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What Are You Listening To?


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4 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Swans was sort of fated to be one of my favorite bands, a few people independently introduced me to their stuff around the same time. This was right around when they put out a bunch of reissues and broke up in 1997, so I was able to get my hands on CDs of almost everything they'd done up to that point. I was getting more and more into proggy, complicated songwriting at the time, and the repetitive simplicity of their early stuff gave me a different way of listening to music. The lurch and swagger of "Filth" and the crushing mood swings on "Children Of God" are all-time high points for me. Also love "The Great Annihilator" and the White Light/Love Of Life period. But I haven't kept up with their newer stuff - "To Be Kind" is the only one I've really spent good time with. Lots left to discover. Did you ever get into The Angels Of Light? 

I don't have Filth or White Light/Love of Life. I've Great Annihilator which is a favorite, Soundtrack for the Blind (prolly my favorite of earlier material), Children of God/World of Skin comp which is quite interesting. 

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Nocturnal Graves/ An Outlaw's Stand 

and a metal adjacent couple of days:

Emma Ruth Rundle/Engine of Hell-not even adjacent-but a beautiful, sorrowful album NTL

Genghis Tron/Dream Weapon

Deafheaven/Infinite Granite-like this more than I would have thought....turns out when they stop trying to be a metal band they aren't bad at simply being a post rock band....IMO

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52 minutes ago, markm said:

I don't have Filth or White Light/Love of Life. I've Great Annihilator which is a favorite, Soundtrack for the Blind (prolly my favorite of earlier material), Children of God/World of Skin comp which is quite interesting. 

The best of that early 90s music is collected on the Various Failures 2-disc comp. White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity and Love Of Life are great (and tbh I don't even hate The Burning World), but Various Failures is well worth getting on its own merit, it's got extras and at least one alternate version that's better than the album track. If you like The Great Annihilator you'd probably dig that stuff as well. Filth is a different beast, pure aggression with some nasty swinging grooves. I like all that early angry stuff but there's a cohesion and propulsive rawness on Filth that they never duplicated. Here's the first track, "Stay Here":

 

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4 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

The best of that early 90s music is collected on the Various Failures 2-disc comp. White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity and Love Of Life are great (and tbh I don't even hate The Burning World), but Various Failures is well worth getting on its own merit, it's got extras and at least one alternate version that's better than the album track. If you like The Great Annihilator you'd probably dig that stuff as well. Filth is a different beast, pure aggression with some nasty swinging grooves. I like all that early angry stuff but there's a cohesion and propulsive rawness on Filth that they never duplicated. Here's the first track, "Stay Here":

 

Very cool, I liked that. I'll keep an eye out for Various Failures and White Light. Judging by a quick search on Amazon, I'm guessing Various Failures might be hard to find. 

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1 hour ago, markm said:

Very cool, I liked that. I'll keep an eye out for Various Failures and White Light. Judging by a quick search on Amazon, I'm guessing Various Failures might be hard to find. 

Huh, that's funny... When I was getting into them, Various Failures was the only one you could find, and the actual albums were out of print and only available for stupid money. I still haven't heard most of the newer remasters, but judging by the couple I have, they probably did a great job. Lemme also plug the "Swans Are Dead" live 2CD set if you can find it, they sound very good and offer a totally different perspective on some of those tunes. Lots of big post-rock buildups.

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Continuing with my recent Mastodon kick this morning

Mastodon - Blood Mountain - half killer tracks/half filler

Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun - to me, this is their best from a songwriting pov. Catchy, complicated, while being still somewhat heavy. All the things the band seems to do well.

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Mastodon - Hushed & Grim

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1 hour ago, navybsn said:

Continuing with my recent Mastodon kick this morning

Mastodon - Blood Mountain - half killer tracks/half filler

Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun - to me, this is their best from a songwriting pov. Catchy, complicated, while being still somewhat heavy. All the things the band seems to do well.

Mastodon - Emperor of Sand

Mastodon - Hushed & Grim

"Leviathan" will always be my favorite Mastodon album, but "Blood Mountain" and "Crack the Skye" are both really solid as well.  I haven't kept up with the band in more recent years, but "Hushed & Grim" seems to be really good.

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1 hour ago, JamesT said:

"Leviathan" will always be my favorite Mastodon album, but "Blood Mountain" and "Crack the Skye" are both really solid as well.  I haven't kept up with the band in more recent years, but "Hushed & Grim" seems to be really good.

I've never really been "into" Mastodon, but after seeing them 3 times this year I've developed a new appreciation for them. I like the new album quite a bit.

Time for something a little more bat-shit crazy. Absolutely the most insane live show I ever saw. Even if you don't particularly like these guys, if they come anywhere near you, don't miss the chance to see them. 

Melt-Banana - Fetch

Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma

 

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47 minutes ago, navybsn said:

Time for something a little more bat-shit crazy. Absolutely the most insane live show I ever saw. Even if you don't particularly like these guys, if they come anywhere near you, don't miss the chance to see them.

Only saw them one time, and unfortunately it was only the guitarist and vocalist with programmed (or maybe pre-recorded) drums, but they still put on a hell of a show. Might be the only time I've seen prefab drum sounds work well in a setting like that. The vocalist was controlling them with a handheld remote, so there was still a live/collaborative/risky element to it all. Great presence too.

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