Treeboy

7/10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF6E47Pn6mY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPdPK_rIseY Possibly the best album in funk history.

You want hole-punching music? You got it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6liRVCaonME The first time I heard "Sis" I was on a bus, and I had a really tough time sitting still because I just wanted to get up, walk off, and break shit.

Thirty-four minutes. Go have fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFmYp9YfYQY Everything about this split is absolutely mint and I think that's really admirable. Not a dull moment throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbg6lwq5yS4 I don't like to rag on bands all the time, but OH BOY WHEN I DO By the standards of any genre BrokeNCYDE incorporates into their music, they're still garbage.

THRASHING ABOUT IN MY CHAIR TO THIS SHIT DON'T MIND ME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXYg7_kuPCg Amazing split between Converge and Agoraphobic Nosebleed, "The Poacher Diaries." One half grindcore, one half metalcore. Get this in your system.

The two best decades for music were the 70's and 2000's. The 70's saw the dawn of progressive rock, jazz fusion, and plenty of other stuff, giving way to some of my favorite albums, like Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" (or anything he did in that decade), Pink Floyd's "The Wall," and Yes' "Tales from Topographic Oceans." The 2000's are where most of my favorite albums come from; "Jane Doe" by Converge, "Oceanic" by ISIS, Radiohead's "Kid A," and Meshuggah's "Catch Thirtythree" (there's plenty more than those, but those are just a few examples. I love today's music, and anyone that says they don't desperately needs to go underground and find some of the amazing sounds coming from all kinds of bands. Take, for example, Fleet Foxes, a folk throwback that hearkens to the days of Crosby, Stills, and Nash... ...or, for a much different sound, progressive metal kingpin Devin Townsend. There's all sorts of fun to be had in today's various music scenes.

C'mon, their self-titled is easily their best album. The riffs are tighter, Phil's vocals sound better than ever, and the band is slowly moving away from br00tality. Listened to both Contortionist albums today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L17iB-qLFk0 Definitely two sides of the same coin. Can't decide which one I like more. also i reviewed exoplanet a while ago check that shit out if you haven't already

Swans has to be one of my favorite bands in experimental music. I really can't decide if I prefer "Soundtracks" or "The Seer." I say "Soundtracks," just because it's been around longer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SobhRDbfcK0

Listened to this again today... wow. Some great songs on this album. Fast, dense, and consuming everything in its path. High, HIGH recommendation for fans of black metal and death metal.

I'd like to see a review of Alcest's "Les voyages de l'âme." Not my favorite of 2012 (that'd be "The Seer" (HIGH FIVE MOOG)), but in my opinion, still memorable.

I'm not saying they're not shit, I'm saying there has to be a reason for that shittiness outside of the fact that they happen to be one of the best selling bands on the planet.

Jesus Christ, man. Do you have any argument for saying Metallica sucks or just the fact that they're a popular metal group? You might as well say that about the rest of the big four.

It's much more melodic, the grooves are clearer, and it just sounds nicer overall. I think "Bitches Brew" was more innovative and sounded more interesting, so I prefer it to "In a Silent Way," but they're both fantastic. "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" is my second favorite to "Bitches Brew" in his discography, though.

If you enjoyed it, sure. Otherwise, I'd say his best material out of his more accessible catalog is "Kind of Blue," "Sketches of Spain," and "In a Silent Way."

I'd like to remove this band from the list. Sure, they're not the best, but their music is fun to listen to. At least until "The Subliminal Verses" (FIGHT ME IF YOU DO IN FACT LIKE IT).

Three albums were released in 1959 that are mandatory listening. "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis, "Mingus Ah Um" by Charles Mingus, and "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck. Start there.

So after listening to the new Kid Cudi (which I don't recommend any of you do), I think I'll fall back on my James Blake. RZA is featured on Cudi's album, but he's put to much better use on "Take a Fall for Me." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi5_iYbZjEc

There's a longer album later on the list actually.

