25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

~~Odyshape~~ · 12-08-2011, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

25. Land of the Loops—Bundle of Joy (1996)

When you first hear the news that the Earth-Moon collision is imminent this will be a good album for you to turn to for solace. Its warm cocoon of somewhat trippy lo-fi beats will be a comforting thing to wrap yourself up in as you await your impending doom.

Released in 1996 by Boston-area loop dude Alan Sutherland, this little gem of an album has never really received the recognition it deserves in my personal opinion. This is great rainy day music, something fairly uncommon among turntablists and beatmakers in the mid-90s. That's not to say it's a downer by any means—it's actually pretty happy and upbeat—it's just that it's filled with that reassuring nesting feeling you get sitting inside with a cup of hot chocolate when it's crappy outside. And there's something so incredibly innocent about it, that's one of the album's big draws for me. It always seems to conjure up vague childhood memories of summer storms and coloring books.

It's appropriate that the one single released from this album was entitled "Multi-Family Garage Sale" because there's something about the aesthetic of this album that is very garage sale like. A sizable chunk of the samples, for example, seem to be from old children's records or in some cases maybe even actual old toys. And when Sutherland isn't kicking it pre-school he's grabbing some pretty random samples from all over the place—retro sci-fi sound effects, a snippet of Motorhead, wobbly old answering machine messages, you name it. All of this is mixed together with a decidedly indie sensibility that was very much at odds with other beat-oriented music of the same era.

While I was writing this review, what started off as sunny late spring morning has gotten dark and cloudy, threatening rain. I think that's my cue to put on Bundle of Joy and get out the coloring books.

Edit: Whoops, I meant to add this video too.

Sorry to not comment on your other parts of your list. I was not all that interested in them. But I LOVE this song. Its going to bring me to tears one of these days. It just flourishes with youth in such a pure wonderful uplifting way. Its like it gives you a screen to view your best childhood moments.

Engine · 12-09-2011, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I love Times of Grace. I actually downloaded a mix of it with the corresponding Tribes of Neurot album last year and I think I like that even more than the album by itself.

I need to do that. I had hard copies of them both for years but never got around to finding a good way to hear them synced (olden days, mind you). Then I lost my Tribes of Neurot disc and forgot about it. I'm all excited now, I don't doubt that its a great experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surell

I can definitely see Mastodon's early stuff being influenced by modern metal stuff like this.

And you're definitely right. For example: on the bonus DVD that came with the Remission disc, Troy Sanders mentions that he would have had no idea how to attempt vocals without Neurosis as a guide.

bob. · 12-09-2011, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I had no idea there was a film! I'll have to track that down. What's it called?

"A Sun That Never Sets"

Amazon.com: Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets: Neurosis: Movies & TV
it is basically an extension of their live visuals for that tour...so kind of one long music video for the album.....its pretty amazing.....get this!

any of you seen them live?.....it's an experience not forgotten

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine

You need to hear 'Enemy of the Sun'
.

the end.

Enemy Of The Sun is probably their greatest album....not necessarily the one i go to....like engine thats primarily Times of Grace....but Enemy is a fucking masterpiece....the opening track (Lost) alone is one of the greatest songs they have ever written....slow, building, amazing samples from that movie based off the great Paul Bowle's book (the Sheltering Sky)

^i would honestly be amazed if you did not like this

i also suggest checking out the Pain Of Mind album....its nothing like what Neurosis is basically straight up crust punk.....but interesting to hear how they started....considering what they sound like now.....Word As Law is almost a slight transition still very straight up punk rock but with a blending glimpse of what is to come (and a great Joy Division Cover

)...Souls At Zero is where it all started with what they sound like now....a great album....but Enemy Of The Sun will humble you

the "Grace", "Times Of Grace" combo is fun

i just read that they are in the final stages of the new album

Engine · 12-09-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob.

any of you seen them live?.....it's an experience not forgotten

Yes, I saw them on their Times of Grace tour.
RE the visuals: they actually count the guy who does them as a band member and he definitely adds to the band. I sat near him for a while at the show and watched him work. He projected many different 16mm film reels that he was constantly switching out to match the music (i.e. didn't just hit 'play' on a DVD).

