it is nice when people can write well and intimately about music, that's a good thing. For me, I'd rather have a conversation about music than dictate my own opinion in a twitter-length post, but that's not to put down people who have something to say.

If you have something to say, good for you, if you don't want to say anything, that's perfectly fine, if I've never heard of it I'll just ignore it.

[valley_parade]

Genre, similar artists, that sort of nonsense. Seriously, it's the easiest thing on the planet.

[exomni]

Take for example the U-Roy posted above, neither of the quotes say anything worthwhile about the music. I regret wasting the time reading them, and I wouldn't have red them except to make this point here: sometimes you don't need to say anything.

I mean, if you haven't heard of fucking U-Roy, then saying anything about him out of the blue on some mediaf!re thread is going to be lost on you.

The two quotes posted on U-Roy are laughably poor, and say NOTHING remotely worth hearing about the album, nor worth reading.

I'd rather someone who hasn't heard of U-Roy simply wait until he is ready to discover and research Reggae and Dub himself, of his own accord, than have him be introduced with such a poor snippet on some random thread. Or just download the music and discover it that way, no snippet required.



That being said, what tender did post ("If you love reggae, dub, and the dancehall style, check this out (if you haven't already") was fine, but it's not like it says much more than simply posting the album without anything would say.



This post is not meant as a dig on tender AT ALL, thank you a hundred times over tender, for posting it, and I greatly appreciate your posts, I'm just making a point that EVERYBODY should be accepted here, whether they have anything to say or not, it's all music we love, it should all be welcomed if it's done in honesty.

[imapiratearg]

Jon Brion - Meaningless (2001) [192kbps I think]

Yeessssss!  Thank you!

[Catacombs]

Personally, I hate when someone posts an album with a four paragraph review from allmusic/pitchfork/cokemachineglow/whatever.  But I equally hate when either 1) the album is posted with nothing other than its name or 2) the album is posted with its name and "omg guyz this is so good get it".

None of those things help anyone.  A line or two or three about what kind of music it is and why you like it is great, but at least put "sounds like/like if you like/genre/similar to".  Yea, it's like one line, but that gets right down to the point and the reader knows exactly what they should expect, and then download and listen if they think they'll like it.

[Harun]

Eluveitie - Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion

On this new album, Swiss pagan/folk metallers Eluveitie have ditched all things electric. The result is a purely acoustic pagan/folk album. Gone are the blazing fast distorted guitars and harsh vocals (save for maybe a super subtle scream here and there). All that's left are acoustic guitars, an Irish flute, a fiddle, hurdy gurdy, bass-shalm, crummhorn, zugerörgeli, bagpipes, and drums. And oh what awesome beautiful music they play. Despite of getting rid of all the heaviness in their sound that was prevalent in their previous albums, they managed to retain their signature melodic pagan/folk sound. And oh, what melodies they make! The melodies that are on this album are way too catchy for their own good. You will most likely start to spontaneously dance when you listen to this, or at least nod your head to the music. Also add the fact that the songs are played by traditional pagan/folk instruments like hurdy gurdys, and the catchiness factor is increased exponentially. As for the vocals, they have mostly ditched the gruff sounds of the male members (hurrrrrrrhur) of the band. On the Arcane Dominion, they have taken advantage of the beautiful vocal stylings of their female members (quadruple hurrr). While the male vocals went well with the heavier sound on their previous albums, they just don't seem to mend as well as the softer voices of the female vocals that are used so perfectly on this new one. Oh, and they sing in Gaulish. Gaulish, guys. You can't get any more pagan than that. Eluveitie have managed to create a cohesive, well-written, memorable, and beautiful album. The  melded sound of the instruments and the vocals really create an incredible sound.

A must download for people who like: hurdy gurdys, beautiful pagan/folk melodies, Gaulish, hurdy gurdys, dancing to beautiful pagan/folk melodies, and/or renaissance fairs.



preview album here

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

[exomni]

Personally, I hate when someone posts an album ... with nothing other than... its name and "omg guyz this is so good get it".

Now that I think we can all agree on. 

[plyphon]

Leafcutter John - The Housebound Spirit

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

YO KvP

Thanks mate,  Leafcutter John has always imho been a standout.... fucking amazing work.....  structured acousmatic bliss.

nice post sir

[Avec]

Death Cab For Cutie - The Open Door EP

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=705595420f6211f536df4e8dca141969d1227a8bb39227c6b8eada0a1ae8665a

This came out very recently, March 31st I believe. It's worth a listen if you like Benjamin Gibbard's voice and general Indie Rock.

[sean]

exomni, perhaps you misunderstood me. when i ask for people to actually say something about the music they most and the feel they can do it without a quote, this is what i am talking about:

I'm not sure what the real cover for this is so I just put a picture of the band up (and yes the drummer is as young as he looks, 13 when he joined the band I believe). Anomie were a screamo band from France who existed between 1994 and 1997. They were pretty influential on a lot of emo bands that have come after and one of my favourite screamo bands of all time, partly because like Amanda Woodward and Belle Epoque they sing in their native French which is a language which flows very well with this kind of music. I don't know if this is still in press, I've never seen it in any distros and I don't think it's a full discography either, it seems to be missing the tracks from the Peu Etre split. Still, this is 23 tracks of absolutely world class emo, plenty of strong driving sections and then some excellent swaying bits. If you enjoy Evergreen, Funeral Diner, Portraits of Past, Bread And Circuits, any French emo at all or punk rock in general then this will probably appeal.

as you can see, this is not twitter length. that is not at all what i meant and i am sorry if that is what you thought i said. but you can still do something shorter, here is a recent example from michael.

These two bands are for people who like a little more rock in their post-rock. They take a pretty direct, no-nonsense approach. Henry Gale get right down to business and play smart, muscular songs that sometimes even verge on being a little playful. Lights At Sea have equal parts rock but tend to inject their music with a little more drama and broodiness. Their drums sound so excellent.

not difficult people, not that difficult.