Opeth

Yesterday I found Opeth's Damnation in the CD shelf again, and I've been listening to it today as well. This was the first Opeth record I bought, and stupid me - I thought this was how the band was. Only later did I discover the much heavier - and probably real - version of the band with growling vocals and everything.

As wrong as I was, I simply adore this album. And in a way, it represents a perfect circle to me. I'm very much into Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Bass Communion etc. etc.) and I also like parts of what Dream Theatre have made. And then I learned that these three acts have a collaboration going on. I love that. It's like Kinder Egg, isn't it? Three things add up to a greater whole?

A few more words about Damnation. It's a record so pure in sound and so melodic in tunes. And why bother growling, with a voice like that, anyway?!

Godley & Creme

This is an album I always return to. It just blew me away the first time I heard it, and even now - more than 30 years since it came out - it still sounds vital, interesting and challenging. The album is called "L", and the front cover shows the L as in Learning. More than a little surprising, since these guys already had been in the game for quite a while. Being the vital half of 10CC, it took a split-up to realize their true creative potential.

The album bursts with creativity, and it carries some seriously complex structures of multi-layered rhythms and instruments. And singing, oh the singing. The soft, well-balanced voices of the two fit the music perfectly. But the lyrics are truly weird, fun and not just a little tounge-in-cheek.

Although never a commercial success, this album has always been a winner with me. Highly recommended.

Tangerine Dream

I stumbled across this re-issue of some old TD stuff this afternoon. On 180 gram vinyl, it's called "Mysterious semblance at the strand of nightmares" after one of the songs. Quite interestingly, the records presents very early material with the band, even before they became synth-legends.

The record lets the user follow TD into the more familiar synth zone where they so brilliantly created some of their later masterpieces. However, it gets all too obvious that Jean Michel Jarre has taken more than just some inspiration from the germans. The analogue sequencer tracks, the blip-blops, the waves, it's all in there.

Out on Lilith Records, this issue even includes a CD version of the record, a concept they cal "DIG-A-LOG". That's impressive! Although nothing beats the sensation of vinyl, the portability of digital music can't be beaten. Great concept, folks! Anyone with any experience with Lilith, please feel free to share!

Mastodon? Sorry...

I've really tried, these last days, to learn to like Mastodon, but I can't seem to get there. Sure, they have clever songs, nice covers, good production and everything that should add up to something great. But it just doesn't do anything for me. I guess I'm missing something. If anyone sees it otherwise, please enlighten me!

Ulver

Monday. A good day for Ulver. Shadows of the sun has been on my mobile for a while now, and I always find it very relaxing and giving on my way to or from work. Standing squeezed among strangers on the subway, it's good to be able to stay in your own, private space. Nothing, then, like the almost-sacral mood Ulver so uniquely manage to produce.

Follow Ulver on their homepage!

Sunn O)))

I had another listen to Sunn O)))'s Monoliths and Dimensions again. Although this record has received exceptional scores by critics everywhere, it has yet to conquer me entirely. I do enjoy the soundscapes, but don't find this record that different from their earlier material.

Maybe it's got a bit to do with the fact that I'm pissed with never receiving the vinyl record ordered so many months ago? Sunn O))) always put a tremendous effort in their album design, and having just a CD cover to look at isn't quite the same as a good, thick LP cover, is it? And I do believe that reduces the pleasure of listening, too. However I do love Attila Csihar's chanting and the choir joining in, which lifts the sound a bit out of the "ordinary" Sunn O)))'s space.

Pan (a) Sonic

Today, I've got Pan Sonic going. I just love their industrial minimalism. These guys really know how to make a lot out of little. Check out the album "B"!

I actually saw these guys live once, but then I didn't really appreciate much of what was going on. I just hung around in the bar and threw sorry comments about it all. To such an extent that the bartender nearly threw me out. Before that, I never knew bartenders actually listened.

Evidently I'm a slow comer, but nowadays, I really enjoy their music. And no one will ever again hear my bullshitting about it, I promise! Actually, I just ordered their first record "Panasonic EP", and look forward to receiving it! Along with it, I ordered a record by Ø. I'll get back to that.