Gravity's Rainbow

"Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973.

The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device named the "Schwarzgerät" ("black device") that is to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000."

Gravity's Rainbow is transgressive—not only because it questions and inverts our standards of deviance and disgust but also because it breaks down, or transgresses, the hermetically sealed either/or boundaries and categories of Western culture and reason. Frequently digressive, the novel subverts many of the traditional elements of plot and character development, and traverses detailed, specialist knowledge drawn from a wide range of disciplines.

The novel has been praised for its innovation and complexity, though the acclaim has been criticized by some. In 1974, the three-member Pulitzer Prize jury on fiction supported Gravity's Rainbow for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. However, the other eleven members of the board overturned this decision. The novel was nominated for the 1973 Nebula Award for Best Novel and won the National Book Award in 1974. Since its publication, Gravity's Rainbow has spawned an enormous amount of literary criticism and commentary, including two readers' guides and several online concordances, and it is frequently cited as Pynchon's magnum opus.

Time Magazine included the novel in its All-Time 100 Greatest Novels, a list of the best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. In addition, it has appeared on several other "Greatest" lists, and is considered by some critics as one of the greatest American novels ever written."

V-2

Go here for books:

http://www.scribd.com/

I got lazy. Granted it doesn't have all, but it's good enough.

Ulysses

"Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce, first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature, it has been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".

Ulysses chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day, 16 June 1904 (the day of Joyce's first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle).^[3] The title alludes to Odysseus (Latinised into Ulysses), the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and establishes a series of parallels between characters and events in Homer's poem and Joyce's novel (e.g., the correspondences between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus). Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.

Ulysses contains approximately 265,000 words from a lexicon of 30,030 words (including proper names, plurals and various verb tenses),^[4] divided into eighteen episodes. Since publication, the book attracted controversy and scrutiny, ranging from early obscenity trials to protracted textual "Joyce Wars." Ulysses' stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—full of puns, parodies, and allusions, as well as its rich characterisations and broad humour, made the book a highly regarded novel in the Modernist pantheon. In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century."

tattarrattat

Kafka On the Shore

"Kafka on the Shore demonstrates Murakami's typical blend of popular culture, quotidian detail, magical realism, suspense, humor, an involved and at times confusing plot, and potent sexuality. It also features an increased emphasis on Japanese religious traditions, particularly Shinto. The main characters are significant departures from the typical protagonist of a Murakami novel, such as Toru Watanabe of Norwegian Wood and Toru Okada of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, who are typically in their 20s or 30s and have rather humdrum personalities. However, many of the same themes re-occur in Kafka on the Shore as were first developed in these and other previous novels.

The power and beauty of music as a communicative medium is a central theme of the novel—the very title comes from a pop song Kafka is given on a record in the library. The music of Beethoven, specifically the Archduke Trio is also used as a redemptive metaphor. Among other prominent themes are: the virtues of self-sufficiency and efficiency, the relation of dreams and reality, the specter of the heritage of World War II, the threat of fate, the uncertain grip of prophecy, and the power of nature.

G. W. F. Hegel has an influence on the book and is referenced directly at one point. Dialectics (Thesis, antithesis, synthesis) in particular play a role."

Crow

Norwegian Wood

"Norwegian Wood is a 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The novel is a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. The story's protagonist and narrator is Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a freshman university student living in Tokyo. Through Toru's reminiscences we see him develop relationships with two very different women — the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori.

The novel is set in Tokyo during the late 1960s, a time when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order. While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Toru and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical.

Part of the novel was later published in the collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman under the title Firefly.

Norwegian Wood was hugely popular with Japanese youth and made Murakami somewhat of a superstar in his native country (apparently much to his dismay at the time).

Despite its mainstream popularity in Japan, Murakami's established readership saw Norwegian Wood as an unwelcome departure from his by-then established style of energetic prose flavoured with the unexpected and supernatural (as exemplified by Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, released two years earlier); as translator Jay Rubin observes in the translator's note to the 2000 English edition, Norwegian Wood retains much of the complexity and symbolism characteristic of Murakami's work and is thus "by no means just a love story." "

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

"The Unbearable Lightness of Being takes place in Prague in 1968. It explores the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society during the Communist period, from the Prague Spring to the Soviet Union’s August 1968 invasion and its aftermath. The characters are Tomáš, a successful surgeon; his wife Tereza, a photographer anguished by her husband's infidelities; Tomáš’s lover Sabina, a free-spirited artist; and the secondary characters Franz, the Swiss university professor and lover of Sabina; and Simon, Tomáš’s estranged son from an earlier marriage.

Challenging Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence (the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum), the story’s thematic meditations posit the alternative that each person has only one life to live, and that which occurs in that life, occurs only once and shall never occur again — thus the “lightness” of being; whereas eternal recurrence imposes a “heaviness” on our lives and on the decisions we make (it gives them weight, to borrow from Nietzsche's metaphor), a heaviness that Nietzsche thought could be either a tremendous burden or great benefit depending on one's perspective.

The German expression Einmal ist keinmal encapsulates “lightness” so: “what happens but once, might as well not have happened at all. If we have only one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all”; if concluded logically, life ultimately is insignificant. Hence, because decisions do not matter, they are rendered light, because they do not cause personal suffering. Yet, simultaneously, the insignificance of decisions — our being — causes us great suffering, perceived as the unbearable lightness of being consequent to one’s awareness of life occurring once and never again; thus no one person’s actions are universally significant. This insignificance is existentially unbearable when it is considered that people want their lives to have transcendent meaning. As literary art, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is considered a modernist humanist novel and a post-modern novel of high narrative craft."

Erotic Friendships

YOU WANT YOUR EDITORIAL POST? WELL< HERE IT IS.

Well? What do you want me to say? What can I possibly say? What do you people want to read? Some psychoanalysis on some movie? Needless talk about some book? Episodic reviews of anime? The current news on some music scene? What, what? Sigh.

This will probably be one of the very few "editorial" posts on Ahh seeing how I don't know what to talk about really. I, for one, would really hate for this blog to turn into some tumblr full of pictures and complaining or some livejournal talking about the mundane routine of our lives. Plus, I would also really hate for this blog to become some outlet for something personal. It just seems tasteless.  There are 11, erratic and infrequent as they may be, who also post here. Of course I speak only for myself and the others are free to post whatever they want, but I'm sure the others, if they ever see this, will probably follow suit since they also have no real reason to post "editorial" posts to a non-existent audience.

If people want to see posts about XXXXX, then say so in the comments section and there might still be a chance of future "editorials", but as it stands this will most likely be the first and only "editorial" post on Ahh.

Also E-Books will go under Comics, because I'm too lazy to make a new category. Ciao.

Guinea Pig

(Pic unrelated yet again)

"The Guinea Pig films (from the Japanese "giniipiggu") are a series of 1980s Japanese horror films with extremely detailed special effects. According to Snopes, the films became infamous when Charlie Sheen mistook one for a snuff film and contacted the FBI to report it.

They have since been reissued on DVD in the United States and in the Netherlands. The tapes were catapulted to a new level of infamy in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the first five films of the series were found showcased in the 5,763 videotape collection of Japanese serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, who re-enacted scenes from the films as a part of his crimes. Because of the constant controversy surrounding the series, it has now been deemed illegal in Japan to produce any movies with the "Guinea Pig" label."

As requested.

The Devil's Experiment
Flower of Flesh and Blood
He Never Dies
Mermaid in a Manhole
Android of Notre Dame
Devil Woman Doctor
Subtitles

Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance

"It all comes back to the movie’s subtitle: You Can (Not) Advance. The characters in the movies are making a concentrated effort to improve themselves. Through a combination of downtoning their faults (while still exhibiting them) and showing some progress in resolving those faults, the characters in the Evangelion movies are decidedly more competent and mature than their TV counterparts. Asuka’s insolence is downplayed and she comes to a degree of understanding with Misato and Shinji with a bit more ease. Rei shows more human-like behavior and takes a slightly more active role in her relationships with Shinji and Gendo. Even Shinji has improved, with his impotent cowering coming off more like rage and frustration with the world than sheer fear and simple daddy issues.

Despite all of these personal improvements, and despite the manifestation of Mari Sue, everyone ultimately fails. Asuka is overwhelmed by an Angel and nearly dies. Mari is throttled and Rei is devoured. And while Shinji pulls off a remarkable feat and channels his frustrations with the world in order to ascend to godhood and save Rei from the belly of an Angel, he gets his ass handed to him and his soul sent back to reality with one swipe of the Spear of Longinus.

Everyone’s failure comes from an outside source far beyond their control, unlike the TV series where failure ultimate came from their own faults.

