Frownland's Top 20 Albums of 2017 (featuring 17 honourable mentions) - Music Banter Music Banter

Go Back   Music Banter > The MB Reader > Album Reviews
Register Blogging Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Welcome to Music Banter Forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with over 70,000 other registered members. After you create your free account, you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 1,100,000 posts.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-10-2018, 10:38 PM   #91 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Five


Merkabah - Million Miles

Only at number five? I should quit stalling.

Merkabah does the avant-prog/metal/jazz/brutal prog thing to great effect. As a record it's borderline cinematic given how cohesive it is despite all of the dynamic and disparate elements pulled together on the individual tracks and songs. While it maintains a lot of elements of what you'll find in this sort of Zu-inspired (very sad that Jhator was so dull and that the David Tibet collab never seems to have come through) metal jazz heavy thing. Excellent musicianship and a great sense of melody and songwriting on this record. It's got hypnotism, it's got the heavy, it's got the melody, it's got the saxy, it's got the drony, it's got the groove. Weasel Walter came up with the term brutal prog for this kind of thing, but I kind of see it as the new wave of jazz fusion. Check it out y'all. The honourable mentions aren't in order but if they were, this would be close to the top of it.

__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-11-2018, 05:29 PM   #92 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Six

Michael Chapman - 50

I might as well just come out and say it: I'm white.

This album is a nice bluegrassy contemporary folk record with dynamic instrumentation, cohesive songwriting, and well-traveled vocals. About the best Americana record that you could expect from an Englishman. Maybe that's why I like it so much: it's clearly rooted in these genre conventions but it filters them through an outsider lens (not like outsider music but you know what I mean). It jumps back and forth from meditative to honky tonk to electric to somber. It's just a really nice record, feel me?

__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2018, 12:08 AM   #93 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Seven


Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra - Vula

Experimental big band never tasted so good. This album clearly comes from a place of next-level compositional skills that extend the avant-prog dialogue while breathing new life into. Frank Zappa would cry tears partially of joy and partially of jealousy that he's too cheesy to make stuff like this, the dead ****. This album is exciting, surprising, well-oiled, and gripping. So many artists take the long-form approach to free jazz with a big band/orchestra and just come off as dull classical musicians who only know how to convey a handful of jazz techniques, but this record goes above and beyond. It's got the sexy, you should hit on it.

__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2018, 12:19 PM   #94 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Eight


Algiers - The Underside of Power

Really interesting amalgamation of gospel, post-punk, noise rock, industrial, post-rock, and a whole bunch of other **** that works far better blended together than you'd expect. Definitely a grower since I dismissed it after a half listen when I initially heard about it (I think from Goofle posting on here) and it grew a lot on me when I came back around to it while searching for new albums. Some tracks are more energetic, others are more brooding, but what really brings me back to it is that it doesn't sound like anything that I've heard before. There are a couple of tracks and moments that drag on a bit but I'll be interested in hearing where these guys end up next. To me, this record shows that they're both capable of and willing to challenge themselves and that's a sign of greatness imo.


(No full album sorry. Check Spotify or somefish)
__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-14-2018, 01:14 PM   #95 (permalink)
Be aware of the psyop
 
Mindfulness's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Milky Way Galaxy
Posts: 9,999
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frownland View Post
Honourable Mention Number Eight


Algiers - The Underside of Power

Really interesting amalgamation of gospel, post-punk, noise rock, industrial, post-rock, and a whole bunch of other **** that works far better blended together than you'd expect. Definitely a grower since I dismissed it after a half listen when I initially heard about it (I think from Goofle posting on here) and it grew a lot on me when I came back around to it while searching for new albums. Some tracks are more energetic, others are more brooding, but what really brings me back to it is that it doesn't sound like anything that I've heard before. There are a couple of tracks and moments that drag on a bit but I'll be interested in hearing where these guys end up next. To me, this record shows that they're both capable of and willing to challenge themselves and that's a sign of greatness imo.


