#8: Fis - 'From Patterns To Details'
hear this album now So, there might be better albums than this that I already wrote about, but none of them are quite on this level of sonic ear candy. This album is phenomenally produced, revealing probably too much detail, creating a novelty. I stumbled upon this album whilst concocting this list and was pretty blown away by it. It works really well as a whole if you have the time to sit around and be carried away by a whole album of material these days. What makes me hesitate on whether or not this is actually as good as #8, is, well, self doubt, having not heard it enough or as much as most of the other albums... and difficulty picking out favorite tracks makes me wonder if it really is all that good; but here it is, sitting in the 8 spot. And it is an interesting release by a relatively unknown artist found on bandcamp. 'From Patterns To Details' is just as much of a sonic sculpture as it is an ambient drone piece. But it also throws a few beats at you and other familiarities that makes the album difficult to define. Its enigmatic nature is also a reason it is ranked so high, since it is on the cusp of a new style of music only a few are really dabbling in. One could just as much classify it as a new form of electronica as experimental ambient drone. A genre which I have been getting more and more into as I get older. But this release by Fis is stinking fresh and new, throwing huge glowing piles of sound at you when it winds up and becoming dark and soundtrack like at times as well. The element of surprise is what really makes this album, since everything comes at you unexpectedly and not being too predictable like most music is. So in conclusion, it is at the very least well worth checking out to see what is at the cutting edge of sound design and technology and production, even if it is just something interesting for the ears to hear and take your brain to weird places.
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#9: Kayo Dot - 'Plastic House On Base of Sky'
Hear the track titled "Magnetism" It helps to know what you are getting into with Kayo Dot's latest, 'Plastic House On Base of Sky', because this doesn't sound like any other Kayo Dot album, nor any other album in particular. Kayo Dot, if anything, was more known for prog-rock and mathy metal meanderings peppered with other styles on songs to break up the monotony of a heavy metal onslaught, which some have appreciated over the years. Things could get weird, things could get heavy, things could get screamy, things could sound pretty. So they would have a bit of variety on each album for the most part, but on the last one 'Coffins On Io', they hinted at some new directions, one of which was a synth heavy almost new wave sound. Well on 'Plastic House', Toby Driver and crew have meandered down that singular path and have created a whole album of that type of material. And it works, for the most part. But the twist here is that at times, the combination of prog rock and new wave ends up sounding like a slightly more advanced version of 80s Rush, but with new wave vocals. It is this strange hybrid that propels the album. There are plenty of lush analog synthesizers, and layers of other more traditional stringed instrumentation. The drums sound almost like a drum machine, or midi kit of some kind, perhaps even of 80s origin. But whatever he did, he made a whole new aesthetic that sounds very familiar but never quite as high reaching as some of the moments of 'Base of Sky'. This album shows that a band with an ever growing discography can still reinvent themselves. It also makes one wonder if they will continue this more "refined and sensual" approach, as the band puts it, or perhaps continue down a path of a more myopic vision with less variety and more focus on the overall aesthetic of one album. With this release, the band proves that they are unpredictable, so who knows what will be their next creative endeavor. At this time, it appears that they will be touring this year. I must say, I was thinking I wasn't going to like this album as much as I did. What really put it over the top is the production sounds amazing and envelopes one in beautiful washes of sound. And the album grows on you over time, so by the time I wrote this, I ended up liking it quite a bit! Temporal anomalies aside, the only drawback of this album is that it kind of wimpers out at the end, the second to last track dragging a bit (albeit still a great track) into the final track which is more tame and somber than the rest of the album. It does feel more like some of Kayo Dot's past work, more on the sorrowful and less metal side, even though it is still heavy material, it may not be listened to as the first 3 or 4 tracks. What is at surface value an album with lengthy songs ends up being only 5 tracks, but there is a lot of great material here which fits onto a vinyl pressing nicely (got it in the mail the other day, sounds killer). If you like visionary, great sounding production, and future-retro stylings, you must check this out. It feels both forward thinking and nostalgic and is if nothing else a unique hybrid of genres that most would not think of how to stitch together, but by having an encyclopedic knowledge of music, Toby Driver has become quite proficient at songwriting over the years. It is getting harder and harder to decide which album is better at this point, it is all subjective and of course what you want to hear the most at the time. This album in particular seems to work on multiple levels, great headphone listen but also sounds great in an open room and could be an attention getter for a lot of different types of people. There are some weird beats here, however, so I suppose that might drive some away; and perhaps some long time fans might be yawning at this material, but who knows. It just proves that this project can be taken in just about any direction and still be a bit futuristic and ahead of the pack in so many different ways. Kayo Dot website #10: Ecferus - multiple releases in 2016
