For our 91st post I thought we would attempt to go back to the origins of the Wednesday post, today we take it up a notch, prepare the neck braces.
Enter Martyr Defiled, a five man progressive deathcore band from Lincoln, UK. You can put the word "core" after anything truthfully, but to label this as death metal would be going soft on you.
First off thanks to Grindcore Brutal Death for having more metal than I could even think of downloading and providing the link to this amazing five track album. So if you are anywhere where there are people with sensitive ears turn down the volume, unless your like me, then crank that shit! This is most assuredly the type of music that will get you kicked out of your parents house, driving guitars, complicated drum patterns and vocals so thick you'll have to scrape the lyrics out of your ears after. So if you have a soft spot for metal or iron ears you'll love this album.
Continuing the crunchy theme today is Kitchener's own Three Crowns. This amazingly Canadian band just released their Debut EP, and it features some big names, like Ben Waugh of Exalt, and Lee Heintz of Blind The Carrier.
Coming into this now means that I have no excuse not to follow this band. Seriously this is one of the best debuts I have ever heard, rivaling higher funded bands. Its always a good idea to get those features in now, have those connections, it certainly drew me to the album and should make for some interesting live shows. So swing that hair and gargle those razor blades this album will break you.
Hope you enjoyed the post today, please grab those albums and support the artists. If metal isn't your thing then stay tuned, we have something you'll like coming up soon. Check out the blogs I mentioned and hit our facebook page here.
SebastiAn, born Sebastian Akchote, is an electro-house producer from Boulogne, France. Hes beeen rocking the scene since 2005 dropping hits under Ed Banger Records, and just generally being awesome. Thats the highest praise I think I've ever given anyone french.
Truthfully I was saving this one for a number of reasons. One, this album is too good for you, two, I had planned it for next week, seeing as how its going to be the twentieth Toxic Tuesday. Lastly as you will notice you'll have to go through the exact same situation I did, and download every song individually unless you think you can find the album somewhere. So without further ado, the tracklist and links.
I apologize for the horrible download format, so if you have any complaints please direct them to Musicmakesmeplane.blogspot.com, the site from which I blatantly stole this article.
SebastiAn may have turned me back to house music... but this is better than house music. At a whopping twenty two tracks long there is a lot of space to play in this album. A big chunk of the sound is stereotypically retro, where as other songs tread closer to dupstep, and once I thought my ipod had skipped me over to Marilyn Manson. Yeah you read that right the second to last song is one of the angriest songs to grace my ears in too long of a time. Complete with choppy guitar riffs and screaming cut/copy vocals, its amazing, hit the vid below for a taste. Overall this album stretches the boundary of house music, even taking the overall electric genre for a ride around the mosh pit, pick it up and groove away those worries.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy of my adult life (so far), the breaking up of Innerpartysystem. A while back they announced it over email to their fans, and are currently playing their final shows, and I'm going to miss every last one. So to commemoration an amazing band lets take a look at one of their albums.
Follow that link to 32 MB of the best chills you'll ever get. Although just an EP, "Never Be Content" can hold its own against all this so called "electro" being released to you sheep these days. Combining dancehall beats with something sorely missing from electro these days, lyrics, sometimes with meaning! Patrick Nissley, the vocalist has one of the smoothest voices ever to grace a wall of synths and programmed beats. Once you hear this album you'll understand why no band should ever torture its fans with a breakup.
"I forgot what it feels like, without you on my mind..."
Hope you enjoy the music today, as the music today is what I was saving for the big 20, but you know how it is when you want to share something but have to wait. Big ups to musicmakesmeplane for the tracks, so please go check them out and follow the blog. Also I'm still going to jam my FB page down your throats cause none of you guys have gone to make me happy. So grab the albums, support the artists, and remember where you got it from! (the music not the herpes)
Introducing a four man miracle band from Maryland, The Grilled Lincolns, a sound thats more entertaining than money on a barbecue.
Theres something special about an album that goes from uptempo funk and soul, to raunchy hip hop, then (wait for it), to a narrated rock opera nearly reaching metal. Its talent when you can do one thing right, but what is it when you can do everything? This is as unorthodox as it gets...
"We are not going to try to describe our music. We write and play music we like, period. That’s it. There are no other parameters. If we like it, we play it, no matter the genre or style. Its not uncommon to hear a rap tune followed by a metal song into an blues jam or an R&B ballad at a Lincoln show".
