I absolutely agree on Dromers. My favorite album to come out of the Dutch scene (De Oord being my second). Although I'm sure I still have a lot of discovering to do.
MYSTRAS sounds like something I'd also be into, I look forward to checking that out.
This is state of the art dance pop. I wasn't in a good frame of mind going into this album, but "Alice" snapped me out of that mindframe right quick. "Sine From Above" was another highlight, I love that drum n bass outro. Never been an Elton John fan, but he sounded great on that song. My favorite is "Plastic Doll". Jittery, desperate dance-pop gold. (And I hope she keeps working with BloodPop in the future, they go perfect together.)
Also, check out that sweet 3 to 2 ratio of song titles with no caps. The way of the future. The way of the future. https://media1.tenor.com/images/1520aaa796c86a3701c0bd50cde3bdd1/tenor.gif
Charli XCX - "forever"
Unreqvited - "Meadows of Elysium"
Fka Twigs - "sad day"
Grimes - "Delete Forever"
Sadness - "hope you never forget"
"Meadows of Elysium" was the last song I listened to while spending time with my oldest cat (this was in February). He could barely walk. I couldn't get him to eat food or drink any water or milk. Eventually I just put my head against his and started crying. (I happened to be listening to this song at the time.) He didn't wake up the next morning. But I felt like we had spent a perfect last moment together, which is rare. And at least he died at home, surrounded by people who loved him.
Ha! The best part is, I didn't even bother to look at the playlist first to see what had already been added. It was only later that I saw that we both added Oranssi Pazuzu tracks back to back! I'm just lucky I didn't pick the same song.
Too Many Voices has my favorite song by him ("New Romantic"). But I agree that Faith in Strangers and Luxury Problems are his best albums.
Listening to that Against All Logic Album now for the first time. Surprised it took me until now. Thanks, folks up-thread.
Report:
Yep, I made the right call. This is soothing stuff. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" has a nice Beach House-y beat to it. And "S.W.I.M." is the type of song that would've felt right at home on the Lost in Translation soundtrack. Fuzzed-out and blissfully entrancing. Those two were standouts for me, but I loved the whole album.
Got some tax money back, bought the Midwife album on bandcamp. Haven't listened to it yet, going to save it for tomorrow morning. It always warms my heart to see blochead and WilliamSockner bonding over a release. That alone was enough to sell me on it, while knowing nothing about Midwife. For now I'm just going to let Saint Cloud take me to the natural conclusion of my (not too bad) drunken stupor. From what I've read, Midwife should provide a pretty good hangover remedy tomorrow! 😊
Fuck yeah, this is straight up incredible. I wisely waited until I had a chance to blast it in my car. It bangs. This might be my favorite song by her, and I do not say that lightly. It's awesome to hear her once again ace such an infectious pop tune with some gloriously weird production. SOTY candidate.
Ellis - Born Again
Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology of the Nine
Sivyj Yar - Grief
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
JFDR - New Dreams
Sadness - Alluring the Distant Eye
Cult of Fire - Nirvana
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
Violet Cold - Noir Kid
Thank you! My mom just asked why I'm awake now. I told her I dozed off listening to Diana Ross for a while. She laughed and said "Oh is that what that was?" I'm going back to sleep. :)
Thank you for this comment, I've read it a couple times now while trying to form my own opinions. The Chic mix of Upside Down is indeed more lush, and that's probably why I like it more (although the bass is better in the original release.) From a production standpoint, I definitely prefer the Chic album mix overall. "My Old Piano" is probably the only one where I prefer the non-Chic version.
Listening to the album for the first time now. "Now That You're Gone" is another highlight. That bass darts around like a troubled ferret. Diana's vocals are still the best part of the song though.
My two AOTY came out on the same day this week. Ellis's Born Again is just swooningly gorgeous. Listened to it 4 times last night. It's chock-full of great, introspective songwriting, particularly the title track and "Saturn Return". If the lines "I will look into the mirror/ And I will not be ashamed/ Turn my face up to the sky/ And I will not be afraid" don't make me lose it, the way her voice lilts on the word "return" always does.
And holy shit, that Yves Tumor album. I'm still digesting it as a whole. But every time I get about 3 minutes into "Kerosene!", I just laugh in disbelief at how good that song is.
I can't speak for lob, but have you tried Antigone's Fate? I've wanted to recommend this to you for a while, given your namesake and your interest in the genre. Anyway, Zum Horizont... is one of the best atmospheric black metal albums I've encountered.
Aside from that, I recommend Violet Cold, Unreqvited, Sylvaine, Sivyj Yar, and Mesarthim (if you're in the mood for more cosmic ABM). You might be familiar with all of these already. But I always have more suggestions. :)
Sadness is definitely my favorite in that subgenre. Only listened to it once so far, but it did not disappoint.
Also looking forward to the new Aara album. Between that, Yves Tumor, and Ellis, Friday is going to be a good day indeed.
As a stay-at-home caretaker, I already had a year and a half worth of cabin fever under my belt before this pandemic. So my life hasn't changed much. It can be a rough transition, especially if you're not used to spending a lot of time indoors, rooted to the spot. I think it's almost inevitable that folks are going to hit a low point along the way, so don't feel bad about that. Mine was last August, when I went a month without showering. But once I came out of it, things levelled off into a manageable state of acceptance.
One thing that's helped me over the past few months was really delving into black metal. That's probably not helpful advice for you. But I've found that sometimes keeping calm is the last thing I want to do, and black metal helps me lean into the madness in a way that is healthy (compared to, say, hard liquor.) Maybe it would help you to investigate some extreme genre of music mostly new to you. Or Maybe leaning on old favorites like Grouper is the best answer. Whatever works. It sounds like you're already committed to getting better, and that's a good sign. Good luck, pal. It may not be an ideal situation, but it gets easier.
It's been a strong year so far, I sometimes have to remind myself that Miss Anthropocene came out. I used to assume that a new Grimes album would be my lock for AOTY, but now I'm not so sure.
Yeah, I think he just likes to pursue different directions with each release. Mosaic II sounds so different from the split with Sylvaine, for instance, and they came out on the same day!
Spectral Lore / Mare Cognitum - Wanderers: Astrology Of The Nine
Sivyj Yar - Grief
Grimes - Miss Anthropocene
Cult of Fire - Nirvana
JFDR - New Dreams
Ellis - "Embarrassing"
Grimes - "Delete Forever"
Unreqvited - "Meadows of Elysium"
Christine and the Queens - "People, I've Been Sad"
Sadness - "Hope You Never Forget"
That would be awesome.
Dear Tommy is supposed to have a song called "After Hours" on it, according to the tracklist on Genius. That may seem like pure coincidence, but consider this: there's also a good Twilight Zone episode called "The After Hours". It's all somehow connected.
Woods of Desolation's As the Stars is a good atmospheric but still sufficiently rough-edged one, sounds better every time I hear it.
Au-Dessus's self-titled EP and their album End of Chapter are my favorite post black metal or whatever they are. The EP and Album pretty much function as one continuous release. That's what I was listening to when I started breaking stuff on my porch last week. It's heavy and sprawling, but also insanely catchy.
Murg's Varg & Björn is one of my favorite straightforward black metal albums.
I was going to wait until night to listen to the new Malokarpatan, because, well just look at that cover art:https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a4240047946_16.jpg
But I couldn't resist darkening my skies with it earlier this afternoon, and I love it. And thanks for mentioning Grift, I didn't even know they had a new one out today.
Right on all counts! I think Noir Kid is indeed his best yet. "Synergy" is a great song, and so are the title track and "Euphoria". Had to toss that last one on the weekend playlist.
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