1. He Is Legend - It Hates You
2. Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
3. As Cities Burn - Hell Or High Water
4. Dead Man's Bones - s/t
5. Oh Sleeper - Son Of The Morning
6. Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind
7. Darkest Hour - The Eternal Return
8. Sleeping At Last - Storyboards
9. Thursday - Common Existence
10. ETID - New Junk Aesthetic
11. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
12. Dredg - The Pariah...
13. mewithoutYou - it's all crazy..
14. Paper Route - Carousel
15. Appleseed Cast - Sagarmatha
16. Portugal The Man - The Satantic..
17. Thrice - Beggars
18. Huck Notari - Very Long Dream
19. VNV Nation - Of Faith...
20. Oceana - BirthEater
21. August Burns Red - Constellations
22. 30STM - This Is War
23. Inhale Exhale - Bury Me Alive
24. Killswitch Engage - s/t
25. Various - 'Dark Was The Night'
26. Broadcast The Nightmare - Twenty Twelve
27. Architects - Hollow Crown
28. Jonsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
29. Rammstein - Liebe..
30. Poison The Well - The Tropic Rot
31. Peter Bradley Adams - Traces
32. The Mars Volta - Octahedron
33. J. Tillman - Year in the Kingdom
34. Muse - The Resistance
35. Rhian Sheehan - Standing In Silence
36. SubtractiveLAD - Where the Land Meets the Sky
37. Port Royal - Dying In Time
38. M. Ward - Hold Time
39. The Black Dahlia Murder - Deflorate
40. Closure In Moscow - First Temple
41. Converge - Axe to Fall
42. Anchor & Braille - Felt
43. Wretched - The Exodus Of Autonomy
44. The Chariot - Wars And Rumors Of Wars
45. The Wooden Sky - If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone
46. The Devil Wears Prada - With Roots Above And Branches Below
47. Holding Onto Hope - Of The Sea
48. Max Richter - Memoryhouse
49. Langhorne Slim - Be Set Free
50. Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself
51. Hope Sandoval - Through The Devil..
52. Knives Exchanging Hands - The War Of Speech..
53. Johan Johannsson - And In The..
54. A Fine Frenzy- A Bomb..
55. Maylene - III
56. The American Dollar - Ambeint 1
57. George Strait - Twang
58. Au Revoir Simone - Still Night..
59. Maria Taylor - LadyLuck
60. Barzin - Notes To An Absent Lover
61. Cory Chisel - Death Won't Send..
62. Tim Hecker - Imaginary Country
63. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
64. Team Teamwork - Good Ass Remixes
65. Portugal The Man - Majestic Majesty
66. Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way..
67. Monsters Of Folk
68. John Mayer - Battle Studies
69. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
70. Destroy x3 - Battle Sluts
71. Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth
72. TSTCTC - On A Carousel..
73. TSOW - Following Voices
74. MuteMath - Armistice
75. Last Days - The Safety Of The North
76. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
77. The Swell Season - Strict Joy
78. Miss May I - Apologies..
79. AA Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
80. Death Cab - The Open Door EP
81. Hildur Guðnadóttir - Without Sinking
82. Cinnamon Chasers - A Million Miles...
83. Tor/Sufjan Stevens - Illinoize
84. Carrie Underwood - Play On
85. IWABO - It's All Happening
86. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight...
87. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
88. Dead & Divine - The Machines We Are
89. Plastik Joy - 3:03
90. The Boss - Working On A Dream
91. Moby - Wait For Me
92. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
93. Kylesa - Static Tensions
94. Clint Mansell - Moon s/t
95. Mirah - (a)spera
96. Patty Loveless - Mountain Soul II
97. Arise & Ruin - Night Storms Hailfire
98. Chuck Ragan - Gold Country
99. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
100. Amy Millan - Masters Of The Burial
Yay! A new Album Leaf cd. Every time Jimmy LaValle decides to release another one of his post-rock ambience overloaded albums, I rejoice a little bit. Back in the day, way back in the day actually, Brandon, in his never-ending cd buying quest, stumbled across a little disc entitled ‘An Orchestrated Rise to Fall’. You’ve probably read about this cd from me on this very website. AORtF will easily go down in history as one my all-time fav’s. Officially released in 1999, this album was loaded with acoustic/electric guitars, piano’s, simple drums, and a little bit of voice recordings and background everyday sounds throw in for good measure. This is an ultimate rainy day type of cd where you sit next to a window and read a book, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done so back in Georgia where it actually rained.
