What Are You Listening To?

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Merda Mundi - Requiem, Belgium

 

Black Sorcery - Deciphering Torment Through Malediction, Providence RI

 

[FatherAlabaster]

3 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

Century Media is on BANDCAMP!

Did you see the new parent company (Songtradr) laid off half the Bandcamp staff? 

[MacabreEternal]

25 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Did you see the new parent company (Songtradr) laid off half the Bandcamp staff? 

Saw this.  Disappointed, yet I entirely expected this.  Bandcamp has had a great run - not that this means people should be laid off mind - but I fear it is on for a steady decline now.  Happy to be proven wrong but I fear the worst.

NP:

Батюшка - Панихида (2019)

 

[Arioch]

37 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Did you see the new parent company (Songtradr) laid off half the Bandcamp staff? 

Yes, I learnt that at the weekend, I'm not sure how. It's really sad. As someone who only buys from Bandcamp now, I hope that the record companies don't pull out of the catalogue and that artists continue to be (vastly) better paid with Bandcamp than all that crap like Spotify/Amazon Music/Qobuz.

[Arioch]

S.O.D - Rise of the Infidels (2007)

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Nganga - Kadiempembe, Devourer of Souls, UK Deathgrind

 

Nashgul - Oprobio, deathgrind from Spain

 

[MacabreEternal]

KEN mode - VOID (2023)

 

[JonoBlade]

1 hour ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Did you see the new parent company (Songtradr) laid off half the Bandcamp staff? 

Well, shit.

Greeders gotta greed.

I hope the founders that sold out to Epic (as opposed to putting a good manager in place and just reaping the dividends) are happy. I bet that they told their staff at the time "this is an awesome opportunity to take us to the next level."

Ultimately, the next level for many is the unemployment line.

As @Arioch notes, I hope that labels don't make their stuff disappear. So far as I can tell every single one of the albums I've purchased in the last 7 or 8 years is still on the app. Although I recently backed everything up anyhow. 

My first purchase was:

NO | Old Man Gloom (bandcamp.com)

Although that is 2012 and I am pretty sure I didn't start using it that long ago, but time flies.

At the very least, bandcamp has shown that an ethical model can be successful. I'd be fine with it if it were superseded by something else, equivalent, and metal. 

The massive shame here is that bandcamp has critical mass to teach consumers about a fair way. The layoffs will be to streamline profitability, whereas such a move guts the community spirit. 

Maybe the 50% will take all their knowledge and set up a rival. And fortify it against a similar thing happening in the future.

I'd be onboard in an instant and cancel my bandcamp account (after backing up purchases!)

 

 

[Arioch]

20 minutes ago, JonoBlade said:

I'd be onboard in an instant and cancel my bandcamp account (after backing up purchases!)

Always save your purchases on Bandcamp, especially if they are dematerialised purchases. I've bought a few CDs on Bandcamp, but 90% of my purchases on the site are FLAC tracks, and they're backed up on both my audiophile player and an external hard drive.

I've already seen e-books 'disappear' from the Amazon shopping catalogue of someone I know. We're not immune to this happening on Bandcamp.

7 hours ago, Arioch said:

Insensate Machine - War of the Worlds (2023)

This album took its creator (Billy Davis) 30 years to perfect before it was released! It's a concept album based on the novel by H.G. Wells and the music is progressive metal with an influence from 1980's Big 4 thrash metal.

For fans of Voivod.

 

Second listen for me today. You rarely feel the Big Four's Thrash influences, but it happens. On the other hand, if there's one band you always think of when you listen to War of the Worlds, it's Voivod! The singer's voice is very similar to that of Denis 'Snake' Bélanger, and Daniel Mongrain even plays on one track.

 

[JonoBlade]

54 minutes ago, Arioch said:

Always save your purchases on Bandcamp, especially if they are dematerialised purchases. I've bought a few CDs on Bandcamp, but 90% of my purchases on the site are FLAC tracks, and they're backed up on both my audiophile player and an external hard drive.

I've already seen e-books 'disappear' from the Amazon shopping catalogue of someone I know. We're not immune to this happening on Bandcamp.

I got burned once on 7Digital (which hilariously I note has also been bought out by Songtradr!) with Senjitsu disappearing from my collection.....and then miraculously reappearing.

From now on I will do a regular backup to FLAC of recent purchases. I had a weird issue where the bandcamp app on my phone deletes all downloads periodically. Which is annoying because it's 30GB of downloads (MP3). But I don't lose them from collection, just have to download again. The FLAC are all backed up to external hard drive.

I had a few emails with bandcamp support who were very nice (if a bit thick to grasp the problem I was describing)...probably all fired now.

 

[SurgicalBrute]

7 hours ago, navybsn said:

You should look at these plug and play units if you haven't bought one yet. I'm not crazy about Sony, prefer Kenwood or Pioneer, but it's better than having to wire a harness and program the adapter.

https://trailgridpro.com/pages/toyota-tacoma-accessories#toyota-tacoma-sony-bundles

Wish I'd known about those before hand. I picked up a Kenwood Excelon DDX396 along with a Crux SWRTY-61N Wiring Interface back in late spring. Assuming it works as it's supposed to, it shouldn't be too bad to set it up as it's pre-programmed. Just flick the appropriate switches into on or off. It does mean a day with the crimping tool and heat gun though.

[SurgicalBrute]

9 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Did you see the new parent company (Songtradr) laid off half the Bandcamp staff?

That wasn't Songtradr, that was actually Epic who did it before the site was officially sold. Basically, the employees were told by Epic to reapply for their jobs with Songtradr, and roughly half were given job offers. Probably because Epic is financially screwed right now after getting hit with a $520 million dollar settlment, and ended up letting roughly 16% of their own staff go as well.

