Let's Build Loren (the albums that have shaped my life)

Mondo Bungle · 10-18-2018, 04:37 PM

I may have mentioned it several hundred times before, but NoMeansNo are the most important group to me musically or otherwise and this post fits the journal since just about all of their releases have shaped my life. My admiration extends beyond music, but maybe I'm just overreacting. Still, I can't just disregard the feelings.

This is my comprehensive study excluding Wrong that I already talked about.

Mama, 1982

Their first album is perhaps their most tightly knit and reserved and the quirkiest. A couple tracks feature guitar and piano but for the most part it's a stripped down drum and bass take on jazz influenced post punk, with efficient basslines and mad drum chops galore.

Sex Mad/You Kill Me, 1986

Didn't find a video that included the album and EP but I'm talking about them both here. Guitarist Andy Kerr had found a home with the band now and along with him came a raw and noisy dimension and increased aggression. Nostalgia cuts include Dead Bob, Metronome, Body Bag, and Hunt the She Beast.

The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed, 1987

Failed again to find a combo video. They Stepped up their game here with a highly forward thinking version of what they already had going. In turn this is the most atmospheric and cathartic of the Kerr era, presenting more challenging structure and length. Either way, Victory is a jam of all time.

0+2=1, 1991

Into the 90s with the successor of their most celebrated album and the last with Andy Kerr. It was a turning point stylistically no doubt, but their most eclectic and progressive album up to this point. Kerr's guitar really rules some of these tracks, namely Mary. People started saying they're stuff was going too long but people are retarded. They originally dismissed the experimentation, but this is actually one of their catchiest works, and most satisfying instrumentally. It's also quite unique even in their own discography with subtle dance elements all about.

Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy?, 1993

Critics that knock the previous album go on to praise this exponentially more demanding and dirging and far reaching album like the posers they are. It's the most mature up to this point, and the noisy hardcore output had been toned down in favor of long form and progressive noodles of dense jazziness. Back to just the two brothers, we ended up with something even more expansive and full, utilizing multiple guitar tracks and sampling. As well as musically, it is a lyrical triumph. Incredibly dynamic in both aspects, intelligent in every way. The River goes harder than you could imagine.

The Worldhood of the World (As Such), 1995

Tom Holliston joined the group on guitar and has been a part of it ever since. This album's tight as it takes the general musical approach of the previous one but tightens it up for a more succinct work. Also it stretches somewhat further sonically, but the straight ahead delivery and catchiness make it so so fun. Many rocking numbers here as well as multi-faceted art punk jams with the same lyrical dynamic we've come to know and love, but in a more sing song presentation. My Politics is a possible candidate for favorite NMN song.

Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie, 1998

Interestingly one of the most nostalgic romps as we had this CD and it received regular play time. It's underrated, unfortunately, people saying the repetition/"monotony" is going to far and that these songs end up going nowhere, but I cherish it madly and would rank it as perhaps my second favorite NMN release. It's got it all, all we've grown so attached to, in heaps. The somber dynamic is increased a bit though. The title track rocks but it definitely goes a little bit overboard, all the while the last few minutes are brilliant. The World Wasn't Built in a Day is pure atmospheric and stripped down poetry with very few ideas to keep the attention of losers that don't like that stuff, but it's one of my absolute favorite and a lyrical opus.

One, 2000

This is the peak of their advancing style of hypnotic, dark, wordy and skeletal form of art punk, much to many folks' dismay, but **** em. Probably their most challenging album, but even beneath all the repeating themes this jams so tough and never loses my attention. The variation is subtle, rather focusing on a mesmerizing idea as deep and cryptic lyrics combined with indeterminate and shifting musicality. I can understand the negative opinions, but it's a work I love deeply nonetheless.

Unitron · 10-19-2018, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mondo Bungle

we love this too

That's such an underrated album, and as much as I love Rock Until You Drop, I'd actually probably call that my favorite Raven album. "Into the Jaws of Death" is especially good.

Mondo Bungle · 10-23-2018, 03:11 PM

Karp - Self Titled LP, 1997

Karp plays like Melvins in reverse, so if you're a fan you ought to check them out. Quirky noise rock dipped in a vat of sludge thereby increasing the density and weight of this album.

Mondo Bungle · 10-23-2018, 05:57 PM

Lykathea Aflame - Elvenefris, 2000

Unfortunately there is no font large enough to adequately describe any bit of this album. It is an unsurpassable milestone of music and mankind as a whole. The absolute perfect demonstration of beauty and brutality where the two exist not separately but as one. Forward thoughts that are massively extensive even in the realms of progressive extreme music. I'd say it leaves all its peers in the dust but it has no peers. The magnitude of this work can never be matched.

