Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind (2009)

This is the new Mono release, which, so far, has not let me down even a little bit. If you don't know Mono, they're a Japanese post-rock band that stands apart (for me, at least) for having deftly struck an ideal balance between the mounting, layered grind of guitars and the radiant, sparkling infinity of instruments with a more delicate sound (all said upon realizing it makes me a pretentious assclown). I'm making a pilgrimage to see them with a 25-piece orchestra in May.



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Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (2007)

This electronic, spaced-out duo makes music that sounds the way the cosmos looks; I can't put their sound into a more apt description. I've gotten a lot of reading and thinking done to this brain massage of a record.



Disc One
Disc Two

Two Tim Hecker cuts.

Tim Hecker is a producer responsible for some really interesting, non-objective soundscapery.


Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again (2004)


Harmony In Ultraviolet (2006)

Sigur Rós - Live at the Southside Festival in Germany (2008).

I was fortunate enough to have seen Sigur Rós twice this year, though only the latter occasion was worth mentioning. The first wasn't as great not because they didn't sound as stunning and mind-numbingly beautiful as they usually do; rather, it was because I was sitting in a field at 2am with a bunch of hippies waiting for my acid to kick in. In fact, the only highlight of that show was when two members signed my copy of their new album before the show that night, which is not to say I'm at all disappointed about that. However, I saw them a second time in September at a proper venue, an old church that puts on shows during the week, in NYC, which was purely sublime. Here is a live cut from a festival they played in Germany.



1. Svefn-g-englar
2. Ný Batterí
3. Glósóli
4. Við Spilum Endalaust
5. Hoppípolla/Með Blóðnasir
6. Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
7. Hafsól
8. Gobbledigook
9. Popplagið

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Metallic Falcons - Desert Donuts (2006)

Metallic Falcons is Matteah Baim and Sierra Casady of CocoRosie fame. Sierra was the reason I was made aware of this record, which is strange and beautiful in a way that amplifies those qualities in CocoRosie's music without overdoing it. The best way I can think to put it is this: it sounds like a memory, most likely one to take place in a quiet house on a cloudy day. I've seen it classified as "baby metal" by lots of folks, but what that means I'm not really sure; there's nothing about this album that I would say is even remotely metal, but it is creepy and dark like I guess some metal is? Difficult to describe, it's not difficult to enjoy; I recommend this if you like CocoRosie or just spooky music in general.



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Air - The Virgin Suicides Original Motion Picture Score (2000)

I loved both the book & movie, The Virgin Suicides, so I had to give this score a shot. Luckily, it's swell; if you aren't familiar with Air, they're a French electronic duo who puts out these ambient, quasi-atmospheric and always-lovely soundscapes. Apparently Sophia Coppola was such a fan of theirs that she personally asked them to this for her film. My favourite track on this release is #6; it's actually a lot like a hurricane. There will likely be more of their work posted in the future.



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Amiina - Kurr (2007)

This group is an Icelandic string quartet, often appropriately likened to Sigur Rós. (From what I understand, they tour together, and I think they may have even been present when I saw Sigur Rós at Bonnaroo this past June.) The music is very pretty, like glass ornaments that sparkle and catch the last slice of daylight before dusk sets in all the way. I'm not stretching for poetic description here either; it actually does sound just like that. There are some faint vocals that function more as another instrumental layer than as direct human involvement, but for the most part this is just really impeccable, beautiful stringing.



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Live Isis cuts.

Isis is a really special band, one that's successfully fused, if not totally transcended, a few of my favourite genres to create this really spectacular, intensely brainy breed of spaced-out, progressive metal. The following are bundles of some live sets, presumably from separate performances at various times. (I don't remember where I found these, so if you come across them and realize they're yours, let me know.)




Live One
1. Carry
2. Hymn
3. Weight
4. The Beginning of the End

Live Two
1. From Sinking
2. Glisten
3. Carry
4. Weight
5. The Beginning of the End
6. Celestial Ext [altered version]

Live Four
1. Gentle Time
2. Glisten
3. CFT
4. Celestial
5. Improv 1
6. False Light
7. Weight

Live Bundle #3 wouldn't upload for some reason, but I'm working on it.