clicky--> Go check it out! Go! <--clicky Back from vacation! I cannot believe it has been nearly 2 weeks since writing about #11, but it is finally time to move on to the Top 10! What you will probably notice in the top 10 is that if an artist was prolific AND each release was of great quality, that artist made the Top 10. 2016 seemed to be a year of many things, but it was also a year of proclivitous prolificness. At this point, might as well admit, the Top 25 Releases is really much more than that, if you count each and every album on this list. It sounded good though. But here on out, it is going to be a bit of a stretch. Nowadays musicians and sound artists have become rather unpredictable. The capability exists to release entire collections of music without warning. Or release one great album and then surprise us with another one later in the year. One of these musicians (who also had a top notch black metal album release just last year) is known simply as Ecferus. Ecferus is a one man force of black metal fury. He does it all. In 2016, he released the 'Pangaea' concept album, which I was going to include in at least the top 20. But while compiling this list, I discovered that he actually had not one or two, but THREE releases in 2016, and all of them were quite good. 'Shadow Projection' showed a more raw and in the moment side, while 'Shamaniacal Essence' is listed as an EP and perhaps hints at the next full length. But let's start with 'Pangaea' (and oh yeah, he also released a split with Jute Gyte!). What I referred to as a concept album, 'Pangaea' was released about a year ago now, in February 2016. So I had this album longer than the other and I know it much more in depth. And I call it a concept album because, well, this is what Ecferus has listed on the album's bandcamp page: "Pangaea" uses a mythological point-of-view to tell the story of a planet at war with its occupants. The tortured main character, Pangaea, is ripped apart into separate continents by Earth so as to prevent the begetting of creatures with potential too powerful to be trusted. Acting out of spite, Pangaea nurtures humanity's rise to power until their passive occupation mutates into indefensible planetary malice. Using wide dynamic shifts and changes in meter, with “Pangaea” ECFERUS creates the musical equivalent of an accelerated planetary evolution, depicting the fury of the elements and an Earth painfully coming to life. That seems quite conceptual, does it not? Whatever the case, this album sounds really focused and refined compared to a lot of black metal, even his own work. It sounds a bit more progressive rock at times as well, for some reason. What's more important though is that this album is packed full of riffs and intensity as it tells its sad tale. There are even some synths going on. There are many shifts and turns on this album, perhaps not as many on say a Krallice album but in the same ballpark. The album closes out with "Storms Continue On", one of the albums strongest offerings, which starts out at a slower pace and continues developing as it goes. More could be said of 'Pangaea', but there were two more Ecferus releases from 2016 that sounded a bit different than the high conceptual ideas and focus on detail. In July, 'Shadow Projections' was released, and it possessed a more fuzzy and raw rock sound. It is faster and less proggy, focusing more on energy and movement in more familiar and dark black metal realms. I honestly cannot decide which one I like better, it is a mood thing. If you need a wakeup call and to feel more energized, 'Shadow Projections' works perfectly well. It is a bit less highly original, but sometimes you don't need concept albums, you need a good ass kicking, and 'Shadow Projections' definitely delivers the metal-clad feet needed. The album is a bit more classic sounding and memorable in parts, especially on the moving "Howling Canyons in the Sulcus". While I lean more towards the ferociousness of 'Shadow', 'Pangaea' was also quite memorable and I have been hearing it longer. They are just quite a bit different, which makes Ecferus' 2016 all the more impressive. But wait, there's more... 'Shamaniacal Essence' was also released. While it is not another LP, an EP, it is still impressive, along with the knowledge that a split with Jute Gyte was also released. Prolific! While 'Shadow Projections' was more a tale of an individual breaking down into "cosmic primitivity" (check out the album closer "Reduced to Cosmic Shreds"), 'Shamaniacal Essence' breaks it down to the primal animal level through induced psychosis, according to the artist. This last EP which was released in November 2016 sounds the most unhinged, which made for an interesting plot to follow, going from the most focused release he had ever made at the beginning of 2016 and devolving into chaos to finish the year out. Sounds about right for 2016. |
AuthorG.M. Bowles Archives
February 2017
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