Mondo Bungle · 10-24-2018, 04:12 PM

NoMeansNo - Would We Be Alive?, 1996

This was one of my dad's favorite CDs from the collection so it's only natural I can't reminisce about childhood without hearing "Help us, help us, help us, please"

Mondo Bungle · 10-25-2018, 04:25 PM

Motherhead Bug - Zambodia, 1993

This album branches off from the Cop Shoot Cop family tree and goes more Firewater than Firewater would cuz they didn't exist yet. It's a cool piece of industrial gypsy cabaret rock that throws in prog here and there.

Mondo Bungle · 10-27-2018, 03:13 PM

Fastway - Fastway, 1983

That's an amalgamation of founding members Fast Eddie Clark fresh off his Motorhead tenure and UFO bassist Pete Way. They recruited fresh faced ginger Dave King who some 14 years later would cut his hair and form acclaimed celtic punk group Flogging Molly. Here he kinda subdues the accent with shrill youthful wailing. Not without their own bit of significance, Fastway contributed the soundtrack to 1986 heavy metal horror camp film Trick or Treat.

There's not much to say musically. It's very simple and very catchy hard rock, even sort of americanized NWOBHM, as I'd seen someone else describe it. But this album was a fairly heavy component in my life and a CD I played till it could be played no more. Revisiting it now for the first time in who knows how long, it's interesting to note that I still remember every riff and every lyric by heart.

OccultHawk · 10-27-2018, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Cop Shoot Cop

I remember them so fondly but I listened to Ask Questions Later today and thought god does this sound ****ing contrived.

Mondo Bungle · 10-28-2018, 02:40 PM

success

Mondo Bungle · 10-28-2018, 03:05 PM

Kreator - Out of the Dark, Into the Light, 1988

This was a cool tape to have. A half live EP notable for a cover of Raven's Lambs to the Slaughter

Terrible Certainty, 1987

Skipping over PtK as I already talked about it. This CD was more or less gifted to me as my dad wasn't super into it. Though I dunno why, it's still completely solid and the chrysalis of a growing style. The title track is catchy as all **** and overall it's just cool.

Coma of Souls, 1990

This one however, is the one my dad would say is the best, probably, sticking to his admiration for the late 80s-early 90s masterclass of thrash. He almost didn't let me borrow it in fear of me ruining it. They'd peaked in complexity at this point, sacrificing just a touch of extremity in favor of thorough composition, and this would be their most evolved to date.

Cause for Conflict, 1995

In my opinion Kreator had the whackest 90s output of all the big name thrashers. That's not to say worst, with all the garbage being slung around by Metallica and Slayer and so on, just the most confusing, for lack of a better term. It's hard to say what Kreator were doing during the decade when you listen to their turbulent stream of releases post-CoS. They'd already ventured into the factories of industrial metal with the previous album Renewal, which is decent though most of the intensity and energy was gone. Here it may seem like they're trying to recapture that intensity but not exactly succeeding. It's odd, as most of this is quite aggressive and pounding. On the flipside, maybe it's not so much the sacrifice of energy as it is the perfection of industrial metal's cold ideals. It's a mechanical, almost lifeless effort that still wants to crush your bones. Looking at it that way, this album is a complete triumph. I just think it lacks memorability though it's still a good listen.

Outcast, 1997

Another example of Kreator's ambiguous 90s identity, this album trades the thrash shredding for catchy and hook laden somewhat industrial metal with gothic undertones (I guess). Oddly enough, this is arguably the most nostalgic Kreator album for me. Obviously their attempt at upbeat grooves had succeeded, seeing as a lot of this awakens so many memories. Tracks like Leave this World Behind, Black Sunrise, and Phobia get me rocking to this day. It gets hate but I have a soft spot for it.

Violent Revolution, 2001

We had more Kreator albums than any other artist I reckon, and this is quite an important CD for me. After whatever Endorama even was, they propelled themselves into the new millennium with their most savage effort since the 80s, and in my opinion one of their best, maybe actually number 2 after PtK. They'd found a new noodly guitarist and started to take some cues from melodic death metal. This album is a beast. My dad was probably right not to let me borrow CoS, since in the meantime I spun this one to complete disintegration. All of the Same Blood and Servant in Heaven, King in Hell are jams of all time.