Surell · 12-11-2011, 03:39 PM

He's actually in another band too, Red Sparroe, with a member from ISIS. They're pretty killer, i heard on my Mastodon Pandora, right after a Neurosis song and one from ISIS.

**Janszoon** · 01-08-2012, 10:42 PM

8. The Flying Luttenbachers—Infection and Decline (2002)

Chaos from order. Order from chaos. These are the terms I think in when I hear The Flying Luttenbachers album Infection and Decline. This is the sound of a million things happening at once. The entire planet has erupted into a flurry of activity as more and more stones from the sky rain down on the surface and the militaries of every nation of Earth swing into action. Nuclear missiles arc into the exosphere, filling the night sky with brilliant flashes of sunlight as rocky interlopers are obliterated. Jets scream through the clouds, tearing at the wind as they fire rocket after rocket at the smaller debris falling toward the surface. Politicians scamper away like cockroaches into mountain bunkers. The unwashed masses rage in the streets like unwashed masses.

During the Luttenbachers sixteen years of existence they made some of the most complex, bizarre, cacophonous music around—and believe it or not, Infection and Decline is actually one of their more accessible albums. Revolving around the nucleus of Weasel Walter, they were a constantly changing group of musicians from a wide range of backgrounds (including free jazz sax player Hal Russell in the band's original incarnation) whose style absorbed everything from punk to jazz to classical and shat out a total sonic assault. This album is, arguably, their rock 'n' roll album. Rock 'n' roll, that is, which has been smashed into a thousand pieces and reassembled into some incredibly odd and off-putting mosaic, but rock 'n' roll nonetheless.

I actually had kind of a difficult time deciding exactly which album by these guys I wanted to include in this part of the list. There were several candidates but I felt like Infection and Decline was among the most consistently high energy of their releases. This one is really not for the squeamish, however if notions of music as complex as some theoretical physicist's doctoral thesis mixed with balls out rawk are appealing to you, you probably should give this album a spin.

Below is a little sample of the first ten minutes of the last track on the album, a song called "De Futura". Keep in mind that this is by far the most traditionally riff-centric and catchy song on the album:

bob. · 01-10-2012, 01:36 PM

i love The Flying Luttenbachers!!!!!

i think they may actually have been my introduction to "math" rock.....amazing experimentation.....great album....everyone should check this out

damn its been years man

this review is to the 't' what this album is like!

cheers man

**Janszoon** · 01-12-2012, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob.

i love The Flying Luttenbachers!!!!!

i think they may actually have been my introduction to "math" rock.....amazing experimentation.....great album....everyone should check this out

damn its been years man

this review is to the 't' what this album is like!

cheers man

Heh. Well I'm glad someone else on MB is a Luttenbachers fan!

**Janszoon** · 01-12-2012, 09:01 PM

7. Tin Hat Trio—The Rodeo Eroded (2002)

As a human being, it's easy to think this is all about us. Even beyond the inevitable religious prognostication, there's a very human tendency to view this whole situation strictly on our own terms. The reality, of course, is that we're just one tiny piece of the puzzle. Trillions upon trillions of lives will be snuffed out when this collision occurs and only the smallest sliver of a fraction of them will be human lives. Fortunately—or tragically, depending on how you look at it—all of these creatures will spend their final days blissfully unaware that they are doomed. In the quiet parts of the world, up until the very last moments, leaves will flutter peacefully in the breeze. Ants will continue their march down the trunk of a tree toward the warmth and comfort of the colony. Birds will chirp up in the branches. Grasshoppers will spring from green blade to green blade below.

All of this will burn soon, or be crushed beneath a plummeting rock, but birds and bugs and trees and grass are not beings who live for the future. These are entities of the now. And that is the music of this album, rootsy and organic, beautiful and joyous, but somehow always with the faint, bittersweet shadow of melancholy.