The TV series explored the way people can be their own worst enemies, while the movies seem to be hitting on the idea that you can have everything in the world and still be subjected to terrible things. You can compare it to Job’s trials or the “dismal tide” of No Country for Old Men or Alexander and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

This is one of the reasons why I think the Evangelion are working so awesomely. They’re playing the same notes as the TV series and hitting many of the same narrative points, but the heart of the story is completely different. I wish more adaptations (book to movie, manga to TV series, whatever) were like this: Getting at the same ideas while hitting on completely different stuff at the same time."

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Edit: a little mess up that will be fixed in the near future i.e. summer. sorry about this.

Fritz the Cat

"I came across the recently released DVD of this film in, of all places, the children's video section of Virgin Megastore. Whether or not this poorly miscategorized placement was of simple ignorance or whether the intent was subversive and it was intentionally and deliberately placed in the children's section, I found myself grinning and reluctant inform anyone of the error. After all, nobody gave me any forewarnings when I was a kid either, as some things you just have to discover on your own, and the thought of some poor innocent parents popping this film on for their kid only to look on in horror at the visions that would soon unfold sounded dastardly and funny indeed.

I was 7 years old when Fritz the Cat first hit the screen, and while I didn't see the film for the first time until I was well into my twenties, the film nevertheless had a lasting impact on my childhood. This film had taken on a reputation of mythical proportions in my Brooklyn hometown neighborhood, partly due to the older teens on my street who were all too eager to share shocking details contained therein, as only the best subversive intentions can do, and further securing the film's status as "every parent's nightmare". To a child about to undergo serious growing pains and a naturally growing curiosity towards all things "adult-related", Fritz the Cat was very much my earliest childhood memory of the themes of sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, racism, you name it, and it was a symbol for naughtiness that all coming of age kids couldn't wait to catch a sneak peak of, or at least couldn't wait to reach the age when we could view such subject matter freely.

As a movie, it hasn't lost any of it's impact in 30 years, and fewer films truly capture the grittiness and raw edge of New York city in the 70's (French Connection is another good example). I dare say that it could be considered more offensive now than ever, as I fear that today many just might not "get it," despite our self-proclamation that we've come a long way in maturity and tolerance of such sensitive issues. Modern society has become so politically correct and desensitized to controversial issues that we're less tolerant and understanding of the original intent of a film such as this, especially when it's messages are not consistent with our modern value system. Thus, some of the obvious stereotypes presented in this film (such as the pigs portraying cops and the crows portraying blacks, for example), could never be presented in a film today. Granted, these images were meant to be offensive in the 70's as well, but they were obviously taken in a different light back then, as they were indicative of a specific brand of biting satire found in the 70's and hippie culture and a reflection of how that particular generation could openly address such social issues. These issues, such as racism, are clearly still relevant today, we just address them in a different manner, which is why Fritz the Cat still has potency yet is more or less looked upon as a curious time capsule of a bygone era today."

Cartoons ain't just for kids

The Secret of Kells

"In these boom times for 3-D moviemaking, The Secret of Kells is flat and proud of it. Its hand-drawn two-dimensional animation springs to life with color and meticulous technique, filigreed and curlicued like the luminous book at its center.

On the downside, its characters lack depth (figuratively as well as literally), and the plot is standard fare for a family-friendly historical saga: Brave orphan teams up with old coot and young sprite to rescue civilization from encroaching darkness. Adding a dash of the exotic is the story's setting in a ninth-century Irish monastery, where boy monk Brendan (the voice of Evan McGuire) rushes to help master illuminator Aidan (Mick Lally) complete the holy book of Kells before rampaging armies of Norsemen lay waste to all they know.

Helping Brendan: Aisling (Christen Mooney), a mysterious wee girl (or is she?) he meets in the woods. Not helping Brendan: his uncle the Abbot (Brendan Gleeson), an imperious worrier who's preoccupied with fortifying the walls around the abbey. The tension between idealism and pragmatism, between dreamer and builder, mounts as Aidan teaches Brendan the ins and outs of illuminated manuscripts. The faith they have in a single book —“a beacon in the dark days of the northmen” — proves infectious and lifts the movie with flights of thrilling visual invention.

Directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, The Secret of Kells lavishes attention on its stylized backgrounds and details: Aisling's glorious forest, swirling with butterflies and leaves; mazelike tangles of Celtic imagery; a serpentine monster that kinks like the borders on a page. The artwork is the star of the film, as well it should be; there's no sense making an ugly movie about a medieval tome renowned for its history and beauty.

Nevertheless, the directors and screenwriter (Fabrice Ziolkowski) might have spilled more ink on some of their human characters, who look like minimalist cutouts from Saturday-morning cartoons. Squeezed in among all the Irish brothers at Kells are a few exhausted clichés: an enormous African, a philosophizing German and a jolly Italian who sounds like a refugee from an old Ragu commercial. At least they get faces. The invaders from the north appear as beady-eyed shadows with horns, snarling abstractions that represent the larger forces of evil. (A historical aside that's been itching at me since How to Train Your Dragon: The Vikings did not, in fact, wear horned helmets.)

The Secret of Kells snagged an Oscar nod this year for best animated feature, an award it had zero hope of winning in a field crammed with unusually fine examples of the genre. But you can see why it was nominated, notwithstanding the slightness of its characters and the slimness of its plot. In its small, stubborn way, the film is a love letter to traditions that have endured since cave dwellers painted the walls at Lascaux. Its own breathtaking artistry is a tribute to the steady hands that drew the Book of Kells — and the steady hands that keep at it today, realizing whole worlds from blank pages. "

Hay Zoos

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Mafia

Fleshgod Apocalypse - Mafia

Technical Death Metal/Cephalopodcore

One of the tracks is a cover of At The Gates' Blinded By Fear. Sounds really good.

320

Alfred Schnittke and Blut Aus Nord

(Pic not relevant.)

Last Flacs for a while.

"Alfred Schnittke's Psalms of Repentance is a concert work, but its impact is truly spiritual, the product of deeply felt, highly personal beliefs of its quietly religious composer. The majority of the psalm texts were taken from a 16th-century collection of Old Russian writings, and although they incorporate the melodic and rhythmic inflection of Russian liturgical chant, Schnittke's realization bears little or no musical resemblance to the ancient forms. Instead, the music is profoundly effective because of its eclecticism--polystylism, to use the term usually applied to Schnittke's works. Schnittke masterfully interweaves ancient and modern, employing familiar, traditional harmonies alongside splashy tone clusters; tightly packed chromatic passages offset wide-open whole tone scales. Tonu Kaljuste's Swedish Radio Choir is one of today's top contemporary music ensembles. Its technical virtuosity and exemplary interpretive skills serve this marvelous and moving music very well, especially in the ethereal Sixth Psalm, and the final Psalm No. 12--a mysterious, wordless prayer."

Psalms of Repentance

"Blut aus Nord can be divided into two faces. Early years of the band are marked with two albums embedded in a rather conventional Nordic style, characterized by sublime, epic atmosphere and a large dose of ambient. One of them, entitled Memoria Vetusta: Fathers Of The Icy Age is the first part of the album reviewed here. The second face is much more experimental, chaotic and less affordable. Four more albums recorded in this new style are reminiscent of the mixture of noise with industrial, but are still rooted in black metal. These unique albums gave Blut aus Nord many new followers, whereas people accustomed to band’s older sound had to persistently await the second part announced in 1996.After thirteen years, Vindsval has fulfilled the promise and on the fifteenth year of the project’s existence Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With The Stars was released. The album has a potential to unite the audience. It is a stylistic continuation of the first era, with distinct elements of industrial sound.A very characteristic, almost a traditional particle in the music of the French is a drum machine, which this time, does not fit particularly well to the concept. However, use of fake drums may also serve as a bridge between two distinct periods. The sound of the guitars also remained metallic and artificial, which reminds of last four more experimental albums. Here, however, the similarity ends; the new album is different in its essence.

Memoria Vetusta II abandons clearly worn out industrial, areas and mixes much more traditional black metal sounds reminiscent of pristine Nordic nature and the pagan cults. The foretaste of this melange were, of course, two earliest albums, as well as the penultimate Odinist. However, the mixture in Memoria Vetusta II is another step forward enriched by amazing oriental flavors.

