Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós
Ágætis Byrjun
1999
Post Rock
FatCat

1. Intro
2. Svefn-G-Englar ("Sleepwalkers")
3. Starálfur ("Staring Elf")
4. Flugufrelsarinn ("The Fly Savior")
5. Ný Batterí ("New Batteries")
6. Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) ("The Heart Pounds (Boom Boom Boom)")
7. Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása ("Good Weather For An Airstrike")
8. Olsen Olsen
9. Ágætis Byrjun ("A Good Beginning")
10. Avalon
(Also included is a 400x400 album cover .jpeg)

Hullabaloo, I rushed down to the lake, a savior
I made a ship ready and said a little prayer because I was scared
The sun shone and the lake flowed
Sunflowers, sunflowers - the flies die
But today I am to save as many flies as possible.

"Flugufrelsarinn" English Translation

More simply beautiful music, this time from one of my favorite bands, Sigur Rós. They're on the same record label as Animal Collective, Björk, and Panda Bear, and very deservedly so. This is a very unique and clever form of post rock, drawing influences mostly from shoegaze, classical, and ambient artists. Featuring a full backing orchestra, falsetto-based vocals, bowed guitar, and brilliant lyrics sung only in Icelandic and in some places, the band's own gibberish language, Vonlenska.

Ágætis Byrjun is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love the guitarist's clever use of a cello bow and clear, pure sounding falsetto voice. Like most post rock bands, Sigur Rós' music is truly an experince to be had. The songs on this album take you on steady, flowing builds-to-crescendo, without sacrificing their melodic appeal. The music is very heavily rooted in classical, and their orchestra paired with their rock instruments can really create some unique atmospheric music that you aren't likely to hear anywhere else.

Click here to download part 1 (72.16 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (77.99 MB)

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Destination: Beautiful by Mae

Mae
Destination: Beautiful
2003
Indie
Tooth & Nail

1. Embers And Envelopes
2. This Time Is The Last Time
3. All Deliberate Speed
4. Runaway
5. Sun
6. Last Call
7. Skyline Drive
8. Soundtrack For Our Movie
9. Summertime
10. Giving It Away
11. Goodbye, Goodnight
(also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg)

I'm a mess, I guess
It's what I've asked for
It's what I've needed
Well, you know me better than that
Or at least you did, then something happened
Well, once again, something's happened

"Sun"

A good word to describe the music Mae made on their first CD is "twinkly." They make some music that's just plain pretty. Unfortunately, they changed their sound after this record came out, and I don't get as much out of it as I do with Destination: Beautiful. Their style is kind of like a mixture of Brand New and Sigur Ros, to put it kind of vaguely. The vocals, melody, and song structure is still the forefront of concentration, but it's all put over a very busy soundscape of soothing clean guitar tones and whispering synths that beg for more attention while sounding both classical and poppy at the same time.

Mae doesn't get much recognition because they get stacked with all the other "small time" acts that call the music they make indie. The truth is, though, Mae has a very unique sound. Mae does a lot of things right that you don't hear that often. They have an excellent blend of a natural, flowing sound and synth-based electronics that sounds just right to my ears. Their vocalist has a very airy voice that almost sounds like a whisper - a lot of bands try to do this, but I think Mae pulls it off very well for the most part. Some sections of some songs are kind of iffy, but I think the rest makes up for it.

My favorite aspect of Mae's music though, is that it's great to listen to and fit almsot any mood. Their feel is almost a double meaning of both being overjoyed and heartbroken. It's hard to explain. Just check it out for yourself.

Click here to download part 1 (49.99 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (54.79 MB)

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Digital Copy

I think the physical copy of this album is out of print. Lucky I got it when I did.

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane

John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
1964
Jazz
Impulse!

1. Part 1: Acknowledgment
2. Part 2: Resolution
3. Part 3: Pursuance
4. Part 4: Psalm
(Also included is a 497x477 album cover .jpeg)

No matter what...it is God.
He is gracious and merciful.
It is most important that I know Thee.
Words, sounds, speech, men, memory,
Thoughts, fears, and emotions - time -
All related...All made in one.
Blessed be his name.

