The Raincoats by The Raincoats
This is the one I've been looking forward to the most. And it's GREAT. I cannot overemphasize that 🤣 It's hard to classify The Raincoats debut. Obviously it's punk (culturally more so than stylistically, short songs, lyricism and the attitude are all comfortably punk), but that's not even 25% of the story lol. Instead of going in either pop, post-punk or hardcore direction like most other bands of the era, somehow they manage to mix both pop and post-punk sensibilities while being incredibly unique and innovative. At some moments, it's The Fall, sometimes it's dub, definitely some Television, maybe some Gang of Four as well, I even got early The Cure vibes at times. The producer Ritchie Unterberger wanted the violin player Vicky Aspinall to sound like John Cale, so there's the Velvet Underground connection too. This is exemplified on perhaps the best track, The Void, where the violin soars, moans and creates chaos much like John Cale's viola once did. In fact, the more the violin is featured the better the songs are. Or not, it's hard to say since everything here is excellent. And none of those genre/style classifications even matter because the songs themselves are on another level. The cover of Lola is better than the original, the opening 3 tracks are perfect, the last 4 songs are violin-heavy post-punk gems, moody and 100% my style. The amount of bands they've influenced is huge. Apart from them being The Slits fans and notably forming possibly the first all-girl punk (or punk-adjacent) band, the vocal style and poppy elements were a huge influence on the C86 and twee pop scene of the 80s. Kurt Cobain was a big fan, The Hole covered The Void, the whole riot grrrl movement owes a lot to The Raincoats as well... I'm equally impressed by their legacy and the sheer quality of the debut, which is really rare. Odyshape is the next in line. 9/10
(2)
That's a lot of cool records, a few of which I even know. BT seems interesting, even though trance (especially progressive trance) is definitely not my forte. Try that one.
(3)
Picks from BEA metal charts, 2023 wishlist, some other cool picks.
R marks relistens
Sacramentum - Far Away From the Sun (Gowi) (R)
Neurosis - Souls at Zero (Mercury) (R?)
Slowthai - Ugly
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
MIKE - Faith Is A Rock
Laaraji - Segue To Infinity
Crass - The Feeding of 5000
The Pop Group - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
Regis - Gymnastics _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
The Raincoats by The Raincoats
This is the one I've been looking forward to the most. And it's GREAT. I cannot overemphasize that🤣 It's hard to classify The Raincoats debut. Obviously it's punk (culturally more so than stylistically, short songs, lyricism and the attitude are all comfortably punk), but that's not even 25% of the story lol. Instead of going in either pop, post-punk or hardcore direction like most other bands of the era, somehow they manage to mix both pop and post-punk sensibilities while being incredibly unique and innovative. At some moments, it's The Fall, sometimes it's dub, definitely some Television, maybe some Gang of Four as well, I even got early The Cure vibes at times. The producer Ritchie Unterberger wanted the violin player Vicky Aspinall to sound like John Cale, so there's the Velvet Underground connection too. This is exemplified on perhaps the best track, The Void, where the violin soars, moans and creates chaos much like John Cale's viola once did. In fact, the more the violin is featured the better the songs are. Or not, it's hard to say since everything here is excellent. And none of those genre/style classifications even matter because the songs themselves are on another level. The cover of Lola is better than the original, the opening 3 tracks are perfect, the last 4 songs are violin-heavy post-punk gems, moody and 100% my style. The amount of bands they've influenced is huge. Apart from them being The Slits fans and notably forming possibly the first all-girl punk (or punk-adjacent) band, the vocal style and poppy elements were a huge influence on the C86 and twee pop scene of the 80s. Kurt Cobain was a big fan, The Hole covered The Void, the whole riot grrrl movement owes a lot to The Raincoats as well... I'm equally impressed by their legacy and the sheer quality of the debut, which is really rare. Odyshape is the next in line. 9/10
😜😜😜
GREAT writeup, Zep! 😉 Love the backstory about how Unterberger wanted Vicky to sound like John Cale. Very interesting! Will have to listen to this & Odyshape this weekend! 😁
False advertising. This album should be called "The artist BT has some songs on this album, but there is also a 42 minute DJ Mix by a different guy called Sasha in the middle of the album of the producer BT's songs. Also, there are like 3 different versions of this album, so the album is really like almost an hour and half worth of material if you have the US double album version which contains the #1 Billboard Dance Single "Blue Skies" by Tori Amos and remixes of the aforementioned single".
