Genre

Rock

https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5mJepG0bPik0OUzsYRKofJ Black Wash If you were ever unsure what "Black'n'Roll" would entail, check this track out. A bunch of Aussies who are part groove, part kvlt and above all furious. This record often invokes imagery of Shiva for me. The transformer dancing and thus bringing about the end of the world. Dancing to the early grave. That is Pagan! https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5WantVU2anFpTbWHZSyPD6 Roots Rock Riot Skindred at it's finest. A great mix of reggae and metal where the songwriting is fresh and the sound is like Bob Marley was a angsty teenager and fan of Rage Against The Machine. Mixed together by light dub and electro this album is very British, very fun, very energetic and above all memorable. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6y1hWuNQjq0x4qqVqfpp1Q Dead Magic Haunting indie/blues/rock/noise. Especially the vocal performance on 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra' is so eeriely good, it pierces my nerves and shivers my spine. Who is she? Who is she to say goodbye?! https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:0uI9FHBF2YEuZagLxq12BQ Dying Surfer Meets His Maker Damn fine example of desert blues. Expect ebbing guitars, wailing wah-wahs and the occasional sadboy ballad, all drenched in a thick layer of fuzzy atmosphere. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6noO9CZ5n12LwPFKHPAttL Gumboot Soup With a few hours to spare they did it; release 5 albums in 2017. I was afraid the quantity might devalue the quality, but instead the band seems to get better and better while pushing themselves more and more. Gumboot Soup in short sounds like a comprehensive summary of the whole year of releases. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6iy1tJ7uog8zdjyFROKB7R Sons of Bitches Their first step away from being a blues duo and slipping into greaser-rock territory. Quite a shock if you don't expect it, but all the tropes are there. We still hear sleazy blues guitars, but this time slided and amplified, a lo-fi weirdo track and of course a touchy-feely acoustic tearjearker. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5Z4SgEuauwY3g07FcLfYbk Inform – Educate – Entertain Can't win 'em all. After a astoundingly promising EP, PSB drifts forth in more of the same with less focus. This first full-length is essentially the succesful sound of the EP, but stretched across so many themes it lacks coherence. The record isn't bad, it could've been better. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:7pB7najNNjp8KvBDcmb1YO The Assassination of Julius Ceasar I respect Ulver in their high quality endeavours through which ever genre they do, and this record is of the same high quality. But after listening to it intensely, I find that the suspense and atmosphere of Ulver is ever present but the glossy '80s pop topping does ruin it for me a bit. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5DMALvd1DmmWc3iVRSXlno A Natural Disaster Somewhere along their search for musical footing, Anathema made this post-rock gem with a heavy focus on it's fuzzy sound with clear, piercing vocals. An honest album to really be believed. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:1ci2IgrWh9EXboYW2c87eK Quarters A more 'flower-power' centric album which takes the sound of the '70s and puts it in the hands of these crazy aussies who (maybe unexpectedly) treat it with the uttermost respect and regard. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6smzsf7Aif6WC5wONldBCq III: Tabula Rasa or Death and the Seven Pillars There's much to say about The Devil's Blood but I only got 300 characters. So I'll say this: This is a solid record which proves their mastery of the musical arts, occult thematics, songwriting and production values. The occult 70s psychedelic rock hype is real. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6CsLzlm9cVD6BOf1aS4pFi Audio Noir The first proper full-length after years of touring on demos and a split-up of the band, and I can say it disappointing. It doesn't deliver on the dynamic, deep post-metal I'd come to expect. It has it's moments but is rather flat at the end of it. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:0LeJXDSExP7GNx2BENy3gw Come On Die Young An older record when post-rock was still new and fresh. This is among the best of it's time, but since the explosion of the genre, the roots seem to slowly become less interesting, as we know now the full extend of possibilities. But that wouldn't have happened without records like these, so. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:7gs2IIU3JHsEuiddUN1z9I Warble Womb Get sleazy and get stoned, cuz it's time for a Dead Meadow record. While songs tend to be less memorable in writing than Old Growth, the sound these guys produce is so iconic to their style, that more of the same is always better. Kick back and let the light shine thru. Dwellings https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6OZMrqnFk7mUqxq0zmnWT2 Old Growth This popped my cherry in the grungy stonerrock, and to this day it's one of my favourites. Songs dabble forth on a solid flow of fuzzy guitar and basslines, with vocals blurred out by a proper stoner who want's to tell you something, but doesn't really want to get up to do so. Lovely. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:2GQzkktWAhcZOptFwlJYhe IV – One With The Storm Unlike Galar's 'Gjenlevende', Ghost Brigade opens with a solid track, but tends to fuck up the rest. It starts with some pretty good epic melo-death, but lingers on in Godsmack-esque emo hardrock :/ tf. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:42btDIERg5OcnhhhFG3a2a Technicians of the Sacred As it's cover, this album is a overproduced world of wonders to lose yourself in. Highly detailed layers of fizzy bleeps and bloops, staggering synths, bubbeling melodies and funky guitars. This is overproduction done right. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5VGdNKACOF67HeXB5vKZWc Paper Mâché Dream Balloon King Gizzard does what it does and the Lizard Wizard pulls some magic out of a hat. An acoustic release features the classic Gizzard songwriting and catchy lyrics, but set in a rural 'playing with the family' kinda sound. It's an odd duck, but very fun to see. A Field In England: Re-imagined A limited RSD release, re-imagining of Jim William's OST for the film by the same title. The solemn horn in the opening, slowly growing to a ensemble of chilling dark ambient and soothing guitar melodies make for a interesting mix. Now I'll have to see and listen the original. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:5P45uwORnx0utUSmXmIVUZ Cigale A smooth and mellow record, oozing hope and desire. Extra tragic in the light of the frontman's suicide, but it feels like the celebration of the thinking man's mind. And I respect that. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:4gDrS1LE8jj2mLGd0M7v40 He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms A smaller Godspeed makes for a more modest record (with equally long albumtitles). A sincere and tragic record which envelops as slow as possible by adding layers of radio-samples, tragic keys and strings. A desolate, lonely work. Magnificent. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:2LvCmUWq75gYc5TtYPJPpR Strange Fruits & Undiscovered Plants It's amazing some teenagers got together to play some blues, and then continue to take the world by force with hammond-riddled bluesrock like in the old days. They have a way of making it appealing and hip again for younger generations to dive into their parents record collection for more. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:7fQgIaTVHxip9m7no6wwAc I’m In Your Mind Fuzz King Gizzard is in my mind. And it blew me, hard. This is one of the 'all-time-favourites' for it's immense energy, sheer fun and creativity that this album oozes out on every listen. Not to mention the insanely great stage performance of these guys. https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:6ebuGoR88P4o6QEqke6DGx LUX Part post-rock, part glitchy electronic with catchy hooks and beats. A dangerous mix, but EZ3kiel does it just right. The flow of the album, balancing the two sides of it, is just great. It makes the whole an interesting listen. Benzaiten A unique mixture of world music, Japanese traditionals, progrock, ambient and jazz, from the 70s! It is truly a remarkable experience of music from the East, sadly Kitajima later fell into the cheesy eastern-new-age cliches. But at least this work is still out there, and it still resounds. Rogues en Vogue https://embed.spotify.com/?uri= spotify:track:2n2ob1ZcpU6qiLmcPuwoNS Master The first time I heard 'Reaper', I didn't know what was going on. Consider this my first real experience with psych-rock. Steady electro beats rave to hypnotize, building layer on layer of intensity and wonder. Note the exceptional horn sections. The Dawn Load Two Worlds Kill The Power Turn Blue American Spiritual Childhood’s End The War Room Dive into history with a sweet mix of electro, post-rock and sampling somewhere in between Massive Attack and Godspeed, You Black Emperor! The creativity in using all kinds of elements and genres oozes over this album and results in a most promising EP.