Vanessa van Basten - La Stanza di Swedenborg (J)

Post-Rock - Wikipedia defines this as "simply rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes." Of course, nowadays lots of bands comprised of people who have only heard Explosions in the Sky (snicker) only once, if even that, decide that their music is also post-rock. This sends the genre into a downward spiral of tremolo picked, delayed leads over whatever the hell they want. In fact, it seems that the only defining trait of what most people know as "post-rock" seems to be that bullshit airy lead. Vanessa van Basten knows this, and they hate it.

Hailing from Italy, Vanessa van Basten takes influence from not only the classic shoegazers, but also modern classical visionaries such as Morricone and Steve Reich, and even heavy industrial like Godflesh. All of this melded together with a love for obscure Italian movies comprises "La Stanza di Swedenborg."
This full-length, released in 2006, ranges from lush, thick soundscapes, as in the title track, to droning melodic feedback (Vanja), and even American-Western slide guitar (Giornata de Oro). Melodies found on this release are unpredictable, at times, such as the track "Dole," which follows a very jesu-like, dreamy path, but this is abruptly interrupted by an almost black metal-like minor-chord-which-is-then-moved-down-a-half-step. Hell, in "Giornata de Oro," a slide guitar with enough reverb on it to make it sound like a dying rodent comes out of nowhere; it is almost frightening. Tonality on "La Stanza" is very fickle, ranging in emotion from happy-go-lucky, paranoia, loss, anger, and so on. With such a vast array of feelings, this record never fails to surprise every listen (which there have been a lot of).

Recommended for fans of Slowdive (or any classic shoegaze band for that matter), jesu (or any post-metal band), Ennio Morricone, Godflesh, nadja, and so on.

Thought.Image.Sound - Spread Against the Sky (V)

This is certainly the beginning of a new chapter for TIS. Spread Against the Sky effectively transitions from the glitchy, feedback-soaked noise of past work and collaborations with NTRLWRM to a sort of minimalist, meditative expression of echoing guitar and bass work. The first two tracks, "A Thousand Shades of Night" and "Rabbit Fence," are mostly improvised and center on the use of effects and effects loops and twisted, smashed guitar sounds. Each is a slowly building experimental work, layering interspersed chaotic strumming and ambient drone. "Rabbit Fence" eventually crashes its way from glitchy distorted chaos to softer chaos that brings the word "ambiance" and even "melody" directly to mind.

My favorite track while the record was still in progress, "A Touch of Frost" sounds like pure decanted atmosphere. You can hear the melancholy chords drifting out across the mountains. You can feel TIS sitting and staring into the melancholy of the abyss. Slowly, the guitar and bass build and drop and flow into the delay-harmonised melody of "An Aging Statue." This statue is lonely. Introspective. Quiet. Then the modulated fingerpicking of "Drifting Away" builds tension, rather than releasing it and ending this album's chapter. I'm waiting for the next TIS release, so I can see where this is going. Get this.

The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave (C)

Well, let me preface this review with a story. I started listening to The Tallest Man on Earth in just about the last week of school or so. On a whim, a couple days after I moved back home from school I decided to look on The Tallest Man on Earth's myspace to see if he had any show dates. So I was cruisin' and lookin' and the second date or so on their tour space, which was a convenient very small US tour sponsored by friends of the artist, said "ALBANY, NEW YORK - LOSBSTERPALOOZA - WASHINGTON PARK 3:00pm". Immediately my mind shot to flashbacks of three days before at Baccalaureate, the night before moving out day, when my parents were joking around and telling everyone that we had to "Hurry home tomorrow because it's Lobsterpalooza across the street!". The next day I was all cranky and tired and didn't want to go to stupid-ass Lobsterpalooza, of course, because who in god's name that matters goes to Lobsterpalooza? Well, two days after Lobsterpalooza boy was I regretting that decision. "FUCK FUCK FUCK I COULD HAVE SEEN THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH ACROSS THE STREET FUCK I MISSED A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME CHANCE SHIT" was how I pissed and moaned for days after that. But, since I came home around 3:00 and I did hear some music playing, I tell people that I once heard about 2 minutes of a Tallest Man on Earth show, which is more than they'll ever hear.

The moral of the story? Always go to Lobsterpalooza.