Skip a couple years and LaValle releases ‘One Day I’ll Be on Time’. This cd and a huge tour with post-rock gods Sigur Ros threw The Album Leaf somewhat into the mainstream. Myself and the Bear attended one of these shows in Atlanta, and were overjoyed at the awesomeness of it. I personally enjoyed The Album Leaf more, but I’ve always been quite a fan boy of them. Sigur Ros was great and all, but I liked the simplicity of TAL’s set better. We also got to see TAL in a much more intimate setting at The Earl in Atlanta. This show was after the release of The Seal Beach ep and before the release of the In a Safe Place full-length. Awesome awesome show that was.
After One Day I’ll Be on Time and The Seal Beach ep The Album Leaf started on a road that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Adding vocals to the mix didn’t really sit well with me, also Jimmy started to stray farther away from the acoustic guitar which was my main attraction to the first couple of TAL cd’s. ‘In a Safe Place’ and ‘Into the Blue Again’ seemed much more electronic to me and I missed the rawness of Rise to Fall and One Day, and that was when The Album Leaf and I started to go our separate ways. Of course I bought all the cd’s and releases, I just didn’t like them all too much.
It’s 2010, a new decade and the first listen of the year for me. A Chorus of Storytellers is LaValle’s first recording with a full band, always previously recording every instrument himself. Even though Jimmy allows others to play the music on this disc, it is still an Album Leaf cd, easily recognizable and distinct. This time around LaValle didn’t include near as many vocals, which is a big plus for me, thing is I really wouldn’t mind singing if it were just better. I understand LaValle wanting to venture out and try new stuff and how he enjoys singing, but it just seems to not go with the music as well. I don’t know if it were a female singer I’d like it better? Probably, and I just simply don’t like folky, indie type singy music that these songs fit into. I like Damien Rice-esque sorrowful and desperate lyrics, sad music. Fortunately on this disc, the somewhat ’down’ songs LaValle decides not to sing in, big plus. A Chorus of Storytellers is a cd much unlike TAL’s previous two releases, but I must say that I like this one better for some reason, the instrumental songs are better and slower, and more like music to me. The first song on the cd entitled “Perro” has voice recordings in the background that hearken back to the days of Rise to Fall, which is oh so lovely. Another plus is that these songs flow much better than on any previous Album Leaf cd. This cd also has more of a One Day I’ll Be on Time feel to it, which is of course my second favorite TAL cd. In conclusion, if you ask me, this disc has a lot going for it, will it propel LaValle into the likes of Sigur Ros and Bright Eyes and all that jazz? Definitely not. I don’t know if that’s what Jimmy is trying for, but to me it seems a likely no, I think he just wants to keep making music he likes, not for the masses, and not for the radio, but something that fits ever so well in the background of just about anything. And I think that’s where Mr. LaValle likes being, in the background, yet ever apparent and undoubtedly there. [3.5/5]
I see there is a lot of this sucks and WTF is that going on today but this is awesome!! This is the first two tracks on the CD. The awesome starts after the narration. I like how crazy he and the Japanese are crazy its a match made in heaven. The rest of the songs are great too. Check it out and long live the party!!
Ok so this is almost more of a failure in music video, but the music itself is no prize either, so I figured what the heck, I’ll just go the whole nine yards with it.
I found this gem on my music choice on demand tv thing today and I havta tell ya, I just had a feeling this was going to be something special.
It seems these dudes are Austrian or something and are close pals with the devilish one himself, they’re so close in fact, that I thiiink he makes a cameo in this video to play Quidditch with the band. Nuclear Blast must have gotten a good deal on goats to sacrifice or something and really gotten the Dev’s attention. He knows when bands means business. And these guys mean fucking business.