It is quite difficult to justify which moments of the album resemble eastern, or more specifically, Hindu or Indian music but, without a doubt, there is such a feeling leaking from this entire creation. Inspiration with the East is also confirmed by the titles of compositions. This exceptional oriental atmosphere may have been achieved by the characteristic dreamy sound of keyboards and unforgettable guitar melodies. Blending all these unique elements with more traditional aspects of black metal music Vindsval once again proved that this genre still can be creative. Memoria Vetusta II is without doubt one of the best black metal albums of the year, and probably their most monumental creation so far. The record is a proof that even now, in times where it seems everything had been recorded, and many metal bands strive for originality by wading in modern areas of electronics, while others regress to crust punk, a talented artist can create an extraordinary monument - an album up to par with the greatest classics of the genre."

Memoria Vetusta II

Blood Of Kingu - Sun In The House Of The Scorpion

"With his first album, De Occulta Philosophia , published three years ago, Blood Of Kingu was quickly revealed as a safe bet the Ukrainian scene. And in fact, it's not really surprising since the group consists of members constituting the core of this scene. We found some members of Drudkh , Hate Forest , Astrofaes , etc.. A rising force composed of eminent musicians who climbed the echelons of the underground album after album in their respective formations.Through his music, the group arrives to spend a whole range of feelings all stronger than each other, hatred revenge, esoteric and introspective journey anticosmique.Sun In The House Of The Scorpion is a work that calls for reflection, to ataraxia . And acting like a true catharsis, this new album stands out as a pillar of the Ukrainian scene.Thus, as his surname suggests, Blood Of Kingu explores the mythologies of the Sumerian world, but also Egyptian mythologies, Tibetan and Indo-Aryan. Very different from other groups of its members, Blood Of Kingu is not just a lyrical exploration of some mythologies. His music is also steeped in the violence of world religions, but also their mysteries, legends and beliefs.Thus, starting from a basic Black Metal Blood of Kingu shapes his music that can seem both experimental, ambient and brutal. The listener travels from one universe to another, sometimes rocked by passages tinged folk with very Babylonian atmosphere and traditional instruments (Black Morbid Dreams Bringing Madness), sometimes by some very aggressive as the song that is intended very abrupt and profound at once.And to freeze his coronation, Ukrainians we even offer a reprise of the famous Gate of Nanna (Nanna is Sumerian god of the moon) the renowned Beherit , a title that takes its full meaning here reinterpreted with panache!"

Occult

Personal thoughts: The droning vocals from the original are replaced by growls which threw me off altogether and the music is indeed much more "brutal" than their debut. Roman Sayenko seems to have implemented death metal or nearing death metal elements into his music which isn't bad per se, but something I could have certainly done without. All in all, it's not bad, but those expecting a continuation of their debut will be disappointed.

Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age

"This is my re-review of Blut Aus Nord’s ‘Memoria Vetusta I: Fathers of the Icy Age’. It has been almost four years since I wrote the initial review and looking back on it, and the record itself, I think it deserves to be re-reviewed because of the influence it had on my listening habits back when I first discovered the mystical being that is Blut Aus Nord. Although it has not been looked upon so kindly with time, I still treasure the nostalgic feeling I get every time I put this colossal record on and become embedded into that soul crushing wall of noise. Endless oceans of melodies stream forth from the instrumentation that takes place on this record and as I’ve grown as a person, I’ve grown to appreciate the subtle forces behind the majesty of this piece. When I first heard it, I couldn’t handle the distortion or what impact it had upon the experimentation beneath the fragile surface of the material. Like a learner driver, I could handle the basics, but I wasn’t a pro and records like this were not second nature to me at that point in time. My initial high rating of this record does now seem misguided in hindsight, but that isn’t to say I don’t rate it highly in the present day because I do. I just feel that a 94% rating would suggest it’s moving towards my idea of perfection when, in actual fact, I feel this is simply a solid piece of music which juxtaposes two vastly different ideas; consuming melody and bleak, harsh distortion.

Now however, I feel, having benefited from listening to one too many black metal records, that I can finally say I’m adjusted to what this scene offers the individual and it is as an individual that one must cautiously tread upon these here majestic soundscapes as if it were a national heritage site and you’re weary of doing it any damage because beneath the harrowing distortion that cloaks the record, there is a hidden beauty that is waiting to be uncovered by the adventurer. Although my unfamiliarity with Blut Aus Nord’s entire discography still hampers me from making my final decision as to what is their definitive record, I still feel, even in these early stage, that I have found it in this piece, a wonderful work of art that has transformed the way in which I look upon the use of the wall of sound technique that so many black metal artists, such as Darkspace, have incorporated into their own music. I don’t herald Blut Aus Nord as being the originators of this sound, but this 1996 sophomore certainly does teach me that the wall of sound ploy does not have to be so straight forward and thus, it can be more expansive, allowing sublime melodies to sweep the listener from off of their feet and onwards, towards magical, mystical and vivid imaginary plains, a mesmerising feeling felt even during the introductory ambiance of ‘Slaughterday (The Heathen Blood of Ours)’ (though this ambiance does not last long as those hollow chants begin and the repetitious guitars pummel the listener in the face repeatedly).

Although I only call upon this record in times of reflection, I still find the title track to be amongst my favourite songs ever produced. Not only by the artists themselves, but in the entire music world, out of all the artists I’ve come across on my solitary journey’s of discovery. As I mentioned earlier, I find that this record tends to cleverly juxtapose two ideas. The first, consuming melody. Take the title track for example. Though there is a significant amount of distortion, the bass still remains audible and is highly melodic along the way. It doesn’t, unlike during many black metal records, work to support the guitars. Although it does do that, this isn’t its only job. The bass is more expansive than that and although the guitars obviously take precedence when creating those infectiously moving melodies, the bass still remains a key feature of the structures. The guitars have a conventional approach to black metal, which is where the second key feature comes into play -- distortion -- but given that Blut Aus Nord are regarded as a wall of sound band, they instantly move to address some of the problematic issues that arise from this technique by implementing a fine balance between experimentation and repetition.

Again, I look towards the title track to solve any queries that the reader may have. It takes a sublime main riff and places it beside a primitive second guitar, the one in which causes the overwhelming sense of powerful and destructive distortion. Though the distortion may be a key feature of each of the songs, the cleaner elements play a subtle, but equally key role in quashing any doubts that this is a typical, run-of-the-mill affair. Elements which don’t appear to be so key suddenly burst into life when the songs reach a more progressive state, as shown wonderfully throughout the record and, in particular, on songs such as ‘Day of Revenge (The Impure Blood of Theirs)’ where the bass entwines with the more expansive percussion elements and sparsely seductive keyboards to create a feeling of creative freedom and, unlike many similar bands, a sense that the distortion doesn’t dictate the entire record. With small changes to vocals, like harmonious chanting during songs like that brilliant title track and during songs like ‘The Forsaken Voices of the Ghostwood's Shadowy Realm‘, the record does slowly begin to feel more loose and not as rigid as the distortion may have it seem to be. The production terrifically masks the instrumentation in surprise, catching me off guard at several different points with different techniques of innovation. Time has taken this epic down a notch, but not very far. Still a classic."

Blood from North

Blut aus Nord - Ultima Thulee

"Ultima Thulée was the first of a long list of full-lengths by the now legendary Blut Aus Nord. It's grown to be a particular favourite of mine over recent months. I initially never took much interest in it, and considered it subpar in comparison to Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Age, the full-length which followed it. After several listens I grew to truly love Ultima Thulée. It's unique atmosphere and fantastic electronic moments serve this up as a real treat.

Blut Aus Nord have hit hard times recently. The fans were unhappy with MORT and perhaps justifiably so. Considering the material on Ultima Thulée and the following full-length, fans had every right to be aggrieved. MORT lacked the atmosphere of Ultima Thulée and the melodic prowess of Memoria Vetusta I - Fathers Of The Icy Age. It was like watching your favourite film with all the good bits cut out. Disappointing. The early era of Blut Aus Nord represents the time when the material flowed like a fine wine. It was sweet and delighted the senses beyond all belief. The way in which the keyboards created a dark ambience and how the guitars followed up with a vast selection of tremendous melodic riffs was breathtaking. The Last Journey Of Ringhorn is a particular case for this.

The way the music flows towards a dark outcome. Depicting a variety of negative emotions and mysticism. The music is as much of an enigma as the band members are. It's incomparable to anything else. The major positive is how the keyboards are put to use. The way they create that divine sound that acts as the blanket over the other instruments is amazing. The emotion they draw from the listener is incredibly. A feeling of isolation, desolation and solitary confinement. The music zaps the listener and drains them to a point where they're simply overwhelmed. This is where the vocals come in with rasping growls to finish you off. Much of the music reminds me of a funeral procession, especially the keys on The Plain Of Ida. Blut Aus Nord's greatest era."

