Treeboy

Punk rock ≠ Screamo. Screamo came out of hardcore, and happens to be a genre I'm particularly fond of for it's emotion. As for the "where's the actual song" jab, don't try and tell me that this isn't a song.

Really nice find, man. I stray away from bands with unreadable logos a lot but this is a notable exception. It's great stuff. Anyway, I'm going to attempt to finally listen to "RIITIIR" by Enslaved later today.

I'll nominate Roland Kirk's opus, "The Inflated Tear." This album demonstrates the ability that Kirk had in a really fun and enjoyable way. He makes me want to learn how to circular breathe and play multiple saxophones at once.

UR MOSHING I delayed listening to this for six months and I have absolutely no goddamn clue why I didn't just put it on immediately after I found out about it.

Pantera and Slayer are two of the most popular bands on the planet what are you on about Anyway, in further defense of "Sunbather," the lyrics are what sold me. I held my breath and drove through a maze of wealthy homes. I watched how green the trees were. I watched the steep walkways and the white fences. I gripped the wheel. I sweated against the leather. I watched the dogs twist through the wealthy garden. I watched you lay on a towel in grass that exceeded the height of your legs. I gazed into reflective eyes. I cried against an ocean of light. Crippled by the cushion, I sank into sheets frozen by rose pedal toes. My back shivered for your pressed granite nails. Dishonest and ugly through the space in my teeth. Break bones down to yellow and crush gums into blood. The hardest part for the weak was stroking your fingers with rings full of teeth.. It's 5 A.M...and my heart flourishes at each passing moment. Always and forever. I damn near cried.

They're conceited for thinking popularity equals talent. I direct you to this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_lP6RZ2Mg Anyway, did I mention I listened to Morbid Angel for the first time recently? Pretty solid early death metal.

I act like anyone listens to bands that are BAD have inferior music taste. The problem is, so many of them happen to be popular. I only take issue with people that listen to popular bands in any genre (good or otherwise) and claim to know everything about it. Because they're conceited. I'd say there's a general consensus on that issue.

It's not a superiority complex, it's the fact that so much popular music is so mediocre. The underground bands are where all the really good stuff comes out. There's a superior equivalent in the underground to every mediocre major label act.

If by "people" you mean anyone who isn't Djenty lql My list of favorite releases for 2013 is on RateYourMusic and Pastebin. The Pastebin version includes two short lists of EPs and single/splits, and the RYM version goes into my thoughts on the records in the albums list. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erDNRUaysCs Also I'm repping "The Migration." Check this out if you haven't.

God damn, has this album grown on me. I went from finding it OK to liking it to having it in my top ten albums of the year. This is my black metal album of 2013, and it's an experience that even outsiders to the genre can enjoy. (also fuck you @ I actually like this I'm not just forcing it)

I just put on the first Liturgy album, "Renihilation," and it's much more raw compared to its successor, "Aesthethica," one of my favorite black metal albums of all time. The album art is shit, but the music is something else.

Nice recommendation from Moog with The Secret. I'm loving this album. Everything from Southern Lord is great in one way or another. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PXfSAzX09Q

I found out about this band a while ago and I'd say they're pretty rad based on this one track. I need to hear more to say for certain that they are indeed rad.

I don't listen to too much symphonic metal. The closest I come to that other than Wintersun is Ne Obliviscaris, which is a somewhat far cry from Wintersun, and much more like Opeth (@ and @@Moog, I know you both like Opeth, so if you haven't heard this, get on it). The only similarities between this and "Time I" are the epic feeling you get and the symphonic elements (which there's less of in "Portal of I," but the violin is beautiful all the same).

Arguably the most famous neo-psych band in existence is The Flaming Lips. If you've been following music within the past 10 years, you have to know about them. My dad actually introduced me to this band via "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," named for Yoshimi P-We of the Japanese band Boredoms, who appears on a track on the album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehSaXAfg-ck

The only bands that should have punctuation in their names are the Fire! Orchestra, Sunn O))), letlive., and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Killwhitneydead. and fun. can have their periods when they make something I want to listen to.

I won't say comment on their music, but I and many others have many, MANY reasons to hate them, specifically Dahvie Vanity. Read this if you haven't already.

The wind instruments sound like MIDI instruments. I love the way the instumentation sounds on an album like "Time I," because it feels so real. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78xKCM-bk1Q

If you follow the album-reviewing community (which I know none of you do), then you've seen this album spoken about. I can't get into it as much as everyone else can. The metal parts are amazing, but the added instrumentation sounds really synthetic.