Better than their undecided genre is the fact that all three of their albums are up for free... yeah free. Because hey we're gonna pirate them anyway right? Hit the albums on Mediafire below, or the bands official website. If you need some persuading listen to the video below, keep in mind this is only one song, and they cover it all.
I apologize for the short post the injustice done to the artists today, but its late and I'm trying to do three things at once. Big ups to Gabe for being the only one who voted on todays topic, and effectively chose the artist. If you don't know myself and a couple friends have started writing reviews for games and movies over at my other blog, its going well so far. I post articles from both blogs and let you pick the topics (sometimes) over on the facebook page so get over there and enjoy!
It has been one bitch of a week, really. I mean almost every day has been seven hours or more at work then two hours driving, and somewhere in there I had to make time to go a end of the summer party and find sometime for myself. So while driving home tonight I had another crazy idea, many of you guys don't know me, or claim to and really don't, so lets give you a little insight.
So this one goes way back to my childhood. Like many people I started out by being forced to listen to whatever my parents did, and my dad was all classic rock. That being said most of it was actually really good, like Supertramp, Asia, Rush, Boston, and Chicago just to name a few but one song really stuck with me. I've heard this song so many times I can sing it word for word, and I do whenever I hear it, its also the one song that I can play perfect on Rockband and one of three songs I can actually play on my bass guitar. I just get a nostalgic feeling whenever I hear it, and better than that it really describes how I use music. Contrary to popular belief I have a lot of shit floating around in my head, weighing me down constantly, and I use music as an escape, to forget.
A year or two back I had a friend living with me at my parents house, he and I had been friends for a long time and we usually agree to disagree on everything but music. I remember one time he bought an album (keep in mind this is during my metal phase) and I absolutely hated it, the album was Carnavas by Silversun Pickups. One day I went with two of my friends to donate blood, and I borrowed my friends Ipod, the first thing I noticed was Silversun and being curious I put it on. Needless to say it quickly became one of my all time favorite albums and every song has a meaning that seems hard to find in mainstream music these days. I remember two years ago December, my family and I were leaving on a trip down into the states, it was just before christmas, and my girlfriend was going to dump me. I knew she was, she had all but said it to me, she was dropping communications and was talking about a guy she said was just like me just younger and closer to her. It was all I could think about for the whole trip, what a christmas present. Needless to say I was distraught, stressed out of my mind and in a very fragile state and Silversun Pickups completely kicked my ass. I mean I broke down crying in the back of my parents car while crossing the border, and no one noticed, that's the sad part, but truthfully nothing my parents could've said would make it better. There's something infinitely sad about the droning guitar and quite background bass rhythms combine that with the singers soft voice and lyrics that can kill, combine all that and you have one package that hits the vulnerable spot every time.
If you couldn't have figured this out by the lack of normal posts, I've got what passes for a job. I'm working my college co-op at a local hospital, and its crazy work. Combine that with all the other stressful stuff goin on in life and you've got yourself one insomniac. I remember when this song came out, a month or so ago, the uptempo intro got me to my feet, then the lyrics sat me straight on my ass. I haven't had restful sleep in the better part of a month and this song explians how I feel about that. What is it that I've done to make myself unable to sleep, and how do I make everyone understand, better than that, can I fight through it? All these questions, can be answered in song and I've been grooving to this song every morning so I can get through the day.
The whole point of this post was to give you guys a little insight into who I am. I find sometimes that can be hard to do when all you get is a little review of an album and nothing personal but an outro telling you to like my facebook page. So hopefully you enjoyed a window into my soul and thanks for giving me a spot to vent.
Last night, driving home from work, I was working through the amazing amount of new music that I've found and planning posts for about three weeks. Then when I go to post today, I'm all out of creativity. So bear with me, I'm going to crank the stereo and see if I can smash some dubstep directly into my head.
So I think my problem was the subject matter, I was trying to write up some ambient and psychedelic techno. I really think that dubstep could cure the common cold, it sure clears the head... bringing the coffee machine down to my office might have helped too.
Earlier this week I watched a short video by Corridor Digital and Mike Diva, and it blew my mind. It took the phrase "music as a weapon" to a whole new level. Now thanks to them its all I can see in my mind when I listen to Klaypex .
This album is fraught with the kind of dubstep that can make you dance and think in equal measure. I'm actually thinking of making a dark night dubstep mix for those long drives home along those crazy country roads. Thoughts aside Klaypex deserves way more publicity, and his EP is full of amazing remixes and originals that will surely make it into your head... and make you dream of dubstep guns....