Wroooooom Boooooom

Arckanum - ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

"ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ is Shamaatae's 6th release under Arckanum, a one-man project which started out with a folkier, more varied sound that earned the moniker "trollish black metal", and eventually culminating in the rather straightforward-but-not-bland album we have here today. Definitely his strongest effort, the album is a relentless barrage of simultaneously heavy and fast guitar, non-stop drumming with plenty of blast beats, and raking, full sounding classic black metal vocals; all done by the practicing Chaos-Gnostic Shamaatae himself.

I suppose I might as well start with the vocals, definitely one of the most unique and stark aspects of the album. Shamaatae has had years to perfect his vocal style since Trulen, and I do think he has nearly acheived perfection with his now-signature style of the classic black metal rasp; not nearly as high as Ihsahn's, but not as low as a death growl; comparisons to Abbath of Immortal's voice are probably the most accurate, but he has certainly crafted a very pleasing style of his own. It's not hard to match the vocals with the costumes he dresses up in for photos; more than anything he sounds like some magic trollish being out of ancient Sweden, haunting the forests and attacking unsuspecting wayfarers. A voice the unlucky viator would greet with animosity. The fact that the lyrics are sung in his own rendition of Old Swedish-meets-Old Norse, probably ending with something like Old East Norse, only enhances the experience. Linguistics aside however, it works perfecly in crafting the dark, cold universe sought after by the artist. Judging from the song titles alone, the lyrics seem to deal with Norse mythology (Þórhati = The Hater of Thor), general magic and chaos (Þríandi = Threefold Spirit, probably not talking about the holy trinity purported by the Abrahamic religions), and other things you might find in the svartmetallskogar (Þyrpas Ulfar = The Wolves Gather).

The guitar for the most part takes a background in the mix to the perfectly hellish and chaotic drumming, left to tremolo picking during lyrical sections, but comes out in instrumental sections with a deep, crushing sound that reminds one of a coming storm (a storm is infact sampled into Þjazagaldr and Þá Kómu Niflstormum, making for one of the most intense buildups in black metal history). The mix serves the guitar tone rather well, relegating it to the background when the powerful drums and vocals are present, but letting it take the foreground during the instrumental segues.

Shamaatae is primarily a drummer, a point which is made very clear to the listener on ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ amidst the blast beats and crashing cymbals. Most of the album is done over blast beats, tack Óðinn, but definitely not in a boring, dreary, repetive way. Instead the Satanic Swede keeps us interested the whole time, evoking chaos without discord, and staying true to the classical black metal drumming patterns without sounding purely derivative. For me, creative drumming can really make the difference between a mediocre album, and Arckanum's latest release does not disappoint one bit. Somewhat ecovacative of the chaos created in The Mars Volta's The Bedlam in Goliath, although not so progressive rock. Between the guitar and the drums moved forward by the blast beats, the album ends up sounding rather fast paced outside of the vocal segments. Perhaps one of the more delightful aspects is the drums are never relegated to simple blast beats, but are always layered to a degree, which helps maintain interest and garners respect for not insulting the attention span or listening capacity of the listener."

Yeah, I'm going back to Black Metal for a while now.

Þyteitr

Rosetta- A Determinism of Morality

"Philadelphia quartet Rosetta push the boundaries between metal, progressive rock, post-rock, space rock, and hardcore punk, providing an experimental songwriting technique filled with chaos and atmospherics. A band whose sounds range from Pink Floydian / progressive rock sonic layering to walls of pure static ambience to crushing, sweeping sludgey riffage."

320

Blooptral Milk Hotel- In The Aeroplane Over the Bleep

[no album art]

(And will thus be substituted with a pin up girl. -AilesGrises )

Blooptral Milk Hotel, formed in 2009, is a chiptune cover artist of popular indie rock band Neutral Milk Hotel. In November of 2009, they released In the Aeroplane Over the Bleep, a chiptune tribute to Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” They plan to release a tribute to “On Avery Island” in 2010.

get it

Bleach03 - The Head That Controls Both Right and Left Sides Eats Meats and Slobbers Even Today

(Yeah.....)

"Fans of j-rock can expect more of the same from Bleach03’s new album, which isn’t a bad thing. However, Bleach03 is always best the first time around, because the group sounds like three bat shit insane Japanese girls fucking the shit out of Nirvana. The result is harsh, beautiful, and totally blindsiding.

There are some differences between The Head… and older releases like, say, the bleachmobile days of course. Bassist Miya’s four strings sound less thick and grungy and just a tad bit more funky. The production overall is much cleaner, but doesn’t tone down the band’s intensity whatsoever.

There’s a bit more diversity to be heard from Bleach03 now as well. Standout track “Torch” serves as a perfect example. A Cobain-esque dirty guitar line sullenly opens the song before turning all sorts of speed metal. Frontwoman Kanna actually sings beautifully throughout the song. Of course, there's also some shredding guitar and a militaristic bridge. All three members join in on tightly assembled vocals in a catchy, post-punk-y moment. Elsewhere, like on “Head Cleaner,” the group achieves a slight Pixies-esque alt-pop feel. Catchy but weird.

Bleach03 still takes the time to tear shit up, though. The title track utilizes Miya’s discordant howl over Kanna’s high pitched singing, while drummer Sayuri picks up and drops cut time beats on a whim. Grating in a good way, funky but powerful, The Head That Controls Both Right and Left Sides Eats Meats and Slobbers Even Today is a solid j-rock release and should appeal to curious fans of hardcore, metal, and grunge."

BLEACH

Jute Gyte - Subcon

"As much as they may try to distinguish themselves, the obscure Jute Gyte clearly belongs to the recent wave of lo-fi “progressive” noise, a genre that blends various extreme electronic subgenres that perhaps all share a certain spirit - the completely freeform, ’sound without association’ style of CCCC and Merzbow with the power electronic of Whitehouse; the early martial industrial rhythms and tape loop techniques of Laibach, SPK and NoN; the hellish soundscapes and brooding, deceptively quiet malevolence of Lustmord or vintage Nurse With Wound. These groups, in their day, represented a purity, a directness of attitude and approach. They were honest, they made me no compromises, and they had little sympathy for the listener. They cared nothing for listenability or reasonable pacing. All this was sacrificed so that they could stand apart from all other forms of expression.

The sluggish hypnotic loop is Subcon’s weapon of choice - disjointed, synthetic grooves usually created primarily with gritty, washed out synths and samples rather than actual drum machines. The repetition can be initally disappointing, but it’s a great album for meditative states and just plain zoning out. The nature of the loops also unfortunately suggests that the album was sequenced, rather than performed. Without this human feel, a lot of immediacy is missing from the compositions. To be fair, sterility may be the point; in any case, it is certainly not avoided. By being sterile they seem to express a lonely certain desensitization. Often a strength of noise music, however, is that one cannot tell how it was created, or what the source material could be, and “Subcon” seems to remind you often that it was programmed on a laptop. On the other hand, the loops themselves were thoughtfully composed, and are often quite effective. The compositions themselves are filled with interesting ideas, and the dramatic logic with which they unfold is near-perfectly timed and convincingly alien. “Subcon” posesses a unique and interesting rhythmic sensiblity. Groups like this sometimes rely on their anonymity, the inhumanity of their music and cryptic, occult inspired artwork to add a feeling of false importance to their work, but I’m happy to report these tracks do indeed contain substance.

The more aggressive noise washes found on many of the tracks sadly fail to impress, due to the cheap, digital sound of the distortion and the aforementioned audible presence of triggered notes. It’s hard to lose yourself within a womb of sound when the sound has so little spatial depth, as well. Most tracks that reach full tilt here would have benefitted from having these sections removed. At slightly quieter volumes, however, Jute Gyte creates their best textures. These mangled and granulated synths buzz with an enchanting dusty resonance.

In conclusion, this is a solid record. It avoids cliche, and has some tracks that are truly worth hearing. It also contains some fairly forgettable material. It is not essential, but I enjoyed the band’s aesthetic enough that I’ll definitely check out their other records. Overall, I’d recommend this album to anyone who’s been enjoying this rennaissance of DIY progressive noise and ritual ambient groups, and is looking for more music in that vein. Most criticism I could apply to this record would apply to aspects that could easily have been intentional stylistic decisions on the part of the band. “Subcon” creates a world, and the fact that it remains spatially two dimensional is part of its lo-fi charm."

