What albums did you listen to today?

^^ I never heard Portishead either (we are evaluating Geoff Barrow for PE, though). Thanks for the recommendations, I'll listen to these albums later. I did hear something recent when I first heard of them, maybe in 2008, but I didn't find it interesting to check them out. I guess it's a matter of good timing, when getting into some bands.

`Moon Safari' is good, it's just sometimes the kitsch elements of it can get a little grating! At the time, along with the debut Portishead album `Dummy', it kind of got picked up by the yuppie/dinner party crowd, and, like Portishead, they've never tried to make anything like it ever again.

But most of the Air albums are pretty good, Sam. You'll probably go nuts for `The Virgin Suicides' soundtrack too (which is the follow-up to `Moon Safari'), it's only a little frustrating that many of the tracks are barely little fragments or interludes. Most of the albums onwards mix indie-rock into the synth-pop, but they're always interesting. `10000 Hertz Legend' was hugely controversial when it came out, quite unlikable, but they've defiantly done their own thing ever since as opposed to offering a lazy remake of `Moon Safari' (which they probably should have done for the masses!), which I think was pretty brave of them. My personal favourite from them is `Pocket Symphony', very icy and fragile.

`Believe' is great, and not too long either. It was a bit of a shock at first, being quite song-based for a Pendragon album, but it's grown to be a very good disc from them. Barrett sounds freed and relieved to be moving away from the Neo-prog standard sound on that one!

Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - July 21 2016 at 03:46

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Good choices with that `German Oak' album, a bit of a brooding Krautrock favourite of mine. I've got an LP reissue of it, but wish I had the CD version, which is one of the rare examples of a disc with plenty of bonus tracks that are actually worth listening to! Highly recommended!

Yeah, I've listened to it with the bonus tracks (which apparently appear before the pieces from the original album) and the whole work still seemed incredibly consistent and even. Really such a great album!

As to Schulze, I've got Blackdance and maybe Timewind on my list for today.

Sex Pistols - "Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols"
The Faith / Void - Split LP
The Birthday Party - "Prayers on Fire"
Iggy Pop - "The Idiot"
The Stooges - s/t
Mayhem - "Deathcrush"

Hatfield and the North - The Rotters' Club. This is an album that I did not like at the first few listens, but started enjoying it immensly today. So much that I'm even considering if I don't happen to like it more than HatN's debut album. This is frigging fantastic! It has something that their first album lacked - the dynamics and variety. Wow! And I even like Richard Sinclair's sung parts, which did not appeal to me at first. The instrumental jams are awesome, top class Canterbury music, up there with Egg, Henry Cow or National Health.
German Oak - German Oak. This is quite a discovery to me. I read about this group a few times and Nico (Modrigue) once recommended it to me as a great example of jam-based, guitar-driven krautrock. I listened to it, but I even forgot it. Today, I discovered how great German Oak is. It sort of reminds me of Tago Mago-era Can, early Ash Ra Tempel, and maybe the first two albums from Tangerine Dream. The jamming is out of this world, while allusions to Hitler and the Third Reich just make the music seem powerful and majestic. There are even some Wagnerian touches in there! Plus, the album was recorded in a bunker, which supplies it with a very different type of resonance. Great!
Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht. Going to gradually listen to the whole discography of Klaus Schulze. This is obviously his first effort, soon after he sold his drums and bought a roomful of synths. And one is definitely able to detect that. It's just pure experimentation, that does not seem to have a destination. Fun, but nothing to admire really. I did enjoy it very much, though.
Klaus Schulze - Cyborg. This was much better! In fact, I love this album. I have heard it before, but only once or twice, which really proves how good albums need a few listens to be fully comprehended. What a journey this one was! This is such an improvement from Irrlicht - everything sounds in-place, well thought, and just organized, putting Klaus among the greats of classical electronic music, if you will. Love Cyborg!
Khan - Space Shanty. If I try to take a break from a) sophisticated beauties of the diminished chord in 23/8 time signature or b) complex RIO arrangements or c) lengthy krautrock jams or d) electronic workouts, and happen to want to listen to something ear-friendly, Space Shanty is something that has become somewhat of a holy grail in that respect. I absolutely love this album from the beggining to the end. Perfect mix of Caravanish songwriting and Canterburian passages.

This was my day! A really good one, I might add!

^ Enjoy your work day, Michael! And don't get caught talkin' away to me on Facebook. Lol.

Sneaking one more in for the day.

A Chinese Firedrill-- Circles.

Just one today, not at work so not as much listening:



Heard it years ago but just caught up on an original with the latest CD reissue now, so some long overdue catch-up listening is on the menu!

progbethyname wrote: Hey Sam! Right on, Man! That Symphony X album ( V-Mythology) is one of my beloved. Really love the Keyboards by Pinella. I think he is a god among insects. He plays so beautifully on that album. What a great listen. ;)

Yeah, really great keyboards. The vocals are some of the best I heard on a Metal album too, in my opinion. It made me think of how great DT could be with that singer 

Tuesday...

ALotOfBottle wrote: Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up. Coming back from my vacation means unlimited access to all music, without being dependent on my iPod. This is really heavy psychedelia. I like the blues influences that resonate in between the layers of kosmische musik, which are one of Ash Ra Tempel's trademarks.