Anyway, Shallow Graves is the debut album by Finland's The Tallest Man on Earth. The Tallest Man on Earth presents solo bluegrass that you wouldn't believe comes from outside of Kentucky, let alone outside of the country. It's also hard to believe that is the one making the music, with his tattoos and gauged piercings in his ears. On the other side of things, thought he also looks young, he comes across as both very aged and world-weary in a way that fits the gravel and emotiveness of his voice. His voice becomes in ways, dare I say it, Dylan-esque, and he masterfully takes on the bluegrass twang in a way that is both subtle and genuine. The lyrics put forth on the album are touching and poetic, often dealing with life and love as you would expect a country/bluegrass album to. 's mastery of the language is superb and I probably would not have guessed that English was not his first language. The lyrics often use bird imagery which sometimes gets a bit repetitive, but is still refreshing and used more craftfully than most lyricists could. Each song reflects the perfect campfire atmosphere, and invokes a richness and a warmth unparalleled by many recordings. Though the production quality changes several times throughout the album, it doesn't affect the experience at all, and enhances each song on an individual level. Highlights on the album include Where do My Bluebird Fly (a personal favorite), I won't be Found, Pistol Dreams, and The Sparrow and the Medicine. I also highly recommend looking up the video to "It Will Follow the Rain", a track which is not on the album but is easily one of his best.

Silvum - Fading Signals (C)

"Fading Signals" is a best-of album from Virginia's Silvum, AKA Nick Henry. Fading Signals presents a sort of ambient drone almost reminiscent of Stars of the Lid - only instead of the pristine crystallized beauty, it ranges a spectrum of beauty and the stuff of horror movies. Nick lovingly crafts pulsing soundscapes throughout the album that seep into your bones and grip you. Each track seems to come from a new direction, pulling you into an otherworldly collage of sounds. I can't begin to imagine how some of the great sounds have been created, since the piano credited on track four sounds very ethereal and unnatural. The album as a whole doesn't sound like a "best of", and flows naturally as though it were created to stand alone as an album. I highly recommend this for anyone looking into Silvum.

Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come (V)

Coleman's 1959 Shape of Jazz to Come is indisputably a classic jazz album. The album features his group's usual almost-sloppy performance of harmonised, almost contrapuntal melodies and melodic to twisted solo sections. The songs are better-written and more organised and accessible than the classic monolith of the Free Jazz album, and really do a much better job of showcasing the talents of the performers and Coleman's writing. "Lonely Woman" is covered on Naked City's eponymous debut album, and certainly the entire album fits with Naked City's mangled and bizarre approach to jazz, from flailing screeching solos to thoughtful, slow movement and tasty grooves. And despite being pure jazz (in its own voice and style), The Shape of Jazz to Come locks into aesthetic appeal from a variety of music - the organised harmony of western classical music, the sections and solos of jazz, the wildness of fast improvised music, and even the almost artistic sloppiness of some rawer black metal.

This album works for a variety of musical situations. It would most likely to appeal to almost any crowd of pretentious artistic types, or normal people, or music fans from a variety of backgrounds . . . you name it. I certainly recommend the album for at least a listen or two for everyone. It remains an artistic challenge despite being almost entirely unoffensive, and never gets bland or boring. Good stuff.

Opeth - Watershed (J)

The past few years have been very rocky for Opeth: they lost two members, one an original member who was a necessity as far as songwriting goes. This was probably one of the most anticipated and simultaneously dreaded releases in the metal community this year. What with Martin Lopez being replaced by prolific death/thrash metal drummer Martin Axenrot and Peter Lindgren being replaced by Krux and ex-Arch Enemy shredder Frederik Akesson. According to speculation, this was going to be the disaster that would spell the end for Opeth.

Everyone was proved wrong. This is one of the strongest Opeth releases yet, rivaling such masterworks as "My Arms, Your Hearse" and even "Still Life." The musicianship is at its tightest in years and now Per Wiberg's keyboard presence isn't overbearing as it was on "Ghost Reveries." Since there is just so much going on in this release, I will be doing a *gasp* track by track review.

The disc starts off with "Coil" - a folk song. This song is driven by a jangly 12-string guitar and goes in immediately; there is no intro. The track's highlight is by far the female vocals, contributed by Swedish folk singer Nathalie Lorichs, who is, coincidentally, Martin Axenrot's fiancee. The first track then drones and slightly builds up to the monolithic dissonant chords that begin the epic "Heir Apparent," which is, by far, the most bizzarre song on the entire disc. This song is the most technical song Opeth has ever done, with fret-dancing riffs and even a tastefully done shreddy guitar solo, if that is indeed possible. Also, this song contains the fastest Opeth riff yet, a blistering death/thrash metal riff, more than likely written for or by Axenrot. Right when you think the song is over, there is a volume swell which segues into the traditional "Opeth part," slow, dirge-like guitars and drums with some sort of minimalistic guitar lead over the top, making a very epic atmosphere. Great song, this one is.

