Living in the luxury of doubt
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
21.01.08 : Ordinary Corrupt Human Love - Deafheaven (2018)
No idea on the album or the artist - and the name feels it could cover a multitude of sins, so was going in without any preconceptions. And what an odd track the first track is - some pleasant low-key female vocals over some top notch guitar work, backed by what appears to be satanic chanting. Errr - OK. And that, my friends, is pretty much the last we see of the pleasant low-key vocals. Oh dear. I actually generally liked the tracks, but the vocals were not my cup of tea at all - very jarring for my sensitive ears. Except for "Near" and "Night People", which are perfectly acceptable because no-one attempts to summon his Satanic Majesty at any point during either of them. I'm also very unsure what's going on on the album cover.
The channel gave this one thumbs up and one nice - and some discussion as to what the musical genre should be called with "blackgaze" and "shoemetal" being suggested and I can totally see where they're coming from there. Wikipedia tells me the album was very well received critically and made quite a few "best of 2018" lists but didn't exactly set the world alight commercially - #99 in the UK and #111 in the US. It also doesn't explain what's going on on the album cover.
"Customers also listened to" Pallbearer, Panopticon, Bossk and Amenra - one word band names are obviously a thing in blackgaze. Overall, this is an odd one because I'd really like this with a different vocal style - but it's got what it's got and that just doesn't do it for me. Sorry!
21.01.11 : Dances / Curses - Hey Colossus (2020)
Never heard of artist or album, but for some (probably mythology related) reason I was expecting them to sound like Hercules And Love Affair. And, well - it doesn't. It's much more LCD Soundsystem but also reminded me of Tom Vek in places. I didn't mind the sound generally, but I really didn't need 75 minutes of it - and I definitely didn't need the 16:12 of "A Trembling Rose" which was then followed by 3:37 of "A Trembling Rose (Reprise)". It's a cool album cover though.
The channel gave this four thumbs up and an explanation from the nominator that they only listened to it because it was on a "best of 2020" list, so I had to go and make sure I hadn't previously reviewed it and totally forgotten about it (fortunately, I hadn't). Wikipedia has nothing on the album - the band do have an entry which tells me they've been around since 2003 and have released 14 albums. None of which have an entry on Wikipedia, which is quite an impressive achievement.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of, but I do like the name Eddy Current Suppression Ring. I quite liked this album, but would have liked a trimmed down version a lot more.
21.01.12 : Visions Of The Emerald Beyond - Mahavishnu Orchestra (1975)
I believe these guys are ambientesque, but with a name like that, they've got to be that or prog, haven't they? Ah no - looking at the album cover, they're definitely prog aren't they - I believe no other genre is legally allowed to put a pyramid on the album cover. And it's obviously a load of talented musicians having a really fun time - but I'm one of those picky individuals who like other people's fun time to translate into a fun time for me as well and I can't say this album did that for me. At least it was only 40 minutes long though - I bet they were tempted to make it 40 hours long. I was also surprised when I found out how old the album was - it hasn't really dated at all.
The channel gave this four thumbs up, two hearts and a lot of positive comments about the skillz on display. Wikipedia doesn't have an awful lot on the album, but does tell me it's not prog but "jazz fusion" - silly me (although apparently "jazz fusion" is also known as "progressive jazz", so I guess they're allowed to use the pyramid after all). It also tells me the album was produced by Ken Scott who's worked on a few reasonably well known albums in his time - his Wikipedia page is a fascinating read and well worth checking out. One last fact on the album - it got to #68 in the US, which struck me as considerably higher than I was expecting.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of except Chick Corea, who I'd only heard of because he died earlier this year. Lots of skill on display here, but not for me I'm afraid.
All in all, there was a lot of skill on display across every one of these albums and they were all interesting listens but I can't see me coming back to any of them I'm afraid. Hey Colossus have to take the round for me, but Deafheaven would have won it if only they had more of them nice lady vocals. They must be kicking themselves, right?
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