In an effort to make a start on all those albums I have piling up on my hard disk that I have yet to listen to, I'm going to do my best to listen to one new album a day. This will then be reviewed here, but unlike the usual rambling, in-depth, detailed reviews that you will find in my main journal, these will be far shorter, barely skimming the surface. Hardly even reviews really: more a collection of thoughts and impressions I form on first listening to the album. Unlike the “200-word album reviews” that occasionally surface in my main journal, though, these reviews, as such, will not be restricted to any number of words, though they will be very short. This will help me perhaps discipline my writing and allow me to cut to the core of each album, rather than waxing poetic about each track, thus spinning out the review, however unintentionally.
None of which means I see anything wrong in what I do in my main journal: I like doing long, in-depth reviews, but sometimes the review can take longer than the album runtime. It's a balancing act: sometimes shorter is better, sometimes longer suits the album. It will be nice and also refreshing for me to, as it were, just bounce off the sides of the review process without diving in, as I usually do.
All of these albums will be first-listen (though they may be from artistes from whom I've heard other work, or they may not) and will be accompanied by just the one YouTube, to give an idea of what the music is like.
Some of these albums may indeed impress me sufficiently to be properly reviewed at a later date in my main journal, or they may be bad enough to warrant being torn apart in more detail. As anyone who reads my journal will already know, often I go so deeply into the reviews that listening to the album for pleasure becomes a secondary consideration, though not of course always. But sometimes I'm just trying too hard to compose my thoughts and find things to say, to bring the reader a flavour of the album, that I almost fail to really listen to the music. Sort of forest for the trees kind of thing. Doesn't always happen, but I'm aware of it being the case in a few instances.
So this will hopefully allow me a more organic listening experience, and I'll just jot down simple thoughts as I listen, forming my overall no doubt simplistic impression of the album, without thinking about it too hard. It may not give you any idea at all what the album is like, but it will serve to get me at least listening to more music, and hopefully I can then share, or try to share, my opinion of the albums I review in this way.
All right then, let's get this show on the road!
Gentlemen, start your guitars!
Artiste: And so I watch you from afar
Nationality: Irish (Northern)
Album: And so I watch you from afar
Year: 2009
Label: Smalltown America
Genre: Post rock/math rock/Instrumental rock (genres assigned by Wiki)
Tracks:
Set guitars to kill
A little bit of solidarity goes a long way
Clench fists, grit teeth... Go!
I capture castles
Start a band
Tip of the hat, punch in the face
If it ain't broke, break it
These riots are just beginning
Don't waste time doing things you hate
The voiceless
Eat the city, eat it whole
Chronological position: Debut
Familiarity: Zero
Impression: Interesting, different, surprising
Best track(s): Set guitars to kill, I capture castles, Don't waste time doing things you hate
Worst track(s):n/a
Intention: Listen to more
Comments: This is very interesting. I generally see instrumental music (at least, the type I listen to) as either electronica, like Vangelis or Air, or laidback and relaxing, like maybe Gandalf, but this is all guitars and drums. It's loud, powerful, and yet in its own way strangely soporific, though not in a bad way. I've never listened to anything like this before, and I have to say I do like what I hear. Plus, they're Irish!