"The Lotus Eaters," when released as a single about a month before "Watershed" was released, confused a lot of people. Why? Two words: blast beats. Opeth has never ventured into this sort of progressiveness (or as an elitist would say: PHILISTINE BULLSHIT) before. And ontop of the bast beats, what do we have? None other than Mikael Akerfeldt's clean vocals, returning from their absence in "Heir Apparent." This song also brings back the traditional "Opeth beat," a 6/8 groove with the drums doing something like "do doDAdo do doDAdo." Essentially, this is a beefed up Still Life song. The high point of this song is definitely the blast beats, which are sure to catch listeners off guard.

Next comes "Burden." I like to think that the reason Opeth wrote this was because they went on a week-long Whitesnake bender and needed to write something extraordinarily cheesy. This is a ballad. A cheesy-clean-vocal-extended-keyboard-solo power ballad. Not that this is a bad thing, though, for this is Opeth's take on the traditional metal ballad. A solid, yet unexpected, song. "Porcelain Heart" follows suit. I find this to be the weakest song on the release. It sounds like it was written right after, if not during the "Ghost Reveries" sessions. Yet again, no growling from Mikael in this song. Not really much to say about this song. Track highlight: the baroque-sounding classical guitar part.

Now comes the 11-minute epic, "Hessian Peel." This song starts off with a rather old-school Opeth part, with an acoustic guitar underneath a rather melodic lead. This moves on for a while, venturing into some 70s progressive rock, when suddenly death metal rips through the song and punches you in the face. Yet again the guitarwork shines as Frederik's fingers dance around the fretboard in another finger-shredding guitar solo - normally I hate those, but there's something about Frederik's phrasing that is great. Probably the strongest and catchiest track on the release.

Now, finally, the end. "Hex Omega" immediately barges in with a "Blackwater Park" type riff which drops out leaving Mikael singing and keyboards. Suddenly everything gets rather Egyptian sounding and then returns to the "heavy" sound, if you would call it that. This is almost like if Opeth took a Damnation song and made it metal. Pretty cool, if you ask me. Yet again another guitar solo, though not as flashy. This track features some very cool mellotron work from Per Wiberg. The song has a very long outro, akin to the ending of "A Fair Judgment," though much more interesting as a result of the use of dual guitar harmonies and tribal drum work.

Overall, "Watershed" is a triumph from the Opeth camp; redemption from the slight disappointment that is "Ghost Reveries." The venturing into other genres help Opeth rebuild their trademark sound to escape the doom that is monotony.

October Falls/Varghkoghargasmal - Split (J)

This release confused me; I am a HUGE October Falls fan (note the review of Sarastus 2 months ago), but Varghkoghargasmal (quite a name they have there) has failed to impress me in the past. V's previous releases have pretty much cursed my ears with out of tune guitars and off-beat drums. But I'll get to them later.

October Falls's song "Polku" is yet another folky journey through the deepest of Finland's forests. A bit stronger than Sarastus, this piece is a harkening back to the olden days of Marras and Tuoni, with long, drawn out, dirge-like acoustic folk songs. Of course, this is more of the same, which may pose a great boredom for those who wish to hear something different, but I, as stated earlier, am a fan of whatever Mikko Lehto does, and if it means more of the same, I welcome it with open arms. Of course, there is an addition to the overall equation of October Falls's songs, for now Mikko adds in whispered vocals to add a little extra something to the mystical sound. A great effort from the October Falls front, in my opinion, and I cannot wait to hear how "The Womb of Primordial Nature" turns out.

Back to Varghkoghargasmal, this addition to his discography is interesting, if not an improvement on the older songs. As if he learned the ropes of music theory and timing, Varghkoghargasmal has risen from the grave and written a half-decent song. "Frame of Stones" features not only in-tune guitars, but also on-time drums, which is astounding considering how god-awful his previous efforts were. In addition to the guitar and drums, a xylophone has been added to the mix, which sounds a little ridiculous and almost silly at first listen, but it grows on you. What IS silly about this song is that Varghkoghargasmal still thinks he makes pagan metal, even though this is more folky than anything, and throws in a bluesy guitar solo just to confuse everyone.

Overall this is a solid release. October Falls fans will rejoice over the rebirth of the old sound and people will finally hear a halfway decent song from Varghkoghargasmal.