From the liner notes of A Love Supreme

I hope I'm not offending any jazz buffs out there, but I think that The Roots is actually a pretty good gateway to the world of jazz. So, here goes. I just got home from a 3 hour hardcore show and my ears needed some soothing, and naturally I put on some John Coltrane. A Love Supreme is his masterpiece, and the sound of this album is probably what most of us think about when the word jazz crosses our ears.

A Love Supreme is John Coltrane's ode to God. There is a deep spiritual underlying meaning behind each track, and the liner notes of the album feature a poem, entitled "A Love Supreme," as an offering to God, written by Coltrane himself. The last track of the album, "Psalm," is actually what is called a "wordless recitation" of the poem. There are no vocals, but instead John's sax solo plays exactly one note per syllable of the poem, reading it out loud with music.

It's a very feel good album. I put it on when I just want to relax and hear some laid-back, crisp sounding jazz to sit and think to. McCoy Tyner's piano is sharp and grabbing, while John Coltrane's tenor saxaphone is smooth and warm. A Love Supreme has made it to the top of many a best-of jazz list, and even the high reaches of best-of all time countdowns. This is definitely a great album to start to delve into the scary genre of jazz with, and just an all around perfect performance that is very accessible for listeners of any musical preference.

Click here to download (70.46 MB)

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Things Fall Apart by The Roots

The Roots
Things Fall Apart
1999
Hip Hop
MCA

1. Act Won (Things Fall Apart)
2. Table Of Contents (Parts 1 & 2)
3. The Next Movement
4. Step Into The Relm
5. The Spark
6. Dynamite!
7. Without A Doubt
8. Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New
9. Double Trouble
10. Act Too (The Love Of My Life)
11. 100% Dundee
12. Diedre Vs. Dice
13. Adrenaline!
14. 3rd Acts: ? Vs. Scratch 2...Electric Boogaloo
15. You Got Me
16. Don't See Us
17. The Return To Innocence Lost
18. Act Fore...The End?
(Also includes a 600x597 album cover .jpeg)

Check it out, you’re now intuned to the sounds of the,
R to the, double-O to the, T-S and I stretch limit to this profession.
My voice physically fit, tracks I’m bench-pressing.
The mic chord is an extension of my intestine.
Delicate MC’s sliced in my delicatessen.
My mind state is that of the s-p connection.
Pennsy a part of me, south Philly through my arteries.
Thought the dark one, fearsome, slump son,
My vocal just a knuckle that sucker punched the drum.

"Table Of Contents (Parts 1 & 2)


I'll be the first to admit that I'm a rock fan who has just recently gotten into hip hop in the past year or two. When I did, Things Fall Apart was one of the first albums I picked up, and I'm glad I did. The Roots is different than most hip hop groups because they are actually a band. The members of The Roots actually write and play their own music (very well, in fact) live behind an emcee. They take a different approach to it than anyone else I've heard so far. Their music is very very jazz. Very smooth sounding lazy jazz that rolls along slowly but surely, under the fantastic rapping of frontman Black Thought, and lots of jumping in from other band members as well.

This album flows with a very natural progression. It opens with an excerpt from the Spike Lee film, "Mo' Better Blues" and the next track opens with just percussion and rap, until the jazz guitar slides in and out of the mix at the right times. The album features more and more instrumentation until the climax of "Don't See Us," right before the album's finale. The last track is called "The Return To Innocence Lost," contains no rapping. Instead, it consists of an instrumental track (with lots of reverse guitar) behind the steady spoken word of poet Ursula Rucker. Just do yourself a favor and download right now. Great rapping, great instrumentals, great production, and great overall feel.

Things Fall Apart is probably the most relaxing hip hop record ever made.

Click here to download part 1 (76.51 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (75.23 MB)

Explicit lyrics, man.

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CD

The Ugly Organ by Cursive

(This isn't actually what my CD cover looks like. For some reason, all the digital versions of the cover are lacking the smeared ink all over the piano keys that are on the physical copies. Google it if you want to see what the CD version looks like.)

