Yeah, same here. I've got a couple of pretty heavy assignments in for next week too, so I'll be a while reviewing the albums I get in the next one. Still, nothing new there eh.

I'll have my review of Anticipation's album online by tomorrow at the latest, with the trade due to kick off on Wednesday. If anyone still wants in, make yourselves known! Come on now, don't be shy - I know there are at least a few more of you out there into this sort of thing...

edit - Here's who's on board thus far...

Bulldog
Anteater
Rickenbacker
NumberNineDream
Duga
Abdullah424
CanwllCorfe
+81
AwwSugar

I haven't done this in a while, I'll board this sonic vessel.

Good lad :thumb: Back to even numbers too.

Anyone else?

How much time do I have between signing up and DLing?
I go home Friday. =D
So I can download.

Bags of time. Gonna try and get this round finished by next Sunday, so anytime between now and then. Anyway, welcome aboard :thumb:

By the way, due to a night of heavy boozing that was unforseen beforehand, there'll be a bit of a delay with my next review going up. I'll get this round started this evening, so anyone else wanting in should say so very soon.

Right, so here are the trade partners for this round...


So then, owing to the odd number of participants, it'll be a three-way trade betwixt my good self, AwwSugar and Anteater.

Remember, this trade is unthemed, and you're welcome to send each other officially-released compilations, official live albums and bootlegs if you don't really feel like sending out studio albums. As for the time limit, let's try and get this done and dusted by the Sunday after next.

And away we go :D

A little late here, but Numbernine sent me:


Expectations were pretty high for this record, considering one of the tracks was featured in an episode of Twin Peaks, one of my favorite shows ever. Like David Lynch, Julee Cruise has developed a significant and devoted cult following, who praise her ethereal voice and downtempo vibe. Floating into the Night certainly delivers on both fronts. Cruise is a phantom on this record, spinning tales of sadness and melancholy written by none other than Lynch himself.

Despite the extreme sadness of Floating into the Night, Cruise herself sings with a sort of innocence not seen in this type of music. The record suffers from sameyness a little, but overall it is very well done.

7/10

abdullah424 sent me:


I didn't know what to think when I first heard the band name and album title. To be honest, I found them both to be kind of cheesy. Though, I have to say, they fit the them. I mean...this is Melancholie squared. After a bit of research, I found myself even more worried as there is a hardcore/emo band named the Cold World. Hardcore is not my thing, to say the least. Luckily, it turns out these are two different bands (this one is one word - ColdWorld) and this one is an ambient black metal band. Not everyone's cup of, to be sure...but I have just so happen to be really interested in metal recently. This is exactly the kind of black metal I have been hoping to discover.

I could only find bits of information on the band, but it seems to be mainly work of one person who I could only identify as GB. A German band formed in 2005, they have only released this full length album and an EP called TheStarsAreDeadNow. I only spent a few minutes looking them up, but there is a definite lack of information.

The album starts off like the antithesis of black metal...slow and trippy...but, of course it doesn't take too long to get things kicked off. The first song, Dream of a Dead Sun, was a solid opener. From my past experience with black metal, I couldn't imagine it getting much better. Then Tortured By Solitude came on...wow. This song is officially in my top 3 black metal songs. Just slow enough, completely atmospheric (as all black metal should be, in my opinion), aggressive, and even the vocals blend perfectly (which I find black metal usually has a problem with).

If you don't have a mild interest in black metal, then you won't be interested in this album, to be sure. For those of us with a soft spot for it, though, this is a must. Truly haunting music, and it definitely fits the theme (but what black metal wouldn't). This album mastered one truly problematic aspect of typical black metal: contrast. ColdWorld threw in clean and ambient interludes between the songs that really needed them, and it played out nicely.

8.5/10 - This is my current go to black metal album. Thanks, abdullah!

http://www.recordsale.org/cdpix/r/ra...sterstanda.jpg

Bulldog sent me Rain Tree Crow's self-titled album. Pre-listening research revealed that this is actually Japan, who I've never listened to, just under a different alias. So I went into this not really knowing what to expect.

I'm not even really sure how to describe this album. I guess I'll call it a mixture of art rock with some minimalist ambient-like stretches. The first track, Big Wheels in Shanty Town, is incredibly misleading as it reminds me of Mew, while the rest of the album doesn't sound remotely similar (got my hopes up, though). Once you get past that track, the rest of the album consists of Sylvain's deep vocals (which are gorgeous), while the instrumentation is simple yet effective. I particularly enjoyed the drumming throughout the album, even though it never rose above the mix, so to speak. One thing I did enjoy about it is that none of the music seemed forced, it seemed smooth and perfectly natural throughout, even if certain parts did occasionally lose me. I could see how this album could be seen as melancholy, I'm not sure it ever really got to that point for me though. Parts of it were very slow and almost gloomy, but I'd say it more chilled me out than made me sad.

I'll probably hang onto this and give it a few more spins as I think several listens are probably necessary for it to sink in fully. At the moment I'll reserve total judgment on it though. Thanks Bulldog, probably never would have found this one in my own explorations and that's why I love this trading post. :beer:

Ahh great stuff! I almost sent Dieselboy - ...'s Somebody Save Me E.P. but I thought it was a bit extreme. I do love it though.