Music
Tasting
Notes

Is what these are.

Here I keep notes on 'all' the albums I listen, as a personal reference to remember me about all the awesome music out there. Most notes will be very positive, because I don't tend to listen to music I don't like.

This is also my online playground to play around with data-sets like these, tinckering with the design, database and code of the website, continually improving it. This means this site gets a facelift like every other day. And shit might not work, don't tell me, I probably already know.

The site is called 'De Maandagavond' (The Mondayevening) and is a remnant of old days of yore, when I would meet up with friends every monday evening to mostly discuss music. That hobby shortly evolved to a local and online radioshow on this domain, and after that crashed and burned, I kept it alive, still dedicated to the music.

Timewave Zero What Wolves in the Throneroom's Celestite did for black metal, Timewave Zero is a space-ambient album by a death metal band. It starts and builds anticipation with layered tension rising from quiet depths, pulling the listener along to what might happen, but eventually nothing really pops off and the album just keeps on meandering. Sounds nice, expected a bit more https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/5cxO0coC4VTOSHbQtnNOU4?si=f747741369a74b49 Etmaal Emerged from rehearsals for Hadewych, a group of drummers and percussionists created something deeper. Ethereal drones emerging from a deep darkness, spurred on by rhythmic percussion. Just as the cover art it is haunting and uneasy. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/5vHCCnRv2b7GT5Sf8FhQim?si=19792389c7aa4e14 Live Again Live Again is one of my most cherised folk records by one of the most cherised folk bands Silly Wizard. A great greatest-hits live performance that sweeps you up with fiery jigs, brings you down with touching blues and can make you dance with joy. If not for the wild audience cheers at the end of songs you wouldn't hear that it was a live record, so good the audio quality is. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/2w7v693412zHqWIHxKNm1V?si=16d0ad2b88614ba5 Yclypt Pastoral strings in very minimal compositions, tell tales of loneliness and longing. There is something magical about the subtle waxing and waning of this record, and the images and stories it invokes. Very touching, very beautiful. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/3dKyLNbYun1timBlPx3Wlp?si=aa5986121b0e4390 Ofte jeg drømmer mig død As the hauntingly melancholic acoustics slowly fade under the raging river of blastbeats, without losing any of their tormented sorrowful sounds, you know you are in for a good one. The black metal is furious but sad, giving rise to that peculiar emotion you often see in this genre. What makes this record stand out is the constant tempo shifting, and falling in and out of those acoustic folk segments, underlying the tragedy that the cover imbues. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/7nbX1FEodXMD0yqO9DKSFK?si=3f81a3bb360d42c1 Thunder Perfect Mind David Tibet is one of the worlds most extraordinary artists, his musical carreer spanning from either ends of the world. Thunder Perfect Mind can be dubbed 'Apocalyptic Folk' and it does sound just so. Song are sweet, soft, but also deeply disturbing and frightening. This is music for the soul who has seen too much, and a record that touches me deeply. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://open.spotify.com/track/2pTjsSIqLiLtpDVRu7h4Z0?si=6a70195c2fe64425 Al – ‘An! Like many norms are fading these days, genres are blurrier then ever. I had never heard of this collective from France before, but they embody the "post-everything" quite well. Intense soundscapes, mysterious rythms and eerie snippets of angry voices make this almost an sonic embodiment of the frustration at the world at large. Harsh, discordant, but also full of melody and woe. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBvw0jvxjM Condemned to Dwell in the Forbidden Chasm There is an abundance of lo-fi grainy black metal tapes, and this is one of them. It is a damn nice grainy snack for the darker days though https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:3pJIlfJpdSYDSjjs5tVWSZ As The Flame Withers I like epic, cinematic music. And screaming men and blastbeats. This album by Yoth Iria supplies both in a style like the latest Skeletonwitch; upbeat, melodic, bleak and heavy. The songwriting is diverse at every moment while keeping a consistent flow and sound. However I like my cheese in metal, sometimes Yoth Iria takes it a bit too far, but never for too long. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:4bdM4bfehSCmadpPNidOBM Éons If you think on the term 'noise orchestra' while looking at the coverart for this album, you'll get an insight into what cosmic chaos lies behind Indian godly imagery. A sound that is terrifying, unstructured, wild and noisy, but also captivating and utterly fascinating. This is an album whose noise entrances like gamalan, sucking you deeper and deeper. You'll only know what happened after it's 2 hour(!) runtime ends and you're left in deafening silence once again. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:4EtSgzAv2BRTr5DBVFYUeC The Sense of Dust and Sheer Ambient / Noise is always hard to appriciate in writing such as this because a lot of releases blend together, as do songs on each release. It's more about the atmosphere and the production quality of it. This one gets special recognition because of it's ties to artists such as Ulver and Amenra, which in a way makes it stand out from the crowd. Dark, paranoid, layered, deep, unsettling and hauntingly beautiful. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:2vjoV2tKJMfhLCPjPa9dWt Death Atlas I never really was a big fan of death metal, but Cattle Decapitation is turning my head (ha!). Especially the alt-style of singing this vocalist does, combined with those relentless agressive but still groovy riffs and blasting drums, I love it. Especially the embedded track! https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:4u2qyRFTBYm3Se02t0Ki7d Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture A game soundtrack of a game I haven't played nor seen anything of, but damn does Jessica do her best to convince me this game is the most epic ever. As a former game dev and still classical composer, she creates haunting and mesmerizing neo-classical sounds with choir harmonies that make my hair stand up straight. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:76Tb84wHrpORaD07msRUei Ascension This album does what you want from relentless though melodic-post-black. It's nothing new in terms of sound or songwriting, but not everything has to be different. It just has to be good. And this album is a great entry to a great genre!