Wednesday, June 21, 2006
New Music: May/June
eMusic was recently featured in Entertainment Weekly as #2 in its top 25 music websites, right behind iTunes's music store. And since the music store in iTunes is barely a website for me (and, I think, for many other consumers), running as it does from within the iTunes music program itself, I think I'll declare eMusic my #1 music website. Entertainment Weekly called the site "underappreciated," I think, and it's very much deserved of the praise. It's changed my life in the way a true enthusiast website can do (like boardgamegeek and Gamespot--so there, you have all my obsessions on a plate).
It'd be easier to post these things if my eMusic subscription was billed at the beginning of the month; as it is, my downloads (90/month) refresh halfway through each month, so I get a glut of downloads on, say, the 12th and 13th, and then practically nothing for the next half-month.
Anyhow, here's the new music (or some of it) for the last month.
From Yourmusic.com:
Killswitch Engage: The End of Heartache. Still waiting (eagerly) for this to come in the mail.
From eMusic:
Akimbo: Elephant. Great hardcore with metal elements. Some of the most original riffs and breakdowns I've heard in a while. They're so good I get sad when, true to the hardcore form as I know it (I admit here my relative ignorance), they're over before I'm ready for them to be.
The Black Heart Procession: Spell.
The Black Heart Procession: Amore Del Tropico. A band that could become one of my top five. These two albums are entrancing: sorrowful without being maudlin, beautiful without being sappy, and sinister without being alt-country. eMusic has several of their records, and I've downloaded most of it, but I need to actually listen to it now.
Camera Obscura: Let's Get Out of This Country. It's excellent, but I've listened to it once and it hasn't won me over yet.
Cathedral: The Carnival Bizarre. I love Cathedral. This is the first of their albums I've gotten in a while. It makes me laugh and rocks my socks off at the same time. Can I ask for more from a stoner metal album? Oh, you can: killer guitar solos, and it has those, too.
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness: Fear Is on Our Side. Great gothic rock that has a similar feel to The Black Heart Procession, so it's taken a back seat to that superior band. But the music is good, though.
Karsh Kale: Broken English. Starts out in a way to think one's found someone who can take Ozomatli's concept and twist it to Indian, rather than Latin, music, but it proves instead to be a versatile ethnic electronic album that sticks to its Indian feeling throughout. For me, this means there'll be days when it'll be all I will want to listen to, and others where I won't be able to stomach it.
Matchbook Romance: Voices. Epic. Reminds me of the Juliana Theory's record, Love, in its scope and in its musicality, but it's sharper and more dark. Like if Dashboard Confessional slept around on Arcade Fire and had Interpol's love child.
The Tiger Lilies: The Brothel to the Cemetary. Need to listen to it, though my initial attraction to it had something to do with the feel I got that it somehow combined 16 Horsepower with Anthony and the Johnstons. We'll see. I think I'd better be in a particular mood before approaching this one.
It'd be easier to post these things if my eMusic subscription was billed at the beginning of the month; as it is, my downloads (90/month) refresh halfway through each month, so I get a glut of downloads on, say, the 12th and 13th, and then practically nothing for the next half-month.
Anyhow, here's the new music (or some of it) for the last month.
From Yourmusic.com:
Killswitch Engage: The End of Heartache. Still waiting (eagerly) for this to come in the mail.
From eMusic:
Akimbo: Elephant. Great hardcore with metal elements. Some of the most original riffs and breakdowns I've heard in a while. They're so good I get sad when, true to the hardcore form as I know it (I admit here my relative ignorance), they're over before I'm ready for them to be.
The Black Heart Procession: Spell.
The Black Heart Procession: Amore Del Tropico. A band that could become one of my top five. These two albums are entrancing: sorrowful without being maudlin, beautiful without being sappy, and sinister without being alt-country. eMusic has several of their records, and I've downloaded most of it, but I need to actually listen to it now.
Camera Obscura: Let's Get Out of This Country. It's excellent, but I've listened to it once and it hasn't won me over yet.
Cathedral: The Carnival Bizarre. I love Cathedral. This is the first of their albums I've gotten in a while. It makes me laugh and rocks my socks off at the same time. Can I ask for more from a stoner metal album? Oh, you can: killer guitar solos, and it has those, too.
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness: Fear Is on Our Side. Great gothic rock that has a similar feel to The Black Heart Procession, so it's taken a back seat to that superior band. But the music is good, though.
Karsh Kale: Broken English. Starts out in a way to think one's found someone who can take Ozomatli's concept and twist it to Indian, rather than Latin, music, but it proves instead to be a versatile ethnic electronic album that sticks to its Indian feeling throughout. For me, this means there'll be days when it'll be all I will want to listen to, and others where I won't be able to stomach it.
Matchbook Romance: Voices. Epic. Reminds me of the Juliana Theory's record, Love, in its scope and in its musicality, but it's sharper and more dark. Like if Dashboard Confessional slept around on Arcade Fire and had Interpol's love child.
The Tiger Lilies: The Brothel to the Cemetary. Need to listen to it, though my initial attraction to it had something to do with the feel I got that it somehow combined 16 Horsepower with Anthony and the Johnstons. We'll see. I think I'd better be in a particular mood before approaching this one.
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