Cursive
The Ugly Organ
2003
Emo
Saddle Creek

1. The Ugly Organist
2. Some Red Handed Sleight Of Hand
3. Art Is Hard
4. The Recluse
5. Herald! Frankenstein
6. Butcher The Song
7. Driftwood: A Fairy Tale
8. A Gentlemen Caller
9. Bloody Murderer
10. Sierra
11. Staying Alive
(Also contains a 800x800 album cover .jpeg of the cover shown above)

The car. Riding home. Girl sits with her arms crossed. Her thoughts audible.

"So rub it in...in your dumb lyrics.
Yeah, that's the time and place to wring out your bullshit,
And with each album I get shit on a little more.
Who's Tim's latest whore?"

"Butcher The Song"

Like Brand New, Cursive is another band that takes emo music and takes it one step farther to come into their own. Cursive has a much more recognizable sound than Brand New does, however. On this album and their previous EP, they enlisted a cellist to give them a smoother, more refined sound. Their guitarist/vocalist/lyricist, Tim Kasher, plays like a math rock guitar player in the way his rhythm parts are often twirly and intricate. He writes very narrative lyrics (especially on The Ugly Organ) that he often refuses to put a melody to, ensuring they are the song's top priority.

That's all for good reason with this one. As far as I know, all of the Cursive records are concept albums, and this one has my favorite story. Please note that my translation of the story is debatable and I'm sure there are those that know more about it than me. But as far as I can tell, it goes like this: the album revolves around the story of The Ugly Organist, who is the frontman and lyricist of a famous rock band whose lyrics are wrapped up in anguish and misery, and all come from life experience. He finds himself subliminally ruining his own life in order to garner new material.

His girlfriend doesn't like it, though. She has the idea that he secretly hates her, and that most of his songs are either about her wrongdoings, or worse - the wrongdoings of another woman. She leaves him, pregnant with their child. This tears the ulgy organist's heart all to peices, and goes through a long period of his life filled with meaningless lust after countless meaningless women, trying to erase the memory of his one real love, that he destroyed for the sake of his art. Once his daughter is born without any knowing of who her father is, he obsesses over taking his love back, and considers even taking drastic measures by kidnapping his own child. He drives himself to suicidal thoughts, but in the end decides to move on with his life, away from his dead relationship, and stay alive among all the madness of his past.

I think.

The music is very original. Mathy emo tinged with post-hardcore influences, driven by clean guitars and a cellist that sounds like her last job was laying down tracks for the Friday The 13th soundtrack. The songs that stand out to me are "Butcher The Song," "Driftwood: A Fairy Tale," and "A Gentlemen Caller." The only real critisism that I have of the album is that the grand finale, "Staying Alive," is much too long for what it is. I'm all for epic long jam songs, like those on The Mars Volta or Godspeed You! Black Emperor albums, but not much happens in this song. It could afford to be about 5 minutes shorter. I really like it until I get bored of it, though.

Final word: great album by a truly original band. Check it out if you're into rock music at all.

Click here to download (90.23 MB)

Tim Kasher likes "the S word" a lot.

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The Moon & Antarctica by Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse
The Moon & Antarctica
2000
Indie
Epic

1. 3rd Planet
2. Gravity Rides Everything
3. Dark Center Of The Universe
4. Perfect Disguise
5. Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes
6. A Different City
7. The Cold Part
8. Alone Down There
9. The Stars Are Projectors
10. Wild Packs Of Family Dogs
11. Paper Thin Walls
12. I Came As A Rat
13. Lives
14. Life Like Weeds
15. What People Are Made Of
(also included is a 500x500 album cover .jpeg, which is incorrectly placed in the "Part 1" folder)

I just got a message that said Hell has frozen over.
I got a phone call from the Lord, saying,
"Hey boy, get a sweater, right now."
So were drinkin', drinkin', drinkin', drinkin',
Coca Coca-Cola
I can feel it rolling right on down
Oh, right on down my throat.
As were headed down the road
Towards tiny cities made of ashes,
I'm gonna get dressed up in plastic
Gonna shake hands with the masses!

"Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes"


Sorry for not posting in almost a week, it took me a long time to decide what to put up next. I think this is a pretty good album to progress with.

