And the last of the big metal order.



Buioingola—Il Nuovo Mare (2015)
Out of all these records from my "unknown metal" delivery, this one is definitely an outlier. There are a lot of crust, goth, shoegaze, and industrial influences here, often to such a degree that I would hesitate to call the music metal. Whatever you call it, this is some bleak, haunting music evocative of barren landscapes, abandoned buildings, and sinister plots. I love it. Probably my favorite of the bunch so far.




Nihill—Grond (2014)
This is black metal from the Netherlands by the now-defunct band Nihill. Two LPs with one track per side is a bold move, but Nihill pulls it off. Huge and pummeling, the album sounds like the gates of hell have been thrown open and nightmares have manifested in the waking world. It's one of those examples of the ways in which music can exceed movies as an expressive art form. No movie could be this unrelentingly intense and still be watchable, but this album can do those thing and remain eminently replayable.




Sunn O)))—Dømkirke (2008)
Out of this whole batch of metal albums I've been posting about, this is the only one that wasn't a shot in the dark. The first time I heard Sunn O))) was almost 20 years ago. They were one of the openers at a show I went to and I absolutely hated them. I was going through a rough breakup, had gone out to see the dance punk band called !!!, and the oppressive drones of Sunn O))) were not what I was in the mood for at all. I remember thinking the band was some kind of ridiculous joke. The weird thing was, as the weeks went by after that show, I couldn't stop thinking about them. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I bought one of their CDs. Then over time I got more and more into them. Now here I am buying any of their albums that I can find on vinyl.

Even for a band known for oddball releases, this is unusual. It's was originally a vinyl-only release for one thing, and I think it might be their only live album. It was recorded in Bergen Cathedral in Bergen Norway, and like the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session, the sound of the music inside the space of the cathedral adds a lot to the recording. This a double album containing four tracks, each over fifteen minute long, all of them utterly hypnotic. Like the best Sunn O))) albums, this isn't something you put on in the background while you're doing something, this is meditative music that envelops you.

This is what you want. This is what you get.

Dømkirke is a personal favorite of mine, probably my number 3 Sunn project after Altar and Black One. I love the palpable cathedral atmosphere as well, it adds a distinctive atmospheric gloom to that album.

 

"stressed" is just "desserts" spelled backwards

Quote from: Mrs. Waffles on Feb 08, 2023, 04:11 AMDømkirke is a personal favorite of mine, probably my number 3 Sunn project after Altar and Black One. I love the palpable cathedral atmosphere as well, it adds a distinctive atmospheric gloom to that album.
This was my first time listening to it, but I'm really digging it. It's funny, the first two Sunn0))) CDs I bought, back when each was new, were Black One and Altar. I've always especially loved Altar for how different it is.

This is what you want. This is what you get.

Quote from: Janszoon on Feb 08, 2023, 04:36 AMThis was my first time listening to it, but I'm really digging it. It's funny, the first two Sunn0))) CDs I bought, back when each was new, were Black One and Altar. I've always especially loved Altar for how different it is.
Nice! I got into them in 2009 when Monoliths and Dimensions was brand new. I was sorta-friends with this guy at my college who was some kind of stoner/goth hybrid and he was huge into them, so we kind of bonded over that.

"stressed" is just "desserts" spelled backwards

Quote from: Mrs. Waffles on Feb 08, 2023, 06:25 AMI was sorta-friends with this guy at my college who was some kind of stoner/goth hybrid
Wait... you knew me in college?!  :laughing:

This is what you want. This is what you get.

Dømkirke :laughing:

Are these guys norwegian? Because that looks like a norwegian pun.

Domkirke = cathedral
Døm = Judge (as in the judging of sins)

So perhaps it's like the Church of judgment 🤘

I prefer dum (which means dumb), so Dumkirke = Dumb church.

Happiness is a warm manatee

I wouldn't be surprised it was intended to be a pun or in-joke of some kind. This is a band who named an album Life Metal after a long running in-joke about death metal after all.

[/quote]
Quote from: Guybrush on Feb 08, 2023, 07:21 PMI prefer dum (which means dumb), so Dumkirke = Dumb church.
:laughing:

This is what you want. This is what you get.

Quote from: Janszoon on Feb 07, 2023, 11:38 PMSunn O)))—Dømkirke (2008)
Out of this whole batch of metal albums I've been posting about, this is the only one that wasn't a shot in the dark. The first time I heard Sunn O))) was almost 20 years ago. They were one of the openers at a show I went to and I absolutely hated them. I was going through a rough breakup, had gone out to see the dance punk band called !!!, and the oppressive drones of Sunn O))) were not what I was in the mood for at all. I remember thinking the band was some kind of ridiculous joke. The weird thing was, as the weeks went by after that show, I couldn't stop thinking about them. Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I bought one of their CDs. Then over time I got more and more into them. Now here I am buying any of their albums that I can find on vinyl.

Even for a band known for oddball releases, this is unusual. It's was originally a vinyl-only release for one thing, and I think it might be their only live album. It was recorded in Bergen Cathedral in Bergen Norway, and like the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session, the sound of the music inside the space of the cathedral adds a lot to the recording. This a double album containing four tracks, each over fifteen minute long, all of them utterly hypnotic. Like the best Sunn O))) albums, this isn't something you put on in the background while you're doing something, this is meditative music that envelops you.

