Discover an Unfamilliar Artist

kazansky wrote: i'd like to know about Maudlin of the Well

I like to think of maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot somewhat as the same band, as when listening to both bands' discographies the natural progression of the bands' music becomes evident.

Toby Driver is the musical mastermind behind both of these bands, though in maudlin of the Well his dominance is slightly less pronounced. In maudlin of the Well, Jason Byron was in charge of the lyrics, keyboards, and some vocals, while guitarist Greg Massi took a part in writing some of the music. There's also a very prominent avant-garde classical influence present in Kayo Dot's music that is mostly absent from maudlin of the Well's.

maudlin of the Well is predominantly a metal band, though they often stray into other musical territories, and indeed the musical palette of the band is quite eclectic. They have plenty of soft parts in their music, but not in the same way as Opeth, for example. They have four interludes on their lattter two albums that are in this idiom. I can pretty much guarantee that even their predominantly metal stuff will have little no resemblance to anything else you've heard.

maudlin of the Well's first album is a bit immature, and is not up to par with the rest of Driver's recent work. The production is also not nearly as polished as motW's latter two albums, which were produced and released at the same time.

An interesting curio about maudlin of the Well's music is that Driver claims most of the composition was aided with the use of astral projection. Interlude 4 was apparently entirely dreamt. I'm not really sure how this works, exactly~

As far as I know, maudlin of the Well was Driver's first serious band, though he had produced music as a solo artist for many years under the name "Spoonion," although most of this work is too amateurish to really be taken seriously. He also has two other major sideprojects: his solo work, which is basically weird avant-garde classical/soundscapes, and Tartar Lamb, which is an avant-garde classical electric guitar/violin duo.

Along with Mark Hollis, Toby Driver is probably my favorite musical force of the last ten years or so.

eheh let us discuss... Mr.Bungle.

LeInsomniac wrote: eheh let us discuss... Mr.Bungle.

Edited by #1floydfan - July 30 2007 at 12:48

Niki, do you want to know the history of the Canterbury Scene, or which albums to start with in your listening journey?

Mojo Magazine have just had a top ten Canterbury Scene buyers guide in their recent addition, the top ten is:

10. Khan - Space Shanty
9. National Health - Of Queues and Cures
8. Soft Machine - Third
7. Gong - Camembert Electrique
6. Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
5. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
4. Kevin Ayers - The Joy of a Toy
3. Caravan - If I Could Do it All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You
2. Hatfield and the North - Rotters' Club
1. Soft Machine - Volume One and Two

Which is not that far off for a list, actually.

Now where to start with Canterbury?  Well the problem with the Canterbury Scene is that it doesn't represent a sound so much, so if you like one album, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll like other albums.

For a sense of what the scene originally was about, check out Caravan's 2nd and 3rd albums and then listen to Soft Machine's first two.  From there, I would say travel the astro-plane and listen to some early Gong and Kevin Ayers.  Then it's time for Wyatt's Rock Bottom.

After that, the music will become more jazz-orientated (Soft Machine's Third and onwards, Nucleus albums, Gong's later albums and even Robert Wyatt and Caravan get jazzier), so if you're not so keen on jazz, approach the latter titles with caution.  If course, if you like jazz, then it maybe more beneficial to start with these latter releases and work backwards.

I do not know much Zappa or Rush, so somebody else will have to talk about them.

I think this is a great idea. for bhikkuh.

So, in the spirit of enlightenment, could someone fill me in on Meshuggah, their best qualities, appeal and albums to start on?

Also, this band isn't listed on PA, so would anyone like to discuss Maximum Indifference?

As to Isis, I'd like to add that their themes brim with intertwined stories of inteligently - or at the very least, interesting - crafted characters/concepts that inconspicuously starr in their albums, furthering its mysterious meaning through more or less subtle connections between albums. For example, the control towers story present in Celestial and SGNL>05. Although, I'm not a fairly devoted fan myself, thus I cannot provide much more than what I've pointed out above.

#1floydfan wrote: LeInsomniac wrote: eheh let us discuss... Mr.Bungle.   Mr. bungle scares me.... thats about it....   i think we should talk about a very underated band sieges even.....

I only own A Sense of Change and, from what I was able to hear, they're not underated at all: it's an excellent album, bringing technical proficiency of the Holzwarths' tight rhythmns composed to draw beauty and - to me, anyway - a sense of serenity in their association with the inspiring vocals of Jogi Kaiser and Markus Steffen's lyrical content (not to mention his fair skills as a guitarist); and sharing my view or not, the majority seems to recognize its 5/4 star worth, thankfully

More on Meshuggah; imagine brutal staccato like riffs and all of a sudden it stops and goes into a grazy jazz like solo. After that more grazy riffs. The vocals are unbelievable strong.  He sort of roars more then sings . I've seen them live and they were very very good.

Edited by glass house - July 30 2007 at 16:20

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: LeInsomniac wrote: eheh let us discuss... Mr.Bungle.   Mr Bumgle as any Mike Patton project is an aggression to the senses, Death metal, Avant, RIO, Tango and more, none of them exclusively and all of them at the same time.   Only for people willing to push the boundaries of music.   Start with Disco Volante.   If you like it maybe should try The Director's Cut by Fantomas, their version of Rosemary's Baby really freaks anybody.   Iván

I don't know about Disco Volante. It is certainly their best and a masterpiece of RIO, but if you haven't listened to RIO yet, start with California. It is much more accessible. However, DV is the apex of Mr. Bungle. As Ivan already stated, it blends many genres (many, many more than Ivan mentioned) not seamlessly (they want you to be unsettled, so sudden changes occur of smooth transitions).

1800iareyay wrote: I',m going to try to get into post rock, so tell me about Sigur Ros, who seem to be the kings of that sub-genre. MAybe which album I should start with, etc.

Edited by Proletariat - July 30 2007 at 20:10

I knowb who Mr.Bungle is, I have the album Disco Volante which for me is a masterpiece, I just wanted to start a discussion about them so that all persons that dont know them might want to start listening to them, or just to discuss their music with fellow proggers about their sound but Iván preety much sayed everything