The core member of this group is one of the modern geniuses of American music, Carla Kihlstedt (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Book of Knots), and so it's appropriate that this album is best understood as some kind of grand encapsulation of American roots. It has a vaguely country-ish flavor, though not a single track on the album is actually a country song. Instead these mostly instrumental tracks shimmer with slide guitar and sigh with canjun-esque accordion. Sometimes they even surprise you with the odd foray into tango (as in "Happy Hour") or a surprising guest vocal cameo (as in Willie Nelson on the old timey pop song "Willow Weep for Me"). There's a hint of jazz here and there. A dash of experimentalism. A dollop of longing. A generous helping of heart.

Listen. Live in this stunning moment. Tomorrow all might be in flames.

**Janszoon** · 02-11-2012, 05:19 PM

6. Ufomammut—Idolum (2008)

Ultimately there comes a point when the entire arsenal of Earth can no longer keep up with the amount of debris tumbling into the atmosphere. Eventually, missiles and jet fuel begin to run low, and more and more extraterrestrial objects start to crash into the surface of the planet. Impacts in the oceans create tsunamis of sizes not seen on Earth for millions of years. Collisions on land obliterate entire cities. People run screaming though the streets or cower, shivering in basements, waiting for the inevitable end. The skies above are a murky red streaked with fire.

Idolum, the fourth album from Italian doomster trio Ufomammut is the most perfect fit for such a scene. The songs here are so spacey, yet so tooth-rattlingly heavy, that it truly sounds like celestial bodies colliding. The band name means, ridiculously enough, "UFO Mammoth", and that's actually quite fitting when you consider what they sound like. These people clearly have a lot of fun doing what what they do, and though they obviously don't take themselves too seriously, they do make some seriously incredible music. They've been on their own label for almost their entire career and release albums from an amazing, albeit small, roster of bands (more about that label in my other journal). They also make their own artwork. And I'm pretty sure they're even self-produced. DIY at its finest.

Since it came up, let's talk about the production: it's perfect. Vast and cosmic, yet brutal and crushing. Crisp and clean, yet so unbelievably fuzzy. Vita's drums are utterly massive exploding supernovae. The guitar and bass are a wall of sound countless lightyears across—a fuzz lover's dream. Urlo's Al Jourgensen-esque vocals are flawless, raw and energetic, yet buried beneath the pure sonic force of everything else. Always at the edges are these beautiful, shimmering electronic swirls and oscillations. Honestly, I can't say enough about how fantastic this album is, but if you love the idea of something that sounds like Electric Wizard produced by Ministry, channelling Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, you really, really need to hear this album. Right now.

01-08-2012, 10:42 PM	#106 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	*8. The Flying Luttenbachers—Infection and Decline* (2002)** Chaos from order. Order from chaos. These are the terms I think in when I hear The Flying Luttenbachers album Infection and Decline. This is the sound of a million things happening at once. The entire planet has erupted into a flurry of activity as more and more stones from the sky rain down on the surface and the militaries of every nation of Earth swing into action. Nuclear missiles arc into the exosphere, filling the night sky with brilliant flashes of sunlight as rocky interlopers are obliterated. Jets scream through the clouds, tearing at the wind as they fire rocket after rocket at the smaller debris falling toward the surface. Politicians scamper away like cockroaches into mountain bunkers. The unwashed masses rage in the streets like unwashed masses. During the Luttenbachers sixteen years of existence they made some of the most complex, bizarre, cacophonous music around—and believe it or not, Infection and Decline is actually one of their more accessible albums. Revolving around the nucleus of Weasel Walter, they were a constantly changing group of musicians from a wide range of backgrounds (including free jazz sax player Hal Russell in the band's original incarnation) whose style absorbed everything from punk to jazz to classical and shat out a total sonic assault. This album is, arguably, their rock 'n' roll album. Rock 'n' roll, that is, which has been smashed into a thousand pieces and reassembled into some incredibly odd and off-putting mosaic, but rock 'n' roll nonetheless. I actually had kind of a difficult time deciding exactly which album by these guys I wanted to include in this part of the list. There were several candidates but I felt like Infection and Decline was among the most consistently high energy of their releases. This one is really not for the squeamish, however if notions of music as complex as some theoretical physicist's doctoral thesis mixed with balls out rawk are appealing to you, you probably should give this album a spin. Below is a little sample of the first ten minutes of the last track on the album, a song called "De Futura". Keep in mind that this is by far the most traditionally riff-centric and catchy song on the album: __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm

01-10-2012, 01:36 PM	#107 (permalink)
bob. Still sends his reguards. Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Trying to get out of the cat town.... Posts: 5,039	i love The Flying Luttenbachers!!!!! i think they may actually have been my introduction to "math" rock.....amazing experimentation.....great album....everyone should check this out damn its been years man this review is to the 't' what this album is like! cheers man __________________ A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism. Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

01-12-2012, 09:01 PM	#109 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	*7. Tin Hat Trio—The Rodeo Eroded* (2002) As a human being, it's easy to think this is all about us. Even beyond the inevitable religious prognostication, there's a very human tendency to view this whole situation strictly on our own terms. The reality, of course, is that we're just one tiny piece of the puzzle. Trillions upon trillions of lives will be snuffed out when this collision occurs and only the smallest sliver of a fraction of them will be human lives. Fortunately—or tragically, depending on how you look at it—all of these creatures will spend their final days blissfully unaware that they are doomed. In the quiet parts of the world, up until the very last moments, leaves will flutter peacefully in the breeze. Ants will continue their march down the trunk of a tree toward the warmth and comfort of the colony. Birds will chirp up in the branches. Grasshoppers will spring from green blade to green blade below. All of this will burn soon, or be crushed beneath a plummeting rock, but birds and bugs and trees and grass are not beings who live for the future. These are entities of the now. And that is the music of this album, rootsy and organic, beautiful and joyous, but somehow always with the faint, bittersweet shadow of melancholy. The core member of this group is one of the modern geniuses of American music, Carla Kihlstedt (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Book of Knots), and so it's appropriate that this album is best understood as some kind of grand encapsulation of American roots. It has a vaguely country-ish flavor, though not a single track on the album is actually a country song. Instead these mostly instrumental tracks shimmer with slide guitar and sigh with canjun-esque accordion. Sometimes they even surprise you with the odd foray into tango (as in "Happy Hour") or a surprising guest vocal cameo (as in Willie Nelson on the old timey pop song "Willow Weep for Me"). There's a hint of jazz here and there. A dash of experimentalism. A dollop of longing. A generous helping of heart. Listen. Live in this stunning moment. Tomorrow all might be in flames. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die** last.fm

02-11-2012, 05:19 PM	#110 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	*6. Ufomammut—Idolum* (2008)** Ultimately there comes a point when the entire arsenal of Earth can no longer keep up with the amount of debris tumbling into the atmosphere. Eventually, missiles and jet fuel begin to run low, and more and more extraterrestrial objects start to crash into the surface of the planet. Impacts in the oceans create tsunamis of sizes not seen on Earth for millions of years. Collisions on land obliterate entire cities. People run screaming though the streets or cower, shivering in basements, waiting for the inevitable end. The skies above are a murky red streaked with fire. Idolum, the fourth album from Italian doomster trio Ufomammut is the most perfect fit for such a scene. The songs here are so spacey, yet so tooth-rattlingly heavy, that it truly sounds like celestial bodies colliding. The band name means, ridiculously enough, "UFO Mammoth", and that's actually quite fitting when you consider what they sound like. These people clearly have a lot of fun doing what what they do, and though they obviously don't take themselves too seriously, they do make some seriously incredible music. They've been on their own label for almost their entire career and release albums from an amazing, albeit small, roster of bands (more about that label in my other journal). They also make their own artwork. And I'm pretty sure they're even self-produced. DIY at its finest. Since it came up, let's talk about the production: it's perfect. Vast and cosmic, yet brutal and crushing. Crisp and clean, yet so unbelievably fuzzy. Vita's drums are utterly massive exploding supernovae. The guitar and bass are a wall of sound countless lightyears across—a fuzz lover's dream. Urlo's Al Jourgensen-esque vocals are flawless, raw and energetic, yet buried beneath the pure sonic force of everything else. Always at the edges are these beautiful, shimmering electronic swirls and oscillations. Honestly, I can't say enough about how fantastic this album is, but if you love the idea of something that sounds like Electric Wizard produced by Ministry, channelling Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, you really, really need to hear this album. Right now. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm