Possibly one of the hardest working bunch of chaps you'll meet, Pittsburgh, PA ambient/experimental outfit Radio For The Daydreamers have been hard at work over the last few weeks, with the band setting up a new Soundcloud page where they'll be posting up some exclusive tracks and remixes for followers, which you can find here: http://soundcloud.com/radio-for-the-daydreamers
A difficult one to pin down at first, this is one that rewards repeat listens.A move away from the death metal brutality of old into more expansive sonic waters, Heritage has more in common with the classic prog sound of Emerson Lake and Palmer or King Crimson than say, Emperor, and while the jury might still be out on whether or not this is a good direction for Opeth to take, there's no denying it's an eminently well crafted album , eclectic but yet still cohesive.
9. Uncle Touchy - Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Violence
A late enough submission in the year, Uncle Touchy nevertheless impressed with the sheer narcotic violence and grimy fury of EYEWTKAV, a finger in the eye of modern day punk rock, and a pleasantly unpleasant listen.Taking elements of bands such as The Jesus Lizard, The Melvins, Tad, and even a little Dillinger Escape Plan, Uncle Touchy are that band your parents forbid you to listen to, the sound of damaged men playing too loud and causing mayhem in the process.In other words, rock and roll at it's finest.
8. Uneven Structure - Februus
French progressive metallers Uneven Structure gave us all cause to celebrate the rise in influence of the French metal scene with this doozy of a record, combining the mathematically precise riffing of Meshuggah with the atmosphere of bands like Tesseract, and in the process gave the Djent/tech community a new band of heroes to obsess over.Top stuff.
7.Zippo -Maktub
Beguiling, endlessly inventive and yet satisfyingly inventive, this record by Italian prog rockers Zippo captured the imagination in much the same way, for me personally, as Baroness' Red Album or even Tool's seminal Lateralus , music as much for the grey matter as the moshpit. Slated to appear at the 2012 Desertfest in London alongside Truckfighters and several others, it seems 2012 may bring some much deserved recognition the way of these Pescara noiseniks, fitting when considered in the light of such an accomplished piece of work as Maktub.
6.Aliases - Safer Than Reality
When UK noisecore legends Sikth split in 2008, many ,including yours truly, pined hard for the demented fury of the Watford sextet , and the online community went into overdrive , creating petitions and the like to try and entice the band back into action.While it looks as if a reformation may be some way away, Sikth fans could at least take heart that the band's spirit was being continued on with guitarist Graham 'Pin' Pinney and the brilliant Aliases. 8 songs packed with feverish invention, technical wizardry , and above all quality songwriting, Safer Than Reality is a joy from start to finish, a thrilling , no bullshit , bat shit mental record that rewards repeated listens.
5. Radio For The Daydreamers - Praying For The Be(a)st
Pittsburgh , PA outfit Radio For The Daydreamers put out one of 2011's most intriguing and unique records in Praying For The Be(a)st, a warped collection of menacing sound scapes and experimental, genre bending pieces that deftly combine elements of electronica, jazz, post rock and others into a fascinating whole.A real 3am ,headphones on sort of album, it might not be the loudest or most accessible record on this list, but it's still well worth your time, fitting more ideas and ambition into single songs than some bands manage their whole careers.
4. I Decline - Time To Shine
Crashing into Nihilist's inbox , and subsequently our earholes with an album of gloriously OTT, old fashioned heavy metal fury, I Decline combine the melodic values and fist pumping working class ethic of old school hard rock like Thin Lizzy with tar thick stoner rock riffing and irrestistible , arena sized choruses.A favourite with
the stoner blogging
community on it's release, expect to see more of these guys next
year, not least of all on BAN.
3.Luminous
Black -Swedish Meadows Of Flaming Monkeys/Cosmic Gnomes/An Ode
To Poggie Dillon
Okay, so I'm
cheating a little here, as this isn't really an album as such, but
hey,it's my list, and besides, these Co.Kildare, Ireland stoners have
produced three Eps worth of quality fuzzed out excellence, everything
from riffing monoliths like 'Lateral Thinking', chilled out , atmospheric groovealongs like 'Meadows Of Kaos' to just straight up weirdness (um, 'Swedish Handjob')is represented here, and they're also a quality live act:support slots in the new year include a set with Shoctopus and Pektop.
2.Sleestak -The Fall Of Altrusia
An absolute monster of a record, The Fall Of Altrusia represented probably the best example of atmospheric post metal last year, with the band's thrilling , emotive noise cutting through a swathe of pretenders and posers to forge their own brutal, unique identity. One of the few records that can legitimately be described as a 'journey', the band's churning maelstrom of noise takes influences from the aforementioned Oakland behemoths, but also contains nods to industrial legends Godflesh and even post punk.Crushing, bleakly beautiful , and surprisingly addictive,The Fall Of Altrusia was one of the defining moments of underground metal ,at least for this lowly blog writer.And so on to . . .
1.Mastodon -The Hunter
OK, I know, I know, I've picked the same record as Ed. But before you accuse me of jumping on the bandwagon , let me elucidate.I have been a die hard Mastodon fan for going on eight years, ever since the monstrous Leviathan Blood Mountain, and the monumental power of Crack The Skye make themboth modern classics in their own way, powerful , forward thinking metal with a unique identity that elevated the band above the miasma of metal acts, all repeating history and playing it safe by bowing to tradition in the blandest, black clad fashion possible.
And so to The Hunter , the band's most divisive, and most controversial release yet. The most accessible Mastodon record yet, it split fans,and prompted accusations of 'selling out', the band were 'girlfriend metal', 'hipsters', and so on, all from a metal community that still allows crimes like Manowar to go unpunished. And yet,it's also the band's best reviewed album , reaping praise even from those not from a heavy music background.And it's not hard to see why.A lean , mean, monster , and more of a hard rock record this time out, The Hunter took Mastodon's progressive instincts, and welded them to 13 of the most beguiling, balls out rock songs this year.Sure, there were moments of heaviness , in the monolithic 'Black Tongue', or the riffing juggernaut of 'Spectrelight' ,but there was also moments on this album where even the most open minded of Mastodon fans might have ventured to scratch their heads and wonder about where the band were taking this.The weirdness of 'Creature Lives'.The QOTSA-alike groover 'Curl Of The Burl' and the joyous , almost pop punk of 'Blasteroids'.But after a few listens, it all made sense, and one thing about The Hunter, perhaps even more so than any other Mastodon record, is the emphasis on songwriting, the band not wasting a note .There is no fat here, no bullshit, only great tunes.The only thing now is where do the band go from here?Rest assured that BAN , and indeed this humble writer, will be only too happy to find out.In one word.Awesome.
Scarcely had we time here at BAN to scrape our brains off the floor from Radio For The Daydreamer's last outing 'Mother Superior and Her Fields Of Migraine, than it's successor record, and the second in the idiosyncratic US outfit's triptych of abstractly menacing ambient narratives of faustian folly, and quietly yearning sonic desolation, arrivess to rape our feeble minds yet again. And while 'Mother Superior' hinted at realms of nightmarish imagination , here, we get to hear the band truly wig out and further explore their own little patch of hell . . .
Opener 'We are only Safe before sunrise ' is a stunning statment of intent,opening with an aria of gorgeous lilting piano , which is interrupted abruptly by creepy as hell click-clack horror movie percussion, and the band's by now trademark restrained , dark electronica, overlaid with some chillingly realised and haunting female vocals.'Wasted Faces In Secret Places' lumbers up with some off kilter minimalist trickery a la UK techno loons Autechre , while the dub rhythms and surging, airy piano of 'Don't Give Up On Me yet Dad' send you crawling into the light for a moment, dazzled by false hope . .
However, the funereal interlude of 'Glowing Like Angels , You Are On Fire' drags us back down into the band's murky depths, and indeed, it is this balancing light and shadow that make this such a stunning record.Less of an album, than a soundtrack to possibly the most fucked up art film ever made, it's a fascinating and at times dizzyingly diverse blend of styles.Take for instance the spaced out weirdness of the amusingly titled Prog Jazz( All Musicians are freaks) , or the world percussion/smooth jazz mix up of 'Necrosis Stupor' , and contrast it with the gorgeously melancholic, cinematic stylings of a song like 'No One Ever Comes Here But Me',you might just find your sensibilities a little bit askew afterwards, but persevere, and the rewards are great.This is a record to explore , full as it is with narcotic wanderings and moments of overbearing paranoia, and one that will surely feed into your nightmares, waking and otherwise , and just waiting for you to buy into it's hellish alternate reality.Scared?You should be . . .
Rating:9/10
For fans of : Boards Of Canada, How To Destroy Angels, Aphex Twin, Pink Floyd
Released:December 2nd
Stephen O ' Connor
bornagainnihilist@gmail.com
Released in July of this year,'Mother Superior and Her Fields Of Migraine' is the second album by Pittsburgh, USA experimental outfit Radio For The Daydreamers, and the first in a tryptich entitled 'Praying For The be(a)st .It's a wilfully eclectic collection, not easy listening by any means, but a rich, cinematic journey through a mostly instrumental non fiction narrative of an unnamed 'Faustian' character.
The premise then behind this first album of the series is ,as the band themselves put it, "the story of our character indulging in misery, self-realization, seclusion, developing phobias, anxieties and a need to break out to help his own mind. Accepting negativities, even though it is clear that the consequences of those negativities would be grim. To accept evil just to get some purpose" .And if all that sounds terribly high minded, well that's because it is,and unashamedly so.More of a kind of soundtrack to an imagined film, 'MSAHFOM' is as abstract as they come, an album rooted in dreamy soundscapes and jazz flourishes, with the occasional outburst of post-rock elegance just for good measure.Opener 'Black River Time Bombs' evokes an atmosphere of Lynchian menace in it's rumbling synth bass and jazz tempo, while 'With wings you will learn to fall' is a warped blend of demonic sampled voices, and elegant piano, while 'Ghosts keep me safe while you are gone is a blissed out sonic mindfuck that recalls Boards Of Canada in it's uneasy melancholia.
And so further down the rabbit hole we go, with the industrial coldness and demonic breathing of 'Magnetar Mephisto' soundtracking your most subdued, painful nightmares, while 'I am not coming back home' , with it's lead female soul vocal and relative jaunty pace hints at a sense of a light at the end of the tunnel, however dim and fleeting, and provides a counterpoint to the almost pantomime gothic menace of 'Curl Up And Die'.
Throughout, the band employ such a wide array of musical styles, from minimalist , barely there electronica, to jazz rhythms , to experimental industrial sounds(shades of experimental acts such as Einsturzende Neubaten can be heard in the grind of 'Praying For The be(a)st).But in essense, it's a sound and style of their own devising.Comparisons are pretty much futile, but suffice to say this is one of the most interesting and wilfully eclectic records you'll hear all year.Not for everyone, but the rewards, especially with repeat listens, are there.
Rating:8/10
For fans of :Boards Of Canada,Aphex Twin, Trent Reznor, Simon Bird
Listen here: http://radioforthedaydreamers.bandcamp.com/
Stephen O' Connor
bornagainnihilist@gmail.com