Breaking one of my rules -- 192 kbps

Giacinto Scelsi - Natura Renovatur - (Uitti, Munchener Kammerorchester, Poppen)

"Giacinto Scelsi (1906-1988) was born into an aristocratic Italian family, whose wealth allowed him to pursue and develop his musical proclivities without material constraints. His early works were influenced by Berg and Stravinsky, among others, but after suffering a mental and creative crisis during the 1950s, he discarded Western tradition and withdrew into outer and inner seclusion. Through travel and reading, he discovered Buddhism and Sanskrit; transformed by their spirituality, he conceived a new kind of music. This recording features six works dating from 1956 to 1970. Fascinated with pure sound, Scelsi spoke of "the inner life of tones," and a "third dimension" beyond pitch and rhythm. Regarding himself not as a composer or creator, but as an emissary passing on what he received in a state of meditation and oblivion, he turned to improvising: first on the piano, then on the ondiola, an electronic melody instrument which can sustain, change, increase, and decrease sound. He stopped writing down his improvisations, instead recording them on tape to be transcribed later. This terribly difficult task fell primarily to the composer Vieri Tosatti and the cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, one of Scelsi's foremost champions. On this disc, Uitti, originator of an innovative technique of playing with two bows, gives an astonishing performance of three unaccompanied pieces, one dedicated to her. The other pieces are arranged for 11 or 16 string instruments, a natural medium offering maximum sonic flexibility and timbral diversity. The music is indeed sheer sound, sustained and static, without form, phrasing, articulation, or counterpoint. Variety is produced through sometimes extreme changes of dynamics, registers and textures, micro-pitches, and sound effects from whispers to screeches. The effect is certainly singular as well as mesmerizing.Giacinto Scelsi (1906-1988) was born into an aristocratic Italian family, whose wealth allowed him to pursue and develop his musical proclivities without material constraints. His early works were influenced by Berg and Stravinsky, among others, but after suffering a mental and creative crisis during the 1950s, he discarded Western tradition and withdrew into outer and inner seclusion. Through travel and reading, he discovered Buddhism and Sanskrit; transformed by their spirituality, he conceived a new kind of music. This recording features six works dating from 1956 to 1970. Fascinated with pure sound, Scelsi spoke of "the inner life of tones," and a "third dimension" beyond pitch and rhythm. Regarding himself not as a composer or creator, but as an emissary passing on what he received in a state of meditation and oblivion, he turned to improvising: first on the piano, then on the ondiola, an electronic melody instrument which can sustain, change, increase, and decrease sound. He stopped writing down his improvisations, instead recording them on tape to be transcribed later. This terribly difficult task fell primarily to the composer Vieri Tosatti and the cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, one of Scelsi's foremost champions. On this disc, Uitti, originator of an innovative technique of playing with two bows, gives an astonishing performance of three unaccompanied pieces, one dedicated to her. The other pieces are arranged for 11 or 16 string instruments, a natural medium offering maximum sonic flexibility and timbral diversity. The music is indeed sheer sound, sustained and static, without form, phrasing, articulation, or counterpoint. Variety is produced through sometimes extreme changes of dynamics, registers and textures, micro-pitches, and sound effects from whispers to screeches. The effect is certainly singular as well as mesmerizing."

Flac-ed

Gil Shaham & Orli Shaham - 2007 - Mozart in Paris- Six Sonatas Op.1

(Yet another album art that was too small.)

"The six sonatas of Mozart's Op. 1 (K. 301 through K. 306) are sonatas for piano with violin accompaniment. Canary Classics even puts a copy of the original title page right on the front of the album, but on the back the works are referred to as "Sonatas for Violin and Piano." Okay, so maybe this is all just arguing semantics, but how these sonatas are thought of definitely has an influence on how they are performed and which instrument is given dominance. In this recording by violinist Gil Shaham and his sister, pianist Orli Shaham, it is relatively clear that the violinist is considered the dominant, more important instrument. Both musicians give dazzling, technically brilliant, and musically inspired performances of their own parts. But when playing together, the violin "accompaniment" greatly overshadows the piano. Apart from this mismatch, the album provides listeners with lively, energetic, and vibrant performances that typify the youthful exuberance found in Mozart's earlier works. Gil Shaham's playing is fiery and almost aggressive and while this is compelling on one hand, on the other it is what leads to his frequent hogging of the spotlight. Orli Shaham's playing is equally refined, crisp, and articulate. Despite the nitpicking, this album is still a great choice for those seeking non-timid performances of Mozart."

Lalalala

I Kill Giants

"Barbara Thorson is the weirdest little 5th grader you’re likely to ever come across. All the kids at school think she’s crazy, even her family thinks she’s crazy, but her guidance counselor is trying her best to help her out. She even suffers a punch to the face and an assault with dead animals in the process! Barbara’s the type of chick that wears bunny ears, talks to fairies, carries a heart-shaped purse with a hammer in it, and plays Dungeons & Dragons. Oh yeah, she also finds, hunts, and kills giants.

Barbara’s obviously the most (and possibly only) really fleshed out character in the story, but it’s okay because this is her story. She’s depicted as headstrong introvert with a big set of balls and a mouth to match. She’s the type of deep and complex girl that could care less about stupid conversations on the bus about the VMA’s and belly shirts, but deep down, she wants to be part of these conversations anyway. She dodges reality by reading up on the mythology of giants and titans, and she’s also a badass dungeon master.

Joe Kelly wrote this in such a way that it demands at least a second reading just so that you can truly appreciate all the subtle moments that this book has to offer. Although I wasn’t blown away by JM Ken Niimura’s artwork until the last chapter or two, his character designs are imaginative and the pacing of the page layout was executed perfectly. Overall, his style definitely lends itself well to the story.

Ultimately, this is a story about a child coping with an unbearable loss and facing it head on. This is easily something that I could recommend to hardcore comic readers and non-comic readers alike. With a story worth reading more than once and plenty of concept art and commentary by the creators, I Kill Giants is definitely a book that deserves some attention. If you missed it the first time around, this trade is your chance to check out one of the best indie comics to be released in the past few years."

Comes equipped for warfare, beware.

Igor Stravinsky - The Soldier's Tale (Ransom Wilson, Solisti New York)

(Note: The album cover for the album was much too small, and so...enjoy this adorable Flapjack picture instead.)

"The soldier, on leave, is on his way to his native village. The devil, disguised as an old man with a butterfly net, meets him and convinces him to trade his violin for a book that will bring him great wealth. He also persuades the soldier to spend three days with him. To the soldier's dismay, the three days evolve into three years. And when he does not arrive home no one recognizes him, not even his mother nor his fiancee, who is married and the mother of two children.

This recording was done in St. Peters Church in New York City. It is a chamber piece with only eight players, captured with a single point microphone. When you listen to the CD for the first time, you will notice is the absolute precision of the imaging: a complete arc from left to right. Not only is the left to right imaging perfect but the sense of depth is as perfect. You hear the violin in the left front and the percussion is in the right at the back of the stage (listen to Track 23 , The Devil's Dance). Not only is the imaging and depth perfect, but there is a sense of realism to the sound. The timbre of the instruments are so real. The phase is perfect since it is one mike.

Like all Chesky recordings, this is a Blumlein Recording. (Blumlein is a technique invented by Alan Blumlein using two figure eight capsules on top of each other. This type of miking to me gives you the best imaging and depth.) For some reason the combination of St. Peter's Church, the orchestra and the microphone placement resulted in a perfect recording of a chamber orchestra, real instrument timbre and perfect depth and imaging."

Adventure Time!

White Tomb by Altar of Plagues

"The motherland, also known as the Republic of Ireland. When it comes to nationalities, I find it hard to distinguish what it is I am. My immediate family are all Irish and my surname stretches back into Irish folklore hundreds of years, but I was born in England. I find it strange that people feel such strong ties to their country of birth whilst I, sit lonely and gazing up at the stars, searching for answers to my ancestry and what it all determines anyway. Is it really that important? Heritage and national identity. Political metal is the most outspoken kind. The type of metal that draws the biggest arguments and the widest divisions. National Socialist black metal, for example, is ridden with strife and a lot of that has emerged from the engaged fans who’re seemingly enraged by the thought of such an existing genre within music in today’s society, which is meant to be liberal and accepting of all. Its ironic, really. We all preach about acceptance and judging solely on what we hear, but that’s rarely the case.

Black metal has been pigeon holed. Its now known as a genre of things it doesn’t do. Some say it isn’t experimental enough, some say its lost the edge of the old school and there are even those that complain its too much like the old school and that there isn’t enough invention in that. Its become ridiculous how anal we’ve all become. If I were a musician, I’d make music that I was inspired to make. Inspired by thoughts and feelings, not by fellow bands. I’d appreciate their music separate of my own. I wouldn’t make music to suit the average listener. Instead, I’d make it in the hope that it at least forges a connection with one person in the world. Perhaps I could mirror their feelings, let them know they’re not the only person in the world to feel the way they do. Maybe I’m being overly arrogant and overly critical of modern day fans, but it becomes really tiring listening and reading how much black metal has altered for the worst when you have bands like this who’re consistently indicating the exact opposite of all the criticism.

