yeah yeah lol

just been a busy couple of days

been a bit busy, sorry, I will continue making reviews from now on, and I'll be doing two reviews on some days to catch up

The Grandeur That Was Rome by Monarch
Preview: Tracing Paper

Monarch is a quiet indie rock group that never quite found their audience. The Grandeur That Was Rome (which has an awesome title, by the way) was released in '03, and despite being really accessible, I guess it never caught on. They're obscure as f*** and were really hard for me to find.

The music is really pretty, though. It's generally calm indie rock kinda stuff. Some of it I wouldn't be too surprised to hear on the radio (although it'd be noticeably higher quality than most tracks there). I really don't have a whole lot to say about this album - it is rather simple - other than that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Check that preview out, man.

Rating: Good!

James Blake soon

Katie Jane Garside - Lullabies in a Glass Wilderness

So I'll like to start off by saying Katie Jane Garside is quite a prolific musician, she's in a bunch of bands (some now disbanded) such as Daisy Chainsaw, Queen Adreena, Ruby Throat, and a bunch of collaborations, such as her album with Hector Zazou titled Corps Electriques, but for today I will be talking about her solo album, which is probably the most disturbing out of them all.

So this album is very subtle, and in that brings out its very creepy and eerie nature, this album consists of the use of electronic noises, percussive sounds, some samples i'd assume, some acoustic sections, and of course, Katie Jane's wonderfully weird vocals. This woman is slightly insane, or maybe more than slightly, she has histrionic personality disorder, so her stage performances are very manic, and off stage she is said to be a recluse, it is very apparent this album is about her reclusiveness. It's a quiet album with noise-y bits here and there, and Katie's voice goes from a very cute, child like sounding vocalist, to slightly deranged woman, to eerie, ghostly noir film women, and everything in between that. To be entirely honest, I feel a bit disturbed when I listen to this album, it's uneasy in it's subtle, creepy nature and really the feeling is present the whole way, from her child like singing to her seductive crooning in songs like Darkangel, it really makes you unsure about how to feel.

For me, this album is much more of the atmosphere it creates, opposed to just listening for enjoyment, this is a cool album with some really strange and grating moments, listen to this if you like the more insane side of music, or listen to one of her other bands if you want something accessible, but still a bit off kilter.

I rate this album a 7/10, mainly due to the feelings I get from this album.

James Blake by James Blake
Preview: The Wilhelm Scream

This album is odd. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It's very minimalistic, with a bare atmosphere and a lot of layered vocals with different effects on them (though presumably all the same voice). It's also a tiny album, at less than 40 minutes.

I did enjoy its atmosphere at times, but at other times it just felt a little.. idunno, drawn out? I'll probably listen to it again when I can to see how I feel about it then, but on the first listen - it's definitely okay, man.

Rating: Okay

I had Katie Jane today to go with Nixter, but it's looking like I won't be able to do it ;_; t-tomorrow!!!

i've listened to james blake s/t like 3 times hoping that it would get better as i gave it more time

it didn't for me

overgrown is a much, much better album in my opinion, and much more fun/accessible/lively/lush

in fact, it's an extremely lush album filled with emotion

i've heard that overgrown is better. i think i have it on my computer too. i'll have to give it a try at some point. james blake's never really been my thing but i've only heard his self titled. i'm not a big fan of any part of that album.

overgrown is an entire 180 degrees on the s/t, man, I think you might get at least something from it

i'll check it out sometime, nix! maybe next month if we do this again : )



Clark - Empty The Bones Of You

Clark is one of my favorite musicians of all time, and some of his albums are near perfection to me. "Totems Flare" and "Body Riddle" are some of my favorite albums ever. Clark's music is kind of hard to describe accurately. Most of his albums have a really chaotic qualities to them, feeling almost unmastered and deranged. "Empty The Bones of You" isn't quite as crazy or left-field, but it's definitely a special entry in his discography. It's also the only album of his I've never really paid too much attention to. I'm glad I gave it a good spin today, because it's really cool.

IDM is quite diverse, since most artists in that collective "genre" are so varied. They also pretty much universally reject the label. That's another story entirely, and I'm digressing a bit, but my point is that a lot of IDM music is extremely methodically and painstakingly produced and detailed and atmospheric. (I mean, not all IDM. Aphex Twin is still a f*** sucky talentless hack, but I'm digressing even more now.) Clark's music is very detailed and rich, but in a much different way than most of his ilk. The songs on "Empty the Bones Of You" are mostly cold and dark, and very fluid and beat-oriented. Droning electronics grow in the background of intense drum programming, changing and building quicker than you can think. Most of these tracks are quite fantastic, and they flow together great. Some parts are very calming and beautiful, and some are so vast that they develop into rhythmic noise, and are very abrasive and dense. I don't have any real complaints about the album. It's good. If you're not into Clark, check this album out, it's a fine introduction. If you like IDM tunes at all, this is a good album.

In comparison to the rest of his discography, it's just about in the middle, I'd say. It's not quite as vast or groundbreaking as Body Riddle or Totems Flare, and I enjoy the cold wintery vibes of Clarence Park a tad more, but this is still good. I prefer it to the controlled environment of Turning Dragon (which is almost like a macabre dance/house album with little room for growth or development), and I DEFINITELY like it more than Iradelphic. (one of Clark's latest LPs. It's not terrible or anything but it's definitely his worst album)

Overall, yeah, it's a pretty great album. Not MIND BLOWING like some of his other records but it's still pretty great. I really like Clark a lot. I'm sure you can see that from my little notes here.

8-9/10. Fav tracks are: Holiday As Brutality, Slow Spines, Gavel (Obliterated).

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Clark is a great musician and if you like electronic music I highly recommend getting into his tunes.

tomorrow you're about to hear a tim hecker release that i've never heard

how do you feel about that

might be neat! i wonder if tim hecker still has that earth-shattering atmospheric quality in his electronic/idm stuff in comparison to the drone music he's released under his actual name

clark is a great artist luke, glad you liked that album :D

i love him, totems flare is one of my top ten favorite records

i'm 4 albums behind
love being sick!!
i'll try to do some/all of them today i guess