Experimental/Post rock Appreciation Threa

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   Have fun in the DMST show, freekske! May I recommend you get Russian Circles since you enjoy the heavier side of post-rock as well. You can also try one of my favorites albums, Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss.
It may not be as unique as GY!BE, but they are every bit as powerful!
(I know that I already recommended this album for about a 234521times,
sorry for that )

On a side note, the new World's End Girlfriend album was released in March 23! The album is called Hurtbreak Wonderland.

For those of you who don't know who World's End Girlfriend are (or is) then feel free to check them out here in our beloved PA. Here's the bio and a review for all of you lazy people  : 

World's
End Girlfriend is the brainchild of a Japanese artist and
multi-instrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda. Not much is known about him or
his background, he generally seems to avoid publicity, which has
ultimately made him a rather mysterious character. His love for
classical music -- which already started at the tender age of 10 -- is
fairly evident when listening to his surprisingly challenging albums.
He was already composing music with guitars and keyboards at the age of
13 and apparently hasn't stopped ever since. The music of World's End
Girlfriend defies categorization. It combines countless ideas and
genres together quite effortlessly, resulting in a weird, but exciting
musical world. In this world, you can find post-rock, modern classical
music, electronica, all presented in a tasteful fashion. The clichés of
the genre are thankfully missing, and there's one thing you can be sure
of; World's End Girlfriend will not let you rest on your laurels; he
will always keep you on your toes as the music often takes drastic
changes in direction without any warning. A cinematic feel is one of
the trademarks of Maeda's detailed compositions (which is hardly
surprising in this field of music), but it's a tad more orchestrated
than the average post-rock act. The music is heavy on the strings and
wind instruments (while bearing little resemblance to the likes of A
Silver Mt. Zion) with lots of haunting, eerie soundscapes that will
stay in your head for days. Searching for comparison is a difficult and
often futile task, but I guess one could hear traces of 65daysofstatic
(mainly due to the electronica influence). World's End Girlfriend is
certainly not for the faint of heart, but the more adventurous
post-rockers will find this rather unique artist more than worthy of
their time. "The Lie Lay Land" (2005) is generally seen as his best
album.

WORLD'S END GIRLFRIEND — The Lie Lay Land
Review by                 

    chamberry

(Ruben Dario)

SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Psychedelic Prog  & Post RockTeams

The soundtrack for your dreams.

Multi-instrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda is the mastermind behind what we know as
World's End Girlfriend and with this project people took notice to what he had to
say. Everything you hear in this album is made by him; The compositions, the
instrumentation, you name it. He may well be one of the best unknown modern composer
of our times and there aren't many people that know of him or his works.

The Lie Lay Land pretty much speaks for itself. It's post-rock like no other and it
stands out aside from the bunch. The first time you listen to this album you won't
even recall it being post-rock at all. It truly defies categorization. Derivative is
a word that doesn't fit in World's End Girlfriend's context. But enough about that,
let's talk about the album

The first thing noticeable is that Katsuhiko Maeda plays a wide variety of
instruments even more so than previous World's End Girlfriend releases so it's very
well orchestrated. The album also has an excellent mixture of electronica effects and
more heart warming instrumentation. As I already mentioned in my review of Farewell
Kingdom by them, they don't rely much on guitars as other bands. The guitar here has
the same roll as the trumpets, horns, pianos and all other instrument played. It's
also a pretty demanding album to listen to. It's rather unpredictable and you won't
know what to expect next while listening to it, but that doesn't detract the beauty
of it or the flow of the album, instead it makes it more demanding and engaging to
listen to and it will keep you coming for more. Another great improvement in their
sound is that none of the songs sound alike. Every song develops in its own distinct
way. One of the best way to describe the atmosphere of this album is dreamy. I don't
think there isn't an album that fit this description as well as this album except for
Sigur Rós' Agaetis Byrjun, but they sound NOTHING alike so be warned. The album has a
mystical feel to it as well. From the name of the album, cover, song names (Garden In The
Ceiling, Unspoiled Monster, Phantasmagoria Moth Gate) to the actual sound and
cinematic feel, The Lie Lay Land produces wonderful movie-like images of wonderful
and surrealistic places that you will only find in dreams and movies. Plus the
emotional factor of their melodies makes it all even more wonderful to listen to.

This album is one of the best post-rock has to offer. Katsuhiko Maeda is one of the
artists that are on the vanguard of the genre breaking trends opening new ways to do
their music without being bad at it or pretentious. He has my deepest respect.
Recommended for every single fan of music. Dreamy, beautiful, demanding and well
worth the repeated listens.

4.5

Experimental/Post rock Appreciation Threa

WORLD'S END GIRLFRIEND — The Lie Lay Land

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