What albums did you listen to today?

Chrome - Alien Soundtracks.

Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves.

Loop - Heaven's End.

Main - Hz.

Pale Sketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed.

Tangerine Dream - Rubycon.

Another Toby project, and his most ambitious one, so far. If you think Kayo Dot is out there, just listen to this. Very minimalistic, with contemporary classical influences, Toby's first and only solo album to date is a horrendous journey through the darkest depths of human's mind. As with maudlin and Kayo, and (to an extent) with Tartar Lamb, this is a mix of ugliness (in a good way), brutality, melancholy, beauty, despair, uncertainty and fear. It's disturbing but soothing on another level, sometimes very repetitive, creating such tension and power. Overall, a stellar experience. The only track that didn't feel as good as the others is Brown Light Upon us; I get Toby's idea, but somehow it doesn't work as well as it should, though I still like it a bit. Maybe it'll grow on me, maybe it won't. For now, it's 8/10.

#5: Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull 

Earth is a drone band from Seattle that started as drone metal/drone doom outfit and gradually changed to stoner an psychedelic influenced drone (in other words, they lightened up). The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull is, as far as I've understood, the band's first full take on the new style, and boy is it good. The tracks aren't radically different, but every one of them has somehow different place it sucks me in. From subtropic areas and warm, deciduous forests to barren and sunbathed deserts of Wild West. It's amazing what a band can do in one track using just a few recurring themes - it does work. I also love the sound of drums on this album. Who knows, maybe there's a drone fan trapped inside of myself. If the album hit me only a little bit harder, I would dearly give it 9/10, but I don't think it deserves that score, at least after the first listen. 8.5/10

#6 Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People

Mogwai are one of the best and most popular second-wave post rock bands, along with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros and Do Make Say Think. I felt that the title of the album was ironic, since the tracks were mostly soaked in melancholy and overall sad ambiance. Although I didn't understand a single line of lyrics, I enjoyed the vocals a lot and I think they added much wherever they were placed. Crescendos aren't used as sparely as Explosions in the Sky's or God Is an Astronaut's, but instead with some kind of meaning; they're not just put there for the sake of being there, they have their comfortable place and they're full and powerful. Not really what I expected, in a very, very good way. I have a feeling that Mogwai is going to be one of my favorites (if not my favorite band) from the genre of post-rock. 9/10

#7: Gregor Samsa - 55:12

And the last band for today is another post-rock band, though this one has some slowcore elements and more decipherable vocals. It's, as the previous album, melancholic, but not in the same way: I would say that this is more directly sad. To be honest, apart from some tracks (especially Young and Old), the album didn't seem too interesting to me. The ideas were there, it's just that they weren't realized to their full potential. I quite liked the mix of male and female vocals: it added a great deal to the album's emotional message. Overall, I would say this is the worst album I listened to today - not to say it's bad, it's just not as good as the others. As for the score, 6/10 (it may seem too high, but while I didn't really focus on the good things when reviewing it, I definitely had them in mind when deciding the score)

The Mars Volta - Amputechture

Comus - First Utterance

Legend - From the Fjords

The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta - Bedlam in Goliath

Zola Jesus - Conatus.

Saint Etienne - So Tough.

Klaus Schulze - Blackdance.

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Mogwai - Young Team 

The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Rush - Power Windows

iamthemorning - ~

An Endless Sporadic--Ameliorate

Snarky Puppy--Tell Your Friends

Snarky Puppy--GroundUp

Pink FLoyd--Animals

Opeth--Still Life