Though I may not understand the appeal of celebrating one’s own nation through music, I do understand the importance of talented bands in areas not commonly associated with metal and, in this instance, black metal. Ireland isn’t notorious for its beaming black metal scene, or any metal scene for that matter. Acts like Altar of Plagues have developed their career underneath the surface bands - acts like Cradle of Filth, over in neighbouring Britain, who gain the most fans for their ‘approachable’ style. Its been said many times before, but black metal fans are some of the most uptight fans in the metal genre. Hordes complain about the state of the genre, claiming it to be sub-par in comparison to the genre that Venom started, way back when. However, the majority of these so-called fans have seemingly never persisted with the genre. They hear one record from the 2000’s and pigeon hole the rest of the genre based upon the negative attributes of that one piece. Unfair and unjust.

The best way in which to find those gems is to persist, to wipe away the grime and dirt of the surface material and look beyond it. Its this ability to see beyond what you know that will help you reap the rewards that are definitely there to be had. The existence of bands like Altar of Plagues proves this. It doesn’t suggest it, it PROVES it. Recently, I covered another band who’s material in important to the positive development of the scene - Potentiam, an Icelandic band who have been circulating the underground, unnoticed, for many years. Their style isn’t conventional, much like Altar of Plagues isn’t, but its undoubtedly the type of style that will carry the genre forward, into the new millennium and beyond. Bands like this don’t get the recognition they deserve, though there is still time and with more coverage, the acceptance of the fact that not only good black metal does still exist, but EXCEPTIONAL black metal still exists and its coming from the most unlikely places. No disrespect to Ireland, but if these Irish lads can do it, why can’t the central Europeans and other various continental groups produce the same sort of mesmerising black metal music? Think about it. The answer is that they already do. That’s right.

When it comes down to it, the simple fact of the matter is - black metal still reigns supreme and hasn’t died out. 2009’s ‘White Tomb’, the debut of this Irish black metal band is proof if you ever needed it. However, there are so concerning points that I do wish to draw your attention to. First, this record is experimental. Not only does it confront the constraints of the black metal genre and its fans, but it deals with intertwining elements from other genres, like ambient, doom and so on. This record isn’t simply a black metal record, its about more than that. Second, the olden days are long and gone. Like the sun of some distant planet, it descended and never came back up again. Life as we know it doesn’t just stop existing, it lives on in the underground where new methods of living are forged. Altar of Plagues are standing up in the face of adversary and being accounted for. This style of black metal, as noted, incorporates experimental themes so this record will undoubtedly be torn down once the band gains more recognition. Like bands such as Alcest, or Wolves In The Throne Room - it will be considered some arsehole’s duty to tear down the records positivist nature in terms of its public opinion. It will be defecated on, but never destroyed. The sole of this record will march onwards and upwards. A few exaggerated words will not harm the mentality of this pivotal record, perhaps one of the most pivotal in the past decade.

The experimental factor: Altar of Plagues use differing genres to their advantage on ‘White Tomb’. The ambiance of the LLN is regrouped and remastered by this talented band in order to create an atmospheric as commanding of respect, but even more nostalgic and reflective. The two songs on this record have been split into four sections, the first being ‘Earth: i) As A Womb ii) As A Furnace’ and the second song being ‘Through The Collapse: i) Watchers Restrained ii) Gentian Truth’. Its of my own opinion that sections I) and II) of the first song, as well as II) on the second song are the most important and finely structured. That doesn’t mean to say that ‘Watchers Restrained’ is lacking, it just isn’t as perfect as the other three sections of the two songs. As confusing as that may sound, it isn’t really important since the material the entire way through it worthy of more praise than criticism, even the constructive type. Altar of Plagues aren’t typically fashioned, they allow bass a fair amount of room within the songs to play its part in putting across the divine emotional meanings behind the songs. The percussion is tight, fixating itself on low-key hi-hat and snare work, as well as the powerfully featured use of the double bass. All sections are brought together by the emotive screams of the vocalist. Even these are somewhat experimental in sound. Not typical rasps, but glorified screams of liberation (since the lyrical content fixates itself on oppression).

The backbone for the material however, is the guitars. J. O' Ceallaigh controls these, as well as the ever present synthetics, which adds a monumental difference to the soundscapes, causing them to sound empowered and full of passionate care and affection. A lot has gone into making this record, that is easy to see. Musicianship and song writing aren’t woefully left behind like an athlete with no pace. The band sticks together, through thick and thin, through hell and high waters. Having come across a number of experimental black metal bands recently - Potentiam and Pensées Nocturnes, to name but a few - I am under the impression that Altar of Plagues definitely have the ability to establish a career as a leading driving force behind the experimental scene that divulges away from the preconceptions of the genre. Bands like this tend to explore with soundscapes, which ‘White Tomb’ does as it fuses funeral doom’s slow and ambient textures (‘Watchers Restrained’ has a particularly diverse funeral doom sound - with changes to vocals, guitars and drums) with black metals faster paced guitars and dooms atmospheric tendencies, like on ‘Watchers Restrained’. Typical features still work within the decorated halls of ‘White Tomb’, but they’re not as prominent. Tremolo bass leads, fast guitars riffs and double bass blasts are mixed within the promising experimentation on sparse occasions. This record does have the ability to be able to appeal to a wider audience than most black metal which, in an odd way, may cause its downfall. The so-called ‘posers’ are likely to be found wanting and adoring this band. Having said that, at this moment in time, I love this band and I love this album. One of the best of 2009 so far."

Honestly, this is one of those Black Metal that many Metalheads should keep an eye on. Trust me on this one, you will not be dissapoint.

Get it NOW!

Edgard Varese - Arcana; Ameriques; Ionization; Offrandes; Density 21.5; Octandre; Integrales - Pierre Boulez, New York Philarmonic

Just click

Basso Profondo From Old Russia

"The liner notes concede that "it's always difficult to find logical explanations for a passion, and the Russian people truly have a passion for the basso profundo..." Indeed, that passion is not only explored, but exploited in this recording. The selections consist of works for basso soloist and choir, along with choral settings with lower octave or octavist doublings, mostly from the sacred music repertoire. The latter blatantly feature the octavists, as if someone had fooled with and turned up the maximum bass level on the stereo. Such singing makes a parody of the basso and trivializes the music. In other tracks, the basso soloists simply astound us with how low they can sing, again diverting our attention from the actual music and text. There is one important exception, however. The three intonations by Protodeacon Andrey Papkov are profoundly reverent and beautifully sung. Papkov, an experienced musician and celebrant, has a focused, ringing voice -- warm and full, but in no way dark or forced. Rather than showing-off his great talent, his liturgical artistry brings the listener closer to the sacred text and essence of the setting. The liner notes and translations are in E, F, and G. "

Was looking for some good 'ole chants and choir music during my big Deathspell Omega binge listening. Good stuff right here.

Praise

OvO - Crocevia

"Milan grindcore duo Ovo return, following up 2006's Mistenia album with another clobbering collection of songs. The format is as simple as it is brutal: Bruno Dorella's drums lay down a bedrock of noisy percussion whilst Stefania Pendretti spurts out paranormally twisted verses in a variety of different voices, all whilst trying desperately to maintain control of her caterwauling, detuned stringed instrument (is it a guitar? a bass? a bit of elastic band attached to an amplified cardboard box?). You could probably trace the band's powerhouse, freeform sound to the likes of Melvins, or Boredoms, although there's a Napalm Death-like brevity and intensity to the 'Haiku' tracks, expending all energy and power within a few seconds of screeching and pounding. Massively entertaining and surprisingly varied avant-metal from the Load camp."

Flacalicious

Nobody & Mystic Chords Of Memory - Tree Colored See

"Elvin Estella (aka Nobody) is something of a musical chameleon; one minute he's effortlessly blending into the sun-bleached/baggy-jeans+bong backdrop of psych-dipped hip-hop on 'And Everything Else' - the next he's plundering Axelrod's vaults for inspiration with free wheeling odyssey 'Pacific Drift'. The one thing that remains starkly clear however, is that Nobody is certainly somebody. Following on from the sneak-preview afforded by Earsugar's superlative 7", Nobody and Mystic Chords of Memory (Estella, Chris Gunst and Jen Cohe) are back for a full-length following a period of fertile collaboration on each other's respective releases. Bursting with a rainbow of pop-speckled melodies, each of the eleven-tracks borne by the 'Tree Colored See' has the protagonists each contributing their own special ingredient to the aural gumbo - with former Beachwood Sparks singer/guitarist Gunst allowing just the right level of folksiness to pervade the Bryds-esque primary colour chords of Nobody's Stereolab-indebted Gaelic-hop beats. Opening with 'The Seed', Nobody and Mystic Chords of Memory ferment a sense of spiralling abandon that sees cosmic effects tricking down the thrumming bank of beats and 45-vocals - with the resultant composition both thrillingly new whilst deeply rooted within the broader palate of Americana. Next up 'Decisions, Decisions' burns its fingers on some James Brown-stabs whilst the trio of composers styles are left to clash joyously, 'Broaden A New Sound' is a wonderfully skew-whiffed platter of shuffling vitamin-C pop, whilst 'Floating' (and it's James Bond strings) sees you out on a beatific cloud of jelly-pink loveliness."