This is an excellent album though.
I don't know where to draw the line between Trance, House, and other adjacent musics sometimes, but I know that I dig the vibes on this one. (I'd say this one could also qualify for IDM when it's at it's quieter moments.) When I think Trance, I'm thinking of something that is a little more repetitive and not quite as active as the music on this record. I feel like the tracks on this album offer a decent variety of instrumentation and style to keep the listener's interest over a decently long runtime. Of course, this music is meant to be in a club somewhere, so listening to it sober on the couch is never the preferred way of diving into an album like this. The DJ Mix in the middle is pretty good, and, if it were on it's own at a breezy 42 minutes, then it would probably have been better. But it made the other songs on the album feel a bit disconnected.
Probably too dated a sound for some now, but I can't get enough from any kind of electronic music from this era. It's all pretty good to me.
I'd been wanting to learn more about BT for awhile now, as he's an artist that I know in passing from his production and appearances on other artist's songs, but I'd never really listened to anything by him. Turns out this guy has patents on his musical techniques which seems a bit weird, and he also holds the Guiness Book of World records for most vocal edits in a song. Here's that song Ft. JC Chasez. [THIS SONG IS NOT ON THIS ALBUM]
As I already mentioned, this album did have a US single which featured Tori Amos. A totally different kind of song than the rest of this album, but it will now immediately go on to my 90s playlist.
Ledzep, I would like to hear your take on Regis' Gymnastics. An album that I did not enjoy on my first listen. (Actually in this game I believe.) I went back and listened to it another time, and it did improve marginally, but I'm still not crazy about it.
Mekong Delta- Dances of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)
Integrity- Those Who Fear Tomorrow
Brutal Truth- Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
Painkiller- Buried Secrets
Believer- Dimensions
BUCK-TICK- Darker Than Darkness -style 93-
Sentenced- North From Here
Ceremonium- Into The Autumn Shade
Michael Gira- Drainland
Mylène Farmer- Anamorphosée
Gymnastics by Regis
I don't particularly love this type of repetitive, acid and "hypnotic" industrial techno (or dub or ambient or minimal techno in the same style, but that's besides the point). Unlike some other musicians in this particular niche, Regis really knows how to layer the sounds and make even the most monotone droney and dopey loops sound intriguing. I respect that immensely, and it's the main reason why I think Gymnastics is still a pretty solid record, despite it not being exactly what I look for in electronic music. Of course, Regis and Surgeon would later go on to establish the whole Birmingham techno scene which has many other cool releases, some of which I've heard and some of which are on the wishlist. Don't think I've ever been to a minimal industrial party where this kind of music would fit, but hearing something like Allies in a set would definitely be more potent than listening to it at home. Overall, this is much better than the opening few minutes would suggest. 7.5/10
(2)
Into the Autumn Shade is something I'm very interested in myself, let's try it.
(3)
Picks from BEA metal charts, 2023 wishlist, some other cool picks.
R marks relistens
Sacramentum - Far Away From the Sun (Gowi) (R)
Neurosis - Souls at Zero (Mercury) (R?)
Slowthai - Ugly
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
MIKE - Faith Is A Rock
Laaraji - Segue To Infinity
Crass - The Feeding of 5000
The Pop Group - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
Close Lobsters - Foxheads Stalk This Land (R) _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Katamari Fortissimo Damacy by Various Artists
Yeah this is awesome. I've played the game, but not all the way through, and I've never just sat down and listened to the whole soundtrack before. And because I never finished the game, I don't think I've heard all the tracks before. This album is absolutely stellar (pun very much intended)! The music at times is heart-racing, introspective, or lounge-like, but it's always head-bopping. Not sure what to call this genre: jazz pop? city pop? Wikipedia says J-pop, Shibya-kei, and obviously video game music. But I think probably more than any other video game's soundtrack I've ever heard, this could easily be a stand-alone album separate from the visual media. Really the only tracks that tie this to a video game are "You Are Smart" (which outside of the context of the game, could be seen as a fun interlude track that's still quite a head-bopper), and the 10-second "Stardust Fanfare" (which is nice but not a fully fleshed-out song).
