Don't Bend! Ascend!

Student of music

[frankocean]

Ok Ken (and David). As much as I hate to make you guys famous or even respond to you directly. We all die one day and you're old so fuck it. Yea yea my 2013 performance at the Grammys was absolute shit. Technical difficulties, blah blah. Thanks for the reminder. Very much appreciated. Fuck that performance though. You think that's why I kept my work out of the Grammy process this year? Don't you think I would've wanted to play the show to 'redeem' myself if I felt that way? In reality, I actually wanted to participate in honoring Prince on the show but then I figured my best tribute to that man's legacy would be to continue to be myself out here and to be successful. Winning a TV award doesn't christen me successful. It took me some time to learn that. I bought all my masters back last year in the prime of my career, that's successful. Blonde sold a million plus without a label, that's successful. I am young, black, gifted and independent.. that's my tribute. I've actually been tuning into CBS around this time of year for a while to see who gets the top honor and you know what's really not 'great TV' guys? 1989 getting album of the year over To Pimp A Butterfly. Hands down one of the most 'faulty' TV moments I've seen. Believe the people. Believe the ones who'd rather watch select performances from your program on YouTube the day after because your show puts them to sleep. Use the old gramophone to actually listen bro, I'm one of the best alive. And if you're up for a discussion about the cultural bias and general nerve damage the show you produce suffers from then I'm all for it. Have a good night.

[artofalbumcovers]

Dads - American Radass (this is important) (2012)

From a photo of Allen Chapman at a Dads house show at Birmingham, NY in August 2012. Photo by Dan Bassini.

Sample

[partofmeapartfromyou]

Getting back in touch with my inner singer-songwriter side with Feist. Love this album (it even features Colin Stetson on several tracks), hopefully Leslie has something new to share with us this year!

[partofmeapartfromyou]

also sorry that my review of fazoland and foundations of burden was so short I just wanted to finish this list before 2015. Overall the first place is a tie between "Here and Nowhere Else", and "Foundations of Burden". Also I should mention that I spent like 2 hours listening to "I'm not Part of Me" on repeat when the single was first released and I saw both of these bands live and it was great. Also there was some band opening up for pallbearer from iceland with dudes wearing shades, fedoras, and cowboy hats????????

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Honourable mentions of 2014

3 albums that I enjoyed this year but didn't enjoy quite as much as the others:

Flying Lotus - You're Dead!

“You’re Dead!” is mellow and frenetic, a combination that would more often feel like a cheap attempt at sounding novel rather than sounding good, is pulled off by Flying Lotus. Great album with great guest artists, just not one of my personal favourites.

Owen Pallett - In Conflict

Great instrumentation as per usual, but this album is not as satisfying as “Heartland” and the absence of emotion in Owen’s singing is even more painfully clear in this album.

This will Destroy You – Another Language

A decent album, pretty generic post-rock but I enjoyed listening to it a few times.

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My Favourite Albums of 2014

Lil Herb - Welcome to Fazoland

The beats on this mixtape are some of the tightest that came out this year. Even though Lil Herb has some improving to do lyrically, his flow is solid. The level of intensity behind this album in its unapologetic, unforgiving delivery is a fantastic depiction of the hostility of inner city Chicago.

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My Favourite Albums of 2014

Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

There’s something about Pallbearer that makes every song feel epic in an organic way. The album is heavy with a consistently tight groove, and almost all of it is between 45 and 65 bpm. It feels like a journey in slow motion in which you can absorb all the textures from the clear bell on the ride cymbal to the heavily distorted rhythm guitar and the slight chorus effect on the lead guitar. At 55 minutes in length, it feels complete yet easily digestible.