If you've ever ridden in a car with me you'll have been amazed by the upbeat disco stylings of Lemaitre. Now before you ask no I don't know how to pronounce the name, and from the backstage vids I've seen, neither do they. Truthfully it was Joehandsome who first smashed my ears with Lemaitre, and since that day I've been searching far and wide for a reliable link to their album. That still hasn't happened but thanks to the folks over at Musigh.com I can at least hit you with some of their best tracks.
All of those tracks are just a right click, save as, away. So grab them up, personal opinion would be that Friendly Sound is a perfect example of their sound. Lemaitre is a great place to start if you are new to electronic music, the bouncy beats and sheer volume of high end notes make all these songs sound like they should be playing on the sunniest day. Those of you that have been following us for a while or have a refined taste in electronic music will love the smooth transitions from styles and the way their sound varies from disco to Daft Punk-esque dancehall techno and then back easily so you get a taste of everything. Seeing these chaps live has gotten pretty high up on my bucket list.
So I'm looking around at the blog here, its about 21 days into the month of August, we've had six posts. At this point during the last few months you would have almost twenty posts to not read. So I will do my best to write the posts early this week, I've got till Wednesday planned, so you can thank me later. For now just scroll down the page and get ready for some amazing hip hop.
So you all know I have a bit of a week spot for glitchy electro, those of you that know me well know that I have a special place in my heart for Pretty Lights. There's just something about the blend of futuristic glitch hop and retro samples that allow me to float over whatever has me down. I hadn't even considered the fact that every song by Pretty Lights is a rap song waiting to happen, and then it happened. Gabriel Stark, you sir have put yourself in a very precarious position, you've taken some of the best music to wobble around inside my skull and plastered your voice all over it. If you shit on these tracks you're on the list, if you do this the right way you'll make it into my mixes for a very long time. Its a good thing I lost that list, cause Gabriel Stark you're my new hero.
For those of you that don't know the album title is not only a witty joke but there was once upon a time a Pretty Lights album called Glowing In The Darkest Night, just a guess but I think that had something to do with the choice. So, into the actual music, obviously the beats are top notch, we've been through that already. Although relatively unknown Starky lays it down smooth, and does just enough damage to the original tracks to make it his own sound. All in all this five track album is must download, so hit that link above and if you're interested in hearing more Pretty Lights head on over to his website and grab all of the albums for free, that's more music than you can cram into that little head of yours, enjoy.
I'm starting to think the longer I go without sleep the more my musical tastes go off the deep end. Its becoming quite clear I should think, I mean did you listen to yesterdays artist? Don't think you can top that? Well read on, oh mighty viewer, read on.
Anyone from Norway? No? Yes? You know bout Shining? That's ok, I'm not sure whats popular over there. But here I guess, you have to be hardcore or crazy, or in my case just hardcore crazy, to like this music. You will have one hell of a time finding a 4/4 beat in any of todays music but with Shining there's a reason. The name of the album is actually their genre, yeah Blackjazz.
What do you want? Who even reads this far into the post? Oh, right, yup screaming and heavy guitar riffs over jazz instrumentation with a pinch of electro just for some schizophrenic flavouring. You'll like it, I promise, time for your shock therapy.
On to the next one, what you've heard this one? No, you haven't, we might as well have called todays article hardcore hipster humpday. Void Settler, I had to go back to myspace to find this one, haha yeah remember myspace? Anywho being as how I'm not even slightly sure that the picture is of him you'll just have to listen to the album.
Follow that link to a page with a link to the file, be prepared to wait half a minute if you don't want to pay cause the internet is a bitch like that. A little clear headed clarification, you might say that this album should be included in a Tuesday article, not Wednesday, well suck it. Oh and if you fear for my sanity after hearing it, well cant say I told you so. Ok voices in my head and people that don't actually read what I say, I have to scoot, to London, do enjoy the music.
First off let me apologize for there not being any posts for the last week or so, I've been working quite a bit at my new co-op, in fact I worked almost fifty hours last week and was in my office for almost eleven hours yesterday. So you can understand why I haven't had time to sit down and concentrate on the music. So while I have ten minutes lets hit you with something spectacular.
So long confusing story, I believe I was searching around for an album by MF DOOM, and those of you that cruise Mediafire often know that the name of the site is often included in the title of the file. So being bored and all that I traced it back to the site, 777 and I am puking devils blood. Its one of those blogs that has a whole lot of underground albums but gets noticed for the one of two popular artists they featured a long time ago. So upon doing some cruising around I was drawn to the label "Neoclassic", Venetian Snares tempted me from across the wavelengths.