Gonna post things in Flac possibly

mr. Gnome - Heave Yer Skeleton

Goooood shiiit.

Haunted Houses - The Invisible War of the Mind

"A miniature opus of half heart-wrenching half pop-masterpiece lo-fi bedroom jams. Perfect for staring wistfully out the black window of a cold winter night or the saddest dance party of all time."

Tapes are fun

Konono N°1 - Assume Crash Position

"As anyone who has experienced them live or on the seminal Congotronics LP will testify, Konono No.1 are truly one of the most exceptional, visceral bands in the world. With a distorted, hypnotic and utterly beguiling sound they've electrified traditional Congolese Bazombo trance music with a backline array of speakers salvaged from the Belgian colonnial era and amplifiers constructed from scrapped magnets and discarded electronics. In their home of Kinshasa, DR Congo, Konono are an in-demand ensemble, playing to weddings and wakes alike, upholding a folk tradition descended from septuagenarian band leader Mawangu Mingiedi's roots in the Zombo tribe based in the hills on the Angolan border. However, their commercial and critical success outside their homeland far outweighs their reputation there. For 'Assume Crash Position', their second official album, they've worked with Belgian producer Vincent Kenis again to create an entrancing set of eight songs, some stretching out on a 12 minute locked groove, some sticking to an unusually brief slot. At the core of each track are the three likembes; modified and amplified thumb pianos set just slightly out of tune to each other plus relentlessly hypnotic percussion, and with this album an expanded line up of neighbourhood musicians from a young Konono covers band, members of Kasai Allstars, guitarist Manuaku Pepe Felly and guest vocalists. With Kenis's production treatments, they've applied a subtle layer of gloss to the sound, which may detract from the rawness of earlier records, but we can assure you that the effect is still as bewitching and energetic as ever. From the serendipitous thrill of hearing a wall collapse in the background on 'Makembe' to the undeniable thrust of 'Konono Wa Wa Wa' the group play with insistent, innate and commanding power. Just so so good."

N°1

Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute

Yo Yeah.

Planetary

Planetary is an organization billing themselves as "Archaeologists of the Impossible", tracking down the world's secret history. Funded by the mysterious Fourth Man, who it is said could be anyone from Bill Gates to Adolf Hitler, the field team consists of three superhumans: Jakita Wagner, who is strong, fast and nearly invulnerable; The Drummer, who can detect and manipulate nearby information streams, most commonly used to manipulate computers and other electronics; the new recruit Elijah Snow, who can extract heat from nearby substances at will, freezing them; and the former third man Ambrose Chase, who has a "selective physics-distortion field".

The series is set in the Wildstorm Universe, along with other titles such as Stormwatch, The Authority, DV8 and Gen¹³. Snow was born on January 1, 1900, as was Jenny Sparks of the Authority, and the two know each other. Planetary rarely crosses over with other Wildstorm series, although references are made to characters in other series, such as Henry Bendix from Stormwatch.

Planetary's field team travels the world investigating strange phenomena: monsters and other beings, unusual relics, other superhumans, and powerful secrets which certain individuals are trying to keep hidden from the rest of the world. Their purpose in doing this is partly curiosity, and partly to use what they learn for the betterment of mankind. There are, however, groups who oppose their goals, and the organization has a substantial history which is gradually revealed during the series.

"Warren Ellis is rapidly becoming this century's Alan Moore, and Planetary is a superb example of his work."

Planetary

Asterios Polyp

"The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions. An epic story long awaited, and well worth the wait.

Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland. But what is this “escape” really about?

As the story unfolds, moving between the present and the past, we begin to understand this confounding yet fascinating character, and how he’s gotten to where he is. And isn’t. And we meet Hana: a sweet, smart, first-generation Japanese American artist with whom he had made a blissful life. But now she’s gone. Did Asterios do something to drive her away? What has happened to her? Is she even alive? All the questions will be answered, eventually.

In the meantime, we are enthralled by Mazzucchelli’s extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.

Asterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece: a great American graphic novel."

Polyp

The Hunter

"Cooke has transformed the first volume of the late Donald Westlake's long-running Parker series (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark), about an indomitable outlaw, into a smashing graphic novel, making its ferocious mood and retro aesthetics the stars of the show. Parker belongs to the bottom of the urban jungle's economic strata, but the top of its food chain—anyone who stands between him and his revenge is doomed, whether they're trying to resist him or just happen to be in the way. As the book begins, he's returning to New York City in the Kennedy era with murder in his eyes: double-crossed by his wife and partners, he's come back to kill whoever needs killing to get his money. Cooke has a real affinity for the tough-as-hammers tone of Westlake's story. His Parker doesn't seem to enjoy or dislike slaughter (or anything else); he's just doing what it takes to reach his goal, with a certain dispassionate savoir faire. And Cooke's delicious two-color artwork nails the look of the early '60s, from hairstyles and tiki bars to the illustrative technique that defined the era everywhere except for comics: angular caricatures that capture his characters' motion and expressions with a bare minimum of elegantly rugged lines.

Cooke's a powerful enough cartoonist that his images do most of the heavy lifting here. His version of the story opens with a bravura, nearly wordless 20-page sequence. It's 1962, and Parker is stalking across a bridge into New York City, preparing to scam his way into a new identity. When we finally see his face (a revelation Cooke cunningly delays), his disheveled hair and expression of cold-eyed fury reveal as much about his cruelty and unknowability as any description Westlake could have written. --Douglas Wolk in The Washington Post

It s July and this may well be the book of the year. A must for anyone with a penchant for Chandler-esque heroes and hard boiled storytelling. The great news is that this is just the first of four planned Parker graphic novels by Cooke. Book 2 is out in 2010 I ve no idea when, but I ll be eagerly awaiting it. Something this near perfect will no doubt be worth the wait. --Richard Burton in the Forbidden Planet Blog

There's no question in my mind that The Hunter is one of the best comics I'll read this year. As an unabashed fan of both the Parker novels and of Darwyn Cooke's comics, I've looked forward to it with the same kind of anticipation I imagine a million young women have for a glimpse of the greasy locks of Robert Pattinson. --Tucker Stone in Comixology

It s July and this may well be the book of the year. A must for anyone with a penchant for Chandler-esque heroes and hard boiled storytelling. The great news is that this is just the first of four planned Parker graphic novels by Cooke. Book 2 is out in 2010 I ve no idea when, but I ll be eagerly awaiting it. Something this near perfect will no doubt be worth the wait. --Richard Burton in the Forbidden Planet Blog

There's no question in my mind that The Hunter is one of the best comics I'll read this year. As an unabashed fan of both the Parker novels and of Darwyn Cooke's comics, I've looked forward to it with the same kind of anticipation I imagine a million young women have for a glimpse of the greasy locks of Robert Pattinson. --Tucker Stone in Comixology"

The Hunter

Sweet Movie

"Pushing his themes of sexual liberation to their boiling point, Yugoslavian art-house provocateur Dušan Makavejev followed his international sensation WR: Mysteries of the Organism with this full-throated shriek in the face of bourgeois complacency and movie watching. Sweet Movie tackles the limits of personal and political freedom with kaleidoscopic feverishness, shuttling viewers from a gynecological beauty pageant to a grotesque food orgy with scatological, taboo-shattering glee. With its lewd abandon and sketch-comedy perversity, Sweet Movie became both a cult staple and exemplar of the envelope pushing of 1970s cinema.

Synopsis: One narrative follows Miss Monde 1984/Miss Canada (Carole Laure), who wins a contest of the "most virgin"; her prize is the marriage to a milk industry tycoon (John Vernon). However, following his degrading puritanical introduction to intercourse, she vents her intention to leave to her mother-in-law who, at that point, nearly has her killed. The family bodyguard takes her away, further humiliates, and finally packs her in a trunk bound for Paris. She finds herself on the Eiffel Tower, where she absently meets and has intercourse with a Latin singer, El Macho (Sami Frey). The sexual act is interrupted by touring nuns who frighten the lovers into bulbus glandis. In her post-coital shocked state, she is adopted an artist community led by Otto Muehl, where she finds affectionate care. The commune practices some liberating sessions, where a member, with the assistance of the others, goes through a (re)birth experience, cries, urinates and defecates like a baby, while the others are cleaning and pampering him. Later she is seen acting for an obscene advertisement, in which she is naked, covered in liquid chocolate.