A handful of tracks make up variations of the iconic "nah nah nah nah nah nah" theme, with the obviously BEST song on the album being "Katamari on the Rocks": the essential song everyone thinks about when they think about the Katamari Damacy series. "Que Sera Sera", "Angel Gifts", and "Lonely Rolling Star" were also highlights for me. Hell, even the fanfare I mentioned above is brilliant. The full soundtrack is on YouTube posted by the official Namco/Katamari account, I recommend anyone check this out. The game too!
2.
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Segue To Infinity by Laraaji
Apparently this is a reissue? I'm not a big fan of the ambient style stuff but Laraaji is a titan in that genre.
3. I'm going with some combination of highly ranked albums on RYM that unfortunately are now out of order since they were added to my wishlist months ago, but they all fall within the top 500 on RYM's all-time list (including live, archival, and soundtracks without de-weighting them... which means that pretty much all these albums will fall into at least one of those categories):
Knebworth 1996 by Oasis (archival / live)
NieR: Automata by Keiichi Okabe & Keigo Hoashi (soundtrack)
Joy - Tatsuro Yamashita Live by Tatsuro Yamashita (live)
The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! by Bob Dylan (archival / live)
UNDERTALE by Toby "Radiation" Fox (soundtrack)
Rock Dream by Boris with Merzbow (live)
Archive 1967-75 by Genesis (archival / live) - I realize this is 4+ hours of music, it still seems really interesting
Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 by Miles Davis Quintet (archival / live) - same comment as above
The Brussels Affair: Live 1973 by The Rolling Stones (archival / live)
Segue To Infinity by Laraaji
I've never been too crazy about Laraaji's brand of ambient new age. Ambient 3 which features Laraaji is by far the worst Brian Eno connected thing I've heard, and Vision Songs Vol. 1 (the other Laraaji album I've heard) is pretty good, but nothing special. Despite that, I was really excited for Segue to Infinity, as it's a huge archival compilation of some of his best and most influential work. A unique ambient experience, but unfortunately it was far too long, meandering and minimalist for me to truly love it. However, I did find it very pleasant as work music (after listening to the first 2 tracks I had to do some stuff). And "background music" tag is not derogatory in this instance - I truly did enjoy listening to this while working. After all, it's what Brian Eno's original intention was with the music for airports. Might come back to this, it's incredibly transfixing at parts, even if I don't necessarily love it overall. The highlight was the title composition, and in fact the whole second half was much more engaging. 6.5/10
(2)
Undertale is a classic, love the soundtrack as well.
(3)
Picks from BEA metal charts, 2023 wishlist, some other cool picks.
R marks relistens
Sacramentum - Far Away From the Sun (Gowi) (R)
Neurosis - Souls at Zero (Mercury) (R?)
Slowthai - Ugly
George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya
MIKE - Faith Is A Rock
Slowdive - everything is alive
Crass - The Feeding of 5000
The Pop Group - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
Close Lobsters - Foxheads Stalk This Land (R) _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Segue To Infinity by Laraaji
I've never been too crazy about Laraaji's brand of ambient new age. Ambient 3 which features Laraaji is by far the worst Brian Eno connected thing I've heard, and Vision Songs Vol. 1 (the other Laraaji album I've heard) is pretty good, but nothing special. Despite that, I was really excited for Segue to Infinity, as it's a huge archival compilation of some of his best and most influential work. A unique ambient experience, but unfortunately it was far too long, meandering and minimalist for me to truly love it. However, I did find it very pleasant as work music (after listening to the first 2 tracks I had to do some stuff). And "background music" tag is not derogatory in this instance - I truly did enjoy listening to this while working. After all, it's what Brian Eno's original intention was with the music for airports. Might come back to this, it's incredibly transfixing at parts, even if I don't necessarily love it overall. The highlight was the title composition, and in fact the whole second half was much more engaging. 6.5/10
)
Yeah. I've always felt the same way. I pretty much worship the other three too. Especially 2 with Harold Budd. I always wondered if I was just missing something, but maybe not.