If you have two hours and an open mind.

Possibly the most dauntingly impossible review I'll have to do for this series. Swans is considered to be one of the greatest bands in underground music, and with good reason. Ever since the early 80's, this Michael Gira project has put out album after album, with their style changing indescribably from era to era. The early 80's saw their contributions to no wave and noise rock with "Filth," "Cop," "Greed," and "Holy Money," moving into a style more reminiscent of post-punk (but still with their noise rock influence) on "Children of God." On "The Burning World," "White Light from the Mouth of Infinity," and "Love of Life," they became much more gothic and put a slight emphasis on harmony. From then on, from "The Great Annihilator" until today, they've combined all their previous influences with post-rock and drone elements, in addition to a ton of other things that I just can't begin to describe. The middle of this later period (or, the end of their career in the 90's before their breakup) saw the release of Swans' final album, "Soundtracks for the Blind." It would be fourteen years until they made a return in 2010. This was easily the most ambitious the group had gotten up to this point, and they may never top the innovation found on here. However, seeing (or hearing) this innovation may be difficult for more casual listeners, as this album is nearly two and a half hours long, and many of these tracks are based around musical themes rather than structure, and you can't tell who's playing what or even what's being played much of the time. It combines studio material with several live tracks, and these songs can be anything from ambient soundscapes to post-rock funeral dirges to old-school EDM to straight up noise and unnerving quiet energy. The album opens up with "Red Velvet Corridor," an instrumental of sorts which has some very interesting keyboard sounds in front of what feels like noise, and a few drones that enter and exit throughout. This cuts off suddenly and in fades "I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull," easily one of the high points on the record. An absolutely gorgeous synth chord introduces itself, with a tone that feels equally chilling and majestic. Juxtaposing with this wall of sound is a looped recording of a voice babbling incessantly, in an almost cynical and mocking way. The chord morphs into a sheet of noise and some drums come up in the mix in the back and the track evolves into what finally sounds almost like a band playing. As soon as it starts, however, it's cut short by more noise and a slide whistle. This is where the album takes a turn for something absolutely sinister. A voice appears in the track and says the following: Testing... one, two, three. Well... well fuck, I mean; I just don't know what to say. I'm very glad to be here with you tonight, I'll be able to talk to you about some things...that I know a great deal about. Everyone knows that you are fucked up. And everyone knows that I am fucked up. But, does everyone know that you are more fucked up than me? Well, I know that. And you know that. But our purpose is to tell everyone that. He begins to tell everyone just that, using this and other examples as proof: Take for instance, the time you went to the bathroom, to take a shower. You had some soap, a towel, shampoo, washcloth, a brush, everything was set. But you had to call me to come turn on the water for you. You didn't know where or how. That is one instance of how fucked up you are. It's almost like the voice you're hearing is your conscious reminding you that he's necessary in your day-to-day life to keep you from being unable to do anything, and it's where the album first introduces these themes of insanity and dependence. Now of course, I can't break down the whole album like this (we'd be here all day), so I'll touch down quickly on some highlights and you can fill in the details once you've listened to them. "Yum-Yab Killers" is a live track that draws heavily from punk rock, featuring a female vocal (which I can only assume is their keyboardist Jarboe) and it's possibly the most accessible moment across this record's two discs. "Volcano" is another track with a female vocal, featuring skittering hi-hats, a four to the floor kick, and a lot of uplifting chord progressions to mask its (once again) haunting lyrics. "Animus" is the second of three or four of those post-rock funeral dirges I was talking about earlier; once you've heard one, you've heard them all, but that being said, they're all very unique for having such similar themes. "Minus Something" features one of many spoken word bits across the album. The voice on this track speaks of feeling deteriorated, upset, and drained of life, much like a lot of the music on "Soundtracks for the Blind" feels. This is easily the most diverse album I've ever heard in my life, and it certainly takes a well-trained ear and a long attention span to allow the secrets of "Soundtracks for the Blind" to unfold. But once you're in the proper time, place, and mood, everything about it begins to make sense. Number seven is on the horizon, and it may be the most esoteric album on the list.