Metal is not my thing, but I've been hearing about Sunn O))) for ages and your review definitely makes me want to check this out.  "*oddball releases*", "inside the space of the cathedral", "utterly hypnotic" - all sound mysterious and appealing to me.  Thanks!  :)


Quote from: ribbons on Feb 08, 2023, 11:39 PMMetal is not my thing, but I've been hearing about Sunn O))) for ages and your review definitely makes me want to check this out.  "*oddball releases*", "inside the space of the cathedral", "utterly hypnotic" - all sound mysterious and appealing to me.  Thanks!  :)
Well, if you check them out, I hope you like them! You may also be interested in their album Altar, which they made in collaboration with the band Boris. It's probably their least metal album. It has a fantastic song called "The Sinking Belle" on it which is so far from metal I'd almost call it folk.

This is what you want. This is what you get.

^ In that case, I'll start at the Altar and then proceed through the whole cathedral with Dømkirke!  Thanks, Jans - will check these out for sure, as I've been meaning to listen to Sunn O))) for a while now.   :)


#40 Feb 14, 2023, 01:19 AM Last Edit: Feb 27, 2023, 07:00 AM by Janszoon
I went to a tiny little record store out in a distant suburb over the weekend and came home with these:



Pérez Prado & His Orchestra—"Prez" (1957)
I don't own very much mambo, but this album makes me want to rectify that. I have one other Pérez Prado record, Exotic Suite of the Americas, which leans heavily in the direction of exotica, and it's great, but I think I like him even more when he's doing what made him famous. Prez is just so much fun. It makes me want dance like a goof and make elaborate cocktails. It's also incredibly well produced for an album from the 50s. There are a lot of layers here and it all sound terrific.




Jean-Michel Jarre—Équinoxe (1978)
After liking Oxygène so much, I thought I'd check this one out too. Apparently the concept of this album is a day in the life of a person, from waking in the morning to going to sleep at night. I can certainly hear it, though I feel like the mood here is less a day in the life of a person than a day in the machinery of the body. When I listen to this I picture a heart beating, lungs breathing, and blood pulsing. I can see the different hormones as they diffuse throughout the day, the white blood cells attacking invaders, the nervous system responding to stimuli, the digestive system breaking down food. It's like a microscopic version of the global ecosystem of Oxygène and it's really working for me.




The Cars—Candy-O (1979)
I've loved this album for most of my life. It's almost tied with their self-titled first album for me, but if I'm forced to choose, this one has the edge. For a band that had a pretty consistent sound from album to album there's something about this one that has always felt a little... darker. By darker I don't mean to imply that it's sinister or depressing, it's just that it feels like more of a night time album than their others. Every song here is great, with a certain amount of weirdness under the surface, and I've always loved how the last three tracks on side one segue into each other. I would honestly say that "Double Life"/"Shoo Be Doo"/"Candy-O" triptych is one of best trios of connected songs in all of rock.


I also got this one in the mail:



Yma Sumac—Mambo! (1954)
I've been a fan of this album for a while, but I felt like I needed a vinyl copy. Yma Sumac has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard. It's almost operatic at times, high and airy, then it's this low growl like a jaguar or a monster under your bed. And the album as a whole is quite varied, in keeping with her ever-changing voice. All of it is wonderfully weird and makes me feel like I'm hanging out a swanky lounge in Lima with extraterrestrial fashionistas.

This is what you want. This is what you get.

those are all great write ups

i like Équinoxe but it never resonated with me like Oxygène

i dig how much you like Candy-O

if it wasn't for the absolute supremacy of Moving in Stereo i might think it was in the same league as the debut but that track 😥


Quote from: Janszoon on Feb 14, 2023, 01:19 AMIt makes me want dance like a goof and make elaborate cocktails.
As someone who does these two things on the reg, this sounds right up my alley!

And Equinoxe is a classic as well.

"stressed" is just "desserts" spelled backwards

I got three Sun Ra albums in the mail last week:



Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra—When Sun Comes Out (1963)
It's crazy to think that this album is sixty years old and still sounds weird. It's definitely the least strange of these three records, but it's still Sun Ra and thus still unabashedly strange. Occasionally, something resembling bebop surfaces, which makes this less weird than the other two albums, but it's always handled in a strange way. For example, the track "Dancing Shadows" is pretty much a bebop song, but the drumming is usual and almost sounds like IDM from several decades in the future. Even the production on this album is unusual. It's raw and dry and sounds like it was recorded in an abandoned house. Truth be told it almost sounds like it was produced by Steve Albini, which is crazy when you think about it.




Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra—The Magic City (1966)
At the start of the nearly twenty-seven minute track that occupies all of side one of this album, the bebop drums might trick you into thinking you're about to hear something that's only as weird as When Sun Comes Out, but no, you are now on a spaceship on its way to Saturn. It's astonishing to think about this album in the context in which it was released. The Beatles' Revolver was released in the same year was seen as innovative and countercultural. Comparatively, The Magic City sounds like it was recorded on another planet a million years in the future.




Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra—Strange Strings (1967)
Out of these three Sun Ra albums, this is the one I was familiar with. The concept here is bananas compared to what was going on in popular music at the time: reed and horn players were given stringed instruments from junk stores, homemade instruments were constructed, and the only instruction given to the musicians was to play whatever they felt like when Sun Ra pointed at them. The result is some of the most alien sounding music I've ever heard. When I listen, I see vast stone halls carved into the landscape of Mars and lizard people playing incomprehensible music on bizarre instruments.


This is what you want. This is what you get.

^ Great write-ups, Jans.  Sun Ra rules - such an innovator.  I have Magic City and Strange Strings on vinyl as well.  Also Jazz In Silhouette, Angels and Demons At Play, Atlantis, God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be, Sleeping Beauty, and Languidity.   8)