Segue To Infinity by Laraaji
I've never been too crazy about Laraaji's brand of ambient new age. Ambient 3 which features Laraaji is by far the worst Brian Eno connected thing I've heard, and Vision Songs Vol. 1 (the other Laraaji album I've heard) is pretty good, but nothing special. Despite that, I was really excited for Segue to Infinity, as it's a huge archival compilation of some of his best and most influential work. A unique ambient experience, but unfortunately it was far too long, meandering and minimalist for me to truly love it. However, I did find it very pleasant as work music (after listening to the first 2 tracks I had to do some stuff). And "background music" tag is not derogatory in this instance - I truly did enjoy listening to this while working. After all, it's what Brian Eno's original intention was with the music for airports. Might come back to this, it's incredibly transfixing at parts, even if I don't necessarily love it overall. The highlight was the title composition, and in fact the whole second half was much more engaging. 6.5/10
)
Yeah. I've always felt the same way. I pretty much worship the other three too. Especially 2 with Harold Budd. I always wondered if I was just missing something, but maybe not.
That's funny you guys say that, since IMO Ambient 2 was clearly the weakest. Ambient 3 definitely feels the most different to me compared to the rest. I should listen to Segue to Infinity, thanks for the writeup! _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
That's funny you guys say that, since IMO Ambient 2 was clearly the weakest. Ambient 3 definitely feels the most different to me compared to the rest. I should listen to Segue to Infinity, thanks for the writeup!
That's funny you guys say that, since IMO Ambient 2 was clearly the weakest. Ambient 3 definitely feels the most different to me compared to the rest. I should listen to Segue to Infinity, thanks for the writeup!
Let us know what u think if u do!
Short answer, I did listen and I thought Segue to Infinity was excellent, some of Laraaji's best work. As I said earlier, I don't usually like ambient music, but I do like minimalism. That said, I struggle to define the difference other than "I like Philip Glass and don't really like Brian Eno". Much of Segue to Infinity felt more minimalist to me, reminding me at times of Terry Riley, Moondog, or Julius Eastman more so than Brian Eno, the guy who Laraaji actually worked with. Only exception was the track "Koto" which I thought was incredibly boring.
For good measure, I also listened to Ambient 3 again (for the first time in a while), and I'll double down on what I said before: I think Ambient 3 is by far the best of those four Eno albums.
Now for my review:
1.
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Undertale Soundtrack by Toby Fox
Unlike Katamari Damacy, I haven't played Undertale. But I've played Earthbound which apparently heavily influenced Undertale, and the soundtrack definitely seems to draw a lot from Earthbound and Mother 3. That said, I don't love chiptunes. They serve their purpose as background music to video games, but I find the chirps and warbles of electronic video game music to be a bit grating when listened to outside of that context. Toby Fox's compositions and arrangements are brilliant though. When played on different instruments (or still computer-generated but made to mimic real instruments rather than chiptunes), these pieces are elevated beyond what they are in their original context. Examples being covers I've seen of "Bonetrousle", "Asgore", and of course "Megalovania" (e.g. in the Super Smash Bros Ultimate soundtrack *chef's kiss*). This is similarly to how I feel about a lot of 90s video game music (Earthbound, Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Sonic the Hedgehog): the music itself is great, but it would be better if the composer wasn't held back by the limits of technology. Toby Fox didn't have these technical restrictions, but he clearly self-imposed a similar restriction to make the game more authentically feel like it came out of the SNES/Sega Genesis/Neo Geo-era of video gaming.
3. I'm going with some combination of highly ranked albums on RYM that unfortunately are now out of order since they were added to my wishlist months ago, but they all fall within the top 500 on RYM's all-time list (including live, archival, and soundtracks without de-weighting them... which means that pretty much all these albums will fall into at least one of those categories):
Knebworth 1996 by Oasis (archival / live)
NieR: Automata by Keiichi Okabe & Keigo Hoashi (soundtrack)
Joy - Tatsuro Yamashita Live by Tatsuro Yamashita (live)
The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! by Bob Dylan (archival / live)
Rock Dream by Boris with Merzbow (live)
Archive 1967-75 by Genesis (archival / live) - I realize this is 4+ hours of music, it still seems really interesting
Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 by Miles Davis Quintet (archival / live) - same comment as above
The Brussels Affair: Live 1973 by The Rolling Stones (archival / live)
Chrono Trigger by Yasunori Mitsuda (soundtrack)
Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It's About That Time by Miles Davis (archival / live)
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