Let's do this. Meshuggah has always been a great band for delivering progressive metal without too many overly fancy complications attached to it. Their music hasn't usually included noodly guitar work, 10-minute epics, or lots of added instrumentation. Albums ranging from all the way back to "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere," with their thrashy and fast-paced energy, all the way up to "Nothing," "obZen," or "Koloss," all focused on slow and pummeling grooves with more complex riffs. Their music seems to take more influence from bands like Pantera and Sepultura than Dream Theater or Porcupine Tree. "Catch Thirtythree," however, is easily Meshuggah's most intricate release. Rather than a collection of ten or so songs, this thirteen-track piece is just that: a piece. One complete work. Every track flows into the next in one unbroken stream of consciousness. This cohesion makes the music feel more unified, in addition to the interesting lyrical themes (which we'll get to later). What's strange to note straight from the get-go is that the first three movements of "Catch Thirtythree," "Autonomy Lost," "Imprint of the Un-Saved," and "Disenchantment" all sound nearly identical to one another. The reason these tracks are divided like this--at least in my mind--is to demonstrate how slowly the same riff can change over the course of the five minutes that these tracks encompass. Almost all the parts of this album do this, and it serves a purpose in the understanding of the music. That's what this entire piece is based around. Riffs in really odd time signatures that morph slowly and dig into the listener, beating them over the head with note after note. This is something we have guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström to thank for. It's a very low end and unique tone that this band pioneered, utilizing 8-string guitars, and a lot of gain and distortion. You can see it used in a lot of more recent bands, like Periphery and the like, but it all started with Meshuggah. Another thing that's peculiar about this album that I didn't know about for a while after I first heard it--and still forget sometimes--is that the drums on this album are programmed. The hits were all recorded by Tomas Haake and made into a virtual drum kit called the "Drumkit from Hell," which a few other bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed have used. The reason I forget that it's a machine from time to time is that they feel so real. I don't doubt Tomas' ability to play these parts live; there's even video of him doing so. Probably my favorite two parts of this album are the tracks "Mind's Mirrors" and "In Death - Is Death," which focus more on the absence of sound rather than the presence of it. Tomas delivers some vocoded spoken word on the former, and there's a lot of fantastic silence and higher-end guitar work on the latter. These tracks provide a necessary relief from the constant chaos Meshuggah brings to the rest of the album. The lyrical themes that I hinted towards are also a huge factor in dissecting the layers of madness on this record, as they're all about paradoxes ("Catch-22," "Catch Thirtythree..."). Tomas' provoking lyricism is brought to life by the ravenous pipes of Jens Kidman, who has one of the best harsh vocals I've ever heard in my life. Look at these lyrics and tell me you don't want to see them worked into something badass. Non-physical smothering. Asphyxiation by oxygen hands. Drowning in the endless sky. An ever-downward dive, only to surface the sewage of indecision, on which all sense of self is afloat. The vortex-acceleration a constant. Resolute in purpose its choking flow. Sweet. For being simply an experiment from Meshuggah, what was brought to the table on "Catch Thirtythree" could easily pass as a true full-length in their discography. It has more substance than anything they'd done personally and serves as a reminder that they're one of the best in the business. 1. Autonomy Lost 10/10 2. Imprint of the Un-Saved 10/10 3. Disenchantment 10/10 4. The Paradoxical Spiral 9/10 5. Re-Inanimate 9.5/10 6. Entrapment 10/10 7. Mind's Mirrors 10/10 8. In Death - Is Life 9.5/10 9. In Death - Is Death 10/10 10. Shed 10/10 11. Personae Non Gratae 9/10 12. Dehumanization 9.5/10 13. Sum 10/10 Overall: 10/10 Number eight will be here soon.

I rate all the music I've listened to on RateYourMusic five stars because what's criticism?