Oh and hey, read this sentence and try not to chuckle..it’s from the band’s wiki page.
‘Belphegor was founded as Betrayer in 1991 by vocalist and bassist Maxx, guitarists Helmuth and Sigurd, and drummer (and I’ll insert my own dramatic pause here for effect……..)Chris.’
How the hell are you gonna be in a satan band with dudes named Helmuth and Sigurd and be fucking named Chris? At least add an upside down t at the end or something to prove you belong at the party, I mean shit, Chris is terribly unmetal. I think the band realized this too, because their next few drummers had names like Man, Torturer, and Nefastus.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the almighty Belphegor with their worldwide smash hit ‘Der Geistertreiber’
Did you guys realize they’re remaking Gremlins..in 3D?
I’m so over this stupid 3D trend, I don’t care if that’s the future.
Cinematically speaking, I want to live in the past, dammit.
Great movies though, those original Gremlin films. Especially the first one. I remember watching that in Spanish class 2 bazillion times and the one phrase from the whole movie that sticks out in my head to this day is ‘luz brilliante!’ or however that’s spelled. Good times.
SNL doesn’t have a ton going for it these days, but this skit is generally one of the positives the show has to offer. Plus the movie has a bunch of wrestlers in it.
Gah I love the hell outta this guy.
2008’s ‘Bring Me Your Love’ is nothing short of a freakin’ masterpiece, and with each passing day, I can only hope we are inching closer to the next collection of tunes Dallas decides to release to the world.
In the following video, he mentions that he’s gonna start working on an album soon, soooooo let’s hope he finishes that up with the quickness.
Anyway, for those of you who are interested, here’s a new song called ‘Oh Sister’
Why yes, I am posting another music video.
K, so I know this is about a month late, but it kinda got lost in the bustle of Christmas and the list and all that sorta jazz, soo better late than never.
I’m posting this video..not because it’s one of the more rockin’ songs on their newest record (even though it is)..but because my lil lady (BEP’s resident high priestess Madlibs) helped out with the making of it. Ya know, dabbing sweat and helping with makeup, the fun part of music videos you don’t get to see at home. As you will see, she did a fine job at helping keep these goombas looking as presentable as possible.
Oh, and I was there too, watching from the sidelines. Take after take after take after take. It’s amazing that I didn’t hate the song by the end of the day.
PS – Our pal Natasha (bonebagprincess) played a pretty crucial role in things here too. She’s the make-up czar AND the woman in the scary mask. Soo, neato.
The main reason for me wanting to be here is so i can personally witness the flamboyance of front man Jello Biafra. Plus it would cool to be apart of the early eighties punk scene. Also i would prolly take the chance to vote for Jello in his run for mayor. But there is hope for the 2012 presidential election.
Pantera
Who the hell would not want to see this band live. During these days i thought that Phil Anselmo was one of the most intimidating people I had ever seen, and nobody shreds like Dimebag (r.i.p.). I remember having a chance to go to the American Steel tour with Pantera and Slayer headlining, but i was thirteen and my uncle had to work. Boo. Oh and this song is another example of them doin B.A. breakdowns first!!
Misfits
Man to see them with the good line-up in a shitty place. I would go bananas at this show. I would prolly have a raw throat the next day from screaming back at Glenn every word to his songs. Man, what i wouldn’t give. Oh and i would tell him my dog was named after him.
The Clash
I would like to be one of those guys in my mid fifties working in my record store tellin stories about seeing this band live. Just to see the jealousy on peoples face because its something they will never ever get to see. I could travel in time to this show, see it, then get hit by a car while leaving and die happy.
MetallicA!!!
Ok, so Ive seen them, but not the “them” i want to see. I would do some wild shit for the chance to see the real, raw, and intense Metallica. When it was new, and when they just cared about being the loudest fastest band they could be. Plus i would like to one of the few that said i saw them with Cliff.
The Album Leaf
