Is it better than High Violet?

It's their best, a classic, and one of my favourite albums full stop.

It's downloading as I type this message.

Just checked out Boxer today, first listen to the National too. I'm very impressed, wished I checked them out sooner!

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1327292947

OSI - Fire Make Thunder (2012)

I'm enjoying this album a lot more than I thought I would. There's nothing particularly new about it, it's a blend of riffy alternative rock/metal with a slight electronic variation. It's very reminiscent of the last few Porcupine Tree albums, Fear of a Blank Planet (2007) being the most obvious influence. Despite that, the album has no real glaring faults, it just kind of does its own thing well enough to pass the time and has a few memorable songs that you might still care about 6-months from now.

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Lower Dens - Nootropic.

Been waiting for this for a while, and I've finally got my hands on a leak. Initial opinion is positive; it's a sonically adventurous indie album that encompasses Krautrock, ambient and post-punk influences. There's a droney, shoegazing quality to it too, which always goes down well with me.

Here's my single of the year thus far;

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It's absurd how much better this is than I remember it. The best album I've re"discovered" in a loooooong time.

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Cursive - The Ugly Organ
An old favourite. Celebrating the fact I am seeing them live soon. What an album.
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Kendrick Lamar - Section.80
This is amazing. So much better than I expected.

This is a mini classic. A perfect marriage between 80's synth Pop and the German predeliction for electronic experimentation. It's a cold, regimented presentation of how far Pop music can push itself in terms of accessibility.

Really been enjoying Anathema a lot, specifically this album:

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Some incredible doom on that album. I highly recommend it.

Oh, you lucky ****. I am so jealous. Also, section .80 is bomb.

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Beach House - Teen Dream

I absolutely love this album.

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Killing Joke - Night Time (2CD edition)

sorta post-punk meets proto-metal

and the bonus tracks aren't superfluous, but add nice touches and flourishes to the studio tracks

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Drudkh - Forgotten Legends (2003)
A brilliant atmospheric black metal album that doesn't outstay it's welcome. It's dark and brooding yet sweeping and majestic. The rain and thunder effects on the last track sound awesome with headphones on and you can almost feel the rain pelting down on your face.

The chances of an album boring me go way up when someone describes it as "majestic".

It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it is worth it if you have the patience for it.

Don Caballero - American Don

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Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns

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Don Caballero - World Class Listening Problem

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In that order. I downloaded "Burns" a while back and listened to it once. I found it too ADD, too hard to follow, but it has grown on me. I decided that I like American Don much more because Damon actually sticks with a time signature for longer than 10 seconds. The transitions on American Don are really clunky though, which keeps it from being a five-star album in my book.

And then there's "Listening Problem", which is a fun album, but it does feel like after Ian left, Damon just cobbled together some vaguely talented musicians to play a backdrop to his drum wankery.

All in all, a very enjoyable trio of albums recommended to anyone who's a fan of alternative rock and especially math rock (though if you like math rock you've almost certainly already heard them)

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Lowercase - Kill The Lights.

This album is very good indeed, pretty much floored me on first listen. It's a really interesting fusion of slowcore and noise rock, and retains this foreboding, creeping atmosphere throughout. Great through headphones.

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outrageous

combines the best of Tool with the best of Opeth

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some of his best work. drums are tighter, less sample driven, more cohesive as a whole. love it.

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Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics
Really this comes in a close 2nd to Dopethrone. They really come in with a more psychedelic approach.

Hell yes, such a good album.

Howlings Bells - The Last Engine from last year. Magnifique.

Sigur Rós - Valtari

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So much better than what I expected. Amazing. It's easily my second favorite, right behind Takk. Maybe in time they'll be tied, because I think I like every song on this album, and that can't be said for Takk.

I'd love to know what this is.

You can DO that?

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Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers—The Witch Doctor (1961)
Really digging this album. It has kind of a different vibe from other Jazz Messengers albums and somehow manages, strangely enough, to sound both more traditional and more edgy at the same time. The songs are generally fairly energetic with abrupt shifts in style. Blakey's drumming seems more in your face than normal, like he's pissed off about something, and I like it. I also like the production a lot. Considering when it was recorded, this is more likely a result of subpar equipment than an intentional artistic decision, but the tracks have a decidedly dry, low-fi quality, with the drums frequently sounding overdriven. Great stuff.

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Amenaza al Mundo by Fantomas

I love the general insanity and the Dada aspects of this album. Dave Lombardo has a lot of amazing drum bits and Buzz Osbourne has some great guitar work on't. Of course, Patton's vocals go without mentioning that they're fantastic. One of these days, I'm going to write out all of the lyrics for this album.

Overall this is a great album to blast as you're driving through a middle class suburban neighbourhood, I've gotten some priceless reactions to doing that.

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some truly impressive electronic hip hop produced circa 2007-2010 from the klipmode crew. next level alien **** man, feeling this hard right now.

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Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol (2012)

I'm enjoying this album a lot more than I expected to. It's kind of cheesy and a little formulaic but they never relent on going forward at full force, and I can respect that. Too many bands slow it down every other song or in some cases every song that the songs blend together, but this really isn't the case with Paradise Lost. It's the antithesis to Swallow the Sun's album which I've already forgotten the name of because it was just that memorable. The vocals can take a little getting use to, they kind of sound like James Hetfield in a way, so take that how you will. It's always great to see old bands showing back up to show all the young whippersnappers how it's done.

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Anticipation turned me onto this album a couple of years back and I still listen to it constantly. It's very much like American Football (the band) but I love them too so it's no hardship.

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My favorite rap album by miles.

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toe - For Long Tomorrow (2009)

Been listening to a few Japanese bands recently, especially those in the vein of post/math-rock, and this album has been one that's really stuck out to me. The guitar lines are very clean and melodic, and the drums have this nice jazzy vibe that I'm absolutely loving.

^ above two albums are awesome, toe are underrated as hell.

I'm listening to toe now, this is quite nice. I was expecting something way more experimental (boris or something), but this is quite accessible. The drummer is awesome.

I actually got that album not too long ago! I think around a month or so... I can't remember. I was trying to find stuff similar to Enemies, The Littlest Viking, Scraps of Tape, Dakota/Dakota, etc. and happened upon that. Definitely one of the better accidental discoveries I'd made.

Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

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Checked them out after they were announced as part of the Lollapalooza lineup. More neo soul. The lead singer has a wonderful voice. Video:

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Alan Vega - Cubist Blues (Ben Vaughn and Alex Chilton also credited)

Really love this album. Not exactly what I expected given the title, but on reflection it is aptly named. Mixes Rockabilly, Roots and other styles to create a slice of rock joy.

:clap: I liked it!