...and while I'm sure Songtradr will find some way to screw things up for the worst, it's important to note a lot of the people being let go came out of the writing and editorial department side of things. This isn't the tech people who keep the system running, it's the people who do the music promotion and review stuff on places like Bandcamp Daily....which, to me, has always been a useless waste of resources.

[AlSymerz]

8 hours ago, JamesT said:

Fair enough!  I've certainly acquired the taste!  And it took me a grand total of one afternoon.  The fact that they embrace the humorous side of things with no apologies is one of the things I like about them.  As someone who regularly enjoys the music of The Tossers, Dropkick Murphys, and Flogging Molly, I enjoy the extra instruments Alestorm adds to their sound - they just increase the heaviness several notches from those aforementioned bands.

Yeah I can agree with that. It's good listening to a band that doesn't taken themselves too seriously. Some of the live gigs that are on YT show they have a damn good time doing what they do and so does their audience.

[navybsn]

2 hours ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Wish I'd known about those before hand. I picked up a Kenwood Excelon DDX396 along with a Crux SWRTY-61N Wiring Interface back in late spring. Assuming it works as it's supposed to, it shouldn't be too bad to set it up as it's pre-programmed. Just flick the appropriate switches into on or off. It does mean a day with the crimping tool and heat gun though.

You'll have to report back on how it works out. I've never had good luck with Sony units, but the ease of PIP is tempting. I've installed my fair share of car audio systems over the years, so I'm not afraid of the wiring. Less hassle is less hassle though.

[SurgicalBrute]

16 minutes ago, navybsn said:

You'll have to report back on how it works out. I've never had good luck with Sony units, but the ease of PIP is tempting. I've installed my fair share of car audio systems over the years, so I'm not afraid of the wiring. Less hassle is less hassle though.

Absolutely...

...and agreed. I was trying to do as much PIP as I could with the speakers because I didn't want to cut into the stock harnesses in case I ever sell the truck, but damn they didn't make that easy. For some reason the 2015 seems to get overlooked for tweeter harnesses, with TacoTunes being the only place I could find that actually makes ones that fit. Still ended up having to cut the aftermarket woofer harnesses I was using to make everything work, but those are a hell of a lot easier to replace.

[Nasty_Cabbage]

NP: Hexcastle - Eyes of the Wolf

▶︎ Eyes of the Wolf | Hexcastle | Canti Eretici (bandcamp.com)

Not going to lie, it's a little plain Jane for me. I realize that being well executed but predictable and boring is sometimes better than being creative but poorly executed. Could just be my mood today, though, but I feel like they could've done at least something in terms of making these songs more engaging that wouldn't have taken them too far outside the strictures of meat and potatoes black metal.

[Dead1]

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

 

[navybsn]

2 hours ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Absolutely...

...and agreed. I was trying to do as much PIP as I could with the speakers because I didn't want to cut into the stock harnesses in case I ever sell the truck, but damn they didn't make that easy. For some reason the 2015 seems to get overlooked for tweeter harnesses, with TacoTunes being the only place I could find that actually makes ones that fit. Still ended up having to cut the aftermarket woofer harnesses I was using to make everything work, but those are a hell of a lot easier to replace.

Well at least for the speakers you can save the connectors and wire them back in later with a bit of effort. Still less than ideal. Had no idea the 15 would be tough for such a common upgrade item. I would have thought that the last year of the gen 2 platform would have been well covered. I have the Kicker upgrade speakers in my 16. Came with the truck I bought a year old, so I'm not sure what is in there behind the panels, but considering the condition of the truck I have to imagine it was well done.

NP: giving my daughter's new boyfriend a lesson in good 70s fusion he needs in his life.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson

Brand X - Unorthodox Behavior

Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy

Weather Report - Heavy Weather 

[Nasty_Cabbage]

NP: Fortíð - Narkissos

▶︎ Narkissos | Fortíð (bandcamp.com)

I think that first harmonized lick they open the album with has something funny going on with the time signature. The lead sounds like it goes into a fifth beat on the measure and then the rest is a fairly standard 4/4 with normal resolutions to the melodies. It doesn't have the whiplash effect that a lot of quick changing signatures have. I suspect that might have lead them down a more technical route than they really wanted to travel. Still, it does create some nice tension, since your brain's basically saying "You're just gonna leave that melody hanging there?" The rest of the album's no slouch either. There are some clean vocals here and there, but not to an intolerable extent. I like it.

[JamesT]

Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather"

Judas Priest - "British Steel"

I never fail to enjoy every second of the massive catalog from these titans.  Cannot wait for "Invincible Shield", due out March 8, 2024.  Album number 19 is going to be a burner!

[AlSymerz]

Angelus Apatrida - Aftermath.

Enjoying this album on the second go round. 1 more listen and it's a purchase.

[AlSymerz]

The Chats - Get This In Ya

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Obsidian Shrine - Bloodshed Under the Black Star, Nashville TN 2022

 

Obsidian Grave - Blood of the Night, Chicago

 

[JonoBlade]

5 hours ago, JamesT said:

Judas Priest - "Hell Bent for Leather"

Judas Priest - "British Steel"

I never fail to enjoy every second of the massive catalog from these titans.  Cannot wait for "Invincible Shield", due out March 8, 2024.  Album number 19 is going to be a burner!

This is the best line I will see today. "Album number 19 is going to be a burner!"

I am pretty sure that is going to be exactly the case.

[Arioch]

Insensate Machine - War of the Worlds (2023)

I posted a Youtube extract yesterday about this album, which I'm listening to for the 3rd time.

I like its concept: far from modern Thrash productions with big sound. Here, it's as if you're listening to a demo that's barely been arranged to sound cleaner.

The shadow of Voivod hangs over the whole album, and while we wait for the Canadians' next album, what could be better than War of the Worlds?