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My memory of hearing this for the first time is so vivid. pitchfork's servers got hacked and this was one of the leaks. I tossed it on during a mid-October morning as I walked to a history class at UCLA. By the end of Emily I had already decided there was no way I was going to class that day. I walked around the rest of the day and listened to it non-stop. Echoing what others have said, Ys is not only my favorite album, but my favorite work of art. I have easily listened to it over hundreds of times, and it still makes my chest tight and my eyes misty.
Heard a Queens of the Stone Age sample in there: Kip Casper with KLON, LA's infinite repeat. He needed a saga, and they gave it to him.
Maybe it's just the fanboy in me, but I could see Andy Samberg hosting and Joanna Newsom playing. With Divers (maybe her best album) coming soon and Samberg riding that sweet Emmys wave, it seems like a possibility?
Holy shit. These tracks leave Ecdysis in the dust.
Any recommendations for other albums to check out? My favorite metal album this year is still Tribulation's release. I've not been as drawn in by what I've heard this year as compared to the past few, but I've been much busier and not paid attention quite as much.
Dear god, what a great day. I missed the August Black Market for some reason, so I'm just discovering these. I LOVED Ecdysis, so I'm beyond excited for this.
I love Deafheaven and this is a great review that makes me very excited to listen to the new album, but I've been busy all summer, so the best news here is that Horrendous have a new one coming soon, and that they've apparently already put out two tracks from it! As soon as Spiritual Healing finishes spinning, I'm checking those out.
Before even reading this, I'm just excited to see that it happened. They have one of the best catalogs ever, but it's so huge and unwieldy it's hard for neophytes to jump into. I'm gonna put my sunglasses on and read through the list. Mothership Connection for #1!
I really like the wider variety of styles here as compared to the past few months. You guys heard the new Valdur release? The album came out today, but they put out a single last week. I'm almost all the way through, and it's a pretty ugly and wicked slab of blackened death.
You guys obviously put the Bell Witch record all the way at the bottom so nobody would miss it, right? Honestly, the problem I have with these guys is that I don't have a solid way to listen to their music. The bass is so huge that it overwhelms most of my speakers at one point or another.
That is Trumpeter Landfrey->Translucent Carriages. Balaklava as a whole is a spectacular record and better than many of the free-jazz releases that ESP put out. The Cromagnon record is also very much worth the listen, as it plays back as one of the first noise records, as we currently view the term. The dissonant work and collage-y nature would have fit right in with Prurient, Merzbow or early Boredoms. The Fugs, The Godz and The Holy Modal Rounders were all worth checking out as well.
How about Pearls Before Swine? Is nobody interested in the NMH of the 60s? Trumpeter Lampfrey is one of those songs everyone should hear.
I saw Cedric Bixler-Zavala do a monologue at UCB LA about 5 years ago. He told a story about how he rode the Greyhoud to San Francisco, all the way scoring random drugs and drinks from strangers. When he got off he met a friendly seeming homeless guy. That night, they were sleeping in an alley when some dude walked down it with a running chain saw. They both ran away, then the homeless guy robbed Cedric for everything he had, including his jacket.
Even better to see that the top 5 Fall albums are in place, in the correct order.
Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!! I found Scum early in my metal development because Justin Broadrick played on it, and through that record I discovered Carcass and Cathedral. For some godawful reason I never explored beyond Scum until two years ago when I checked out Utilitarian. It was so different and so excellent that I was almost petrified of where to go next. This is great.
Surprised nobody mentioned Neil Young and his various groups yet: Buffalo Springfield - 1966 Buffalo Springfield Again - 1967 Last Time Around - 1968 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - 1969 Deja Vu and After The Goldrush - 1970 4 Way Street - 1971 Harvest - 1972 Time Fades Away - 1973 On the Beach - 1974 Tonight's the Night and Zuma - 1975 Long May You Run - 1976 American Stars and Bars - 1977 Comes a Time - 1978 Rust Never Sleeps 1979 Now, sure Long May You Run and 4-Way Street may not be great records, but holy crap that's quite a run of pure gold.
Louder than Bombs is mostly non-album shit. Ramones Mania is just an incredible compilation of mostly album cuts.
Before even reading this list (which, since it's studio releases, should go Rocket to Russia>Ramones>Leave Home>Road to Ruin>Everything else) I was going to post exactly this. It's Alive is as close to perfection as any record can get, and hearing the live record that was recorded a few dates after this that they released in the 2000s just hammers it home. It sounds EXACTLY like It's Alive, and just proves they were a machine around that time.
Great choice for the top spot.