[partofmeapartfromyou]

My Favourite Albums of 2014

Cloud nothings – Here and Nowhere Else

  Cloud Nothings are a bunch of self-proclaimed “dirty, kinda funny lookin dudes” from Ohio. With an age disparity of nearly 10 years from oldest to youngest, they are everything you would expect and more out of a punk rock band from Ohio. Their 2012 record, “Attack on Memory”, received critical acclaim from nearly every source, and after the removal of lead guitarist Joe Boyer, the trio have created a fantastic follow-up. “Here and Nowhere Else” is a more produced, poppier album than the last but loses none of the qualities which make Cloud Nothings great. While Dylan Baldi’s lyrics are comparable to most emo/pop punk bands, there’s no sense that he is self-righteous or self-pitying. He sings naturally with a level of drama and honesty that many singers can only fake. His lyrics are relatable because they tell the story of a guy who clearly doesn’t have his shit together and is trying to be a better person, but not as much as he knows he could be trying. “There’s nothing wrong with trust, I just don’t have enough” he confesses on the 2nd song of the album, “Quieter Today”. Most songs are loosely based around a few power chords, but Dylan expands with flourishes that add another texture to the otherwise simple accompaniment. “Here and Nowhere Else” is a superb album, easily digestible at only 32 minutes in length with energetic, tense, angst-filled songs.

[bookwormjosh-deactivated2015042]

[partofmeapartfromyou]

My Favourite Albums of 2014

Ambrose Akinmusire – The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint

“The Imagined Savior is Far Easier to Paint” was the most underrated album of the year. It wasn’t even mentioned by any major music reviewer outside of the jazz community. This is no surprise, as the genre currently revolves around artists trained by universities with a dated sense of what music can and cannot be, but 32 year old trumpeter Ambrose has created an incredibly intellectual album with relevance to the 21st century. While the majority of the album is performed by Ambrose’s quintet with Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, Sam Harris on piano, Harish Raghavan on bass, and Justin Brown on drums, Ambrose features 3 different vocalists on 3 separate tracks (Becca Stevens on “Our Basement”, Theo Bleckmann on “Asiam (joan)”, and Cold Specks on “Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child (cyntonia brown)”) similar to what has become standard in pop records. The album comments on the state of racial inequalities with the track “Rollcall for Those Absent”, which is centered around a young girl stammering through the names of deceased black victims of the American judicial system. Ambrose employs a string quartet on 3 different tracks as well and effectively relates the two most academically promoted genres – jazz and classical. Ever since the internet, definitions of genres have become increasingly vague and it is the way that Ambrose embraces this which makes the album feel less like a nostalgic art form and more like an album that belongs in 2014.

            Though the album boasts many successes, it is still flawed. The execution of some of these different ideas feels rather weak and for its long duration of 79 minutes, the album does little to maintain interest, especially during the second half. Ambrose daringly ends the already ambitious album with a 16 minute epic entitled “Ricard (Conduit)”, but by this point in the album the piece feels as tiring as it is exciting. Many of the vocal features feel out of place with the rest of the album, and pieces like “Memo (G. Learson)”, and “Bubbles (John William Sublett)” do not contrast or compliment the album but rather feel like unnecessary filler tracks for an album that is longer than it needs to be. The album is nowhere near cohesive enough to justify its length and is better listened to as a highlight reel than as a full album. However, this doesn’t make the album bad. This album boasts some of the greatest highlights of the year. Sam Harris’s solo on “Vartha” is the greatest piano solo I have ever heard and this moment alone justifies the albums placement. Other worthwhile moments in the album include the incredibly heartfelt performance of “The Beauty of Dissolving Portraits”, the constantly evolving “As We Fight” with solos that flow seamlessly into each other, and the compelling and abstract elements contrasted beautifully in “J.E. Nilmah (Ecclesiastes 6:10)”. Though Ambrose was too ambitious with this release, it is still a great album.

P.S. I got the chance to see Ambrose Akinmusire's quintet this year during Vancouver Jazz Festival and it was one of my favourite concerts of the year so if you get the chance to see him perform don't miss out!

[partofmeapartfromyou]