First off one up for being Canadian, and another point for making me do research just to figure out what to call your music. Classified anywhere from Breakcore and electronic to Neoclassical and IDM... so what is IDM you ask? Intelligent dance music... yeah you heard it, Intelligent. Apparently big at raves IDM is an experimental strain of electronic music, that is currently keeping me alive, I take my drum and bass intravenously.
So getting into the music, lets just say you have to have a refined taste to fully appreciate what is being done here, really if you are a classical music or drum and bass purist, leave now, cause Aaron Funk cuts that's shit up. Really I would describe it as classical music, mixed with drum and bass then boiled with some glitch and breakbeat, with a splash of electro. That's really the best I can do, you'll have to experience it for yourself, seriously start with second album link and work up, it evens out with the newer stuff.
*So again sorry for the wait, and a warning if you don't like today's feature then please feel free to go back in time and kill yourself cause its just gonna get more crazy tomorrow. Giant props to pukingdevilsblood.blogspot.com for a tonne of amazing music, seriously check it out if you have a soft spot for ambient, drone, or anything else you never thought you'd enjoy, its that circus fun you don't tell your friends about. Check us out on facebook if you haven't already, the numbers make me happy when they get bigger.
So today is my first day of orientation for my co-op at GBHS, its been embarrassing so far, showing up late after having trouble finding the room, add on the fact I barely slept last night and I’m a complete wreck. To make it even better being the first day, it would be the day they take my picture for ID cards, at least I shaved part of my face in my rush to get out of the house.
So I really can’t talk of music that’s picking me up today cause I’m deliberately not listening to anything that could cheer me up. That being said I found a nice little dark corner table here in the cafeteria and due to some connection problems I am writing this in word to cut and paste for your viewing pleasure.
A while ago I stumbled onto a song on GMAD, it was an occasion because I usually don’t pull from goodmusicallday unless I know the artist, but there was something about the artwork, about the artists name, or maybe it was the fact that he was Canadian that drew me towards the download link. Either way Grieves quickly worked his way up my list of most played songs, and into my mind. Something reached me under everything else I’ve build up.
“I guess it started when the lights went out, everyone running around trying to figure it out...”
The song starts with a soft piano, a simple collection of rhythms and notes, lows and highs, and then Grieves drops the flow. His rapping is something I can appreciate, low, and meaningful, the lyrics, if you get into them tell a dark story about love lost and wasted, and that is surely something we can all relate to....
"Chill cause now you're livin all alone in a place meant for two..."
If you actually take the time to follow my posts you’ll know my ideal style of rap is more than just some fool’s flow and a low bass beat that shakes the fenders on some a-holes Sunfire. The words have to reach me; they have to make me want to hear them. The beat doesn’t have to be top class but it helps to have more than just a Macbook. If you have the budget, it makes the album to have an orchestra or at least a string section or jazz quartet, hell even throw an acoustic guitar in the background. Rap isn’t a black and white game, there are limits sure buts its the artists that stretch those limits that make it into my itunes, and eventually my heart. Grieves, you’ve made a topnotch album, your lyrics are universal in the way a piano is, and the orchestra, real or not, is worth any money. Thanks for taking the game to the next level.
* You may remember last weeks article and how I went on about life and musical goodness. If you read into the part about the river then you'll be pleased to know that said friend was awesome enough to write us up todays article, so without further ado...
Today we're going to dig into the wide and interesting world of doom, drone, and other sludgy miscellanea. Also something a bit closer to the usual here so as not to be a completely out there day. I know sometimes the week seems to drag on, and midweek usually is the worst part, and this is often what I need to revive me, a hearty slab of thick, powerful, distorted groove to get me moving again.
To start off we have Earth, our home planet, and the both genre bending, and genre defining doom/drone band. With old stuff like slowed down Black Sabbath and newer material like the slowest most ominous western, everything they've produced exudes powerful trance inducing sound waves. Their newest album "Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I" is a sure continuance of these waves, and is part one of a double album, the second part to be released sometime in 2012. Its thick and powerful, and feels like you should be driving down a country road, preferably in texas or somewhere with lots of fields, windows down, driving wherever your foot may take you. Music meant to be experienced at high volumes.