The Moon & Antarctica was ranked the #3 best album of the year 2000 by Pitchfork Media, beat out only by Radiohead's Kid A and Sigur Rós' Ágætis Byrjun (which are both absolutely fantastic albums that I am sure to post at a later date), and with good reason. It is reguarded by most Modest Mouse fans as their pinnacle album, and was their most critically acclaimed. Personally, I perfer The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse's second album, but sadly I don't yet own a copy so I can't rip it for you. But I very much enjoy The Moon & Antarctica, and it's been getting a lot of rotation on my iPod lately.

Modest Mouse has had somewhat of a rise to glory and a downward spiral since their debut in 1993. They began as a very lo-fi indie group whose production value and songwriting skills slowly got better and better, and in turn their music eventually became poppier and poppier until they lost their edge. The Moon & Antarctica has the best production of all their records (in my opinion), but was released before the band gained the appeal of MTV and pop radio. All the grit, angst, and energy is still there, but served on a clean, shiny platter of great production.

What I like about this album is it's subtle use of effects processors to bring everything together smoothly. Issac Brock (the bands frontman, lyricist, and guitarist) knows just when and how much of an effect to use to set a perfect mood for a song. There is a lot of looping going on, but it's not very apparent on first or even the second listen. Also featured is a lot of modulation effects, subtle delay, and even some swooshing reverse guitar, keeping all of the instrumentals sounding hauntingly beautiful.

I do have quite a bit of criticism of The Moon & Antarctica, however, but this is something that really applies to everything put out by Modest Mouse, not just one album. That would be Issac Brock's lyrics. My problem is not with his writing (it's genius, in my opinion) but more about their subject matter. It seems to me that almost every Modest Mouse song is about aethest views toward religion, notably christianity. I'm a christian myself, but don't get me wrong! I have absolutely no problem with listening to anything that would be considered sacreligious by most Baptists, but my beef with Issac is that: "can't he think of anything else to write about?" Now, obviously a lack of religion is very important to Issac, but some kind of variation in subject matter would be nice. I like trying to figure out what songs mean and whatnot. With Modest Mouse, it's more like: "oh... here's another song about God not existing. Okay."

That being said, I do really enjoy the album. The music is top notch, the production is awesome, and the writing is superb. I just wish there was more variation in song subject. Another thing to realize is that this is the remastered version of the album. It was released in 2004, and featured a new (better) cover and 4 live bonus tracks. I didn't include the tracks in this post because I feel it's mostly throwaway material, and I'd rather listen to the album the way it was originally intended, with no live cuts ruining the climactic ending.

Click here to download part 1 (65.03 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (63.05 MB)

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CD / Digital Copy

Grace by Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley
Grace
1994
Singer-Songwriter
Columbia

1. Mojo Pin
2. Grace
3. Last Goodbye
4. Lilac Wine
5. So Real
6. Hallelujah
7. Lover, You Should've Come Over
8. Corpus Christi Carol (For Roy)
9. Eternal Life
10. Dream Brother
(Also included is a 700x700 album cover .jpeg)

The welts of your scorn, my love, give me more.
Send whips of opinion down my back, give me more.
Well, it's you I've waited my whole life to see!
It's you I've searched so hard for...

"Mojo Pin"

Jeff Buckley (son of Tim Buckley) was the singer and multi-instrumentalist for his band, and in his lifetime released only 1 studio album, which is Grace. At the age of 31 (year: 1997), Buckley died by drowning in a channel of the Mississippi River, wearing all of his clothes and singing along to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love."

His death was very tragic, of course, but he left behind some great music that will last forever. Most people probably know Buckley for his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," or possibly his cover of James Shelton's "Lilac Wine." The album is highly regarded as a masterpiece, being given the highest of honors in countless album reviews, and rightfully so.

"Singer-Songwriter" is what Last.fm called it, but I would say Buckley plays a very old-time sounding jazz rock fusion, mixing a the old with the new. He has a very unique singing voice that has inspired the likes of Thom Yorke of Radiohead (who, in my opinion, took Buckley's technique to the next level) and Matthew Bellamy of Muse. He sings right on the dividing line between chest voice and falsetto, a very hard and unnecessary style to pull off. The power behind his voice is always has a "less is more" subtleness, careful not to overstep and come off as pretentious.

Click here to download part 1 (52.59 MB)
Click here to download part 2 (56.74 MB)

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