My Favourite Albums of 2014

Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion

     No guitarist of the past decade has the same kind of following as Tosin Abasi, the mastermind behind Animals as Leaders, and for good reason. Tosin showcases unparalleled unparalleled technical mastery of the instrument yet again on his 3rd album with this group. The songs have complex structures yet Tosin plays effortlessly through every change in time signature at mind bending speed. The danger of making music with complexity as its greatest attraction is that often the music sacrifices emotion, melody and cohesiveness to focus entirely on the technicality of the performance. While Tosin’s music is unlikely to make you cry (unless it is in your realization that you will never play with the same level of skill) or feel much emotionally, there is a simple joy found in listening to the frenetic energy behind each virtuosic lick. Perhaps the greatest difference between Animals as Leaders and other progressive metal groups is in the power of their melodies and rhythms. No matter how many changes from odd time signatures, the pulse of the music is never obscured which makes the music feel almost danceable in an unorthodox fashion driven primarily by Matt Garstka’s drumming. The melodies constantly maintain the listener’s interest and drive the music forward. This album returns the focus to Tosin’s virtuosic playing displayed on the first Animals as Leaders record from the electronic elements of 2011’s “Weightless”. With all this in mind, “The Joy of Motion” is still primarily music for musicians and though it doesn’t appeal much outside of that category, it is one of the best albums of its kind.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

50 Years of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme

ELATION—ELEGANCE—EXALTATION

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Reblogging in honour of the 50 years that have passed since John recorded this album on December 9th 1964. Also unrelated, but does that say "Trap Drums" at the top right? Seems like Coltrane was innovating hip hop without even knowing it.

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This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - The Talking Heads

This excerpt from "Stop Making Sense" is one of my favourite moments in live music. Everyone on stage is genuinely enjoying themselves.

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Suite Bergamasque, as composed by Debussy and performed by Claudio Arrau

One of my favourites right now - so playful, simple, and intimate.

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Top Albums for Rainy Days

Since it is autumn again, I decided to put together a list of my favourite albums for rainy days. I tried keeping the list down to 10, but it proved too great a struggle so this list contains 11 albums that are, in my opinion, best listened to on a rainy day. For the record, these aren't all definitive spots they hold on my list.

11) After the Gold Rush - Neil Young

This album comes alive by Neil's heartfelt delivery of these simple arrangements. Fantastic lyricism.

10) Obsidian - Baths

It's a depressing album and might make you feel insane but everything this album does well is only made more apparent by the sound of rain. Dark lyrics, heavy synth sounds and the defeated sound of Will Weisenfeld's voice.

9) Funeral - The Arcade Fire

I already wrote about this album just a few weeks ago, but it deserves a spot on this list too. Cathartic, simple, sympathetic and yet uplifting.

8) Takk... - Sigur Ros

An uplifting experience for the days when you feel like shit. You don't need to understand icelandic to feel the radiance and love in this album. Valtari is another release of theirs that works great on rainy days.

7) What's going on - Marvin Gaye

Another uplifting album for rainy days, plus the rhythm section is so tight on this album. If there's any album for dancing in the rain, this is it.

6) Kid A - Radiohead

I'm practically obliged to include some Radiohead on this list. Good for days when you want to disappear completely (and never be found).

5) Attack on Memory - Cloud Nothings

An angrier album than all the others on this list, but very suiting for the days when, between working a shitty job and maintaining surface level relationships with even your closest friends and family and handing in poor assignments to important classes, you feel like shit and just want to break everything that you see.

4) Ballads - John Coltrane

The interplay between the Coltrane quartet is just gorgeous in this album. Nothing but jazz standards and as usual, Coltrane is flawless.

3) Lift your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Find yourself a quiet place, make sure you can hear the opening notes, and do whatever you want for the next 90 minutes, so long as it is relatively silent. There are so many subtle beauties to this album that make it my favourite all around record of all time, but the only reason it isn't #1 on this list is because the rain doesn't enhance it quite as much as the next 2.

2) For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver

This album is breathtakingly honest and simple. Justin Vernon's delicate delivery of his heartfelt lyrics is enough to make your heart warm.

1) Moonbeams - Bill Evans

Bill Evans has the most delicate touch for the piano, and in the trio setting you get to hear the full beauty of his chord voicings. Similar to the Coltrane record, the musicians on this album interact great with each other. The music is gentle but engaging, a difficult combination to pull off but so good to the ear. Bill Evans whole discography could make up this list alone, but this album is my personal favourite, with Waltz for Debby taking second place among his collection.

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I've never even played 13, but this album has my favourite arrangements of final fantasy tracks. 7 and 9 really impress me too!

[partofmeapartfromyou]

Visit Original Link

This is beautiful. Listening to it as the season of rain comes upon us is even more.