Continuing deeper in the depths of the doom realm, we have another spacial band. Sunn O))) named after a guitar amplifier brand and logo. Their audio philosophy is "Maximum volume yields maximum results" and this is quite evident in both their live show and their albums, live they play at upwards of 120 decibels, and as you turn the album up on your stereo it begins to become a full body experience. Like an ambient band Sunn O))) produce soundscapes, but where a lot of ambient music feels looser and floaty and often cloud-like, their soundscapes are much more like being submerged in magma and mashed between slowly shifting tectonic plates of distorted sound. A slow, distorted and incredibly dense sound Sunn O)))'s music sounds a lot like noise at first, but soon you begin to hear (or feel, depending on your stereo) the slow waves of the drone, and little *almost* melodies hidden in the chords and feedback. The newest album Monoliths & Dimensions is a masterpiece of these concepts and philosophies.
Lastly, a fantastic post rock band I just found out about this past week called Sleepmakeswaves. I listened to their newest album "...and so we destroyed everything" on a long drive this weekend down to lake erie. The album is split between longer more post rock tracks with lots of building and massive crescendos, and shorter electronic-esque ballads. Between staple post rock moments with tremolo picking and delayed guitars there is some fantastic d&b drumming and beats snuck into these tracks that really give it an interesting feel. There is also some nearly metal riffs snuck in here, its a really diverse album, but it still manages to feel like one cohesive package. Give it a chance and listen to it the whole way through. My drive blew past and I was left wanting more, and listened again on the way home, time flies by when your having fun...
So we're going to treat you nice today, we've got some nice melodic dubstep/electro. I've been holding off on one of todays artists for a while and one I stumbled upon yesterday. So grab a clean pair of underwear and clean some hard drive space for some more dubsteppah!
You may remember our second metalstep monday when we had Commissioner, and from what I understand half of said band is Big Chocolate, an unsigned electro producer from Huntington Beach, California. Its amazing how one can change musical styles so dramatically.
If you managed to actually listen to Commissioner then you'll know deathstep is a bitch of a genre, but here we have an artist who can transition from such a metal monstrosity to a more melodic style of electro and EDM. Those of you that hit the Warped Tour this year had the chance to catch this talented DJ live and I envy you. So grab those albums above if you are interested in something new and big up to Dubfuckingstep for all the links.
Yesterday was my catch-up day, when I struggle through downloading all the songs that I've missed from the past week or so. I'm starting to run out of space on my laptop which is very disappointing, so you can understand that anything that makes it past my filter is either special or very intriguing. Both of those things describe Chrome Sparks (Jeremy Malvin).
There's something touching about loading a page that reads "Download My <3", if only it were that easy. I know Jeremy has gone by many names over the past few years but for the life of me I can't remember them, but his debut album under Chrome Sparks with Steffaloo is quite the emotional masterpiece. When I first pressed play I was a little concerned, sure the beat was uptempo and cheery but the underlying vocals had a haunting quality I wasn't sure I liked. After a song or two more the whole package hit me, no longer piecing it apart I was mesmerized by the lilting vocals drifting in and out of focus, the cheery rhythm took on a darker quality, and then some synths kicked in and I really don't know whats going to happen next. So if you want to take some time and hear something new I suggest My <3, in more way than one.
*Once again thanks for sticking around, hopefully you enjoyed today's post and the music contained herein. I'm doing my best to expand your horizons but I also enjoy hearing from you guys, so hit me up on our Facebook, suggest some music and spread the love.
Pep Rally is what drew me to Hoodie in the first place. It was about a year ago when I was still new to the internet music scene and I was mesmerized by his song You Are Not A Robot with Marina and The Diamonds. Before this most rap really lacked something for me, it was all angry, low tempo, completely uninspiring. The sheer wit and humour of Hoodies songs sparked a love of hip hop in me. His new mixtape Leap Year is more.... political... that might not be the right word. Its amazing don't doubt, the sampling is top notch and his flow dishes out the punches, but every second line names a celebrity almost like he is personally calling out half of Hollywood. So don't hate, download the tapes and continue that beautiful summer.
Many of you that love Youtube as much as I do will know about Ray William Johnson, and his show =3. Remember the original exit track, stalking your mom? Yeah that was Wax, and he's even been rappin along on some of the new Your Favourite Martian vids.
I've been floating to this album all week, no joke, I'm thinking Wax may be my new favourite rapper, and thats saying something. We talked earlier about Hoodie being witty and humorous, Wax takes that and multiplies it exponentially adding his own flavor of comedy to every song. One interesting thing, I don't usually relate to rap songs but there is something like four tracks that I can't help but feel like they were written about me. So challenge for those of you that "know" me, there will be a prize for guessing all of those songs or at least more than anyone else (hint : watch the vid), so grab this album up!