As promised, here's my favorite artists list. 1. Devin Townsend Why he's my favorite: He has the ability to make his music into whatever he sees fit, whether it be bludgeoning, ethereal, or uplifting. He's the reason I usually play in open tunings when I play guitar, and always inspires me to push my abilities forward. My favorite track by him: There's so many, but I have to go with the title track from 2011's "Deconstruction." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS2kKDdFGmM Why it's my favorite track: It's one of his most bipolar and all-over-the-place works, and yet it has a message that ties in so well with the album's themes of the beauty in the pointlessness of life. How long I've been listening to him: Two extremely rewarding years. 2. Miles Davis Why he's my second favorite: He's a household name in jazz. He was always pushing some sort of boundary with every jazz movement he took part in, from bebop to modal jazz into his fusion years. He was a trumpet mastermind; he didn't have the fastest licks or most intense playing, but he said in three notes the same thing that would take Charlie Parker ten notes. My favorite track by him: "Go Ahead John" from his 1974 masterpiece, "Big Fun." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuAmG39TROk Why it's my favorite track: It's one of Davis' most far out and off-the-radar moments, and features some intense drum manipulation that takes you outside of your own body when you hear it. How long I've been listening to him: Two. Damn. Years. 3. Philip Glass Why he's my third favorite: He's my favorite classical composer. His music features "repetitive structures" (as he puts it), but there's a lot to dissect in everything he writes. It takes a trained ear to see the changes that occur very slowly throughout his pieces, which makes his music so interesting to hear for hours at a time. My favorite track by him: "Building," from his 1976 opera "Einstein on the Beach" in collaboration with Robert Wilson. (I prefer the 1993 re-recording to this original version, but I couldn't seem to find it) Why it's my favorite track: It shows how well Glass is able to take a few very simple ideas and turn them into something that feels almost magical. How long I've been listening to him: Lightly since 2011, but on the regular for a year.

I'll nominate my favorite funk album, Herbie Hancock's "Head Hunters." This album is a sinister and brooding piece of groove-heavy and badass music from one of the greatest pianists and keyboard players in jazz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPdPK_rIseY

My top three bands list. 1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor Why they're my favorite: Their music has more expression, innovation, mood, and power than any artist I've ever heard. They created my favorite album of all time, "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven." I also consider everything they released from 1997 to 2003 (after which they broke up and reunited in 2010) to be absolutely flawless. There's nothing I would change about anything they ever did. My favorite track by them: This is difficult, since many their tracks are actually suites with smaller tracks inside them. However, I'd have to go with "Monheim," a movement inside of "Sleep" off of LYSF. It starts at 1:10. Why it's my favorite track: It showcases their ability to progress, build, and leave an impact on the listener, which is what I believe music should do. How long I've been listening to them: It's been at least a year or two. (side note: these guys replaced Radiohead as my favorite band) 2. Converge Why they're my second favorite: The energy. Their music ranges from angry to desperate to anthemic, but it's all connected by the band's wall-of-sound approach. They've never made a bad album in the twenty years they've been together, and they're fantastic at their worst. My favorite track by them: The title track from their 2001 album, "Jane Doe." Why it's my favorite track: The intimacy of this album comes to a climax at the very end with this 11-minute slow-burner. How long I've been listening to them: Two years. They were one of the first bands I picked up when I got into metal, along with my next pick. 3. Between the Buried and Me Why they're my third favorite: They're the band that convinced me that metal is something I'm going to enjoy for the rest of my life. They're also a prime example of how a band can change so much over the course of their career and still remain engaging. I fall back on their album "The Silent Circus" when I think of the album that changed my life and made me a complete music snob. My favorite track by them: "Roboturner" from their 2005 album, "Alaska." The track starts at 20:52. Why it's my favorite track: While it's not off of my favorite album from this band (that would be a tie between "The Silent Circus" and "Colors"), this song stands out as the best moment on it, or any of their albums. It's their heaviest track, and the lyrics deal with the death of the music industry in a very unique way. How long I've been listening to them: Two years, around the time I first got into metal. Honorable Mentions: 1. Pink Floyd They ushered in the point in my life when I started to listen to music as a hobby, and they're the reason I listen to albums all the way through rather than individual songs. 2. Swans I point to these guys for being one of the most diverse and unclassifiable bands of all time. Post-punk, post-rock, noise rock, experimental rock, gothic rock, and a whole lot of other stuff. 3. Meshuggah The pioneers of the "djent" sound; their music made me start thinking outside the box and analyzing music more closely. 4. Pig Destroyer This grindcore outfit shows how conscious and intellectual the genre can be when the listener looks beyond the jarring barrage of sound that it offers. 5. ISIS The beauty of metal is found in two bands: Deftones and ISIS. I prefer the latter, because they're more extreme with how aggressive they are, and yet have a core of true beauty in their style. Other favorites include Mogwai, Uneven Structure, Yes, Bon Iver, Mastodon, Death Grips, and Radiohead. I may do a list later of favorite artists, but this is my bands list.