Demon's Apr/May listening log
Inevitably forgetful / lots of great discoveries (or re-discoveries), collecting everything in one place here rather than going back through my ratings, or being reliant on my rather poor memory... |
| 1 |  | Adrianne Lenker
Bright Future
4.0
Heard her whole discog and likely won't be forgetting any time soon, but this and "Songs" are both incredible. 250 scrobbles in a week at one point. We have a new fave! |
| 2 |  | Elliott Smith
Either/Or
3.4
'Objectively' good song-writer just missing that (possibly needed?) personal connection to put him over the top. To be continued. Still, this one has great moments and contains superior melodies to the S/T |
| 3 |  | Red House Painters
Down Colorful Hill
3.6
Solid slowcore. Great production. I got more out of this one than the follow-up. |
| 4 |  | Detalji
Truly
3.8
This is a (seemingly) unknown Finnish electro-pop / trance / techno (not exhaustive!) album. Great balance between infectious groove and interesting snippets of creativity. |
| 5 |  | Christine Primrose
Aite Mo Ghaoil
3.9
Gaelic Scottish folk courtesey of our resident folkmaster Elynna. I plucked this one from his monumental list and what a great pluck it was. Gorgeous voice. |
| 6 |  | Liturgy
93696
4.0 (from 3.5)
Perhaps the trailblazing album that was promised after all. I liked this immediately, but it's certainly starting to sink its teeth of late. Daunting in many ways yet increasingly rewarding. More black metal should use chamber / glitch / totalism elements. |
| 7 |  | The Microphones
Mount Eerie
4.0
After revisiting and still struggling somewhat to enjoy 'The Glow' Mount Eerie was a refreshing surprise package. Love the continuous flow / journey and the droning lo-fi soundscapes add a chilling accompaniment to the story-telling. Rather impressed by this one. |
| 8 |  | Bowery Electric
Beat
3.9 (from 3.5)
Winning combo of spacey shoegaze and trip-hop swallowing me whole, worthy bump |
| 9 |  | The Gathering
Home
4.2 (from 3.9)
Something tells me this is one of their best albums now, considering bumping. Phenomenal band of course. |
| 10 |  | Plat
Compulsion
3.7
Really nice slice of Icelandic glitch / IDM / downtempo, could be a keeper |
| 11 |  | Submotion Orchestra
Finest Hour
3.9 (from 4.3)
The other side of the coin, is that this has grown off me somewhat over the years it seems. It's still an impressive array of nu-jazz / trip hop goodness, but aside from the barnstorming 'Secrets' it perhaps lacks those sensational 'wow' moments and doesn't quite have the 'soul' to sit alongside greatness.
probably benefited significantly from impeccable timing |
| 12 |  | Harlots
The Woman You Saw Is The Great City
3.8
Old-school mathcore skronk that's unapologetically ugly, lo-fi and weird. Suffocating in its execution and all the better for it. Perhaps surpassed by their third album 'Betrayer' which takes more of a post-mxc approach, but that's 'TBC' |
| 13 |  | Muhal Richard Abrams
Levels and Degrees of Light
3.5
The free jazz side of this is a blast, but there's also a bit of opera + an extended poetry segment. Confused me into giving this a positive rating even if I'm not completely on-board with all of it |
| 14 |  | Kyuss
Welcome to Sky Valley
3.5 (from 3.9)
This is perhaps not a sound I yearn for quite as much in 2024 / updated rating curve adjustment |
| 15 |  | Effluence
Sarmat
Idk quite how great this free improv jazz noise brutal death album is yet (yes, you read that correctly), but my word this guy is unhinged in the best possible way - rating to come / 3.5+ for sure
The whole discog appears to rip, but this one's comparatively quieter moments is amongst their most captivating passages so far. |
| 16 |  | Dir En Grey
Arche
4.5 (from 4.1)
I nearly forgot to bump this, been a long-time coming. Let's demote some less fun metal like Still Life or Questionable Presents |
| 17 |  | Deeds of Flesh
Gradually Melted
3.2
Solid BDM EP to kick off my journey with these guys (will likely revisit), mostly great due to the drum sound. Standard affair but old-school, thus passes an originality test better than some |
| 18 |  | Tony Conrad With Faust
Outside The Dream Syndicate
4.0
Incredible collaboration between the krautrock legends Faust and drone pioneer Conrad. Tribal percussion, mostly minimalistic and repetitive. Bloody marvellous. 'Asleep' with a great review brought me here |
| 19 |  | Eliane Radigue
Trilogie de la Mort
3.6
Minimalistic drone behemoth that's steadfast in its commitment to vibes. No idea how I ended up here, but glad I stopped by |
| 20 |  | Ornette Coleman
Science Fiction
4.0
This is such a bewilderingly bold and refreshing take on the improvisational spirit of free-jazz. I really should spend more time here and with Coleman's work in general |
| 21 |  | Sulfuric Cautery
Chainsaws Clogged With The Underdeveloped Brain...
3.2
SNARE GOES PING, SNARE GOES PING, SNARE GOES PING!!! |
| 22 |  | Rorcal
Heliogabalus
3.9
Monolithic is being overused by this point, so lets go with gargantuan. Slow moving but never still. Rorcal's impressive take on post / sludge / doom is an impressive if somewhat exhausting dirge. |
| 23 |  | Blonde Redhead
Fake Can Be Just As Good
3.7
As a (now) huge fan of indie / dream pop era BR, I'm revisiting their earlier material in anticipation of some movements. This and Inexpressible are benefiting the most (which I'd thought might be the case to be fair). See you in the threads! |
| 24 |  | Pan Daijing
Tissues
4.0 (from 3.5)
This is exactly why I made the list. Reminder to self that I revisited this post-industrial / drone / opera performance in self-inflicted darkness and it moved me in way which it hadn't done previously. Respected the artistry. Now I FEEL it (or some shit). |
| 25 |  | Enslaved
Eld
4.2 (from 3.8)
My fave Enslaved these days and becoming a landmark metal release for me personally. The "transition era" criticisms are respectfully nonsense. |
| 26 |  | Cecil Taylor
Unit Structures
4.0
I've been meaning to explore jazz further and on this evidence, the decision was an excellent one. Exciting, playfully loose, yet well-balanced. Love the piano. Obvious winner. Conquistador! is very good too. |
| 27 |  | Panghalina
Lava
3.6
Trif rec (read his review!) so you know it's worthy of attention. Still wrapping my head around it, but the organic ambience is rather lovely and there's intriguing layers to unpack here |
| 28 |  | Peste Noire
Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor
3.7
Interesting amalgamation of black metal, post-punk and French things. Another reminder that bad people make good music too. I prefer this one to "La sanie des siècles". Nice unconventional prod + sound |
| 29 |  | Meat Beat Manifesto and Merzbow
Extinct
3.2
This works well for zoning out to. Probably won't revisit it much but a good early hitter / interesting collab |
| 30 |  | Sparks
Kimono My House
3.5
40 year anniversary. Why not?
Surprised how much I ended up liking this. 70s pop-rock is theoretically not it, yet this has some interesting influences. After the iconic opener I was like... 'oh, this band, lol yeah no probably not' and ended up spinning the whole album multiple times. Consistently fun |
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