The second narrative involves a woman, Anna Planeta (Anna Prucnal) piloting a candy-filled boat down a river, with a big papier-mache head of Karl Marx on the prow. She picks up the hitchhiking sailor 'Potemkin' (Pierre Clémenti), though warns him if she falls in love, she will kill him. He ignores her many suggestions for him to leave and their relationship evolves. Eventually, in the state of love making, she stabs him to death in their nidus of sugar. She also seduces children into her world of sweets and revolution. She is eventually apprehended and arrested by the police who lay down plastic sacks containing the children's bodies on the riverside, implying they too have been killed by Planeta. The film ends with the children, unseen by the others, being reborn from their plastic cocoons."

DivX Release..: 06/20/2006
DVD Release...: 06/19/2006
Video Codec...: XViD
Video Format..: 2Pass 897kbit
Audio Codec...: MPEG1 AudioLayer3
Audio Format..: MONO 89kbits/s VBR mp3
Aspect Ratio..: 1.67:1
Frame Size....: 560 x 336
Framerate.....: 23.976
Audio Language: English
Genre.........: Drama, Comedy
Runtime.......: 98min 15sec

Sleigh Bells - Treats

Hello

This will be edited accordingly.--_______________________

Heavy Traffic

Heavy Traffic is a 1973 American animated film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film, which begins, ends, and occasionally combines with live-action, explores the often surreal fantasies of a young New York cartoonist named Michael Corleone, using pinball imagery as a metaphor for inner-city life. Heavy Traffic was Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz's follow-up to the successful but controversial film Fritz the Cat, the first animated feature to receive an X rating. Though producer Krantz made varied attempts to produce an R-rated film, Heavy Traffic was given an X-rating by the MPAA. The film received positive reviews and is widely considered to be Bakshi's biggest critical success.

x264 / Matroska / Standard Def / DVD

Mary and Max

Synopsis: This claymation wonder made a splash at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The surprising friendship between a young Australian girl named Mary (voiced by Toni Collette) and an aging New Yorker named Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) lies at the heart of this sweet comedy. Though Mary and Max have never met, they communicate via letter, becoming close companions though they are separated by thousands of miles. Barry Humphries provides narration, while Eric Bana also supplies his voice.

"Mary and Max is a lovingly crafted, startlingly inventive piece of animation whose technical craft is equaled by its emotional resonance."

Just get this.

XviD / AVI / Standard Def / DVD

Extravasation by Aspid

"This is what Destruction would sound like had they been a full-fledged technical thrash metal band.

First of all, the vocals sound quite similar. This vocalist, though, sounds harsher (so, these are fully harsh vocals). There are some high-pitched screams (see: beginning of Towards One Goal), but most of the time the vocals remain mid-pitched. And he sings in a Russian accent or in Russian language (I cannot be sure, because my version does not have a lyric sheet and the lyrics are not on the Archives either; probably the lyrics are a combination of English and Russian), creating an exotic feeling by his speech itself.

The guitar tone is where it really shows the similarity with Destruction. Total buzzsaw. Along with Eternal Devastation, the guitar tone on this one is the most buzzsaw guitar tone I have ever heard. And, you know, buzzsaw guitars can be awesome if done right, especially with great riffage. This is such a case.

And the riffs are great. Somewhat in the vein of Destruction, too, are the riffs. Long-winded and complicated, and yet they retain the headbangable nature of thrash riffs. And these are, as these are teched-up, more complicated than Destruction riffs (at least on a general level), and less headbangable (but still has plenty of headbangabiity; just less than Destruction). There are a lot of tempo changes and odd time signatures, too, as will be expected from a technical album. The chorus of It Came features a deceleration. There is a good balance of more upbeat riffs and darker sounding riffs, and each riff morphs into another through smooth transitions.

The guitar solos are one of this album¡¯s high points, if not the absolute pinnacle. These solos are some of the best, if not the best, solos in thrash metal, up there, or above, the solos from Rust in Peace, Rigor Mortis (s/t), and Time Does Not Heal. These solos are like Trey Azagthoth and Randy Rhoads combined. That description alone should be enough to tell how awesome these solos are, but it sounds like an oxymoron. Azagthoth and Rhoads, that¡¯s almost ironical! And yet, that was the feeling I instantly got when I first heard the solos of this album. There is an excellent usage of the tremolo arm finger tapping to create the unorthodox sound a la Morbid Angel, and at the same time, they are highly elaborate, beautiful and smooth. But, you really need to listen to these to fully comprehend the meaning. Just remember: these solos are the best in thrash.

The intro track is actually worth a mention, because it is actually one of the best songs on the album, despite it being an ambient synth track. The spacy atmosphere and beautiful melodies with a bit of gloomy mood are all there in the two-minute ambient piece, and this is such a great track that I was genuinely disappointed to find out that the rest of the album did not make use of the synth. Had they incorporated some synths of the quality of this intro, this might have been a revolution. Anyway, this is one of the best intro tracks in any genre, metal or not.

This little known Russian work of technicality deserves more attention. If you are a fan of technical thrash, do not miss this out. More so if you like the more brutal side of thrash, too. Oh, and of course, this is a must for Destruction fans."

Get it now

@320

---

Throne of Blood

Summary: In the Sixteenth Century in Japan, the brave generals Taketori Washizu (Toshirô Mifune) and Yoshiaki Miki (Minoru Chiaki) are invited to visit their lord in his castle after a battle wined by them against a traitor general. In the way to the castle, they meet in the forest an evil spirit that foresees their future from the bottom of their hearts, with Washizu being the lord of an important mansion in the fields of their lord, Miki the commander of the First Fortress and Miki's son the successor of Washizu. When they meet their master, the first part of the prophecy comes true for Washizu and Miki. However, the wife of Washizu poisons his heart with calumnies and malicious feelings against the lord and Miki. Washizu kills them both, becoming the new lord of the castle, but tormented by his guilty and afraid of his future.

"A career high point for Akira Kurosawa -- and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play."

"Akira Kurosawa's remarkable 1957 restaging of Macbeth in samurai and expressionist terms is unquestionably one of his finest works—charged with energy, imagination, and, in keeping with the subject, sheer horror. Incidentally, this was reputed to have been T.S. Eliot's favorite film."

XviD / AVI / Standard Def / DVD

Part 1
Part 2

Presence of Soul - Blinds

"Japanese group PRESENCE OF SOUL is led by female singer and composer YUKI, who also handles guitars, keyboards and Mellotron. She's accompanied by a guitar player, a bass player and a drummer.
"Blinds" (2008) is a first album to be listened to somewhere between GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR !, SIGUR ROS, MOGWAI and ANEKDOTEN. As a matter of fact, the band was the support act for the swedish musicians during their 2008 shows in Japan.

From the very beginning, PRESENCE OF SOUL proves to be absolutely innovative and mature at the same time: ethereal female vocals create a sharp contrast with guitars fury and drumming power. Sad atmospheres, often enhanced by Mellotron and a great sense of slowliness (Without mentioning softness) evolve step by step, with an increasing violence, reaching its climax in an overwhelming maelstrom. It's a kind of "Progressive post-rock", and one cannot imagine a more intense musical world. You'll surely be haunted a long time after listening..."

V0

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontra-Punkte / Zeitmasze / Stop / Adieu

This is the fourth release from Stockhausen's record label, which put out a series of complations in the 1990s. Good shit.

V0

Steve Reich - Daniel Variations

“In the most recent pieces Reich has consolidated four decades of invention. Neon-lit textures have given way to dense, dusky landscapes, with tender lyrical passages at the heart of each piece. It’s as if Reich were finally letting himself look back in time, perhaps even indulging a secret Romantic urge. Yet, in the tribute to Daniel Pearl, there is also a new influx of coiled power: fleets of pianos and percussion tap out telegraphic patterns, warning of the next big crash.”
The New Yorker

V0

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

In post-industrial Tokyo, where man and machine are merging, businessman Taniguchi Tomoo (Tomoroh Taguchi) is pushed over the edge when skinheads kidnap his son. The anger he experiences triggers his transformation from a mild-mannered family man into a ferocious half-man/half-machine walking arsenal. As he becomes involved in a deadly game with the leader of the skinheads, Tomoo transforms into an even more malicious machine.

Rawr