(No full album sorry. Check Spotify or somefish)
That song was awesome. Whoa.


Michael Chapman was nice too.
Mindfulness is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2018, 07:24 AM   #96 (permalink)
the worst guy
 
Goofle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Miami is the place
Posts: 11,610
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frownland View Post
Honourable Mention Number Eight


Algiers - The Underside of Power

Really interesting amalgamation of gospel, post-punk, noise rock, industrial, post-rock, and a whole bunch of other **** that works far better blended together than you'd expect. Definitely a grower since I dismissed it after a half listen when I initially heard about it (I think from Goofle posting on here) and it grew a lot on me when I came back around to it while searching for new albums. Some tracks are more energetic, others are more brooding, but what really brings me back to it is that it doesn't sound like anything that I've heard before. There are a couple of tracks and moments that drag on a bit but I'll be interested in hearing where these guys end up next. To me, this record shows that they're both capable of and willing to challenge themselves and that's a sign of greatness imo.


(No full album sorry. Check Spotify or somefish)
Really good album. Liked their debut a whole lot.
__________________

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chula Vista View Post
[youtube]NUmCWGPgU7g[/url]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chula Vista View Post
[youtube]=LtYg1xz1A00[/youbube]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mindfulness View Post
2. What was the strangest/best/worst party you ever went to?
Prolly a party I had with some people I know
Goofle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-25-2018, 08:57 PM   #97 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Nine


Made to Break - Trebuchet

Well how about this. Ken Vandermark, Christof Kurzmann, Jasper Stadhouders, and Tim Daisy. I only knew about Vandermark going into this but if I know anything about Christofs, Christophes, Krzystofs, etc., he should be pretty dope and he actually does bring a great element to the record with his electronics and live looping. Three long form nu euro free jazz jams. I only just heard this tonight but this is the honourable mentions section bitch that's how it goes.

Bandcamp:
https://trostrecords.bandcamp.com/album/trebuchet

Cool youtube vid that I didn't watch all of the way through
__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-26-2018, 10:42 PM   #98 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number 10


Primitive Man - Caustic

Sure looks like a pleasant record right? Well don't be fooled my friends, this album rains down like a ton of bricks. Musically, they're brutal, noise driven, sludgy, droney, screechy, pounding, distorted, and noisy. Sort of like a cross between Man is the Bastard, Gnaw Their Tongues, Thantifaxath, Cryptopsy, Indian, and like...Stallagh or something. While this album had immediate appeal to me, it also took a few listens for this one to really grow on me.

__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-26-2018, 10:48 PM   #99 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Don't forget to put those votes in on what my number one pick will be. My top 20 is fixed and we're only 7 away. Voting goes until the top 20 is announced. Winner gets a real prize of monetary value. Doooooit.
__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-31-2018, 04:29 PM   #100 (permalink)
SOPHIE FOREVER
 
Frownland's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: East of the Southern North American West
Posts: 35,548
Default

Honourable Mention Number Eleven


UUUU - UUUU

Wire bassist Edvard Graham Lewis, Spiritualized/late-stage Coil member Thighpaulsandra, Wire guitarist Matthew Simms, and Tomaga drummer Valentina Magaletti come together to create UUUU. In a perfect world, that's all that I would need to tell you before you went and listened to it before agreeing with me about how great this record is--I ejaculated just writing it--but for the sake of the ignorant I'll go in a little bit deeper. This album has a lot of legs all kicking for attention, but the key component of it is industrial improvisation. The percussion is driving, hypnotic, and gripping, the electronics waste no time in serving as the grounding that swallows the rest of the musicians, the guitar finding new ways to play at top volume, and driven bass give us a krauty, electronic, long form, industrial, experimental thing. It's cool. Listen.

__________________
Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Frownland is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Similar Threads



© 2003-2024 Advameg, Inc.